Lusus Naturae - Tools of the Trade

While purging my email inbox a few days ago, I came across my weekly alerts to The Scientist magazine articles.  Before deleting one alert, an article caught my eye--Lab 2.0.  OK, catchy title. Mouse over, then click and browse.

It was short and sweet, just detailing the latest available tools for the lab researcher--the author picked out two: Labguru, a web-based lab notebook/scheduler app for iPad; and Papers, a virtual research papers library with citation functions.  Overall, the article gave good reviews for these apps, which are available upon subscription.

This just made me scratch my head for a bit.  What are the tools of the trade available in my lab?

1. Laboratory notebook, version 1.0 - That is, the analog type. With pages printed on acid-free paper, numbered, and with matching Table of Contents on the fly-leaf.
   Advantages: Costs less than an iPad. No need to worry about breaking the GorillaGlass surface.
   Disadvantages: Coffee stains. Or tea. Or maybe methylene-blue...or is that your labmate's Coomassie?
2. EndNote - Ah, your bibliographic library of journal articles...sync-ed with your PC (unless your lab is awash with cash and everyone's issued a Mac). Can search and store articles from PubMed (NIH) or Elsevier's Web of Science.
   Advantages: Citation format for a Nature manuscript submission? SCORE!
   Disadvantages: You need tons of patience to figure out all the possible commands. Sometimes, citation insertions will eff up your manuscript format.
3. That free pocket-agenda from your university - A small and handy way to schedule your workflow for the week.
   Advantages: It's free. You just need a pen and an actual workplan to write down. Will not crash.
   Disadvantages: Someone filched your stash of pens and markers from your desk. Workplan was crashed by your PI.

What are your tools of the trade? :-D

Leven in Leuven - War of the Skies

Post-winter rains at the beginning of the (work)week in Leuven. Time to play that old Mishka Adams song "War of the Skies", which has a really pretty line at the end of its refrain:

Beads of silver that shatter at your feet; when puddles form, they shine like mercury.

On grey, damp days like this, a happy splash of color is a welcome sight. :-3 Rockin' the lab in embroidered boots.

The Grapevine Speaketh - Jan 22nd & 25th

An item which I've been curious about since I arrived here a few years ago is this 2.5" x 3.5" paper-tablet calendar called De Druivelaar (The Grapevine).  The first time I saw this curio was back in the 70's-era student dormitory near Campus Gasthuisberg, in one of its common kitchen areas, to be exact.

De Druivelaar is part-calendar, part-almanac, part-joke book--the month and day are printed in front with additional information about which week in the year it is, the number of days before the year-end, sunrise/sunset/moonrise/moonset times, and the name of the saints associated to that date.  When you tear the date off the block, you can see the jokes, announcements for local festivals, and other random bits of trivia, proverbs (and sometimes, woodcut prints) on the reverse side of the sheet.  These "random bits" caught my eye, and so when I went to the local bookstore/stationer right after New Year's, I bought one.

My Flemish friends and colleagues found my fascination with De Druivelaar amusing, since the Flemings of Here-and-Now find it too quaint, too traditional, too corny...or even horrible because of the quality of the jokes printed at the back of each date.  They seem to accept that I got this calendar because I wanted to practice my Dutch comprehension.

Dear Labby - An Unhealthy LTR

Welcome to "Dear Labby" - the agony column for confused (post)grad-students.  This week's letter is about a potentially unhealthy relationship cultivated by lab researchers:

Dear Labby,
The previous week was a disastrous mess! My 3-4 days-long assay went kaput and so did my heart. It seems that this long-term relationship with stress is breaking my heart.  What am I to do? My PI is breathing down my neck for the past few days already! 

Cracked Grad Cylinder

Vrij(e)dag Friday! - Lichtfeest at Groot Begijnhof

One of the recent (and by recent, I mean as recent as 23 years ago) winter traditions here in the Groot Begijnhof (and the general Redingenhof buurt) is the Lichtfeest (NL: "light feast"), which involve families and students marching around the neighborhood carrying fakkels (torches) and lanterns to the lively pipe music and drums. At the end of the procession, a lichtkoning or lichtkoningin (light king or light queen) is picked to kindle a large bonfire outside the brick walls of the beguinage.

Traditional songs are sung as the bonfire is stoked with more firewood--folk songs such as "Daar zat een sneeuwwit vogeltje" (There sat a snow-white bird) and "Vlammen omhoog" (Flames up high).  The latter song is a short one, sung in canon:

Vlammen omhoog, danst in de donk're nacht;
Geef ons uw blijdschap warmte en kracht!
--
Flames up high, dance in the dark night;
Give us your joy, warmth and strength!

With cups of chocolate milk or mulled wine, neighbors gather around and enjoy this moment of Flemish gezelligheid in a midwinter's night.

Ah, the perks of being a denizen of this beguinage!