Quick Update

Hi friends,


I write to you on the day after my graduation! I didn't realize how much had happened since my last post so let me update you:

On July 9th: I submitted my thesis to my committee--that was the longest part of this whole process. It took me about 1.5 months to complete this draft. One thing that helped was that I had up to 25 people help copyedit the text for typos. Some were scientists and non-scientists, and they all helped me! Special shot out to Brunsli! Thanks everyone. I also used Cashboard to keep track of time while I wrote each day. It was really helpful and made me realize that 5-6 hours of writing(0nly) is really a lot of work because that was a full day of work! I have a new respect for lawyers who may log 7-8 hours a day! They work hard! My unrequested advice: Start early an just do it!

On July 16th: I successfully defended my thesis! It was so weird because I'd been waiting for this day for so long and it just came and went so fast! This and the next day, where one of the happiest days of my life! I was so stressed and tensed up until my committee chair said those words, "Congratulations Doctor!" I felt so free, it was the best!




On Aug. 3: I submitted my thesis to the library. I made edits recommended by my committee, by the library and continued to get rid of typos! I have to say that completing the thesis is the longest form of labor that you will ever go through. I felt like I was having a baby for 2 months! After their final review, I only had to change the page numbers on my "List of Figures" page. Whew! After that, they ok'd me for graduation!

And yesterday, Friday, August 28th, 2009, I received my Ph. D. in Pathology and officially became Dr. Chi (: My entire family came to celebrate (Mom, Dad, 2 brothers, 2 sisters, their husbands and children my boyfriend John and friends throughout my life). I had a reception afterwards and just celebrated! I have to thank God for trusting me and enabling me to pull this off. I can't believe it but I am a Dr.! Yaaaaayyyy!


So I'm sure you're asking, "What now?" Well, the future is wide open. While I'm interested in the study of Epigenetics, I've come to realize that benchwork is not in my future. So while I pursue postdocs in Epigenetics, I'm also applying for fellowships in Science communication and journalism as well as Science Policy. We'll see, I'm back so now I can keep you up to date!

Cheers!

Dr. Chi (:

Thesis update: Slow progress

Yesterday I worked on a portion of my thesis where I'm writing a review for my intro. I wanted to finish reading all the reviews for a particular topic but missed it by 7 pages! Luckily I've been taking notes along the way so I won't have to re-read.

Today's goals include:
1. finishing that review
2. then read and take notes on recent papers that weren't covered by older review articles.
3. AND organize my notes into a working paragraph for the article
4. If I have time, I will pull papers on the last topic of my intro

I'm thinking that I want to add another section but I just may revise what I have to include all of the data. The type of review that I'm writing is a discussion of three different checkpoint adapter proteins. Since I've been reading so many reviews that have described each adaptor in detail I'm worried about out being redundant. So I think that I will make this review relevant by comparing and contrasting studies and addressing remaining questions for the field.

When I convert this review article into an intro thesis chapter, I'll have to add more paragraphs that will tie it into my other studies which means more writing for the intro! I need to go faster, time will just pass and if you aren't careful you'll be panicking like I am now!

Wish me luck

Chi(:

Goodbye Winter Weight

Hi all,

Just posting to let you know that I'm starting a new blog to track weight loss. It's mostly for my own selfish purposes. I want to use it to keep a food journal and and track my progress. I'm using the Weight Watchers (WW) method because it worked when I used the program two years ago.

There are some great blogs out there that really help me restart my WW program without having to pay again (trust me, once you learn it the first time, all you need is a refresher). However, if you've never gone the program and are interested, I suggest you use it until you have the techniques mastered for yourself. As I was saying, there are a lot of great blogs with WW tools: There's a daily points target calculator, a calculator for determining food points and a food points list, that are among the many tools that will help me along the way and I'll be listing them throughout my new blog.

Hopefully this will be a nice reminder that will help me get back on track when it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestye with sustainable eating habits. You can check out my new blog here.

Cya!

Chi (:

Ahhhh Vacation. . .

Happy Memorial day everyone!

It's been a while since my last post. Since my birthday I've received permission to write and defend my thesis, I've given a talk at a research conference and am two weeks behind my dissertation schedule.

What has kept me sane? To tell the truth, I've met someone who is really supportive, considerate and nice--especially to me! And my relationship with him has taught me something--I'm a workaholic. I live in a culture where you can do your science 24/7. At my school, some faculty raise their eyebrows if you mention that you were doing something other than your work. I think in general, you have to be careful of how you discuss your personal life because it then becomes the reason for why your experiments didn't work or why you haven't written your paper. So unfortunately, I allowed this culture to ellicit guilt for not working--at any time! To adapt, I would go to work for hours but not really work. You know those internet escapes: email, facebook, The Daily Show with John Stewart on hulu. In the last few months I've been working on purging the guilt and putting some boundaries in my life.

