The List.

(capitalized because A, I miss my brother, and B, it's a pretty important list. Enough to be a proper noun).

Things I have to do in the next month:


Today - hour long presentation on using probiotics to ameliorate Crohn's disease - went pretty well! My mango/berry smoothies went over spectacularly, I think. Also--anyone interested in hearing more about Crohn's and probiotics? I won't be offended if you're not, but I thought I'd check.

May 7 - poked and prodded for an allergy test (good thing, too--I'm walking around like a space cadet with all the pollen in the air right now) I reacted to nothing except histamine, the positive control. Oops? Apparently it could be that I am allergic only very slightly to a lot of different things, or that the allergen that I am reacting to (perhaps every day on my walks to work) isn't covered in their test of the most common allergens. Oddly enough, I had no reaction to dust mites, which I had excessive reactions to when I was young (I had to put all of my stuffed animals in the attic in 2nd grade! Tragic!) My allergist said we could do a couple more tests, but they wouldn't really change treatment (nasal spray and Zyrtec...oh joy). So yes, in the end, saving money trumps curiosity. Oh well. Also---the technology for actually doing these tests is much improved; instead of marking the entire alphabet in permanent marker on your back and individually injecting each allergen, he dips an eight-pronged plastic thing into the allergen solutions, and just presses it into your arm. It still hurts, but the administration of dose is much more standardized. Way to go, optimization!
EDIT - I had late reactions to molds. One week later and I am still reacting. Oops?

May 8 - Orchestra concert (Shostakovich 12! Oh-so-excited!) -oh my gosh what a blast! Playing Shostakovich...it's just one of my favorite things. Bombastic, intense, emotional...the things he puts in his music are just beyond words.

"Horns were impeccable yet nuanced in their articulation" thank you, MIT Tech Newspaper!

May 9 - BBQ at McCormick So delicious! And I am officially so excited for next year...I get to live with such cool people!

May 12 - paper due in Molecular Biology
- lab meeting presentation on current results - the paper was actually accomplished pretty quickly, I think due to a slightly long bus ride out to Wellesley to surprise a certain someone on his last day of classes with a bottle of champagne...I wish these kinds of carrots always worked to help me get work done! The lab presentation went pretty well, but we've established that A, Bridget knows next to nothing about the practical side of protein expression, and B, has a lot to learn.

May 14 - Final presentation on Hyper IgE grant proposal I think this went fairly well...I served devil's food cake in honor of Satan cursing Job (the other name for Hyper IgE is Job's, since you can end up with these nasty boils all over the place, which is what Satan did to Job)

May 15 - Final copy of Hyper IgE grant proposal due (including responses to reviewer's comments) I wish I could have had more time to refine and study this disease. Or that I could actually look into creating these disease models. I can haz thesis topic? Plz?

May 17 - Olin Graduation It was such great fun! All of the graduates (70 students) get 15 words to say whatever they want: thank yous to their parents, the lyrics to 'La Bamba,' or even a marriage proposal! ---my mom flipped when I told her this. Apparently she thought it was me? It wasn't :)

May 20 - Final exam - Molecular Biology I survived! Having three hours to do a two hour test is ever-so-nice! You feel like you just have so much time to think!

----interim---- =study my brains out. (working on this right now. woo-hoo?)

June 2 - Qualifying Examination. six hours of fun, baby!

June 3 - make 18 batches of ice cream. EDIT: these are using my new ice cream maker. I cannot wait. :D

Also in the works is a quick weekend trip to New York City in June, Chicago for a weekend this summer, and a week at home. Should be wonderful!