San Francisco, the city of... really crazy homeless people.

So just returned from the amazing state of California... let me just say that crazy homeless people are not in short supply there.  I'll elaborate later.

You can tell they are in some serious debt though... they have minimum payments on everything.  literally. Want to buy just a pastry at a bakery? nope. gotta buy 10 of them because of the $10 minimum.  Needless to say, the group and I teamed up a lot to buy things.  There was about a $20 minimum per person at every restaurant we went to.  not really a fan.

California also has some odd regulations regarding chemicals... If there is anything remotely dangerous in a product/ building/ whatever else, they have to put a notice saying so.  This is what we were greeted with when we entered out hotel:

not exactly a warm welcome? Signs similar to this were posted on just about every product.  Why thank you for informing me, California! I would love to buy this umbrella that will give my future children a tail!

moving on to the important things...the crazy homeless people.  I'll list my experiences:

1. A woman, who I think had leprosy, tried to sell us sewer rats.  Too bad I already have a couple pets. The rats sure did look enticing... if any one is in need of disease ridden rodents collected from a sewer, the woman was on the corner of Market St. and Powell.  yeah, you're welcome.

2. Walking outside of the cheesecake factory, we were greeted by a man wearing cheesecake factory bags as shoes and meowing at us.  The sound he was making was priceless, and if anyone would like a live rendition, give me a call.  I can try to recreate it.

3. We were approaching the homeless people park right off the bay, and from a distance this woman looked as though she was kissing the ground.  When we got closer, I noticed she was eating nuts on the ground... not kissing it.  To finish it off, we walked right by her as she was slurping from a rain puddle.  While this does sound really sad, not ten feet from her was a church that had arrived with coffee and orange juice for the homeless. so... she was just crazy.  who knows, maybe rain water off the ground is preferable to orange juice and coffee?

4. This one is my absolute favorite: We were walking back from the Fisherman's Wharf... by the sidewalk was what appeared to be a bush.  Unfortunately, as we got closer, this bush jumped at us.  The group and I screamed, jumped across the sidewalk, and then laughed once we realized what had happened.  This homeless man had taken two tree branches and disguised himself as a bush to jump out and scare innocent bystanders as they walked by.  What really made me enjoy this situation was seeing the guy's face after he scared us.  He had the funniest grin on his face like he had succeeded once again. What was also great was that he was doing it for pure entertainment.  Didn't even ask for money.  I came to find out later that this guy is notorious and has been scaring people for close to a decade now.  I thoroughly enjoy people that make the best of their situation.  I found a video of him doing it to people:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cbBdydQlrk

5.  I will not elaborate on this one but let's just say this man was doing something terrible inappropriate to himself that should never be done in public.  This was my least favorite experience with the san fran homeless.

Okay so now here are some great signs I saw... the california homeless know how to amuse.

"Why lie? I just need beer."
"I need money for weed"
"My wife was kidnapped.  I am $0.99 short on the ransom.  Help me get my wife back" (this guy was shouting that he takes VISA while holding this sign)

Now this doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the craziness that is the San Francisco homeless population.  It's truly something to experience and is living proof of what probably a lifetime of some intense hallucinogens can do to a person.

Okay now my second favorite part of san francisco was the Napa Valley Wine Tour.  it was incredible.  I'll post pictures rather than describe it.

Sorry tons of pictures... and tons more.  I'll be putting all of them on facebook if you want to see the rest. Moral of the story: Napa Valley and San Francisco are gorgeous.  The wine isn't too bad either... :)

Instead of llama pictures today, I'm going to add more california pictures.  I mean, you can see funny looking llamas any day right? in order of appearance: golden gate bridge, blurry picture of alcatraz, and a cat that apparently enjoys the cancer chemicals on china town products.

One final picture: I did actually go to california for a purpose.

just writing out loud. feel free to ignore.

oh 9:00 bedtime... how I missed you.  remember when I hated you? I'm glad we've reconnected. It sure has been a while.

