Xenopus: frogs that are stitched together

Hi, today has be GREAT so far. This morning I woke up to the smells of frying bacon. Made just for me along with hashbrowns, eggs and crescent rolls. Then I watched SpongeBob and then I played video games with my cousin (who was visiting). Then I drove to Raleigh with my cousin (to take him home) and I played more video games with him. And then I went out to dinner and now, I am getting ready to drink and play more video games. Life is really great sometimes.
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The following story is one of interest to me and I believe that it should be of interest to you as well. If you are interested in reading the original scientific article, click here. Otherwise, the condensed version is below.

A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that a woman who conceived three sons with her husband was biologically unrelated to two of them. Doctors posited that the woman herself was part of an nonidentical-twin pair that fused at an early stage of her mother's pregnancy and that only her blood cells are hers, alone, while cells from her eggs and other tissues may have come from her sister's fetus.

Why this article says it is a recent study, I don't know. The original article was published in May 2002 which means the study was older than that. Why Americans have to lie and stretch the truth to make something already interesting seem interesting I will never know. Boy, we really like everything to be a show don't we?

Well, enough of avoiding work. While I wish that I could sleep, alas, I must work now, so I can get finished, so I can go home, so I can sleep, so I can go to Raleigh, so I can hang out with my friends and finally relax.

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This morning, I went to the craft stores to get knitting needles so that I can make a hat to match my scarf. I am way ExCiTeD. I can't wait to make it and get started (which is what I am going to go as soon as I get home.) I just wanted to say the following: "I love my Xenopus." They are so cute, especially when they are eating. And since I have been away for a while, they were hungry. So I got to see them eat. (which sometimes they are shy about) So, I am happy now. Getting to see my Xenopus act all cute. I think that I will feed them again tomorrow and hope that they will eat again (usually they only eat twice a week). Maybe one day, I will borrow a digital camera, and take a picture of them for the whole world to see. Until then, this will have to do (mine are the larger ones- the females).
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The new scarf that I started is finally finished, thanks to the snow and ice that made school get canceled and that made the roads rather undrivable (at least in my opinion). And I am so excited about that all. I LOVE the scarf, and now, I am going to start on a matching hat, as soon as I go to the store and buy some circular needles and some double pointed needles (so I can knit in the round). But I am really excited about this all.

Unfortunately, tomorrow I must go to school. And I have to teach. This is not my favorite thing to do, but I will get over it because, that is what they pay me to do. And I only have to teach one section this semester. Which is great for me since less of my time can be devoted to grading, and more time to research. Which leads me to something that sucks, I will have to work all night Friday night, but the bad thing is that I have a meeting that lasts until 1:30, so I will not get started until 2:00, so I will probably not get home until 6:00 am on Saturday morning. And my dad will be here on Saturday (visiting my Grandmother) but I will be sleeping, and then traveling to Raleigh to prepare to watch the Super Bowl with my friends. (Go Panthers) So, I will not get to see him after all, but he will get to see my new scarf (which I am ever so proud of) and I even sang a song on my parents answering machine explaining to them how wonderful and finished the scarf was, and that there was a hat to come in the future. (I love making up songs.)

Oh, and the Chicken and dumplin that I made last night turned out really well. I was quite pleased with myself. I have never made dumplins from scratch before (Bisquick is usually my guide) but from now on, I will just do them myself. They were really easy and so much better.

And now, I must go off and get some beauty sleep. (trust me, I need it) Although, I wonder why they don't invent, "Get Skinny Sleep." I need that more than beauty right now.
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Today, I crocheted. I started making my scarf and now, I am about halfway done. Pretty much, all I did today was crochet, eat and do laundry. Yes, I know that I am boring, but then again, it did snow today. And it did sleet. And tonight into tomorrow promises freezing rain. And since I live in the south, I guess that it is fine that I did absolutely nothing, because it is not like the roads were all that clear, and it is not like I am trained to drive in the snow. And it is not like I even own an ice scraper.

