Author: andy

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Getting To Work

I started working here at the University of Iowa‘s College of Pharmacy on May 10th, so while I’m certainly not familiar with everything yet, I can at least report on some of the new research stuff, as well as the logistical experiences regarding the University of Iowa as a whole. I’ll probably post other tidbits of info about the new job over multiple posts, but for now, I’ll start at the proverbial beginning of the day.

First, let me start by pointing out that parking around the University is nothing short of ridiculous. There simply aren’t enough parking garages close to the buildings for people to park at, which is quite a change from what I’m used to at Truman State or at SLU. Thankfully, Iowa City has done a pretty good job with their Cambus system, which is a free (yes, I said “free”) commuter bus system for any resident of Iowa City or attendee of the University. There are various stops around town, so it actually gets used by a wide range of people. This is my first experience relying on a bus to get to work, however, so things have gotten “interesting” to say the least.

Secondly, let me point out that we live in Swisher, IA, which is a good 10 miles north on I-380 from Iowa City, let alone to the actual University itself. Therefore, due to the parking situation and the driving distance, I decided to start off by parking about halfway down to work at the Oakdale parking lot, a campus outside of town that has bus service, but also has free parking. This worked alright, however, the buses only seem to run every 45-60 minutes, so you really have to be there at a prescribed time, otherwise you’re waiting forever to catch another one. Also, my second day of work, the bus coming to pick us up was in an accident, meaning that the bus that replaced it ended up being an hour late. I ended up driving myself to work and finding a parking lot, which finally cost $15 for the full day of parking.

After that, I signed up for one of the commuter lots closer to campus, one that still has bus access, but the buses come to the lots more often. These lots, however, cost $20 to park in per month. There are two of these lots, both excessively far from campus, but the closer you get, the more expensive the lots become. The next “step up” would be $45/mo, and I’d still end up needing to ride the bus to get to my building. If I read the maps correctly, I’d end up paying $85/mo in order to park in a lot that’s anywhere near walking distance of my building, but it could take years before I’d be eligible to park there. So yeah, I’ve resigned myself to waiting on buses for the foreseeable future, but at least it means I get to listen to more podcasts and use my Nintendo DS more often.

In the afternoon, the bus schedule is also difficult to navigate, but I’m getting better about it. Effectively, for the ride home, I need to be at the stop for either the 4:59 bus or the 5:06 bus…but if I miss those, I have to wait until 5:36 for the next one. After I get on the bus, and get to the car, I still have the 30 min drive home from the parking lot. So yeah, on average, once you take traffic into account at the beginning and end of the day, I’m driving for close to an hour each way every day. That, and I’m staying at work longer than I used to (stoopid real jobs…).

Please keep in mind that this isn’t a complaint: it’s just a reality, and certainly an adjustment I’m having to make as compared to my experience(s) over the last 5-10 years. At Truman, I could either walk from the dorm, or ride my bike to class, taking no more than 5 minutes to get where I needed to go. In order to get to SLU every morning in grad school, I had a 10 minute drive (sometimes less). Going from 5-10 minutes to an hour of transit time is a big jump to make!

Believe you me, though, the amount of time I’m in the car every day makes me ready to have a new one… 🙂

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“Is it a PONY?!?”

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This past weekend, our landlord, Phil, brought over a few of his family’s horses to graze in the area just around our rental property for the next 6 weeks or so. The “painted” one is Buster (~24 yrs old) and the brown one is Pistol (a yearling). We’re told that Buddy is a relatively tame one, and Phil said we could probably put Meg up on his back. I think we’ll be waiting awhile before doing that, though. 😛

It’s the first time either of us have ever been this close to horses. We’ve certainly seen then before, but never for an extended period of time. Certainly, Edie is not amused by their presence and frequently feels like she must bark at them in an effort to scare them off. Pretty sure it wouldn’t take more than a swift kick from either horse to do some real damage to the beagle.

