[pic] The dreaming leaf
From an old roll of Kodak Elitechrome. Took this with my Vivitar last April.
Makes me think of old remembrances…
…
Actually, I got the film rolls developed (finally!) and I just got the CD by courier today. A bulk of them are uploaded in my Multiply account–I will take my time with Flickr tomorrow.
[pic] The SCM and I
SCM = Super-conducting magnet.
The heart of the NMR spectrometer, in other words. The spectrometer box may be the brains, with the programmed pulse sequences, pulsed RF radiation and sophisticated electronics, BUT without the SCM, we can’t analyze anything at all–it’s nuclear magnetism that is the heart of all the theories behind NMR, after all.
Just a belated upload from the department camera, taken last month (on my birthday).
[As of now, RL eats my life, with the upcoming liquid helium refill and the continuation of the VCO project. ^^; Oh, and preparing to apply for grad school for next year.]
Tee-hee! A Birthday outtake…
Hamming it up with Ian Ken in the NCIC office yesterday!
Here’s how I managed to celebrate my birthday with my other family–the ADMU Chem Department:
1) Set aside enough money for the lunch treat.
2) Wear black x red casual-lolita (without the petticoat) for school.
3) After arriving at school, wear the petticoat.
4) Borrow the Pizza Hut PALM Card from the stockroom.
5) Order pizzas from Pizza Hut.
6) Fool around the department in casu-loli with the department camera. *points at photo*
7) Drag people to the lunch when pizza arrived.
Well, now I can say that I look young for my advanced age of 25, hehe. 
Happy Birthday to me!
OK, it’s been a long time since I’ve updated. XD Work ate my life and free time…as well as summer-sicknesses like colds AND the flu.
So, to celebrate my silver year here on Earth, I finally made a discreet debut as a lolita (er, a popular Japanese street-fashion, not to be confused with the Nabokov novel….go look it up in Wikipedia)–a casual-lolita, to be exact. ^_^; I haven’t uploaded my photo with the JEOL NMR (haha, science-loli!).
[jottings] after a while
Apologies for not updating for quite some time. 
Been caught up with a lot of things at home and work, more so last week (Finals Week).
For starters, we just had another Nobel forum awhile ago; Prof. Ciechanover was the speaker. He entertained the audience with his anecdotes about his personal and academic life before talking about his award-winning study on ubiquitin and protein degradation. Compared to his technical Nobel lecture last January (the Eurasia Chem conference), today’s seminar was light.
And I got an autograph from him. Cool! ^___^*
[jottings] life in the Pinoy academe
At least the scientific side of the community.
Let’s face it–the academic culture in the Philippines isn’t popular. Ask any college student on where they want to work after graduation, they’ll pick a top-tier corporation where they can become glorified pen-pushers with 5-digit salaries (nothing’s really wrong with it, but if >> 90% of our youth pick management-related degrees, what would they manage–themselves?). Work from Monday to Friday, get Friday and Saturday nights off to party harder. Only a handful pick the academe…this can be seen more in the Humanities and the sciences.
(God bless the short-sightedness of countless parents and children… >_>;)
Now, academic life isn’t financially better than working in industry or corporation, but it has its perks (and pitfalls). Ditch that thought of “teaching (and geekery) is square”! Want to learn management skills? Try handling lecture classes 2-3 times a week. Need money? Write research proposals. Teachers aren’t just teachers–they are managers, financial analysts, diplomats rolled in one package. And for scientist-teachers, they can even make things go “boom!” in the lab, too.
…
Why the above (semi-)rant? Well, the week I had was…interesting at best.
Personal facts about me: I am a college instructor (read: college teacher). I am a chemist. And I also do research. But wait–there’s more! I work in NCIC, too…as the resident NMR analyst (or manager), so I deal with clients for their NMR needs.
It’s just that since last week, I got dragged into joining the SoSE Research Awards as a faculty judge. >_> So, I had to wade through thesis papers (undergrad and grad) of different departments–Physics, Math, Biology, Engineering–and try to made sense of them. Aside from being a teacher and researcher (which both eat my life), I had to do this tedious job, too. :-O But, there were compensations.
