On Patriotism

As July 4th approaches, you can probably imagine that there is a lot of patriotic feeling in the air - only natural, I suppose - but, having said that, over here in the US, it has struck me on occasion of how loving your country seems to get taken to new heights. This starts off with simple things of many houses having the Stars and Stripes hanging outside (a large number of houses have proper brackets and everything for flagpoles to sit in). Nothing wrong with that - it happens in the UK as well, although usually when there is some big sporting event (such as the recent World Cup). At the baseball game the other day, the crowd stood up to sing the National Anthem (and look at the flag - hands on hearts), something that occurs at ball games all across the country, same with the American Football games as well I believe. Again, nothing wrong with that - although in soccer, it tends to be something done only internationally. I couldn't imagine seeing all the club teams in the Premier league doing this - it would be somewhat crazy given the vast number of foreign players there!

From speaking to the children of workmates, I was surprised to find out that every day the pupils have to recite the 'Pledge of Allegiance' - a ritual whereby they stand up, hand on heart and pledge their loyalty directly to the Stars and Stripes - of course, being non-American, my friend's child does not partake in this to the full extent. I believe that this extends even further when it comes to citizenship - in that the US does not allow dual citizenship with a lot of places (there are exceptions, of which the UK is one, I believe) and so, if you wish to become a citizen here, you have to fully pledge your allegiance to the US and renounce your former heritage. Now I know the British practically invented Jingoism, but when it comes to loving your country, it seems like no-one does it quite like the USA.

Chez Moi Part Deux

As promised, here are some photos of Saturday night's cocktail party. Also, to point out, that i didn't take all of these shots - as I was far too busy being the genial host.



The Makeshift Bar - good, eh?



Paola, Kaz and Viviana



Stefka and Jola pose for the camera.



Okay, so i didn't work ALL night.



Lying down on the job!



A Group Shot

Just a selection - all the REALLY embarassing ones are being reserved for blackmail purposes.

ONE YEAR ON...

So, exactly one year ago on this date and pretty much around this time, my plane was landing in Charleston airport and I was stepping off somewhat into the unknown - new place, new job, new friends to make. As you can imagine, many people have asked me what that year has been like. Firstly, it's not seemed nearly as long as it should have. As always, these days, time seems to go by faster than ever - it seems like not very long ago at all that i was being shown around the lab again, and finding my feet with work over here. Fortunately, work has gone well over this year - a couple of hiccups here and there, but what's new in science? I also have some interesting ways to take my work - so it doesn't look like i'll be out of a job just yet. Good news for people wanting to come and visit (of which there has been absolutely no-one this last year, i should add). I have also made some good friends in the lab - and very much enjoy working and socialising with them. Hopefully, these will be friends for life. Outside of the lab, things are also pretty good. My apartment is in much better shape than when i first moved in (more furniture for starters) and i have also been fortunate enough to make some friends outside of work - handy for when science is getting on my nerves!!

Of course, the hardest thing about being over here is not being so close to all the people I care about back in the UK - I have some good friends over there that I miss very much - and am looking forward to seeing soon (with a bit of luck). And of course, there are family - it's surprising how much you take them for granted when they're pretty close at hand. Even though it's no hassle talking on the phone, or via the internet, there is still the indisputable fact that there is 4000 miles of ocean between you and them. And a few time zones as well. Anyhow, before this becomes too maudlin, let me just say this. It has been a fantastic year here in Charleston, hopefully one of a couple more (at least). Thanks to everyone for their support - and, after 237 posts, I bet you're amazed that i can still find something to talk about. Then again, knowing me, perhaps not.

Chez Moi

Having never really had a house-warming party after i moved into my apartment last year, I decided that the time had finally come for me to invite some workmates round for drinks, snacks and general merry-making. In addition, I would be making cocktails for everyone - and had even gone to the trouble of preparing a cocktail menu in advance. Although i had managed to hang on to an old shirt from my bar job (the one i had as I was writing up my thesis), i decided not to wear it - largely as I was host and so had to look smart (sorry, Brannigans, but the uniform wasn't great) and also as the shirt in question was one that was especially for the Christmas period - and so was rather inappropriately festive. Anyway, the spirits had been bought and were all lined up on my shelves and waiting.

