Andrew's Post-Alabama Ambitions

End of the year musings

2012-01-05T13:31:00.000-08:00

I guess five months is a long time to not update a blog. Most people have probably deemed this blog dead by now, and I wouldn't necessarily disagree with that just yet. I can't quite say if this is just a quiet pop from the fire before the embers cool beyond having the capability of setting alight a new log or if this is a spark of rejuvenation that signals an old engine returning from its year long slumber. In any case, like times before, here I am.

Certainly many things have happened in the last year that are at least of some note. I've officially joined the Comeron Lab and am slowly climbing hand-over-hand toward the next rung of my professional career. I now live in an apartment where I don't want to run outside and scream at the blabbering drunks who think that pulsating low frequencies somehow bring them closer to undergrad Nirvana every weekend. Which also means that I now have my cat living with me--which, is more of a highlight than I'd like to admit, truthfully. I've also been in a relationship with a cultured human being for the entire year too. I hope I've not scared her off after bringing her down to Alabama this holiday season.

Bama is always curious. I returned to my hometown after a year to see that absolutely nothing has changed, save for a new exit off the highway that was designed as a sort of heart bypass,but now is a frivolous plastic surgery since most of the hosiery mills have moved away. Everyone's a little bit fatter, including me, and going on with their lives with a pace that you'd think was predetermined at the point of conception. They're buying houses, getting married, and having children. Now the pattern is so clear. Everyone is doing the same thing that the generation before them did with only minor alterations to the plan. How change comes about in any form is remarkable.

So I suppose I'm trudging on in my own way. Towards some fantastic goal that is sure to impress my friends and family. Some days I yearn to be a cabinet maker or fisherman, producing immediate results with my own hands, cracked and dry after years of work.
I've been so cut off from reality. My work is all about thinking: How can we do this? How does this fit our model of X? What is the purpose of Y? Can we demonstrate that Y affects X? How can I spin this in a way that the government will give me money? Science is not for the impatient. That's what I learned in 2011. That, and sometimes you've got to stop and appreciate where you've been and where you are. Graduate school has taught me that it's okay to feel stupid and that each person is here for their own specific reason--not just for the same reason I'm here.

It's taken me too long to realize the importance of family and friends. Before, I was so focused on the end that the journey was irrelevant. Anyhow, welcome to 2012. Lets see this as a spark that returns the engine to life.

History Lesson of the Day:

2011-06-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

When Germany invaded Denmark in World War II, the Hungarian chemist George de Hevesy dissolved the gold Nobel Prizes of the German physicists Max von Laue (1914) andJames Franck (1925) in aqua regia to prevent the Nazis from confiscating them. The German government had prohibited Germans from accepting or keeping any Nobel Prize after the jailed peace activist Carl von Ossietzky had received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1935. De Hevesy placed the resulting solution on a shelf in his laboratory at the Niels Bohr Institute. It was subsequently ignored by the Nazis who thought the jar—one of perhaps hundreds on the shelving—contained common chemicals. After the war, de Hevesy returned to find the solution undisturbed and precipitated the gold out of the acid. The gold was returned to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Nobel Foundation who recast the medals and again presented them to Laue and Franck.^[5]^[6]

--Taken from Wikipedia. Confirmed on the Nobel Prize webpage.

Cooking in the Laboratory Part I: Spicy Denatured & Disrupted Ova de Gallus gallus

2011-05-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

An Oppressed Graduate Student’s Guide to

Cooking In the Laboratory

The following protocols are intended only as a joke though would likely produce palatable food with only a minimal risk of hazardous contamination leading to injury or death. As always, use proper personal protective equipment (PPE) when dealing with any potentially dangerous chemicals or equipment.

Spicy Denatured & Disrupted Ova de Gallus gallus

Protocol:

1.) Manually lyse two unfertilized, mature Gallus gallus ova (appx 110g) via forceful disruption of medial cuticula into a ~500mL Erlenmeyer flask. Discard outer calcareous shell as hazardous biological waste.

2.) Add 1900uL 5M NaCL, 5mg Capsaicin (dissolve in 5mL 100% EtOH), and gently swirl to equilibrate.

3.) Add 100mL Fresh Bovine Mammary Secretion (pH 6.8). If unavailable, substitute an appropriate amount of dried Casein in deionized water.

4.) Vortex mixture vigorously (>1500RPM) until complete disruption of vitelline membrane. 3uL 5mg/ml Trypsin may be added to accelerate this process.

5.) Grease a 1L beaker with 10mL 3:1 Oleic Acid:Palmitic Acid solution. Heat to 150°C on a magnetic hotplate with a large magnetic stirbar.

6.) Add disrupted ova mixture and denature for 3 minutes until mixture solidified.

7.) Remove from heat, consume. Make undergraduates clean up your mess.

Six Months Later...

2011-05-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

And so it continues...
It's been quite a while since I last had a blog post, despite the occasional words of encouragement from Claire. Things in graduate school are pretty much always busy. It's hard to justify wasting time writing a blog. It's far easier to waste time on Reddit or elsewhere in the cesspool of the internet where no remnant of the lost moment will remain.
Alas, things are pretty good here. I have a deeper understanding of my expectations now and have learned to grow as a scientist and be sane simultaneously. Our year lost a couple more students, I can't help but wonder if they're better off. It seems like every week I read another article about how the university system is the next unsustaniable bubble that's going to burst, or how the Ph.D. is useless these days. There's lots of Ph.D.s and simply not enough jobs I fear. Academics don't retire and open up the gates for new academics. I guess that's an artifact of not actually enjoying your life until you're 40 when things settle down and you're actually running a lab. I've said time and again that I wouldn't be doing this if I felt like there was something else better to do. I guess I have this pipe dream of being a bona fide scientist with his own lab doing what he wants and letting his interests guide his work. It seems like quite the journey from here.

So what have I been doing in the last six months? The short story is, well, a lot. I rotated through Josep Comeron's lab early this year and sequenced 24 complete genomes to address the question of how recombination varies within a species at different conditions. It was a really great rotation project, and added to the labs over 4000 genomes they've compiled in the last year. It was a lot of work but I really enjoyed the people, pace, questions, and approach.
The rotation ended and then I got to go to Sarit Smolikove's lab. Sarit is perhaps the best adviser that one could wish for. She's dedicated, interested, and very involved. I have to reject the null hypothesis that Ph.D.s don't actually do benchwork when I'm around her (P<.01). She teaches and spends at least 10 hours a day actively doing research, and that gives me a lot of hope for my future career. My project in her lab was to determine what proteins interacted with one that they had implicated in synaptonemal complex dissassembly (the protein scaffolding that holds together homologous chromosomes during meiosis)--the first protein discovered to be involved in this process. I produced a lot of hits, and knocked a few of them out in vivo to see how they affected meiosis. A really cool project. I feel like I'd be in her lab right now if she had a grant. It's sad, but she already has two graduate students and no grants to keep them going. I think she'll eventually pick up a solid grant, but I just can't risk having to teach every semester and watch my productivity take a nose dive.
So, that left me to join Josep's lab. I started last week and will be there for the next four to five years working on recombination variation. Our first task is to get a review paper out the door. As such, I've been reading articles pretty much every day. Basically this way I can get my first paper in the lab, the first quarter of my comprehensive exam written, part of a grant application, and a piece of my thesis written within the first semester of my work in the lab. I think Josep is really thinking ahead on this one, which is a very good thing if I'm to get out of here in a reasonable amount of time.
I suppose the next obstacle in my way is our Qualifying Exam. We've been given the topics for the exam and are expected to know them well enough to answer specific questions within the topics on July 10th. I've started the studying process and should be ready by that time. Some topics are specific and doable, like "The biology of small interfering RNAs", while others are extremely broad, "The origins and maintenance of diversity in natural populations." Oh well, just another hoop to jump through.

I suppose that's all I've got. Haley will be passing through Iowa City in early June and staying the night at my place with Ari--I still haven't told her that I don't actually have a couch for her to sleep on, but I'll drag out the small mattress for her. It should be a fun time.

Cheers,
Andrew

1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6(3H,7H)-dione

2010-11-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple weeks since I've last posted, but rest assured that I am managing to stay sane!
The NSF proposal is coming due soon, and it's starting to shape up in one form or another. I've not begun on the personal statement portion of it yet--It frightens me what I'm going to write.

Which reminds me of something really creepy and mildly disturbing: I keep seeing Amy Bishop in this town. I know it's not her; there's someone who works nearby that I always see from afar and my heart skips a beat. From behind, she has the same exact stature, same cream colored skirts, same poor posture, same black hair cut to the same length. I suppose I'll have to live with these types of creepy reminders for a while.

Anyhow. Three of us in the lab have Bruegger's bottomless cups now. For $139 you too can have all of the coffee you want for the next 14 months. Now I'm really living on the sinusoidal wave of caffeine addiction.

I'll try and post something sciencey in the near future.

Thinking about changing the world...

2010-10-16T08:01:00.000-07:00

Well, howdy all. Above this is one of the first pictures of epithelial nuclei that I obtained about a month ago. As you can see, it is much better than the confocal images I took prior to that. Some times low(er) tech is the way to go.
As of now, I'm sitting in the library trying to think of a good way to change the world with my Ph.D. dissertation. It's an NSF exercise, basically,...that if I got lucky enough would fund me at $30,000 + tuition and $8000 for research for the next three years. The money isn't the big goal though, receiving one of these NSF GRFP fellowships basically means that you can do postdoctoral work wherever you want and, more, ensures that you're likely to get more NSF money in the future. The National Science Foundation really likes keeping their money for people they like, so they support people throughout their scientific career. This would be nice, while they don't dish out quite as much dough as the National Institutes of Health, they do provide researchers with hefty grants nonetheless. Money like this is essential to doing really big projects and getting tenure at a major research university.
So that leads me to my project proposal....
I have no idea what I'm going to suggest. The problem is, they want to see transformative ideas that will go a ways toward revolutionizing a field. NSF loves this kind of stuff, and wants to see this along with what they call "Broader Impacts". Essentially, this means that my work has to be distributed to the public in some form of outreach. They want to see that I'm going to go out and disseminate all of the knowledge I gain through their money.
Unfortunately, most of the people that I'm competing with have spent the last five years in Kenya teaching science to crippled children while rebuilding medical facilities and searching for an AIDS cure. Competition is steep...and if you don't have a transformative idea, you're dead in the water. Since I didn't quite get to the grad schools I pitched my transformative ideas to, I need to start again. And in a hurry.

At present, I'm twiddling with a few things that could be done. Most of them, however, hinge on having more genomic data about our snails in the Neiman lab. I've got to say...that just sucks. I'd also like to test our assumptions about Polyploidy or Asexuality, but there are way too many variables in this system to pin down just one! At this moment, I'm thinking about looking at how snails become triploid or tetraploid. I've got an interesting idea to look at the process...I just need to spend a few more hours on PubMed to see if it's even feasible. But then, I've got to relate it to the bigger picture and suggest how it will change the world. I think it might, I just have to solidify the connection!

Maurine returns from her European journeys this week. I've not gotten as much lab work done while she has been gone as I expected to. That's okay, though, since I really feel like I've spent a lot of time thinking and learning lately. Alas, back to work!

Spherical Assumptions

2010-10-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I've completed my second month as a for-real graduate student.
I've finally figured out why I've been uneasy with this whole shebang: I finally am beginning to understand just how stupid I really am. I'm surrounded by really smart people, doing smart things, talking about smart stuff. All the while being defeated during my own projects. There's a vast, vast, wealth of knowledge out there and I can't hope but to chip away at a tiny fraction of it. This, combined with the fact that in undergrad you could actually know everything you needed to know. Sure, biochem was a lot of material, but by the exam you could know all the answers and get an A. Now, (to take a phrase from Derek) It's like trying to drink from a firehose. Simply put, Graduate school makes be feel very dumb.
These last two months have been awfully humbling for me. Biology has gone from something that I do because I'm good at it, back to the thing that I loved as a small kid--discovering new things, rich and intricate that unite all beings on this planet. That's probably a good transition, though I can only wonder how people that were only 'just good at it' are faring.
Part of what is keeping me in it is seeing people that got through it that probably shouldn't have. I mean, if they can do it---so can I!
Another awkward thing is that we, as grad students, don't really fit in with a crowd except our own. The undergrads are well, undergrads...and drinking with those that you teach and look up to you is quite a bit awkward. And then you don't exactly fit in with the professors either...they're either married and have kids or involved in their own mid 30's life.
So that leaves us grad students together... Except we're all busy as hell. The only real form of camaraderie that we exercise is drinking; let me tell you: grad students can drink. This point has been made to me every Friday thus far. What's worse is the fact that Iowa is a Mecca for beer when compared to a place like Alabama. I've already imbibed more booze during the last two months than I did in all four years of undergrad combined. I don't guess that's saying much...but the liver has taken a pounding since I've been here.

Anyhow.. I'm finally experiencing some level of success! With the help of a collaborator, I've managed to prepare decent nuclear smears to quantify. I've already made 8 slides and counted + measured over 400 nuclei. I was hoping to have some images and flow cytometry data to show off for you, but I'm not in the lab (for once). I'll try to snag a few screenshots on Monday. At this rate, I'll have some sort of conclusion in a few weeks. Past that, I'm going to try and play around with karyotyping some of our snails so that we can confirm their ploidy levels...though that's a whole 'nother beastie.

Well, Maurine is off to Europe and won't be back for two weeks...meaning I'll have a couple less meetings now. It'll be interesting to see the lab dynamics while she's away. It'll also enable me to see Emily when she comes up from 'Bama this Thursday. If only this NSF grant would write itself. And now my Bioinformatics class is starting up. Can't get a break, can I?
Till next time,
Cheers!

Genetics and Failure

2010-09-23T14:59:00.000-07:00

By the way.... This is my 100th Blog post! Go me!

So, here's a quick note before my genetics exam.

Speaking of which...Why the hell do I have to retake Genetics?? This is one component of the UIowa Biology Ph.D. Program that I just don't get. I made an A in genetics just three years ago...why are they making everyone take it again? Pffffffft!
Okay, now that I got that out of my system...
I'm beginning to get very acquainted with failure. My project is to measure nuclei volume in several polyploid snail lineages. Sounds easy, right? Well... it's not. At first my project was to measure cell size in these snails. Well, that has some problems: 1.) Exactly what kind of cells; and 2.) What are we defining as size? Snails, or any other organism for that matter, contain a vast array of cell types. From cilliated epithelium that cover the outside of the snail, to phagocytic cells that wander about looking for foreign bodies to digest. Each cell type has a variety of shapes and sizes that can be almost impossible to measure. Plus, enter the problem with microscopy. Focus on one point of the tissue, and you have taken a visual cross section of the sample. This cross section rarely contains cells within the same plane--producing wide variability in apparent cell size. The only way to accurately calculate cell volume is to take a 3-D picture of the cell and use an algorithm to determine the volume. Not easy.
So, that brings me to my list of failures.
At first, I thought I would do simple histology to make a cross section of a specific tissue. This didn't pan out, as the plane problem became apparent.
So I had to find out a way to separate out cells. I tried using a micro pestle and Eppindorph tube to no avail.... tried freezing the tissue with liquid nitrogen and powdering it with some limited success... and then tried dragging fresh snail tissue across a cryo-cold slide to get intact epithelial layers. All the while dabbling with different methods of fixation and staining which I could go in to great length about...But I'll save you.
So now the confocal is producing pretty images (although not exactly free of noise). Unfortunately it looks like this might not be the best route, either. I was hoping to get images of well-defined nuclei, create an image stack, and then determine the volume using spiffy software.
Welp... Looks like it's back to the drawing board... Again...
The plan is to return to the DIC and focus until nuclei have their largest apparent diameters, measure, and then assume they're a sphere. What else can I do at this point?
Anyhow.. here's some pretty images that I got today. Anything blue is nuclear (Stained with DAPI), and anything pink is cytoskeletal (Stained with Phloxine).

More failure (and hopefully eventual success) soon!

Like Leland said... They call it research for a reason. If everything got done the first time they'd just call it 'search'.

Confocal Images

2010-09-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

I was trained to use the Leica TCS SP5 Multiphoton Confocal Microscope yesterday. Time on the machine ain't cheap, so all I have for you now are two images I took during the training session. I'm signed up for two hours tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes!

This is a Lilly of the Valley stem cross section. I'll post more about the workings of the microscope after I get some images of my own stuff!

Microscopy

2010-09-19T18:30:00.001-07:00

So I just wanted to do a quick update with an image that Dr. Dailey and I captured last week.
It's a shot of cilliated epithelium from a live (or rather, dying) snail foot. I've labeled all of the interesting tidbits.

This is from about 100x using DIC microscopy. I'll be utilizing one of our confocal microscopes in the coming week after I get trained on Monday. With any luck, I can get to play around on the Multiphoton Confocal to peer deep into tissue.

Awesome flourescently labeled nuclei picture to come!

Graduate School

2010-09-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

Wow... It's been a while since I've posted. I can assure you there's been good reason for that.
Well, here I am in the great state of Iowa. I'll be here for the next 5 or so years so I suppose I'll have to rename the blog to something else with a fun alliterative phrase. (Though I can't really think of anything that rhymes well with Iowa.) I suppose I could just leave it as a indicator of my past and progress towards my goals. I'm not sure what I'll end up doing with the title. Suggestions?

Let me begin by saying that I am fairly comfortable here. If I had my cat the place would be nearly perfect. The city, aside from being quite rowdy on game days, is a fun and interesting place. I never knew how much I would enjoy walking everywhere I needed to go. I haven't driven in my car for more than 15 miles or so since I got here in late July. The people are fairly nice and there's even a vast assortment of delicious beers. I enjoy being able to drop by the local grocery co-op to pick up fresh bread and walk back to my place (utilizing those fabric grocery bags that I would always forget back in Alabama). Downtown always has something going on, too.

