i always FLASH the toilet.

When I was in grad school, the bathrooms on our floor had these annoying "please clean feces and blood off the toilet seat" signs on them.  As a graduation gift to myself (after looking at these signs for 5 years), I took them all down following my defense.  There were 4.

I don't know what the problem is exactly, but I don't think I've ever had such a problem in the bathroom that there is blood and feces that I would need to clean off the toilet seat.  It was excessive.

But apparently someone on that floor has some major gastrointestinal issues?

As of yesterday, I have been informed there are new and improved signs in the bathroom.  

See below for your enjoyment. Note that we are to FLASH the toilet for a HELTHY environment.

Happy Thursday.

All the Single Ladies

Actually, just me.  And I was only single for 5.5 days or so.  

Rob has been gone since Saturday 8/7 to Dauphin Island to help teach part of a course in neuroscience.  

I was terribly productive in his absence, as he always is when I'm gone.  

Saturday:  Okay, not productive really.  Farmer's Market, Lay Out for 1.5 hours, Go to pool with Amy, Stephen and kids, dinner with friends, movie at my house with friends.  House still dirty, but I got to show off my stellar dog paddling skills to Amy's oldest, Lily.

Sunday:  Teach piano. Lay out for 1.5 hours. Proceed to clean house, do laundry and redecorate the office for the next 8 hours.  Laundry folded with neighbor Amy, even though my house was clean and she was not, lol.

Monday: Work.  Walk dog.  Eat Falafel for the 2nd time in 3 days. Play with Animals, Run and do Abs/Arm circuits with Amy.  Seriously what would I do without Amy?

Tuesday:  Work.  Power yoga.  Mexican Restaurant with yoga ladies.

Wednesday:  Work.  Grocery shop (parents arriving Friday!). Play with dog.  Paint toenails.  Watch a movie. Start new novel.

Thursday:  Work.  Rob comes home today. Insanity workout with Amy.  She doesn't know about it yet. Bad surprise?

Did you notice how none of these days included watering the lawn or any other plants?  I was out watering them feverishly this morning in hopes they will miraculously turn green again before Rob makes his triumphant return....

Ala-bama

Yes, I live in Alabama.
No, I can't wait to leave Alabama.

See video below for a true ghetto witness -- "Hide yo husband cause they rapin' e'erbody out here"




That is all, I think it's enough.

Abstract Black and White Photography

Today was my first solo experience on the electron microscope in our lab, and I wanted to tell the internet all about it!  My postdoc position is so much different than what I did in grad school that most of the time I feel like a rotation student. But my mentor now trusts me to use the half-million dollar scope by myself!  I should give credit. Our resident expert, Joy, was there to answer my bajillion questions and help me to remember how to turn on the scope (it works better when it's powered up). But then I took pictures by myself!  I was looking for vGLUT1 labeled synapses (no, it doesn't matter to you what that is, so I won't explain), but I took some photos of other things that looked neat too!

All the images are from the rat striatum, but I will also be moving into human tissue soon.  These are not really the best examples, because I made lots of changes to the images on my computer in the exposure and whatnot to make the images more appealing to folks that don't do EM. They are a glimpse into what I'm up to when I go to a lab and work for an entire day! Science!

I learned that incorrect focus will drive your life into the toilet fast.  I'm not even kidding.

The type of images I was going for (sort of):

These are myelinated axons and fiber bundles.  It's amazing how high a resolution we can get on something so little. Now that I can begin to recognize structures, I spend an inordinate amount of time looking at the wrong stuff just because it's *pretty*.

More bundles and axons, and to the right a nucleus.  I won't begin to guess what type of cell, but it's most assuredly a nucleus. The black blobs in the nucleus are condensed DNA, chromatin.  Neat, yes?

So that's mostly what I did this afternoon.  I'm somewhat paranoid that if my mentor looks on my blog she might comment that all of my captions are wrong.  But you get the picture, so to speak.

Happy Thursday!  

Some thoughts at 4:12 on a Wednesday.

Yes, I know it's 4:12 on a Wednesday, and I should be learning some science or doing some science, but the fact is that I'm on a break.  So there.

I don't have organized thoughts, just an FYI before you keep reading.

Anyway, I thought this was worth mentioning-I slept great last night.  I didn't wake up one time.  Usually the fatties (my cats Homie and Slick) wake me up at least once begging to be fed, played with, or let in the yard.  They are relentless.  Then I get up, take care of them (okay, sometimes I spray them with the water bottle we keep by the bed), get a glass of water, put my hair up because I'm always too hot, and go back to bed.  And I try to go back to sleep, which inevitably takes about 20 minutes.  But not last night.  I slept beautifully.

Some other things tinkering around in the back of my head involve pop culture.  I wonder if I'm getting too old or what, but I simply do not understand some things that are super-duper popular right now.  I should correct myself.  Certainly The Twilight Saga, all the bullshit associated with said saga, The Jersey Shore, "Bieber Fever", Speidi, and Zac Efron are not so complicated and deep that I *can't* understand them.  Seriously these things are a waste of space and oxygen.  I don't understand the obsession, even to the point that I can't even make a pointed argument about it.  Yes, I know I'm spending time putting these things on my blog.  But I digress, and so should you :)

I've barely even read my former favorite blogger, Perez Hilton, over the past 3 weeks!  Maybe it's all the Mel Gibson drama that is on there every 4.2 milliseconds that has me jaded with pop culture news and gossip.  

Also, I don't know how my little group of yoga followers feels today, but I've got fire in my shoulders and abs!  The good kind, and I'm happy to be on my workout day off!

Happy Wednesday!!

Oh, AND...

Before I even got one block from my house this morning on my way to work, I crashed my bike and have yucky roadburn/gashes all over my left palm. Strong start.

I must be channeling my parents, who crashed a moped last week in Mexico.  

I would *facepalm* here, but it hurts.

Always boys in the yard....after my *goshdarn* milkshake

Another weekend come and gone, and this one started with the priceless quote which is the title of this post.  Thanks Abby, who else?

Anyway, Saturday brought another trip to the market with the ladies, but I'll spare you all the pointless pictures of produce.  I laid out, did some shopping, and went running for an hour with Amy.

Rob and I also took a trip to the lab, where we hung up my diplomas in my office!  See photos below!

Mississippi State, BS; UAB, Ph.D.  Lovely and Official!

Yes, I DO have MSU photos on my wall in my UAB office.  Am I sorry?  No. Alma Mater love never goes away!

It's not that neat or organized, but it's where I spend the majority of my day, and hey, I can find everything.

So then on Sunday, we had planned a tubing trip down the Warrior River, which promised lots of great photos, but the river was too low for tubing.  Luckily, our good friends Gabe and Nicole Muro were fine with us inviting ourselves over to their pool.  I got lots of good sunshine, and much needed catch up time with my friends.

Gabe and Nicole.  Yep, he's drinking Mike's pink lemonade and sitting in Rob's very special river tubing chair.

Rob with Gabe, Nicole, Christy, and Vlad.  New peeps!

Rob thought I should be in a picture, so here is pretty much the same pic as before (I think for Christmas Gabe needs his very own special river tubing chair):

Who knows what this week will bring?  Last week was crazy, so if anything cool happens, I'll be sure to let you know :)

Because, as I have mentioned before, I'm very exciting.