Our lab is so crowded

I now know what it feels like to work in one of the "big" labs in our department.  We may not be spread out into the neighboring labs yet (but granted I've been using the hood in the lab next to ours for months) but we have 4 people sitting at lab benches because there are no desks for them.

I like the way our lab is set up, with individual little office spaces with desks in them that are attached to the lab space with all of our work benches.  There are 6 desks in those office spaces and then a big one at the end that's about 1.5 times the size as one of the other office spaces where an assistant professor now sits but has traditionally been a post-doc cave.  All year one of our first year Ph.D. students was sitting at a desk sort of in the corner near the post-doc area, but since we had a student graduate this year she was able to move to his desk in one of the 6 Ph.D. office space desks.

We may have had one student finish, but we've taken in a huge number of undergrads and we are busting at the seams.  Right now there are 6 Ph.D. students, 1 MS student (who may stick around for a Ph.D.), five undergrads, and then the assistant research professor.  And another student is starting next week.  Our microscope is also constantly being used by labs all over the department so there are a bunch of other random people moving in and out.  The five undergrads are the big problem because while one of them is a summer REU student, the other 4 will all be here until May 2012 and there are only two desks available for them to share.  So they overflow on to our lab benches because there is no where else to sit which makes for a really claustrophobic lab, having to weave in and out of people to get anywhere.

It's not really record-breaking news, but it's greatly impacting my life!

My new toy!

For my birthday/graduation/2-year anniversary present Keegan bought me a camera!  A Nikon D5100, to be exact!

I've been having a lot of fun taking some pictures, but sadly I haven't had a much time as I'd like to play around with it.  That, and the weather hasn't been cooperating lately and I just want to wander around with it outside.  I worked about 60 hours last week, so there wasn't too much available daylight to play around.  And now today the weather is supposed to be spotty, so I'm not sure I want to risk taking it around outside!  Tomorrow it will be nice, but I have to work (I have a lot of things I'd like to get started and/or finished up before the conference (!!!) in June).  I may take it to lab tomorrow anyway and while I wait for things to dissolve I could wander around campus and take some pics like I did last Sunday when I was working.

I need to install the photo editing software that came with the camera so I can learn to improve the lighting and stuff in the pictures, maybe make them brighter and more vibrant, but I have a ton to learn just about the camera itself.  Several of our good friends are also into photography, so I will make sure to talk to them about the settings they recommend.  :)

I have taken a couple of the pictures off my camera to look at so enjoy!  (Keep in mind this was my first adventure out with the camera)

Visit to the Chapel!

Cardinal in the Gardens -- glad I didn't scare it away as I crept closer to get a better picture!

Messing around with the color selection option on the camera -- not the best picture but it was still fun

 Can't wait to get better at this!

May pleasure reading

This month I have re-read several books and read for the first time Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin.  She is also the author of Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Baby Proof, and Love the One You're With, all of which I have also read.  A movie version of Something Borrowed was released a few weeks ago and I saw it with one of my sisters-in-law Hadley, and then Alex, Cindy, and Priscilla who also happened to be going to the same show as us :) 

The book was good, but nowhere near as good as her first two books, the ones I like the most.  She delves a bit into what happens when marriages become tired and how people are affected by their work if they don’t make time for each other.  One of the characters in the book gave up her career to stay home and care for her children while her husband continued to work as a pediatric surgeon.  The book deals with the aftermath of that decision for both the husband and the wife and makes me think about what Keegan and I might do in that situation where one of us is a stay at home parent.  In the book the family only had two kids but Keegan and I want more kids than that, so I’m not sure at what point we’ll decide the cost of childcare is not worth it and one of us will decide to stay home (or if we will ever reach that point – who knows?)  That is probably 10 years away from now though, so I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it!