29 May 2008
Hello everyone!
Was a bit lax on the blog entries in the second week so I have to give a retrospective account now that I’m back home. I’ll probably miss a lot of stuff out, which will annoy me when I later remember, but I think it’s still worth doing as we got up to lots of exciting stuff and I can stick photos here and there to illustrate the funness!
MONDAY 19 MAY
We had a lecture on Optical Imaging techniques, which really ain’t my bag, but was interesting nonetheless. We also got demos of some of stuff they use. This where my paparazzi attitude came in handy as I have a pic of Marijan with one of the head set-ups on.
In the afternoon we got a talk on Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation from Alvaro Pascual-Leone which was pretty darned exciting cos he’s one of the macmothers in the field and I read a lot of his work/books for my undergrad lit review on TMS and schizophrenia. Never would have thought at the time that a couple of years later I’d be sitting in on his talk in Boston. Mad!
No real plans were made in the eve. None of us really fancied doing anything exciting so we just decided on some cheap and cheerful pizza. What I now know is a 15 minute walk from the hotel took almost 45 minutes cos (so called!) Ranger Dave took us around the block 3 times over. Gotta admit I was getting mildly hungry and grumpy by the end of the walkabout and was tempted to just go home.
We ended up having pizza at Papa Ginos which was pretty cool. It was still pretty early in the eve so me Dave and Michael made the trek to a nearby mall so that Dave could get some sheets and pillows and stuff for his new apartment. That walk didn’t get off to a great start cos Dave got us walking 10 blocks in the wrong direction before we checked the map turned back to where we came from! Not much to report on in the mall. I bought a shirt from Old Navy, and Dave managed to buy what he needed. Yay!
TUESDAY 22 MAY
Now, here’s where it gets a bit fuzzy. I didn’t have my camera for Tues or Wed cos now I cant remember which order things happened in! The course was 9 to 5.30 again and today was the Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy lecture, the thing I’d flown just a few hundred miles to attend! As it was only an hour slot, and I was the only person really interested in (I wonder why!), I wasn’t expecting much more than an introductory whistle-stop type talk. Dr Savoy had kindly arrange for me to have lunch with Dr Ratai who gave the talk, and Claudia (Swiss cog neuroscientist working on auditory hallucinations in schizophrenics also interesting in MRS’ing the patients). We exchanged ideas about our projects and Claudia had some great ideas on overcoming some of the more practical issues of scanning children. On her advice I think we’ll show relaxing pictures of nature or some thing neutral while the kids are in the scanner instead of showing them Disney videos as was originally planned, as this is likely to cause them laugh or induce large eye movements etc.
In the afternoon we had a lecture on databasing neuroimaging studies and I have to admit my narcolepsy kicked in something rotten. Might as well admit to it now, before Steffen posts the (many) photos of me trying to suffocate some bugs that had become trapped in my eyelids.
I’ll have to check with the other dudes on the course but I think we factioned off into smaller groups that evening cos no one had managed to organise something for the whole group of us to do. I didn’t have my camera with me so I don’t even have any photos to jog my memory but I think that was the evening a small group of us (Me, Michael, Raphael, Marijan, Mellisa and Dave) went to a Thai restaurant in Charlestown called Chow Thai (I think). I do remember I had a beef pannang which was delicious, and there was a palaver at the end when I tried to get a separate bill so I could et reimbursed later and they didn’t really understand what was going on, and then it turned out we had underpaid or something and I had to cough up an extra couple of dollars! They had loads of rough guides in the restaurant including a very new edition on Norway. Was fun reading about Vigelands park cos I’d been there,
THURSDAY 24 MAY
Thursday was the last full day of the course. We had some really interesting talks, including from Dr Lichtman and the Brainbow technology that I remember being a cover article on Nature! I think they’re missing a trick not putting the images on canvas and marketing them as art. They’re so pretty in themselves, nevermind that they’re actually images of brain tissue! In the afternoon some of the people who had neuroimaging experiments planned got a chance to present their work and get some feedback from the group. I think it was a really good exercise for the people that presenting cos lots of people had interesting feedback to give. Unfortunately for me, my work isn’t really task driven, and no one else in the room really had much to contribute on chemical shift imaging or the other MRS-related fun that matter to my work.
