CONFLICT

I am ashamed to tell you this. I signed up to walk for the Walkamerica 2007 organized by March of Dimes. I did this walk last year too. And although I had many complaints about how it was run, I sure slept easy that night. But dont get me wrong. Thats not what Im ashamed of.

The plot thickens. On April 29th, Chris Cornell is performing in Austin. Entry is a mere 25 bucks. I bought tickets only to realise in a bit that Im double booked for April 29th!! Neo-nates want me to walk for the march of dimes. But I want me to scream my head off 10 feet from temple goodness. What should I do? For most of you, there wouldnt even be a conflict of interest. "Do the walk!!" you will exclaim without hesitation. But I'm inclined to drive to Austin, sample the 6th street vibe on a Saturday night and top it off with a sunday spent in the midst of Seattle's best (not coffee). So sue me!!

THERE IS A GOD!

There is a God, and he loves me!! Just when a turnaround seemed impossible, it happened. All those hours spent counting interneurons in my knock out mouse embryos and testing the statistical significance of trends in the numbers, may indeed bear fruit yet. Someone once told me that roughly 95 % of all data generated in basic science laboratories is left unreported. That may be because somebody beats you to it, or that the data just don't form a story that people want to hear. In rare cases, it may be because of inter-lab politics. I was about to write a eulogy for one such piece of data I painstakingly collected, but easter saw its resurrection. It may just see the light of day, as a tiny graph in a paper. A figure thats costs us 600 dollars to get published :(

I am beginning to recollect what its like to discover something. To know something nobody else in this world knows (hopefully). To know that I helped push back the boundary of darkness even if it was by mere inches. To know that one day, if we can treat paraplegics with cultured motor neurons, someone may feel the need to induce repressors of the tetramer prompted by my discovery. I know... seems really small in the scheme of things. One small step for mankind.

Jorge Cham

This one is dedicated to his genius. I'm sure a lot of you have never heard of him. And if you have, you probably heard something like, "So, is it pronounced whore-hey? Or just George?" Others will know him as the creator of phdcomics.

Next time I have a grad school-related setback, I should remember to go straight to Jorge for help. I struggled with my recent consecutive scoops for quite a while. Then I stumbled upon these:

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=789

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=794

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=795

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=796

In a matter of minutes, Jorge did what several hours of therapy with friends didn't achieve. (Sorry, DP. You know you're the best!!) He just gets me. I can't believe I blew a chance of meeting him. If you're wondering what to get for my next birthday DP, buy a big roll of wrapping paper. I hear Jorge is a largeish size for an Asian (This reminds me so much of Maria's gift-wrapped Rohan.. hehe)