A poem

Eric wrote this for me. I really like it but the sticky is wearing off the post-it so now it is here forever.

we're gonna buy a house!

We met with the mortgage consultant at Wells Fargo today and learned that we are now prequalified for a mortgage and can likely get a $150,000 house. And then we learned that there are many very nice houses for that much in Fort Collins.

WhooP!

Reiteration

So school starts today... And the school wants the money.... except the school never paid the whale so now they get no money and i get late fees. So basically they get their own money back and then some... Jerks. So anyway, Stopped playing WoW started playing Demigod... The shift is nice and relaxing and I still get to "Pawn Newbs (Scrubs)". Also The Crab is a much better cook then expected. In fact the meal last night was one of the best I've had. Who knew that samosa burritos would be a good idea?

School starts today!

A little bird named Anne told me how twice-baked samosa potatoes are good, so I made them for dinner. And even though I lacked several ingredients (fortunately not potatoes) and severely undercooked the potatoes, so that they had to be microwaved and turned into a lumpy goo ball, they were good. Very yellow, too. Here are the well-microwaved potatoes, full of bubbles from the milk boiling over.

Also, turmeric prevents Alzheimer's, so they say. Phew!

skiing at copper - my first time ever

Yeah right, you think you can ski?

I mostly didn't even see the mountains, I was looking at the snow.

After lunch. So ready! I have the orange bandana for extra safety.

Eric snowboarded too, and then waited for me. A lot.

Action shot! Pizza style!

I did it!

One for the record books

On a similar note to Margarets post

http://www.livescience.com/common/media/video/player.php?videoRef=SP_091102_jupiters-kingdom

ecosystem services

Hi Wiley,

I just heard about this amazing concept that would also be helpful for winning debates in my biofuels classes. A brief encapsulation follows in this video:

Please tell me everything you know about this.

Thanks,

Margaret

My new hero

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/nyregion/12ironman.html?em

The Great Joe Rollino, capable of bending a quarter with his thumb at 103, has passed away.

The article is great. An important detail is that he was a member of the Association of Oldetime Barbell and Strongmen. I think my brothers should investigate becoming members.

He died because he was jaywalking. How did such a risk-taker get to be 104?

He swam in the Atlantic off Coney Island in the winter - when he was 69!

Too bad I only learned about him after he was dead.

What I did this week

The bottom two pictures are before plasmolysis. Plasmolysis causes the cell contents to contract and pulls the plasma membrane away from the cell wall.

The top two pictures are after plasmolysis. Now we can distinguish fluorescence in the cell wall.

I transformed onion peels by shooting them with the gene gun. Basically I coated microscopic bullets with DNA encoding the fluorescent protein, and shot the onion peels. Once they recover from the shooting trauma they begin to make the fluorescent protein and that's when I took these pictures.

the baltimore aquarium

We went to the aquarium and saw:

poison toad

sloth - one of only four mammals there.

puffer fish

snake. chillin.

sharks aplenty

discreet parrots

skeletal silvery jackfish

lion fish

Much fun was had by all.

happy new year

blondes in annapolis

me, Jill, and Mary. We are all very adult now with relationships and ambitions for careers and whatnot. And we are still friends. WhooP!

Christmas highlights