Last weekend a few of the second years and I went to the Amana colonies for a beer festival. I got to eat hearty, authentic German food and wash it down with genuinely delicious, local beer. I think there's another beer festival downtown sometime soon as the pumpkin beers and winter spiced ales start to roll in. Gives me something to look forward to.

Graduate school has been great so far. I've started my first rotation through the Neiman lab working on a cell size project. Essentially I'm trying to prove that the flow cytometer is crazy (which I have), and look at the relationship between cell size and genome size. Since many of her snail populations are known polyploids (For my liberal arts readers: that is, has multiple chromosome copies which increases the DNA content per cell by a factor of 2,3, or even 4), we're trying to determine if the polyploid populations hava larger cells or not. This, as you can imagine, could have profound effects on the biology of the organism. Typically larger cells means less of them, which would have interesting consequences throughout the organism.
So far it's been fun. I've essentially developed the methods and started going. It's real research!

Anyhow,...I just wanted to tell everyone that everything is going great and give an update of what's going on.
Cheers!

Another Summer Wrapping up.

2010-07-06T16:47:00.000-07:00

This has been a summer of scientific, natural, world, and self discovery. I've seen caddisflies emerge to to fly for the first time, had my scientific works change legislation, swam with the largest daphnia you've ever seen, and realized that every place is the same in many ways. I've rediscovered my redneck past time of fishing in an elegant way and managed to see whats around me without feeling like I was wasting time. What I'm getting at is, well... that this summer has surprised me a bit.
I was worried that my summer before graduate school wasn't going to be enough of a break since I wasn't going off to Costa Rica or some far away place, instead I ended up discovering happiness in my own back yard. It's not the Bachelor's degree or anything I've studied for. I've learned how to live with myself this summer.
As I prepare for another venture towards my self appointed goals, I remind myself that life is completely and totally what you make it to be. I've seen professors that shouldn't be professors, and had my life dramatically impacted by my colleagues and mentors. Almost anyone can get a Ph.D. if they try hard enough, but it is a select few that do more than just endure the entire process and gain much more from it. So I didn't get into Yale, nor is Sean B. Carroll going to be right down the hall. Iowa City isn't Ithica, NY, nor is my dissertation likely to reshape our view of the world. However: I do promise that I will get everything out of my doctoral program that a star scientist is meant to. For once I'm proud of myself despite not attaining the highest achievement known to man and finally, I feel at ease with some level of Zen-like balance in my life.
Alabama, It's been grand, but once again I've been afforded the chance to restart and reshape my destiny. Here's to kicking some butt in the upcoming months!

Cheers,
Andrew

That feeling you get when you remember you're actually alive this very moment.

2010-06-29T01:26:00.000-07:00

WOWZA! I just realized that I have not posted in quite some time. I've been spending my time wisely lately in anticipation of my move to Iowa. I've picked up two new hobbies and our lab group has made lots of exciting progress on our USDA project. Major update soon! I swears it!

Winding down the semester, Winding up research

2010-05-03T15:32:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since my last post. April came and went all too quickly. I've still been working on my Dactylogyrus manuscript and now have a nice introduction summarizes the big picture and sets the stage for our investigation. My latest work on the manuscript has been in collaboration with Brittany Holmes, who I will now name as a statistical fiend. I recently gave a presentation of this work at the University of Alabama System Honor's Research Conference (in which I placed second out of about twelve, earning a cool $100) that detailed the statistical work we've recently been doing. Essentially, we can't use the typical Analysis of Variance on our sample, as the distribution is about as Gaussian as the void of Sarah Palin's braincase. As such, we've had to resort to other statistical methods to gain meaning from our work. I think it has worked, we've shown that fish either possess few or many parasites, with very few at the mean. So, we're sticking to the old fashioned Chi-Squared tests and basing it on a Poisson distribution.

The other area that has been taking a gratuitous chunk of my time has been my new work in the Podila lab. I really enjoy lab bench science. There's nothing like coming in, sitting down at the bench, opening your notebook and laying out the day's work to chip away at the greater goal. You could say there's a certain level of Zen obtained in micropipetting buffers and listening to the whir of centrifuges in a laboratory. Combined with Chopin and Rachmaninoff at a faint volume, I'd rather not be anywhere else. Anyhow, my current work is funded by the USDA. We are looking to develop DNA Barcoding tests to quickly and efficiently determine the variety of basket grass a sample is of. My previous works with fishes have shown me what a problem invasive species can be in an ecosystem, and my current work emphasizes this point once again. By the end of June I should have a handle on the lower limits of Plant DNA extraction and PCR. My experiments lately have been going fairly well... My only problem has been in my low concentrations obtained by DNA extractions. I'm not sure why they are sticking below 40ng/uL, but Leland says he routinely achieves concentrations greater than 70ng/uL. I have a few theories, and it is necessary that I figure out my problem before I attempt much more. Learning the basic protocol has been fun. Leland has been good about it too, he definitely adopts a Laissez faire approach which allows me to learn the protocol at my own pace without someone leaning over me the entire time. My first challenge was to use his new USDA protocol to ascertain the types of two unknown Cogongrass samples. The Wild-Type and Invasive Revert look almost phenotypically identical to each each other; moreover, they are genetically indistinct from each other save a few SNPs. I know gel pictures are the most boring thing in the world, but I feel compelled to show off a few of them here, so I think I will.

This first artsy image is from the results of my first day in the Podila lab. There's a mix of UV and daylight which gives the gel a neat color. The two bands to the right of the 1kbp marker are my heavy genomic DNA bands.

The second image is from my latest results. Clear, sharp bands!

With the sky warming up, there has been much more moisture in the air which has had a marked effect upon upper atmosphere disturbances. What I'm getting at here is that despite the sky has appeared clear, eddys in the upper atmosphere have made it unfavorable to do much astronomy lately. Thursday is supposed to be clearer, so I'm going to try going out before more storms hit. My deep space explorations have been hindered without a good set of star charts, so I picked up a nice set of charts put out by Sky and Telescope magazine. They look really great, showing up to 10^th magnitude galaxies and 8^th magnitude stars. To date, I've only managed to clearly see one galaxy (which I couldn't identify without charts L ) One good thing about my upcoming graduation is that I should be receiving some funds to purchase fun items like planetary eyepieces and SCUBA lessons. So far I've lost eBay bids on well over 20 eyepieces... It's difficult to get anything TeleVue for under 100 bucks. Eventually, I hope my persistence will be rewarded! Saturn has been really stellar (ha-ha) lately... I've managed to identify four moons and my scope even enables me to see the shadow that the rings cast on the planet(!). Hopefully Jupiter will be visible at a sane time soon. I've not been enough of a nerd to go out at 4 a.m. yet, but if my anticipation grows much more I might just have to!

In other news, I graduate May 15^th! I've registered for my first 9 hours at Iowa and will be traveling up to get an apartment sometime later this May. Wish me luck!

Cheers,

Andrew

3/24/2010 Moving on in time and space

2010-03-28T21:11:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since my last post, but I've been working on several things for you guys. Before I start rambling about science, I'd like to share the fact that I have been accepted to the University of Iowa's Biology Ph.D. Program, complete with a $24,250 yearly stipend, tuition, and healthcare. It feels good to know that others don't think I'm a complete schmuck. If all goes according to plan, I will be in Iowa come August, doing three, ten week lab rotations to find a good match. I wish to thank everyone at UAHuntsville, my friends, and especially my family for helping me get this far; hopefully in six years I'll have "Dr." in front of my name. Thanks!!!!

Now, onto business. I've been involved in several things lately: Western Blots in the Neuro lab, controlling white flies in the greenhouse, seeking out asteroid Vesta, and fixing up my Dactylogyrus manuscript. I've already talked about white fly control, so I'll not bore you with more of the same—I'll just mention the fact that we've now started control with a Mycoinsecticide. Essentially this stuff is a metric ton of spores suspended in solution. Spraying it on the plants creates these terrible little landmines of slow, painful fungal metabolism of the fly's exoskeleton until the fungus erupts, killing the fly and making it into a landmine factory for more white flies. The best part is—this type of treatment is hard for the flies to become resistant to. We're onto something! For your entertainment, here's a nice picture I found on Google:

Next Up: Western Blotting. A week before Spring Break started, I gave Taito the run-through on Western Blotting. We used an abridged protocol that Dr. Curto devised, which allows us to use the specificity of the antibodies to test many more samples in the same amount of time. For those of you who have no idea what a western blot is, let me run you through it.

Essentially, a western blot is a type of immunoassay (that is, a test that measures concentration of something using an antibody {that is, a protein that attaches to a specific protein, derived via an animal's immune system}). During a Western Blot, you take a tissue sample and force the cells of that tissue to release their protein-rich contents, and then you determine the gross protein concentration of the sample. Then, one would run a known amount of that sample on a electrophoresis gel, which separates out the proteins based upon their weight. When you've done this, you are able to transfer those separated proteins onto a nitrocellulose membrane—simply a piece of paper with lots of electronegative nitro groups, to which to proteins will covalently bond—binding them to the paper. To avoid further protein binding, you must "block" the membrane with some other protein, like casein found in milk. Finally, you get to the interesting parts: you add a first antibody that is specific to the protein of interest (in our case, N-Methyl D-Aspartate Receptors). This first antibody will bind to the protein of interest, allowing you to add a second antibody that binds to the first—but this time your antibody carries a colorimetric tag that can be visualized when "developed". Ta-Da, you have a piece of paper that took you two days to make, with various spots that correlate to the amount of the specific protein you are looking for (See the following figure). This is a really powerful technique, that has allowed us to quantify levels of NMDARs in breeding and nonbreeding fishes. We've found so far that highly sexually dimorphic fishes, and especially males, show much increased levels of NMDAR. Cool beans!

And now, If you're still awake, it's time to look up! The last several nights I've been going outside and futilely searching the great abyss for a 6^th magnitude spec, representing Asteroid Vesta 4. Vesta is currently around the Constellation Leo, and is supposedly the largest object in the asteroid belt. This is the asteroid that some people would like us to visit someday, and is probably not a bad idea since it probably contains a large amount of material that has been undisturbed since the creation of our solar system. You can call me a bad amateur astronomer for not being able to locate 4 Vesta, but I still would like to blame that fact on the obnoxious amount of light pollution around my apartment complex: there are seven or eight high pressure sodium lamps that almost completely destroy my view of Leo and everything around it. Hopefully I'll be able to get out and take some pictures of Saturn to impress you all soon. Wish me luck!

The last the on my mind is my Dactylogyrus manuscript. I'm trudging ahead and got some good work done on it today. If I only had more weekends to devote to its construction, it would have been completed already. Soon, though! And my final though: Our publication in American Midland Naturalist is set to appear on April 1^st....everyone pick up your copy today!

Cheers!!!

Andrew

Return to Normalcy and A Tale of 8 or 9 Planets

2010-03-02T16:04:00.001-08:00

Things are finally settling back down in Huntsville. I've neglected writing anything here for the past three weeks, but have still been carrying out several projects which I will post about soon. One is a nightly comparison of my sleep rhythm based upon readings from my iPhone accelerometer and the other is the classification of the insects I collected from Costa Rica last year. I'm just now completely over my sickness from a month ago, so I'm waiting for another beautiful night to take the telescope out. It's been far too bright and cloudy lately, so I'm anxious to get out and look around.

With Bishop out of the way, her lab still has a considerable amount of money left to blow. As a result, Ernie has commissioned Taito and me to draw up an experiment to finish up our NMDAR work. I think Ernie is worried about his future employment after all of the recent shenanigans (He shouldn't be, he's a good scientist). We will be running our abridged western blots Thursday, after lysing cells, spinning them down, and doing a protein assay. If there's one thing I especially love about science, it's procedure design.

Monday afternoon I managed to teach BYS 120 lab rather successfully. We combined two weeks of exercises into one week to make up for lost time. I think this is the first time that I felt I really taught the material well. I feel all of the students kind of knew what was going on and appreciated the hands on activities. My ego was pleased when one student told me I was the best TA he had had—particularly since I natively speak English. I try and stress having fun and being curious during these labs—many of the students have never looked at plants critically. Plant science is going to become increasingly important to human kind if we expect to feed the growing population in the upcoming future. Still, I feel like a tutor more than a for-real teacher. I would really like to better develop my teaching skills in the next six or so years; I think it's important for both myself and for those students I encounter.

I have an exam in my astronomy class in the upcoming days, so I've been thinking a lot about stellar evolution and felt like this would be a good place to tell a story:

Imagine, approximately five billion years ago our star, the sun, was just a budding protostar, surrounded by a disk of gas and dust. At this point in our history our sun was composed of relatively little material, perhaps containing only 1% of its total final mass. This relatively light body would not have the mass to begin nuclear fusion, which requires intense pressure and heat to begin. However, the mass of our protostar would grow constantly as ever more material fell onto its surface. As it gained more mass, the cloud of dust surrounding our star began to form a disc, from which planetessimals formed. These planetessimals formed from the accretion of condensed material, for this reason, near sun planets formed into essentially clumps of rock—made of carbon, iron, and silicates, while planets further from the sun formed from more volatile materials, namely H2O, ammonia, and volatile organics. As our sun begins to turn on, there was lots of gas in the solar system which will be captured by the near sun planets. These primary atmospheres would not last, however, and will burn away as soon as the sun's nuclear fusion kicks into high gear. Mercury will never again regain a significant atmosphere, yet Venus, Earth, and Mars are able to produce secondary atmospheres through geological processes. It is here, just several hundred thousand years after the start of our solar formation that our solar system takes a shape comparable to its current one. The stage is set, and in less than two billion years life will arise on our planet as carbon dioxide becomes trapped in carboniferous rocks—providing the basis for much of earth's buffering capacity.

Hopefully you enjoyed my tale.

-Andrew

Alive and well...

2010-02-14T09:28:00.000-08:00

Life is especially rough in Huntsville right now. Not only is half of our department dead or seriously injured, I've lost mentors, teachers, my boss, and friends. It is an inconceivable waste of knowledge and brilliance. I am thankful that my adviser is alive and well! My life as an academic would be pretty much over had I lost Dr. Stallsmith. As for Amy Bishop--I'm ashamed that I have worked with her and that her name is on one of my papers. It goes to show you that even when things are going good, you can never count on your next day.

Death and Decay

2010-02-10T01:25:00.001-08:00

I've been battling a bout of rhinovirus for exactly one week now. It's finally starting to clear up, which is a good thing considering I have my interview at Iowa in the upcoming days. I'll be flying out on Thursday and returning sometime Saturday. Hopefully the snow won't cause problems. Since I've been sick, I've not been able to do much along the lines of extracurricular science. Hopefully the skies will clear up and I can get some good star gazing in when I get back from my trip.

I made a trip home today. My stepfather, Ken, passed away Monday morning and visitation was today. I feel bad for my mother, she doesn't take this sort of thing too well. I, for some reason, manage to deal rather well with the prospect of death. Perhaps it's a result of my whole view on life. I suppose some people propose different meanings for life. That's always something to think about. The meaning of life. I don't think we seek a definition of life, but rather a deeper purpose embedded in the game of life. There are people who would say that our purpose is to serve some god or contribute to humanity—but I tend to believe these are somewhat belittling of what we have. If a mouse were to ask me the meaning of life, I would have to tell him that it is to play out your ecological role, reproducing, and passing on your genetic information to the next generation. However—we as humans don't fit that bill anymore; and I as a biologist even am not satisfied with that type of answer. No. Then what? Is the meaning of life to contribute and in some insignificant way to alter the course of humanity? I'm not satisfied with this either—if Billy Mays had never invented OxyClean, I bet someone else would have. If Albert Einstein hadn't contributed to quantum mechanics, someone else would have eventually. In the same way, all of the scientific works I will add to the human knowledge compendium will likely still get added by someone else if I were to part from this Earth tomorrow. So—what? God? Ignoring the debate surrounding the existence of our heavenly friend, I sincerely doubt that our purpose has anything to do with a creator. Why would a creator create creations to indulge its own ego?

So, if not Biology, or contribution, or gods---then what? What is the meaning of our existence? To me, it is apparent that we exist to fulfill a requirement for our existence. That is, with an infinitely random universe, we must exist. There is no why—perhaps a how, but all-in-all that's it. I think some find this depressing and will resist this notion as being trivial and demeaning. I couldn't disagree more. The fact of the matter is that even in this case, how splendid our existence is! Think about it—infinite possibilities: and, here we are.

Funerals are always a drag. We make them out to honor some person—but I doubt that person has any care for what remains after the electrical impulses in his brain shuts down. It seems selfish then, that we must require some type of finality and self condolence after the passing of a loved one. I'm not saying it's wrong, it seems perfectly natural; just, we shouldn't lie to ourselves about these sorts of things. And especially, don't incorporate God into the lie. Why do you feel better thinking that the dead is in a better place? What better place is there than this place? Sure, Earth has its problems, but at least it's something we've come to believe is real with insurmountable earthly evidence. Perhaps I'm just being plain stubborn.

Anyhow...

A Pleasant Sunday Outing

2010-02-02T14:22:00.001-08:00

Borden Creek. Photo by Bruce Stallsmith

Yes, I know it's Tuesday...but I found the time to talk about Sunday just today.

Sunday, January 31^st was the last of our permit to collect in the Bankhead National Forest. Bruce, Taito, James, and I all headed out at 9 a.m. to collect out-of-breeding season Silverstripe Shiners (Notropis stilbius) for our regular brain studies. In this investigation we're quantifying N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptors (NMDAR) in a species that are sexually dimorphic—that is, you can tell males from females during breeding season—and a few species that aren't sexually dimorphic. NMDA plays a role in memory and visual acuity that we hypothesize is important to certain fish, especially Scarlet Shiners (Notropis fasciolaris) due to their wildly dimorphic behavior and coloration during the breeding season. We've quantified the flux of 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT) already in this species, and dominant males show an astounding 12-fold higher 11-KT concentration (pg/L) over non-dominant males, and an even higher concentration over non-reproductive females. Anyhow, for all of these studies we need to collect fish!