The last sentence was easy to write but has been very hard to do. I try to do things like working on my dissertation for one hour at a time. In the past I would go to the library all afternoon and do a 15 minute task in two hours. I feel like, I have all this time--but I really don't. I have a lot of time and even more tasks to do. I've learned that being vigilant to when your mind wanders is key to knowing when to take a break. I've also turned off all audio and visual alerts to my email. Email in academia is like crack, it's great to receive one and no one tells you when you can and can't read it! So far so good but I'm still behind, why?

It's because I don't feel that adrenaline-based motivation. You know that feeling of excitement you get when you know you have a deadline in 12 hours and haven't started. In the past I've tried to start things early and felt at a loss for ideas. But when that deadline looms, the ideas flow right? Wrong! I often end up thinking that if I took my time when writing application essays for fellowships, grants, abstracts. . .you name they would be more refined. It also gives me less time to refine my writing.

Don't get me wrong, I've successfully completed tasks and received funding. But the more I think about my future, the more I just want peace in my life. When I started grad school I knew that I wanted to be a faculty member at a tier 1 institution, running a lab and mentoring students. Today, when I grow up, I just want to be happy. And that means living and appreciating every mundane minute as it comes instead of living for the next "event". That means, its time to grow up and "trade-up" adrenaline-based drive for self-inspired motivation.

Lately I've been thinking of becoming a science journalist. In reality, I'm really on the fence. I love learning about science, but doing the science can be grueling. I know that I have it in me to run a lab some day, but I'm really tired and need to revamp the way I live my life if I want to take on this time-intensive occupation. On the other hand, I love mentoring and I love watching conclusive results come in after I've performed experiments that I've thought of on my own. Science journalism allows you to stay in touch with the hot science that works but it also appeals to my affinity for meeting new people and dwelling within the "real world". I also feel like there's a voice inside me that can communicate science to the lay public, and I want to share it with others. Plus, writing research articles and my dissertation is boring! No one told me that it would be this boring, Ph.D.'s definitely do not receive enough credit for going through this mentally draining exercise.

Right now, I'm volunteering for opportunities to write for the public and am networking with other science writers. I've also learned that blogging about my hair counts as writing! Well, at least I can create clips to use in internship applications. I'm also reading "A Field Guide for Science Writers" and let me tell you, science journalism is no walk in the park! It's very competitive and you have to treat it like running a small business--but being an entreprenuer has always been of interest to me. What is great is that I can volunteer and gain writing experience to build my confidence as a writer, and at the same time be a post-doc and see if I like academic research as well. The future is looking brighter and is filled with possibilities--now all I have to do is write that pesky dissertation.

I have so say that I'm getting more and more paranoid about my grammar now that I'm thinking about writing as a career. Oh well, if I don't decide to be a science journalist at least my writing will get better! Anyway, I'll be blogging my dissertation progress as well as the daily events of life in Chi-town, so stay tuned! For now, check out this braid out! Did I forget to say that I love my SL's? I truly do!

Today is my Birthday!

Hi Everybody,

Today is my birthday. I'm 32 and blessed. I'm truly happy today because I've been blessed with another year of life.



You never know when you will be taken from this earth so for me, every birthday is a blessing. When I turned 30 I decided to live life the way I want it, with joy and the ability to do what you want in life. What other time is better than right now!


So to all my Aquarii, Happy Birthday!

Take care,
Chi(:

More about me than you ever wanted to know. . .

I've been tagged to reveal 25 things about me on facebook but I feel like doin' my own thang. So here's 20 things about me mixed with a game of catch up. Enjoy!

Two names you go by:
1. Chi-chi
2. Nonye Nwanyi (Which means Nonye "girl" because I have another male friend named Nonye Nwoke (boy)

Two of your favorite things to do:
1. Salsa Dance
2. Voraciously read really good books (which I will do promptly once I graduate)

5 things about me:

1. From elementary school till my fourth year in college I played the clarinet and bass clarinet. I was your typical band geek who played in orchestra, marching band and I loved playing in musical orchestras. I loved playing the clarinet so much that I almost became a professional musician. But somehow I became a scientist instead.

2. I hate cold cereal. There's something about it that repulses me. Even the smell of milk and cereal make me gag.

3. I love to dance. I love to learn different dances but my current favorite of all time is the Mambo.

4. I didn't have a major for about a year and a half when I started college. I just got so caught up with all my activities in high school that I forgot that high school would end and I didn't know what I wanted to do afterwards.

