Good:
-Got an email from a prof asking if I'd like to work with him on a meta-analysis on mercury and some other stuff. The specific topic is super interesting for me (being a little coy on here on the details so we don't get scooped...) and I'm totally stoked and flattered he thought to email me. This could be an awesome experience / might easily turn into my first paper.
-Cell phone broke. Yes, this sucks, especially because the light's blinking and it says I got 3 texts (but from whom, or concerning what, I will never know), but the phone broke *under warranty*. They're going to replace my phone not with the same phone, but with another model I asked if I could get instead. The replacement phone emits a LOT less radiation (according to something I read by Environmental Working Group) so I will be cutting my future exposure by a lot, for free.
Bad:
-Cut my finger peeling carrots. Again. This is the 3rd time with this peeler. I'm starting to think it's me.
-I think the heater isn't working for my apartment, and it's snowing outside. I'm wearing clothes, ski socks, a dive parka, two blankets, and have my overheating laptop sitting on top, but I'm still freezing. I emailed my landlady but who knows when she'll respond.
-Running low on groceries and my car's locked in a garage at school. My friend Kari drove by the garage this morning to drop me off at my car, but it was all locked up, so she drove me home instead. I guess this means I'll be eating canned soup tomorrow. On a plus side, my friend Kathleen lives in the same apartment building as me and says she'll drive me to school on Monday.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friends of Mine
I had a super fun Friday and it almost convinced me I might start liking Baltimore. Whaaa?
I clocked out a little before 4 and took a cab downtown to see A Single Man with some of my gay friends, spearheaded by my friend John. John is an environmental chemist I met by Facebook stalking after reading his bio on an EPA website last year (his project caught my eye and so I sent him a "wow, your stuff sounds amazing" fb message, and it took off from there). He studies environmental chemistry, specifically how to destroy agricultural pollution once it's gotten into the environment. We have kind of an older/younger sibling dynamic and it's nice to have a "gay older brother" type friend who can give me tips on surviving here, and who introduces me to gay guys who he thinks are quality (I am generally not as enthusiastic about them as he is, but they're definitely a step up from the randos you'd find in the local bars). It's also nice to have a circle of friends from outside school to hang out with. My early social life in Baltimore consisted almost entirely of board game nights at John's house.
The "Single Man" outing was organized by John and included his boyfriend, his roommate, and a guy they're clearly trying to set me up with. The guy just graduated from Hopkins undergrad focusing on Public Health, and is now doing nonprofit/think tank work on Health Policy Economics. This is the second thing John's invited both of us to this week; the first was a double-date ish dinner with John and Mark. I don't think there's any interest on either side (there *definitely* is no interest from me in him), but it's sort of sweet of John to try to play matchmaker. Sort of sweet and sort of annoying. Oh well.
After the movies with John et al., I went out to sushi with some of my Epidemiology department friends. The sushi bar was very hip and played dance hall music (techno, R&B) while serving pretty awesome sushi and pretty cheap liquor. I had a cosmo, two kirins, sake, and I think that's all but I kind of don't remember. I was pretty hammered. Then we went out and bar-hopped some more, and at one point I added "strawberry margarita" to the list. I vaguely remember dancing with strangers (girls) in the second bar, who had been sitting at the bar until I was like "Hey come dance with me!" This bar was not a dancing venue; we were basically the only ones dancing, and I fell a couple times (and broke my phone, unfortunately). Then we all went back to Kari's house and watched extreme winter sports (snowmobile flip things, snowboarding, skiing) on TV until people left. I was way too drunk to go anywhere so I crashed here for the night. I'm still waiting for Kari to wake up, but surprisingly I don't have a hangover. I think it was the Shirley Temple I had in the last bar?
So...yeah. Kind of a ridiculously fun night, and in Baltimore of all places. Unfortunately, it was with friends who will all be gone soon. John's finishing his PhD this year, and the kids I went out for sushi/drinks with are all Masters students who will finish next year.