Sajun who was such a fun dude, had also been working lord knows how many hours on a powerpoint presentation for our social decision making project. I have to admit that I felt bad cos apart from the workshops, and deciding that we couldn’t really implement the experiment in time, I hadn’t really done squat by way of extra curricular activity! He’d put together a whole bunch of pictures and charts detailing the rationale for out experiment and all sorts. (must remember to email him from a copy!). He’d even added a couple of videos to the beginning and the end I think interesting and baffled the group in equal measures! This was the second video... What it’s got to do with the unequal distribution of wealth I’ve really no idea, but the guy’s one hell of a hard worker and entertaining presenter!
Most people had flights etc to catch as soon as the course finished on the Friday so an informal group dinner was organised for the eve that day. Sharon suggested karaoke at a Japanese restaurant in Kenmore, which people were surprisingly enthusiastic about!
Before we all dashed off to the meal we present Dr Savoy a cheeky parody of a conference poster presentation that Steffen, Carolina and Natatlia had come up with as a way of saying thank you. They’d actually spent loads of time on it (sometimes during the course, tut tut!), I’d actually only contributed the small logo in the corner which involved photoshoppin a statue to look like it was surfing (as a play on FreeSurfer, geddit?). The sight of Dr Savoy wearing a cap that looks like a brain being taken aback by the poster (and Brian’s excellent presentation skills!) certainly was a sight!
Once we’d all managed to make our way to the restaurant using variously planes, trains and automobiles we actually had (almost) all 26 people there including Dr Savoy. The food was great, I had sashimi deluxe which was raw squid, yellowtail (whatever the funk that is), mackerel, salmon, tuna and more thing I can’t remember. Delicious!(‘cept for the squid, to borrow a maedagre phrase ‘it wasn’t my favourite’). And, Sajung taught me how to use chopsticks the proper and polite Korean way too!
The best part of the eve was absolutely the karaoke. Definitely think the flowing cocktails on helped lubricate the vocals chords of most of the group, but I can honestly say it was the fun atmosphere and not the booze that got me blaring out the hits (and doing a lil impromptu compeering and joke telling inbetween songs!). The whole evening was an absolute blast but three highlights immediately spring to mind:
1. Sajung getting the singing started with an amazing operatic style solo rendition of Louis Armstrong’s Wonderful World (those of you who actually clicked on the youtube link above will more understand the brilliance of the song choice). No ones singing topped that all eve – the guy is a bonafide leg-end.
2. Steffen belting out Highway to Hell, and for some funky reason (probably the scorpion fishbowl type cocktail thing they were drinkin) ending up sounding more English than I do!
3. The 30 man rendition of Total eclipse of the heart, belted out with such emotion it almost brought a tear to my eye. sniff, sniff. I actually dedicated the song to Mae cos I know it’s one of her all time cheesefest favourites :)
Notable mentions also go to every time some random song came one that no one knew and some poor bugger always just decided to read the lyrics out loud (no, not always me actually!), and singing a song like he was singing it to me. You melted my heart Ranger, you melted my heart. We eventually got booted out at 12 when the place closed, which I think was for the best, as a couple of people (and their vocal chords) were a little worse for wear!
25 May 2008
Some photos from my adventures so far:
The group on the first night, when we went to an Italian restaurant
Boston, baby!
Border Cafe
More to come!
19 May 2008
Sunday was the day for us to implement the fMRI and MEG experiments that we designed in the workshops during the week. Not everyone had to be there, only a couple of people from each group to help sort out any last minute glitches. I was supposed to be one of the participants, and even had my MRI structurals taken, but then it was decided that it would be best if one person did all the experiments to make analysis easier. Bad news for Natalia, because she ended up either in the MEG or MR machine for pretty much the whole day!
We started at 9am, but after dabbling in a little more FreeSurfer, I decided it would be better use of my time to go sightseeing and shopping. In the end we managed to sort a lift into downtown with Mikhail, who had a car. Me, Carolina and Lauren (from Georgia) made our merry way. :)
We went straight to the Prudential and Copley malls, but I don’t think I could have afforded much more than a shoelace in most of the shops there (all Prada and Marc Jacobs), so we left Carolina to it and me and Lauren just went for a wander and a window shop. It was nice spending some time with Lauren, because I hadn’t shared much more than about five words with her since the start of the course! We walked up Boylston Street, which is mostly just more fancy stores that we could look through the windows of, while we made small talk and enjoyed the sunshine and the nice atmosphere.
