Merry Christmas

We have dug out of yet another storm here in ND. My mom has two of the sweetest neighbors around. They compete to snow blow out her yard. I wish everyone could be so lucky:)

I thought this article was very good. NY Times Article

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas. Safe travels to everyone who is on the road.

COMCAST!!!!!

I currently do not have internet or cable TV at home. Why? I have no freaking clue. I called Comcast today after not having service for 24 hours. Matt had called the day before and had gotten a recorded message saying they were having "technical difficulties" and that service would be back in a day. I called and waited 45 min. on hold to find out two frustrating facts 1. Our area was not in the technical service area and that our home is the only one in the area with a problem and 2. we have been paying for digital cable, but Comcast had never bothered to get us a box for it! Now we have to wait until THURSDAY before any kind of service can get done for find a problem and we have to wait until TUESDAY DEC 29th before we get the digital cable thingy (which we have been paying for all along). Oh, and I can't get any credit for services non-rendered until everything is done! I swear, if I could find another service provider I would....stupid monopolies..... it is sad when my mom in ND has cheaper, better, and faster service than I do in Minneapolis!

Rain in December?

It is raining here in Lauderdale while my relatives in ND dig out from a blizzard. Amazing what a few degrees latitude make in the weather:) I am still staying put today, because this ND girl knows that rain in December quickly turns to ice, and that a broken ankle is NOT a pleasant thing to have in winter.

The trip to San Francisco was great. The ASH meeting is so large that it is hard to make it to everything. I saw several exciting talks and posters. My own poster was well received. There is two researchers in SCD that are currently setting the standards. Our work here in Minnesota is NOT what this group has deemed "important", so my work was treated with curiosity, but not much else. I think my adviser was disappointed. I am just focused on getting my paper out and working out what I need to get done next for my thesis. I have plenty of time to establish my reputation.

Matt and I celebrated my birthday (or birthmas as Matt has dubbed it) by going out for an extremely nice dinner last night. We went to Forepaugh's Restaurant in St. Paul. The restaurant is in a huge Victorian mansion and it was all decorated for Christmas. It was beautiful. The food was excellent as well. Matt and I don't treat ourselves very often, so it was nice to do that.

Well, the frantic pace of December is not slowing down. I have to get a paper draft completed by the end of the week, and I also have to get some experimental outlines done. It is so much easier doing experiments than writing and planing them! On top of all of the work stuff, I have Christmas cards, candy making, and gift wrapping! No wonder my father called December "the busies time of the year". I guess we call all rest in January.....

Book to recommend: Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman. I have read all of Chuck's non-fiction books. He has a strange sense of humor. I read this entire book on the plane ride to San Francisco. Owl, the town in the book, it geographically located near Medina, and consequentially my hometown is mentioned a few times. Klosterman does a great job capturing small town ND life. I do wish he hadn't gone with the easy ending (or alluded to it at the beginning to the book). Overall, this is a good read, but will probably not be the next classic.

Op-Ed Columnist - The Demise of Dating - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - The Demise of Dating - NYTimes.com


This article is right, and this phenomena is truly sad. Why is it so hard to connect to people BEFORE you engage sex? Intimacy is lost on a whole generation.......

The next two weeks are going to be extremely stressful for me. I have Thanksgiving, followed by the American Society for Hematology meeting. I am really stressed about my project theses days. I get mixed messages from my adviser. One minute he loves the work, the next he is calling the data soft and says we need to do more work. It is very confusing for me, because I get told to "work on the paper" one minute, and to "do more work" the next. I am supposed to have a "team" to help me, but Dr. B has made that pretty much impossible. I have lived and breathed this data since March 2007.....he barely paid attention. Now, he is trying to change the direction and focus of the work every two days. He tells the other people in the group to do stuff with my samples, but does not tell me! Then, when the come to me, I have to try and figure out what he was thinking. I know that I am not a PhD yet, but I have sweated and lost sleep over this work. I hate the fact that someone who knows I have a good thing going is trying to take credit for my ideas and step away with my work. I can sort of understand my old lab partner Mary Lynn now.
The other stressful part is the holidays. I hate having to walk on eggshells around certain people. They do not deserve it, but I am not "in the family" per se...so I have to keep my mouth shut. NOT a strong point of mine. One thing I am looking forward to is Thanksgiving at my house. It will be nice to spend a day with my relatives that doesn't involve burials. We all still miss Dad terribly, but we are getting used to the fact that he is gone...
Well, wish me luck. I doubt I will update much before my birthday.

