Pictures Part 2

So this is part 2 of the pictures post (part 1 was the one right before this one, so look for the next oldest entry...I know it can be hard to scroll down and click, but hey, that's life...).

On a side note, just heard a bunch of popping noises -- I'm pretty sure they're gun shots (just GChatted with a military friend of mine). My friend Joe, when he first moved to NY, told me it was like living in a rap music video. Of course, this was Upper West Harlem area and now the Upper East Side, where I believe it's considerably safer.

Anyway, here we go...these are pictures of my room and common area



This is the top half of the desk. When I move to the new room I will try to keep this arrangement, but until then, here it is...



This is the second half of the desk, nothing notable here.




This little beauty is something I got just Friday afternoon. It's a Logitech diNovo wireless keyboard that cost me $20 (after a mail-in rebate). It comes with an on-off switch and runs on 4 AAA batteries (I have rechargeable AAA batteries so things are pretty cheap :) ). I can type on my computer clear across the room, and it barely takes up the drawer. My previous Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 (as much as I loved it) took up the whole drawer and I had to awkwardly angle my hands sometimes to type.



And this is the grand overview. Of course, I've only shown you the place where I work. I'll post a more comprehensive set when I move in to the new room.

Stay tuned for Part 3! And by stay tuned I mean give me 5 minutes....

Pictures!!

Okay, this post is just going to be pictures. I'll try to update with some content later on. I will post descriptions below each picture because that's the easiest way for me to do this...I think. So it looks like Blogger is shoving my pictures one below each other. I think I just went in the order in which they're shown, so you can ignore some of the "top right, bottom left" business.



So before I show you all the fun stuff, let's take a look at our freezer, shall we? On the left here we have the freezer AFTER we cleaned it out. Tim and I found meat dating back to 2004 (my fingers accidentally typed "1004" at first...I wonder if that's a Freudian Slip). To the right is the bags of trash that came out of the freezer (we filled up the stuff on the left first, then moved towards the right). And yes, the bag on the right is a jumbo garbage bag. And that's just the freezer...the refrigerator was equally bad.




So for orientation, we are all assigned to small groups (these groups of people are the ones with whom I'll be cutting open cadavers in Gross Anatomy so it was good that we took the chance to get to know each other), and we were sent on a "photo hunt" in NYC. Stanford folks, think scavenger hunt minus the fact that you're unleashing 1600 frosh into the city that's completely unprepared for the coming tsunami...

In any case, my group had Times Square, Theater District, and we summarily found a SpongeBob SquarePants and we had to take a picture with him. Of course, since 4 out of 6 of us were Asian, we were also tempted to do the V for victory/Asian tourist peace sign/Asian photo hand sign, but instead, since our team name was "6pac/6pack," we opted instead to do the Chinese way of hand-signing the number 6.

Top right: a bakery somewhere in Times Square (I basically followed people around since they knew the area, and I tried my hardest not to get run over by a car, but thank goodness for "training" in China/Taiwan, where I firmly believe that traffic laws and individual lanes do not exist and where safe driving (to me) really means getting to your destination in the shortest amount of time possible while avoiding denting your car or getting hit by a car/bike/motorcycle/oncoming bus/train/etc. But I digress. I think I was talking about the bakery Magnolia Bakery, which is famous for its cupcakes. I forgot to take pictures on my camera (I have tons of food related pictures on my phone though, but I can't do Facebook mobile uploads...) but they're pretty good.

Actually, random tangent. Dessert shops/bakeries/good eateries abound here in New York. I was talking to my program director about this and she suggested that we (the MD/PhDs and anyone else who was interested) write reviews of desserts that we have eaten at local bakeries and such. She gave me several places to go check out, and it would be fun to play food critic for awhile, especially since I can bring back old high school phrases such as "winout, mediocre at best, random, Orientalism, pwn, own, etc.".

Bottom left, we went to the Marriot Hotel in Times Square and just rested in their lounge bar area, which had the fanciest bar collection I've ever seen (okay, maybe Mantra in Palo Alto was pretty good too). Of course, the bar was closed, but it would have been interesting to try one of their drinks at some point, given the heat and how much we were walking by that point.

Bottom right: view of Times Square from this place that has Steps on it.





So in Union Square there is this store called Max Brenner's that sells chocolate. And all things chocolate. And only all things chocolate. The "pizza" above is basically dough with chocolate stuff on it. There is a chocolate related body spa to it's right. The bottom left holds a bunch of different chocolates you can buy. And on the bottom right are "special" cups used for drinking hot chocolate (aka if you're looking to spend money somewhere 'cause you have too much of it, buy this stuff).


