Term is almost over!

Yay, In two weeks, I'll be flying to South East Asia for a break. I can't wait.

Today is the last day of lab practical teaching of second year undergrads. Wow, with my condition, it was quite exhausting. I had to sit down at intervals... but great that all the practicals when well, better than last year anyway. It is funny how some of the students asks such bizarre, and some just down right silly, questions. Here are some examples:

In a microbiological testing practical:
1. "How to I spread the bacteria on a petri dish with this swab?" - by swabbing the plate, maybe?
2. "How do you describe bacteria morphology?" - that's like giving you the answer to the practical question, dude.
3. "How do I get the bubbles out of the API strip?" - arrgh!
4. "I put the wrong reagent in the API strip, will it affect my test?" - what do you think?
5. "The bacteria looks round. is it?" - ...

In a molecular testing practical:
1. "Is 020 on the display mean 20 µl?" - on the P20 pipette? no!
2. "I don't have enough reagents, I think you didn't give me the right amount, is it?" - no, you were using the wrong pipette at the wrong volume.
3. "So the ethidium bromide is used for tagging the nucleotide in the sequencing reaction?" - no! did you read the practical book?
4. "why won't my sample load into the gel well?" - that's because you are stabbing the gel and so the nozzle for your sample is block.
5. "My water is frozen, what do I do?" - ... that's just the best question to ask...

Michealmas

Argh, Michealmas term begins! All the little freshers so wide-eyed and confused are streaming into this city. The traffic's jammed with kids with their parents in big Land Rovers or station wagons, which are packed full of their belonging for their start in university life.

Maybe it'll be another time for me to start torturing some of these kids in class again. hehehehe.

This will probably my last Michealmas here. That means last time for me to be all friendly with the newcomers.

If you are thinking why I'm so bitter, it is because I'm so tired to re-introduced myself to a bunch of kids who are trying to be friendly, only to then never see these lot again. It is such a waste of energy.

Yeah, my thesis is getting on my nerves, how could you tell?

Trip to an Oxfordshire village

When I first stepped off the bus in Eynsham that late morning, the first thing that came to mind was a song by the Thrills. It has lyrics that goes like this: "hanging around in a one horse town ...". Except that this wasn't a town, it was a village. But the gist of it is that it was a sleepy village even during the daytime.
As I have mentioned in my last post, a shop here was the only Mac shop In Oxfordshire that would let me try out Macspeech Dictate and eventually help me buy one.

Just so you know, there is a Mac shop in Oxford Town itself. But don't bother going there.


The village centre. Love the little coloured flags. But could do with a few more people around.


Walking along what seems to be the main road through the village, I was wondering if I would find the shop. But there it was, a little shop painted white (indicated by the red arrow), with its big vehicle parked outside.


Finally, an aide I was looking forward to. As you can see, it comes with a headset. I'm still getting used to dictating, but eventually I will be good at it to write my thesis. if not, at least good enough to write this blog post.

So, if you ever are in need of Mac related software and services, why not take a trip to this place? Oxford Mac solutions are staffed by knowledgeable and friendly people. Thanks a bunch!

Trying to adapt

Well, it seems like I haven't updated this blog for some time now. My shoulder and arm, as well as my neck are still giving me trouble. I have been trying to sort this out with the help of the University occupational health service, and one of their recommendations was to try out a dictation program. After weeks of finding out who sells a copy of the detection program for Apple (Macspeech dictate) as well as haggling with my boss, he is finally agreed to buy a copy for me (but still licensed to him, talk about generous). This software program has just arrived, and I have been testing it out and "training" it over weekend. It is not as accurate as I would like yet, but still it is better than what I had anticipated. Voice recognition software has really improved during the last few years.
anyway, since now there is a chance of actually writing my thesis without straining my arm further, only to do now is talk to my computer.

Another thing, I am also waiting for a specialist in the orthopaedic unit to have a look at me. As it is NHS, waiting time is ridiculously long. How come the NHS does not understand that the longer one waits to be treated, the more likelihood that the condition will worsen. And then, they would have to spend more money in treating the patient. Man, how I wish I have medical insurance.

PS: the only place that sells Macspeech dictate is a little shop in a village just outside Oxford. I will blog about that another day. Right now, it is time for sleep.

Slow torture

Headaches, arm pain, upper back pain, shoulder, elbow, wrist pain... it's probably easier if I were to actually break my arm. Physiotherapy is not working so well and the only thing that is helping me right now is the needles. It's nearly 6 months, and am still showing very little signs of improvement (if any).

This is surely like slow torture...

Needles Karma

It feels like a trial of pain endurance lately. Here I am struggling to keep sane from the pain in my arm and shoulder I am still having since the bike accident while trying to write my thesis in the slowest possible pace, which is a tremendous pain in itself. My doctor has prescribed some drugs for me to help me, but the side-effects are so strong. It nearly isn't worth taking the drug which, by the way, just took off some of the edge of the stabbing pain. But when you are feeling like there is a knitting needle stuck into your back, any pain relief you can get is good.

Which brings me to my topic for this post. While bearing/grimacing the pain, work must still go on. I've been dissecting mosquitoes for my next experiment. And as you know the mosquito is a tiny creature, and conventional dissecting tools are far too big for this kind of work. Therefore, I used acupuncture needles to do the job. Here's how it looks like under the microscope.



Funnily enough, when at the doctor's... while being prescribed the painkillers for temporary relief, I was also advised to sought out other ways to treat my shoulder. One word was suggested:

Acupuncture

At first I thought the doctor was joking. But recalling a conversation I once had with a postdoc from Sweden, where acupuncture is a legit form of treatment on their NHS, I thought maybe I shouldn't dismiss this doctor just yet.
So off I went at to a respectable sounding acupuncturist (i.e. certified therapist) and have it done, and hey presto! The stabbing pain was gone... by stabbing me with six needles no doubt... oh, the irony!

