Outside the box

How cool is this. There was a design competition to build on a vacant lot in NYC, and this is one of the ideas. Lifted verbatim from http://nymag.com/realestate/vu/2008/04/45963/index1.html:

The Locavore FantasiaWORK AC
It would be a total departure if Work AC’s utopian vision were ever to bear fruit—and we do mean fruit, because it’s an apartment building topped with a working farm. “We thought we’d bring the farm back to the city and stretch it vertically,” says Work AC co-principal Dan Wood. “We are interested in urban farming and the notion of trying to make our cities more sustainable by cutting the miles [food travels],” adds his co-principal (and wife) Amale Andraos. The cheerful if slightly mad design, riffing on a concept they came up with to win the P.S. 1 Young Architects Program, would have different crops on each floor; land laying fallow would be used for play (putting greens, say). Four large water tanks would collect rainwater for irrigation. “Sculpture structures” commissioned from artists would act as columns supporting the building, which leans back to face the crops toward the sun. “We show a Brancusi, but it could be anyone,” says Wood.

Originally found on a very interesting new blog (for me) http://pruned.blogspot.com/

Not-so-pretty Package

I ordered some lab supplies a couple of days ago. The sequencer that I use to generate microsatellite data takes these gel cartridges, which are very convenient to use, although they cost a lot of money. When I order stuff, I look at the catalog and order the thing at the price in the catalog; if there's a discount the nice ladies in Purchasing figure it out, as well as figuring out shipping. They really do a lot for us science-y types here, it merits another post at some point.

Anyway, what I ordered came in 4 boxes, each of which was about 9"x9"x4". However, they came in a phenomenal amount of packaging, consisting of each being wrapped in a padded envelope with two cold packs, and then another dozen more cold packs, all in a styrofoam cooler that was 5x the volume of the product. And there were two coolers, two boxes per cooler. Sheesh. Speaking of the awesome support staff, I put the boxes and cold packs and packaging in the hallway when I'm done, and the custodial staff comes and takes it away. They rock.

Eye Candy

I just love this picture, found on Ketzel Levine's blog on http://www.npr.org/blogs/talkingplants. She has a bunch of photos she calls "Sumptuous Snapshots" and I agree. The blue ones are Nemophila menziesii var. menziesii or Baby Blue Eyes. Common names for plants are not very useful, as you could call them one thing and I could call them another, and we'd both be right, except a little confused. Don't know for sure what the orange ones are, but the shot was taken in CA, so I'm guessing CA poppies, Eschscholzia californica. Lovely.

image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/guissimo/

Mentors, Part 1

As I sit here waiting for samples to thaw, I have a few minutes to post on something I’ve been thinking about lately. I have kept in touch with my former Advisor, as well as two of my committee members. Those two have been important mentors for me and I wanted to sing the praises of mentors for a while.

S and I meet for coffee every few weeks, swap dog stories, and talk about academia related stuff. She not only knows her stuff about plant population genetics, she can teach and write about it as well. Coincidentally, she lives down the street from me.

Over the weekend, I saw her walking her dog while I was out walking Sally. We were chatting, and I mentioned that I probably wouldn’t be able to pursue this great postdoc after all because of the low salary, and that I wished the professor hadn’t withdrawn the tech position.

In a great piece of wisdom from someone who always seems to keep her eye out for the next cool project she says, “well, it doesn’t cost you anything to go and talk to her, now does it?” Hmmm, I thought, no it doesn’t. So I’ll be ready to talk, if and when the professor with the postdoc calls, and we’ll see what happens.

The Butterfly Effect

The Exploratorium in San Francisco has a nice little demo of this effect in the form of a "Lorenz Butterfly" that I'm unable to upload here, so I'll give the link:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/complexity/java/lorenz.html

The idea is that two particles can start out in the same spot, but will eventually the difference in their paths becomes greater. This is an example of "sensitive dependence upon initial conditions". It's fun to look at, too.

Another Poem

My former officemate from grad school sent me this whimsical ditty on Botany. Thanks b!

There should be no monotony
In studying your botany;
It helps to train
And spur the brain—
Unless you haven’t gotany.

It teaches you, does Botany,
To know the plants and spotany,
And learn just why
They live or die—
In case you plant or potany.

You learn, from reading Botany,
Of woolly plants and cottony
That grow on earth,
And what they’re worth,
And why some spots have notany.

You sketch the plants in Botany,
You learn to chart and plotany
Like corn or oats—You jot down notes,
If you know how to jotany.

Your time, if you’ll allotany,
Will teach you how and what any
Old plant or tree
Can do or be—
And that’s the use of Botany!

--Berton Braley

From: Nature Smiles in Verse: A Collection of Bi-Illogical Poems compiled by Bernal R. Weimer (1940)

This just in

CB's coming to visit in just three weeks. Sweet!


I'd better clean my house...






image:
http://www.miltonpark-jun.portsmouth.sch.uk/images/Logos/binoculars.jpg

Phew!

A couple of days ago, I was busily going about my business at work. I was doing several different things in the lab: setting up PCR, running a gel, setting up a run on the sequencer, and was getting done all the stuff I wanted to get done.

I went to my desk, supposedly just for a moment before my daily trudge over to take care of ourinsectary mosquitoes, and started getting emails from my boss, asking for clarifications on this manuscript we've been working on. First one says, "Table 6 is wrong, there's 100 added, where there should be fifty". I go into panic mode because this is a table that was indeed wrong when I gave him the manuscript, and I fixed it just before leaving to go see CB for a long weekend.

I'm not good at keeping track of all the nuances of each analysis done for a manuscript. Granted, this is just the third one I've done, but it I always seem to need to go back to the Excel spreadsheet and see the process of how that figure or table or result came to be in order to say what I did. So I had to do this (again) for good old Table 6, and you know what?

It was correct. He had just transposed a couple of digits when he was reading it. I was relieved, because it would look bad to have an incorrect table twice.

The Season has started

Yes, indeed, the garage sale season has begun. I was looking through our local paper this morning and there are about 30 sales this weekend, good for this town.

Before I went back to school/got pregnant/had Mr W, I would hit the sales most Saturdays during the summer. While I am not a freakishly organized person, I had my street map and different colored pens, and I would map out my route the night before so as to maximize my efforts. I would usually stop at the bagel store after a sale or two for an egg and cheese bagel, and be done around 11:00 am. As I write this, I see several things around that I've picked up from garage sales: lamps, an old school desk, TV table, clothes.

The appeal for me is getting a good deal on stuff that I could use. This doesn’t always happen of course, but that pile in the basement is pretty small. There are some sales where the people think their junk is worth a lot more than other people's junk. As in asking a dollar for a used magazine. Sometimes I'll offer less (always nicely) if I think the item isn't worth the asking price, but I usually don't haggle at all. That's not part of the fun.

The qualifier to garage sale enjoyment is time. I have to feel like I've got the time to spare on such folly. When Mr W was young and I was in grad school, I could take a couple of hours on a Saturday, but always felt like I should be doing something else, which sucked the joy out of the whole thing and I stopped going.

Thankfully, I'm at a point where I can carve out a couple of guilt-free hours AND I can take Mr W along on weekends when he's with me. Yes, I've enticed him with the possibility of cheap toys to make the deal sweeter, but he's pretty willing to do that kind of stuff.

If the weather's nice tomorrow morning, I'm hitting a few and then going in to work.

image from www.nataliedee.com

I miss my sister

My sister died two months ago. Forty-five years old, she was blindsided by a Stage 4 colon cancer diagnosis in November 2006. She did fairly well on the chemo for almost a year, but it was just too aggressive to beat.

