For Science!

Watch as I fall off the internet again.

Labmate S seems to have come to his senses, in that he is asking to send off plasmid in test tubes this Thursday. This would not have been possible had I not already done my magic, so logic-win for me. Still, MW and Panda make the point that I need assertiveness training. This proves to be a problem, since assertiveness training this term conflicts with my TAship. $$$ > training, because I need one of them to live.

In the meantime, it is no longer holiday. This is a good thing, as we'd had too many holidays. But they, and almost the entire first month of the Jewish year, is done. Now nothing until Khannukah, which is only really eve a thing because Christian advertisers wanted to show how not-anti-semitic they were. They just failed to do the research, so I don't think the message came out quite as they intended.

[flashback]
Tuesday was the day of flying home. First we stopped at Zieman's bakery to pick up the cake I had ordered . . . only there was no cake. Someone flubbed the order. They sold me some day-old but I was still so pissed.

Then I went to the airport, got on a plane, got to LAX, got off the plane, and called people to tell them I had arrived safely. While I was doing this, there was a call . . . to tell me my cake was ready. I chewed that moron out. Not like I won't make the attempt to buy one more such cake the next time I am in Detroit, but it is so frustrating. I told you to have it ready at 9:00 AM for a reason, and the reason was I was leaving the state.

Then I slept on the bus ride home, and did laundry, and went to sleep. That's the end of my wedding adventure.
[/flashback]

Now I am wrestling with my prof's computer, which ought to be plug-and-play but isn't. Grr. I will get this worked out before the term is done though. I will.

In the original Greek, a symposium was rather like a Roman orgy - that is, you and some of your friends got together to eat a nice meal and drink some drinks and debate philosophy; in modern times, it would be called a "dinner party." But in Science!, symposiums means "when a bunch of scientists get together and tell each other about the cool things that they are doing." At my school, we have one each year, just before school starts, to welcome the incoming grad students. It was yesterday.

I will not bore you with the details, but here are some highlights:
1. Using embryonic stem cells to grow retinal cells, which are then implanted into the eyes of people suffering age-related macular degeneration. If it is done early enough, there is no degeneration.
2. Molecular motors that pump DNA into viral capsids. These are not the most efficient motors we have found, but they are among the strongest, exerting forces of of up to 70 pN. (For comparison, the motors that drive muscle cells can exert between 3 and 5 pN.) Also, they make things spin.
3. A 10-minute drug test that will enable police with the device to determine if someone has been doing meth (and in the future, other narcotics) from 20 uL of saliva. There are 1000 uL in each milliliter, so we are talking less than the volume of saliva that is in your mouth right now. Least invasive, fastest test.
4. A growing mass of cells is under both tension (at the edges) and compression (in the middle). When the forces balance, the cell mass stops growing. Unless it's cancer.

Today, for no good reason that I can tell, half the power in this house is out. I mean, half the circuits are not working, but which ones are not working seems kind of random and arbitrary. I can't find the fuse box, so I will have to wait until the landlady returns.

[flashbacky effects]
Sunday! The wedding! Yaakov and Caryn got married! I do not have much to say, aside from the fact that Yaakov was crying with joy as he walked to the Khuppa*. They are pretty much for each other, and everyone has known this forever. He did not propose until he finished his degree, which is a good and responsible thing to do.

The MC was Orthodox but not crazily so, as evidenced by his first statement, to whit: "Mawwige. Mawwige is what bwings us togevow today." The whole wedding was like that, which various people reading the Seven Blessings, and the drinking of the wine, and the smashing of the glass, and the (not-necessary in a functional sense) exchange of rings, and toasting.

Then we partied, and partied, and did the terrifying chair dance, and partied, and ate some food, and partied. It was pretty great.

Yes, the wedding is why I went to Michigan during Hell Month. But if your close good friend, your best-friend while you were in middle school, gets married . . . you go to the wedding :)
[flashbacky wavy effects]

*Marriage tent. Think altar, though, if you are Christian, functionally it works the same way.

So that was Thursday. Friday, I visited with Great-Aunt E, and then went out to late-lunch/movie date with my <>Rags. We saw Pacific Rim (it still being in a theatre at that time). I think she did not enjoy it as much as I did :/. In the future I shall keep the MST3K to a minimum :x.