While we were looking at a map, this random lady accosted us and gave a whistle-stop verbal tour of the last 100 years of Boston history and all the best places to go, so on her advice we continued walking up Boylston to the public park, where we took lots of cheesy photos of landmarks like America’s smallest suspension bridge an things.
After lapping the park we made our way back to the Prudential to meet Carolina along Newbury Street, which had more fun shops than Boylston. Managed to find an H&M and a second-hand store, but most of the stuff was either too cheesy or still too expensive! Also managed to bag Mae’s present, (NOT second-hand or H&M u cheeky buggers!), which I’m really happy with, can’t wait to give it to her!
The original plan was for lots of people on the course to meet at the Union Oyster Cafe for dinner at 7pm, so the three of us met up and made our way there, but couldn’t get hold of anyone! We ended up going Quincy Market to some more shopping, which was more my kind of place. :) I ended up buying a pretty nice shirt for $11 (which I’m wearing right now actually!). I know, I know, Mae, I don’t need another shirt, but their my weakness gosh darned it, and for that price it would be mental to have not bought it!
Then by random chance we bumped into Marijan again – that guy has the knack for turning up at the right place at the right time! The four of us decided to go have oysters anyway and the rest could turn up if they wanted. The Union Oyster place is apparently America’s oldest restaurant on one of its oldest streets and is very famous for its seafood. We had sat at the bar with a beer and rested our feet. I shared a couple of oysters from Carolina’s plate, apparently they are a real acquired taste, but I really liked them straight from the off! Bit funky in the mouth at first but really tasty (and not at all like chicken!).
Then Dave randomly turned up and about two hours later Steffen, Natalia and the rest of the gang turned up too, and there ended up being 12 of us all together! I had a seafood platter which was a fat swordfish steak, salmon, scallops, calamari and scord (which is apparently like cod, but not quite). I thought it was delicious, but a couple of the others who had the same thing thought the salmon and swordfish were a bit dry, maybe they’re just a little more discerning in their tastes than me, but I was happy! At about 11ish we all meandered back to the hotel, even though my feet were aching from all the walking I hobbled home instead of joining the taxi group, who somehow still managed to get back after us!
Hope your exams are going well Dip!
Goodnight y’all!
18 May 2008
We had made plans on Friday night to all meet in the hotel lobby for 9am, go for breakfast, and then organise what to do with our much anticipated day off. I got the lobby for 8am to send emails and read the Guardian. People didn’t actually start ambling in until about half past 9, and then some people needed to do laundry etc. In the end me, Steffen, Raphael, Carolina, Ranger Dave (more about this legendary character later!) and Natalia went to Finagel A Bagel round the corner of the hotel to have breakfast.
When there are too many people all with different priorities and plans it gets difficult to reach consensus, so it actually got until gone 11am before me and Carolina got bored of hanging around and left to take the ferry to the New England Aquarium. Luckily the Ranger caught us up and so the three of us left for our adventure.
The ferry was covered by my weekly pass, transport here is so darned cheap! We saw lots of jellyfish in the harbour on the way over, and a woman walking a dog that was actually bigger than her! Mad!
Ranger Dave didn’t fancy the aquarium and just wanted a wander around, but by random chance we bumped into Marijan in the queue, so the three of us went round the aquarium and gawped at the huge turtles and cool bright coloured fish and things. They even had a pool where you could pick up and touch crabs and starfish, so there are some cool photos of me braving a crab in my hand with lots of other 5 year old children! :)
After the aquarium we left Carolina to go shopping and me, Ranger and Marijan took a ferry round the Harbor Islands and stopped on Charles Island. 7 quid for the whole trip, which was 40 minutes in the ferry there and a walk around the Island Fort. There were supposed to be guided ranger tours, but we got there too late. Dave picked up a map and took the role of ranger tour guide and did the job so well I named him Ranger Dave. It’s just me that calls him that and whether he actually likes the name or not is an entirely different matter! We walked around the island for an hour reading about different types of fort architecture and history and then just managed to get the second to last ferry back to Long Wharf.
