Thursday, July 22, 2010

Question: Hey! Geeka? Why are you here?

Answer: Thats a very philosophical question. Why are any of us here?

Q: You know very well that's not what I meant: Why are you here, here? Why did you move your slightly more popular than this website to labspaces.net?

A: Well, several reasons. One is a rather personal reason: I initially started blogging as a way to vent my frustration about grad school. Then I blogged the whole dissertation writing, the job search, the being a post-doc, the divorce, and finally the new job search. I do have a job now. It's a job that I can't really go into specifics about. (See, Infectious Agent is kind of a play on words about secret agents. How I wanted to be Agent 99 when I was little, but I digress.) But I still really like blogging, so I need something that will kind of reign me in. Also, everyone needs a family, and I like the twitterati (you know who you are!) so much, that I decided to follow.

Q: So since you've covered all of the 'normal' girl-gets-PhD topics, what are you planning to do here?

A: Well, I think that I'm going to try to do a mix of things. Some is going to have a serious virology bent, some will be current topics in science, some will be scientific interpersonal relationships, some is going to be some seriously funny shit that I find that is kind of science related.

Q: So...you can't write about what you do now? How'd that happen?

A: Um. See, I got a biotech job in which I do science, and I can't say. I can tell you that if you work in a lab, you can see something that my company made from where you are sitting. I signed some stuff, so I'm working on a "I am not going to tell you, so don't ask" policy. Believe me, I do some seriously cool shit, but I don't even talk about it with my best friends.

Q: What's your shoe situation?

A: I wear comfortable shoes. I'm short, and I have big, wide feet, so I don't really get to wear the fancy stuff. Plus, I still am in the lab. So my basic rule is comfy (and I am one of those freaks that wear crocs (the pretty ones) or danskos almost exclusively). And they are red. Red shoes go with everything. I also don't wear matching socks.

Q: Why are you qualified to comment on science? What's your educational background?

A: SLAC, that was tiny, but free. I was almost a quad major (Biology & Environmental Science, but almost Math and Psychology too). Started an MA in Journalism and a MS in Virology at the same time, though better of it, dropped the MA, and upped the MS to a PhD. I want to do this cool MS in Engineering Management, but we'll see how that goes.

Q: How'd you end up being called Geeka?

A: Actually, I didn't. See, my BFF used to work for this guy who felt uncomfortable calling her a Geek (even though she embraced it) because she's a girl. So we decided to 'feminize' it. The whole thing is summed up in: "Geeka- all the powers of a regular geek, but with prettier accessories". I stole it from her because I started blogging first, but we've been friends for 20+ years and I live across the street from her, so it's ok. I also answer to "Wikipedia" but that's taken.