What was I thinking? This experiment has completely metastasized and is now taking over my very existence. And the end of the day, it is all I can do to get on the bike and ride home to GP's house, where I have been sleeping on the porch (enclosed, but not heated) in my very cozy sleeping bag in an effort to try and avoid the dense thicket of allergens in his house-- what I now refer to as the catmosphere. This is potentially not going to last for the whole month, as every night I try to sleep inside, but when I lay down, and my lungs start to seize, I invariably end up getting up (still in the sleeping bag , mind you) and shuffling out on to the porch and flopping down on the mattress I moved out there. It was lovely two days ago when I awoke to the first snowfall of the year, but the rest of the time it is mainly just cold.
In the morning, I use a homing device planted in me during my PhD to find my way back to the mothership (this is what my old friends Aaron and Nolan used to affectionately call Jordan Hall, the building where all of our labs were/are; pictured below.) Truth be told, it is awesome to be here and I enjoy things I think I took for granted as a student. Today, for example, there is a conference on the evolution of
cooperation and genomic conflict where people from all over the world are hanging out one building over basically talking about the evolution of life as we know it-- this is par for the course at IU, but not really the norm at most other places. Plus, I got to have Mother Bear's for lunch-- a once weekly pilgrimage from our lab to the restaurant seems to have gone by the wayside since my departure, but it will be revived for the next three weeks. Lots of other old traditions (MNF) are still going on or have been revived (poker), but the experiment is quickly closing in on any possible free time. Counting Daphnia til the wee hours was and is another major part of being here, and the nighttime house-keeping crew recognized me last night when they came through to do their rounds as that-girl-who-always-used-to-have-all-those-beakers-around-her.... Traditions, I tell you.
In the morning, I use a homing device planted in me during my PhD to find my way back to the mothership (this is what my old friends Aaron and Nolan used to affectionately call Jordan Hall, the building where all of our labs were/are; pictured below.) Truth be told, it is awesome to be here and I enjoy things I think I took for granted as a student. Today, for example, there is a conference on the evolution of 
cooperation and genomic conflict where people from all over the world are hanging out one building over basically talking about the evolution of life as we know it-- this is par for the course at IU, but not really the norm at most other places. Plus, I got to have Mother Bear's for lunch-- a once weekly pilgrimage from our lab to the restaurant seems to have gone by the wayside since my departure, but it will be revived for the next three weeks. Lots of other old traditions (MNF) are still going on or have been revived (poker), but the experiment is quickly closing in on any possible free time. Counting Daphnia til the wee hours was and is another major part of being here, and the nighttime house-keeping crew recognized me last night when they came through to do their rounds as that-girl-who-always-used-to-have-all-those-beakers-around-her.... Traditions, I tell you.
