the unforeseen trajectory

"all over the interwebs"

2010-12-02T13:39:00.000-08:00

This is badass. A new bacteria has been discovered that uses arsenic instead of phosphorous. Everybody uses phosphorous, 'cept this asshole...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/03/science/03arsenic.html?ref=science

man

2010-12-02T13:38:00.000-08:00

man, blogs is hard, yall.

chat

2010-05-24T13:34:00.001-07:00

Rebecca: so we're in agreeance?

me: i'm in america

where the fuck are you

Microbiology aint all that bad

2009-08-16T20:09:00.000-07:00

I spent a month this summer in Monterey, California at Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station to study marine microbiology. There are many courses like this offered around the world every summer, designed to flood new graduate students with major and relevant concepts in a short amount of time. As one might imagine this makes for an intensely difficult short amount of time, but it was well worth the pain. We averaged working 14 hours a day/6 days a week during the month, and were introduced to new ways of thinking about the potential of living systems such as how energy is transferred and exploited on the fundamental level of electron swapping. We also discussed the evolutionary idiosyncrasies of microorganisms (when compared to more easily grasped macroorganism evolution) that might arise by, for instance, horizontal gene transfer. Most microbes are asexual, or "clonal", which means that the only genetic diversity that could arise would be by rare mutational events during DNA replication which makes a copy of the DNA for the newly divided cell. Horizontal gene transfer is the idea that microbes can swap genes with each other, or take genes from one another as a way to increase genetic variability, which in turn allows for more viable genetic possibilities to have arisen once environmental pressures are exerted which select against them. In other words, horizontal gene transfer increases the likelihood that one lucky microbe will be diverse enough from the rest of the herd to outcompete them if their more common genotype is selected against by some new environmental stress.

ANYWAY, the course was very hard but so very fun, and the setting in which it took place was utterly amazing. Hopkins Marine Station is located directly on the rocky, seal-covered Pacific shore of southern Monterey Bay. Less than a mile from the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium, our laboratory/classroom had 5 windows that overlooked this daydream-provoking view, one of which was inauspiciously located next to my assigned seat. Amazingly, though, I held strong and did not succumb to the sirens of daydreaming, and against all odds actually learned a great deal.

Proof!

And lastly, the people I met were unforgettable. There were 16 students, 4 TAs, 4 professors and a barrage of famous scientists--well, in my field at least--who came as guest speakers. The professors were microbially omniscient, the TAs brilliant and holy, and the students made for some damn good month long friendships.

Some friends last longer than a month

One more thing, as a way to unwind for the few 10-minute bursts of free time that were bestowed upon us by some godsend of a scheduling error or the like, we usually played knockout. If unfamiliar, knockout is probably the funnest thing you can do with a basketball and a group of people. Here is a photo.

Big Sur

Oh yea, and we made beer.

Peace!

hold your bloody god-damned horses

2009-03-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

hey, sit down.
hold your bloody god-damned horses.

mexican jumping bean

2009-03-22T17:20:00.000-07:00

look at her go, so fast she holds things

her knuckles are definitely not pink, or any shade of a well-circulated extremity for that matter

she does not wait or accommodate
well, sometimes she accommodates

but she loves and is good concerning most things.

Roger

2009-01-14T15:07:00.000-08:00

I'm awful at blogging. But lately I've been getting the urge to write stories and what better place to manifest said urge than here! So here we go.....

Roger stood at the foggy glass door, 8 years old and immobilized by the choice between Grapico and Sunkist.

the end

meshico

2008-12-08T01:13:00.000-08:00

I'm on a ship in the Gulf of California right now. On board is the "alvin" submersible and we are studying the sea floor. My sleeping habits are ridiculous and haven't yet fallen into a pattern so it's difficult to feel like an actual human being. Today began for me at lunchtime and then I probably did something very scientific and cool, followed by a random pingpong challenge. More very complicated, important science and then one of the crew taught me two guitar chords. The food is amazing, I can't remember when I last ate so well. Here's this a picture I really like that I took in Mexico before we got on the ship.

bro and sissy lou

2008-11-17T15:55:00.000-08:00

My brother and sister-in-law (howard and julia) visited about a month ago. They are soooooooooo awesome. Seriously, the best. I am trying to persuade them to move here and I think it just may be working! woo!

