Merry Christmas from Palm Springs! Yet another fun Imus vacation to a random place for the holidays, this time a desert for retired people. Lots of fun mall shopping, eating at a seafood restaurant with a really pretty waitress, a trip up a mountain to see a national park (basically the only landmark in Palm Springs), and a Christmas eve dinner of spaghetti while toasting with gatorade (we follwed it up with a buffet with free champagne). And all that while keeping a 100 pound dog hidden in our hotel room where no pets are allowed!

Standing in front of an abandoned gondola thingie.
Taken from the actual lift thing carrying us up the mountain. It was a lot higher than it looks from this picture. I was tempted to reach out one of the open windows and take an even better picture, but decided risking our $300 camera wasnt worth it.

After the 40 minute wait and 10 minute ride, we found the park to be filled with trees and rocks.

I guess I should put a picture of my parents, since they paid for everything.

And of course the dog, here with his very own Christmas present. It only took him about 30 minutes to break this one.

All I've done all winter break is watch movies, so I figured I should share my wonderful progress and accomplishments with the world. So, here are Mike's 5 second reviews of all the movies I've seen in the last month or so.

Aeon Flux: Mildly interesting plot, decently good action. Charlize Theron is hot. B

Serenity: Good action towards the end. B

Brothers Grimm: Could have been much better. Err, not as good as Van Helsing. C+

Fantastic Four: Good comic fun, but could have used 20 more minutes of action. Why did Jessica Alba have to keep disappearing? A-

Stealth: I went in with an accepting mind and it still was lame. C

War of the Worlds: Independence Day was better. B+

Polar Express: The parts where the train was like a rollercoaster were cool. B-

The Perfect Man: I hate movie critics. Hilary Duff is hot. B

The Ring 2: A lot like the first one. Naomi Watts is hot. B

Miracle: Pretty good, but somehow The Mighty Ducks was better. B

Friday Night Lights: Good if you like football, but I found it more depressing than inspirational. B-

Million Dollar Baby: Started good, but has the most depressing ending since Harry Potter 6. B

Cinderella Man: Good plus inspirational, but not as fun as Gladiator. B+

Master and Commander: Good but not all that interesting. B

The Island: Meh. B

Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Gun fights were good cheesy fun. B+

A Series of Unfortunate Events: Interesting in a goofy way. Jim Carrey is funny. B+

Constantine: Better than I thought. B

Elektra: Worse than I thought. C+

The Princess Diaries: Fun, but not as good as the Lizzie McGuire Movie. B+

Ong Bak: Fight scenes decent. Girl was annoying. B-

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Original was much better. B

Robots: No computer animated movie is as good as Pixar. C+

Assualt on Precinct 13: Lots of shooting is good. B

The Phantom of the Opera: Lots of singing but not very interesting. B-

The Pacifier: Relatively funny. “They’re not boobs!” B

So the movies I've seen get an overall GPA of about 2.92. Still gotta see Harry Potter, Chronicles, and King Kong. In other words, all the A movies.

Yay for 4 weeks of winter vacation!! Hopefully we've all been as productive as me, having watched all of Alias season 1 and currently working on 24 season 1. Great stuff yo. Other highlights include good ole Randy treating the metabolic TA's to dinner at TGIFs, and taking a trip to Julian with mario, MJ, rob, and our old friend christine. On the way we spotted Dudley's bread, the place where all those people got that great fruit bread stuff they use to sell for fundraisers back in high school. I remember eating that during chem labs with acid all around. Haha. Also had lunch at the suspiciously named Rongranch, and then we spent the day trying a slice of apple pie from each of the Julian pie providers, pretending to be expert pie critics and trying to figure out who had the best. All in all a good and productive day.

Enjoying the pork ribs, beef ribs, chicken, beans, and some other piece of meat i couldnt identify. Cheers to hot apple cider!
Standing outside Julian's Pie Co., unanimously decided to be the best apple pie in Julian after much discussion over the pie to crust ratio.

Us with all our pies after our final decision. "One for all, and all for pie!!"

Gloating of the Victorious 2005, Part II

We all know the Chargers are the best around and that our most detested and terrible enemies barely even know how to play football anymore, and due to finals I lack the energy to make even more fun of those fools who show up in their halloween costumes and have to go home losers in their make up and cardboard armor.

Chargers = Winners
Losers = Losers

LT + Ball = Chargers Win

Random Blurbs
LT: The greatest football player ever
Finals Week: No bio exams!!!
My Section: Almost done making those super amazing handouts
My dog: Static causes his fur to electrocute me everytime i touch him
War of the Worlds: Independence Day was better
Thanksgiving: vegas buffet = endless apple cider
Black Friday Sales: best deal = Hilary Duff calendar for $10
My mom: bought herself an ipod nano that i use while telling her that my mp3 player is better
University of Vermont: Closest target is 2 hours away

What does Mike do during a 3 day weekend? Go picking fruit of course!!!


Also some taste of india and video games with mario and friends (call me the master of soul calibur 3) plus a buffet with the folks to complete a productive weekend. Also saw charlie and the chocolate factory, which wasn't as good as the original.

Oh, and here's my new friend who happens to be a fruit with an eye that's part of his mouth.

So I just finished volunteering at the cancer center, and I'm over in the parking lot changing back into my regular clothes (come to the Moore's cancer center parking lot mondays at 5:00 to see Mike stripping . . . tickets are going fast) when i realize that my cell phone is no longer in my pocket. Having never lost anything of value in my life (well, monetary value at least) I started getting a little worried, and started looking all over my car for it. After realizing that I need to vacuum my car, I started thinking that maybe I had left it at home, since due to my excellent attributes of organization and perception there's no way I could have possibly lost it. I had just about convinced myself of this and was moments from driving away when the wild idea dawns on me to look under my car. While getting on my hands and knees and trying not to notice the old woman staring at me (I'm not stripping anymore at this point mind you) I see the freakin cell phone under the car next to mine!! Obviously it fell out while I was changing pants. I was seconds away from driving away from my precious cell phone that nobody ever calls me on. So, the moral of this long and seemingly pointless story is that whenever you're stripping in a public area, to always listen for falling cell phones (that belong to you, or even better, to other people).

Randy: Oh no, my fancy green laser pointer is running out of batteries. I need someone to run over to the student store and buy me some. Mike!! You go! The exercise is good for you anyway! We should all go out for a run!
*Mike gets up and runs out the door just as someone says they have batteries*
Randy: Wait!! Mike!! Come back!!
*Mike tries to come back but door is now locked and must resort to knocking which results in laughter coming from within the lecture hall just as Randy opens the door*
Randy: What the hell do you want?? By the way, could you go run and get me a latte?