Having spent a good few days generally tidying around my apartment and also deciding how I would fit everyone in (I invited 16 people and, all came), I had to do a bit of furniture rearranging - as well as some food preparation (I had asked people to bring dishes if they wished, but it wasn't a pre-requisite). Anyway, people began to arrive from about 8.00 onwards and the party continued till about 12.30. My fears were unfounded - everybody was quite comfortable and there was plenty of space - my bed doubled up as seating, and four people managed to sit easily on the fouton. The food was good, the drinks were better (everyone was impressed by my cocktail making) and much fun was had. Thankfully, my landlord had told me earlier that his son was away at his grandparents at the moment and had invited us to raise the roof - so the noise wasn't a problem. After all the concern, the party was a great success - I shall have to do it more often!! Photos will be coming soon.

Summertime,.....

....and the living is easy."

An interesting fact to kick off this post - George Gershwin wrote "Porgy and Bess" here in Charleston. On top of that, a poet friend of his Dubois Hayward who wrote the novel 'Porgy' that this was obviously based on, also lived in Charleston. Apparently, you can see his house downtown on one of the poet walks that they have here (amongst the ghost walks, the art walks and the drunken walks!). Anyway, with yesterday being June 21st - longest day of the year and the official start of summer, i had the joys of sweltering heat and humidity to look forward to. Well, not so much to look forward to - as its been here already. More a sense of being resigned to - at least until i head back to the UK at the height of summer. Actually, thinking about it, summer is only six days long in the UK - June 21st is the official start of summer, June 24th is midsummer day - and, well, you can work out the rest yourself.

With this being my second summer here, i feel im a bit more acclimatised that i was last year - by a bit more, i mean in the sense that i can actually walk through the heat and humidity without feeling like i'm going to pass out at a moment's notice, or like i've been hit by a steam train. I'm well and truly becoming American in the sense that i appreciate air-conditiong a lot more - and am also glad that i live a mere five minute walk downtown. Any more and i would probably lose half a stone of sweat going to and from work every day. So, whilst the living is perhaps, not quite so easy, it's a damn sight more tolerable in 2006 than it was in 2005.

Not Forgotten

I was in the middle of an experiment today, busy scraping cells off of dishes (about as interesting as it sounds) and letting my mind wander as it usually does. I began to think about a year ago - when i was saying goodbyes to various people back home in the UK and something suddenly hit me. A year ago today, I said goodbye to my Grandma Bell (my mother's mother) not knowing back then that it would actually be the last time I would see her as, sadly, she passed away earlier this year. Whilst this may sound like something that would be quite a shock to realise, it actually didn't bother me that much - in the sense that when my grandma died, I found it hard to get too upset about it - mainly as she had made her peace with everyone, had lived a reasonable length life (83) and ultimately died in her sleep. Plus, with being over here, there was a definite sense of detachment. Plus, I always try to be optimistic about death - i believe you should never be sad someone has died, more happy that they have lived.

Anyway, i'm digressing. What this actually made me think all the more is how much can change in a year - and how being over here is probably going to make it seem even more so (for some reason, change doesn't seem as big when you're in the same country). But when I think about this time last year, and the major events that have happened, both on a global scale, and on a more personal note both for me, family and friends. This is the sort of time when you start thinking about what might have happened by this time next year (alas, Bush will still be President, but maybe Blair will have been unceremoniously booted out of office). And just when i thought that my train of thought couldn't get any more philosophical for a Tuesday, i finished my scraping of cells and had to go on and do something else. So you all were spared.

