Conversation in a taxi

Sat night going to lab, I get in a cab and have the following exchange:

Taxi driver: huh, do you have beer bottles?

Me: oh you mean the clanking noise you just heard? Ha, no those are jam jars I saved for lab

Driver: (doubtful expression) Yeah, right (and probably thinking who in their right mind saves jam jars and further, carts them to lab on Sat night)

Me: no seriously, I'm not having a party in lab tonight. They're for storing immunohistochemistry samples.

Driver: (clearly unconvinced) immuno what?

Me: never mind...

My life is so exciting! Party in lab with jam jars!!! I should have just gone along with the beer bottle story. :)

Good and Bad

First the bad, to get it out of the way: I am in a research slump. My project has taken a turn (or it has yet to take a turn and is sinking deeper and deeper into thick, thick mud), and I have yet to figure out what the heck I'm doing. Yes, and I am 6 months in...and I feel incompetent. Worse still, our study cards are due soon and I have a 1% lingering fear that my dream of becoming a medical oncologist is the wrong decision. So instead, I feel a compulsion to do one last clinical rotation before applying this year and "rule out" the 1% option. Sigh. So much introspection to do. I need to be honest with myself here. I find myself fantasizing about not only an array of medical specialties, but also other professions...like creating my own healthy food/drink line a la Honest Teas, or going the PhD/MD/JD/etc to bakery/restauranteur route. I think creating food is my stress outlet.

Now on the good, and I'm grasping at straws here compared to the weighty "bad" stuff I just detailed. It hit a record high today and it was lovely outside. I am on a smoothie kick and just enjoyed a carrot-apple-yogurt  smoothie tonight after having a peanut butter-banana-soy milk one for breakfast. I have a meeting with my medical school adviser tomorrow and am optimistic that we'll be able to sort some of life out, even if it's just logistical scheduling. I saw the dentist for the umpteenth time today to repair my tooth, and while today was not the day, I realize that I'm so lucky to have found this dentist. He is perfectionist as well as kind and incredibly patient and wants a great result as much as I do. Man, you just do not get this in health care these days any more.

Oops!

Labmate (out of the blue): tomorrow we are having the ultrasound

Me (absentmindedly): oh great. You mean you are ultrasounding the mouse tumors

Labmate: no! My wife is getting her ultrasound of the baby!

Me (with sudden realization and turning red): right...she's pregnant! This is your prenatal ultrasound!

Labmate (teasingly): yeah not everything is about mice

Hmm...

Scientists know how to have fun too...dancing tonight (with plenty of EtOH) to pop music from the 90s. It's like being in a college frat dance party, complete with DJ, lights out, and big plastic cups with cheap beer. Lovely.

How people in science see each other

From Matushiq   Thanks! Gave many members in our lab a laugh.