Scott's MD-PhD Adventure

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Lily Allen Update

She's gonna be on SNL this weekend!

She's gonna be in Chicago on Thurs Feb 8! Who wants to go?

Friday, January 26, 2007

Janiece hearts Lili

Janiece: (4:04:56 PM) i've decided that your friend lili is the best person on the face of this earth. the chick rules

Monday, January 22, 2007

Potent Quotables

Two fun quotes from today.

New class, professor says (name protected for anonymity):
"One more thing, you absolutely get points off if you even once call me Dr. Lastname. You are going to be my junior colleagues, please call me Firstname. I don't believe in the hierarchical system...just remember I get to yell at you but you don't get to yell at me."

Seminar speaker, during lunch with graduate students:
"Be sure you do your postdoc in a different field. If you postdoc in your same area, pretty soon you know more and more about less and less, until you wind up knowing everything about nothing."

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Food!

Ina & I did a Stanley's/TJ's/Costco/Whole Foods trip yesterday. So I have my own weekly food plan!

Light & Fluffy Pancakes (with Stanley's cheap blackberries!)
Szechwan Carrot Soup
No-knead bread
Thai Chicken tenders (non-trademarked of course)
French Onion Soup
Orange Caper Chicken with Sweet Potatoes
Kheer!

Friday, January 19, 2007

Cheesehead

(to Leslie) Bob: Remember a long time ago when we fed the mice cheetos the day before we sacrificed them?
Me: When was this?
Bob: Early 90s. And when we cut them open to get the spleen, the intestines were all orange.
Me: Wow!
Lili: What is a cheeto?
Bob: An orange corn chip
Me: Like a little tube, the size of a marker cap kinda
Lili: That is the chip I see at Subway when I buy sandwich?
Me: Yes

Lili then told us stories about her postdoc friend's 13 year old daughter

Lili: She said "Do you think I have big head?" And I said "No! American people, their head is like this *gestures from nose to back of head* but Asian people, their head is like this *gestures from ear to ear*. But she said her class photo, her head is the biggest! And I told her it's cause you have head that is Asian!

Lili: I bought the shirt that is like yours
Bob: Sweatshirt?
Lili: Yes. And it has a gap.
Bob: It says "The Gap"?
Lili: Yes, and she says she wants a shirt with a gap because she gets shirts that are pretty but not American.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Product Whores

MDs get pharmaecutical reps.
PhDs get product reps, aka product whores.

This woman is here being super friendly, and giving us free samples of some midi purification kit. "It's better than a Qiagen maxi kit! And it's cheaper!"

Imagine an Apprentice contestant. That's the bullshit she's spouting. Palash has no idea she's fake, so unfortunately he's engaging her.

"I just moved here from St. Louis! St. louis is SUPER FRIENDLY! SUPER SPORTY!! It's very
brusque here in Chicago!"

Super Efficient

Lili got her MD in China and PhD in Japan.

Bob: Hi double doctor.
Lili: What?
Bob: I am single doctor. Scott is almost to be double doctor, you are double doctor.
Lili: It seems...I am...super?

Lili's ligase arrived at 2pm, after Bob placed the order yesterday at like noon.

Bob: Wow, it's here already? I just ordered it.
Lili: This...company...certainly...should make money! Because...they are efficient!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Black Don't Crack

Yesterday I had my cells sorted in the basement. The woman who runs the facility is black, probably in her early to mid 50s.

Today...
Lili: Did you know the woman down there has grandchildren?
Me: That's not surprising.
Lili: Well, usually I cannot tell when the person is African-American how old.
Me: Yeah, African-Americans don't really age as noticeably.
Lili: She has picture I think from 70s with her child!
Me: Ok?
Lili: I first thought she was just 40. But she has grandchildren. She must be in 50s!
Me: Yeah, I figured that, she's probably in her early 50s.
Lili: You can tell?
Me: Yes, I could tell.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Blessed & Proud

American Idol is back soon, and there's an interview/story in EW:
"This year, they're planning a national songwriting contest to determine a winning single; the competition, which is not yet finalized, is slated to be open to anyone — signed or unsigned — who submits a tune to a to-be-named website."

It also mentions how Simon Cowell unsurprisingly hates all of the shitty songs the final winner sings & releases as a single. What does he think about this contest and what potential crap random losers will come up with?

"It's no skin off my nose," he shrugs, "but if I hate [the song] I'm going to say it." Why do we have a sinking suspicion he's not going to love the songs America comes up with? "I guarantee the songs submitted will have the words blessed and proud in them. 'I'm blessed to be proud.' 'I'm proud to be blessed'."

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Not Big

I was reading some Top 10 Albums of the Year lists, and I discovered this British woman named Lily Allen. She's kinda sorta a British Pink with her lyrics, although the music is much more fun and laid back. I highly recommend it! :)

My current favorite is Not Big:

I never wanted it to end up this way
You've only got yourself to blame
I'm gonna tell the world you're rubbish in bed now
And that you're small in the game

So you thought this was gonna be easy? Well, you're outta luck.
Yeah lets rewind, lets turn back time to when you couldn't get it up
You know what I shoulda ended it then, that's when I shoulda shown you the door
As if that weren't enough to deal with, you became premature