Statistically Significant

Another week in the life of Hoxie.

Very productive week at work. After the office being relatively empty for the last couple of weeks, people were back from vacations and ready to start the new year. I suppose it’s a bit of a strange time to be working at Biogen Idec, though… our president of R&D, Dr. Cecil Pickett, retired earlier this year and has yet to be replaced, and it was just announced that our CEO, Jim Mullen, will be leaving in June. As a lowly statistical geneticist, I have no idea of the political turbulence behind the scenes, but there are definitely going to be some new people in command in the coming year.

More directly relevant to my day-to-day operations is the fact that the woman who sits next to me, Lena, had her last day on Friday as she starts a new job at another Cambridge biotech company. Lena and I used to arrive at the office early and have fun chatting for a few minutes; it was a really nice part of the day that’s disappearing. Lena, the four individuals she supported, and I went out lunch yesterday to say goodbye (I’m not sure why I was invited, but it was really nice of them). Good luck at your new job, Lena!

In other news, when I was at BU, the artist Girl Talk became popular with the college crowd. When I listened, I actually wasn’t that impressed… I love mashups, but I had heard most of the stuff he was doing. Where, you might ask? Best of Bootie. If you’ve never listened to mashups or are looking for some awesome combinations of popular music, head over to the BoB archives and go crazy. Some years are better than others, but I’ve been downloading these every year since 2005 and have yet to be really disappointed. 2009 is excellent, too. And once you’ve seen what can be done with the genre, you should check out the best mashup album I’ve ever heard: A Night at the Hip-Hopera. (This is all free and legal, by the way, so go wild.)

Finally, I learned late this week that I’ll be going skiing at the end of the month! Biogen Idec runs trips/events every once in a while, and at the end of January, I’ll be going on the company ski trip. We’re going up to Mount Stratton for what will be my first skiing experience ever! Let’s hope that those years of rollerblading pay off…

Another week in the life of Hoxie.

Work flew by this week.  We had a big meeting with a few consultants on Friday afternoon, so I spent most of the week supplying slides, charts, and analyses for the event.  (It went very well!)  A few hours before the meeting, the department went out to lunch at Sandrine’s, in Harvard Square, which was very tasty and a lot of fun.

I also had my first really cold commutes this week.  I always check the weather on my iPod before heading out in the morning, and on Wednesday, I was greeted with a “17, feels like -2.”  Stupid wind chill.  After getting geared up, though, the only parts of me that were really cold were my hands (through ski gloves, mind you) and the parts of my face that were exposed to the wind.  (C’mon, Santa, bring me that wool balaclava and those glove liners!)

I get a break from the Boston cold this week, though, as I escaped the Great Blizzard of 2009 yesterday morning.  I’m only taking a week off, so I need to make the best of it with Christmas shopping, time at the beach, playing with Dante, seeing friends, and eating good food.  (Did anyone else who recently graduated get spoiled by the month-long vacations that accompany college semesters?  I did!)  Went to see Avatar in 3D with the family earlier this evening, and absolutely loved it.  Breathtaking, awesome, beautiful, powerful movie.  Seriously, stop reading this and go see Avatar now.

Hoping to finish grad school apps once and for all tomorrow morning, then enjoy a week of fun in the sun!