This is the End, Beautiful Friends

I've washed my hands and sit in front of this monitor. Although my Mac Book Pro arrived in the morning, I want
this very blog to be fully made with my old PC. This is it, my beloved readers: once I'll have revised what I
wrote, I'll press the "blog it" button for the last time. This is the last post of the Half Decent Pharmaceutical Chemistry Blog. I strongly suggest upgrading
your bookmarks/links so that, when looking for the Half Decent Pharma Chem Blog, you reach the permanent archive, which will be completed on
August 28.

Tonight (it's 11 pm, here in Bologna, Italy), I want to write a very personal and intimate post, about me:
Albert. That's why yesterday, on a bizarrely rainy July day, I wandered around and took pictures of my home town.
However, I won't show banal photographs a tourist might take or someone considering a trip to Italy would
appreciate. What you'll see is a collection of the places with a particularly important meaning for me. Like this
blog, they have had a strong impact on my life and, somehow, I feel this last trip must encompass these stops.

We begin with a picture of a small square 100 meters from my house.

Even before the end of high school, my aim was to leave this city once graduated: during that period, my idea was to
focus on drug synthesis and, in particular, I dreamt of working for some huge pharmaceutical company (especially
Swiss giants such as Novartis or Roche) abroad. Basel, a lovely city in northern Switzerland looked as the ideal
destination. However, my ideal destinations, as well as my interests for my future career, changed over the years:
the only thing that always remained unaltered was the idea of moving abroad and beginning a new life somewhere else.

My friends have often heard my projects, but I guess few of them, if any, perceived how I love the part of Bologna
where I've grown up. On the edge of the medieval centre, it has always looked a depressed area, with small,
crappy shops opening and rapidly going out of business. I would even say that, at night or under the rainy, it is a
rather gloomy place, but wouldn't change a bit of it: walking there at night, when heading for home, still is
cheerful.

I've always preferred nights to mornings or afternoons for walking in the city: that's because I like
solitude, sometimes. Together with listening to music or cycling, this is an incredibly relaxing experience, that I
manage to repeat regularly, on a monthly basis.

This is my favourite spot of the centre.

Perhaps, the main reason is because it's normally deserted at night, with no clubs, no pubs, only shops obviously
closed. There's reason for it: sometimes, you just feel you belong to some place.

My life isn't just wandering around like a mental, or a romantic. Education has played a key role in my life,
especially because both of parents are teachers. I've never liked to talk about it, but, well, this is my primary
and secondary school. A public one.

Unlike England or the US, state schools are a way better than their counterpart. Public schools are for stupid rich
people who basically want to pass to the next class without studying, and, so, they are ready to pay a lot.

The only reason why I attended such an appalling place, is that my mother used to work there and it was more
practical for her to have her child spending most of his time in the same place where she was: to sum up, it was some
sort of nursery.

Fortunately, my high school was, by a large margin, the toughest and most demanding one in town.

Here, I learnt an incredible amount of thing, for which I'm still grateful to my teachers. Although ancient Greek
and Latin were main subjects, Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology weren't certainly underestimated. Italian and
English literature, Art History, Gymnastics, History and Philosophy completed the portrait of an excellent education.
Take that: still believe Italian education not to be in the same league as the English and American ones?!

During those years I grew up, from every point of view. This wasn't "just a square". Now it is. Life
moves on, fortunately.

The years of the high school and university haven't been all wild parties and binge drinking. Still, for example,
this square, very popular among students and, generally, youngsters, was the setting for my first go with a joint.

More reassuring is, from some points of view, this small road, full of pubs and very close to my house, where I still
like to spend most of my nights out with friends or, in a past which is now dead and gone, alone.

I got drunk only 4-times in less almost 8 years: I don't know that's because I can handle alcohol
particularly well or I can't lose control when it comes to going to a pub with friends to celebrate anything.

Finally, we are back at home: I've chosen an elevator to symbolize the passage from this half-decent, ground
level to a higher level, that I hope to reach with the Euchromatic Blog.

I know I've been tedious, putting a link to the new site in almost any post since the official announcement, but
that was to make it reach a higher place in Google ranks.

This journey is over. I just want to thank all of you for reading, sometimes leaving a comment, quoting this blog,
making me feel what I was doing was meaningful, even though I might have done for my unique pleasure.