Then Rags drove me off to the house of Anne W, who was hosting the rest of my family and also having us and JJ's friend A and A's family over to dinner. I spent hours catching up with everyone, and making relentless Monty Python references, and breaking into song at the same time, and eating Meat. It was pretty great.

Then Panda drove me back to Great-Aunt E's house, for another exciting night of fun!! Just kidding, it was beastly hot there sleeping was not fun at all.

Flashback of the day complete! [imagine wavy fading-out-of-flashback effects here]

Today, I biked the whole two miles to school. It's mostly uphill, and I am mostly anemic, and as it turns out, this is not a great combination. I will have fabulous legs later, if the biking doesn't kill me.

Then I came home and watched a livestream of Some Like It Hot. It is not my kind of movie, but great if you are into that kind of movie. And now I am online. Whoo!

Number one thing about Michigan: It is green. California is not green, usually. It's a sort of burnt brownish-grey, unless someone is using far more than their fair share of water.

So the trip was as follows:

I took a red-eye from LAX. It would not have been so bad, except that there was a young child behind me, who a. did not understand the concept of quiet and b. kept kicking the back of my chair. This is why I think no persons younger than, say, six should be allowed on airplanes, and then only if sedated. But whatevs. The flight itself was uneventful.

We got into Detroit at a time my body insisted was 4:00 AM, although is was 7:00 there. Ragwurm came to pick me up at the airport, and this was when she did not have to and at ungodly early o'clock, to take me to the Boy's house. The Boy has a bunk bed, for reasons that have never been quite clear to me. So I stole it, and promptly slept for six hours.

Then I got up, although I still went to sleep pretty early later on. In the meantime, there was my Boy ;)

On Thursday, I was going to meet up with Carebear, but she was called into work. It made me Sad ;_; because I did not end up seeing her at all. Or her boyfriend, who is called the electric blender-mixer for reasons of Baking. Instead, I played video games and lazed about with the Boy all day long. Which was nice too . . .

On Friday, Ragwurm picked me up for a fun day of movies! First I saw Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, which I had never seen before in its entirety. Then we had lunch, which was cheese-and-tomato for me, and turkey for her. She played a game of LoL along with her brother and her brother's girlfriend while we ate. Next we went and saw Batman: they're never going to stop making these movies, in Imax. We had planned to see it in not-Imax, but then we got to the theater late. It was loud :( After the movie, we had dinner at the local Indian restaurant; I got mine too spicy. We did manage to meet up with her sisters, too, in a different restaurant. It was a good day, but I was tired by the time I got back.

On Saturday, I went to Shul. All the people were surprised to see me there, but I got many compliments on how California has given me my first tan in years (true) and also I have lost weight (true but not because of California). It was good to see them again :)

The Wedding was on Sunday, but it will get its own post.

Directly after the wedding, I went to get on an airplane and fly back to LAX. I bought some expensive airport food, and had a nice conversation with some total strangers while eating it. The flight itself was late, but only by ~15 mins. It did have a baby, but it was a good baby and only cried on the way up and down, when the pressure changes were being painful. When we got into LAX, slightly ahead of time, we were made to sit in the plane, on the tarmac, for an hour because there was no gate for us. And there were people who were trying to make a connecting flight to Australia! Amazingly, when they finally did let us off the plane, my shuttle had waited for me so I got home okay.

Now I am back in the land of not-green. Sigh.

Well, actually more like San Jose today. We packed up and left the haunted hotel room early in the morning and then drove to the land of San Jose so that JJ and MW could tour. Then the Panda and I went and got bagel eggwiches for breakfast, which were pretty good.

Then we wandered off to the Rosicrucian Museum. It is a museum mostly about Ancient Egypt, but also with some Babylon. There, we met up with LaCha!

In real life, LaCha is exactly as tall as me, and has the exact same poofy hair as me, but has a much cooler hat than me. She also wear glasses. now my Panda keeps asking why all my friends are brain-clones of me. I keep telling him LaCha is super evil and also more into the eldritch mysteries that man was not meant to know wot of, but he does not listen.