Yay, got to do a TA review session for the desparate and increasingly anxious students of metabolic biochemistry, who must prepare for a midterm tomorrow while I congratulate myself on figuring out how to add pictures to microsoft word and thus making such great handouts. Obviously very exciting, with kim talking about apple pie, courtney covering sex, hugo mentioning death, and me trying to fend off the people trying to get handouts from me after I had already run out. Throw in my mastery of the pentose phosphate pathway and pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, along with some papa john's pizza, and I think we're all set!

As for literature, still debating whether or not I should read the novel before writing the term paper. Oh sparknotes, where would I be without you.

An Ode to Sparknotes
A website such as this
Can give me so much bliss
From high school to today
You've always saved the day

Why today is so great:

"Do I look like a cop!!??"

Gloating of the Victorious, 2005



The Chargers defeated, executed, mutilated, conquered, crushed, and vanquished our most evil and despicable enemies the Raiders. LT caught a touchdown, ran for a touchdown, and threw for a touchdown, proving that he is by far the greatest football player in the world today. And perhaps one day, the greatest ever!!!

Thanks to everyone for celebrating my birthday by eating pasta. And for the great games of MASH, according to which I will grow up to be a pig farmer, live in an apartment, get rides in my mom's car, and be married to jessica alba (in other words, the best life in history!!).

A final goodbye to my heroes the padres. It's been fun.
Padres: NL West Champions

Happy October!

Literature has been kinda bleh, and then i decided it might help to actually read the novels. Turns out Jane Austen's books are pretty decent, although there are always lots of female characters to keep track of. I've found that it helps to imagine them as hot celebrities (jessica alba has starred in each novel so far). Cognitive Psych is kinda interesting, but the textbook is like a dictionary (almost as bad as APEC...almost) but the professor has all sorts of little mind tricks he shows the class to make us feel stupid. Eating Disorders is Psych with Prof. Roberts Part III, except this time with mario, MJ, and christine. Just like old times!! And of course TA'ing for Hampton, who the other day rapped about metabolism and then later played some kenny g. Good stuff.

Also started volunteering at the Moores Cancer Center, which is a really spiffy and cool building.

And I held my first section last friday. I was totally unprepared since randy said that they wouldnt start until this week, but i just happened to run into him at pac hall and he was like "just do it cuz people might show up". So i did and amazingly people did show up. I forgot all my great introduction lines though so i decided to just talk about metabolic biochemistry. It went loads better than my first BILD 1 section, as people were actually paying attention and asking questions, except for this one dude who everytime i looked at him had this "you killed my father and i'm going to have revenge" look on his face. But through my vast and far reaching connections i heard that i was "very very good" and had great handouts. Yeehaw!!

San Diego Padres: NL West Champions!!!



I love how they're all drenched in champagne, and then there's one dude in the back holding up a coca cola cup. Whoooo!!!

So now that the regular season is just about over, I think we can go ahead and look at Mike's Overly Optimistic Predictions that I made way back at the beginning of the season:

Mark Loretta: .342 ba Actual: .282
Brian Giles: 41 hrs 15 hrs
Phil Nevin: 38 hrs 9 hrs (was traded halfway through)
Ryan Klesko: 35 hrs 18 hrs
Jake Peavy: 18 wins, 2.55 ERA 13 wins, 2.88 ERA
Woody Williams: 15 wins, 3.25 ERA 8 wins, 5.01 ERA
Trevor Hoffman: 42 saves, 2.20 ERA 42 saves, 3.02 ERA
Padres: 94 wins, the West, the National League, and the whole f'in world ~80 wins and the West, still have to wait on the National League and the whole f'in world
So overall, my predictions proved to be overly optimistic, with the exception of Trevor's 42 saves, predicted with amazing insight and precision. Of course all that really matters is the whole winning the West part, so we cant really complain can we. Go Padres!!!

Mike looking through the CD stand on Library Walk:
Mike: Hmm, a Mandy Moore CD. I like Mandy Moore. But I think I'll just leave it here instead of picking it up.
*really cute girl walks by*
Really Cute Girl: Do you have any Mandy Moore?
Guy selling stuff: Here's one right here!!
Mike: Gaahhhh!!!

Here's the most awesome picture ever: LT plays quarterback!!

Randy is funny, even over email.
Kim: ". . . so that we can make copies without bugging you ('gettin into yo shinizzle' as the kids might say)
Randy: "So did shinizzle replace shizzle? I am confizzle!"

Padres!! 1 more win and we're in.

Chargers win! I called this game as their breakout one, and they did that and more, scoring 45 big ones. And LT is the greatest ever. Next weeks game is gonna be tough though, so ill call it as a close one.
Chargers: 27
Patriots: 24

I can't believe I'm being paid to attend Randy's lectures:
"In past years I've always had to ask the class for water. This year I thought I'd bring my own bottle of water and not have to beg and plead from my own students. This way I can look a lot more professional" *attempts to drink water and spills it all over his shirt*

Classes seem pretty cool so far. 2 psych classes + 1 lit class + randy's class = my easiest quarter ever. Whooooo!!!

Rejected Ideas for my First TA Section Welcome:
"Hi. You guys are taking metabolic biochemistry, which is 95% memorization. In other words, you losers need to do all the work and I just grade it. See ya."
"Metabolic biochemistry is kinda boring, but Prof. Hampton is pretty funny. So you should just come to his lectures to be entertained and forget about studying."
"When I took this class I lived and died on my TA's handouts, and I think it would be good for you guys to do that too. More specifically, to die since I didn't make any handouts."
"I considered talking about gluconeogenesis today, but thought it would be more fun to play some texas hold em."
"I got an A in this class mostly by messing up my fellow classmates and explaining the stuff wrong so as to lower the curve, and I'll do everything in my power to repeat that same success with you guys."
"I'm going to start today by writing up on the board the times and rooms of all the other TA sections."
"I didn't expect so many of you guys to come since I'm a pretty crappy TA."
"Raise your hand if you want an A in this class. Now keep your hands raised if you have at least $50 on you."
"There are two ways to be successful in this class. The first is to memorize every single molecule, enzyme, and reaction in the book, as well as all the stuctures. The second way . . . well, I guess there's actually just one way."
"You should sit in the front row and fall asleep in class, because then Prof Hampton will start doing a funny dance to keep everyone awake (true story)."
"When I took this class, I got an A because I was currently working in Prof. Hampton's lab and he was afraid I would destroy his yeast mutants if I got a bad grade. So you should all get jobs in his lab and threaten to sabotage his experiments."

