Category: School

  • One Step Closer to Brain Ships

    One Step Closer to Brain Ships

    Who hasn’t read a science fiction story involving brain implants that allow the characters to control computer interfaces? The best known, I suspect, at least to me, is the Brain Ship series, where severely physically disabled people get the chance to have adventures through their interface with a starship. Now, current science has made strides…

  • Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho!

    Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho!

    It’s off to work I go! Finally, after months of looking and waiting for the right job, I’ve got one. I’m a bit nervous, quite excited, and will likely be tired for a week or so until I adjust to the new routine. I’ll be working as a laboratory technician, conducting microbiology tests for quality…

  • Day One of Homeschool

    Day One of Homeschool

    We moved recently, as most of you likely know. And I have two teens and a pre-teen in the house. So moving meant changing school districts, because we were unable to find a place to rent in the town we lived in (I’ll rant on that in another post). I didn’t want to do it,…

  • The Last Class

    The Last Class

    I’ve been marking these milestones, for the last week or so now. I’m so close… today was the last class I sat in, the last lecture for the degree, the last exam review. Molecular techniques, if you were wondering about the topic, and he told us about how gene manipulation is carried out real-world (something…

  • 12 More Days

    12 More Days

    Twelve more days until the end. Class days, that is, and counting today, until I am finished with this long, strange journey that began four and a half years ago. Well, perhaps it began much, much further into the past. I’m not sure the degree I’m earning was even an option, back in August 1995…

  • Transitions

    Transitions

    After the last week of intense pressure, preceded by a couple of weeks that were nearly at that level, I find myself in transition. It’s not just the loss of pressure – I do have many, many other pressing projects that I must now list, prioritize, and begin to implement. It’s also the loss of…

  • Kidney Function

    Kidney Function

    So, it’s finals week. I’d planned a book review, but instead I needed to rehearse an essay for the physiology exam today. Which I thought I’d share here. Because… oh, no reason. More than most of you ever wanted to know about what does, and doesn’t, go into your pee. If you want fun animations…

  • Gel Electrophoresis

    Gel Electrophoresis

    Purpose: DNA is negatively charged, so when fragments of it are subjected to an electrical current, they will migrate away from the negative pole and toward the positive. This principle allows the sorting of DNA fragments by size in an agarose gel, as smaller fragments will move faster than larger ones. By using a molecular…

  • Rambling in the Trees

    Rambling in the Trees

    When adding a dilutant to your coffee, you should check your cup to ensure that you have not already added your dilutant of choice. Given that this morning, mine was hot cocoa mix, I narrowly escaped death by chocolate. I’m sitting here checking my homework for two classes. In Molecular Techniques, I need to prepare…

  • There’s a light

    There’s a light

    I met with my college advisor yesterday – for those of you who are here for the fiction, this is a personal life update, sorry. She went over my transcripts and requirements with me, and confirmed that I am on track to graduate in December. We talked about what my senior capstone can be (whatever…

  • Hiatus

    Hiatus

    I’m not dead yet! I’ll get better! I just have a lot of homework. Really a lot and that means no time to think, and I am pretty sure you all aren’t interested in how to set up PCR primers or how to access a UNIX database and set up directories and files and more……

  • A Matter of Scheduling

    A Matter of Scheduling

    I am in the throes of getting ready for Finals – the first exam is tomorrow afternoon – and have about three projects due tomorrow and tonight. So this will be brief. The First Reader asked me when I came in from Math class, after I’d informed him I will be eating, drinking, and breathing…