So apparently EVERYONE knows that 293T cells are human embryonic kidney cells. Man, am I behind the eight ball!! I was informed of this earlier this morning as I listened to Dan give a practice talk for a colloquium this afternoon. At least I got all my stupid questions out in private. It's OK, I know, there is no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid people who ask questions.
Poor Dan. He came to my office yesterday after giving a practice talk to his lab members, who oversaturated him with comments and 'improvement suggestions.' I'm sure he'll do fine, but you just have to get through that 24 hours of purgatory before the talk where you go through stages of coping, including denial, wailing and gnashing of teeth, meek submission, mad productivity (usually lasts about 2 minutes max), whimpering in front of the 'puter, PROCRASTINATION, almost submitting to the thought of reading more in Harry Potter, feeling guilty for even thinking about submitting to the thought of reading more in Harry Potter, exhaustion around 1 am, decision to go to bed, finding out that although you were almost asleep in front of the 'puter, now that you're in bed you can't close your eyes and you have little macrophages and mousies floating around in your mind, panic as you see the spouse sleeping peacefully next to you ("what??? I need sleep too!!!"), 3 hours of sleeping, and somehow procrastination takes over again, when you realize that the talk is at 4 pm--so much time left to work on it, no problem!!
Anyway, I'm sure he'll be fine, and if not, I'm supposed to stand up too quickly and faint in the middle of an abysmal part of his talk. Then he has an excuse to be rattled the rest of the talk.

Dan and I are officially inspired by Jared and Maria's quest for exercising on a regular basis. This doesn't mean that we have achieved this, notice I just said "inspired." No action involved...yet. Unfortunately we don't have really cheap massage parlors nearby, which, I definitely think is one of the best rewards you could look forward to. But we do have some decent restaurants, so I think we'll settle for some good Thai cuisine or so after a few hard workouts.
It is relatively easy to find some kind of exercising venue in Happy Valley. Compared to Calvin, there are so many more people running, biking, walking, etc. either on lunch breaks or in commuting to school. Of course, they have to work off those extra carbs they pound during the tailgate parties, but each to his own, I guess.
Dan and I have two main routes that lead us to school. One is straight up the hill towards school, takes about 10 minutes of hard pedaling, but relatively doable. The other route typically takes about 30 minutes (for me--I'm sure Dan would take a lot less), and is a more gradual uphill battle, but a good workout. since we usually bike to school anyway (and walk in the winter) an extra 'workout' has been defined as taking the long route 5 times a week, for two weeks before awarding ourselves with a dinner out. We'll see how it goes.
This morning I decided to make my first of five this week, and took the long route to school. It was a little rough. I'm not necessarily out of biking shape, because I've been biking all summer, but this past weekend was spent 80% on the couch reading Harry Potter. I don't think we exchanged more than a few sentences Sunday afternoon, as Dan settled down in his lazboy (he's on book 4) and I lay down on the couch (I finished book 5 last night and started on book 6). It's amazing how addicting some Children's literature is, especially when the alternative all week is reading articles on fungi and roots. It's also amazing how much better the books are, compared to the movies. We have rented up to Harry Potter DVD #3 from the library, but they cut so much stuff out, and you don't get all the little nuances and character-building things that are in the book. Ah well, that's usually the case anyway. Hopefully this reading stint will last for a bit--this summer I've not only gotten through Harry Potter 1-5, but I also finished 1984 (after 3 years of trying to get through the first chapter), have started on "A prayer for Owen Meany", and several others that have completely slipped my mind right now. ...hmm, must have not been that memorable.
I can't believe summer is coming to an end and the days of lollygagging around reading (after work, of course) are almost over, and our days will be filled with research (no change there), choir, FISH (youth group), and other things that come up. The other day I got an email from someone at the church asking us to teach the high school Sunday School this coming semester, and we both had a good laugh at that one.
OK, time to get to work.

I've got 15 minutes. That is what I am giving myself to update anyone who cares about what has been going on the last month or two for me. Then I am going to go home, make tacos (soft tortilla, flour, not corn), eat tacos, then maybe relax with the next Harry Potter (if Dan doesn't beat me to it). You see, we are way behind in the Harry Potter reading. On a road trip from Illinois to Pennsylvania, we broke into the first Harry Potter book that a friend lent us. I read while Dan drove--not a bad way to keep yourself entertained on a 9-10 hour road trip. And I found out that motion sickness (carsickness?) IS ALL IN THE MIND!!! Try it sometime.

China was a blast. I saw the Dougmeister twice in Beijing, where we ate Russian food, drank Qingdao (Tsingtao) beer, and bought nice souvenirs for Dan like Wah chips, worst chocolate ever made, and of course, the complimentary shrink-wrapped chicken claw. The point of going to China was not exactly to see The Dog, as the Chinese call him, but to visit some other universities in China to see about future collaborations. Anyway, the trip went really well, I gave my talk about my research (3 times--first time in a coffee shop in beijing where they had American 80's music blaring in the background; I'll definitely have to incorporate that into my thesis defense talk), and was even offered a legitimate (I think) position as a post-doc in teh future. Talk about an ego boost. And, speaking of ego boosts (maybe...maybe not), there were several older men who seemed to like me well enough--one wanted me to marry his son, and one I think wanted me to marry him. "Sorry, I'm already taken" was not in the Pimsleur Mandarin I CDs, so I just laughed and went along with it. Yes, Dan knows about the whole thing, you don't have to go tattle now. He's used to it--older men (seriously older men) at church often slip me Werther's mints and other niceties, and ask me "Who's that guy you're always with?" ("Oh, you mean Dan?")
So that was China. Good times had by all, and I am still monogamously married to someone taller than I. Whew.

Now that I'm back, however, life is back to normal, with the fungi, plant roots, toxic chemicals, and microscopes. I'm hoping to get some useful data this summer, because (as my boss likes to daily remind me) my funding is running out next June. Ahem. Yes, this is the end of my 3rd year, and it usually takes 5-6 years (on average) to finish a degree at our school. So we shall see what happens. :) Dan is also neck deep in research, but there's a bit of a difference, I have found, between his research and mine. Namely, the importance level. Neither of us can get funding because our government is not so eager to fund cancer research (his stuff) or sustainable agriculture-related really basic research that actually really won't come in handy at all type of research (my stuff), so at that level, it seems as if we're at the same level. However, recently, apparently there is a company who is really interested in Dan's results that his advisor kind of spilled to them in a recent meeting, so now Dan is in a tight spot deciding whether or not he should try to collaborate with them, hide his data from them so they don't scoop it, etc. His main concern? He might not finish his work because someone else got to it before him. My main concern? I might not finish my work because there is no interest in it whatsoever and I can't get anything to work. So there you have it. Anyone else want to join the grad school ranks? :)

Well, that was 17 minutes, and my tacos are waiting. ...to be made. And I need to find out whether Sirius Black (??) kills Harry Potter this time, although I have my doubts, seeing as HP is on the cover of book 4.
Ciao.