Of Molecular Turtles and Other Oddities

Friday, January 05, 2007

You Couldn't Be More Wrong!

The funny thing about vacations is that they never seem long enough. I’ve had about three weeks off and I feel as though if I had just one more week, just one more week I’d be frolicking into work instead of trudging. After all, I could do so much with just one more week, alas, it’s not meant to be and I need to start work on the 8th. I must say though that I’m pretty excited about entering the cooperate world. However, this is where I ask for the help of you friends and neighbors. I want you to share any tips or advice or pieces of wisdom on starting new jobs or office politics. You see most for most of my jobs I’ve had some authority and an office and now I’m a cubicle dweller.

Now for something completely different. My favorite quote of the week happened when I went to buy a book by Kurt Vonnegut, called The Sirens of Titan. I asked one of the good folks at Toronto Eaton Center’s Indigo where the Vonnegut books are and she informed that she had never heard of him. We go to the computer and I type it in and lo and behold it’s there. She then goes on to berate me about how it’s not Vonn-e-gut everyone knows it’s pronounced Kurt Von Gurt! In a perfect world everyone’s first and last name would rhyme but I think adding extra letters to make it so may be passing some sort of lexical line. But hey maybe she’s right and when he appears in the movie Back to School and says “Hello, I’m Kurt Vonnegut” he mispronounced his own name for comic effect.

Now below you’ll find a new addition to the blog for those science minded folk. It’ll have about three developments in bullet form from the world of biotech. These will be condensed to a few sentences from all the newspaper articles I read during the week. If anyone expresses interest in this aspect of the blog I’ll even give links so you can look further into it

Instead of using only soybean oil for biodiesel there’s a new additive. We can now thank our friends at Tyson chicken for more than a funny episode of Seinfield. They’re going to be a main supplier of yummy chicken fat that will be transformed into fuel. They’re also going to get into the fuel business.

Clinical trials for nanoparticles to treat breast cancer will begin in 2007. This is pretty revolutionary because instead of undergoing chemo people will get these nanoparticles injected into them and then through shining infrared light (which passes through your body) we can kill tumors non invasively. Think of chemo as an A-bomb killing all rapidly growing cells along with the cancer cell vs shining light as a targeted missile

Study finds that stem cell therapies may cause cancer. Good news is they can determine which ones through something called methylation patterns

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17 Comments:

At 5:56 PM, Blogger Library Mama said...

This stuff is great! As a teacher, I'll be able to use some of your info to start class discussions.

And I got a chuckle out of the Vonnegut story. Who says you have to be literate to work in a bookstore?

 
At 6:18 PM, Blogger Dale said...

It frustrates me to go into any kind of store and find that rather than someone who's there to help you, there's a warm body who isn't quite sure why they're there either. Argh.

Working in an office is like going back to junior high school. There are the same levels of maturity on display although some have nicer clothes on. I'd keep my head down and listen for the first while. Be friendly but don't engage in gossip, unless you're starting it. Then on Day 2, backstab anyone you can to get to the top.

Rule #2: Never listen to me.

 
At 6:34 PM, Blogger Justmee said...

First, congrats on the new cubicle. :) See, you could have saved yourself from the snooty little book girl, and went online and looked it up yourself. But then again.. What fun would that have been?

Good luck Monday!

 
At 6:51 PM, Blogger Darlene said...

wow - this is going to be quite an experience for you...I honestly cannot think of any form of advice except try not to get too drunk at the office parties...this may seem trivial, but these co-workers really are just that. One can never let their guard down, giving ammunition for people to use against you later...Other than that, have fun, enjoy the change!

 
At 6:59 PM, Blogger Dino said...

as for the job. Start out quiet and be pleasant and helpful. Don't hook up with anything and stay within the rules. Just lay low and figure out the land

I think the clinical trials sound very interesting. I will have to keep an eye out for that

 
At 8:08 PM, Blogger Nik said...

Actually, you're both wrong. His last name is actually Italian. It is pronounced Vern-gotti.

 
At 12:42 AM, Blogger Demara said...

That's crazy about what happened to you at Indigo...haha, ya that is quite funny too that, that Von... guy no doubtedly did not mispronounce his own name, or did he? And look at you with all those big scientific words and knowledge of the future who knew you were a wiseman and all...way out. (; And you have some very funny commenters in here, I love it!

 
At 7:54 AM, Blogger Nicole said...

Liked Dino's lay low advice. That's what I would go with. Oooh, and I love Vonnegut, especially the most recent book. Good stuff.

 
At 8:05 AM, Blogger Shionge said...

Yo MT, no matter where we go to there's bound to be politics, I would say just be yourself and let your charisma flow.

I am myself all the time and just see what's right & wrong in most circumstances and sincere to everyone.

I wish you best of luck and that you have a great weekend Pal! :D

 
At 12:53 PM, Blogger BerryBird said...

Welcome to the cube farm.* One bit of advice that hasn't come up yet is: participate in extra-curricular office events, unpleasant as they may be. Darlene is right that you shouldn't drink too much at the Christmas party, but you are pretty much stuck going.

I learned this the hard way when I was dinged on a performance review for not socializing enough with co-workers outside the office. WTF? I had incorrectly assumed that since I wasn't being paid for the time, attendance was optional.

*I stole cube farm from Douglas Coupland, the great Canadian writer, who you might like (says a fellow Vonnegut fan).

 
At 5:09 PM, Blogger Eve Grey said...

Wow, interesting stuff. I too go back to the drudgery of work on the 8th, after 17 days in a row off! Oh, the horror. von gurt? haha that's crazy talk

 
At 7:43 PM, Blogger Tumuli said...

Congratulations on the job!

Being a fellow cubicle cretin, a few sage tidbits:

1. Be aware of all situations that might affect you, either now and later.
2. Don't gossip, or listen to it.
3. Refrain from personal calls, etc. in the office.
4. Don't share personal information unless absolutely necessary.
5. If feeling claustrophobic, escape for fresh air (but do so anyway just for a break!)

 
At 11:16 AM, Blogger Coaster Punchman said...

Tumuli is living in an ideal world. I hold all of those things as important office values, and regularly violate every single one of them. Good luck!

 
At 1:44 PM, Blogger Blog said...

Kurt von Gurt? Huh? And, isn't the customer always right now matter what!?

Good luck in the new cubicle. Just smile a lot. That works for me when I'm new....

 
At 3:43 AM, Blogger Gill said...

Turtle~
Nano technology is totally wicked.
Thanks for the update on that...I look forward to a future where our children don't have to go through all of the crap we did.
Looking at it now, doesn't chemo already seem so archaic?
Have a great day!

 
At 1:46 PM, Blogger Angie Pansey said...

Congrats and good luck. It pierced my heart to hear that the Indigo chick had never heard of Vonnegut.

Kurt Von Gurt sounds like a Sesame Street character!

 
At 6:34 AM, Blogger ROENTGEN said...

one should have slapped that bookshop worker (shall I when I come to Toronto?). Picky things about pronouncing things. She must be french.

About the corporate thing: always friendly and secretly push upwards with your ellbows ;) it's always been like that. frankly, I figured that at my current workspace, but I'll quit on monday anyway.

BTW: I'll be arriving at 10th february in toronto and be there vor like 5 days. YAY!

 

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