Top Ten of 2006
In chronological order ...

1. Marshall Semi Formal, March – gotta put this one in since it’s the last college dance ever. Some quality mexican food and a little YMCA make for a good night out.


2. Padre game, May – I went to a bunch of Padres games this year, and they only won two. I choose this one though since it’s the only one where I got to hear Hell’s Bells and see Trevor Hoffman save the game. Exciting stuff.


3. Beach Ultimate Frisbee, June – this is an odd one to include, but it was the day of my last college final in history, and it included some burgers, karaoke, and a trip to historic La Jolla Shores, which makes it a bookends of sorts (significant La Jolla Shores trip the summer before college started). Ultimate frisbee is fun, especially since I scored a touchdown. (pic is of professional ultimate frisbee'ers)



4. UCSD Graduation, June – its over and done with! Sat next to our old friend Vic, which makes for another bookend of our long and distinguished educational careers. Quick ceremony with 5 minute speeches makes for a good graduation.

5. Disneyland with the folks, June – This was a fun trip to kick off the summer, and a return to the happiest place on Earth. Props to Indiana Jones and the Buzz Lightyear game. We were the only family to wait in line to see Mickey Mouse that didn't include someone under 10 years old. And they still talked to me like a kid.


6. Lifehouse, June – this was the first show I’ve seen in awhile, and I really like Lifehouse. Great music, plus hanging around the San Diego County Fair makes for a good summer day.


7. Disneyland with peeps, September – Another return to the land of long lines, this time with lots of people. Indiana Jones was fun, as was space mountain, Fantasmic, and Denny's. A great day morning to night.


8. Utah, November – my first med school interview, along with a weekend exploring Salt Lake City with the Mom. This was a very introspectful (I made that word up) trip, complete with lots of thinking, shopping, and cheering on the chargers through the radio.


9. Palm Springs with the Folks, November – Thanksgiving in the land of Palm trees with the whole family, furry guy included.

10. Charger game, December - my first Charger game in awhile. Got to see my hero LaDainian Tomlinson on an 85 YARD touchdown run, which resulted in lots of cheering and screaming by your’s truly. I'm still jumping up and down.


Honorable Mention – Julian trip with Mario and MJ, Halloween with CEC, family trip to San Francisco, fondue with Kiger lab, car show with Vic, seeing Derek for the first time in 2 years, pool with Vic, Vic’s birthday, Dave and Busters for my birthday. Here's to more moments in 2007.

Merry Christmas!!

Of course, Christmas would be better if I didn't have to spend more quality time in lab tomorrow, but I guess I can't complain about a few days off for hot chocolate and ham with the folks. And a game winning touchdown throw with 30 seconds left in the game. Wooo!

"That's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown."

Got to go to the Chargers game last night!!!

WOOOOOO!! It was a primetime night game, which made things extra dramatic, and we had pretty good seats too. My life is now complete, as I was present to witness LT bust out an 85 yard touchdown run, the longest of his career. The crowd was going crazy and they had fireworks bursting all over the place while I was jumping up and down screaming; it was easily amongst the top five moments of my life, and that even includes the time I met jessica alba (in my dreams). There was also a really cool flyby by some jets that flew right over the stadium, which was pretty neato. Anyway, the Chargers won and I got to see LaDainian Tomlinson run for 199 yards, two touchdowns, and the longest run of his career and most exciting experience of my life, so all in all a good day.

I've been hard on the lab recently, but props must be given to Big Boss himself for treating the lab out to lunch and giving me a glass of wine for christmas. My lab building also had a christmas party type thing, complete with shrimp, sushi, and macoroni and cheese topped with blueberries.

Also a Christmas dinner with some peeps at someone's apartment in Mission Valley, which was good fun and included much better food. I got the Goonies on DVD from the gift exchange, and we also played a good game of Mafia. The good guys won, but I was cop and ended up getting killed right before we got the last mafia member. I like to think of it as dying in the line of duty to save the world.

Us four hours before the game.


Our great view of the Chargers kicking butt in primetime.


I got a decent shot of LT himself during practice!

San Diego Chargers: 2006 AFC West Champions
LT: New single season touchdown record, and greatest player ever.

"I believe he's the finest running back I've ever seen in professional football" -Marty Schottenheimer"For all the skills he has as a player, they pale by comparison to the person" -Marty Schottenheimer
"Once I got over the pylon, my initial thought process was to bring every guy on the offensive unit over to share that moment. When we're old and can't play this game anymore, them are the moments we are going to remember, that we'll be able to tell our kids, tell our grandchildren. We can talk about something special that We did. We made history today" -LT, the greatest ever.

An Ode to Christmas in Lab

On the 12th day of lab work, my PI gave to me ...

Twelve hour growth curves
Eleven strains to transform
Ten anthrax mutants
Nine acidic compounds
Eight minutes in the cold room
Seven tubes on fire
Six bugs contagious
Fiiiiiiiiive golden e. coli cultuuuuuuuures!!!
Four useless papers
Three boring meetings
Two scary bosses
Aaaaaannd a work day after Christmaaaaaassss!!!!

Continuing with the family tradition of vacations to random places, Thanksgiving 2006 took place at Palm Springs. Overall it was a good relaxing time, comprised mostly of shopping, casino playing, star wars monopoly, and a James Bond marathon. The 2 hour drive also required sitting next to a 100 lb dog that, although soft as a pillow, sheds constantly. But the turkey was great as always, in addition to the pumpkin pie made by yours truly, (using one of those premade can things). So, all in all another successful Imus vacation.