She left behind a husband of almost 20 years, and two boys, teenagers. She was a skilled neonatal intensive care nurse, and completed the coursework for her Bachelor's of Science in Nursing while she was undergoing treatment.

She had a bawdy sense of humor, and defended the people she loved fiercely. Her older son, my nephew Patrick was born with Hirschbrung's Disease, and was in and out of the hospital for much of his first two years of life. He had all of his large intestine and some of his small intestine removed - it was a huge strain on the family, but Pat's OK, although side effects from his time in the hospital left him deaf (he's got a cochlear implant, so he's been able to hear since he was about five).

She loved the beach. Loved the feel of the sun and wind and water. She and her husband would have likely retired on a coast somewhere. Even when we were kids, she'd be out in the back yard slathered in tanning oil, and I'd do 5 minutes where all I could think was "my god, it's so hot out here" and hightail it in the house for some kool-aid.

I felt her absence a lot yesterday. Every day since she died, I wake up and check my cell phone, as I did when she was sick, to see if she's called. If she needs me. And when I have a spare few minutes waiting for a train, or hanging out at the dog park, I think to call her. There is simply a hole there that exists because she's gone. She was such a good friend. She was instrumental in helping me through my divorce, and had wisdom beyond her years that came from being a good listener.

I'm trying to remember my network of people during this weird time. CB is one of the greatest empathetic listeners on the planet, and I plan to make use of his patient ear. Friends have been really helpful too, and it's my responsibility to contact them if I need them, as I hope they would do if they needed someone to talk to.

The picture is of Kris from summer of 2006. The summer I flew to OH and we drove to SC to meet up at my brother's house. She was feeling a little tired at the time, but thought it was her hectic schedule. Little did she know she probably had had cancer growing in her for several years. GET YOUR EXAMS, PEOPLE. Anyway, I love this picture because my niece is gnawing on Kris's arm and Kris is showing her professional baby holding technique. She looks strong, confident and happy and that's how I want to remember her. She'd kick my ass if I did anything else.

How can this be?

I filled up my gas tank this morning, after looking down at the gas guage and saying, "oh shit, I need to get gas!" I don't always calculate my gas mileage, but today I bought just about 10 gallons of gas so it was easy to figure it out. I have a 1995 Civic, and got 38 miles to the gallon on the last tank of gas. This included a trip to the Denver airport and back (140 miles), but was city driving otherwise.

Why is this the exception? Why is it so hard to find a new car that gets this kind of gas mileage? What happened so that we Americans accept cars that get 25 miles to the gallon and think that's OK?

With $4.00 a gallon gas looming on the horizon, I feel like we consumers should be awash in options for cars that seat four people, and get 35-40 mpg. The other day, I looked at gas mileage of cars that could fit 5 people and a dog (read: minivans). They get about 15-20 mpg.

*sigh*

Who needs shoes? Apparently not us

It took 4 million years of evolution to perfect the foot, and humans have been wrecking that perfection with every step since they first donned shoes, New York magazine's Adam Sternbergh says.
"Everyone who wears shoes walks wrong," he says, echoing the headline of his recent article, "You Walk Wrong."

Sternbergh calls the ubiquity of footwear a "conspiracy of idiocy." He points out the probability that at no point did any shoemaker say, "Let's design something that works with your foot." In the Middle Ages, for example, people began wearing shoes with higher heels to avoid stepping in other people's excrement. Today, high heels are considered sexy. Whatever their reasons for wearing the shoes they wear, people don't usually consider whether a shoe actually works with their foot, he says.

The human foot works pretty well on its own, Sternbergh says, and it doesn't need a lifetime of help from shoes. He explains the basic illogic of footwear by comparing the concept to a perpetual cast. "Imagine if someone put a cast on your arm when you were 3 years old and you never took it off," he says. "Your arm would stop working. That's kind of what's happened with our feet."
Sternbergh cites a 1940s study of barefoot rickshaw drivers in India. Scientists found that the drivers had unusually healthy feet. Sternbergh says subsequent evidence supports the conclusion that feet don't need shoes.

Why are shoes on virtually every foot, then? Sternbergh says the rationale that most urban and suburban people use is that the ground is hard and our feet need the cushioning of footwear. "But in many places in the world, the ground is quite hard," he says. "[Our ancestors] were able to absorb the shock."

Sternbergh concedes that in most settings, some form of foot covering makes sense. "I'm not going to convince anyone to walk barefoot," he says, acknowledging that he continues to wear shoes as a bulwark against glass, grime and gross things.

He may still wear shoes, but Sternbergh has switched to a model from England called the Vivo Barefoot from the Clark shoe family. Galahad Clark, son of the inventor of the Wallabee — a particularly successful, if traditional, shoe — helped develop the Vivo Barefoot. Sternbergh says the shoe is basically a slipper with a Kevlar sole, to prevent puncturing.

"They kill your heels," he says. "A traditional shoe advocate would say you need to switch back to sneakers that have a big cushiony heel." But a barefoot-walking advocate would say, "You're walking wrong," Sternbergh says. He asked Clark for advice or instruction, but Clark said walking in the shoe is instinctual.

"You'll find that your walk starts to change," Sternbergh says. "You land on your heel, but it's a much softer landing. ... A traditional shoe with a lot of cushioning is designed to allow you to walk with the bad habits that you have because you've been wearing shoes all your life."

For those who cling to their typical footwear, Sternbergh is sympathetic. "Shoes perpetuate shoes," he says, referring to the cycle of coddled feet forever needing high-tech swaddling. "It's a classic self-perpetuating system."

Story and image copied verbatim from NPR's "Bryant Park Project" http://www.npr.org/

What nice ruffles you have

Stinky flower - going strong. Check it out:

http://gustavus.edu/academics/biology/titanarum/

I take care of yours if you take care of mine

I know, I know, I promised a post on ecological genetics, and it will be forthcoming. For the moment, I'm still immersed in the excitement/trepidation phase of considering this new job. One thing that is pretty darn expensive is kenneling my dear Sally.

I like the kennel that Sally goes to. They like her and take good care of her. But I guess it's a result of different dogs needing different things that I feel like I'm nickel and dimed to death. Basic lodging is $18, one daily turn-out to play with the other doggies is $5.50, her meds (which she gets only in the kennel because she gets the runs) are $2.00. So we're up to $25.50 per day. Of course they are happy, and it is convenient for me, to get her up to date on her vaccinations, and test her for heartworm. But the last bill, for 6 days, was $429.00 Ouch.

So, I'm working on a flyer to post at the dog school, offering an exchange of dog watching services. I watch someone's dog while they are away for a few days and they return the favor. I figure meeting them through dog school increases the chance that their dogs will be similar to Sally. It will have to be somewhat specific, though. The dog will have to be used to sleeping in a crate like Sally does, and will have to be able to be home (so as not to incur dog school expenses) every other day.