So I had dinner with Tina and Amy one night during the summer at this Greek restaurant called Persephone. Here's the dessert picture...there wasn't much to say about the other stuff :)















So this picture here is just a grilled cheese sandwich I made (with a frying pan no less). It's Mexican Cheddar though, which gave it a nice little kick :). Up on the top right is my ID and on the top left is my watch. The wood beneath the food is my desk :).



I made noodles, eggs, and veggies one night. That's not much else to say...

That's all the pictures I took, folks! I'm sure there are others somewhere on Facebook and Flickr and various other photo compilations, but I'll have to look for them later.

"New" Address

Apparently things are getting lost in the mail =(.

Try this address

50 East 98th St
Apt 9G6
New York, NY 10029

Hopefully that works. If not I'll just post the Graduate School Office and they will have their mail-lady put it in my box there.

Summer Days

Pre-ambling Rambles
I have to say -- Chinatown is really really REALLY cheap. I'm talking about the one in Flushing (which is decidedly far superior to the one in downtown Manhattan). Sea Bass for $4.99/lb?? Salman for ~$3/lb??? It's pretty much a steal compared to the prices around my area. Sadly, the better Chinatown is an hour away, so that pretty much limits my travels there. Otherwise I would go often. Very often.

I finally started using the kitchen too, but everytime I've done so, it's meant having to do nearly a complete cleaning on everything in the kitchen. We'll see how things go though -- we just had a suitemate move out so maybe things will be a lot better in the long haul. In other news, cooked a huge dinner for myself that's probably good for the next 4 meals or so. Pretty simple stuff, took me about 30 minutes to cook. I should probably compete with Rachel Ray for her 30-minute meals show.

The Hershey Store and M&M Store in Times Square
Things can get a little busy in New York, but when you go to Times Square, you really start to see the hustle and bustle flowing to and from the streets and stores and stands. Families, couples, friends, loners, all types of characters and caricatures make there way in a large throng that just surges en masse up and down the streets of Times Square. To exit the flow of people, I feel, is much like exiting from a highway. To do it smoothly, you have to slowly make your way towards the store entrance and out of the flow of traffic. Otherwise, you risk people running into you if you stop abruptly and try to turn into the store.

They've also started setting up these zones in Times Square where pedestrians are able to sit down in the middle of the street on these green chairs (meant for the color of sustainability apparently) to just take a rest. The whole point is to minimize congestion (I'm pretty sure they mean pedestrian traffic to move the slower people away from the sidewalks and into the greener areas where they are supposed to amble slowly along as the masses fast walk their way to their destination on the sides). What's ended up happening is the car density on the streets have gotten a lot higher, but what's new? I've been playing Human Frogger since Day 1 in New York...and it's all comparable to the car traffic in China/Taiwan.

But I digress...if you guys ever come to New York, you should definitely visit Times Square. They have a Hershey Store and an M&M Store with huge pillars filled with M&M's of various colors. To access those delightful teeny bits, you simply go up to a pillar with a plastic bag, pull the lever, and BAM! M&Ms of your color choice fall into your bag. I think you're charged by the ounce, but having spent my chocolate budget at the Hershey store already, I didn't bother buying M&Ms...

NYC Restaurant Week
Yet another reason to come to New York -- Restaurant Week. Basically, all the classier restaurants in New York will put out a prix fixe menu ($24 for lunch and $35 for dinner) and you get to choose what you want for a 3-course meal. It's excellently priced (given New York), and definitely a way for us poor graduate students to feel as if we were living the high life. That I went to 3 Restaurant Week dinners (Atlantic Grill, Persephone, Delmonico's) is a testament either to my love of eating, my love of good food, my inability to resist splurging on food, the great deals, or maybe all of the above. Either way, I was very satisfied those 2 weeks and definitely did not eat much else those days to prepare my appetite for the food =).

---
It's a little sad that I'm going to be leaving the lab soon. I've been in the lab from 9am-8pm with the other post-docs, a masters student, another MSTP student (my year), and the PI, and it's been a blast learning science from all these people, talking about our experiments, and really noticing just how much at the forefront Mount Sinai is in medical research. I won't go too much into detail about what I've done, but there have been some huge strides in tumor immunology and cancer therapies and there will be a lot more going on, and I never thought of myself as ever having anything to do with cancer research, but given my experiences in this lab (of which I will blog more about later so that I can return to those thoughts later when I make my final decision), it's definitely something I would like to investigate even further.

