4500 qPCR reactions

All those reactions I was doing went well. Now I'm busy analyzing >4500 reactions, so I probably won't have another post until this weekend. I have pix from Tim's demolition, so there will be a good post as soon as I have the time for it.

My Penance

I was so dissapointed in myself for having lost that USB flash drive, that I gave myself penance. I went and got a new USB drive that is attached to a lanyard to be worn around the neck. I also attached my security card, so the whole thing would be too big drop without noticing. The security card came with a lanyard, but I always thought it was kind of dorky to walk around with it around my neck. I usually slip it in my back pocket. But now I must wear the whole dorky set up as my penance.

I was able to successfuly set up and run that plate (of the lost data) Sunday. I also made DNA preps from a bunch of samples (yeast cells). I know I said this blog wouldn't be about science, but I thought I'd post a picture of my DNA drying, so those of you who don't play with things like DNA regularly could check it out. Basically it looks like schmutz at the bottom of the tube and often on one side as well. In this picture, you can see the white pellets at the bottom of the tubes (they're upside down). Those are the ones that had the most cells in them.

PhD progress

So how is the science going and when will I finish? Not fast enough and not soon enough! I was hoping to have the benchwork (that's the actual science/research) finished by August 1st, but I wasn't done then. Now I'm hoping to finish in just a few more weeks. After that is finished, my committee thinks I'll need 3 months for writing. That's to write my paper and my thesis. At least the end is in sight.

I had a little setback on the benchwork this week. I had a long day on Wednesday, setting up and running over 1000 reactions. These were in 3 plates of 384 rxns each. When I came in Thursday morning, I copied the data from the machine onto my USB flash drive to take back to lab to analyze. I stopped on my way up to read a joural article in the library reading room and then went back up to lab. After 15 minutes of chatting, I went to look at my data, and I couldn't find my USB drive! I looked every where, retraced my steps multiple times, contacted the library, and the security folks (they are in charge of lost and found) to no avail. I was able to recover 2 out of three plates from the machine, but not the 3rd (long story why, but my dumb mistake). So I went in to lab today to re-do the lost plate. I screwed that up, so I gave up and went home. Maybe I'll get it right tomorrow! This isn't the way to finish quickly!

At least I am making progress on the blog! This makes 2 posts in less than 7 days!

The Great House Remodel project has begun!

Here's what our new (future) house looks like from the driveway.


...and from the deck. I love this picture, because our fabulous view of Lake Tahoe is reflected in the windows, along with my darling husband.

I flew to Tahoe for several days to meet with my husband and our architects. We have some friends, who are great architects, and we flew them up from Dallas for 3 days of planning. We worked non-stop and came up with all of the plans for our huge remodel (both phases). They had some great ideas and our house is going to be even better than I could have imagined. We made a lot of decisions, with their guidance, and are almost ready to start getting bids from GCs. I just got home today, and I am really excited about it!

Our house was built in 1965 and we purchased it from the original owners. It has not been updated at all. It has dark paneling, bright blue tiles, funky light fixtures and even shag carpet. We have to update everything.

The outside will not really change until Phase 2, which includes the first level of the house. Phase 1 will include the great room and kitchen, the stairwell, and the upper floor which includes the master bedroom and bath, my "green room", the dog room, 2nd bath and the 2nd bedroom. All of the paneling will be removed, dry-walled and painted. Here are some "before" pictures
We will be opening the stairwell up, with light colored walls, and an open railing and hardwood flooring. We will have some cool lights hanging down that will be like a piece of art.

In the great room we will have light colored paint and hardwood floors. The big change will be to open up the wall to the left of the granite fireplace. The stairwell will be opened up even more this way as well as the great room.

The kitchen will be totally re-done. We are going to get natural gas to the house which will allow us to put in a gas stove (not to mention central heating). The island will be a real island (no wimpy bridge/ counter strip) with a prep sink and bar area. The eating-at kind, not drink-mixing. We have picked out granite for the counters and slate for the floors. And stainless appliances, though we have to pick the exact ones.


The 2nd bathroom obviously needs some help. The weird hallway thing will be integrated into the bathroom, so that the shower will not be adjacent to the back door. The blue tile and fixtures are history along with the blue door!

All I can say is ICK! The Master bath will be stripped, opened up and beautiful! There are a bunch of storage cabinets that will be removed and there is really a lot of space to work with. We'll have two sinks, a large tub, and a shower for two. We have picked out tiles for the floor, walls of wet area, and accent. We know what kind of toilet, sinks etc, but don't have exact models yet.

We'll be living downstairs in the "rumpus" room for quite a while, I think.




When I get some of the architect's sketches, I'll post them to give a better idea of what we are doing.

We had a great tutorial on lighting this weekend. I knew lighting was important for tasks, and that the right fixture can make a room, decor-wise. What I learned is how a space can be transformed with the right kind of lighting. Suzanne did an amazing job showing us what we need in terms of lighting. She also showed us where we should have art and what kinds of pieces in each space. We have been wanting to invest in some art, but didn't really know what we wanted or where to begin. Now we know what will be best in our new house and we are eager to begin our search!