Dispatches from the East

For those of you who didn't know, I have started a new (temporary) job in Beltsville, Maryland. I am a government contractor (but not a black-ops one) working for a USGS lab that is researching hormone disruptors (more specifically deciding the best way to determine if a compound is a hormone disruptor). My first three weeks mostly involved collecting samples from the test animals but I think that is over for near future so I will be doing more lab work (with a smattering of data entry from said sample collecting). I'll be prepare samples for a hormone assay this week (until the Christmas holiday for sure) and then I think that I will be doing a lot of PCR (polymerase chain reaction) work after the holidays. My contract is for six months so I will be in Maryland until May (and looking for a job again, woo-hoo). But I've enjoyed getting back into the lab after no doing any significant labwork for about 2 years. I'm hoping to pick-up a lot of new techniques while at the job (I've talked to one of co-workers who does work with proteins and she is willing to teach me some protein techniques, which is cool to me and therefore makes me a total nerd). I live about 10 mins from work in government housing near the research center. The house is nice with a suprising wide array of furniture provided including a roommate (and a part-time roommate) who is very nice and always able to answer the question "where is location x and how do I get there?". The only drawback of the housing is that there is more internet which is a pain but actually not that bad. There is a Starbucks not too far away that I go to once or twice during the week and I've made a habit of going to a Panera for a bagel and email-checking/job-hunting/podcast-downloading on Sunday morning (I wait until Sunday so I can get the podcast for CarTalk and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me). And my super awesome phone means I can check my email during the week, which usually decides when I go to Starbucks during the week. I've been exploring the nearby area in that past few weeks with plans to get familiar with the metro system in the near future so I can visit DC in the spring (I haven't been to DC since I was in the 8th grade on a school trip). This weekend, a co-worker invited me a fine arts gala at her children's school which was amazing. The high school has a long commitment to the arts and the gala was to celebrate the new fine arts wing which includes large band rooms (for the band and orchestra) as well as rooms for the several guitar classes, television/film courses, and a dance studio (and after seeing the high school, it totally makes sense that she and her husband moved to that county for the schools).