Yeah Monday!

Tomorrow is Monday and that means it's time to go back to work. Now, don't get me wrong. I pretty much have the best job in the world. But, the Monday after a long holiday is tough for everybody. To celebrate (heavy on the sarcasm) tomorrow, below I have posted pictures of the inspirational posters that hang in our lab (seriously, we have these up on the wall).

We don't have the rest of these up on the wall (yet), 

but I think they're pretty funny anyways. 

Have a great Monday! I know that I will...

Green Thumb

One of my favorite things about Florida is the foliage. It's one of my mom's favorite things too - and boy does she have a green thumb. Every time I visit, she takes me on the tour, which consists of the two of us walking around the outside of the house and the lanai (Floridian word for patio) while she updates me on the status of all of her plants. She gets a lot of  enjoyment out of tending to them and I love hearing her tell me about them. Here is a mini-tour of the fruits of her labor. 

Let's start on the lanai... 

 Christmas cactus that she started as a 4-inch sprig last year.

 Succulents and Cacti

Moving outside... 

here is her flap jack cactus (left) and her snake plant (right). 

Hibiscus trees - single...

and double blossoms.

Alligator Fern

Bouganvilla

7-foot tall Agave

Year-round blooming snapdragons

Ahhh... I miss Florida already.

New Tricks

Harper went shopping yesterday. On the car ride, she proved she's no one-trick-pony. She can play peek-a-boo and eat her foot all at the same time. Somebody better tell her not to fill up on foot - it is Turkey Day after all. 

Life Is Better In Florida

My parents really want us to move to Florida. To encourage us to do so, they bribe us. Yesterday, my dad took Rob golfing, my mom treated me to a massage, the cat spent all day by the pool, and Harper got to spend time with her biggest fan. 

Florida, Here We Come!

We made it! 10 hours of driving (plus a one hour time change) later, Rob, Harper, the cat, and I arrived at my parents' house to celebrate Thanksgiving. Despite the fact that 1. I almost left the house without any underware, socks, or bras and 2. the cat got car sick and puked on Rob's sandle-clad foot while he was driving, we had an uneventful trip. Rob drove the entire way which allowed me to sit in the back seat and entertain Harper. Now I can't say that I would recomend traveling long distances by car with a 9 month old baby, but I have to admit that it was easier than I expected (which is probably because I have the best baby in the whole world). She was fussy for about 30 seconds total and then she just played, ate, and slept the rest of the time. So awesome. The best part was that Rob and I got a nice chunk of uninterrupted time to talk and plan some exciting things that will hopefully come to fruition in the near future (stay tuned...). I'll do my best to keep you updated on our Turkey Day Week adventures. Until then, I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday too.

Science Friday - Ants

I don't particularly like ants, but I heard this story on NPR (love NPR by the way) and was fascinated by it. I know that fascinated is a strong word, but keep in mind, I am a science nerd. 

Many ants are known to be slave masters—their raiding parties steal the young from colonies of rival ants and raise the foreigners as workers in their own nest. In this case, the enslaved ants are Temnothorax curvispinosus - tiny ants that aren't much bigger than the commas on this page. Their slave masters, Protomognathus americanus, are only slightly bigger, but kidnap the slave ants and force them to care for their young. 

Biologist Susanne Foitzik said these captor ants aren’t very good at doing their own housework. So, they raid the homes of smaller ants, carry off the pupae, and raise them in their own colony (inside an acorn). Here's where the story gets good... However, instead of caring for the young captor ants, some of the slave ants grow up to become baby killing ant nannies. They kill the young by throwing them outside the acorn or by tearing them apart and leaving them to die.

This rebellion doesn’t win the slave ants their freedom. Even if it did, they wouldn’t know how to get back home (remember, they were kidnapped as pupae). However, these sabotage skills certainly have some advantages. Wiping out the bully ants’ children means fewer bully ants will be available for future raiding parties. In that sense, the slave ants protect their relatives and future generations from meeting the same fate that they did.

Harper Vs. Sage -- Round 1

It's a good thing we have a very patient cat...

Do Blondes Really Have More Fun?

So I am thinking of changing my hair color. I've been a blonde all of my life (see below), but I think it's time for a change. Until about 4 years ago, I've been a natural blonde. And then, for some strange reason, I decided that I wanted to start chemically enhancing my (already blonde) hair. Great idea. Now, every couple weeks, I need to touch up my roots (which are apparently really pissed that I started dying my hair in the first place because they now grow in a nice shade of dark brown...). What it comes down to is that I'm tired of dying my hair but I am too vain to just let my roots grow out. In addition, I really like being a blonde. It's all I've ever known and I don't like change. So, the solution that I am currently mulling over is to dye my hair brown in an attempt to allow my roots to grow out and eventually get my hair back to it's natural color. Any thoughts? 

Me, very blonde at age 4. Can you tell how excited

 my cousins are to watch me open Christmas presents?

A picture from last month. 

Will Harper still recognize me if I dye my hair brown?

Beware of Baby

Feeling Charitable

Now these are causes worth donating to...

Reads : Wife ran off with best friend. Need $$$ for a thank you card.

Science Friday - Marine Life Edition

***Here are the answers***
1. fish gills 2. a squid sucker 3. shark skin
Tune in next Friday for another edition of Science Friday!