Props to Mario for giving me the heads up on Target's sale; 24 seasons 1-4 for $16 each. They ran out of season 2 by the time i stopped by, but at least i picked up season 3, which is good cuz thats the one where Michelle kicks some butt. Good stuff.

Gloating of the Victorious Part 6
It wasn't the prettiest game ever, but in the end we laid it out against our enemies. LT had 2 TD's along with a TD pass. That was beautiful.

Chargers 21
Raiders 14

Moments in Time

Inspired by my recent reunion with our friend from days long past, Mr Derek Wu himself, I decided to put together a little countdown of some of the more memorable moments involving our long time friend. (In reality, this is just me testing my ability to remember useless and forgotten memories and try to make jokes out of them).

In no particluar order, except the order in which they popped into my head:
1. April 2000 - Balboa Park: Steps on hamster at Earth Day festival; Actually, I'm not sure what kind of animal it was, but Big D stepped right on it (it survived).
2. April 2001- Balboa Park: Walks all the way back to the parking lot to check where we parked. When we return at the end of the day, his car is the ONLY car in an EMPTY lot. "Good thing you took the time to check where we parked!"
3. December 2002 - Mission Valley: After getting to AMC theaters 2 hours early to get tickets for The Two Towers, Derek decides he's hungry, so me and him head over to McDonalds to get food while vic and jen save our seats in the theater. Great plan, except that derek has the tickets, meaning vic and jen have to wait OUTSIDE the theater. So after arriving 2 hours early for the movie, we end up getting seats 2 rows in front of the screen on the ground floor.
4. June 2004 - Mt. Carmel High: In the car, on our way to crash Eupheme's graduation, Derek asks me if I brought a camera. I pull it out of my pocket and say "Here it is!". After hiking down from hilltop all the way to the field, I realize I left the camera in the car, thanks to Derek asking me if I had it. Therefore, no pictures of Eupheme's graduation. (In retrospect, this was probably my fault).
5. Sometime in Spring 1999 - Mr. Rankin's Bio Class: Derek drops a snail (or some sort of gross animal we were studying) down the sink, which prompts Mr. Rankin to draw a picture of a snail on the chalkboard calling out to Derek.
6. Sometime in Spring 2000 - Escondido Humane Society: Hanging out with Derek in the "running around" area, when Jen walks by with a dog, who promptly runs and escapes her grasp. This results in several loud expletives from Jen, prompting Derek to climb the fence, jump over it, and then tackle the dog and grab his leash. You know that TV show Heroes? Derek's power is saving dogs.
7. August 2003 - Poway Lake: The last major gathering of our group saw many humorous moments. The only one that remotely involves Derek was when he was sitting next to Jen while we all encouraged her to eat a bee that fell into someone's soda. She promptly dropped the dead bee into her mouth, captured forever in history in the infamous "Jen Eating a Bee" Picture with Derek right by her side. (See the picture here!)
8. May 2001 - Eric's House: Building our historic physics boat (the greatest aquatic transportation unit in history), Derek, Jen, and I somehow decide to test the boat by jumping in Eric's pool while in our clothes. This leads to many soaked clothes.

Ok, I can't think of anymore, so I'll just close by saying thanks to Derek Wu, for being a part of such memorable moments in all of our lives. Look for Moments in Time, Vic and Jen editions in the future.

Chargers: 35
Broncos: 27
The biggest game of the season so far results in another great win by the Chargers, who are now in first place in the AFC west.

LaDainian Tomlinson. What else can you say, other than that the guy can run, catch, throw, and score touchdowns every single week. MVP for sure this year. He's without a doubt the greatest football player in the world today, and one day the best ever, but what really makes him speacial is that he's a good person also, every bit worthy of being the hero that he is in San Diego. No endzone dances, no "look at me" motions, no "give me the ball more" speeches, no police entanglements, just touchdown after touchdown after touchdown.

Hats off to the San Diego Chargers, who pulled off an amazing 21 point comeback victory in the greatest shootut since the matrix lobby scene. Philip Rivers is awesome, and LT is simply the greatest of all time. 4 touchdowns, including one where a guy was grabbing his face mask but still couldnt stop him, and another where he starts towards the outside, then makes a great cutback for the game winning score. Beautiful stuff.

In other news, I had lunch with our old friend from days long past, Big D himself, Derek Wu. It was fun catching up on how things had changed over the last 2 + years, made even more entertaining thanks to the waitor who kept talking about the Chargers, along with an always welcome Best Buy stop afterwards. Seeing Derek again brought back a couple heart warming memories of the good ole days, such as studying for chem tests, writing up lab reports, and studying for the AP physics test. Ok, so maybe those werent such heart warming memories.

But that Physics boat was the greatest paper and wood water vehicle ever conceived in history. In history.

At A Crossroads

Well, here I am at work waiting around for bacteria to grow and being bored, so I figure this is as good a time as any to sit back and do a candid reflection on the current status of life.

For those of you that don't know, the Life of Mike Post Grad consists of spending 8+ hours a day at the Scripps Research Institute working my laboratory magic on yet another endless supply of plasmids and bacterial mutants. The pay is good, and the dude i work for lets me come in late if i have dentist appointments and take 2 hour lunch breaks which i spend at chipotle and napping at the beach. Plus, the actual work is relatively easy compared to labs past, just in greater quantity and length of time. So overall being a part of the working class isnt so bad, especially since it allows me to buy new DVDs quite often (despite the fact that our TV broke).

