When it Rains...

Last week was taken up largely by a very mundane task. I was in charge of uploading sequences of DNA to the human genome website and using a search engine named BLAT to find positions of similarity. By Thursday I realized that it would take weeks to finish this process at my current rate because each folder had a letter of the alphabet assigned to it and in each folder were 26 files to be queried. I decided to use my time in between submissions to research alternate methods for running large scale searches in order to speed up the process. What I eventually uncovered was a computer script that would submit sequences at certain time intervals and therefore be able to work around the clock. I had effectively found a way around three more weeks of computer work! As a reward, My advisor let me spend most of my Friday watering plants in the green house.

I was unaware that this was not the only piece of good news that I would receive today. I went from the lab over to my second home , rocks and ropes. I climbed in high spirits for a few hours and then felt hungry enough to leave. When I had settled down with a pb & b sandwich to think about the past few hours I got a text from Cody asking me whether I had gotten any mail from Macalester yet. My heart began to race as I realized these would be the last few minutes of ignorance. As I looked into the mail box I recognised the Macalester colors. On the corner of the letter I could make out the word "Yes". I quickly tore open the letter just to make sure there wasn't some awful mistake, but there it was, the letter filled with congratulations signed by Lorne Robinson. Even a separated shoulder resulting from a fall at skatecountry didn't put a dampner on my Friday.