u/AAAAdragon

So we hypothesized that our protein was a decamer (10-mer) based on literature review. We sent our protein out for mass photometry analysis and got a unimodal histogram of the masses of the particles in solution showing that it is a decamer. We sent our protein out for cryoEM data collection. The cryoEM maps show that it is a ring decamer.

Mass photometry was invented in 2018 and it detects the mass of particles in solution using light scattering.

I ❤️ mass photometry!

I get 4 weeks of paid time off each year and there is a limit but it accrues each year and doesn’t reset as an academic unclassified professional staff.

How much paid time off do you get in industry and if it is unlimited paid time off how much paid time off can you take without losing your job?

Also curious about maternity and paternity leave. I am in the USA so I imagine it is way better in Europe.

So I came home from work tonight after finishing my shift and after dropping my coworker off at his residence because I have a car and he doesn't. At my apartment, I see a package.

I didn't order any packages to be shipped to me for anything. Maybe I finally received the packages the scam texts I receive say were misdelivered to me. (Yeah, low chance!) The package was delivered to the right apartment number, but not the correct letter. You know apartment (A-Z)###. It must have been an easy mistake for the package carrier to make because some letters look like other letters with one stroke difference.

I saw the package wasn't for me and which apartment unit to deliver it to. I have wanted to meet my neighbors so this was the perfect excuse to have a reason. Here are my options and what other people would do in my position:

A) Let the misdelivered package ruin my day and complain to the carrier which the company would correct by not making the same mistake and probably firing the carrier. I am not evil. Not an option!

B) Send the package to the right address by giving it to my apartment manager or forwarding the package through the postal service with the forward address. That's a valid solution but too impersonal.

C) Steal the package as if it was meant for me. That's what many horrible humans would do. But I'm not evil. So that is not an option.

D) Drop the package off at the neighbor's doorstep. Ring the bell or knock and walk away. They will pick up the package.

E) Hand deliver the package to correct recipients after double checking that the name on the package matches the name of the residents. Then meet the neighbors.

I chose option E because it was the purrfect excuse to meet the neighbors. I knocked on their door and stood holding the package calmly explaining the situation. They were older retirees where were happy to see a young man politely doing the right thing. I noticed they had a different model of apartment unit so I commented on it, and they invited me in to show me around. I met their dog and talked with them for no exaggeration two hours. We both learned a lot of things about each other discussing what we like to do in our city we live in. I learned the places in the world they have explored and the sort of things that you talk about with good friends that you have known for a long time even though we just met today.

Their dog made friends with me and you can bet that I pet their dog. Yes, I did! So I have been texting them and have already invited them to meet my extremely affectionate cat.

I could have chose option D and there would have been nothing wrong with that, but I wouldn't have made new friends with my neighbors and their dog. This is more fun!

I think that there are lots of people who want to meet their neighbors. But an inconvenience happens like the package being delivered to the wrong address and it ruins their day and they don't see the misdirected package as the purrfect excuse to finally meet the neighbors. What if the neighbors think you are weird or what if many things? If anything, literally nobody would be bothered that you are returning their package.

So returned home to my cat who was confused as to why I walked into our home and immediately left for 2 hours before returning. I finished cooking dinner at 10 pm, and I happy that a made a new friend and steered my life in a better direction totally not boring whatsoever.

Thank you package carrier for delivering the package to the wrong address. I used it as an excuse to make a friend and have some deep conversations. I also delivered the package to the intended recipient. I sometimes wish more carriers would make these mistakes more often, but that is actually a bad thing because lots of people are evil and would choose option C.

So I am a core lab scientist. My job description is collaborator. I am not neglecting my main research to collaborate because my main job is to work with other labs.

But I get so fixated on the work with my clients. When I work with PhD students with dissertation deadlines and grant deadlines, I just refuse to fail them. I work so hard to deliver results. I have always liked helping people with their projects. But I just don’t give up because I deliver results rain or sunshine. They requested my help so I am going to make it tangibly worth it.

I have a management system but it is just so hard when your boss is counting on you to have a dozen people relying on you regularly?

Anybody else get emotionally invested in helping other scientists?

