You have got to have goals..

Since I'm still new to the world of public blogging, I have decided that I need to kick it up a notch.

Starting tomorrow I am going to begin the 31DBBB challenge. That is 31 Days to Building a Better Blog. So if over the next month, my posts seem random or even just more frequent, that will be the reason. I'm not crazy.. I just got motivated.

Fun Stuff: Genome Quilts

I think the ScientificQuilter would be fascinated by my little discovery tonight. As I was looking for my next latest and greatest idea in quiltmaking I came across something that changes everything!

Genome Quilts!
Yes.. I said Genome Quilts!

What are those you ask?
Well here is an example (this one happens to be the Hepatitis Virus C gene)

What is it exactly?
The quiltmaker has taken a genomic sequence and using a special block shape for each nucleotide base.. she has translated a DNA sequence into fabric.

So, for example, a right triangle with black on the bottom is Adenine, while black on top is Cytosine. Reverse those right triangles and you get Guanine and Thymine. Assemble those triangles into rows and then into colums and you get the quilt that you see here. (See the artist's detailed explanation for more examples.)

This is the awesomest* thing I have EVER seen.

And I am not the only one who appreciates it. A genome quilt was recently featured on the cover of Nature Genetics. I must have missed that issue. (Stupid PDFs.. no need to pick up the paper copies anymore!)




And if this is a little too abstract for you, maybe you can appreciate her more literal translation of the double helix (which she frequently features on the back of these quilts.)

On her website you can also see closeups of the quilting itself. From double helices, to sequences and explanations of the sequence, she stays true to the DNA theme at every step of quiltmaking the process.

So who is the artisan who came up with such a thing?
Well, her name is Beverly St. Clair and you can see her gallery (and even comission a custom made quilt) on her website.

How did she come up with the idea in the first place??

"The idea of coding DNA sequences in quilts, i.e. genome quilts, came to me in November 2001 during a weekend when I saw an exhibit of the work of Anni Albers and attended a lecture on the Human Genome Project. I realized that I could use simple quilt blocks to encode the base sequences of DNA. The resulting quilts are visually exciting and carry the deeper meaning of the code for the particular gene being represented."

Here is Beverly's own mitochondrial DNA in fabric:

Now I am dying to try this. I don't know if I would go with triangles, the possibilites are endless. The curves of a drunkard's path block would be fantastic too. You would end up with something like this (from TinkersCart)

And LabDad just had the best comment: "If you screwed up and stitched something together wrong, you could just say you 'introduced a mutation'." Oh, hell yeah! I love it.

Now I just have to pick a sequence to get started!

*Yes, I realize awesomest is not a word but I was so excited I couldn't help myself!

The Art of Science

Once again this week, I was pondering the melding of science and art, since those are two of my favorite things.

I always love to browse though antibody catalogs and look at the beautiful images which are relatively useless in my area of study, but are so fascinating to look at. My favorite, Molecular probes, has such fantastic microscopy in their catalog that I am always in awe. Not only because they have such amazing subject matter, but also because of the skills their microscopists have.

For example:How they can capture such beauty in those images is astounding. And it is even more interesting when you realize you are looking at a fly ovary, mouse intestine, and mouse testis respectively. That just adds to the novelty.

I personally think it is wonderful to see science celebrated not only for the technical and academic significance, but also for it's beauty. This is something I think we basic scientists should do much more often.

Princeton University has an annual exhibit which (like the Nikon Small World Contest) celebrates science solely for how it looks, and not what it means. In Princeton's Science as Art contest, all the images are generated by members of that institution (from undergrads to faculty) and represent a wide range of scientific subject matter. I was impressed by quite a few of the entries:

This is a GFP expressing mouse retinal ganglion.. It is even more impressive you realize that the image was captured by an undergrad.
This microscopic "flower" resulting from dessicated cement is only 4 microns wide.
This was the top ranked entry this year. In case you don't recognize them, they are squid embryos.
Or how about C.Elegans in the shape of a heart?
The scientific world can be such a beautiful place. If you take a moment to appreciate it both for it's beauty and it's the amazing scientific complexity, it can be awe inspiring. I think we scientists often get caught up in our little part of science and can miss the artistic side of what we do. We are usually so busy thinking about the significance and how it fits into our next story, our next paper, our next grant.

But I want to remind us all to take a minute to actually look around at what is out there. It is so very very beautiful.