So we went museuming and I took pictures although they are all crap because flash was not allowed in the museum. (I left the camera in the car anyway so you will have to wait NYAH!)

( Crap Photos Under Here )

That was the museum. Then we left to go pick up JJ and MW and go to the Hillel, which was boring. After that, we had an ice-cream lunch (at 3-ish), and came here to Pleasanton for a real dinner of sushi. Om nom nom. There were some friendly Japanese-speakers at the table next to us, who explained that cold sake comes in little lacquered boxes, and also that it is easy to bet drunk on cold sake because it is smooth and doesn't feel as alcoholic XD

Now it is Shabbat for resting. Tomorrow will be restful.

Today, we did Fisherman's Wharf. Historically, this dock was home to the San Fransisco fishing fleet, starting during the 1849 Gold Rush. It is still actually a fishing wharf, but also a very chic touristy area as well.

To get there, we used that most San Fransiscan of transportations, the cable car. The cable under the street move all the time, worked by a central system. To go anywhere, the operator throws a large lever, which clamps wooden blocks tight around the cable. Thus, the cable car moves.

( Cable Car )

First, we went to the Hyde Street Pier, which is home to a tiny fleet of ships of historical interest: a restored ferryboat from pre-Golden Gate Bridge days, a tugboat, an in-progress restoration, and a square-rigged sailship. Having been on a modern merchant marine frieghter and a decommissioned nuclear sub, I found the experience enlightening. And we learned a lot about those merchant mariners - they were very manly men. Very.

( The Balclutha )

Then we went up to the Ghirardelli Square, where we got free chocolate samples and also delicious delicious chocolate. Also, however, MW is right in that choco more than ~60% cocoa solids is not delicious and is for sauces rather than eating.

Next, we walked along the waterfront to towards Pier 39, passing on our way the Boudin Bakery, which makes amusing sourdough breads. They were shaped like teddy bears, and turtles, and even a massive alligator-shaped one. We saw a guy making rolls, which was less amusing. But I think a turtle-shaped bread would be interesting*.

Finally, we went and had dinner on the Pier 39, which was (of course) seafood! The only problem was they gave us too much, and I always feel obligated to eat everything if I can't take it home in a box. Now I am Stuffed. Urg.

( Topiary )

Tomorrow, MW and JJ are going off to tour places where JJ might finish his degree. This is an Odd thing about California: all the state colleges are linked, so you can take all the gen ed courses at your local community college, and then go to the university with your specific degree for that set of courses. There are only four universities with JJ's program, and two of them are in the bay area . . . which we are conveniently in. Panda and I will Sleep In. It will be great.

*For those unaware, JJ and I make challah, Traditional Jewish bread, in the traditional way: with flour, water, eggs, and (wo)manpower. We can and do make interesting shaped breads because of this.

Today, we did (a bit) of Golden Gate Park.

We were going to go to the Conservatory, but it was closed because apparently they were cleaning it from the inside. So instead here are some plant pictures I took.

( Flora )

We went to the Japanese Tea Garden first instead, where I took pictures of interesting topiaries and faunas and statuaries.

( Giant Buddha! )

The we went over to the museum of Science! It had exhibits about biology-type Science! mostly, which I enjoyed. My camera lost power partway through, but I will put up what pictures I have.

( For SCIENCE! )

It is at this point that my camera died, which is a shame because the very next thing to happen was a blue morpho butterfly landing on me! Twice! JJ was standing right there and I handed him my camera, but it was out of power and would not turn on. So SAD ;_;

There were also cool poison dart frogs and giant orb spiders that I could not photograph. In real life, the dart frogs are tiny! And colorful; being poisonous doesn't help unless your predator know it, after all.

Also, there was an almost complete and real blue whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling. I found it interesting that the whale has disconnected hip bones, and even hind knee bones, but they are entirely vestigial and don't connect to anything.

Anyway, after the museum, we went to dinner at The Stinking Rose, a restaurant which flavors its garlic with food. This is of course in keeping with the garlic theme of this vacation, and boy was it ever. They even had garlic ice cream, which was actually pretty good.

