life, the universe, and everything else

bookwormls @ 2009-12-07T16:06:00

2009-12-07T22:09:32Z

I'm a smug know-it-all...except for when I'm at work.

thank god SOMEthing is challanging.

of course, if it was boring, I'd probably graduate a whole lot faster.

Please mr. wizard sir, I'd lurve me some brains.

bookwormls @ 2009-09-17T11:51:00

2009-09-17T16:54:17Z

I am SO badass at removing brains and spines. *does the badass dance*

it's handling live animals at which I suck.

bookwormls @ 2009-09-14T17:18:00

2009-09-14T22:32:33Z

the science gods took pitty on my sanity-- after 4 seperate attempts (one of which took place over a weekend) I have finally been able to successfully transform (inject some dna into) ecoli cells, and grow said ecoli cells without contamination.

those of you who have some idea of how ecoli are normally transformed may be asking "whats so damn tough about electricuting a bunch of bacteria in the presence of dna?" well, you're right, it's easy as pie, and usually very effective. unfortunately, the particular strain I'm using doesn't like to be shocked that way, so instead I dunked my bacteria in cold CaCl2 solution, gave em a quick boil... and apparently killed them all the first two time. Thankfully, the third time, SOMEthing survived. unfortunatly, not the right something (even thought I was doing a bunch more controls by then, and being unbelievably careful to keep the bacteria cold and unperturbed).

so, this weekend, one last attempt before giving up... I missed a party for this, folks! all in all, I had about 3 and a half colonies grow (not a promising number), but most of them turned out to contain the plasmid. YAAAAAY.

so now I have them grow and multiply in little LB tubes, create "permenents", meaning chunks of bacteria I can safetly freeze till I need them again, and do a midiPrep (which is a way of removing the dna of interest--that these bacteria have so thoughtfully cloned for me every time they made baby ecoli---from the bacteria in a hopefully pure form) .

I am cool science giant of success! hooha!

schwanomially, actually!

2009-08-13T16:52:23Z

I have a feeling that if you MUST have a tumor, a giant schwannoma of the cheek is the way to go:

Giant schwannoma of the cheek--a comprehensive histological and immunohistochemical description of a rare tumour. Pol J Pathol. 2009 Mar;60(1):52-6.

unfortunately, one needs to register with the polish journal of pathology to actually read the full article.

bookwormls @ 2009-07-31T16:13:00

2009-07-31T21:15:09Z

to all iphone users:

check out iTower, this awsome app my dad just published.

(I lack an iphone to play it with, but my dad made it, so odds are it's awsome :)

noel coward's version of it...

2009-07-17T21:20:06Z

Verse 1

Mr. Irving Berlin
Often emphasizes sin
In a charming way.
Mr. Coward we know
Wrote a song or two to show
Sex was here to stay.
Richard Rodgers it's true
Took a more romantic view
Of this sly biological urge.
But it really was Cole
Who contrived to make the whole
Thing merge.

Refrain 1
He said the Belgians and Greeks do it
Nice young men who sell antiques do it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love.
Monkeys whenever you look do it,
Aly Khan and King Farouk do it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love.
Louella Parsons can't quite do it,
For she's so highly strung,
Marlene might do it,
But she looks far too young.
Each man out there shooting crap does it,
Davy Crockett in that dreadful cap does it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love.

Refrain 2
Our famous writers in swarms do it,
Somerset and all the Maughams do it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love.
The Brontes felt that they must do it,
Ernest Hemingway could-just-do it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love.
E. Allan Poe-ho! ho! ho!-did it,
But he did it in verse.
H. Beecher Stowe did it,
But she had to rehearse.
Tennessee Williams self-taught does it,
Kinsey with a deafening report does it.
Let's do it, let's fall in love.

Verse 2
In the Spring of the year
Inhibitions disappear
And our hearts beat high,
We had better face facts
Every gland that overacts
Has an alibi
For each bird and each bee,
Each slap-happy sappy tree,
Each temptation that lures us along
Is just Nature elle-meme
Merely singing us the same
Old song.

Refrain 3
In Texas some of the men do it
Others drill a hole-and then do it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love
West Point cadets forming fours do it,
People say all those Gabors do it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love.
My kith and kin, more or less, do it,
Every uncle and aunt,
But I confess to it-
I've one cousin that can't.
Teenagers squeezed into jeans do it,
Probably we'll live to see machines do it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love.

