Yesterday was chill. I went to work, took a FroYo/ spades break (the card game) after flow cytometry, and then showed my presentation to my lab. I then went to the arch's Westward Expansion museum, then up 630 feet (192 meters) in a retro futuristic space pod. I still don't trust the arch. It gets so crowded up there. But the view was really cool. When it is packed like a sardine tin, I don't feel safe. Plus you have to practically lay down to see out the windows. It's odd but very cool. We went to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I was starving by the time we got our food. There were 3 parties of at least 20 people including mine, and a lot of other patrons, so we got our food at about 9:30 PM. It was pretty decent though. I came back home and chilled, worked on my presentation a bit, and went to sleep.
Today I am going to the lab lunch for the Jeopardy tournament. It is an Indian/Nepalese/Korean place. Should be interesting.

TBC,
The girl who calls an "elevator capsule" a "space pod"

The Rest of Monday, All of Tuesday, and This Morning

The rest of Monday, I took my walk. On my way home from chem prep before my walk, I captured the picture of the pink sky behind Wash U. So pretty! I made it my new blog photo. I exercised, did a bit of junk I can't remember, and went to sleep around 11:00 PM. At 3:00 AM, I was woken in my sleep by my roommate and some friends, who thought barging in screaming to steal her mattress so she could sleep in the room ONE DOOR DOWN was appropriate behavior on a work night. We also had an 8:30 AM seminar that morning and I had stuff to do before that. Needless to say, I was not pleased. I did get everything done that I wanted to get done on Monday! That made me feel good.

Tuesday, I woke up at 6:00 AM despite my roommate, did some stuff to make my day easier, and went to breakfast nice and early. I then got to the seminar early, enjoyed hearing the perspective of a female MD/Ph.D., and went to work. If anyone wants to know more specifics on the seminar, I don't want to bore all of my readers, so you can ask me later. At work, I did some prep for flow cytometry, passaged cells, etc. with my bench mentor. Then we went to the med school. I got so tired, I napped. We got back to the hilltop (main Wash U) campus, added the final images to my presentation, and today, I will present it at work.
I got off of work at 4:30 PM, went to dinner, made my own salad and had a fruit salad on the side, and watched The Lion King. It is a great movie. I love it more at 18 than I did as a kid, probably because I can appreciate Scar's ironic statements. Then I took a really fast, intense WUSTL walk. I could barely breathe. Before going back to the South Forty, I went to the DUC to relax a few and get some water. I got back home, did some various junk, mostly of the relaxing nature, and then went to sleep. I got up to go to the bathroom at 2:00 AM and could hear giggling next door. No wonder those kids look trashed in the morning. No offense to them, but they are like narcoleptics during the day, falling asleep EVERYWHERE (even at seminars. Kinda rude, in my opinion. And there really is NOTHING to do all night on a Tuesday or Wednesday. I promise.).

This morning, I woke up early, read some blogs, and showered. Now I am writing this blog, drying off a bit so I can get dressed. Have a good day!
Sincerely,
The-Applebaum-who-sleeps-alone-in-her-room-but-doesn't-mind-because-she-doesn't-have-to-put-up-with-her-inconsiderate-roommate-barging-in-screaming-in-the-middle-of-the-night-anymore : )

Schlepping

Today consisted of breakfast, lab, iTunes shopping spree (11 songs I think), med school, lab, DUC to get Dylan some lunch, lab, med school, ran back to lab to pick up a chemical, ran back to catch metro 5 minutes later, med school, lab. DONE! If you can count (I convoluted it, I am sorry), that is 4 schlepping trips, three of which were to the med school.

I finished everything for the day, went to dinner, went to Yaa's presentation (she is leaving for some compsci competition tomorrow), and went to chem prep. I did well on my quiz from last week! Yay! I can safely say I beat the average (finally!). I also practiced my presentation, and realized that I need to add pictures where my frog picture templates currently are. Haha. Glad I practiced. I can fix it tomorrow. I am about to go exercise if it isn't raining. Good day to you all!
-Nicole

Post Schfifty-Five! Weekend Update!

Friday was fun. Lab was slow. Thursday nights are when the engineers have their coed softball league games, so my bench mentor was really tired. I accompanied him on a Chinese food run, worked on my presentation, and edited my abstract.
After that, I went to a free, outdoor Sarah Bareilles concert at the Civic Center. She was really good. Since the FSAP kids had their last night on Friday, I went with them to the Loop to get FroYo, which was delicious (as usual). Then we watched an old TIVOed SNL. I went to sleep.