Father's Day

The third Sunday of June rolls around and, with it, comes Father's Day - or at least in a few countries (Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Hong Kong S.A.R., India, Ireland, Japan, Macao S.A.R., Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe). In some other countries, different dates are observed but one thing is largely the same - Just as Mother's Day celebrates motherhood, today is there to celebrate parenting by the males. Father's Day exists almost all over the world to honor and commemorate fathers or forefathers. Unusual that the US and UK celebrate Father's day on the same day but Mother's day differently (in the US, Mothering Sunday is in May rather than March).

In the United States, the driving force behind the establishment of the celebration of Father's Day was Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd whose father, a Civil War veteran raised his six children by himself in Spokane, Washington (she was also inspired by Anna Jarvis's efforts to establish Mother's Day). Although she initially suggested June 5, the anniversary of her father's death, she did not provide the organizers with enough time to make arrangements, and hence the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June. The first Father's Day was celebrated in Spokane in 1910. Although unofficial support was immediate and widespread, it wasn't until 1966, President Lyndon Johnson made Father's Day a holiday to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June although this wasn't officially recognized until 1972, during the presidency of Richard Nixon. Thus, best wishes to my Dad!!!

Publication

The major part of a scientist's career is in performing sufficient quality work that is submitted and, ultimately, accepted for publication in a scientific journal following peer review (a process whereby the journal sends the article off to other scientists who evaluate the quality of the work, and the validity of any conclusions drawn). Of course, this not only applies to original research articles (the more important publications) but also to review articles (larger articles aiming to summarise the literature on a particualr subject) whether they are submitted to the journal independently or not (i.e. the journal 'invites' the authors to write a review). In my case, my boss (Yusuf Hannun) had been asked to write a journal for a special issue on Sphingolipids and, being relatively new to the lab (I was asked about this back in January - so had only been here 6 months), the task was offered to me. Naturally, I took the opportunity - not only was it a good chance for me to brush up on my writing skills, but also would be useful in allowing me to get more up to speed with the existing literature on my area of research over here.

The review was written and duly submitted (it took about a month and a half of work followed by a week of revisions) back in March and then it was a case of waiting. We heard back not so long ago - and the article was asked to have minor revisions (very minor, in fact). Revisions done and the review was sent off again and accepted last week - thus, providing my first publication. Okay, so its a review (not original research) and is not in a huge impact factor journal (more middle of the range) but, y'know, it's a start. When the article goes into press, i shall duly let you all know - for those of you who may be interested in getting hold of it. Right now, it's back to the grindstone in putting the finishing touches to my first original research manuscript. Watch this space!

Alberto's Visit

So, just over a week or two into the official 2006 hurricane season and we have our first tropical depression/tropical storm - the eponymously titled Alberto. Developing in the Gulf of Mexico towards the end of last week, he gradually began to edge his way towards the Western Florida Coastline and, wouldn't ya know it, set a course for South Carolina. Now, fear not everyone out there who may be concerned (that means you Mum) because by the time Alberto made landfall, he was barely a tropical storm - that means winds of 39-74 mph on the scale of things (and when i say barely, i mean only just over 39 mph winds). Compare this to last year's Hurricane Katrina - a category five storm with winds over 155mph and you see just how small this is. Of course, once hitting land anyhow, Alberto began to flip-flop between being a storm or just a plain old tropical depression. By the time he got here, it was definitely the latter - so winds of about 30mph which is much better on the scale of things.

Of course, this being Charleston with the downtown at sea level, just a tropical depression isn't necessarily a good thing - particularly if that means lots of rain. Sure enough, with Alberto looming in the vicinity (the 'eye' never fully passed through Charleston, we just got the outer edges), we were treated to massive downpours yesterday - suffice to say, many of the staff who live further out decided to head home early lest they get stuck - and some of those who stayed behind had rather fun times getting out of the (water-logged) car park - guess that's the price you pay for dedication. Anyhow, aside from some torrential rain and wind yesterday evening, today is completely the opposite - sun and clear skies - talk about changeable weather. But with one tropical depression/storm coming by, one wonders if Charleston has many more in store this season. And, on top of that, the predicted path of Alberto has him swinging out over the Atlantic and heading straight for the UK. Looks like you're in for some weather next week!

