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Last week was my first week at work, though we didn't quite have a lab space yet. Another lab that works mainly with frogs and that we'll be collaborating with, let Dwayne (the boss man) and I set up camp in one of they're rooms while our lab floors were being redone and the space thoroughly cleaned. It was really gross -- Dwayne said the previous lab had been there for at least 20 years, and it probably hadn't been cleaned in that time. I can't say for sure how long it'd been, but if you could Photoshop out all of the actual lab, you'd never know the difference, because a thick mask of grit and grime in the shape of it would remain.

Dwayne and I spent the week discussing what equipment needed to be purchased, particularly a new laser scanning confocal microscope and -80˚C freezer among other things, and he asked me to create a plan for where everything in the lab would go... how we should organize it all for a good work flow. Daunting? A bit, but I like organizing things, so it's kind of a fun challenge for me. We also have to write and post job descriptions for the people we will want to hire, most urgently someone to do the animal husbandry and a sort of general technician/helper. We think we have a post-doc lined up (as soon as she finishes her thesis, which as those of you Ph. D.s out there know, rarely happens as swiftly as intended), and we'll probably get an undergrad too. So, it's a small team at the moment, but we're working on it.

Back to the fancy microscope, they can run more than half a million dollars, which of course you aren't going to just find in your couch cushions, so we've narrowed it down to 2 systems. One of them will be demoed at this year's Neuroscience meeting in San Diego the first week of November, so we'll be driving down for a day of the week-long meeting to give it a whirl. There will be 20,000+ scientists there to present and/or listen to the latest findings of researchers in the field. I won't have to go to a single lecture! Ahem, hem, I mean, gee, it's too bad I won't have the opportunity... Seriously, it is interesting and amazing what various labs around the world are doing, but my brain can take only so much information. Our bi-weekly departmental presentation at Wash U was enough for me, and I sometimes walked away from those a bit dazed... though, I guess it could have been the take-out...

Dwayne, his wife, and their 2 children have had me to dinner 3 times already, which is much appreciated, especially considering the fiasco with getting my stuff dropped at my new place. A story for a rainy day perhaps, entitled, "Aubrey opens up a can." Anyway, my boss and his wife want to make sure I'm doing ok. The little one, D'Nae says my name constantly when I'm over, to which I don't really know how to respond. I say "yes, D'Nae?" and she speaks some D'Nae-ish then calls on me again. Over and over and over. It's like an Abbott and Costello routine (I'm beginning to wonder if Finley Wyllie put her up to it, just so I'd feel at home). Anyway, Dwayne tells me that I'm the first person outside of the family who's name D'Nae says. It's an honor I don't know how to comprehend, I guess, or maybe it means nothing at all. Right place, right time sort of thing. Hmmm... I can still remember the first full day I spent with the entire Holden family, helping the youth with last year's talent show, and little India Holden suddenly called my name (for the first time) and wanted me to play with her. I had one of those brief moments where time stops, and you feel the weight of a revelation of sorts. This little person who I barely knew wanted to play with ME, and I remember thinking how amazing that was.