Syntetik TOM

 It has been busy, rough, stressful and hopeless at times ... but I managed somehow to proceed towards final stages of my synthetic route. I am almost there. Few weeks are left and I am counting my days as PhD scholar. Soon, very soon these days are over. Inj the coming post I would like to summarize what I was involved during my past several months, better explain what I have learned and what my future aspirations may be. I believe that this stressful time of writting my Thesis down will go just fine and new horizons in industry will be soon reachable. Talk to you soon.

I was born in Slovakia in 1990. My parents and their families have lived in previous regime. They disliked it very much. They were tremendously excited for freedom coming in democracy package thanks to Velvet revolution. It was not all easy especially during Mečiarizmus era, but we made it to EU and NATO. Thanks godness! I remember them being truly happy about joining European community.  When I was little, My father told me: You know, I used to dream about being born in Switzerland, but I could have also been born in some poor African country or harshly opressing land. That made me think a lot. I have this conversation vividly in my mind, as if it was just days back. How about being born and lived in Ukraine? I disagree with the oppression, that people of Ukraine experience. It is pointless war. Barbarian attack. Sad, very sad. People are dying. Families are torn apart. Fatherless children, hopeless mothers.  As a scientist, father and son, I ask myself - what would I do - in the thei

Sú tomu približne 2 týždne, kedy počty infikovaných začali v Rakúsku pomaly stúpať. Moje ranné čítanie novín v metre si povšimlo túto vec: Rozdiel v opatrení medzi Slovenskom a Rakúskom. Rakúšania sú si príchodom omikronu istí. Odmietajú ďalší lockdown a preto opätovne vyzývajú k rešpektovaniu a dodržiavaniu opatrení (nosenie FFP2 nasiek aj vonku v prípade rušných miest, povinné očkovanie a aj trapná očkovacia lotéria).  Preklikol som na slovenské správy a prišlo mi, že z opatrení sa upúšťa. Rozumiem, ekonomika musí šlapať, ale šírenie vírusu nezastavíme tým, že si budeme nahrávať, že situácia s mutantom delta je za nami a omikron bude "hádam" len takou vysokonákazlivou chrípočkou.   Hovorím preto manželke, že pri tak smutne nízkej zaočkovanosti oboch krajín (druhodávkari 74.7% vs 46.3%, s posilňujúcou dávkou 48.1% vs 22.7% [ Rakúsko vs. Slovensko], 17/01/2022) je na mieste pýtať sa, prečo ľudia na Slovensku žijúci s ca. 20% menej zaočkovanou populáciou idú do boja s omikr

 It is Saturday, Dec. 18, day after the last group meeting of 2021. On Friday, we exchanged few small Christmas presents as SUGAR&INI research group. The message reads this:  Dear all, thank you so much for your Christmas presents! Especially , I thank you all for your dedicated work on the projects, for your creativity,  dedication and enthusiasm,  for your excellent team work and endurance in these uneasy times.  I wish you all health, happiness and success in the coming year. Alla It just warmed my heart. It is good to know, you work under the supervision of somebody, that cares and appreciate your efforts. What a feeling! It really did excite me for the upcoming year 2022. 👦💨✌ Merry Christmas, everyone (and chemists especially)!

 As a synthetic organic chemist, I spend hours and hours in the lab performing experiments. Another chunk of my time is spent by the computer to analyze the data, writing reports, presentations, networking with other scientists, that may turn out to be my future colaborators and dear life-long friends. A week has 7 days, but spending them all in work are debilitating (I did this for 2,5 weeks in a row at my first employer, just to see how it feels). I found myself to be less creative and uninventive, working more in a robotic fashion.  As we speak more openly and more often about the work-life balance, I appreciate having weekends off. I love Saturdays especially. I call it a day for a trip or as I would tell Anetka, our 2 year-old daughter "Ideme na výlet". It is the time, when I can solely spend valuable moments with my daughter. Although, she is still unable to understand things I say, I can sense, she enjoys me talking to her ... and who knows, perhaps she actually gets s

 It has been a while since I posted on my blog. Early this year I set up some goals to reach by The end of The year 2021. Major one was to present at ACS Fall 2021 Conference in Atlanta, US.  Although I could not travel to Atlanta, I shared my results with a carbohydrate community. Surely, lots of things had to be finished in order to have a sufficient material to present. So, starting with May 2021, I fell into a lab rat mode - doing my best during regular 6:50 - 16:30 synthetic lab time followed by NMR checks, data updates, presentation preparations etc, after kids were sound asleep. At The end I did have enough material to confidently share my work. Brat in mind, that I am in 1,5 yrs of PhD program with 2,5 months gone from The lab due to COVID-19 with additional compulsary shift schedule ... Two weeks prior to conference, I Went on to slides’ preparation.