Update: July 2008

I wasn't planning on having another update post this month, but alas I slacking on my blogging again. It is easier for me to write a post about me and what is going on in my life than it is for me to compose something more thought out. I still have a few posts brewing, but every time I sit down to write them I get frustrated with the incoherency of my thoughts. I think what I really need are a few old-fashioned high school brain storming sessions. Majoring in a science has not helped with my creative writing ability...

In any case, for me this month (and next month?) is about meeting a few athletic goals:

1. I want to run 3 miles at a 9:30 minute/mile pace. I know that's pretty slow for some of my friends, but since I haven't run competitively since high school its a good goal for me. As soon as I get to that goal I am going to start running with a local running club called the Daybreakers. They meet at 5:00am... but I know if I start running with them I will be motivated to boost my pace and my mileage. I am logging my runs here (click "View my training log" at the top).



2. I want to be able to do 100 push ups. This is to help me build upper body strength... since I really don't have any. The four athletic activities I do most often are running, hiking, biking, and yoga - none of which help my arms out at all (well yoga may help a little). I used to swim a lot, but lately I have been more into my land-based workouts, so to balance it out I am going to do pushups! I was inspired by a user group forum at runningahead.com. My workout program can be found here if you want to join me.

Besides working out this month I have been working in the lab, a lot. Research is still going well, though, and I am excited to be starting a new project where I will be using a virus to trace axons within the brain. Its great because I get to integrate my passion for molecular biology and my love for neuroscience into one awesome experimental set up.

Somehow this month I have also found time for fun! You can ask any of the people I spent the 4th with about that. Maybe I had a little too much fun... but hey, we all need a little break sometimes, right?

Plans

I know, I know: I have been delinquent in posting. As anyone in school knows, its a crazy time of the semester. But its almost over!

This week I need to take a cell bio final, a neuropsych final, write a 15 pg lab report, analyze some data for an abstract for a conference, and turn in the abstract.

The 2 weeks after that I work as the personal assistant for a woman in the CMC development office. We are finishing the preparations for the CMC alumni weekend, then executing the weekend.

After that I spend the rest of my summer doing research. I am working in the lab that I have been in all year and continuing two separate experiments. Its going to be great because I will be running both experiments and have one helper (or minion) on each. Nicole will help me with the experiments involving a zebra finch brain region called CM while Alexis will help me with those involving mMAN. If all goes well we will be doing 4 experiments a week (two of each type) and by the end of the summer we will have enough data for two posters at the Society for Neuroscience conference and possibly enough data for two papers.

Oh, and my third summer job is caring for all of the animals in joint science. Plus I have to do jury duty sometime (ick).

In any case, my hope is that I will somehow have more time to write on this blog. Any topics you would like to see? I often sit down to write, can't think of anything to say, then get distracted and start stumbling. Not so productive... but oh so fun.