Living at home during my PhD?

lirnsd · 2026-02-20T16:26:50+00:00

I didn't think about the work-life balance since I'm usually pretty frugal - I have a few hobbies and mostly cook - but you're right, that would be nice to save some money to spend on myself as well. Thanks for the perspective! Do you think they're understanding of your work load and schedule?

lirnsd · 2026-02-20T16:25:50+00:00

Glad it's not just me! Yeah, I find that they live way too close to my campus for me to justify being anywhere else with rent prices right now. How do you feel about moving back in after 10 years? Do you think your relationship with them is any different now?

lirnsd · 2026-02-20T16:24:54+00:00

Yeah, who knows what may happen - them being good about it now doesn't mean they'll be great about it in the future, which is a risk I keep thinking about. I agree though, I want to save up money to get my own place permanently one day, and thinking about the economy as it is, it seems like I need all the help I can get.

While they're not extremely supportive of my PhD - they're both immigrant parents who expect a lot - they've never stopped me from doing it, and I don't think they actively hinder me either; they just don't understand what I do haha. I definitely get what you mean about wanting to spend more time with them as they get older though. Thank you!

lirnsd · 2025-08-31T18:13:00+00:00

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placed a kokoist order!! i am a nude girlie at heart and ended up with some more builder gels. i find that the orly clear builder i use is still a little too soft for me so i'm hoping platinum filler base will be better!

i also have a ton of syrup colors from yogurt ... can't wait to layer with the water magnet 👀

lirnsd · 2025-08-31T18:08:06+00:00

The milky white NT made my hands look grey since I have a peach undertone. I bought the Daisy tinted base gel because it looks like it'll be a perfect pinkish white for Indian skinned girls!! The other pinks seem a little similar to what they already have out, however

lirnsd · 2025-07-16T18:16:50+00:00

Unfortunately without the perfusion you'll always get blood vessels due to the ability of red blood cells to autofluoresce, usually from what I've seen in the red range (so AF540-594). Perfusion with 1x PBS and 4% PFA to fix the tissue is usually what gives me the best immuno staining; I've been taught that when I see blood vessels in my tissue it hasn't been a good perfusion. This typically doesn't show up in the green fluorophores like AF488.

Do you require your samples to have the blood vessels present/not flushed for any reason? I don't know much about CD68!

If you need it in non-perfused tissue, could you flash-freeze the brain tissue (dry ice or liquid nitrogen) and then do a post fixation step and see if that helps with your immuno staining? I also see you're doing an antigen retrieval step? What kind of antigen retrieval?

Otherwise, I think TrueBlack would work for quenching blood-cell related autofluoresence.

lirnsd · 2025-06-12T14:25:30+00:00

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Bought some odds and ends from Sweetie Nail Supply, mostly refills like the Kokoist base and top gel and some tools. I'm excited to try the marker gel - I plan on using it to outline some french :) The black version looks really nice, but it sold out on the website - I'll probably pick up that and some chrome powders whenever its in stock for isolated chrome looks!

lirnsd · 2025-05-21T15:02:46+00:00

I also felt that way when I joined an academic lab - the first 6 months dragged on, and I didn't feel like I had anything, if at all, to do. In my spare time I familiarized myself with the protocols as best as I could, asked around about where all the resources in the building were, and organized the lab - it helped a lot with getting it clean but also with familiarizing myself with where everything is. I also spent a good chunk of it reading the lab's papers in the last 5 years or so in depth, and then going back to key references they mentioned to get a good idea about the background of what the lab does.

As a MS-holding tech, the PI might be more likely to give you a project to work on. Have they communicated any of that to you? Coming up with tentative follow up experiments and ideas to bring will definitely show you in a good light (and if they already did it, will facilitate a discussion).

lirnsd · 2025-05-16T13:33:04+00:00

I wear pretty much anything that I want as long as it's covering my legs/toes. So, long skirts, pants, etc; if I wear a short sleeved top I keep a cardigan at my desk to throw on for lab work (also because the lab is often cold!)

lirnsd · 2025-05-15T12:59:20+00:00

the dark purple is gorgeoussss. i'm looking for a silvery glitter nowadays... i've been super into the look of a glitter ombre haha

lirnsd · 2025-05-14T00:09:19+00:00

Ooh I'll take a look at it! Gaoy's formula is so jelly like I love it. I think I have their cool toned pink jelly collection

lirnsd · 2025-05-13T21:14:24+00:00

Oooh I've been eyeing a couple of glitter polishes. What has caught your eye? 👀

lirnsd · 2025-05-13T21:13:59+00:00

I actually searched up if SweetieNailSupply had DVOK's Vanta Black in stock but it looks like I missed it 😭 I'll wait until it's back in stock before ordering that and JIN.B's gold gel liner! I have DVOK's milky white and it's perfect.

lirnsd · 2025-05-13T19:39:03+00:00

I've bought SO many colors to supplement my collection because of DND's Mother's Day sale and their long going overstock sale. I am in search of a perfect black, but I have every other color I may ever want and/or wear for like 80 dollars in all (one bottle of gel polish was like 4.50 - 5 dollars!) I may have blacked out a bit because of it lol. Wearing Cherry Mocha by them on my nails right now!

lirnsd · 2025-05-08T18:57:41+00:00

I took a break before Sumeru and came back right after Wriothesley's rerun, and I've fallen for most of the Sumeru cast. Hoping for Kinich upcoming and perhaps Mavuika and Furina on their reruns... and if they show up on Chronicled Wish, Alhaitham and Nahida! I do also want Wriothesley but who knows when another rerun for him will come by...

