I had the great privilege of doing my post-doc along side some smart and colorful folks.  Fellow post-docs from various parts of the world. In particular I was fortunate to have worked with some folks who came to the USA as Soviet scientists in 1990. Later all but one went back as Russian scientists.  This one in particular was a stunning beauty from near Lake Baikal in Siberia.  She was a first-rate experimentalist who was built like a fashion model from Paris.  She had “The Look”.

I recall the time she and I went to the Symphony.  She was dressed in a short and slinky green dinner dress with a plunging neckline below those electric eyes and high cheekbones.  I was a freshly divorced and mildly oafish- an ethnic Iowegian- chronically depressed and wrapped accordingly in a poorly fitting blue sport coat with tattered khaki slacks.  Just call me “Goober”.  OK. That’s Dr. Goober.  Of course, this was Texas so I fit right in …

As we entered the lobby, I could hear the necks creaking as heads craned in our direction with the odd slapping noise as jaws dropped to the floor. My colleague had that affect on people. Well, I’m not actually stupid. I could tell we were at the receiving end of many furtive glances.  But they were not admiring glances. They were questioning glances. As if to ask “What is that goddess doing with that imbecile?”  Now, being recently divorced and not unaccustomed to being stomped in the head by women, I took it in good humor and in stride.  For this lovely Russian beauty and I were dear friends and colleagues and it was my great privilege and pleasure enjoy the concert with her that evening in that stunning auditorium in San Antonio.

Today she is the Director of Chemistry for a startup pharma company. And me, well I’m a blogger.  Some months after this occurance, I attended a Gynocology convention with a friend who was doing her residency in OB-GYN. But that is another story.