To the public at large, you are a regular a-hole

I have discovered another reason to love public radio. I have discovered two new musical artists that I love. The first is LCD Soundsystem which is an electronica band that I heard on Fresh Air. The other is William Elliot Whitmore who is one the other end of the musical spectrum. He sings folk music that is heavy on the banjo (which I love).
Work in the lab is going well for once. I've cleared two big hurdles, namely making sure that things that I need to run the big blue assay haven't been destroyed due freezer melting down last month, in the past week. So I can start doing the big blue assay in earnest.
In other interesting news, an recent study found that African women infected with AIDS can actually cut the rate of transmission to their children by breast-feeding. Read the whole article here . I guess this is just one more reason to breast-feed.

HANK: I'm just so frustrated with Bobby. He thinks insurance is some magic fairy who just waves her wand and makes teenage jackassery disappear.
PEGGY: "Her" wand? I always think of insurance as a boy.

You all know why you're here, you're rich and famous and you can't keep your piehole shut

I mentioned that I have been listening to podcasts at work. I have mostly been listening to science and literature based podcasts, but today I found the best podcast. There is an NPR podcast called the Unger Report that is completely hilarious (which I get from iTunes). It is a 5 minute "satire" report about different topics (like celebs going to rehab which is the source of the quote to the upcoming election). Another podcast that I recommend is EatFeed (which you can get from EatFeed.com). There are two podcasts that I listen to, EatFeed In Season which they discuss what foods are in season and then EatFeed Midwest which discusses the cuisine of the Midwest.

"You could get your arm ripped off and there is no one to sue." - Lucky

That is why God created March, so that people who have never had a hangover will know what it feels like

So for past week or so I have been in kinda of a crappy mood mostly due my ever-lasting cold and work at the lab stretching on for days with no end in sight. But now, I'm in a much better mood. My cold is finally gone (so I can stop blowing my nose every ten minutes!). And work in the lab is going much better. I was finally able to start work on the Big Blue Assay and find out if the freezer meltdown from earlier in the month has really messed eveything up. So far the tissue seems to be OK (which I found out after isolating DNA last week) and the E. coli is still viable. There is really only one more thing that I have to test tomorrow. I've also been listening to all sorts of Podcasts while I work. I'm half way through a lecture series about Medieval England (given at Oxford) as well as NPR books and various Garrison Keillor shows (the title is from a recent "News from Lake Wobegon" airing).
And I have been watching the BBC show "All Creatures Great and Small" which has made me miss home and at also relieved that I decided that I wouldn't want to be a vet (specifically when James doesn't use gloves!). My mom's post about the vets working four hours also made me happy about ruling out that career. I think I would have given up after two hours! I also love that the James and Siegfried wear nice shirts and blazer and then bring work clothes, seems that they should just wear their work clothes. I'm also excited because pledge time on PBS is finally over so I can watch FRONTLINE tonight!

"I've always wanted to see walnut in the wild."- Hank Hill

On the bright side...

As a public health student, I try to stay abreast of public health situations around the world (also because I have always been interested in infectious diseases). Anyway, the United Nations announced yesterday, that a highly virulent strain of tuberculosis known as XDR-TB (Extremely Drug Resistant TB) has been detected in France, Ireland, Israel, Canada, portion of the former Soviet Union, and the United States. This strain has been commonly found in parts of Africa especially due the increased susceptibility of AIDS patients to TB. The expected morality rate of an outbreak of XDR -TB in South Africa is 85% A less virulent strain of TB known as Multiple Drug Resistant TB (MDR-TB). TB is also a major problems in parts of Asia, specifically China and Indonesia. Yesterday was World TB day (read the article here) But the good news is that Eli Lilly has donated $50 million dollars to help supply treatments and enhance surveillance in South Africa. TB is very difficult to track so providing funding for surveillance is key to control/contain epidemics (read the whole article here).

