Monday: ping-pong, PEG sensor, review article, nasty cold
Kevin went to a day trip in Florida somewhere and now is back. I talked to Daniel about Kornelia's PEG sensor and stuff and he discussed it with me - how the sensor worked, physiological versus non-physiological conditions and it all made so much sense. I'm not confused now. I'm good. *thumbs up*
Going home to read this fantastic review article on micromachines that Dr. Lynn sent me - 120 pages - best one I've seen. I was going to stay but I'm starting to feel truly terribly sick again and feverish. Darn it. It's ok. I'll read my article in bed. It's really interesting so far.
PLEASE pray this isn't the flu. I'm already feeling 3x more awful than I did last time, even with Tylenol and it's making me nervous. The flu does bad things to me. Come what may, I'm in the Lord's hands.
6:00 pm ~ Update/Prayer Request: So far, I'm fighting a 101.4 fever and suspect this must be flu. I'm really frustrated about this, b/c I've already been sick once and been on a trip, so I feel as if I've used my "sickness quota." I was so looking forward to catching up on work. I can still do some, but not nearly as much as I want w/ a fever this high. Pray it goes away and something gets worked out so Dr. Lynn doesn't get cheated out of my not doing proper work. I'm just, really frustrated by this. I know the Lord is in control. I just need Him to help remind me of that right now. I'm SO afraid Dr. Lynn will get mad at me or the other professors - or I don't know. I just want to do my work! *headdesk* If it is flu, pray it doesn't go its typical 4-5 dys of 103-104 fever. Thanks. I'll calm down in a little while probably. I'm just upset right now.
8:10 pm ~ (after the update from earlier on home page) I'm more at peace now and reconciled. Kornelia texted me and said she got a cold too but hopefully not this one. She doesn't think Dr. Lynn will be mad. Hyun Min said he'd pray and Esther. And James said the most encouraging thing. What must be must be. I'll trust the Lord to take care of it.
9:00 pm ~ I'm actually feeling better inexplicably, though I've only an hour of Tylenol left. That's really unusual for me in evenings. Thanks for the prayers! I don't expect it to last but the relief is really nice.
Tuesday: Resting
Resting today: I was going to read some stuff, but I didn't. I ended up just laying in bed, drifting in and out of semi-consciousness until about 7 p.m. I didn't even sleep. But the bed just felt so good. The fever took it out of me yesterday. Still. I could have worked. >:[ Bad Jessica. I'm thinking I could read some stuff now I think.
Other answered prayers - mom's knee: Mom hurt her knee at work over the weekend and she's been hobbling around. She was on-call on Monday and couldn't find anyone to switch with her. We prayed fervently she wouldn't be called in, in spite of her work being busy, and she wasn't! So glad she had the extra rest. She's working tomorrow though, which worries me. But I'll pray it goes well. She's a little better.
John had GOOD stuff happen at work for once: John said Hennessy Lexus has a "Thanksgiving lunch" for its employees, which they usually get from Moes. They don't want to spoil everyone's turkey on Thursday and John likes Moes, so he wouldn't have minded that. But this time, Mr. Hennessy had his personal chef come in and cook them stuff: salmon, blackened chicken, turkey, pasta and all kinds of food. John said the pasta was amazing and it was all REALLY good! That's the best thing I've heard him say about work practically all year! I was so happy.
FIN: I know it might be silly, but pray Dr. Lynn isn't frustrated with me for being sick and STILL having trouble doing anything useful, and pray that somehow, by the grace of God, I can make it up to him. I'm emailing him and other people tonight. I'd like to truly do something great or at least worthy of my best, instead of what I've managed so far.
Wednesday: Lynn pot luck and things
Bioorganic class: Two students presented on novel C-H functionalization through P450 enzymes. I got my graded proposal back. I was SO relieved. The average was 157 +/- 25 (out of 200 points) and somehow I ended up with a 189. That will definitely help with the bad test score. Also, my last homework assignment was also good. We also got handed our next HW assignments early, which is nice.
Doctor's appt: Routine. The doctor suspected it was viral, which is what I've been thinking, but I had to go. Mom still complained that I didn't get any tests done. For strep, I don't blame her complaining, but I'll just try to keep an eye on things. I think I'm fine, honestly. I was happy I got there on time and I already knew where it was, because I'd been there before - something I really appreciated.