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In other news, Brooke (and I…) did some yard work this weekend. I mowed the lawn and helped turn the soil in the garden, while Brooke planted some stuff in preparation for the growing season. To my knowledge, there are tomatoes, green peppers, onions, peas, soup beans, and an assortment of herbs planted already, with more to come in the next few days. The weather this week seems to be pretty conducive to gardening, so I imagine most of it will be planted shortly. Phil did recommend that we plant tall-growing items further from the fence so that the horses can’t get to them.

Overall, it’s been nice being able to go outside and do things. Back in Soulard, there wasn’t much (productive) to do outdoors, aside from going on walks, etc. While I’m sure we’ll be tired of yard work shortly, it’s kinda nice to be able to go outside and plant things, mow the lawn, wash the car, etc.

Considering that winter starts in Iowa around, oh, mid-September, we may as well enjoy it while we can. 😉

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Review: Iron Man 2

I was a pretty big fan of 2008’s “Iron Man,” thinking that director Jon Favreau did an excellent job casting Robert Downey, Jr. to play the embattled, and frequently intoxicated, Tony Stark (and, thusly, Iron Man himself). Any good super-hero movie is only as good as the leading actor, and Downey was practically born to play this role.

This movie picks up almost immediately after the previous one, with Tony Stark trying to maintain control over his creation (the Iron Man suit) as the U.S. government seeks to take it and use it with their own soldiers. At the same time, Tony’s being attacked (literally and figuratively) with the movie’s main baddie, Whiplash (played by Mickey Rourke), and chief industrial competitor, Justin Hammer (played by Sam Rockwell). While the variety of “enemies” that Iron Man is fighting could get confusing, as it has in some previous movies (read: “Spider-Man 3“), the writing navigates the complications with relative ease, crafting a half-way decent story that doesn’t just keep hitting you with the same ol’ problems.

The acting is pretty good, overall, although Scarlett Johansson seemed to “phone it in” to some extent. I know she’s not exactly a brilliant actress, but she’s done better in other movies than she does in this one. Sam Rockwell plays his role nearly as well as Robert Downy, Jr. does his, and Gwyneth Paltrow gets a bit more screen time this time around. Don Cheadle replaces Terrence Howard, and honestly, I thought he did a better job. Howard is a bit more convincing as an Air Force colonel, but I think Cheadle is a better actor. Whatev.

In the end, the movie was still great, but I don’t think it was as good as the first one. I tend to compare super hero sequels to “Spider-Man” and “Spider-Man 2,” where the former introduced the hero and the situation, and in the sequel, the hero comes to terms with their new existence and all the complications that go with it. “Iron Man 2” does this, however it seems to happen with heavy focus on Tony Stark, moreso than Iron Man. When I go see these movies, I want a pretty decent amount of screen time with the hero the movie’s named after, rather than the alter ego. Don’t get me wrong, the “secret identity” is a very important piece, but if I paid to see a movie about Bruce Wayne, I’d expect it to be titled “Bruce Wayne” and not “The Dark Knight.” Essentially, while the action was good and the effects were good, I wanted more sequences with Iron Man as, really, there was only the climactic ending where we saw Stark in his suit for more than 3 minutes. He appears as Iron Man a few other times, but not to a great extent.

Overall, I’m glad I saw it and I enjoyed it greatly, and I’ll probably pick up the DVD when it comes out. However, in the annals of super hero sequels, I think “X-Men 2,” “Spider-Man 2” and “The Dark Knight” were better follow-ups.

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Back Online!

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Well, we’re up in Iowa. I’ve got a picture of the view from our front porch, which is arguably less interesting than the view we had on our deck in Soulard. We’re certainly in the middle of a bunch of fields! Brooke talked with our landlord yesterday and he said that the guy farming the land around us has about 10,000 acres he’s producing from. If “acres” were part of the metric system, I’d have some clue what that means…

Anyway, we loaded up our 22 ft truck on Friday in about 3 hrs, thanks to help from Mom, Dad, Ryan, Annie, Jerry and Jerry. I then proceeded to drive said truck the 4.5 hrs all the way to Swisher, IA while Brooke and Meg stayed the night in Hannibal (Sam came with me, so I wasn’t completely alone). We unloaded the truck shockingly quickly, thanks to help on this end in the form of Mark, Diana, Rachel and Jason. Since then, we’ve spent most our time unpacking and getting to know the area!