Tomorrow, I think that I will crochet all day again, but I will also make chicken and dumplings. I can't wait. Why can't every day be a snow day?
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Here is the design that I put on my purse. The colors did not come out all that great but I don't feel like messing with the scanner. So you will just have to imagine that the top of the tree (where the leaves are) is green, the trunk is tan and the house is blue. And the background is a dark brown corduroy.
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Last night I was reading "Middlesex" while I should have been sleeping. But, I decided that it was worth it since I was not going to leave the house on Sunday, (probably) because of the ice storm, and I could sleep then instead. So while reading, I cam across a phrase from my childhood, that brought back a flood of memories. "Carpet Muncher" was the phrase, and it reminded me of Zeke and Wyatt (two people in my Junior High who thought that this was the best phrase ever). So then I remembered the farewell party that we had for Zeke when he had to move out of town. And it was a surprise party, and some of the girls got some Secret aerosol deodorant and sprayed it and said "Ssh, it's a secret." And I also remembered the "date" I had with Wyatt when the two of us when to Carowinds. And I did not even realize that it was a date until after the fact, when my mom was talking to his mom and the my mom told me that Wyatt wanted to hold my hand. But he did not do it and the "date" was over before I realized that this was true. But it is indeed strange what wonderful and funny memories the phrase "carpet muncher" can illicit.

Oh, and you absolutely HAVE to read Middlesex (if I have not told you already).

And I decided that I am tired of the all lower case trend in web logs and emails. So I am going to try to refrain from using them (lower cases) exclusively.
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Why this makes me so excited, i do not know. it is on a web site that accepts almost anything. but still, I feel special, even though i am picture number 20567.
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last night, i wanted to get some yarn to make more realistic looking skulls with (bone colored rather than rainbow colored) and some yarn to make a crocheted scarf (since i want one that makes long stripes and that would take some large knitting needles and then the knitting pattern would be running the wrong way and i am anal about that kind of stuff). I did not get to go out until around 6:00 so all the small shops would be closed. but i thought that i might be able to find something at either joanns or michaels or ac moore. but they all let me down. First of all, none of them had any cotton or wool blend yarn. which is stupid. and then, they did not have any melon colored yarn either. which really sucks. so today, i decided not to do surgery (and there are other better reasons not to, but this is the one that finally pushed me over the edge) and I am going to go to a REAL yarn store this afternoon. I just hope that they have what I am looking for.

oh, and 12 hours of sleep last night is definitely what i needed. boy, do i ever love sleep. since my research kept me up until 5am the night before which resulted in only 5 hours of sleep that night. blast the sun that creeps in my window waking up my body and telling my eyes that they can not possibly close again. obviously the sun does not know best.
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so, last night i was working way late. and with my research, i have to do stuff every 5 minutes. so it is not like i can go anywhere. and also, i have to use my computer for my research but the program is very finicky, so i can not use it for anything else. so all i was left with doing was reading and crafting. (these things are always fun.) so, i finished the embroidering for a new purse that i am making. I will bring it in soon and scan it so they whole world can see it.

I also learned how to make this. i am going to the craft store to get me some more suitable yarn. they prototypes that i created was made with rainbow colored thread. (and i personally have never seen a rainbow colored skull. so i don't think that it was very good) and if i get really good at making these, i think that i will make pumpkins and maybe even bats too and then have a halloween party. but we will see what happens. i may not even get finished with one.

so now, i must leave and go sleep or something. i am very tired due to the lack of sleeping that my job requires.
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This weekend was GREAT. i got to meet some new people (Liz and Laura) and it was great. Liz is into making clothes (which is way cool) and since i am into making purses (or i at least have a lot of ideas for them) she wanted my info. so that is really exciting. maybe after i finally graduate, i will make all those purse designs that i have in my head. and then i will have a contact in which to sell them with. and talk to her about selling them at least.

