What's a Grad Student to do?

What's a grad student in distress to do? What do I do when nothing works until it DOES?

If I had to describe my job in 6 words they would be: I Move Tiny Invisible Crap Around.

If I got 6 more words after that, they'd be: What the heck is that number?

Ahh, research. It's a singular pleasure to come into work every day and spend a few hours setting up an experiment, wait for 20 minutes to get the result, spend an hour or more doing "digital arts and crafts" (or what they call Analysis), to find out: I screwed it up. Damn, that long list of numbers with lots of zeros and dots didn't make a pretty picture. Even if I put this column here and swap it with that row over there...still it's not a nice picture.

My job involves a little math, and stellar memory (was it A4 or A3? Where did I put that tube of stuff that looks exactly like every other tube of stuff on my bench that I forgot to label, but is really important to keep separate? What is the molecular weight of DMSO?) and a steady hand. Too many cups of coffee, one moment of distraction by Ani lyrics and the results can be disastrous. I think today I tried to do too much at once and it slowed down the whole process enough to screw up the results. Damn enzymes.

So what do I do when it's 4:15 in the afternoon and all my pipetting and waiting and centrifuging and basic algebra has resulted in a bunch of dots on a graph and no line going through them? I need to start the experiment over, but that would require me to be HERE in my LAB until 9 pm. I guess if I had nothing better going on--you know, a nice house to go to, or doggies or Girl Scout obligations --then that would be alright, but I guess I'm a bad student. (ok, if I only had Girl Scout obligations then maybe I'd be freeze-thawing some livers now). No, I do what I suspect lots of students do...I seek comfort in my favorite blog. Every one has one.

By 4:15 this afternoon I had already exhausted my regular haunts and instead found comfort in the chonga girls. Seriously, do you remember them? Well, if you're NOT from Miami, you certainly don't. Check out this video. Do it, it makes me laugh so hard. And maybe after watching it you'll understand just a bit more about what I'm really going through here (and notice that they mention Calle Ocho! woo! That's where I live!)

THE CHONGA GIRLS

and while you're at it: check out their blog. Pretty hilarious but they have a distinct...ghetto...sort of writing style. iF yOu CAn ReAd THiS thEn Ul B oK.