No, really. I'm getting a little tired of this.

It's 1:50 am on Saturday night/Sunday morning, and I'm still at the lab.... It seems completely unlikely that I will be done with all that needs to be done by my last day of work (Friday 09/28/07). I still have an incubator full of cells (the biggest time suck of all), slides that need staining, slides that need counting, a manuscript to revise and return to my PI, other experiments that need tending, multitudes of frozen cells that need to be moved to the liquid nitrogen tank and recorded, and on top of all that I need to clear out my desk and bench and file cabinets to make way for the next person who'll be using them. And it would be nice if I could organize my samples and reagents that I'm leaving behind.

You might think that I'm a procrastinator and put all this off till the very end; on some level that's true, but there was also the issues of the cells not being ready this summer and I certainly had plenty of other things to do to keep myself busy. I feel like I've been going non-stop since about mid-July; that's about when I started to get back into the swing of things after defending my dissertation and finishing the revisions and then going to various family reunions in June.

Of course, one of the other major tasks I was supposed to be working on this summer was finding a job, and I've completely dropped that ball. I haven't even done anything job-related in about the last month. I should have been sending my resume out to companies all summer. I got some advice to take one afternoon per week to work on my job search, but I couldn't even manage to find that amount of time in my schedule. Therefore, as of Friday, I will be officially unemployed (and officially terrified at the prospect).

In the meantime, here's a nice video of some beating cells that I took tonight.

SER-iously.

Work is really, really, really kicking my butt right now. Seriously.

(With apologies for the Grey's Anatomy reference...)

SLU parking changes

Propaganda
Originally uploaded by gecko_12.

The city of Seattle is implementing a new pay parking plan for the South Lake Union neighborhood. I saw several new parking meters and signage today, as well as these inspirational posters on every light pole. I'm sure it's no coincidence that they're appearing at the same time as the parking meters. The other posters have similar catchy phrases with people's names in them, encouraging the reader to commute using non-car transportation. I'm always in favor of alternate transportation, but I find this ad campaign a little cheesy since it's clearly meant to distract you from the other changes being made.

Two-way Westlake opens up

Two-way Westlake
Originally uploaded by gecko_12.

They opened up the new southbound lanes of Westlake this weekend. There were very few cars traveling in that direction, but then again it was the evening rush hour again. Photo taken at Mercer and Westlake, facing south.

Changing seasons

I found this leaf today... last time I checked, it was still August (and therefore technically SUMMER), but apparently that fact is lost on the tree whence this leaf came. [sigh] At least the weather has been nice this week.

New walk signals at Dexter and Mercer

New walk signals have been installed at the (rather busy) intersection of Dexter and Mercer in South Lake Union. These are the type that count down until the hand stops flashing, which I find to be quite useful. I noticed last night, however, that the northbound signal on the east side of the intersection wasn't working - it never went to "walk" so I had to dart across and hope that the cars turning onto Mercer saw that I was there. In the near future the city will be installing pay stations on the streets throughout this neighborhood, eliminating the free parking that currently exists. I guess it's all part of the growth that the area is experiencing under the watch of Paul Allen/Vulcan.

Near miss

As I was reading the Providence Journal-Bulletin on a plane that ultimately never took off (more on that later) I discovered that the hotel I'd been staying at over the weekend had had a fire alarm/evacuation while we were all at the wedding reception. It was really weird to be idly reading the newspaper of a city I don't live in and to come across an article with such relevance to myself. At first I thought the evacuation had happened while I was there, and I was thinking that perhaps I'd slept through it (those of you who know me know that this is a distinct possibility), but then I realized it was earlier in the evening and we hadn't yet returned to the hotel.

How many states have you been to?

I just found this neat tool to show you which states you've visited. There aren't many I haven't visited (and I didn't count a state if I only changed planes there - that would add Georgia and either Missouri or Kansas - wherever the Kansas City airport is). I've lived in three states (CA, RI, WA). I've camped in five (only five?? -- CA, SD, WY, WA, WV). Road trips help bring the state count up - driving around the Southwest with my family as a kid and then driving across the country 7 years ago helped my list grow substantially. (My sister is currently making her way from FL to CA by car, so I imagine she'll add quite a few new states to her list!!) I'd like to go back to Alaska since I was only there for a long weekend a few years ago. I haven't been to the Rockies since 1992, so that would be another area high on my list. Later this week I'll be back in Rhode Island for the wedding of my good friend from college. Interestingly I've never been to Mexico, despite that being the closest country to us where I grew up (the Bay Area in California).

Wonder-ful news

The storm damage that ravaged Mt. Rainier last fall has been repaired enough that the 93-mile circumferential Wonderland trail is now open for business. I attempted to hike the trail three years ago but had to turn back after only 25 miles when heavy, constant rain flooded the rivers and washed away the bridges. The damage from November's storm was far worse. I don't have any plans to try the trail again (though I'd like to complete it someday), but it's great that they've been able to get it back to working order with 1-2 months of hikable weather still left this summer!

Lolcar

Lolcar!
Originally uploaded by gecko_12.

The good news of the week is that I'll be getting a new (to me) car pretty soon! My parents' friend's mother is no longer driving, so my parents were able to buy her car for a great price. It has a few issues - a dent in the front side panel, a gas gauge that doesn't work - but it still runs well and has only 73,000 miles on it (100,000 fewer miles than my current car). It also has a brand new set of tires! My mom and I are thinking of driving it up to Seattle over Labor Day weekend, but those plans are far from concrete. The 1992 Jetta that I've been driving for the past 8 years has started to have more and more problems recently, which prompted this purchase. I've loved driving the Jetta - it gets 400 miles to a tank of gas and has a lot of "pep" due to its German engineering and manual transmission - but I definitely won't mind parting with the rusted engine block, lack of cupholders, and a safety system that consists of seatbelts only.