Give in to the power of the princesses!

There has been a lot of chatter in the blogosphere lately on the role of Princesses in the lives of our pre-school daughters (for better or for worse.) And I must confess that I have the most princess-obsessed 4 year old you will ever come across. She has been living in their world so long that she even insists she has two evil stepsisters named Drisella and Anastasia (although I am pretty sure she doesn't, at least the last time I checked!)

I believe this obsession, along with the fact that I can identify every Disney princess, recite (and like Slacker Mom sometimes re-live) her life story AND her theme song makes me an authority on this topic and I cannot refrain from adding my own two cents to the debate.

So what exactly are getting people's panties in a twist about litte girls and their love of princesses? Well, Dr. Isis just answered a reader this week who was looking for a 'better' princess (one with intellect and "real goals".) She sums up the big argument against princess as role models:

...I can understand discomfort with programming a child with the notion that being a princess means unconditional worship and obedience and a life of helplessness, waiting for a prince to arrive and save her.

I too understand how one could have that perspective, but I am not sure that it is that black and white. At least not anymore, although I used to be in that camp. When my daughter was still young I was all self-righteous about princesses as role models. I was never going to let my children watch those movies or dream about a Prince Charming. Never. The gender roles and stereotypes alone were enough to make them unfit for any self-respecting woman (or woman-to-be) to aspire to. And even the newest princess (Tiana) although independent, hard working and a minority, was still too thin to be a decent role model.

And it wasn't only the princesses themselves that bothered me. It was that giant marketing machine: Disney. I totally agree with Carl Hiaasan's take on the Disney empire (See: Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the world.) The folks behind the mouse ears have total power over an entire generation of today's kids. There are kids out there who would rather visit DisneyWorld then see the Eiffel Tower or visit Versailles. (Hell, they probably haven't even heard of Versailles!) Thanks to Disney, fiction is always more fun then reality. Why visit an actual forest, when you can walk through one synthesized of fiberglass and polyurethane?

So there I was, fighting a losing battle trying to keep those little vixens and their giant marketing machine out of my house. Until one day I just gave up that fight. My daughter loves Disney and their princesses. Those stories make her happy and bring her absolute joy.

And I also realized something that changed everything: It is up to me to teach her about the Eiffel Tower and Versailles. That is my job as a parent, to fight the influence of Team Rodent, while still letting my daughters have the fantasy. They can go hand in hand, they don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Like pretty much everything in life, it is all about the balance and you don't need to eliminate princesses from her world to make her a well-rounded, independent woman who believes in herself. I am no longer worried that she will grow up unable to take care of or think for herself. She won't sit back and wait for a prince to come to her rescue. Disney doesn't have her under their grip, as long as I have her in mine.

And here is some evidence to back me up:

The UCF study, recently published online in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology, concluded that young girls' behavior or self-esteem did not appear to be influenced by video clips of the beautiful, thin princesses in animated children's movies.

So these days we buy the princess books, watch the princess movies, dance the princess dances and live out the fantasy.. but the next palace we visit isn't going to be to Cinderella's concrete monstrosity in Orlando, it will be a real palace in the Paris suburb of Versailles. Take that Disney!

Good News!

Lots of great news this week:

1) All 5 figures are complete!

2) LabDad got an offer at BigPharma. Things are about to change big time around here, since it looks like we will have to relocate.

My lab (aka: the HR department)

Today we interviewed a soon to be graduating grad student who was interested in postdocing in our lab. So I, along with The Crew, got ready and gathered in the conference room to listen to her spiel and then we all met with her individually for a little one on one time. This is the typical interview setup in our lab. (And a nice way to blow 8 hours you ain't ever gettin' back.)

The BossLady is big on having everyone in lab 'interview' postdoc and other staff candidates. She worries that if we have any huge personality clashes, it will screw up the lab dynamic. She asks for our feedback (in some cases written feedback) and likes to give everyone a say. I know you are thinking "Oh, how diplomatic!" But really, it is a huge headache and not a very successful system.

Ultimately BossLady does make the final decision, but she takes our opinions pretty seriously and we really do influence the outcome. I guess she thinks since we are the ones working side-by-side with this new person, our opinions are important. Honestly, I don't agree with this notion.

A lab isn't a democracy, it is a dictatorship. We don't get to vote people off the island, and we shouldn't really get a say in who gets in. I think it sounds good in theory, but reality is not so straightforward and I think it muddies the water.