All the while, I've been spending my free time applying to numerous med schools and grad schools. As of now, med school is the hope, while grad school is the backup, although this has gone back and forth a few times over the years (actually, i dont think med school can ever qualify as a backup). The official reason i choose med school over grad school (aka what i say during interviews) is that being a doctor lets you see the people you're helping, while working in a lab means looking at gels all day without knowing when or if what you're doing will ever lead to a groundbreaking discovery that will benefit all of mankind. This is also the actual reason, with the added footnote of not wanting to spend the next 8 or so years in a lab (as opposed to the next 8 or so years in a hospital). But, bio research does have its bright points, and the real key to enjoying a lab is (1) studying something that interests you and that somehow matters, and (2) working in a lab with people that you dont mind spending half your life with. The hampton lab qualified for #2, but i still havent quite figured out #1.

Anyway, now i'm not so sure what the point of this whole post was, so i think ill just conclude by saying that life right now is at a bit of a crossroads, and I'm just waiting till one of the paths opens up, trying to read the signs and picking the right road (unlike in beauty and the beast when maurice stupidly goes down the dark and gloomy road instead of the bright and cheery one). Moral of the story, always bring along a horse, cuz the horse will try and lead you down the right path, and if you go the wrong way youll be attacked by wolves and the horse will run away while you get stuck in the beast's castle.

Awkward Moment of the Week

(Talking to someone from the University of Utah)
Utah: So, do you have any questions at this time?
Me: Hmm, no, nope. I'm good.
Utah: AHH HAH HAH HAH HA HA HA haaa I'm sure you are.

???????? Eh?? Not quite sure what that was all about. The best explanation I can come up with is that Utah'ians don't use the phrase "I'm good", in which case she probably thought I was saying something like "I'm good at knowing things!!" and was being incredibly arrogant. Eh. Either that or she thought I was saying "I'm God", which would explain the laughter, since you wouldn't expect someone applying to school to say "Accept me into your program, because I AM GOD!". Anyway, it was odd.

Mike's 5 Up, 3 Down more ups than downs cuz Mike is optimistic :P

3 Down
1. YouTube - removing music videos and such "due to terms of use violation". I want to watch JoJo's music videos!

2. Steve Wynn - right about to sell a Picasso for $139 million dollars when he accidentally puts a hole in it with his elbow. Ouchie.
3. People on Deal or No Deal - saying no deal when there's only one high amount left - take the freakin $150,000!





5 Up
1. The bosses - being out of town for a few days and Hendrik letting me go home early - yay!
2. Breast Cancer Awareness Month - join the group on Facebook!
3. Heroes - this is a pretty cool show, this year with more "Whoaaa!!!" moments than Lost.
4. Battlestar Galactica - this show also rocks, but needs more Boomer.
5. Jessica Alba -no explanation necessary.

Last weekend Mario and MJ sponsored a trip to Dave and Busters in honor of yours truly, leading to lots of arcade game fun. Highlights included blasting some criminal butt at police 911 and time crisis 4, beating mario at fast and the furious, losing to MJ by a split second at need for speed, and splitting 2 games of baseball against the giants. Good fun all around.

And, the Twin Barons of All that is Evil and Terrifying (aka the heads of the lab) are out of town for the next few days, which means some good ole leaving the lab early to come home and watch some TV. Woooo!

This is why they call him Superman:

Happy October~

Return to Disneyland yesterday with tons of people. Everything was just as fun as the last time I was there (a whole 3 months ago) except this time with even more friends. Indiana Jones is still the greatest ride ever, and we got to ride it twice which was cool. Got to see the new pirates, which i thought was exactly the same except for a few jack sparrow's here and there. The holiday version of the haunted mansion was nifty, and was much more colorful than i'm used too. Fantasmic was actually a lot cooler than i remember, so i'm glad we got to see that too, in addition to the 50th anniversary parade and fireworks thingy. All in all a good saturday in september.

Padres NL West Division Champions!!! We are sooo going all the way this year!! Woooooooo!!!

"So I want you do this, this, and this, and do it like this. Wow, that looks like it might take a long time. Mind if I leave early?" -my boss Hendrick.

Return to Julian yesterday with Mario and MJ! Fun Stuff. We tried pies from a couple of the places, got some of that great fruit bar stuff from dudley's, and stopped by that one candy store again where mario ate a piece of candy that may or may not have been a free sample. Also drove by a lake that was nearby, which was pretty big and watery but required lots of money to park next to so we just drove around it and left. The best moment of the day came when mario was talking and accidentally spit something out of his mouth and MJ goes "Ow my eye!!!".

The Padres and The Chargers are both in first place. Woooo!

Gloating of the Victorious 2006 (5 in a row)

This season has started off perfectly, as for the 5th time on this blog, i get to describe how our Chargers decimated, incinerated, frustrated, obliterated, devastated, humiliated, and down right murder-ated the sad and hopeless group of guys who for some reason call themselves a football team.

LT = Man Who Cannot Be Stopped Whether He Is Running On The Ground Or Flying Through The Air

Chargers 27
Raiders 0

I'm playing madden on my ps2 (not the new'07 madden, just the old school / ghetto '03 one), beating the '86 all madden team with my super chargers when my freakin TV shuts off!! Just shuts off!! My first instinct was that calvin probably stepped on the power cable and pulled it loose, but this obviously wasnt the case when i realized that the TV is pressed up against the wall and it is nearly impossible to get behind it. So after hopeless wire checking and fist banging I checked online for problems similar to "TV shuts off and doesnt come on no matter what the heck you do" and have come to the realization that some capacitor or ohms resistor in the TV has shorted out. Meaning, we need to get a new TV cuz our big one is broken and too old to be worth fixing! Nooooooo. Such good memories with this one, I feel like I'm losing a close friend. A really close friend that costs a couple hundred bucks to replace. So sad.