Saturday from 9:00 AM to noon I volunteered landscaping a preschool. It was a really nice, ritzy preschool. Apparently they give out financial aid. Haha. Too funny. After that, I had some fruit at the DUC. It was about 97 degrees and 100% humid during volunteering. I also got hit in the face by a wheelbarrow. Ow. Then I went home, showered, went to the library, and got a ton of stuff done. I hung out in the fun room. I was too sore to enjoy the City Museum, so I passed on going. My stomach was also very upset. : (

I love thunder and lightning. Before the bus ride to Tyson and last night as well, I just sat out and watched the storm under an overhang. I love the lightning! Such a novelty. The whole sky is encouraging epileptics to seize. I wanted to rave, but then it started to rain. When I say rave, I mean, dance in the storm. No psychedelics.

This morning we headed out 1.5 hours west to the Meramac River for our float trip. It was a blast. My raft was composed of very cool people, and I really enjoyed the picnic lunch. I had a wheat bread sandwich with hummus, cucumber, lettuce, and tomato. It was amazing. There was also a variety of chips, fruits, and cookies. So yummy! Thanks, Amy.
I got back home, got my storage bins, and packed them most of the way. I have to ship some stuff home soon, and I got my laundry done. Now I am headed to dinner in a few.

Hope your weekend was equally awesome,
ATT

Terrific Thursday and Beyond

I woke up, had a different breakfast than I normally do, and went to a conference where a BME who had gone into "industry," I.E. the business aspect of things, talked to us. He was more of a software programmer/ IT guy, but he was still really cool. He encouraged us to take some business classes, maybe get an MD/MBA (not for me, obviously), or a business minor. He said it is better to do it while you are still on your schooling streak than to try to go back to school later. He also invited us to check out his company and gave us his email. I picked his brains quite a bit.

I went to work, autoclaved, did some actual productive work, and talked with Dylan about my presentation. Unlike my abstract, he actually liked it. He said it was simple, effective, and the flow was good, and to just add the results and finish. We analyzed the results, emailed them to my laptop, etc.

I went to dinner, where I had a delicious chicken burger (so worth the longer wait. Burgers of any sort take way longer than Mexican food). Then it was chem prep time. It was so fast. I only have one more left on Monday. I have learned a lot about the WHYs of chemistry. Why we accept certain things as true, and the quantum mechanical Schrödinger's Cat situation.

I went from chem prep to the library. I was there for 2 hours. It felt like 10 minutes. I focused like a dream. Headphones on, one album repeating (so that you don't notice the music and hence don't feel time go by). I almost finished my presentation. Then I went home and actually finished.

It feels so good to be done. I know I have editing to do, but it is just... such a relief to have everything pretty much squared away.

Today I am going to a seminar about MD/Ph.D. programs. I think the point of SSBBR is to push us to be MD/Ph.D.s, but they don't talk about how ridiculously competitive they are. The nice thing is that you can research on humans. Many Ph.D.s do rat surgeries, etc. But MD/Ph.D.s do human surgeries and lab work. I think many of them teach medical school. Not sure though. It gives you so many options. But the speaker yesterday makes me think that industry might not be so different. Money make things happen, and money comes with strings attached, whether loaned or granted.

TBC,
ATT

Wednesday and General Life Changes

Yesterday was really cool. After work, I went to the Tyson Research Center. We rode on the back of trucks around this giant forest facility and looked at the different research projects. We were sitting on the sides of the truck cab leaning in to avoid falling off of a "speeding" truck (going 30 seemed like 50). It was really beautiful and very memorable. We went up and down hills in these trucks on off-road trails. There are over 2200 acres and tons of solar panels. The building we had our picnic in is called the Living Learning Center, which is nearly 100% sustainable. It's about half an hour off campus, and such a cool resource for Wash U students. On the bus home, we played a fun word/phrase game.

In general, my life is so different here. Yesterday, I sat and watched a rainless thunderstorm with Madeleine. I am no longer terrified of storms in close proximity. In my life, I have always taken night showers. Now I take morning showers. And in VP, I eat most of my food for the day after school. Now I eat my food more evenly throughout the day for energy purposes. I also have a new outlook on certain things.