5. I've never had a real job--I'm working on that right now (:


Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. For my house to magically become clean! I'm in the middle of a purge and I really don't know where all this stuff came from but it's gotta go!
2. To know what God wants me to do with my life. I think I kinda know but how can one really be sure?

Two things you did last night:
1. Saw "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" This was an exquisitely beautiful movie, go see it if you can.
2. Upgraded my software to Microsoft Office 2008--trust me it took so long that it warrented a mention on this note.

5 more things about me:

6. I'm a gadget girl. I love things that will make my life easier and more efficient. My current crave is to have the Palm Pre when it comes out--but I'm wary of sprint.

7. I'm also a wanna-be computer geek. I would love to learn to code, but will settle on just knowing how to do about everything else.

8. I know how to make DNA from strawberries. Do you wanna know too? It's great for getting kids excited about science. if you wanna know I'll send you the protocol.

9. I love living in Chicago. If I could find a job, that I love, that would allow me to stay here I would take it in a heartbeat. Anyone out there need a Molecular Biologist?

10. I love me some Barack Obama, but I'm started to feel a little desensitized. I think I'm suffering from Obama-overload. But I know he's doing exactly what we sent him to Washington DC to do, get our country back, and I love him for it!

Two things you ate today:
1. Vanilla yogurt with pomengranate seeds and honey.
2. Jasmine rice mixed with Tomato-Coconut stew. (Mmmmmmmmm it was good!)

Two longest trips taken in the last five years:
1. To see my family in Nigeria
2. Mexico with Corey Jordan. Good times!

5 more things about me:

11. I like bicycling on the lake. I don't do it as much as I'd like to but when I do I love it!

12. I'm a former sprinter and long jumper. In my senior year of high school my team went to state! But we got schooled): I loved running sprints, now long distance that's something else but I'm committed to incorporating that in my life too.

13. I used to love hip-hop but when Dre and Ice Cube came on the scene and misogyny became the rule I had to leave it. But I still listen, just not as deep as when I listened to A Tribe Called Quest, Leaders of the New School, The Real Roxanne and De La Soul. I also had a crush on Heavy D. he was so cuddly!

14. I love trying out different restaurants. Call me a low-budget foodie (:

15. I'm addicted to NPR.

Two favorite holidays:
1. Christmas
2. July 4th
3. Obama Day (It only comes once in a lifetime) (on Nov. 5th, 2008--I took that day off, I was soooooooooo happy)

5 more things about me (I'm on a roll!):

16. I am afraid of scary movies--my imagination is too good, I keep putting myself in the victim's shoes. I'm working on it but they can be intense. I'll have nightmares for days.

17. I was born in Kearney, Nebraska. The doctors kept me in an incubator because I was the first African-American baby born in that hospital and they didn't know what to do. Isn't that crazy!

18. I wasn't raised speaking Igbo but I'm learning by piecemeal here and there. I don't like it but whatcha gonna do?

19. I'm a proud Hyde Parker. I've been trained to park in tight spaces and to to gangster a spot quickly if I'm in a parking war--that's the life (:

20. I have a mild case of road rage. I'm actually a very sweet person--I really don't drink and I've never done pot. But this is my one vice.

A New Year and A New Me

Happy Belated New Year!

I have so much to be thankful for this year and one resolution that I have will be to blog more regularly and, now that the election has come and gone, more diversely. I can't believe it but I just celebrated my 3rd annual locversary! It's hard to believe that its been three years and yes I am madly in love with my SL's.

I have a lot on my plate for this year:

-I'm defending my thesis this quarter and the first thing I have to do is finish my experiments so that I can set a date with my committee. Nothing else matters until the date is set so I'll just be blogging my trials, triumphs and tribulation until then.

-I'm addicted to facebook-if I'm your friend you probably already know this.

-I'm also going to take ownership of being a better me. How will I do this? By continuing on my journey of self-love and acceptance. It started when I went to Nigeria this summer and fell in intense infatuation with someone other than my boyfriend. Within 3 weeks I was engaged and I broke up with my former boyfriend after I returned. However, as time passed I realized that I had made a huge mistake and I called it all off.

So where did that leave me? Single, again. But I'm learning a lot from my mistakes, notably that I often mistake infatuation for love and by the time it's worn off I'm stuck in a relationship that I don't want to be in but am afraid to end for fear of hurting the other person. I know, that was a long sentence! But luckily I'm learning and growing towards a path towards self love.

-This weekend I'm headed to DC for the inauguration! I'm excited but I don't have any tickets to anything! I'll prolly go to one ball, and if I do I'll send pics!

Talk to you soon!
Chi(: