Busy, busy

So my presentation went really well.
With the help from my husband I had the confidence to speak to others about my work and here's the weird thing - I loved it! Like, really loved it. I got talking to a Professor who is interested in my work and wants to set up a collaboration that could see me doing some work at John Hopkins Institute in Baltimore. It was a brilliant day.
The more time goes on the more I think I have chosen the right path. Sure, there is no money in it but I like it. I like the challenge, the discovery process and (apparently) I like talk to people about my work. With the opportunity to travel, I think I may enjoy this after all. Who'd have thunk it?

So my supervisor comes back today from 6 weeks in the UK and we have a lot to talk about. I have had a very productive 6 weeks, and with a potential collaboration to discuss, I am quite looking forward to it.

In more exciting news - I am getting dressed up tonight for the first time in a long time (heels and everything!) to go and have cocktails and see the Sex and the City movie with my girlfriends. Very, very excited would be an understatement.

A new kind of procrastination

Ok so I admit it.
I used to think that blogging was a bit strange. Why would you want to write your thoughts down for other people to read, and more importantly, why would they want you to?

That was until I started reading.

My best friend started writing about her love affair with all things food and cooking (see Cookbook Fiend) and that lead to me to looking at other blogs related to my professional interest - Science. I have never felt so motivated in my own work (and interested in the lives of people that I do not know).
I enjoyed "Am I a woman Scientist", "A lady scientist" and "The mother of all scientists" so much that I check for new posts everyday. In particular, I found Dr. Mom's series for "writing your first research paper" at a time where I was doing just that (Thank you so much!).

Can there be people out there that don't know that this resource exists?!

I am now four months in to my Australian Master of Medical Science (molecular biology/genetics), which I intend to convert to a PhD in the next 3 months or so. Given I am at the beginning of my research (and my research proposal is due in a few weeks time) this blog is intended to be a tool for helping me to stay focused, ranting when its needed (and probably when its not) keeping track of my achievements, a place to set goals and practice my writing.

Time to make another coffee.