Order of Priority

Order of Priority.

The book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, is talking about "Order of Priority". I thought I knew what is "Order of Priority" but I noticed I didn't fully understand what it was and I just understood the word literally.

What is the Order of Priority in my life?

I was spending my time for dealing with emergencies happened day by day.
I was just spending my time to finish something before a dead line, that not connect to the future.

I need to think more about what isn't priority. This will change my life.

New Year Resolutions

My New Year Resolutions

1. Loss in weight
2. Run 300 km in this year
3. Meet more people and friends
4. Read more papers and books
5. Improve my English

#1
I am gaining weight because of Grave's disease. I stop hard exercises because my doctor said so. However, after the values of a couple hormones become normal, I can start! What I can do know is not to gain more.

#2
Last year, I tried 200 km but I couldn't reach because of my health issues. Especially during last summer, I couldn't run at all. This year, it's getting better so I am able to star running slowly.

#3
It was not good way but I was just concentrated on my research and my life. I sometimes rejected to see people because I wanted to do something more for me, like my experiments and works. However, I published my second paper and it is good time to have a break a little while and to see people, especially my best friends. I guess my friends know very well about me and they don't get angry even I didn't see them because they knew what I want to do and the day will come soon to see them. This is the time to see people!!! I am going anywhere to see you, guys!! Please let me know when you have a time. Let's meet and talk!!

#4
I have never counted the number of books and papers read in a year. So I cannot make exact number for my aim. However, I can start counting what I read during this year. 

#5
Many people know my English grade was so bad especially when I was a high school student. I had a wonderful time at San Diego for one year during my high school year and it helped me so much because become a little more like English classes in Japan. Before that, I didn't like English classes because I didn't understand why I have to study English in the way i learned and it was not fun even I wanted to communicate with people in the world with English and I love speaking English! I felt the English study in Japanese high school was just for passing examinations to get into a good university. Now, I love study English because It's not for a grade or examinations but for myself. My aims for English are more than 900 in TOEIC and 1400 in Lexile measure!

Happy New Year, 2014!!!

Happy New Year to Everyone!
I hope every one of you have a wonderful year 2014!!

I didn't write much last year. I can add a reason because I was busy but it not the reason because I could make a time to write if I wanted and I needed. Actually I didn't feel like to write but I want now.

Actually I was very busy for a whole year 2013.

I attended two international conferences at Boston and Kobe (Japan) and one domestic one. I also published two academic papers last year. For the second paper, we just got the acceptance on 27th December! I was so happy and excited to have this notification because I met a requirement for my graduate with this acceptance. I just need to pass the PhD defense in January 2014 for my graduation.

There is a little bit long story behind the internship and my PhD years.

I have been waiting the time comes for eight years. Eight years were long and some people said I was wasting my time. I absented the school two years due to a diagnosis of adjustment disorder, this means I was working too much. After the absence, I came back to the school but I couldn't do anything because of many reasons and I was thinking to quit the school because I didn't have any data to publish. It was right before joining Advanced multi-career training program for PhD students and postdoctoral scholars. I had no idea what I needed to do next so I applied the program and I passed. I did the internship at RAC for three months and I met small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and I learned how to do it. I also had a chance to do my research with SAXS equipment after the internship and I spent 4 months to do SAXS measurement with my research sample. This meeting at RAC and experiences with SAXS completely changed my life!!! They helped my experiment and they gave me great advice and many encouragements when I needed. After I came back from this internship and research at RAC, I started writing a paper with SAXS data using my target proteins. It took a year to hand in a first journal and took one more years to have an acceptance. I want to thank many people who lead me to this success.

Thank you, Mark, a professor at my university. He found this internship, set up and supported all the time. He was the first parson who gave me a hope.

Thank you, Sasaki-san (RAC). If he didn't say YES for the internship, I have never graduate PhD. He gave me big chances and supported my research. He encouraged me all the time and never said no for negotiations with Mark!! He taught me about SAXS equipments. I also had great time with him at Texas.

Thank you, Life Science members, Pierre, Michael, Jim and Joe. Pierre helped the crystallization of my protein and carried out X-ray radiation experiment. Michael also gave me great advises about the crystallization. Jim and Joe also supported this internship and my experiments.

Thank you, Yamano-san and Matsumoto-san (RC). They gave me helpful advices and helped my experiments in Japan after I came back from RAC. 