Someone could be the nicest person in the world but if they aren't good at what they do, then they aren't going to do contribute to lab productivity and/or morale. (Although one time we had a terrible rotation student who brought in baked goods daily. Boy that kid sucked at benchwork, but he was a mean baking machine. I would have kept him around for his coffee cake alone.. but I digress.) .

Now if someone throws up red flags since they appear to be a potential homicidal maniac, I would hope the BossLady would listen to our concerns, but outside of that I don't think a dozen individual opinions adds up to much. And our track record tends to indicate that.

We have had some disaster hires in the past. And not just one flavor. We have had lab techs, students and postdocs who were complete busts, but they sure were nice at their interview. One tech didn't make more than 1 week before he quit because he felt his job was too menial and a postdoc ending up jumping ship since she felt lab work was impacting her personal life in a negative way. Uh, shouldn't we have dealt with this out before we hired them?

And that is the problem. If we spend too much time worrying about personalities and not enough time focusing on their ability to do science, what they want out of the job and what they are expected to accomplish, they flounder from the get go.

I am of the opinion that a PI needs to have some strict criteria of what they do and don't want in a candidate, analyze those qualities and move on. If you were hiring a new waitress at your restaurant, you would want to focus on his/her ability to take orders and deliver the food. You wouldn't worry about what the bus boy thought of him or if he got along with the line cook. So why do it with someone in a lab job?

This isn't to say the candidate's science isn't taken into account. It is. But it is one of many criteria instead of being the single most important factor. To me, your record both at the bench and in publications should trump a lot, since that is where the rubber hits the road.

Unfortunately, there isn't much I can do about this dilemma. BossLady likes the interview process this way, and so this is how it is going to be. I wonder if this new postdoc will be a keeper or a total disaster. At least I hope she can bake.. since I can be influenced by coffee cake, and she owes me one. I voted to give her the golden ticket to the next round.

Figure count: 4 of 5

Enjoying my newly cleaned desk, I was able to pound out two more figures!

I only have one left! Then what the hell am I going to do? I actually have to start writing.

MLK day update

I did end up hitting the lab. Screw the figures though. I went back and filed all my old notes and paperwork dating back to January 2007. It took me the better part of 4 hours. Yes, I am openly confessing to not having organized my lab notebooks in over 2 years.

Note to self: From now on file as you go, since looking back on all the projects you have worked on in the past 2 years is depressing.

At least it is all sorted and put away for posterity. I was also able to remove stacks of paper off my desk that had been there for way too long. I'm almost looking forward to sitting back down at my newly cleaned work station tomorrow and get re-started on those figs.. almost.

MLK Day: Holiday or not?

I am debating with myself tonight about if I should go to work tomorrow. Oh I'm so torn!

Daycare is closed and so is my University so it is officially an optional work day. LabDad's institution is also officially closed, so he and I are probably going to just split the day. I will work in the AM and he has the night shift. I think BossLady is at study section or something so she won't be around, which is making this decision even that much tougher. My house could definitely benefit from a little TLC, although being home with the 2 kids may not exactly result in TLC for anyone.

Blah.

Well, if all goes well I will spend my 4-5 hours knocking out another 1/10 of a paper figure. Oh how unsatisfying!

Let the paper writing begin..

It is that time again.
Time to gather up my data, step away from the bench, drag out that EndNote library, fire up Photoshop and start staring at a computer for hours on end, surrounded by piles of reprints, notebooks, data files and a big bottle of Advil.

This paper has been 6 years in the making. It is actually the first project I ever tackled when I joined the BossLady's lab and it is finally wrapping up. Finally.

Because we didn't end it earlier, we have now accumulated way too much data for one paper. Even one massive paper. Instead, after 4 hours of discussion (yes, 4 hours!) the BossLady and I decided that it would be best to break it up into three separate stories. One big one and two little** ones. We will start with the big one, since that is the most only interesting data.

The plan is to make up the figures first, get them polished and then write. This is typically the way we do papers since the figures tell the story. And after our meeting on Friday I was ready and fired up. I was going to blast through this puppy and get it sent off in no time, how hard could it be now that we eliminated huge chunks of it?

The answer is: pretty darn hard.