It's worth a try. Arf!

image: www.dogsdoright.com

20 ways to make an extra $100 a month

I did it. I emailed the professor and asked her to go ahead and consider me for the ecological genetics postdoc. I'm going to do a post soon about what this kind of genetics is and does, but today I will focus on how (in a tongue and cheek way) to bridge the gap in income that I will experience:

1. Run copies for busy professors at a University - no

2. Buy things at garage sales and sell them on eBay (I actually might look into this one)

3. Clinical trial participant - let me get back to you on that...

4. Computer consultant - not with this set of skills

5. Convention worker - I can think of one related side business that's a real money maker, but no thanks

6. Freelance editor - I probably don't have the skills there either

7. Handyman - I wish

8. Mystery shopper - not time-efficient enough

9. Paper deliverer - I get up early enough as it is

10. Pizza deliverer - no thanks, safety issues

11. Plasma seller - might look into this one too, although it's 3 hours of my time each time

12. Pooper scooper - while I'm good at this, I do it enough as it is

13. Professional shopper - I'm not good at figuring out what other people want to buy

14. Retail - ick

15. Teaching - I will likely look into this one too. I've talked to the biology dept head at the community college here in town and they usually have one or two classes that need adjuncts

16. Temping - maybe

17. Tutoring - maybe, if it pays OK.

18. Writing - hmm, maybe for that as well

19. Catering staff - no thanks

20. Cleaner - as in offices. Probably not, but you never know. Hopefully one's worthiness isn't based on the tidyness of one's own house

List from http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney/20WaysToMake100DollarsMoreAMonth.aspx?page=1

It's going to take some juggling, but I could probably make it work. I'm also going to keep in mind that if I don't spend it, I don't have to earn it, so there will be belt-tightnening, although it won't involve canceling trips to AZ or getting rid of the dog.

Anyway, Yippee!!

image: http://lastfreevoice.wordpress.com/2008/03/22/

Neighbors - commonalities

Friend La güera had a post recently about neighbors and I had a talk with my neighbor today that prompted me to write. When I moved into this house, about 2.5 years ago, I was still feeling a little odd for being a divorced woman with a kid moving into a house by herself. It seems weird now to think that I thought that way. Anyway, I moved in, and quickly met the families on either side of me. Both had boys, one side had two that were 2 and 3 years younger than Mr W, and the other had one that was a couple of years older.

In the course of those 2.5 years, one side's neighbors got a messy divorce and they are far from settling their differences, and the other side's are legally separated and she's not sure if the marriage can be saved. How's that for a turn of events? No indeed, I am not alone among the ranks of the divorced.

I don't know how the legally separated couple is doing in terms of providing the best care possible for their kid. One the other side of the alley, she has remarried, and is trying to move, with the kids, to the new husband's home town in KY. Big resistance and bad feelings and using the kids as pawns with that situation. Seemingly endless instances of (at least) the ex husband trying to above all else be difficult. It's hard to know the whole story, I know. But this is an acrimonious relationship at best.

For my part, my x and I get along pretty well, and in my mind, this is for the sole purpose of taking care of Mr W. The x is not my friend, I don't want anything other than a more or less professional relationship with him, and we have (thus far at least) been able to keep at the forefront the goal of raising Mr W. That's all one can ask. As it turns out, CB has the same deal with his x. Not too much strife, and they work together (only) for the purpose of raising the kids. As it should be.

I don't have as much contact with my other neighbors who are more than one house away. However, we talk when we see each other, and one neighbor works at Mr W's school. It's a cordial relationship and I've been so please to have good relations with my neighbors.

Houses and Homes

I've been thinking about houses lately. The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend, so I'm itching to do a bunch of stuff in my yard, part of my ongoing efforts to make my place look a little less like a rental. If I have any energy left, I'll turn my attention to the inside, where it's been a while since a vacuum passed over the floors.

My neighbor, who owns a remodeling business and has lots of connections, is coordinating the repair of my house's foundation, which cracked over the place where a sinkhole developed last summer due to leaky sewer pipes. He has been AWESOME and the relief I feel at having someone to turn to for these repairs (and not feeling like I might get taken advantage of) is huge. If I need something done, I send him an email and he either coordinates it or gives me the name of someone who he recommends.

And I found a person to do handyman-type stuff for me as well. He's a person who attends the Unitarian church I go to, so he comes with good moral credentials anyway. I'm waiting to accumulate a list that's worth calling someone in to attend to, but there always seems to be little somethings that I don't know how to fix or can only achieve a band-aid type of repair for.

My sister in law sent me an email and in it mentioned that her grandparents are moving out of their farmhouse to be closer to her parents in town. But get this: she said there's three generations of stuff in that house that they need to sort through. Three generations, so not only did her dad grow up there, but his dad (or mom, I'm not sure) did as well. Wow. Talk about rooted to a spot. Since moving out of my parent's home, the longest I've lived in one place is four years.

It certainly cuts down on the amount of trinkets I have, as every pending move results in a once-over and purge of accumulated stuff that is no longer needed or wanted. But if I was living in a house with no plans to ever move, I suspect I'd become more of a pack rat. Bits of this and that, you never know when you'll need one of those, that kind of thing.

I'm not there yet. I love this house, but will need larger digs when CB and I are able to live in the same city. Between us we have three kids, and this little two bedroom just isn't big enough for that. But for now, it's perfect for me and my kid.

Poetry and mild angst

Poetry is something this science-y person knows little about. But April is National Poetry Month, so here's one that's plant related.

Epitaph

An old willow with hollow branches
slowly swayed his few high bright tendrils
and sang:
Love is a young green willow
shimmering at the bare wood’s edge.

William Carlos Williams

Found on John Lynch's blog http://scienceblogs.com/strangerfruit

In other news, I'm still miffed about what feels like a potentially great job opportunity that I must (must I?) let slip from my grasp. Still looking for a way that I could exist on that kind of dough, and thinking about what it is I want to do when I grow up. I usually imagine myself as a person who isn't severely career-driven. The only times in the last year that I have felt like I should be doing something else were when a faculty job in Plant Evolutionary Biology came up at a liberal arts college, and then with this postdoc.

The pondering will continue for a while, I guess. I have another month before the posting for the position actually closes.

A bit disappointed

The other day, I saw a posting for a job that was a really good fit for me. It was working with plants, doing ecological genetics as a postdoc in a lab here in town. It would take advantage of what I learned in school, as well as what I've learned in my present job. At the same time, the professor posted a part time lab tech job, and I got her approval to apply for a position doing both jobs.

Offering to do both jobs was an economic necessity. Yes, getting a postdoc is a big step up from working as a teaching assistant or research assistant, but I can't pay my bills on a postdoc salary alone. Between both positions, I could make what I'm making now. What a sweet deal.

Unfortunately, the professor emailed me yesterday, saying that her revised budget wouldn't allow her to offer the lab tech position after all, so only the postdoc was open, and did I still want to be considered for that. Damn. I wrote her back saying that while I was really interested in the job, I would have to withdraw my application because I couldn't live on the salary.

I'd guess most postdocs still rent, as opposed to paying a mortgage, and they may or may not have a kid or two to support. But I just can't take a 10K pay cut, even though this is a dream job. And that pisses me off a little bit.

It also makes me that much more grateful for my current job with the mosquitoes, even if I dread going to the insectary every day to take care of them.

Squidaliscious

Yup, that's how the web cast dissection of some big squid has been described. The Deep Sea News (DSN) blog, http://scienceblogs.com/deepseanews over at Science Blogs posted the story.

This is lifted from DSN:

Monster squid hunter extraordinaire Dr. Steve O'Shea will be dissecting giant and colossal squids and it will be webcasted LIVE from Te Papa Museum in New Zealand. It will be an event-filled week as Dr. O'Shea and his squidaliscious team of crack experts unlock the mysteries of deep sea squids, starting with the thawing!

Looks like it's scheduled from April 27-May 2. Go to DSN for updates.

I have been interested in giant (colossal, etc.) squid for years. First, I think I'm impressed by things that are so large and fierce. An eye the size of a basketball is nothing to sneeze at. Also, I think it's extraordinary that we don't know all that much about these creatures. Every once in a while one washes up on a beach http://www.reuters.com/news/video/videoStory?videoId=59981 , but scientists rarely get a glimpse of them.

