Great Restaurants.

So I have had two particularly amazing meals the last two nights. Last night I got to go with my high school friend Camille to a very small French restaurant called "tout va bien," which supposedly has been around a long time and was a hang-out place for French sailors. Anyway, I was the only American in the entire restaurant and was pretty much expected to speak French the entire meal, which was great for me because I love to practice my French. I had la soup a l'onion et coq au vin, which were amazing. Absolutely amazing. Then, after work tonight I went with my roommate to one of my favorite restaurants in the city. It is located in the West Village and is known for it's amazing jazz. It is called the garage and was an old firehouse that was converted into a restaurant. Tonight there was a latin jazz orchestra, and by orchestra I actually mean orchestra since there were 18 members that were somehow playing on this very small stage meant for at most 10 players. It was great. The only wish I had was to have a girl to salsa with because I absolutely love to do the salsa. We stayed pretty late and listened to a little of the jazz trio that came on afterwards and they were very good also. Overall, I have been eating amazingly over the past two days and hope that I will have some more great food ventures in the near future. Tomorrow is going to be a CRAZY day with a lot of work so hopefully this food will give me some strength.

Back in the Lab

I took the 8:55 train back to Manhattan this morning and I am back in the lab. This past weekend was a nice change from the city. I have been preparing myself for the crazy week that I have ahead of me. Perhaps being this busy though will be good so I can keep my mind off of the craziness that is life. I am possibly going to dinner tonight with a friend from Florida, so that will be amazing if that happens. I am exhausted. I have a sore throat/esophagus right now (which is either allergy or stress induced) and I took benadryl and of course now that I am falling asleep at my bench. Well, hopefully I will be able to make it through today. We have done a lot already and just finished lunch. Hopefully my throat gets better.

New Jersey

I took a train. It's been roughly ten years since I have been on a train in the Northeast and it was a bit confusing at Penn Station. I have been going the past three weeks with no mental relaxation, so I decided I would take the weekend off and go visit my extended family in New Jersey. I totally woke up to woods outside my window, which was very exciting. Supposedly there was a bear that came into the backyard last night and ate some garbage? Kind of interesting since I am sleeping in the family room on the first floor, right next to a square 10 foot window looking on the backyard :) Can't say that I actually saw anything though. It took about 90 minutes to get here (Mt. Arlington, NJ) and was only $14. This brings up a very interesting issue. For me to take a train to NJ it is a minimal amount, but to go to Boston, which is not much further it is over $100... I do not get this logic. It had been great here though. It's a great change of pace from the 1,000,000 miles per hour 24/7. I am literally sitting here looking out at just green tree leaves... so nice. I totally miss the northeast.

Last night I played video games until 2:30 am with my cousins. A very well needed normal summer activity. It was a lot of fun and has helped relax me immensely. Tonight I am going to go see Toy Story 3 again. It is crazy, since I saw the first Toy Story in theaters on Thanksgiving with my cousins about 15 years ago and then saw the second one with them also in theaters. So we thought it would be a nice to keep the tradition alive. Anyway, I am cherishing this little bit of relaxation before a very very busy week ahead.

Work

So I haven't had much to report since I have been working nonstop for the past three days. By nonstop I mean for at least 12 hours a day. I've been getting a lot of things done in the lab, but I have REALLY been feeling it physically and mentally... and perhaps a tad bit emotionally also. Tomorrow I present my experimental plan to my boss, so this is going to be interesting. Hopefully all goes well and I can push full-steam-ahead momentarily. I am in dyer need of a vacation right now so I think I am going to go visit family friends this weekend in New Jersey, which means I will be taking the train for the first time in over about 12 years. It is going to be interesting. Otherwise everything has been going pretty great in the city. I totally miss everyone in Florida!

Tony Award Block Party Pictures

Pastor Jonathan

Just saw Pastor Jonathan in the waiting room for chemotherapy. He looked great! They will be here for the next two days so hopefully I will be able to see them a couple more times. Very nice to see familiar faces.