They borrowed my roomates' bikes and we rode all over town...

dukey wukey

2008-11-13T18:00:00.000-08:00

This is on Duke's campus. Boo, they suck. Well, that's what I've been told anyway

Suddenly I Saw

2008-11-13T15:21:00.000-08:00

Suddenly I saw-
His face was shining like the sun.
I did all I could do to look away.
But when you're small people don't know how to act
As I recall, Grandpa had a heart attack.

double you freshness!

2008-11-13T15:12:00.000-08:00

I'm in lab. doing an experiment or, a spearmint, which made me think of doubling all sorts of things. freshness, fun, oreo stuffing, anything can be doubled really, anything.

I dogsat. It ruled. She and I bonded like krazy with a k.
This blog post is dedicated to anna again. Deal with it

physical oceanography

2008-09-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

I scanned some of my notes for physical oceanography. enjoy....haha. Actually I do think they're pretty cool-

p.s. You should add the term "water parcel" to your daily vocabulary, it's exhilarating.

what's my up-to's been?

2008-09-09T13:04:00.000-07:00

yea yea, I know I've been slacking on my blogginess....but I've got some killer ideas, just you wait. just you wait.

So, like I said I'm taking this class called 'how to give a seminar.' We read various papers and then present them via powerpoint to the class. Today I gave my first presentation in which I talked about how climate warming has caused ice melting and thus adversely affected polar bear den selection. It was pretty awesome. If you don't believe me, just look at this picture...

Now I am sitting at this really cool coffee shop that I frequent, it's called Open Eye Cafe. I study here daily. As many of you may know, I was once a badass barista. As such, I have achieved expert status in telling people whether their coffee sucks or not, and in the snootiest of snooty ways (e.g., "wow I love how your crema is so blonde and the espresso has that overwhelmingly bitter taste...sike! you piece of bleepedy bleep sorry excuse for a barista."). Luckily, here it does not suck, and is actually quite good. There is even the occasional attempt at a rosetta, albeit of lesser aesthetic quality than those encountered at the Urban Standard, but there nonetheless. In summary, I love this place. I will now take pictures of it...ha! oh man, that dude pointed right at me, how perfect! sorry 'bout the blurrrrrr

In other news, I got new shoes...Do you like them? I do.

peace yallz

hokay

2008-08-31T20:41:00.000-07:00

Random dude who told me I was at the right building. I wasn't.

This is Chapman Hall, home of UNC Marine Sciences and Chemistry. I spend a lot of time here.

This is one of the quads, but before class had started so no one is there. These days it's packed all the time.

This is me literally kicking but only metaphorically connecting with the bike I bought that turned out to be a money pot. pit? money pit or money pot? who knows? I think money pit.

More Pics Soon...

2008-08-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

I am going to run around campus like a wild-man, maybe neked maybe not, and photograph everything possible some time in the next week. So, get ready.

this one's for anna

2008-08-24T16:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, here's a life summary since the last one. Classes started on Tuesday and it was actually kind of a tough week. My classes are Physical Oceanography, How to Give a Seminar, Marine Microbial Diversity and German 101. German was by far the hardest class to make it through this week. Not that I don't love it, we've just had tons of work. Hmm, let's see...made another friend, Matt, another new marine sciences student. We've decided to start a band. I think we will be ridiculously amazing. Among the many instruments in his multi-instrumentalist suitcase lies a xaphoon, which is a small Hawaiian bamboo saxophone. Friday night we went out for drinks with people from the marine sciences dept and then with the art history dept. Crazy night. I slept all day Saturday. Today = homework, coffee shop, new printer, doritos, now. Aaaaannnnnd we're up to speed.

Story: Friday afternoon I was at home alone and a knock came to the door. By the way, I live in a teeny tiny suburb like neighborhood in a not-many-suburbs town, found the house on craigslist, had no idea. So I opened the door and there was Barbara, the middle-aged suburban mom that lives behind me. She said, "Hi. I'm Barbara, I live behind you. Do you know anything about computers?" I said, "Sometimes, what's this dog's name?" And Tashi, Barbara and I were off, headed to her house to solve a downloading problem. We figured it out. I met her kids, they were cool. End of story. Ha! I bet you thought there was a point! Nope, not really!