I love a scientific mystery.
Image: Kathrin Bolstad.

Runs in the family

My dad spreads the word. Each time my brothers or I send him an email letting him know how we're doing my dad forwards it to the other siblings. I think it's his way of keeping everyone up to speed on what's going on with an economy of effort.

My younger brother sent Dad an update the other day, in which he talked about his gardening plans. Moving plants, creating a couple of new beds, and making sure everything is on a timer so he doesn't have to remember to water.

I hadn't realized that everybody in my family gardens. My dad plants the same stuff every year: marigolds, red geranium, petunias, zinnias. My older brother has a vegetable garden that is more or less a kitchen garden for him to have fresh ingredients to cook with during the summer. The younger brother is doing flowers and impressively sized kid-friendly stuff: corn, watermelon, pumpkins. I plant a mishmash of drought tolerant perennials punctuated by whatever new and different annuals strike my fancy. We'll probably plant broccoli, carrots and maybe pumpkins this year too.

I've always wanted to have a bunch of red raspberry bushes, but have never had enough space. Ditto peach and apple trees and grape arbors. Maybe someday. I like what I have going so far, and as long as I don't have to remember to water it (thank you whoever invented the watering timer), it has a good chance of surviving!

image: http://www.sabp-web.co.uk/

Technology Wimp

OK, might as well start off with the most glaring examples of this. I don't have cable, and my TV has a whopping 9" screen. It does have a DVD player, so Mr W can either watch PBS, or videos when he's at my house. Otherwise, the TV doesn't get turned on much if he's not home. Somehow I find other things to do.

I had the dial-up internet connection from school until I graduated and was forced to find something else. I now have high speed cable internet, and that has been nice. It was a big deal for me to get and install (with the help of those nice customer service people) a wireless router, but it has been nice to not be chained to one spot with my computer.

Now CB, on the other hand, is technology savvy, uses the stuff and is willing to research the options to see what will serve him best. Isn't it nice how there is a balance in relationships like that? As I write this he's on his computer, processing sound recordings he made of bird calls. He has and uses his GPS to get him around when he's home and when he's traveling. He has a couple of digital cameras, a couple of ipods, you get the picture. He's comfortable with the technology and is willing (here's the difference) to put in the time to understand the capabilities of the thing.

I did, I am mildly embarrassed to admit, poke a bit of fun a couple of times at the amount of gear that gets brought along when we go on outings. But only a couple of times, because it readily became apparent that I was a direct beneficiary of his use of these gadgets. For example, we went to OH to see my family over Thanksgiving last year. I figured I could, from memory, get us from the Akron airport up to Mentor. Except that I hadn't ever actually driven that route myself. Enter CB with his handy-dandy GPS, and within a minute or two we had a route to follow and I didn't diss the gadgets ever again.

With any luck, maybe I'll never have to pick out the right TV out of the more than 58 (no shit, I counted the other day) hanging on the back wall at Best Buy. It's a bit of a relief and I can live with my 9" TV until then.

image from http://www.bornrich.org/

Arizona Bliss

I'm in AZ visiting CB at the moment. When I left CO, it was snowing such that the roads were slushy, visibility was poor, and the plane had to be de-iced before we left. Nothing out of the ordinary for this time of the year, but damp and cold. In AZ it was warm and sunny. It never fails to amaze me how a 90 minute plane ride can take a person into such a different environment.

As always, it's good to be with my guy again. The 2-3 days before a visit I get a little cranky, where the combination of getting ready to go (stopping paper and milk deliveries, boarding Sally) and not having seen CB take their toll. But that evaporates after we are together for a little while.

I enjoyed birding before I met CB, but hanging with a really really good birder is a whole different experience. I have found there are two sides to this coin. On the one hand, I don't have to work very hard at identification if I don't want to, because CB can identify everything. On the other hand, I don't have to work very hard at identification, but if I don't, I don't get any better at it on my own. And for his part, since he does this for a living, it's natural for CB to just say what the bird is. This makes the bird not "count" as much because I didn't ID it myself. What works, we have found, is my saying, "don't tell me!" And then trying to figure it out (always with help, it seems). I have learned a ton already, but there is a lot more to learn.

We went out birding yesterday, to a place called Madera Canyon. It's at about 5000 feet, so it's a little cooler than the surrounding desert, and the weather yesterday was just perfect. There has been a Flame-colored Tanager there, which is rare, but this one has come back to this very spot for the last few years. Wacky. The picture is of that very bird, and as usual, a photo doesn't do justice to the deep orange color of the bird. We also saw a Painted Redstart, Bridled Titmouse, and Broad-billed, Broad-tailed, Anna's and Black-chinned Hummingbirds.

It's for times like these that I work my job and do the other stuff that feels like stuff I HAVE to do.

image from http://fireflyforest.net/

Stinky Flower update

The titan arum is just starting to unfurl. Here's the link again if you haven't checked lately.

Ahhh, mitosis.

http://gustavus.edu/academics/biology/titanarum/

Then and Now

Yesterday, the front end of my car was going wub-wub-wub-wub, as though one of my tires was losing air. I filled it, then went out to start my car this morning to find it almost flat.

Jump back in time a couple of years ago, when I would think from time to time, "I've never changed a flat tire, I should learn how". I did get that first flat tire (thankfully this one was in my driveway too), and it was symbolic of my new independence and woeful lack of skills in some areas.

With my trusty helper Mr W, I got the lug nuts off the tire, thinking, "hey, I can put on the spare, what's so hard about that?" Trouble was, with my old car, I couldn't get the tire itself off. Even after following my mechanic's advice to "kick the shit out of it", it wouldn't budge. I was almost frantic, was I going to have to get towed out of my own driveway for a flat tire? Luckily, common sense prevailed, I pumped up the tire as much as I could with our dinky little bike tire pump, and drove to the tire place. Total time from discovery to getting to the tire place: about 2 hours.

Now go forward in time to this morning, when I go out to start my car and discover a flat tire. I sigh, go back inside, tell Mr W we need to deal with a flat tire, and finish my cereal. He asks, "can I jack the car up?" You bet. So instead of even trying to get the tire off, we jack up the car, fill the tire, I drop Mr W at school and drive to the tire place. Total time from discovery to getting to the tire place: about 20 minutes. Not to mention no noticable increase in blood pressure. Good doggie.

image from http://webpages.charter.net/todryk/todryk/flat_tire.html

Jogging the memory

Maybe it was writing about the iris yesterday. I had a dream about my sister right before I woke up this morning. Lots of symbols that I have to mull over, but it took place at a nice house that was in the woods, on a beautiful day. My sister and brother in law were there, and me. They were getting ready for her not to be there, preparing for her absence. They took her spoken words out of videos to construct an answering machine message. They showed me the list of words and it was written in my mom's handwriting. Then my brother in law was in a costume, he was wearing a white shirt and pants, and had sprayed himself with gold spray paint, but had missed a couple of spots in the back where he couldn't reach. I was helping to cut loose threads from the shirt she was wearing, which had a lot of strings on it anyway, almost like fringe, and it was tricky to find the threads amongst the strings. Finally, my sister and I said we loved each other and missed each other, hugged tightly and I woke up.

Anybody out there good at dream interpretation?