An Italian Wedding (Party)

Yesterday was the chance for a good number of the lab to turn out into the baking hot sun and celebrate the impending wedding of Chiara and Maurizio - occuring back in Italy next month. Anyway, there was good food, drink and dancing (as i've said before, who said scientists can't party?). And much fun was had. Here are some photos for your perusal.


The(Soon-to-be) Happy Couple


The Group Shot


Let's Dance!!


Yusuf and Lina (aka The Bosses)


Desserts (naturally)


Two Italians.

Oh, and for anyone who was wondering, the tiramisu recipe is on the way.

World Cup Fever

What with being in the USA, you'd think that the World Cup isn't much of an event over here and, to a large extent, you'd be right. A casual couple of questions to some American workmates and friends reveals that some of them now next to nothing about what's happening, and a couple weren't even aware that there is a soccer world cup, let alone the fact that it's taking place right now - even more surprising given that the USA are apparently rated 5th on the FIFA world rankings - something that i severely doubt given that England managed to wipe the floor with them not so long back on a tour. Anyhow, with that and the 6-hour time difference between here and Germany, it's perhaps understandable that people aren't really paying much attention to it - i'd have been interested to see if that was the case way back in 1994 when the USA hosted things.

However, being in a somewhat international lab means that there are more than a couple of people with a passing interest in what's happening on the other side of the world (well, not quite on the other side but you know what i mean). This certainly makes for interesting topics of conversation in the lab and at any work-oriented parties - particularly if your team wins and the other person's don't (as, for example, with Poland and England - although admittedly the English win was rather poor to say the least). With that in mind, I agreed to take part in a sweepstake being organised - and chose England as my team. Not that i expect them to win, but gotta be patriotic. At least some of us over here (maybe not the country) will be watching.

Enter The Queen

It is a well-known fact (at least over here), that Charleston was (and, to some extent, still is) a major port on the Eastern Seaboard. With this in mind, it is perhaps not so much a surprise that the city had a visit from a rather special boat -namely the Cunard liner, the Queen Mary 2. Whilst this ship makes regular transatlantic crossings - from Southampton to New York - today was a diversion from the regular route paid for by Merril Lynch (Could you imagine how much it would take to 'hire' the Queen Mary 2?? I really do dread to think). Anyway, as you can imagine, this was quite an occasion for Charleston - and a number of locals were out in force to watch as the ship sailed up the Cooper river. Unfortunately for us here at MUSC, we tried to go have a look from higher up the building only to be foiled by the Rutledge Tower (part of the old hospital) which was smack bang in the middle of our view.

The QM2 is currently the longest, widest and tallest passenger ship ever built - being approximately 345m in length, 45m across (at the widest point) and 72m high. When first built, she was also the largest - weighing 151,400 gross tons (although this was lost in April 2006 to Royal Caribbean International's 158,000 gross ton Freedom of the Seas. However, she still remains the largest ocean liner ever built. QM2's luxuries include 15 restaurants and bars, five swimming pools, a casino, a ballroom, and a planetarium (!). The ship can hold 2,320 passengers - and boasts lifeboats that are, apparently, like ships in themselves - and, since launching in 2004, has made 100 different ports of call in 25 countries. I would love to say that i was able to get a picture of this glorous (British) ship as she passed by - but unfortunately that wasn't to be. Suffice to say, there are hopes that QM2 will return to Charleston in the future. So i'd better keep an eye out.

Taken for Granted

Way back in January, some of you may remember that i was busy writing a grant proposal, amongst other things (oh, the stress!!) and it was duly submitted to the American Heart Association. Well, the time had come round and i finally heard from them - the grant had been reviewed and was awarded a 2.0 on a scale of 1.0-1.5 (with 1.0-1.5 being considered 'excellent' - so, for a first grant, i was reasonably pleased. The reviewer comments themselves were also reasonable - one noted that it seemed rather ambitious for a two year fellowship, another noted that some of the experiments i proposed were based on an assumption (although i had addressed that in one of the 'pitfalls' section). Both thought that it was well-written and ordered in a logical fashion. So I guess that's a good thing.

