Thursday, January 28, 2010

ICEPOCALYPSE 2010: LIVE FROM THE TRENCHES

The reports you probably heard on the national news were only a laughable fraction of the catastrophic conditions before my eyes as I fought the wind to open my front door this morning. I mean, the catastrophic conditions that looked likely and based on forecasts were still a couple hours away. BUT STILL. The sky a threatening gray, the streets dry but begging to be encased, nay-- entombed in ice, and the winds still low and mild but with foreboding arctic torture on their [potential] agenda, I pushed forward, through the probably-soon-to-be-dangerous streets with tunnel vision; the cells in the incubator needed me. They would literally die without me and their poor, microscopic lives were the key to determining whether docosahexaeonic acid's up-regulation of HO-1 was inhibited in the PPAR alpha or gamma pathway in tumor cells. Not to mention the lab dishes. WHO WOULD WASH THE BEAKERS AND FLASKS IF NOT ME, AND IF NOT TODAY?
Thankfully, those in charge of my workplace must have known of this, my consuming suspense at determining the answer now, this morning, and no later. And knowing of it, they stood firm against the grain. The entire city shut down, bracing for the meteorological beating of lifetime. But not them. Thanks to them, oh thank you, thank you... Thanks to them... I am one of the very few people in this city not currently enjoying a snow day.
One of the downsides of no longer being a student.

I kind of don't like it, usually, when people write up dramatic blog posts... But I really wanted to use the word icepocalypse because that is exactly how this city is treating it. We'll see if the conditions deliver to the city's fear-laden expectations... Meanwhile, I'll be warm at home, because they did finally decide to let us go.