Contemplations: Scientific discovery or insanity, which comes first?

Insanity:

According to Webster's on-line dictionary:
1: a deranged state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder (as schizophrenia)
2: such unsoundness of mind or lack of understanding as prevents one from having the mental capacity required by law to enter into a particular relationship, status, or transaction or as removes one from criminal or civil responsibility
3 a: extreme folly or unreasonableness b: something utterly foolish or unreasonable

Einstein defined it as: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Einstein's definition is what made me contemplate this idea when my friend Corinne brought it to my attention after I told her of my lab frustrations.

Sometime I feel insane, repeating the same experiment over and over hoping for different results, results that will lead to some great discovery. So my thought is what is going to occur first: my great scientific discovery or going insane. Right now I'm thinking insane......

Maybe you have to be insane to make a significant discovery, to have relentless perseverance and unwavering determination. Scientists may not be brilliant and creative, but just plain insane. Have you ever heard someone describe someone as "crazy smart"....I'm thinking that person deep down may be insane.

So, I may need to strive to insanity, to have the drive to keep on going when most would stop, to keep on repeating and repeating and repeating to hopefully one day have some pay off that will lead to my graduation. I think coming to terms with the insanity may bring me peace. Peace, knowing that someday all the work and repetition will pay off and that maybe I'm not crazy in the science world. Maybe becoming insane will mean I've made it, that I'm where I belong.

Let's hope. If not, I'll just be crazy.

How I end all of my experiments:

Key findings: Science discovery may require insanity for sheer perseverance

Conclusions: Insanity leads to scientific discovery and I'm on the road to insanity

Future plans: Repeat, Repeat, Repeat....and pray.

Romance anyone?

Do know what's weird? Listening to an audio romance book in your car....

I got two Janet Evanovich romance novels on CD from a friend. There wasn't anything good on the radio one morning and so I popped the first CD in and now I'm hooked on the story. Today was the first "romance" scene....and I felt a bit weird listening to the lady impersonating the male and female voices saying some things... well, that made me blush. I had to look around to make sure no one was watching me listen .......

But I have to finish the story to find how they catch the killer, hopefully there won't be too many more "detailed" scenes...

Happy driving,

The blushing commuter

CHICAGO!

Chicago was breathtaking. Toby and I loved it and are planning on going back to see everything we missed this trip.

I got in Friday at 5:00 and after taking an 1 hour cab ride from the airport to downtown we finally checked into our hotel, which was 1 block off of Michigan Ave (Magnificent Mile). The hotel was nice, but the lobby was a little crazy...it was very retro, with neon lights and crazy accessories, techno music playing in the background, and two gay clerks at the desk. I was wondering what type of hotel I booked-it was a Marriott-who would of thought they would have designed their lobby like a gay bar...Toby was a bit worried, but our room was a normal hotel room. That night we went walking down Michigan Ave and had some deep dish pizza a Giordano's. We had to wait about an hour, but it was worth it, sharing a Greek salad, appetizer, and a cheesy, meaty deep dish pizza. Toby and I could not even eat half of a small!!

Saturday was busy busy, but awesome. We started at 8:00 am out walking down Michigan Ave to Lake Michigan where tons of people were out waking and jogging. I loved the contrast between the city skyline and the lake. We then got to see the grand opening the American Girl store and walked around. I had one of these dolls growing up, so it was good to reminisce and see all the new things they had out for little girls (made me want to have one of my own...). We then took the Chicago Double Decker tour which was well worth the $60(for both of us). We got commentary of the architecture and city history while they drove us to various spots around the city. We were allowed to get off at any stop and walk around and just catch another bus. We ended up doing this tour from 9-5. We saw the Sears's Tower, Millennium Park (loved the cloud!), Theater District (where we had the Chicago dog!), the Art Museum, Soldier's Field, Navy Pier, Lake Michigan, Chicago River, and of course the Magnificent Mile. One of my favorite parts of Chicago was all the buildings, the architecture was beautiful and I loved the contrast of different styles. My favorite buildings were the Chicago Tribune building, the wave building, and Marina City building (corn). I loved walking everywhere, everything seemed so close and so accessible. We ended up picking up tickets to see Wicked that night (Toby's great spontaneous idea!), so we made a quick pit stop at the hotel to drop off our stuff and change and then off to dinner! We ate more deep dish pizza at Due's and it was of course delicious, Toby and I still were unable to finish a small even without appetizers! We then walked our way down to the Oriental Theater and saw Wicked. We both loved it! Then we walked back to our hotel, finally getting to rest at 11:00 pm. It was a perfect day in Chicago.

Sunday morning we only had time to walk down Michigan Ave to the Chicago River where I took yet again more pictures. We then had to head to the airport and leave Chicago behind. In our next trip we plan to hit the Museums (art, aquarium, planetarium, and field museums) and to actually make it up the Sears building, walk through Grants Park, take the Double Decker ethnic tour of Greek town, Little Italy, and China Town, and an architectural tour. We still have a lot to see!

I loved Chicago and can't wait to go back! Check out my flickr site and facebook (you don't have to have an account to see and there are more pictures on that site!)for my pictures!