Relaxed Week
Table of Contents
Sunday, April 13
167.4 lbs (Day 107, starting from 162.6 lbs on Dec 28) | 🏃🏻 Done (4/6) | ★★★★
Got in another solid rooftop workout this morning. I pushed myself a bit too hard yesterday, so I kept it simple today. Just a circuit of three exercises, some core work, and finished off with the rowing machine. And the weather… absolute happiness☀️
After coming home, I showered, had breakfast, and finished up one last week’s worth of blog posts. Finally caught up! I even uploaded it to Instagram for the first time in a while. Feels good to be back on track!
After that, I headed straight to Chinatown to get a haircut (it somehow ended up even shorter than last time…?). Then I grabbed a bowl of pho at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant. It wasn’t bad, but honestly, the flavor was just okay, nothing memorable, and I probably wouldn’t go back. Also, they charged $1.50 for tap water, which felt a bit odd, and the service wasn’t exactly warm. I’ve been trying a new spot each time I go for a haircut, and so far, that stir-fried noodle place I went to on my first visit is still the clear winner!
After coming back, I showered and took it easy in bed for a bit. The weather was so nice, and I felt like it was time to get some new clothes, so I did a little Uniqlo haul online. I’ve always liked the U line, but this time I noticed they had a C line too. I ended up getting a really nice-looking shirt, along with some pants and a few other essentials. Lately, I’ve been dressing super casually, and it made me realize I should put in more effort, especially on days when it counts.
I meant to get more work done tonight, but… Wynton was completely down again, so I just used my existing data to revalidate one of the metrics I’d calculated. Looks like I’ll have to wait until next weekend to send out a reply.
Monday, April 14
167.4 lbs (Day 108, starting from 162.6 lbs on Dec 28) | 🏃🏻 Done (1/6) | ★★★☆
Outside of Work
Fresh start with a morning workout. Nothing special except one class in the morning. After work, I was thinking about heading to the Hub to do a bit of work on my side project since the university’s HPC cluster is finally back to normal.
But after taking a shower, I lay down in bed for a bit and ended up falling asleep 🛌 Honestly, the best way to actually make it to the Hub after dinner is to bring my bag and everything I need right after work. Tomorrow, I’m definitely going to the Hub.
Lab Work
Chemistry
- SJ-1-8 rxn
- SJ-1-9 rxn, work-up
- SJ1-10 rxn
Tuesday, April 15
166.4 lbs (Day 109, starting from 162.6 lbs on Dec 28) | 🏃🏻 Done (2/6) | ★★★★
Outside of Work
Another great start with a gym session. Feeling good! Dumbbells are getting heavier as I gain weight. Hopefully, by the end of this phase, I’ll see a noticeable strength boost 💪
Heard another terrific presentation from a friend in my cohort during this morning’s QBC journal club. Lab work kept me pretty busy today, but I managed to wrap things up around 7 PM and headed straight to the Hub. Got some progress in on the side project. I tested a recently disclosed molecule, and it aligned well with previous results. Really promising.
Lab Work
Chemistry
- SJ-1-8 purification, NMR check
- SJ-1-9 purification, NMR check
- Not fully pure. Impurity wasn’t separated on TLC using Hex/EA, but there was slight separation with DCM/MeOH (though still overlapping). Decided to just push forward and aim to purify at the final step, which is a HATU coupling with the diversifying group.
- SJ-1-10 NMR check
Wednesday, April 16
165.8 lbs (Day 110, starting from 162.6 lbs on Dec 28) | 🏃🏻 Rest (2/6) | ★★★★☆
Outside of Work
As usual, today was pretty packed. I had class from 10 to 12 PM, followed by a lab group meeting. By the time I grabbed a late lunch, it was already around 3 PM.
A quick update: starting next week and for the next 5 weeks, our group meeting format is changing. Until now, everyone in the lab has been presenting their weekly updates. But now, the PI wants us to shift gears and start presenting the full storyline of our projects, preparing for publication. So, maybe after the presentations of almost all members, I’ll give my exit talk. It’s already been over two weeks since I officially started the rotation.
Got off work around 7 PM, went home, took a shower, had dinner, and headed to the Hub. I worked on an assignment for class and made some progress on my side project. Even though I automated parts of the workflow, there are still a few things I need to check manually to ensure accuracy. Hoping to finish the first aim I originally had in mind by this weekend!
Lab Work
Chemistry
- SJ-1-11 rxn
- SJ-1-12 rxn
Thursday, April 17
168.4 lbs (Day 111, starting from 162.6 lbs on Dec 28) | 🏃🏻 Done (3/6) | ★★★★☆
Outside of Work
I had a dentist appointment at 9:30 AM near Union Square (the same place I visited last time), so I had to get up earlier than usual to go to the gym. I woke up around 5:50 AM feeling quite refreshed, probably due to getting enough sleep last night, and headed straight to the gym. After a quick back workout for less than an hour, I briefly stopped by the lab to work-up a reaction.
Afterward, I went back home, showered, had breakfast, and headed out again to the dentist. This visit was for a general checkup and teeth cleaning. Both the examination and cleaning were very satisfactory, especially considering the detailed explanations provided by the doctor. It felt like the doctor here spent significantly more time on the procedures compared to my experiences in Korea. Although I understand this difference is more a systemic issue rather than the fault of individual practitioners, it did leave me feeling somewhat bittersweet about the healthcare situation back home. Anyway, I’ve generally been pleased with the healthcare services I’ve received in the U.S. so far.