Getting up at 4:00 am tomorrow to head to San Francisco, the land of            . I'll find that out when I get there.

This post won't be too long... it is 9:00, and thus, my bedtime for this eventful Friday evening.

The lack of sleep last night due to the biochem test this morning is creating a perfect tiredness for an early hour tonight.  I'm getting the sense that I'm rambling and that my sentences aren't making sense.  anyone else getting that?

I can hear my neighbors going out for the night.... while I'm in bed watching black and white movies.  I am obviously the one that knows how to party.

random thoughts are popping into my head and I'm just typing.  It's like I'm talking to myself.... but I'm not?

yeah it's bed time.

the post no one will want to read.

Okay so I know Valentine's day is a love/ hate relationship; you love it if you're with someone, hate it when you're not.  I know.... I've hated it for the past 22 years. But I have to talk about my valentine's day just for a bit. I mean Tad was my first valentine so I deserved a good one right? :)

On Sunday morning I was surprised with 2 dozen roses and chocolates delivered to my door. Definitely a nice thing to wake up to.  The roses were followed by a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, and pancakes and then laying in bed all day watching movies.  I was then taken to Shogun's for a very nice dinner and then to a movie.  We got to the movie a bit late and had to sit in the front row, but it was amusing.  Sherlock Holmes was definitely a good movie but not sure if it was worth the $20 at the theater.  Anywho... the night was concluded with Goodfellas and wine.  Goodfellas= superb.  After watching all of the Sopranos, all the Godfather movies, and now Goodfellas... I sorta want to be a gangster? I mean not really cause the women in those movies aren't exactly treated up to par but part of their lives seem very glamorous.

my roses:

Okay, so I'm done with the valentine's day part.

Now I need to make a little complaint about something... I know all I have to do is think of the movie, Precious, and be brought back to reality, but I mainly just have a beef to pick with someone. That someone is Mr. Weather.  I'm not exactly a fan of walking 10 feet from my car to class and can't feel my ears when I get there.  On top of 7℉ wind chill, Mr. Weather actually adds bitter wind to the bitter cold and what you get is misery and pain.  The cold is seriously painful.  I'm not a fan and would like to tell Mr. Weather to quit with the jokes.  the cold is not funny.  On top of numbness, the cold is causing my brakes to squeal enough to make your ears bleed. Because of the stupid rule of yielding to pedestrians, everyone on campus has to endure the shrill, irritating noise coming from my car every time I reach a crosswalk.  Sorry everyone, blame Mr. Weather.

This is what Mr. weather did in Kansas City on Sunday: 50+ car pile-up.

Moving on to better things... I leave for San Francisco on Saturday! Leaving very early from Fayetteville to fly out of Tulsa at 10:00 am.  I'm attending the annual Biophysical Society meeting to present some research.  Luckily I only present for an hour on Tuesday, and the rest of the time is leisure.  How great is that?! All paid for too! Monday will consist of an all day wine tour through the Napa Valley, including a picnic at one of the wineries.  can't wait. I need a working camera though! shoot the boot. better get on that.

Okay so I'm going to bring it up just one last time. Bowl For Kids Sake is this thursday! It raises money to match Bigs with littles in Northwest Arkansas.  Big Brothers Big Sisters requires $1,000 for each match, so Bowl For Kids Sake is extremely important for their success.  I need 3 more people on my team, so if you are interested it's going to be a lot of fun! If you want to donate or join my team, just click here: : https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=332144&supId=247045640


Sorry this is an extremely long post... I'm sitting in lab yet again, so I figure why not ramble on a website that has maybe 6 followers?  I appreciate all of you.  :)


Now just for the heck of it, I'm going to post one more of these.  I can't get enough! 

the power of a decimal.

This week went down in history as the worst week I have ever had in research lab.  For those of you who read my previous blog, it happened again.  This time it wasn't completely my fault.  For those of you who didn't read it, I screwed up making my protein and had to throw it all down the drain.  And had to as well yesterday.