[photo] Schmitt Hall
This photo was taken using my Holga 120CFN, loaded with expired Fuji Superia ISO100.
I studied here. And I’m working here as well. That’s a total of eight years–4 undergrad, 2 grad and I’m finishing up my 2nd year of work here. This coming schoolyear’s my third. By this time, I should be fed up of the place…but I’m not. This is my second home.
But with another exodus of people I knew, the people I grew up with from college, my wings are restless. This time, I promise, things will change, things will be different.
[jottings] 15 seconds of fame
The latest issue of the Loyola Schools Bulletin featured my article (which I previously posted here). Can’t say that I’m too, too pleased with my 15 seconds of local university fame. Because the readers considered my blurb for “About the Author” as the best part in the discourse. So much for trying to write an in-depth analysis. >_>;
…
Delayed update–not so much as becoming netblind as to admitting laziness (and sickness) for the past week. But, a lot of things happened this week (and it hasn’t ended yet): meeting up with the Medical City/ASMPH/SoSE people (and joining the fledgling journal club named “Stem Cell 101″), getting my long-delayed period, “moderating” a Sci10 plenary lecture given by Dr. Cuyegkeng, chasing the final tweaks on the NMR paper, etc. etc.
Hence this post, while listening to Tori Amos on iTunes in shuffle. I’ve just encountered articles on musical molecules and blogging as a research tool. And I will work on how to spin these into something bloggable while breaking my head over a set of client 2D-NMR spectra.
[jottings] happy evolutionary Sunday!
A few days ago, I gave my usual Sci 10 (Science and Society) lecture to my class–our topic that time was “the origin of life”. A student of mine raised his hand and asked, “Ma’am, do you believe that man descended from apes?”
Mm, a classic question. And timely, too, after reading through an article from The Scientist about PhDs and parishioners and the proposal for Evolutionary Sunday.
And what was my answer? Well…the issue is moot-and-academic. The classic question, in itself, was “defective” in form. We did not literally descend from the genus Pongo, BUT we share the same common ancestor, making us not-descended from apes, but another type of ape.
Now, hear the post-Darwinian critics howl.
[jottings] of anachronism and lomography
There’s nothing like creative anachronism. No, I don’t mean the Renfest and its relatives, not exactly. But, in this (digital) day and age, using film cameras (or using film) to capture interesting and off-beat images is…so Luddite.
What just got me thinking now are two things: finally getting my cross-processed film roll scanned, and seeing a small exhibit of lomographs in ADMU (for Humanities Week).
Let’s Get Digital!
There’s nothing so convenient, powerful (and stylish) than a digital camera, right? You don’t have to worry about buying and loading film, getting the rolls developed and sent to almost everyone. Every image detail is recorded and stored electronically–no more messy chemicals, faded photographs and moldy negatives to store in a box, only to be forgotten.
Now, how do digital cameras work? It’s….both simple and not-so-simple. First, your recording medium isn’t light-sensitive film in a roll–it’s a CMOS sensor. This is a semiconductor unit that “senses” light pixel by pixel–imagine a sheet of tiny electronic devices arranged in an array, each one corresponding to one “dot” of light from an image. So, the more sensors you have, the higher the definition of your photo, the more exact the image you reproduce.
What About Film?
The only advantage of using film is that it can still record images at the highest amount of definition as possible. Why is this so?
Remember that the amount of sensors present in the camera determines image resolution–how the picture is defined exactly. You can have millions of pixels (millions of sampled “dots” of light) in a CMOS sensor, but…film has more of these “sensors”–a sheet or a strip of film contains light-sensitive silver halide crystals which coat the surface. Each crystal–no, each molecule of silver halide receives its “dot” of light, so light-sampling from the image is continuous and not limited to the number of sensors in a square area of semiconductor.
And What About Anachronism?
Digital photos are still cheaper than film photos…but why in the world am I posting shots taken with a film camera?
