March Meeting

I am currently in Baltimore for the March meeting of the American Physical Society. The APS meetings are a blast. It is my third year going to them and every year I get a little more confident and, sadly, fit in a little more. It used to be that I could barely contain myself from laughing at the geeks here, but now that I am one (more so than before) I just smile at the over-the-top geekiness. The APS meetings are where you can hear the worst jokes, see the worst dressers, the most socially awkward. You can walk down the hall and literally see people perform back-of-the-envelope calculations.

One thing I love about going to the meetings with the boys in my lab is that they really like to explore the city where the meetings are held. We see it as a free vacation where we have to put in 40 hours of work and the rest of the time is ours to get into trouble. We like to check out the local bars, eat the requisite foods, see the local sports teams. Unfortunately the Orioles are still in spring training. From what I’ve seen of Camden yards, it’s a beautiful place to spend an afternoon. We have, however, had our required Maryland crab cakes and had some drinks at the Harbor Way Inn, where the signature liquor was their own. A lethal combination of vodka and Lithuanian cough medicine. I tossed it back like a trooper.

One of my favorite things about these meetings is catching up with people you only see at these meetings. For instance, at my first meeting (in Montreal) I literally ran into my Physics I lab teacher from the University of Minnesota. His name is Andy. He was so proud to see someone he had once taught at an APS meeting, presenting her own work. We caught up over lunch and since then have made it a point to see each other at the March meetings and see each other’s presentations. Coincidently, our research area is remarkably similar. I found out yesterday we even share a collaborator (Yep, this guy. I’m meeting with him tomorrow. I’m nervous already.).

Unfortunately, these meetings also contain a lot of ass-kissing. Something I’m not terribly fond of but something Dr. Hari can’t seem to stress enough. I know, I know. Everybody has to do it. But it just doesn’t seem like something you sign on for as a physicist.

For example, I was listening to a talk when Dr. Hari came in the room, tapped me on the shoulder and whispered in my ear, “C’mon! C’mon! We’ve gotta go! Get J!” I snagged J and we ran out of the room. Dr. Hari was walking at a fast clip. “Dr. So-and-so and his grad student from MIT want to go to lunch with us!” I had no idea who these people were. And Andy’s talk was in an hour. I was worried about missing it, but I guess if a collaboration from MIT came out of it, Andy would understand. As it turns out, Dr. So-and-so was an acquaintance of Dr. Hari’s and he just wanted someone to eat with. His grad student, fearing boredom, requested Dr. Hari to ask a couple of his grad students with to keep her company. I was irate of the politics running rampant at the situation. Fortunately there was a talk she wanted to see as well so I made it back to see Andy. I am in store for more politicking tonight though when we meet for the Florida University dinner where we are the little guys compared to UF and FSU. At least we can brag about being the ones on the beach.

My Own Personal Reality has been Upended

The semester I was writing my masters thesis, J joined my lab. He already had his masters degree and had been personally invited to join by Dr. Hari. The whole time J has been in our lab he has never had to be a teaching assistant. I have twice and I would have had to be this semester if it weren't for my new fellowship. He eats, sleeps and breathes physics. Any physics question you have he can answer. He immediately showed interest in everyone's projects and spends most of his waking hours there putzing with side projects. He has more publications in the 2 1/2 years he's been here than I have in the 3 1/2 years I've been in the group. And he's one of the nicest guys I've ever met. Which is why I can't dislike him. But I can resent him a little. I'd get frustrated that he was Dr. Hari's "golden child", he couldn't do anything wrong and I felt that we were all secretly being held to the standards that J provided. At the same time, I felt comfortable resenting him. I was happy with my place in the hierarchy and would relish the year or so following J's graduation where I would be the senior member. But until then, it's fine for Dr. Hari to call on J for every little thing he needs. I could just kind of chill in the shadows doing my thing until I had gradually accumulated papers, a resume and eventually a Ph.D.


A couple of weeks ago I noticed a distinct change in the lab dynamic. It started when I made a comment to Dr. Hari about wanting to get my stuff and graduate so I wouldn't "clog up the pipeline", something Dr. Hari is vehemently opposed to. He chuckled and left. Five minutes later I was called up to the office. I felt like I could have been in grade school again. His lecture to me went something like this,

"Natalie, the last thing I want to do is get you out of my lab. I want to keep you here as long as possible to give you the skills and the resume to get a very good job. I think you have the potential to be a great researcher. You have exceptional analytical and writing skills, things that will enable you to get far in life especially if you take advantages of the resources provided for you."

It made my day.

Then later in the week I sent Dr. Hari a rough draft of my presentation for the conference I am going to next week. He emailed me back saying,

"I have reviewed your APS presentation and it looks excellent. I am glad to see to that you are becoming an expert in this. Good job!"

Again, pleasantly surprised.

Then things started going south. J came to me the other day saying that Dr. Hari told him that his writing skills were weak (which he already knew) and to come see me for help on his presentation. He also said Dr. Hari was talking about what a great researcher I am again. Cheesehead confirmed and said Dr. Hari had told him how awesome I am too. The tides have turned and I am sensing some resentment. The boys jokingly called me "golden girl" today, and "pet". I would hate me too if I were my labmate!

I have also been asked to have dinner with Dr. Hari and one of our collaborators while in Baltimore and prepare a presentation to show him (BTW- this is the same collaborator I describe here. Yikes!).

Things reached a head when we went through our practice talks as a group today. Dr. Hari had plenty of critiques for my lab mates. When it was my turn at the end to go, he said, "Pay attention, guys. This is how it's supposed to be done." That made me a wreck.

Faithful readers, I blame you. When J asked me with a twinge of jealousy in his voice how I became such a good writer, all I could think of to say was, "Well, I blog."

Ack!

My cats don't drink from a water dish. They drink from a stadium cup on the coffee table because whenever Dean and I have a glass of water, the cats will try to drink from it. We discovered that if our glass of water is always only 3/4 full and the "cat cup" is always full, they will only drink from the cat cup.

For the first time in 3 years I accidently drank from the cat cup.

I feel so disgusting.

"And we'll see ya...tomorrow night"

Whenever any Twins fan hears those words, they get chills. They immediately think of Kirby Puckett's game-winning homerun against the Braves forcing game 7 of the 1991 World Series*.

Baseball lost a hero yesterday when Kirby died. People of my generation associate Twins baseball with Kirby and his too short career. They think of his dedication to the team, the fans, the state. They think of him before that fateful game 6 when he told his team, "get on my back cuz I'm gonna carry you." That he did.

We all ackowledge we wasn't the perfect man, but he was a damned near perfect baseball player. He was one of the last of the great "small-ball" players, advancing runners with bunts, sac flies, taking walks when needed. Not always swinging for the fences though when he did it was impressive. He was one of the last players to spend a prolific career in one place wearing no jersey other than a Twins jersey, number 34. People like to speculate on what kind of player Kirby would have been if his career hadn't ended when he got Glaucoma, sending the Twins into "the dark ages" of the mid- and late-90s.

The Twins of today are heavily influenced by Kirby in their strong defensive playing and their team mentality, still playing small-ball when they can. Torii Hunter patrols the outfield and robs homeruns citing Kirby as his inspiration.

Twins fans, Minnesotans, baseball fans and players alike- we'll all miss you, Kirby.

*Dean was at that game and I have always been immensely jealous. Also, game 7 of the 1991 World Series is known as arguably the best World Series game ever played. Kirby had little to do with that, but it was because of him the Twins made it to game 7. Jack Morris pitched 10 shutout innings. The Twins won by stringing together singles (small ball) in the bottom of the tenth, winning 1-0 and the title of World Champions for the second time in four years. Those were the days.

Playing Catch-Up

So I'm back at work today after taking the whole week off work last week. As I described in my last post, I spent the first couple of days in Ft. Myers with Dean. Wednesday my mom and stepdad came to Tampa for their annual spring training trip. It was a lot of fun. I always relish their astonishment at the beautiful weather here this time of year, their joy at seeing and playing with their "grand kitties" and being spoiled rotten with free food and pampering. We saw four games at four different parks. I didn't bring my camera because they brought their big fancy camera with the huge lenses and fast shutter speed. I'm excited to see some of the action shots. Many of the bigger stars that we would have liked pictures with were not there because of the World Baseball Classic. Don't get me started on THAT. As always I was extremely sad to see them go.

Since I don't have much new in my life besides watching baseball and drinking beer, I thought I'd catch you all up on what I've been reading and watching.

WHAT I'VE SEEN:

Capote- I went and saw it with my dad while he was in town. I was so happy to see that Philip Seymour Hoffman won best actor. He was amazing, as was the whole movie. I knew very little about the whole story behind In Cold Blood, and we are reading it this month for my book club. I'm actually very glad that I saw the movie before I started reading the book because it brings a whole new dimension to the book.

Brokeback Mountain- Finally saw that the week before last. Very disappointed it didn't win best picture last night, but I haven't seen "Crash" so I can't say much about it. I thought it was a beautiful story that completely lived up to the hype surrounding it. I was worried I would be let down after hearing such good things about it, but if anything I liked it more than I thought I would. My mom warned me that I'd cry. I scoffed and reminded her that I'm not a big movie crier. She was right.

40 Year Old Virgin- Dean and I rented it last weekend. It was pretty funny, but it dragged on a little too long. I liked the supporting cast and was pleasantly surprised to see Catherine Keener after just seeing her in "Capote".

WHAT I'VE READ:

Since finishing Vanishing Acts for last months book club (and making my opinion known about Jodi Picoult), I've only finished one book and started another. Pretty disappointing for me, an avid reader. But I have been pretty busy. Per Lefty Grrrl's recommendation I read The Memory of Running. It was quite good. A Forrest Gump-esque guy rides a bike from Rhode Island to California to deal with the remains of his estranged sister. It alternated between him telling of his adventures and of the people he meets along the way to describing life growing up with a mentally ill sibling. Both story lines were equally compelling and I found myself fascinated by the sister's character, espeically as seen through the eyes of her simple brother. Good pick, Lefty!

After The Memory of Running I started reading In Cold Blood. As I mentioned before it is March's book club selection. Unfortunately I will be in Baltimore for a conference when book club meets, but after seeing "Capote" I couldn't not read In Cold Blood and I'm so happy I saw the movie first. It is really intense reading this true crime book and remembering parts of the movie when Capote was inspired by these events. I highly recommend both the movie "Capote" and the book In Cold Blood in that order. I'm only about 100 pages into the book, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

Time to get to work and I'll make the rounds with all my blog friends tonight.