Fall Semester Arrives

Greetings,

The title may be a bit misleading.  Fall semester arrived three weeks ago.  At the risk of sounding trite, I truly can't believe we're already starting the fourth week of classes.  So what's new?  Well my summer job ended well enough, but I didn't get much of a break.  I had about 3 days of summer vacation, which is by far the shortest break I've ever had.  But I was grateful for the job, so I have no complaints.

The semester began on the 22nd of August.  I have more of a focus on research this semester, so I have just two courses.  One of them is Proteomics, which is all about proteins and all methods and assays we use to study them.  My other class is Biometry.  The best way I can summarize it is to say that it's essentially the marriage of Biology and statistics.  I fortunately took Intro to Stats in college, so most of the basic concepts are the same, but this course requires copious amounts of busy work.  The upside to this is that I am learning the concepts and methods really well, essentially through forced repetition of homework assignments.  The rest of my week is spent doing research toward my thesis and teaching the same course I taught last year.  Even though I'm busy, things are definitely manageable.  Just have to make sure I keep my self-discipline going.

Oh and speaking of my thesis, I finally have a topic!  Methods to inhibit Staphylococcus aureus invasion in cells.  As my research continues, it might go through a few adjustments, but this is the basic premise. I'm investigating what's going on at the cellular level, and how certain compounds do what they do to inhibit invasion.  I'm just wrapping up my research proposal for this thesis, 21 pages and counting. 

Sarah is now three weeks in to her MA program in Public Relations.  All I really know is what she has communicated to me.  She has three classes, and they all require huge amounts of reading and writing.  She wrote a ten-page paper last week, and is working on another one as I write this.  I know she has a couple of large term projects due near the end of the semester.  I think she is starting to adjust back to the life of a student, but I'll let her tell you the rest when she has some time to get on here and write about it herself!

Not too much else is going on.  We're actively involved in our church: small group once a week, nursery duty once a month, tech set up once a month.  It's a great church that offers sound Biblical teaching along with great fellowship.

Until next time,
Ben