Hendrick (german guy) "Is it true that French drink wine for breakfast?"
Quentin (french guy) "No. Is it true that Germans drink beer for breakfast?"
Hendrick: "No"
Yay for laboratories promoting international awareness.

One of the many things that makes YouTube so great is its abundance of quality concert performances. Its almost the equivalent of the golden age of napster when you could download any random song you wanted, except you get to see them performing too. Naturally, since Michelle Branch is one of the greatest musical artists of all time, I've been spending time watching a few of her amazing performances. Great stuff. Become musically satisfied by watching this and that.

In other news involving the exciting aspects of my life, lab is still more of the same. Hendrick "The Terminator" has been busy writing a grant proposal for the Big Boss, which leaves me basically alone to conduct his experiments. Sounds great, except it gets slightly lonely, especially now that our old friend Catherine has left as a result of some laboratory soap opera drama. Which leaves me as the only young person in a sea of smart but old people, other than Polly the dish washer who only comes twice a week. All of which makes it quite difficult to talk about the VMA winners or the upcoming Xmen 3 DVD.

Went to a Padres game again, sitting in the same section that last time provided such a great view of the back of Brian Giles' jersey, except now in the very last row. This was an interesting seat, since despite being almost directly across from the scoreboard, we could barely see the bottom half of it thanks to the overhang above. Drat. And, right behind and below us was one of the food stands, so we were smelling burning food for a good portion of the game. At least this made it easy to people-watch all the folks in line (aka look for girls). Anyway, they gave away Padres drinking glasses, so I guess it was all worth it.

And joyous celebration in response to 24 winning best actor and best drama emmys.

"You disobeyed a direct order from the President!"
"I know"

Here's something to get the old nostalgia flowing (the song, not the video). Extra credit to anyone who remembers what its from! (hint: high school)

So I'm eating at Fins and getting myself a couple cups of their special spicy salsa, when I accidentally spill some of the SPICY salsa and it splashes RIGHT INTO MY EYE. What the heck? I spend half my day playing with hydrochloric acid and ethidium bromide, and SPICY SALSA ends up getting into my eye?? It hurt quite a bit, and for a few moments I actually wondered what I would look like wearing an eye patch for the rest of my life. Now most people would probably laugh about getting spicy hot salsa in an eye, but let me tell you that along with such a comedically perfect event comes some incredibly intense stinging.

Anyway, that was the most exciting thing thats happened to me in the last few days.

4 years and 372 posts later, and Mike's blog reaches its fourth anniversary!!

An Ode To Four Years Later

So here we go just one more time
Yes its Mike reminiscing all done in rhyme
We've seen so much here on this old blog
A new car and new friends, a new job and new dog.
As I read and remember each old post
I cant help but offer just one more toast.
Here's to college, for changing me.
How I survived is still a mystery.
Here's to vacations to random places.
Vegas always put a smile on our faces.
Here's to the concerts, more than a few.
Ah who am i kidding, I only went to two.
Here's to the movies, all the big summer hits,
That I saw with my friends, like Revenge of the Sith.
Here's to each random and pointless post,
Cuz those are the ones I like to read most.
Here's to my friends, who show up here and there,
Some hardly ever, it doesnt seem fair.
Here's to the sad things that made my life tough,
This blog always let me vent out and cool off.
And here's to what happens or what anyone says,
I'll figure out my life One of These Days.

“I’m a better person today than I was 16 years ago, and I’m proud of that. Because of that fact, I leave in peace.”

Yes, Mike is still alive despite the lack of posts recently.

You can usually find me everyday throughout the week at Chipotle, sometime between 11am-1pm taking a break from the gels and bacteria. So come pay me a visit and we can discuss the difference between black and pinto beans.

So, the Life of Mike Post-College has gotten underway, and I started my new life as a Research Technician. The new lab is pretty cool, and the post doc I work for doesnt seem too much like a slave driver, so things should be good. He speaks with a german accent and almost reminds me of Arnold the Terminator (ok not really) and he also took me out to lunch, which gets Mike's stamp of approval. Everyone else in the lab seems cool so far, including our old friend Catherine from microbio lab, putting all those bacteriology skills to use. So far I've pretty much been doing the transformations, restriction digests, and DNA preps I've already spent too much of my life doing, but at least I'm getting paid for it now, so its all good.

I also started just in time for the annual summer picnic, which consisted of lots of free food, ice cream, and raffle drawings that I didnt win. Also had my palm read, and according to the fortune teller I will meet a love that will be "stronger than my first one", will "continue to learn when I'm sitting in a rocking chair" and will be "extremely successful in my career and business". Even better was when I first sat down and she said "So, I'll bet you're a scientist". Of course, all of this is much better than Catherine's fortune, who will be married three times and have a stroke when she's 60.

Honorable mention to vic and company for another barbeque at his house. Props all around for getting the coals burning in only an hour (thanks to my un-disciplined use of lighter fluid), and to the deliciously cooked steak, corn, and peaches (surprisingly good) along with some vons soup. Good stuff.

Also saw Eight Below, which was pretty good although depressing at parts. But there's a cute female dog and a cute female human, added on to the fact that its a movie about dogs automatically makes it a winner.