A good Saturday

It's been a busy day. We had an early soccer game (they got pasted 5-1, but remained in good spririts) at 8:30 and went to the library for a Webkinz party they were having. For those of you not familiar with the Webkinz world, it's a scheme where kids get a small stuffed animal that comes with a code. They enter the code at the website and *presto* their pet is there in cyberspace, and the kid can earn kinz-cash to buy food for their pets, furniture and other stuff for their pet's room, play games. It's pretty harmless, and like a lot of faddish things, Mr W's interest peaked early and waned, but he heard about the party and wanted to go. It was lame, and we left after about 10 minutes. Oh well.

I got a lot done in my garden today! It's so satifying to rake out the old leaves dead plants and reveal a garden that's rarin' to go for spring. I put in a garden on the alley side of my house last year and have been working on that. I got some edging put in, and it looks really nice. Best part of it was that I had four big bags of dead leaves and instead of saving them for my weekly trash, or attempting to compost them in my puny yard, I was able to take them to the leaf drop off place. For a paltry $3.50, I dumped my leaves on their pile and they'll make compost out of it. Sweet.

Also, my bronze iris are coming up and have doubled over the last year. Iris are one of those plants that do really well here in CO. And these are iris with a story. One year for mother's day when I was a teenager, we bought my mom an iris rhizome for Mother's Day. After she died, when dad sold the house, I dug up some of it and have toted it around to every place I've lived for the last 14 years. It never fails to remind me of her. The iris that came with my house, I kid you not, smell like grape kool-aid. Funky.

image from www.jupiterimages.com

Dog, owners: Part 2

It was bound to happen eventually. Mr W bought an inexpensive (read Styrofoam + a motor) remote-controlled airplane with some birthday money. We have gone to the dog park several times (3 or 4) to fly it, and make efforts to not launch it at any dogs. Occasionally some pooch comes over and checks it out when it lands, but all had left it alone. So far.

Yesterday, for some reason, MY dog, dear sweet Sally, picks up Mr W’s plane after it lands/crashes (it’s hard to tell sometimes) and runs off with it. She has ignored it all other times, but yesterday, she decides she’s going to run off with it. I of course start yelling at her and chasing her, and she eventually drops it.

Enter obnoxious beagle, with no manners whatsoever, who takes it as soon as Sally drops it and takes off for the other end of the dog park. This Bad Dog destroys Mr W’s plane, and Mr W is crying, and the other dog owners are nervously (god, I hope it was that) laughing that a dog would do this.

Some guy (I assume it’s the beagle’s owner) runs after Bad Dog, and eventually retrieves the pieces. He hands them back to me, saying “sorry about that”, and I say, “It’s OK, the dog didn’t know it wasn’t a dog toy”. Mr W, meanwhile has realized that this means a new plane for him, and is already scheming for the top of the line (well, our line, anyway) model, something like $160.00, and I’m saying, “probably not that much, we’ll have to see what’s available”.

The punch line: I see the guy leave the dog park WITH ANOTHER DOG. He wasn’t even Bad Dog’s owner. After that, I see Bad Owner skulking around the other end of the dog park and quietly leave with Bad Dog. I’ll have to thank the first guy next time I see him and his nice little pug, who stayed out of the fray.

Stay tuned for large stinky flower blooming

http://gustavus.edu/academics/biology/titanarum/

Here's a web cam from Gustavus Adolphus college, where they are the proud caretakers of one of those giant stinky flowers that smell like rotting flesh. Scientific name: Amorphophallus titanum, common name: Corpse flower. Really, what more could you want in a tropical flower?

image (not of the Gustavus plant) from: http://commons.wikipedia.org/

What I did at school today

OK, it's not school, it's work, but it's always nice to have a pretty picture to show for it. The picture above is a representation of genetic data from the mosquitoes I collected from NYC last month. I should say "we" because I largely came along as the genetics person for whom the mosquitoes would be ground up and analyzed.

Anyway, I have a set of genetic markers called microsatellites, and the ways that those vary among individuals and populations give me information about how similar or different those individuals and populations are. We used to visualize them on gels cast between large glass plates, but now I use a DNA sequencer to do what they call Fragment Analysis. It sizes the markers for each individual, and the end product is a spreadsheet with marker information for each individual.

I then take that spreadsheet info and put it into programs that analyze the data. One program is called Structure, and it looks for genetic structure in populations. Each individual is represented by a vertical line. With the picture here, you can see that two of the populations are similar to each other; those are the above ground populations. The third population are the sewer mosquitoes.

We have specimens of all three groups in the insectary at the moment. My next job is to look more closely at the two above-ground populations and see if they are similar enough to combine them as one group for the purposes of establishing a colony in the insectary.

It's good when the analyses work like they are supposed to!!

BinoBag is Done!

I finished the binocular bag I was working on. It was my first felted knitting project and I like how it turned out. I think the yarn was heavier than it needed to be because the felting process really thickens up the fabric. This will provide great protection for my borrowed binos, however, and someday I'll buy a new pair for myself to put in it.

I like the idea of felting because it's more art than science. Yes, you know the wool will shrink and glom together, but you don't know exactly how. The felting process consists of throwing the piece in a lingerie bag and agitating it with hot hot soapy water for 5-15 minutes or so. You pull it out every 5 minutes or so and put it back in if it's not done.

The funny thing was, once it was done and sitting on the plastic-bag-covered-cracker box to block (be blocked?) I felt like I didn't have anything to do. I sort of wandered around the house, and poked around the internet. Yes, I need the next project. I thought about finding something to read, but it didn't appeal as much as doing something with my hands.

So, Mr W and I are off to the yarn shop after work today. I'm thinking a new backpack-style purse, felted, and in the not-so-subtle color scheme of red, orange and pink.

Ladies and Gentleman, we have the real thing

I went to New York City last month to collect a certain kind of mosquito, one that is known to live only in enclosed spaces that stay relatively warm during the winter, like sewers, subway tunnels, that kind of thing. We worked with some really helpful people (no kidding, they were tops) from the city department that conducts mosquito surveillance and control.

There are a couple of cool things about this mosquito. It is so similar morphologically to another one that even experts can't tell them apart that way. Of course they are closely related, but it's unknown whether the sewer mosquito is a long-standing entity, or if it arises independently in cities with the proper environments. One of the cool things is that it doesn't hibernate. The closely related one overwinters as impregnated females. The other cool thing is that it can, unlike its close relatives, lay its first batch of eggs without a bloodmeal. That last one is the definitive test (so they tell me) to tell if you have the sewer mosquito or not.

We collected enough to ship home, and set they up in the insectary. One of my duties lately has been rearing these creatures. They have to be checked daily because the larvae hang out in pans and as soon as they turn into pupae (after about a week) they need to be moved into a screened cage because if there are adults in the pan, they can get loose and their liberator is looked at with scorn and disgust for letting mosquitoes free in the insectary. So there is a lot of moving around of larvae and pupae, and the above ground ones get fed blood three times a week. More on that some other time.

About a week ago, my supervisor asked if I had done a blood feed for the sewer mosquito's offspring (which never been outside), and I said I hadn't and how about we see if they laid eggs, as that would confirm their identity. He said he doubted they were the sewer mosquitoes to begin with for reasons that I'm not clear about. But we decided to wait and see if what they did with only sugar water.

Well, today I checked and there were three egg rafts in the cup of water, so sure enough, we have sewer mosquitoes! It's an interesting taxonomic/phylogenetic problem, being able to tell these apart from other similar types using genetic means. The trouble is, up until now, we didn't have enough confirmed specimens to develop the assays. Now we do. Huzzah!

Should people apologize for their dogs?