Conor Oberst and the Mytic Valley Band

2008-08-16T09:44:00.001-07:00

One of my first nights here I went to see Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band. Taylor Hollingsworth and Macey Taylor from Birmingham are both in this group. The day of the show I was walking around town and saw Macey three times but never said anything to him. I didn't wanna be that guy who's like, "hey Macey! remember me? We've never really spoken to each other but we've stood in close proximity on a handful of occasions. Let's go have a burrito!" Actually, in hindsight, I should have said this. Anyway, the band was great.

been playin a lot of guitar

2008-08-15T16:17:00.000-07:00

This is the place where I sleep on my new Ikea bed, aka the Roomstead, aka Back Wicha Bottom Dolla!, aka San Nustletynn Village, aka Getcha Booty Outcha Pants and Let's Dance. Notice the soccer ball pillow...I got this because when I saw it at Ikea I had a vision of me drop-kicking it into Stewart's face. True story, I know he'll understand. Also, behind my hiny on the table is a bottle of Basil Hayden's Kentucky bourbon, a parting gift from the staff of Urban Standard in Bham (the cafe where I recently worked). It's so good. Window unit? Yes. Glow-N-The-Dark stars/comets on the ceiling? Believe it. Upside down Red Mountain Park sticker on guitar? Take that one to the bank.

more like borientation

2008-08-15T13:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was new graduate student orientation. And let's be honest, what could be more fun than an endless string of lectures on the honor code, health insurance and adviser searching? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Well, that's not totally true...I'd rather be slaloming. Other than that, though, nothing. Ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok OK! It wasn't that bad. There was a professor of "meta-ethics" who led us in a philosophical pep-rally against our opponent, which was "dishonesty" or some shizz like that. And there were some seemingly cool senior grad students who told us silly anecdotes about there advisers. This one geology dude was hilarious--he had the whole place laughing. I'll probably stalk him down and try to be his friend. GOD I HOPE HE LIKES ME!!

Anywho, I made two first friends here in Chapel Hill. Jo and Sarah. Cool gals, both art history students. We went to a party at a bar and talked about Hollywood, scoliosis, squirrels, John Cusack, the speed of small gymnast children, hamsters and being frightened of caffeine (not me!). It was like the 2008 deadly eruption of Mt. St. Small Talk. But! the important part is that I have friends! Woopie doo!

ok peace

Well, here's a poem

2008-08-13T13:16:00.000-07:00

and with your sweat now striped
and with your tinged night-eyed slight
how it wallowed like a dog in his cloudy bright sight
and brought flags to fly and wires to splice.

burn down the crash pad towers tonight
at first sign of the crow-flock's strife,
make meals, spin wheels by crazy delight
and come breaking balsa shells with backs of knives.

under three large rocks you'll get your coins
and your chance to fling all the choir bins open to
the world-iris of punchy cased and delicate things.
only then will god's bushy black brow look about
for times forward when with will accords
what it affords and planar bends make lending soars.

B-Log, to the ones, yeeyah

2008-08-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

This is my first blog, yay!

I just moved to Chapel Hill, NC a week ago for "graduate school"(sp?). Perty cool so far. Sad though. I miss my friends a billion. I didn't realize I was so attached to Birmingham until right there in the last day or two. It smashed into me like something big smashing into a person.....from the side...and...the person was looking the other way....and...it was....like....a total surprise....that the person didn't know about. I plan to visit as much as I can.

Anyway, grad school. I am in the department of marine sciences where I'll study microorganisms that live in extreme aquatic environments...sounds neato, huh? Well, it is, so lay off! I'm looking forward to it. They tell me I'll be going on a research cruise in the Gulf of California in December where we'll go 2000 meters underwater in a submarine and take samples of the sea floor...and I think that sounds like it will be awesome. Classes don't start for a week but I've been to the lab to help another student do some research. We "sectioned a core" which is like a sticking syringes into a giant mud-flavored flinstone's push-pop. It was great! I'm sure it's one of those things I'll get tired of later but this time, at least, it was very amusing.

Ok, I guess that'll be all for my blog numero uno.

Peace to everyone!