Now I am done typing up the report for the day, so I will go sleep. Laters!

Greetings from warm, sunny California! Which is where I am, enjoying the company of the Panda, whom I had not seen since April.

We have only vague plans for the most part. Go to a winery (where I can partake of the wine-tasting, yey!). Go to a Zen Garden, because I have not been to in nearly a decade. We will go see various members of the clan who live in this state, including Rich Cousin Jacob* and Aunt Naomi. I have also been informed that while San Fransisco is Not Happening, we will do Los Angeles. So peoples, make suggestions! I can probably even swing IRL meetings if anyone is interested.

Whoo, jet-lagged. We started at five thirty in the morning, EST. From about 11 to 12 local time, we had an hour-long layover in, of all places, Las Vegas; I lost my slot-machine virginity and have decided that slots are the least interesting way to lose money. Now, it's not about four, PST, which puts me into hour fourteen today on slightly more than four hours of sleep, plus what I got on the plane.

Mmm, nap time now, I think.

*Who pays for this kind of thing.

Ohthank[insert deity of choice here]!

I have been dying in my grandmother's house. It wasn't even the lack of internet. It's that it's Florida, and it is eighty degrees out, and she has the heat on. Because she's cold. Because she has rat poison in her blood. And the lack of internet, too, of course.

I have said my goodbyes. That's really what this trip was about, in my mind. Saying goodbye to her while she is still lucid enough to understand, and being able to remember her as that person.

Now, I have a Thing:

Drivers! In! Florida! They are assholes. They are goddamned fucking assholes. I put on my turn signal to change lanes, and . . . I am ignored. Completely. If there is someone in my blind spot when I do this, it seems to be a signal to sit there forever and not ever let me in. Or back off.

Dad has this theory that half the drivers in Florida are too old to be driving, because they can't see and can't hear and have no observational skills whatsoever. Them, I blame for still driving but not for being old. The other half of the drivers are young, hot, and talking on their cells phones. Them, I just blame full stop. They need to be exported to Oklahoma to learn some driving courtesy. Or maybe just common sense.

[huff, huff]

Epcot tomorrow. I should even be on tomorrow night. Yay.

On Saturday, I moved out of college and back home. I had been planning on doing so on Friday, but there was this large snow storm, and I am still not used to my massive rear-wheel-drive ex-cop-car and did not elect to go back in the Snow.

The air itself glimmered. It was all full of flat little snowflakes, and although directly above me there were clouds, the sun was bright and shining on an angle. As the snow fell, it caught and reflected the sun, and so the air was all full of little flashes of light. It glinted.

Yesterday, MW and JJ and I hopped in the car and started going South. As we drove, we passed through the parts of the road that were covered in the soft, whispery kind of snow that seems to be like fire made of ice. Once we left Michigan and got to Ohio, the winds came whipping off the planes and curled around us long enough to say hello before flying off again.

Further south in Ohio they had not gotten our deep and painful snowfall. They had gotten freezing rain. The road was not icy, though. The trees were. All of them, covered in a layer of ice that looked silver in the bright sunlight. The ice, had we gotten out to walk on it, would have made grass like crystal needles crunch underfoot; and the air should have tinkled like little silver bells, instead of howling as it actually did.

I'm being literary.

So today, we got all the way from just south of Knoxville, Tennessee to Gainsville, Florida. Kentucky, Tennessee, and the first half of Georgia involve us driving through the Appalachian mountain chain. And I do mean through: entire mountains have been dynamited in half to make room for the interstate. There, indecently exposed for all to see, are the bones of the land. It is rock - laid down millions of years ago, layer after layer, and thrust up and worn down into the old, placid mountains they are today. Clinging to the rock were stalactites of ice, cascades and waterfalls, muddy with the sediment and frozen in time.

I remember, as a very young child making this same trip, looking up in wonder not at the forces which cut away the mountains, but the ones which put them there in the first place, stacked all those sheets of rock one upon the other.

Tonight, the sum set. It does that every night. It's nothing special, any more than the sun coming up every morning is.

I know that nature is just this vast uncaring chaos that not only feels no malice towards me, but has not even noticed. And yet . . .