That Question Thing

[marcusmarcusrc]

Arcanology asks:

1. So the whole thing about the cows... is that grating yet?

Oddly, not really. Last month I got a CD mix in the mail full of cow songs (including "Who Let them Cows Out") and was quite touched. I figure since I'm going to get the stuff anyway, I might as well embrace it.

2. Was there a flash in lab when you said "oh crap, I'm not a chemist!" or did it slowly creep on you (like fungus)?

Fungus. Definitely. The first sign should have been 5.311 at MIT when I would answer everyone's questions about lab equipment setup because I had the theory down pat and could explain how to grease joints for vacuum sealing more clearly than the TA, and then I'd get lower yields than the people who had come to me for help. Actually, maybe the first sign should have been the motor that never worked in physics lab at Milton. But anyway, this mostly accumulated over time, so that when I realized that my project at Caltech was going nowhere, rather than switch to a new project, I decided to get away from lab stuff altogether (though I considered the computational chemistry route fairly seriously)

3. Could you be trusted with the real live Glance of Instant Death?

There would be almost no danger of my ever using it on people I actually know. Not even the former-postdoc-of-annoyance. I just don't get angry at people, really. The question would be whether I would consider using it on public figures in order to "improve the world" (eg, the president and vice president, or a Supreme Court Justice, or a mullah laying down ridiculous fatwas, or Kim Jong-Il, Omar Bashir, or any of a number of really nasty dictators). And if so, would I use it in a justifiable way that would actually improve the world, or would the law of unintended consequences create chaos (cf, overthrowing Saddam)?

4. Now that you've got your doctorate, what's scary?

Erm. Choosing the right job? Making the decision between academia and government stuff? Basically, big life decision sorts of things. Fortunately, the whole decision about having kids or not is still a long long way in the future, because I think that would scare me more than all the other choices combined.

5. What terrible trauma caused you to take up square dancing?

Square dancing is just lots of fun - why would a terrible trauma need to be involved???

Of course, the semester I took it up was indeed high on the trauma level - studying for generals, dealing with a relationship breakup, tension at ET post-SPUR, and Bush taking us to war in Iraq... indeed, the very evening I went to my first dance I was explicitly looking for something to do that would eliminate any chance that I might see or hear the State of the Union Address. And learning square dancing was thought intensive enough that I couldn't think about anything else while I was trying to remember what "follow your neighbor" entailed. But it is also a lot of fun.

Comments

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

It could be pretty difficult to get close enough to some of those public figures to Glance at them. Unless glancing at a picture in the newspaper, or on TV, counts.

[gigglefest.livejournal.com]

"Tailgate the guy next door and hold the mayo" :)

And I'll take questions if you're handing them out.

[astra-nomer.livejournal.com]

I'd take some questions, too.

[desireearmfeldt]

Me too! :)

Mr. Sando, bring me an A...

[justom.livejournal.com]

That damn physics motor! If the other class hadn't stolen all the good copper, maybe it would have worked... Perhaps that was the first sign
for me, too. Although I had better luck with electronics in college, in general. I never got quite so far on the chemistry front. After second semester orgo lab, I didn't really have the desire to do any killer death labs. It just wasn't as interesting as learning the theory. Sadly, then the interesting theory classes conflicted with the uninteresting physics courses I had to take... If I'd taken 5.04 with you, that would have been fun, and might have kept me on the chem track a little longer. =)

Questions would be okay.