My friends who are going to be here longer-term with me fall into two groups: government-employed friends in DC, and friends in PhD programs at Hopkins. I don't know what I'm going to do after next year when my friends disperse. I think DC would make me a lot happier than Baltimore, but the commute is almost an hour each way (maybe less if I take a train + bus) and I don't know how long my friends in DC who aren't in government jobs plan to stay in their current careers. It would suck to move out to DC and have all my best friends (who tend to have shorter-term/internship jobs in nonprofits) leave shortly afterward. Maybe I should just suck it up and move to DC while my good friends are still there and can introduce me to people.
I clocked out a little before 4 and took a cab downtown to see A Single Man with some of my gay friends, spearheaded by my friend John. John is an environmental chemist I met by Facebook stalking after reading his bio on an EPA website last year (his project caught my eye and so I sent him a "wow, your stuff sounds amazing" fb message, and it took off from there). He studies environmental chemistry, specifically how to destroy agricultural pollution once it's gotten into the environment. We have kind of an older/younger sibling dynamic and it's nice to have a "gay older brother" type friend who can give me tips on surviving here, and who introduces me to gay guys who he thinks are quality (I am generally not as enthusiastic about them as he is, but they're definitely a step up from the randos you'd find in the local bars). It's also nice to have a circle of friends from outside school to hang out with. My early social life in Baltimore consisted almost entirely of board game nights at John's house.
The "Single Man" outing was organized by John and included his boyfriend, his roommate, and a guy they're clearly trying to set me up with. The guy just graduated from Hopkins undergrad focusing on Public Health, and is now doing nonprofit/think tank work on Health Policy Economics. This is the second thing John's invited both of us to this week; the first was a double-date ish dinner with John and Mark. I don't think there's any interest on either side (there *definitely* is no interest from me in him), but it's sort of sweet of John to try to play matchmaker. Sort of sweet and sort of annoying. Oh well.
After the movies with John et al., I went out to sushi with some of my Epidemiology department friends. The sushi bar was very hip and played dance hall music (techno, R&B) while serving pretty awesome sushi and pretty cheap liquor. I had a cosmo, two kirins, sake, and I think that's all but I kind of don't remember. I was pretty hammered. Then we went out and bar-hopped some more, and at one point I added "strawberry margarita" to the list. I vaguely remember dancing with strangers (girls) in the second bar, who had been sitting at the bar until I was like "Hey come dance with me!" This bar was not a dancing venue; we were basically the only ones dancing, and I fell a couple times (and broke my phone, unfortunately). Then we all went back to Kari's house and watched extreme winter sports (snowmobile flip things, snowboarding, skiing) on TV until people left. I was way too drunk to go anywhere so I crashed here for the night. I'm still waiting for Kari to wake up, but surprisingly I don't have a hangover. I think it was the Shirley Temple I had in the last bar?
So...yeah. Kind of a ridiculously fun night, and in Baltimore of all places. Unfortunately, it was with friends who will all be gone soon. John's finishing his PhD this year, and the kids I went out for sushi/drinks with are all Masters students who will finish next year.
My friends who are going to be here longer-term with me fall into two groups: government-employed friends in DC, and friends in PhD programs at Hopkins. I don't know what I'm going to do after next year when my friends disperse. I think DC would make me a lot happier than Baltimore, but the commute is almost an hour each way (maybe less if I take a train + bus) and I don't know how long my friends in DC who aren't in government jobs plan to stay in their current careers. It would suck to move out to DC and have all my best friends (who tend to have shorter-term/internship jobs in nonprofits) leave shortly afterward. Maybe I should just suck it up and move to DC while my good friends are still there and can introduce me to people.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Not Sure What To Title This So I'll Go With A "!"
Wow, this quarter got hard fast. Profs are dropping terms like "polytomous logistic regression" and "occult coronary and carotid stenosis" like I've ever heard them before or should guess what they mean. To say that I'm feeling a little bit lost and overwhelmed right now would be a pretty big understatement.
Still, I'm grateful for the challenge. Though I am going to have to work unusually hard this quarter just to get by, I feel like at the end of it I'll be much, much closer to being a legit epidemiologist, and that's what I came here for, right?
In other news, I found out I am going to be renewed on my training grant next year unless I flunk out. This means I have another year before I'm responsible for securing my own external funding. That's really good news, because not only does it mean I can eat next year, but it means I only have to find funding for 3 years. The Environmental Protection Agency's "Science to Achieve Results" grant provides financial support for 3 years. So if I can land it for the years after next, that will mean I'm totally set for the (average) 5 years of my program. Awesome? Awesome.