About 2 weeks ago I made this post on this subreddit regarding me searching for a lost cat: https://www.reddit.com/r/randomactsofkindness/s/6fU1sT7ULC

The update is that the cat was found by the out or state owner. The owner posted on a local facebook group that she was back in my city where she lost her cat looking for the cat over a weekend. She returned to the city about 1 week after she lost her cat for the weekend camping out in the area where she lost her cat. That was about an 800 mile drive to search for her cat. Some good person in my community posted response with street coordinates of the last sighting in the morning. The street coordinates were 5 streets away from where the cat was lost. The cat must have crossed a heavy traffic street. The Facebook community member also said they were putting cat food and water out for the cat to draw the cat in.

I immediately on foot searched the area 4 streets up, 4 streets down, 4 streets right, 4 streets left. I didn’t find the cat. I put up two lost cat signs in the area. I got back in my car and searched the area that way. Then I walked the area again. Tired, I returned to my car and before driving back to my apartment. The owner posted an update saying that this person sent the owner the exact location of the short haired cow cat. The owner posted cute cat pictures of them happily together and said that she did know when she lost her cat in my far away town that it is “one of the most kind and connected towns she ever experienced.”

Before, I read that Facebook update, I was prepared to get up at dawn and search for the cat on Memorial Day holiday. So I returned to my apartment and cuddled with my cat and slept in. I was so tired of searching but glad I didn’t have to search anymore. The cat was found 9 days after being lost. It rained heavily for some of those days.

So I didn’t find the cat after searching for about 16 hours. I searched for that cat as if nobody was searching for the cat. But I was wrong. Other people were searching hard, too, and found the cat. I did put out cat food and water in the area where the cat was lost.

Never underestimate your neighbors. I still did the right thing, anyway. Unrelated but it is my birthday tomorrow.

Also, I skipped all the events of my city’s annual festival of street performers to instead spend all my energy searching for this cat.

Let me preface this by saying

If you are adopting a sick cat to pay for the cat’s medical bills and facilitate the recovery, you are a literal saint. If you are adopting a lonely older cat that gets overlooked at the shelter because most people want a kitten then you are wonderful person. if you are adopting a cat about to be euthanized at a animal kill shelter then you are a literal saint. If you are fostering a stray cat who showed up hungry and thirsty on your porch then you are a literal saint.

However, if you are adopting a cat because you just want a companion then pick the cat who loves you, not the cat you think you want.

You want a cat who is a boy, girl, kitten, adult, shorthair, longhair, tabby, orange, tuxedo, siamese, etc … it is all irrelevant. Does one cat look cuter than the others with a more interesting color palette? That is all irrelevant. The cat you want is irrelevant.

Pick the cat who wants you. Adopt the cat who sits on your lap specifically in a crowd of people. Pick the cat who comes to you even when you don’t call the cat over.

I am saying this because I adopted the cat who showed affection to me. Last night I literally fell asleep with my cat cuddling with me on the couch. She cuddles with me every minute of every day. She can’t get enough of me.

Owning a cat is a responsibility and if your cat is troublemaker, it might not be so fun. But when you adopt the cat who loves you the responsibility of taking care of your animal is a joy. You will never even consider for one millisecond to return your cat and get a new one if you choose the cat who loves you full stop!

My cat is napping on my chest now as I try to fall asleep.

So, I'm a senior scientist.

I am collaborating with a PhD candidate who has to complete her PhD dissertation in 2 months hard deadline because our elected officials decided to defund scientific research and other humanitarian causes to pay for their war against their enemies. My client's needs 3D biological structures of her protein chemical modified in couple different ways.

Based on my knowledge of her protein, I just crystallized her modified protein samples in 4 hours. It can take a couple days to weeks to do this if you don't know what you are doing. Then we have to wait for time at the synchrotron x-ray source to determine the 3D structures based on scattering of x-rays by the electrons in the material.

So anyway, the project with hard 2-month deadline will be completed in less than month. Our people hated their enemies so much that they voted for war. The government had to defund medical research to pay for their war. But I'm speedrun clearing my collaborator's deadline. They are fast. But I am faster!