Shows, Shows, and more shows

So over the past couple days I have been kind of sick, but I hope that I have stopped the progression of my sore throat. My roommate is still sick and he started six days before I did. Otherwise that I have been working a lot, but playing a lot also. Last night I went to see Jersey Boys, which was amazing- I had seen it before, but it is much better on Broadway. After the show we were walking and happened to be there when Kelsey Grammer was coming out of his show, so we had him sign out ticket holder- kind of funny, and he was very nice.

Then tonight I was so happy because I got to see Catherine Zeta Jones and Angela Lansbury in A Little Night Music, which was absolutely amazing. Beyond amazing. Catherine Zeta Jones just won best actress in a musical about six days ago and to see her perform was beyond words. Oh, and the best part. Both nights we had "partial views." Last night for Jersey Boys we were in the fifth row a little to the side and our "partial view" was a staircase that jutted like 5 inches in the view of the stage... so not a partial view. It was amazing. Then, tonight our "partial view" was in one of the boxes to the side of the stage. We were so close, we could see every expression. It was amazing. Then to top it all off. This was Catherine Zeta Jones last night in the show. So we waited and got to meet her and had her sign the playbills. She is sooooo much more down to earth than I would have guessed. I always thought that she would be acting like "queen of the hill" since she is an A-list actress, but she was very nice. She told all of us when asked what she is going to do with the Tony, "I am going to put it in front of my husbands Oscar." I was amused.

Random note: It took me a good thirty minutes to get the character Mrs. Potts from The Beauty and the Beast out of my head when Angela Lansbury came out on stage.

On the research side I have prepared my proposal for my research for the major boss in the lab (the neurosurgeon). I have been invited by her to come into the OR also, so that should be cool. Work has been really intense lately and I can see it only getting much worse. We will see how I will be able to deal with all of it. But in the meantime I had an amazing day today... truly an amazing day- one of the best in a few months.

Sickness..

So yesterday I took the practice GRE, which is funny because I am not even sure I will ever take the actual GRE, but I thought it would be a good experience anyway. Over the past few days my roommate has been getting pretty sick with this throat thing that has intensified up until yesterday. He is finally starting to get better. I of course woke up after not having much sleep last night and started to feel what felt like the starting of a cold. So I don't think of it and go into lab this morning. Well, supposedly it must have been bad because as soon as my post-doc saw me she asked if I was sick, told me my pupils were dilated and told me to go home. Long story short- I got a lot of vitamins and have been sleeping all day. Everyone is going to China Town tonight... so it will be quite a lonely night. Hopefully, I get better soon.

Lights, Camera... Tonys!

So last night was very fun. I went to the MCAT session to receive my scores for the test I took two days ago and got the scores that I thought I would get without having taken physics yet. After that though both myself and someone from the program at Sloan- Kettering were craving good pizza so we went into Time Square to get Famiglia's Pizza (best pizza ever!). We then realized there was a big Tonys block party in Time Square so we participated in the festivities until around 11:30pm. It was funny because Constantine from American Idol was there randomly running the event as we watched the Tony's on a very large screen. When the Tony's were coming to a close we rushed over to Radio City music hall to see if we could see anyone leaving... and we definitely saw some crazy stuff. It was a sea of people (mostly very famous and wealthy) in tuxes and gowns flooding the streets. I was like 10 feet away from Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones parents as they were getting in their town car. It was quite exciting. I saw so many actors and actresses that looked so familiar, but I didn't know their names. From this whole experience I have reorganized the list of shows that I need to see and in what order. Should be a couple of very fun weeks ahead of me.

First Online Church Service

So I just finished my first online church service through Christ Fellowship. I had to watch it on my iPhone since it seems that the building's internet where I live does not let streams through. I still can't believe that I am not there. When Pastor Tom was closing the service in the back of my head I was thinking... okay now it's time for the "So Long" song. It has been a week today since I have left and I think that I have adapted pretty well thus far. I have gone through a couple interesting life dilemmas while I have been here, but I think today has been a great day of clarity for multiple reasons. I am so happy that my church has internet service... I am not sure if I could go without it :) Anyway, I have a couple issues going on right now in all of the craziness that is my life, so prayer would always be good.

