New car! =) 2004 Toyota Sequoia Limited (in white, not grey like picture)

just waiting for another rejection to roll in : USC, i don't think they like me after i ditched them to go to UCSF

another rejection!

no NSF fellowship, it's at 30,000 a year plus tuition now... oh wells.... try again this year

Frances at her dumbest....

* name changed to protect privacy of individual

franiwack (11:42:06 PM): man,i'm so out of it
franiwack (11:42:11 PM): i put on my headphones to listen to a song
franiwack (11:42:18 PM): so i wouldn't disturb calvin
franiwack (11:42:25 PM): and i've been playing it for a long time too
franiwack (11:42:32 PM): and just realized that i stuck the jack in wrong
franiwack (11:42:41 PM): and it' sbeen blaring out of my speakers for the longest time
[spongebob] (11:42:44 PM): hahahah but you always do that!!!
franiwack (11:42:51 PM): man, this sucks
franiwack (11:43:00 PM): and it's been on repeat
franiwack (11:43:11 PM): when i study , i tend to put one song on repeat
franiwack (11:43:14 PM): for the longest time
[spongebob] (11:43:17 PM): did calvin come over and beat you on the head?
franiwack (11:43:19 PM): cuz i tune it out
franiwack (11:43:20 PM): nooo
[spongebob] (11:43:44 PM): oh is he asleep already?
franiwack (11:43:46 PM): no
franiwack (11:43:50 PM): he didnt' say a thing
franiwack (11:43:53 PM): but he must be annoyed...
franiwack (11:43:59 PM): O:-)
franiwack (11:44:04 PM): man, i'm really absentminded
franiwack (11:44:06 PM): today!
franiwack (11:44:15 PM): today is last day of classes
franiwack (11:44:19 PM): i have three classes in a row
franiwack (11:44:21 PM): 10 - 1
franiwack (11:44:32 PM): after my second class, i completely forgot i had one more class to go
franiwack (11:44:36 PM): and i was gonna go eat lunch
franiwack (11:44:42 PM): i went to seas lab to check email
franiwack (11:44:47 PM): and started to do hw
franiwack (11:44:51 PM): and then saw hw that i didn't turn in
franiwack (11:44:59 PM): and then realized i had class at that time!!
franiwack (11:45:05 PM): good thing i realized it early enuf
franiwack (11:45:11 PM): that i got there sorta in time...
franiwack (11:45:12 PM): sigh....
franiwack (11:45:17 PM): how did i do that to myself?
franiwack (11:45:32 PM): a whole quarter of getting used to my schedule
franiwack (11:45:43 PM): and then i completely forgot on the last day of class
[spongebob] (11:45:50 PM): why? what'd you miss for the last class?
franiwack (11:45:59 PM): and almost couldnt turn in the math hw that i spent hour sand hours on!
franiwack (11:46:08 PM): so sad it's funny
franiwack (11:46:15 PM): lots of stuff
franiwack (11:46:20 PM): still lecturing
franiwack (11:46:31 PM): i think i'll just copy this convo and put on blog
franiwack (11:46:41 PM): so that people will realize or confirm how stupid i can get
franiwack (11:46:42 PM): :-)
franiwack (11:46:48 PM): oh yeah
franiwack (11:46:52 PM): i'll change your sn
franiwack (11:46:58 PM): or people won't even know?
[spongebob] (11:47:16 PM): it happens. hey sometimes i get off on the wrong freeway exit even though i drive the same way every day
[spongebob] (11:47:21 PM): we daydream sometimes

Some pics from UCSF visit:
:: me during a break from interviews, self timer rules! i have no idea what floor i'm on

:: the front of the very very nice new building Genentech Hall

:: the view from inside of hall, lot of construction, but still beautiful

:: the very very nice view from my hotel room, huge windows and balcony, right next to the bay!!! =)

:: one of the two limos that i sat in, proof baby! =)

:: and.. the other limo!!

:: me and denise, the BMI coordinator, she's so organized!

:: part of the building insides, that thing on the right is a really cool sculpture (think bio) that lights up at night!

:: my good ole Biophysics roomie Katie

:: the street corner near my hotel, mission & steuart, go sf!!

:: me again, playing with self timer!

:: my hotel view at night, what an incredible night light!!! for two nights i just stood at my window in the dark while my roomie was sleeping, wondering at the world outside

something that terry speed said about nice people has been sticking in my head ever since i came back from berkeley....

berkeley statistics department is waaaaaay cool!!! =)

amazing how many well-known genius statisticians are soooo friendly in person! man, i like nice people!