Alas, a week or two later, I heard that my grant was not going to secure funding this time round - a shame as it would've guaranteed my position here for the next two years at least. However, fear not because this doesn't mean that i'm going to be out of a job for the near future at least. My boss here is very happy with the work that i have done, and the work i am currently doing - and so is very happy for me to stay (given that i have two original research manuscripts in the works, this is not a huge surprise). We are planning on rewriting the grant (adding some extra results in) and submitting it for consideration next year. Of course, being on a J1 visa and not an American citizen automatically restricts funding over here (which is fair enough I guess) - so in the meantime, i am going to keep my eyes and ears open in case any other opportunities pop up. For now, though, i guess it's a case of 'watch this space'.

Humidity's Rising.....

Of course, being so very English (and feeling a need to reassert my englishness amongst all this Americana) means that i have to talk about the weather at least once a month. Sorry, it's in the contract!! Anyway, as the hurricane season officially began a couple of days ago, it seems to have bought with some of the worst aspects of the weather here in Charleston - particularly when it comes to summer time. The past few weeks (and, indeed, months) have largely been very pleasant. Sure, there's been the occasional downpour (and i do mean downpour) but, thankfully for me anyway, they have mostly been either a) overnight b) when i'm indoors c) both. Also, I've no idea what they did with the drains in my street last year but since then, there hasn't been any flooding at all (*reaches out to touch wood*). On the whole, the weather has been great - sunny, warm, relatively clear skies and low humidity - because of course, the humidity is what makes things bad.

Well, with that in mind, this last week, the humidity began to creep up - making hot days that little bit more unbearable (or perhaps, a little less bearable seeing as it's not got too bad just yet). Fortunately, i can still walk to and from work without breaking much of a sweat (a 5-10 minutes journey) but i am fully prepared for that to change in the next couple of weeks. Of course, if it rains heavily now (even if it is overnight) it usually makes things even worse. Back in the UK, when it gets humid, there is usually a thunderstorm and then relief from humidity. Over here, a similar thing occurs except, when the storm stops, the city (and likely the state) gets turned into a giant sauna. Now, I love the sauna as much as the next person - but it doesn't mean i want to have one whenever i step outdoors!! Suffice to say, returning to the UK at the height of summer is going to be one hell of a respite for me. I cannot wait!!

In The Molecules

One thing that i'm having to get used to with my job here is the amount of molecular biology involved. Now, it's something I learnt the principles and practices of as part of my first degree - but hadn't actually done any of for quite some time (well, about 6 years in total) and so am having to pretty much learn it all from the ground up again. The trouble is that it's so damn slow and time consuming that it can be immensely frustrating when you want to do a series of experiments but you first have to do lots of preliminary molecular biology work to check that all the components you have are correct, work properly and are specific - and then have to validate some of them as well - so it ends up being a good six weeks before you even get to start the experiments proper. On top of all that, when it comes to ordering the components, because things have to be ultra-pure and (obviously) not contaminated or anything, then it takes a good two weeks on top of everything else to get them in your hand (so to speak). Bottom line is: You have to think ahead. Far far ahead.

Thankfully, on hand in the lab is Patrick - an expert in all things molecular biology - and also someone who doesn't mind when I go begging for him to give me a helping hand in learning some of the protocols. Also, fortunately, a lot of things come in manufactured kits and once the basic procedure is learnt, it's a matter of following it again and again, as required (a lot of science is repetition anyway so that doesn't matter). Finally, a major plus of molecular biology is that more often than not, the answer you get after all these procedures is a straight yes or no - with no requirement for interpretation of what you're seeing. So, as will all things, the pluses and minuses tend to balance each other out somewhat. And, I can also be positive about the fact that it's another string to my bow - a wide technical experience is definitely a plus. I guess i'll just have to learn a bit more patience - who's laughing at the back???