An Epic Ballade of Texas

(And Elsewhere) Of course it was only a matter of time until I had to write about food, and as it turns out, that matter of time was three months. So I signed up for a KU meal-plan, which gives you a discount when you purchase on-campus meals in bulk. I purchased the cheapest meal-plan, which amounts to about three all-you-care-to-eat meals per week plus a bunch of credits accepted at on-campus food courts. Mrs. E’s is my all-you-care-to-eat location of choice, because (a) it is by far the best one, and (b) it is the most convenient (as demonstrated in Episode II, it takes only five minutes to walk there). Technically the name of the place is Ekdahl Dining Commons, but I suppose the marketing directors decided that name does not sound particularly appetizing. And they are right. Thus it is called Mrs. E’s, which, although no one has actually seen Mrs. E, we figure the name must stand for “Mrs. Enormous”. The online advertisement for Mrs. E’s boasts a “stunning” view,...

I suppose it is just about time that I post about something “important” and “career-related”, so here we go: The biggest part of a biology PhD program is research, and as of a few weeks ago, I am officially enrolled in laboratory rotations. Basically, lab rotations consist of the student working in three different labs, with a period of about two months spent in each lab. At the end of the last rotation, you decide which lab you want to continue in. For your edification, I have provided a brief description of each of the labs that I will be rotating through. Chris Gamblin runs the lab that I am currently working in. He studies a protein called tau that is thought to be important in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. He has lots of spending money (so I hear) and employs a rather large staff, with a post-doc, two technicians, a graduate student and an undergraduate student. He also listens to completely random music in lab. Erik Lundquist heads up the lab for my second r...