I was at the dog park yesterday with Sally. She's almost out of her mind with excitement as we pull in, and, after I have her sit, explodes from the car in what must be one of the most gleeful displays of dogdom ever. She bounces around for a while, does her business, greets other dogs, then usually follows me around as I walk around the place a few times.

My otherwise wonderful dog, however, has one fault when it comes to the dog park. She is a shameless toy thief. Yes, I do bring her own ball when we go, and I've left several there, so she'll usually run into one, but if she sees another owner throwing something to their dog, she'll often go over there and make an attempt to get it. About half the dogs let her, and the other half won't, but if she gets something, there's another doggie happy dance as she galumphs away with her prize.

After I apologize and tell the owner that I'll get their toy back, I try to ignore her and she'll usually lose interest in a couple of minutes. If I don't it's a very fun (from her point of view) game of me following her around saying in a stern voice, "Drop it, Sal".

I was sort of following her yesterday, when we wandered into the middle of the park, where the most dogs and owners are. The park is an old high school track, which is such a great place to take dogs and walk around - everyone wins. Anyway, I was following Sal (discretely) when this Great Dane starts chasing her. They were only playing, but the dog slammed into my leg as it was trying to get to Sal, who has this habit of walking between my legs, I guess to feel safer.

This was a 100 lb. dog, and its owners were right there. I said "Ouch!" and they both said, in that voice reserved for cute toddlers, "Oh, Sampson!" As though he gave me a lick instead of a bruise. I may sound like a curmudgeon, but this disassociation from one's dog's actions annoys me. If Sally behaves in a way that impacts other dogs or owners, well, see two paragraphs above.

Dog-ful but child-less couples are pretty obvious.

More springy thingies

I continue to ramp up for spring. Being a part-time single mom, full time worker and a home owner (don't forget working weekends to get time off to see the sweetie), I'm busy, like everyone else, it seems. I think that's part of the reason why I usually feel like the exterior of my property is lacking in some way. The outside is boring, the gardens are unkempt. I live in a part of town where people (college student renters excepted) really do give a hoot about what their house and yard look like.

Now, I'm not a yard person, really. I keep some grass because of Sally and Mr W, and I guess because it feels like I'm supposed to. I water it just enough to keep it on the edge of death - not a drop more. My tree lawn has been a thorn in my side since I moved in. It's uneven, so it's hard to mow with my little reel mower, and it's a pain to water it, so it has turned to weeds. It's also a significant part of the property, which is wide and shallow; it measures 10' x 50'.

So here is my to do list:

Tree lawn: kill weeds/grass, enclose with RR ties, cover with mulch

Regular lawn: Plant something in front of fence so I don't have to mow there (sense a trend?)

Gardens: Move/divide plants so I can see what's in there!

Exterior: Paint front door and trim I want some WOW to my very boring white and white-trimmed house. Plum and rust? Moss and Slate? Hmmm, what do you think?

I guess that's the priority list for the moment. I'm looking forward to looking at my house and yard and not cringing slightly!

image http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://thisoldhouse.typepad.com/oldhousemyhouse/images/imgp1583.jpg&imgrefurl=http://oldhousemyhouse.thisoldhouse.com/2006/12/color_schemeing.html&h=281&w=375&sz=97&hl=en&start=15&um=1&tbnid=ju_0NYJkJDXdiM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=122&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcolor%2Bbungalow%2Bplum%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*%26sa%3DG

Manuscript Limbo

I'm just about finished with a manuscript that summarizes the work I've been doing for the last year or so. I'm happy with how the research and results turned out, my analyses are solid, and I have drawn some interesting conclusions.

The research involved two subspecies that hybridize, and I used microsatellites (a genetic marker) to characterize the hybrids and better define the hybrid zone. The part that shows the genetic composition of individuals along the hybrid zone - grading from one subspecies to the other - is a classic example of hybridization. All that is good.

My supervisor doesn't like the introduction to the paper, and there's one bit of the discussion where I can't explain part of the results. This is completely due to the fact that I'm working with a critter instead of plants, as I have a good handle on the plant literature.

So I need to wait for my supervisor to rewrite part of the introduction, and come up with a reason why two introduced (i.e. non-native) subspecies would show different amounts of genetic diversity. The one in the south has little, the one in the north has a bunch.

Meanwhile, I'm starting some other stuff, and it feels really good to be back in the lab. I just have to wait for my very busy boss to find the time to sit down with my paper and apply his knowledge of the organism to my paper.

It IS good to be almost done with it, and (this is so geeky) I'm going to submit it to my favorite journal.

Mini-rant: coach's salaries

I was reading the paper this morning, and CSU fired its women's basketball coach, hiring her assistant to coach next season. She still had two years left on her contract, which the article insinuated CSU will pay.

Guess how much a women's basketball coach at a mediumly-large university makes.

Go ahead, guess.

Wait, before you guess, let me tell you that a new assistant professor in biology makes around 50K, plus start up money for a lab and travel to meetings. So, knowing that, you think, 'well, basketball is very secondary to academics. It is a univerisity after all. And the basketball season is only a portion of the school year.'

So, maybe 40K?

No, sorry, she makes about $125,000 a year, and the new coach will start at $115,000.

What the hell?

A year ago today

After I was divorced, like a lot of people, I ventured into the world of online dating. It's such a wacky time, there's this hole in your life because you're used to being the other half of a couple. At the beginning, on the one hand, you know you're supposed to establish yourself as this independent person. One the other hand, the loneliness seems overwhelming, so you want companionship.

I filled out my profile and began to correspond with men about this and that. And over the course of 2006 went out on a lot of first dates. There were no psychos, but there was always the imbalance of one person liking the match and the other person not feeling the chemistry. And sometimes, both parties felt that way! I wasn't a patient online dater, either. I could check my inbox 25 times a day to see if I had gotten correspondence.

By the end of 2006 I had about had it with online dating. I wasn't meeting anyone I really wanted to spend time with, hadn't really clicked with anyone. Then I read an article in Discover magazine, which is a magazine about science, about an online dating service for scientists, call Science Connection.

It's a small operation, and they don't match people. You put up your profile, and if you see someone you are interested in, you email them on your own. I think it was $10 a month, and I joined for three months. With SciConnect, you can list what your degree(s) are in, and what types of biology (cell? or organismal?) you're interested in. And you get to display one picture, none of this 'here are 10 photos of me and my dog and my mom and my beautiful friends'.

The downside of a small operation that caters to a small subset of people is that there may not be anyone local that you find worth emailing. Sure enough, while there were a couple (really, just a couple) of men from the area, I had to expand my idea of what was an acceptable distance quite a bit. I thought, "well, within a day's drive". Then I saw this one guy's profile...

He was from AZ (not too bad, our states touch at least), he had kids, was about my age, liked the same kinds of biology, and worked as a tour guide. Interesting. But I figured, having kids, he'd not want to correspond with someone so far away. However, I figured he should at least know that someone with similar interests found him interesting, so I emailed him a short note.

Then he replied, and asked questions in his reply. A good sign, as it necessitates further replies!

The story of when we actually met is a good one and I'll save that for another time.

Long story short, it is now a year later, and we are in a long distance relationship that is working, at least for the moment. I don't feel lonely when I'm alone (too busy!) and we see each other when we can. Skype, cell phones and email are good things indeed. I don't know how people did it when all they could do was write letters.

So, it's a bit of a celebratory day, and I'm so pleased CB is in my life!

Image from http://www.backdrops.net/images/108%20Celebration%2010%20x%2010.JPG

My Favorite Kids Books (the start of a series)

I've read to Mr W forever, and our routine at my house is three books before bed, read in my bed. I then give him a piggy back ride to his bed. I used to be able to lift and carry him more easily, but he's just too big.