Refrain 4
Each baby bat after dark does it,
In the desert Wilbur Clark does it
Let's do it, let's fall in love.
We're told that every hormone does it,
Victor Borge all alone does it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love.
Each tiny clam you consume does it,
Even Liberace-we assume-does it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love!

bookwormls @ 2009-07-14T13:36:00

2009-07-14T18:42:03Z

why is the world in love again.... why are we marching hand in hand? why are the ocean levels rizing now....

Andrew looked up some There Might Be Jiants and they are SO stuck in my head. all my dreams had them.

Build a little bird house in your soul....

in other news, I've let myself get away with a horrendous mountain of procrastination (we're talking BIG here, 3 weeks worth of work in about 2-3 days), and I all I really want is for the world to go away so I can keep procrastinating.

bookwormls @ 2009-06-12T11:00:00

2009-06-12T16:02:35Z

huuuuuungry.

I messed up and forgot to turn something on, so now I'm just sitting here wating for it to finish warming up so I can boil the samples and get the gel running, and it sucks, cause I'm HUNGRY!

In other news, life is at it's usual awsomeness. got lots to do, am not doing it. standard stuff.

soon's this day's over, I'mma gonna need to crack down.

bookwormls @ 2009-06-01T16:59:00

2009-06-01T22:02:23Z

things I don't like about Science:

if you hurry, you mess up, and you won't know whether it's an important mess up or not till later. if you go slow, you start freeking about the details, and you don't know for sure whether the benefits merit such cost in time and care.

if you don't know where something is, you can usually spend hours looking for it without success. you are forced to ask others for help.

you are slowed down by having to wait for things to deliver, grow, mate, whater.

you are never sure how pure you need things to be.

biggest thing I don't like about science: not knowing stuff that can only be learned through experiance.

BAH
negative time.

bookwormls @ 2009-06-01T11:19:00

2009-06-01T16:20:22Z

So this weekend we planned a party and invited ~25 people via email… most of them acquaintances (though class and work) that we’d like to create more of a connection with. We figured maybe 5-10 people would bother to show.

Unfortunately, only 1 person and his gf showed up. Fortunately he’s an awesome guy that I’m already friends with, so it was an easy and interesting conversation, all about the nature of good, evil, life (meaning, what is life, what is it to be alive, what is living), fiction(the philosophies it espouses and how modern movie-makers are messing up classics, and whether “hard work” is a necessary part of a good story…)

Anyhow, it was a good time.

Ultimately, the reason we were having a party was to serve as an impetus to get the heck cleaned up, and we did get the heck cleaned up. I also tried out a new banana bread recepie that’s better than the old one, I made up a new dip (called Creamy Garlic Cucumber Tasty Dip), and perfected my Yogurt Salad of Awsome as well as my Best Whipped Cream From Scratch EVER (the trick is to grate in some lemon peel, minimize the sugar, and get the cream cheese to sour cream ratios right). My Blueberry-Honey muffins got nearly-burned, I think the oven is at fault: the tops weren’t even close to golden but the buttomns and sides were nearly black…. Stooopid physics.

I’ve been working on a sort of Big Long Detail recounting of my wedding exploits, as well as the honeymoon (Nashville, of all places)…. To be posted eventually. Because I want to have a written record of this stuff.

If only I had the motivation to update more… I don’t usually remember things unless I write them down… and I want to remember EVERYTHING!

bookwormls @ 2009-04-26T10:43:00

2009-04-26T15:47:22Z

well, I'm married. (yay!)

now I have an exam to study for ... I kinda can't get my head around that quite right now...

for the honeymoon, we're going to nashvill next weekend, to see prary home companion.

links to weding pictures coming soon.

replying to replies

2009-04-22T01:05:45Z

the weding is in birmingham, everyone who wants to come should let me know so I can get them the details.

given some legalese, applications, and bowing and scraping to the US govt, it is likely that after being married Andrew and I won't have to ever be apart again. at least, that's what we're hoping.

Carrot Salade of Awsome recipe (ps, also makes for a great deseart if you add a little extra sugar):

1. cut up some strawberries, let soak in lemon juice
2. cut up some apples (one is usually enough), soak in juice
3. grate a shitload of carrots. anywhere between 4 and a billion. mix with the fruite. taste. add more lemon juice till you can taste the sourness in the well mixed salad.
4. add walnuts (unsulted pistachios are good too), dried cranberries, dried tart cherries (these can be expensive, so they're optional, but VERY tasty).