On another note, I get to see my MCAT score tonight from my practice test that I took yesterday through NYU Medical School. I got to meet the dean and he knew about the Honors College, which is pretty cool. So Anyways... :) ... I will keep everyone updated on what happens later on today, but I miss everyone at CF and just know that I am thinking about all of you.

Some Pictures

Just a couple pictures from the last couple days.

The statue was done by Rodin (best sculpturist in my opinion), the museum was The Met. The theatre was the Broadway Theatre where Promises, Promises is shown and the other pictures are of Kristen Chenoweth and Sean Hayes.

Promises, Promises

So tonight was fun. I finally went to my first show "Promises, Promises" starring Kristen Chenoweth and Sean Hayes. The play was hilarious and provided a very needed laugh for the day. I very well needed laugh. After the show we waited at the back door and we got to meet Kristen and Sean. Kristen told me that I was a sweetheart after I told her that I thought she did an amazing job and kept going on how nice I was :) It was a very cool moment. So now to think which show I will go to next? Hmmmm...

Short, but sweet.

Today was short, but sweet. I had to get up "early" for a fire safety class today that started at 9am. After that all I had to do was change some media on some cells, which took about 15 minutes give or take 30 seconds. So I thought enough is enough: I have to do something today that I will enjoy so I went with a friend in the program to broadway and purchased tickets for "Promises, Promises" tonight at 8pm. We are going to be in the nose-bleed section, but who cares. Anyway, today is kind of gloomy, but the temperature is nice in the upper 60's lower 70's. Hopefully I can keep myself occupied without spending any more money until 8pm... only time will tell.

Unproductive.

Today was what I felt as the most unproductive day I have had in years. I was told not to come into work until 1pm. I was supposed to have a lab meeting, but that was cancelled, and was dismissed at 3:30pm. I feel useless at the moment and I literally have been sitting in my room for the last three hours thinking about stuff and feeling crappy. It has been a very odd day. Hopefully I will be able to occupy myself for the rest of the day, but since we do not get our stipend check until the 25th I am not really sure what I am supposed to do.

Glioblastoma Multiforme...

So today I had to go to a talk about what research is and how to conduct research... very boring. Then we had a radiation seminar that was somewhat interesting since we played radiation jeopardy. I then worked in the lab today and did some cell culture and read A LOT. I learned what I am going to be working on. There are two projects. The first project is on a horrible brain cancer called Glioblastoma Multiforme, which is an aggressive tumor that will kill pretty much anyone who has it. It is really sad, no matter if you have brain surgery or not, the mortality rate is above 95%. Reading all of these papers and seeing all of the people in the hospital waiting for their treatments has been kind of depressing. There are a lot of very sick people here. On the bright side, my project is going to be working on these tumors that come straight from the O.R. With the tumors I will be working on this very promising drug that has yet to hit clinical trials and looks very promising for breast cancers. This will be the first time that it has been used for GBM and is very exciting. The second project I will be working on in lamen terms is pretty much taking an adult neuron (brain cell) and reprogram is into a stem cell (cell that can be turned into any kind of cell... kind of). This has been done in what is called a somatic cell, but has never been done in a neuron before... so this again is a pretty cool project. Other than actual work the weather is very crummy. It is raining and I didn't have an umbrella... and it is about 50 degrees and I had on a polo... very cold. Anyway, I am hungry.

Tumors, The View, and Time Square...

