A Day in the Life...

Ok this post I will attempt to summarize what most of my days have been composed of for the past 4 years of life or so. The thing I have learned since college is that working full time can cause your life to get into a groove. I believe that time passes by at a quicker pace in this "working life" since there is less diversity/school breaks like there are in college.

I often remember experiencing more in one day as a student than a week as a slave to the grind :) I like calling myself a slave haha, but really I LIVE such a blessed life and am very happy with my work.

Wake about 8am and shower while listening to NPR
Dress up (in some of Sonja's clothes, hehe not really)
My regular breakfast since 2002 has been a fruit smoothie! Make one yourself: In a blender add 1 banana, 1 peeled orange, 1 cup of soy milk, frozen mango chunks, protein powder, maybe ice.
I then saddle my bicycle outfitted with my fluorescent jacket and helmet and cruise on a few backstreets of Seattle (18 blocks) to the hospital. Trick to riding bikes in Seattle is to get right into the traffic and act like a car when you can keep speed, and act like you are invisible the rest of the time.

I then stroll into the hepatitis c laboratory around 9:15am where I am a senior research technician in a group of around 12.
Throughout the day I perform my duties which include: being a molecular biology monkey, extracting RNA from infectious HIV/HCV tissues - very carefully :), then doing several steps to eventually work this RNA up to DNA sequencing. Overall I have several different types of work days since each week I am at a different stage of a project work up of these samples. I also analyze data, direct/teach students the how to's, order supplies/chemicals for the lab....let me tell you that if you want to make a load of cash just start a company supplying labs. Its like a crazy mafia racket it's so expensive...I digress.

Often when I am at work I've got my trusty boom box rocking me with some KEXP or NPR much to the enjoyment of my other squirrely labmates(and yes squirrely is the word for them). By Noon I will jump a bus over to UW campus to attend a psychology class...which is a ton of fun and really breaks up the day. If I dont have a class that quarter then I will go to the hospital cafeteria...that's right, the hospital cafeteria for the largest trauma center in the northwest which also takes a majority of the uninsured patients in the area. Thus its common in the cafeteria (which is usually jam packed at noon) to bump elbows with the homeless, people in wheelchairs who just got out of the ER, nurses, doctors, very poor country bumpkins who are in town due to some relative in the hospital, as well as TONS of immigrants/minorities. Lastly I must not forget the crazy array of "lunch-ladies" who are all tough, short minorities and often speak English as a second language...let me tell you that this type of crazy diversity and the understanding and experience that comes with it is exactly why you will not find me living in rural America.

Ok to sum it up I normally get a spinach salad for lunch...which taste just like they smell...delicious. But more to the point they are cheap and I get my veggies in for the day.

At 4pm I ride home, turn on my stereo system (we don't have cable TV only PBS), make dinner, watch a DVD with Sonja, read books or play video games or get together with friends for a board game. Sonja and I will jog 2 times a week commonly or go for hikes. Jogging in our neighborhood is wonderful. Capitol Hill has big beautiful houses in picturesque neighborhoods. One night a week I volunteer answering phones at the Crisis Line for King County from 9pm-1am. I have found it quite fulfilling to help others so I hope to become a mental health counselor in the next 2 years.

Last note: Sonja and I both love the same foods (i.e. all food). So when we go out to eat though we commonly will get: Thai, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Veggie Burgers or Falafel.