Since our sit down last Friday (5 full work days ago) I have compiled exactly 2 figures. Yes, 2. But boy they are some fantastic figures. The problem is weeding though and finding data in notebooks and on the computer that dates back to early 2005. I can't exactly remember what everything is and I am not the best note taker. Plus when you are dealing with "virtual figures" the data always looks perfect. Too bad reality is so much uglier.

Thank goodness I only have 3 more figures to go, at least for this paper. I don't even want to think about the rest.


**read "nobody cares about this but the grad students need a decent paper count when graduating so we may as well write it up"

Scientific Inspiration

I am a quilter. Well, I was a quilter until I got overwhelmed with balancing mommyhood and lab life. I have been working on some quilted gifts and other small projects but nothing truly creative these days.

As an outlet I have been following the Scientific Quilter Podcast and am suddenly feeling inspired. I am seeing potential quilts everywhere! For example, Nikon just released their Small World Competition winners for this year, and I am actually feeling an itch to whip up a little quilt. A science quilt!

Wouldn't some of these images be beautiful if translated into fiber art?

DIC Microchip

Confocal Epithelial Cell Anaphase

Fiber Optic Snowflake

JLIC diatom

Phase Oat Leaf

DIC silicon-nitride-coated silicon-substrate

Brightfield Rat Epididymis

There are so many more great examples on Nikon's website. Now I just need to find a big block of time and a chance to go to the fabric store to find some wonderful fabrics in these wild colors. I'll add it to my ever expanding "to do" list. Hopefully I can get to it before the girls head for college.

How did you get a PhD again?

I am continuously stunned by things that make their way out of some postdoc's mouths. Stunned. I have worked in academic biological science research labs for over 15 years now and I still amazed at how little some PhD's actually know about basic science principles. Sure, they can follow a mini-prep protocol, but they can't explain or even care to understand what is happening in buffer A or buffer B. It might as well be magic fairy juice in those bottles. They can run an assay over and over, but god forbid you need to troubleshoot a problem. If someone can't tell them exactly what to do and how to do it, it just can't be done! It is clear that their graduate lab spoon fed them a project and pushed them out the door without actually teaching them anything other than how to be a glorified lab technician.

I often find myself wondering what kind of payoff their Graduate Committee must have received in order for them to place the letters Ph.D. behind their names since I know a couple of undergraduate biology finals they couldn't pass if you handed them a crib sheet. It never ceases to amaze me the some of them still can't calculate molarity or even simple dilutions on their own. They expect me, LabMom, to do their dirty work under the guise that is it 'below them' but in actuality it is because they lack the skill set to do it.

I kid you not. I actually was asked by a senior postdoc today how to dilute a 1 mg/ml solution to 0.1 mg/ml. W. T. F. ?!? And a few weeks ago someone actually suggested that their lab buy a new CO2 incubator since she was getting bacterial contamination in her tissue culture plates. No, that isn't a faulty incubator, that would be your shitty sterile technique.

And why is it that these same scientists (although I use that term very loosely) are the ones with the biggest egos? The ones who have "Dr. SmartyPants" on their checks and credit cards? Because it is all about the title. "Hmm.. I can't make it through medical or law school, but how else can I call myself doctor? Oh, I know! Graduate school!"

In my life I have actually met postdocs that intentionally named their children so their initials would read "P.H.D." and others which have personalized license plates claiming themselves "KingDoc" Umm. Yeah. Seriously?

It is laughable. I am picturing it now: Someone has a heart attack on their next trans-Atlantic plane trip and the flight attendant comes over the intercom and asks "Is there a doctor on board?" They stand up and say "Hell yeah! KingDoc here! Let me run some PCR for you." Idiot. (And even then I am betting the PCR will crash and burn!)

Now I will be fair. The vast majority of postdocs are definitely underpaid and overworked, and many of them are fantastic scientists. You can tell when a postdoc comes from a lab where the PI actually trained them in critical thinking and *gasp* the scientific method. It sucks that they have to share lab air with the KingDocs of the world. Clueless postdocs are nothing but a drain on lab resources and manpower, since everyone else is constantly babysitting them, or else they go rougue and generate questionable data with flawed experiments. If they just spent as much time thinking about their experimental design as they did on their vanity plates, they may actually get some decent data and an occasional publication.

But since that is too much work for them (since they would have to go back and restudy Chemistry 101 in order to correctly pH a phosphate buffer) the least they chould do is go learn simple first aid for their next trans-Atlantic trip. "Thanks for the band-aid.. Doc!"