Tata for now,
ATT

No Blog Blog #2

Monday and Tuesday. No Blog.
-ATT

"Have a Six Flags Day"

Yesterday I woke up early, ate breakfast, and went to Six Flags St. Louis, which is also a water park. It wasn't too crowded. We hopped on two rides fairly quickly. The first one was a kiddy ride. The 2nd was called Ninja. One of the cars leaving after I rode it got stuck, and so my friends who went on the car behind me couldn't get out of their train until they could pull into the platform. So we waited for them for a few minutes. Then we went on Batman, which we waited an hour to go on. The line was super windy. It was so much like the Silver Bullet at Knott's Berry Farm, because they are both made by Bolliger Mabillard (the famous roller coaster makers).Then we went to lunch at the greasy and heavy Johnny Rocket's. It was way too hot to eat that much grease. I also went on a wooden roller coaster (Evil Knievel?), a log flume, and waited outside with the worst stomach pains ever during "Mr. Freeze." Around 4:00 PM (we arrived at 11:00 AM), we went into the water park. The wave pool was fun, as was the kiddy stuff. So I just followed little kids around pretending I was with them so I could stay. Ahaha. Anyway, I got back home and had an excellent night, hammocking and watching a movie. The movie was so cute and beautifully made!

Today it is rainy with thunderstorms. Better than yesterday, which felt like 112ºF death! : )
TBC,
ATT

50th Post!

Quote of the day: "Good thing you aren't pregnant!" -Dylan, my bench mentor, referring to me working with certain chemicals.

More to come later!

My half-centennial post is very short... but I will make it good. Today, I realized that being here in St. Louis has changed my perspective and my overall view of humanity. Thanks, WUSTL and WUSTLians! WUSTLites? Who knows?

TBC,

Nicole A.

Yet another two day recap... and bagel weirdness

Wednesday: Woke up, went to lab, worked on stuff, went to the med school for PCR, met at 8th and Pine metro station for lunch around 1:00. Another undergrad (a rising senior) left her purse on the metro, which put a stall in things. Ate a bento box of delicious food at Jade (including Hao's tiger cupcakes!), went back to the med school to realize PCR had failed, went to lab, went back to med school to redo PCR, went back to lab, ate dinner, went to library, relaxed on hammock, found my roommate, went to sleep after a shower.

Thursday: I woke up, ate my bagel, went to a seminar, no speaker, went to work, prepped for autoclaving, ran around like a chicken, finished playing the tourney of Jeopardy at lunch (got 4th place! If I had gotten .5 of a point lower, I would have the girl who lost her purse buying me lunch instead... Not that I'd ever really SEE that lunch), worked like a dog on my project, and went to med school to do flow cytometry ("I'll always opt to fall down the stairs in the end" -Bobbing For Apples by Regina Spektor. Ask me later). Most of it worked better than we expected. We realized one of our important factors is expired... but not just passed its suggested date. It really works poorly. So we went back, made culturing plates, and are about to start with all new stuff. I left the lab, ate dinner, and was too late to go to the Cardinal's game. I found out no one went. Also, I ate dinner with some friendly FSAP kids who were really cool. It was nice to meet them. Too bad they are leaving in 8 days (the 24th). I found out at the seminar with no speaker that I am presenting on July 30th at 11:00 AM. Cool. Also, my suggestion for the Sunday night dinner, Panera (STL Bread Co.) was chosen as the winner. : )

I went to the library after dinner, worked in a study room with the FSAP kids reading a really good journal article on my topics of interest (they do things slightly different than we do). Then I went home, walked, went to sleep at 10:30 PM (so early!), woke up, showered at 6:50 AM, and here I am now.

Tuesday and Wednesday, I ordered cinnamon raisin bagels. Tuesday I got a jalapeno bagel (it was a slight shock), and Wednesday I got a blueberry bagel, which was pretty good too but not what I wanted. Thursday, success! I got the right kind of bagel! : )

Hoping for another lucky bagel day!
-ATT

SSE Snafu

So I had an awesome day. It was great. I will comment more on it later... but my lab had a streak of bad luck. It was Xi's birthday and Bastille Day, so maybe that has something to do with it. Who knows? More to come. Awesome hammocks at Wash U... : )
Awesome conversation.

TBC,
Nicole

Today kicked butt...

So pretty much, today kicked butt, as my title infers. Woke up nice and early, made my lunch, and went to see a seminar by Dr. Herzog, who researches biological clocks. He fascinated me. I had so many questions for him, I must have driven him crazy. Then I went to lab. Lab rocked! I got frozen yogurt after lunch, did flow cytometry, prepped cDNA for PCR, aliquoted, you name it. I ran around a lot. I was in lab until 5:45 PM, went to dinner, and went to the library, and wrote my abstract. I had a study buddy, which was very nice. : D

Later,
ATT

I am not going to lie to you...

