I am switching over to blogspot

http://www.samchiang.blogspot.com/

nothing there yet but it will soon be up. please do not come back to this page. there will be nothing new.

thinking of coming back to blog once again. but am so busy that i really wonder if its beyond my time. alot has happened and there are times where i just wanted to type out a pagelong transcript of my mind. the flavilab blog has been updated i hope frequently enough and it has tons of pictures of the daily (not so usual) life of my labmates (and me).
i will be back, but maybe later, maybe at another venue. still dont like the layout of my page.

Was writing up a new grant for the lab and passed it to my boss to check through. It had to do with some experiments with suckling mice. I started hearing laughter from her room and when I went in to check, she pointed out a typo. I had made suckling mice become sulking mice.

It has been busy busy busy since I got back from my extended holiday. No time to blog or even to for tea in the evenings with my labmates - my labmates dont even go for tea now. Great news! My long worked on paper has finally been accepted for publication. My first journal paper! Its like this huge furry monkey off my back. Now I can concentrate on my second paper... paper chase. My parents are also planning to come down to celebrate Christmas with me here which is just fabulous. I will get to bring them out for meals and show them around town. Mum grew up here but moved away almost 30 years ago, so she's more a stranger here than me. My lab is doing well as well. Three grants came in and so at last we have money to buy some desperately needed equiptment and some other 'luxury' lab stuff. I calculated spending almost 20K by myself already. There's this nice feeling when you spend money that's not yours. Kind of second-hand retail therapy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY. Remember, YOU are the reason for the season. God loves us so much he sent US his SON. JUST FOR YOU! Imagine that. Ok, you don;'t really need to imagine something that already taken place; but you get the point.

When speaking to others, communicating or just sharing your heart with a close friend, remember these pointers:

1. Be interesting:
No one wants to be bored no matter how gracious they are. You've got to earn your listener's attention and keep them coming back for more. If your story bores people, maybe its best you choose another.

2. Be logical:
Don't zip of in the middle of the story to a tangent or mix up fact and fiction. Eliminate those 'oh yeah, I forgot to tell you earlier...' It will help the listener piece the whole story together faster. Remember those times kids keep on asking their parents "and then, and then what happened?" When a story/converstaion is logical, it will gather its own momentum.

3. Be specific:
If you felt angry, say so. Don't try and use a more politically correct term or try to hide somethings. Without specifics, a story would sound like this: Once upon a time, somewhere out there, somone went somewhere and something happened to that someone. But overdoing the specifics will make the story too dry and factual like a univeristy textbook.

4. Be practical:
If someone asks for your opinion, do this- give them workable solutions. We are all humans with limited capabilites and skills. Problems don't vanish just because you think up a super plan on how to solve them; we need to get down and clean up the mess with our own two hands. Vague 'try harder next time' lines will win you the 'most dreaded advisor award.'

4. Be warm and genuine:
Above all things. This comes with the words you choose, how you say them, your body gestures, and sometimes just being there with a friend without saying a single syllable. Your vocal partner will sense it if you are not interested in the conversation.