So this time I predicted the other team's score exactly right, and its the offense that doesn't get the job done. Go figure. Obviously my nearly accurate predictions are jinxing the chargers, so if they lose next week I'm going to stop predicting for the rest of the season (or at least until I feel like it again). I'm calling the next game as their breakout one, cuz if it isnt then we're screwed.
Chargers: 38
Giants: 10

In happier news, Go Padres!!!
First place, playoffs almost here.

So I'm watching this movie about this 16 year old girl who wants to go to this summer academy in LA, but her dad is like "She's too young!!" so she has to sneak away. My mom later came in to watch a little, and asks how old the character is supposed to be. My sister says 16, and my mom goes "She's too young!!".

All I'm going to say about the Chargers game is that I predicted their score exactly right. Next time, the defense needs to do their job and make my prediction for the other team right.

That game was almost as depressing as the end of the latest Harry Potter.

Next Week's Prediction:
Chargers: 21
Guys I Hate: 20

Mike's Completely Unfounded Prediction:
Patriots: 31
Those Doof Heads: 21

Actual Score:
Patriots: 30
Haha Losers: 20

Wow, Mike's a football genius. If it weren't for a missed extra point, he'd be psychic!

Padres = 1st Place
Other Monkey Butts in NL West = Losers

So last friday the wonderful people down at CPKelco decided to have a Western Style BBQ using the grill that no one ever uses. We were supposed to dress up as cowboys, but most people settled with company provided bandanas along with their lab coats. Good food and even some music, although a little weird when that one dude started getting into pirates and the flying spaghetti monster (hey, so that's what raymond and kimberly were talking about).

Boss: So I'll be in a meeting with those guys from the Japanese company again tomorrow. They'll be doing a presentation on their genetically engineered strains. I was wondering if you'd . . .
Mike's Head: Come along? I'd love to! Anything is better than sitting here with these spineless, yellow, god forsaken, can't handle a simple gene deletion when its good for them sphingomonas!!
Boss: . . . set up a PCR and gel electrophoresis for those 6 strains in the morning tomorrow. I think the gene deletion is almost working!

Wow, what an awesome match between Agassi and Blake last night. Anyone see it? Anyone? Nobody watches tennis? Drat.

So that wonderful time is almost upon us, and soon we'll be rooting for our boys to win the superbowl!! This year, I thought it might be fun for more overly optimistic predictions by yours truly each week. Of course, being the biased, subjective fan that I am, I'll announce now that I will pick the Chargers to win every game for the rest of the season. No fun you say? Well, the excitement comes as we watch Mike try and predict the score of each game!!!
Chargers: 24
Cowboys: 17

And just for a little warming up, here's a non chargers prediction for tonight's first game:
Patriots: 31
Those Bastards: 21
(Mike uses no logic, reason, or professional advice in making his predictions, and does not encourage large bets based on said predictions as they are mostly pulled out of his dog's dish bowl ???)

An Ode to Sphingomonas
All summer i've spent here in this place
With yellow bacteria all up in my face
We're supposed to wear goggles but i never do
I'll probably spill acid in my face like a foo
During 8 hour gel, PCR and ligation
I go online and read up on playstation
Genetic engineering has many hurdles
Just to make mutants, like ninja turtles
But I'm an expert, you know I'm a pro
Don't know why these reactions won't go
I spend my time designing cool primers
Setting the autoclave, and forgetting the timer
There's no kids to talk to, everyday all the same
Thank goodness my friends spend their time all on AIM
Each week at noon my lunch is PB and J
Plus looking at pics of Jessica Alba all day
Although this job has easy breeze charm
Beware ethidium bromide, which can cause your genes harm
But I've said it before, and I'll say it real funny
No matter what happens, I'm still in the money!!

An Ode to Mike's Blog's 3 Year Anniversary
Although its often lame
I love it all the same
Throughout these long years 3
The only one who laughs is me
Mike's Blog is the greatest
B-A-N-A-N-A-S!!

The joy of endless med school secondaries;
Hardest to answer that shouldn't be hard for me: "Describe a problem in your life"
Least Creative: "Share with us something about yourself . . . which may help the Admissions Committee to assess your interest"
Most conceited: "Explain your interest in [this school]" (answer=you guys are the best school ever!!)

One of the cool things about my backyard is the great view. Not only of the hillside and the freeway, but more importantly the backyard of the old asian dude who lives below us and has a really big pool. I was hanging out in the back the other day with my good friend calvin, doing his usual sniffing of dirt routine, when off in the distance i hear the greatest song of all time, wake up by hilary duff! Wondering where this wonderful music is coming from, I take a peak down to the old dude's backyard, and there he is, with a cd player sitting outside on a chair, and hilary duff's new cd playing! Obviously the first thing I did was check to make sure he didnt just steal mine, then I looked at him and laughed (in spirit, now out loud cuz he could probably hear me). If old asian dudes can still enjoy hilary duff's music in their backyards, then maybe there's still hope left in this world afterall.

I just reread some of my "overly optimistic predictions" for the padres and realized that none of them are going to come even remotely close to happening, with the notable exception of "winning the west". So as long as that happens and the dodgers and dbacks continue to suck rat malarchy, then its all good.

Padres: *record unimportant* - still 1st place

For all my fellow Alphabet Movie Game warriors, check out these movies; Youngblood (a band, AND a movie with Patrick Swayze), You Can't Go Home Again (Dutch movie, but I was pretty close), and eXistenZ (ok, so not technically an X movie, but good enough).

So I'm over at costco with the almighty Mother, looking at plasma tv's, and my mom tells me about all her plans to buy a 1000 inch tv and get satellite tv so she can watch all the shows she wants like suze orman and dalai lama specials. Then the unspeakable happens, and i start explaining to her how we dont need a new tv, since my sister never watches tv, my dad "only channel surfs when he's done with the newspaper", and the only shows i watch with any regularity are padres games, sportscenter, and lizzie mcguire. Then my 13 year old self popped through a time portal and shot me with a machine gun, yelling "You FOOOOL!!!". Haha. Anyway, i dont know what to think now that the day has come where I have to argue with my mom not to be extravagent, and she tells me that we need new technology.

I also started reading some of the harry potter books, all out of a desire to find out what this horrible and graphic ending is that has children all across the world crying. Turns out these things are actually pretty good!! Goblet of fire was good fun, and i was quite surprised how dark and evil the ending was which makes me excited for the movie. Calvin agreed when he chewed up my harry potter dvd box.

