“The longer I love, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company...a church....a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude...I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes.”
― Charles R. Swindoll
Guess where I heard this? In a public bus in Boston!
Have been so inspired by this that I've resolved to maintaining a good attitude at all times.
And so far it's been 5 days (and counting)!
(kind of slipped up last night when I hissed at Ani harshly enough to upset him.... he kept trying to twist Durga's hand so he could hold it while going to sleep, making her wake up and cry, and making me want to rip my hair out)
Other fantastic news:
a) ASHG 2013! (See prev blog post for scant details)
b) Acadia/Boston! (yes, we were there. Beautiful and fun, both places. I'm so glad to be back home, though)
c) Figured out how to get average promoter methylations while controlling for CpG island presence!
(...aaand I just lost my audience with just that one sentence)
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Notes from the ASHG 2013
My first gigantic conference! Used to attend Keystone as a grad student. Am at the American Society of Human Genetics annual conference in Boston this week and the scale of this is greater than anything I've attended before. Nearly 7000 attendees!
Currently at an exhibit hall which is the size of a football field, waiting for the President's speech.
In front of me is a Japanese group, all of whom bowed to each other multiple times. I imagine them saying "After you, dear chap" "No no, after you!" after each bow.
Multiple attempts to figure out who should sit down first.
10 minutes later: okay, they've figured it out. Now they've whipped out their cameras and are taking pictures of each other.
5 minutes later: they are now taking pictures with some of the award winners.
Update: oh wait! It's not an award winner who's posing for pics- it's the president!
Am sitting waay in the front- 4th row from the stage. I figure I should get my money's worth of education. No snoozing while at the conference! There are zillions of rows- there's supposed to be a screen every 25-30 rows, and I count 3. There are about 75 columns.
Currently at an exhibit hall which is the size of a football field, waiting for the President's speech.
In front of me is a Japanese group, all of whom bowed to each other multiple times. I imagine them saying "After you, dear chap" "No no, after you!" after each bow.
Multiple attempts to figure out who should sit down first.
10 minutes later: okay, they've figured it out. Now they've whipped out their cameras and are taking pictures of each other.
5 minutes later: they are now taking pictures with some of the award winners.
Update: oh wait! It's not an award winner who's posing for pics- it's the president!
Am sitting waay in the front- 4th row from the stage. I figure I should get my money's worth of education. No snoozing while at the conference! There are zillions of rows- there's supposed to be a screen every 25-30 rows, and I count 3. There are about 75 columns.
Monday, September 16, 2013
My article at the Family Medicine journal
http://www.stfm.org/fmhub/fm2013/September/Varsha582.pdf
Hurray!
What does it say about me when my sole first-author article in an academic journal is a creative writing piece, rather than a scholarly piece that advances science?
Note to self: Must publish PhD work. Soon! Aaarrggh!
Hurray!
What does it say about me when my sole first-author article in an academic journal is a creative writing piece, rather than a scholarly piece that advances science?
Note to self: Must publish PhD work. Soon! Aaarrggh!
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Ani-isms
"Mummy, you look like a princess!" when he saw me wearing a skirt.
"Turn around! Let me see!" So I spun around slowly, since I was also holding Durga.
"No, mummy! You have to twirl! Like this, see?" And he showed me how.
"Appa! You are three. You are too old to be keeping your keys like this on the couch!"
"Appa, don't you drink that dangerous coffee!" (advice when Ram wanted cappuccino)
"Appa, don't you buy any colored poxicles!" (more advice)
"Mummy, see I'm not holding my pee-pee. How convenient!" when he realized he could pee without spraying the room if he reversed his toilet seat.
Recently Read
New blog of mine (shared with Gotti): http://recentlyread.livejournal.com
It's an account of what we read and what we like and don't.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Hanging on....
7 days since my parents have left for India. I have managed things quite brilliantly.
I wake up at around 6; keep rice and dal in the cooker; wash the utensils; keep Durga's feeding bottles to boil; run up to brush teeth and take a bath; change clothes and run down and turn off the stove; make Ani's lunch; run up to change Durga's diaper and wake Ani up; run back down to pack his lunch; run back up to brush his teeth and get him ready for preschool; pick up Durga and play with her for a few minutes; run both of us back down and place her in the crib where she'll play; drink my milk; make breakfast for Ani; feed him; and off we go!
I'm in lab by 9:15 or so.
Is that efficient or what?
System works beautifully, unless I oversleep. But even then, I've got the steps until packing Ani's lunch down to 45 minutes pat. The step that is the most time-consuming is getting Ani to eat his breakfast, which always ends with me shoving the food down his throat.
Poor kid. I hope he's not too traumatized. He seems to view it all as a big joke, so I think he'll be fine.
__________************************************************____________________
Update on 22nd Aug (approximately 3 weeks since parents' departure)
Hmm... system needs reworking mainly because I lose my temper tremendously (Tremedous Inflammous would be my name, were I a character in Asterix) at Ani during breakfast.
Here's an updated version: make dal and rice at night. Eat breakfast with Ani. Much better moods all around.
I wake up at around 6; keep rice and dal in the cooker; wash the utensils; keep Durga's feeding bottles to boil; run up to brush teeth and take a bath; change clothes and run down and turn off the stove; make Ani's lunch; run up to change Durga's diaper and wake Ani up; run back down to pack his lunch; run back up to brush his teeth and get him ready for preschool; pick up Durga and play with her for a few minutes; run both of us back down and place her in the crib where she'll play; drink my milk; make breakfast for Ani; feed him; and off we go!
I'm in lab by 9:15 or so.
Is that efficient or what?
System works beautifully, unless I oversleep. But even then, I've got the steps until packing Ani's lunch down to 45 minutes pat. The step that is the most time-consuming is getting Ani to eat his breakfast, which always ends with me shoving the food down his throat.
Poor kid. I hope he's not too traumatized. He seems to view it all as a big joke, so I think he'll be fine.
__________************************************************____________________
Update on 22nd Aug (approximately 3 weeks since parents' departure)
Hmm... system needs reworking mainly because I lose my temper tremendously (Tremedous Inflammous would be my name, were I a character in Asterix) at Ani during breakfast.
Here's an updated version: make dal and rice at night. Eat breakfast with Ani. Much better moods all around.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
A disturbing article
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/fashion/sex-on-campus-she-can-play-that-game-too.html?src=me&ref=general
So much for women's empowerment.
Initially reading it, I thought it was an article highlighting equality of sexes- that the girls in this article seem to know what they want and how to get those things and seem to regard casual sex as a temporary respite.
But on further reading, it seems that nothing could be further than the truth. Why would all these intelligent girls put themselves in situations where they have no control over what happens to them? Why would they continue to drink and make themselves have sex with random men? What kind of a society encourages this to happen?
So much for women's empowerment.
Initially reading it, I thought it was an article highlighting equality of sexes- that the girls in this article seem to know what they want and how to get those things and seem to regard casual sex as a temporary respite.
But on further reading, it seems that nothing could be further than the truth. Why would all these intelligent girls put themselves in situations where they have no control over what happens to them? Why would they continue to drink and make themselves have sex with random men? What kind of a society encourages this to happen?
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