Me wanty... beer.. bleh....

Beer is good. Especially during those times of one's life of extreme stress whether that be right after / before a particularly hard climb, taking that one hard final exam as a student, or in my case this week a site visit from NIH for a 5 year resource grant to my lab. An oversimplified analogy I often give my non-science buddies is "it's like a scientific audit by the government...". Yeah - it's that painful and mind boggling that you just want to rip your brain out through your ocular cavities just so you have a good reason to stop thinking of the details on how best to present your data.

So this week, the day before the site visit I decided that I needed to come in refreshed for the big day. I figured after spending numerous 10 - 12 hour days for a couple of weeks, I should go to the oncampus pub for dinner and few beers. Mmm... how lovely - the entire length of the walk that I staggered to the front doors I thought about what to order. A nice smokey porter? A dark rich stout? Maybe a sharp red? So many to choose from.

I should have gotten the hint when I noticed obstacles in my path to my ambrosia. When I neared the pub, I noticed some construction that forced me to go off the pavement and walk through the eucalyptus trees. No matter - easily done. Then I started tripping over my own feet in the failing light as a I neared the doors. Whatever - I'm just tired.

And then, my heart sank.

The pub was dark. It was closed. IT WAS SPRING BREAK FOR THE STUDENT RUN PUB!

I tried the door a couple of times to make sure my brain hadn't failed to interpret what I was seeing correctly. It was. And I was sad. :(

So I staggered and tripped all the way back to my lab to work another hour and a half. I decided to try to make the best of the situation and let my work numb my brain instead of the expected alcoholic imbibements I just wanted before the gov't arrived. Let me just say that letting your brain soak up work instead of alcohol to relax isn't anywhere near as refreshing.

Speaking guidelines

I often have problems knowing the right thing to say, when to say it and how to say it. It often comes at times when someone is feeling vulnerable and wants to talk... the worst time to say something inappropriate!

I was listening to my Zencast podcast the other day and the speaker, Gil Fronsdale, suggested 4 rules to ask before speaking:

1) Is it kind?
2) Is it helpful?
3) Is it true?
4) Is it timely?

I suppose the trick here is to know if what you are saying is honestly kind, helpful, true or timely, but it's still a good guideline to keep.

$1.50 to a gyro

I had lunch with Eitetsu today during my lunch break and a random conversation with him made me laugh. It went like this:

Eitetsu: "How's your gyro?"
Obi: "...."
(Obi's mind: "I think the Euro is doing quite well these days. In fact, I think it's about 1 Euro to $1.50, which sucks when travelling in Europe. Could be good to stock up on their currency though. That or gold. Gold's useful - like when you use it to align the tilt series in electron tomography. Since those are only 10 nm gold particles, a bar of gold would last me a long time if I ever wanted to make my own immunogold for labelling. Speaking of, I should probably get back to work soon. Why is Eitetsu asking me about Europe's financial market? ... Oh... he meant 'gyro' and not 'Euro'. That's funny. They sound the same")
Obi: *chuckle*
Obi: "I thought you said 'Euro' instead of 'gyro'"

And that's what I muse about during my lunch break.