Short Notice

I knew that coming over here to work was going to be an experience. Certainly in scientific circles, there is a general sense of 'survive working in American labs, survive working anywhere' and i have to admit that was one of the reasons i wanted to come (what can i say? I'm either a masochist or i like a challenge). Anyway, i have not been disappointed so far - work has been nice and busy (apart from incidents of cells dying - see previous posts). What with the stress of the grant proposal out of the way (paper copies went off today, will arrive tomorrow) i was looking forward to just getting back to the bench and slammin a few experiments through (well, apart from the Journal club presentation i have to do a week on Friday but that's pretty much sorted).

So, imagine my joy when i was approached earlier and asked to give a presentation next Thursday (26th Jan). Y'see, we have a lab meeting every Thursday morning (well, most - my first proper is scheduled for 2nd March) except for the third Thurs every month where we have a meeting called COBRE (this is to do with a joint research grant that funds a lot of projects - the groups rotate to update on what is going on). On occasion, we have a COBRE guest speaker - someone who is a collaborator for one of the projects. Next week we have a scientist from Texas - who is quite a big name in the field with respect to the enzyme i study. So, not only do i have a little over a week to prepare a talk, it also has to be to a standard for a pretty high up name in the field. Remember how i was saying I LOVE it here in the US? :D