So far, this blog proved to be one of the best things I've ever done in my life. And that's something you
made possible. Thank you very much for reading, from the bottom of my heart. See you in September.

Yours sincerely

Albert

Next Exit

"We ain't going to the town

We're going to the city"

Three days, and then this blog will close down. I've just got back from a weekend in the country, at my
aunt's, where I tried to relax but instead what I did was eating nearly always (at least that's what I
remember) and ended up with headache, which is the reason why this post isn't very long.

There are many things to do this week: first, I have to receive my new Mac Book Pro (almost certainly on Thursday), a
new digital camera and webcam I bought on the internet, the last to be used by my parents to video call me once in
London.

Then, I hope it won't take too much time for the idiots who work at the University of Bologna to make my
certificate of graduation available for download: then, I must get it signed by some bored secretary so that it could
be officially sent to Imperial College.

Speaking of which, I'll soon write to my future boss to inform him I've made it through my degree course and
look forward to October and my new project.

Last but not least, I have to help my parents solve a problem my father accidentally cause with our telephone and,
more importantly, internet account.

Oh, and on top of this, I'll often be in the lab, to complete the expansion of a stably transfected cell line
that ought to be stored in liquid nitrogen before Monday 28, when I'll leave for a deserved 7-days holiday and
both the lab and department will be closed for Summer vacations. Moreover, my supervisor kindly, but repeatedly,
begged me to tidy up my drawers and boxes of cells, drugs, bacteria, electro-competent bacteria, protein extracts,
etc. A monumental job, to tell you the truth.

But there's something else I really do mean to do: writing the final post for this blog, to be released on
Tuesday 22. Although I won't leave this city or country before the mid September, tomorrow night I'll take my
time to wander across the roads and streets of this place, maybe taking photographs, certainly gathering and ordering
thoughts for the end of this journey.

Pomp and Circumstance

So, today I've finally completed my race: today was graduation day! Yes, finally I'm no longer an undergrad!
To be honest, I'm pretty tired right now. In the morning, I woke up early and went to the lab, all dressed up in
my suit. At 11:30 am, my group leader arrived, having flown across the Atlantic Ocean during the night from Boston. I
looked fine, although he admitted he felt a bit weird, even if managed to sleep on the plane.

I did my last revision of my speech in front of the whole group. At 12:45 pm, I cycled all the way from the lab to
the place where the ceremony would have taken place: although I was scheduled to speak at 3 pm, I wanted to check how
my slides looked on that computer: as I'm sure now, you can run into troubles, especially if your presentation
features idiotic animations (needless to say, mine had none of them).

Luckily, today the weather has been cloudy, but not rainy, and, as a result, not too hot: this means, cycling
didn't make me sweaty or hot. My tie knot remained perfect as well.

Oddly, my friends and relatives all arrived very early too: I was a bit disappointed because, otherwise, I would have
had time for cycling a bit more, while listening to energetic tunes. Something I've always done before exams, as
it relaxes me incredibly.

However, today I was all but nervous: I was looking forward to the moment I'd have stood up in front of many
people and the judging board of professors to describe my thesis project. And it showed: I literally ran over silk,
talking slowly and keeping a relaxed, cheerful attitude the audience (and the board) liked so much, I had people I
didn't know who came after to congratulate with me for the enjoyable speech.

Mind you, molecular biology can be massively entertaining, as the Euchromatic Blog will prove once and for all.

The result was impressive and, at 4 pm, I graduated with the highest mark: 110/110 cum laude. We
also had a buffet party in the centre of the city until 7 pm. My graduation main present, from my parents, as just
been ordered: it's a Mac Book Pro. I literally can't wait for it to arrive, although this is likely to happen
on Monday 28, when I'll be on holiday in Western Sicily with a friend of mine.

Packing and moving

No, I'm not already ready to head for the UK! This blog, though, is ready for its new house: this. I know it doesn't have the same layout
of the original and, sadly, I guess most of the comments will be lost, as, the procedure to move from Lifetype to
WordPress is all but painless. Basically because, to date, no one has come up with a plug-in to do it
straight-forwardly, so, one has to work out an alternative way.

Luckily, I found a nice programme called Zoundry Blog Writer, which lets me download all the posts from this very blog in their practical, XHTML
format. Unfortunately, this doesn't apply to the comments, which should be copied manually. One by one. All the
best ones will survive, of course, but, to be honest, I don't want to spend more than a couple of hours doing it.