5. sugar: I add a tsp of turbadino sugar... unless I over-lemonized the salade, in which case I add enough sugar to counteract the lemon. the ideal flavor here is "tart and sweet"

ratios: I go with instinct, but it usually ends up being 10-15 handfulls of ground carrot, 3-5 handfulls of strawberries, 2 handfuls of apple and nuts, one handful each of the cranberries and charries. juice of 2-3 lemons (I like it tarter than most).

bookwormls @ 2009-04-21T10:20:00

2009-04-21T15:29:03Z

updates:

class: still churning along. B average

Rotation: just entered a new one.... MAN it's overwhelming to start... I'm having problems concentrating on the background reading, and there is just SO MUCH background I need to familiarize with.

Career: looks like the next four years will be spend exploring the GFAP promoter in Dr. M Brenner's lab. Yay :)

Weding: is in about 3 days, give or take. My cake decorating abilities are still sub-par, but I am confident that I'll serve something pretty day of, even if I have to compromize on height and the number of different frostings.

the vows are still bouncing around in my head... I know that in essance I promice to be an awsome partner forever and ever, but I'm not sure what else I want to add to that, whether to poetify it or just be straight forward...

whatever. if I write ten versions from the heart, one of them will be spot on.

a friend offered to organize a bachlorette party... and I better figure out quickly what I'd like from it (and what she's up for organizing)... so I can manage my expectations around that. dissapointment sucks.

there are flecks of carrot allover my computer... should teach me to watch Dexter and make carrot salade at the same time.

btw, my carrot salade has reached perfection: the ideal balance of flavor, texture, and variety. I rock :)

off to plate some cells.

congrats to indian-friend on her decision to follow her dreams. "How" is secondary to "What".

bookwormls @ 2009-03-17T09:17:00

2009-03-17T14:26:28Z

so, to update (thank you, those who nudged :)

school: no classes this month. so far, grades are B-, C+, B+. averaging B. which is good enough, I'm not complaining.

Rotation: not gonna do this rotation for the next four years (this is the yeast rotation, btw). might do my first rotation. but trying to find the perfect third rotation. I tell this story many ways (depending on how much I'm in a hurry) but essentially, I'm insufficiently enthusiastic about the current rotation's subject matter, the PI could tell, so he doesn't want me despite the fact that I'm hard working and intelligent.

I've done mice, and yeast... I think next rotation I wanna do people. yesss, hyooooman braiiiines!

Gfs: Aleytys is soon coming back from japan, and that's awsomeness. Jennifer (have I mentioned her? no, I haven't updated since I've started dating her) I see her tonight, yay. Carry is out of the picture, she found herself monogomous-bliss with some other girl somewhere.

Andrew: we bought wedding rings yesterday. the date is Apr 18th, for those who didn't read it online. We are not formally inviting anyone, even thought everyone is welcome to come. just let us know. since lots of you are in chicago, A and I would be more than happy to help with accomodations and foodage so that coming down to birmingham is minimally expensive.

Foodage: I made AWSOME food last night. it was this beef-thing and this carrot-soup-thing, and today we're mixing up the leftovers with potatoes and making...*refers to her british slang book of words*... bubble and squeek. yes. because it's tastyfull!!

I am sooooo the awsomest cook ever. nearly. sometimes. well, andrew likes what I make!! :)

for some reason my last 5 cakes, 3 were the suck. I think I'm folowing the recepies too closely and not listening to my instincts.

bookwormls @ 2009-01-24T19:48:00

2009-01-25T01:51:37Z

a quote from a slashfic by Fabula Rasa:

"You irksome, adolescent, egomaniacal bastard. You have irritated and enraged me for the better part of thirty years, and I won't stand for another minute of it. In the interest of persuading you once and for all to shut up and leave me the hell alone, I will tell you, just this once: I love you, you little prick. I love the way you pull on your pants in the morning, I love the way you drink your tea, I love the way your hair falls in your face when you read, I love the lines around your eyes when you laugh. I've loved you so long I hardly know when I began, and I love you so well I shall never be able to stop. Your feeble little mind can hardly wrap itself around the degree to which I love you, and you needn't preen yourself overmuch for your bravery today, because if you hadn't said it, I surely would not have been able to contain myself much longer. I love you, and only you, and shall never love another my life long, and when you are tired of me and toss me out on my ear, underneath my hatred will still be love, and more love, and yet more."