Fun Stuff: Science Cookies

I have a special place in my heart for well decorated cookies. And when you add in a science theme it is true love.

Therefore I have to share what I found on the NotSoHumblePie blog. She has taken science cookies to a whole new level. I also stumbled upon a few other sources of fabulous science cookies (where noted.) Check them out!

First up.. Model Organisms (my personal favorite)

Lab Mouse (Mus musculus)

Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Fruit Fly (Drosophila Melanogaster)

Octopus (Octopus Vulgaris)
Note: Yes, this is not a commonly used model organism but her cookie is so beautiful I just had to include it.

Molecular Biology

Gel Electrophoresis

Bacterial Streaks on Petri Dish

Sequencing electropherograms

Cells (Plant, Animal and Ciliated)

General "Science" Stuff

Atoms

Haz-Mat Suits

Gingerbread Scientists

Test Tubes and Flasks

Mad Scientist Cookie Platter by CookieArtisan
love the RBCs, Gloves, Safety Goggles and Antibodies

Things I hate

I will confess, tonight's entry was inspired by today's post by Mommy/Prof. It was so fun thinking about my top 5 I decided I needed to actually have a top 10!

Onto the list, in no particular order.. although I really really really hate litterbugs and Okra!

1. Litterbugs

2. Okra

3. Coming home to a dirty kitchen and having to make dinner

4. Not being able to find the TV remote when something awful is on

5. People who are rude to minimum wage workers

6. When the shower water isn't hot enough

7. People who "reply all" to listserve emails

8. Finding sippy cups under the car seats

9. Cars that don't turn right on red

10. People who continue to talk on their cell phones in the checkout line. HELL YEAH.. I hate them even more than okra!

Oh, this could be addicting.. And apparently you can never run out of things to hate. I'll have to do this again sometime.

Four things you wouldnt' have guessed about me

Based on my blog and profile there are probably a good number of things you may do assume about me, and chances are you would mostly be right. I consider myself a pretty average person. The typical American mom with a husband and 2.2 kids, a cute little house with the white picket fence, living on a cul-de-sac in suburbia, driving my mini-van with the car seats in the back. Oh yes.. I am the June Cleaver of 2010.

But there are a few things that I do that are far from mainstream, especially in light of the fact that I truly am a McDonald's loving, Wal-Mart shopping, coupon clipping, reality-TV watching, full time working, stressed mom of 2 kids in the heart of the bible belt.

So what makes me different than most of the moms I know?

1) I cloth diapered both my kids. I am either really out of touch or just ahead of the curve. Cloth diapering is definitely coming back into vogue these days. Maybe it was all the tree-hugging, granola crunching moms who started the trend, but nowadays all the hot little boutiques are carrying cloth dipes. I personally do it for both environmental reasons and because I feel it is better for my baby's behind. (Would you want to wear a pair of underpants made of silica gel and saran wrap?) An added bonus of cloth diapering is that they are so damn cute. They ain't our mothers diapers and rubber pants. They have darling patterns, fancy breathable fabrics and are no longer secured with pins.. now velcro aplix and the 'snappi' are where it's at.

2) I used a midwife to deliver my babies. This is probably even more surprising since I work in a medical school, but there was something comforting to me about the low intervention, 'your body knows what to do' attitude of a midwife versus an OBGYN. I wasn't willing to take it so far as to have a homebirth, since as a scientist I am also keenly aware of how many things can (and do) go wrong and how quickly things can turn tragic. I did deliver in a hospital but my second labor and delivery was completely free of medical intervention (no drugs/IVs/monitoring) and it was a truly amazing experience.

3) I have continued to breastfeed my daughters even after returning to work. In my entire department there are only three other women who have even attempted to pump after coming off maternity leave. Of those three, none of them made it past six months before throwing in the towel. It is my goal to get to a minimum of a year, and with my first daughter I made it to nine months. I would not consider myself a hard-core extended breastfeeder, but I do believe it is the best choice for your child if it is at all possible, especially in the first year. That isn't to say I don't think it doesn't suck (no pun intended) because there are days when I can't stand it (not only pumping but even nursing), but the benefits are so great that I just force myself to keep at it.

