"Sunny" California...

Well, I am finally back from San Diego, welcomed back to Texas by the wonderful, heavy heat of May. It was such a relief to be warm again! San Diego is nice, but is too chilly for me this time of year.

The drive out was pretty good - we got to see pretty much everybody - Mom before we left (she came to the Ring Day activities); Dad, Sheila, Mam-maw and Papa in the Panhandle; Gran and Bill at Cline's Corner, NM (they drove up and met us there); and Justin in Dewey, AZ. Most of the drive was great - lots of interesting and beautiful landscape, new things to see...The last 8 hours was horrible, though. We were SOOOO happy to get to San Diego, finally. I didn't do much but work while I was there.

Work was good. I really enjoyed visiting the lab that I was in, and I learned a lot. I got some really great data (at least I think so, we'll see when it comes to writing the paper). For now, it's back to the grindstone here in College Station, hopefully to finish up by the end of the summer!

Things I haven't been able to find in Pacific Beach...

Adam's Best Vanilla Extract

Wolf Brand Chili

Good Panhandle beef

Cast iron skillets (depsite the fact that we have been to several stores, including a proper cooking utensil shop!)

...and several more things that don't currently come to mind. Thank goodness for the internet - I'll never have to go without!

Sunset in San Diego

Phil and I took a wander into PB the other day, and ended the trip at Tourmaline Surf Beach, which is near Phil's apartment. The sunset was beautiful.


The work is going well in the lab that I am visiting. Hopefully it will continue to do so. Unfortunately, I haven't done much site-seeing or picture-taking, so I don't have any photos (other than the one above) to post!

Macy's least favorite past time....

Do you want a bath?

Those words strike fear and loathing in Macy's heart every time she hears them. In fact, she can recognize the word "BATH" when you spell it out. I started calling it a scrubbing a while ago, but now she knows what that means too.

She really hates the running water



and refuses to enjoy being scrubbed



and especially hates waiting for the shampoo to do its job



and always tries to get out before it's time.



She doesn't much like getting dried off either.

Start'em out early...

My sister, Sandra, called today to tell me about Clay's (my nephew) latest antics. She said she heard him crying and went to see what the matter was. She found him holding one of his thumbs with his other hand. She asked him if he had smashed his thumb, he said no. She asked him what was wrong, and he said, "my Aggie hurts!". Confused, she asked again what was wrong. "My Aggie HURTS!!!" he said. Still confused, my sister asked him to show her what hurt. Very frustratedly, he shoved his tiny hand in her face, thumb up in a Gig'em sign, and said, "my AGGIE HURTS, Momma!"



(For those of you unfamiliar with the handsigns of the Southwest Conference, click here)

Speaking of Aggies, I am officially a "card-carrying" member of the Aggie family now - I got my Aggie ring on the 13th! The Aggie Ring is the most recognized symbol of the Aggie spirit, and can be easily recognized from across a crowded room. I am very proud of it, and now, after only a week of wearing it, feel naked without it:





My very good friend Libby, who started graduate school the same semester as I did, also got her ring that day, and we had a grand old time doing Ring Day stuff.



Libby and I have shared a lot during our graduate school years, and I am very happy and very proud to have shared my ring day with her. My mom, Phil, Jamie Rae, Karla (and Arnie and Karla's dad) and Chelsey all came out to help us celebrate, as did Libby's husband and son. Sadly, I didn't manage to get any pictures with anyone but Libby! Terrible oversight on my part, and I'm very disappointed about that (no offense, Libby). It was a great day!

The lemon saga is over!

I got my car back about two weeks ago after having had it in the shop since January. It turns out that the problems I was having with it were due to a "bad" part that had been put in last summer when the air conditioner went out. On the one hand, Hooray! my car is fixed, but on the other, what the ??? Why didn't they catch that 8 months and 6K miles ago?

Anyway, I'm just glad to have my own car back.

The garden begins...

This weekend, I managed to put my garden in - well, most of it anyway. I planted beans, squash, okra, watermelon, cucumber, and "Early Girl" and cherry tomatoes. The big cage thing at the end of the garden is my bird-proofing for the tomatoes. I got smart this year and put it up before I planted the tomato seedlings.



The potted plants (mostly herbs) have been growing for a while, and are doing nicely:



I still have a few seedlings that are not big enough to go in the ground yet. There are several varities of herbs, hot peppers and beefsteak tomatoes:



The rows look really nice, but were a lot of hard work. Last year, I had a lot of drainage issues, especially in the larger upper part, but my neighbor, Roy, says that I won't have those problems this year.



Macy doesn't like the rows, though, because it isn't as easy for her to wander in the garden.



