I had an awesomely productive day today :)
Although I was not able to accomplish much this morning due to journal club, lunch with Monty Slatkin was awesome and inspiring. Following lunch I set up two batches of DNA extraction at ~2:21pm, then went to Monty's talk which was inspiring, then returned to finish the extractions. I started in the lab at 9:00am and I finished at 9:17pm! Good long day of hard productive work.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Thursday, December 2
It has been a while it seems since I have contributed here. Today, NASA researchers found Arsenic based life form, a bacteria called GFAJ1. It is exciting. I cannot find flies in the freezer. I cannot continue my experiments but I did get sequences back from an earlier experiment. I am excited about it.
This year Thanksgiving went well. We cooked Turkey,veggies, stuffing, and cheesecake. We prayed before eating dinner which we usually do not do. But it felt good to say thanks to gods. Finals week is approaching and we are hitting the road after the finals. Nice and exciting times are ahead.
This year Thanksgiving went well. We cooked Turkey,veggies, stuffing, and cheesecake. We prayed before eating dinner which we usually do not do. But it felt good to say thanks to gods. Finals week is approaching and we are hitting the road after the finals. Nice and exciting times are ahead.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Monday, 15th Nov. 2010
We did not end up going to Retika's b'day on Friday. Instead we went to Texas de Brazil...actually the plan was to got to the restaurant then go to the b'day party but she brought the Metro card instead of the CTA card and we found that out when we were about to get into the bus (after waiting for 10 mins). We had to go back get the CTA card and then wait another 10-15 mins for the bus. We were 45mins late to the restaurant (reservation was for 5:30pm).
After eating tons of steak, the plan was to go to the b'day party but we changed our plans after learning that no one we knew were going to be there. Instead, we went to watch movies at AMC just to realize that there were no good movies. We came back home and watched two movies from Netflix. I wanted to watch The Girl Who Played with Fire but she wanted to read the book first. So we watched something else. We then went to bed.
I did not do much this weekend. On Saturday we woke up super late at 10:00am, then after breakfast we went grocery shopping at Aldi and then at Rio Market. I am looking forward to the Thanksgiving dinner. I am also looking forward to the pork ribs that I will cook before we hit the road in December.We have enough meat until the road trip. That night I cooked pumpkin w/ pork and spinach. She cooked awesomely tasty goat curry. We now have enough food for the week. On Sunday I had plans to study but I ended up watching football all day. I also finished reading The Economist. It was depressing to read not a single optimistic article in the entire magazine.
It was a somewhat productive day at work today. I read about the technology and some more. Made some friends, prepared a huge batch of samples for sequencing and then read the journal club paper for tomorrow. I then ran 6mi on the treadmill in 65 mins. Following dinner I am following MNF on the internet. The score is 45-14 Philadelphia Eagles over Washington Redskins. In front of me is the Victoria's Secret delivery box, my unofficial early Christmas gift to her. There is nothing on TV and I am in no mood for studying. She is doing homework while I wonder what to do.
After eating tons of steak, the plan was to go to the b'day party but we changed our plans after learning that no one we knew were going to be there. Instead, we went to watch movies at AMC just to realize that there were no good movies. We came back home and watched two movies from Netflix. I wanted to watch The Girl Who Played with Fire but she wanted to read the book first. So we watched something else. We then went to bed.
I did not do much this weekend. On Saturday we woke up super late at 10:00am, then after breakfast we went grocery shopping at Aldi and then at Rio Market. I am looking forward to the Thanksgiving dinner. I am also looking forward to the pork ribs that I will cook before we hit the road in December.We have enough meat until the road trip. That night I cooked pumpkin w/ pork and spinach. She cooked awesomely tasty goat curry. We now have enough food for the week. On Sunday I had plans to study but I ended up watching football all day. I also finished reading The Economist. It was depressing to read not a single optimistic article in the entire magazine.
It was a somewhat productive day at work today. I read about the technology and some more. Made some friends, prepared a huge batch of samples for sequencing and then read the journal club paper for tomorrow. I then ran 6mi on the treadmill in 65 mins. Following dinner I am following MNF on the internet. The score is 45-14 Philadelphia Eagles over Washington Redskins. In front of me is the Victoria's Secret delivery box, my unofficial early Christmas gift to her. There is nothing on TV and I am in no mood for studying. She is doing homework while I wonder what to do.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Friday, 12th Nov. 2010
Talked to mom/dad this morning via Skype.
I ran two gels to make sure that the DNA extractions from yesterday worked. I could not sonicate because the machine was busy.
No GSS today. Nico's going away party was tonite at the Pub. I was planning to attend it but I did not eat lunch so I was hungry after the Stats class and cannot wait until 5pm to eat...besides I am not sure whether there will be food...plus Yoshina will have to wait by herself the whole time. So, I skipped it. We are heading to Texas de Brazil instead...it is a steakhouse and we had been planning to go there for a while now. There was cricket at the rink @ 6pm. I did not play again today :(
Retika's b'day party is in the evening @ 9pm.
I ran two gels to make sure that the DNA extractions from yesterday worked. I could not sonicate because the machine was busy.
No GSS today. Nico's going away party was tonite at the Pub. I was planning to attend it but I did not eat lunch so I was hungry after the Stats class and cannot wait until 5pm to eat...besides I am not sure whether there will be food...plus Yoshina will have to wait by herself the whole time. So, I skipped it. We are heading to Texas de Brazil instead...it is a steakhouse and we had been planning to go there for a while now. There was cricket at the rink @ 6pm. I did not play again today :(
Retika's b'day party is in the evening @ 9pm.
