some stuff about me
Mood:  bright
Topic: life
I noticed that some people went to my website or my blog, I can't tell which because...I've lost most of my computer literacy. So I guess I should make this a little bit more interesting in case other people show up. Therefore, here's stuff about me:

Current "occupation": Graduate student. I've learned that most people don't know what that means. And to be honest, I didn't know what it meant before I got here, and even sometimes now I wonder what precisely the significance of such a title should have on my life and the way I live it. In general, it means that I am pursuing a PhD degree in biomedical science - specifically molecular virology and microbiology or in normal human terms "viruses and bacteria." In order to pursue a PhD degree in biomedical science, at least here at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, one takes a few required and a few elective classes during the first 2ish years. From then on, one spends a large period of time in a laboratory doing experiment after experiment after experiment to get enough research results to prove something and write a thesis about it. And throughout these 5+ years the person gets paid. Not much, but getting paid money BY the school sure beats paying money TO the school. Oh, and we help teach some classes, too, although not a lot - it's a few days a week for about a month each year.

I work on a project in the a lab devoted to HIV research. Technically I focus on SIV, which is a cousin of HIV and infects monkeys. I am working on generating a vaccine that can be taken by mouth. My work is looking up for the short term. That's the thing about science - a lot of the time what you get are failed experiments or weird results that don't make any sense. At least I do.

My first entry...
Mood:  cool
Well, this is my first entry. It's been a long time since I used anything webby. My website lies in ruins (although it still exists, much to my surprise), my online diary got deleted, I don't remember how to chat, and I've forgotten most of the HTML code I used to know, which wasn't much. And now I think I'm somehow going to keep up a blog? Yeah...we'll see how that goes. In between work and working out and going out, who knows how much attention this will receive. But here's trying...!