Still, I'm grateful for the challenge. Though I am going to have to work unusually hard this quarter just to get by, I feel like at the end of it I'll be much, much closer to being a legit epidemiologist, and that's what I came here for, right?
In other news, I found out I am going to be renewed on my training grant next year unless I flunk out. This means I have another year before I'm responsible for securing my own external funding. That's really good news, because not only does it mean I can eat next year, but it means I only have to find funding for 3 years. The Environmental Protection Agency's "Science to Achieve Results" grant provides financial support for 3 years. So if I can land it for the years after next, that will mean I'm totally set for the (average) 5 years of my program. Awesome? Awesome.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Some Disappointment, Some Relief
A couple things ended disappointingly today. The Washington Post wrote me back saying that they were not going to publish my op ed. I checked in with my friend Philip and it turns out he's going to be too busy during his trip to DC to hang out at all. My class schedule is relentless and my back is killing me from the almost-constant sitting over the past two days (even with hot yoga yesterday afternoon, my back still hurts).
But there are some major silver linings today, too. Emily says that my ideas went over really well at Al Gore's nonprofit (and some other affiliated environmental groups), and that now it seems like the Alliance for Climate Protection is going to act on a lot of my suggestions. Rick Warren's secretary called me back and encouraged me to send an email, so maybe I'll have a chance to make an impact on the Religious Right after all. I *loved* my Molecular Epidemiology class today and it reminded me why I am putting up with Baltimore. I got on a couple professors' calendars to get advice and give updates about my research projects. And in what was probably the biggest boost to how I felt today, I found out that something that had been worrying me a lot the past few days was pretty much just in my head.
So yeah. Kind of all over today. Averages out to pretty calm.
But there are some major silver linings today, too. Emily says that my ideas went over really well at Al Gore's nonprofit (and some other affiliated environmental groups), and that now it seems like the Alliance for Climate Protection is going to act on a lot of my suggestions. Rick Warren's secretary called me back and encouraged me to send an email, so maybe I'll have a chance to make an impact on the Religious Right after all. I *loved* my Molecular Epidemiology class today and it reminded me why I am putting up with Baltimore. I got on a couple professors' calendars to get advice and give updates about my research projects. And in what was probably the biggest boost to how I felt today, I found out that something that had been worrying me a lot the past few days was pretty much just in my head.
So yeah. Kind of all over today. Averages out to pretty calm.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Roses are delicious.
I had the most delicious cupcake of my life the other day. Well, the cupcake was alright, but the frosting was the most delicious frosting of my life. It was a cardamom-rose vegan cupcake, and it was delicious for fifteen minutes after I had finished it.
This got me thinking: rose is amazing.
So I'm going to try experimenting with rose more in my cooking.
I think my next culinary project will be (vegan) rose ravioli. I'm thinking a filling of mushrooms, cinnamon, a tiny bit of dried ginger, a tiny bit of rosemary, lots of lemon, a tiny bit of spinach, a little vanilla for richness, and tons of rose petals. I'm not sure what sauce yet to try. Maybe just something simple like olive oil and lemon juice, with pine nuts on top.
Other dishes where rose could be delicious: sushi rolls, muffins, crepes, as a side sauteed with mushrooms (okay that's just cheating from the ravioli idea), homemade apple sauce, chutney, and yogurt (if I start having farmers' market dairy again).
This got me thinking: rose is amazing.
So I'm going to try experimenting with rose more in my cooking.
I think my next culinary project will be (vegan) rose ravioli. I'm thinking a filling of mushrooms, cinnamon, a tiny bit of dried ginger, a tiny bit of rosemary, lots of lemon, a tiny bit of spinach, a little vanilla for richness, and tons of rose petals. I'm not sure what sauce yet to try. Maybe just something simple like olive oil and lemon juice, with pine nuts on top.
Other dishes where rose could be delicious: sushi rolls, muffins, crepes, as a side sauteed with mushrooms (okay that's just cheating from the ravioli idea), homemade apple sauce, chutney, and yogurt (if I start having farmers' market dairy again).
Saturday, January 23, 2010
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