We then went downtown to get the Ranger some swimming trunks, and then Marijan left us to to have a wander and myself and the Ranger when to the supermarket to get fruit (oh sweet nutritious fruit that is so rare in this otherwise wonderful place!), and rolls and ham and things for today. We’re going to be in the lab all day today and the cafe where we usually get our delicious lunch (for free) isn’t open so we have to sort ourselves out.
The plan was for everyone to try and meet in the hotel lobby for 7pm even if we had all gone our separate ways, but as it turned only me, Michael, Ranger and Marijan managed this, so the four of us decided to wander downtown to get some dinner. We went to Quincy Market and ate in this huge food court with more different cuisines than I could shake my salivating tongue at! I had a swordfish ‘kebob’ and a fruit shake called a monkey punch, which were both delicious (and again, super-cheap!)
We were all stuffed by then so decided to walk off the meal. A couple of the guys bought cheesy Boston souvenirs and then the Ranger came up with the brilliant idea of going to see jazz at the top of the Prudential Center. It was bloody amazing! We bought a couple of beers and watched really a really good jazz band 52 floors above Boston. It. was. jaw. dropping! Then on the way back we stopped in another part of the centre and watch a funk band kicking it old school, with lots of very sharply dressed black dudes dancing like I only can in my very happiest and funkiest of dreams!
Got back to hotel at around 1am after a very full but very fun day off and again crashed out to the sounds of adverts trying to sell me Preparation H and machines that will attack my abs and give me a six-pack and lots of babes in just 90, yes, just 90 days! (as part of a healthy diet regime, of course!)
It’s now Sunday morning about 8.10am and I’ve been typing for almost a full hour without any breakfast. The Ranger’s coming up to my room to make rolls (he bought the cheese, I bought the ham) at 8.30am, so I’m going to bust a move now. Because I’m not actually running an experiment I might not stay the full
day and might get some more sightseeing in. :)
Good luck with exams Dip! Well done Kisna on getting through your exams without knifing yourself. Enjoy the few days of relief you get before you start screwing about results day! :)
Hello to everyone else, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my time so far. I’ll try and get photos to everyone soon.
Byee!
17 May 2008
Lectures started at 8am instead of 9am today, because one of the stats lectures ran over and we were all really keen on hearing the rest of it. These guys have a really good knack for explaining some of the horrible stuff really simply. I’ve picked up so much more stuff from the talks than banging my head against a textbook for hours and hours!
Then we had a couple more talks on FreeSurfer and using it to analyse functional data and map it onto anatomicals. We get these step by step tutorials with problems to solve that are actually quite fun and really useful!
During the tutorials people had to finish designing the stimuli for the experiments we designed in the workshops on Tues/Thurs. My group (Melissa and Sajun) came up with what was considered a pretty good idea for our our problem (‘How people consider the uneven distribution of wealth’), but way too hard to design and implement in the short time we have, so we’re just sitting in on the other experiments on Sunday and not running one for ourselves.
The day was scheduled to finish at 6pm, but we kind of finished by about 4pm because by the end of the week I think even the guys giving the talk, and even Dr Savoy who has more energy and enthusiasm than I’ve seen in a long while, were getting tired!
In the evening Jennel (speech development researcher from Dallas) organised for everyone to go to Border Cafe in Harvard Square for Mexican food and margaritas, which was great fun! I had blackened rib-eye steak that was just short of being bigger than my face! It was raining so we had a fun time getting there. Lots of people had plans to meet other people around Boston (for example, Michael went to visit his supervisor who’s on sabbatical in Dartmouth), but we managed to get quite a few people together, almost 12 of us I think.
After dinner we went to a really nice bar called Grendel’s (yes after the Beowulf monster, what a coinkidink innit Mae?) where I had a couple of really nice mojitos and I talked a lot of crap to a lot of people who were probably not a little sick of listening to me ramble on by then! I really got going on Nietzsche and the sale of a letter written by Einstein denouncing religion as ‘childish’! Got home for bout 1ish I think, and just crashed out, which is quite reasonable after the week I’d just had!
14 May 2008
Got to be even quicker than yesterday writing this today, because I slept for half an hour extra and now only have 30 minutes to shower and shave before heading over for breakfast!