Today was a long day. Learned about animal rights, explanted a brain tumor fresh from the O.R., and went to Time Square. We went to the view restaurant on top of the Marriott Marquis Hotel. It is a restaurant that spins so you can see the NYC skyline. We also went to the 31st museum mile block party where nine museums were open for free and they closed 5th avenue. It was a lot of fun and we went into the Met... for free. So cool. Work was long and I didn't get home until 6:30pm. We were just locked out of our rooms (hence why I writing so late) and the super-attendant had to be woken up and came to fix the lock. Anyway, I'm exhausted... so goodnight for now.

Finished my first day

I just finished my first day at Sloan- Kettering. We were in about 8 hours of meetings, I got to meet my lab, and we have already been to two cocktail-like parties and lunches. It's crazy how good the "in-house" catered food is at Sloan- Kettering.

The lab is super different, but at the same time similar to Scripps. It is a much smaller space than what I am used to, but they say that the space is actually large for a NYC lab. The P.I. is a neurosurgeon and never comes into the lab, so I have been told to prepare myself for not actually ever meeting her. The post-doc I am working with is from Harvard and originally went to school in Japan. Her research is in glial cells and tumor cells that come from patients in the O.R. (so cool!). A lot of what I have learned at Scripps is going to help me and they couldn't believe how much I already knew about cell culture, perfusions, and microscopy (a rat perfusion was going on behind me as I was meeting with the post-doc). It seems like we are going to get along very well and the research here will nicely flow with what I have been already working on. They are very relaxed and I don't have to go into the lab everyday until 10:30am- I am in heaven.

First Day! Woohoo!

Today has been sooooo busy. First my roommates all had to coordinate how in the world we were all going to take showers and be at Sloan- Kettering at 8:30 am (turned out not to be that bad). We walked the eight blocks to Sloan-Kettering where we had to go through security. It was hilarious because the security guard had our "mugshots" that we had provided a couple months earlier.

Our first meeting started promptly at 8:30am and lasted for a quick THREE HOURS! We then had a small photo shoot of the group and the photographer was hilarious. He made my craziness during photo shoots look sane. After taking the photos in and outside we are now back in the conference room waiting for out next four hour session. Then I get to meet my P.I. and we have a Welcome Reception later. I am going to be VERY busy for the next ten weeks, but so far so good. My roommate is really great and reminds me of J.D. (it's weird). Anyway... back to meetings.

Had my first NYC Pizza experience so far this trip tonight. It was quite good. I have a SUPER long day tomorrow with MANY orientations. Good Night!

Move In

I have officially moved in. The plane ride was kind of eventful. First, they didn't have enough room for everyone and their luggage so we had to have all of these bags removed from the plane... it took a long time. But I had the emergency row aisle so I was pretty happy. The man next to me looked like a writer (whatever that stereotype might be) and about half-way through the trip he spilt creamer on his beautiful brand-new MacBook Pro keyboard and I helped him quickly clean it up... well chatting started and eventually I learned that he was the creator, writer, and producer of the TV show 24. It was pretty cool. We spoke for about an hour and exchanged cards, he saw my photography and liked it a lot. Oh, and if you are a 24 TV show fan... there might be a movie in the works ;) He was on his way to Manhattan to meet with the main actor in 24 (name escapes me) to talk about it. He had just left Rush Limbaugh's wedding on Palm Beach (Elton John sang). It was a very interesting flight.

Once I got to baggage claim I was convinced by a limo driver to take him up on his offer to drive me to the city for a little more than what a taxi would cost. We drove in a brand new 2010 Mercedes-benz and we started talking, which led me to find out his "client" was delayed so he had time to do a quick trip into Manhattan. His client was Stevie Wonder.

Anyway, now I have unpacked and have moved in. We will see what happens next...

At the airport and getting ready to board. I just created this blog about two minutes ago and I think they are already boarding my section. I better get going or I might miss the flight. I miss everyone at CF it's crazy that it is 11:09 am right now and I am not on stage :( This will be very hard for me. Ah, as a side note, the airlines wanted to charge me $180 to check my bags so miraculously JD and I were able to take FULL bags and pack them into two bags... truly miraculous. Anyway, I will blog when I get into NYC! Sloan- Kettering, here I come!