Still, the posts will remain on-line forever, and this, I believe, is the most important thing. The archive will open
on August 28, one month before the opening of the Euchromatic Blog.

All things considered, I am pleased of the system I've worked out: although I'll have to do quite a lot of
copy-&-paste, time, date and title of each post will have to be edited by hand and the comments will be, well,
further validated and moderated, having all the posts, data and comments here on my hard disk gives me plenty of time
for opening the archive.

Especially now that the layout of the Euchromatic Blog
is almost ready.

To sum up, everything is in place.

If I were you, I'd check out the blog regularly in its last days of activity…

Hot Town, Summer in the City

So, with less than a week to go before my graduation day, my visual presentation is done, my speech is more or less
ready and the whole G-day has been neatly organized. Still, you might imagine I am still practicing my speech, so
that I'll manage to say a lot in 15 minutes only, which, I'll admit, isn't a short amount of time after
all. So far, my best performance is 16' 21'', recorded yesterday, in the afternoon.

A few minutes ago, on my own, in the dark of my room, I did a poor 19' 46'', but I tend to underestimate
these tests, as, in front of an audience (no matter how big or small), it's always a different matter.

I'm rather pleased I did very well (me not keeping record of the time, though), on Saturday afternoon when,
video-conferencing with my group leader (in the USA until the day before my graduation), I had my first go with him
and it went really well.

Before, I solely practiced in front of my supervisor and another PhD student. Today, I'll repeat it in front of
them. Still, now I've a scheme of what to say about each slide I'll show.

For the very first time in the last 9 months, I feel I've done things not in hurry and it shows. I even managed
to get rid off the schemes and pictures that had always been used in every presentation I've seen in our group
and make them brand new. The result, let me tell you, is profound and I think I'll post here some of them after
my thesis defence.

If I may, there's only one issue: my look for the big day. 9 months of bench work and these last weeks of writing
have all resulted in me being unnaturally pale and thin. Sure the perfect look if I were to move the board to tears,
show compassion or sympathy for someone who managed to squeeze a 12-months project in 9. But this is not my case:
I've always been the type of person who turns up at exams and pretends that he didn't work all that much,
because the exam wasn't that difficult and sort of mock those who experienced physical dramas throughout the
days.

This time, I can't pretend anything.

The weather isn't helping. So far it has been impossibly humid and hot. Sunny, too, but I couldn't find the
time to lie in the sun. What I could do, as you know, is to get injured because of misuse of air con in the lab. How
unfair is that?

Last year, things weren't that different but, luckily, I didn't have to wear an elegant suit and talk in
front of people, which is, to tell you the truth, something I kinda like. Tanning salons look a fast and therefore
appealing solution, but I sincerely doubt whatever radical treatment I were to choose would produce any result but,
perhaps, severe burns (I'm not your typical Italian phenotype: I look a bit like a Brit or a Serb).

All I need is a holiday (well, having reached this part of the year, who doesn't?): summer in the city sucks.
Especially if you have nothing to do. This is actually what I am doing at the moment: waiting and oddly repeating the
same speech. Not very demanding activities, are they?

The worst thing about spending summer time in a city is the sudden lack of people you can go out with for a
refreshing drink at night. And this is epitomized by my graduation party: some of the youngsters who won't turn
up are either busy with concomitant exams or are somewhere in Russia. How can you blame the latter? As a result, no
one from the Chemist's where I did my internship will be present: those on holiday are already very far away from
here, those who aren't…well, you can guess they might be working at 3 pm.

Again: some old, high school mates have exams on that day, and a good friend of mine is reported to be in Russia in
that period.

Perhaps, in places like London it's not a problem, but another thing I deeply hate of summer in the city is the
lack of activities: everyone is gone and you feel lonely. Sure, that's the best time, say, to take pictures of
your town, which is something I'm certainly going to do, but only because I'll soon, finally, leave this
place. Actually, because most of the students go home during these months, Bologna looks very empty, but sort of
cleaner: no drunkards urinating in the streets around the university, fewer junkies sticking nails in their arms
hidden in the corners, less traffic and even some friendly foreign tourist.

However, if, like me, you're the sort of person who must always keep himself busy, doing something to feel well,
you'll understand how frustrating this period could be.

But don't move too far away from the central point of this post: my paleness. If you're on holiday and are
enjoying the pleasure of mildly roasting in the sun, I can only tell you I hate you and I look forward to do the
same. Ah ah ah ah!