At work for 3 hours, and my supervisor still hasnt showed up. I'm getting paid too much. *my 16 year old self just popped through a time portal and stabbed me with a chain saw*

Happy August!

"What do you call baseball players who don't take steroids? Dodgers"
-Jay Leno, my favorite comedian of all time cuz he keeps bashing the bad guys. BLAH HAH HAH HAH!!

So rather than spend my spare time reading the latest WWE and MLB news, recently i've been perusing all the exciting health care stories courtesy of all the easily accessible med school web sites. Lots of interesting stuff, especially this one article I read on this year's UCSD med school graduates, which included a 40 something year old man that was graduating the same year his son was finishing his undergrad at UCSD!! And, there was a student who became pregnant during med school, so she ended up taking finals in her hospital bed, even having to use a microscope while in the process of creating life out of her own body. Amazing. So i guess we can forget the pregnancy excuse for getting out of a final. "You're going through labor? But you can still WRITE can't you!?"

And after all 7 of my champion sphingomonas proved to be nothing more than monumental fakesters and failures, the lone colony that grew out of 11 plates that were about to be thrown away ended up being what we wanted. These guys are weirder than our old yeast friends (but still prettier!).

Padres are still the stuff.
Padres: 1st place
D'backs and Dodgers: not 1st place and still sucky

Work is still going swimmingly. I get to apply my PCR and gel electrophoresis skills all in the name of gellan synthesis and getting paid lots of money, all while getting so much time in between to spend on the computer that my right hand is starting to cramp from clicking the mouse too much. So while the precious DNA from my wonderful sphingomonas friends is exponentially amplified, here's what my dog does all day in his own words.

Calvin's Day:
7:00am- Dad's up. Ok I'll get up and go outside. Time to pee. Phew, been holding that in all night. I'll just sniff some of these plants and pick up dirt and bugs on my fur while Dad cleans up my room.
7:30am- Time for a nap while Dad makes breakfast
8:00am- Ok, I'll get up to say bye to mom, but I won't move from my spot cuz you never give me anything. Time for a nap.
8:30am- Look, its Mike! Yay! I'll run around and lick his leg. He's giving me one of those pig ears to entertain me. I think I'll chew it for a few minutes and then stop as soon as he leaves. Ok, time for a nap.
4:30pm- What a great dream I had about getting to sleep more often. Where is everyone? I'm getting hungry.
5:00pm- The garage door is opening. It's Mike!! Whoooooohooo!! Time to run around and look happy!!
5:15pm- Dinnertime. Yum, I love dog food. Mike's putting on his shoes! Time for a walk! Whooooohoooo!! Time to run around and look happy
5:20pm- I like sniffing flowers. And grass. And cement. And poop. I also like stopping to smell the roses while Mike is jogging, so he has to stop and completely ruin his sad attempts at getting some sustained exercise. Hahaha. Then when we walk, I stop right in front of him so he almost trips over me and looks really foolish. Hahaha. Look, a small dog!! AHHHHH!!
6:00pm- Phew, I'm tired. Time to lay on the floor and drool all over the carpet.
6:30pm- Mom's home! Cue roll over onto back for tummy rub.
7:00pm- Time for a nap.
7:15pm- Everyone's eating dinner but me. I think I'll lay down right in the middle of the kitchen so people will trip over me. Then I'll walk around under the table and step on people's feet, then trip over the TV plug and cause it to go out.
7:30pm- Time to sit by Mike and look innocent so he'll give me scraps of food.
7:45pm- Time to sit by dad and look innocent while laying my paw on his leg so he'll get up and give me pieces of food.
8:00pm- Time for a nap
8:30pm- I think I'll bring Mike one of my toys while he's busy watching TV so that we can play fetch.
9:00pm- Ok bored with that now. Time for nap
9:30pm- Why is Mike poking me in the back of my neck. Cue roll over onto back. Nope, now he's poking me in the stomach. Ok, going back to just lay here while ignoring pokes to my head. Phew, what a day. I need some sleep.

Beyonce interviewing John Cusack, as seen on VH1:

Beyonce: "So what kind of music are you into?"
John Cusack: "Rap, mostly rap"
Beyonce: "Do you like Outkast?"
John Cusack: "You're the first person who's mentioned them. I've never heard of them before"
Beyonce: "What about Destiny's Child?"
John Cusack: "I don't really know them too well"
Beyonce: "Really?"
John Cusack: "Mostly I like getting stuff off Napster. You don't like Napster?"
Beyonce: "Well, no, because I'm an artist"

Haha. It's like bumping into Tom Hanks in the supermarket and saying "Have you ever seen Forrest Gump? Man, I hate that movie". Funny stuff.

At work again, being wonderfully overpaid while waiting for my sphingomonas to grow and updating my blog. So out of boredom, here is yet another addition to Mike's Pointless Poems.

An Ode to My Summer Internship
I sit here in lab each lovely day
Still not believing the tremendous pay
Working less than Hampton lab but earning more
Even though these gellan guys can be a bore
The scientist I work for is pretty cool
Her kids remind me about high school
The food guys give yogurt its tasty kick
And there's also a hot blonde chick
Waiting for 7 hour growth is kinda lame
At least I can pass the time with AIM
So even though my boredom ain't funny
All I can really say is "I'm in the money!!"

Awesome new pictures.

Flash back 2 and half years on Mike's Blog:

Jan 21, 2003
"a philipino family's idea of a good time can be described in one word: food. And sometimes karaoke . . . Taking pictures of our 20+ group can be summed up with the word 'Compress!' . . . it was kinda cool to see a lot of the kids who i havent seen for something like 7 years. The toddlers turned to young children, the babies had become little kids, a new baby came out of nowhere".

Fast forward to this weekend, and it's San Francisco Baptism Trip Part 2, with all of the above still true and with almost all the same characters still present. It was lots of fun seeing everyone again, especially the kids. I've discovered that one of life's little rays of light is seeing those little kids get older with each visit. Little baby Alecxis was of course the center of attention with the baptism and all, but her older bro Aldren (sp?) and sis Abigail (sp?) were lots of fun too. Especially Abigail, who is the cutest little girl I have ever seen, and also enjoyed punching me (cute girl physically assualting me? what else is new?) but also let me push her on the swing so its all good. All the family get together stuff was fun, especially after looking back on my old pictures from 2003 and seeing how everyone had changed and stayed the same (I was in fact wearing the same shirt to the last baptism), and we got to visit Hearst Castle and have clam chowder soup amidst a motorcycle convention on Cannery Row, so here's to one more successful Imus vacation.

Going out of town again, towards the general direction of San Francisco, and possibly seeing a baptism. Take care my friends, sleep often my dog, and be good my gellan producing sphingomonas bacteria.