It feels a lot like it belongs in the princess bride, no?

wordle of this LJ. kinda predictable, I guess. do it again next year, maybe the focus will change

2009-01-15T20:12:58Z

bookwormls @ 2008-12-16T17:32:00

2008-12-16T23:32:46Z

in chicago as of tomorow, noon.

for a SHORT time only.

contact me if you wanna hang.

bookwormls @ 2008-12-09T18:16:00

2008-12-10T00:18:30Z

I wish I was a lesbian, and not a hetero.
I wouldn't have to deal with men and all their come and go,
And all their yucky yucky facial hair and all their machis'mo!
I wish I were a lesbian and not a hetero!
I wish I was a lesbian and that I wasn't straight.
I'd sleep with women only. Man, it would be great.
I'd throw away my diaphragm, I wouldn't want to mate.
I wish I was a lesbian, and that I wasn't straight!
I wish I were a lesbian, I'd like to be a dyke.
I'd sleep with k.d. lang. Mel Gibson, take a hike!
I think it would be nice to love someone who was alike.
I wish I was a lesbian, I'd like to be a dyke!
I wish I was a lesbian, that's why this song is sung.
It shouldn't really matter how somebody is hung.
Other things are more important- like how you use your tongue!
I wish I was a lesbian, that's why this song is sung!
I DARE Casey Kasem to play this!
I wish I was a lesbian, and not a hetero.
I wouldn't have to deal with men and all their come and go,
And all their yucky facial hair and all their machis'mo
(I hate that machis'mo!)
I wish I was a lesbian and not a hetero!

braod generalizations

2008-11-20T22:26:39Z

it seems to me that women may sometimes group men into three groups:

1. men who treat me (or my friend) like meat, because they want to fuck.

2. men who treat me (or my friend) like gold because they truelly care and wanna get married and have babies.

3. men who ignore me (or my friend) becaue we're not hot enough/good enough/smart enough/friendly enough/etc... or maybe they are taken/gay.

I personally divide men into three very different groups:

1. men who don't know how to treat women. they will treat a woman "like meat" whether they wanna marry her, fuck her, or hire her as a babysitter. these men don't really know better.

2. will treat a woman like gold whether they want marriage OR just a quick fuck. they have been brought up in a polite way, and will treat women with respect regardelss of their intentions.

3. will treat women one way if they want sex, another way if they want to marriage (that is, if the value the woman as a good person), and a third way if they don't want anything from the woman.

I like 2, I don't mind 1, but I HATE 3.

I feel like anyone with the mindset that "sluts deserve to be treated like crap, and if she looks like that/has sex like that/ignored me like that/returned my eye contact/whatever, she MUST be a slut"... anyone with such a mindset is to be avoided. anyone who splits women into good and bad based on sexual expression is thinking in a Medieval mindset. I am neither a holy virgin nor a sinful temptress, I am BOTH at once and I expect to be treated with respect, always.

of course, that's just my opion. what do you think?

cheeeeeessssy!

2008-11-13T18:55:01Z

I am inspired to play with metaphors:

love may inspire you to create a good relationship, but commitment and honest communication are your building tools, and fond memories are your building blocks. every minute spent watching tv, eating old pizza, doing the laundry, snuggling in bed...togather... every minute spent improving the relationship (this sometimes involves yelling and sulking and slaming of doors)... every minute spent with your Love is a piece of the relationship. over the years more and more pieces get mortared togather... if you use the wrong tools, the edifice eventually falls apart, of course, but use the right ones and, 50 years later, you have a towering monument to the power of love.

bookwormls @ 2008-11-12T22:07:00

2008-11-13T04:11:03Z

from late evening on Nov 25 (a teusday) to mid afternoon on Nov 30, I will be in chicago. I want to see you all and have wonderful fun with you all! but I'm the one on vacation, YOU are the ones with a life and plans (especially those of you getting married). so please let me know when y'all have time (if at all) to hang out with me and I will make sure that time is reserved for you. k?

I think that system might work. might work better than calling and saying: hi, I'm in chicago, leaving tomorow, you wanna get coffee tonight?

On modesty

2008-11-12T18:49:41Z

I do not consider modesty a virtue.

