Procrastination 101

Has it really been a week since my last entry?  Procrastination?  Maybe a little bit!

My mom has really been on my case about not procrastinating.  I completely understand where she is coming from, but it is much easier said than done.  I am coming to the realization that I am indeed moving to Carbondale in less than a month!!  In between now and then I have about a million things to get done.  Here are the 4 basic categories:  

Category 1 is thesis.  I believe I have already touched on that one.  I have already ran 1 plate of PCR and am going to go another one tomorrow, so I would say that is progress!  Too bad there is still lots of writing to do once the data is analyzed :(

Category 2 is med school stuff.  This includes things such as completing all proper vaccinations (I need a tetanus booster and TB test), finishing filling out financial aid forms and budget sheets, setting up utilities for my apartment, going through stuff in my house and either tossing, saving at home, or packing it (which is by far my least favorite part) and many other activities related to moving.  I think the move is a really big stressor for me and my whole family right now.  Can't wait until it is over!  Did I mention I hate packing?

Category 3 is wedding stuff.  I am trying to pick out save the date cards and have them ordered ASAP.  Since the wedding is on a holiday and lots of people are from out of town, getting these done sooner than later will be key.  My problem is that there are so many choices and possibilities.....it makes my brain go crazy just thinking about it right now.  Also, my soon to be mother-in-law, Kathy, is coming into town this Friday to go wedding dress shopping.  This is one "to do" that I am actually really looking forward to.  We have one appointment on Friday and 2 on Saturday and I can't wait!  We are also hoping to check out the I Hotel which is where the reception is going to be, so I have to call and try and set that up.  Other than that I want to try and finalize the wedding party soon and at least look for bridesmaid dresses.  Once I start school I will have dramatically less time to work on wedding stuff.  Better try and get as much in now as I can! 

Category 4 is "other".  The main other that I have coming up is I am having surgery on Thursday, July 24th.  I have a deviated septum that has long hampered my breathing and I am finally going to get it fixed here before I leave for school.  Although I am really excited about this, I am also very nervous.  After all, it is MY FACE!!!  Recovery will be about a week, so that will limit the amount of stuff I get done from the other categories.  Luckily my dad will come up from Georgia to be here to help out :)

Overall, I am feeling really good about all of the stuff going on in my life.  Each one of the things listed above is really wonderful and exciting even though each can bring on lots of stress.  I think I am learning how to deal with all of these different things and find a good balance.  I am just trying to do a little bit each day and I know that sooner or later it will all get done.  I do have to thank my parents because without their encouragement, a little bit of pushing, and many lists I don't think I would be able to do it all.  THANKS!  

Thesis Blues

In about 5 weeks I am going to be leaving the world of grad school here at U of I and entering the world of medical school at SIU. So, before I leave I figure I need to put together a checklist to make sure I have fulfilled all of the requirements for my masters program. Here it is:

All required coursework = check!
Enough research to almost constitute a PhD project = check!
Too much time in the mouse house feeding, weighing, dissceting, cleaning cages, and watching mice exercise on a treadmill = check!
5 semesters of TAing exercise physiology classes = check!
Completed thesis = NOT FINISHED!

Completing a thesis project and writing a thesis is a huge undertaking. Although I have done about 14 different mouse experiments, I did not happen to even start on my thesis project until earlier this year. In my thesis experiments I am looking to see if 4-weeks of voluntary wheel running in mice is able to attenuate the sickness and depressive-like behaviors that they experience after injection with a bacterial endotoxin. This is prevelent because many chronic diseases and cancer treatments lead to an increase in inflammation and patients develop depressive symptoms. We hope that exericse can have antidepressant and anti-inflammatory effects in the mice we are studying. The actual experiment took 4 weeks and I had to repeat it one time to get enough mice per group to hopefully see significant findings. Since my experiment has been finished, I have been working like a mad women trying to do data analysis. A large part of my results section is looking a gene expression in brain tissue. This is done by doing 3 very boring and long steps. First there is the RNA isolation from the brain tissue, then the reverse transcriptase reaction to make cDNA from the RNA, then the RT-PCR procedure to detect mRNA levels. I have done the first 2 steps on 48 brain samples, now I am trying to do the RT-PCR. If I ever finish this, I will finally be one step closer to finishing my thesis. Lets just say it is hard to collaborate with people from different lab groups and using reagents and equipment that belongs to other people. It is so hard to organize everything and try to finish it on time. Okay, enough with the rant on the impossibility of me finishing data analysis. Please watch this silly video on PCR which probably only nerdy scientist types will laugh at - but it really did cheer me up. http://bio-rad.cnpg.com/lsca/videos/ScientistsForBetterPCR/

I will keep you posted on the status of my thesis!

Fourth of July

Today was a great fourth of July.  First off, it is one year until Bill and I tie the knot :)  It is so exciting to know that in one year we will be married.  Today there was such nice weather here (in the low 70s) and I can only hope that it will be that way next year and not 95 degrees!  Today we had a family pool party at my parent's house.  It was fun to eat food, visit, with family, go swimming, and go to the fireworks.  

Yesterday was a great day because both my dad and Bill came into town!  We are like one big family and had such fun together.  Also, we finally got the wedding photographer finalized and I am so happy that our good friend and excellent photographer Kenny Kim is going to be taking our wedding pics.  Check out his web site:  www.kennykim.com or click here to read his blog.

Hope everyone had a safe and fun fourth of July!

And so it begins

Ok, here goes nothing. My first blog entry! First off, I love reading blogs. There are some blogs that I will check almost everyday to see if there is a new post. They give insight into people's lives and help us connect to people that we do not get to see or talk to as much as we would like. I have been contemplating starting my own blog for a couple of months, but now seemed as good a time as ever to start one. I am blogging first and foremost for myself, to record my adventures and thoughts like a journal, so I can keep track of everything going on in my life and to recount all of the things that I have done. I also hope others can read my blog to see what is going on in my life and also to seek advice or insight into things that I have done in my life. I am not sure when I will be ready to share my blog with others, so if you are reading this there might be many posts already!

So, some of you might be wondering about the bB (baby Bear) stuff on my blog. It all started from being called Sara Bear by my parents while growing up. It then turned into just Bear or Beara and since I have decided that our entire family is the Bear family. I have named myself bB because I am the youngest (well actually the only) youngester of the family. So, hopefully now you understand the title of my blog!

Now a little bit about myself. I am a graduate student in an Exercise Immunology lab at the University of Illinois attempting to FINALLY get my Masters degree here in the next month. This means I am crazy right now analyzing data for my thesis and trying to finish writing it. I will be starting medical school at Southern Illinois University in August. This will be a very exciting experience for me. I have never lived more than 4 miles from home, so moving to Carbondale (about 200 miles away) will be a big step for me. I am "leaving behind" my mom who will get that empty nest feeling all over again. My dad lives in Augusta, GA where he moved to for work. I recently got engaged (April 2008). My fiance is starting his 3rd year in medical school in Peoria. So, all in all, this means my family is really spread out!

Well, that's it for my first entry. Much more to come soon! Thanks for reading :)