On the contrary, if some of you out there is still trapped in the lab or office, because a thesis defence is
approaching and, like me, you're skin is not white but grey, well, although I should show sympathy, I can't
help thinking you're all nuts. Oh, sure, so am I.

Wake me up when September (nearly) ends

This blog might indeed close soon, but fear not: the Euchromatic Blog will open on Monday, September 28! And take a look at how it's going to look!

Of course, that central panel will multiple, every post will have one, as well as the list of links, categories,
whatever. I hope you to admire, on the left, a simple, minimal scheme of what euchromatin is, just to create the
impression of a sort of cascade. This said, it's important to stress that everything will remain very simple and
functional, as this site is meant to be a very relaxing place to visit after a tough day in the lab. Actually, my
intention is to turn it into THE place to unwind for any young scientist out there.

For what concerns the technical part, the site is optimised for 1440×900 resolution and Firefox as browser, although
this solely applies to this preview page.

The real blog will be created on a Mac Pro (look forward to my graduation just for ordering this monster of power),
so the best browser to visualize the site is likely to become Safari.

Stay tuned: touching, concluding, personal posts are about to come.

The Half Decent Pharmaceutical Chemistry Blog: Best Before July 22

As announced, this blog will close shortly after my graduation, which will take place next week (don't worry: the
event will receive full coverage here). Today, it's time to officially reveal the closing date for this blog:
July 22.

After that day, the blog will either be moved to another location (this), as the whole Chemblogs will be shut down,
or remain here. No new comments will be displayed any more, no new post will be published any more and, presumably,
I'll also get rid off all the links on the right, despite the mutual link-exchange agreements previously taken.

Don't be sad, though, because within a couple of days I'll be able to reveal the opening date for the
Euchromatic Blog and let you catch a glimpse of how
it's going to look (at least during the first year). So, stay tuned!

Housing

First of all, I owe you a picture from Tuesday. So, here we go: the (expected) result of an immunoprecipitation,
followed by a double western blot (with two different antibodies).

I'm not going to describe it any further as this was a mere control, although it means a lot to me as this is
very picture is likely to be the last to be displayed on my presentation. I said it's "likely" because
my boss may ask me to repeat a similar experiment (using the same procedure) next week, which, as those who read my
blog regularly and carefully (or have simply met me recently) know, is the one preceding the G-day (G stands for
Graduation, what else?!), whose collocation in the time and space is still unknown to everybody. Theoretically, this
should be the time dedicated to the preparation of my speech, but I've never been able to do things normally and
patiently, so I wouldn't be surprised if I spent next week working as usual. Mind you, I'm carrying out the
selection of a stably transfected cell line, so I'll certainly not spend my days at home, that's for sure.

To tell you the truth, however, the odds are that the selection will be the very last thing I'm to do in this
group, together with a last crop of cryo-tubes of my modified cells and a sort of legacy: a few pages where I neatly
explain where I've put all my stuff, for the benefit of those who might follow my lines of investigations.

Anyhow, let's be brutally honest: today I'm not interested in writing about science. Today I want to turn to
these.

Yes, a couple of street atlases of London, one of the largest cities in the World. I've bought them to finally
have some good reference when I read a description of a flat or house. Given recent tragic episodes, I'd
like to be pretty sure not to end up in some worryingly dangerous part of this already awfully dangerous city.
Luckily, south-east London is of no interest to me, as Hammersmith is in west London. Which, as far as I can tell is
well-known for being the worst part of it. Auch!

Nevertheless, I don't want to end up in one of the ridiculously expensive guest houses at Imperial College: I
know rents in London are more frightening then some of the many illegal immigrants living in its suburbs, but, if I
pay £160-180 a week, I want at least to feel in a shared flat I (sort of ) own a bit of. In other words, I want to
feel really at home, not in a sort of exclusive and expensive college or hotel (without the comfort of the latter).

This said, however, I wouldn't mind living a bit outside London and commuting, especially if this means throwing
away less money for the rent. Especially because I am still considering buying a car: yes, one of those expensive,
petrol-binge-drinking, polluting, out-fashioned, metal things I still like whatever people might say to convince me
that I'm going to waste all of my money.