Special thanks to Angela (RAC), who taught me scientific aspects about SAXS. I didn't know anything about SAXS when I went there first time but she taught me everything about SAXS. She also gave me good advices and encouraged all the time to get data for an academic paper. She also supported to write the paper. Without her help, I couldn't finish my PhD and graduate.

I also really appreciate my colleagues, teachers and friends who helping and supporting me.

I am sorry for waiting very long time to say "thank you" to everyone. I was waiting on purpose because I thought to publish a paper with SAXS data can be one of the expressions to say thank you!!

Again, thank you so much for your support for the last year! I hope you had a wonderful year 2013 and 2014 will be a great year ahead for you!!

Opinion or Complain

I think "opinion" and "complain" is totally different.

To get in touch with people

I got a phone call from a teacher. He taught science at my junior high school. I learned a lot from him even I didn't notice at that time. I still remember some episodes or examples in his class.
It is nice to be able to contact with people who spent time with me. However, it is very difficult to keep in touch with.

So it might be amazing that we have been getting in touch with each other for almost 20 years!!
I had a wonderful minutes with him.

An impressed story

Today, I saw a lady on the train on the way home. She was taking care of a young man who was drunk. She found a seat for him because he couldn't stand. I guess everybody thought they were family and she was his mam. But after he got seat, she started talking with people around her and she said she didn't know him and she just found him on another train. She found him drunk and she was worried so she started taking care of him. She said he told her his station was Shinkoiwa at first. So she got off the train with him at the station and then he got sick and through up at the station. So she took care of him at the station. After that, he still tried to take a train so she was wondered and asked him again which station he wanted to go. He said Funabashi. So she got on the train again with him and the train was we were on.

Already we noticed she was nice and very kind parson at that time. However, the story didn't end yet. She started asking around one where they were going. She want to find a person or people who go to Funabashi because her station was before Funabashi so she couldn't go with him. And then a young man, standing next to her, said he was going to get off the train at Funabashi. She looked so happy when she found the man and she thanked him many times and got off the train at her station. Sure the young man woke the drunk man up at Funabashi station and got off the train with him.

I was very impressed!!!!! How wonderful the old lady was!!!

I think she never thought something in return and she was just worried so she took care of him. I think this is the real warmth. In the world we live in, there are so many things going on at a same time. I think  many people include me try to ignore many things and when we look back, probably  we can add any reason why we ignored a situation or didn't help somebody even if we saw and noticed. We might help a person if he/she was our boss or friend but maybe not if you don't know the person. I want to act like her. If I cannot help everything, there will be something I can do. 

I never forget the very kind and wonderful lady I met today.

What I need to care about.

I saw a sentence. It said....

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

It remainds me how I should think, act, and live in my life.

My mobile phone

My mobile phone has broken three days ago and I lost two year's data which includes address and pictures. If you changed your number and/or e-mail address in last two years, please let me know. Don't forget your name on your message!!!

Evaluating System

There are rating systems everywhere. Companies have these of course. And schools should obviously have some for grading their students.

However, I sometimes see and hear teachers who didn't have any evaluation standard and rate the student by their feelings. For example, in recent day, a man was doing his experiment so hard everyday and night and finally he could have good results on his research and he got A.. On the other hand, in the same laboratory, a lady came Lab early morning and doing her experiments but she was sleeping most of the day time or go somewhere during the afternoon and then no wonder she couldn't have much results for her research but she got A+. Everybody agree if he got A+ instead of her but it was not happened.

We were thinking what makes the differences between them.
The difference we found was "friendliness". She had more general talk with the teacher than he had. It was only we found what she was greater than he did.

However, is it a rational evaluation?
I think the teacher failed to make a rational and precise  evaluation on "To Do Research".

I understand that TEACHER is not a easy job. Teachers are human-beings. They have emotions and have like and dislike. However, still they are teacher for their job. They are human so that they should have a farm evaluation standard. Teachers need to explain the reason why they give the grade and the reason should be accepted by everyone.

I felt so sorry for him because of the grade and the situation. However I want to tell him the grade is just a grade. The most important things are what you learned from your research activities and what you can do right now.  There is always a person who is watching you and know the worth what you are doing.

I want to tell him one more thing.
I knew you studied and worked very hard last three years and I recognized your research. Congratulations on your graduation!!

Japanese Cherry

 

I think many people love this season and cherry blossoms!!! 
Sure I LOVE Japanese Cherry.