SNOW DAY

It's official, school's closed at 2 pm. Good thing I didn't go to class this morning! Instead I stayed home all day and wrote my RNA midterm. Questions like: what is your favorite ribonucleoprotein and why is it cooler than the rest? or, what is the source of phosphate at the junction of the spliced exons of Hac1 mRNA under stress.
And I don't have class tomorrow anyway (although I really should start a cloning experiment) but maybe I'll get to stay home once again! WHOOP!
Also Pocky-cat is only ever adorable and sweet. She and Chubbo play a hiding under the sofa game. And she lies on my neck at night like a scarf and purrs.

PS Unfortunately I still have to finish my exam since the amazing internet permits transport via electronic particlessssssssssss
ok bye

Milk is Nature's way of saying I love you.

The man can do no wrong!

John Hartford is the man

:'(

Leviathan!

Holy Barking spiders! Do you like steampunk teen novels about alternative world war one scenarios? If you answered yes then you should read Leviathan by Scott Westerfield. Its bloody brilliant. It took me about 6 hours to read the 400 pages and I was never bored. Anyway, the central powers have created the 1900's versions of mech. warriors and they are at war with the allies (darwinists) who have made giant mutated beasts including a 200 yard long whale/zeppelin called The Leviathan, It basically flies around being awesome 24/7. So read it, enjoy it, digest it, and turn it into clart. (You'd have to read the book)

It is finished

View from above:

My dream of having a whale cruising down my wall has finally come true. Next up: a crab!

Za Vhale and I went to Castle Rock last weekend. We considered going skiing, briefly, but there really isn't enough snow yet. So we were pampered by his parents instead. Fine by me!

The first time I went down there I met Beau.

That was last April, I think. Now he's a little bigger, but still a cutie. And still a super puppy!

He's sure made a lot of meat in a short time.

One day we'll go skiing. It will be a different kind of "relaxing" I hear.

The whale is almost done. We will cut it out and hang it on the wall, and then it will be done.

See:

Let's celebrate. Alright!

I took my Molecular Methods final today. It went pretty well. I knew how to do cloning and immunofluorescence so I will get at worst a B.

When it was over I thought of maybe getting coffee but instead Ze Vhale and I rode our sweet bikes to New Belgium. It was supposed to be a short bike ride and then I would go back to the lab. Instead I got a growler of delicious Stout and we went to Elliot's for perfect olives. But one of my classes is done! Worth a little celebrating, right?

And I told Pat, my boss, today that I would not in fact be applying for the sweet $30,000 for three years grant that I told her yesterday I would apply for. She was quite agreeable to that, so that's another great thing.

Now we're cooking pizza and going to paint and watch some shows. The cats are eating their second breakfast and all is well in our world.

Darn goofy cats

I always think they hate each other but then I catch them doing this:

And this:

whale part 2

What is better than RNA biology? Whale painting of course.

Just a normal Sunday

Crab-zzz

Za Vhale here...There is a crab on my coach. It is asleep...wait it sniffled! It may have awoken... nope, not this time.

Friday was a big day.

Yesterday I took Pocky to the cat clinic to get her spayed. She was crying in the cat carrier the whole time, and wouldn't eat any food, and I got lost and drove like a lunatic. But we got there!

Then I went to school and took a test on protein and DNA secondary and tertiary structures, on which we were promised many questions about amino acids. I learned all the amino acids and there were no questions on them.

I went to "first friday" social hour with Za Vhale. It was in Janice Moore's lab, she studies parasites. No one signed off on the alcohol form because they were all gone, so they spent the extra money on decorations and food. It was halloween and bug-themed. A flowerpot was full of "mud." A sand bucket was full of "sand." And they had larvettes! I ate a bacon and cheese flavored cricket. It was the only package that was open. At first I wanted to find a non-bacon flavored one, since I do pretend to a vegetarian lifestyle. Then Christine pointed out that she wouldn't eat one since she really is vegetarian. I ate the bacon-flavored one directly after. It dissolved into powder as soon as it entered my mouth, so at least it was well flavored powder.

Za Vhale and I also talked to many scary people, like Kevin who is prone to saying one thing and then being silent. You think it's safe to move on and instead he says another, disconnected thing. All I know about him is he drinks diet coke. And we talked to June Medford, Kevin's boss. She went gaga over the peanut-butter filled eyeballs, and refused to try a cricket.

I picked up the cat with Za Vhale, and she was very quiet on the ride home. When we let her out of the carrier she was tripping over her back legs and seemed mostly to be high.

Then I had a party! I made hummus to eat with soda bread, and I made 15 bean soup. We played Killer Bunnies, a card game like magic but with bunnies and weapons and carrots instead of mana etc. We also played Stress, an evil card game for two people, and Set. And everyone was friendly and nice and super competitive. Barbara and Laura and Karen and Torbin came. I didn't take any pictures.

Then it started snowing. And this is what it looked like this morning:

The green leaves and the snow are so weird. PS it's still snowing. Maybe we'll get school off for Columbus Day after all.

granules expert

Annie and Emily are here, which is a good thing because Annie is an expert on granules. Za Vhale and I just saw a dude lecture on stress granules in the cell. I didn't understand what he was talking about except at the introduction and conclusion, but he was a badass who knew what he was talking about. Some other people in the audience asked incomprehensible questions, so I guess they knew what was up too. Annie didn't go to the lecture since she already knows everything about granules.

Now A+E are on their way back from New Belgium, they were only there for three hours, and then I guess we'll party all night long.