Avoid Boring People

Get it? It means two things! It's also the title of a book by the former president of my graduate school, The Dr.

Grad school has been an experience so far. I've been here for a week and a half, and I will say that while they treat you really well (UNBELIEVABLY well if you're a fan of mediocre Long Island pizza), you'd better be willing to work hard. And go to dinner parties. No, I'm not joking.

Our first official week of classes started off with orientation and me wishing for my car to come already. I got a fancy ID badge, a permit for my yet to have arrived car and a lease for my room. It's a great room. Cheap, comfy, furnished and when I wake up in the morning, I get a view of the Long Island Sound (a name that would probably be the best thing about whatever band decided to call themselves that). I'll try and post a picture soon. We also got new laptops! So I'm writing this entry on my brand new MacBook Pro that comes with Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, loads of scientific software, Microsoft Office and a free laptop case (they capped us at $100 and I took them at their word). This computer is easily worth about 4 or 5 months rent at my old place. We then had a welcome party at the lab's bar. If you've seen me at open bar, you'll know I always stop drinking one drink too late. This time was no different. I was tipsy (not drunk), stumbled home and napped. Lovely way to start the grad school. Tuesday they took us out for a cruise on the bay in the afternoon where we got to see Billy Joel's house (guesses on which song paid for it?) and get sunburned. I took advantage of both. Wednesday my baby (ahem, car) came and I promptly took it to Ikea to get a bookcase for my room, which did not have a place for the 6 boxes of books I shipped from home. Years from now, my wife will complain that I never throw anything out, but for now, I'll enjoy being a pack rat.

Thursday the fun began. After assembling the bookcase and napping, I cleaned myself up and headed out to a wine and cheese on the lab president's lawn (beer), then sat for dinner for an hour and a half (more beer) where a friend of mine pointed out that every course (there were three of them, enough to notice a trend) lasted exactly one half hour. Except for coffee, which lasted an hour. At 8:15, I jumped in my car, sped to my cousin's wedding just in time for the main course (steak and wine!), stayed for too long again, then got back at 1:15. I had to be up for class the next day at 9, so I set my alarm for 7:15 AM (there's only so many times I can press snooze before I just give in to the clock), got to class, got to the recycling center, which recycles styrofoam too, and then to the bank and groceries. The grocery store made me wish for home, where shopping wasn't like being in a zoo. I was hoping to join the fam in Teaneck for Shabbos, but the first year students were invited (it's worth noting that the lab "inviting" is like Don Corleone "asking for a favor"-saying no isn't really an option), to a concert and dinner at The Dr.'s house.

The redeeming thing is that the classes themselves so far have been really good (further proof I am a nerd among nerds) and everything here is gorgeous. And the other first year students are very cool. The only problem is when you're one of four Americans in a class of 15, you feel kinda bland. I might have to start faking an accent to make up for it.

Next week R comes back and it's been long enough. I miss her more than I thought I would and it looks like she's found a place to live, so when she gets to NYC, the move won't be as tough as it might have been. I'm just happy she's almost here. I'll be thrilled when I can pick her up from the airport :-)

"That's Hot"

I'm constantly amazed by how excited people seem to be about the idea of me (or anyone for that matter) getting a PhD in genetics. The title of this entry is actually a direct quote from the bank teller I happened to speak to today while I was getting a bank check for my auto transporter. I guess asking for it to be made out to an auto shipping company is a dead giveaway. Then there are people like my cousin, who remind me that in the future, I will be "minting money".

I have absolutely no clue about how or where I'll end up. Right now my long terms plans are get out of grad school (hopefully in 4 years 0:-) ), get a job and spend my life with R. That's it. If I can mint money, that's cool too. But I gotta say, the reactions I get from other people make my life seem much more exciting than it seems to me. I just like biology. I'm a nerd. If my life ends up being half as cool or successful as everyone else seems to think it will be, then party at my place in 10 years or so when things get themselves on the up and up. I'll send out an Evite--or whatever newfangled thingamabob people will be using in 10 years.

And if I sound tired or disjointed in this email, it's because I've been driving for 10 hours (7.5 or more tomorrow...yay!). Please excuse. More coherent posts will follow.

We Are Clear for Takeoff

So in my life, it seems natural for things to not hit me until the last second. Today is a perfect example. I woke up (9:30 AM woooo!) and suddenly realized, "Holy s**t, I'm moving to New York tomorrow". I have a good excuse for not really getting caught up in the idea until now. The last two or three weeks have involved a last minute trip to New York to support my lovely girlfriend R while she went for interviews in and around the city (4 job offers on 4 interviews. . . she may be smarter than me), packing, and saying goodbye to R as she headed out to visit her family in FL before she too makes the move to New York and we have to start figuring out how to continue spending all our free time together when we are about an hour further apart.

I cannot begin to emphasize how big a pain packing up is. I'm sure if you've moved, you know the feeling too. First, you think you have too much stuff and you have absolutely no interest in packing anything more than a small suitcase with some clothing and a pocketknife (just in case I get hungry). Then I start to realize little things, like how my textbooks represent countless hours of work and thousands of dollars of investment in buying them (and a small fortune to pay for college). . . maybe I should keep them. Then as I go through my closet, I realize that not ALL of my clothes are crap, so I pack most of them too. Then I decide that I really could use some new clothing, and proceed to spend ungodly amounts of money (ungodly is a relative term, for me it's in the $300+ range) on nice new clothes picked out with the help of the amazing R once again. . . which I immediately stuff into boxes. I started out thinking I could pack all my stuff into 12 or 13 boxes. It ended up being more like 18.

That--in addition to saying goodbye to R--has made the last few weeks a blur. Olympics? You mean the TV I watch when my roommate is out of the den while I'm packing? Video games? They were the bane of my existence this summer (I think there were days when I played 10+ hours), and only further proved how much R loves me (love you too!), but once I started packing, the only thing I could justifiably do was look longingly at my roommate's XBox 360, then go back to my room for more packing. At least it broke of some bad habits. On the other hand, it feels less like I'm going to graduate school than becoming a mover.

So I'm off tomorrow, maybe I can post from the road and thus starts the new adventures of Mitch. I just hope all those boxes fit in my new place.