Mind you, these are just my "guidelines": I haven't seriously looked at any kind of ad so far because,
well, I was rather busy, wasn't I? Nevertheless, I think this week might be a good one to at least begin,
although my latest idea is to go to London in the middle of September and hit the road for a flat while temporarily
staying at a B&B. Sounds smart, doesn't it?

By the way, if you live in London or know someone who does, an email would be much appreciated!

Last Picture

All of a sudden I feel a bit empty. Today, for example, I left the lab at 2 pm and headed home. Once there (perhaps
because it's very hot), I couldn't do anything and missed my bench. Almost 9 months of constant work in the
lab has changed me dramatically and now I'm seriously asking myself what I'm going to do in between my
graduation day and my first day at the CSC.

It's not that I am some sort of crazy workaholic, it's just that I know I need something (anything) to
temporarily substitute for my daily lab routine and it scares me a bit the fact that I can't find it. Sure,
that's probably the sort of commitment every group leader or project supervisor wants to be in their PhD students
but, to tell you the truth, it's a bit frightening to realise you wish to live in the lab: I mean, I've never
been like this! I've often thought that, if I had had a laptop during these months, I'd have spent even more
time in the lab, although this is a feeling I had only after my grandma had passed away. On your own PC you have
your stuff: music, programmes, photos, etc. So, for instance, I would have certainly been a more active blogger.

Today, my supervisor and I have reached the conclusion all is left is to get a Western Blot done, so that I could
prove to my audience that in the HeLa cells I stably transfected with a vector which encodes for a mutated,
catalytically inactive, HA-tagged version of a human Topoisomerase I, this modified protein is actually expressed.
Speaking of which, aren't they adorable? From single, resistant colony, to a growing population.

Therefore, in the next three days, I'll work at what is likely to be my last experiment in this lab. In order to
get the last picture, the last frame to complete the image. Then I'll have a whole week to prepare my official
presentation: a uselessly long time, to be frank with you.

I know in these last posts I've begun to sound gloomy but that's exactly how I planned to conclude this
project before radically changing the tune in the next one. However, for what concerns this moment, an excellent
thing to do would be to make a list of the other things to do: first, I haven't thought of any way of celebrating
my graduation, apart from presents. Usually in Italy, you're supposed to act like a complete idiot just after the
official ceremony and to host a party of some sort for your friends shortly after. I haven't thought about
anything, as I was so obsessed with finishing with the writing-up, that I couldn't care less. And that's
wrong because it's on such occasions that friends usually gave you rich graduation presents! Well, I was joking:
I'd really like to set up something amusing but can't find the willingness to take any decision. In my
defence, I can only say I had laryngitis last week, so I was unable to communicate with the rest of mankind through
my voice.

Another fundamental thing to do is to print out the official, hardcover copies of my graduation thesis: something
pretty costly, to be honest.

Anything else? Well, I must really see my friends to talk seriously about our holiday plans because as this very post
unquestionably proves, I definitely need to have a break.

Last but not least, next week I'll announce the day I'll close down this blog and the day in September when
the E.B. will open.

Stay tuned: my next post will deal with my opinions on the kind of accommodation to look for in London (probably the
most demanding activity to keep myself busy during summer).

Conversations on a veranda

At last, my money! It feels strange to directly receive money from your faculty as an undergrad:
usually, in Italy you university helps those with a low income by reducing fees and taxes, which is an indirect form
of support. Funny as it may sound, the sum (which, after all the taxes have been paid, amounts to €
921.66) was sent to my bank account on Friday, just after I had kindly asked whether there were problems,
given that I had sent all the required documents in the middle of April. Perhaps, they had forgotten or hoped me to
do so…

Theoretically, my wish-list includes a laptop (obviously from Apple, not a Vista-bundled rubbish) and a new digital
camera, in descending order. However, I'm going to receive both as graduation presents: the former from my
parents, the latter by the rest of my relatives. This means I have no clue on how to waste them: my iPod is rather
new and fulfil all my criteria, so there's no need for a bigger and more expensive one. Perhaps the most
intelligent way of spending it would be on a holiday: I'll certainly need a good holiday, especially after these
last days' race against the clock for completing and submitting my graduation thesis. Last night, for example,
during a nice "ice cream party" on a friend's veranda, I seriously discussed with friends about holiday plan,
which, to tell you the truth, if always an excellent subject of conversation.

Anyway, once again, I'm open to your suggestion: if you have better ideas than a week in eastern Sicily, feel
free to share them.