CD everybody should listen to: The Wreckers - Stand Still-Look Pretty

Went to see Pirates of the Caribbean on opening day!! Wooooo!! Good fun yo. The fish dudes were pretty cool looking, as was all of the giant tentacle fighting. Overall it was lots of fun, though it probably isnt quite as good as the original, which easily ranks amongst my top ten favorites of all history. This one is probably in the top twenty or so. The whole cliffhanger thing was slightly unsatisfying, although the end was pretty cheer worthy. Overall, the final summer movie gets about an A- on the Mike scale.

Summer Movies 2006 Final Standings (didnt see da vinci)
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: A-
2. X3: A-
3. Mission Impossible 3: B+
4. Superman Returns: B+
5. Cars: B+
6. Nacho Libre: B (jack black singing gets an A+)
Honorable Mention: Underworld Evolution which gets an A

Padres go into the All Star break in first place!!

Good fun: Dark Angel Season 1

Lifehouse!!

Got to see Lifehouse at the fair yesterday, which was an awesome show. Hanging By A Moment and You And Me are officially 2 of my favorite songs of alltime. Afterwards walked around the fair a bit to try some of the unhealthy foods and drinks, and look at all the shops selling stuff we didnt want to buy. Nothing too exciting except for deep fried oreos, which were weird but surprisingly delicious.

Superman Returns was cool, although it doesn't quite rank as high as Batman Begins. Great special effects, good acting, and a nice job of capturing the "greatness" of superman. The only thing was that he was basically always just saving people; not really any fights or actions sequences. Therefore, I hope the sequel takes my professional advice of including giant robots in it (also a great suggestion for fantastic four). But in the end, the new superman guy was pretty good, kevin spacey was funny, and kate bosworth was hot.

Astro Blasters at Disneyland; check out the improvement in score as well as the one-eyed Pop-eye look.

So Disneyland was lots of fun, especially the Buzz Lightyear ride where I got to put my time crisis skills to some productive use. My alltime favorite ride is still indiana jones, but space mountain was pretty cool too. Pirates unfortunately was closed down as they were doing their movie tie in remodelling, but we saw the big huge screen where they were going to premiere Dead Man's Chest the next day. Can't wait to see that.

Spent the next day or two driving around LA, which consisted of mall shopping and eating some crab and lobster at this dock food stand village place.

Nacho Libre was pretty funny. "Get that corn outta my face!"

Hey, we finally graduated. Woooo! Got a nice seat in the 3rd row sitting next to our good old buddy Vic, whose name was pronounced Vik-Tor. The ceremony itself was impressivley quick despite having 1200 names to get through. Highlights include a huge Shamu balloon toy being tossed around and hitting people in the back of the head, tortillas being thrown around, someone shooting a confettie cannon, and the name reader who sounded like a game show host. Then of course the chaos of running around RIMAC field trying to find everyone and getting pictures with them. Overall got a couple of good pics, (more on facebook) so now that college is over we can lay back, reminisce about the times, and look forward to the future ... namely watching Nacho Libre and going to Disneyland!!!

Congratulations UCSD class of 2006! It's been fun.

Last sunday was the birthday of our old but still handsome friend victor. Celebrations involved a lunch at rock bottom followed by some gamecube at Amy's apartment along with some funkily mixed drinks. Good fun, but unfortunately the horrors of finals had to haunt me one more time, forcing me to leave early so as to give my last TA review session, not to mention proctoring one last final for 3 hours.

But now that all that stuff is done and over with, we now have time for more important things. Such as getting boba with mario. And also playing some ultimate frisbee at the beach with mario + friends. Great stuff, including my 1 touchdown catch, and my amazing across the field pass to the surprisingly frisbee-pro eupheme. This was followed with some infinite fries at red robins and also some *gasp* karaoke!! Wooooo!!!

Also hung out with some of the extended folks, which included dinner at the barona buffet (again) followed by a little late night conan o'brien and walker texas ranger. And a visit by some of the san francisco peeps including the kids who amazingly still have as much energy now as they did 2 months ago.

Saw Cars, which was good. But, not quite as good as Monsters, Inc., still the best pixar movie ever.

Graduation tomorrow. UCSD is down and out for the count. (check your yearbooks to see if i said the same thing about MCHS 4 years ago. haha)

An Ode to Graduation 2006

So here we are now four years after,
At the end of another chapter.
The days were long and there were many,
But they were worth each dime and penny.
So what better way to recall the times
Than a poem filled with Michael’s rhymes.

After high school we watched fade
So many friendships that we had made.
But freshman year was fun and new
Still hanging out with Victor Chiu.
Lots of time spent with Steve Chang
Plus all those mornings drinking Tang.
And more new friends I got to know.
Kevin, Jan, and Mario.
And I can’t forget Chem 6BL
AKA the depths of hell.

Of memories 2^nd year is rich
You know O chem is still a *!@$!
Physics B with the pals was fun
We never got any learning done.
And Revelle semi was good to me
Getting to meet peeps from CEC.
Then there’s my first laboratory.
I'll save those times for another story.

3^rd year was tough with lots of classes,
The MCAT was a pain in all our asses.
Hospital volunteering was another gig
Wearing a uniform a bit too big.
And hanging out with Preuss kids too
Their math problems I still can’t do.

TA’ing in senior year where I found out,
Metabolic students love a handout.
In micribio lab we were surly
Slacking off and leaving early
The class was tough but a waste was not
Since the girl behind me was real hot.
And working in the lab of Kiger
Eating pho and getting brighter
Gels and digests and watching flies.
Was worth the view of ocean and skies.