The only thing I am concerned about is whether or not the soil is really warm enough for the okra. That's the thing I look forward to the most. I am going to plant some more seeds in a few weeks in my Jiffy pellets just in case. Dave has never even heard of okra before, so I am especially looking forward to having a good harvest this year. Also, Jamie Rae says she has an amazing recipe for squash soup, so I'm hoping that this year won't be as wet and that the squash won't mold out again like it did last year.

Springtime in Texas

Dave took this great picture of me and Macy when we took Macy flower hunting (see below for that post):

Macy and the bluebonnets

I think this is Macy's favorite time of year. My roommate Dave and I took her out to see the bluebonnets, and as usual, she had a great time. (Click on the picture for a larger view)






Of course, when we told her it was time to go, she asked:


"Do we really have too?"

the best pair of jeans EVER!!!

I was in desparate need of a new pair a jeans, and after searching every store in the mall and several nearby, I came up empty handed. I got on the internet and searched "custom jeans" just to see how much they might cost. The second link I clicked on - MakeYourOwnJeans.com - looked very promising, and to my surprise, the jeans they make only cost $60 with shipping included!!! (see link on the left - MakeYourOwnJeans.com to check out the company) I ordered a pair about 10 days ago and have been anxiously awaiting their arrival. They arrived this morning, and OH MY GOSH they are AMAZING! They fit so well and are so comfortable - they are made of 100% cotton as well, not the silly 99% or 97% plus lycra, so they aren't stretchy and won't sag like my other jeans. Also, because they are custom made, they aren't too low on the waist, but they aren't highrise either...Alright, I know, I sound like an info-mercial, but for anybody out there who hates to shop for jeans, and/or has a hard time finding jeans that fit, this site is the BEST place to get jeans. They also do "Clone a Jeans" (which, for those genetists/microbiologists/molecular biologists out there is especially funny), where you send in your favorite pair of jeans and they replicate them for you (I'm going to try that next). Anyway, woohoo! Hooray for new jeans!

Two new spots!

I was very excited today to see that I have two new spots on my visitor's map (left hand side, under the links). It looks like someone in Southern California (Phil, perhaps?) and someone in Northern China have now veiwed my blog. Also, my College Station dot grew to the 100+ size. So exciting!

A bad day at the dentist...

This moring started off fine, Macy enjoyed her usual lie in (at least until 8:30 am), and then we went to the vet. Today was the day for Macy's annual dental exam and teeth cleaning.

The Vet - Dr. Bay - called at 1 pm to let me know that Macy had done well and all her lab results looked normal, but unfortunately, she had to pull 5 of Macy's teeth! Two at the very back on the bottom, 1 on the top right next to her canine, and her two bottom middle teeth. Poor Macy!They also had to shave one of her legs for the IV line, and she struggled a bit, so it's bruised as well. She didn't like having her picture taken either - although Joel did his best to keep her still. Dr. Bay said that loosing teeth is very common for Chihuahuas, and the fact that Macy is 7 and has never had any teeth pulled (until today) means that she is very well cared for and is in excellent dental health (whew! I was very upset when she told me and was relieved to hear that). Her gums look good and she should heal quickly.

Although Macy is now missing her two front teeth (see above), the day ended at home, with Macy happy and seemingly unaffected by her missing teeth. She was quite happy to get soft food for dinner.

I have been told that the last 10% of anything you do is the hardest 10%.

If that is true, I am really up a creek, as my PhD has been rife with hardships, from my health to my progress to interpersonal relationships and everything in between.

I think I can feel that that end is near, but don't know if I should be excited or really scared....

Busy, busy bee!

My burn has finally healed and it's been off to the races for things at work and school. Carrie defended her dissertation on Tuesday, Taehyun's last day in the lab was Monday, and Anh is trying to choose a job. Yi has moved to Taehyun's bench, in the first step of a musical chairs bench swap session. Chelsey (my undergrad) will be getting Anh's bench when she leaves, and Doug has taken Yi's bench. I'm supposed to be up next to defend, so I have to get busy, busy, busy to finish up.

SRW plans are taking a heavy toll, although Jamie Rae and Stacy are bearing the brunt of those and I am basically just answering email and a few other little things. Spring Break will be here soon. Sigh. Where does the time go?

My car is officially a lemon. I have begun the process of claiming so legally under Texas' "Lemon Law" and it seems that it is going to be a long, drawn-out, painful process. Sigh. I'm so tired of this ordeal, and yet it never seems to end.

No luck on the job front thus far...There's a new one posted that I want to apply for, but I need to rework my CV and cover letter. Also, Daisy booked my flight to San Diego today (hooray!) so I really have to get things prepared for that. I am beginning to get overwhelmed!

The burn continues...

