#MyBigBreak Blog Carnival

Over at his place, Chemjobber has (unbeknownst to him, but knownst to us) begun a Blog Carnival around the topic of lucky employment breaks. Here's mine, albeit edited to protect names of the innocent...

My Freshman year at Big State University passed unceremoniously, as many do. Made lots of cultural and personal adjustments. Some courses aced, some classes ignored, all in pursuit of a major I thought I enjoyed. Enter Sophomore year, when I had the standard eye-opening, life-altering epiphany all self-identified organikers have upon taking O-Chem 201. But that's not where My Big Break(TM) occurred.

Fast forward to the weekly Chem Colloquium, in which speakers from the outside world came in to advise we burgeoning chemists how life looked on the other side of college. Once, a wild-haired, soft-spoken gentleman visited from the Big City. He worked in pharmaceutical chemistry, and I'll never forget something he said at the end of his talk: "Interns Wanted." Yes, we were being pitched to finish his presentation! At that moment, years of summer toil checking bags, cleaning parking lots, mopping floors, updating registers,* sharpening pencils*, and preparing transparencies* paled in comparison to WORKING IN BIOTECH. I somehow bulled my way to the front of the lecture hall in time to grab the last open slot on his roster. 

The rest, as they say, is history... 

--
*This was before the Internet, tablet PCs, and wide adoption of PowerPoint. Ask your parents.

JLC Turns Three!

Original Art Credit: Jon Lam (@tyrannos00r)

Wow, everyone. I feel so honored and humbled that you visit my tiny little corner of the Internet sometimes.

Thank you for your continued support and online interactions.

And now, some Salient Factoids from Year 3!
(Year 1 recap | Year 2 recap)

Stats:

Pageviews: 724,000+
Total Posts: 458
Total Tweets (ongoing): 16,900+
Blog Carnivals: 1 #RealTimeChem

(Could it be that ChemCarnivals have dropped out of favor? Or am I just not playing along like I should be?)

Podcasts (4): Collapsed Wavefunction's Bad Science in the Movies, Chemjobber's Start-up Adventure, Calcium Redux, Plagiarism Roundtable

(I still owe you guys those chemical pronunciations...I haven't forgotten!)

Elsewhere: Carrie Arnold of Science Careers asked me about grad school. Still pinch-hitting at Food Matters. I spoke with reporters from Nautilus and Chemistry World, but I've not yet seen their stories.

R.I.P. The Haystack, my first blogging home.

Recurring Themes: Cool reactions (hydrogenation, peroxides, Pauson-Khand, cyclobutanones, ghostly copper); start-ups, #MegaPharma, faculty moves, corrections, #chemjobs, activism, stock photo WWWTP?, book reviews, cool structures

Blog Carnival: Chemistry at the Movies

Ready to give your Oscar speech?

"Do you like apples?"
I just deduced the (incorrect) structure of ibogamine
on a napkin without using a spectrometer.
How do you like those apples?

Dust off the black-tie evening wear and rent that limo, because in two weeks we'll be hosting another blog carnival, called "Chemistry at the Movies." 

Why the theme?* A few weeks back, Dr. Rubidium, CJ, and I recorded a podcast which dove into our favorite chemistry-inspired movie moments. We quickly realized that there were simply too many to recount, and we should encourage a wider audience to play along.

We'll schedule the posts to appear in ~2 weeks (4/15-4/19), which will provide a good warm-up to get excited for #RealTimeChem week (4/22). 

Ground Rules:

1. The 'chemistry moment' should come from an actual movie or other recording (TV, YouTube, etc). No magazine ads, books, or Internet memes this time around.

2. Please try to write something new; no fair recycling an old post from another carnival. 

3. Whenever possible, use visuals: pictures, diagrams, structures, or short clips are encouraged. If you want to stage a re-enactment of a famous movie scene, I won't stop you...

When you're done, you can either post on your blog and I'll link to it (preferred), or I'll take entries by email (seearroh_AT_gmail_DOT_com) and post them on Just Like Cooking. If you've posted something, send me a line at @seearroh or use the hashtag #ChemMovieCarnival.

Anyone interested in chemistry and writing can participate. We want to hear from new bloggers and old salts alike. 

See you at the movies!

*On a sadder note, the carnival also serves to commemorate the passing of long-time film critic Roger Ebert, who died yesterday at age 70. RIP