UCSF Biological and Medical Informatics Interview/Recruitment Weekend
March 4-7

Thursday, March 4
My very first plane flight was schedule at 1:40pm from Burbank to San Francisco International. Thinking that you have to show up really early for it, my dad drove me to Burbank at around 10:30am. It's a pretty small airport, now called Bob Hope. Anyways, we found parking and went inside. We had to ask someone where United was. I also didn't expect that the check-in would be so easy. You just do it on a computer and just slide your credit card in so that they can tell who you are. Got my ticket but it was still soooo early. So we went to Fry's and walked around, then went to KFC and ate some chicken strips in the car. We got back to the airport and then I had to go through all those checks, took off jacket, watch, wallet, cell phone.... Finally boarded, it is a really small plane, sat next to a guy who was going home to Eureka after a Burbank meeting. I was lucky to get a window seat and my face was glued to that for the next hour (well, I tried to be polite and not hog the entire window)

It's sooo cool! Yes, I'm like a giddy little kid, staring out the window at the amazing orderliness of the cities and the beauty of nature from 27,000 feet above. And it was amazing how the plane departed and arrived exactly on the dot.

So I got to SFO, and sorta got confused on where to go to get shuttle, but I eventually found my way outside. I couldn't spot any of the familiar blue shuttle vans and finally I approached these Middle Eastern looking men standing by a white shuttle and asked if they went to Harbor Court Hotel. They said sure sure and immediately took my luggage. I was scared, but just a little relieved that there were other people in the van. Anyways, the guy drove pretty fast and after some women were dropped off at the Marriot, I was dropped off at Harbor Court Hotel. And just in case though I still didn't really trust them, I paid for a round trip ticket, thinking that if all else, I'd still have a means of getting back to the airport on Sunday.

The hotel was faaaaancy!!! Such nice decor and friendly people! I found out my roommate had already checked in. I got my key and went up to room 824. My hotel room overlooked the Bay Bridge!!!! Gorgeous! Roomie wasn't there, but I found the green folder that UCSF left me on the bed. I took some pics and then went outside to walk around SF. Overload of Starbucks and Quiznos!! Starbucks on one block and then next block had two more that were only two stores apart! Geez! Do people drink coffee like water? I'm thinking they do. I passed by a Versace store, a McDonalds', a Ralph Lauren and walked around in a GAP store. On the way back, I went into Walgreens to buy a gallon of water and some granola bars. My hotel room had a lot of food in it, but after looking at the list of prices, I was shocked into not disturbing any of it. A bottle of water was like 4 or 5 bucks, a bag of M&M's was like 3.

Later in the afternoon, my roomie finally came back. Her name is Katie, a Cornell graduate interviewing for the Biophysics dept. She had gone to an interview at Berkeley that day and loved it. But due to jetlag, she ended up sleeping most of the time that we were in the hotel room. I ended spending that night in the hotel lobby watching a rerun of Friends before going back up to shower and sleep.


Friday, March 5
Katie and I woke up pretty early on Friday, we were instructed to meet in hotel lobby at 7:50am. Packed up our stuff and we went down. There we met other BMI interviewees and Biophysics interviewees. Lot of different backgrounds and stuff. Anyways, it was just us students and UCSF didn't have anyone meet us there so we just walked outside. We noticed a couple of limos and joked that they were for us. Outside I was shocked to learn that UCSF BMI had only invited 9 people for the interview and I was the only girl!!! No wonder that I had to room with a biophysics person. Still haven't figured out if that makes me special or they needed a token girl to go to interviews. =)

Anyways, those limos were for us!! I got into a black one while half got into a white one. That was my first time ever in a limo. There was a bar inside and everything. =) The driver drove us to campus (still in construction). But it was a beautiful building! Really nice architecture, huge windows and lovely modern furniture.