Burn, day 10:



My burn has morphed into this horrible looking, painful, annoying mass of blisters on my hand. I went to the doctor (again) today and got a tetanus shot, which has caused annoyances and pain of its own, and a "stay the course" diagnosis, since apparently this is part of the healing process. The blisters are protecting the new skin as it forms, and will eventually disappear. Sigh....Eventually, maybe, but in the meantime, I don't think I will ever use the hot water bottle again!

Sigh....

In the last week I have managed to fall off the ladder to the attic (resulting in a bruised bum), slip and fall on an icy patch near the entrance to my building (resulting in a bruised cheekbone, bruised hip, and separated ribs), AND pour boiling water on my hand while attempting to fill a hot water bottle (resulting in a relatively small but very painful second degree burn). Needless to say, I am having a rough time of it! Fortunately, my cheek is pretty well healed, and other than the bandages on my hand, nothing else is visible when I'm fully dressed, so I don't look as pitiful as it sounds.

Below is a picture of my lovely burn. It doesn't look too bad in the photo, though. The discolored spot in the red area to the left was actually a blister earlier - the blister is gone now, but the skin-shell is still there which makes the discoloration. The palm side of my had looks similar, but no blisters. Also, my thumb has a few splash spots (they don't really show up very well) and blister on it, but I didn't want to take the band-aid off for the photo because it's the only one I had left...

Weekend treats with good friend...

My friend Jenny came down for the weekend yesterday - we haven't had a "girls" weekend in quite some time - and we have spent the day relaxing. Well, at least part of the day. I worked this morning and Jenny stayed at my place and read. Then we went to lunch, stopped by Target to pick up a few things and then we went and had a pedicure. A good pedicure is the most amazingly relaxing experience and the best way to paper yourself for not very much (also, it's good for your feet). As always, the folks at SuperNails were excellent and ever-attentive to details and we had a great time. I did notice something strange while we were there, however; in the chair next to me was a rough-looking cowboy! His wife was getting a mani and a pedi, so I guess he thought he would try it out. He looked so out of place - thick, bushy mustache, tanned face (with a hat line), well-worn jeans, pearlsnap shirt, Carhart insulated vest, hat in hands, and mud-covered cowboy next to his seat (which, BTW, at SuperNails are fabulous massage chairs so you get a massage while you get a pedicure) (also, you could tell he had worn boots most of his life as the hair on his legs from mid-calf down wasn't there any more, evidently worn off from daily boot wear; my dad has the same look). He looked a bit uncomfortable during the whole thing, but he seemed to be enjoying himself; I guess even cowboys like a bit of pampering now and again!

Ummm....Perhpas a title change is in order???

Someone asked me today why my blog is titled "All the world's a phage...Scientifc progress goes boink". The first part is is a quote from William Shakespeare (although I can't recall from what work at the moment), and is maybe a bit overused by phage biologists to emphasize the importance of their field (http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20030712/bob9.asp). Phage comes from the Greek word "phagein" meaning "to eat" (also, the Greek word "phagos" means a voracious or gluttonus man, which would also apply to some phages, like T1. Oh, for those of you that don't already know, a phage (full word - bacteriophage) is a virus that infects bacteria (i.e., it "eats" them)). I am studying the phage lambda host cell lysis system for my PhD project (see Young lab homepage link to the left). The second part is the title of a Calvin and Hobbs comic collection, of which I am a huge fan. "Boink", in that case, is meant to mean goes bad or off course or at least not the way you planned, sort of like what you might imagine happens to an object that when dropped, makes the sound the word boink makes when you say it. However, since I did not know the formal definition of the word boink, I looked it up on dictionary.com. I was shocked to see the answer:

- from the American Heritage Dictionary -
boink - verb; (boinked, boink·ing, boinks); To have sexual intercourse with; to engage in sexual intercourse. [From boink, imitative of bumping or bouncing.]

After reading this, I immediately realized that I did, in fact, know this definition of boink somewhere in the back of my brain, but it certainly did not come to mind when I picked the title of my blog!

Still, I think the title, using the Calvin and Hobbes definition, very aptly describes what my life has been centered around for the last 5.5 years, so I guess I'll keep it.

Things eveyone should know and other people already said better...

We cannot learn without pain - Aristotle

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tired anything new - Albert Einstein (It's always good to try new things, right, Gran?)

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other - JFK

Education is not received; it is achieved - Unknown

Confidence comes not from always being right, but from not fearing to be wrong - Peter T. McIntyre

It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves and it is not possible to find it elsewhere - Agnes Repplier

The life given us by nature is short, but the memory of a life well spent is eternal - Cicero

The Ice Storm continues...

The University was closed AGAIN today - this hasn't ever happened in the 6 years that I have been here! My roommate, Dave, took these pictures this morning - it's worse than yesterday.