I’ll leave it to Brooke to post more later. Otherwise, I’ll be starting my position at the University of Iowa on May 10th! More on that later, too. 🙂

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Fin

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Yesterday was a long time coming. 13 years of primary and secondary education, 5 years of undergraduate education, and 5 years of graduate education…and now I’m done: Ph.D. achieved.

Different graduate programs carry out their various processes in different ways, but the way ours works is that you complete a Preliminary Dissertation (e.g. “comps”) after 2 years in the program, then you carry out your research, write up a Dissertation, and then defend it. In the Pharmacological and Physiological Science Department at SLU, you have a “Private Defense” between you and your Committee, the individuals that have been evaluating you since the Prelim to determine when you’re ready to be done. The meeting was scheduled for 11:00 am and, while it started a little late, it only ended up lasting an hour. After completion of the Private Defense, we moved on to the “Public Defense.” This one was a separate presentation of, essentially, the “story” my Dissertation told. Anyone is allowed to attend this presentation and ask any questions they want, although typically, there aren’t that many questions asked. I had a few and answered them accordingly. After all this, the ballots allowing my graduation were signed by the Committee and I was then granted the Doctor of Philosophy.

After the Defense(s), we had a lovely reception in the main conference room of the department. Food was eaten, beers drunken(?), presents given, and memories remembered. All in all, it was a great experience. I’m certainly sorry to leave SLU, and I’ll miss all the friends I’ve made over the last 5 years. However, it’s time to move on to the next stage of life.

Now that I’m out of school, after 22 years, one could argue that I’m finally ready to join the “real world.”

And I get to join the real world as Andrew J. Linsenbardt, Ph.D. 🙂

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Still Truckin’

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We’ve been doing pretty well these last few weeks, although things have gotten noticeably more hectic. As you can see in the picture above, we’re slowly packing stuff away, getting rid of furniture, and preparing for the move on April 30th (thanks, Baumanns, for all the help on Sunday!). We’re thinking a 14 ft truck will give us plenty of space, but don’t have all the boxes packed, it’s kinda hard to tell. We’ve got a pretty good start, though, and I’m carrying a few packed boxes downstairs every night.

Meg is doing well, and for the most part, she’s letting us get stuff done. She’s been sleeping 5-6 hours straight every night for the last few weeks, but these last few nights, she’s gone 7 to 7.5 hours without waking up. We’re told that’s pretty good for a 5-week-old! This means, however, that she tends to be a bit more active during the day, on average, which makes it difficult to do much packing or dissertating. Meg is getting baptized on Sunday, so we picked out music for the service…which also happens to be our last Sunday at Webster Hills. I think we picked some pretty good tunes for this one – should go out with a bang!

Speaking of “dissertating,” I handed out the “final” copies of the dissertation to my committee yesterday. In less than a week, I’ll be defending it and, hopefully, a Ph.D. 🙂 Way too much stuff to do over the next week! I’m not doing all that much studying yet, but I’ll be doing some reading over the next few days to help prepare.

Either way, we’re flying the the seat of our collective pants. Craziness!

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The Stage is Set

As discussed a few months ago, we’re moving to Iowa City, IA for a postdoctoral fellowship I scored in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Iowa. Up until last week, we weren’t entirely sure what the exact plans were, so far as where we’d be living or when we’d be leaving.

Well. Now we know. 🙂

I talked with my new boss, Dr. Doorn, last Wednesday and worked out various details of my employment in his lab. We had a lengthy conversation about all kinds of details, of course, and settled upon my start date being May 3rd. We opted to shoot for the beginning of May rather than June for a few reasons, one of which being that Brooke already told her current boss that they should have her replacement ready for the beginning of May, but also because the health insurance benefits in Iowa would save us some cash pretty immediately. My position will technically start May 3rd, but I won’t really go into work until May 10th, giving me some “adjustment time.” We’ll be back down on May 13th for my graduation, of course!

