Spring is in the air

Its feeling like that time of year again. Spring is back (though it looks like it took a bit of a hiatus today). In contrast to most of my posts where I am content to bitch about things that bug me, here will be the exact opposite. First off, in light of recent events at work…I feel pretty good about what I do and I have a new found appreciation for what I’ve got here. Sure I don’t make enough money and have kind of a stupid boss but all in all, it’s a pretty sweet deal being paid to be a “student” and tinkering in a lab with things that probably cost more than my first home will. Summer is approaching and my results have been pretty good recently, more than a few publications are on the way now which is great for me career wise. Plus the upcoming trip to finland has me motivated all the more to produce a lot before then. Of my students that remain, the one that needed the most help is graduating and the one that doesn’t is staying on as a grad student which is great because she will likely continue with some of the work I’ve been doing. PERFECT! My birthday was just a few days ago which normally has me in a bit of a melancholy mood but this year was different. I’m not sure why, I wasn’t really nervous about it or overly reflective it just kind of happened. Another thing that’s been brightening my mood is the prospect of my trip to Memphis in May and hopefully biking the length of cape cod (most of it anyways…maybe Barnstable to provincetown ~50mi.) over patriots day weekend. Got a new student coming to the lab from Egypt that needs my help which will hopefully get my name on a couple of papers there as well (shitty but publishable so its ok by me). I just marked my first full year of going to the gym regularly which has been absolutely great…better than I could have ever hoped. The lab has had a bit of a fire sale on students recently so we are losing a lot of familiar faces which is somewhat sad but it also gives us a good opportunity to build up perhaps a better community environment that I think we’ve been lacking the past couple years.  Of course it looks like I’ve only got another year left before I finish the old degree which is somewhat stressful but again the motivation to get the hell out of here kind of trumps that. I’m also looking forward to setting off on my own a bit more in the future. Maybe going someplace really different for a post-doc, so many options to explore there. April has been good so far, may is looking better, and summer is just around the corner. Patrick OUT!!!