silly thoughts

HAHA, I am so not a morning person but I just got the best joke in the world in my head. Watching Charmed. haha. I'm like Phoebe.... sort of.

haha.

an no-one will understand..... poor me.*

:D

time to go to work and fix that talk! Wonderful what a little sleep and some messing about with it can do. Thanks for all the support last night. It helped a lot!

*question is, will I still find it funny after coffee?

ducks....

Really? Ducks are tied with Red Wings? I guess this would be the impossible solution.... the Leafs are gone... the Canucks lost... and now, the back up are maybe loosing to.... THE DUCKS?!?!? Of all teams in the world, seriously?!?!

I think the world is about to freeze over. At least it feels like that with those signs!

(not to mention the fact that I am wide awake at 1.30 am after trying to sleep and only dream about work... stress indeed... - end of rant. time to try and sleep. although I am a bit hungry too.. hmm.... warm milk maybe?!)

It’s over….

They lost yesterday. It didn’t matter that they were in the lead with 5-4 with 7 mins to go…. Not when Chicago put three more goals in … I guess this means that my love, my hope for this relashiopnship is over. I will move over to the backup. Enjoying the cheating, after all – they are the only ones left… I have to keep the fire somehow, right?!

With that I end up with a few other notes. 1 in 4 of the Swedes cheat* on their significant other with someone at work. 1 in 3 of the Finns. (*actually I think it said 1 in 5 have had sex with someone at work but then they coupled it with how many were in a relashionship at the time). Some pointers to look for;
Spending a lot of time at work with late hours.
Not allowing the SO to join conferences.
Not letting the SO go to work parties anymore.

Anyone else feel like it could be a description of just a life of an average scientist? Long hours, check. Going on conferences where the SO might not have so much fun, check. Work parties? With scientists? Where the SO will have fun. Sure….

Ah well, it is time to go to work and not mope about hockey. Sad day though. I truly think Sundin will quit, maybe that would be the best?! And he and his girl friend (really, what do you call it when both parties are over 25 years of age?) can start their lovely life in LA or wherever they might settle down…. And no, of course not jealous… not at all. Pah. Ridiculous. Who would want to be independently wealthy and have a fan base of a few thousands and be able to do what you want… and done sports for more than 15 years… which you like too…

Then again, I have my lovely bacteria and they will not betray me. Not like the cells did over the weekend when they decided not to grow but rather shrivel up and die. Pah. Bad cells. Now I have to thaw new ones and cuddle with them so they behave and grow.

There was another thought of mine in regards to the hunt for the Nature paper – that it/they wouldn’t keep me warm when I am old. However, it might give me my next job without too much hassle?!?! Not my main concern at the moment though, since I don’t see the C/N/S paper in the future at the moment. Maybe another travel grant though.

With that, I should stop ranting tired rant and go and write that work plan for the new person who gets into lab. And soon it is weekend and I can rest and sleep and get rejuvenated after this set of experiments. Not that you can tell, right? I have a negative on my sleep account for now...

positive take on life

I realised after talking to a grad student in tears last week that if nothing else I am quite well off. I don't mean to vent all the time, I am not sad all the time (even if it might seem like an angry and sad post doc in many posts). I just have a slight temper and vent..... 

Anyhow, the conversation with the graduate student made me think about "loosing the innocence" (or growing up as a scientist). I remember the time when I first realised that my professor might not have my interest in his focus.... and I needed to look out for me. And all those conversations with all the post docs (or other PhDs) who have said the same thing - the bitter comments about "the professors thinking about themselves/the committee being harsh and cruel" ... and even if I think all those comments are valid - I can still see that maybe I needed to learn that lesson?! 

I still don't think it has to be cruel and harsh, and the student in question this time got more than a handful, but the "liberation" process may be hurtful. And it is combined with a slightly scary feeling that "you are on your own" and "you are in control of your future".

These last quotes are more sentimental and not really reality, imho. It is true, nothing will happen if you don't try but often enough there are other factors that need to happen too. (For example, a helpful mentor can make things happen that might never happen otherwise. That said, you still need to provide for things to happen.) 

Sometimes it is good to get reminded about those things and not get stuck in bitter mode. After all, that will never lead to be a good place. I hope I could convey some feelings of "get in gear and show them wrong" rather than get bitter and sad and give up. It still stings a little since I am not sure that this way is the best way - I have always thought you can help flying rather than putting iron through cleansing fire.... although some people tend to like the fire. They forget that sometimes the heat is too much and makes the product brittle and useless although it might look nice, where as the small fly actually can handle tough rain storms. (kind of sappy analogy, ok I am not an ancient Greek on this.)

With that, I need to get back into the lab and actually do some experiments!

antibiotic resistance

I had almost forgotten about the antibiotic problem in the veterinary sector until yesterday when I wrote a quick thing about the industrial farming. I remembered this morning that there is one interesting problem in all this, one thing that I as a northern European was too surprised about at my first international conference to be polite about. What I am talking about? The use of antibiotics as a regular staple in the farming of animals in the US. Not only that but which kind of antibiotics that were used before at least… (I have since I left my former field not kept as good an eye on the question, which now leads me to think that I should go back and recheck a few things.)

I remember a poster at one of the biggest conferences in the world on microbes that dealt with antibiotic resistance in the different strains of Chlamydia and Streptococcus pyogenes that spread through the small college town in one of the more farming dense states up north in the States. I remember looking at all data and being surprised it was so many vancomycin resistance… of course, going back and asking one of the vets in the area, he confirmed that the most commonly used antibiotic in the farms everyday was vancomycin. Yes, you might not give it to people – but you spread it over food for the animals every day… (Note that it I not going to spread from the meat or so, it is mainly the actual overuse of a specific antibiotic that I am against.)

Why I though about this now? Because of the pandemic discussion.. We tend to think we are so safe nowadays. It is not like the early 20th century, at least not in the industrial world, and we have antibiotics and antivirals and steroids. All which might help us out. With one exception of course… as long as the strains aren’t resistant. As of today, the strain circulating is susceptible to the two main antivirals… and we have some antibiotic that work on even the most resistant strains of bacteria in case of complications. However, it is less likely to remain like that…not dooms day but simply stating that we see an increase in resistance every day. And especially when people panic and want to “save themselves” and find medical things online etc.

My thoughts? Sit tight. Don’t panic. Be calm. Go live your life. And be alert to if you are feeling sick.

If nothing else, my prediction (which may or may not be correct or completely wrong) is that this will go on for another couple of months and come early fall we will see if the virus has picked up the aggression level or if we will have a slightly mild and nonlethal seasonal influenza. That is of course, if people can stop panic and take antivirals in advance and increase the resistance. If that occurs, then we are in deed in a pickle.

We don’t need “refresh” buttons on every web page dealing with “latest info on the pandemic” since this is going to take some time…