Lynn pot luck: The pot luck was actually at noon and I didn't know. I thought it was at 5 p.m. However, "luckily" I happened to walk by the door on the 2nd floor coming back from lunch and saw everyone in there with food and asked what was going on; thus, I found them. I was SO relieved I didn't miss it. There was a lot of food. I brought hellodollies. Rolando ate one, then asked if it had walnuts in it and I said yes, to which he said he was allergic to walnuts - they made him itchy - and I told him that of course this was my maniacal plan all along.
Lynn pot luck presentation: One of the students getting ready to graduate presented today about a system in which he was attaching some of the Hill's catalysts to Lisa's nanotubes, along with some porphyrins, and reducing methyl viologen. Obviously, I don't understand it entirely well, as my bad explanation manifests. It was interesting, especially since it related to Lisa's nanotubes. However, I was expecting a bit better from a student who said he was planning on graduating with this work. He didn't *seem* to manifest a lot of understanding about his system - he didn't understand the basics of the photosynthetic systems in plants that Dr. Lynn pointed out, which I would have thought he'd know - but then, maybe chemists just don't learn that stuff. We had to learn it for biochem. His graphs were also low quality. I just didn't think his presentation was good quality. Dr. Lynn grilled him after the talk - I thought it sounded like grilling to me - and he had some definite holes to fix. Are things always that way? Maybe so. But I would hope to be better prepared and have thought things more through. However it's possible that no matter how thoroughly one prepares, there are probably always holes. There's just too much to know. I also haven't seen that many about to graduate students give practice talks. It's possible they're all poor compared to the final result. Eric asked some good questions. I asked him a few things to clear up some simple bits I didn't get.
Impromptu visit to Dr. Shapiro: Since the pot luck was over at 2:30 p.m. or so, I decided to go home early. I took home the extra hellodollies that weren't eaten. Then, going home, I thought - huh - I have these hellodollies left. They're Dr. Shapiro's favorite cookie. And I haven't seen Dr. Shapiro in at least a year. I should give him these! So, contrary to all common sense and my USUAL mode of planned behaviors, I pulled a "James" and drove to Oxford on the spot. Dr. Shapiro lives right next to campus. He was my old political science prof at Oxford and a good friend. I knocked on his door and gave them to him. He was tired, said he was coming down with a cold he thought (aren't we all) and probably not in the mood for company. Getting cookies though seemed to half-way mullify him, despite that. I just wished him a Happy Thanksgiving and left. He told me to warn him next time, so he could actually visit with me. I thought about explaining - "Well, I didn't intend to come - I just had these extra from lab meeting and thought of you and just decided to come on the spur of the minute..." - but then I thought - nah. Best to let it be. It'd probably just be more confusing.
Glimpse of Oxford: I peeked on the Oxford campus briefly, but nobody else was there, alas. I figured not. I peeked in the new library windows. It was unfortunately locked. It looked so weird. The whole front is different now. And it does look completely modernized and radically changed. I can't wait to visit it for real one day. Then I went home. And I thought. Wow. I can't believe I just did that. Ha.
Status update on home and silliness: Dad cooked some food today. John was at the game store, per the Wed usual. His day was hectic as all get out. James was home, but madly typing up a website for a school assignment that he had due. He tends to wait until the last minute for stuff. When I got home, I THOROUGHLY fumigated every inch of the inside of my car with Lysol. And cloroxed the steering wheel. I felt pleased afterward.
Reading about nanomotors: I started reading Dr. Lynn's nanomotor review article again. But it ended up being mostly about molecular motors, which is not my focus. I didn't realize that starting out. The first section was great. I went back to the article by Sen and started dissecting it. That was a fantastic article. I was feeling full of despair about the whole thing, thinking about how much Dr. Lynn must surely hate me and feeling rather abandoned and on a mission impossible. He seemed unhappy with me today I was sure. I didn't look at his response to my note. I refuse to look at it until I've finished this proposal and have something useful to show him. But I'm feeling encouraged now. I found lots of more COOL articles by Sen - some I've been looking for previously - and others from his references. I love the sheer variety in Sen's collection of papers. That's one of the reasons his are so useful. And now I have more ideas and more to come, from reading those. So, I'm hopeful.
FIN: James and I are both going to be working on assignments tomorrow, pretty much, except when we're eating. :) But, it'll still be nice, to be together in one dining room, working on stuff. Mom came home and told stories of her day, which were pretty dramatic. She got home late, due to some situations with a patient. She happened to take her patient for a CAT scan when she didn't think she needed it - thank goodness - because her patient actually had several blood clots in her lungs.