It’s a personal reason, really. Aside from the fact that film records images “more precise” than digital cameras, I can do a lot of things with film rather than in digital. By just picking the kind of film, camera angles, a certain play of light and odd ideas for film processing (courtesy of lomography), I can do crazy things like rendering modern Cubao a la 1970’s, even if Gateway Mall wasn’t there during the Seventies…
Of course I can do that in Photoshop using a digital camera. But, having worked with all sorts of digital cameras, I find the products…too crisp and error-free. Easy, too. Like any other electronic equipment.
Besides…film cameras (especially the plastic, toy ones) are dirt-cheap. And no self-respecting thief would dare to steal one.
[jottings] remembering B’t X
(image from www.all4seiya.com)
Today was…hm, indescribable, I suppose. Doing QA over a manuscript for submission to the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry for factual, logical and stylistic faults–including revising the data points of a major chart one by one–is tedious and neuron-killing in the long run.
Speaking of neuron-killing, there’s nothing like a nostalgia-trip to ease the numbness in the head. After reading the article about switching blood types, I remembered the animé series B’t X, back when it was shown on ABS-CBN in the afternoon. That translates to eight or nine years ago. Man, that’s a long time ago!
Anyway, the premise of the series was that the main character, Teppei, revived an old kirin-type mecha (called a B’t) by the eponymous name of X, by giving it a bit of his blood. Teppei’s blood, however, is not his “original” blood-type–X’s former mistress, Karen, donated hers to save Teppei in the past. Since B’t’s are linked to their owners by their masters’ blood, Teppei became the new owner of X. So the story goes.
The real-life story, though, about switching blood types, is much more scientific. An Australian girl had a liver transplant, with a surprise bonus of liver stem cells from the donor. The doctors were not aware of the surprise until her blood test showed that her type has changed to that of the donor. It is surmised that the stem cells from the donor’s liver migrated to the recipient’s bone marrow and replaced the whole system. How this change was triggered…is still a mystery.
(image from www.duke.edu)
[jottings] of old stars and second chances
We are accustomed to think that life is very linear. Non-recursive, with every kind of time or event happening just once. As Ecclesiastes said: “There’s a time to live, and a time to die…”; opportunities knock only once; this is your only chance in your lifetime, etc. But Nature begs to differ. Lives, after all, are not simply threads spun out by the Fates, but are woven in a web, with the promise of second chances if we look for them hard enough.
Take this news, for example–old stars giving birth again. Carl Melis, a UCLA grad student in astronomy, found out that there is “a new class of stars, ones that display conditions now ripe for formation of a second generation of planets, long, long after the stars themselves formed.”
[essay] A Nobel Thought – Musings About the Nobel Forum
(N.B.: I think this will be published in the university newspaper [LSB].)
The 10th Eurasia Conference on the Chemical Sciences—held last 7-11 January 2008 in PICC —achieved nothing short of a casting-coup in hosting the Nobel Forum, with four Nobel Laureates in Chemistry. The audience came from private and public sectors, aside from those belonging to the local and international scientific circles. Despite the disparate background, the forum itself was not a highly-technical talk on the latest aspects of chemical research, but an open discussion about science, creativity and innovation, sprinkled with dry wit.
The four Laureates—Aaron Ciechanover (Israel), Ryoji Noyori (Japan), Hartmut Michel (Germany) and Yuan T. Lee (Taiwan)—shared their unique insights gained from their scientific life before and after winning the prize. Some of their one-liners were humorous as well as thought-provoking.
The following are some of my personal favorites.
[jottings] of fuchsia shoes
I am a proud owner of fuchsia rubber ballerinas by Noosa, a local shoe brand that aims to outdo Crocs in terms of quality and price (they’re on sale at Php250 a pair). Yes, I wear them to school (and I don’t care if people stare down at my brightly-shod feet) because (a) they’re comfy and (b) they’re practical for lab, especially when I work in the NMR room.
Of course, there’s (c)…because the pair’s colored fuchsia! Vibrant, pearly, fluorescent pink that I’m quite sure glows in the dark like an embarrassing valentine. It brightens up my day! Heck, as Reg commented, she could see me (or my feet) a mile away.