About me
I am a graduate student in biology at University of Chicago. I am studying signatures of adaptations in the genome. As a graduate student and in life in general there are a lot of ups and downs in a daily basis that I tend to forget in the distant future. I intend to log in this blog, all these ups and downs that happen in my life daily. May be I can revisit my posts in future to remember what was going on in my life at this moment.
Best places to eat in Chicago for grad students
There are many ways to get recommendations for great food sources in Chicago. Here, I built my own recommendation, which albeit untested, should be a good resource for economical and fun outing. I went to Yelp and picked restaurants that offer different cuisines on the basis of price ($, $, $$) and ratings (3*/208 means 3 stars out of 208). As the days go by I am going to explore these places...you should too and let me know how it goes.
Texas de Brazil (Brazilian Steakhouse, $$$, unknown rating)
We went to this one yesterday. I think we ate an entire cow!!! It was $44 per person. We definitely ate a lot of amazingly tasty steak prepared in at least six different styles. It was awesome. One thing though is that they do not prepare their Caipirinhas they way they do in Brazil. Brazilian Caipirinhas are prepared by grinding lime in presence of sugar then adding ice and cachacha to the mix then stirring it. If you want fruity drink, just drop the fruit of choice (try lychee!!!) into the drink before adding ice. The way the bartender did it was he prepared it as if he was making cocktail...did not like it. Also, the drink was expensive, you may be better off picking a bottle of Napa valley red wine for $27 instead of two bad Caipirinhas for $11 each!RA Sushi Bar Restaurant (Japanese/Sushi, $$, 3*/208)
1139 N State St(Go during the happy hour: Mon-Sat 3:00-7:00pm. 1/2 off food $2 sake!!!)
(between Cedar St & Elm St)
Chicago, IL 60610
Neighborhood: Near North Side
(312) 274-0011
Birreria Reyes de Ocotlan (Mexican, $, 4*/20)
1322 W 18th St
(between Ada St & Blue Island Ave)
Chicago, IL 60608
Neighborhood: Pilsen
(312) 733-2613
(between Ada St & Blue Island Ave)
Chicago, IL 60608
Neighborhood: Pilsen
(312) 733-2613
Hagens Fish Market (Seafood, $, 4.5/63)
5635 W. Montrose Avenue
(between Central Ave & Major Ave)
Chicago, IL 60634
Neighborhood: Portage Park
(773) 283-1944
(between Central Ave & Major Ave)
Chicago, IL 60634
Neighborhood: Portage Park
(773) 283-1944
Hot Doug's(Fast food, $, 4.5/1391)
3324 N California Ave
(between Henderson St & Roscoe St)
Chicago, IL 60618
Neighborhood: Avondale
(773) 279-9550
(between Henderson St & Roscoe St)
Chicago, IL 60618
Neighborhood: Avondale
(773) 279-9550
Taza (Middle-Eastern, $, 4.5/250)
176 N Franklin St
(between Monroe St & Couch Pl)
Chicago, IL 60606
Neighborhood: The Loop
(312) 201-9885
(between Monroe St & Couch Pl)
Chicago, IL 60606
Neighborhood: The Loop
(312) 201-9885
Laschet's Inn (German, $$, 4.5*/143)
(between Hamilton Ave & Hoyne Ave)
Chicago, IL 60618
Neighborhood: North Center
(773) 478-7915
Abyssinia (Ethiopian, $$, 4.5*/44)
5842 N Broadway St
(between Ardmore Ave & Rosedale Ave)
Chicago, IL 60660
Neighborhood: Edgewater
(773) 271-7133
(between Ardmore Ave & Rosedale Ave)
Chicago, IL 60660
Neighborhood: Edgewater
(773) 271-7133
Paul Zakopane Harnas(Polish, $, 4.5*/41)
2943 N Milwaukee Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
Neighborhood: Avondale
(773) 342-1464
Chicago, IL 60618
Neighborhood: Avondale
(773) 342-1464
Edgewater Beach Cafe (French, $$$, 4.5/18)
5545 N Sheridan Rd
(between Bryn Mawr Ave & Catalpa Ave)
Chicago, IL 60640
Neighborhood: Edgewater
(773) 275-4141
(between Bryn Mawr Ave & Catalpa Ave)
Chicago, IL 60640
Neighborhood: Edgewater
(773) 275-4141
Greenhouse Inn at Misericordia (Sunday brunch, $, 5/10)
6300 N Ridge Ave
(at Thome Ave)
Chicago, IL 60660
(773) 273-4182
(at Thome Ave)
Chicago, IL 60660
(773) 273-4182
Lawrence Fish Market (Sushi, $, 4.5*/179)
3914 W Lawrence Ave
(between Harding Ave & Springfield Ave)
Chicago, IL 60625
Neighborhood: Albany Park
(773) 267-6838
(between Harding Ave & Springfield Ave)
Chicago, IL 60625
Neighborhood: Albany Park
(773) 267-6838
Wings Around the World (Wings, $ ,4.5*/54)
510 E 75th St
Chicago, IL 60616
Neighborhood: Greater Grand Crossing
(773) 483-9120
Chicago, IL 60616
Neighborhood: Greater Grand Crossing
(773) 483-9120
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