Notropis stilbius in my hands. (gloves for the cold!) Photo: B. Stallsmith

I've been involved with the Stallsmith lab now for four years—having started with basic collections during the first month of my freshman career. This has been a good experience for me—and has focused me in on exactly what I always thought I would end up doing with my life. Despite having to occasionally freeze my extremities in sub-zero weather, I almost always enjoy these fish collecting outings. This one was particularly fun. We've never collected from Borden Creek before, and I must say I was very impressed with the condition and sheer beauty of the site. I hope we can sometime return to this site for more collections. We started out seining in the fast, deeper water with limited luck—only managing to capture several small silverstripes and some darters (Etheostoma). This site harbors several poorly described species of darters that are in need of government protection due to their limited range and scarcity. We took extra care to quickly return any darters we collected to the water. After a dozen or so seine hauls, we managed to hone in on our species of interest, pulling in several larger specimens in the next four or five hauls. This is good, as it's very difficult to process small fish for our purposes. We have to remove the brains—optic tectum, telencephalon, and brain stem—intact from unfixed individuals. Freezing the fish makes the brains soft and difficult to remove even in large fish, and the ease this can be done attenuates linearly with size. We got in, got our fish, and got back to Huntsville before 2 p.m.

Whiteflies. Shamelessly stolen from Google

In the greenhouse, Dr. Ceske and I are planning on waging an all out war on white flies. We've tried several biological means of control, setting out parasitic wasps (Encarsia formosaI) to eat the whitefly larvae from the inside out. This, however, has not worked. We resorted to daily spraying of the plants (with water), but the white flies keep proliferating. In the last two months, they've gone from being a minor nuisance to majorly jeopardizing the research specimens. As such, we're resorting to chemical warfare. I've been spraying affected areas with Azatin, a relatively safe insecticide to reduce white fly numbers, and yesterday I prepped the greenhouse regions for bombing with Orthane Canisters. These babies should kill anything and everything buggy living in the greenhouse. After that, we plan to set out sticky cards and continue spraying the plants with insecticides until no flies remain. Hopefully after all is done, we can resume our proposed genetic studies on our Red Baron Cogengrasses. Leland just received a fairly major grant after some heavy debate and results are due this September. As such, I've become employed in performing some of the DNA extractions/Amplification/Isolation and Sequencing. I'm excited for this—these are some good skills to polish up on before I get started in Grad. School doing similar work. It will also be good since I have several samples of Cecropia that I collected from Monteverde, Costa Rica this last summer that I would like to extract and analyze for differences.

In other news, I've been accepted to Bemidji for a Master's track that should include a teaching fellowship. I also, sadly, received my rejection letter from Yale last week. I actually had very high hopes of joining the Near Lab, but I guess it just wasn't in the stars. I've got my interview at U of Iowa Feb 11 and 12^th, so I'm excited for that. So much that I even forced myself out to get a haircut today (!).

Well, that's all for now. I've got to get to writing my Dactylogyrus manuscript.

Cheers!

And here a new beginning.

2010-01-28T19:12:00.001-08:00

Yesterday (or rather yesternight) Emily and I went out to see Mars at opposition. Mars is at opposition once each year, but as both Earth and Mars are on an elliptical orbit around the sun, there are certain times when mars is particularly close to Earth during opposition. Wednesday Mars was only about 99 million kilometers away, the closest it will be until 2012. In 2003, the Earth-Mars distance was only 56 million kilometers, the closest they've come in 60,000 years.

We intended on viewing the spectacle from the Vaun Braun Astronomical Society up on Monte Sano, but we were foiled by heavy duty gates. Consequently we ended up traveling to the golf course at Hampton Cove, which proved to be a decent enough site. The slight increase in light pollution from this site was no problem, as the waxing gibbous moon trivialized all artificial light in the area. This made for particularly bad viewing conditions for the observer who wishes to see fine details. Even with my well collimated 8" reflector and stacked 18% black and 20% red filters we couldn't get a good view of our Martian neighbors.

All was not lost, however, as I did manage to find the Orion Nebula (M42) again. I've become quite fond of M42 since it was the first thing I found with my telescope. Since Orion is one of the few constellations that I can readily identify, I can now find m42 in less than thirty seconds. This diffuse nebula (appx 1400 light years away) is vaguely visible with the naked eye on exceptionally clear nights and was formed by a supernova over 1000 years ago, leaving ionized gas and dust that glows brilliant colors in long exposure photographs. You can count the six stars in the center of M42—it is these stars that illuminate the gas and dust of the nebula. Within about 100,000 years, most of the gas and dust will be ejected. The remains will form a young open cluster, a cluster of bright, young stars surrounded by wispy filaments from the former cloud.

The Orion Nebula is one of the few objects I've tried my hand at astrophotography with. My scope does not have motorized tracking, so I'm limited to very short exposures, but even then vibration from my hands and celestial movement muddle the image. The following image is one decent shot out of the thirty that I tried to make several nights ago.

And so, that's all I have for this entry.

Cheers

Andrew

Blogging from Microsoft

2010-01-28T18:15:00.001-08:00

Okay... so I'm just using this to test my ability to blog from Microsoft Word. If this works, I'll be blogging here and copying it to my university webspace for my course project. At least this way I'll be able to update conveniently and (in theory) more often.

So, When do you get your Master's?

2009-11-12T20:40:00.000-08:00

Things are good all around. I just got back from a poster presentation at the Southeastern Fishes Council--It went really well. I got to meet my prospective advisor at Yale, Tom Near, who was favorably impressed with my work. I also managed to network it up with several other people who encouraged me to apply to their Ph.D. programs too. The one snafu I had was with the competition; I missed the start of it by having dinner with several people from NANFA, including the snorkelmeister. It was probably worth it to mingle with real people--but several of the judges said that they would have voted for me if I had entered. Oh, well. I have a conference to attend Friday and Saturday too, and there's money involved there. Hopefully I can strike a win!

This semester is rounding off nicely. I'm almost done with my Music class. I've got one last big Philosophy essay to do. My Honor's thesis project is ALMOST COMPLETE! Which means I'll have most of my credits for my Honor's certificate and my Tech Writing project will be done. It's been a busy semester. I'm glad its coming to a close.

I've managed to turn my abysmal mood around sometime in the last month or so by focusing on my work. That's good, since I have a lot of work to do. Anyhow, stay tuned!

First Day of Classes

2009-08-19T11:54:00.001-07:00

Well I'm out another $4000 and classes started today.
Honors Philosophy looks like it will be a fun game, so does Astrophysics. I'm excited about both--good thing they're on the same day.
Tomorrow I'll have Tech Writing, Honors English Seminar: World Lit, and Intro to Music Lit.
Easy classes, but a lot of them. 19 hours to be exact.

I got my poster presentation and report for my REU Internship done. They both look good. Hopefully people will like them. See what you think! (Click for larger)

A Texual Grasp of Reality...

2009-08-14T00:45:00.000-07:00

I've been down the last two weeks. Not sure why. My intership has rounded up and I've got some great results. Cloutman is putting me on his manuscript, and hopefully I have contributed enough to make it believable. I've been working on my poster lately--which a lot of work when you have done good work over the summer. My biggest problem has been formatting it since the content comes easily.

So why the drag?

Perhaps a combination of quite a lot of small things. I've not taken the GRE yet, despite my preparation. Tammy and I don't exactly see eye-to-eye on many things, including the big religion hoax (for which I would have just gotten scoffed at) and the fact that I will be leaving Ala-friggin-bama soon. And..Oh, my friends are all getting married. I can take it when my roommate gets married, but Mary Beth just got engaged. Wowza, what a time shock that was. I can only imagine the feeling I'll get when people start having babies. *shiver* I've also been busy this summer. Something that I'm not really used to. I mean, I've always done stuff over the summer, but I've always had a nice month long break before anything else starts up--not so this summer. I think I'm coming around though.

I even bought a sports car through the whole ordeal. I can see why middle-aged men do it. It sure made me feel better. I got a cat for the apartment too--also perked me up a bit. I've been spending too much money on food and wine--which, in combination with all of the aforementioned items have only superficially attenuated my slightly-depressed mood. Hopefully when school starts back up (Wednesday!) I can motivate myself back up to 100%.

So, enough being depressed.

Quest for the Ultimate Shot of Espresso.

2009-06-07T14:27:00.000-07:00

Over the last twelve or so months, I've gained a deeper appreciation for Espresso (Yes, pronounced Ess-press-o. NOT Ex-Press-O). This appreciation has inspired me to recreate this delicious beverage in the comfort of my own home.
Espresso is unlike other beverages. Espresso is a product of the 9-bar sub-steam temperature water extraction of finely ground coffee, tamped into a puck with 55lbs of pressure. Without an espresso machine, espresso would not exist. Yes, you can get close with a French Press, but I daresay that such a device does not produce espresso.
In order to create expresso, one must possess an adequate espresso machine and grinder.
The day I returned from Costa Rica, I stopped by Wal-Mart and purchased myself a GE Espresso machine and a Blade Grinder. Both of these items are considered severely sub-par and inadequate for espresso production. After producing faux-spresso for the last three weeks, I've decided to return my espresso machine to Wal-Mart.
Woot so happened to offer a Starbucks Sireno Espresso machine that retails for $400 for $204 including shipping. Woot.com offered this offer, of course, on my birthday. So I bought it.
My new machine should arrive in the next coupla days. Today I picked up a Cuisinart burr grinder for an additional $50. Many espresso experts reccommend grinders in the $300 range, but this is simply not an option with my current income.
So we'll see how my quest turns out. Will I be rewarded with a hot, viscous, sweet shot of espresso, brimming with crema, or will I fail miserably and recieve black gunk that has only been seen in Organic Lab.
Next Sunday, We'll find out.

Cheers,
Andrew

Blogging during my lunch break

2009-05-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

Well... The semester came and went--I came out on top.
I have an apartment now with Nick and Derek.
Went to Costa Rica again and had a great time.
Started my REU Internship, and well.... here we are!

This summer will be my most productive summer yet.
I ate through two GRE prep books during my Costa Rican escapade and am on task to take it in July.
Things are great, especially since I turn 21 in eight or so days and am planning a real party.

Anyhow... Here's what I've been doing during my internship so far:
Tuesday May 26, 2009:
Topped off formalin in several fish collections. Properly labeled all of the fishes involved in the gut-content analysis. Weighed and measured “NTD” fishes. Taught ST students how to perform basic lab procedures, including the removal of brains from telescope shiners. 9am-4pm

Wednesday May 27, 2009:
Performed ten gut content dissections, keying out contents to LPL. Researched for aquatic insects and plant DNA extraction. Attended REU orientation meeting. Sifted through April plankton samples, taking pictures of several specimens for identification. Removed gill sections from six female 2007 Telescope shiners and placed each in carmine stain overnight as a pilot project. Cleaned up. 9:20a-5p

Thursday May 28, 2009:
Began this log. Entered data for NTN (Feb) fishes. Researched gill parasites. Found gill parasites on stained fish! (dactylogyrus?)

Here's a picture of the parasite I found (400x magnification. Specimen is ~290 micrometers in length)

I'll try and update my daily work....but you know just how good my word is about updating things.

Cheers!

Prick and Crick

2009-02-27T16:50:00.000-08:00

Okay. So let it be known that my word about updating my blog is nearly worthless.

I've been busy and not so busy at the same time. Some weeks (Specifically those with a Biochem Exam) are particularly arduous, while others (the week after the exam) are fairly bland. They shouldnt be bland--but are, since my way of recovering from my binge study sessions is to do absolutely nothing. Quite counterproductive if I do say so myself. Alas, what more can one do? The problem with the semester is that I'm taking classes I care nothing about and classes that I care the world for. Chemistry and Biology meet in a way that is humbling in biochemistry. I love it. I managed to make a perfect score on our first (four hour) exam. This previous one I know I didn't do as well, but hopefully I still cranked out an A. I love it. Likewise, Speciation and Evolution is pretty much the espresso of biology. Evolution being the core tennet to much that I work torward understanding. These two classes are worth getting up for, and I'd not miss one but for a deceased family member. (May you peacefully return to the earth, Nanny.) Yet this is not the case with Sociology or my Western Civ.
When I manage to attend sociology, I am reading my biochem book whilst semi-paying attention in class. Not only is the class brain dead, the instructor deviates from teaching often enough to make the lecture wholly worthless to attend. It is unfortunate that there is a group project in this class--otherwise I exempt myself from participation at all. Agh!
And History.. I had to miss the first exam for aformentioned reasons, and instead of allowing me to take a make-up exam like most sane proffessors, Dr. Gerberding felt that my final should be worth 65% of my final grade instead. That would be find.. y'know--if he tested on relavent material.

Anywho. I just thought I should post... something
-Andrew

Continue?

2009-01-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

I know, I know! I've stopped posting! Okay, I'll get back into the grind!
I'll post very soon. Here are the up-and-coming topics:

Vacation
Christmas Break
Christmas
REU
This Semester

Present Beverage: A Tall Red-Eye with Honey.

2008-10-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

Last week was good.
This week is starting to be even better.
The Job is going really well--I re-potted a few plants with increasing success Friday. I'm starting to get the place cleaned up and I think the controller is being re-wired now. We'll have to move our transgenic Aspens to the 2nd zone this week in preparation of transforming the 3rd zone into a jatropha factory. I'm meeting with Ceske tomorrow to go over some more stuff.
I took my Western Civ exam Monday. I was worried going into it--studying right until class (which, if you know me.. is something I rarely ever do). The test consisted of 25 multiple choice and a single essay, chosen from one of four topics that was worth 50% of the total test. I had banked on the essay being about the Punic Wars and thus spent five minutes studying the Punic Wars for every minute spent studying something else. I lucked out! As soon as the test was given out, I flipped to the back and put a smile on my face. Let me tell you, my essay was a complete work of art. I incorporated at least 50 names, places, and dates involved with the Punic Wars too. I'm proud of it--hopefully the multiple choice didn't bring me down. I'm somewhat fearful of being stuck with a B+ in this class, so a Solid A would help immensly.
We got our Cell Bio exams back today. The Class average was a 71. And while I did not completely ace it, I'll take the 105 that I was given. Dr. Davis only managed to steal 2 points from me on this test. I put forth a lot of effort into this exam, I'm glad to see that it paid off (unlike Organic Chemistry).
I'm at the coffee shop at present. I come here almost daily to study. I am supposed to be working on my lab report that was assigned today; I guess I'll get to that in a few moments. Cell Lab was really fun today. We were given a culture of breast cancer cells from a 68y.o. female and measured the concentration of cells in order to calculate the amount of protein present in a single cancer cell. Well, If you're curious it's appx. 6.5x10^-5 micrograms protein per cell. Just thought you should know.
Stallsmith is heading out back to Estill Fork this weekend to collect some fishes for a study he wants to put me on. There's some talk about getting me involved in a REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program this summer. He's going to write up a proposal and (hopefully) I'll get to spend my summer in Huntsville working on this Life-History project. It'll be good too--I'll be able to take care of the greenhouse over the sumer and make some nice cash on the side. Anywho.. this Saturday a writer from Tropical Fish Hobbiest will be joining Stallsmith to (potentially) do a write up on the venture. Unfortunately I'm heading home this weekend to get some financial stuff worked out. But it'll be fun since I get to see a good friend of mine that's home from College for a weekend.
I'm feeling motivated to work on my report. I should get to work!
Cheers,
Andrew

I have a new job!

2008-10-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

Last week, Dr. Davis approached me and told me that Dr. Leeland Cseke was looking for someone to help out with the greenhouse. Today I finally managed to track down Leeland (he's been in India for the last two weeks) and got a good chance to talk to him. He showed me our new state-of-the-art greenhouse and told me what was expected of me as a greenhouse tech. Anyhow.. I accepted the job and am now in charge of the well-being of the transgenic and teaching-aid plants on the fourth floor of the Shelby Center. I'm excited. The pay isin't what I was making at the Academic Resource Center--but at 10 bucks an hour, the ARC will be hard to beat for a part-time job. I start immediately. Hopefully I can manage to clean the place up a bit and repot some of the trees in the next week or so. I love this kind of stuff.
Stallsmith also wants me to start working on a characterization of N. telescopus' lifestyle and growth rates. We'll start the collecting for this project in a couple of weeks. Our first N. telescopus paper was sent out last week; we should have it accepted and peer reviewed in less than four months. Alright! Our collecting trip last Saturday was perhaps the shortest and sweetest fish collecting trip I've been on yet. We were in and out of Estill Fork in under four hours. The water was down so much that It only took some dip-netting to yeild our target 20 young of the year shiners. These bad boys are tiny though--I'm glad I'm not having to remove their brains.
I just got out of my Cell Bio exam. I feel good about it. I'm aiming for a high A in this class: and now I feel I'm on track to get it. An A on the next exam and it should be in the bag. I did realize rather late last night that I have a Psych quiz today too. I havn't studied at all for it.. so I'm about to get to that. Wish me luck!
Cheers,
Andrew

Hobbies

2008-09-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

So my Muscadine wine project wrapped up well. I've been sipping on some homemade alcohol over the last day. A month ago we purchased a pound of muscadine grapes. I ate what of them I could, and then added some honey and water, sealed them up, and allowed them to ferment for a while. The result was just under a liter of wine. It's got a nice cabernet tartness with a fine alcoholic warmth. Upon opening up the containers the room reeked of alcohol. Sucessful anaerobic respiration! I employed the natural yeast on the grapes instead of adding a commercial brewer's yeast. I have to do this again...perhaps I'll venture onto making my own beer next time. It was good to touch up on my brewing before writing my term paper.
Anywho.. I don't have much to say other than that. School is school... I'll be spending the afternoon studying for a Cell Quiz and enjoying my first evening without a Hall-Council meeting in a while.
Cheers,
Andrew

Funny of the day....or at least a few days

2008-09-17T07:48:00.000-07:00

Complexity of Life

2008-09-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

I don't have much time to say anything, nor do I have much of anything to say. Here's a picture out of my current cell biology book that I really liked. For all you non-biology majors out there: can you identify these?

