From the Brag-About-Me files: A predoctoral research grant I applied for in January got funded! Score! Now, if only I could get something to work right in the lab, that'd be great. It's been a crappy couple of weeks, lab-work-wise.

Etcetera: Last night I went with my neighbor Brent to the Red Door Saloon for 2-fers (Sierras on tap, specifically.) The Red Door's got fun little quirks like doors covering the ceilings, and a knothole in the floor through which you can see life-size skeletons placed in various sexually-suggestive positions. If I was to open a bar, I'd def. hide strange things around, have hidden passageways... something in that vein. We need more mystery/detective-story oriented bars, in my opinion.

I love hanging out and chatting with Brent. Besides just being a nice guy, he's a songwriter, musician, and screenwriter. We have great conversations, at times bordering on the pseudo-artsy, pseudo-philosophical. I live vicariously through his ease towards discussing the creative process. Living a life of science, I just don't get exposure to a lot of conversation like that these days, so it's refreshing. Hopefully I'm not making us all sound really flaky. Anyway, sadly, Brent is moving out of my building, so when I come back in August I can't run down the hall and ask him to go for beers, a la undergraduate dorm-living.

Today, another full day of western-blotting, grant form-filling, and sublet-searching will be followed by going to Hump Day shenanigans at Tribe. I'm excited, as it's been ages since I've been there.