Monday again so here goes for a weekly post. Last week I was working in the genetics lab, but it feels like I’ve got nothing to show for all the hours I did. A couple of weeks ago I tried extracting DNA from seed coats for the first time. I get DNA out of it, but it’s contaminated and low concentration. I figured I’d try running them through a PCR anyway, but late Wednesday I got results that weren’t encouraging.
For a few days now I’ve had a word document open on my laptop with a lab to-do list; I’ve yet to do anything on it. Ending a day with discouraging results makes getting motivated the following day near impossible. So now four days have passed since I’ve been in the lab and I can’t be bothered picking it up and trying again.
Perhaps I should be looking ahead to avoid those discouraging results coming at bad times? I knew I was going to be busy half of Thursday and all day Friday, and that it takes special motivation to get into uni on a weekend. So last thing on Wednesday, when I was rushing off to dinner with the Engineer, probably wasn’t the smartest time to find out I’ve got to redo work.
Looking at the to-do list, I can do two of the three things today. The third I’d really like to do today, since I have to leave the resulting sample over night before I can test it. But let’s start easier first, and focus on those first two. I know I’ve got most of this week to focus on lab work, so I don’t need to look ahead to avoid the same bad timing as occurred last week.
In non-PhD life, the Engineer “set me up” with a woman he met who owns the same kind of motorbike as I do. I wasn’t thinking too much of it because I’ve tried to set up rides with other women before and they never pan out. But she contacted me first thing yesterday and we ended up going out for a ride and coffee. It was fun riding with another female! I love the boys I ride with but riding with her was a nice break from their antics.
Update: Forgot to post this before I left in the morning, I got 1.5 things done off my list – the remaining 0.5 was out of my control. Tomorrow!