I went out for Halloween this year. I had not done that since my first year of medical school. Karen convinced me to get a costume (Greek Goddess) and come out with her. The alternative was to sit at home alone with the cat while Matt was at another DeLaSalle football game (they won). It was a lot of fun to see how everyone got dressed up. There were some really creative costumes, and I am always amazed at how much of one's body people will show off on a night like Halloween. If I get any pictures I will try to post them

Karen didn't have the best night. Ask her if you want the full details. I just hope it wasn't because I was along!

I am heading up to North Dakota for the next two days or so. I am going to be the representative for the University of Minnesota Medical School and Graduate Schools at the first annual University of North Dakota Graduate and Professional School fair on Nov. 4th. I am heading to Fargo on Monday afternoon, and will leave for Grand Forks bright and early on Tuesday. If all goes well with the weather, I will be back in Minneapolis late Tuesday night and back in the lab on Wednesday morning. My next three weeks are packed, as I have data club, lab meeting, and MICaB senior seminar all in a row. In the midst of all that, I also HAVE to get my paper draft completed and get most of my microRNA stuff together! Oh, and we have to go to ND again for my dad's burial. Sleep will definitely be a luxury in the next few weeks.

On other news, Matt received a call on Saturday from his mom. She is getting married to her boyfriend Keith. It has been 8 years since his dad passed away. Matt acts like he is ok with it, but I know that he isn't entirely. Joan is happy, and that is all that really matters. Keith is a wonderful man and treats her like a princess. Matt (and I) will adjust to her new husband and life. I just hope that Matt becomes a little more important to his mom than he has been recently (or that she demonstrates it a little better, such as listening when he talks). He feels really alienated from her (and the rest of his family) right now, which is sad. Matt doesn't demonstrate his feelings well, and definite does not discuss them. I hope that his mom finds time to actually have a serious conversation about her plans for the marriage with Matt before it happens, so that Matt feels like he isn't losing his only parent. I can only stand by and support Matt on whatever he decides/feels, it is up to the two of them to sort out the rest between them.

Closure is Coming

We received word from the University of Minnesota this weekend that they are finished with my Dad's remains. This means that my mom, sister, and I can finally put them to rest in Ypsilanti with all our other deceased loved ones. I can honestly say that I am so happy my father chose to donate his body to science, because a year and a half ago I would not have been able to deal with an interment. Now we can put him at rest in a more private manner, and also know that it is actually real. A year or so ago his death didn't seem that way to me. Now the reality has set it and I am as ready as I will ever be.

Rainy Sundays

Back in lab on a Sunday. Nothing new there right? I did get to spend most of yesterday on my couch under the 18lbs. of kitty named Thomas O'Malley. He NEVER sits on anyone's lap, so I wasn't going to dissuade him. Matt had a football game, so I think the cat was just being nice to me.

Lab is going well. The paper is moving along, and I am desperate to get that one last figure that would make it truly great. So far my efforts have been futile. Good thing I was raised to be a stubborn girl...

I have finally made progress on my ability to say the word NO. It is amazing how much time it frees up. Now if I could only get used to saying it enough so that I don't feel guilty all the time. I did get suckered in to going to UND for a graduate school recruiting day. It is on election day, so I got my absentee ballot yesterday. It will be nice to have my vote in early, but annoying that I have to listen to another 20 or so days of rhetoric. I am sick of politics. Honestly, it is gotten to the point where all candidates sound the same to me. I don't care what side the claim to be on. I find it appalling that we spend so much on elections. Why can't this money be put to better work that television smear ads?!!! I propose 30 days of ads, with a spending limit of $250,000 (the salary of one congress person). The rest of the money raised could be used to pay for a charity or national project (mortgage buy-outs).