4) I make all my own baby food. (In the interest of full disclosure, I will confess to buying baby food while on vacation, but at home I make all my own.) I think it is important to know exactly what she my children are eating and I aim to avoid additives and colors, including HFCS (high fructose corn syrup.) Because we subscribe to a CSA (community supported agriculture) delivery service which features local organic foods, it was easy, and cheaper, for me to make my own purees. This evening I spent a few hours with the blender and my four year old making apples, pears, squash, beans and sweet potatoes. I refill old jars and they are ready to serve (or to send to daycare). Making your own baby food is super simple, and I actually surprised that more people don't do it. Not to mention the price savings. At $1.19 per pack of organic stage 1 food, I calculate I saved nearly 30$ on the batch I made tonight. That can buy me a lot of Big Macs! (And that is where the irony lies, while I scrutinize every bite that my daughters take, I am the queen of high-fat, processed, fake sugar filled cuisine. Yum!)

So there they are: four things that make me unique and that I am actually pretty proud of. Not many moms can handle dealing with homemade food and cloth diapers, and somehow I have amazingly figured out a way to squeeze it into my crazy life. I do understand they aren't necessarily things that your average mom would want to do (or even understand why anyone else would want to do) but they are important to me and make up a part of me, the mother. I thought I would share them, so you have a better idea of who I am.. not just your average mom!

Aww.. I'm feeling the love!

Thanks so much to Brittany over at Suburban Rebel Mom and Julie at Just Playin' Around for nominating little ol' me for the Lemonade Stand Award. This award goes to bloggers who show attitude and gratitude. Now I get to spread the love and nominate 10 additional attitude and gratitude filled bloggers to share this with.

Please check out their blogs.. they may not be something that is normally up your alley, but they all have something great to offer!

1. EveVs.Wilms
2. TheShortestBlogInTheWorld
3. DamnGoodTechnican
4. R.E.S.E.A.R.C.H.E.R.S.
5. Dr. Mom, My adventures as a Mommy Scientist
6. Quiltsalott
7. MamaSeeMamaDo
8. SnarkyMomma
9. TriangleMommies
10. TheSecretLifeofaSAHM

Fun Stuff: Science Tattoos

I came across Discover Magazine's Science Tattoo Emporium the other day and thought it was worth sharing. I have always pondered getting a tattoo, probably something about my kids, but a few of these made me reconsider. I don't know if I need to be branded anymore of a nerd than I already am!


Here are a few of my faves:

Think Periodically
The Four Finches

Remember your Punnett Square
Macroscope

Two Become One (Becoming Two)
Get it? They are dividing chromosomes. His and hers. That makes me giggle.

Maybe I'll hold off on the ink.. who knows what scientific discoveries are still left out there. One of those may just be tattoo worthy!

Working for the weekend?

There are lots of advantages to being a working mom in the biological sciences versus some boring office or retail gig. These include: a somewhat flexible schedule, working at your own pace, the ability to exercise your brain cells on a daily basis, not having to deal with the public, easy access to great potential 5th-8th grade science fair topics. (Okay, so some benefits are better than others.) Bt all of those advantages also come with some drawbacks.

One of the biggest disadvantages, especially when you work with model organisms, is that you never really get time off. It is a lot like having an infant: they are on their own schedule, you may be able to influence them a little, but there are no guarantees. And this doesn't only apply to those of us working with little critters. Anyone running an experiment requiring 8 or 12 hour time points has realized the pain of long nights, early mornings or weekend treks into lab. Not a common occurrence for your friendly neighborhood bank teller.

This arbitrary schedule is never more annoying, or more apparent, than during the holidays. For example, I had the joy of making at least one (but some days as many as three) daily trips to lab over the New Year's break. Talk about interrupting the flow of one's vacation.

Eventually this constant call of the lab does start to take its toll. It is difficult to just up and leave home and family when the weekend is in full swing. (Well, at least usually this is the case. I will confess that on more than one occasion it was sweet relief to leave the noise and chaos of the house for the peace and quiet of the silent abandoned lab.) The perpetual back and forth doesn't allow you to ever totally turn off your 'work life' and focus completely on the family. You are always on call.

On the bright side, there is something satisfying about heading back to work on a Monday with a big pile of data to wade through. That is assuming that the experiments that required so much attention actually pan out. Nothing stinks more than all those hours of work resulting in jack squat. Time away from my family, all for nothing!

That is the risk you take. Add time off to list of things you have to sacrifice in order to be a successful scientist. I guess that is okay, it is all a trade off and dont' forget, we have that 6th grade science fair in the bag!!