Color aside, what makes Noosa, Crocs, Havaianas and Ms. Ang’s Durawalk/Advan footwear popular is comfort. Comfort due to the softness and flexibility of rubber. Read the rest of this entry »
[jottings] of women science bloggers (or lack thereof)
http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54185/
This just got me thinking…about the local issues on women in science AND their presence/absence in the local scene. Even in the local blogosphere.
Here in the Chemistry department, there are only a handful of women who keep blogs. Most of them (um, “us”, if I include myself in the count) use blogs for classroom management–to post announcements, additional lecture notes, etc.–much like a message board (or even a virtual “agony column” for students and teachers). Some, to spice up their site’s content, add a “fun fact” corner or something similar to it. Other than announcements and “did-you-knows”, their blogs end there. No article-type essays on scientific topics, or any topic related to their work life. This is understandable, given the workload they handle.
[jottings] film addiction? nah
For the record, I am not at all addicted to film. Nope. I only blew around Php500 for 5 rolls of 120mm color negatives (expired) and one measly roll of 135mm slide (expired). And I still have 2 rolls of color negatives (fresh–one is already loaded in my Holga) and 2 rolls of black&white film–all 120mm. I am no film addict; 120mm films are so hard to find in the local markets.
Who am I kidding, really?
But my stash is small compared to the others (who can afford). And I don’t go through all of them in one sitting. It’s a blessing in disguise that a university-teaching post is not a lucrative career–I’m forced to economize.
[jottings] of planners, unravelling plans and a reflection paper
I’m the type of person who finds order in what seems to be a terrible mess, whether it be piles of clothes, books and schedules. It’s a “good” mental exercise, to find connections amid the apparent chaos.
Now, apparently, this doesn’t seem to be working out anymore. For the past months (or years?), my mental mode is always on “urgent”, and rushing through things (i.e., cramming–a talent much-honed by my years in high school and college) lately has earned me a lot of disastrous results.
At the moment, there are at least two “giant” Post-Its on the headboard of my desk/cubicle, each with a long list of things-to-do. Some items are crossed out. The others are still pending…and I’ve yet to add another sticky-sheet for a new list (it goes on and on…) My corkboard/whiteboard bears a reminder in large-caps “WRITE ABOUT NOBEL FORUM”, screaming right at my face.
And, last night, my brother just gave me a Starbucks planner that his girlfriend had given him. Good coincidence…I was contemplating on buying an el-cheapo one in National Bookstore.
(I used to write on planners, especially during my senior-year in college. But the problem was–hopefully, was–that I forget what I had written on the pages. And I don’t get to update it fast enough. This time, however, will be different–I will not waste paper and ink anymore.)
Right now, my plans on getting planned out for the year are unravelling one by one. Read the rest of this entry »
New Year’s Resolutions…or not
I’m not big on making New Year’s resolutions…they tend to be broken the minute they’re listed. But personal promises–yes, anytime of the year, they have to be fulfilled else they get dusty and faded with regrets. And I promised to myself that I won’t feel any regrets this year.
Number one on my list is to come up with a sensible blog that is different from the really personal online journal that I share with my friends and fandoms for the past…five years, if I’m not mistaken. Yes, this is inspired by the neat blogs by my friends Charles, Clair…and by those I look up (or revere?). And since I want to practice serious writing (and not brain diarrhea), this blog came to life.
Item Number Two is smarten up my work. Meaning–find ways to improve my teaching style AND research discipline.
Number Three is to do lomography–with a unique twist. Sci-lomo, perhaps? And learn how to take better photographs…maybe sign up to an amateur photography workshop.
Fourth–publish a short story in a local literary magazine before…
Fifth–apply and get in my university-o’-dreams for a PhD in Chemistry! Well, for the fourth item, I already have a published ISI paper in which I’m a co-author.
The list goes on and on, but the top five should be done first within 2008. By hook or by crook.
Wish me luck.
[test] watch this space!
Hopefully, the storm over my old blog-haunt will be over soon. If not, I’ll be moving in here permanently. Meanwhile, watch this space!