The next few weeks are owned by football in our house. Matt is a getting some sort of "compensation" for it, but not nearly enough. Oh well, when school budgets are tight and the administration is talking layoffs, it is always good to do extra stuff and make yourself indispensable.

Well, my timers are going off. Back to RNA isolation work.

Funny but true

ESPN - Page 2
The poor Cubs fans.

Last stop: Ypsilanti | The Jamestown Sun | Jamestown, North Dakota

Last stop: Ypsilanti |  The Jamestown Sun  | Jamestown, North Dakota

This is the small town that my father grew up outside of. My oldest uncle still has a house in town. My entire family is buried in the cemetery just on the out-skirts of the town. My dad will be joining them fairly soon. North Dakota is filled with tons of these "ghost towns". It is very sad to think of all the history that goes by the wayside.

Rainy Sunday

I am attempting to work on my manuscript. I have poured two years into a project, and now I have to pull the trigger and write it up. This is proving to be hard because it is ALWAYS easier to do experiments than sit down and think. Just ask Karen. She finally completed her master's thesis and defense. I am so proud of her. I had my first thesis committee meeting last week on Monday. It basically looks like I will be writing my thesis next fall around this time, with the goal of re-entering medical school in Spring 2010. That means that I will be done with the program in Spring 2012. An end is in site!!!!

We got a new patio door install in the condo this week. It is really nice and totally money well spent. My ambition in home improvement projects exceeds both my budget and my know-how, so it is nice to accomplish something. Now that my Dad is gone Matt and I are reliant on the kindness of our uncles and friends to give us advice/help. Both of us are stubborn and not wanting to inconvenience anyone, so we just don't get anything done. I do know that we have to stain the new patio door, which will probably lead to us pulling the trigger on the much talked about trim project. Man....one thing just leads to another.

I would recommend the movie Burn After Reading to anyone in the mood for a goof-ball comedy. Karen, Matt, and I went to it today (Peter is was in theater 8, occupancy 299. We sat in the middle and it was about half full).
I would also recommend the following books:
When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman
and SUPER CRUNCHERS by Ian Ayres
The Sedaris book is of course witty and wildly funny. I read it in a single day at the lake.
The second two books are very entertaining and educational. I picked up the first one (World is Flat) in an airport and was blown away about stuff that I thought I was the only one noticing. The second was recommended to my by my thesis adviser. I am listening to it as a book on tape and find myself staying at the gym longer to get another chapter in (good for the waistline, bad for writing papers).
Fall is in full swing here. Matt is once again doing football AV and I am back in the orchestra. Our schedules keep up busy and happy.
Well, I better get back to work here.

Have you Herd? | INFORUM | Fargo, North Dakota - Moorhead, Minnesota

Have you Herd? |  INFORUM | Fargo, North Dakota - Moorhead, Minnesota

Reading this article is a bit bittersweet. Myself and most of my friends from college worked hard to perform and serve NDSU in the marching band and basketball pep band. I was among the few who served 4 years in the marching band, and hardly ever missed a basketball game. We went to UND and got spat on, we were there when the team was terrible during Bob Babich's last season. I spent endless games for basketball hoping we would have enough people to cover all the parts. The band was a second family to me in college, full of rich traditions and tons of fun.
It is awesome that President Chapman finally realized what the band contributes, but PLEASE stop making it sound like it was the fault of the members that the uniforms were shoddy and "Division II". Members of the band have true Bison spirit, more than most of the drunk tail gators interviewed for this article. Most of the time the student section would barely acknowledge our presence at the games when we performed. It was the administration's and the student body's lack of interest and credit (both from the music department and the president's office), that got the band down to that point.
As a member of Tau Beta Sigma, the band support sorority, I remember requesting new uniforms every year between 2001-2004. I paid "band dues" for marching band every semester, in addition, I also paid tuition for the 1 credit I received. In return I gave the University most of my Saturdays, plus extra appearances during Homecoming, Blue Key, etc. Student can tell when their efforts are not appreciated......thanks NDSU for making that crystal clear to me today.
Oh...and for that alumni donation....I'll get back to you on that....

