Bored at work by Mollie B. '06

It is currently 10:53 AM. I have been at work for three hours and fifty-three minutes, and I want to take a nap. Since that is not really an option… well, here I am on the lab’s computer.

Science, while a wonderful and rewarding career, is not really a nine-to-five type of job — since I didn’t come in yesterday (I was up in Maine at Adam’s ski condo watching a History Channel special on the Kennedys), I had to come in at 7 this morning to harvest my cells. The good news is that I’ll be doing two days of work in one day. That is also the bad news… particularly since I have to cheer at a basketball game again tonight. Go Tech and whatnot.

This weekend in Maine was fun, even though the weather wasn’t good for skiing, which I don’t mind, since I’m not big on low-friction activities. I think Dave Barry says it best here:

Skiing is an exciting winter sport, but it is not for everybody. For example, it is not for sane people. Sane people look at skiing, and they say: ‘Wait a minute. I’m supposed to attach slippery objects to my feet and get on a frozen chair dangling from a scary-looking wire, then get dumped off on a snow-covered slope so steep that the mountain goats are wearing seat belts, and then, if by some miracle I am able to get back down without killing myself, I’m supposed to do this again?’

But I digress. The indomitable Adam won third place in the duals portion of his competition, and would have won first in the singles portion, had he not catastrophically fallen head over feet six moguls before the finish line due to a nasty patch of ice. He won a very shiny medal, which he forced me to wear the rest of the weekend (does this mean I’m a literal trophy wife?).

A favor to ask:
Could you please leave your most burning question about MIT life in the comments? It can be related to school, social life, the dorms, food (have you ever noticed how everything is about food with me? I swear, I really don’t eat that much)… maybe if you get your questions in fast enough, I’ll even edit this entry to answer them! (Read: I am bored, and I anticipate boredom with occasional bursts of hectic labwork for the rest of the afternoon, and I really would like something to amuse me.)

Previous burning questions:
1. Dan was puzzled by my comment “Mens et manus in corpore sano”, which was intended to be witty but apparently was merely obscure. “Mens et manus”, Latin for “mind and hand”, is the motto on the MIT seal. “Mens sana in corpore sano” is, as Dan noted, “a sound mind in a sound body”. I did understand what I wrote — although you wouldn’t know it most of the time, I did take four years of Latin in high school — but clearly I am not as witty as I’d like to be.

2. Chris H asked several questions about sports at MIT. I have heard many times that MIT has more NCAA-recognized sports programs (41) than any school other than Harvard, but I can’t seem to find anything to back up that assertation, so take it with a grain of salt. It’s true that the bloggers don’t often talk about sports, but don’t forget that we’re a small, nonrandom sample of MIT students. I’m psyched that Chris classifies himself as a nerdlete — “the guy helping everyone with their homework in the lockeroom” — that definitely clicks with the experience of many MIT athletes. (In high school, I personally was always the one helping people with their homework backstage during play practice, but I know what Chris means.)

3. Thanks everybody for their congratulations on my interviews! I’m excited. And nervous. But mostly excited. I’m basically going to be out of the state every weekend between now and mid-March… rest assured you’ll be kept updated on my cross-country wanderings

4. Shen asked about the swim test (which I really need to get around to taking…) — according to the website, “The swim test requires that you swim 100 yards on your front.” Not anything too scary. And if you really can’t swim, you can take a beginner swim class as one of your PE classes. (Sidenote: I’ve heard that if you take some combination of PE classes — sailing, fencing, and something else maybe — you get a “Pirate’s License”. Hee.)

Oookay, back to work.