Done with 11 minutes to spare! Done with the written part, that is. For Bioengineering at Penn, our qualifying exam consists of a mini research grant proposal and then an oral defense of that proposal. We have two weeks to prepare for each part. The first part was definitely harder for me; coming up with experiments is not my strength, nor is discussing topics that are relatively unfamiliar to me. I find it weird that the spirit of the assignment is to become an expert in some sphere of research within two weeks…but this seems to be a common theme in grad school.

Needless to say, I was a frazzled mess last week, madly reading and writing, in between watching the ridiculous ref’ing at the World Cup(!). Seriously, check out the merits of instant replay, FIFA, or at least goal line sensing technology. Between WC watching and QE writing, my diet and exercise routine fell apart – when I don’t hold myself accountable, boy do I go to town. Oh well. Ice cream is brain food, I say. But the important thing is to get back on track, so here we go:

June 28

• Breakfast: frosted mini-wheats
• Lunch: arugula salad with broccoli and ranch dressing, plus tilapia for protein. Salad could have used more embellishment, maybe some cheese or fruit.
• Snack: ice cream!
• Dinner: bottom round roast and a bowlful of cherries. I guess I wasn’t very hungry because I ate a pound of steak yesterday. Oops.
• Exercise: went to zumba, but I was so mentally and physically tired that I didn’t get much out of it.
• Weight: 123 lbs. Could be that pound of steak.

June 29

• Breakfast: frosted mini-wheats
• Lunch: we shall see. Currently watching Paraguay-Japan in OT. WTF IS UP WITH THIS REF?!?!!! Okay, lunch: arugula salad with broccoli, cheese and prosciutto.
• Dinner: bottom round roast, mint chocolate chip ice cream.

June 30

• Breakfast: scrambled eggs, large caramel macchiato.
• Lunch: needle noodles from Sang Kee Noodle House. Like Starbucks, this place is highly suspect of receiving way too much of my income. Needle noodle is a thick tapioca noodle (i think), one of my favorites!
• Dinner: some appetizers from MidAtlantic in West Philly with Karla! We had the pig wings, cheese dumplings, and crab-crusted scrapple. Interesting food, a little too rich and heavy but glad we tried the place. It’s super-duper close to lab, so I probably will be back.