One Year of Sadness

A year ago today my father was found by our good friend Cheryl resting peacefully at home. He passed away in bed from a heart condition that none of us knew about. It is hard to believe that a year has gone by. There has been so many changes to my life, and yet it still seems like Dad could just come right back and not even need an hour to catch up on what has happened over the past year. Mom has been so strong. I am in awe of how she has handled everything that has arisen in the last year. Time has not healed her pain, or mine, or Karen's. I don't think any of us will ever stop missing Dad. What have to keep focusing on is not letting our sadness get in the way of all the wonderful things ahead. I want to thank all my friends and family for their support over the last year, and in reality for the past 17 years of support since Dad was first diagnosed with his brain tumor. Please know that I can not express the depth of my gratitude for even the little things you all have done to help out "Earl's girls".
I am not doing anything special to commemorate today other than writing this post on my blog. Today will always be "special", but I don't see it as a day to dwell on our loss. Instead, I will honor my father by doing something he would want me to do: work hard toward my dreams and goals. By achieving them I am honoring his dedication to raising me to be a strong, intelligent, independent woman.

Hug your loved ones today, for you never know when they will not be there.

RIP George Carlin

FOX Sports on MSN - MLB -

George Carlin

I never got to see him perform live. I wish I had. It was always on my "next time he comes around" list.

Wednesday

Tonight is the first night of softball, if it doesn't get rained out. I am still sore from our practice last Sunday afternoon. I can not recall the last time I swung a bat prior to Sunday....let's just say I was really rusty. Since I golf right handed, I couldn't even remember which way I like to swing (it turns out I am a natural left handed batter, but that I can make pretty good contact swinging righty). Is it bad that I am wishing for rain?????

This weekend will be an emotional roller-coaster for me. It is the first Father's Day without Dad, plus we have to attend a memorial service for one of Dad's best friends Jim Barron. Since the service is in Fargo, we also have to deal with other issues (like $4 gallon gas). Can't it just be Monday already!!!!!

Well, I better get to work. My summer student arrived a day early, so I have to look for stuff to keep her occupied today until Julia comes back tomorrow.....fun fun!

June already???

Time flies when you are busy. I have either been entertaining or working for the past three weeks straight. It is nice to know that I have been doing well at both. This week is the start of Matt's summer vacation. He is doing various odds and ends, but hopefully he can find a job of some sort. I am working 8-14 h. days, so coming home to a messy house will not make me a happy camper.

I am heading up the ND this weekend. Jim Barron's memorial service is on Sat. afternoon. Depending on what Karen decides, we may have some time in Fargo (or at the lake with Jenny). Karen spent last weekend in Kansas for a wedding. She wants to attend the memorial service, but also has TONS work work to do for her thesis. Matt and I are already going, so it doesn't matter if we have another rider.

Well, I better check on my DNA gel.

Random Thoughts on Friday while the PCR machine is running....

Yesterday was Mom and Dad's wedding anniversary....the first one since Dad passed away. As mom said "it wasn't a great day". Even 11 months out not a day goes by without me missing him. I am amazed at how strong my mom is.


We are going to Twins games all weekend because the Yankees are in town. Matt is very excited. He has one week of school left. I just hope he finds a summer job soon!

Karen caught my sinus infection bug. I hope she feels better soon. She has tons of work to do, so we can bond over our procrastination and both spend tons of time in our respective labs. Our poor kitties will not know who we are by the end of June.

Sad news, my parents good friend Jim Barron passed away from pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is such a terrible disease. I hope that all the groups working on it will come up with something soon. Unfortunately it will be to late for Jim. He was such a quite, strong man. He was a true friend to both my parents over many decades. I will never forget his laugh and all those New Years and Forth of Julys spent either at their house or ours. My love goes out to Diane, Jason, Alicia, and their spouses. My own family know exactly what they are going through right now. It gets easier to realize your loved one is gone, but you never really get over it.