4 years are done, it seemed so fast
But now its time to leave at last.
I look back to see what it was I learned
The mistakes I made, and the things I earned.
As I put things to rest and face the next sight
With all things considered I think I did all right.
So thanks to you who helped me along
Who told me jokes and kept me strong
The time has come to say farewell
What lies ahead you can never tell.

Happy Graduation and goodbye UCSD!!!

Kiger Lab at Forever Fondue

So microbio lab was something of a drag for most of the quarter, but it did have its ups, especially our last class. We had a potluck which involved lots of cookies, chips, ice cream, watermelon carvings, and pizza. Anytime you involve free pizza, you get a Mike Stamp of Approval.

Also getting a Mike Stamp of Approval was the Kiger Lab undergrad goodbye dinner. We went down to Forever Fondue in downtown La Jolla. The whole meal took close to 3 hours for appetizer, entree, and dessert, and actually required a little work. They basically cook a pot of cheese, broth, or chocolate right on your table, and its up to you to cook your various food items in the boiling stew. Needless to say this resulted in comedic consequences involving the loss of various carrots and mushrooms to the bottom of the pot. But, overall things were good, especially the chocolate, and despite taking 3 hours for dinner it was a great sendoff to what has been yet another fun and educational lab experience.

Add on to that the last installment of the Mike and Mario end of the week Lunch at Sam Woooooo, and this has been a week filled with too much food.

The Sentinel was decent, especially since Eva Longoria was in it, but it was weird seeing Jack Bauer running around without swearing or killing people.

Expect a sappy "Ode to College" in the next few days ...

"It's like your standing in the endzone with nobody around you, and they throw you the ball but you drop it!" -Prof. Berman commenting on my literary essay.

"The infield looked like the Everglades. I didn't want to hit a grounder for fear that I'd ruin the habitat of some endangered species." -Mike Piazza describing the rain-drenched field conditions.

"Is that for you?" -guy at Target as I purchase The Lizzie McGuire Movie.

Petco Park for a Padre game with Mario!! Whooooo! Good fun with some pretty decent seats considering the fact that UCSD sold them to us. Haha. We had hot dogs and nachos, but apparently bought the dorky versions instead of the truly worthy ones, so we're definitely going to have to go back for the food. The game itself was great, with Chris Young pitching a no hitter into the 8th inning (interestingly, the last game I went to Adam Eaton had a no hitter into the 7th). And ... we got to see Trevor Hoffman!! It was all thanks to me wearing my Hoffman shirt, and of course we won the game. That's a 3 game winning streak for Padre games I've attended. Call me up anyone who wants to catch the next game!!

Yay for 3 day weekends!!

The other day I saw none other than our old friends Tiffany and Jose. It's been quite awhile, and they are now happily married! Yaaay. Man, seeing them really takes me back to high school, and I remember Tiffany in Ms. Harkins class with all those historic moments; junior paper, dance across the decades, all those practice AP tests. Wow, those were the days. Seeing them again suggests something nostalgic and introspective, but instead I think I'll just say I'm glad we aren't singing songs to the tune of "Candle in the Wind" anymore.

Last weekend I went over to SDSU for my cousin's graduation. The ceremony was actually a lot quicker than last year's, which was good because it gave us more time to go to Barona for a buffet dinner. Good stuff.

On the suggestion of Thuy, my lab went down to the convoy area for some pho. It was pretty good, and cheap as well. Plus, lunch with laboratory scientists are always interesting, and we had such scholarly discussions as figuring out which lab member best matched which harry potter character, and whether the moving cat statue was waving or clawing at the air.

Also had dinner at this thai place down in rancho bernardo. It was also pretty good, except they mixed up the spicy requests, so my mom ended up getting the 7 and I had the 5.

On the note of random restaurants, had dinner at On the Border with Vic and Amy. Really good hot wings and even more spicy salsa, plus their all new watermelon margarita, which tasted like a jolly rancher. Then it was back to Vic's place for some good old fashioned gaming, including the new tomb raider (lara croft is hot).

X-Men 3!!! Whoooo, good stuff. Overall it was pretty good, but it didn't quite live up to X2, which easily ranks among my top 10 favorite movies of all history. No psylocke or gambit, but jean gray was pretty freaky and wolverine kicked some butt. Overall I think it gets a B+ on the Michael rater.

Cheaper By the Dozen 2 was pretty good also.

24, Lost, and American Idol finales were all great. 24 didn't answer who that one dude with the glasses was though, but the ending was pretty dramatic. Lost was intense, and they really did show what happens when the button isn't pressed. Taylor and Katherine singing "Time of My Life" was good.

2 more weeks ...

Last weekend spent a day over at mission bay with a bunch of the folks. Lots of fun, and even the furry guy got to join us, although this time no hot girls came up to pet him. All in all good stuff, with lots of cheetoes, barbequed food, frisbees and footballs. Played a little softball too, which was fun until i broke the bat hitting a pitch. "Mike's on steroids!"

Metal Gear Solid 3 is one of the coolest games ever, and reminds me why the original was my favorite of all time when it came out. I like to pretend that the guards are that one mean lab tech in my microbio lab, and then i sneak up from behind, grab him, and cut his throat with a knife spewing blood all over the place. Then I drag the body over to the side of a cliff, and drop him off. Ahh feels good.

After 8+ weeks of working in the lab i FINALLY got my precious construct to be properly constructed. It all kinda happened on accident too, but thus is science. Now I can introduce myself as "Mr. Imus, creater of the GFP-ATG18 reporter protein that detects phosphotidylinositol-3,5-bisphosphate in fly cells".

