An Ode to Sheena...

Our beloved undergrad Sheena is graduating in a few weeks, and so this post is dedicated to her. 

Oh Sheena, how two people could ever have the EXACT same taste in TV/Movies is beyond me, but I will certainly miss you coming into lab saying "Did you watch ____ last night?" with ____ being filled in with LOST, Fringe, DWTS, or AI (and "High School Musical: Get in the Picture", yes, we both watched it!) 

I'm glad you took my (and others) advice to read Twilight and then fearing the movie would be all out at Blockbuster renting it on demand, watching it twice, and then buying it for real the same week. 

What other college senior throws an HSM3 sing-a-long to commemerate the video release? Yes, that would be Sheena.

Congratulations on your Graduation!!!!

Sheena getting ready for her presentation

Opening her HSM card with Dharma logo drawn on that sang "You are the Music in Me"

(perfect for gradation?...not so much, but those cards were boring)

Champagne to celebrate!

And after the celebration (complete with ice-cream cake) we talked about new LOST theories,  looked up Dharma patches and jumpsuits ($7 and $90 respectively), followed by DWTS and SYTYCD videos on YouTube.

Needless to say it was a fun day, and I'm totally going to miss you!

*PS, for anyone who is wondering, she did real lab work too, we didn't just talk about TV all the time*

Some Green for Earth Day...

4/22/09 = Earth Day!

So, how did I spend Earth Day?!?

In lab of course, so in order to pay homage to Mother Earth I took some pics of the green, green grass from lab.

(Even though it was a rainy, rainy day...)

View of E.R. park in the distance (and unfortunately the parking garage)

Mansion behind the lab (...I think it's an academic building, but I have no clue which one)

Also, the window glare ruins everything :(

Another view from the building (and lots of clouds!)

The walkway up to the chemistry building

...and last but not least, my fav. photo of the day:

(ignore the broken heart)

Have a happy Earth Day!

No new LOST tonight which means watching last night's Fringe (and probably some Dexter season 2 as well....)

2 months and 15 days?!?

Really? 2 months and 15 days since I've last posted?!?

Some people thought that I had given up, but no-sir-ee, I've just been planning THE BEST BLOG ever! (Ok, so probably not the best blog ever, but certainly a full-packed blog on what life has been like in the past 2 months and 15 days comeplete with pictures!!!)

Oh orals, you consumed my life...but now that I've qualified has life really been any different? Let's look at the evidence:

N and McB before my Orals (above)

N and McB (and G!) after my orals (above)

See, besides the fact that N might have an evil master plan and B is somehow trying to attack him (Notice, G is the only one actually working, thank goodness no more MOFs!) everything is back to the way it was.

I'm not saying life was all sunshine and rainbows during this hiatus, but all in all the whole ordeal left me with a greater understanding of my project and was a good motivator to get back into lab!

So, let's look at this by numbers:

• 28 days stuck in CRB 218
  
• ~56 fast-food meals (oh yes, 56 meals of McDonalds, Wendy's, and Subway for dinner, and Carts, Manna and Nica's for lunch....can we say a heart-attack waiting to happen?!?
  
• ~84 cans of Pepsi 
  
• 3 meltdowns (1 major, 2 minor)
  
• ~15ish hour days
  
• 1 poster presentation
  
• 2 Ten page papers
  
• 1 qualifying exam
  

So what was it like might you ask? Oh there were definitely hard-at-work study days, there were, I think we have all lost our mind days, there were a few meltdowns (3 to be exact), loads of laughs and CHEMISTRY of course! Let's go through a photographical journey shall we?

NO2-Phenyl-Terpy Synthesis (above)

G's new hat (notice the Pepsi endorsement)

Yummy, Yummy Bar salad for dinner one Friday night!

A brief glimpse at the room (and K8) soo many papers!

So I'm sure you are asking yourself, what has changed since then? Well for one, no more fast food for breakfast and dinner everday, just every-other day, J/k, but fast food has become a rarity, also, one huge change for me has been:

During Orals (above): Let's count them: 10 Pepsi cans, 1 Coke, 1 Cherry Coke (although I think that is K8's)

After Orals (above): 7 Pepsi One's, 1 DD coconut coffee (w/Splenda) and 1 Nalgene of water

That's right, after rotting my teeth for a good 20ish years, I have made the move from Pepsi to Pepsi One, and let me tell you it has been a smooth transition, I will even drink Diet (gasp!) if no Pepsi One is available. For y'all that don't know, Pepsi One is sweetened with Splenda instead of Aspartame and it is has every bit of caffeine that this body needs....but occasionally DD coconut coffee is just calling my name!

Another change?!? PRIMETIME TV!!!! (Can I get a "Reunited and it Feels So Good"?) Oh yes my dear followers (all 4 of you) I am indeed back to watching a full line-up of awesomely awesome and awesomely trashy television shows! 

Quick Run-down:

• LOST (Duh....)
• DWTS
• Gossip Girl
• 90210
• American Idol (sometimes)
• Lie to Me (new fav.)
• Dollhouse (new fav.)
• The Mentalist
• ANTM (sometimes)
• Biggest Loser (sometimes)
• The Unusuals (I'm giving it a shot)

....and I think that just about does it!