This weekend was mostly uneventful, besides making some cool new friends and what not. I went to Dierbergs so I can make my own lunches now! :D Trying to be healthier. :D

Today I woke up, had a rad time in lab, and had dinner, went to chem, and came back. But I also am starting a project... my halloween costume. I want to get suggestions on it. I have these plastic pieces that the lab isn't using and gave to me. I have like, 150 of them, WAY enough to make a costume. So I want to be some sort of lego person. All I need is some fishing line!

TBC, and give me suggestions!
Love,
ATT

Two Days, One post.

Yesterday I went breakfast, then to a seminar, went to lab, and then went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens (Mobot). It was a great way to take pictures of people walking away. So I made a FB album. Go check it out. : )

Then I came back home, met my roommate in the pouring rain, and saw her palace of 3 connected doubles in Park House. They have mirrored closets, two toilets just for them, and a long hallway. Unfair. They are still trying to wine and dine kids at the ArtSci Weekends. They didn't roll out any red carpets for us. The ArtSci kids get to go to Ursa's too. We are stuck at the DUC. My Roommie is nice.
Today I had breakfast, went to work, and had a blast at work refilling micropipette tips. The plastic rig thingy is amazing, but the red tips are devils. I got to keep the pogs that come inside. I am going to needlepoint with them or make some sort of armor. I love my lab and my lab job. : D

After I ate a light dinner, I went to the student-run campus farm, the Burning Kumquat, and heard the epic story of how it started. They compost there too, so if you are guilted by the Landfill signs, go to the BK garden and compost your apple cores : ) I ate green onions, fresh tomatoes, stevia (sugar-like), chives, green beans. Just a taste of each. And every Saturday, WUSTL kids go to the inner city to sell fresh fruit at a Farmer's Market. They ride bikes with bike trailers attached. They also have a bike that generates current to run lights and speakers. So peaceful! The tour guide, Rob, was really cool.
Then I went to the FUN room and met some nice FSAP kids. Yay! Here I am now, thinking about exercising. Today was awesome. I love how kooky and quirky my lab is.

TBC,
Quarter Peachbush

7/7!

Today I woke up, got breakfast to go, and ate my cinnamon raisin bagel in my lab's break room. Then I did some analysis, compiled more data, and did some EB photography. I ate lunch, did more work, went to the med school, used the new FACS machine (which works amazingly well), and my bench mentor dropped me off at the DUC for dinner. I ate delicious food (yummy cinnamon raisin cookies!), went to my dorm, put on shorts, and got to my chem session early! Quiz went pretty well, but I ran out of time. Then I went back to my dorm, did my WUSTL walk, and then I talked to some people, played an online word game with them, and now I am here. I am having the time of my life!

I talked to my fall roommie and she is really cool. I might be seeing her soon, probably sometime tomorrow or Friday!

TBC,

Nicole WUSTLbaum

The new walk in the Applebaum family of walks...

Great day at work, free pizza dinner! DeliciOSO (I'm a bear now)!

But the best thing is that over the past two days, I have invented a new walk.

Applebaums know the Sycamore, Jocotal, Mesa, Cerro Villa, Mesa Villa, Ginormaloop, etc.

But I invented a new walk unlike any other: The Washington University Scenic Tour of Lollygagging, or the WUSTL! : ) WUSTL is also the school's initials. So I will call it my WUSTL walk, or my WUSTL double loop.

It is amazing. I listen to the song "California Gurls" by Katy Perry a lot. It is the perfect tempo for my WUSTL walk. I have done it twice these last two nights. I get a lot of exercise and learn the campus! Killing 2 birds with one stone! I also played a bit of frisbee with Connnie S. and Madeleine C.

Fun, fun, fun!

TBC,

ATT

The No Blog Blog

I can't even blog these past 2 days. I am exhausted. Too much craziness and folly. Good night world!

Love,

Folly Applebaum

July 3rd: Arch Festivities

First of all, happy Independence Day! I will blog about today after it happens.

