Salmonella on the Prowl

While she has agreed to it in principle, I have not yet been able to interest my wife in actually contributing to this blog. To make her entry to the blogosphere fun, I have designed an internet scavenger hunt for her. You see, we have a history of scavenger hunts. The most extravagant one is chronicled here. Should Susan find this post, she will know to look in my toolbox for this furry, diarrhea causing friend. Then, she will discover the next clue in this blogging adventure.

Bringing Science Home; Version T.1

One of the most surprising aspects (to other people) about our marriage is that we hardly talk science at home. Sometimes my advisor talks with me about Susan's work as though I know all about it. (He was on her committee - but that is a tale for another entry.) My blank look is usually not enough; I have told him several times that I am not familiar with that information.

It's not like talking science is off limits or anything. From my perspective, there are a number of reasons why science doesn't come up at home.

• I do not understand her work. No really - I am serious... It takes a lot of brainpower to get my mind around the cell signaling work Susan does.
  
• Secretly, I wish I could understand her and my hubris interferes with coming to terms with that. The outcome is that I avoid talking about science.
• We spend >10 hours a day doing science, so we need time off from that.
• Both of us have other interests, and use our time at home to pursue them.
• My subconscious places a priority on applied and translational research (that's what I do) and as a result when I talk, I make Susan's work sound less significant. Or so I am told. Making your wife's work sound less significant is a bad idea, and avoiding science talk is healthy for the relationship.
• Tired... Must sleep... Have nice dreams... Love you... Zzzzzzz... (That is if I don't fall asleep mid sentence.)
• At this point, I am not so keen on science in general. Thus, I avoid talking about it with most people.
  

I am not convinced that all of these are good reasons not to talk about science at home. Susan's take on this is slightly different.

Punch Fountain

On March 2, 2007, Susan defended her Dissertation titled, "Pyroptosis: Caspase-1 Dependent Programmed Proinflammatory Cell Death." Her outstanding presentation can be considered as such because:

• No one in the seminar room fell asleep. (I was keeping tabs on folks, ready to wake them up should they doze.)
• Susan thanked everyone in her lab with pictures and nice stories
• One of her committee members offered an awkward hug when she came back into the room after the deliberation.

To entice folks to come to the after-defense party, we advertised that our rum-based wedding punch would be served. No one expected that it would be served in a punch fountain! The evening was nice. We should make time for more sunsets over Portage Bay accompanied by friends.

My favorite part about the whole deal is being able to introduce myself as, "the mister in Dr. and Mr. Fink."

Pair of Dox; Version 1.0

Welcome to Pair of Dox,

As of January 2007, Susan and Tom are MD/PhD students at the University of Washington. We hope that we can share with you some of our experiences as we journey through the world of academic medicine. Together. You see, we are a married pair of scientists, both with intentions to follow academic careers.

So that makes us a pair of docs each on the way to earning a pair of docs. Some might say that our situation is itself a paradox.

Stay tuned.