Thursday, March 30, 2006

In Pictures




Jessica & Justin's Wedding March 26, 2006 San Francisco

(In Memory of Uncle Jim Whaley..we miss you)


in order of apperence below from left to right; Cousin Preston and his mom(Jessica's brother and mom), Aunt Kathy; me and mom; dad and grandma, 'maid' of honor, his wife and cousin jessica; my brother Ben and grandma; cousin Sheri and husband Art; Cousins Preston, Niki, and Rene and me; Preston walking his sister down the asle; Cousins Niki, Rene, and Sean (Jessica and Preston's sisters and brother); Bride's maids Niki and Rene with Jessica; the ceremony; Ben and Preston.
















Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Just liked this quote..

eclipses from BBC

"And one touching Amazonian myth describes the Sun and the Moon as lovers.
They loved each other so much that the Sun's light scorched the Earth and the Moon's tears drowned it.
So it was decided that they should live apart in the sky and only be allowed to touch each other's shadow during an eclipse."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4852690.stm


P.S. Story of San Francisco coming soon...with pictures:)

Thursday, March 23, 2006

San Fran....

Well, folks, I'm about to head out to San Francisco. Incidentally, the city my dad was born in. I'm a bit nervous, well, flying always makes me nervous which I can usually overcome with a bit of red wine but seeing as I'm flying at 8 in the morning, that plan is out, so hopefully I'll just sleep.

I'm heading out there to my cousin's wedding. It's not till Sunday, but there is supposed to be a party at the crow bar tomorrow night, and if I remember my cousin at all, it'll be a crazy blowout! I still have nothing to wear to the wedding, but I assume there are places to shop in that city..and with all the family around, maybe a few handouts to help pay for a dress;)

I'm excited, but nervous, so I'll let you guys know how it goes........................................

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Luck, comes and goes

I've been playing a lot of poker lately. It's something to do other than sit around..so Sunday I won! I won! with quad queens! There are only two other better hands possible in poker, quad kings and quad aces..so needless to say I was pretty jacked (giggle)

Anyway, last night, I was the first person out, then was maybe 4th out of 9 or so for the losers table, then again at the loser-loser table! Man, I just had to give up after that, and it was still early! Fortunately, there were plenty of my friends out and about who were either out of the game too or don't really play so we hung out for a bit...it was a good night:)

Then, later at home, I remembered an experiment I needed to prep so back to work at midnight, ended up staying up too late since by the time I got home from work (a little after 1am) Footballer's Wives was on and, well I gave in and watched it, ahhh BBC America drama!

Monday, March 20, 2006

life and friends

Why is it we always hurt those we care about? I have a problem with whiskey and and ex-husband...bad combination. I guess the only cure is to avoid whiskey and most likely hard alchohol all together. Actually, I think I may be taking it easy as to drinking for awhile now. I know I'm in a rough place right now, and I just tend to lash out to much. Think I lost a friend for good this time.

Damn, damn, damn, damn

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

A Story...

So, last week began with a bout of bacterial conjunctivitis..for those of you not in the sciences, that's pink eye which was thoughtfully passed on to me by a colleague who used the lab microscope. Now, I wear contacts since my vision is not fully up to par, and I think I look stupid in glasses, so the infection really kicked my ass.
As anyone who wears close contact visual enhancements may know, the eye is a bit more sensitive when you're constantly sticking your finger in it. This usually means that even and eyelash in the eye feels a bit like, well, a sharp glass shard. So my eyes were painfully swollen for most of the week (God bless antibiotics!!!!) through Thursday when we left for Atlanta. By that time, the infection had migrated into my sinuses. So much fun to not be able to breathe!

Anyway, that's the back story, so where I left off was our leaving for Atlanta. The boss man declared the trip (by car, in the rain) would only take 4 to 5 hrs at the most. Well, 7 hrs (and one shady meal at a pizza hut in Alabama) and we pulled up to the hotel after1am. Thankfully, I didn't have to drive, as I spent most of the trip working up a lung. After a quick 4 hr nap, we caught a shuttle into town to spend the day listening to crystallography talks. Actually, I really liked some of the talks, but the afternoon was a big waste of my time. Seriously, why talk for an hour about telecommunications to a room full of crystallographers? WE DON'T CARE HOW THE DATA TRAVELS!!! I understand someone needs to be up on that, but that's their job, not ours.

Lunch was fun too, we spent it wandering around the most ghetto tastic part of the city...I had rather hoped Lain would've gone for the advertisement of hair braiding and gold teeth in less than 1hr! But, alas, no. (by the way, Lain is a post doc in my lab who's name was misspelled on the name tag, I quite like the new name, although I don't think he does....)

That night we were treated to a "banquet" of chicken wings and cookies, seriously CHEAP. But, we are a resourcefully bunch and found the stash of alcohol as well as managing to find a table to pop off the beer tops, highlight of that was Lain dropping a bottle;) We later meandered/stumbled back to the hotel bar and promptly drank until the boss couldn't walk...then proceeded to the mini bars in our room.

The next day wasn't nearly as interesting, since we spent a good 2hrs lost in the city, then headed back home. I drove, a bit fast I admit, but with good time. Really the only highlight of the day was Lain getting a foot stuck in the car...don't ask...

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Atlanta here I come!

So we were supposed to leave for Atlanta today at noon for a conference that starts tomorrow, then 1pm, then 3pm now hoping for 4pm. The boss is driving us...I'm a little scared, he's a crazy Brit and drives like one! Well, if we make it there and back I'll fill you guys in on the trip, it's looking interesting already......

Thursday, March 02, 2006

The Capybarra


Just for a fun entry...the capybarra is the largest rodent in the world. It is found in South America and is partially aquatic. This picture shows their relative size to a human being about 5ft tall. A large capybarra can grow to 100 lbs. They live in large groups at the river's edge spending most of the time in the water although they graze on land and sunbathe in the afternoons.

These are the weirdest rodents I've ever seen, but very cool;) We have them at the Memphis Zoo.

http://www.rebsig.com/capybara/