I aim for about 20-30 minutes of reading, so I have to choose the books carefully. For whatever reason, reading three books is important to him.

What kind of kids books do you like? I tend to choose ones about stuff that has a little bit to do with reality, but also a major fantasty component. Books about talking animals, aliens, wierd and great stuff happening to regular kids - that's the stuff that appeals to me. I say "to me" because I usually pick out the books at the library to fit into our schedule. And I want to be interested in what I'm reading. Reality can be so boring... Or, I guess, reality happens all the time, why not escape in a book.

That being said, we are currently reading a book on the Hindenberg, done at a kid's level. It's a picture book, and Mr W likes it a lot. And we occasionally get the one out about Casey Jones, so I guess we do a bit of nonfiction.

But the book I wanted to write about today is "A Bad Case of Stripes" by David Shannon. It's about Camilla Cream, who "loved lima beans, but never ate them". Sadly, she was afraid of what the other kids would say. So afraid, that one day, she come down with, you guessed it, a bad case of stripes, and for a while, the power of suggestion makes her stripes turn into different patterns. In the end, she is cured by a kind old woman "just as plump and sweet as a strawberry", who tosses some lima beans into her mouth. Being able to admit it, even though it's not like everyone else, that she loves lima beans, she turns back into her old self again.

Yes, indeed. Be true to yourself, even if it means admitting you like lima beans.

Mr W and I agree, although we don't like lima beans.

A Milestone

I guess I saw this coming. Mr W was playing on the computer and I asked, “so what do you think of getting rid of the train table?” And he said, “You can get rid of the Thomas stuff, but I want to keep the Brio”. Wow, and in that statement, my kid went from being a little boy to more of a big boy.

He was a wee lad of 18 months when he got his first Thomas play set. It was a slippery slope and we first had the cheaper metal engines, followed by the wooden ones. A friend was nice enough to lend us their train table, and before long we had amassed an impressive collection of more toy trains than any kid could reasonable play with in one sitting. I counted them tonight, and am slightly embarrassed to say we have 41 toy engines of the Thomas ilk. That doesn’t count another 15 or so Brio (which have no faces and are therefore less baby-ish, I gather) ones we are keeping. Holy cow.

And he was a big Thomas fan for years. Family and friends could count on being able to give him Thomas stuff and knowing it would be a big hit. We went to the “Day out with Thomas” down at the RR museum in Golden for three years, most recently in 2007. We own several videos and got others out from the library. A teacher in preschool bought him a Thomas comforter.

Lest you think I will wallow in sentimentality too long, I am planning on giving a couple of engines to the little boys next door, and then putting the lot for sale on ebay. I told Mr W that he could have a cut of the proceeds.

What will he buy? Well, of course he wants a Nintendo DS, but he’s not likely to get one of those for a couple of years. He wants an Airhog remote controlled plane, and he wants a Swype-out racing kit, where you get cards and your own scanner to do races online. Those are OK with me. There are plenty of violent computer games out there, and I’m trying hard to keep those from him (keep him from those) for as long as possible. But the racing stuff is fine. And he’s good at it. Picture above from http://www.postershop.co.uk/

Oh, and Percy and Edward were always my favorites.

Polaroid to stop making instant film

Yup, it's true. A mainstay of family get-togethers in the 1970's is being discontinued. This is the list, from Polaroid, of all the different kinds of film that won't be made anymore.

http://www.polaroid.com/ifilm/en/index.html

I remember my grandparents having a camera that took color Polaroids. In this age of instant digital gratification, it may be hard to appreciate how incredible it was to see the picture develop in front of your eyes. I suppose it's obvious, once you think about it, but it's the smushing together, as it is pulled out of the camera, of the two halves of the picture/developer that start the developing process.

My lab at work uses the black and white instant film to photograph agarose gels that we run. After we amplify lots of copies of the DNA fragment of interest (with a process called PCR), we make a gel that has ethidium bromide (EtBr - a carcinogen, btw) in it and wells to load the DNA fragments. Then we run a current through it. When it's done, we can see if the fragment(s) are there, and/or if the results are the right size compared to the ladder of known size we run with it.

We have a light box that passes UV light through the gel, and the EtBr makes the bands light up. We take a black and white polaroid of the gel for our lab notebooks, and also make a digital record as well. There's an example up top (picture from: http://openwetware.org/images/3/32/7-17_PCR_gel_PT.jpg ) that I took off the web because our system saves the pictures as tiffs.

I guess we should stock up on film, and then we'll have to think about how to save records of our films in the future.

Should I stay or should I go?

The call has gone out: we siblings are expected to show up at the wedding. Said wedding is for the son of my dad's partner of 10+ years, and is in Tampa in May. Nice guy, he's not the issue. I'm sure the wedding will be lovely.

*sigh* I understand the pull of family obligations, but I'm ambivalent on this one for a couple of reasons. First, I'm inclined to save my travel resources to see CB. Airline tickets ain't cheap, and I've long since used all of my vacation time, so I need to work weekends to get days off.

The other reason is that, from my perspective, from the me at this point in time (2 1/2 years post divorce and in the beginning of what I hope is a long term relationship) I think investing so much on the front end of a relationship, like hosting an expensive wedding reception, is sort of missing the point. Yes, I get it that the wedding is a public declaration of two people's commitment, but looking at the divorce rate, it's obviously not an indicator of success.

In my opinion, I think that a there should be a modest celebration to start the couple off with the best wishes of friends and family. Then, a good party should be thrown after about 10 years, with successively bigger celebrations at regular intervals thereafter. I mean, it's not the getting together that's hard, it's the staying together.

Too cynical? Maybe. And my little rant here is not directed specifically at the people getting married.

What will I do? I have to confer with my brothers and their spouses. The couple has specifically not invited children to the wedding, so that puts my younger brother and his wife in a bit of a bind. I mean, what does one do with two kids for a wedding that's 7 hours away?

Stay tuned.

No Peepers

Mr W and I attended the frog survey training yesterday. They were very organized, and gave us our packets, and maps and CDs and we were out of there in under an hour. The training was at a natural area, an old farm, and we were in a remodeled farm house. Very peaceful, and in my opinion would be a great place to come to work each morning. Mr W's assessment: "it's boring". I have come to realize that this isn't a slam, it's a code word for stuff he either doesn't see the whole picture of, or otherwise doesn't understand.

Turns out there are only about a half dozen frog and toad species that we'll be expected to see, (no Peepers) with another half dozen that are rare, but possible. I'm into rarity, but that will be another series of posts someday. So we put the CD in the car stereo right away, and got to hear the different calls. If I can find sound files, I'll post them here because the calls are very distinctive. It is amazing, the diversity of calls of stuff that people lump together as "frogs".

As far as the list goes, we'll be looking for: But before I give that, I'll share a pet peeve I have. The "guide" they gave us to reptiles and amphibians doesn't have the scientific name for these creatures, only the common name. I think it is a disservice, because common names (aside from birds) are not under anyone's control. Give me the latin name alongside the common name, please, because there's only one of those for each critter.

OK, the list:

Bullfrog Rana catesbeiana

Northern Leopard Frog Rana pipiens

Woodhouse's Toad Bufo woodhousii

Western Chorus Frog Pseudacris triseriata

Plains Spadefoot Spea bombifrons

My current favorite song is that of the Western Chorus Frog, which sounds like a thumb across a comb. Pictured above.

