summer part 1

After about two weeks of this hectic summer, I decided to reflect on my work schedule and such.

My daily weekday schedule goes like this:

6:00 am : wake up
6:20 am : leave the house
7:10 am : catch shuttle to Genzyme
7:45 am : arrive at Genzyme
8:00 am : work "starts" (lol I'm usually the one of the first ones there)
4:30 pm : get off work, take shuttle to another shuttle stop
5:15-5:30 pm : catch shuttle back to Boston
6:20 pm : arrive at Boston, parent pick me up and we head home
7:00 pm : dinner (around then)
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm : doze off, tries to study, the interwebs
10:00 pm - 12:00 am : trying to actually go to sleep lol

How is this working out so far? I think it has been alright, and considering I have been increasingly becoming less tired each day by the time I get home, I'd say that my body is slowly adjusting to this rather "healthier" lifestyle. The only catch is that I will be starting MCAT classes tomorrow, about twice a week from 7-10pm. This means I'll have to eat dinner either on the car (leftovers, probably) and basically crash after I get home.

I'll talk a little bit of what I do at Genzyme, in my mass spectrometry group.

For the past two weeks or so, I have been preparing samples (brain this time) for MS analysis. In other words, I had lots of aliquots, solutions, and buffers that I needed to prepare. For the most part they're decently easy, and I'd say that the major problem lies in my unfamiliarity with the building itself, as I have already found myself lost countless times when I'm looking for a lab, the storage closet, reagents, solutions, etc etc.

At the weekly meeting during my first week there, groups performed some presentations of what they have been doing, etc. It was interesting to see their current progress, and the meeting got rather exciting when one of the reports touched on UPR's and post-mods. I chuckled to myself ;) My manager said I may be helping out with other parts of her research, which--to mention one--would include some cell cultures and such.

There are a few downsides, however:

1. The shuttle that takes me back to Boston has this horrendous driver. I simply cannot not feel sick to my stomach (literally) taking that shuttle back because he needs to stop slamming on the gas in Boston and cruising up 40's and then slamming on the breaks right after. Worst driver I have ever ridden with, no doubt. 
2. The computer I work at is technically a data analysis computer, and apparently it means it has very limited access to many things--or at least, not as much access as a normal user computer. I have run into numerous authorization issues regarding folder access, training access, and even email access on my first day. There may be a chance that I can get moved to another desk but I'm not counting on that. Everything else works fine on it, just certain things just NOPE. 
3. My direct deposit is like major-derping right now. They emailed me last Friday about my void check being insufficient to set up my direct deposit. I had to wait until Tuesday to call them (since I work earlier and get out of work later than my bank branch -_____- ). I ended up running to the bank Saturday to pick up the documents because the ones I requested from the call hasn't even come in yet. Now that he has all the documents, I hope I get paid soon (it's a good amount too...for a college student lol) 

At least I have a decent view out my window :D

Schedule-wise, this will be most of my summer, (un)fortunately. Guessing my internship ends around the 16th of August, I have a few other things planned for the last two weeks of summer. They are:

1. MCAT; I have to reschedule my current test date (July 26th) to Aug 22nd or 28th. It's $90 to reschedule. Yea. $90. Almost fell out of my chair when I saw that. 
2. An endoscopic microsurgery (for nasal polyps) -____- that should be the last week of summer, I believe, since my parents believe I might need a week to recover. 

Well that's that, for my early summer. I hope your summers have been much less busy than mine has been!