Run and Tumble

No long excuses, the Holidays got me out of the update habit, but I’m back.

The good news is that I wasn’t out of the growing bugs habit. Look forward to reading about my new scope, the fate of my Winogradsky columns, exploding canning jars, adventures in labware, ballistic fungal spores scaring the crap the out of me, weird junk from my fridge, and darkfield microscopy on the cheap.

Also, I got a fancy polymer-walled eukaryotic fermentation chamber for Christmas. I’ve used it a bit and have performed  (repeatedly, very large n) bionuerological assays on samples which indicate successful metabolization of the substrate  to the desired product.

Academically, I got an A in the microbio course and lab. I’m currently taking environmental science.

It took me a few months, but I’ve also gotten over my fear of change and have actively started talking to some grad schools and signed up to take the GRE. I should’ve done it sooner. If anyone else out there is a) a nerd and b) needs some inspiration, here’s two sci-fi things that I’m not ashamed to admit helped me get my butt in gear. The Tapestry episode of Star Trek: TNG and Duke Leto’s speech to Paul about change, from Dune: “I’ll miss the sea, but a person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.”

The most credit, however, goes to my wife, who seems to know the right times to gently nudge and the right times to be patiently supportive.