We didn’t finish until 9.45pm yesterday, so it was almost a 14-hour day! It was really good though, had more lectures and we got to see their 3T scanner, which is pretty much the same as ours since it’s also Siemens, and their MEG scanner which is much cooler and they have much better software. Some of the stuff they’ve developed here is amazing! They’ve got an EEG sensor array that you can use inside the MRI... Possibilities are endless!
In the evening they provided a buffet and then we split into groups. Ended up in a group of just me and another girl, but it was cool. We apparently came up with a really great question that had never been asked before in 15 years, but the experiment we came up with was pretty darned rubbish! Oh well! All in the name of learning!
Finish at 5.30pm today which is nice, I’m going to try and organise for everyone to go out together for a meal instead of just scattering off, or at least go out for drinks in the evening. :)
13 May 2008
The course yesterday was pretty hardcore! Woke up at 4am again (can see a pattern emerging here!) and went to the hotel gym. It’s got pretty much the same machines as our usual one, so I pounded the X-trainer and did some free weights. :)
Then I knocked round a couple of rooms, after getting the list from reception, and went over to the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. They have five, yes, FIVE scanners! Including a 7T, which they only use on animals because it’s a bit too cutting edge!
The $20 we get for food is enough to cover a massive breakfast and lunch. We got there for 7.45am but a lot of the delegates seemed real keen and got there even earlier. For breakfast I had a melon/pineapple bowl, a chunky choc au pain and Special K, only 3 quid!
Then we had introductions and four 2-hour lectures! They were pretty full on, but these guys are really experienced researchers and speakers and it was really interesting! We get these course books with all the notes printed and everything, so we just have to listen and take everything in.
We had lectures on MRI, EEG, MEG and just a general one on imaging tools. These guys are like the mac-mothers of imaging! We had 15 minute breaks between each lecture and an hour for lunch, where I had delicious sushi and a choc brownie the size of my face! :) Met some really interesting people, quite a few of them are American MDs, think only my and Michael my roomie are from England. Couple of Europeans chucked in there too.
Lectures lasted until 6.30pm and then we all went to a restaurant called Figs. It was sooooo nice! Bruschetta, calamari and funky bread with olives for starters, and various slices of fig and parma ham, tomato and basil and pepperoni pizza, and also some funky Belgian ale that tasted like oranges (my new favourite!).
About 15 of us are all staying at the Constitution so we all came back and were so knackered we all went to bed. It’s so warm here I just slept on the bed outside the sheets and had the windows wide open the whole night.
Got up at 5am today, gymmed 6am to 7am and then a saw the computer was free so I thought I’d quickly stop and give you a (not so short) update. :)
Gotta dash upstairs, shower and get ready to go over for breakfast at 8am. Today we’ve got a couple more lectures, then we’ve got workshops for designing our own fMRI and EEG experiments. There isn’t much MRS on the course, but the course director (who’s such a nice guy!) is going to set me up on a lunch date with someone who knows a thing or two. Don’t finish until 9.30pm tonight though. 11 hours of hardcore work!
Been longer than I thought writing this, gotta dash!
Hello to everyone else who reads this!
11 May 2008
After reading all my emails (and quickly checking the footy scores, DAMN MANURE!) I don’t have much time to write, but I’ll speed type and do what I can!
Journey here was a doddle! No problems at all all the way here, except for getting a bit lost from the airport to the hotel. Flight was only six and a half hours, and I managed to watch No Country for Old Men (REALLY good!), Beowulf (meh…!) and Bee Movie (passed the time and raised a chuckle). I met a nice girl at the airport stop who paid for my bus fare, because I only had really big bills and they’re a bit arsey apparently. Really nice of her! I gave her the last of my éclairs as a thank you. :)
Transport here’s really cheap, $15 for a week ticket for the tube all day every day. The Rough Guide was GENIUS! Really glad Mae talked me into buying it! :) Was so useful for getting round and picking out the most important things! I went round Charlestown this morning after getting up at 6, not really much to see except the massive navy boat, but I’m saving that for later.
Most exciting was Cambridge, went to four museums. They had really exciting market stalls and streets, and loads of sights to see. Got great photos! Then I went downtown to the memorial park, where I had a wander around the shops and the park and saw all the biggest sights. I had a steak burrito from a stall and they hand out so many free taster things, I was really full all day!