Therefore, we’ll be moving out of our apartment in Soulard on April 30th and moving in to our new place in Iowa on May 1st.

We went to Hannibal this past Sunday for Brooke’s Mom’s choir performance (very nice, Diana!), so Brooke stayed in Hannibal with Meg while I went ahead up to Iowa City to look for places to live. Brooke did an excellent job checking out practically every house on Craig’s List, so I visited a few of them and used the Flip Video to send some clips back to Brooke for her approval. I looked at a few properties, and investigated a variety of options, but eventually we settled on a farm house in Swisher, IA, about halfway between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. It’s got 3 bedrooms, one bathroom, a cellar-like basement, a huge attic (i.e. plenty of storage space), a 3 vehicle carport, and appliances (but no fridge…we’ll have to get that…and no dishwasher…so I may have to hire one…). We are expecting the lease to arrive here in St. Louis sometime this week so we can sign off on it.

So yeah, we’ve got one month for me to graduate; for us to pack…everything; and for us to say “see you later” to quite a few friends down here in St. Louis.

Somehow, I expect this April is going to fly by!

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“(It’s been) One Week…”

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Well, we’ve been at home for just over a week, and Meg is 9 days old. Time certainly flies! And we want to thank everyone for all the well wishes and the visits over the last week!

So far, everything’s going shockingly well. We had Meg’s first pediatrician visit last Monday and she checked out just fine. All of her reflexes, color, etc. are within norms, if not above average. Meg’s also been kind enough to let us get a reasonable amount of sleep every night, with Brooke getting around 6 hrs every night and me getting closer to 8 hrs (Brooke has things to do over night, after all). Meg has been pretty good about sleeping through most of the morning, while we do our best to keep her awake over afternoon and into the evening.

On other fronts, I’ve had a cold for the last few days, likely induced by the horribly dry air at the hospital last week. I think my cough is starting to go away (finally), but it’s been bad enough that I slept in the other room for a few nights this week in order to limit my disruption of the baby and Brooke. Brooke has been sore for most of the week, but she’s to the point now where she can walk around without being in much pain.

Not too much scheduled this week, aside from the annual St. Patrick’s Day festivities in my department. We’re hoping to make a trip up to Louisiana, MO so Meg can meet her great-grandparents (Brooke’s side). It’ll be our first extended car trip, although we took a little field trip to Old Navy with Aunt Kristen on Saturday. So far, Meg’s been pretty happy in the car seat – let’s hope it stays that way!

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Meet Meg

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Margaret Jean Linsenbardt (or “Meg,” as she’ll be called) was born at 8:57 am on Friday, March 5th. At birth, she weighed 6 lb 13 oz and measured 19.5″ tall.

I’ll leave all the details to Brooke, as she’s the one that actually endured the pregnancy. I’ll just say that it was more difficult than she’d originally anticipated, and it ended up being quite the ordeal! Albeit, a rewarding one. 🙂

There are more pictures available after the jump on our Picasa Web Album. I’ll be adding more to that album in the next few days, as we get to know our new daughter a bit better!

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We’re At The Hospital!

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We’ve been in this “waiting game,” of sorts, for the past few days. We had an appointment with the doctors last Thursday, and this past Monday, having “non-stress tests” done on the baby, and an ultrasound. Both turned out to be just fine (the baby’s heart beat was strong and regular, and the ultrasound showed enough fluid in the uterus, as well as a healthy placenta).

However, Brooke still hadn’t dilated all that far. Contractions have been increasing in frequency and intensity to the point where she “winces” most times when she has one, typically about every 5 minutes or so. Therefore, we had another appointment for today, having another ultrasound and another non-stress test. Again, everything looks good, but no increased dilation. The doctor said we could continue on, but now that we are 8 days past our due date, he’d be more wary of not scheduling another appointment until next Monday.

So, we’re inducing. Right now. And I have WiFi here at the hospital.

Could be tonight, could be tomorrow. Either way, very shortly, we should have a new addition to the family!

Also, it doesn’t escape me that Jim and Pam are scheduled to have their baby tonight. 😛