Everyone Wants Something

Last week The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) hosted a web forum titled Emerging Technologies in Water Treatment.  Since water treatment is sort of my thing I attended this forum with several of my coworkers.  If I had to sum up the forum in one word I would call it disappointing.

With a title of emerging technologies one would expect the talk to be about, well, emerging technologies.  It was not.  There was a speaker from Dow, one from a professor at UConn, and one from GE.  The presentations from Dow and GE were focused on the water crisis while the presentation from a professor at UConn (Jeffrey McCutcheon) was actually focused on new technologies.  Here are my take-aways from the event:

• Water is a growing concern - Dow
• Water is a valuable resource - GE
• I must try to fit buzzwords like "expand the core," "market sector," "value chain," and "open innovation" into meetings with supervisors
• Some people don't have access to clean water - GE
• It takes a lot of talent to talk endlessly for a MS PowerPoint slide with little content
• There is going to be a shortage of water - Dow
• It can take a lot of energy to desalinate water - UConn Professor
• Maybe I should switch my career to marketing

Companies want to know what their competitors are working on but don't want to share what they're doing.  Professors will share everything if they think it will help them get more research money.  I should get into marketing.

Things I Should be Doing Instead...

Instead of biking/shopping/browsing facebook/redecorating my apartment/going to festivals/watching movies I should be studying for the qualifying exam in September.  So I can graduate faster.

Studying for the exam is pretty much the last thing I want to do this summer but every semester I'm in school is another half-year of lost earnings potential.

Unfortunately repeating that to myself simply isn't working as a motivator.  I need something more.  Something concrete that I can hang on my wall so I look at it everyday and remember my goal.  I just need to figure out what that something should be...

On Desserts

Kopp's Cookies N' Cream

The boyfriend and I are on new diets where we eat little to no dairy.  This makes me sad for two reasons.  One, I like cheese.  Two, I love custard.  Here in Wisconsin there seems to be a never-ending supply of places where one can eat custard.  I had never had custard growing up on the other side of the St. Croix/Mississippi River but was quickly initiated once I started college.  Sure there is Culver's but it's Culver's - come on.

Custard stands like Kopp's, Leon's, and Oscar's are delicious and feature typical flavors plus flavors of the day.  The nice thing about my custard haunts, as my boyfriend so kindly phrased it, is that sometimes their flavors suck  And when the flavor of the day is something you don't like then you don't go there!

Ice cream stores (like Cold Stone) don't seem to have a flavor of the day.  I could get Germanchökolätekäke every day of the week if I so desired.


Flavors of the day however, build anticipation.  Like the very anticipation I've feel all week waiting for this cookies 'n cream custard from Kopps.  Yum!

My New Friend

That space heater that I bought for my office arrived today.  I had worn a sweater to work today and wasn't that cold but I gleefully marched my new purchase back to my cubicle and plugged it in to test it out.  Such joy!  Such pleasure!  My cube was instantly filled with warmth and I found myself happily plugging away at some data for the rest of the afternoon.  You don't notice how much being even slightly uncomfortable slows you down till the problem is removed.

This space heater is pretty awesome but I wish I'd believed the Amazon reviews when customers said it was loud.  I haven't tried listening for my heater from the cubicles near mine but when the heater is running on low I can't hear my co-workers conversations.  Now that I think about it, that might actually be a plus!

Frigid North

Today I broke down and bought a space heater for my cubicle at work.  I even paid extra to get it by tomorrow (Tuesday).  I'm hoping the space heater will make me more comfortable which will increase my productivity.  Sounds good, yes?

Happy Hour

This time last year I was frantically finishing yp my master's thesis, working 32 hours a week, and finishing up the last trimester of my combined bachelor's and master's degree.  Basically it sucked.  What kept me going was the conveniently timed Starbucks' Happy Hour - a period from 3 to 5 PM where frappuccinos were half-priced.  Starbucks kept me going.

Since their second annual Happy Hour ended yesterday I figured I'd give them a shout out.  Thanks Starbucks!

Bad Project

I'm a bit behind - one of my labmates told me about this video today but it's pretty awesome.  A parody of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance, the Hui Zheng lab at Baylor College of Medicine put this together for the 2011 Molecular and Human Genetics Retreat (and won 1st prize!).  





While the ideas expressed in the video apply largely to those working on a PhD (I want to graduate in less than five years but there ain't no getting out here) they can also apply to anyone who's every inherited a project from someone else (I want good data...but I got a project straight from hell).