A funny for the day.

2008-09-01T17:51:00.001-07:00

The long weekend came and past. I've got a new lab report to show for it, but not a whole lot more.
I dropped Quant Lab like it was hot. Thank god I don't have to worry about that anymore.
Here's your funny for the day: (click to enlarge)

Jesus Christ to star in Next Series of Batman!

2008-08-21T20:52:00.000-07:00

Fitness:
So I've been working on well,.. working out. I've decided that staying in school for most of my life, graduating, and then dying of a heart attack is probably not the best thing. So I've been taking advantage of the Fitness Center on campus and am joining the rowing crew. Since all of my classes end at 5pm, I have enough time to actually do something healthy. I've been walking to 2/3rds of my classes and playing tennis regularly too. Hopefully I can keep this up.
Classes:
Quantitative Analysis: Taught by Dr. George (who happens to be a real character), this class is typically a tough class at most universities. What I hear about Dr. George is that he has almost no expectations of the students--and typically covers half of the course's material. I've been reading from the book some, but it's a really painful book. Worse than a math book. Imagine accounting for the compounded percentage error of 4ml of water in a 10ml graduated cylinder, and calculating it down to the sixth or seventh decimal place. The lab for this course is taught by Dr. Weimer, a real intense Ph.D. from MIT. I think the lab component will be a relapse of my elementary organic from two years ago. Ick.
Western Civilization: Dr. Isbell who recently returned from Afghanistan is a real fun guy to learn from. So far we've learned about some really interesting stuff--how man has colonized the earth and the advancement of writing/culture/religion/etc. I've picked out a term paper topic too-- "Biotechnological advancement, specifically that involving the production of Beer, was integral to the success of early human societies." Hey, it's about Beer and the rise of man; what's not to love? I'm really excited about the progression of this course.
Psychology: We've only had one meeting in this class so far. It's taught by Dr. Seemann who says it's his favorite class to teach. We have a PASS leader in this class too (What I was doing for a job last semester). This should be another interesting class.
Cell and Developmental Biology: Dr. Davis teaches this one. She has a teaching style that is much similar to mine so you can always find her asking "Why?". So far the class has been a drag and I wish I could just fast forward through lecture. And the labs, Uggh, bad microscopes and incompetent biology majors make it worse than pulling teeth. It's going to be another semester of me taking over to get the lab done I fear.
Cicada:
I happened upon a Cicada going through ecdysis as I was returning to my residence hall yesterday. I was surprised of its coloration--white and pink! Such a drag that after 7-26 years in the ground that it will only have a month or two to fly and mate. Here are a few pictures I snagged of the whole process:

Power of Threes:
At one point in elementary school our art teacher, Mrs. Carden, told us that the number three was very visually appealing. That the subliminal mind prefers seeing things in odd numbers--like three--over even numbers. I sometimes find myself obsessed with trying to fit things into threes. Anytime I'm making a comparison or argument I'll tend to give three points. I can't help but do it. Is anyone else like this?

Until next time,
Andrew

Week One, almost done!

2008-08-20T22:59:00.000-07:00

This first week of school is almost over. It's been a good one. I've got a few things to talk about: Fitness, my classes, an emerging cicada, and the power of threes. More on these later. For now, here's a picture I took in Costa Rica while we were traversing through the closed section of the reserve.

Double Posting is silly.

2008-08-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

I move back to UAH today.

Here's the Baobob picture that I promised. More on it at my Xanga blog.

I'm realizing that having two blogs might be kind of silly. I don't think my life is that interesting.
Ah, well. I did try to contact Tom Near at Yale today. Hopefully I'll have more on that later. Reading up on his past projects makes me really eager to work in his lab. It's like what I'm doing now... but with more notoriety and spiffier, well funded projects. UAH just lacks the funding. *sigh*
Cheers,
Andrew

Meteors and Trees.

2008-08-12T03:06:00.000-07:00

I've set up a Xanga account. My plans are for it to be slightly more personal. I doubt I'll update it often....but it's there.
School starts really soon. Hopefully I can move in this Wednesday and set up some stuff for RHA. I'm basically ready for the semester to begin.
Tonight was the Perseid meteor shower; the picture below shows what of it I got to see.

Clouds and Light pollution. Yes.. I saw nothing. My sister and I made some plans to go up on top of the mountian and view the sky but those plans were crushed with the weight of water vapor! It's okay. I've only been talking about this damn meteor shower for a month.

Mary, Justin's Mother, has aquired and potted a bonsai tree for me. It's a Madagascar Baobab tree. It is rather delightfully tortured into a small pot. I'll have to post pictures of it in the near future. Hopefully my dorm room with provide it with the desert conditions it has adapted to. Pity there's no plant that can be watered with flat beer.

Cheers,
Andrew

August

2008-08-02T23:05:00.000-07:00

August is here and school starts not too soon. Heather and my UAH pals finished up their summer semester and are getting ready for the fall one.
Vacation came and went. We ended up with a new sound system in the living room thanks to the silent auction during our vacation, and I ended up hooked to two liters of saline solution and anti-nausea medicine after the last two days of our family excursion felt it good to hit me with food poisoning. An American Eel also felt that it should bite me while in the ocean. Forget about the sharks--the eels are what ya have to worry about! Ouch! At least I had the opportunity to educate some people on the beach about jellyfish.
I'm back at home now. I will (probably) start the packing process again in a few days for the trip back to Huntsville. I think school is coming at a good time--I'm getting tired of being lazy. If gasoline was cheaper I'd already be spending most of my time in Huntsville.
My Michiganders will be spending a few days in Fort Payne starting Tuesday. I guess we'll go jump off some big rocks or shoot beercans off of a fence...or something. Perhaps we'll show them the farm this year. If only I could get them to go to Trade-Day...Ha!

Cheers,
Andrew

You're a pretty human being.

2008-07-24T13:59:00.000-07:00

I think I've been reliving the past the last three days. I don't care to elaborate, but it's got me all funny-feeling and out of the typical predictable niche.
Anywho... My Sister, Father, and I are going on vacation tomorrow. It'll be somewhat entertaining. It's a business trip for Alabama Poultry and Egg, which means meeting all of the big-wig chicken people and enjoying free food. I'm in the process of preparing for the trip: washing clothes, packing, fixing up my phone to steal internet.
It's unfortunate that I have only really begun to experience the summer these last few days--and school begins all too soon. Hopefully this fall will be a good one.
I almost think my life would go absolutely no where if I lived in Fort Payne for an extended period of time. I never do anything productive here. At all. Sometimes I may do something fun, but rarely anything productive. I pulled out the microscope the other day--but that's about the limit of my productivity in this town. Huntsville is much better in so many ways. Coffee shops, Fantastic Resturants, Stores that sell items that you want... The city is even conducive to good conversations and thought. Oh.. and did I mention it's not full of meth smoking Conservative rednecks? Which leads me to the thought that I proudly placed my Obama sticker on my car yesterday: I even survived having my Obama sticker referred to as showing the Antichrist. I'm pretty sure the sticker is the only one in Fort Payne.
Time to continue the washing and packing.
Cheers,
Andrew

"But I thought Octopuses WERE Sea Urchins"

2008-07-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

The Title quote is a line that Marshall and I overheard in the estuarium, while pondering over some hydroid polyps at an adjacent exhibit. A year or two ago this type of comment would have absolutely stunned me: How can people be so damn stupid? But I realize that I'm getting used to it... Especially with Danielle not realizing that my aquarium was a saltwater aquarium until about six months after we began hanging out with each other. (It has a clownfish and coral in it for god's sake!) Two random thoughts while Im typing this: I used "hanging out" which is rather slangy, but I couldn't think of a better phrase. Secondly, thinking of "god", Haley... If you've ran across the Richard Dawkin's thing on my facebook, I am curious to your opinion on real liberal arts majors--are they any more nontheist than the uneducated theist? It would seem that even in biology where evolution is everything, there still exists creationists. It really irritates me for some reason...fortunately I've yet to find a religious biology professor. Thank God!

I'm studying for my next exam; which just happens to be my final exam in invert. We had our last lecture today on chordates and even got to see a picture of a vertebrate (ha!). Remind me next year to do something more ambitious with my life.

Cheers,
Andrew

Tempest Prognosticator

2008-06-22T16:51:00.001-07:00

After reading the above title of this entry, I direct you to this curiosity: George Merriweather's Tempest Prognosticator.
While performing a search on Hirudinans for my upcomming test, I found this. How Bizzare!
Anywho,...
I've been sick the last coupla days. Thanks to Robin I'm feeling much better now that I'm highly medicated. I've slept almost 5/6ths of the last day and a half. Which, while a good thing, is also at a rather bad time with this invert test coming up Tuesday morning. For once I'm somewhat concerned about the upcoming lab practical more than the test itself. I did manage to ace the previous test, but this next one will prove to be more difficult I think. We'll see.
Back to studying. I think I'll go fishing later on tonight if I get to the "satisfied" point with this material.
Cheers,
Andrew

Lawn Shrimp

2008-06-14T02:40:00.000-07:00

I've been busy here at the DISL. Working some for Dr. Aronson, taking Marine Invert. Zoology, and doing a whole lot of musing on life.
Today (err yesterday) it clicked what I think I want to do for graduate school. Fish genetics and developmental biology. I've been looking for big names in the field and have sent out a few emails for advice. I won't let my graduate school decision be hastily made like my undergraduate one. I think I'll do this right this time.
I brought my microscope to the DISL with me, but I left the power cord! At least I found my mirror. The only problem now is that my objectives fog over when I start using it.
We have a test monday, and I'm slowly getting prepared for it. A day or two more time and I should be ready to go. I understand everything--it's just a matter of having facts sink in now.
I realize that I probably should have went ahead and gone to Wood's Hole for this class instead of here. I've gotten somewhat cynical during this class--nitpicking almost everything the instructor says. I want the instructors to genuinely know much much more about a subject that I am passionate about than I do. It's the same thing that I'm seeing in Books a Million now. All of the biology books are too trivial. I want more than Biology for Dummies. I think I have a few textbooks that I want that I need to order (assuming I can snag them for a reasonable price).
Life is good here though. I don't know why I've been so focused on the future these last few weeks, but I really have; so much so, that I've been neglecting to study.
Its only been two weeks of the five that I'll be here for, but I have to say I'm ready to go home for some reason. Perhaps the Costa Rica trip and this was just too much? Or perhaps the god forsaken bongo drums and drunk people are driving me to insanity.

Turns out the amphipods I noticed in Costa Rica, and made such a big deal about, were just described about 15 years ago. Pity I couldn't start off my career with a Gammarus adriensi (or perhaps andeii?)

I've been wondering if I'm doing what I need to be doing. I'm learning, yes, but that's the easy part. What about scoring correspondents and publications? If I'm really serious about this--and I am--what else should I be doing?

I've set up my schedule for next semester:
Cell and Developmental Biology and Lab
Quantitative Analysis and Lab
General Psychology and..
Western Civilization

Hopefully Justin will be in my Gen Psyc class. I think it'd be fun to have a class with him.
Oh, and I got out of Vert Zoo with an A, and Organic with a B. Though in hindsight, I wished I had more time to go in depth with chemistry. I really enjoy it, and the application is, well..., everywhere.

Cheers!!

Need to post...

2008-06-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

Costa Rica was great.
And now I'm at Dauphin Island.

I need to do a for-real post sometime soon. I've been looking into grad schools... the stuff I want to do, I have no real experience in. Makes things kinda interesting, no?

That Three Musketeers bar you had for breakfast...

2008-04-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

The semester is at an end thankfully. The Costa Rica trip is on the Horizon. I've got a vertebrate zoology lab practical (my last) on Tuesday--I'm worried about it, so much so that I can't seem to force myself to study much more.
James and I did a marathon of PCR and Electrophoresis the other night; the day after Derek and I went fishing on campus..hehee.. We didn't get caught, nor was anything caught by us. It was oddly refreshing though. Joey came along with us. I guess he's moving out to Washington sometime after this semester. It'll be odd to see him go.\
Nick invited me over for dinner last night. It was awesome. Real food and some really good conversation. I really like Nick and his family... they're all really high caliber individuals. We talked for probably three hours during and after dinner.
I've got a lab report that's due some time this week, though I've only managed to barely start on it. I will try and get it done by tonight, probably after the Hall Council meeting. I should also be studying for these final exams...and I should also be packing since I've got a one day window to get everything moved out and packed for Costa Rica. There's stuff to be done, but little motivation it seems. I've been in contact with a Neurofeedback center. I saw an advertisement in the school's newspaper and decided to look the place up. The ad was a full page that said "Stressed out?? Poor memory? Lack Focus? Need Motivation??..." Needless to say, it had my attention on the first line. Apparently the doctor (who also graduated at UAH) has a learning disability practice. And specifically is pushing this neurofeedback technology. It's essentially an electroencephalogram that the patient gets to see and attempt to control. It seems like an interesting idea. I think I'll give the neurobiology teacher a call and see what she thinks about it. I need something to motivate me, even if it is a placebo.
Anywho.. Back to doing nothing I suppose.

Cheers,
Andrew

Science

2008-04-04T21:46:00.000-07:00

This quote is in our Organic chemistry book.. I've been meaning to post this for a few weeks.

"While reading a text book of chemistry, I came upon the statement, "nitric acid acts upon copper." I was getting tired of reading such absurd stuff and I determined to see what this meant. Copper was more or less familiar to me, for copper cents were then in use. I had seen a bottle marked "nitric acid" on a table in the doctors office where I was then 'doing time'! I did not know its peculiarities, but I was getting on and likely to learn. The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words "act upon" meant. Then the statement "nitric acid acts upon copper", would be something more than mere words. All was still. In the interest of knowledge I was even willing to sacrifice one of the few copper cents then in my possession. I put one of them on the table; opened the bottle marked "nitric acid"; poured some of the liquid on the copper; and prepared to make an observation. But what was this wonderful thing which I beheld? The cent was already changed, and it was no small change either. A greenish blue liquid foamed and fumed over the cent and over the table. The air in the neighborhood of the performance became colored dark red. A great cloud arose: This was disagreeable and suffocating--how should I stop this? I tried to get rid of the objectionable mess by picking it up and throwing it out the window, which I had meanwhile opened. I learned another fact--nitric acid not only acts upon copper but it acts upon fingers. The pain led to another unpremeditated experiment. I drew my fingers across my trousers and another fact was discovered. Nitric acid acts upon trousers. Taking everything into consideration, that was the most impressive experiment, and, relatively, probably the most costly experiment I have ever performed. I tell of it even now with interest. It was a revelation to me. It resulted in a desire on my part to learn more about that remarkable kind of action. Plainly the only way to learn about it was to see its results, to experiment, to work in a laboratory."

-- Ira Remsen (1846-1927)

Break

2008-03-23T21:37:00.001-07:00

Spring Break is over.
I went fishing on Tuesday.
Had a dentist appt on Thursday.
Did the whole Easter thing on Saturday with family.
Hung out with friends and family the rest of the time.

Pity it's over.... I'm just starting to unwind a bit.

Called Out!

2008-03-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

Was reading this on Wikipedia before my vert zoo exam:
"Sebaceous glands and apocrine sweat glands can be turned on or off by the autonomic nervous system, but no regional control is possible, meaning that when one sebaceous gland is activated, so are all the other sebaceous glands in the body. Merocrine sweatglands are much more precisely controlled, and the amount of secretion and the area of the body involved can be varied independently. For example, when you are nervously awaiting an exam, your palms may begin to sweat."
I was totally called out by Wikipedia.

My Lab practical went well... and Organic was...Organic. Everyone was still taking the test when I left. That could be either a good or a bad sign--I'll find out soon enough.

My vert zoo test is in an hour or so. I think I'm somewhat ready for it. Who knows what Stallzy will ask!

I held one awesome PASS session this week, 30 people showed up! We got a lot done, a few of my friends in the class showed up and had nothing but positive comments about it later. It made me feel better about my tests this week knowing that I had helped a lot of students. Hopefully it will reflect positively on their exam.

Spring break is so close, I can taste it!
The weather and my level of preperation for this test have improved my mood. I'm kinda tired after staying up till 5am this morning, but I think this will be a good transition into the break

Cheers,
Andrew

Stress Level: 8/10

2008-03-10T18:46:00.000-07:00

With three midterms this week, I'm really feeling stressed. My chest is tense and I have this horrible feeling...like I'm going to fail two of the tests. I'm writing out an exam for my BYS120 class right now, hopefully they will be prepared by Thursday. Work today was even stressful! The ARC desperately needs more science tutors. In my two office hours, I had 6 students to visit! I don't get paid enough to tutor and run the BYS 120 recitation...Although I did ask for an extra hour this week since i'm running myself into the ground.
SPRING BREAK NEEDS TO BE HERE,...NOW! I WANT TO BE FISHING!

Cheers,
Andrew

"If you've never failed at anything, have you really ever been challenged?"

