Episode XLIV: Oral Exam!

I am currently in preparations for what is known as Oral Examinations, sometimes referred to as Prelims. This is essentially the biggest and most stressful test that I have ever experienced or ever will experience. The exam for me is Friday the 13^th (of June), only five days before leaving for California. For this reason I have been doing an extraordinary amount of studying the last few weeks, and plan to continue to do so until the date of the exam.

The exam has two major components. In the first (and largest) I have spent a great deal of time writing a mock grant proposal, which outlines a major research project and is designed to ask the NIH (National Institutes of Health) for tons of funding money. During the exam I will sit in a room in front of five professors, and they will ask me to defend the ideas that I have in the proposal, and answer numerous questions related to the biology and significance of the proposal.

The second part is essentially a basic knowledge test, where the professors ask me any sort of biology-related questions they want, to test the depth and breadth of my scientific knowledge and critical thinking skills.

For this reason, I have been reading in earnest the book: Molecular Biology of the Cell, which is the definitive text with regards to the kind of research that I am doing. I plan on reading the entire thing before the exam. It is over 1700 pages. Therefore I read it a lot.

In lab:

In church:

At the gym:

And in bed:

I am working hard because I really really do not want to fail. If you pass your orals, you go on, do more research, and graduate with your Ph.D. If you fail, you are awarded a Masters, and invited to leave the university.

So now I am going to go study. Wish me the best!

Episode XLIII: Locked Up!

So last night Amanda and I went to a park near my house, then walked to a local sports bar and grill to watch the Lakers play (as you may recall, I have no television). The place was kind of a dive (although it had a sweet TV), and it seems as though the chili-cheese tater tots did not agree with Amanda, because as soon as we got back to the park, she urgently had to use the restroom.

Fortunately, the restrooms were still open. Unfortunately, Lawrence parks close at 11 p.m., and we were there at about 11:05 p.m.

As soon as I washed my hands and walked out of the restroom, a man hurried over to the door, fiddled with the handle, then ran back to his truck and sped off. It took me about 30 seconds to realize that he had just locked the restroom behind me, and another 5 seconds to realize that he had just locked the restroom in front of Amanda. That is, my girlfriend had just been locked in the public restroom at Centennial park, at 11:10 p.m.

Well as you can imagine, that made for a pretty exciting night! Amanda immediately called the police, who showed up in less than ten minutes (pretty impressive for a Saturday night in a college town). The officer pulled up with a bewildered, bemused look on his face. He called someone whom he instructed to find the park manager, then he busted some late night revelers at the park, and then he just sat around and hung out with us.

Word must have gotten out that some girl had managed to get locked in the bathroom, because a second officer came by, and was outright laughing. He cheerfully posed with Amanda, hung out for a while and went off to another call.

We were joined for a few minutes by the aforementioned revelers, who seemed to have a great deal of difficulty understanding how someone could get locked in a bathroom. Other than that, we were just waiting, killing time and talking to the remaining officer.

Almost exactly one hour later, to the minute, a park manager showed up, and with no more than a curt word or two, opened the door, scurried back to his car and left. Thus ended a rather eventful night. The officer went back to his car, no doubt happy to have been paid for an hour well spent. Amanda and I went back to the car and went home.

I was impressed by the friendliness and hospitality of the cops, and by the courage and good nature of my temporarily imprisoned girlfriend. One thing is for certain at least: she will always have a good, embarrassing bathroom story to tell. Which is, I think, something we can all appreciate.