That's all for now folks! I wish I had more, but I really don't. I guess I'll do more touristy things at some point and take pictures if I can.

Mi Clase de Medicina En Espanol

I'm taking a Medical Spanish class!

It's a little hard at first, but slowly I'm getting back into the groove of things. Of course, I still can't carry on a normal conversation, but at least I know enough words to let patients know I'm trying.

"Hola, soy un estudiante de medicina. Como puedo ayudarlo?"

I think...

Elevator Pet Peeve #1

So in New York, it feels like it's easy for people to be irritable and complain a lot. At least, I hear people complaining a lot, whether I'm walking down the street or going up/down an elevator.

Well, I guess it's my turn now, but there's only one.

Elevators. Great inventions, really. Beats having to hoist a refrigerator up several flights of stairs, falling down a flight of stairs, etc.

But...why do people have to take elevators to go one floor up or down...???

That happens a lot here. I'm not sure why...but it happens...

And it's a waste of my time.

So I now am the last person to push the button on the elevator. I work on the 13th floor. If someone pushes 12 or 14, I just take the stairs up or down.

And that's my silent protest of people who use elevators for 1 flight rides.

And yes, you could extrapolate that to wondering why I just don't take all 13 flights of stairs straight down to the first floor (or up).

I still haven't gotten there. I'll be sure to let you know when I do =)

Getting to know you...

So I have no idea what to call my posts. I'm sure I'll figure something out at some point, but until then, I apologize for the non-creative writing and the inability to capture your attention. Hopefully my descriptions will be good enough...

These past few weeks have been a general theme of "getting to know you" (and yes, feel free to start singing if you happen to know the song :) ).

The night before our program orientation, we first-years had dinner with the director of program, Dr. Satlin, and her administrative assistant, Rhaisili. As I said before, the dirty secret about Mount Sinai's MD/PhD program is our love of food, both eating and making it. For dinner, we made deviled eggs, caesar salad (dressing was made from scratch courtesy of my friend Jon - thanks buddy!), and pasta (whole wheat spaghetti noodles...nothing too special). The pasta sauce was definitely a combo'ed creation, a mix of my friend Kate's original recipe and one of the girls in our program (Kimbie).

Essentially, I think that dinner defined our group dynamic: everything was team-oriented and usually there wasn't a leader so much as it was an idea and then everyone jumped to put it into action and bring it into existence. The fruit of our labors was a fantastic dinner party =). I wish I had pictures...but I don't. Actually, I still don't have a camera, come to think of it.

A highlight for the night: I acquired a cello! I asked Dr. Satlin if she knew of any stores in the area, and she said to me "actually, there's a cello right behind you in my closet...". So now I have it, and I'll be installing fine tuners and an end-pin in addition to getting a bow, a hard case, and a new set of strings. It's a bit pricey, but I'm holding onto this during my 8-year (read: eternal) stay...

Orientation really wasn't too exciting, so there's not much to say. However, one of our MD/PhD advisers, Dr. Ben Chen, was an undergrad from Stanford (class of 1990 if I remember correctly), and another one of our advisers, Dr. Miriam Merad, was a post-doc in both Irv Weissman's and Ed Engleman's labs. That's like...wow. In case you guys didn't know, Weissman and Engleman happen to be 2 of the biggest PI's at Stanford. I think my ultimate point is that there's a Stanford connection =).

Speaking of connections, as my brain makes this huge mental leap across synapses, it turns out that out of the 11 people in our first-year class, 5 of us are from CA (well, 1 of them went to college at CalTech, but still...)! Sadly, they're all originally from SoCal, but I think I'll live...

By the way, if you guys ever get the chance, you should definitely come to NY to see the fireworks. At least for me, they were definitely spectacular and the crowds of people afterwards amazed me -- I don't think I've seen a surge of people that...dense...before.

Oh, the most exciting part: I went to the other Chinatown in Flushing today! Found a nice little 湯包 place and I got to eat my 鹹豆漿 and 蔥油餅. And then I finally got 珍珠奶茶. Basically, if that smattering of Chinese didn't clue you in...I found Asian food after not having it for about a week. I also think I found the Asian supermarket for me to go shopping for groceries, but I should probably look for something closer...

Okay, I think that's it. At some point, when it's ready, I'll show you some cool stuff from lab, but until then, these are just small blurbs about what I'm up to. I apologize that the writing style isn't too good -- it's been far too long since I have written, but I'll try to get the narrative style down as I continue writing.