the bad thing about this weekend is that i did not get to see lost in translation. but i guess that i will have to see it on video. Winston's movie selections really suck. they hardly ever get anything good. and when they do, it only plays 2 days or so and only on one weekend. so if you happen to be out of town, you are sol. poor me.

oh, and in case you don't know, the panthers are going to the superbowl.
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Today is a dress up day (by choice). I am wearing grey slacks (instead of my usual jeans) and this pink and burgandy shirt that is mostly dressy. i like it (the outfit) but i forgot to wear my low cut panties this morning and evertime i sit down there is this seperation that occurs between my pants and top and my panties do not follow. so there is this panty wad sticking out the back of my pants, and that is not cool, so everytime i leave my office, i make sure to wear my jacket so incase i have to sit down around other people, they will not be forced to look at my panty wad. (which of course is not color coordinated with my outfit). from now on, i will have to plan my morning wardrobe better than this.
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So, i was thinking about my research today, and i finally planned it all out. and i wish that i had not done that. see, for my project, i am doing concentration curves. with 5 different concentrations of a compound and 3 diffent concentrations of a blocker (plus zero). and i have 5 compounds and 2 blockers. and there is a 5 minute washout period between each stimulation. so that means, 9 hours for one compound and both blockers (if everything goes perfectly, which it never does). and then i have to do 5 repetitions for each compound (at least) and for 5 compunds. that makes for a lot of work (250 hours), espeically since i am still keen on graduating in May. so, sorry i am boring you with these mundane details of my life, but i am sure you can see why this is important to me and why i would want to get it off my chest.

thanks. i feel better now. funner things are to come in the future. I promise (that is if anyone is reading this)
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today was a magnificent day. i wrote an abstract (kind of like a summary for research that i have not really done yet but i am going to do and about the results that i have gotten so far but they don't really mean anything since i have not really done enough to do anything with them). It was about my research and i must have done a good job because my advisor hardly changed anything about it. I was really pleased. and i hope that my writing potential continues to soar because i need it to be great for my thesis and the papers i have to write for journals.

and because one day i want to write a book. now, i am NOT saying that i will actually do this thing (because it would be really hard) but it is something that i think would be fun to think about doing. the reason that i want to do this is because i am reading "Middlesex" and it is a wonderful book. the way he write stuff and draws you in just makes me really excited about the day that i write a book. (again, no real strong commitment on this issue.)
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Do you ever look at something in your life and wonder how you ever learned to do that thing? like today. i was rolling little tiny cottonballs for my research and i just watched myself do it, like i was not in my body, and i thought that it was the coolest thing. i think that i just did a wonderful job. and the weird thing is that i was wondering how i ever learned to do that. it is not like i do it the most obvious way. but yet, it works for me. and i just look at that and wonder in awe over how i ever got that way. life is certainly weird sometimes.
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i was doing my research today and i realized that eyes are the coolest most beautiful thing ever. so you see, i work with rats and in my microscope, i can see their eyes. and the light illuminated the eye and made it look like it was glowing and you could see the iris structures and over layed on top of it was blood vessels. how i ever used to work with retinas and never appreciated this i will never know. but it is truely spectacular, even better than fireworks. I love these kind of unexpected things. it makes my work and life in general worth living. (not that eating is not enough)

and to speak of the unexpected, i got a bagel from lowes foods and it was really good. i was really supprised about that because i just got it out of the bin in the deli (and the bin was not sealed all that well) but it was really soft and yummy. it made it worth eating lunch.

and now, the day is finally over for me (13 hours worth of experimenting is a way lot) and i think that it is time to play power joy and go to sleep. it is too bad that i don't have a jacket because it is way cold out side and my car is going to be frigid.
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ok. do you ever get in awe over something over and over? well, here's the thing, at work, i have to do stuff under a microscope. (also, i have been using microscopes pretty regularly for about 6 years). so today, my finger got under there and i thought "WOW!! my finger is SO huge". i mean, how dumb can you get? well, not only did it happen that one time today but it happened again today, and i had the same thought. i wonder if my brain forgot to grow up?
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