Scanning Disaster

Okay, so in my Sunday post a few days ago, I told you that I had had a bad fMRI scanning session on Saturday.  That was nothing compared to what happened yesterday...

I scanned yesterday from 4-8pm (which, btw, means that I don't get home till 9:30pm...).  What a disaster!  And the worst part is, I think I came off looking kind of incompetent because of some of it :(  Here we go:

First, while I was setting up for the scan in the control room, the goggles that I use to display stimuli to the subject were knocked over and cracked in the actual scanner room.  A really, really expensive pair of goggles that are very difficult to replace, because very few exist.  And of course, Boss R came in later in the scanning session (fortunately, after all the disasters were under control), and even though I was not involved in the breaking of the goggles, it was up to me to tell him, since it was my experiment.  So of course, it looked like it was my fault.  He actually took it quite well, although I might still have something coming on Thursday when we have our one-on-one meeting.

Because our goggles were broken, we had to find an alternative to displaying the stimuli, so we used a projection screen that I had never used before.  This meant that there was a different connection to the laptop that was running the program.  That was another problem -- making the laptop communicate properly with the screen.  Because I had never used the screen before at MGH, I looked a little moronic.

Next, we couldn't get the first program to work right.  This was actually my fault, because in my frustration I forgot to plug something into the laptop (because it was plugged in to a second laptop that I use later in the scan session).  Took a while to figure that out, because once we plugged it into the correct laptop, we had to restart some stuff in order for it to work.  But we didn't know this ahead of time, so we had to do trial and error.  That's when I lost my thinking capacity, but I think other people couldn't quite tell, so that was good.

We finally got the program running.  About 15 min later, we ask the subject if he can see the screen clearly.  He says no.  We figure out that the projector (which I have never used before, argh!) had shut itself off a while ago.  Why didn't the subject tell us??  We ask intermittently if he can see and if he's doing okay, but he never mentioned that he couldn't see the stimuli!  Okay, so we start over, way behind schedule.

After that, things went okay.  We managed to get enough data to analyze the subject, but not as much as I would have liked.

Then, we had subject #2.  Things actually went fine with her, until towards the end she pressed the 'squeeze ball' that tells us there is an emergency.  So we had to take her out without getting as much data as I wanted :(  She just got nauseous, which is understandable.  But still, it topped off my disastrous scanning day.

Finally got home around 9:45pm, tired, starving, sore throat (from directing people around and not having water for 5 hours).

Still at home this morning.  Will go into lab in the next couple hours.  Snow storm today.  Fun :)

The soup turned out well!

Chillin'-Out Day

Today I am going to relax...

I worked most of yesterday (had to scan), and it was hectic and tiring and didn't go all that well.  I was at the lab by 10am getting ready for the scan (please keep in mind this was a Saturday).  Showed up at the scanning center in time for our 12:15 subject, waited for a long while, and finally figured out after 1pm that she was not showing up.  Turned out that she had sent out a cancellation email at 11:30pm on Friday night (!) to one of our staff members, but of course they weren't checking their work email, particularly because the subject had already enthusiastically confirmed coming on Friday morning.  So basically, we had to just hang out for 2 hours until the second subject showed up. What a waste of time!  Second subject came right on time, but she was nervous and asked lots of questions so we were late getting her into the scanner (which means less data and more stress to be done on time).  In fact, she was so nervous that she got confused about how to make responses for the task, and instead of pressing the buttons in her right hand, she pressed on the 'squeeze ball' in her left hand each time she needed to respond (which was like every second)!  For those of you who do not know, repeatedly pressing the squeeze ball sets off an alarm in the experimenters' room, and the subject is told to use the squeeze ball only if there is an emergency and they need to be taken out of the scanner immediately.  So we rushed in there about to have a heart attack, only to find out that she had just gotten confused. I felt bad for her actually, because I think she is a smart girl who just got really nervous.  The rest of the scan went fine, but I didn't get home till after 7pm and was exhausted and still wound up from the day's proceedings.

So today I'm relaxing and chilling out.  Started with a nice long shower and lots of moisturizer for my winter-dry skin.  Had some breakfast and read a couple New Yorker articles.  If anyone has the Jan 26th issue, read the financial page about Obama's stimulus plan, the 'Shouts and Murmurs', and also notice there is an article about Balanchine on p. 36 (boooo!).  Currently watching Barefoot Contessa -- I love her!  I want to be her friend.  After that, I'll start making some good vegetable-pasta-and bean soup.  Later, I'll go to Porter Square Books, a cute little neighborhood book shop with a cafe (with amazing baked goods and coffee/tea).  I think I'll wear my pink sweater dress I got over the holidays and my pink ear muffs, just to make it a really happy day :)  I think later I will attempt to read some science, and maybe clean the apartment a little.  No working out today; my body needs a break.

Foot Savers

These are my winter boots.  They're wonderful.  They pull on easily, keep my feet toasty and dry, and let me walk through whatever crap is on the ground, whether snow, slush, dirty slush...  the only thing they don't work on is the ice.  Oh, the ice.  I hate the ice.  Last time that a layer of ice covered the ground, my 30-minute walk home became a terrifying 1-hr shuffle.  

So yes, I am getting what must be just the beginning of the Boston winter, and I am ready to come home to California.  Well, maybe a couple years from now...

I've been unbelievably social here, and I am quite proud of myself.  I think some of my friends who know how antisocial I am would be proud too.  Been meeting up with people for coffee, dinner, and shows at a local laid-back bar that I really like (Toad in Porter Square).

Lab has been crazy, and I'm trying very hard not to get stressed out.  It's just that there is so much that I have to learn, both for the imaging method, and for the virtual reality that I'm using as part of my paradigm.  Ooh, and I'm thinking that I'm going to take on an undergrad, so I'm going to have an ambitious Harvard student working for me.  I hope that works out well.

Let's see, what else?  Have a happy hour on Thursday with lab members and related people.  Roommate A is in Italy for the month, so it's just me and my mice.  K is showing up Friday morning, so we'll be hanging out for over 48 hours -- woohoo.

Happy Birthday, J!

I've been slacking on the blog front again, but that's only because I've been busy doing other things, like trying to make progress in lab.

However, seeing as tomorrow is the birthday of my friend J from Stanford (currently based in NYC), I felt the time was right to post a blog.  So J, happy early birthday!

Updates about me will be posted in a separate blog.