MI3 was pretty cool with lots of action and things blowing up. It all kinda played like a couple of high budget Alias episodes, although maybe I'm biased knowing that JJ Abrams directed it. Still not sure if the getting blowin in the air by missile fired from jet is as cool as shooting gas tank of car while riding on motorcycle (thats MI2). Also gave me the best response when Calvin ignores my threats to give him a bath ...

"You don't think I'll do it!!!?"

Yesterday the wonderful lab folk in and around my lab had a beach bbq down at la jolla shores. Lots of good korean food and delicious soda, and also a great game of football with some surprisingly athletic scientists. My final line was 2 catches, 2 dropped passes, 2 pass interferences, a couple tackles, and a pass deflection using my leg. All in all some good fun that beats waiting for electrophoresis gels to run, and made even better since I'm only slightly sore this morning.

Also went with Vic to a car show last weekend, which was pretty cool. Got lots of food and got to ride in the back of this spiffy new car that according to vic is really awesome, especially since the guy driving it was pretty crazy and fast.

Aunt Mary: "Can Michael sing?"
Mom: *Shakes head emphatically no*


Another weekend up in the general area of san francisco to see family, this time for a 45th wedding anniversary of my uncle and aunt. It was great to see everyone again; it feels like a lifetime since last july. There are 3 families that all live in the same little neighborhood, all with awesome new houses that makes me wish i was done with college and settled in adulthood with a family of my own. It was lots a fun to see all the kids again too, and its scary to think that now I'm the one saying "You're so big now! The last time I saw you you were this tall!". Man I'm old. Anyway, the ceremony itself was fun, with lots of slow music, about 2 hip hops songs and even some dancing. I saw my parents dance. Whoa. But all in all, chalk up another great family experience.

(Me thinking that my transfections worked, and all of a sudden happy that I've actually done something right in the lab)
Mike: "Hey Amy! So I took a look at those cells I transfected, and ..."
Amy: "I know! And they were all messed up! I dont know what happened"

Happy April.

So the Biochem GRE was good fun. I have no idea how well or not well I did, but I was able to do reasonably well relying on my guess / flip a coin technique that has served me through the years. Plus, after experieincing that whole Apocalypse That Ends the World of all Mortals (also known as the MCAT) any test less than 3 hours long doesnt seem so bad.

The Padres!! After a great start lasting one game, our team suddenly has nobody capable of throwing a baseball without getting hit more often than Britney Spears (that was the lamest thing I've ever said). At this rate, we'll win exactly 1/5 of all our games (the one's Jake Peavy starts). Jake Peavy is the Man.

24 just keeps blowing me away. This season is so filled with awesomeness, I'm already looking forward to the DVD set coming out!! -"The vice president has nothing to do with this"

16 Blocks: Bruce Willis is cool when shooting people, even while looking 60 years old with bad facial hair.
A History of Violence: Viggo Mortenson can kick butt even without the Sword of Narsil.
Walk the Line: Reese Witherspoon is hot. This movie makes me like country music.
King Kong: Naomi Watts is hot. Giant ape is relatively entertaining.
Chronicles of Narnia: Good stuff with great scenery and awesome music. But .... still gotta love Goblet of Fire better.

Finals are done and no GFP tagged lipid binding proteins need my attention, which means a week of nothing but slacking off! (And studying for the GRE).

So I was walking the furry guy who sleeps on the couch and eats anything that falls on the floor (also known as calvin the dog), when we run into THREE freakin dogs on the street who for some reason arent attached to any leashes or contained behind fences like most dogs are. So I resorted to my usual response to such a threat ("walk faster calvin") which worked at first, until i realized one of the girl dogs was still following us. She kept running ahead of us, then letting us get ahead, and then running up to catch up again. This was slightly amusing and continued all the way home. I told my parents and they were all like "Calvin! You have a girlfriend!". I've been looking for a girl for the last 4 years, and all Calvin has to do is walk down the street and they're following him home. If only dogs could talk he could tell me his secret.

Also spent 5 HOURS at Fashion Valley with The Mom. I don't know why, but I still fall for the "I'll only be 30 minutes" line.

Just the 2nd week working in NSB, and the fire alarm goes off. Luckily, our office is right next to the fire exit, which is actually kinda fun to walk down when you're starting from the 6th floor. It's like being on a roller coaster, except you're standing, and have to walk, and a bit slower. Nothing blew up as far as I could tell, and I was just glad to have gotten my PCR started 2 minutes before having to leave the lab. Bah hah hah.

24 is starting to make me sad. This season has already killed 5 main characters. 5!! And 3 of them were characters I really liked!!!

So I'm standing outside my brand new lab getting ready to meet all new lab mates, when this one dude walks by with long brown hair and glasses, and I'm thinking to myself "Man, this guy looks like a crazy scientist type. Like one of those guys in a TV show who would accidentally mutate himself into an animal hybrid or something". As I'm thinking these wonderful ideas, the guy looks at me and says "Hey, Michael right. We used to work in the Hampton Lab". Then I realized, it was my old buddy Jarred! He was a rotation student for a few weeks with Hampton, but with much shorter hair to the point where he looked almost like a skater punk, or even Brian from the Backstreet Boys. Now he's got long hair and looks all mature and wise. Haha good stuff.

The lab itself is pretty cool so far, especially with the ocean view, automatic sliding doors, and being able to look down at the 2nd floor of Pac Hall and going "Haha fools!" (Jk, i actually miss those guys).