2008-03-03T08:47:00.001-08:00

My Bonsai Died... Sorry Mom

2008-03-02T22:32:00.000-08:00

So here I am on a Sunday night... I'm writing a lab report. I don't have some of the information I need so I can't finish it tonight.. that and I'm getting to the tired state. We went fish collecting Saturday morning, I fell in at the first site, got completely soaked, and was wet and cold for the next eight or so hours. We caught hundreds of fish, but not one F. bifax. We euthanized all of the fish we caught to prove a point--we can catch everything but the elusive Stippled Studfish. This could be a major bottleneck in this project. We need fish! I came back to the dorms that night and went to sleep immediately, exhausted.
Today was my sister's birthday. She, Dad, and Elaine came to Huntsville to eat tonight. It was nice getting a good meal. I've been starving lately. There's just not enough time to eat.
Anywho.. I'm back to working on this report.

Cheers,
Me

Case of the Mondays...

2008-02-25T09:17:00.000-08:00

I got absolutely nothing accomplished over the weekend for a change...aside for conqering 42 European and African cities, but Egypt still eludes me. If you think I'm crazy, I'm not; I've been playing Rome: Total War over the weekend. What a glorious game...
Anywho.... It's a Monday, and I'll be getting everything done tonight that I should have done over the weekend.
Congrats to Justin for getting your ACT score. Good Job Adam for Acing that organic test.

Cheers,
Andrew

Insert Obligatory Sarah Perrin Reference

2008-02-18T07:18:00.000-08:00

Well.. The weekend is over.. time to get ready for the grind leading up to Spring Break. I really am ready for Spring Break... We're doing what we did last year: Fishing! The roomies and peeps are all going up to my Dad's place for a coupla days while crappie are (hopefully) bedding. Yesterday was so gawjus that I really wanted to get out then and fish, but with this organic test Wednesday, there's no real hope of that. This test will be really bad. I'll be satisfied with even a C on this one I think... There's just too damn much to know! Anywho, after recieving my Vert Zoo tests back last week, I realize what Vogler has done to me. I'm totally afraid of tests now I think. Because in Organic, no matter how much you study, you can never study enough for his German You-vill-learn-or-you-vill-Vail! tests. I managed two really good scores out of vert with reasonable preparation. I'll start to worry about the new material as soon as this Organic test is over.
I sent in my stuff for Marine Invert Zoology at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab last week. Hopefully I'll get in the class, but I'll take botany as a second choice. It will be great to see some of the friends I made that were there last year. Plus, I'm taking probably the best course they offer. I'll be rooming with my research partner, James, this time.

We got our grant! Stallsmith managed to get the Audubon research grant he applied for, meaning we can now afford to do DNA extractions and sequencing on any Fundulus bifax we collect. James and I have already extracted DNA from 5 fish now; we're going in today to see how successful the extractions were. Apparently Prof. Podila has a machine that can measure the amount of protein and DNA in a 20microlitre sample. It'll be fun to get to work on this project.

Science Projects:
Aside from looking at some baking yeast yesterday, the big thing has been my protist culture from cracker and dust. I think it finally grew to maturity in two weeks (I.E. It started to smell bad). Here's a video and picture from the beasties I found. Notice how sharp of a shift from rod-shaped bacteria to Large Ciliates there is. Compare last week's picture! I've started to become a good microscopist. I've been playing with dark field and getting really high contrast/resolution views. Unfortunately, seeing this stuff through the scope and getting a picture of it are two different animals.
Check out this video of these dyed cilliates.

What are they doing? I swear they seem to be involved in some type of community behavior here.. Just wait until they develop nuclear weapons... Hey! That one looks like George Bush! We're doomed!
Now these buggers were small.. and this fluffy shaped one seemed to be checking out all the sessile round ones.. Wow I just realized how unintelligently 3-year old I sound.. Good thing Stallsmith lent me a guide to microlife book. Thanks again Stallsy!

The Brine shrimp culture I have going had a hardcore reduction of numbers at the start of last week. There are hundreds of shrimp corpses at the bottom of the bottle now, I guess they will do well to grow bacteria for the adults to feed on. They've really become quite the swimmers now, resembling adult brineshrimp. You can't quite sex them yet, but the ones that survive on seem to be doing well. I've gotten lazy with the airstone, so I threw in some Chaetomophora (marine Algae) to do the job for me. I'll post pictures of the adults and culture container next week.

Ah! My Sodium Acetate came in the mail Thursday! I spent the entire evening playing with it, and even supersaturating some solutions of it. It's not quite perfect yet, but i'll post a video when it's ready to be shown. Here's the solution in the works, and the remainder of my glorious pound of pure Columbian..err...Sodium Acetate.
Ahh.. Valentine's day... Heather totally made me a picture frame with about 10 photos of life here in Huntsville.. I about cried! It was very nice. Kudos to Heather for being the best friend ever. Other than that, V-day was somewhat uneventful, but you could notice how nice people were being to each other...and there was some rather nice poetry on NPR that day.

Anywho.. I've got a meeting with Stallzy in a few minutes. Take care all!

Cheers,
Andrew

Busy!

2008-02-15T23:10:00.000-08:00

I have a few cool things to post about:
Research
The Protist Culture
Brine Shrimp
Sodium Acetate
Vertebrate Zoology
Organic
Valentine's Day
and...
Sarah Perrin.

Expect a post when I have time. I'll be studying for Organic until then.
Peace,
Andrew

Artemia, Protists, and Synthesis!

2008-02-08T23:50:00.001-08:00

If Life didn't start here.. I'm beginning to think that it could have been easily brought here--after tonight, that is.

I set up a 1/2 liter container of water with some dust and crushed cracker in it last week, and I'm proud to say that I have a whole world of microorganisms growing now. There's quite the variety of cilliates and misc protozoans... plus at high magnification (1000x+) you can see swarms of rod-shaped bacteria! Check out this image of all of the bacteria:
I can only hope that things will get bigger and more interesting (without starting to smell up my room) in the next few days.

I've also been culturing some brine shrimp to look at. Right now, they are just oily naupili, easily squished and chock a block full of lipids. They're in their second day of life, and I can't wait until I get a few adult sized to play with.

This week went well even with me being sick. My two tests that I barely studied for went better than expected. I'm confident that I did better than I deserved on both the lab practical and lecture test. I've got a lab report due Wednesday, and I really need to get around to it. I've just got the easy stuff finished so far..leaving my discussion, intro, and abstract to complete. This week's lab produced a vial of rubber-cement smelling ester rather than the intended raspberry flavor; the TA said that was normal though...O well. I enjoyed this lab since it gave us the freedom to do the work to prepare for the experiment.

Anywho... I'm off to bed. I'm working the Science Olympiad tomorrow with Jennifer. I'm helping out with the Herpetology section. I'll be honest, I know next to nothing about herps... but it'll be interesting to see how the kids do on questions that I could only barely answer. I'm much more of a cellular or fish guy i think.

Cheers,
Andrew

Sick

2008-02-06T10:01:00.000-08:00

I took the day off yesterday...except for the vert zoo test.
Monday night I started coming down with something... It's been a big time power zapper too. I was just going to chill at the coffee shop and study for my test, when I started feeling pretty bad--I thought it was just Allergies, and would go away.... but here I sit: congested, coughing, and with a fever.
Hopefully I did well on the test... I didn't study much for it. And I kinda bullshitted the last essay.

I'm just sitting here... eating some chicken noodle soup that I can't rightly taste. I have class in about 3 hours, and I have to go....Since Clicker questions make it so you are punished if you miss any of class...

And now... I leave you.. with what will be the bane of my life on tomorrow's exam.
Cheers,
Andrew

Livid; Fuck

2008-02-03T17:17:00.001-08:00

Yeah, So Vogler had his German way with my test grade.
I made a 73. Robot made a 76. The grade distribution hasn't been posted.. I don't know what the hell happened.

We caught 7 studfish in 3-4 hours yesterday... That sucked.

The Saliva/Drowning Pool concert was awesome.. and would have been much more awesome had I not been piss tired.

The vert zoo test is Tuesday and Thursday.. and I'm still unprepared for the Tuesday one..

Organic

2008-01-30T22:49:00.000-08:00

I think I did really well on my Organic test... to the point of it being my best Organic test yet.. We'll see.
Saturday I'm going out fish collecting with Dr. Stallsmith and James. We spent the morning today teasing apart the last few ovaries and photographing the eggs for the whole counting process. I guess I feel obligated to go with them this Saturday since I'm signed on for 4 hours of work--even though I have a test in Stallsy's Vert Zoo class on that Tuesday... and a lab practicum on Thursday. Both of which I'm not near ready for. I guess that's what makes life interesting.
I ended up making Raspberry flavoring in lab. We'll see how it turned out after we distill off the excess alcohol next week. I got a great product with the previous lab...hopefully this trend continues.
I've got tickets to see Drowning Pool and Saliva with Derek, Anne, Heatherness, and Danielle this Saturday. After a full day of fish collecting, it will be very interesting; typically i pass out due to exhaustion after we go collecting... and this trip will be a long one indeed.

Anyhow.. Ta ta for now.. Sleep awaits.
~Andrew

1,2-ciscyclohexenedicarboxilic anhydride

2008-01-28T09:12:00.000-08:00

Marshmallow assassinations got kicked off last night.. Hopefully I'll manage to kill my target before someone gets to me.
I've got an organic test Wednesday that I feel almost prepared for. I know all of the reactions and mechanisms--It's the spectroscopy that will get me I fear. I'm completely lost when it comes to identifying compounds from their hNMR spectra. That's why I have an appointment with Dr. Vogler today. Hopefully we can sort some things out.
There's a Vert Zoology lab and lecture test coming up in the next week too. I'm pathetically unprepared I fear, but with another Friday-Saturday study session like I do every week, I should be okay. I've got the skull and most of the vertebrae down... The shark cartilage is going to have its way with me though.

Anyhow.. Just thought I'd say something
Cheers,
Andrew

Occipital Condyle

2008-01-13T12:25:00.000-08:00

Its been a coupla weeks now since class has started. So far I'm at least on task in Organic II and Vert. Zoology. The first day of class we were handed a box of cat bones. Apparently we need to know all of the bones and surfaces in about two more weeks, at which point we will be tested on them. So far I know the 20 or so bones that make up the skull, and feel like i'm on track to do well on that lab practical.
Work is going well now that we're back in session. I start my PASS sessions Tuesday; this semester i'm only holding two pass sessions a week, instead of three from last semester. We'll see how that works out.
There's not a whole lot to be said. I've got office hours and a research meeting on Monday--and that's about it for this week.

Cheers,
Andrew

Return to Amphioxus

2007-12-31T01:46:00.000-08:00

Yikes! Here I am on new year's eve and I havn't blogged since November 18th! Yowza!
Well... I am alive. And I'm on Winter break.... I'll post something useful and witty sometime soon.
My grandfather passed away Saturday morning--so I have a funeral today to attend. It's just now hitting me that he's gone. But I guess with life there must be death. Alas, life goes on.

Danielle and I broke up before winter break too--over some crazy circumstances involving airborne Bailey's Irish Cream, my eyeball, a katana, and one pathetic excuse for a human being. It happpens I suppose. Alas, life goes on.

The break is almost over now. I've not gotten anything remotely productive done. Aside from reading a few chapters out of my Zoology book, I've wasted the break. I feel that if i had two more weeks, I'd be in that motivated state that I was in at the start of last semester.
Speaking of the semester... I managed to pass Calculus with a "C" (Good Riddance!!), get my ''B" in Organic Chemistry, and a set of A's from the Orgo Lab and Genetics. This semester should be fun--with about 15 hours a week with Dr. Stallsmith, the job (I got another raise!), and Orgo 2. Hopefully with more class, but less classes, I'll be able to stay focused this semester.
Thankfully, my Fridays are free this semester; minus any research hours I may take on.

Perhaps I'll post something wholesome later.
Happy New Year!

Cavorting Beasties

2007-11-18T16:57:00.000-08:00

More pictures! This time from 1/4th an inch into my aquarium's sand bed.
I wanted to give everyone a frame of reference for just how small this stuff is.
The picture you see here is a diatom at 1600x magnification, then 640x, 160x, 64x respectively.

And another diatom shot.. I like diatoms.. perhaps It's because so much of the earth's biomass is diatoms...

And a pennate diatom. 640x

And this here is a veliger, a larval snail pretty much. 640x

And lastly, some type of polychate I found munching on some detritus before he was denatured by a 20watt halogen light.. 640x

Microscopy: the new hobby

2007-11-18T14:01:00.001-08:00

As promised, here are some of the pictures I've taken in a most redneck fashion with my microscope...
The reason these aren't the best images ever is because I'm literally holing my camera up to the eyepiece and taking a picture....
The first picture isin't something you'd see from a microscope---no, it's a T-shirt derek put together to honor Dr. Stallsmith... It's making fun of the "Jesus is my Homeboy" shirts you might occasionally see.

Next up, the whole microscope setup... there's a fossil Dr. Garstka gave me in the background...

This was one of the first things I looked at.. It's Chaetomorpha algae from my aquarium.. I was really STUNNED to see the coloration. Do note that none of the following images have been stained.

And Caulerpa racemosa... There are some weird red objects here that I don't know what are. Stallsmith suggested plastids just from my discription, but I'm not so sure...
And another Caulerpa racemosa picture...

Cheers,
Andrew

Almost burnt out....but not just yet!

2007-11-17T11:01:00.000-08:00

Finals are quickly approaching... Assignments are slowing down, and every class is getting ready to wrap everything up.
This is the roughest time of the semester, while at the same time being the easiest time of the semester.
My roommates have picked up playing WoW.... Probably a really bad idea as they spend most of their free time playing it now.
I make a point to not play MMO's during the school year. Games have a bad habit of gaining priority over lots of things that shouldn't be anything but a top priority. Yes, they're fun, but they offer too much short term fulfillment; they really make the end goal seem less worth it than it really is.
I'm presently writing a lab report at Angel's Island Coffee Shop. I'm just through the procedure portion, and it's already over 3 pages in single spaced length. This lab report is worth 400 of the 2000 points possible in Organic Chemistry Lab and due this Monday... Talk about waiting until the last minute! I also have another math test coming up Tuesday. And then it's on to thanksgiving break! One of religious affiliation might scream "Hallelujah" here..
I may not be playing WoW, but my microscope did come in the other day. It's an AWESOME 1600x compound binocular microscope with a mechanical stage and a 100x oil immersion objective. It's made by AmScope, and I got it off ebay for a really nice deal---I've been watching these scopes for the past year and finally got one for the price I wanted(was willing) to pay for it.
I've pretty much looked at everything I can think of... from pennies and scalpel blades, to chaetomaphora and aquarium slime. I'm satisfied with my purchase, and now just need to get some dyes to really get some good results. I've made a few pictures of some things, and I'll post those whenever I get back to the residence halls.

Anyhow....
Tis' all for now!
Cheers,
Andrew

Paddle Faster! I hear banjos! --Dr. Stallsmith

2007-11-03T15:37:00.000-07:00

People annoy me........
Yet at the same time, I don't feel right unless I'm around them.

What's up with this? Some type of vicious cycle that I'm destined to be stuck in?

Anyhow...

Things are going well I suppose. I made a B on my last Organic Exam, looks like I'll be pulling a B in Organic one at the end of the semester. Genetics has been a push over thus far; Dr. Ng is almost never in class--apparently he has significant enough grants to just drop class and go to china for a week. He's done this twice. Both times on the weeks that we have a test. Also, we've received the same lecture of DNA replication THREE TIMES in the class.. but guess what wasn't on the last exam except for 2 questions!
Genetics and Organic Labs have been the classes I've been loving the most this semester. I feel really good getting out of lab 30 minutes earlier than anyone else, with more product, and higher purity levels. I really enjoy the hands on stuff. I understand it. It understands me I think. People seem to be so narrow minded some times, and stare blindly at a situation when they need to take initiative.. take risks... and go for it! Why can't most people think for themselves instead of following the lab manual religiously. So what if it says "wash with toluene" and doesn't give the volume nor the times nor how? Come on, people!
Calculus:
Yeah... So I'm actually trying. And failing miserably I might add. I'm passing by one point. Yes, that's right. I have a 70 in Calculus A. I suspect it's a problem with my learning style and the teacher's teaching style combined. That, or I'm just a fucking retard. At least I didn't fail my last test. Why didn't I take the bottom line math that I needed rather than taking something else I didn't need? Why didn't I take this class Pass/Fail? Bah.. disgusting!
Work:
I really enjoy my job. Though, I didn't hold classes Monday and Tuesday of last week since the students had a test--and I got to skip the class lecture on that Monday. That's like...4 more hours of free time! and WOW did I notice it!!! But now I have the money to buy the binocular microscope I've been wanting for the last 3 years... I think I'm going to go ahead and get it soon. It'll be pretty darn awesome!!
My schedule is worked out for next semester. Stallsmith has me down to work on the new-fangled Stippled Studfish project, they're a species of fish that are really closely related to a fish I really like--the Northern Studfish. I'll be doing 3 research hours, taking Vertebrate Zoology (a 5 hour combined Lab/lecture class) along with Organic Chem 2. Once this next semester is over, I'm seriously on a down slope!! I'll be lacking two classes each for my Major and Minor to be done.. Just to get those BS requirements out of the way!! That's really encouraging!

Well... Life goes on.
I apologize for not posting before this.. but this seems like an unfortunate trend of negative delta time.

Cheers!!!
Andrew

Can we count negative time when we build a time machine?

2007-09-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

Whoah have I been busy!

I'm presently in Hartselle with Heather and her family, though we're heading back to UAH within the hour. It's been a good weekend, I'm just curious to see if I get that "I havn't gotten anything done this weekend" feeling after I most definitely have gotten things done this weekend. The real problem is that there is just too much to do. I got my Lab report done after 5 hours, and I think I produced a good work. Anyhow; Heather's mother has been fantastic and cooked at least three really fantastic meals--so much better than the Charger Cafe! It was worth coming up here for just the food.
Next week we have our Genetics and Organic Chem midterms to look forward to. I'm not too worried about either, but I really haven't done any hard core studying for each--I should probably do that some time today, assuming I get some other stuff done first.
Next week looks super promising. Heather bought me a 3-day/skip-the-line pass for Big Spring Jam... ignoring the other two days, let's look at Saturday: Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, and Seether! I'm pretty excited to be able to take a break from classes and other stuff. Speaking of other stuff, I've finally gotten Marshmallow Assassinations off to a good start. Chris Bruno will be handing out names tonight, so I expect that this mid-term weekend will be full of Marshmallow throwing goodness. Hall council also has an event going this Monday: "Frisbeedogs", frisbee throwing and free hot dogs. Come on down if you're around. On another note, I got re-elected as the UAH Democrats Treasurer without being present, so I guess I can deal with that ;). I also got my GO sets from the AGS the other day, so I feel obligated to get that going some time. Perhaps I'll make a hall council event out of it--We'll see.

That's all for now I suppose... I'll try and post again whenever I have time, but (spare) time is something hard to come by these days! Hopefully I'll be able to let everyone know how my next flame chub collecting trip with Stallsmith goes in the next coupla weeks.

Stay Tuned!
Andrew

The Techno Loving Fish.

2007-08-24T16:12:00.000-07:00

Whew!!
What a week it's been!
Classes started Monday..... I gave a speech on the PASS program and have been filling out various paperwork and setting up my session plans since.
Tuesday I learned how to sex fruit flies.
Wednesday I GOT MY GRANT FROM THE AMERICAN GO ASSOCIATION! They're sending me 12 go sets and books to start a Go club at UAH. I'm stoked!
Thursday I realized that I hadn't done anything academically productive up to that point, so I went and watched a movie and set up flyers for the Hall Council meeting Sunday night. There's some new regulations that have been imposed on us and I've had several complaints about them. It's my job as Hall Council president to get it all sorted out... but that's a lot of bureaucratic dung to dig through. I'll keep you updated.
Friday, I woke up with 10 minutes to get ready and get to my Cal class.... passed out my 150 bookmarks for my PASS sessions and planned my first class. This leads to where I am now: having not read the two chapters from my Genetics class, Organic, nor my Calculus class. No, instead I went to the mall.

I've got the weekend to get ahead for the next week. I hope I manage to pull it off...while catching up on some sleep from having these damn 8am classes.

Cheerio!
Gonna watch my clownfish (He's prolly pissed from the two dozen times he's been called "Nemo" in the last week) as it acts annoyed at the bass from my music...

The Residence Hall: Season Two

2007-08-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

Three days down... pictures of the events:

My big room.

Steak dinner on night 2

The aquarium, the day after it

Zomg.. a corner devoted to Go!!

Teaching game with nick on my new 9x9 board.. spiffy and cardboard!

Everything a person needs in life.

My view. Morton hall is behind the trees which is one of the better looking but most in need of repair buildings on campus.

Cheers,
Andrew

Unheard Statement #12

2007-08-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

My room is really...big.
Crazy huh?
Handicap rooms for the win!

The sounds in my head are perfect, and go a little like this.

2007-08-13T23:11:00.001-07:00

This summer was....a good summer.
Right now I'm packing stuff for my move into the dorms in about 12 hours.
I've been thinking about how my summer has been, everything I've done and experienced...thinking about everything that lies ahead of me this fall.
I'm realizing just how bad with words I am. Perhaps it's not really the words that I'm bad with--it's the language itself that lacks. I want to express *this*. Einstein once damned math for lacking the ability to portray his ideas. Well...Damn language!
Everything this summer has gone as well as could be expected, aside from that last serving of earl grey I just had. I think that I've found my tea and will never deviate from it.
This blog is meant to be another one of those random ramblings that really have no point or direction.
I ended up over at Robert's place the other night... I was planning to spend the night, until the realization hit me that I'm two years older than the oldest person there. That's really not much, but those two years are the two years that really cut a person out of their previously stenciled paper. It was 2am and I called up Joey to save me from high-school boredom...granted, playing trivial pursuit with rob was somewhat entertaining. I could go into specifics about it, but I'm not going to. So I got out of there, and spend the rest of the morning with Joey and his papa-john-people. It was really darn nice to get to see Joey. That planed out my summer to a nice smooth end. College comes, ladies and gentlemen. So where am I going with this? What is the point? The point is Lapsang Souchong, Cafe Mocha, Amphipods, and Nature trails ending at a waterfall. What does that mean? Exactly. Have I flipped? Perhaps. But I'm beginning to define myself. And I like it. You know, to hell with nice cars and two undershirts. Why can't I get through my life without all of the accessory bullshit?
Why does my existence even matter? You know, It really has no effect on anything aside from degrading the universe to a simpler energy level. There is no god out there and people have trouble getting on with their lives by just living. I'm just a simple human guy trying to figure out something about this...*this*..we live in.
I'm sorry for not being modest in the past.. for wanting recognition. Damn that. I'm here to be a person living his life.
So what now? That's always the question that follows any good eureka moment. Do I quit now or wake up in the morning, eat lunch with my father and head to school and forget about this? I always have goals and plans--but they always fall through it seems. I make excuses and complain way too often.
I like the feeling I get from starting a new online game: Having to learn all of the controls and strategy. I like playing a game of go where just one move that I make is a good move that I recognize. Why can't I go through life with that awesome accomplished feeling?

We are a broken specie. The more we evolve the more broken we become. Unfortunately we've almost developed beyond evolution now. We dictate our own destiny, and the destiny of our environment. People complain about being out of control. The problem now is that we have too much control. People believe in a god in order to believe that there is more chaos to our lives than there actually is. It's those split second decisions we make that we don't even know we make that really proves it to me. We are capable of so much and don't realize it.

Cheers,
Andrew

Ignore this post if you want... It really is all just one jumbled feeling that I tried to express. It's not so much a story as well.. *that*.

The Spice Must Flow.

2007-07-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post. I apologize.
We got back from Panama City Saturday evening....At which point in time I turned down the Sandestin trip that I had planned with my father and stepmonster. It would have been more fun had I had a companion with me, and I wasn't in the mood for another 6 hours on the road the next morning, followed by more sand and sun... two things I've gotten sick of after this summer. A month at a sea-lab will really make you hate sand.

I talked to my roommate, Nick, for a while today. He's been taking two 4 hour courses over the summer--that, and working at the Airport wheeling around handicaped people. I'm starting to get excited about the prospect of returning to campus. It's going to be a grand year... Busy as hell, but grand nonetheless. Hopefully I can get my early move-in form in tonight, and I'll be able to move in the 14th of August. Sounds good to me!

The guys and I (Will, Robert, Justin, and yours truly) went down to the canyon yesterday... Fun trip. I brought my fly rod along with me and caught a few absolutely STUNNING green sunfish. That, and I got shot! Will shot me with a BB pistol from about 150 feet away. It didn't break the skin, but rather bounced off the bone, wreaking havok to the tiny capillaries in my hand. At least I got a free meal out of the deal.

Mother is moving the shop. She's got a lot of stuff to move--and even more that she needs to sell somehow. I'll be helping her over the next few days, along with going with my sister to have a needle shoved in her spine. Sounds fun, eh? I've assured her that it will be very painful, and might not work...but she still seems hopeful about getting her back into tip-top shape.

Not a whole lot to say, honestly. I've been hanging with my best friends before time runs out. Watching Dune, fishing, and playing vanguard. I'll post sometime soon when I have something good to say. For now, I'm just content with everything.

Cheers,
Andrew

There are no heroes left in man.

2007-07-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

I'm Home!
And getting a cold -_-
Thus is life...

Will and I are planning on getting our SCUBA certification soon though..
That'll be a blast.
Anyone else want to go to Huntsville for a few days in the upcoming weeks?

Time to wrap up in a blanket with a nice cup of Lapsang.
Relative material from my trip will be posted when I don't feel like shit.

Cheers,
Andrew

It's a Long Way From Amphioxus

2007-06-25T21:32:00.000-07:00

Hi guys and gals! Finals week has arrived and I thought that I would go ahead and update before I got deep into studying (I.E. I am currently procrastinating).
This week the class took a trip to Port St. Joseph (outside of Panama City) to survey the fauna and flora of two marine environments: sea grass beds and artificial reefs. I don't own a digital underwater camera, so the real good pictures will have to wait until I have the pictures from my disposable underwater camera developed and scanned.
The trip was a nice one...even if a certain student sitting beside me drank all the way to our destination... six hours...starting at 8:15 that morning. We stayed in hotel rooms.. and I got a room with Austin and Michael (from UAH). Here's a pic of the room and Austin:

Today we took a trip out to the deep(er) sea on the Verril. It was painstakingly slow and amazingly unproductive. The most interesting thing was the water spout (A tornado formed over water) that appeared right in front of us on our way back to land...Followed by the plankton samples we collected about 10 meters down. We took another plankton sample at the surface of the water to illustrate diurnal vertical migration,...but only the couple of people paying attention really realized it I think. Not only did we fail to collect anything but a few urchins from the two trawls we preformed, we only got to snapper-fish for around 15 minutes. Seems like a total waste of a trip, especially when the trip isn't going to be graded anyhow. I did manage to pull up 3 medium-sized red snapper off of Molly's fishing pole that I borrowed without her consent (hey--It was in my car anyhow :D ).
Here are some pictures that I snapped from this adventure:

And next... Some pictures of living things around campus. The first is of a mother mockingbird with a chick. You can clearly see the red-berry snack she has prepared for the chick. (click to enlarge)

And another, focusing on the chick. I got pretty darn close to the bird, and I am not sure who was observing whom more.

And here's a picture of a Painted Lady feeding outside our cafeteria... Living things prove so difficult to photograph. Not only is it hard to focus on close objects, they move!! (This was the best out of 5 pictures!!!) But I guess that's what makes it fun... if everything were frozen, colorless in formalin, the world would be a whole lot more....Crosslinked ;)

And a last ranting.
I'm feeling...unfulfilled lately. Like.. the things holding me back are, well... other people. I want to do something amazing...new...something. I want to roll something of my own for once. I don't really know what; that's what adds to the confusion. I feel like there's something amazing I could be doing, but I don't know what it is. I talked to Ron Shimeck the other day via PM through the Marine Depot message boards.. hoping that I could get another motivational message this year. Last year I told him that I regarded him as a mentor, even though he had never seen me, nor I him. He gave me some good advice that I've pretty much followed to the T, but now I've done everything and want something more. I was told that the first few years of my college education are basically nothing but for learning vocabulary, and frankly, I believe him.
Why am I doing all of this? What do I want to do anyway?
Dr. Miller-Way gave me some "advice" about the Ph.D. path... and it scared me. I don't want to live my life on stress and soft money. I'm trying to think about what I really want... but the thing is... I don't know what I want---I just want it. Does that make any sense?

Oh! Stallsmith has a research project idea involving parasites and black darters (O'Brien has been talking a whole lot about parasites lately.. and I'm interested!). I really want to volunteer but I'm afraid I may be lacking time with all the stuff I've taken on for next semester. What should I do? ...And paying to do research is the last thing I need.

Cheers,
Andrew

Spectronic Sun Corals! An update for Haley and the few that read my blog.

2007-06-16T17:13:00.000-07:00

Well. I've got another test coming up on Tuesday! I don't think I did as well as I could have on the last one.. it could have been the snorkeling for the two days prior to the test... yeah. That's it. Is it bad to say that it was worth a letter grade though?

I've got some pictures for you guys!
Well, yesterday I took a trip up to the Estuarium to see cheif aquarist Brian Jones, who Stallsmith had told me to meet, and I just happened to meet on the DISL vessel pier as we were pulling up a cutlass fish (which has to be one of the most awesome fish in the ocean). Anyhow.. He invited me and my friends to check out his breeding operation he has going on. It was a nice look behind the scenes of the aquarium. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the behind the scenes part, but here's Brian giving up the down-low on an alligator snapping turtle.
And here are some other pictures I took while in the estuarium:
A spiny lobster!

This is a Comb Jelly. We were catching these guys off the DISL pier the other night in order to show off their bioluminecent properties... speaking of which, last night the gulf was chock-a-block full of noctiluca, a diatom that lights up when the water around it is disturbed.
A cute queen angelfish that wasn't wanting to show it's pretty side:

And if I've ever told you what my favorite coral was, then I might have shown you a picture that looks something like this. The estuarium has a nice sized colony of sun coral in the back too... unfortunately it wasn't looking photogenic enough for my to snap a picture (I.E. I forgot I had my camera I was so excited).
Another:

And Another.. Obsessed much?

And I'm throwing this picture in for Joey, and for anyone else who remembers the grand times we had with the spec-20's in high school.

Last of all, If you remember my picture of Dr. Miller-Way being frustrated with the computer, I caught our other Instructor, Dr. Jack O'Brien just as perturbed.

Oooh! And last lastly:
MY ROOMMATE MOVED OUT!! BWHAHAH! It's a hilarious story but not one that I'd tell openly on my blog. Ask me about it if you want a laugh.
BWHAHAHAHAH CLEAN ROOMZOMG!

CHEERS!
Andrew

Dragonflies before I rest.

2007-06-07T00:47:00.000-07:00

Enjoy!

Camera! Oh, and I'm 19!

2007-06-04T15:59:00.000-07:00

Well...
Seeing how my birthday is tomorrow, I decided I'd buy myself a digital camera as a present to myself! So... Here are some of the pictures I've taken over the last day!

Dr. Miller-Way getting frustrated this morning because of the uncooperative computers.

The view outside our class room.

My dormroom--note the mess that is my roommate's bed... Oh, and there's Austin!

From left to right: Hogchoker, Blackcheek Tonguefish, Oscillated Flounder

One of the 100 slides of notes from today.

Today I noticed that there were an unusually high number of dragonflies out and about. I wonder why? I caught a picture of this one on the way to my class.

Expect more pictures now that I have a camera! I really enjoy having pictures to go back and see... And pictures are a great way of leading you through my day.

Take care all,
Andrew

Electric Rays, Stomatopods, and bug-eye Bumpers, Oh My!

2007-05-31T17:57:00.000-07:00

Last night I took my new handy dandy cast net out for a whirl on the docks... caught a few shrimp and sea nettles---that biolumeneced when touched!!

Today we headed out on the R/V Verril to do some standard Marine Bio collecting. We took some samples of the benthic and pelagic fauna, some sea-floor samples, and netted a hella-lot of plankton. Highlights from our sampling (for me, at least) were an electric ray, and dozens of Mantis Shrimp. I really have a thing for mantis shrimps, ya see... One day.. I'll keep a couple!!

It was loads of fun. I enjoyed getting out and doing some for-real sampling. It would have been much better had the class size been 5 instead of 20, but I can deal with it.

There's just too many details that I'd have to explain to make this a really good blog post.. but I'm going to let you guys down and make you have to talk to me some time :D
Don't bother calling.. I don't get cell-phone service :S

I'll take the nets and seines out this weekend and let you know what I get. Damn, I really need a digital camera!

-Andrew

D to the Izzle to the Sizzle to the L. DISL Day 3

2007-05-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

Classes began today!!
Marine Bio is going to rock face. Our first trip out on the research vessel is Thursday! I'll talk more about class as it starts to develop during the next week.

So, I fashioned some minnow traps out of some coke bottles, baited them with crackers from the cafeteria, and set them out amongst some rocks in the ocean. 15 minutes later, I had caught 6 fish! 4 different species. Gulf Killifish, Longnose Killifish, a Kili that needs a name, and a blenny-like fish! I couldnt believe how well the traps worked. I had three of the fish in one trap at the same time! I'm going to talk to the cheif aquarist at the Estuarium tomorrow, perhaps he can assist with my fish identification.
All I had with me was my phone, so here are some low-quality, foggy pictures.

I also went out to wal-mart with Molly to buy a camera, but the guy at the photo area was having a bad day... so I left him alone. Instead, I got a cast net! Yay! I've been wanting one of these for ages, but couldn't force myself to purchase one...until now! I can't wait to try it out. We are off on Wednesdays, so I'm sure I'll get down to the beach.

Cheers!
Andrew

Daupin Island: Day 2

2007-05-28T16:56:00.001-07:00

I got into my dorm yesterday. At first I was a bit nervous about the many older people that are here, but I managed to calm down eventually--meeting a few individuals that one would expect at this type of deal. Not so much fish and invert geeks like myself, but more like laid-back B-C students looking for a good time and a decent educational experience. My roommate is 23, and seems like a fairly decent sort of guy, albeit slightly messy. The Island's prime activity seems to be drinking. I guess that's all one would expect of a sea-lab filled with people this age.

Accommodations are limited, and not anything near what we have at UAH. Two people to a room with an air-conditioner and three closets. And that's about it. There are showers and bathrooms across the hall, and a cafeteria in the building beside this one.

I wish I had someone that was a little more pumped up about the ocean to talk to. But I guess this'll do. It should make owning the class a bit more easy, I suppose.

I've been making walks on the beach every afternoon so far, and got the idea that I'd share what I found everyday. Yesterday I found a good thousand hermit crabs up near the rocks, close to the dorms. Along with the hermits were several Blue crabs--but oddly they weren't anywhere to be found today. I wonder why they were missing. I did find one particular hermit in a rather nice lightning whelk shell (about 20cm in length). Inside the shell, along with the hermit, was perched a porcelain crab. Porcelain crabs have these nice feathery projections off their claws to seine water for food particles. I thought finding two species of crab together in the same shell to be interesting, so interesting in fact that I almost neglected to notice the other inhabitants of the same shell. Barnacles were also encrusted all over the shell.. and in the whirls of the shell, a small snail (elongate periwinkle? I need to consult an id book on this one) sat. This whole rocky tide pool area seemed almost devoid of living snails, the hermits had taken over! Further down the beach I noticed the siphon holes from some donax clams (the colorful guys you tend to see on the beach). I decided to dig a few out, and was immediately taken by the colors and size of these clams. They seemed much larger than most that I have found in my past, and their color! Why would these clams have such bright colors? Some blue, pink, yellow, some with gold stripes. What would be the evolutionary explanation for such elegant colors....especially when they spend most of their lives beneath the sand!

I'll leave you (and me) with that thought. I'll try and post (or at least record) my beach findings in the upcoming days.

-Andrew

Freshman year, served with tea and methyl salicylate

2007-05-24T08:11:00.001-07:00

It has been quite a while since my last post, but there's good reason for it!
Classes have been over for a while now. Since the completion of my Freshman year, I've moved home, been on a family vacation, and am now preparing to head to Dauphin Island for my next semester.

This semester rounded out okay. Except for the fact that I didn't do as well as I had planned.

I made a B in the easiest class that I was taking..... take a guess.

If you guessed Speech, then you're correct! Really though. I emailed the instructor and he said that I was a point or two shy of an A at the end of the semester. I think I got jipped, and will speak to the instructor in person in August. Other than that mistake, everything else fell in line. We got moved out quickly, said our good-byes to the friends that I've came so close to this year, and started relaxing for just a moment.

For just a moment... until we take our vacation.
Perhaps my image of a vacation is skewed. Tell me if you think I'm wrong, but aren't vacations supposed to relieve stress? Why must I be separated from the Internet and forced to wake in the single-digit AM hours. My mother, Sister, Grandmother, and I stayed at my Uncle's condo for four days in the Smokey Mountains. Aside from one hike and being able to watch the entire first season of Heroes, it was more stressful than it was worth. I did get some quality time with my grandmother, and even got into some of Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle..but the vacation was taken 4 days before I'm supposed to go to Dauphin Island...jeesh! At least it's over now.

Presently, I'm packing and redying for my trip to Dauphin Island. I really don't have much of and idea of what to expect. We're staying in the old Air-Force barracks for 5 weeks, but other than that... I don't know whats going on. I'll be taking Marine Biology, a 4-hour course where we learn about what makes the oceans tick. I've already made up my mind that I want to own the class. Vanguard may even have to take a break while I study (Vanguard: This new and amazing MMO that i've started devoting my time to). I'll give everyone an update when I get there and get settled in.

But that's about it. I was proud I successfully identified a patch of Eastern Teaberry (American Wintergreen... if you get the vague reference from the title... but I doubt you would.... More on that later) plants while in the smokies; I even stole a leaf to chew, but don't tell the feds. Ah, tea. I've acquired some Lapsang Souchang lately after first tasting it at Dr. Garstka's place. It really is a fantastic tea. I almost like it more than coffee. But really---caffeine is caffeine. Oh, and I've been talking to Haley again lately. Apparently she doesn't disfavor me as much as I thought. Things have just been...well, you know. Complicated. I've also been able to talk to Seth some... and even stole a peek at him yesterday for a brief moment. Ah, Life.

Cheers for now,
Andrew

Protest Censorship!

2007-05-04T23:20:00.000-07:00

09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0

Science Fiction.

2007-04-28T01:38:00.000-07:00

It's awfully late/early depending upon how positive you're feeling.
I ended up watching the last episode of Stargate SG-1 tonight.. It's really depressing. I can't believe that they canceled it after 10 years!! I'm honestly fairly bummed out about it. It was a good episode at least--although I think the 200th episode would have been a better leaving point for the show.

Ahh.. Finals are around now. I've got two of them done--both easy A's in my pocket, but I've got Orgo Chem and Cal to look forward to. The semester has been wrapping up quickly; tonight we even started cleaning out our rooms to make moving out wednesday a little easier. I think I'm going to miss everyone over the summer.

The Dauphin Island course starts the 27th, so that'll be a great thing to look forward to. After finals, Nick and I are planning on heading out to the Walls Of Jericho to camp out.. until Stallsmith and the gang drives in to collect fish, at which time we would assist. After that excursion, my mother has a vacation planned for us the 19th in Gatlinburg. That'll be interesting. My grandmother will be joining my sister, mother and I. And then it's off to Dauphin Island :D

Ah!--Great news! I've been offered a job teaching what amounts to a recitation lab for BYS 119 for next fall. It's a paid position that involves me to attend all of the Biology lectures for the class, and do supplemental learning courses along with the class. It's going to be a fantastic segway into teaching--I think I'm prepared for it! (But the course has 150 students in it!!) Hopefully all will go well, and I'll for-sure have the job.

Stephanie and I moved the Aquarium out last Saturday. It was a hefty endeavor for sure, but everything acclimated very well. We had the fish and corals in the tank in under 2ish hours or so...and Stephanie is certainly qualified enough to take care of the tank over the summer. It was definitely a relief to get the tank out of my way so I could concentrate more on finals.

I know it has been forever since I posted.. so..here you guys go :D

Cheers,
Andrew

Waiting 15 minutes for my shower to warm up...

2007-04-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

Happy holiday of the superstitious :D

We went collecting yesterday, and after a few injuries we managed to bring back 37 telescope shiners in formalin, and about 7 alive--along with my one rainbow darter. My next speech is going to be on the conservation of our local waterways, and since we're required to have a visual, I decided to collect one of the more colorful species of fish to display. I wonder how many people in the class have ever seen a rainbow darter---I'm going to bet on none.
Research has been going well. Our males now have discernible testes to remove, and the females are really starting to fill with eggs; some that we collected yesterday had chest cavities that looked like they were ready to burst. It seems also, that we're collecting more females than males, which was unexpected. So far we've learned that Notropis telescopus are reproductively developing far longer than anticipated, and there is a large push towards females in the population we're studying.

My aquarium is doing just fine, even though I've run slim on time these last few weeks. I did manage a water change a week ago, but the fish are acting kinda odd still. I think they're just mad at me for not feeding them the good stuff; that, or they don't like me having the lights on at 3am. Either way, I've not lost anything else from the aquarium in a really long time. The only fatality to date has been my peppermint shrimp.

Anyhow.. Classes are going as expected. My room isn't clean at all, and I'm pretty much settling into the fact that I'll make a B or two as the semester ends. Ahh, well. My next speech is on the 17th, and I have a math test this Wednesday... so we'll see how that goes.

Cheers,
Andrew

(My shower is finally heating up now)

Marine Biology

2007-04-03T06:29:00.000-07:00

WOOT! Dauphin Island opened up another session of Marine Biology....and I'm in!
Good news.... time to re-make plans for the nth time.

Happy time!

Aquarium and Research updates are coming soon... promise!

Day of little Achievement.. or not?!

2007-04-02T04:50:00.000-07:00

I decided I'd wake up early this morning and get to work on some stuff that has been eluding me over the past few days..I think I'll get it done eventually.

Yesterday was interesting. I woke up a bit earlier than usual to get inaugurated into Alpha Lambda Delta--the freshman honor society. It went well...as well as these things can go considering I'm first alphabetically and could pick my nose and everyone would follow suite. After the meeting, they held some elections for officers; I initially wanted VP, but I got nominated for president---and, of course, lost. Quincia got that high honor. She did a very nice 30 second speech. So nice in fact that i wanted to vote for her. An excerpt: "I'm running for this position because I have so much time. I'm always bored, and literally look at the wall for fun.." She has obviously mastered 30-second speeches, and won with an overwhelming vote. Of course I didn't score V.P. either, but I did get the high honor of secretary *sigh*.
The NCRH 1&2 Housing committee also held elections for the upcoming year. This is something that I really wanted to participate in. I feel like housing is such an integral part of a student's life, that I could help out. Of course no one was really interested in the President's position, so I ended up taking it--succeeding the Venerable High Inquisitor Baron Sir Lord Duke Derek Thacker. I'm excited about the position; I get to work with everyone in the Resident's Housing Association, and hopefully get stuff done.

All in all--yesterday was a productive day--kinda. I didn't complete my Lab Report. I didn't go over my speech. I didn't catch up in any of the classes that I'm lagging behind in. But that's okay. I have a cup of coffee and am ready to scholastically attack these things early this morning!

Cheers,
Andrew

Expect updates on my Aquarium and Research next post!

Sunburnt with a complete lab report.

2007-03-25T21:27:00.000-07:00

I may not be one to believe in ghosts, spirits, gods, or anything of that sort, but I am one who firmly believes in luck. It seems that I do have decent luck with things....Driving, Reefkeeping, Go, and even my school work. Sometimes they have a way of taking care of themselves with minimal effort. Granted, some days I'm terribly unlucky, but for the most part I'm a lucky person. I'm the kind of person who could walk into a casino, bet all of my money on one hand of blackjack and win, but then lose it all by just placing the minimum bet a thousand times afterwards. Luck is indeed one of the odd phenomena of life.

We went fishing Friday morning.... and did fairly well. We caught 11 crappie worth keeping, one of which being a tagged fish worth $25. Lots of other fish were caught too. Fishing requires three parts luck for every one part skill I think. The previous Friday I rode ATVs with Justin... that's another luck-requiring thing. How on earth do I manage to go 50mph in a pasture, jumping 4ft in the air, and still manage to live at the end of the day? I really try not to press my luck too much, because there's always times where it's going to be thin. Take Saturday morning, for instance. We got in late Friday, so I slept until about 2am.. when I decided to clean the fish that we caught the night before. I managed to get outside, without a shower (I'm cleaning fish here.. I'll get one after I fillet these fish.. I thought), no shoes, a fillet knife, and a bowl. Turns out I left something inside my house--which happened to be locked. To make matters worse, my Sister and Mother were in Chattanooga shopping and my sister's car was pinched against the garage door, ensuring that there was no way back into my house. I roamed over to Justin's house where all of my friends just happened to be, to clean some fish. What a lovely way to wake up.

But things generally work out for the best. That's good, because it's all I really ask out of life. I just want to be thrown a bone every once and a while. That makes life enjoyable, and the times where my luck runs thin, that just makes Life what it is--Life.

Somehow I'm managing on 2 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours right now. I was up at 6am doing a lab report... And I just haven't felt too sleepy. I'm glad I got something done today.. now only if I can get my speech written and worked up before tomorrow.

My speech is on Go, but more specifically, why people should play board games. I'm trying to pick topics that I have some serious interest in... honestly... It just makes the speech writing a lot easier.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheers,
Andrew

2007-03-21T23:52:00.000-07:00

I'll have a new blog up soon! Things are going well. Spring break is *so* nice. Some stuff has been going on... give me a day or two to collect my thoughts before I post again.

If there ever was a more cursed semester...

2007-03-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

This week has been terrible. Midterms are all next week, so I've been studying hard. That's not the problem though--everything has gone wrong. I'm on the bottom of the list for Dauphin Island right now, and I've been waiting for that to resolve to buy my Costa Rica tickets, which are now $1100 instead of $450. Oh, Damn. No Costa Rica for me. No Dauphin Island for me. On top of that, my recent relationship totally collapsed. Get over people that you're not compatible with. I know it's hard, but get out of your damn ruts. Stop re-reading old scripts.

My one hour lab is taking 5-8 hours out of my week now. I shouldn't have taken it.
I'm studying for Chem and Cal... leaving Bio behind because it's easier....
I've been working on this damn lab report all week long. And I'm not near satisfied with it.
My Program of study didn't get done last friday, so I'm taking time out of Monday to write it up.

Spring Break needs to be here.

Bean Sprouts...or...Fermenting Sausage Fruit.

2007-03-01T22:39:00.000-08:00

So it's time for another post it seems.
My clothes are in the dryer at the moment. It was "Free Laundry Day" but I managed only to get my clothes washed for free--not dried. I guess I can blame the person that jewed my dryer from me while I was removing my clothes from the washing machine. Ah, well. I'm hoping that I can find the source of wrinkles this time. Every time I wash my clothes at school, it seems they get more and more wrinkled... I've tried not drying them completely; fabric softener, shaking them out before and after being dried, hanging them up immediately, and drying the clothes in two separate bunches--all to no avail. My clothes just get wrinkled no matter what I do. I guess I wasn't born a natural clothes washer. It wouldn't be a problem, but I don't really like ironing, nor do I even own an Iron. That would entail having to own an Iron and an Ironing Board, two things that I definitely don't have room for. I can't believe I just wasted a paragraph on wrinkled clothes...

I don't know what my problem is recently. It seems that every week is slightly less good than the last. I wouldn't venture to say that my weeks are bad--they're just not as good as they could be. So what's the problem? Am I getting lazy this semester? The truth is, I don't have time to be lazy. Did I bite off more than I could chew this semester or something? My classes aren't that hard. Sure, Elementary Organic is a ton of information, but it really isn't really that difficult. Trigonometry isn't half bad--I might have done really badly on the last test, but the class is actually ( I can't believe I'm saying this about a math class) fun. Public speaking is a pain, but there's no profound concepts to memorize or apply. Biology is fantastic..and my research is a great break from things... so what is the problem? Is that it? The problem is me thinking there is a problem? Why do I feel so average this semester? Why is my room not getting cleaned every day, why am I waiting until the last second to do stuff? Where is all of my free time going if I'm not using it for school? Ugh.

In better news: Things have been going...decent, I'd say. We're going out to the Walls of Jerico Saturday for our March collecting run. It is supposed to be a little nicer than last time--I froze my hiney off in February. I'm interested to see how developed our fish are going to be this month. I really enjoy all things biology it seems. We just finished talking about evolution last week, and have moved on into plants and fungi this week. I'm actually pretty interested in fungi I have to say. In lab we've been doing animal dissections. This week we dissected a Crayfish (I pretty much mutliated mine..heh) a squid (Erica took it before I could clam it!!), and an earthworm. It's marginally interesting stuff I guess. Speaking of labs..my baby organic lab completed the isolation of Eugenol after 10 hours of work. A half gram of product for 10 hours!!! So much work for so little product! ugh. Anyways.. I've been growing our bean sprouts we used in our last bio lab. They seem to be doing well. Hopefully some green in my room will improve my mood a bit.

My clothes are out of the wash, and I think they aren't so wrinkled this time. I hope that's the case at least.

Random thoughts instead of pictures:

Lab reports don't do themselves.
There's someone new in my life that I care about.
Three Beans Coffee Cafe is now No beans, No Coffee and not a Cafe :(
I'm a complete asshole to people.
I don't care about some things that other people care about.
The word "hey" is not a complete text message worthy of a reply.
I'm on the waiting list for Dauphin Island.
I need to know if I'm in the first semester at Dauphin Island so I can buy my Costa Rica tickets.
There are some things I need to tell people that I haven't.
Valerie kicks noob ass.
I'm darn tired.. my sleeping pattern has been erratic lately.
"I look at you and smile because I'm fine"

Cheers,
Andrew

Elegance in an underlit 15 gallon.

2007-02-25T11:21:00.000-08:00

So.... Last week was a busy week indeed. I had a Public Speaking Midterm, Math Test, Organic Chem test, and some other work due. Everything went well except for the Math Test. Some of you may recall that I made the best grade out of the class on the last math test--sorry to spoil that, but most definitely made below a 70 on this one. We havn't gotten our grades back yet, but it wasn't looking good at the end of the test. It didn't help that I completely screwed up on the stuff that I knew how to do, and had to waste a good 15minutes going back and fixing stuff. That would have totally ruined my week had the weather not been so absolutely fantastic. It's amazing how some nice weather can affect one's mood so much. Monday had been trashed..and part of Tuesday, but by noon Wednesday, I was in a pretty nice mood, which helped with my Organic Test the next day. I'm in sort of a rut lately, having to try my best but only getting par grades, and still stressing myself out. I'm hoping I pulled something out of my rear on the chem test.

I got to go home Thursday. It might have only been for around 12 hours, but I still got to see Justin and have a cup of 3-bean's Java. I went home to get my passport for Costa Rica.. talk about lame! So...we paid around $200 for expedited service to get my passport back in time. That's Gee Aych three why. That's life it seems.

Anyhow.. I'll write more soon, I should probably be doing schoolwork instead of writing a new blog.. go fig :D

Pictures!

Magnolia Stem at 100x? I prepared this guy! It's awesome :D

New Coffee shop to check out!! I'll post a review soon!

Sir Nick at Mikawa

It's TNT! Dynamite!

One big-ass dewar of Nitrogen---Check! Cryogenic freezer, Check!

Hey.. is that -126 Celcius? I'd say so. Cryogenic Freezer FTW!

And this.. is why college Valentine's Day parties are superior to High School Parties

Cheers,
Andrew

Tang in a 10-gallon

2007-02-21T21:56:00.000-08:00

This week has been particularly stressful, yet somehow the fantastic weather outside seemed to calm my mood quite a bit. I've got some decent pictures that I've taken of stuff that ill post when I decide to post a real blog, but for now I think I'm going to head off to bed--I've got my Public Speaking Midterm and a Elem. Organic Chem test early tomorrow. Hopefully I've prepared enough--I seem to be in a rut with B's lately... I just need a pick-me-up A to get back on track. *sigh* But things are well, it seems. I'm heading to Fort Payne for the first time in three weeks, even if it is just for a few hours. I haven't gotten to see Justin or Will in ages... I can finally get my passport stuff in; that'll be a small amount of stress removed. I'll be sure to post in the next 2-3 days about everything. Isn't it more fun when I have stuff to write about??
Cheers,
Andrew

Histology 101

2007-02-02T19:40:00.000-08:00

This week has come to a decent close, I suppose. My math test went really well I thought.. I went in to talk to the teacher an hour before the test and that really helped. I'll be disapointed if I don't get an A on it. My organic chem test was a different story (Ugh). I ended up studying for some things other than what were on the test and wasted a decent amount of time that way. I know of at least a good 15points that I missed just by not knowing what-the-hell to do. I'll be happy if I can pull off a B on that one.

It snowed early Thursday morning.. the day of my organic chem test. All of the roommates thought it would be fun to make lots of noise at 3am and go play in the snow. UAH is never canceled, so I just knew that I would end up taking the organic chem test at 9am with a lack of sleep...and studying. The snow was nice.. I somehow seemed to enjoy the new scenery. It's not every day that you see a white Alabama morning.

Ah! All of the plants in our Honors Lab died(!!).. with the exception of the dozen that I saved by transplanting to my dorm. Well.. There goes my project that I was going to do--contrasting the lab conditions to the dorm room conditions--but at least I should get some extra points for doing what everyone else did wrong. You would figure that a dozen honors students could water some plants. *sigh* It was interesting to have Dr. Garstka up to talk to us about the Dinosaur dig though. It's odd how I'm connected to people this semester--my organic chem lab TA is my lab partner in my honors bio lab, and my bio lab TA is Rachel--the one teaching us how to do the histology research. Ahh.. So Garstka said that he chewed someone out for not properly doing the dehydrations, which turned out to be a good thing. Loren (one of the 4 of us doing the special topics class ...notice I said 4.. someone dropped it) got the profane volume on how to properly dehydrate samples. At least we know what the hell to do in the lab now.

Garstka is an interesting fellow. He's decently old, retired, and knows everything. Apparently he took retirement because of health reasons--although that's not the story that I heard. I'm wondering if I could spend two months with the man in total isolation during the dino dig. He also seems to be somewhat of a flirt or something. Makes me think of Coach Ellis from my high school days; albeit he's a much much much (redundant? I think not!) more intelligent person. It will be interesting.. I've learned a good bit by just being around him.

Histology: Well.. We've all properly dehydrated some practice fish samples and I embedded mine in wax today. Thankfully we were able to save some of the samples since they hadn't been properly de-calcified. It's been an interesting week--having to schedule the dehydrations around my classes. It's going to be interesting when we have 30 fish to dehydrate rather than just one. Anyhow.. If you're curious in the procedure: the samples are preserved in a 10% formalin solution, and then soaked overnight in Bouin's Fixative to sharpen the colors of the slides later on down the line. They are then rinsed with DI water over a few hours, and placed into a few baths of varying concentrations of ethyl alcohol. A few hours in Toluene, and Xylene, and then the samples are ready to be set in paraffin. The whole process takes a bit over 16 hours if you know what you're doing.
Woo.. With some knowledge on how to get started, we're heading out to the Walls of Jerico to collect 30 Notropis telescopus under a special use permit tomorrow. It's going to be an exciting, yet cold, venture. I've been waiting all week for this!! Unfortunately it feels like I'm starting to come down with a cold. I thought it was just the lack of sleep on Thursday, but I think it's dead-set on becoming a full-fledged cold. Hopefully it will stay off me until Sunday.

Attached are some pictures that I've taken during my time in the research lab:

You can't see it too well, but this is 190 proof ethanol!!! ( It'll get-cha drunk!)

Some of Garstka's latest catchings: Cottonmouth, Garter Snake, Alligator Penis.
No joke.. the thing on the bottom left... yes :D Preserved just for us!

This is our lab setting, with chemicals improperly set up.

My hand, near the improper procedure!! (thanks Dr. Garstka!)

Cheers,
Andrew

I need a break please!

2007-01-31T13:36:00.000-08:00

So.. I have a math test in an hour.. and an organic chem test tomorrow morning early. Since I had Justin over for the weekend, I've been having to cram in some extra studying.
The fantastic news that I mentioned last week is starting to come together....So I guess I can go ahead and announce it now that the plans are pretty much a "Go".
So.. You know about my dauphin island semester, well.. before that I've got plans to go with the Natural Products research group to Costa Rica for a few weeks. I guess you could say that I'm fairly excited :D Costa Rica.. for science!! But... that's not all! I also have nailed down a trip to North Dakota/Montana for a dinosaur dig!!! Garstka invited me to dig around in the dirt for a couple of months after I get done with my Dauphin Island trip. Wow.. I'm not sure which trip im more excited about. Rain forest or total isolation? My summer is looking awfully swell so far :D
More updates soon! After these gorramn tests!!!
Ugh!
~Andrew

New post soon!

2007-01-24T14:42:00.001-08:00

I've been really busy this week... trying to catch up on enough work so I won't have to do anything while I have Justin on campus with me this weekend. I promise I'll find some free time soon and update! I've got some really exciting news!
~Andrew

The week that lasted a month.

2007-01-14T18:37:00.000-08:00

Wow... This week has been really long! Fortunately that makes this long weekend seem even longer! Friday night Joey, Sam, Barney, Nick, and I all went to Fort Payne at around 12pm because we were bored and needed something to do, so the next morning all of us took a trip up to the national preserve for a good hike. It's times like this that really makes you appreciate living 10 minutes away from Little River Canyon and DeSoto State Park. This weekend has gone fairly well thus far--thank goodness I have another day so I can wrap up some of this homework.

Even with this week seeming so long, it's been a good one. My organic chem lab has about 7 people in it and here's the kicker--NO GROUP WORK! YES!! That's a good thing indeed. On top of that, my chem lab instructor is my group partner in my honors bio lab!! Score!
Oh! And I got a good teacher that actually teaches my math class too. Score again!
All of my instructors seem to be capable teachers, and that's definitely a good start.

I met with Stallsmith about the special topics class I'm taking. It seems Valarie, a girl that I went collecting with a few times, is also taking the class after I mentioned it to her while passing her in the hall the other day. It'll be nice to have a friend in on the deal. That makes 4 of us working together on the project. The plan is rather simple: Collect around 20-30 Telescope Shiners, Notropis telescopus, a month (starting February 2nd). Euthanize them, and remove the water from them by placing the specimens in various concentrations of alcohols over a few hour period, then remove the gonadal tissue from them and place it in parafin wax. The wax is then cut around 4 micrometers(!!!!) and mounted on a slide in order to be able to judge the specimen's gonadal development under a microscope. It's really tedious work, but it has other applications and will be a good learning experience. Oh, and I'm going to have my name and work published in a scientific journal!!!! We start this Friday!

Well, if this hasn't been enough excitement, I'm also done filling out my application for the marine biology class this summer at the Dauphin Island sea lab. I'm rather anxious to get Stallsmith's signature on it, and in the mail.

Anyhow, thanks to everyone for taking a moment to read about my life ;-)
I'm including some more pictures of the tank for you guys to look at.

Zoomed out, so you can see the volume I'm working with here.

So much coral growth!!!

Classes Begin Tomorrow!

2007-01-07T16:22:00.000-08:00

I moved back in yesterday.
Purchased my books today.
Met with my friends...went shopping.
Classes start tomorrow.

It's great to be back. All of the guys are around now... They're in the common room watching Troy--muted. They're all narrating the movie. Unfortunately it used to be a good movie. I'm just sitting here thinking about classes tomorrow. I start off with my chem lab. Ahh,...Chem Lab--I got a spiffy lab coat today. I really like it.. It fits me :D
I got back to my dorm to a rather nice looking aquarium. I'm amazed how well it looks. It looks absoultely fantastic, considering I havn't touched the tank in a good month. Both fish are alive and well, and I have about 5 different corals that have split or doubled their size. It's almost time to try my hand at soft coral propagation. I expect a 30% water change is due in the upcoming week to try and replace a month's worth of trace elements.

Below are a few pictures that I took at the Georgia Aquarium last Wednesday.

A Pic of (part of) a whale shark. The aquarium has three of these amazing guys!!!

This is a rather bad picture of the aquarium's reef exhibit. What a fantastic display!
This is an adult lined sweetlips, Plectorhinchus lineatus.

A New Semester.

2007-01-04T13:04:00.000-08:00

Once again I'm posting about a vacation coming to a close. This one has gone fairly well, even if rather uneventful. Christmas came and went, and no one was too badly injured from the stress. I'm still trying to decide if having nothing to do is a good thing. I become bored as hell and get on the computer to entertain myself, and then just become even more unfulfilled. What does it take to entertain me?

I've spent the last three weeks perusing the NANFA forums, Reefcentral, Dr.Shimek's Blog, Dr. Stallsmith's Blog, and the occasional Cockeyed.com update. I've been worrying about the Aquarium, playing Go, and fitting some World of Warcraft in. I've had a native fishes book to absorb, but I haven't really put forth any effort into it--even though it's something that I would really like to look at more. I also managed to pick up a book on Alabama bird watching from the $4.00 bargain bin in Waldenbooks. I've started a relationship, ended a relationship, and spent a good while at the Three Bean Coffee Cafe with some of the best friends one could ask for.

It's been real. It's been fun. Now it's time to bust my ass again :D

To Business:
Classes start on Monday.
I'm moving back in to the residence hall Saturday. Hopefully the Aquarium won't be a total wreck. If it's not, I may just have to find Scott a nice present for tank-sitting over the break.
This semester's line-up of classes will be pretty much awesome. I'm especially excited about my Organismal Biology class and lab that goes with it... but I'm more enthused about the idea of getting my hands wet in a little more real biology with this Bio 491 class. If all goes well, I'd like to get an idea of how things work and try some stuff on my own this summer at the Little River Preserve. That's just an Idea to play with...

Happy New year guys. If you're reading this, you probably mean a good bit to me...Thanks.

Finals, Fish, and Friends!

2006-12-13T18:52:00.000-08:00

It's been well over a week since my last post, but a lot has been going on! I studied for a good 70 hours for that math final. I used up almost all of the 3 hours allotted for the test, and the computer screwed me on a few questions, but somehow I managed to pull out an A. My average in the class comes out to be a 89. If that doesn't get bumped to a 90 with my lowest test dropped---there's gonna be hell to pay! That was a well-welcomed relief before my other exams. Monday started out fairly well...then the stress really set in about an hour into my programming final. Everyone in the class took the entire 3 hours. NO ONE FINISHED. Not one person. Yes, not even yours truly. So hopefully that test will be scaled, and I'll pull an A out of that class too. Mr Jwon Kwan "Jake" Lee sent us an E-mail the other day after the test, saying he graded the tests and didn't like the grades he saw (shocker!). He also pointed out how everyone probably hated him even more...and then had a good paragraph pity party about how his graduate life is so difficult, etc... After that rather demoralizing experience, I moved onto my Biology final---which I had not studied for at freaking all. Hindsight is 20/20 they say, and I believe it, because I probably should have really studied a little for that test. I still am 100% sure that I A'ed the course, but I let myself down for the final. A's are fine and dandy, but I'd rather ace the course that I'm majoring in--and If I would have studied, I could have done that. Oh well-- I haven't ruined my chances for Princeton just yet.
Finals went well. I got my yellow belt in karate, (hopefully) a 4.0, and am ready for my next semester of classes.

The aquarium has been set up for the break, and I hope it will do well. The RD is supposed to check in on it occasionally, and I hope he will. I failed at getting a legit dripper--I asked some pharmacists at Target and Wal-Mart, but they all just looked at me like I was cooking meth or something. Hopefully the three knots and check-valve won't fail me over a month.
I have plans to finish my aquarium canopy that I started on a few months back, hopefully ill find some free time to work on it over the break.

The past two weeks have been fantastic. I've felt like I was actually living. Nick and I had a rather fantastic conversation last night--spanning from 11pm to 3am---with a Waffle House visit thrown in too. I've really appreciated his friendship over this semester. Same with Heather and Emily, it's going to be tough not seeing any of my newly made friends over a month. I feel really lucky to have met such great people.

There's countless things I should probably tell you guys about, but I don't know where to start, so I guess you just will have to live without knowing a few things.

Cheers,
Andrew

"Ideas are like the VSEPR theory" or "Finals Stress Relief"

2006-12-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

That's the point of this one. Stress relief. I've been running myself to death today, finishing over 100 math problems in my review. I plan to go over them all again tomorrow and practice some of the programming work that is supposed to be on that final. The problem with college is that you get so used to not having tests back-to-back often but as soon as you hit finals, all of your classes have a big test--It's really taxing on the individual trying to study for every subject at once. Some people, Nick and Matthew (my roommates) for instance, have yet declined to study for their upcoming tests.. I guess we'll just see if their approach of playing Halo 2 will pay off in the end. I guess I'm somewhat to blame for their continued procrastination as I purchased another Xbox 360 controller for us today. I guess it's just another test for them.

Sunday was a great experience. Emily and Heather were over for most of the day, and we all hung out and stuff... that is, after the fire alarm woke me from my rest (that was supposed to prime me for this week)... Who in tar nations pulls a fire alarm the week before finals? GDI. So--out went Joey, Nick, Barney, and I in our Pjs and uncombed hair to Waffle House while the whole bother occurred. That was a fantastic experience... *laughs in reflection* The gang all played Emily's SNES for the rest of the day... I watched in amazement as Joey and Sam owned Super Mario Brothers in under two hours. That was quite an experience.

Today we wrapped up CS 102 and BYS 119. We talked about all the final material in C programming.. and Mr. Jwon Kwan Lee laughed at everyone that would be taking his class again next semester. Biology came to a fantastic rocketing(infectious?) conclusion as Stallsmith introduced viruses--specifically the HIV virus--to us at the last minute. I have really enjoyed Biology over the semester and am kind of sad to have it be over. At least I have BYS 120 and 491 to look forward to next semester. I noticed that 491 had finally been added to my schedule today, so I'm excited about that prospect.

The Aquarium:
I got a chance to talk to Scott Royce (our resident director at CCRH) about being able to check in on the tank a few times during the holiday break. I've really tried to automate the system as much as possible but as we all know, automation is subject to horrendous failure over the course of time. I had to write a letter to his supervisor...detailing the job and how I won't sue them for screwing something up. I'm hoping that having someone to check in on the tank will put my mind at ease finally--If the finals haven't been enough!
I completed a 10% water change yesterday, and have plans to complete the next one Tuesday afternoon in an effort to further dilute all the nasties. I took water parameters yesterday:
12/4/06
Temp: 25 °C
pH: 8.6
SG: 1.2026
DKH: ~7
NO2: <.30 mg/l
NH4: <.1 mg/l

Everything is looking fine.. I'm actually curious to how much stuff will grow over the 3 week holiday. But I guess that'll have to stay a surprise :D

Cheers,
Andrew

Fantastic!

2006-12-02T22:29:00.000-08:00

I've always liked MSNBC's "The week in pictures," and I would *so* love to do something like that for my blog someday in the future. A well taken photograph is worth so much more than all of the words that I could type here. Anyhow.. It's been about a week since my last post, mainly due to the fact that I have finals during the next two weeks.

This week went well. Although since Smash Brothers has been taken out of the room, it seems that time creeps by now. I made the lowest grade I have made yet in Biology on Thursday, thank goodness that 95 will get dropped *laughs*. I wish that I could just pull a few points from biology and tack them on my math grade.

Other news: I really MUST get a auto fish feeder and a legit dripper for the 3 weeks out of the dorms. I'm starting to get worried about that now. I've planned to use a 5gallon bucket and a slightly more trustworthy drip mechanism this time. I'm also doing 10% water changes every two days this week to try and get everything to an above average state before the break.

We had a "Bo-Bo" family reunion today. Getting to see everyone was really nice. I guess it was worth the 4 hours of driving right before finals. There's so many kids in the family now. I hadn't really realized how many of my cousins were having young-uns.

*Sigh* If only I had taken some pictures during the week to show you guys.

Cheers,
Andrew

Andrew's Post-Alabama Ambitions

End of the year musings

History Lesson of the Day:

Cooking in the Laboratory Part I: Spicy Denatured & Disrupted Ova de Gallus gallus

Six Months Later...

1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6(3H,7H)-dione

Thinking about changing the world...

Spherical Assumptions

Genetics and Failure

Confocal Images

Microscopy

Graduate School

Another Summer Wrapping up.

That feeling you get when you remember you're actually alive this very moment.

Winding down the semester, Winding up research

3/24/2010 Moving on in time and space

Return to Normalcy and A Tale of 8 or 9 Planets

Alive and well...

Death and Decay

A Pleasant Sunday Outing

And here a new beginning.

Blogging from Microsoft

So, When do you get your Master's?

First Day of Classes

A Texual Grasp of Reality...

Quest for the Ultimate Shot of Espresso.

Blogging during my lunch break

Prick and Crick

Continue?

Present Beverage: A Tall Red-Eye with Honey.

I have a new job!

Hobbies

Funny of the day....or at least a few days

Complexity of Life

A funny for the day.

Jesus Christ to star in Next Series of Batman!

Week One, almost done!

Double Posting is silly.

Meteors and Trees.

August

You're a pretty human being.

"But I thought Octopuses WERE Sea Urchins"

Tempest Prognosticator

Lawn Shrimp

Need to post...

That Three Musketeers bar you had for breakfast...

Science

Break

Called Out!

Stress Level: 8/10

"If you've never failed at anything, have you really ever been challenged?"

My Bonsai Died... Sorry Mom

Case of the Mondays...

Insert Obligatory Sarah Perrin Reference

Busy!

Artemia, Protists, and Synthesis!

Sick

Livid; Fuck

Organic

1,2-ciscyclohexenedicarboxilic anhydride

Occipital Condyle

Return to Amphioxus

Cavorting Beasties

Microscopy: the new hobby

Almost burnt out....but not just yet!

Paddle Faster! I hear banjos! --Dr. Stallsmith

Can we count negative time when we build a time machine?

The Techno Loving Fish.

The Residence Hall: Season Two

Unheard Statement #12

The sounds in my head are perfect, and go a little like *this*.

The Spice Must Flow.

There are no heroes left in man.

It's a Long Way From Amphioxus

Spectronic Sun Corals! An update for Haley and the few that read my blog.

Dragonflies before I rest.

Camera! Oh, and I'm 19!

Electric Rays, Stomatopods, and bug-eye Bumpers, Oh My!

D to the Izzle to the Sizzle to the L. DISL Day 3

Daupin Island: Day 2

The sounds in my head are perfect, and go a little like this.