Highlights from SfN and Chicago

1. Met more hot shots in our field!
Dr. Lee glanced at my poster, rather than just sending his students.
Dr. Tanji visited my poster.
I finally met Dr.s Rudebeck and Procyk and saw Dr. Murrary, but couldn't muster up the courage to introduce myself to her...

2. Learned of some amazing science
Dr. Sobel is making a prosthetic that is controlled by the patient's breathing, one of the few voluntary actions a locked-in patient keeps.
David, formerly in the Desposito Lab, had an excellent poster on hierarchical reinforcement learning, though I still don't know what to make of the PMd (and parietal area) being the primary region showing differential BOLD activity from no-chunking vs. chunking.
Miss Noonan gave a superb talk on the double dissociation of the roles of medial vs. lateral OFC. Violations of the independence axiom in economic theory is correlated with medial OFC activity.

3. Was complimented on my LED flower necklace at the BCI Social
I bumped into Gopal, Dr. Shenoy's first graduate student, who also remembered me from the Harvard-Berkeley Engineering Event.
Dr. Shenoy asked about my necklace with the best question being, "So are you a closet EE?" My inner me was jumping up and down with joy from getting to talk to him.
Dr. Velliste even came by my poster the following day, which I never expected any BCI expert to do.

(My collection of work was talked about at the unofficial Berkeley dance party!?)

4. Got some great prototyping side research done
A couple grad. students at Ann Arbor built a DIY electrophysiology rig for $100, as oppose to $40,000! It blew my mind, so I contacted Wired Magazine about them. Hopefully they get the media interested. Their circuit is surprisingly simple, so I may work towards making my own for biometric jewelry and clothing. Will need to inform Eric too.
Pairs of Victoria Secret's trademark wings from their annual fashion show are on display. Since I've been meaning to make myself a pair of wings that glow of course, this close-up look was the best surprise ever! I also learned that the wings are in honor of the grand opening of the N Michigan store, which I serendipitously checked out. Gorgeous store!
I played Mind Ball at the Museum of Science and Technology - the headbands are very comfortable for having three flat electrodes on them. In another exhibit, I bought an LED necklace, which had a similar structure to my LED flower necklace. Good to know that my design jives with others.

5. Had some bummer moments
I failed to make a good connection with those in my field. Alas, I'm a terrible networker.
I missed catching Dr. Sobel and thanking him in person for the continuous letters of recommendation, guidance, and inspiration.
While checking out posters on the last afternoon, my ex spotted me. I never expected him to enter neuroscience. grr. It's my field (and his girlfriend's)! I'd have no problem seeing him around either, if he weren't so insecurely competitive.

Waiting for a boyfriend is demoralizing

I've been giving myself headaches forgetting to eat, putting electronics in food and "clothing", and bringing my plushie lion on all trips - business and pleasure alike.

Need stability.


~~~~ Hope your job search goes well, lB! ~~~~

Looking for a job is demoralizing

How do I know?

Well, I've made a couch cover, 26 little socks, and cute bento lunches for the boy recently.


Need to work. Desperately.