Reading for Cell Bio: "... one that includes a powerfully negatively charged detergent, sodium dodecyl sulfate, or SDS ..." Hey, I use that in the lab!!! Its that stuff in the bottle above the balance that always gets caught in my throat and makes me cough!! I'm so important! I'm directly involved in the scientific progress of mankind!! Wooooohoooo!!!!

Back to reality . . . that stuff really does make me cough. I guess thats why the directions say "Wear mask when handling SDS"

Interesting things seen while walking the dogs around wonderful RP;
*** I just realized that I never see anything interesting while walking my dogs ... their chick magnetism is wasted ***

School is going well so far. I think i'll be spending a lot of time in the lab this quarter, but its all good cuz they gave me free food again today. All my classes are 1 midterm, 1 final, which is kinda scary. But, everything in the world is great, because this is the first quarter in over a year WITHOUT O-CHEM!!!. Yeeeehaaaww!!

3rd year of classes started today. Whoooooooo

This quarter I have the pleasure of taking metabolic biochemistry with Randy Hampton, the one and the same professor whose lab I get to hang out at on a daily basis. He's a really cool guy in person, and I'd heard great things about him as a professor, so I was really looking forward to being in his class. Today I got to experience that, and I'm not really sure what else to say other than that he's a natural born comedian, and that he swore more times in an 80 minute class than all my other teachers and professors over the last 14 years combined.

I ended up parking in the same old spot that was basically my car's home for all of last year. I got the chance to test out my new shortcut that I'd discovered over the summer (its only taken me 2 years); turning right onto North Torrey Pines Road and then right onto Genesee, which takes you directly to the 5 without having to drive through the winding roads and stop signs you get cutting across UCSD. Well, imagine my surprise when it took me 20 minutes to get to genesee from that turn (its like 20 seconds without traffic). Even more disheartening was the traffic on the 5, after thinking that the lack of traffic during the summer would become a trend. Yeah, that definitely ranks high on Mike's Top Ten Worst Decisions of All Time.

So I sat in on my first lab meeting today, taking a seat in the very front next to Randy in the designated "Everyone Hates Randy Seat". The next hour and a half consisted of all the grad students talking about proteins and degradations and ubiquitons, and me trying to look like I had even the slightest clue what what going on. Everyone sounded so intelligent just describing what they had for lunch, while my entire input to the discussion consisted of saying "Right". My only other involvement was when Randy began poking me in the shoulder and yelling "YOU'RE GOING TO F***'IN ROCK!!!".

Me:"So, how was the retreat?"
The Lab: "There was a lot of drinking", "We drank a lot", "Brian drank too much"

Finally getting to do something other than the usual filing of papers, finding of charts, and opening of mail, at the hospital yesterday i got to accompany the doctor into the ICU to watch him work on a patient. He even let me look down this scope they had placed down the patient's throat, so I got to see a bunch of muscousy membranous tunnels and holes. Good stuff.

Our dish washer Christine has been on vacation the last two weeks, which meant that the next lowest person in the chain (me) got stuck with all the fun duties. Thankfully, she gets back monday and i can get back to wastefully using glassware in an inefficient manner knowing that i wont have to worry about washing them. Whoo!!

Chargers win!!! Whooo! Ok, I know that they probably won't win too many more from here on out, and that the chargers have had a hundred seasons where they've started out good before losing 1o in a row, but it was still quite a win. For the last few months just about every sports writer in america has called the chargers the worst team in football, and though that may still turn out to be the case, i can honestly say i still have faith in my boys.

Chargers: 1-0

Friday we decided to spend a night camping at Dixon Lake in Escondido. So as soon as we got off work, Jen and I drove up to try and claim one of the last few sites that were left. We cleverly avoided the 15 traffic by getting stuck in Pomerado Road traffic, and after narrowly making it to the lake with our lives we were able to pick out a nice spot with a view of the lake. As we made our way back to Jen's place so she could pick up her stuff, I was right about to comment that "Whew, good thing there's no time pressure on us now" when I realized that the gates to the lake close at sunset and that the others werent even on their way yet. Amazingly, with Vic driving really fast and Jen driving really fast (truly an awesomely powerful combination) we all made it back to the lake in time and were able to pick up some sandwiches on the way. Thanks must be given to Vic for having the ingenious idea of bringing glow sticks, which entertained us pretty much for the entire night.

In the morning we rented a rowboat and had lots of fun attempting to row around the lake, which we actually did pretty well. We were so precise in our movements that we were able to navigate close enough to a tuna fish can floating in the lake that Jen was able to reach out and grab. 2 days in a row I was amazed at the power of our group.

Pics at my other site.

I've been pretty bad with movies this year, not seeing anything through the first 6 months thanks to my busy schedule at school. This summer hasnt been much better either, but over the last few weeks i've been able to catch a few movies, so here's the rundown of the better ones.

Spider-Man 2: I liked it. I imagine some people expect more action and less characterization in a comic summer flick, but i thought it did a really good job of capturing the character of peter parker, while at the same time showing some good spider-man battles. It also made me like tobey maguire as spider-man, which is a pretty good accomplishment in itself. Grade: A-

Catch Me If You Can: I finally got a chance to see this one, and I was quite amazed with it. The movie was awesome and kept me interested throughout the entire thing, due in large part to perfect acting by leo and tom hanks. I had thought it looked interesting before, but it was even better than i thought. Grade: A

Kill Bill Vol. 2: I liked the first one for its action and its music, but not much else. This one focuses more on the characters and explains all the background plot we didnt get in the first one. After seeing it and understanding what was really going on, i have to say i appreciate the first one even more. The dialogue as expected is awesome, and the plot really did get me interested, especially after you understand the relationship between the bride and bill. Grade: A-

Hidalgo: This was a fun and entertaining movie starring our favorite king of gondor. It has some good action scenes and a nice sense of adventure, but in my opinion more of a rental than a keeper. Grade: B

Honey: Starring Jessica Alba and her abs. First off, the plot is nothing revolutionary, and the acting is nothing extraordinary. That being said, the movie does pull off a feel good inspirational sentiment while not getting cheesy, thanks in large part to some genuine sweetness from jessica and the above average supporting cast. There are some good performances in a movie that doesnt give a lot of room for good performances, along with some scene stealing by missy elliot. It doesnt hurt that jessica's smile can make even the worst scene worth watching. Movie: B+, Jessica Alba: A+ Note: There's about a half hour of scenes deleted probably on the request of the studio. In my opinion a lot of these scenes accomplish a lot as far as exploring the characters and developing the plot, so I think the movie really could have been better than it was allowed to be.