Met my roomie, a nice Chinese bloke. :) Got a list of people that have already checked in and I’m going to knock round doors and introduce myself. If I’m up early tomorrow I’ll gym before course starts at 8am. Going to be a loooong day! They are taking us out to dinner in some posh place in the evening which should be nice! :)
It would have been really exciting to have Mae round for the museums and stuff, it was so vibrant and intellectual everywhere!
More updates to follow… Watch this space!
03 April 2008
My cousin painting in a music video…
13 March 2008
It didn’t take long for my procrastinating over blogging to become total abandonment of the idea.. god. A typical example of how lazy I become with these things and why my imaginings of a regular, witty and insightful blog are never likely to come to fruition (never mind that I would struggle with with witty and insightful bits).
In fact, I’m only writing now as it means I don’t have to do the washing up, although instead I should be actually working on ethics proposals for my PhD. Or playing on Xbox.
For the 2 people who might have stumbled across this cheesefest of a an excuse for a couple’s blog (I’m thinking of you Jack), you might be excited to know that Matilda is once again safely imprisoned back in her cage. Happy days!
The neighbours found her wandering around outside their flat three floors down from us. Thank Jesus/Allah/Buddha/whoever that they own guinea pigs and knew what to do and what to feed her. How the bejeesus she managed to get down there without killing herself is still puzzling us, but more so, we’re still wondering how she managed to escape from her pretty secure jail.
I’m convinced I closed the cage properly before we went off to Puneet’s party but I (and Mae come to think of it) have complete lack of faith in my memory, so chances are I just left it open like the gimp that I am.
I’m supposed to write about my PhD, I’ll put some photos up as they look pretty cool and make what I do sound more exciting than it is. This week the neuroimaging has been on the back burner and I’ve been in the Chem. Eng. lab working on methods to extract fatty acids from the blood samples I collected during my MRes.
It’s a pretty laborious process, and I have zero experience in chemistry so its been pretty hard going, but I can’t complain cos its also pretty fun! I have two guys in the lab who have been very patient with teaching the ins and outs of the process and lab technique which has been great. If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like if you add chloroform and methanol to blood then get ready to be happy:
Tomorrow I’m sticking my supervisor in the MR scanner while he takes some melatonin to make himself drowsy. The idea is to use the same technique when we get some of the kids in but we need to know how effective it is and more importantly what kind of effect is has on the spectroscopy data.
All of this is just gobbledegook I imagine as I haven’t actually explained what my PhD is about. Can’t really be bothered to do that right now, but I promise to in the next couple of weeks. Bet you can’t wait!
Also had the idea of doing a Radiohead song of the week. Every week for about the last 2 years I have one Radiohead song that bores in the very base of my brain and I end up looping it hundred of times over while at the gym or on the train. This week its been:
Radiohead: How to disappear completely
In order to try and create some sense of continuity here is a list of things that have made me happy this week:
- Getting past Inter in the CL (and actually having another person as well as a pint to accompany me during the match)
- Feeling like I’m getting somewhere with the blood analysis
- Flying through Halo on heroic while picking up the rest of those buggering skulls
- Getting promoted to the top division with my Master League Liverpool team. Just can’t seem to have a bid accepted for Ryan Babel though!
- FINALLY buying a new watch. Although Mae thinks it’s supremely ugly. In her words: “Oh, you picked function over form, that’s nice.”
I’m sure there are other things but they can’t have been that great if they don’t come to mind immediately.
Things that have ground my gears this week:
- Paying the extortionate train fare to uni and not even being able to get a seat
- When I’ve spent hours waiting around for some blood samples to settle and one of them becomes inexplicably cloudy and crap and the other comes out perfect. Even thought I’ve treat both EXACTLY the same way!
- Feeling motivated to learn Norwegian with my book and mp3s on the train and then just falling asleep with the book my hand. Trains really sucks the energy out of me, no matter how perky I feel before I get on.
- The horrible feeling of being underprepared for my Norwegian oral exam with Mae’s parents (just like when I was at school)
I’ve written far too much and it all feels far to trivial for me to continue. Its really easy to just keep gabbing once you sit down and get typing. But I guess that’s why Mae named one of our categories “Ramblings”.
Bye!