Okay, so I think I probably should have not gotten exempted from my Oral communications class. 🙂 Matt & I had a blow-up earlier in the day and it all revolved around a word: car(t). Basically, I was at the World (our slang) and I was frazzled that (i) I had so much shit with me and no one volunteering to help with baggage (ii) a customer service person who was just scanning items & who seemed content with letting my shit pile all over the counter, etc. So, I buzzed Matt and told him to bring a second cart into the store. I figured I’d see him in less than a minute. When I didn’t, I told the “scanner” to pause while I ran out of the store to retrieve a different previously-requested cart. However, this cart was messed up because some customer couldn’t be bothered with cleaning up a mess of crushed strawberries that were all over the cart (slight exaggeration. Point is, I didn’t discover the crushed strawberries part till I was back in the store and ready to stash my goodies). So, I’m feeling slightly more frazzled than I should be. I pay for the stuff and get out of the store. And ready to war with M as to why he didn’t respond to my S.O.S. By my admission and his earnest remonstrations, I was wrong for blowing the issue out of proportion. I said “cart,” but he heard “car” so he drove around looking for me. Needless to say, he couldn’t have found me because I was inside and not outside the store. Knowing when to eat humble pie is a pre-requisite for marriage and I did it very willingly this time. Being the sweet man that he is, he didn’t rub it in too much and even apologized for rising to the bait of my spiked words. It’s truly weird how little stuff can bug the beejeezus out of me sometimes.
I got to talk with my parents and two of my brothers today (Donald and ben). Man, just hearing their voices, at the right time(s), makes me want to just Go Home. Of course, I have a figurative home here and now with my husband. However, I know that my real home is in Nigeria. As my mil let me know, her casa is also my casa and I do cherish her warmth & sincerity. I honestly couldn’t have asked for more real in-laws. From a sister who point-blank-“edly” asked me & M the baby question (lol) to M’s sisters who are so fun to be around, life is looking up. Despite my kvetching about the living situation, I think with a more positive outlook, my health (mostly mind) will soar through the roof. Work is going although I had been plagued by a certain experiment not working.
Seriously, I repeated this experiment (which is a biological version of cutting and pasting things out on a DNA level) over 4 times now. The first two were theoretically my fault. However, I am doubting that I had ever slipped up because my main supervisor took over the reins and the darned thing didn’t work either!! Well, my supervisor is one who knows her stuff and takes pride in the quality of her work. So much so that she can definitively rule out issues of error on her part or her reagents. So, to make this long story short, I’d been feeling pretty bad that this “simple” experiment had failed to work. Being the kind of person she is, it’s safe to say I’ve heard my fair share of subtle nods as to questions of competency a la alluding to the fact that others other than me and maybe “less” experienced have had phenomenal success. I’m a “the buck stops with me” kinda person and sometimes, I just need to trust in myself that if I did all I was supposed to do, then the shit did not hit the fan while I was on duty. Ergo, I cannot take the blame. Anyway, she thinks she’s narrowed the problem down. I think I know what else I can do to ease my heartache/bruised ego: positive & negative controls. See, in science, for your work to be publishable, you need your work to be reproducible and free of doubt or questions of it being a fluke. For instance, if you are doing a digest of DNA (digest means you’re using enzymes to cut DNA strands in specific places), your “positive” control would mean you would set up a reaction where you would expect your DNA to be digested. For your samples, you can posit as to whether their DNA will be cut or not. Your “negative” control will be a reaction where you would not expect your DNA to be digested. In a nutshell, you would need to control for the variables in the experiment: DNA and your restriction enzymes doing the digestion. I know I’m doing a crappy job, but this is the best I can come up with. When I’m less lazy, I’ll put up links that explain what I’m trying to convey to you. Back to my original point, I will essentially be including positive and negative controls this time. And will be keeping my fingers crossed. That’s all for now and have a good weekend folks. PS: I love Athens, but on game days, people just lose good manners. Sheesh.