"Mama mia, here we go again"

Happy 4th of July!!

Went to the county fair with mario, where we each tried to eat one of those legendary turkey legs but failed miserably, rode 1 ride and got dizzy, and "won" a hilary duff poster playing one of those overpriced throw the darts at the balloons game. All in all good stuff although now my car is all dirty, but i guess it was all worth the poster since it was their last one. Mah hah hah.

"I would have gotten Spider Man"

Finally saw batman begins, and watched fireworks with family. We drove down to Westview to see the fireworks that supposedly no longer take place at our old home Mt Carmel. When we got there we noticed that there was no one in the parking lot, leading to the question0 "Are you sure the 4th of July fireworks are on the 4th of July?". So we ended up going to hilltop instead and watching ALL of san diego's fireworks, just really far away. Plus, westview has a really nice parking lot.

Back from Vegas, which was fun. Didnt win anything, but we got to see Mama Mia the musical, which was pretty cool. I'm amazed how long I've sat at a slot machine without ever being carded the last 5+ years, yet at an Indian casino I stand around for 2 minutes before a security guard makes me wait outside. Bah.

Work is chill. I get paid tons of moolah for mostly sitting around on my computer updating my blog and reading Yahoo entertainment news. When I do get to work, I'm studying these nifty sphingomonas bacteria that make this gellan stuff they put in your yogurt and gogurt. So next time you have some you can think, "Mike may have made the creatures that make the stuff that makes what I'm eating!"

So Mike the Juror, Defender of Vengeance and all that other stuff showed up to Superior Court tuesday morning only to hear the judge say "Well, the parties settled out of court, so there will be no trial. Thanks, see ya". So after all that I didnt even get to hear the story behind the nurse sueing doctor stuff, which I was expecting to be relatively entertaining. Ah well, at least I get paid $15.

Speaking of getting paid, I started my brand new job working as a summer intern at CPKelco. Pretty cool stuff, where I get my own ID card, office space, and computer which I'm using to update my blog as we speak!!! Not to mention getting paid over 200% more for doing less than at the Hampton lab (but without fun grad students to pass the time :( awww). Anyway, everyone here is pretty cool and things are pretty easy going, plus there are a bunch of labs making xanthan based products, so i got to try some homemade gogurt on my first day! Whoooo!!!

Ok, going to Vegas again. See ya later kids.
(Special thanks to Vic for dogsitting . . . Calvin says woof).

First week of Freedom Summer and what's Mike up to? Jury Duty. Got chosen to a trial too, so now call me Juror Mike, Defender of Justice, Enforcer of Punishment, Guardian of Flaming Retribution and Rider of the 210 Bus from Mira Mesa to Broadway.

Happy 21st to our good old friend Vic!!! Here's to really good pizza, video games, crazy drinks, cute girls, the good times, and all the craziness still to come :P

So the Hampton Lab got together for what will probably be the last gathering of our current roster for an "Undergrad Appreciation Lunch". Good fun with everyone there, except for Dr. Hampton himself (his money came in his place), which made me kinda sad to be leaving something that i've been a part of for so long, so here's a "high school yearbook style" thankyou here on my blog where most of them will likely never see it and remain unaware of my sentimental side.

Omar: For being funny and helping me figure out how to put centrifuge tubes in cardbord cups my first day.
Christine F.: For showing me how to make all those impossible solutions and calling me a "Media Making Monster".
Sergey: For hiring me.
Jerrod, Jarrod, and Sara: For being cool rotation peeps and making the lab more fun.
Tuyet: For teaching me the secrets of dish washing and media making.
Thomas: For helping me not spill acid on myself.
Alex: For helping me not splash acid in my eyes.
Tai: For all the handshakes and fist punches that made me feel hip and cool.
Isabelle: For making those plates 3 years ago that I used 3 weeks ago.
Christine G.: For being so cool, and being the first undergrad to hang out in the lab with me.
Shuyi (sp?): For also being cool, and making your own media (extra points).
Renee: For being the nicest and warmest grad student I've ever known.
Brian: For being the best grad student an undergrad researcher could ever want, despite making me transform those 32 strains.
Dr. Randy Hampton: For giving me food.

Farewell to the Hampton Lab!!

Omar: "I don't think there's anything wrong with the lower buffer if it was made by Mike. I trust anything made by Mike. Mike has never made anything that didn't work. And I'm not just kissing his ass because he's standing right in front of me."
Jarrod: "He's kissing his ass because it's so beautiful."

My last day hanging out with the high school seniors at Preuss. I'd thank them all by name if only I knew their names. Anyway, here's to my good friends for having math homework I didn't know how to do and letting me pretend to be in high school again!!!

10 minutes before my statistics midterm: "I am so ready for this thing. I've got my pen, 2 pencils, an eraser, ruler, my watch, scantron, bottle of gatorade, bag of oreos, change of clothes, extra shoes . . . where's my calculator?"

"The Padres are in First
The Padres are in First
Hi-Ho-Cherrio the Padres are in First!!"

Me: "You know, we have one less ticket than we need."
Mom: "Don't worry, we'll think of something when we get there."
We get there
Me: "Now what? Shouldn't we have figured something out a couple days ago instead of a few minutes before they ask for tickets?"
Random Girl Walking By Holding a Stack of Tickets: "Man, does anybody need any extra tickets?"

Congratulations to Big Sis on graduation!! I owe you much love, laughs, and corny jokes that mean nothing to everyone in the world but us.

Star Wars Episode III: Good stuff yo.

"I've been waiting for you Obi Wan, we meet again at last. The circle is now complete." -Darth Vader

"Man, Yoda is a pimp!" -random guy in movie theater

Damn, the Padres are the greatest thing since the Chargers.

Early Season Ode to the Padres
The Padres are the best
They'll surely win the west
D'backs, giants, and dodgers,
Are nothing to our mighty friars
Every game they cross home base
You know whose in first place!!!

Go Padres!!!!

One sentence summary of friday: Started the day with a psych experiment followed by a psych section for human sexuality where i saw qin qin and the TA kept asking me what I thought just cuz i was busy thinking to myself, afterwhich i stopped by my home away from home the hampton lab to transform 7 more of those beautiful hrd mutants, then met up with vic at his DVC booth and walked around to all the various sun god festivities where i got a burrito and a coconut smoothie that stephen chang thought was alcohol containing and we also saw jocelyn, followed by vic stealing a gatorade and us watching some martial artist peeps and then some funky band from seattle that kinda sucked except for when the hot girl in shorts started dancing in the fountain a couple feet in front of us who vic took a few pictures of (gotta send me those :P), afterwhich we headed over to marios place to play some dmc3 which was fun but we had to stop cuz mario wanted to go to the beach so i came along and met his fellowship again where we played some fun games including one where i held hands with eupheme (fun) and mario (not so fun . . . jk) and also ended up crawling around on the sand looking for someone's keys and had a bonfire, which in the end was pretty fun except that we didnt get to see ludacris.