"Oh man. What kind of lefty hootenanny is this?" - Dale Gribble

World Water Day

Today is World Water Day! Did you know that a ten minute shower uses 20 gallons of water? To celebrate World Water Day, I am going to think about ways that I can use less water including taking shorter showers. And I encourage you all to visit WaterPartners International. This organization works to make safe drinking water possible for everyone in the world (and creating sustainable drinking water sources).

"Stage 1 water rationing wasn't too bad -- I just cut out Peggy's Crystal Light. When we hit stage 2, I took away Bobby's bath. But stage 3 is killing my lawn. And that affects everyone." -Hank Hill

"Have it your way, you do-gooding phonies! I hope you all rot in hell! See you next Tuesday." -Nate, Arlen City Councilman

Here is my stress relief

Here are some pictures from the quilt I am working on. This is just one of three blocks completed.










"Bobby, I need you to do two things I pray you'll never have to do again: tape the Cowboys game and get me an apron." - Hank Hill

He was living in a cave, like you do

Today was a very long and slightly frustrating day in the lab. I was there from 9:30 to 7:30pm. I had to prepare syringes for the rat kill tomorrow. Making the syringes took a long time because I couldn't just fill the syringes with anti-coagulant, I had to weigh the syringe with and without the anti-coagulant. I had to do this because this girl who uses the blood plasma prefers to know the differences in mass and not volume (which is what my adviser uses). And as I mentioned to Rachel, she is not particularly nice (or thoughtful) to other people in the lab. I try to be nice to her mostly just so I don't have the deal with her crappy attitude. Doing that was annoying as well as spending about 4 more hours that I planned trying to count cell numbers. I was so frustrated I almost cried (but I didn't). Fortunately, Lucy called tonight so she made me feel much better. And I worked on a quilt that I am making for my Thai friend. I will try to post some pictures of my progress.

"Yep, kids are growing up way too fast, and we have no one to blame but the Dairy Council. They're shooting our milk up with hormones. Your Christina Ag-u-a-leras and your Shakiras are their prototypes." - Dale

Be well, do good work and keep in touch

In Friday's post, I mentioned that I have an exposure experiment that will keep in the lab for most of Saturday and part of Sunday. It actully wasn't too bad mostly because I had decided to download some podcasts to my ipod. So on Saturday morning while I was exposing some blood cells and setting the whole experiment up, I got to listen to Garrison Keillor's News from Lake Wobegon and his Writer's Almanac (source of the title). And then for the rest of the time that I spent in the lab (including when I was there from 9:45 to 11:30pm) I listen to NPR books. This program is basically a collection of book reviews from various NPR shows like "Fresh Air" and "All Things Considered". So my weekend in the lab was quite enjoyable. And I found out about a couple really interesting books that I want to check out.

"I don't think I can ever go back to cocoa!" - Bobby Hill (after drinking coffee)

I knew, the way you know a good melon

I met with my adviser today. Before Spring Break, we decided that I would continue working on the Big Blue assay and stop working on a in vitro blood exposure experiment. Or so I thought. Today she completely blindsided me by saying that on Saturday morning, we (mostly me) are going to start this experiment. As a result, I was in the lab until 7:30pm making the PCBs that I need for the experiment (which wasn't too bad because Jim (the PhD student I work with a lot) was nice enough to help me before he left for the day). So now I have to spend my weekend on this stupid experiment (that will mostly likely not even be in my thesis) instead of trying to actual get completely over my cold. And then there is another rat kill on Wednesday as well as starting to isolate DNA from rat lungs for my Big Blue assay. Tonight, to help me maintain my sanity, I am watching "When Harry Met Sally" . Then I will try to get through the weekend (as Jim told me before he left "One day at a time"). I think Jim has had very similar problems that I have with my adviser (basically she takes forever to make a decision, and even then she may continue to modify that decision) so he is the person who is most helpful to me. I will update about this situation more later.