It's Friday and that means it's Science Friday! For this installment of What Is It?, I have a couple SEMs for you to ponder. Send me your guesses. And remember, the theme for today is Marine Life...

Matrixology

11:00 pm

12:30 am

1:45 am

3:00 am

5:15 am

6:30 am

7:05 am

These are the times that Harper (and I) got up last night. She's usually a good sleeper - except when she's sick. And last night she was sick. Don't worry. She's fine. It's just a cold. 

I'm telling you this as a bit of a disclaimer. I am a little tired this morning and my brain is a little fuzzy. That being said, this post is about to get a little weird. Stick with me. Remember, I'm tired...

Ok, so I'm driving in the car this morning and it's raining and gray and cloudy. Suddenly, a clip from the movie The Matrix Revolutions pops into my head. It's the part where Neo and Trinity are fighting the machines in the machine world and to avoid being overtaken by them, they fly their ship above the clouds. It's at that moment that Trinity realizes that while the machine world is dark and raw and violent, above the clouds the world is bright, peaceful, and beautiful. 

Here's the clip (yeah, I actually found it on-line. Amazing.).

 

Anyway, what made me think about this clip this morning is that when I look at the sky and it's gray and rainy, 9 times out of 10 I totally forget that just above the clouds, the sky is blue and the sun is out. Maybe I need to expand my perspective a little. 

Miscelaineous Music - November Edition

I'm a sucker for singer/songwriters and Ray Lamontagne is one of the best. I pretty much like everything he does, but the song that I posted today, Shelter,  is what initially got me hooked.
  
                                       

I know that Harper loves me best, but I also know that she has way more fun with her dad than she does with me.                                                             

                                        

Harper has been perfecting a new trick. She's getting pretty good at it too. It's only a matter of time before life as we know it is over...

                                        

Science Friday - Sex Edition

Let's talk about sex. No, not that kind of sex. I mean let's talk about gender. No fewer than 8 of my friends are currently pregnant. Speculation abounds as to who's having what - a boy or a girl, that is. With all the old wives tales floating around out there, I feel that as a scientist I am obligated to shed light on the biological side of the issue. So without any further ado (drumroll please...), the father alone determines the sex of the baby. Yes, it's true. You can either thank or blame your child's father for the gender of your baby. 

Scanning electron micrograph of a human X chromosome

Think of it like this. We all know that we inherit half of our chromosomes from our mother and half from our father. We also know that our sex chromosomes determine our gender and that 2 X chromosomes (XX) make a female, while having 1 X and 1 Y chromosome (XY) makes a male. So, when your parents' chromosomes were being divided up, your mother could only give you an X but your father could either give you an X or a Y. If he gave you an X, you would be XX = girl. If he gave you a Y, you would be XY = boy. Note - the color represents which parent you got the chromosome from. Red represents the chromosome you got from your mom and blue represents the chromosome you got from your dad.  

Yes, all science humor really is that bad...

Chicken Soup

My friend, LC, is sick. I hate it when people are sick. I feel powerless to make them feel better and I don't like feeling powerless. So, in a meager attempt to not feel so powerless, I am going to do what I can to make LC feel better. LC loves Harper and Harper loves LC. Today, I am posting some pictures of Harper specifically so LC can look at them and feel better. 

   

Oh yeah. By the way, I'm praying too. And that also makes me feel less powerless. 

How Harper Spent Election Night 2008

                                                    

Election Day

I'm glad that by the end of today, we can all stop arguing over our political differences and we can get back to concentrating on the important things in life like how bad traffic is and how overpriced Starbucks is.

Best Inventions of 2008

TIME Magazine just came out with their list of Best Inventions of 2008. Here are a couple of my favorites.

1. Hulu.com - As if we (meaning me) needed any more internet distractions, this website has high quality full episodes of your favorite tv shows and movies. For free. Check it out.

2. The Global Seed Vault - Located above the Arctic Circle on a remote Norwegian island, this is a Fort Knox for food.  Nations from around the world are contributing native seeds in an attempt to store and maintain every known type of seed in existence. With plant species disappearing at an incredible rate due to climate change, war, and deforestation among other things, scientists have developed a plan to collect and protect one of the world's most valuable natural resources.

3. The Invisibility Cloak - Scientists at UC Berkley have engineered two new materials (one using a fishnet of metal layers and the other made of tiny silver wires) that neither absorb nor reflect light. These materials work on the principle of refraction and could make Harry Potter's invisibility cloak a reality. 

4. The Seven New Deadly Sins - Yep. That's right. The Vatican is keeping up with the times. In case you're interested - bioethical sins, morally dubious experiments that harm human embryos, drug abuse, polluting, social injustice, accumulating excessive wealth, and creating poverty are all big no-noes now. 

5. Sound Enhanced Food - A British chef has been experimenting with how sound affects the taste of food. He found that listening to a recording of breaking ocean waves while you eat an oyster makes it taste 30% saltier than if you listen to a recording of barnyard animals. 

Some of my favorite inventions that didn't make the list...

• Heated Automotive Seats
• Coke Zero
• The Magic Eraser
• The Pilot G2 Pen

What are your favorite creature comforts?