Wednesday, August 13, 2008

New format

On the advice of a friend, I just ported my blog over to Wordpress. It's much more customizable; the themes are prettier; and I just plain like it.

I'll keep this site up, but why not mosey on over and see what I've been up to lately.

[Update: You'll be automatically redirected. Just FYI. This message will self-destruct in 6 seconds.]

This is just to say...


...that Montana is awesome.



I spent 10 days hiking around Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons.

Highlights included:
-Climbing to the very top of a snow-laden trail. (Snow! In August!)
-Elk grazing on the front lawn of our hotel.
-Being chased by an enraged mother bison. Those things can move.
-Old Faithful. The lady behind me asked a ranger if the 'stremely accurate timing was "controlled by someone."
-Huckleberry ice cream, which has replaced Canadian Maple Walnut as my Flavor of the Month.
-"Caulk your wagons and float" down the Snake River. Ah, the postmodern pastiche of comparing a real-life experience to a twenty-year-old computer game.
-Generating all the Vitamin D I'll need to tide me over for another year of living in the library. (Almost literally! The second-year classroom is on the fourth floor of said library, and my room is across the street. Hey, at least the commute is non-existent.)

Friday, August 1, 2008

Last day of work

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

It's a slow day here. Kind of sad to think it's my last one. Although I'm glad my only major project for this week, a presentation on vaccines for substance abuse, went off without a hitch. I am nervous about public speaking, but when one of the other interns tried to steal my thunder with a question that turned into a soliloquy on political ideology, I stole it right back, got everyone back on track, and finished with a bang. (Thunderclap? This analogy is dead.)

Putting together the presentation was pretty cool, though. Basically, antibodies "soak up" the cocaine/nicotine/meth and keep it from crossing the blood-brain barrier. Result: no high. It was all fMRIs and mouse studies and made me realize how absolutely awesome neuro is. It was probably the best class of first year. Even if I did fall asleep during the last exam.

But the absolute coolest part about putting together this presentation was doing the handout, for which I had to haul out the scissors for some old-school cutting and pasting. (Well, taping, but you know what I mean.) I've never done real life cut-and-paste before. You have to think about orientation and spacing! You can't just resize images! It was ... surreal.