Time To Actually "Blog" - A Week With @lesshorrible #5

Every Sunday I will revise my week, write about new things that I tried and new stuff that I learned. I will also share some deeper insights and update you on what I am doing with my life. We all have our narcicistic tendencies, and I decided to embrace mine.

Previous Posts In This Series

Time To Actually "Blog" A Week With @lesshorrible #1
Time To Actually "Blog" A Week With @lesshorrible #2
Time To Actually "Blog" A Week With @lesshorrible #3
Time To Actually "Blog" A Week With @lesshorrible #4

Spring Break?

Last year I went to Panama City Beach for spring break. I wanted to see if it really is at crazy as we Europeans see on TV. We drove there from Birmingham and stayed in a nice apartment complex right by the beach. There were six of us in a tiny apartment. It was a lot of fun. We spent the day on the beach or in the hot tub, and the night at some clubs and houseparties. It was nowhere as crazy as you would think if you saw the news, but it was pretty crazy.
Anyways, this year I am staying on campus, more or less by myself. I really enjoy campus when it is empty (my university really has a pretty campus). Sadly, I have a lot of work to do. For my bachelor thesis, and out of personal interest, I am working on a research proposal. I did get scooped, but I am taking a more agressive approach. Instead of just seeing if microfibrillated cellulose can carry an enzyme called laccase (some researchers have demonstrated it is very possible), I will try to design and possibly build a prototype. Laccase can oxidize and polymerize phenolic compounds (this includes bisphenol A and estrogen which both impair with our endocrine system), which makes then insoluble and precipitate out of water. Thus, it helps to filter them out. For this project I will functionalize the cellulose (cross-coupling with glutaraldehyde after physisorption of the enzyme) and then try to assemble my prototype and run a few tests. If I am very lucky and I get everything to work, I may be able to patent this.

Being on campus during spring break also gives me a lot of time to walk and relax. I have not really had the time to just go on hikes and walks in the last few weeks. I may also drive up to a few national parks that are around Birmingham (I may make videos and upload them). Of course the weather got really crappy yesterday. It has been raining the last tow days and it has gotten colder. According to the weather forecast it will be relatively cool until next weekend. However, the weekend is predicted to be very rainy. So, the weather is not on my side. However, I enjoy being outside enough to not mind a little rain. I am considering to make a little video of my walk but editing takes some time. On Wednesday I have another dental school interview. This one is with Newcastle University. I really enjoy interviews so I am looking forward to this.

I Am Going To New Orleans!!

On Friday my research supervisor asked me to come by his office to "help him answer a question". I thought I would have to explain to him what I did for a particular IR spectrum I took. But instead he asked me if I wanted to go to New Orleans, to attend the chemistry convention in the world.

I am beyond excited for this! This means free hotel, travel and registration. Furthermore, because I am not eligible for government-funded summer research, I will not have to present anything but will be able to roam freely and attend lectures and presentations and shake hands. I have never been to any of these meetings (again, since I am foreign and not allowed to receive government funding for summer research). But because I have been working in a research lab every semester, have done more research than any other undergrad student and am the first to carry out my own research project the department decided to invite me. While I am honored, I am just really excited for this opportunity to learn more about current research and meet people. Also I have never been to New Orleans. I will most certainly write about my experiences! This will be next week so stay tuned.

The Creative Juices Are Coming Back

I consider myself a creative person. However, during the semester, when I am stressed out I usually do not have much time to let the juices flow. Now that I have some time, I have a lot of great ideas. I recently started using a free picture editing software called GIMP. It is a just for fun kind of deal and if you checked out my blog, you may have noticed my first creation Lizard Mand. I was cracking up about this and now I am thinking about making an animated series that tells the story of Lizard Man´s life. Because I still think this is hilarious, I am thinking about finding some collaborators and make an animation series by steemians for steemians. As far as I know this would be the first steemit show.

So if you know somebody who is an animator, or if you are one, please hit me up. I really want to make this happen! At this point I cannot offer more than an equal share of the rewards, and hopefully a lot of fun and laughter.

Here is a little teaser. It is Lizard Baby.

As you can see, I am not good at this just yet, so please help me haha!

Til Next Week

Well I got to go walking. It will get dark soonish and I have not gone on my walk today. Tomorrow I will post a new Nanotechnology post and Tuesday another Antibiotic Resistance post. I will start talking about reasons for antibiotic resistance and then talk about some measure we can take to reduce it. There will be no more than two posts in this series so check it out. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

As always,
Cheers @lesshorrible!