Ok, enough of the sad stuff. I hope that everyone has a great weekend full of sun (in Minneapolis) or rain (Jamestown). School is almost out and summer is ready to begin!

It has been a hectic few months. Sorry for not updating more. With Matt coaching softball and me attending meeting is Chicago and going home for a weekend every spare second has been spent trying to keep my condo is some order. This weekend I managed to get ahead, ever so slightly. Matt is finally done with softball (0-7 record). He has about three weeks of school yet, so he is on the down-swing. Lab work is going as well as can be expected. I traveled to Chicago for 5 days at the end of April and won a few awards. The high did not last, as we are trying to write the paper and getting mixed signals from people. My other two projects are stalled until I figure out how to deal with the massive CO study. I could spend 15+ hour days in lab every day for the next five months and not catch up. Since I contracted both the flu AND bronchitis in the last month I have been doing about that (my vital capacity is not great enough to allow me to work out, so instead of hitting the gym I hit the bench). I still managed to lose 15lbs, probably being due to only eating soda cracker and broth for a week:)
The title of this post is due to the fact that over the next few weeks Matt and I will be hosting a few house guests. This weekend we had Jenny and Peter Dalsted. It was fun playing Wii with them. I hope they had a good time. Next weekend my mom is coming to town. It will be 11 months since Dad passed aways, and about a year since Karen and I saw him alive last. Not the happiest of anniversaries, but we will make some joy out of a bad situtation. I am just excited that I can get some flowers planted and get my front door painted. It looks weird because we had to replace the front lock after the old one jammed (locksmiths do not run cheap over the weekend....good bye tax refund!). The next week my Aunt Sherry (one of my two fairy godmothers) will be staying so she can attend a yoga retreat. Somewhere in that same week we will have Matt's mom, her guy, and Matt's Uncle Earl over as well! As you can see, don't expect too many updates for a while.

Have a great week! Until next time

YouTube - An Engineer's Guide to Cats

YouTube - An Engineer's Guide to Cats


My friend Matt sent this link to me. I find it hilarious. Enjoy!

ESPN - Page 2

It is a Saturday and that once again finds me at the lab by myself in the afternoon. I didn't spend the whole day here. This morning I attended the annual condo association meeting. When you have an association in which over 50% of the owners are over 60 and female you get a lot of complaining at these meetings. However, this one went much better than last year's. Probably because we had a guest speaker from the St. Anthony Police department. I really appreciate Luke and the other board members, as they have to put up with a lot of crap without a lot of thanks.

Tomorrow I am spending a marathon day in the lab. 12 hour time points really suck. I will get a lot done though, so it will hopefully make the rest of my week less hectic. John and Julie both returned from their vacations. John was "why isn't more done?" My response was that we can't do everything that we are supposed to do when we have to do his work as well. Now he is suddenly motivated to get some stuff done, big surprise! My CO study is starting to wrap up. About three weeks of hard work should get everything finalize for writing. This is like a giant elephant baby....I can't wait to deliver it to the journals.

I had a hard week this week. It has been nine months since my dad passed away. On Tuesday I saw a t-shirt that one of the med students was wearing and it made me VERY angry. One angry rant to an anonymous student in the gym locker room (she made the mistake of wearing the same shirt), and an angry email later, I have received a formal apology from the anatomy bequest program at the University and their assurances that t-shirts like the one that offended me will not be allowed in the future. I am just grateful that I was the one who saw the shirts instead of my sister or mother. Grieving is hard enough without someone reminding you that you lost your parent.

Matt's trip to Europe went very well. They are talking about going again next year. He had a hard week of recovery because he had school on Monday followed by softball. He is excited about his softball team this year, as they could be pretty good (at least better than last year's), but he is VERY sore from all the practices. Matt is starting to feel his age...hehe

Gotta run, my timer is going off (I do everything in life according to a timer these days)

I saw this cartoon and thought it was pretty funny. I think every graduate student has encountered at least an example of these PIs. I just hope I don't become one! Congrats to all the members of the University of Minnesota Medical School Class of 2008 who matched yesterday. You guys will forever be my "classmates" in my heart, and I wish all of you well as you move on to your residencies. Just remember me fondly when you are my resident and I am your lowly medical student.
Matt's trip to Europe seems to be going ok, or as best I can judge from his two emails. It will be exciting to hear all about it when he gets home tomorrow.
There is really crappy weather outside today. I just wish spring would show up and decide to stay. I can't wait to get my new planter and plant my geraniums is a little memorial for my dad.
My trip to Chicago is coming up fast. I don't know how I will get everything I need to get done in April done. If I don't post a lot, you know why:)
Have a Happy Easter everyone!

