Day Five Hundred Seventy Eight

Recruitment weekend = free dinner at County Line BBQ. I love recruitment weekend.

Day Five Hundred Seventy Seven

Ahhhhhhh, Friday. It's always such a relief to finally have the weekend (especially after an exhausting week like this one). Today was the first day this week where I didn't have to always be jumping and running somewhere. I graded papers, took a trip down 90s-pop-music-memory-lane with my lab mate (can you say Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls music videos?!), and helped kick off this year's first grad student recruitment weekend for the Chem department. I'm also happy to report that my sliced finger is doing better - especially since this was the situation yesterday:

Apparently the nurse wanted to make sure people in outer space could see I had hurt my finger. Seriously, was that much gauze really necessary? I had to go teach a lab with that on, which was super fun. Most girls guessed correctly that I had cut myself cooking, while most guys didn't care how I hurt it and just wanted to know if I cut a portion of my finger off.

Another thing that happened today? A free-for-all with old lost and found stuff. The undergrad office emailed the following to all of the chemistry grad students - 

And it took less than 2 minutes for total madness to ensue (which I was most definitely a part of). There were students sprinting down the hallway to try and get there before all the good stuff was gone, and it was the most ridiculous looking thing ever. I made out with a North Face jacket (yeah!) while Mindy found a leather jacket that somehow perfectly fit her. And we both got umbrellas. Overall, not a bad haul if I do say so myself.

Tomorrow...let the grading marathon begin. At least I'll get treated to a free dinner at County Line (mmmm, delicious BBQ) courtesy of recruitment weekend.

Day Five Hundred Seventy Five

Today, I got to experience that wonderful moment of preparing dinner and watching in seemingly-slow-motion as my knife slipped and sliced my finger. So that was fun. I have to say though, I am most impressed with my bandaid wrapping.

Day Five Hundred Seventy Four

Happy birthday to my wonderful Austin mom, Louise! I love you and hope you had a wonderful day. Thank you for including me in your birthday dinner and not making fun of the fact that when I ordered the grilled half chicken, I literally ended up with half a bird. Those fancy restaurants get me every time.

Day Five Hundred Seventy Three

When I first started grad school, the powers that be told me to enjoy my first year, because it would be the most free time I would have during my grad school career. I thought, "they must be kidding, I feel like I have barely any time to myself, and my brain is constantly frazzled." Well, to my disappointment, it turns out they were right. They were so right. Here I am, spring semester of my second year, and I don't think I've ever been so busy. Taking two classes (which are accompanied by insane lab reports and exams), teaching two classes (accompanied by roughly 15 hours of grading a week), and trying to maintain some semblance of research...it's not easy. And often barely even doable. But you know what's funny? I feel less stressed than I did my first year. Maybe I've just finally adjusted to a new normal, or maybe I've just accepted my fate as a grad student. Regardless, it's a welcome change. For the record, I'm still stressed...but it's less and for the most part easier to handle, and I'll gladly accept that.

My impromptu blog hiatus was a result of me becoming a recluse for 4 days to study for a Cell Biology exam that I took this morning. Don't ask me how it went, because I don't know. I hope it went well, everyone cross your fingers for me. After studying solid for 3 months to prepare for qualifying exams this past Fall, studying in silence for 4 days and only leaving my house to go grocery shopping actually didn't feel like a big deal. Well, that's a little lie, I also went to a UT baseball game this past weekend, but was so nervous about this upcoming exam that I took all my study material with me and highlighted notes as I watched the game (see, not stress free, but stress free enough to at least go enjoy some nice weather and some baseball). We won the game and I got to enjoy it from box seats courtesy of a friend of the Avants who was sweet enough to share her suite tickets with us. Thank you, Deb! I had a wonderful time, and felt like baseball royalty. Here are some photos -- 

The view from our sweet suite seats.

My wonderful Austin family, the Avants. I love you all!

Day Five Hundred Sixty Eight

In direct contrast to yesterday's excitement, today I spent 7 hours finishing up a lab report that's due tomorrow. This prof wasn't kidding when she told us it'll take roughly 20 hours to write each report...I'm pretty sure I've clocked more than that on both of my two reports so far.

Now that this report is behind me, I get to jump directly in to studying for a huge Cell Biology exam this coming Monday! Sometimes, grad school is just more fun than I can handle. Lab students of mine, be gentle with me tomorrow. Let your frazzled TA rest.

Day Five Hundred Sixty Seven

Today was officially the most ridiculous day of my time in Texas thus far. And for those of you who have followed my adventure that has been graduate school, you know that this is really saying something.

It all started this morning, when I was planning on going to campus early to try and get a parking spot (weekday baseball games = half the student lots are closed) but didn't due to lack of sleep last night. Turns out I would have gotten nowhere fast anyway due to the 9-car-pileup on the highway. What?! It's not even raining or snowing or glaring sun or anything. So as I'm getting ready to go sit in the inevitable traffic, I get a string of frantic text messages from my labmate that all of the power has gone out in Welch Hall (the chemistry building). For those of you who don't know, power outages in chemistry buildings are bad. Like, really really really bad. Fume hoods need power to run and safely suck toxic chemicals out of the room. Without power, those toxic chemicals start to backdraft out of the fumehood and into the lab, making things smell very weird and making grad students working in those labs very nervous. Also, we have lasers in our lab. Lasers that get very upset (and dangerous) without power to keep them cooled. 