Well, there you go. Acupuncture is a way to go with nerve injuries. In fact, even WHO approved the treatment. Unfortunately for me, this treatment is not on the NHS. I'll have to cut down on the drinks and night outs now. Then again, I wasn't doing too much of those anyway lately.

Tinkering around...

I'm really no techno geek. But finally today I've decided to try out the new customisation of Blogger thanks to Ping. Bear with me, as I only have very little spare time to be tinkering around with this blog. And with a still dodgy arm... I think I may overdid it already ... :(

Valentine's amusement

There was a guy on Cornmarket Street yesterday with a large sign that read:

"Happy Valentine's Day.
Fancy a date?
Over 18 only."

I was tempted to take a picture, but thought he was embarrassed enough already, given the stares and other cameras taking him. I wonder if that was a dare or a lost bet?

Happy Darwin Day!

Charles Darwin was born 200 years ago on this day. His theory on natural selection is the foundation of every biologists. Today, Darwin Day will be celebrated by millions across the world. Oxford University is making a bit of an effort into it. You can now download Darwin's book Origin of Species from Oxford University and Google Book. Now go read it! and have a bit of cake while you're at it too!

Pain continues... bleh

Been back to the doctor for my injuries and this time I'm being taken more seriously. I was sent up the hill (hospital on the hill, that is) for an xray and am happy to say that the wrist look alright. But the suspicion is that I probably had a Scaphoid fracture and after 6 weeks, it's healed. As for the shoulder, it's still hurts like it was a month ago. After weeks of putting off using my right hand and arm (and that is such a feat), I've now noticed the difference, and how weak the right arm has become.
I've been referred to a physiotherapist and given some rehabilitation exercise to do. Man that hurts, and am expected to hurt even more in order to gain back my muscle strength.
I wonder if I had help earlier on, would I have to suffer still, or could my pain had ended far earlier after the injury?
Anyway, what's done is done. I can't change any of what has happened. All now is hope I get a full recovery and get back to working full force.


Here's one of the exercises I had to do. I actually have the same stress ball as this picture, and coincidentally, I can just about manage to squeeze about that much with my right hand.

And am back to being annoyed again

And being annoyed by the same person too.

Two postdocs in my lab started to discuss some orders they needed to do and since that person, whom made me angry so much not too long ago, was going to do the orders, he wanted to know how much the other postdoc needed. Since, I overheard the conversation, I asked what it was that they are ordering as it sounded as if it is something that I'll be needing too in my experiments. But what was the reply I got from Mr. Annoying???

"Why don't you write down your experiment plan for me so I know how much (of the chemicals) you actually need?"

Hang on a second man, what gives?

"I don't think I'll need a lot of it, well depending on your order size, that is." I said, well something like that anyway.
"Yeah still you should have your experiment plan written down, so do that and we'll see how much you need."

Needless to say, I was a bit confused. First of all, why the F*ck do I need to show him my experimental plan? He ain't my boss. Second of all, I know how much I need. I just need to know if there will be enough for me in the order too.

The other postdoc at this time came to my defense, saying I already have an experimental plan (which is true, as I had discussed this with him before since he was the expert in this field) and that my plan only calls for small usage in comparison to his experiment. So, I could potentially just use some of his when they order in. No need to put in an extra order.

Okay, so problem solved. But I just can't get over the arseyness of Mr. Annoying. He didn't ask the other postdoc to write his experimental plan for him to see. I have this feeling that I'm only being treated this way because I'm the bottom of the tier in this lab.

under-over-reacting: NHS vs self-help

So it has been like a month since my bike accident. My wrist still hurts, my back and shoulder still aches. Within the first week of my fall, I have already been to the GP for a check in case that the damage done was more serious than I had anticipated. OK, it doesn't help that my colleagues at work are scaring me with the possibilities of my condition but they were looking out for my best interest, I guess. Anyway, the diagnosis was that I have a sprain or sprains, and was advised with normal movement and NIASD for my pain. Unfortunately, ibuprofen is not a good friend of mine and I soon found it's ugly side-effects. In other words, they don't seem to do much for me.

Days later after my visit with medical professionals, and after trying his recommendation, I found myself still in pain and no improvement really. I really hate having to go back to my GP with his bored don'twastemytimewithyourminorailments face and somehow I left me feeling that I have over-reacted on a small injury... so off to Boots I go and got me a tubigrip to keep my joints in place. AND IT HELPS!

Now why didn't the bloody doctor advise me on this instead told me to keep using my arm as normal but no heavy lifting? The more joint movements I make the more painful they become. Surely this is not NORMAL?

Now at week 5, I'm finding my wrist a little bit improved. But shoulder and back is getting no better and my thumb joints are getting worse. I now have a neoprene wrist and thumb brace for people with carpal tunnel syndrome so I can keep working somewhat at my own expense.

Do I nag the NHS GP again? Or should I wait and do more DIY medical care? So far I have helped more than the doctor. Part of me feels like I'm over-reacting, yet part of me thinks I'm taking things too lightly...

At any case, I'm stuck with a situation where my work is suffering...

Bleh!

2009 better be my year

Happy 2009 everyone!

for the Chinese calendar, it will soon be the year of the Ox. And according to the zodiac, it will be a good year for me. Well, let's hope it is, cos I'll be needing a good year after so many crappy ones.

The year that was:

highlight: Got my diving license!
low: hit by car, still feeling the pain!

Well 2008 wasn't such a bad year, but it wasn't spectacular either. But I do wish that this year will be a great year for me, like finishing my Phd or something. One can always hope...