From the depths of father's grief, a transcendent piece of music

From the depths of father's grief, a transcendent piece of music

This article by Nick Coleman from the Star Tribune today is about a piece of music that my orchestra will be performing tomorrow, Friday, March 7, at 7:30 PM at Grace University Lutheran Church. If you are free to attend, I would encourage it.

Some troublesome types who frequent laboratories require special handling.

Some troublesome types who frequent laboratories require special handling.


They have some of the types I have encountered over the years, but not all of them. Might I suggest:

The Dinosaur: has been in lab for >15 years and has never learned a new technique or idea

Pickled Post-Doc: spend more time at social hour than in lab. Blames problems on you rather than the hang-over

Time Suck: problems with communication lead to everything taking 3-4x as long to explain as it would for you to just do it yourself

Confident Buffoon: announce they can do something better than you after only WATCHING you perform the procedure. Will mess up, but continue to say they can do it

I am seeing red right now about an asshole co-worker of mine. Technically he is my lab manager. In reality he is just one of the road blocks to success in the lab. Yesterday we had a freezer go down in the lab. We had tons of material in that freezer, and I was scrambling to find space for everything quickly. I called my lab manager and asked for his assistance in getting everything moved. His response was "I sorry I can't, I am meeting some friends for a movie." SO, I had to do everything by myself (with the assistance of some kindly members of OTHER labs). I guess catching a movieis more important than saving all the lab samples from the past 20 years.
Now, I just put in an order this this lab manager. He has come up with the idea that we have to enter everything into a spreadsheet for him to approve, then re-enter it into the accounting software to get a PO, so them we can finally order it. I suggested that he just generate the PO for us, and give us that instead of a CUFS. NO, that would be too much work for him. So, I am left in spreadsheet mania. Now he just adds what he wants to MY orders instead of doing it himself. I am SO pissed. I have covered for him multiple times when he has failed to do his job. I am fed up!

You're likely to encounter men who never learned how to relate to strong competent women.

You're likely to encounter men who never learned how to relate to strong competent women.


The story of my life.....

Eden Prairie students plan walkout over Facebook discipline

Eden Prairie students plan walkout over Facebook discipline

This entire story disgusts me. It is a great explain of the privileged, winy kids breaking the law (as well as honor codes they signed), and trying to get away with it. The internet does not allow for privacy. What really annoys me is that their parents might sue the school district. The parents should be thanking the school district for looking out for their kids. If these kids are having parties that allow that much alcohol, the parents should be concerned and want to use this opportunity to teach their child a lesson about how their actions have consequences. Suing the school district is just a great way to teach your kid that is it ok to break the law (and your word), as long as you 1. don't get caught 2. are able to spend enough money to not face the consequence. None of these kids are going to pay a long-term consequence for their punishment. Will they lose a season of a sport? Yes. Will it end their life? No. I will agree that they might lose a scholarship, which can cause financial hardship, but it their parent is wealthy enough to hire a lawyer and file a lawsuit, they probably did not need the money. Can they still list that they received the honor on their all-important college application? Yes.
Did I attend parties when I was underage where others were drinking alcohol? Yes, when I was in college and people were of legal age. Did I ever consume alcohol at these parties? No, because I realized that my action (drinking before I was legal age) had a consequence that I was not willing to face. These kids apparently have not be taught this lesson. Now for those kids who say "but I didn't drink at the party, I was just holding my friends' drink for them!" how many are just trying to save their ass? Take a lie detector test, or have the friend come forward and swear "It really was my drink, Sarah never drank....." I don't think we could find a kids in the group who would do that for a friend.
Overall I commend the school officials for not acting like ostriches and sticking their head in the sand. This state (and the one I grew up in), has lost too many young people to alcohol-related deaths. Parents and the greater community are too quick to overlook problem drinking in the youth, which is leading to tragic consequences. Just this week their was another young man buried because his drank too much. People need to open their eyes and realize that there needs to be consequences for looking the other way when young people are drinking too much.

I am really missing my father this morning. No explanation.....I just do.
I am very happy to report that our family friend Mary is healing well from her surgery. She was diagnosed with oral cancer right before X-mas. Luckily, the surgeons at the Mayo Clinic were able to excise the entire tumor AND her lymph nodes were negative, so she will not have to have chemo or radiation. Karen and I are babysitting for her grandkids on Saturday.

Early morning in the lab today. I had to dust off my phlebotomy skills for a study. All went well. Ok, back to work....

Careful planning and outlining can make writing your thesis less daunting.

Careful planning and outlining can make writing your thesis less daunting.

It is never too early to start planning ahead.

The first weekend of the New Year finds me SURPRISE! in the lab. I managed to survive the ASH meeting, Dad's birthday, X-mas Eve, X-mas Day, and New Years. I will admit that it was really really hard going through the holidays without Dad. We through a New Year's party at Karen house. Mom traveled from ND by flying (out of J--town!) and I made the tapas for the party. It was a LOT of work, but I was pretty happy with the fruit of my efforts. It was great getting so many of our friends from different parts of our lives together. I was SO happy Jenny and Nancy could come. Plus, Tyler A. is now back, after a few years of being a little distant. Brian's new girlfriend is really nice. I hope she stays around because it is nice to have someone to talk to when the Fargo boys get together. Doug's wife is not much of a conversationalist. All I can say is that I don't know how my mom does so well. She amazes me. Karen does as well. When I think about the last 14 months of Karen's life, I am so proud of her. A lesser person would have not ridden out the breakups, disappointments, move, and loss half as well as she has. I hope that 2008 will be a MUCH better year for my little sister. I also hope she keeps dating, as it provides me with some entertainment. Things around the Lar-Beck household are not half as drama filled. Karen, with her buds Tellanovela and Short Circuit should provide me with some vicarious living situations (and plenty of laughter). About the only drama I have in my life is how angry I get at Matt for not doing more. How can one person spend so much time playing video games, then turn around and complain about not having friends? YOU HAVE TO LEAVE THE HOUSE TO MAKE FRIENDS!!!!! I worry a lot about this summer. If he spends only 2 weeks of his "vacation" working, and the rest playing video games when he could be earning us some extra money or taking a class, or working out to lose some of the 20lbs. he has put on over the last 2 years, I am going to start getting mean. It is hard work pulling the load for two at home AND at work. Something has to give.....


I am concerned about someone I work with. For several months I had heard some rumors from other people about his behavior in the lab after hours. Last night I had these rumors confirmed, as he called me, obviously intoxicated, asking for the door code because he "couldn't remember". This is a door code we use up to 30x a day! Plus he had been in lab at least 6x that day alone! I am really torn about if I should 1. confront my co-worker with my suspicions or 2. let our boss know about my concerns or 3. just forget about it. My mother, who has dealt with a similar situation at her workplace wants me to do option 3. However, I am afraid that due to the inherent hazards of our work, that my co-worker might put himself or others in danger. I would hate to have my complacency lead to a tragedy. Man....they don't prepare you for this type of stuff in medical school OR in graduate school.......all that high priced education for naught!

Matt starts school and BB stats up again on Monday. I am attempting to get another project started while writing up my first paper. I hope this process will go quickly, however the first attempt at thawing cells does not appear to be going well. Julia is out of town next week, so I will have to dust off my cell culture prowess to problem-solve. It will definitely be an interesting New Year in the lab, as the behavior of two of my co-workers makes me suspect she might not be with us at this time next year.

Well, I better get back home. Our unseasonably warm weather today might lead to icy roads if I wait much longer.