Second Joint Meeting📚
Sunday, August 31
165.0 lbs (from 165.4 lbs on Aug 24) | 🏃🏻 Done (6/6) | ★★★★
I went to the same yoga studio for the second time. Fortunately, the session felt quite a bit easier😁 than my first class, which makes sense since that first one was about one and a half times longer and the instructor’s style was more rigorous… I am still a beginner but it was a relaxing hour, not that it was easy.
Right after class, my friend and I stopped by a matcha cafe (Stonemill Matcha, 561 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110) I had seen in a lot of videos. We arrived before eleven, so it was quiet, but a long line had formed by the time we left. The beverages were nice, and the matcha tart was excellent. I definitely recommend it.
Back home I met the friend I helped move and we went to Costco for groceries. He wanted to see how I do meal prep for a week, so I walked him through the process step by step. It felt a little awkward to be watched while cooking…😅 I also recommended a few YouTube channels and explained how to divide calories into macronutrients (carbs, protein, and fat), to gain or lose weight effectively. Hope it helps.
After finishing the meal prep, I cleaned my place, rested, and wrote part of this week’s blog. I am not going to postpone it, especially now that I have a bit more time.
Monday, September 1
166.2 lbs (from 165.4 lbs on Aug 24) | 🏃🏻 Rest (0/6) | ★★★★
Today is a national holiday (Labor Day), and the gym was closed. So I went for a run with my friends (about an hour) in the morning, which was a great start to the day. I spent the day preparing for my one-on-one with Kevan tomorrow and a three-person meeting with Bill and Kevan the day after. I usually send a pre-meeting note that includes 1. a possible agenda, 2. a progress summary, and 3. unresolved action items from the last meeting. It takes some time, but every professor tells me, “Thank you for being so organized.” It makes the meeting more efficient and gives everyone a clear record of what we discussed. I also sent a post-meeting summary, which is also what I highly recommend for every meeting. I will go for a run again when I have no plans like today. For me, even a small amount of movement helps me stay focused over the long term.
Tuesday, September 2
164.8 lbs (from 165.4 lbs on Aug 24) | 🏃🏻 Done (1/6) | ★★★☆
I hit the gym in the morning and spent the rest of the day preparing for meetings. The meeting with Kevan went well; he always gives me enough time to articulate my thoughts. He never rushes, and he is a great listener as well as a great speaker. I truly admire my PIs for their humility and enthusiasm despite all they have accomplished; many people might grow arrogant or indifferent, but they do not.
I decided to write a thesis progress report every two weeks to organize everything I am learning. I am still in the early phase, and there are many considerations and ideas I will need to revisit. The report will help me and will also help my PIs, who are too busy to remember every detail of my project, so it will be a win-win. After work, I fell asleep right away, then woke at 3 a.m. to finish preparing for the second joint meeting.
Wednesday, September 3
164.2 lbs (from 165.4 lbs on Aug 24) | 🏃🏻 Done (2/6) | ★★★★☆
Today felt like a swamp of work. I had two group meetings from two labs, with my second joint thesis meeting right in between, so I skipped lunch and stayed busy all day. Fortunately, the joint meeting went great. I now have a more doable Aim 1 (Bill called it a “warm up”), and they shared a lot of helpful insights on my concern, so it was very productive. I left with almost eight action items 😂, but you know clear action items are always better than none or vague directions. I am excited to make progress and share results at the next joint meeting. They also recommended a list of qualifying exam committee members that looks like the Avengers😳 They encouraged me to reach out even though they are very busy.. will see how it goes.
Thursday, September 4
163.9 lbs (from 165.4 lbs on Aug 24) | 🏃🏻 Done (3/6) | ★★★★★
Today was quite busy to start with. I edited the manuscript again, compiled the SI with a more user-friendly README, and prepared a separate file that contains all the figures used in the paper. It is amazing how every time I (or someone else) reads the draft, something new needs to be added or corrected🤪 I cannot imagine how painful a year-long major revision would be.
For the rest of the day, I listened to the recording from yesterday’s meeting and wrote a post-meeting summary email. It takes time, but the first attempt already proved how useful it is, so I will keep doing it. Many transcription tools exist now, including the basic Apple Notes app, so this is much easier than before. I do not pay for a cutting-edge app for this, and the current setup is enough, especially with help from other generative AI tools.
While organizing my thoughts, a Korean postdoc helped me a lot through many discussions. I really appreciate how active and kind he is🥹
After the busy workday I went for another run. This time I wanted to go farther than last time and reach Pier 39 from campus. The weather was not great (sorry for Korea😇), windy and chilly, but the run was still very pleasant, about an hour to get there. I bought donuts with milk, which was soooo delicious combination after running (never fails). I came home by Lyft, which recently expanded the area where UCSF students can ride to from anywhere with a ten-dollar discount. Last month the area was limited to campus, so I could not ride directly home. But thankfully, now it is available. It supports fifteen rides a month, which can easily save about one hundred dollars! The morning gym session plus the night run left me a bit exhausted, but I felt great and slept very well.
Friday, September 5
163.6 lbs (from 165.4 lbs on Aug 24) | 🏃🏻 Done (4/6) | ★★★★☆
Workout in the morning, kept editing the manuscript, sent the meeting summary, had an unexpected but productive meeting with Bill, and started removing action items from the last meeting. Another productive day☺️
Today was the last day for a graduate student who recently accepted a job at a protein design AI company that will pay him roughly twice his first offer. He helped me grasp the basics of designing de novo small molecule binders and was a terrific teacher. It was also the last day for a postdoc who just got a faculty position after a strong paper. We celebrated with lunch, a group photo, and cake.
It is always great to see people leave with satisfactory results and a clear direction. I am sure it will feel sadder once I have been in the lab longer and have to say more goodbyes, but I’ve only been here five or six weeks. Congratulations to them both. I wish them all the best in their personal and scientific lives!
Saturday, September 6
164.8 lbs (from 165.4 lbs on Aug 24) | 🏃🏻 Done (5/6) | ★★★★★
Maybe because of the cake I ate yesterday, my weight went up again. So I made up for it with a brutal leg day. I am never fully used to that pain, and I do not feel the same intensity in other sessions. My heart rate spiked to ~190 and it was literally painful, but the soreness is oddly satisfying and keeps me coming back. To be honest, it feels like a heavy burden, so I keep legs to once a week and hope the extra running will help.
After the morning workout I went to the library, uploaded a joint thesis progress summary for my PIs and nearly finished this week’s blog post. I also adjusted my BITU short-term swing investment (started last month). I realized I am not the type who truly enjoys high volatility, so I changed my buying schedule from twenty to forty trading days to make the cost averaging more conservative. BITU seems to have a relatively lower correlation with the NASDAQ, so pairing one NASDAQ tracker with one Bitcoin tracker like BITU might be a better hedge than having two NASDAQ funds. I will keep Bitcoin exposure in the portfolio, but should cap it at about ten percent of my principal since I am not sure it will grow like a traditional index.
Later on, I visited HK Lounge Bistro (1136 Folsom St, San Francisco, CA 94103) and had pan-fried shrimp and chive dumplings, sizzling rice soup with minced seafood, and mapo tofu. All were delicious, but the dumplings were on another level. I will go back to try more dim sum😋 Back home, I went for a short run because I had already hit legs, and I am going to the yoga studio tomorrow. A well-balanced Saturday!