Most of us are not modest, but we behave with false modesty: when in public, we try not to flaunt our accomplishments, and when admired we say “oh, it’s nothing really, I was just lucky”.

True modesty is the total lack of pride and even awareness of one’s specialness (you may say, “no it’s just being polite…” but again, let me remind you, if you act one way and think another, you are a hypocrite, a liar, and only superficially modest. Webster’s says modesty is “that lowly temper which accompanies a moderate estimate of one's own worth and importance”—of course, moderate is a rather vague term. Therefore, for the purposes of this discussion, modesty is “that lowly temper which accompanies an IGNORANCE of one’s own worth and importance”, because in my opinion even a moderate estimate of MY worth would leave me with my nose in the air :).

A modest person doesn’t think he’s that great for working hard and accomplishing his goals in life. A modest person doesn’t think/feel better about himself when he looks good. A modest person truly takes no pride (and therefore no joy) in the ways that he is better/different than others. That’s why when a truly modest person is told “oh man, that was amazing how you did that!” he is too damn stunned to reply, or else says “oh, um, thanks, I guess, it’s not really that great….”

A modest person, unlike a superficially modest person, doesn’t go out of his way to make you think what he did was “just luck”, or “hard work”, because saying those things would make you feel better about your own lack of abilities. Rather, he will try to understand why in the world you think what he did was special.

And in medieval times, while 99 percent of the population were farmers who actually DIDN”T do anything special except occasionally be born prettier than normal, it made sense that modesty was a virtue.

But in a society where you have to stand up for yourself, list your accomplishments, abilities, and potential to employers, schools, and even romantic interests, modesty isn’t a virtue.

Of course, subtlety and tact? Yeah, those are still in vogue. Subtlety and tact are virtues all right.

bookwormls @ 2008-11-04T22:27:00

2008-11-05T04:28:37Z

OBAMA HAPPINESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hehe, everyone on campus is going crazy wild happy. it's great to hear.

bookwormls @ 2008-11-04T14:43:00

2008-11-04T20:58:23Z

so... more updating.

current relationship situation: in love with two people (Andrew and Girl of Awsome, aka, GoA). having sex with one person (not of the two people I'm in love with, whose new sorbiquet shall be *thinks, thins* CT).

status: happy.

current classes: exam tomorow. BAH!

Voting: did vote, took maybe 20 minutes, as usual. straight democratic ticket, because I don't know a thing about Alabama politics. then looked perplaxedly at the ammendments they wanted my vote on. in IL, these amendments are usually explained in detail. but in AL, it's in legalese. I couldn't make head or tail of most of it. and I'm a smart, literate human being. I think I voted acording to my principles, but I may have misunderstood what I was voting on. and some of it seemed so unimportant! excuse me, you want me to vot whether we need to establish two new posts for people in charge of utilities?! how the hell would I know if such a thing is actually needed or not? I don't work there.... sheesh.

holoween: was good. did wear pretty costume, see facebook. did impress the world with dance moves of intense wowness.

last night: had sex. am now happy. and my hands smell good :)

what IS it about sex and fingers?

bookwormls @ 2008-10-30T17:01:00

2008-10-30T22:09:04Z

so, as I plan my raid on nearby drycleaning places (wiiiiiiiiiire hannnnnnngeeeerrrs) good things are happening at work:

I got great bands on my western blotts, so i'm officially alowed to do "real" blots on the "real mice". we're looking at an astrocite-specific intermediate filliment, so there's quite a bit of brain mushing involved! ^.^

yesterday the big boss said I'm quick thinking and picking things up quick. and today he said "that's it you're hired" when I suggested using pcr in creating a construct--we were previously using a method involving restriction but no pcr (it was an obvious suggestion, but i guess he didn't expect me to know it).

and I'm just feeling great satisfaction from getting work done everyday, but without _too_ much effort. that is, at work from 11 to 6 (class 8-10)? great, that's not hard! at work from 10 am to 11 pm? not great. especially as I _still_ have that 8-am class the next morning.

Currently, reading about GeneClean. biologists and glass beads, who knew?

I probably should STOP oversleeping. it will eventually effect my grades if I miss too much class. currently: getting a B. which is just enough to pass. blagh. I want some A's on these exams. whenever I improve, so does everyone else.

resolution born out of fear: NO MORE MISSED CLASSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVER!