The (mis)adventures of Dr. X-Tina

Corporate America - week 1

2010-12-12T21:30:00.003-06:00

Well I have made a thankfully uneventful move to Columbus and am 90% settled in. I still have a few wall hanging items I am not sure what to do with and a few boxes to donate to Goodwill.

To get right to the point, my first week was quite good, and not just because of the two free lunches, one which was a holiday lunch with carved prime rib. From the get go, I just had such a feeling of belonging and a reassurance that I had made the correct choice for my life and career. There were a few minor glitches with technology, badges and mailboxes the first day, but nothing of any real concern, and all of which were remedied by Wednesday. I was very grateful that my manager was on top of all of the necessary items to have my desk etc. ready to go.

Everyone I met with the first week was very welcoming and most everyone mentioned how wonderful my manager is and how lucky I am to be working with her. Despite her very busy schedule, which included a quick meeting in DC, she has spent a lot of time with me ensuring I was getting acclimated. I am also very excited about the work I will be doing and feel already that my contributions have fallen on open and welcoming ears. Of course, I know that this "first week feeling" won't last forever, but that's when I'll go shopping with my new inflated paycheck :)

A few other things:

PROS
Free parking
Tasty cafeteria downstairs
Cubical
Dressing up
Pretty decent FREE gym facility with FREE personal training
Living less than 2 miles from work

Cons
Flat parking lot with rain and snow
French fries and ice cream within walking distance
Cubical with lots of people talking around me
No casual Friday (guess I need to shop more)
Sitting at a desk all the time (I may miss loading qPCR plates and cell culture one day soon)

Apple Cider Doughnuts

2010-10-25T19:50:00.011-05:00

I MADE DOUGHNUTS!!! Ever since the start of this fall season with all of the tastes and smells of the fall, I have been wanting to make doughnuts. I found a recipe for Apple Cider Doughnut s. All in all, it was super fun experience and even though most of them did not turn out very round, they tasted fantastic all the same.

A2 bucket list

2010-10-19T12:48:00.003-05:00

With only about 5 weeks left as a resident of A2, I have been trying to do a few things on my A2 bucket list, pretty much all involving food. About two weeks ago during Beth's visit from Chicago we had lunch at Zingerman's Deli. I have been to visit this place several times, but never partook in the deli-lunch experience. The Zingerman's franchise is a staple and must-do in A2 for foodies. The deli was voted one of the top 25 food markets in the world by Food and Wine Magazine in 2004.

We shared:
#97 (Lisa C.’s Boisterous Brisket, Featured in Esquire magazine and on Oprah! Hand-pulled beef brisket simmered in Zingerman’s own BBQ sauce on a soft bun, served with a side of applewood-smoked baked beans. ), which was voted Oprah's favorite.
#51 (Bob & Roz’s Fiesta, Grilled Amish chicken breast, Wisconsin muenster cheese, spicy fire-roasted New Mexico green chiles, roasted red pepper sauce, lettuce & tomato on grilled rye bread. Served with sour cream on the side.)

Also, this weekend I hit up another A2 foodie delight, Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger. This spot has been featured on Man vs. Food several times. I kept is clean and only ordered a double (a quint is standard on the menu) with cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onions, mayo, mustard and catsup. I also had a side of onion rings and a very refreshing orange, cream soda.

On the list this week for lunch is Le Dog and their famous lobster bisque and Weber's Inn for prime rib.

Big News

2010-10-06T09:56:00.002-05:00

So there will be more (mis)adventures ahead, because as most of you know, I have accepted a position at Abbott Nutrition as a Senior Scientists in Pediatrics R&D!! I am EXTREMELY excited about this opportunity for my career, while all at the same time a bit sad to be moving further away from my family and friends I have made in Ann Arbor. I will be much closer to my collage roommate and her family, as they live only an hour away!!

This has been quite a whirlwind over the last two weeks. I received a call from Abbott to set up an interview on Wednesday 9/22 for the following Monday (9/27). I was going on a mini-vacation to visit friends and family in Boston and NY and ended up cutting the trip short to fly home on the 26th and then drove to Columbus for my interview on the 27th. I was offered the position on Wednesday the 29th...a week and 2 hours from when I received the phone call to schedule, and I officially accepted on Friday the 1st. Both my boss of UMich and at the Art Institute of Michigan (where I teach as an adjunct) were sad and disappointed to see me leave, but happy for the opportunity I had received.

All throughout this process I have had nothing but good and positive feelings about this change. There was never a doubt in my mind or a moment of angst about making this decision. As I went along and heard more about the actual job and the offer I was given, my thought was "this just keeps getting better!"

In this position I will be providing product support for any nutrition-related issues/concerns, managing scientific studies needed to introduce new products or change existing ones and interfacing with foreign regulatory bodies among many things. There is estimated to be 10-15% travel, some of which will be international. I will be moving to Columbus the week after Thanksgiving and starting my new position December 6th.

I can not express enough how grateful I am for this opportunity and I will certainly have a whole lot to give thanks for this holiday season!

Healthier-iest burgers

2010-09-21T10:58:00.002-05:00

To me this provides even more evidence as to why nutrition information should be mandatory on menus, because give such a wide variety of options it is almost impossible to even begin to guess which of these would be healthy. I think some know to leave off the bacon, creamy sauces, extra cheese, eggs, and fried onions, but given the staggering amount of calories and sodium (almost 5grams!!), I think the over-abundance is more than anyone would expect. Additionally, even though some of these are low in calories, the sodium can be through the roof, providing over half a days worth and for someone with CVD this is VERY important.

40 Healthiest Burgers

40 Killer Burgers

Misery loves company

2010-09-12T15:39:00.000-05:00

As the old saying goes, it is better to commiserate together than alone. Although these “sessions” usually do not amount to much change for most parties involved, there is some comfort in knowing one is not alone in a given situation.

As some know and I’m sure others have suspected the transition to and establishment of my life in the ambiguous land of a post-doc has been a bit harder than I anticipated. The proximity to my family and their support has been my saving grace. However, knowing that this is temporary, not having any sort of “freshman” post-doc class, teetering between students and professionals, and struggling with mentorship at work, are a part of my daily life.

I am partly to blame, because although I have been outgoing and social, at times it becomes daunting to always be meeting new people without a strong, core support of friends; therefore, I have not always taken every opportunity. I did finally make it to one of the (few) post-doc happy hours put on by the campus-wide post-doc association. It was a great time and I met some really fun and interesting people who are in a similar boat – looking for friends just to hang out with. Needless to say, the 4 or 5 of us have been out a few times over the last couple weeks and I went to dinner with one women, S, on Saturday.

S and I come from very different places. She is in A2 via, LA, via MN, via India and I grew-up just over 50 miles away. Her background is in engineering and she works in a totally different area of campus. This was the first time we had a chance to hang out one-on-one and even though we have very different lives, the issues we have with our current situations are very similar. There were numerous times in which we both commented, “I know how you feel, although I don’t really know what to do about it.”

At the end of the evening, my feelings were mixed a bit. Although it is nice to know these issues are not “just me,” it was a tad disheartening that they permeate so many different people’s lives.

A review and a cheat

2010-09-08T21:02:00.002-05:00

I had my "formal" in-class review this week. My director had emailed me a few weeks back that Chef Jim would be coming to observe my class sometimes soon. I replied to both of them welcoming to visit and informing them that the last two weeks before the final (this week and next) the students would be giving their presentations on their final papers. Given that he came last night I am not sure how much of a review of my teaching skills he could have done. Of course it also had to be on the night that I did not prepare a lesson plan since we just had presentations and review for the final in the remaining time. Moreover, three of the students who signed up to present this week asked to move to next week. So, all in all, we'll see how it turns out.

I suspect one of my students just about cheated on his final paper. After reading over them this week, I was pleasantly surprised by the paper on diabetes LB wrote. As I was reading all 3.5 pages I was intrigued by sophisticated language and well written, cohesive sentence structure. Until I got to the last sentences, which read as follows, "PLEASE FINISH UP WITH YOUR THOUGHTS HERE...BLAH BLAH BLAH." This is pretty obvious that he did not write this and did not even take the time to read the 3.5 pages that whomever else wrote. I brought it to the attention of my director and we met with LB last night before class. LB was defensive, of course and told the director that a sister proof-read the paper for him and he forgot to look at it. LB also said this was paper was turned in for a biology class last quarter - I don't know if that makes me feel better or not. The director said LB was caught cheating before and fessed up to it and he felt LB would be honest about it and left it up to me to decide what to do. Grr...with that, and given that fact that even if I gave LB 110% on the paper, I don't think they would get better than a C. So with that, no other hard evidence and the fact that there are misspelling and grammatical errors, I am not going to give LB a zero. I do not think it was blatantly plagiarized, but I do think LB wrote a small portion that was extensively beefed up by said sister.

Food and drink

2010-08-29T13:32:00.007-05:00

I checked a few things off my "to-do" list of things in/around Ann Arbor Saturday. This Saturday was the last of the German Park Public Picnics. There is a fairly authentic German biergarten about 15 minutes north of Ann Arbor that was founded in 1938 where they hold a public picnic on the last Saturday of each month of the summer. Doors open at 4pm and the gates close at 9pm with the "picnic" being over at 11pm. They serve buckets, yes, plastic buckets of bier, as well as fairly authentic German food.

The earlier part of Saturday also consistent of more food and drink with a trip to Slow's BBQ in Detroit. This is a fairly famous place in the area and has been featured in "Man vs Food" as well other food and BBQ shows and blogs. The meal was very tasty and worth the trip. It was, however, a bit sad to see how deserted Detroit has become. After a great BBQ meal, we headed over to the Eastern Market in Detroit. It is a huge open-air farmers market with tons more than just food. I did not really buy much, because I wasn't sure what to expect, but will definitely return and make some purchases. It was pretty amazing how cheap the produce it and all the speciality items that are at the market and in the surrounding stores.

Friday also had its fair share of, unexpected, food and drink. It all started with a tasting of the home-brew brought to the lab by a sales rep from whom we had recently purchased a $4k kit. The beer was pretty good, but I think we all enjoyed the names and labels of the beers a lot. The conference-room beer tasting rolled in to a pub-dinner at Ashley's, Sangria at Dominik's, snacks at Pizza House and a night cap a Bab's. All in all a good weekend!

Such a miracle

2010-08-21T14:49:00.003-05:00

She is here, all ten fingers and ten toes, born at 9:29a on 08/20/10, 8lbs 7oz, 21" long. Right now she has to stay in nursery and has not been able to spend too much time with mom. When she was born her O2 was a little low that they were worried about her nursing and since her blood sugar was getting low as well, they had to give her IV glucose. They took an X-ray and blood work and found that that she might have an infection, although they think the sample was contaminated. Needless to say, she has to stay in the nursery for another 48h until the blood cultures come back negative for sure. Leslie is doing quite well with everything and Stuart said it would probably be a lot harder on both of them if this wasn't their third time around ;) So it looks like they will be coming home Monday.

Marissa and Allison did such a wonderful job and have been great through this whole thing. To must of our surprise, Allison is just utterly fascinated with the baby. While outside the nursery, she just stands on the ledge and stares asking for, "my baby." After Stuart took the girls in the nursery to see the baby, Allison could not stop talking about "my baby" and wanted to go back every time Stuart took someone new in. The first words out of her mouth this morning were, "where's my baby." I think instead of Leslie having to worry about Allison being jealous of the baby, she's going to be dealing with a "little mother"

I am so thankful that I was able to be here for such a wonderful occasion. I was not in the hospital myself, as when Marissa was born, or out of the state.

Welcome...

2010-08-19T21:20:00.001-05:00

Baby Sherry #3 is on her way in just under 12 hours! I am so excited and grateful that I will be here (and not in the hospital or out-of-state). Pictures and details, like her name, to follow shortly.

Dr. Sherry...Dr. Christina...teach...um professor

2010-08-14T08:35:00.003-05:00

I am just about half way through my first quarter as an adjunct faculty at the Art Institute of Michigan and have a whole new level of respect and gratitude for all of the teachers I have had during my 21 years of schooling. Overall, I must admit it has been a bit more work that I had originally anticipated, mainly because the PowerPoints I received from the previous instructor needed a bit of work. The quiz and test material, thankfully, were right on target and only needed a tad bit of tweaking. Once I have this first quarter under-my-belt, I think (at least hope) the subsequent ones will be a bit easier. I hope to have time in the future to more of an effort in to the concept and depth of the material, as now, it can be a bit of a struggle to have the basics covered very week. There are a chapter or two that we don't have time to cover currently and I want to find away to integrate this material in throughout the quarter.

After 6 weeks, I'm still not 100% used Dr. Sherry, especially since probably half, if not more, of my class is older than me. Why this makes a difference to me, I'm not sure, but I'm getting used to it. The scores their first quiz were not great, but on par with previous classes. I think they realized this is a serious class and upped the studying for the next quiz and scores improved. Right now, the biggest struggle is figuring out what things they don't understand. Sometimes it is obvious the concept is not getting through, but without people asking questions/making comments, it is hard to determine what material they are struggling with.

My director has formally asked me to continue teaching, so I guess something is going right!

My check book hurts

2010-08-08T16:07:00.002-05:00

Between getting a few needed items fixed on my car, mainly the wheel bearing and purchasing a new digital camera...my check book is starting to hurt a bit. I will have to put off the purchase of a new Droid Phone for a few months while it recovers. I am happy to report though that my gig moonlighting as an adjunct will sure help off-set the recent unforeseen expenses.

With that said, I am now the proud new owner of a new sliver Cannon SD 1300. I wish I would have had time to purchase it before heading the Chicagoland this weekend for Desiree's babyshower. Then I would have been able to post pictures of just how cute she is. At 7 months already, she looks closer to 4 or 5, with just cute little bump showing. They are having a boy, and they say boys sit low and to the back, and with her doctors approval that she is right on schedule...I'm sure baby-boy Lavin will be here, healthy in no time.

I needed to take the day off Friday before driving out there just to get errands done, and as with a lab job, "taking the day off" meant going in for an hour or so in the morning and then taking the rest of the day off. I was able to accomplish all on the list, hence the new knowledge of the pending automobile repair. I also picked up a few audio books for the drive. I listened to a few disks of "Beloved" but just couldn't get in to it and follow the story, so it was on to my next selection, "The Next Thing on My List." I liked it so much, I finished listening to it last night and today. In short, a June accidentally kills a stranger she is giving a ride home to from a Weight Watcher's meeting and finds this women, Marisa, has a list of things to do before her 25th birthday - just a year away. June spends the next year of her life trying to complete Marisa's list and, as to be expected goes through quite a life-changing experience. It was, all in all not to heavy of a story, although based on the death of a young women. It was well written and almost suspenseful, because there were a few items on the list that seemed fairy impossible.

Baby Sherry #3 will be here in less than 2 weeks!

# 851 on the list

2010-08-05T20:53:00.002-05:00

Even though some days I feel that there are 850 things on my "To-Do" list, I have decided to add another and (attempt to) keep up with my blog.

After completing my first year as Dr. Sherry, I am starting to form a better idea of what I want to do when I grow-up. I am starting to make some moves towards achieving these goals/dreams.

I have recently purchased an electric piano and have been re-teaching myself to play. It has been a bit surprising how much I have forgotten and yet some pieces come back as if I just had a recital last week. If it is a bit of a trip down memory lane to see some of my former teacher's hand-written notes on the music. Right now I am just focusing on re-teaching myself to read music and play with both hands at the same time. I hope to find a teacher and take lessons in the fall.

I have also starting moon-lighting as an adjunct faculty at the Art Institute of Michigan teaching nutrition to culinary arts students. We are four weeks in to the quarter and I am really enjoying this adventure. It has been a lot more work than I anticipated; however, I hope that after I get the lessons and planning down this first quarter that the subsequent quarters will be a bit easier. It is still a little strange to be regularly referred to as Dr. Sherry for 3 hours once a week, but I kind of like it ;) Plus, I think my head-chef really like calling me Dr. Sherry.

I do not have many pictures to post since I lost my camera in California earlier this spring, although I didn't really use it. Still a mystery to me; so I am taking suggestions on a replacement.

Less is more

2010-04-28T23:08:00.008-05:00

I think that most all dietitians and nutritional professionals have known, at least in theory, that all the additives in our food supply or not only not necessary, but have a negative impact on our health, especially salt and sugar. Anyone with even a few taste buds know that increasing salty and sugary foods are more addictive, and the role of these additives in changing one's brain chemistry will be saved for another post.

Just a few weeks ago, Welsh et al from Emory, reported in the The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA. 2010 Apr 21;303(15):1490-7.) reported that there was a significant correlation between dietary added sugars and blood lipid levels among US adults

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Additionally, numerous experts have urged the FDA to lower salt in the American diet because...

On average, Americans consume more than 3,400 milligrams of sodium -- the amount in about 1.5 teaspoons of salt -- each day. The recommended maximum daily intake of sodium -- the amount above which health problems appear -- is 2,300 milligrams per day for adults, about 1 teaspoon of salt.

Adding to the trifecta is high fructose corn syrup, which is 20-60% sweeter than regular table sugar (sucrose), and despite what Corn Refiners Association would like you to think, HAS NOT been proven to be the same as sugar.

It is great to now see the science to back what I feel most of us have known, let's hope the government and manufactures will take notice and make changes with the health of their consumers in mind.

Travels

2010-04-28T18:09:00.010-05:00

Ugh...I have not been as faithful with keeping up the blog as I anticipated, but alas, I have some reasonable excuses, like a cruise to the Bahamas. Yes, finally one appendix and four long years later, I finally made it to the Bahamas. I would like to thank Beth for organizing such a great trip to celebrate the 30th birthday of her and several others. This was my first cruise and despite some over-cast weather, it was great! I did not have any sea-sickness issues, although, I did not really anticipate any. We set sail from Miami on Friday afternoon and got the trip off to a great start with several drinks by the pool. While in port in Nassau I did some shopping, snorkeling and bar crawling. Beth set-up a mini bar crawl to a few local places that ended with her purist to the infamous bar she had stumbled upon during her last trip to Nassau. We also enjoyed wonderful, endless food and a great dinner waiter, Nelson, who kept us very entertained. All in all, for my first experience at sea, it was fun and relaxing.

Now, it is on to Cali. First for the Experimental Biology meeting in Anaheim. It was so wonderful to see ol' friends from UIUC, and of course bittersweet. Last night Mina and I had a great time catching up over a pitcher of margaritas and afterwards met-up with Vicki and company for a rousing evening of scientific banter. Yes, it was stimulating. Now the John (and shortly Desiree) have moved to Cali, I was able to see them both. His new promotion at Chase is going well, and she is excited to get out here after graduation and get ready for their baby!! Of course the conference was good, although there were not too many talks on the specifics of my new research.

FASEB did a great job at improving the career development section and I hope I attended enough seminars to now have some clue of what I want to be when I grow-up. I will say the Anaheim convention center/Hilton was not the best equipped. One example was the ridiculous line at Star-bucks every morning. I know this is not their first conference and it is not hard to figure out having a line solely for coffee along with a barista taking orders in-line would greatly improve the situation. Guess it was my luck I liked the coffee in the room.

Now it is on to UCSD to learn some new scientific techniques. I'll be here just a few days and have already gleaned much more insider information and tricks than I would have just trying to follow the directions. I am not sure how much time I will have to sight-see, as I have to prepare for a presentation on Tuesday when I return.

Sam's hot-spot

2010-03-29T20:05:00.005-05:00

I am back from a wonderful weekend in Chicago seeing the sites, and of course, wonderful friends. The trip out was clam and boring. We did have a book-on-CD (thank you public library system). Although, Kite Runner, is not the most up-lifting story for a Friday night/Sunday afternoon drive, it is a great story that keeps you guessing. We did not finish the 12-disc unabridged version, so thanks to the advent of modern technology, it now sits on my hard-drive ready for my iPod. Also, there was a really good piece on Chicago Public Radio, an interview with Dr. David Kessler about his new book and how the American diet is addicting.

We visited the Museum of Science and Industry, Navy Pier, and of course the Magnificent Mile. It was so great to see Amy, Faisal, Beth, Jake, Sam, Keng-I, and Brooke. I also met a few of Sam's new friends at 'her' new hot-spot, Suite Lounge. I would recommend it for anyone in the neighborhood. It was a little under-ground secret with great martini's, and out luck at a prime table topped off the night. It was great to see Sam out with the masses, mingling with the best of 'um. She has her own bar now, where they greet her by name, and know her drink.

Wine, birthday, and a make-over

2010-03-21T15:52:00.003-05:00

There was a great, albeit a tad crowded, wine tasting at a restaurant just around the corner from my place on Friday night. The night started a bit earlier, though, with a impromptu lab happy-hour. I wasn't originally planning on beer and wine in the same night, but considering this is the first lab-related social event that has happened since my arrival, I felt the need to participate. The theme of the wine tasting was "World Cup of Wine: France vs Spain." There were about 30 wines, split pretty much half and half. As these things usually go, after about the fourth taste all the reds were tasting similar as were the whites. However, there was a bright, and spicy, star in the bunch, a French Domaine de la Cotes-du-Rhone. I would not say it was spectacular, but just its sheer distinctiveness among the bunch made me put down a few bottles for me and a few for Christian on the order. On top of that tasty treat, it is well priced and available at Arbor Farms Market, how sponsored the tasting.

After breakfast out and a few errands on Saturday, I took a trip "home" for a dinner party for my brother's 30th birthday. It just never ceases to amaze me some of the personality traits of mine that Marissa has. She was bouncing off the walls with excitement for my daddy's party; very reminiscent of "Tina-time" that used to occur in my bouncing-off-the-wall days. I also had a chance to meet up with Dan and Kelly later in the evening and catch-up a bit. It is wonderful to be able to make it home for things of this nature, but sometimes I find that even though I am home more, I don't really see people that much, as I'm usually in-and-out for whatever event has brought me to Grand Blanc.

One of my new-favorite stores in Ann Arbor, Ulta, had free-mini make-overs today, so I took the opportunity for a little, did I mention free, pampering and tips.

Now it is time to plan our trip to Chicago this coming weekend. I am ecstatic to see my friends, get out of town, and actually do some touristy stuff in Chicago.

Back to the blogosphere

2010-03-15T18:57:00.007-05:00

After about a four month hiatus, I have decided to return to blogging, mainly because life is seemingly settled enough to have some (mis)adventure worth sharing.

To start off, a brief summary of the last few months in the life of Dr. X-Tina.

My final PhD study is now published in Brain Behavior and Immunity with some well-received press
The post-doc grant is funded and will start this summer, along with the clock. I'm planning on moving to the next phase of my career when it is finished. Figuring out what that will be, hum...
Come this August, the extended Sherry family will have another little one, as my brother and sister-in-law are expecting their third child
There is a new(ish) boyfriend in my life, most of which I'll probably keep private, but I must say he's pretty wonderful.
I'm off for a 30th birthday booze cruise in about a month; stay tuned for (mis)adventures to follow
I have been volunteering with Operation Frontline through Gleaners Food Bank in Detroit, as a nutrition instructor for their "Eating Right" program.
Starting this summer, I will be an adjunct nutrition instructor at The Art Institute of Michigan, teaching nutrition to culinary arts students; a paid gig that will start some retirement savings, since post-docs don't qualify.
My circle of friends is expanding...slower than I'd like
My cousin was in a fairly serious car accident last weekend. He, and the other passengers, are out of the woods, but his recovery will be a long journey.
And just my luck, to top it all off, my car suffered two small injuries weeks apart during all the snow in February.

Slashfood Tweets

2009-11-02T12:22:00.000-06:00

Slashfood Tweets

People fall for this?

2009-10-30T08:39:00.004-05:00

I received an email at my UMich account this morning with the subject, "Re" from a Sgt Marvin Oliver that is as follows:

Attention,

I am Sgt Marvin Oliver,i am delighted to inform you that the contract panel here in London that just concluded its seating here in our department have just released your name among their immunity agent that will benefit from the diplomatic immunity payment. This panel was primarily delegated by the united nation to investigate manipulated over-invoiced payment as the effect has eaten deep into the economy of our country united kingdom.

I hereby inform you that the united nation and British government has choosing you as their immunity agent there in your country to stand and receive this total amount of $10.1 million dollars by cash immunity delivery to your country which you are to meet with the diplomats on their arrival there in your country international airport to enable them take the clearance on face to face clearing with the customs at the airport to enable them move it to your doorstep without any inspection by the government agent as it has been directed by the united nation and British government.

In this regards, We are going to send your immunity cash payment to you via our accredited shipping company on diplomatic means which all the immunity needed documents to cover this immunity cash funds has been secured, the cash funds is coming on two security proof boxes which the boxes has already been sealed with synthetic nylon and padded with machine.

Please you must know that the united nation want you to pay 50% of this total amount ($10.1 million dollars) to any motherless babies home there in your country.

You don't need to worry for anything because this transaction is 100 risk free, the boxes are coming with a diplomatic agent who will accompany the boxes to your house or office there in your country.

Forward to us your contact information as it is stated below:

1. Full Name and address
2. Direct cell/home telephone number
3. Identification, either your id-card, driver's license or international passport.

As soon as i receive the requested information and confirm your readiness to handle this matter, i will process your immunity cash funds proof of ownership certificate and your cash funds delivery approvals form "D" and forward them to you for your own view and record, then i will advise you with the date and time the diplomats will arrive your country.

Forward you next response to this email address: administrator_of@sify.com or department@mail2Consultant.com and make sure you call me on this telephone number +44-762-413-2116 immediately you forward your information so that even if am not on seat,i can go and check my email for immediate action.

I wait to hear from you soon.

Thank you,

Sgt Marvin Oliver

This is an obvious attempt at fraud, similar to stories on news. After reading this notice from St. Oliver in England, which mind you I have never been to, I truly can not believe people fall for these types of scams.

For Mike

2009-10-28T17:12:00.001-05:00

A fashionista?

2009-10-22T21:08:00.002-05:00

I have always enjoyed shopping and trying to keep up on the latest fashion trends, but I have never considered myself a fashionista. Although I have purchased a few new items since moving to Ann Arbor, I would not say my wardrobe or general style has changed. I like to wear skirts and dresses, have my shoes match my jewelry, wear purple eye-liner with a a purple sweater, and of course heals. Dress pants and scarves, sparkles and sequins, little jackets, and tights; however, given that I am the only women on my floor who wears make-up, even just mascara and lip-gloss, I guess it is not too surprising that I have received numerous comments about how nice I look, all the matching jewelry I have, and yes, I was even called a fashionista the other day.

I do wear my fair share of jeans and T's and am not always dressed up, but it is a bit of a strange feeling to be the most fashionable one at work. I now feel this new title comes with a standard. I find myself putting a lot more thought in to my outfits on a regular basis. I think in general, everyone's shock has worn off, and I do not get as many double takes when my heals click or my skirt swishes

The last few weeks

2009-10-18T16:28:00.006-05:00

Wow, now with a few minutes to take a breath here is what life has been up to in the last two weeks.

Desiree came to visit two weeks ago and we had a great time. More than anything I really enjoyed having time with such a close friend, to be able to talk and vent about things. I have met some great people thus far, but am still lacking close friends right now; hopefully time will provide a remedy.
Vicki and Erik got married!! The whole trip was a ton of fun and I had a blast hanging out with everyone, especially the pre-wedding night conversations in our hotel room and late night call to Vicki. The ceremony and reception was just perfect. The weather was wonderful and just the right amount of people to make it a really party. I'm sure the Illinois crowd helped with that.
Marissa spent the night for the first time this Friday. We went to dinner, caught "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," and made her parents some cookies the next morning. She was a pleasure to have and did great with sleeping. We were a little worried that a bedtime she would become homesick and I'd be making a late night drive to Grand Blanc. She fell asleep fairly quickly and while falling asleep and fidgeting, she sat up, looked at me, crossed her hands, and said, "um, Tina, we need to talk." I asked what was the a matter, and she replied, "you need to scoot closer to me."
I'm signed up to go on a long weekend cruise with Beth/Jake and company in April to celebrate their 30th birthdays - looking forward to it.
Having a DSW within the city limits of where I live may not prove to be the best thing for my check book, thankfully it is all the way on the other side of town.
I saw someone getting road head on a Friday afternoon on I75 driving north somewhere around 4pm; they were not being subtle.
I broke down and bought a parking pass for work. Just under $60/month! At least the garage is covered.
I am in need of a good wine tasting event. I have yet to find much around here that is not uber fancy and $50-60/person. I haven't found anything like the Saturday tastings at Corkscrew or SunSinger, let alone the charity tastings Krannert has...I need to work on this, my wine rack is getting low.
I miss talking about science. One of the strangest things about the new lab is there is not too much conjecture and bantering about science. People do not really challenge one another at lab meeting; people don't really say much at all.

Unfried, fried chicken

2009-10-05T20:41:00.002-05:00

This would be a tasty day at work...
http://www.slashfood.com/2009/10/05/scientists-create-the-no-fry-fryer/

"Look at the beautiful world"

2009-09-29T18:52:00.010-05:00

That was one of many witty remarks Marissa made while looking out the plane window this past weekend during our trip to NY for my cousin's bar mitzvah. I was very happy that she was not shy around the extended family that she met for the first time, and Allison would even let a few 'strangers' hold her as well. They both did pretty good on the plane, despite sitting on the plane for almost an hour before take-off. Leslie, however, was another story. I knew she was afraid of flying, but I had never experienced it. Honestly, it was pretty funny, and she seemed to think so too. It was very enduring how Marissa and Justin hit it off right away. From the moment of their first meeting she was his shadow. He was very patience with her and even during one the biggest events of his young life, he took the time to play with her, watch her while she tagged along with his friends, and dance with her. Speaking of dancing, I think she has inherited this from me as well. She was on the dance floor the whole night, Stuart had to drag her off at 11:30. She danced with me, my dad, other little kids, and just about everyone. She was dancing with Lisa's (my uncle's niece) little girl and I asked her if she remember when we did that at my aunt and uncle's wedding?

It was of course a fantastic party - great wine; amazing food; sushi, lobster, pasta-making-man, meat-carving-man, oysters in a half shell, lamb chops, ice cravings, and that was just a sample of the cocktail hour. The band was wonderful and the dance floor was full all night. My family met the rest of the Sherry family and all went well. I met Marisa's (the long lost cousin) mom Penny, who is just a doll! Marissa the niece was at first not too sure what to make of Marisa the cousin, but after a bit they were dancing the night away. I was able to meet a few more cousins on that side and it was the first time in my life, we were not the only Sherrys at a family event.

So for the girlfriend...it was Ok. Nothing majorly dramatic happened, there was enough going on that I didn't really have to see or talk to her too much. I know I could have been nicer and made small talk etc. and I wish I wasn't so upset with my dad (for many reasons) to take it out on her. In all honesty, I hope they are happy and make each other happy. She seemed nice enough and to have a good time with the crazy family. The most painful thing was how my mom was shut out of all of this. When Justin was saying his hov tour at the temple, tears came to my eyes thinking that my mom should be here to see him; they have a special bond. It is time, and it is slowly moving forward and the timing of the bar mitzvah with the divorce and new girlfriend was plain just not good.

All in all, the weekend went much better than I thought, not was I would have wanted it, but a good time.

Mixed feelings

2009-09-23T19:48:00.004-05:00

I will be taking off in a few days for NY to celebrate my cousin's bar mitzvah. His older brother was bar mitzvahed a few years back in '05. I remember then, that the 'advertisements' for this weekends party sparked one of those, what will life be like when..., moments. My maternal grandmother had cancer and passed just a few months after the party. At that time my sister-in-law was just a few months pregnant with their first child and I was only a year in to my PhD. I remember wondering what the upcoming birth would be like and anticipating becoming an aunt. Now Marissa is three and she has a little sister. This will be the first time this side of my family (my dad's family) has met Allison and they have not seen Marissa since she was about 6 months old. I am, and know they all are looking forward to seeing the girls.

An unexpected surprise is that several members of my dad's father's family will be attending as well. Contact was lost, for one reason or another, with this part of the family after my grandfather passed at a young age. I am the only one in my (immediate) family who has met any of these Sherrys. I was able to do my elective rotation for my clinicals with my true-long-lost cousin at Mt. Sinai. During this trip I met several other members of the family as well. I am looking forward to spending more time with my cousin Marisa and her husband, and Marissa (my niece) is very excited about meeting the other Marisa Sherry. I am also a bit anxious about this encounter, as my dad has not seen his first cousins (Marisa's dad and uncle) since he was 17 or 18. My dad was and seemingly now, is not happy about how things were handled after his father's does not care to meet them and would be just as well off if they were not there. Of course, I'm hoping, civility will be the discourse for the evening, however, even if everyone plays nice, it will still be fairly awkward.

I also remember thinking in 2005 about the fact that at this party I would be Dr. Sherry (first and only) and wondering about where I would be working and what I would be doing. I never in a million years thought I would be back in Michigan.

However, the most unforeseen change between now and then, is that my parents are divorced and my dad will be bringing his new girlfriend. It is not unknown that I am not happy about this for many reasons. I feel it is way too soon for her to be coming to a large family event; my mom (how is very close to my cousin) is not coming; and I just plain do not want to deal with it. Most of my family I have talked too is not too keen on her being there either, but my dad has put his sister in a tough spot, and can't ask him to 'uninvite' her, after he asked without consulting anyone else. I have nothing against this women, but there is no place for her in my life, so to me, this is just unnecessarily putting me in a situation I do not want to be in. This will be the first time I will meet her, by choice. I wanted to just get it done and over with all at once.

As with most of life, things are not as I anticipated they would when I looked in to the future 4 years ago; some for the better and some not. Large family gathering themselves usually draw out drama, and with the addition of somewhat estranged long-lost family and a not-so welcomed new girlfriend, the weekend will be interesting.

A few pics from the last bar mitzvah (at least I know the food will be amazing)

Lady date

2009-09-21T17:30:00.005-05:00

I have a lady date this evening for martini's with L. I have joined a young professional group that I found on-line to network meet new people in A2. I received an email from L the other day suggesting that we had similar interests and should grab a drink. Martini happy hour, grad student in molecular biology, and a tall blond; I think we'll get on just fine!

Smoking or non?

2009-09-19T15:46:00.002-05:00

There are only a two things about moving back to Michigan I am not all that pleased with and smoking in public is one of them (the other will be the topic of a later post). It is very true that one does not realize the importance of things until they are no longer around, or in this case, when they reappear. It is some what baffling that we even allow smoking in public places in this country at all. There are numerous countries in the world, including France, that are smoke-free and just under half of the states in the US along with countless cities and municipalities. Even though some may not think so, I do understand the right one has to smoke, however, it is the non-smoker who has no choice in the matter. Once in the vicinity of a smoker, even walking down wind, the permeating smell one can not get away from, on top of the major health issues of second-hand smoke. In my limited experience of a city and state switching to smoke-free, after only a few months, the economic impact to business, in my opinion, was actually a positive one. It appeared that certain bars in Chambana actually had increased business once they were rid of the clouds of smoke. I have found a few places in A2 that have chosen to go smoke-free and there are rumors that a bill is in the works, I sure hope it passes.

Mini me

2009-09-14T07:22:00.003-05:00

At Allison's first birthday yesterday, Marissa and her cousin Madison wanted to be a part of the show as well. They both wanted to sit in a little chair of Marissa's. They sat in it together, snuck in when the other wasn't there, and finally when Marissa had the chair to herself and her dad asked her to move (for a picture), she picked up the chair and walked away with it. We all laughed and it reminded me of the time when Stuart and I were little and he asked if I was going to finish my chicken nuggets. "No," I said, and preceded to lick each and everyone, so he would not want them either.

Manners people

2009-09-13T21:50:00.002-05:00

First Joe Wilson

then Kanye (link isn't available yet)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9413F9yQvbY

didn't their mothers teach them it is not polite to interrupt people, especially the President and on national TV.

Some progress

2009-09-11T14:39:00.003-05:00

After a few failed attempts at getting my transformed bacteria to grow and isolate the DNA plasmid I was finally successful today. The sample still needs to be sequenced, and thank goodness there is a core facility for such a thing, to determine if our gene is what we think it is before I proceed. There are still lots of steps to do before I am able to do my tail vein injections, including learning and mastering tail vein injections. I think this maybe the hardest part, because it requires a large volume in a very short amount of time - i.e. lots of practice. I have cells growing and will hopefully get to an experiment next week; that is the plan, but one never knows in the world of science.

The week has been pretty boring and I'm looking forward to a busy weekend. By Wednesday I took myself out for a drink as cabin fever was setting in. I was in the mood for a martini and found the Babs Underground was a good spot, however, I think I was there WAY too early and it was pretty dead. So I nursed my martini until it was late-night happy hour at Vinology (half off wine by the glass) and had a good glass of petite Shiraz and some Kobe beef sliders. I think I am going to try and make this as much a weekly event as possible - Vinology has lots of glasses that I need to try.

The weekend is going to thankfully be busy. Dinner and a show with Amy - Indian and 'The Producers.' Kelly is coming down tomorrow for a trip to the Homegrown Festival in Kerrytown and then back to Grand Blanc for Allison's first birthday on Sunday.

New purchases

2009-09-07T18:23:00.006-05:00

Coming together

2009-09-03T21:20:00.003-05:00

The week has been fairly productive in getting research and experiment ideas on the table. I had a few more safety training classes this week and learned today that UMich has had two radiation 'spills' in the last 15 years; maybe that is why they need to have a two hour class. The plan is to start two experiments next week. One in which I will be using some material already prepared by a lab mate (which saved me about 2 months) to inject in to the trail vein of mice to hopefully over-express a specific protein in the liver. There are a few steps before the injection that if all goes well, will take about a week. Additionally, I will start a few liver cell lines to begin examining some metabolic signaling parameters on how my protein of interest affects these processes. The one great thing about being a post-doc is I already know these things are not going to work, at least the first time. If grad school taught me anything it is that one must try, try, and try again. Also there was a sign of hope shining down from the science gods. I had emailed a professor at Mt. Sinai, Dr. Friedman, about getting some hepatic stellate cells from his lab. They are not readily available commercially, and since he discovered them, I figured this was the place to go. Not only did he respond within hours, being the Chief of Liver Disease, but he was more than happy to share his cells and was very welcoming of collaborating. It is little moments like this that really get me excited about science.

This afternoon I had to take a different bus to my car, since I was parked near the stadium where my radiation class was held this morning. It is move-in weekend here so I expected it to be a bit late, however after waiting 20 minutes, I decided it was time to start walking. I met a girl who was also waiting for the same bus, and so we started off together along the bus route hoping to find it. She is starting her master's program in some environmental sciences and we talked about moving to A2 and what we did. We did eventually find the bus and as we approached her stop we exchanged pleasantries about it being nice to meet one another. I doubt I will ever see her again, one of the many random people that come in to our lives for a moment.

This evening I went to a cooking club/pot-luck of sorts. I have turned to the internets to find some like minded people and things to do in town, which was a move corroborated by Louise (lab mom) who told me somewhat jokingly that, "oh, you won't meet anyone here," referring to the lab. I found a group, A2 Women's Club, and we had a Danish themed pot-luck this evening, with a real Dane to boot. I rounded up my dessert and wine and headed over to some woman's apartment I had never met. I guess showing up with wine and dessert is a good ticket through anyone's door. Everyone I met there was great! Lots of different backgrounds and different ideas on topics we talked about, like health care and education. We are hoping to do this monthly, which would be a blessing. I miss the cooking club Desiree and I started in CU.

Finally, I am taking off to go camping with my family this weekend; what a novel concept. Not only am I actually taking the Labor Day holiday off, I'm going somewhere and with my family.

Gotta have buns hun

2009-08-31T11:30:00.003-05:00

Besides the horrid effects this will have on your diet (1200+ calories) and most likely your gastrointestinal tract in general, I am concerned and perplexed that KFC has called this a sandwich. I went to the all knowing Wikipedia as well as some more traditional sources, and the general consensus is that a sandwich (the noun) is a food item made of one or more slices of bread with one or more filling. In spirit, it might be the case that this combination of chicken, cheese, bacon, and Colonel sauce resembles a sandwich, however, a court in Boston ruled that a sandwich includes at least two slices of bread. This meaning that burritos, tacos, and quesadillas, which are typically made with a single tortilla, are NOT a sandwich (sorry Panera). I would interpret this ruling to also include that protein sources, i.e. The Colonel's secret recipe, can not serve at the encapsulating vesicles for previously stated filling. The judge's ruling is more conservative than I would interpret the definition, as I am found of open-faced sandwiches, but it does set a precedence for needing two grain-based objects to serve as the top and bottom the sandwich.

Is it a sandwich?

One week down

2009-08-29T19:51:00.002-05:00

The first week or work went well despite that it rain only on the days when I had to walk over the the medical library for mouse training classes. I have come to realize I am in need of a new, larger, wind-proof umbrella and some rain boots. I was able to navigate my way on several different bus lines and it looks like the AATA will be a great, free way to get to work.

This week of my actual life in Ann Arbor (not on vacation) was a bit hard and lonely. Lab mates were welcoming and it seems to be a good group of people, and I am lucky I seemed to have gotten on the fun/good side of the lab. This week really reminded of me what I already knew coming in to this new adventure; it is going to be an adjustment that is going to take time. I feel blessed that I had such a wonderful life in Champaign with amazing friends and a great work environment where, when I left, I was the top-dog (of the students at least). Now I barely know what people are talking about at times. Of the 2 hours of lab meeting I think I truly understood about 15 minutes worth of presentation. I miss my friends a lot and knowing there were so many people I could call to meet for a drink and more than likely run in to others while I was out. Some of the difficulty comes in that there I am not in a 'freshman' class of anything, students, residents, interns. It is just me starting and that presents a challenge. There are all these amazing places in A2 I want to try and even though I don't mind doing a lot of things by myself, going out for a drink or out-to-eat alone is something that usually makes me feel even more alone and isolated. I am working on branching out, getting in contact with some high school friends, my sister-in-law's cousin, I have signed up for a wine and cooking class, and I have joined several young professional type groups on meetup.com. I know it will take time to establish my life here. I am thankful that in my heart of hearts I feel I made the right decision.

I mainly spent my time getting settled, setting up my desk, mouse training classes, and refocusing on science. I probably should have read and thought about it a bit more than I did, but it was amazing how much stuff filled my days. I am someone who needs large chunks of time for big thinking projects, so hopefully with all the settling and setting up out of the way, I will be able to get some experiments thought out this coming week. I did meet with Alan (the boss) to go over some ideas and it looks like we a general idea of a line of research to start on. Based on previous experience, I know it is going to take sometime to get things ordered, set-up, and started. Additionally, there are several techniques that I will need to learn from people, which I am very excited about, but again, this adds time. We have three main areas to start in, so that should give some a good place to have multiple things to work on when one is waiting for who knows what.

I have not done was well as I would have liked with my workout schedule and am looking in to purchasing the P90X system, because it seems my problem is motivation. I am uninspired and bored with the workouts I have been doing lately, well, actually for awhile now. Right now the gym is not the greatest option, because the one closest to me, which is fabulous, is $98/month!! and that is on top of a $350 joining fee. Maybe they need a RD and staff and we can work something out.

Excuse me ma'am

2009-08-26T19:08:00.003-05:00

I must either look more friendly than I thought or give off some weird directional vibe, because even though I have only been walking around the University of Michigan campus for three days, I have already been stopped twice and asked for directions. Thankfully in both instances the building the passer-buyers were looking for were ones right near my lab and I actually knew appropriate directions to give.

We don't share very well

2009-08-25T20:30:00.003-05:00

Since sharing is not something my new lab has mastered, as per Louise, I (and everyone else) get one of my own just about everything. OK, I don't have my own PCR machine or centrifuge, but I have a set of my own bench basics and reagents: pipettes, pipette aid, all sorts of plastic tubes and holders, scissors, and even a mini-fridge to keep stuff in that I am "too lazy" to walk to the cooler for.

I found the biochem store room, right in our building also have my own shelf in the freezer and a mail slot. I expect letters.

The desk is coming together, calendar, bus schedule and a few pictures are up. I hope to get the rest up tomorrow, but the cork-board around my desk is evil and does not seem to like being stuck with push-pins. The snacks and coffee cups have arrived and mouse-house shoes are coming with tomorrow. I also proudly navigated an additional bus route today to return to the dealership when my car had some recall work done this afternoon. The journey involved a trip from campus to the main terminal downtown and a transfer, all which went smoothly.

Stuart and the fam came down for dinner and so he could install my new faucet in the kitchen sink to remedy the absent sprayer. The faucet functions for what I intended, however, the neck is a bit lower in to the sink that I thought, but it was the only sprayer model that fit my sink. Got to give and take I guess.

It is on to the 1st of 4 animal training classes tomorrow.

Real world: Day 1

2009-08-24T20:09:00.006-05:00

My first day in the real world went off without a hitch and was very similar to grad school days. I think moving from one college town to another has been a good move. Most of the morning was spent back and forth between the lab on the 5th floor and the administrative offices on the 3rd floor. My favorite part of the morning was when I received my locker!! Yes, I have a high-school-like locker in the hall down from the lab, number 1530, so you know which one to decorate for homecoming and my birthday. I also had to schedule several training classes for animal handling, radiation safety, and other OSHA requirements. I also was able to start reading some articles and begin to refocus my scientific train of thought.

Catch the bus at the park-n-ride this morning - check
Key card access - check
Log-in name/password, network drives, & printer - check
Afternoon coffee at the biggest Espresso Royale Cafe EVER - check
Catch the bus home this afternoon (and I did not have to run it down) - check

The docket for the rest of the week includes journal club tomorrow, the 1st of four training classes Wednesday, and lab meeting Thursday. I have already been warned this might be a doozy, since there has not been a lab meeting in several weeks.

I have my bag of desk essentials ready for tomorrow: pictures, silverware, coffee cup, S&P, sharpies, pens, highlighter, note pads, sticky notes, calendar, and snacks. So far so good, everyone was nice today and I'm looking forward to getting a few experiments under my belt.

Back to reality

2009-08-23T16:33:00.002-05:00

After 2 months, 3 vacations, and over 6,500 miles of car and plane rides it is time to start my job tomorrow. I have had wonderful time traveling and spending time with friends I do not get to see nearly as often as I would like. The sights and sounds I have been able to experience, delectable food I've tasted, and wonderful people I've met has made this summer truly an unforgettable experience. Of course it went too fast and I with all the planning, I can't believe it is over. I now think I might have developed a new vacation hobby and am already working on planning the next trip.

I had a dream about the new job last night; thankfully nothing scary and worrisome. My feelings are mixed on the subject. I am ready to get started and am looking forward to a bit more structure in my daily schedule, which I'm sure comes as no big surprise. My anxiety now is about the logistics of the new lab, schedule and, well, life. Will riding the bus work out? How are things done in the lab? Do I do my own ordering? Am I going to end up joining a gym, or make due with the equipment here? Will I find people at work to go out with? What's the drama, because there is always drama. I am excited about starting a new line of research and learning new skills and techniques. Being close to my family has already made my transition easier. After returning from Scotland, Marissa gave me a big hug and said, "I'm glad you are home." As with all families, dysfunctionality is imminent and an unwelcomed side-affect I now must deal with given my proximity, but there are plenty of great Michigan brews I have yet to try - I think I'll make it.

Well, here comes the next chapter, let's see what it will bring

Scotland recap

2009-08-20T08:41:00.013-05:00

Where to begin...we had an amazing journey through the green hills, rocky mountains, single track roads filled with sheep, majestic castles, and distilleries of Scotland. All of our travel and lodging was prefect and no mishaps, well serious mishaps at least. The food was spectacular and we had our fair share of fish and chips, and at one cafe the biggest single piece of fish I've ever seen, I had tea one afternoon and Sam was on a quest to find the best hot chocolate in Scotland. Buttered scones and jam were our favorite snacks along with a biscuit or short here and there from a coffee shop. At each meal we would share each of the dishes to be able to experience a greater variety of local cuisine. Our favorite combined meals was at a local pub in Edinburgh, consisting of fish and chips and what can only be described as a meat-box. It was similar to a chicken-pot-pie filling only with beef, served in a pastry box.

We visited five castles and our now self proclaimed castleologists (Edinburgh, Cowdar - best garden, Broadie - best tour & 6,500+ books in the library, Dunvegan - best overall grounds area, and Armadale), Catlon Hill, the Scottish Whiskey Experience, Tartan Weaving Mill, Loch Ness (no Nessie sittings), climbed to the top of Old Man Storr in Skye and several other places in Edinburgh and Skye.

Some highlights include:
We both found some really good deals at the local Salvation Army in Inverness. I now own a designer Scottish dress.

Our first night in Inverness we met some local boys, Chris and Russel at our 2nd bar of the evening and spent sometime talking and learning about the town and places to see. They were just barely 20 and 21. They pointed us to some late-night snacks as we were leaving and strolled back to our B&B laughing and eating fries along the river Ness.

The 2nd night in Inverness I briefly danced to a Scottish gig before we moved to another establishment. There were several door-man looking fellows outside and after milling around for a minute, because we thought they might be checking ID's, I asked, "is there something you need from me?" To which one man replied, "a kiss on the cheek." While inside there was a 50-something couple sitting in front of us celebrating their 30th anniversary and their flirtations were enduring. However, as the night progressed, they got a little vulgar, and he was sticking his hands down the back of her pants and grabbing at her chest. Needless to stay, we didn't stay there long.

Our first night in Skye we met other guys, James and Jason, who are traveling wind-mill engineers. While waiting in line with them at a 2nd bar, Jason struck up a conversation with a local man, Neil, and within 10 minutes we were all in our car out to his place, as no one wanted to wait in line in the rain. He was an interesting character with lots and lots of CD's and thoughts on politics. While backing out, Sam when over the embankment as deep as the tire, and the car was stuck! The boys got out and tried to figure out how to get the car back up, because continuing to back up was out of the question. In a wine and whiskey haze, I jumped in the drivers seat and floored it forward. The boys were in the back and realized what I was doing, and pushed. Needless to say, we got it home in one piece with minimal damage. When we returned I could not find the keys to the B&B and thought maybe it got left at Neil's. Thankfully our new found friends were gracious enough to offer a place to stay and I found the key stuck in my wallet in the morning.

Our last day in Skye we drove around to see the sights on while on a single-track road that was merging in to a dual carriage-way I went off the road just slightly on the left and no curb, we hit something and ended up with a flat tire. Neither one of us has really changed a flat, let alone on a hill. A Swedish couple came of our rescue and he changed the tire for us. The whole rest of the drive to Glasgow we couldn't go over 50mph puttsing along the whole way. After stopping at the closest thing to a truck-stop, driving in the night, it took us 1.5hrs to go 60 miles!!

We arrived in Glasgow around midnight on Monday and didn't need to be to the airport until about 7a. When we did not find any 24h diners, we drove to the back of a hotel parking lot and slept in the car for a few hours before returning to the airport.

Driving on such narrow roads there were some close calls with trucks passing, but we never drove on the wrong side. It took a while get used to looking for on-coming traffic in the opposite direction and the set-up of the sifter and seat-belt. We fell in love with all the sheep and cows long the roads, and had to stop several times for the sheep to cross.

I am very thankful for the time I had to spend with Sam as well. We had hours upon hours of conversations about our childhood, family, religion, boys, our futures, etc. It was priceless to have this time with such a wonderful friend.

Here I come...

2009-08-08T11:15:00.002-05:00

Random Up-dates

2009-08-07T15:24:00.002-05:00

I saw my family three days in a row this week and it wasn't even Christmas.
The A2 public library is not very good at denoting books that cost to borrow and I already incurred late fees.
I now own a couch, flat screen TV, and china cabinet.
Found a great sangria bar that serves everything in mason jars, including pitchers of beer and sangria. Dominicki's also has a great out door seating.
I met up with a friends from high school and am looking forward to hanging out with her more.
The teenage-concession-stand-boy didn't charge me for a popcorn refill. FYI, the movie theater is less than a mile from my apartment.
While out at Dominicki's someone in the neighborhood was definitely smoking, and it isn't even hash-bash time - welcome to Ann Arbor
I found a great market, Arbor Farms Market, that sells grass-fed beef from cattle raised on small Michigan farms as well as Amish chicken at very reasonable prices.
Scotland planning is just about done. I ended up with Fodor's: See it, Scotland, because I found it too difficult plan things to-do on-line when I won't have a computer in Scotland.
Lily ran out on to the balcony the other day, stuck her head over the edge, but thankfully didn't jump.

"She's not hot, she's smart"

2009-08-02T16:23:00.004-05:00

My first full weekend in AA has been fulled with a lab BBQ, meeting new people at Ted's party, which from what I gleaned are pretty infamous, and hanging out at the park with the family. It was great to spend some time with the lab-crew on Friday at a farewell BBQ for Lynn how is heading down the road to a former post-doc's new lab. All the fun stuff with no work - this post-doc is going great!

Saturday I went out, way out of my comfort zone and went to a party where I did not know a soul. I found meetup.com, a website for networking of local groups is just about any area. There are several young professional/nightlife/explore the town type groups and I joined a few, one of which was having a party Saturday. I decided it was now or never to get myself out there and meet new people. Dressed in my new black and white strapless summer number I got from The Vineyard armed with a bottle of wine I made my way over to Ted's loft. From the get go everyone was very friendly and made an effort to introduce and talk to new people. I met several people that evening who were in the same position as I was, as well as seasoned professional Ted party goers. There were a few interesting people, but for the most part everyone was friendly. It was a great diverse crowd and the wonderful cool evening made it great for the party to spill onto the patio and even to the vacant patio next door. One of the funniest moments of the evening was the comment a new acquaintance made after asking if I was cold. After another women had responded to him, she was hot. I remarked I wasn't cold but had brought a cover-up if needed. To this he concluded, "she's not hot, she's smart." Needless to say, the people engaged in this conversation all burst out laughing as he feverishly tried to back peddle. Unfortunately after several people asked if I was OK and the wave of nausea that came over me from the migraine I'd been fighting all day, I left earlier than planned. I think it is time to find a doctor here and get these things under control.

This afternoon I met up with my brother's family at Kenisngton Metro Park for a picnic with my sister-in-law's family. It is so wonderful that I am able to attend these events. With only a month under my belt I really feel at home and that I have made the right decision. Let's hope that feeling continues when I actually start my job.

Hike, bike, read, write, eat - repeat

2009-07-30T21:24:00.007-05:00

The UP was an amazing time. It had been over 10 years since I was up to the cabin and there was a surreal feeling being back there and nothing had seemingly changed. Once I finally made it there, after passing the almost hidden driveway the first time down Ramsden Road, it all came back. The dark brown exterior of the cabin, with its large front porch facing the fire pit. There were several reminder of Aunt Vi and Uncle Ken, who own the cabin on little door hangers and yard posts. It brought back lots of fond memories of Aunt Vi. She had the softest hands of anyone I ever knew, amazing skin, and blazing red hair until the day she passed. She was a wonderful cook and baker and the kitchen had definitely had her touch.

I arrived just a tad before 4p after stopping at the IGA in town on my way. After bringing all of my stuff in and settling down I had the Pasty I purchased from IGA and got to work on making my chicken noodle soup. I spent most of the evening reading through the cabin journal, in which visitors leave notes and details about their trips. (A pre-Internet blog of sorts) It was great to read of vacations my family took, surprises from friends who came to visit. Honeymoons and anniversary trips, little get aways and first time visitors. It is such a great piece of our family history to have this journal and I happily contributed the adventures of my trip.

Over the course of the trip I finished the last few chapters of two books I was reading, read another cover to cover in one day (something I had never done before) and started a third. Organized my pictures on the new Macbook - love iphoto. I did some writing and typing of old journal entries I brought with me, but not nearly as much writing of 'new' stuff as I had hoped. I thought a bit about what my barrier is to actually writing most of the stories floating around in my head and came up with two. 1) Some things are still to close, in time that is and need more distance. However, this is a bit of a conundrum because with the passing of time, so does go the passing of my memory. I have started to writing the general ideas of the stories to came back to. 2) I do not have a theme, a central idea to keep coming back to. I think that knowing overall my story is about a 'single mom,' or 'a recovering addict,' makes it a little easier to have focus. None of the stories would really change, they are what they are, but their individual spin and the continuity of the whole would be easier. I am hoping to work on these two issues, well more the later, since I can't control time. I have found several writing groups in AA and hope to join one, even if just to have some accountability.I also spent sometime seeing a few of the local sites, including Kitchitikipi Springs. and the Pictured Rock National Lake Shore. Kitchitikipi is an amazing natural sulfur spring that is clear to the bottom, 45 feet below and is always 45 degrees. At Pictured Rocks, I saw several waterfalls and was a little disappointed that the trails between the sites, The Backcountry trail, was not bikeable. I should have looked in to that more. I was going to hike from Sand Point to Miners Castle, only 4.9 miles, but once I got on the trail and I came across a sign stating I had only gone just over a mile, I realized hiking was not going to be nearly as fast as walking 4.9 miles. I had a hunch once I was on the trail and realized how slow I had to go in portions that were wet, muddy, or just plain treacherous. Needless to say, once I got the map and my location straight, I realized I could just drive there - again, I was hoping for bike ride.

All in all, it was a great trip and I hope that in the future I don't have to drive 6 hours in to the woods to allow myself a few days to relax, although I'd do it again. After several days of self reflecting I am hoping to do some things different in this new chapter of my life. I have no regrets from before, but have, as one would hope, learned and want to grow from those experiences.

U.P. vacation #2

2009-07-24T20:47:00.004-05:00

I said good-bye to Meredith this morning as she is completed her elective rotation and is on her way back to UofI. I made my first trip to Trader Joe in AA with her yesterday (as she had several 'orders' from Chambana to fill), and I must say just how amazed I was with the quality and price of the products; a place I defiantly will be frequenting since I do live there and all, which I had to remind myself several times during the shopping trip. We also seem to have found campus-bar-row and split a $5 pitcher of Miller Light after our roof top happy hour with $2.95 glasses of wine, cheese, and tapenade downtown.

Now after finishing the laundry, a few loose ends with grant stuff and grocery shopping, I am ready and just under 12 hours away from vacation #2 to the upper peninsula (UP) of Michigan to our family cabin about 30 minutes outside of Manistique, MI on Thunder Lake. I stopped to the library again and this time stocked up on a few books for my time in the cabin and will have plenty of driving time to finish my fourth and final book-on-CD. I have groceries and supplies for a rump roast complete with carrots and potatoes, chicken noodle soup, and yes some Hamburger Helper which I needed to finally make. I'll have to stop to IGA in town, about 30 minutes from the cabin, to pick up some milk, lunch meat, and fruit.

View Cabin in a larger map

I made a stop over to Aunt Linda's this evening to get directions, keys, pepper spray for the wild animals, and a bike rack for my car. It was quite an amusing time her trying to remember the name of the roads and the exact directions as to her it is just second nature. I did plug the address in to the GPS and it came out with directions, so I think we will be all set. I have several maps and directions to Picture Rock National Forest and Marquette, which are the two travel destinations on my trip.

There is also a paddle boat on the lack and several hiking/biking trails around Thunder Lake I plan to explore. I have lots of reading and writing that I want to accomplish. My cell phone connection will be spotty at best and Internet will probably only be available in Marquette. I will blog as I go and then post when I return, so look for the weeks adventures the 1st week of August.

I was told that my family is just in utter amusement that I am going to cabin by myself for a whole week, I think they even were taking bets of a family baby shower last weekend for how long I'll last up there - I'll let you know in about a week (or sooner if they are correct).

"Ma'am you are in New Jersey, everything is full-service"

2009-07-22T13:40:00.008-05:00

2,217 miles, 7 beds, $30+ in tolls, 3 books on CD, 2 countries, 7 states, 13 days, one train and ferry ride and probably more pounds than I want to know later - I am home.

I had just a remarkable time over the last two weeks driving around visiting friends and family I have not seen in awhile, some in 3 years. I am so grateful for everyone's hospitality and all the wonderful adventures I had.

Here are some interesting highlights and things I learned on my trip:

My GPS does not believe in Canada
In full walk, I ran into the door on Diana and Min-Yang's patio trying to go inside after only two glasses of wine
Books on CD - where have they been all my life
Boston is an even crazier place to drive than Chicago, and maybe even NY
I just love seafood
Massachusetts is a very beautiful state and looks a lot like northern MI with all its trees
Napping in city parks is a wonderful way to spend a few hours
All gas stations in New Jersey are full-service
The Island is a party every night
A bridge on I95 did not show up on the GPS and it had my car driving across water

The pictures are up on F ac eb ook and I have some pretty interesting videos I'll try and get together before leaving on Saturday. Between now and then, there are bills to pay, laundry to wash, library books to check-out, and a few other odds and ends to take care of. I am hoping the weather will be nice next week while I am in the UP as I am planning several hikes, a kayaking trip and some other out-door activities.

American History

2009-07-17T20:24:00.003-05:00

I went through the whole, well pretty much, the whole Freedom Trail today. It did not take as long as expected mainly because Boston is not nearly as big as I thought. It was a pretty warm day, but thankfully with the layers of sunscreen applied before embarking on my history-laden day, I am not as red as a lobsta'

I started out visiting the Bunker Hill memorial and USS Constitution in Charlestown. It was a very beautiful, quite area and the lay of the homes was what I would expect an old New England town to look like. (I have forgotten my camera cord to download pictures, so they will come next week.) Then it was across the Charles River to Copp's Hill Burial Ground. Most of the grave stones were so only you could barely read the first few lines. Then it was on to the Old North Church, where I was reminded of the fact that Paul Revere himself did not hang the lantern's, as he was already on his way to the country side. The church had old box-style pews, which I had never seen before and still hold two services a week.

After this I was in search of lunch and was in a just the area of find it; The North End. I strolled down Hanover Street a bit of the red brick that denoted the Freedom Trail. I must say this was a most brilliant idea - having a big red line running on the sidewalk pointing in the correct direction of the tour. I walked past several shops and then found this great hole-in-the-wall seafood joint and walked right in - The Daily Catch. The whole place probably wasn't much bigger than my college dorm room. The 'kitchen' was in full view and the 'dishroom' was covered by a half wall curtain. There was one waiter and probably seating for 16, maybe 20 at most. I had a black pasta dish and calamari and vegetables - delicious (sound of kissing my fingers). Then as luck has it, I was across the street from Mike's Pastry, a must see sight according to Andy. I walked in, and took in all the smells and sights of this authentic Italian bakery and walked out eating a chocolate mousse canoli.

I strolled around the North End a bit more and walked over to Christopher Columbus Park and took a lil' nap under the tree in the shade. Then it was off to venture through Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market (where I found Vicki a birthday present). After passing the site of the Boston Massacre and the Old South Meeting House, it was on to Boston Commons for another lil' nap in the park. I made my way back to Faneuil Hall, took in some street performances, read a few pages of my book and then met Peggy and Klemen for dinner at Mother Anna's. Erik met up with us and we had an enjoyable seafood dinner - yummy crab cakes out on the patio.

Tomorrow I am taking the Duck Boat Tour around town and down the Charles River, then it is off to Vicki's and out to the Vineyard.

Bean Town

2009-07-16T12:55:00.000-05:00

I'm in Bean Town...now off to explore!!

My police escort

2009-07-14T16:19:00.003-05:00

I saw in the Long Island Newsday, as well as heard from several sources that there was a fire on the Throg's Neck Bridge the other day and that access was closed from several parkways to get out of Long Island. Of course this was the intended way to Massachusetts, so I needed to look for alternatives. Thankfully this same Newsday article offered such choices graciously pointing out several different detours one could take from different points on Long Island. I confirmed my plan with uncle Howie and wrote down the directions on the newspaper page and tore it out for the trip. Given the troubles with the GPS in Canada, I wanted to have some good ol' fashioned directions as well, because with some my express-ways and parkways on Long Island I wasn't sure what the GPS detour would be.

I was driving along the LIE, keeping up with traffic, and yes, doing a little weaving, but nothing that would have been noticeable had I not had out-of-state plates. I figured instead of continually glancing to the passenger seat at the newspaper clipping I would hold it on the steering wheel so I could make a (quicker) glance down to see the next street. I was doing this for just about 5 or so minutes when I heard a quick siren sound, like from a police car. I quick looked around and in the mirrors and did not see any official vehicles and thought nothing of it. Then it came again within a minute or so, again a quick glance, but not cars. Finally the Jeep Cherokee behind me turned on its police lights and was motioning for me to pull over. But where!! There are no shoulders on the LIE.

I pulled to the right lane and slowed down planning on going to the next exit, I did not want him to think I was trying to evade him (right Stuart). Then he pulls up, and yes there was a large curb, on to the grassy-shoulder-piece of land; I followed. He pulled to my passenger side and I rolled down my window.

"You are not seriously reading the newspaper and driving?" he questioned.
"No, I am following my directions for the detour on the Throgs Neck."
"That still closed from the fire?"
"Yes, that is what the Newsday article said yesterday, and I can't trust this thing for detours," I remarked while pointing to the GPS.
He radioed someone and was talking with several people about the best way to get there.
"Stay on the LIE to the Clearview, it's not closed from there."
I asked him about having to go on Grand Central Parkway, as the paper instructed.
"No. Just follow me, I'll get you there."

And that is how I got a police escort to the Throg's Neck Bridge.

Mets won

2009-07-12T20:57:00.003-05:00

Spent most of the afternoon at the new Citi Stadium where I think most of the stimulus package has gone. It was a beautiful park and we had amazing seats, 5 rows back from the visitor dug-out. It was a tad bit warm outside and I got some sun, finally. We had an amazing lobster roll for lunch with some great seasoned fries and a toasted lager.

Tomorrow I am off to NEW YORK CITY!! I will spend the day in Midtown shopping and seeing whatever sights I come across, as well as lunch with my now-found-long-lost-cousin.

I am really embarrassing and starting to enjoy the spontaneity of this vacation. I have no specific plans for tomorrow and still haven't planned my exact trip home and surprisingly enough I am totally OK with that and am not worried. What, me without a plan? and not worried to boot! I know, I know, don't worry I didn't lose myself in Canada while without GPS, I am just really soaking up my current life-on-vacation.

East Coast Tour - Leg 1

2009-07-11T21:45:00.005-05:00

Well it came as a surprise to me that my Garmin (GPS) did not work in Canada. As I was approaching the Detroit/Winsor boarder it kept telling me to turn on every side street to turn around and then when that was no longer an option, it was telling my to make a U-turn. Needless to say, I am glad I still have the trusty Atlas in my car. There are only two main express ways in Ontario that eventually configure in London, ON and go on to Niagara Falls. I did finally get on the 401 after about 15-20 minutes of following signs through side roads. Once pulling in to Niagara Falls (on the Canadian side) I stopped to eat at the first local place I found - Taps Brewery. I had a really delicious pulled pork sandwich with a homemade slaw on top served on a chewy rolls along with a vanilla stout. The place looked very new and my waitress, a recent college graduate, was very helpful and informative about The Falls. I walked the few miles to The Falls and took about an hour to explore around before I left on my way to the Rochester area.

I met up with Peggy and her boyfriend, Dave, outside of Rochester in Victor. She seems to be doing very well there and it was go great to see her and meet her wonderful boyfriend. Stopped for supplies, drinks and snacks, and took off to his parents place on Canandaigua Lake for an evening of boating and tubing. We spent the evening on the lake and then to a local establishment for dinner. We had to rise early this morning for Peggy to get to her boaters safety training and for me to get on the road. I arrived to aunt Mindy's in Long Island shortly before 3pm, about 45 minutes after anticipated and given the traffic on the bridges in to NY, I figured I made good time.

I am still working on the plans for the drive home. Vicki and company are staying on the vineyard until Tuesday evening, but at the latest I'll need to leave Tuesday AM and get on the road. Originally I had planned to drive all the way back to Ann Arbor, but given the extra time for the boat ride and how freakin' tired I was after the 6.5hrs today, I think I'll stop half way on Tuesday to arrive home Wednesday. I am going to look in to staying at/near a winery in up-state NY; I did not realize how many there were until I drove through today.

Finally, books on tape!! How have I missed this! I am about 3/4 of the way through my second book and I am loving it. Thank goodness for the library.

VACATION!!

2009-07-09T18:17:00.004-05:00

I'm all packed and ready to (officially) start my 2 months of vacation!! The grants are submitted and bags are packed. I have several books-on-CD selections for the driving along with my trusty iPod.

I have been looking forward to and planning this vacation for quite sometime now that it is hard to believe it has finally come time to set-off. I am very excited to see some friends and family I haven't seen in a few years as well as see some recent former-Chambanan's in their new homes. I am looking forward to exploring Boston and the Freedom Trail, seeing a Mets game, roller-blading with Diana again, and finally making it back to Martha's Vineyard.

A quick itinerary:
7/10 I'll stop at Niagara Falls on my way to visit Peggy in Rochester
7/11-14 I'll be staying with the family on Long Island, going to a Mets game and in to the city
7/14-15 I'll be visiting with Diana and Min-Yang in Plymouth, MA
7/15-18 I'll be in Cambridge staying with Erik, dinner with extended family, meeting up with Peggy and Klemen, Freedom Trail Tour, Duck Boat Tour, and who knows what else
7/19-21 Out to Martha's Vineyard with Vicki and family for her 30th birthday

This will be the first time I have traveled this extensively on my own. I am actually really looking forward to this opportunity and will do my best to up-date as I go.

Sprinklers, sinks, and spiders

2009-07-08T19:01:00.005-05:00

It has officially been a week now and, well there are a few things that are a bit vexing.

The sprinklers come on 3-4 times/day seemingly regardless of the previous night's weather. They have no regard for the walking paths that lead me to my car or the clubhouse (with the workout facilities). With all that said, probably the most agitating trait is that they spray on my car providing me with not even a full Polish carwash daily making it not only impossible to ever leave my windows cracked but also necessary to wash the water spots nearly every time I drive.
My kitchen sink has only one compartment. Now I do have a dishwasher, but given the minimal amount of dished I accumulate even after a night of cooking and the amount of water the dishwasher uses, I have only used it once (when the family was here). So I am left with a bit of a conundrum: what to do with the dirty dishes before they are washed? With only a few, it has not been a problem. However, once they start to pile up and it comes time to either rinse a dish or two or to wash them all, I am at a loss. I have been piling them up on the counter until I get the wash water ready, which is sort of remedy, but then comes the issue of rinsing. The sink is pretty deep, so if I start washing dishes while filling up the sink I can use the running water for rinsing, but at times the water just gets nasty and then defeats the whole purpose. I know the simple solution is to use the dishwasher and maybe once I have a more regular schedule after my 2 months of vacation, I'll see if the dishwasher option is worth it.
In addition, the kitchen sink does not have a sprayer. This has not caused nearly the dilemma as the one compartment, but it does make it difficult to rinse food particles and clean the sink.
I do not seem to know my own strength and snapped the blinds in the dining room last night. I was pulling them up and the right side of the top frame piece, where the roller balls sits, snapped. Thankfully they did not come down from the wall and after some finagling I was able to coax them down. For now this will work; they still open, just do not retract.
I have some pretty fierce spiders on the balcony. I tried to kill them last night with bug spray and ran out and thankfully they did not come in the night to attack me, although I had a dream which presented a different scenario. I purchased some more spray today, which is floral scented (who knew) and sprayed it everywhere. They only seem to come out at night and I really do not want to have to actually be out on the balcony at the same time to see where they are to kill them, but this maybe the case - we'll see.

All in all though, these nuisances are cloaked by the washer/dyer, sitting outside eating lunch and reading, covered parking, and the Plum Market.

Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales

2009-07-07T07:14:00.002-05:00

Meredith and I made a trip downtown to explore last night. We found free parking and great brew pub, Blue Tractor Brewery which had a really tasty 5-beer sampler for just $5.95!! It included all of there current selection and the seasonal, which was actually a guest apperance of Luciernaga "The Firefly" from the Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, in Dexter, MI. In addition, we had a basket of the green chile cheddar muffins - yum! This selection from Jolly Pumpkin was my favorite, and this brewery is a total of ONLY 6.2 miles from my apartment, so I will defineately be making a visit in the very near future. The rest of downtown was beautiful and just about every establishment had outdoor setting; it felt a bit like Europe in that regard. Most of the places we strolled by on Main Street were resturants: mexican, several seafood joints, steak houses, Indian, Ethiopian, BBQ, Cuban, Japanese and other asian grills. We did not see too many places there were just bars, but again, we were only on a few streets. There were lots and lots of good happy hour specials and one in particular at Vinology that we will stop to tomorrow.

I also discovered a grocery store/wine cellar/butcher/chocolate shop/deli/organic home & body boutique/everything else gastronomical one could desire within walking distance from my place - The Plum Market. They had lucious fresh berries out for tasting and some delicious homemade lime chips. This place is way more than a grocery store; they have thier own wine room, king crab legs, pizza oven, and a deli bar spread - I think this maybe the death of my wallet. I didn't look too closely at the prices, but did purchase a box of Kashi cereal on sale for $1.99!! I am not sure how they will compare since most of the brands looked like niche, small organic producers, but I will take advantage of the produce, fresh meats and cheeses, deli, and specialtiy items. Thankfully the Kroger and Meijers is also close for my pantry staples.

The Michigan Secretary of State took a furlough day yesterday so I was not about to get my license and registration changed, however, this ended up being good, because I still have to get my paperwork from AAA for the MI auto insurance. I did however make it to the library and am now a proud owner of an Ann Arbor public library card. I rented some books on CD for my upcoming trips.

Today I'm meeting with Alan and will hopefully get everything done to get the grant submitted today or tomorrow. I have several other things to accomplish before I head to Rochester on Friday.

Lunch is now served on the balcony

2009-07-05T15:37:00.004-05:00

I have been here just shy of a week and thankfully everything is unpacked and just about everything is up on the walls. Still a few pictures to figure out what to do with and some furniture re-arranging in the near future, but all in all, it looks like I live here.

I have most all the essentials near my apartment in the Westgate Shopping center, including, Kroger, Chase, Rite-Aid, Dollar General, K-mart (yes folks, there are still a few around), the west branch of the library, some restaurants, and lots of other lil' shops I have still to discover. Meijers and Lowe's are also not too far. I am on the far west edge of town and there is a little township that butts up to Ann Arbor, Scio Township, so for reference, it'd be analgous to going to Wal-Mart in Savoy, if one lived say off Prospect and Kirby.

Today I also established a local for my bottle returns (in the laundry room), used the work-out facility in the clubhouse, and had lunch on the balcony.

This week I need to take care of changing all the paperwork for my car and getting a new drivers license at the Secretary of State (which is also close in the Westgate center) and go to the library and rent some books on tape for my impending drive out east. I reserved my ticket for the Duck Boat Tour in Boston and still have a fews plans to figure out for that leg of the trip before I leave on Friday. I'm also hoping to meet up a with a few friends I know in town before I head off, and Kelly and I are meeting for dinner on Thursday to catch-up, since I am so close and have the opportunity to do that now.

I am meeting with Alan (the new boss) on Tuesday to finalize the grant proposal, as I have to submit before I leave since due dates will be when I am on vacation. He emailed me his revisions yesterday about 5pm - and I thought I was a work-a-holic.

Meredith arrived about an hour ago. She'll be staying this month for her elective rotation at UofM hopsital. It works out well for both of us; she a place to stay pretty much to herself, and me a cat sitter. It'll be nice to have a friendly face around for the next few days, and hopefully she'll be up for checking out a few places downtown.

Settling in

2009-07-02T18:15:00.007-05:00

For the most part it looks like I live here now, and I would say I am about 90-95% settled in. There are still a few pictures to hang and sorting out of things, especially boxes from the Freund lab. Most of those items will stay in the spare room closet until I get started in the Saltiel lab in August. Some moments it does not feel that weird because I am surrounded by all of my stuff and it is now just in a new and much better apartment. I have already begun to enjoy the ammenities here, including the laundry room and dishwasher. I doubt I will really use the dishwasher all that often, since I am used to washing by hand and, well don't ditry that many dishes to begin with. The laundry on the other hand; I just love it, especially since it is an actual room and not a laundry closet. All day to day when I was running errands, every time I got change I smiled because I no longer have to worry about saving quaters for laundry.

Lily has adjusted well and has yet to try and escape, but I am sure she will. The front door opens directly to the outside, so we'll see. At least there is a window so I can see if she is there. I'm not quite sure what she'd do if she got on the balcony; I would hope she wouldn't try to just off, however with her, one never knows.

I went to lab this afternoon to sign paperwork etc. and Alan asked me to come to lab meeting. It was strange sitting there thinking this is my lab now and seeing how things go. There were some jokes and small talk, but nothing quite like the Freund lab meetings. There are definetly things I will miss about the Freund lab, and not just the pizza during lunch lab meetings.

All in all, the strangest feeling so far is being back in Michigan.

Things I will have to get used to again:
1. Motorcycle helments
2. Bottle returns, got to start saving those pop cans, and now beer bottles
3. Ridiciulously bad roads...grr
4. Hearing local news etc. about Detroit, and it is even worse when what they say on the national broadcasts
5. Not being smoke-free. I have heard rumors that it is in the works, and I sure hope so
6. Eastern time zone, especially the TV schedule
7. Being much closer to my family is just such a blessing. Marissa already wanted to spend the night when they were helping to move me in

With having the next two months off to travel and relax I do not really feel the weight of having to start over again. I am hoping this time will serve as a good transistion to this new chapter and will enable me to somewhat get used to this new life without such an abrupt change. I know once I get to working again and have more of a routine I will miss the Chambana groove I have had for the last 5 years. I hope to see everyone very soon and welcome all visitors.

I have attached a video of the new place for everyone to see and pictures are up on FB.

I'm here

2009-07-02T14:19:00.001-05:00

I made it and about 90% settled. Finally got the internets up and working today and will up load some pics and videos on Facebook later today.

The last 5 years...

2009-06-29T08:07:00.037-05:00

The last 5 years have sure been a whirl wind of ups, downs, goods, and bads. I am not sure I was ever ready for it all, but I would not trade any of it and am grateful for the opportunities I have been afforded by my time here, but in and out of the lab. As I started packing a few weeks ago I began to think of everything that has happened in my life in the last 5 years.

Also, I must note, and will elaborated on soon in the near future, my last night was quite a fitting end as things came full circle while sitting out enjoying a cool summer evening at The Pig. Glenn almost got in a fight because of some obnoxious, biligerent drunk, which is what happened the first time I went to The Pig with him, however, last night there was also a French Canidian named Mary involved.

1. lost both of my grandmothers, one to cancer and one to complications of heart failure
2. become an aunt twice and am very excited to be moving closer to my nieces
3. had the addition of 4 other babies in my extended family
4. traveled to Europe for the first time and visited, The Netherlands (Amsterdam), France (Paris, Arachon, Toulouse), Italy (Rome), Spain (Barcelona), and Germany (Bamberg & Munich)
5. visited Madison WI, San Francisco CA, Breckenridge CO, Washington DC, and Balitmore MD for the first time
6. traveled to Chicago, Indy, New Orleans, Tampa, and New York
7. published 6 peer-reviewed publications
8. received a pre-doctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association
9. had an appendectomy (that prohibited my Bahamas vacation)
10. brought my first a new (used) car
11. testified in court as a victim of vandalism
12. had my first (and hopefully last) root-canal
13. got my first pet that I hope to have a very long time
14. stayed in the same apartment for all 5 years
15. went on my first bar-crawl (thanks Hartman & Klemen)
16. free-style walked (and fell) on a large planter on Green Street
17. performed brain surgery on a mouse
18. had an experiment that had to start at 3AM
19. developed a love for wine
20. had my heart broken twice by the same person
21. took an overnight train ride
22. my parents got divorced
23. never pulled an all-nighter
24. saw numerous shows, including the “Full Monty” at The Station Theater in Urbana – I highly recommend their shows
25. was propositioned by a stranger to for a ménage à trois
26. was in a homecoming parade at my alma mater
27. got a tattoo on the inside of my left ankle of a star-gazer lily
28. started a blog (which you know, because you are currently reading it)
29. had two roommates and four other friends stay for extend periods of time, including my “rent-a-husband”
30. saw the following concerts: Cake, Kanye West, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Fall Out Boy
31. attended my first Big 10 college basketball and football games
32. took up a part-time job as a waitress for about 6 months because I was kind of bored and missed it
33. ‘moon-lighted’ as a quzie-personal trainer
34. fell rollerblading for the first time ever
35. took a road trip to Las Vegas
36. went to 6 weddings (1 bride’s maid, 1 maid-of-honor)
37. cooked a live lobster
38. lost my camera in Chicago during a bachelorette party
39. ate an atomic-nuclear-rib…OMG!
40. saw the following muscials: Rent, Urine Town, West Side Story, Hair Spray, Seussical The Musical, Wicked
41. went white water rafting on the Arkansas rive in Colorado
42. hosted my first keg party
42. learned to like drinking beer, especially German wheat beer
43. chased a bus
44. subbed on the on the Crack Monkey softball team a few times
45. won the NSGSA bake-off two years in a row

Last day of work

2009-06-26T11:44:00.002-05:00

I only have a few more hours until I turn in my keys and take the last box of my desk to my car. It was a strange feeling driving in this morning knowing that was my last time making the drive I (and sometime the bus) have driving for 5 years. I took care of the last paperwork, went around and said good-bye to a few colleagues in the building, and cleaned off my desk. Even as I sit at my desk with just my computer, it still hasn't seem to have sunken in yet. I don't think it will for awhile until I start at the new lab in August. So far no tears, but I am sure they are to come. It has been an amazing adventure I am not sure I was ready for, but would do again in a heartbeat.

East Coast Tour

2009-06-25T11:49:00.005-05:00

As promised here are the (tentative) details for the East Coast leg of my last-summer-vacation.

July 10th: Drive out to Rochester, NY to see Peggy (II), an undergrad who worked in the lab
July 11th: Drive to Long Island to see the family
July 12th: Going to see the Mets play Cinncy
July 13th: Head in to the City to see Marisa and maybe some other friends and just hang out in NYC
July 14th: Drive to Plymouth, MA to see Diana and Min-Yang and hang out in Plymouth for a few days
July 16th: Drive to Cambridge, MA and stay with Erik for a few days. Explore Cambridge a bit and hopefully I'll be able to meet up with family in Hopkinton for dinner.

July 17th: Thanks to Andy's suggestions I will head to the northend and visit Mike's Pastry to get a famous cannoli, stop to the Union Oyster House - the oldest restaurant in America!! Then it is onto Fanueil Hall Market. During this time I will be making my way down the Freedom Trail to see all the historic sites. That evening is dinner with Peggy (I) and Klemen.
July 18th: Duck Boat Tour and more general site seeing (any suggestions?)

July 19th: Drive to New Bedford to meet up with Vicki and family then it is off to Martha's Vineyard for a few days to celebrate Vicki's birthday
July 22nd: Drive home

Last week

2009-06-22T23:17:00.003-05:00

This week before I leave the lab I have to get the rebuttal for the paper written and off to Greg and hopefully finish the post-doc grant. I'm meeting on the 7th with the new boss to get everything figured out before I take off on vacation.

Tuesday:

Meeting with ACES PR rep to go over the press release for my last publication.
Go to McKinley if I haven't started to kick this cold
Pull up the (remnant) carpet and through it away!

Wednesday:

Habitat is coming to pick-up the desk and dresser
Craiglister is coming to get the microwave (5 days without a microwave, this'll be interesting)
Whiskey with Andy to get his 'must-see' list for Boston
Dinner and drinks with Darren and Tina

Thursday:

Ideally playing hookie with Desiree, 'ritas at the pool
Shopping for party supplies
Dinner with Mina

Friday:

Last day of work. Turn in keys, fill-out exit forms, good-byes, hopefully with minimal tears
Something in evening with lots of alcohol since I'm sure I'll need it

Saturday: Farewell party

Sunday: Finish packing and clean

Goodbyes

2009-06-19T13:54:00.008-05:00

"Why can't we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn't work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos." Charles M. Schulz

The goodbyes have begun this week and it is hard, harder than I thought. Waiting around for this big change to happen and tying up all the lose ends has been a bit depressing. I feel that I am in this strange limbo in which I am here but not really needed for anything. Lots of conversations in and out of the lab making plans for next week and next month are going on around me and there's not much for me to contribute. I'm determined not to just sit around in my half-boxed-up-apartment for the next week, even though it is a challenge not to continually think about just how few days I have left to enjoy the company of my friends.

I had lunch with my good friend Meg on Friday to say farewell. Her sister, Nell, and husband live in Ann Arbor which means that not only will I see Meg and Chuck when they come to visit, but I have a few friends already in Ann Arbor.

I also said so-long to Diana last night after an enjoyable evening of dinner and theater. I will see her soon, as they are one of several friends moving to Massachusetts whom I will see in July on my East Coast tour. Additionally, as a precaution, I said adieu to Melissa. She will be gone all next week and is returning the evening of my Bon-Voyage party, so depending on travel etc., last night maybe the last time I see her until I visit again.

Tonight is Vicki's last night in town as they are packing up and heading, as well, to Massachusetts. Vicki is one of a few people (you know who you are) that it will be very difficult to say goodbye to. We started our PhDs at the same time and have become not only great colleagues but life-long friends. I will miss her laugh, warm-spirit, great advice, and spontaneity. Thankfully, her and soon-to-be-husband, Erik, are part of my East Coast tour. I am thankful that I will be able to celebrate her 30th birthday on Martha's Vineyard with her, Erik, and her family.

Cable

2009-06-17T11:34:00.006-05:00

I have completed several things on the moving 'to-do' list in the last several days, including:

Establishing renters insurance for the new place. I am amazed at just wide the price ranges was. AAA won out and was almost $100 cheaper than everyone else.
Canceled my bank account at Busey and am now banking exclusively with Chase - thanks John.
I've started the change of address process. There are a lot of places (credit cards, cell phone, USPS, alma mater, UIUC, old apartment) I need to make sure this happens. Thankfully most bills are on-line, so statements won't get lost.
I got Thank You cards for all the people at lab. Filling them out yesterday was hard, this whole thing is hard.
Finalizing the vacation to the East Coast July 10-21; more to come on those details.
I have to go to McKinley and get the last of the refills on my Rx this afternoon.
I need to schedule a pick-up with Habitat for some furniture.

The next big thing to accomplish today is cable. Any and all thoughts and suggestions on experiences with different cable providers is welcomed. At Country Fair we have a great deal with Illicom, which of course is not an option in Ann Arbor. My new complex uses Comcast, but I can do Direct TV or Dish. My biggest concern is the weather and service cutting out. Also, I'm looking in to other internet options. Comcast is running a 6 month special, but they are crazy expensive after that. I think for this my only other option in Verizon, but I have to look more in to that.

Little of this and a little of that

2009-06-13T16:15:00.014-05:00

Wrap-up of somethings from this week:

Literature
Forgot to mention I finished World War Z while on vacation in Breckenridge. I highly recommend it, although beware of the looks when you start talking about zombies. It was a really solid read and easily broken up in sections (a style I really like). I really enjoyed how Brooks weaved the story of the war into the personal interviews. My overall conclusion is that if there is ever a zombie or nuclear war, I am running as fast as I can straight in to the heart of it; I sure don't want to be around for the aftermath.

I also started and finished yesterday The Last Lecture. This has been on my reading list for quite awhile. It was a super quick read, even for me. It was enjoyed, which sounds kind of morbid, but once I stopped thinking that these were the words of a dead man, it was a lot like the Chicken Soup Books and Don't Sweat the Small Stuff. There were a few times this week while reading on the bus that I had to put the book down for fear of shedding a few tears. I think it was very well written, insightful, and thought provoking making me think of what I would want people to know and remember about me.

I picked up Under The Banner Of Heaven and When You Are Engulfed In Flames. The first was due to rave, I mean rave, recommendations from a new grad student, Christy I met out at Whiskey Wednesday, and the later is because I have greatly enjoyed everything else by David Sedaris. Not sure yet which I'll start with.

Computers
I, well actually Glenn, got the new MacBook up and running in full capacity with Parallels and XP. I must admit I was a just a little proud when I found the key code to install Office. The writing on the CD itself (a copy from a friend) wasn't correct, so Glenn wasn't able to install it. I messed around with things when I got home and found a Text doc on the CD that had the key. I'm sure Glenn could've found it, but he was probably tired of working on all my computer stuff - Thanks Glenn!!

I also finally got an external hard drive today. Since I'm transferring so much between computers and am going to be a professional here in a few weeks, figured it was about time.

Lab
Finished my last experiments ever in Greg's lab this week. The results are still under debate. I have to work out the stats for the lethality studies. I'll I've got to say is I am sure glad that is done and I won't be around to figure out what's going on; three weeks of septic and dying mice does not put one in a good mood.

I must admit I had a few tears when I was finishing the 2nd experiment on Thursday. I think between all the dead mice and the moving, I'm a tad bit over-emotional.

The 2nd experiment was from the "Scientific Progress" posts. So all in all, it looks like that took just about 3 months from start to finish.

I'm a little concerned about getting everything back to the Journal of Immunology before I leave. Greg is on vaca this week and so we'll only have one week when he's back to weave this new and interesting data in to the paper.
I reviewed my first publication this week for Brain Behavior and Immunity.

Last lab lunch at Timpone's was Friday :(

Moving
I am down a couch and a dining room table. It is really interesting to me how certain things on Craigslist go SO fast. Both of those were sold within 36 hours of posting, but I still have not had much luck with the desk and dresser.

I've packed all the boxes I've collected, so it is back to scavenging the hallways of ERML for boxes - it's looking pretty bare.

The boxes have made their way in to the kitchen.

Vicki leaves on Saturday :( but I'll see her in a few weeks when I head out east to DC, NY, and Boston for leg 2 of the big summer vacation.

Finally, I bought some hiking boots for the UP and Scotland. It was an expensive day: boots, hard drive, and books.

Pictures

2009-06-10T16:58:00.003-05:00

Since I am not sure if and or how to put up a photo album on the blog, you can see the pics from the CO trip here or here if you are a on Facebook.

Up-date and count down

2009-06-08T19:19:00.008-05:00

I think that this is one of the few trips that I have taken in which all the travels plans went 110% smoothly!! This was a great start to a fun-filled and very enjoyable conference and vacation. Thankfully the thick fog on Tuesday morning did not interfere with our flight out of BMI and our transfer at O'hare and rental car pick-up all went off with out a hitch. We were a tad bit disappointed driving out of Denver west to Breckenridge, because it took quite awhile to see any mountains.

The resort where we stayed for the conference was spectacular and we had a wonderful view. The hotel/condo was very comfortable and had plenty of room, including a full kitchen in which we stocked with snacks from the City Market. We took part of the amenities of the resort, including the pools and hot tubes.

The conference was enjoyable and it was good to connect with friends who I seemingly only see at these things. I took a little time off in the morning and took at walk around town and got a pedicure. We had a delicious dinner at the Blue River Bistro on Wednesday as a lab.

Wednesday was also our white water rafting experience on the Arkansas River. It was a BLAST!! Our guide, Alan was this 52 year-old hippie who had been rafting for almost 25 years. It was great to have all his stories and insights in to the different areas of the river. The rest of the week was great and the closing banquet was a ton of fun, dancing, and being crazy. My knees are still feeling it.

Now I am in the home stretch. My dad and brother will be here 3 weeks from today to pack me up and move. I sold a few more things on Craigslist today and have a few to go. It is a crazy week at the lab getting the last, and I mean last, experiments done, as well as getting the next draft of my post-doc grant to the new boss. I keep reminding myself only 3 weeks until I have a 2 month vacation.

Things left to do:

Set up utilities in the new apartment
Close my bank account
Pack, pack, pack
Finish planning the Scotland vacation and settle on the dates for visiting the East Coast
Clean-up and pack my desk at lab
Figure out my new MacBook
Numerous other odds and ends

From Breckenridge

2009-06-02T23:50:00.008-05:00

We got here safe and with no travel problems, lets hope that is true for the way home. We did encounter a pretty heavy snow/rain mix between Denver and here, which we affectionately dubbed, snane.

The resort is beautiful. We have a two floor, two bed room, two bathroom sweet with a full kitchen, fire place, and great view of the mountains. We took a dip in the in door/out door pool and hot tube this evening as well as stopped at the local Kroger and liquor store for our supplies for the week.

Tomorrow is the rafting trip, it'll be a bit cold, but a great adventure.

Summer vacation: Part I

2009-06-01T19:18:00.011-05:00

My summer vacation officially begins tomorrow, well for the most part. I am going to Breckenridge, CO for 5 days. Granted it is for a conference, but, that's neither here nor there. We are staying at an amazing resort, going white water rafting, having great food, and an even better time with friends.

We are staying at the Beaver Run Resort which includes outdoor and indoor pools, several bars, spa, eight hot tubs, exercise room, sauna and steam room, tennis courts, and arcade games.

On Wednesday we are going white water rafting on the Arkansas River. We are taking the Royal Gorge trip that will take about half a day.

I'll up-date if there are any great misadventures to report!!

General Motors Bankrupt

2009-05-31T20:58:00.004-05:00

Well it seems the inevitable is going to happen and I hear it is rumored to be around 8am Eastern time tomorrow. I am sure there are a plethora of commentaries out on the Internets and blog-o-sphere about what is going to happen now, how we got here, and what to do next, but I would like to share a more personal side of this momentous event.

My dad was hired in to, what was at the time AC Delco, in the mid-nineties, I think around 1995 or so. Before then had worked at several companies doing engineering-type work, and at that time was not an issue that he didn't have have any sort of degree; his innate skill were enough to get by. That did not last forever, and he worked several other jobs, most of which I don't remember. Before he started at AC Delco, he was working with my grandfather selling chemicals for DuBois. I remember he did not say much at first about the prospect at AC Delco, because I later found out that he had several rounds of skills testing he went through as well as the standard background check. He was part of a pretty major hire, I think one of the biggest in a few decades, and well, given the current circumstances, probably one of the last.

He was brought in as a line-workers and mainly worked second shift for a few years. Despite the increased job security and increase in Christmas presents, it was not all a bowl of cherries. It was very hard on our family having him gone pretty much most of the time the rest of the family was home. His shift was usually 2-11p. However, we could not complain, we had made it, we were going to be OK. At some point in time before this blessing, things were pretty tight and we ended up receiving food stamps and some other assistant. This was when they were actually stamps and I had to wait in line at the grocery store while my mom tore the little perforated sheets of paper out of the book. I did not know this at the time, but they had to be removed in sight of the cashier to ensure they belonged to the one purchasing the items. I was so embarrassed at times it got to the point that I would go wait outside the store or in the car until she had finished paying.

We had great insurance and my dad was even able to save for retirement; things were looking up. After a few years on the line he was moved in to an apprentice-ship program within, what was now GM. They had taken over AC Delco or dissolved it at some point in time. This was even better for our family situation. He was off the line on to a first shift schedule and had even more job security as a skilled-trademans.

He worked at this position and took his classes for several years in Flint, very close to our home town. He was then transferred to Bay City, which was an hour north and made this commute for 2 or 3 years; an hour each way. This put a serious strain on the family and after I graduated high school my parents moved to Bay City, as Stuart and I were both out of the house and away at college. He has been working at the Bay City plant since 1997 and thankfully still has a job.

His plant has been spared, for now, and will remain open with, as my dad puts it, with a bare-bones work crew. His plant is a parts plant and they provide numerous assembly plants all over the state, which gives them some priority in the GM's scheme (I hope) and given he is skilled-trades, well that helps even more. He lucked out though, it was only because some more senior workers on the list took the voluntary lay-off, that he still has a job, for now.

It is a very scary time and I am quite amazed at how calm he is. He has been frugal, saved most of this life and doesn't have many extravagant "toys" to pay off; he still drives a GMC Safari. We don't talk many specifics, but I know that he is in OK shape now and if or when he does get laid off he will have 26 or more weeks of unemployment, however, my biggest concern comes after that. If he does get laid-off - which now pretty much means fired, and is not like it used to be when you were pretty confident you'd get your job back - what then? What will he do? Him and the rest of Michigan will be looking for jobs and they will all pretty much have the same resume. I know it is not a immediate concern, and that I shouldn't be so worried, but who would have ever thought GM would go bankrupt. Given that uncertainties is the only certainty today, I can't help but worry.

The other major concern is his health insurance and retirement savings. When GM is in negotiations in court all of that is on the table. Granted they can't take away what he has saved in retirement, but it could all be stopped and his medical benefits severely slashed. He shows great resolve about the how situation and does not let on if he is concerned, but I guess, even when we are both adults, that is what parents do.

Last months rent

2009-05-26T21:42:00.005-05:00

I paid my rent for the last time here at Country Fair Apartments and will be hittin' the road in 5 weeks. There are a few things left on my 'to-do' list, well besides more packing. I need to cancel and set-up the utilities and cable here and in Ann Arbor, as well as renters insurance.

I will be heading out to Breckenridge, CO a week from today for the PNIRS conference. I think this will be a good way to kick-start my last summer vacation (at least as a student). Once I return on June 7th, it'll be crunch time to pack and get everything wrapped up in the lab.

I did get a bit more packing done this weekend as I was preparing some furniture (matching desk and dresser and a stand-alone dresser) for sale on Craig's List. I have a few more things to put for sale when returning from CO. Can't go too long without a dining room table and microwave.

Lily is getting ready as well :)

Chicken pot pie

2009-05-25T19:23:00.003-05:00

Since I have a lot of new found time on my hands, I have had the pleasure of coming home in the early afternoon and have the opportunity to watch some day-time TV. There is a new show on LifeTime, Cook Yourself Thin, that I have been enjoying over the last week or so. The main premise is taking traditional recipes and swapping certain ingredients and making them lower calorie. They have several recipes on-line and I tried on this evening...chicken pot pie.

It was really quite delicious and filling. I think mine might have a closer to 400 calories per serving, because I had a few extra sheet of phyllo dough, probably closer to 10. One hick-up was that even after letting the "pie" sit for about 15 mintues, after removing the 1st slice, there was a flood of juices. The sauce did not thicken nearly enough. I added the correct 1/4 cup of AP flour and still a bit too runny. I am thinking that increasing to 1/3 c AP flour adding a little cornstarch and maybe decreasing the chicken stock to 2c will do the trick.

Skinny Down-Home Chicken Pot Pie

Serves 6
Calories per serving: 372

3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 small onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 leek, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk
2 red potatoes, skin on, diced
2 turnips, peeled and diced
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into small cubes
2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into small cubes
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
6 sheets of phyllo dough
1 tablespoon olive oil, for brushing

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Thaw 6 sheets of phyllo dough overnight in the refrigerator or one hour before using. Bring the chicken stock to a simmer and keep warm.

2. In a 6-quart pot, add the olive oil and flour, and cook until lightly golden, about 3 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, leek, carrot, celery, red potato and turnips, and stir with a wooden spoon, making sure the bottom does not get too dry. Add the chicken, bay leaf and thyme, and continue stirring for about 3 minutes, so that everything is coated with the flour mixture.

3. Add the warm chicken stock, stir and scrape the bottom of the pot to get all the color into the mixture and keep it from scorching. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Let the mixture simmer, covered, for another 5 to 7 minutes, until it becomes thick and the chicken is opaque. Remove from heat and reserve.

4. Meanwhile, take 6 sheets of phyllo dough and, with a knife, cut out a square slightly larger than the rim of a 9-x-9-inch cake pan and brush with some olive oil. Set aside.

5. Remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs from the chicken mixture and transfer the chicken to the cake pan. Top with the phyllo dough and press it down firmly with your hands. Place the pie on a baking sheet and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, turning the tray around halfway through the cooking time. Remove from the oven, let cool for 10 minutes, cut into six portions and serve.

Summer reading

2009-05-20T19:16:00.004-05:00

This summer I will have ample time just to sit and read, whether it be in airports and during my summer travels, sitting in the woods at the cottage in the U.P., or in the next few weeks enjoying a very reduced lab schedule sitting at one of the fine establishment downtown.

My "to-read" list is kind of short, so I am looking for some suggestions. I enjoy a lot of styles of writing, in particular short stories, such as David Sedaris, or fiction-type biographies such as The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Other books I have enjoyed are Eat, Love, Pray, works by Daniel Quinn, Malcolm Gladwell, and Wally Lamb. I like reading WWII stories and science fiction, but haven't ever been able to get in to mysteries or far-fetched fiction, such as Wicked. I am not sure the exact genre, but I enjoy scientific-based books like The Female Brain (Louann Brizendine) and Freakonomics.

I had started World War Z about a month ago, but did not have much time to devote to reading and have recently started it again. My short list includeds The Last Lecture and Hot, Flat, and Crowded, so as you can see I am in need of your suggestions.

School's out F-O-R-E-V-E-R!!

2009-05-20T17:54:00.004-05:00

1986, I have been in school since 1986 and today I am DONE with school, testing, cramming, studying, flash cards, mnemonics, group projects, taking lecture notes, and busy work.

A few educational things that have changed since I started school

Email
Facebook/Myspace
On-line lecture notes
Laptops
On-line classes
Texting and twittering
Scientific calculators

Random facts about 1986:

The first federal Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was observed.
Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launch
Out of Africa won Best Picture at the 58th Academy Awards
Chernobyl nuclear plant explodes, creating the world's worst nuclear disaster
Iran–Contra affair
Gas was $0.86/gallon
Pan Am Flight 73 was hijacked
Smoking was banned on all public transport including trains, planes, buses and coaches
IBM unveiled the PC Convertible, i.e. a lap-top
Halley's comet "returned' to Earth
"Papa don't preach" was #1 for several weeks
"The Cosby Show" was the most popular show on TV

Reflections

2009-05-16T12:10:00.004-05:00

Today I am a doctor, Christina Lynn Sherry, PhD, something I never imagined in my wildest dreams. Now that it is over and I have the time to look back on how many never-in-my-wildest-dreams moments that come along with this PhD journey, I am amazed.

I found a letter at my mom's house that I wrote myself circa 5th grade in Mrs. Bookout's class as part of a project. She mailed them to us when we graduated high school and as I read the things I told myself about who I am and who I think I am going to be it is all I can do not to laugh. I am still the same bull-headed, out-spoken, independent person as I was in 5th grade. I always thought I was going to be a high-school teacher and I guess in certain ways I am a teacher.

There are things I haven't done yet, but many more I never thought I would do. People in my life have changed me in ways I never thought possible and beloved family are no longer around to see the first Dr. Sherry. I have been faced with many hard decision and unexpected complications all the while having the support of amazing friends and family. I feel I have truly found a passion in my work and love the questions science poses. It is hard to put in to words the feelings of graditutde and humility I have for all of those who have supported me in this journey, because it would not have been possible without you.

Up date on toilet seat mystery...

2009-05-13T12:18:00.007-05:00

It is a MAN!! They also ripped off the stall door, so of course it has to be a man.

Up date on the scientific progress

2009-05-12T09:33:00.002-05:00

I finally started my experiment yesterday, kind of ironic it was two months to the day that we heard back from the reviewers asking for this experiment. I guess all in all, it was within a reasonable length of time, but then again, I like to get things done yesterday.

Weekend wrap-up

2009-05-11T09:20:00.004-05:00

After a fun-filled weekend of celebrating me, my liver, and my Visa are taking a hiatus (at least until this weekend).

Friday
1. Champagne tasting @ Corkscrew
2. Dinner @ Radio Maria - delicious coffee encrusted fillet and mashed sweet potatoes and plantain with a yummy cream sauce
3. Early graduation celebration @ Esquire and The Pig
4. Super nachos

Saturday
1. Lots of napping
2. Jackie's graduation party and several intense games of flip cup
3. Happy birthday Glenn and Bon Voyage Shawn festivities @ The Pig, Boltini, Revisit to The Pig, and C-Street
4. Taco bell

Sunday
1. Bunch at Jim Gould with Elizabeth
2. Lab
3. Study
4. Intern meeting
5. BED

Busy week ahead: Internship banquet, cooking club, whiskey Wednesday, Star Trek (hopefully), mom's coming, graduation, graduation P-A-R-T-Y!!

Origin of the swine flu?

2009-05-08T13:34:00.001-05:00

I just couldn't help myself

Two bottles of wine and a stranger

2009-05-07T15:02:00.003-05:00

It looks like while on the home stretch of my "what I have done over the last 5 years" list I am apparently make a sprint for the finish to add as many items to the list as possible.

I went to whiskey night at 7 Saints last night to try and begin to learn to drink whiskey before I got to Scotland. I had told a few friends, but figured it'd just be me. That was kind of the point, I think I need to go to a bar by myself - for the whole night. I have been at bars by myself for, say less than 30 minutes, waiting to meet people, but I have never just gone to a bar, intentionally by myself.

So that was the intention. I sat at the bar, near the west end, on a stool right next to post, so there was no one on my right, an open seat at my left, two women beyond that, and open seat around the corner, and a man by himself.

It was busier than expected, so it took a few minutes to get a menu from the bartender. I took a look at the bourbon and rye list, this weeks specials, and didn't really have any idea. I moved the menu away a bit and was going to wait and ask the bartender his opinion. Some people had arrived and were talking to the two ladies to my left, and then the single man got up, to let them have the open seat and his, and sat next to me.

"Oh so I see you are drinking whiskey tonight," he said.
"I am trying to learn how before I go to Scotland this summer."
"I really don't drink it anymore. Which are you thinking of?"
"The only one I recognize the the Jim Bean, and I've had that, so, I really don't know. I was going to see what the bartender recommends."

The bartender walked over and asked if I have decided. I then asked him for some help, and explained that I am just learning about whiskey. He gives a few suggestions and says he's really been liking this Eagle 17 year rare (or something like that). Just then my new 'neighbor' gives his comments about it and says, "I think she'd like that. Get her a pour, and one for me too." He looks over at me and says, "you can't drink whiskey alone."

We get our drinks, toast to whiskey, and introduce ourselves. Some small talk, chit-chat. His name was David and he was in town, from Peoria, checking on his medical equipment that he sells. I guess he goes in to surgery with the docs and sees if everything is going OK.

Then Mina showed up so we moved to the little table at the end of the booths to accommodate everyone. I introduced Mina to my new found friend, David and our waiter, Jim, came over to check on us. David bought Mina some whiskey, and I went to give my regards to Andy the owner. He is the main reason I had made it out. Last time we were there for dinner, the waitress over heard me mentioning I needed to learn whiskey and she sent Andy over, as I found out he LOVES whiskey. So I told him I'd come in for whiskey Wednesday.

I saw Andy at the far end of the bar and said hello; man has the best hand shake. He came over to our table, and in the meantime, David was looking at the wine list - there went my whiskey lesson. He spent sometime asking Andy what he had in the 'back room.' A few minutes later Andy came out with this Spanish blend that was just AMAZING (I'm kicking myself for not keeping the cork). Smooth and chocolaty, full-bodied, but not harsh. He sat and had a glass of wine with us and told use about the plans for the place in the future.

After we finished that bottle, he flighted us up to the next on the list from the 'back room.' An equally amazing Spanish blend - they both were just delicious!!

David had bought both Mina and I our drinks and food that night, and I am guessing he was looking for something in return; but I didn't want to add that to my list. I think being bought drinks by a stranger at a bar was good enough.

Things that make you go hmmm...

2009-05-04T13:15:00.006-05:00

...walking in to a stall in the women's bathroom and the toilet seat is up.

Now normally on a Monday this would not raise questions, however, it is well in to the day, and I know, since I've already used this particular stall, the seat has not been left up from the janitorial cleaning the night before.

What leaves me even more perplexed, is that there is tinkle on the toilet bowel edge, leaving me only to conclude that someone squatted over the bowl with the seat up, which just does not make any sense.

And by the way ladies...

No obligation or anything...

2009-05-02T13:25:00.006-05:00

As I am getting ready to end this chapter in my life, I have been doing a lot of reflection. Thinking and reminiscing on all of the event over the past 5 years. I have started to write a little list of memorable events and things, such as getting a tattoo, the birth of my nieces, buying a car, and things of that nature (the full list is coming). As of last night, I now have a new item to add to this list. Like most items on this list, it is not something I expected to happen, but, well it did. Now mind you, this scenario could have opened the door to lots more very unexpected additions to the list, but alas, it didn't, and me, myself, and I are very thankful.

While at C-street last night, in the non-dancing lounge/bar area, we all were struck by a women who walked in, in a very memorable dress. It was a (very) short, sleeveless, body-hugging, black dress, accompanied by red heels. This particular dress also had a deep plunging V-neck that went past her navel, and the two "sides" of the dress that were covering her lady-part were held together with three silver buckles. Something similar to this, but with buckles and no sleeves. Others who saw this and may have found a better visual are more than welcome to share.

As it normally is with this particular (fashonistis) crowd of friends last night, there were significant comments on her outfit. Given the type of dress and others I have seen wear something similar, she did not look that bad. She was not "falling out" or "pugging" through the buckles, and from a distance it was OK. However, I soon learned that up close this was not the case.

After a trip or two to the dance floor, I was taking a break at our table in the lounge area. T and E were across the table chatting and I was sipping my rum and coke. G had finally made it to the dance floor with single T, his girlfriend and her friends. Just then, memorable-dress-lady was on the move heading in my direction. In those first few seconds I did not think much of it, as the door was just a few feet behind me. Then there she was, standing right next to me, arm around my chair, chest just about in my face (they were short chairs) giving me a very up close view of what one should only see from a distance.

"My boyfriend over there," she points to the pool table just past T & E "has been watching you tonight and thinks your really hot." She flings her hair and moves in a little close. "No obligation or anything, but if my boyfriend think someone is hot, I feel I should let them know...ya know, if they are interested..."

I picked up my drink to buy a few seconds in which I could think what the hell I was going to say. After a huge sip, I sent my drink down. "Thank you, that is very flattering."

"We've been watching you and think you dance really good. And I saw you trying to do some sign language. I used to know sign language, and thought it was really cool you did, and I wanted to come over even more, since I thought that was cool."

"Oh, well, I must've just been waving my hands around a lot. I talk with my hands a lot."

"I'm Amanda, by the way, and my boyfreind," she points again, he waves, "is Jason."

I look over and give a head knod.

"I'm Christina." We shake hands. "Nice to meet you."

We chatted a little more. I found out she is studying the Alexander Technique, which is

"is a way to feel better, and move in a more relaxed and comfortable way...the way nature intended"

I told here a little about myself and what I was doing. I don't really remember how the conversation ended, but eventually, after what seemed like 10-15 minutes, it finally did. At the end of the night, during the last few dances, we spotted Amanda and Jason on the dance floor with another couple. The two women were dancing facing either other, with their respective gentleman friends dancing behind them. And there it was, the girls were full on making out. We left quickly afterwards, I did not want to add that to my list.

To end the week

2009-05-01T16:35:00.004-05:00

With uber enthusiasm THANK GOODNESS ITS FRIDAY

The week ended with consummation of my dietetics internship!! To be honest, as most of you know, this has not been the most favorite part of my life over the past 8 months. I am jubilant it is over, and I am able to get back to what really is a favorite part of my life - my research.

I signed the lease for my new place this week. I officially have a new address and expect lots of visitors.

As an up-date to a previous post, we finally received the actual approval on our new protocol and I will be able to start experiments next week!

Looking forward to the weekend and:
X-Men Origins Wolverine
Birthday 'tinis
Celtics vs Bulls Game 7
Shopping for some new spring stuff

"Stock pile out back, extra chicken on ice"

2009-04-28T21:55:00.003-05:00

At first it is kind of funny that some many people are up-in-arms about missing out on the chicken deal of the century, but then it is just sad. People drove across town and (seemingly) won't be feeding their children and family. I understand the frustration that these people were not able to partake in this special, however, there are certain situations that are just impossible to predict. More so though, is the shear anger some of these people exhibit at the thought of not getting fried chicken; our obsession with food and its ability of drive our lives is beyond ridiculous. We, (myself included, a person in love with food), need some perspective.

More scientific progress??

2009-04-27T17:20:00.005-05:00

As previously posted, I am working against the clock to finish rebuttal experiments for the review we received from the Journal of Immunology for my 4th and final dissertation publication.

We are on our way feeding Dr. Z's knockout mice our super-special experimental diet. Par for the course, these mice will be ready for their experiment the last week of May, which is the week I plan on taking my RD boards and right before we are going to CO for the PNIRS conference. I am still debating on whether I might let them stay on the diet a week longer until we return - stay tuned.

The other major experiment the reviewers wanted was to see if our super-special diet would protect mice against sepsis. This required us to write a whole new experimental protocol to preform a sepsis experiment. Since sepsis is a controversial procedure, there was not doubt that this would require a full review from Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and the full committee only meets on the 1st Tuesday of the month.

The week following the journal review (March 16th) I met with vets and IACUC staff to obtain some help with writing such a controversial protocol. I also found out that it would be in our best interest to submit our new protocol by Friday, March 20th or Monday the 23rd at the latest; leaving me only a few days to write a whole new animal protocol (not easy at all!!). I worked, via email, with the IACUC specialists for a few more changes and pored over the protocol night and day and submitted on Monday, March 23rd (assuming we would be on the agenda for review on April 7th).

March 25th - we received a pre-review with some small changes. "Mark this box, change this verb."

March 29th - we received notice that we were called to full committee review, which was no surprise.

April 10th - we received an email with reviewers' comments asking to clarify some issues with dosing and euthanasia method. It took less than 30 minutes to answer. I contacted IACUC to clarify the questions and found out we had NEVER made it to full committee!! Considering I worked day and night to get this done in the time frame suggested by IACUC, I was not very happy. I completely understand that it makes sense to have the reviewers' comments answered before going to full review, but they had the protocol for a full two weeks before the full committee meeting and it took a full month to get back the questions. I have no idea what was happening on their end as far as how/when they send protocols to reviewers.

April 21st - we received 'follow-up' comments from reviewers on brand-new issues they had not addressed the first time. Again, an issue that took 5 minutes to answer. I found this utterly frustrating, because I am not sure how they expect investigators to make progress when they keep coming up with new questions; this should all be done in ONE review. My boss suggested I call the IACUC chair and inquire about this issue; he was out of town at a conference.

April 24th - I was able to talk to the chair and he, in not so many words, agreed that this was a bit much and said when he saw this second round of questions, he had the vet intervene on our behalf and answer the reviewers' question for us, as it was very simple (maybe they should re-think having community members on the committee).

April 27th - WE ARE APPROVED, sort of. We received the approval email from IACUC and will be able to finally start on these experiments, almost a full month after we started this process, once we return the signature page.

Moving "to do" list

2009-04-25T11:51:00.009-05:00

I have just a tad over two months until the big move. Packing has come to a bit of a stand still; I pretty much have all of the out-of-sight, and not-in-use stuff a packed. Granted I could start with pictures and decorations, but the place still has to feel livable. My mom is coming for graduation in three weeks - I can not believe it is only 3 weeks away!! - and will be taking a few things back to Michigan with her for the neighborhood garage sale at my brothers. After the PNIRS conference in Breckenridge, CO the 1st week of June, I will start with the serious packing and selling of furniture. I know that I will be selling my dining room table and chairs and maybe the couch and love-seat, it just depends on if I get a one or two bedroom at Arbor Landings, which I hope to find out in the next week or so.

Other moving stuff:

1) Call on cable and internet to find out about canceling
2) Call on cable and internet in Ann Arbor to set up service
3) Open a bank account at Chase, which is also in Ann Arbor, making the financial switch a lot easier
4) Pack, pack, pack
5) Sell furniture on Craig's list
6) Transfer RefWorks accounts from UIUC to UofM, which is small miracle that UofM has this service as well
7) Going away BBQ, flip-cup party (June 27th)

AS I TYPE...The phone rings and it is the new apartment complex and
I HAVE MY PLACE!!!!
The apartment is a 2 bedroom (plenty of room for visitors) on the 2nd floor, which is the lay-out I really wanted, plus it is in a prime location in the community; right near the club house (which has a great workout room), pool, and tennis courts. My patio does not face the parking lot and I get a covered parking space!!

Sex, sleep, and longevity?

2009-04-21T18:18:00.006-05:00

It appears that having more sex and sleeping more increases longevity, at least on the Greek island of Ikaria, which begs the question: does the sex make you live longer or does one live longer to have more sex?

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There was an interesting report on Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN last night about this study that was done on the people of Ikaria, who live well in to their 90's, and yes, are still apparently having sex, sleeping until 10-11am and staying up to 2am. There was not a reference to any peer-reviewed scientific report done on this population, but I found another interesting story of a man who was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 1970 and decided to move back to Ikaria and lived another whopping 40 years!

Since I don't spend enough time in bed, I decided partake in the longevity calculator provided by CNN to see if my lack of time under the covers was really making me old. I figured I would do pretty good; I exercise regularly, eat a pretty healthy diet, don't smoke, and have no chronic illness.

This is what I found:
Chronological age: 27
Biological age: 23.6 (sigh...I'm still legal)
Life expectancy: 93.6
Blue Zone years: 11.4 (This is the number of extra years I have accrued due to my lifestyle)
Added year: 4.4 (If I optimize my lifestyle, and spend more time in bed, I could live to 98)

Final report; ways to optimize my lifestyle:
1) Sleep 7-8 hours
2) Get screened for alcohol abuse because I have had 5+ drinks in one sitting
3) Eat more seafood
4) Make more money
5) Get married

My thoughts:
1) I was surprised to find that any single encounter of 5+ drinks warranted a screening for alcohol abuse. I know there has to be a cut-off somewhere for health professional to start screening, but I think adding in some modifiers, such as the time period of consumption (what if this was an all day BBQ or a wine tasting), the atmosphere (were you drinking alone), or one's motivation would be useful.

2) Make more money. They asked about my satisfaction with my 'life work,' in which i replied that I was very satisfied. I understand the relationship between financial strain and health, but given that I did not express discontent with my 'life's work' that is not paying well, I figured that would be more important. It would be interesting to see if I reported making a lot of money but not so much satisfaction with work, if that would trigger.

3) Get married...grr, this is kind annoying, especially since they did not ask if I had children, or if I was content with my single-status. Studies have shown that married people without children are the happiest which maybe attributed to increased earning and more enjoying sex. They did not really distinguish if married people without children are happiest, then single, then married with children; although I have heard this around, but found no studies. I reported that I have a good support system of family and friends, however, I guess that doesn't seem to count as much. Also, given the current experiences I have had with people getting divorced, I will have to do a very careful cost:benefit analysis.

So all in all, to live another 4.4 years I need to make more money, sleep more, have more sex, and get married. Maybe I'll forgo the stress of trying to figure out how to accomplish those things, since only one is really within my control, and only live until my early 90's.

It wasn't me

2009-04-19T11:17:00.008-05:00

I guess there is a first time for everything, including locking yourself out of you apartment; well, I question whether I actually did this. I have lived here a few months short of 5 years and have NEVER locked myself out or even had a scare where I thought I had. Once I was up-and-at-um this morning, I decided to start the laundry and check that off today's to-do list. I gathered the clothes, detergent and quarters - the new apartment in Ann Arbor will have laundry in the apartment - and headed up stairs. I had some trash that needed to be taken out as well, so I put this outside the door. After starting the wash and returned downstairs, set down the detergent and took out the trash. While coming back in I was thinking about the omelet I was going to make for breakfast with mushrooms, onions, and bell peppers. I grabbed the door handle and slammed myself in to the door - IT WAS LOCKED!

I giggled it a few more times some how thinking that it might miraculously open, but alas it did not. I had no keys on me, no phone, and did not even remember the phone number to the office, which is closed on Sunday. I only know one persons number in town - those damned cell phones and speed dial, but he was not that one with keys to my apartment. I knew there was a maintenance man who has an apartment in our building and sometimes stayed there. I couldn't exact ally remember which was his so I decided against knocking. Of the other 3 apartments on my floor, I know the neighbors next to me the best, which is not really all that well anyway. I looked to see if their vehicles were in the parking lot and the husband's truck was, so I knocked - no answer. The neighbors kiddy-corner I knew the least well, so I went with the neighbors across the hall. It was only about 10:15 and I could hear that they were up and about as well. I knocked and the younger daughter answered, I think she is the only one in the home that speaks English. She gave me their cordless phone to call the 24h number.

I called and spoke with the operator at the call center, she said she would call maintenance and have them call back. I took a seat on the stairs outside my apartment door. As I was sitting on the stairs I heard Lily (my cat) meowing right inside the door. I felt really bad, maybe she thought I wasn't coming back for awhile. She continued this for a minute or two, then I heard her scratching or something on the other side of the door. All of the sudden I heard the door handle moving and then I heard it again followed by a meow. From what I could gather, she was jumping up on the door and messing with the door handle. THE CAT HAD LOCKED THE DOOR!! I know it sounds crazy, and if you've met my cat, maybe less so, but I don't have any other explanation for how the door got locked.

It had been about 10 minutes and no call yet; I called again. She said she would call this time, apparently she had just paged him the previous time. Within a few minutes I got a call from him. He said he was leaving now, but it would take him about 30 minutes to get here as he lived out of town. I was not too happy to hear the on-call maintenance man was that far away. I told him I know some management personal live in the apartments, could he call one of them, he agreed. While waiting to hear back from him, I called the one person's number I knew - voice mail, I left a message. I thought maybe he didn't' pick up because he didn't recognize the number, so I called again, ah ha, a voice. I quickly explained I was locked out and asked if he would call E, who has keys to my place. Just after hanging up with him, the maintenance man called and said Erin from the office would be over to let me in. Finally, this would be over. It had been over 25 minutes, this I knew because I heard the washer go off. Finally after 10 more minutes and another call to the 24h call center to make sure Erin was coming, I was in!

"I didn't do anything"

Scotland up-date

2009-04-17T11:19:00.004-05:00

We have found a B&B on the Isle of Skye. There were several that were already booked; and I thought I was planning ahead. We will be staying at the Braeside B&B, which is one of the oldest farm houses in Portree, Isle of Skye. It will take about almost 3 hours to drive from Inverness. Portree is the main city on the Isle and will be a great hub from which to start our adventures in hiking and whiskey. Made a venture over to AAA this afternoon and got my international drivers license - watch out world!

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80's tribute

2009-04-16T14:11:00.001-05:00

Bittersweet

2009-04-14T12:19:00.003-05:00

After an eventful weekend watching the Illinois Marathon, hanging out with friends from the Chicago-land area and celebrating Easter with the Freund's, I am gearing up for a pretty packed week of events. Last night Mina hosted our monthly "cooking club." There are about a steady 5 or so of us that get together once a month and have dinner, with a theme and intent that everyone brings a dish and we learn new recipes and cooking techniques. This month's theme was PIE (great idea Diana). We had chicken pot pie, tomato-basil gruyer mini pies, cheese and chile quiche, apple craisin pie with homemade dolce de leche, and sangira made with sprakling grape juice (this you should try, it was delicious). As we sat around the table eating and laughing, this feeling, that has been showing up more often now, began to come over me. I am beyond grateful for the wonderful friends and unforgetable experiences I have had while in CU, but it is during these times that I start to realize just how incredible the people in my life are and how rich they make mine.

Honestly, it is had not to get depressed about leaving, but my saving grace is that I am very excited about where I am going and what I will be doing. It is a God send that I will be within an hour of my family, which was reiterated after my conversation with Marissa (my neice who is just about three) about all the Easter eggs she decorated and what all their colors were, just to find out from my brother that they did not even color eggs this year.

On Saturday morning, while standing outside Guido's with Desiree watching and cheering all the runners pass by (which if this whole PhD thing does not work out I think I might become a professional marathon cheerer - I had a blast) I saw people I knew were running and missed a few, but I also saw a whole bunch of people that I have seen out, on the bus, at the gym, or just around town. Some of these people I have talked with and exchanged smiles with even though I don't know them. Later that evening while out celebrating with friends, I was able to spend time with some old CU'ers in town for the race. A few mentioned that it is kind of weird being back in town, because thing have changed but yet, they haven't. People have come and gone, new friends have been added to the circle and some have left. It was hard not to think that I will soon be in that situation.

As I look ahead to this week: wheel-chair basketball game, West Side Story, and Saturday's bar crawl (I need a costume, any suggestion: superhero or evil villan), I again feel a tinge of sadness and angst creeping in at the thought of leaving and starting anew. The memories left to be made and the excitment of the new ones yet to come help to overcome.

A few random things I will miss about CU:
1) Mug club
2) Pineapple margarita's at Esquire
3) The town/Illini spirit
4) Cation on the radio when I wake up
5) My grocery store, the Roundbarn IGA
6) The Freund's
7) Cheap parking (I hear Ann Arbor is expensive)
8) Bar crawls, althought I hope I find some in Ann Arbor
9) Dos Reales

Scotland!!

2009-04-12T10:11:00.008-05:00

As part of my last summer vacation ever (as a student), which will not be "all in one day," Sam and I are going to Scotland for 10 days in August! As the time is getting closer, we are just about finished with the back-bone plans of the trip, and can't wait!

1. Plane tickets - check
2. General itinerary - check
3. Rental car - check
4. Lodging in 2 of the 3 cities - check

Here is our schedule and the places we are going
View Scotland Vacation in a larger map:
Saturday, 8/8 I'll drive out to Chicago and stay the night with Sam
Sunday, 8/9 Leave O'Hare at 9:35a
Monday, 8/10 Arrive in Glasgow about 8:50a. We will take the Citylink bus to Edinburgh
Monday, 8/10-13 We will stay in Edinburgh at St. Christopher's Hostel

Thursday, 8/13 We will pick up our rental car, an Opel Astra and drive to Inverness, in the highlands, which is just over three hours.
8/13-15 We will be staying at a great little family run bed and breakfast, Summer Lee B&B. Here we will have the pleasure of a full Scottish breakfast, which traditionally includes toast, beans, fried haggis, potato hash, eggs, back bacon, potato scones, fried mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, Lorne sausage, black pudding, oatcakes, kippers (salmon), and porridge. I am full well aware of haggis and black pudding and will, I promise, try it at least once.

Saturday 8/15 We will drive to the Isle of Skye, which will take us just over 2.5 hours. This is the last leg of the trip that we have still to plan. There are several great places to stay in Skye and we will most likely be traveling around to different parts of the island to see everything (or as much as we can). I still have to decide the best "central" location to stay if we will be doing some traveling within the isle, but it is looking like Portree is the most likely candidate. If anyone has suggestions, they would be greatly welcomed.

8/15-18 We will be staying in the Isle of Skye. We will be heading back to Glasgow (about a 4 hour trip) sometime late on the 17th or early AM (i.e. 2am) on the 18th. We need to be back to the airport around 6am to drop off the car and get checked in on time for our 10:15am flight. We figured that we might as well spend the last night either on Skye or at a pub in Glasgow - we've got a long flight to sleep it off.

Still to do:
Find a place to stay on the Isle of Skye
Figure out if there are any festivals during our visit, because I hear Scotland is famous for their summer festivals
Determine if there is anything we want to see that needs reservations/tickets, like tours etc.

Marathon

2009-04-10T09:11:00.002-05:00

A tribute to all of those running the full and half marathon tomorrow
Best of luck!

Red-headed hip-hop

2009-04-08T15:25:00.003-05:00

If it wasn't for the fact that this kid is red-headed I would swear this is my boss as a child, because he has danced to this and several other songs in lab. One of the many things I will miss about the Freund lab when I leave.

Scientific Progress?

2009-04-07T11:28:00.002-05:00

After 3 weeks of emails, minor amendments, and transfer requests, I was finally able to walk a block up the road and give some of our experimental fiber diet to some knock-out mice.

We received the review from my last dissertation publication on March 11th. Their response was good, but they asked some very broad-sweeping questions that do not have a direct answer. At that point in time, I was t-minus 3 months until leaving, and as with most things I was/am in a hurry to get the ball rolling on the rebuttal experiments. (As a side note, I will be going regardless of the publication, but it only behooves everyone for me to get as much done as possible).

After a few days of exchanging ideas with the other authors on ideas, we came up with the following experiment, which is to just answer one of the unanswerable questions. A little background first: our hypothesis is that dietary fiber can dampen the response to infection and they wanted a more in depth "how." There are of course several ways to attack this, but given the limited time and available resources we decided to provide our experimental diet to a mouse that has a genetic mutation of a key protein (X) needed to mediate the signal from the bacteria. (This is still top secret stuff, so I apologize to my fellow scientists for the ambiguity).

Not a problem, I thought. Dr. Z, who we collaborate with, has these X knockout mice, we have used his mice before and our diet is approved and is OK with the 2 campus committees that regulate animal experiments. I figured that only road-block would be how many mice Dr. Z could spare. On March 18th Dr. Z informed me that there are some mice we can have and it is necessary to start feeding the mice the experimental diet ASAP after they are weaned from their moms.

The normal protocol for transferring mice from one PI to another is to submit a transfer request, which usually takes a day or so at most to approve - but there is where we hit snag after snag.

Our protocol was low on available mice (on paper) so we needed to write a minor amendment to add more mice. Other labmates were in the progress of doing this when we got the go-ahead from Dr Z. I was not sure if we were still approved to use space in the building with Dr. Z's mice (we can't bring them to our building - even longer story). So we took a few more days to write in use of building space and addition of these X knockout mice to the minor amendment. We submitted this amendment on March 19th and received approval notice on the 23rd.

But there was yet again another snag. Since the last time we had transferred mice from Dr. Z they wrote a new protocol and chose not to allow transfer as an option without specific authorization. Now mind you this was Spring Break at UIUC, and my emails to Dr. Z asking him to authorize a transfer went unanswered (out-of-office response is there for a reason). When my PI returned on the 30th he finally got an email response that Dr. Z was out of town until the 6th. After several more days of emails between Dr. Z and my boss, Dr. Z agreed that we could submit the transfer authorization on his behalf - this was done on April 2nd and received approval later that day. Then we still had to submit the original transfer request (which was the only thing I originally thought we'd have to do) which was done immediately after the transfer was authorized.

Finally on Friday, April 3rd, we were approved to transfer the X knockout mice from Dr. Z to our protocol and give them our experiment diet. Dr. Z was still out of town until the 6th and I finally was able to start the experiment. Now we wait for 6 weeks until they are ready.

After all the paper work and red-tape, it is pretty obvious why scientific progress takes so freakin' long.

Now and then

2009-04-05T20:24:00.005-05:00

15 years quickly melted away within the first 15 seconds after I saw her smile.

When I left that morning I still could not really believe I was going to see Fred. We had these nick-names for each other. I was George and she was Fred. Neither one of us could quite remember where they had come from, but that is all we called each other. I even dug out an old yearbook, and found that is how she signed it back then. We even had matching leather hair clips that we had had embossed with "Fred" and "George" at the fair one summer. On my drive up I-57 I almost forgot where I was going, as this is the usual first leg of my trips to MI. After I got on Lincoln Hwy heading out to Indiana I could not get the smile off my face; just the thought of seeing Kassie and her mom Roxie again, left me grinning ear to ear.

I was a little nervous when I pulled in the drive. I did not know what to expect. There was not really any doubt that there would be hugs and smiles, and a general sense of I can't believe that we were really in each others presence again. My apprehension came from what would be beyond those first few minutes and hours. What would we talk about? Would we be comfortable telling all the juicy little gems of our lives that had transpired over the past 15 years? That is a lot of living to catch up on, and how would it go?

Shortly after we exchanged "hellos" and "I can't believe its," we after headed out to Roxie's country store, Dunfee Plumtickled Junction, for lunch. After looking around a bit downstairs and meeting Roxie's husband Dave, we took the old wooden staircase upstairs. I could hear her cute, little voice before I could see her. My grin grew. As we rounded the corner and I saw her, I just couldn't believe it - she looked not even 15 minutes older! We hugged and the smell of her perfume brought back even more memories.

After lunch, Kassie and I sat at the table in Pickle's and started to embark on 15 years of catch-up that lasted until the wee hours of the morning drinking wine and sitting on her couch in our PJ's. It all came with such ease, as if we had not seen each other in only a few months. She told me about life after she moved to Texas for just under a year and then to Indiana. All her stories about rodeo life in high school and I saw the pictures of when she was Indiana high school rodeo princess. I told her about college and my car accident. My trips and travels and caught her up on how the rest of the family is doing. We both filled each other in on the boys and men we have dated, and the good, bad, and crazy that went along with all those relationships. I got the story of how her and Jeff met and married. There was and still is so much to tell each other, but I think we made good headway.

In the morning we had our signature pancakes. When we would sleep over each others house, which was probably 2-3 times a week, we would make thin, not quite done pancakes, smother them in butter, and roll them up to eat them. We had one like this for ol' time sake. As the afternoon wore on it was time to say good-bye. We went down to say good-bye to Roxie, Dave, and grandma. We made plans to see each again soon, much much sooner then 15 years. After I get moved to Ann Arbor they would like to come up so they can see the rest of the family as well.

As I was driving home in the pouring rain I just could not believe how blessed I was to have this reunion with them. Her husband and little girl Holly, were just so welcoming. Holly repeated several times, "come back to Holly's house," as I was leaving. It is the true test of sincerity and depth of one's friendship when now it feels just like it was then.

Pancakes and rodeos

2009-04-03T09:38:00.003-05:00

It was about circa 1994 when she moved in across the street and I was enamored with her from the start. Everything about her was the complete opposite of my Mid-west, subdivision-living, 2.5 kids and a cat all American life. A cow-girl, a real life cow-girl with a horse, chaps, rodeo belt buckles, and roping skills. We had no common threads of experience to connect us but we made a fast friendship because of those differences.

It was only a few years before she moved on; that was the first time my heart was broken. My first best-friend who I could tell anything, that person who you just laugh about nothing with for what seems like ever, was gone. As it was back then, before email, we kept in contact with letter writing and phone calls for a few years but eventually lost touch.

I am going to see her this weekend after almost 15 years (gotta love Facebook)! We spoke on the phone the other day and it was like time had never passed and we were just across the street from each on Sugarloaf making our weekend plans. I still can't really believe I am going to see her. I'll let you know how the reunion goes.

She was also the reason I started listening to country music. Sometimes I think the first verse of this song was written about us.

A good polticial laugh

2009-04-01T14:17:00.008-05:00

I usually leave the political issues to one Mr. RomanX , but this one I couldn't help; plus it did not too much trouble to understand the back story

Grassley laid it on thick to Sen. Kent Conrad, reminding the senator that he asked Grassley not to take a vote on something a few years ago and Grassley obliged. Then the Iowan continued to remind the senator that Conrad's reaction to this was, he said "it was a very statesman-like thing to do." But for good measure, Grassley, a senior member of the Budget Committee, ended with, "So I would hope you would return the favor."

Conrad looks shocked and laughingly replies, "I used to like you," before saying, "Oh, you are good."

Without missing a beat, Grassley responds: "Your wife said the same thing."

Upon which Conrad replied steadily and ignored what could have been an even more awkward moment by saying, "She said you were the biggest hit of all the speakers at the event."

Good-bye, so-long, farewell

2009-03-31T14:41:00.005-05:00

However you put it, they are not fun, well usually the actual good-bye party is a blast, but saying so-long to dear friends is never an enjoyable experience. But they have begun. We had a farewell dinner last night for our lab dishwasher and general great all-around helper; Peggy II. Why the II, you ask? Well when we received Peggy's application it was an omen that she would be a great replacement for the then current dishwasher, Peggy (now affectionately referred to as Peggy I). We have not had such luck with a Peggy III, although Jamie said she wouldn't mind if we did call her Peggy - so it may slip out time to time.

In true Freund lab fashion, dinner was filled with inappropriate awkward moments taking about someones inability to deal with their white-creamy dressing, how enjoyable the dark woods table are, and where the hotness quotient in the lab was heading without Peggy.

Peggy has been a wonderful employee and friend who always brought great cheer and interesting stories to the lab - we will miss her greatly!

Fox News

2009-03-30T10:37:00.011-05:00

Fox is not really my regular cable news source, but I am impressed with their creativity.

Happy Birthday Stuie

2009-03-29T12:22:00.007-05:00

Random birthday facts: my brother and I were both born 2-days late (which rarely ever happens anymore) and in snow storms.

The fondest memory I have of his birthday was in 1988 when the family was in NY for my aunt's wedding. I do not remember if it was before or after the wedding, but we were at my Aunt Sheila and Uncle George (paternal grandmother's brother & sister-in-law) for some kind of wedding-related-family-gathering. I was six at the time, and this was the first time Stuart and I had met my dad's extended family. Aunt Shelia told me she wanted to get a cake for Stuart's birthday. There were several more wedding-related-family-gathering planned for that weekend in which to celebrate his birthday; she asked me what he likes. I declared strawberry! This is were my six-year-memory is a little fuzzy, because I can not recall if the ensuing cake fiasco was later that day or the following.

A several tier, white frosted, strawberry-lined cake arrived. Aunt Shelia set-up the cake on the buffet in the formal dining room. We all gathered and sang happy birthday to "little Stuie" (since my dad is the orginal Stuie is that circle). As they were passing around nicely sliced pieces of, what I assume was a pretty pricey combination of sugar, flour, butter, and strawberries, it became apparent that "little Stuie" did not like strawberry cake. I soon found myself hiding under the table in the cloak of the table cloth. Aunt Shelia was not too happy needless to say and let me know it. My parents on the other-hand found it a bit amusing, especially since I do not even particularly like strawberry cake all that well.

In retrospect, I can only conclude that I made this decision because I knew he did not like it. I have made him yellow-cake with extra chocolate frosting ever since.