Yesterday begin early... Germany vs. Argentina. I was really sad. I had a delicious cinnamon raisin bagel for breakfast and an apple and frozen yogurt at half time. The German speaking people in the fun room kind of scare me. They start screaming and kicking stuff when they get goals, and they stood up and sang the German national Anthem at the beginning. After the game, I hung out with Josh J. and met some more FSAP kids. Apparently some of them like to party a lot. Anyway, I posted a FB album, went to lunch, took the Shrewsbury blue line to Brentwood, and went to Target with Felipe and Edward. I got a new ace wrap and all the supplies I need for my hand. After, I played guitar on Guitar Hero in the fun room, but I played lefty so that my left hand only had to strum. At 6:10 PM, I went downstairs for dinner, and then we all gathered, went to the metro, and took 10 stops on toward Shiloh-Scott... Arch-Laclede's Landing was nuts. I posted pics on FB after I got back. 2 albums, 1 day! We were at a John Legend concert, sitting under the arch. Then we saw the fireworks, and crammed into a super crowded Red liner going to Shrewsbury. We had to switch to Blue line at the Forest Park stations, but the metros were all so full, I felt like a sardine. Not to mention, the cars were running super slow due to the massive weight load. It was fun though. I came home, watched Dane Cook tell filthy jokes/some murder mystery movie with girls in bikinis/Star Wars episode 4. That is what happens when there's only 1 girl, 4 guys and a TV. It was fun. Then I went to sleep.

The metro map is to help people figure out what I am talking about. : )

TBC,

ApplebAMERICA

Research Rockstar!

Today is the last day that the middle schoolers in the science camp upstairs will be living in our building. The checked out two hours ago! When I went to breakfast this morning, they took forever to get their breakfast and clogged up the whole cafe, so I went to the line and made my own parfait. It was kind of bad, but at least I got a cinnamon raisin bagel for lunch. I arrived at my lab at 8:45 AM, wrote some notes, and practiced micropipetting into my 96 well chamber, aspirating fluid, etc. I got to do the rest of my protocol from yesterday, imaging EBs, etc. I got so much independence! I got great results too! I felt like a rockstar. And when I was given a 50 EB sample, I got 35 out. Not bad! They stick to the pipette tips and are really annoying. I handled it well, and when I had to make a troubleshooting call, I made the right call! YES! Research rockstar moment #1! Then I helped Dylan passage his cells, grabbing him all of his reagents, putting trays in and out of the incubator, running to the cold room, being his right hand man. I finished my work, ate my bagel, and played spades. I helped Dylan "go NIL," but we lost the game overall. Apparently, newbies always lose for their team (I am a newbie). Dylan let me run my protocol on his cells and I think I did a good job. I will find out soon enough. I have to edit my typed protocol still, but it is coming along. I got to put on my iPod, and surprisingly, Dylan and I have similar taste in music for some part. I honestly just put on songs I didn't think he'd detest. Apparently, I was successful. I danced around the lab and had fun working when i realized it was 20 to 5:00 (PM). I got to do some aliquoting of EGF (he let me do sterile work on my own with reagents that actually matter!). Great day. We got SOOO much done. He says the rest of our days will be this busy. YAY! I thought today was a "WOW" day. As in, "Wow, I want to do this!" I didn't get the same vibe when I shadowed docs between 10th and 11th grade at NYLF. I left work, called my mom, bought some necessities at the bookstore, and went to the DUC for dinner. I played Rock Band Beatles edition and sang a lot, drummed a little. It has been an awesome night, and all of my room/suite mates seem nice. We are emailing. My roommate will be at Wash U the 8th through 10th of July, so we are probably going to meet up and discuss things. :)

Great day! I feel so competent, it is awesome. And I understand processes.

TBC,

The exuberant one

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday: Woke up, went to lab after breakfast, day dragged on, played spades, waited for scores and room notifications, called AP another 100 times, and left work, ate dinner, played Guitar Hero, and went to see Beauty and the Beast at the Muny. It was so cool to see in an outdoor theater, and the whole show was just adorable (and cheesy, like Cheese-ology). I got home, no scores or room assignment, and went to sleep.

Today I woke up and got my AP scores. I always have a heart attack during the phone's robotic slow talking suspensefulness.

AP Art history 5

AP Lit 5

AP Macroecon 4

AP Gov 5

AP Physics C mechanics 4

There it is.

I am not posting where I am going to live. That's dangerous, but it is a modern double. : ) In a good location. In Brookings Residential college.

I went to a seminar on career options with a cool prof. Then I went to lab. I wrote my own protocol down. It was cool. I did that protocol, and then I went to a lab lunch to celebrate Hao passing her quals in order to stay in grad school. We went to Chuy's and had a delicious meal, played scientific abstract mad libs, and I had amazing vanilla ice cream afterward. Then I went back to lab, met the lab tech (finally), and then did some more runs of my protocol. I had dinner, gen. chem prep class, and then I came back to blog... Good day! Ate way too much, but it was delicious. Peace and love!

Brookings Baby