The dentist mentioned I have a minor crack on the second-to-last tooth at the bottom right, so I need to visit again next Thursday. Hopefully, that will be my last visit for a while🙏 After finishing up, I quickly grabbed lunch at the McDonald’s right in front of the dentist’s office and headed back to the lab.
I got off work around 6 PM and met up with a friend for dinner at Cafe Okawari (236 Townsend St, San Francisco, CA 94107). Everything we ordered was great! The spicy tuna don wasn’t what I initially expected. It was more like minced tuna rather than chunks, but it paired wonderfully with wasabi and Japanese soy sauce, similar to poke. Highly recommended! After dinner, I headed to the Hub to wrap up some lab planning, work on my side project, and write a blog post.
Lab Work
Chemistry
- SJ-1-11 work-up, purification, check NMR
- Usually, I filter out an acid product from ester hydrolysis whenever I notice solid precipitation at low pH. However, this time I simply followed a protocol that involved extracting with EtOAc. Despite performing four extractions (including some MeOH to pull the acid into the organic phase), I still observed product remaining in the aqueous layer. Eventually, I evaporated the water and performed column chromatography.
- SJ-1-12 work-up, check NMR
- The NMR result was disastrous and messy. The TLC analysis of the NMR sample showed three spots. Thus, I concluded that Boc deprotection on an acrylamide-containing molecule isn’t optimal. It would be better to attach the electrophile at the very end of the synthesis.
- SJ-1-13 rxn, work-up
- This substrate may not be compatible with LiBH4 conditions. Perhaps the Alloc protecting group was cleaved. To clarify why two additional spots appeared alongside the starting material on the TLC, I’ll purify both and analyze them by NMR. A concern here is that they aren’t UV-active at all, so I’ll need to use some staining method to visualize the spots clearly.
Friday, April 18
166.8 lbs (Day 112, starting from 162.6 lbs on Dec 28) | 🏃🏻 Done (4/6) | ★★★★☆
Outside of Work
Leg day is always brutal and exhausting😵, but the feeling afterward is incredible. I had the final session of my first minicourse. The course has been somewhat challenging for me due to my heavy class load, but I gained valuable insights into chronic inflammation and disease, particularly the link between inflammation and cancer. I’ll organize everything I’ve learned into a single document for easy reference in the future.
After work, I headed straight to the Hub with my friend and finally finished calculating the pocket-aligned RMSD for all ligand-protein complexes I’m interested in. Alongside other structure prediction results, I’m now working on drawing meaningful conclusions from the data.
To celebrate our hard work, we decided to have some delicious food, preferably something warm with soup. We ended up at a ramen place (HINODEYA Ramen Union Square; 219 O’Farrell St, San Francisco, CA 94102). The place was so crowded, but fortunately, we got seated immediately because the people waiting ahead of us were all large groups. Maybe it was because we hadn’t eaten dinner while focusing intensely at the Hub, but the lager tasted exceptionally good. We ordered ramen with extra noodles, and I ate until I was completely full. The karaage was perfectly cooked and delicious! Usually, on weekdays, I just eat prepped meals, so ending the day with such delicious food felt great🙂
Lab Work
Chemistry
- SJ-1-13 purification
- Last time, I purified the same reaction on a smaller scale using DCM/MeOH conditions, but the results weren’t particularly clean. This time, I switched to Hex/EA conditions, but the outcome seemed worse. The chromatogram from the flash column wasn’t ideal, showing a broad peak around the product spot, and the yield was suspiciously higher than the theoretical maximum. I’ll need to confirm the purity by checking NMR on Monday.
- SJ-1-14 rxn, work-up, purification
Saturday, April 19
167.2 lbs (Day 113, starting from 162.6 lbs on Dec 28) | 🏃🏻 Missed (4/6) | ★★★★☆
Today was the Berkeley X Stanford Sports Day hosted by KGSA (Korean Graduate Student Association), held at Roble Field on the Stanford campus. Technically, UCSF is no longer part of UC Berkeley—historically, UCSF functioned as the medical branch of Berkeley, but over time it has grown into a fully independent institution. So, strictly speaking, I wasn’t really supposed to be part of the event. However, as I’ve mentioned before on this blog, one of my Korean friends, who’s in the joint UCB/UCSF ㅓㅐ BioE PhD program, has been involved in KGSA activities. Thanks to that, UCSF students like me have recently been able to join in as well. Since there are fewer than ten Korean grad students at UCSF, we haven’t been very active in events like this. But opportunities to meet new people are rare, so I decided to participate the event with my friends. Before heading out, stopped by a café for a delicious lavender latte and some baked goods.
The weather was perfect, which definitely added to the fun, but the main reason I had such a good time was how well-organized and varied the activities were. It really felt like I’d returned to childhood. After a tasty catered lunch, we kicked things off with a big group OX quiz, split into teams (8 different teams. I think nearly 70 people showed up), came up with team names, and competed in games like group jump rope, a flipping-tile game, and tug-of-war. We sat on picnic mats just like in the photo—eating, chatting, and relaxing. A friend took that photo of me from behind, and it made me realize just how short my hair is now. Honestly, it might be as short as it was during military service🤦 Also, I didn’t realize how badly my arms were getting sunburned until they turned completely red like carrots.
I ran into a college friend from my chemistry undergrad days and even a classmate from pharmacy school, so I ended up having some great conversations too. There’s really no reason not to go again next year, especially if I can go with friends again. After getting home, I passed out for a solid nap. Didn’t do anything special afterward. Just caught up on YouTube, did a bit of housework, worked on an assignment. Tomorrow, I must send an update on my side project!