All the BMI students met in a small room where we had breakfast and then Tom Ferrin, the director of the program, gave us a little presentation. I had 7 interviews schedule that day, each one was half hour. But the bad thing was, that I didn't know who I would be talking to and 4 out of 7 were surprises. Apparently they are famous people but I knew nothing about them and I felt so unprepared. Some of the profs grilled me on my research, some talked mostly about their work, sometimes there were awkward silences. The prof that I wanted to work for ended up to be so unlike me in personality that I can't work with him at all. He essentially conveyed his feeling that all my research and like of statistics is crap, though he did give some good advice towards the end. The best one was with Mark Segal. He has a Ph.D. in Statistics from Stanford and he was the only prof who I could talk to about stats. All the other ones didn't like stats. Joe DeRisi was my first interview and though it was awkward, I didn't know what to say that much on microarrays, he did show me his lab which was huge!!! He has so much space and cool equipment. He told me the story of how he took over the bench that was vacated by Dr. Nelson at Stanford in Pat Brown's lab and even gave me a copy of PLoS where his array image of malaria virus was just beautiful.

I ate a two hour lunch between interviews 4 and 5. Sorta started to dread interviews. So many! and I felt so dumb after each one. Finally there were over at 4, my last interviewer was so tired, he didn't care about talking to me. We had a reception at 4:40pm, wine, cheese, hor'dourves, etc. Kinda tired too by then. Met more faculty and students....can't keep track of names!

Later, some of the BMI applicants and BMI grad students walked out to UCSF Shuttle (we were on the Mission Bay campus, not the main one) and took it down to the restaurant, Picaro's, which serves tapas. Great food, tried rabbit meat for the first time (tastes like chicken). Took a tiny sip of sangria, eeek! I'll never be an alcoholic. Drinks are so nasty. Anyways, I sat next to John, first year, he's cool, but I was even luckier to be sitting next to Samantha, also first year, who I found out is like me who loves stats!! And she gave me so much great advice about UCSF and Berkeley stats. That was refreshing after a day of talking to people who didn't give a s*** about stats. Great dinner, great conversations. It was also fun to talk about the profs behind their backs. =) Grad students are hilarious!

There was a biophysics party later that nite, but most of us decided not to go. 8 out of 9 BMI interviewees went back to the hotel. 7 guys and I got to the BART station and took it back to Embarcadero. Two of them were Berkeley people so they knew their way around. My shoes were also killing me, though they said casual, I still wore nice clothes and shoes for the interviews all day.

*** continued...

Anyways, when I got back, my roomie hadn't even come back, I guess she got dragged to the party. But eventually she came back and I had to unlock the door for her. Watched a little CNN and then went to sleep.

Saturday, March 7
Woke up way too early once again, while Katie went to take shower, I went downstairs to watch an hour of CNN People which was showcasing the life of Martha Stewart, yay.... Anyways, I went back up and we both got finally ready to go to the lobby.

This time I took pics of both limos and one of the guys took a pic of me and the black limo for me. I got into the white limo and we got to campus in like 5-10 minutes. We had breakfast on the first floor and then headed to a lecture room (very very very nice!!) to hear 4 talks, of which I slept through the third one. man, I really didn't feel into that stuff at all, mostly P Chem stuff that I don't like anyways. Finally it was over and boy, that was a loooong time. We had boxed lunch outside on the patio. Sun so hot. Afterwards, all of the BMI people left!! They didn't wanna hang out with us anymore. But I had nowhere to go, so one of the grad students took me and my roomie to SFMOMA, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, that's such a great place, the art is way cool! Some of it is crap, but lot were unique and fascinating. I really remember one exhibit where it's in a darkened room and all there is is that there is a tiny hole in the wooden floor and this video is playing through it and you see this nude woman shouting up at you in Italian while flames are all around her. Waaaaay cool!!! hahahah...I thought it was great experience to go see the museum, but the other biophysics people all went to the beach. It's like they never saw a beach before... Anyways after the museum, I had the student drop me off back at UCSF, I found my way to an unused room with a Mac in it and started to check email and even found iChat on it. So I was online for a little bit until the fire alarm went on! Forced to go outside and once back in, most of the doors were locked!! So I couldn't use that computer again, finally bumped into a first year BMI student who let me into another lounge with a computer.

We then went out to dinner at Buca di Beppo's, my second time in that chain, first time was with SoCalBSI. ANyways, great food and it kept on coming!!! I was sooo full!! And the dessert was tiramisu!! So good!

Me and roomie just went back to hotel and soon went to sleep.

Sunday, March 7
Katie had a really early flight so she woke up at 3am. I had given her my return shuttle ticket so it was coming to pick her up at 4am. So I woke up aroudn that time too cuz I heard her moving. Anyways, I said bye to her and went back to sleep. I finally woke up again at 7am and packed everything and checked out at 8am.

Walked my luggage two blocks to Bart station at Embarcadero and got onto the right train to head back to SFO.