Ok, I know this is an older picture, but they're so darned cute!! If Batman ever decided to have a furry side-kick, it would have to be Zack....those ears, that double-mask, the grouchy demeanor....I mean, he IS Batman in doggie form!!
So life continues rolling along. Hubby and I have had a few busy weekends visiting friends and having friends visit us. It's been great to catch up with all of them, but it also reminds me of how much I miss having a strong social network. Before moving to Blacksburg, I'd lived in the Charlottesville/Crozet area for 12 years. That's longer than I'd lived in any other place my entire life! I've made some great life-long friends from those years, and had gotten pretty comfortable and settled.
This move has been awkward socially. On one hand, I'd really like to meet some people in B'burg who share similar interests, whether it be horse riding, bike riding, even going to check out live music or some plays....folks that might want to do spur-of-the-moment hikes or grab a beer out. On the other hand, we're only 2.5hrs away from a number of my dear friends, so it's easy to plan weekend trips to visit and do similar things. But that makes me feel socially isolated in B'burg. For all this whining, I'm not too worried as it's only been 4 months and it took me 12 years in C'ville :-) I've never been one to make friends quickly!
Hubby just commented that we simply haven't found the right crowd yet....the old fogey crowd. Thanks dear.
The furries are all doing pretty well.....getting furry-er as we speak. Winter arrived yesterday in the form of a sleet storm so I can't blame the creatures for fluffing-out and getting into hibernation mode. Example A:
Example B:
Yeahhhhh....it's a rough life.
Dax is still lame and still in the same place she was. I applied to a non-profit horse rehab organization but they turn us down, so I'm back to square one trying to find a better and cheaper living arrangement for her. I've got another lead to follow up with, but I'm pretty sure it's going to come down to me posting a "free horse" ad on craigslist....which I'm really scared to do b/c I don't want her to end up in a sketchy situation. Obviously I can try to minimize this risk by careful interviews and visiting farms, but once she's moved I have no control. And this is assuming anyone is even willing to take her on, which is a big IF in this economy. *sigh* At least she's been a good girl since the kicking incident - she's got a minor skin infection on her pastern (commonly called scratches) and she lets me treat it in the field without fuss, even though it's pretty sensitive. She gets this crap every year when the grass is really wet, causing her lower legs to stay wet and allowing bacteria growth to take off.
Lab and school are going well, and getting busier by the week. I'm finally doing actual experiments!! Woo! Growing cells, running gels....and it all makes me feel totally helpless because I have to ask where everything is. I swear I know how to do this crap...I just don't know where the buffers are, where the conical tubes are kept, where I can put my stuff in the freezers. I don't know where the freezers are for that matter! Totally helpless. Luckily the lab manager/tech is patient and understands, so she'll kindly stop whatever she's doing to get me a lab timer or show me where the sharpie markers are (first lab I've been in where there aren't sharpies lying around everywhere!).
There's been lots of lab drama due to our scheduled move to a new building in the end of Nov or Dec (we're predicting it doesn't happen before the holidays :-). Currently, my lab is located in a building separate from the main veterinary campus. The main vet campus is made up of three connected buildings, so it basically looks like one very long building, but it's divided up by the hospital phase, the classroom/teaching phase and the research phase (they're called phases b/c they were built in different phases. Very creative.) Now there is a fourth new wing with two floors, one for offices and IT and the second floor with all research labs (and a kitchen area!! I'm pushing for a new coffee maker...) There are five labs, so we'll occupy one and the other four are reserved for new faculty. I'm excited to be moving for multiple reasons:
1) I'll be in a more centralized location for classes and labwork.
2) New lab = new equipment!
3) No stink bugs. Our current building is very old...we have window A/C units b/c there's no central air, and somehow lots of little "wildlife" find their way inside. I was doing cell culture in a sterile cabinet/hood Thursday when I suddenly saw a stinkbug sauntering along the open edge about 4 inches from my arms. Not so sterile.
4) New collaborators! The new labs are reserved for new faculty which the department is actually in the process of hiring (not just talking about hiring). It's an example of a general expansion that seems to be going on in the college. There's another new building that just broke ground that is for DVM teaching and professor offices. Another huge research building (called the "translational research" building) is 3rd on the list to get funded by the university, meaning it very well could break ground in the next two years and be built before I graduate! The physical expansion goes along with the new hiring expansions (something like 11 new faculty over the next couple of years!), and there are plans to expand the DVM class sizes as well. It's an exciting time to be at the VMRCVM! (Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine).
5) I'll be getting my own lab bench to work at (right now I'm sharing) and I'll hopefully learn where stuff is stored as we move...since I'll be helping put things away as we unpack. But that means we can also organize and generally have the lab set up in a much more efficient way than it is now. Right now, it's kind of chaos, and I'm not just saying that b/c I'm still sort of new and don't know where anything is.
Let's see, other than that I'm still working on writing some grants...have gotten good comments back from some faculty on my rough draft. Now I'm scrambling to find a place to submit it because I just found out last Monday that I am in-eligible to apply to the F31 I was originally planning on applying to. Poop. Serious poop. I also can't apply to an NSF fellowship b/c I have a Masters degree. It's looking more and more like my proposals are going to end up being submitted by my PI for R-type grants (the kind of grants that only go to faculty, or at least people with doctorate degrees). Either way it'll get submitted which is good, except it would be better for my career if I was able to get an award under my own name.
Notice I'm automatically assuming they'll get funded?? HA! It's a big assumption either of my proposals will make it past triage (where all the grants that don't have a remote chance get tossed without being reviewed).
Learning....it's all a learning experience....
I'm getting the stare-down from the puppers. Time for a walk, then some apartment cleaning. Hope everybody else has a nice weekend!
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