2008年9月9日
more confocal images
I'm using a 'new' GFP construct! It's not newly made, but it's one I haven't used for microscope work before.
2008年9月8日
2008年9月6日
Birthday wish-list
1) A multi-channel pipette
2) A vibratome
3) Three more months of the confocal working and not breaking down
4) An automatic plant potting machine
5) An automatic tissue sample homogeniser (for 0.1g samples)
6) Someone who's solely here to help me get through my work (For this one item I will forego items 1, 4 and 5)
7) A life. Preferably mine own.
2008年8月19日
They're after your blood
It's true. They are. They're quite up-front about it as well, and ask for your blood without any qualms.
But it's alright, because 'they' are actually the National Blood Service, the blood-bank from which the NHS and private hospitals in the UK are supplied. I've never thought about it, but there must be fewer volunteers to donate blood at this time of year, when so many people are on holiday or occupied with looking after the kids whilst school is out. In addition, people who go on vacation in places where there's a risk of malaria, sleeping sickness, or other blood-borne diseases, are automatically excluded from the pool (or blood-bath?) of potential donors for a period of time. If you've visited the US of A or Canada, you're asked not to give blood until at least a month after you've returned to this side of the Atlantic. It's good to know how careful they are about blood collection, but that means they're a bit short right now.
That they're a bit desperate is evident as I've had two letters, one e-mail and a sms message asking me to book an appointment (I'm a regular, so they have my details on database). The only reason I hadn't was because I couldn't get through on the hotline! I have now, so I have an appointment with a needle, a pressure cuff, and an empty bag next week (shiver).
One of my friend's sisters had an operation, a kidney transplant, last month, and she needed blood transfusions for that. I wonder if what I give will be enough to 'cover' that? Probably not.
It's not so bad giving blood really, though I still get a bit nervous about it. But, being a student, the free biscuits and drinks you get after (not to mention a stunning, highly fashionable, sticker to decorate your t-shirt and engineer sympathy) are enough of a lure. Like my friend says, I'm a cheap date ;P But if that's not enough of a lure, surely the fact that you're helping to save lives is?
But it's alright, because 'they' are actually the National Blood Service, the blood-bank from which the NHS and private hospitals in the UK are supplied. I've never thought about it, but there must be fewer volunteers to donate blood at this time of year, when so many people are on holiday or occupied with looking after the kids whilst school is out. In addition, people who go on vacation in places where there's a risk of malaria, sleeping sickness, or other blood-borne diseases, are automatically excluded from the pool (or blood-bath?) of potential donors for a period of time. If you've visited the US of A or Canada, you're asked not to give blood until at least a month after you've returned to this side of the Atlantic. It's good to know how careful they are about blood collection, but that means they're a bit short right now.
That they're a bit desperate is evident as I've had two letters, one e-mail and a sms message asking me to book an appointment (I'm a regular, so they have my details on database). The only reason I hadn't was because I couldn't get through on the hotline! I have now, so I have an appointment with a needle, a pressure cuff, and an empty bag next week (shiver).
One of my friend's sisters had an operation, a kidney transplant, last month, and she needed blood transfusions for that. I wonder if what I give will be enough to 'cover' that? Probably not.
It's not so bad giving blood really, though I still get a bit nervous about it. But, being a student, the free biscuits and drinks you get after (not to mention a stunning, highly fashionable, sticker to decorate your t-shirt and engineer sympathy) are enough of a lure. Like my friend says, I'm a cheap date ;P But if that's not enough of a lure, surely the fact that you're helping to save lives is?
Facebook whispers
Haha one of my friends has just experienced the scary gossip-monger effect that is generated via Facebook. Having decided to whittle down the personal details on his Facebook profile, he removed his declaration of singledom - and promptly activated a chain of messages from inquisitive friends speculating on who the lucky girl was. Oddly, as he pointed out, his removal of his political alignment and religious views didn't quite generate the same effect.
I fell prey to the same 'Facebook whispers' (my coining) phenomenum at the beginning of last year when, three months after I joined Facebook, I decided that actually, I didn't want everyone to be party to so much personal information. Being a relative late-comer to the world of Facebook, I hadn't realised how much store people put into the changes of status made to your profile. Hours after removing the information that I was 'in a relationship', I received several messages and phone calls from friends commiserating on my broken heart. As my heart wasn't, in fact, broken (at least, not yet) I was a bit bemused.
Funnily, a few months after this event, a high-school friend of mine left a message on my Facebook wall, jokingly asking when I was going to get married. Despite deleting the message as soon as I saw it, I was obviously too slow to stop the gossip-chain, as someone else wrote 'what, you're engaged?!!' on my wall. That took a few days to resolve. ('The Wall', for the uninitiated, being the electronic equivalent of a notice-board where other people can read the messages left on it).
Anyway, the moral of the story is, at least for me anyway, to use Facebook with care. Some of my friends don't use Facebook, for various reasons, many concerning privacy and data protection issues. Fair enough. I still use it, but I minimise what details I put on my profile and only fill in forms with basic information which is easy to obtain from other sources anyway.
The good thing is, any gossip dies down quite soon, because someone else in your network of friends inevitably falls foul of the gossip-mongers and Facebook stalkers fairly quickly. It's the online equivalent of the trashy tabloids.
I fell prey to the same 'Facebook whispers' (my coining) phenomenum at the beginning of last year when, three months after I joined Facebook, I decided that actually, I didn't want everyone to be party to so much personal information. Being a relative late-comer to the world of Facebook, I hadn't realised how much store people put into the changes of status made to your profile. Hours after removing the information that I was 'in a relationship', I received several messages and phone calls from friends commiserating on my broken heart. As my heart wasn't, in fact, broken (at least, not yet) I was a bit bemused.
Funnily, a few months after this event, a high-school friend of mine left a message on my Facebook wall, jokingly asking when I was going to get married. Despite deleting the message as soon as I saw it, I was obviously too slow to stop the gossip-chain, as someone else wrote 'what, you're engaged?!!' on my wall. That took a few days to resolve. ('The Wall', for the uninitiated, being the electronic equivalent of a notice-board where other people can read the messages left on it).
Anyway, the moral of the story is, at least for me anyway, to use Facebook with care. Some of my friends don't use Facebook, for various reasons, many concerning privacy and data protection issues. Fair enough. I still use it, but I minimise what details I put on my profile and only fill in forms with basic information which is easy to obtain from other sources anyway.
The good thing is, any gossip dies down quite soon, because someone else in your network of friends inevitably falls foul of the gossip-mongers and Facebook stalkers fairly quickly. It's the online equivalent of the trashy tabloids.
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