(It feels good to be back)

Not a LOST post, I promise...kinda...

Well Well Well,

Thursday = Group meeting!

Up to bat today were: Newbie TB and 3rd year McB.

TB did a lit. talk on Asymmetric hydrogenation of cyclic enamines (JACS, 2009, 131, 1366-1367) and McB talked about his research, which involves putting a solar farm over Nevada...seriously...ok, well maybe not seriously.

The week is winding down! And what does that mean in my neck of the woods? 

Not a whole lot actually. Saturdays have become workdays, not full out workdays, but still spending the greater part of Saturday in the lovely lab. Sunday on the other hand is my lazy day. (Grant it, I do have lazy days quite often, but on Sundays sometimes its a miracle if I get dressed). 

What's on my to-do list for this weekend that is not Chemistry related?

• Go raincoat shopping with B
  
• See Kris on Sunday 
  
• NOT see He's Just Not That Into You (Because K8 is in Philly and WILL NOT allow me to see it without her!)
  
• Out to dinner with B probably
  

...but...I really should be productive in lab this weekend, I'll fill you in on how that actually goes!

What? No T.V. to talk about? Oh yes ladies and gentlemen (which I should actually put lady and gentleman, b/c let's face it only 2 people are probably even reading this) I have been watching my shows this week! AI is into full swing with Hollywood week, Gossip Girl was an eh-ok episode, and 90210 was FAB. (Privileged was pretty good as well).....

BUT

My absolute favorite this week would have to of course be LOST. 

*Spoiler Alert*

Jin isn't dead!!!!! wooooooooo....how he survived, I have no idea, but my heart melted like butter when young Danielle found him, oh leaping lizards the world is at peace once again.

AND! I knew it, I knew it! Miles was on the island before!...which corroborates my theory that he was the baby in the flashback!

Oh and I totally thought Charlotte was D-E-A-D....soon enough! The sickness is going to get her...

So, one of my 2 readers admit ed that he stopped reading the posts when they started talking about LOST, because he doesn't watch it. So from now on IF I say anything about LOST then I will make sure to save it to the end so as not to lose any readership. :)

Have a great Thursday night! 

(filled with The Office, Grey's and PP [oh and its a crossover episode tonight!])

Group Meeting Thursday!

Well it's Thursday and in my neck of the woods that means...(drum roll please)... GROUP MEETING! 

(If you guessed, Grey's Anatomy, CSI, or The Office then you get an honorable mention).

N-dizzle and J$ were the presenters today and it was a great way to start of the semester! Oxidative Mannich from Chem Comm....not a shabby idea (Chem. Comm. ASAP 2009, I forget the author at the moment...)

Besides GM the rest of the day wasn't too exciting: 

• The ice is melting and the walk to work was def. less hazardous than yesterday (Oh yes, I totally wiped out and k8 was there to witness). 
  
• I set up 2 reactions
  
• I tried to figure out my 'green substance' from yesterday with no success
  
• Danced to pop music, most notably Beyonce's "Single Ladies", BritBrit's "Womanizer", and some Kanye West ("Heartless" AND "Love Lockdown")
  

...

Yeah, my life is pretty much the most exciting EVER. 

(I think the # of times k8 laughed at me today was down from yesterday although my dancing is always something that adds to the tally)

No new Grey's, or Office tonight and so I do not have to choose between them...PP and AI are the only shows I'll be watching today

Ooh Ooh Ooh...*New LOST Theory* (Ok, it was by somebody at lostpedia (www.lostpedia.com) Ok, so remember Ellie (the girl watching Faraday with Jughead?) there is a pretty sweet theory that suggests she is actually Ms. Hawking AND AND AND...what if she and Charles Widmore were actually Faraday's PARENTS???? That's right that would mean that Penny and Daniel are halfsies...think about it...could be??!!!???

Ok, so I'm thinking there needs to be some kind of theme days (Remember spirit week from the days at Sweet Valley High???? ...or whatever High School you might have attended). I'm thinking something to the effect of 'Talent Tuesday'  or something, I don't know, it's just a baby idea at the moment...but perhaps it could develop into something...

 *sigh*  

Ok, all for now...Goodnight and Good luck....ok, so maybe there will be another post tonight, but signing off for now :)

See you in another life brotha

Oh LOST you never let me down (Ok, maybe you did with the whole Nikki and Paulo storyline...)

I heart Desmond!

Wow Wow Wow

Charles Widmore is an "other"?!? Soooo many questions!  When did he arrive on the island and more importantly WHEN and HOW did he get off???

I so believe that Ms. Hawking is Daniel Faraday's mom...Oh but so much more!

And who was the 'other' girl that he recognized with the H bomb?

...and the girl that was in 'a coma' of some sort in England? What is that all about? 

I totally think the 'sickness' got Charlotte (plus I heard that she was leaving the show anyways!)

So many questions and not enough answers...not quite yet anyways 

(Oh and the compass too!!!)

Cannot wait for next week!

LOST!

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