Trivia and an update
A little science trivia for my geeky friends:
Take a stab at how many milliliters are in a tablespoon.
Don’t cheat and look it up. Just take a guess, and let me know before you Google it.
It’s a little exercise in spatial reasoning and perception.
I was way off, even though it’s actually listed on my measuring spoons. I never paid much attention to that part. And until the US converts to metric, I really don’t have to. Or unless I decide to try cooking with pipettes and graduated cylinders...
We have discussed cooking a turkey in the autoclave, but we’re not sure how it would stand up to the pressure – probably not real well, even if it was in an oven bag. You know, like those cookbooks about how to cook on your engine block or in your dishwasher, but geekier.
In other news: I continue to plod towards graduation.
The boss was in a good mood during our meeting and didn’t give me too much more to do on my paper. Mostly perfecting the figures, which I find ironic considering some of the crap he lets slide for others. He also wants me to add some extra analyses to some of the data I already have (which is WAY easier than generating it from scratch).
Then I’ll update the text, send it to him for revision, make the revisions, and then send it to my committee members for their perusal/revision. After that we can finally submit it.
And I really think that he’s coming to grips with the fact that I won’t be around to do the revisions (should there be any, and there probably will).
The boss was also amenable to picking a tentative defense date. I chose Friday, December 15.
But it’s only penciled in.
I have to make sure that: 1) my committee members can come, and 2) that a conference room is available.
Apparently that’s the same day as my department's "Holiday Party" (don't let them fool you, it's a Christmas party), which is a daylong event full of food, skits, humorous awards and sing-alongs (fun the first few years, annoying the last few years). Also the conference room I originally had in mind probably won’t be available because the Party will be in it.
One of my committee members has told me to pick a different day because “it’s important to present to the department.” Well, yeah, but couldn’t we schedule it for the morning, before the Party starts? I think he thinks that no one will come to my defense. Fine by me. That’s their choice.
The other option is the 14th, when the departmental seminar is. If it’s an internal speaker, I may be allowed to ask them to reschedule. Otherwise maybe we could schedule for right before or right after the departmental seminar. We’ll see what I’m allowed to do. Seems that for as laid back as the Biochemistry Dept. appears to be, they really like to have their thesis defenses scheduled at noon on days when there is nothing else going on.
If I don’t get the 14th or the 15th it’s going to suck because those days work out best for everyone - me, my boss, my family who might like to attend, and the family helping me move - everyone who won’t be attending the Holiday Party. My parents can’t take off of work to attend both my defense AND help me move if I don’t have it on the 14th or 15th. They’ll miss the defense and just come down to help me move a couple days later.
It’s a conundrum that I hope my committee and my department will be willing to compromise with me on.
I’ll keep you posted.
Take a stab at how many milliliters are in a tablespoon.
Don’t cheat and look it up. Just take a guess, and let me know before you Google it.
It’s a little exercise in spatial reasoning and perception.
I was way off, even though it’s actually listed on my measuring spoons. I never paid much attention to that part. And until the US converts to metric, I really don’t have to. Or unless I decide to try cooking with pipettes and graduated cylinders...
We have discussed cooking a turkey in the autoclave, but we’re not sure how it would stand up to the pressure – probably not real well, even if it was in an oven bag. You know, like those cookbooks about how to cook on your engine block or in your dishwasher, but geekier.
In other news: I continue to plod towards graduation.
The boss was in a good mood during our meeting and didn’t give me too much more to do on my paper. Mostly perfecting the figures, which I find ironic considering some of the crap he lets slide for others. He also wants me to add some extra analyses to some of the data I already have (which is WAY easier than generating it from scratch).
Then I’ll update the text, send it to him for revision, make the revisions, and then send it to my committee members for their perusal/revision. After that we can finally submit it.
And I really think that he’s coming to grips with the fact that I won’t be around to do the revisions (should there be any, and there probably will).
The boss was also amenable to picking a tentative defense date. I chose Friday, December 15.
But it’s only penciled in.
I have to make sure that: 1) my committee members can come, and 2) that a conference room is available.
Apparently that’s the same day as my department's "Holiday Party" (don't let them fool you, it's a Christmas party), which is a daylong event full of food, skits, humorous awards and sing-alongs (fun the first few years, annoying the last few years). Also the conference room I originally had in mind probably won’t be available because the Party will be in it.
One of my committee members has told me to pick a different day because “it’s important to present to the department.” Well, yeah, but couldn’t we schedule it for the morning, before the Party starts? I think he thinks that no one will come to my defense. Fine by me. That’s their choice.
The other option is the 14th, when the departmental seminar is. If it’s an internal speaker, I may be allowed to ask them to reschedule. Otherwise maybe we could schedule for right before or right after the departmental seminar. We’ll see what I’m allowed to do. Seems that for as laid back as the Biochemistry Dept. appears to be, they really like to have their thesis defenses scheduled at noon on days when there is nothing else going on.
If I don’t get the 14th or the 15th it’s going to suck because those days work out best for everyone - me, my boss, my family who might like to attend, and the family helping me move - everyone who won’t be attending the Holiday Party. My parents can’t take off of work to attend both my defense AND help me move if I don’t have it on the 14th or 15th. They’ll miss the defense and just come down to help me move a couple days later.
It’s a conundrum that I hope my committee and my department will be willing to compromise with me on.
I’ll keep you posted.
posted by Lil Kate at 5:58 AM
4 Comments:
I'll take the first stab and guess 15 ml in a tablespoon.
Good luck getting the defense date. I'm sure you are beside yourself with glee that you are SO CLOSE to graduating!
Actually I'm ready to throttle anyone withing reach. And if I can't reach anyone, I'll tear my hair out. It's like herding kittens.
Huh, it never occurred to me that your defense was a spectator sort of thing. Can I come, bring popcorn and cheer at the exciting parts?
You bet it's public! Anyone can come and if you bring snacks - even better. :) I would appreciate you cheering at the good parts... it would let me know that I wasn't so boring that you were falling asleep.
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