Holy macaroni the Padres are so hot. Everyone with me now!! WORLD SERIES! WORLD SERIES! WORLD SERIES! Now just the girls! WORLD SERIES! WORLD SERIES! WORLD . . .

And the dodgers suck! Haha! DODGERS SUCK! DODGERS SUCK! DODGERS . . .

And I finally washed my car!!! WASHED MY CAR! WASHED MY CAR! WASHED . . .

Well, I cant believe we're already 3 weeks from the end of this great / fun / terrifying / exciting year. Then we'll be 3 years through college!!!

So you would think LAM (Life after MCAT) would be a breeze and a heeze, yet even with just 3 classes I feel like i only have a couple minutes more free time than before. It must be all that time spent with high school kids and hospital patients, not to mention those freakin hrd mutants that continue to haunt me even after i have heat shocked and transformed the heak out of their butt equivalents. Anyway, that also makes me realize that there are only a couple more weeks left for my time spent at the Hampton Lab. I'm obviously glad in a way to take a break away from all the stinky bacteria and fungus, but of course i kinda feel sad to be leaving the place i've gotten so used to over the past year and a half. Not to mention all the funny grad students i've gotten to know and love so much. Who else am I going to quote for funny jokes on my blog?? Kevin??? Well, actually . . .

Classes are about the same. Biochem tech is kinda fun just cuz its bio and thats what i do in my spare time anyway, plus you actually have time to do the experiments unlike some other hell labs (*cough* 6BL). Not to mention having a team of 3 to accomplish what only takes 1 bright person to do. So if you have 3 dimwits it adds up!! (haha). My lab peeps are pretty cool, so i've gotten to like the class (just not the lab writeups). Stats is boring, but the prof is relatively funny. Human Sexuality really is the funniest class ever. Well, maybe randy was funnier . . . but then again he was talking about succinate dehydrogenase as opposed to the value of ordering hotel room porn.

All in all, things are good, looking up, feeling bright, seeming light, keeping tight, and still the same old path through a dense forrest with way too many monkeys.

Really Random Post:

Go Trevor Hoffman!! And the Padres!!! See, I told you they'd be good, didn't I? But you didn't believe me. Ha.

In the continuing adventure that is applying to med school, here's me asking randy for a letter of rec.
Mike: Hey Randy. I'm planning on applying to med school, so I was wondering if you'd . . .
Randy: (grabs envelope out of my hand). Yes! Yes of course! I shall write you a bitchin letter of rec. But you'll have to remind me to do it, so harass me. Harass me! HA-RASS!!

Hanging out with the high schoolers at Preuss is getting to be kinda fun. They're actually a relatively smart bunch, and the other day I was reading over some of their required 10 page essays and discovered that the most popular topic for girls to write about were depression and obesity. Guys liked writing about such issues as college athletes, the history of hip hop, and something about Aztec gangs. Anyway, my enjoyment is probably due to my sub conscious desire to be a kid again (Freud!), so now I'm actually wondering would it would be like to be a kid doctor. Scary.

Me 2 months ago: "Yes!! All done with my proteasome classification of these god forsaken hrd mutants, so no more transformations with that freakin CPY stuff!!"
Brian 2 days ago: "Here Mike, why dont you transform these 32 strains I unfroze. Got to get as much out of you before the quarter's over!"

The key to life from someone who can't even figure out his own life and probably isn't quailifed to give psychiatric care to his own dog: Watch Lizzie Mcguire, 6:00 everyday on the Disney Channel. Yes, its a show targeting 12 year old girls, but at heart it was really about the stuff that everyone goes through, not just middle school or high schoolers. Having problems trusting a close friend, disagreeing with a parent, trying to get someone to like you, wishing you were someone else, feeling like you'll never be good at anything . . . are these not the universal themes that we all go through, even well past graduation? Of course they are, and the show does a cute and efficient job of solving all of life's problems by teaching just a few lessons; 1. Have really good friends cuz they're the ones that'll save you every other episode, 2. Sometimes things dont work out and you just have to move on, 3. Oftentimes the best things in life are right next to you. Now, could Dr. Phil come up with better keys to life??

Renee: Mike, how are you? How's it going? Can I ask you a favor? A really big favor? And you can say no if you want.
Mike's Head: Oh great. She's going to ask me to stay overnight till 6 in the morning watching her yeast grow just because I'm an undergrad and graduate students always take advantage of us to get their experiments to work.
Renee: Can I borrow that bottle of YPD when you're done?

Mom: (rustling through papers) Michael!! Why didn't you tell me!??
Mike's Head: Shoot. She's gotten my bank statement and I'm bankrupt. Or she finally got my ochem grades. Or she found out I'm taking human sexuality.
Mom: (turns on TV) I've already missed 15 minutes of American Idol!

Happy May!!!

Ok, so BIBC 103 is still better than Chem 6BL, but these lab reports are getting to be a pain. Life was supposed to be easy after the MCAT!

Randy: "What are our new dish washer and media maker named again?"
The Lab: "Aparna and Enmar"
Randy: "Lalana and Nomar?"
The Lab: "Aparna and Enmar"
Randy: "Nemar?"
The Lab: "Enmar"
Randy: "Ok, Enmar. Parna and Enmar"
The Lab "Aparna and Enmar"
Omar: "Next time hire people with easier names. They dont have to be white, they just have to have white names"

Yes, MCATs are finally done and over and i can finally get on with my life and focus on more important things, like midterms. Shoot.

Other updates in life: started volunteering at the Preuss school a few weeks back. It's a class of high school seniors in a "University Prep" class that supposedly prepares them for the challenges of college. Basically its more of a study period where they read for a half hour and then have the rest of the time to work on (or not work on) anything they want. Unfortunately a lot of them are doing calculus and since i had to be reminded what the little squigly thing is for, its kinda hard for me to help them with their homework. Its all good though cuz they're pretty cool people, and its kinda fun just hanging out with the young, innocent future of our society.