Man, this weeks 2 hours of 24 were some of the best ever. Near the end when we find out that guy snuck in the nerve gas into CTU was some of the most exciting stuff in awhile, and seeing Edgar die was surprisingly sad, even though I never liked him much. The best part was when Jack had his gun pointed at the terrorist, who tried to pull a "drop one gun while pulling another out of your belt", only to have Jack Bauer go Jack Bauer on him (aka getting blown away with a few dozen shots to the chest). Come on, nobodys fast enough to pull that on Jack.

Hey, it was Marshall Semi Formal last night!! (Here's one pic, a few more are on facebook since about 10 million times more people view that than my blog)

Good fun yet again, and possibly the last dance of my long and confusing college career, which makes it kinda sad. But, all in all it was a great night with tons of people and unending hip hop. Dinner was at Chevy's, which had decently good make-it-yourself fajitas, even more enjoyable thanks to this thumb counting game we played. The dance itself was at a hotel downtown, which we amazingly found despite mario driving (jk haha). The danceroom wasnt quite as nice as some of the other dances, considering the chocolate fountain, carriage, and airplanes and helicopters we've seen in dance rooms past. Plus, the DJ only played 2 slow slongs! It was basically all the same hip hop, with only a few others to mix it up, notably YMCA (that was pretty fun). But I cant complain too much, because I got to see lots of my good friends dressed up and dancing for the first time ever, plus make a few new ones.

Also had dinner with Vic at the oh so expensive CPK on thursday, all in support of Camp Kesem. Pizza was decent, plus got to see our old friend Courtney.

Mike has decided to once again devote his mornings and late evenings to furthering the scientific progress of biological research. In other words, he's working in yet another lab!! This time its with Professor Kiger studying cell morphogenesis. Fun stuff, but the best part is that I get to work in the Natural Science Building, also known as the lab building that looks like a hotel! And, I get to be on the 6th floor, which has an awesome view of the ocean (well, from the professor's office at least).

For all the fans of olympic figure skating, I like Sasha Cohen and I feel bad that she didnt win gold. But, why is it that every newspaper article and tv story shows nothing but the times she fell? It seems a little harsh considering she made 2 mistakes in a 6 or 7 minute program that earned her a silver medal.

Everybody watch Dancing With the Stars on Sunday and vote for Stacy.

Recent present to myself: Die Hard The Ultimate Collection.

"Welcome to the party pal"

24: Jack fires 3 bullets = 2 dead terrorists and a damaged helicopter
Lost: Just when I was starting to like Sawyer, he goes and steals all the machine guns.
Padres: Sure we have a lot of old guys, that just means we're going to be hitting home runs with walking sticks.
Chargers: I love Drew Brees, but I think it was a good idea not to have bought his jersey.
Underworld Evolution: My favorite vampire with machine gun movie of all time.
Corpse Bride: Good, but could have used Jack Skellington jumping in and singing a few songs.
Legend of Zorro: If you dont believe it could be that bad, witness actual dialogue from the movie; "It fits . . . in your butt!"
Wallace and Gromit: Gromit would be the coolest dog ever if he could talk, and if my dog wasnt cooler.
Doom: The only good part was discussing what The Rock, Eomer, Miranda Frost, and the guy who killed Batman's parents were all doing together on mars.
The Pussycat Dolls: Ok, I admit it, "Stickwitu" is my favorite song (for the moment).
Ne-Yo: Actually, "So Sick" is my favorite song of all time, due largely in part to such soul wrenching lyrics as "Gotta fix that calender I have That's marked July 15th, Because since there's no more you There's no more anniversary"
Recombinant DNA Techniques: Biology labs are good fun, especially when you get out 3 hours early.

Friarfest 2006 at Petco Park

Lots of Padres related fun in around Petco Park, including a nifty tour into the clubhouse. Here we are pretending to be Padres players, who actually stand around and take pictures in the locker room!
Hanging out in the dugout, again smiling for pictures just like the real players.
Hey, its Khalil Greene! He was even nice enough to stand perfectly still for 5 hours while people took pictures.
We made it to first base! Woooo!! (the yellow rope is so you dont get lost rounding the bases)

Dewon Brazelton: "Just got to San Diego and already weird kids are taking pictures of me." Bruce Bochy: "This question would be a lot easier to answer if I still had my moustache". Ted: "I'm only fat because I do radio and not TV anymore".

Last minute superbowl prediction:
(Going with the huge upset this year)
Seahawks: 24 Steelers: 21

Sushi buffet in downtown la jolla with mario and friends. Pretty good, but of course we ended up ordering too much, and since they charge extra for anything you dont finish, we had lots of fun trying to stuff the rest of it down after greatly exceeding our limits. Nobody listened to my suggestion of just putting the sushi in our pockets, but its all good. All in all, all you can eat sushi isnt bad, but it fills me up too quickly without making me satisfied, plus is way too expensive for unemployed bums such as myself.

Underworld Evolution! The greatest vampire and mutant werewolf movie in history. Lots of great action, sex, and violence, and Kate Beckinsale looks really hot. The best parts were when Kate Beckinsale shot the guy with her shotgun, shot the evil vampire in the face with her semiautomatic pistol, shot the werewolf with her crossobow, threw the exploding mines at the vampire mutant, and threw the evil vampire into the helicopter propeller, all while wearing skintight black leather. The other greatest part was when she wasnt wearing anything (Kate Beckinsale is really hot).

Happy 2006!

New quarter seems allright;. Social Psych, Mam Phys, and Recombinant DNA techniques.

Absolute favorite TV shows: 24, Lost, and Alias.