Mentos and Diet Coke

"I hope you'll have as much fun in grad school as I will..." (Message received at 12:34 AM.)

As a kid, Peter enjoyed playing with insects and now about 17 years later, he'll be going to school to study what he loved most as a child.  Sometimes I can't help but feel worried, living in this world that we live in today.  It's a constant widespread pandemonium across the newspapers and television screens and suddenly I'm paralyzed.  What can we do?  And so with this in mind, that is even more reason to pursue your dreams.  Life is too short and there are just too many hardships that we must bear to waste time on a career that you absolutely detest.  I hate how hackneyed these "shoot for the stars" inspirational messages have become, but they hold so much power.  

Last Friday was my last day in Fenghua's lab and as much as I adored the people on the third floor, I had to say my goodbyes.  I shook hands with Scott a couple of weeks ago and so I'll now be a part of the ESCRT team.  In terms of work atmosphere, I felt more comfortable with the people in Fenghua's lab, but unfortunately my criteria for selecting a lab was based exclusively on level of research interests and scientific curiosity and the truth is, I have never felt more excited about my work than I do now.  I just hope I made the right decision.

  

Here are my new lab mates.  We got together at Mike's apartment and decided to perform that Mentos and diet Coke experiment and voilà...an amazing fountain of awesome.  It's breathtaking, I know.