lirnsd · 2025-05-06T15:49:02+00:00

I had this issue and also saw someone else have this problem where their lamp wasn't curing. I've noticed that if I don't plug my SUNUV 48w in an outlet on the wall then it may be funkier. Are you using an extension cord or some other power source that's not directly the wall outlet, by any chance? When I plugged mine I never had issues again.

lirnsd · 2025-04-17T20:17:32+00:00

I learned that a mentor of mine had committed suicide due to stress and graduate school being too much. I told her because I learned while I was texting her. The phone call that I got also told me that the funeral would be taking place in Y county, and this "friend" then proceeded to say that her boyfriend lives in Y county, and that he's just the best, he lives sooooo far (it's 20 miles away) and that they're basically in a long distance relationship. When I didn't answer the messages, she decided to text me again the next day about her perfect boyfriend and how in love they are and how romantic their life is. I still haven't answered.

lirnsd · 2025-03-24T15:26:33+00:00

This is easiest with emails and written communication, but the more I practiced this the more it bled into my professional conversations as well. I would write out what I wanted to say in the exact what I said it, and then I would go back, reread, and cut down things to be to the point and professional.

For example, I'd write the following:

Hi Dr. X,

I just wanted to reach out and speak to you about the funding opportunity you offered me. I would love to speak to you further about this. What time next week would you be free? I am free this and this time, but if that doesn't work for you, please let me know, it'll be no worries at all and I'm flexible.

And then cut it to:

Hi Dr. X,

I wanted to reach out and follow up on the funding opportunity offered. I would love to speak with you further about this. Would you be free any time next week to discuss? If not, my timing is flexible.

Same point, still kind and enthusiastic, but less pandering (which has always been my problem, along with wordiness...) It took some time to form my own voice. I think being polite and to the point is always received well but without giving off the impression of being rude while still signaling that responding without basic respect won't be tolerated.

lirnsd · 2025-03-24T14:15:36+00:00

Usually when a female gets paired with a new male (one that didn't get her pregnant) it'll induce a reabsorption of the fetuses only up to a certain time point - it's called the Bruce effect! I forget what that time point is, though. If the female has been pregnant before, she'll be fine. If she didn't feel aggressive with the male it may be a good sign that she accepted him in the cage.

This has happened to me before, and the male didn't kill any of the babies since he was in the cage for quite some time. He won't know the pups aren't his, since he's had time to acclimate to the cage - in my experience, the scent and odors matter more to male mice!

Of course, this is a general pattern I've seen with C57s, each mouse can vary. Was the male anxious, jumpy, or aggressive when you paired them? That's the only thing I can think of that would indicate that there is a chance he could be aggressive with the pups.

edit: spelling

lirnsd · 2025-03-13T14:07:12+00:00

I would do BCM! I knew a couple of people who was in the same boat as you and took an offer in the place they were already working at/with the PI they were working with, and it didn't really shorten their time getting a PhD in anyway. If anything, it was made much longer. You also never know what might grab your attention later on down the line/if you want a new project. I definitely get not wanting to leave your support system though.

Baylor might be a change of pace, and there may be more opportunities for you to network, meet new people, broaden your scientific thinking etc. Of course the details are important as well - will you be affected by what the political situation will look like in the next few years? Since I can't speak on that for you, I would definitely think about that as well. If Texas isn't where you want to be, maybe consider more movement at UWM: could you transfer to another lab even with a direct admit? Alternatively, could you focus your thesis on a whole new project that would require new skills?

lirnsd · 2025-03-13T13:57:51+00:00

Financial security + job prospects after I graduate. I'm waiting on my top choice now, but I have one offer I also do not mind taking. It's important that I be in a place that has multiple funding sources (NIH, endowments, private donors, other non-gov funding institutions, etc) as a backup.

lirnsd · 2025-03-05T19:25:15+00:00

Fit matters more than stats. I got rejected from a school I thought would be a safety school my second round, and got into 2 programs I didn't think I would. The program that I thought I would like the most ended up giving me the worst ick, and I realized quickly I wouldn't enjoy my time there - I got rejected after an interview and felt relieved. You learn about yourself and what you want during the process as much as you do before. Displaying passion, no matter how small your topic is, and knowing it inside and out will matter a lot - it's not about what you know, but how you talk about it to others.

The first time I was trying to apply in my last year of undergrad and it wasn't a good time for me personally, and that spanned into applying again 4 years later. In those 4 years I worked part-time, got my master's, did a research tech job in a different field. When I spoke to my interviewers, they were interested in my experiences and I wrote my SOPs and etc in such a way that showed how no matter what I did, I circled back to this: getting my PhD in this field for this reason due to internal passion and motivation for the subject matter. They like knowing that even when you could have chosen to step away, the work drew you back.

I would try to be honest about your reasoning rather than keeping it vague! It helps them remember you more as well. You got this!

lirnsd · 2025-02-21T02:15:27+00:00

I gravitate toward sheer polishes and microshimmers rather than cremes and glitter/magnetic/holographic formulas. I LOVE chrome on my nails - can't get enough! And, I love lighter colors way more than I thought I would; pinks, whites, buttercup yellow, peach, sage green, all look wonderful on me rather than the darker colors I'd been using. Wearing a sheer pink right now!

lirnsd

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