Update: June 2008

Well it is June 14^th and I haven’t posted since May, so I feel obliged to post a little update about my life and things coming soon (read: eventually) on this blog.

As far as the blog goes, I am working on a post about “intelligent design” in which I argue that it is bullshit and definitely not a scientific theory of any kind. Instead it is propaganda and an insult to intelligent people and to science. I am also going to post a few other things about my atheism and atheism in general. There will also be a revamped list of grad schools soon, I may post a draft of my personal statement, and maybe even a resume so I can get some feedback from you all if possible. Plus, you know, anything I think of randomly or find interesting online. If I manage to remember to post, that is.

And as far as my life in the last month? I worked as an intern for CMC alumni relations from the time school got out until June 1^st when alumni weekend was over. It was a great time. I met a man named Dan Vadala who graduated in 1948 (CMC was founded in 1946!!) as a ‘pacesetter.’ Pacesetters were CMC’s first students who came back from the war and went back to school. They only took 2-3 years to graduate because they had already taken some classes before fighting in WWII, and their education was paid for by the GI bill. Vadala stayed in the dorms during the weekend and enjoyed the parties.

Which reminds me, CMC alums are boozers. I swear the alums are bigger alkies (alcoholics) than the current students. They were cracking me up with stories of the old days when they would play large-scale pranks almost every day. Plus, it was founded as a men’s school (it was originally called Claremont Men’s College and there were no women until 1976) so it was basically one big frat for the first 30 years. Luckily for them there was a women’s school (Scripps) right across the street and it was cute to learn that many of the alums were still married to Scripps alums. Overall it was a good time. I was totally busy all weekend from 9am to LATE at night, but they paid me well and the alums were great so it was worth it.

For the remainder of June I have been working at the Claremont-Scripps-Pitzer Joint Science Department. I’m in the same lab that I worked in during the school year doing research on vocal learning. Things have been going well. The goal has been to do two experiments a week as well as doing two lesions a week, and some histology. Of course we have been having some trouble maintaining that pace… but if we keep the goals high then even if we fail we still did plenty. I love it. I love science, I love doing science, I love talking about science, I love reading about science. It’s pretty much awesome.

What else? Hmm, pretty much nothing. I live in the lab (some days I work from 8am to 11pm). And if I’m not in the lab I’m hanging out with people from the lab. For example, Thursday night the lab went over to Prof. Coleman’s house (my mentor) and I have never laughed so hard. It was a great time.

Okay, more to come soon I swear, but that’s all for now.

Grad Schools I may Apply To

So I finished classes this morning then spent the rest of the day researching PhD programs in neuroscience. Here is the list of the programs I am looking at as of today:

(they are not listed in any particular order)

1. Mount Sinai
2. City of Hope
3. Harvard
4. Stanford
5. Yale
6. Duke
7. Columbia
8. Cornell
9. Dartmouth
10. Northwestern
11. Johns Hopkins
12. New York University
13. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
14. University of California San Deigo
15. University of California San Francisco
16. University of California Los Angeles
17. University of California Berkeley
18. University of Texas Southwestern
19. University of Michigan Ann Arbor
20. University of Washington
21. University of Chicago
22. University of Colorado Boulder
23. University of Washington St. Louis
24. University of Virginia
25. University of Wisconsin Madison
26. Medical College of Wisconsin
27. Georgetown University
28. Rockefeller University
29. Brandeis University

Is it ridiculous to apply to 29 schools?

My Favorite Song at the Moment

Kimya Dawson - Tree Hugger

The flower said, "I wish I was a tree,"
The tree said, "I wish I could be
A different kind of tree,
The cat wished that it was a bee,
The turtle wished that it could fly
Really high into the sky,
Over rooftops and then dive
Deep into the sea.

And in the sea there is a fish,
A fish that has a secret wish,
A wish to be a big cactus
With a pink flower on it.
And in the sea there is a fish,
A fish that has a secret wish,
A wish to be a big cactus
With a pink flower on it.

And the flower
Would be its offering
Of love to the desert.
And the desert,
So dry and lonely,
That the critters all
Appreciate the effort.

Et le jackalope a dit
Je voudrais être un yeti
Pour voler dans la nuit
Et m'en aller loin d'ici
Mais le yeti a dit
Je voudrais être un monstre marin
Pour pouvoir rentrer dans la mer
De tous les requins.

And the rattlesnake said,
"I wish I had hands so
I could hug you like a man."
And then the cactus said,
"But don't you understand,
My skin is covered with sharp spikes
That'll stab you like a thousand knives.
A hug would be nice,
But hug my flower with your eyes."

The flower said, "I wish I was a tree,"
The tree said, "I wish I could be
A different kind of tree,
The cat wished that it was a bee,
The turtle wished that it could fly
Really high into the sky,
Over rooftops and then dive
Deep into the sea.

And in the sea there is a fish,
A fish that has a secret wish,
A wish to be a big cactus
With a pink flower on it.
And in the sea there is a fish,
A fish that has a secret wish,
A wish to be a big cactus
With a pink flower on it.

And the flower
Would be its offering
Of love to the desert.
And the desert,
So dry and lonely,
That the critters all
Appreciate the effort.

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.

Another Quiz, this time: Religion

Which is the right religion for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Atheism You scored as atheism. You are... an atheist, though you probably already knew this. Also, you probably have several people praying daily for your soul. Instead of simply being "nonreligious," atheists strongly believe in the lack of existence of a higher being, or God. Atheism 80% Agnosticism 80% Satanism 75% Paganism 60% Buddhism 50% Hinduism 25% Confucianism 25% Christianity 15% Islam 10% Haruhism 5% Judaism 0%