Our new media guy hasnt been doing very well, and with the added revelation that he wont be working over the summer, the lab gods have decided to hire a new dish washer and promote Aparna to media maker (she got promoted even faster than i did). Which means my unsurpassed skills of tutelage are required yet again as i groom my next would be protege in the arts of media making. This time I made sure to reiterate the fact that the 6 liter flask gets REALLY slippery when washing so be REAL CAREFUL not to drop it and break it in the sink cuz theyre really important (Enmar broke it 5 minutes after i said this).

Kevin: "Does pfizer make viagra?"
Me: "Yeah"
Kevin: "Oh. So you're the reason they make so much money"

Well, I'm still alive and i cant believe i'm saying it, but that one mcat thing is tomorrow!!! Damn, 3 and half months of fun princeton reviews and sunday classes went by so fast, which means it must have been tons of fun, right? And it all leads up to one all day test, the mother of monsters, the king of killers. And, considering this one test will likely determine the course that my wild and unpredictable life will take on a river that nobody can see the end of, you would think that the nerves and stress would probably be starting to get to me by now. The weird thing is that even the day before jumping out of the plane into the battlefield with nothing but a parachute, the last minute panic still hasnt hit me. I'd like to think that its due to my vastly calm, cool, and collected confidence, so lets just hope the fear doesnt hit me right when i sit down to start the test. Anyway, they suggest that the last day before the test is a day for rest rather than cramming, and thanks to my skills of far sightedness and preparation (haha) i successfully sit here on a friday with no classes, labs, yeast, hospitals, or high school seniors that require my attention, which leaves me free to update my blog, look over 7 years worth of material, and ponder which way the water will flow at the break in the river.

"If we must die, let us give them hell before the end!!!"

So last friday i actually did something that didnt involve studying for that one MCAT thing. While busily performing profoundly innovative experiments that will soon change the face of yeast mutant science, i got a call from none other than our old friend Jen, visiting our humble campus!! I met up with her and 2 of her friends who were pretty cool. Jon also stopped by for about 5 seconds, vic gave a call, and chang ran into me on his way to class. We got some food at chipotle (well, i got some food at chipotle) before we made a triumphant return to the cove. We explored this little mini cave that was kinda cool, and checked out the seals that had taken over the little kiddy pool. Pretty fun stuff.

Then i took a practice mcat test, went to a mcat review, and generally pretended to do more mcat studying.

Overly Optimistic Predictions for our Heroes:
Mark Loretta: .342 ba
Brian Giles: 41 hrs
Phil Nevin: 38 hrs
Ryan Klesko: 35 hrs
Jake Peavy: 18 wins, 2.55 ERA
Woody Williams: 15 wins, 3.25 ERA
Trevor Hoffman: 42 saves, 2.20 ERA
Padres: 94 wins, the West, the National League, and the whole f'in world

Reasons why this quarter has the potential to surpass last quarter in enjoyment level

• NO 8:00 am classes!
• Sunshine while driving to school
• Psych with Prof. Roberts again, except this time studying SEX
  
• Scaling back somewhat on the hospital volunteer hours
• Getting to volunteer at the Preuss school
• No more pouring plates, making liquids, or preparing buffers
• Seeing Kevin 3 times a week
• 3 more weeks and then no more studying for that one MCAT thing
  
• Being able to get home by 6:00 to watch Lizzie Mcguire!!!
  

Now that the horror of finals is over and winter quarter 05 has come to a close, I can finally relax and spend my spring break studying for that one mcat thing. I can also write more poems!!

An Ode to Winter Quarter 05
Another quarter gone and done
We all had so much fun
In child psych at 9:30
The girl I sat with was real pretty
Bact with Brown who taught us
Things like meningitis
And the ever so fun mol bio
Sitting with friends like mario
Of course lab work with yeast
And weekend classes i like the least
So though this quarter went by so fast
The memories will always last.

Having to wait for Brian to finish using the FACS machine:
"Don't worry, we can hang out and talk. We can talk about the FACS of life."

Meeting our new media maker (my protege), who goes by the name of Enmar.
Omar: "That's like my name. What are the chances?? It would be like running into a guy named Tike."

A couple pictures from Revelle Semi that you've all been dying to see.

Revelle Semi Formal '05 last saturday; lots of fun. I got to be a driver this time around, and after picking up our old friend from the past eupheme and her friend angela, we had dinner with about 30 other people at Elephant Bar in RB. Pretty good food, with a waiter who kept saying "We're gonna get you guys out of here as soon as possible". The dance was up at Fallbrook, which, thanks to unhelpful mapquest directions, took us about 30 minutes, 5 or 6 u turns, and call to chris before we finally found the place. It was pretty cool, with a carriage, lake, and chocolate fountain. Dancing of course was fun considering the move and groove monster that i am. It was kinda funny how into the songs people were getting; they were singing along with almost all of them. They even played beauty and the beast. Hahaha.

Pics when i get the chance (in the meantime, see eupheme's site)

Happy March!! And Happy Birthday Dad, Mario, and Sergey!

New favorite TV show: reruns of 2004 Padres games

I cant believe its 9th week again, which means revelle semi saturday, a week and a half till the horrors of finals, and only a month and a half of cramming left for that one mcat thing.

So a couple days ago my dad says the very words every busy, motivated, doing-too-much student fears hearing 3 weeks before the end of the quarter; "Hey, you got called for jury duty!". But of course, being the civil minded person that i am, i actually felt like it would be kinda cool to be selected to some sort of murder trial and deal out death and judgment. "I just hope its not going to conflict with anything important . . . March 14th, hmm . . . mol bio final". Another example of how the world is plotting against me with randomly bad luck and ironies. And after cursing the justice system and all superior courts, i discovered that i could postpone my service until the summer, so now all is well and balanced again. So watch out all people having trials over the summer, because Mike the Juror will be handing down flaming punishment and retribution.

In equally exciting news, christine, one of the hampotn lab undergrad trio, is learning to utilize the scientifically advanced technique of FACS analysis. Of course, since thats basically how i get 90% of all my data, the wise lab folks decided to have me train her. Everything was going fine until we got to the machine, stuck in our sample, and saw nothing come up on the computer. I had been counting on getting it done in 15 minutes, but of course all my lab related time predictions always end up being painfully inaccurate. And since we had class coming up we didnt have time for me to apply my acute skills of problem solving to fix the machine (usually involves clicking on every button, resetting, then trying again). Instead we had to come back at 6:30, where we waited for Tai to use the machine first, saw it break down again, and then finally got to do our analysis which took 15 minutes. So, the moral of the story is that FACS machines suck.

The other moral is that i'm thinking i should find a backup to grad school, which thus far had been my med school backup.

"Back that thang up!!"