Come to find out, UT is undergoing a campus-wide power outage. Not a short power-outage, but a lets-argue-with-Austin-Power-Company hour and a half long power outage. About 20 minutes in to it, Welch Hall underwent emergency evacuation due to malfunctioning fumehoods (among other things). All of the doors were barricaded by either police officers or environmental health officials for the next hour, and it was weird. Some grad students tried to sneak back in (it didn't work, they got escorted right back out.....but come on we have to get RESEARCH DONE), others just brought their pipettes and samples and sat on the sidewalk to continue working (this isn't even a joke, I would have taken a photo if it didn't seem so creepy).

As if this wasn't enough for the day, there was also not one, but two bomb threats right next to campus that happened to coincide with said power outage. As far as we all know, they weren't related, though it seems like an eerie coincidence.

And that, my friends, was my Tuesday. I dare you to try and one up that. I just dare you.



PS - The power outage ignited a reach stream of Twitter humor. Search #UTPowerOutage2015 for a good laugh.

Day Five Hundred Sixty Four

Happy end of Valentine's Day! Ahhh, the day where it's never more apparent that you don't have a significant other in your life. I spent the day on the couch by myself grading papers (for 9 hours.....) and watching Netflix. Next Valentine's Day is going to have a tough time topping this one. BUT, I do have wonderful parents who send me valentines goodies in the mail (mmmmm...ginger snaps) and adoptive Austin parents who surprise me with their own valentines gift. I love you all. You make my world brighter.

The weekend is already halfway over, and I'm still exhausted from last week. And I have to start a new work week in 36 hours?! No. I'm sorry, no. Work week, you'll just have to calm down and let the weekend last a little longer. We'll all be better off for it.

Day Five Hundred Sixty One

I bought pepper spray today. I thought it would be an intimidating addition to my keychain while also helping to keep me safe. Little did I know that the only pepper spray keychains the Co-op on campus sells are called "Dazzle Defenders" and are decorated with a cheetah print design. It's certainly fierce looking, but not in the way I was expecting. I've been thinking about buying one of these keychains for a while now, being a young female in a big city, but what pushed me over the edge was a creeper at our apartment complex that followed my roommate to our front door yesterday. I dare you to try that on me, sir. I dare you. You'll get mace-faced.

Today was another tiring day of school, with class, work, and a 4 hour optics lab (uuuuugh). It ended on a good note though, with an evening bible study with my small group from church. I was also surprised with boxes from my parents and aunt and uncle! Family, you're the best. Nothing says "I love you even in spite of your vices" like ginger snaps and a Chick-Fil-A gift card (among some other equally wonderful things). I looked at the serving size for the ginger snaps......one cookie. Well that's just foolish. And in my case, impossible.

Day Five Hundred Fifty Eight

The weekend is over, and that makes me sad. It isn't even Monday yet and I already have a case of the Mondays.....that can't be a good sign. At least it was a fairly relaxing weekend, full of reading and leisurely grading and a trip to the Austin Zoo. Yay zoo! I got to feed llamas and cute little deer, so that was downright wonderful. And see leopards and lions and tigers and baby bears (oh my!), as well as some very loud birds. Very loud.

My Sunday night ended with a late jaunt to the airport to pick up my roommate. Her flight status said delayed until 10:31pm, until I refreshed the webpage at 10:00pm and saw that the status had just been updated to an arrival time of 10:01pm. Not cool, US Airways. Why you gotta give me such late notice and make me frantically run to my car in my sweatpants?

Tomorrow I teach lab. So far, the broken glassware count is already up to one (let it be noted that we've only had one week of lab...), so I'm intrigued to see what goes crashing to the floor this week. My hearing has become especially sensitive to when people whisper "oops...", so students, don't even try and hide things from me. I hear everything.

Day Five Hundred Fifty Six

This week was exhausting. Not in a bad way, just an.....exhausting way. My brain is gone. Goodnight.

Day Five Hundred Fifty Two

Today was remarkably busy. First was class, then I continued data analysis on the lab-report-that-never-ends, then taught lab, then went out to eat at Raising Cain, then went to book club. Whew! This was my first trip to Raising Cain, a fast food place that only serves chicken strips, and oh my gosh it was so good. Whataburger, you know I love you, but you have serious competition now. And I even beat the dinner time rush thanks to my lab students being rock stars and finishing lab 30 minutes early. Efficiency is my favorite, well done students. Well done.

Book club this month was about the most recent Veronica Mars novel (yes, it's now a novel series too). The coolest part of the meeting? The author was there! It was so awesome being able to discuss plot lines and why certain things happened with the person responsible for writing it all. At one point I mentioned I was a grad student at UT in analytical chemistry, to which the lady next to me responded "you're kidding... I graduated from UT in 1996 with my PhD in analytical chemistry." No joke. It was a rather epic moment. We discussed professors (most are the same) and where things lead after grad school (or in my case, where I hope things lead). It was a very unexpected conversation, and I loved it.

We don't need to talk about the game yesterday. All I'll say is - I still love my Russell Wilson and my Seahawks. And I have a surplus of Skittles if anyone wants some. Cause we all need a little Beast Mode every once in a while.