" I am shocked by your behavior! Can't you see we are here to heal?" - Bobby Hill

Ok I believe you

I went home to surprise my parents (and sister who was surprising my dad for his birthday) last weekend. I was planning on returning back to school on Monday afternoon. Unfortunately, I think the stress and lack of sleep during the previous week finally got to me and I got a really bad cold. I was able to rearrange my meeting with my PI and was able to stay at home until Thursday which was really nice. I got to make soap and check bees with my sister Lucy (ah... just like old times). After she returned to CO, I got to spend lots of time with my mom and dad. I went to the movies with my mom on Sunday night after spending most of the day working on the Sunday crossword. And I got to watch "Cash in the Attic" on BBC America. I don't get BBC America at my apartment and I have been going through serious withdrawal! Even though I was sick, I had a very nice and relaxing time at home, which was exactly what I needed.

"I will take care of it, Hank. Luanne scares easily. That plays into my strengths." - Peggy Hill

I am so ill, I can hardly speak

Replace "ill" with "tired" and that I how I feel. Yesterday was a really long day. We had a rat kill in the morning, which actually went pretty smoothly. Then I spent the rest of the day working on the rat blood including making slides and taking the plasma. Fortunately, I had help so I wasn't at the lab until 8pm. Instead I was finished by 6:30 so I worked on some sequence analysis when I got back to my apartment. The good news is that I don't have lab meeting tomorrow so that almost makes yesterday completely worth it.


"I can't go back home -- my dad's already armed the perimeter." -Joseph Gribble

I could not possibly comment

Here are the top 12 Masterpiece Theater shows:
12. Jeeves and Wooster ( Man oh man do I love Hugh Laurie! And Stephen Fry!)
11. Wives and Daughters (I love this movie so much!)
10. The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders
9. Reckless (I can't even begin to describe how much I love Robson Green)
8. House of Cards (source of the title)
7. Poldark
6. The Jewel in the Crown
5. Prime Suspect
4. Bleak House
3. I, Claudius
2. The Forsythe Saga
1. Upstairs Downstairs
I would like to note that Andrew Davies was the screenwriter for about half of these shows, which makes him my hero (in addition to doing the screenplay for the BBC/A&E version of "Pride and Prejudice").

How to tell if you have watched to much Law and Order? While watching Prime Suspect you yell out: "Don't do that! Anything that you find with be inadmissible in court!"


COACH PALMER: You've tasted chocolate, and now you've tasted failure. Which is more bitter?
KID: Um... I like chocolate more than failure, so that means I should eat more chocolate? I don't understand.

COACH PALMER: Understand this. Any time I think anyone is dogging it, it'll be Bobby Hill. Victory is the carrot and Bobby Hill is the stick.

In case you needed more proof that I am a nerd

Here are my plans for tonight:
6pm: Finish Prime Suspect 2
8pm: Watch The Best of Masterpiece Theater (hosted by Derek Jacobi aka Brother Cadfael)
11:30pm: A Look Back at Lovin' Spoonful with John Sebastian
I have no problem admitting that I am probably addicted to PBS/Masterpiece Theater (although I have to take issue with their recent movie of "Jane Eyre", which I didn't like mostly because they cut too much of what I thought was important in the novel from the movie). I can't help it. And I am really looking forward to the Lovin' Spoonful thing. I love John Sebastian, you have to admire a man who can write "Nashville Cats"(which is my favorite Lovin' Spoonful song) and music for Strawberry Shortcake and the Care Bears. And I'm in a much better mood (mostly due to talking to members of my family). Now I will go back to finishing my sequencing work and listen to "Ramblin Man" (one of my mom's favorite songs!).

"Why don't you have the girl turtle fall in love with a boy turtle? See then the song is about something"- Hank Hill

Why are you not crying?

So I have had kind of a crappy week due mostly to the fact that my adviser decided that I won't be finished with my thesis work by May. Meaning I get to spend 3 extra months in Iowa City. Which isn't really a tragedy, but I am more frustrated than anything due to the fact that I am behind mostly because it takes forever for my adviser to make a decision about anything. And we have a rat kill next week which I will be involved in (and then another one two weeks later). As a result, I have been tired and crabby for the whole week. So hopefully, I can de-stress a little over the weekend. Now time to watch "Awakenings" on TCM.

"I know your mother shields me from some of the things that you do, so I'm returning the favor." -Hank Hill