Random Friday

So, I'm back. Life here has been keeping me busy, so here is what I've been up to.
1) Submitted a manuscript, now the waiting game begins again, but its nice to have it off my desk.
2) Analyzed a lot of data. We (my advisor and I) are finally getting my microarray timecourse data into a presentable form. We have an idea of what is going on (ie what genes are turning on and off) but we need to come up with an effective visual way to present that. This is always an issue in science. Don't get me started on heat maps (which are the standard for presenting microarray data) they loose effectiveness for those of us with black and white printers, or more importantly, anyone who is red/green colorblind (red/green is the standard color combo). Unfortunately, I think that's what we'll have to at least include.
3) Beer judging for a local homebrew competition. Its actually pretty cool and really intense. Our club hosts "Coconut Cup" annually, and everyone volunteers to judge. You are given BJCP style guidelines, which you must follow, and judging is like in a dog show, each beer is judged to see which most closely matches its style guidelines. You don't drink the whole bottle (which when you get a lemon is really good thing) just a 1 oz pour to taste. And you fill out a judge sheet (which isn't anonymous, people know who you are) to say how you feel the entry matches to the guidelines. It's pretty fun, and you learn a lot about the brewing process itself and what goes right and what goes wrong.
4) Job hunting. This is the biggest pressure in my life right now, bigger than the dissertation in some ways (ask me again in April.....). I have sent off one application, and three more are going out today. Wish me luck!

Thats all for now, stay tuned next week to see if I have any wacky adventures over the weekend, maybe even some that are photo worthy!