old friends over for dinner
You know, a sure-fire sign of adulthood is when you and your old pals finally start swapping recipes for dinner.
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December 28, 2007
December 25, 2007
have a merry (cockroach) christmas, y'all
December 18, 2007
why I came
Christmas came early this year. Not by much, but still early. My textbook for next semester's course in "insect molecular genetics" arrived in the mail today, and it basically contains every reason I went back to graduate school.
I can only hope that the class as a whole follows the preface to the text. Evolution, expression, parasitism, development, transmogrification... everything a budding young scientist out to create an army of transgenic monsters could want to begin his plans for world domination. It isn't the hands-on manual that I need just yet, but it is a good review of the literature as a whole, and a starting point for the direction I would rather have had my graduate career travel.
There is even a section on the value of negative and positive controls in an experiment, which implies that I am not alone in assuming their importance to a study.
So I hope to continue to be happy about these developments. If nothing else comes of it, the book is a good fun read. Which I think says a lot more about me and what I'd like to be working on and working with than it does about the text.
December 15, 2007
open ended
This weekend, some lucky cads found out quite by accident that the UF graduate student insurance information listserv had been left open and unsecured, and that anyone replying to it could be heard and read by all recipients. This security failure eventually resulted in an amusing series of postings from the very diverse graduate student community. It certainly resulted in an undue amount of what could be considered "spam" in many persons' mailboxes, but it also showed a strong desire among the graduate student body for some sort of forum or mailing list where we could find common cause and to try and connect with one another as just another oppressed minority outside of our own departments.
The messages received contained humor, a request for volunteers at the local homeless shelter, the complete text of Beowulf, an offer for a slightly used Suzuki Bandit, suggestions for Christmas presents, and a recipe for baked potatoes that I will now share with you:
"This baked potato has a crisp, golden skin, and is light and fluffy on the inside. Great comfort food!"
PREP TIME 1 Minute
COOK TIME 1 Hr 30 Min
READY IN 1 Hr 31 Min
INGREDIENTS
- 1 medium baking potato
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons butter
- 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Scrub the potato, and pierce the skin several times with a knife or fork. Rub the skin with olive oil, then with salt.
- Place the potato in the preheated oven, and bake for 90 minutes, or until slightly soft and golden brown. Slice the potato down the center, and serve with butter and black pepper. Sprinkle shredded Cheddar cheese over the top, if desired.
Variation
For a treat, try slicing the very top of the potato off rather than slicing it in two, forming a 'lid'. Scoop out the fluffy contents of the potato, keeping the skin intact. Mix the potato in a bowl with butter, grated cheese and black pepper, then spoon the mixture back into the skin. Replace the lid and serve.
December 13, 2007
hit and run
Last night, I had a little trouble picking my roommate up from the airport.
To be perfectly honest, it wasn't that bad a collision. Traffic stopped on 826N, and so did I... but the truck behind me carried too much inertia into my rear bumper - where it did its job admirably. I didn't even get knocked into the green Saturn that had stopped in front of me.
No one was injured, and I suppose that is all that matters - but it does irritate the heck out of me that the other driver chose not to stop and share their insurance information, and that my passenger and I were too jazzed and too surprised to get their license plate number as they barreled past on their way to wherever they were going.
Of course, the trunk doesn't really open or close that well anymore, and the left rear brake light is no longer functioning, and I have no idea what else may be stressed in the general frame of the car. I know that I am stressed, because I live in Miami, a city in a state that requires all persons to be insured to carry a valid driver's license, and where half of the people in the county are uninsured. As a result, my insurance has a thousand dollar deductible for uninsured or hit-and-run motorists, and I am not a happy camper.
But no one is injured.
Maybe. My neck feels a little stiff, but sorting signal from noise is difficult: I am not sure if this is from staring into a microscope all of yesterday afternoon, or from the sudden bump at the end.
December 12, 2007
more music from NPR
Another band and another concert from NPR's live summer concert series: the increasingly popular sounds of "the Arcade Fire". While the concert was actually back in February as part of their Neon Bible tour, NPR has been kind enough to archive all of this classic goodness for you. Their upbeat indie pop has a driving beat, and it certainly is something to listen to while you count endless armies of chili thrips under the microscope.
Feel free to subscribe to the podcast and hunt through their archives for other gems, or just download the MP3 from me right here.
December 10, 2007
sound and fury
There is a world of difference between fighting for a flag, and fighting under it.
December 8, 2007
cautiously optimistic
So... late last night (early this morning?), I finally met with my advisor to discuss the current status of my research. At midnight. Just as I was starting to fall asleep at my desk, just outside her office. I'd been sitting on standby since at least eight. On a Friday night. The job comes first.
Whatever it takes.
The good news is that I have convinced her that at least two of the major planks of my project are well underway and producing interesting and publishable data. I can say a thing or two about when a chili thrips might decide to fly, and suggest the environmental factors that might be necessary to satisfy their internal air-traffic controller, and which members of the population appear to be more prone to flight under particular conditions. Now I just need a third stable plank to complete the story, and we both suspect that experiments I have already launched looking at the reproductive biology of the thrips might be enough to satisfy the conditions set for my Master's.
Time will tell, but until then I will remain guardedly and cautiously optimistic.
December 5, 2007
keeping a positive attitude
(but only for now...)
December 4, 2007
chickens don't eat pizza!
December 3, 2007
just for reference
I often find that knowing the answer to a question is not nearly as important as knowing how to find that answer.
where do dreams go when they die?
Stef: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, stop, stop! You can't do this. Because these are somebody else's wishes. They're somebody else's dreams.
Mouth: Yeah, but you know what? This one, this one right here? This was my dream, my wish. And it didn't come true. So I'm taking it back. I'm taking them all back.
- the Goonies