Heartbreaking, soul crushing, earth shattering words to hear from the most perfect girl in the world;

"I was shopping for a birthday present for my boyfriend"

*hands clinched, fists raised towards the sky* "Noooooooooo!!!!!!"

So Randy, being out of town, left the lab some money so we could go out for lunch. "Oh, where are we going? Islands? CPK?" "You might not want to go if I tell you". We ended up spending Randy's massive amounts of money at none other than Jack In The Box!!! Woooo!!!! Good stuff!

This weekend I dont have that one MCAT class, which means my first weekend this year where I dont have to go to school on saturday or sunday!!!! Damn!!! I can just stay home and . . . study . . . and go to a lab meeting on a monday holiday. Damn.

Midterms are done except for another psych one which, after mol bio and microbio doesnt even count anymore. So time to play video games again.

LT and antonio gates both scored touchdowns at the pro bowl. Still my heroes.

Alicia Keys is both hot and cool.

Prediction (Jan 24): Patriots 31, Eagles 17
Actual Score: Patriots 24, Eagles 21 . . . eh, not too bad. If it was ochem I'd have a 4.0 GPA (ok maybe not)

Watched the superbowl with vic, along with lots of pizza, chips, soda, and generally unhealthy food. Woohoo!!

Friday was a long day in the lab, which included playing with restriction enzymes, doing some good old gel electrophoresis with renee, and learning how to dissect yeast zygotes with christine (incredibly difficult and frustrating, and it makes your eyes hurt staring into the microscope).

So all that fun lab stuff made me realize how much the stuff i'm learning in my classes applies to things i see everyday. Mol Bio: all that stuff about plasmids, transformations, PCR, etc., Bacteriology: growth of microorganisms and autoclave fun, Disorders of Childhood: ADHD, phobias, delinquency . . . er . . .

Happy February!!

Well, mol bio midterm is done, and before I get my grade back I'll say that I feel pretty good about it while I still can. Unfortunately, now I have to start studying for bacteriology again, something I havent done since like 2nd week. And then there's that whole MCAT thing again, which I'm starting to get equally behind in.

And despite my weekends being ruined thanks to MCAT classes, practice MCATs, midterm reviews, and the like, this upcoming weekend looks pretty good. Mom's birthday dinner on saturday (bets on it being at Viejas?) and of course Superbowl, likely a pizza party with Vic. So I can actually look forward to this one, even with the med school application talk on Saturday and the MCAT classes and midterm review on Sunday (they scheduled a review on superbowl sunday?? What the nuts??)

Today was a good day :P

Hey, whats happening? Molecular Biology is so much fun! I love studying it. I carry that huge textbook around with me all the time, just so that I can flip it open and read it when I have the chance. When I 'm taking tests for other classes, sometimes i cant help but start studying Mol Bio instead of actually taking the test in front of me. In fact, I think after this quarter ill just enroll in every mol bio class for the next couple of years. I even mailed the publisher of the book and had them send me all sorts of posters and stuff that I now have hanging on my wall. Wow, I cant wait for the midterm!

Actually, all my classes are pretty cool this quarter so things are going relatively peachy. The only thing thats starting to bug me are those classes for that one MCAT thing. Geez. Too much reading and too much chem.

So calvin got all excited for no reason the other day and started clawing and scratching at me as if I was his old friend sam, and seemed to expect me to bite back and chase him around. Well, those last 2 things didnt happen but I did end up with even more cuts and scrapes, including a nice cut on my forearm to go with the cold room door scar and other calvin claw scratch. Geez. I look like I enjoy sticking my arm into thorny bushes just for kicks.

"So how did you do on that practice MCAT?"
"Pretty well"
"Did you pass?"

Superbowl prediction: Patriots 31 Eagles 17

New favorite TV show: Alias

This quarter stinks because: 8 am classes

Calvin's new hobby: eating Christmas ornaments

Radio plays too much: 50 cent's "Disco Inferno"

Radio doesnt play enough: Ashanti's "Only You"

Guilty pleasure CD: Disney's Greatest Hits Vol. 1

What I can't stand about Hrd yeast mutants: 7 hours to grow and divide in culture

What's weird about my blog: I only update on Mondays

What's weird about my tag board: Who's Megan?

My weekend: Saturday; practice MCAT 9:00-4:30ish, Sunday; MCAT review 10:00-4:00. Dude, my weekend sucked.

Top Ten of 2004 (Chronological Order)

1. Revelle Semi-Formal with Mario and Friends
2. Disneyland with the folks
3. Warren Semi-Formal with Mario and more Friends
4. Del Mar Fair to see Maroon 5 with Jon
5. Petco Park to see the Padres on July 4th with the folks
6. ComicCon with Jon
7. Camping Day with Vic, Jen, Raymond, Jon
8. Week trip to June Lake and Vegas with the folks
9. New Car!!!
10. Holiday themed Balboa Park with the folks

Honorable Mention; getting to TA for BILD 1, finally getting a new computer, going with Derek to MC's graduation to try and find Eupheme, hot wing dinner with Vic and Jon, Hampton Christmas party with the lab and Vic , watching the Chargers have a great season

"Did you cry when the Chargers lost?"

Well, my inner soul has finally silenced and my heart has reformed itself from the millions of shattered pieces, and I am now ready to talk about the Chargers. Yes they lost in the first round of the playoffs at home to an underdog team. But here's the good news; they lost a playoff game! The playoffs!! Not bad for a team that was picked to be the worst team in football, that had a quarterback who people said didnt know what football was and a tight end who played basketball. The Chargers ended up first place in the west, and won more games than anyone could have guessed. Sure, they didnt get as far as we all would have wanted, but they gave victory after victory, clutch play after clutch play, and provided me with the most fun and emotional season I can remember. So for that, here's to the Chargers! Thanks for the memories. (*Charger song plays in the background . . . fades out as the lights go off*)

Oh, I've also been job shadowing a doctor who works as a pathologist. She's really cool and really smart, but if I've learned anything from my experience, its that whether or not I go to med school I can say for a fact that I will NEVER be a pathologist. Some of the dieseased organic things that I watched her handle and toss around and cut up:
Gall Bladder
Gall Stones ("from the anus")
Ovarian mass (you know those pictures from bio? looks like the real thing)
Toe with nail
Breast, with patch of skin and nipple attached (by far the grossest thing I have ever seen in this universe)

A brand new year and the first day of a whole different quarter, and already great quotes.

*Giving my student ID to the guy in the bookstore*
Me: "Student account"
Guy: "Can I see your ID?"

Me: ". . . and I'm taking a Psych class, child disorders"
Kevin: "So you'll be studying yourself?"