Yeah, Bowling

Mr W is on spring break this week. Unlike his peers, who seem to be jetting off to exotic destinations, Mr W's mom has to work. To ease the pain a bit, I said "let's do stuff in the evenings a few times" and he liked that idea. So, what to do? The go-kart place? Nope, we have snow on the ground, and it's too expensive.

How about bowling?

OK, sounds good. Now, we've done this once before, and if you have not bowled recently, you're in for a surprise. No smoking is the the biggest change that I saw, as well as electronic scoring. I never could figure out how to score, even though I was friends in junior high with a girl whose family owned the local bowling alley.

So we go in, and there's a good number of people there, but several open lanes. We get our shoes, and bowl one game. Oh, I forgot about the bumpers. You can tell the people behind the counter that you want the "bumpers up" for one or both players. When Mr W bowled, there were railings that popped up that blocked the gutter. No kidding.

Final score: Mr W: 91 Mom: 78

And I wasn't letting him win, either.

The biggest biggest change? Final price for two games and two pairs of shoes? $13.40. Ouch.

A fun introduction to genetics

I saw this Bill Nye video on a blog I read http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/

It's about DNA and genes and is about 9 minutes long. Good stuff: accurate and entertaining.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3R7z8bgFTU

How about those colors?

CB sent me this picture from a tour he was leading in Mexico in January. It's a bunting of some kind, isn't it gorgeous?

When I got back from Ohio, on Feb. 23rd, I heard robins singing the next morning when I took the dog out first thing in the morning. Spring is definitely on the way. Sally was barking at a junco and a flicker in the yard this morning. It's good to see the activity.

Dog School

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I bought a Labradoodle puppy about a year ago. She's an F1 (first generation) hybrid of a poodle and a lab - what they used to call a mutt. And she is awesome as far as dogs go. Mr W and I named her Sally, he for the character in the Cars movie, and I for knowing two Sallies that were more than worthy of naming a dog after.

It had been a long time since I had a puppy. Ursa died last year at 11 years old. So it's been a lot of the "oh my god, what do you have now???" stealing laundry, pulling papers off the table, that kind of thing. But she's also very very sweet. She's big, almost 80 lbs., but will stand there for well-placed scratches for as long as a person will give them.

And she goes to dog school. I knew I had to run her once a day, and have settled on a combination of coming home over lunch and taking her to the dog park, and taking her to "doggy day care" i.e. dog school, two or three times a week. It wears her out and she is content to sleep on my bed until it's time to go in her crate at bedtime.

The other day, the dog school people were very apologetic when I got there. Seems there was a tangling of teeth and tags while Sally and another dog were wrestling. She lost a tooth when it got hooked on another dog's tags. Ouch. I thought she'd be in resting mode for at least 24 hours, but the next morning she was rarin' to go. Amazing

Almost done

After Christmas I had the idea to start knitting a sweater. I looked around and found an easy pattern from http://www.knittingpureandsimple.com/ for a "neck down" sweater. It's a really neat idea, and has been very appropriate for my skill level right now. You cast on stitches for the neck, and regularly increase stitches until the top 1/4 is done. Then you slip the sleeve stitches onto scrap yarn, finish the body and come back for the sleeves. There's no sewing together of the pieces.

I wanted something that didn't use really thick yarn, so I could wear it without getting too hot. Well, of course the downside of using thinner yarn is that it TAKES FOREVER to get the garment completed. Not really, but it's been a big project.

I'm making myself work on the sweater before I start the next project(s). I'm down to the last sleeve, and hope to get it done by the end of the weekend. Here is a picture of my next project, which I'm going to modify to make into a binocular holder for the binocs CB has been nice enough to lend me. It will be my first foray into felting, and it's a good motivator to finish the sweater - before it's too warm to wear it!!

Summer Plans

Summer is starting to shape up. I'll go to a conference in beautiful Minneapolis, MN in June to present the work I've been doing for the last year. I might also do some field work for work, collecting more specimens for population genetic studies. There's is also a two-week workshop that would be great to go to if I could swing being gone for two weeks, but I have my doubts I'll be able to do that.

As far as trips for fun, I'll probably head to the desert to see CB a time or two. Also, I'm really looking forward to trying to swing a whale-watching trip to see Blue Whales off the coast of CA. I don't know, whales and giant squid and big things just fascinate me. Seems I should make and effort to see them at least once. And Santa Barbara is really nice to visit, too. Nice botanic garden there.

Flippers crossed.

My Old House

I bought a "fix and flip" house in 2005 that met all of my criteria: close to downtown, close to the elementary school I wanted Mr. W to go to, and small yard. It seems lots of people want this kind of house, and when I saw it listed, my realtor had me put a bid on it that day (as soon as I was sure it was the one, of course).

It has largely lived up to expectations and exceeded some. There were vegetables on my back doorstep the afternoon I moved in from my wonderful neighbor Susan. The neighbors on the other side are likewise great and have two boys and watch my house when I'm gone. It's been so great to stroll downtown on summer evenings, and bike over to City Park to play.

But, there have been several old-house things (it was built in 1905) that have needed my attention as well. Last summer I had to get the sewer line repaired. While the leak from the line quietly swept dirt away from my foundation, it cracked and I need to fork over $1500 to get that repaired this spring.

And there's been this wierd leak that is very occasional and comes down the pipe that vents the furnace. Smart furnace-guy said today that the people who put the new furnace in should have replaced it, because water is condensing in and around it, then leaking down into the basement. They'll be back out for an estimate tomorrow. *sigh*

At least the roof doesnt' need to be replaced (YET!).

The illustration above is of a townhome style I really like. They are being built about a mile from where I live now. No, I'm not looking to pack up any time soon, but a brand-spanking new pad definitely has a strong appeal.

Jeepers

Jeepers, Creepers, Peepers!

I have signed Mr. W and myself up to be frog survey volunteers for the city's program to find out more about local amphibians. I don't actually know if they get Spring Peepers around here, but we will know all that stuff soon.

When I read about it in the paper, I had visions of me and Mr. W out at dusk on spring evenings, with our flashlights and clipboards, listening and deciding what frog species we were hearing and gathering data like real scientists.

Admittedly, this exercise is not just to increase our knowledge of local herps. I see in him a real propensity toward those computer games, and I want to bring some balance to the force, as it were. I think it's good to get kids outside to see how cool nature is (as cool as computer games, in a different way, though, IMO).

Can death be a blessing?

My sister died around 11:30 am on Wednesday, February 20. We (my brothers, dad and myself) made it in around 9 pm the night before and stayed with her until she died.

She was in really bad shape, and I hope all who read this never have to bear witness to that kind of suffering. Liver failure was what killed her, and this was accompanied by fluid accumulation in her abdomen, nausea that was really hard to keep under control, and pain. Always the pain. It seemed she only occasionally found the right balance between lucidity and pain management, and in the end had to opt for the latter.

The doctor on call checked on her around 9 am that day, and said she'd order something for "anxiety". We (there were about 10 of us in the room with her - I hope I'm as fortunate) said we didn't think she was anxious, but the doctor ordered it, "just in case". Shortly after that Kris did get anxious and scared, so they gave her a sedative and after that she calmed down and gradually stopped breathing.

I feel guilty saying it was a blessing for her to die, but that body was junk at that point. There was no sense in keeping it going, the miracle wasn't going to happen. So, at this point, I'm still riding a wave of relief that she doesn't have to throw up bile every 10 minutes (sorry if that's too graphic), and haven't been sad to the point of crying since we left the hospital. It will come, I'm sure, probably when I'm at Target (who is that woman weeping by the detergent?...), but for now, I'm glad her suffering is over.