Back to School?

Since I started working last Monday, life has been a big blur that is highly reminiscent of graduate school. My boss, Pam, is lecturing about what she studies to the first year graduate students and so I get to go to class. Going to class is helpful as I'm learning a lot and today I didn't even drift off to sleepy land. Already I have more work to do than can be done in a day and a list of things I should be doing or already have done. My boss is pretty much the female version of my graduate advisor...which is both good and bad. Today she was already getting on my case about leaving my DNA to resuspend overnight in the refrigerator...I'm pretty sure I used to do that all of the time and it worked fine, but according to her it was just about the end of the world. Maybe my memory is a bit too fuzzy and I didn't actually used to do that. It is weird to sort of know how to do things, but yet not the way that this lab does them.

One thing that is totally new is working with fruit flies on a large scale...last week I learned how to tell males/females and virgin males/females apart. If you want to mate the flies together for a certain genetic cross you have to gather up some virgin females and you sure don't want any males along for the ride. Yesterday I managed to transfer flies from one vial to the next on my own. On Friday I am going to learn how to inject fly embryos with DNA. To get ready for this you have to prepare the flies to lay lots of embryos onto an agar surface with just a bit of yeast for food. Next I guess I have to learn how to tell anterior from posterior in an embryo.

Commuting an hour each way has been interesting as well. I don't mind the drive, but it is a bit tiring and costly. Parking has been costly...last week I paid $7.05 each day to park in the garage across from the building called MERF where I work (see picture). One day I got there before 9 AM and paid $13.00 for the day. Now I have signed up to park in a lot that is far away from the University for only $18 a month...its a deal, but it is a 10 min. bus ride and then a 10 min. walk to where I need to be. Tomorrow I am trying something new as I will be riding as a substitute in the van pool. This means that I have to meet in a parking lot across town at 6:35 AM and be delivered to the parking garage across from where I work at about 7:30. Then I will have to leave at 4:30. The benefit to all of this is that I will return home at 5:30 instead of between 6:30 and 7. The other benefit is that now I can sleep instead of driving. I am not a big fan of getting up early in the morning, so tomorrow will be a good trial to see if I can make it through the day with energy to spare.

Overall, I like being back in the lab doing experiments and making my brain work hard. I'm sure not missing grading papers. The graduate and undergraduate students are very friendly and helpful. And, for the most part I think my boss is good boss. I hear I should just wait until she's having a bad day. =)