NOT up all night with Leeches

This quarter (yes, yes California is progressive we have done away with semesters) I have been rotating in a lab studying the leech. Part of the project was just to familiarize myself with the dissection that goes on in the lab. Open up leech and take out one of its ganglia, i.e. a group of ~400 neurons, from the nerve chord that runs down the length of the leech. At poke with glass electrodes characterizing neuronal activity.

One of the techniques the lab uses to record neuronal activity is through the use of FRET dyes (Basically these dyes get brighter/duller when a neuron is active). The dyes currently used take about ½ a second to change intensity. This is a long time on the scale of neuronal activity. So the other part of the project was to try out a different dye that is supposed to be about 25 times faster.

On and off for the last week I have been working on my presentation. Somehow (partly by passing another presentation off on Cindy) I have managed to be ahead of schedule. This time I am not a last-minute repulsing ball of stress... BUT
although last-minute means stress, pulling out hair, and most likely missing certain details it may be more efficient. When I have lots of time the useless anal retentive details can be attended to. Twiddling with fonts, colors, figure allignment improves your presentation but I don't know if it is worth what you put in.
Hmm... maybe this is just conservativism. I am not used to the relaxed day-before-presentation feeling. I can't bear the thought that am merrily typing up a blog about my presentation rather then wondering whether it will be worth while to sleep for the 2hr tonight or just make it another all-nighter.

Tomorrow is reckoning day. It should be chill since I am friends with everyone in lab, but all the same...Sometime soon after the presentation the lab PI will let me know whether I am welcome in the lab or not.

Then it is off to a new lab.