Tuesday Thoughts

It happens yet again - every time I catch a cold, laryngitis inevitably follows. So I'm temporarily speechless ...

I went to UNC this afternoon to listen to my friend Amanda Sharko's Ph.D. Thesis Defence Seminar. She is a Ph.D. candidate in Pharmacology. She gave an excellent presentation on her work, and after her committee members grilled her post-seminar, her thesis advisor informed her that her committee members felt she did a stellar job. Well done, Amanda! Jerome and Brian, who sing tenor with the Compline Choir at Chapel of the Cross also turned up to support Amanda. I know Brian is also a graduate student, having seen him around the medical school campus when I was a post-doc at UNC, and Jerome had a bachelor's degree in biology, so at least we were not unfamiliar with what Amanda was presenting.

So now Amanda is on the job hunt; I suspect she will be after a post-doc, like most newly-minted Ph.D.'s ...

I recognised some members of the Morrow lab while at Amanda's defence. I spent some time working there, essentially borrowing equipment when I did receptor binding assays whilst still a post-doc, so I chatted briefly with Kevin and Todd ... well, at least, as much as I could while rasping along on my nearly non-existent voice. It was nice to see them again.

That's the life I left behind - that of a research scientist. I feel comfortable being around these people, and I got a curious sense of being "at home" when I was at Thurston-Bowles earlier this afternoon. And of course, when I'm spending time with some of my other research scientist friends, we fall into an easy camaraderie, able to talk about science, amongst other things.

So now I'm feeling happily sleepy ... my throat feels like it's swollen to the size of a basketball, and I've been plying myself with hot tea and soup all day. I believe my bed is beckoning to me ...