This post won't be very long, but it goes to show you that the little dots you put in your numbers REALLY make a difference. a big one.

In order to make my protein, I have to add this chemical.  I'll leave it at that.  The previous post-doc I was working with ( I won't name names) told me how to add this chemical to make my protein.  Here's what he told me:

need 3 mM of the chemical, (239.39 x 0.03 x 500)/ (1000)= 4.4 g

okay, so I added 4.4g.  BUT, when my expression didn't work yesterday, I decided to look over his work.  Some of you may have noticed, but 3 mM= 0.003 M NOT 0.03 M.

one decimal point.

I should have been adding 0.44 g, not 4.4g.

Still reeling over this and pretty angry.  Yesterday was not a good day. This week was not a good week. Too much wasting time that I don't have.  Oh well... there could be worse things.  I'll be back to the grind next week to do it again.

The one thing that salvaged my day yesterday was a good ole' romantic comedy.  works every time.

good night, moon...

So I'll start this post off on a good note... this guy has better hair than most of the people I know:

Now out of all of these llama pictures, have you all noticed a common theme? How JANKETY their teeth are? They all have teeth sticking out in all KINDS of directions. I wonder what the biological benefits are to that... surely they don't help them chew. and isn't that the only thing llamas do? chew stuff?  From my experience, bottom teeth are essential... when they're actually in your mouth.  

So today I received my official letter of acceptance to OSU's (oklahoma state) osteopathic school of medicine.  It's a wonderful feeling to know you have choices, but part of me feels really bad about it all.  I put on a smile for all my interviews and told them that I wanted to attend THAT school... so they honor me with a spot in their class of 2014. But then the next day I give them back their acceptance letter with the box marked, I do not accept?  It's like I'm saying "I was just kidding... I don't want to go to your school... thanks anyway".  I know it's all part of the process, but it's hard to turn something down so great that was such an honor to receive.  I'll probably wait till the absolute last day it's due to send it back to them... which is next week.

yeah I know, I worry too much.

Well on a lighter note... I completely screwed up in lab this week.  BIG time. I'll give you the short story:  in my lab, I make two different proteins.  One is a mutant of the other, so they are very very similar.  The experiments I do in lab rely on their very simple differences... which there is only one.  Well this week in lab, I was making both proteins at once.  I make them in chemistry flasks, cover the tops with foil, then label the foil with which protein is in the flask.  On Tuesday, I pulled a really smart move and took all of the foil off the tops and haphazardly tossed them on the counter so I could inoculate all the flasks with an antibiotic.  What does that mean? I had no clue which protein was in which flask... had to throw it all out.  thousands of dollars worth of protein and two full days of work down the drain.  There was no attempt to salvage it and try to remember which was which, because with only having one month left of thesis research, I don't have the time to get odd results from my experiments and realize it's because of the mixed up flasks.  So... today and tomorrow consisted of and will consist of me re- doing it all.  Like I said, I royally screwed up in lab.

For my fellow cooks, I thought I would share some very yummy, simple, cheap, and healthy meals I had this week:
1) whole wheat pasta with pesto sauce: at the grocery store, there is usually a spot with a bunch of pre-prepared sauce mixes...like dried spices and flavorings (mcCormick's usually).  In this section is a pesto- sauce packet.  buy it.  heck, buy 3.  Add it to whole wheat pasta and you have a very delicious meal.  If you like artichokes, add them too.  oh, and chicken.  both are optional, but scrumptious.

2) Curry chicken: buy a jar of Patak's Rogan Josh curry sauce.  It's healthy and delicious (90 calories for half a cup, which pretty much equals half the jar).  Dump it over 1- 1.5 lbs of browned chicken, simmer 15 minutes.  serve over brown rice.  It's a really creamy and tomatoey sauce with a little but of spice. SO GOOD. It's not for the non-curry lovers though...

I'll definitely be making them again soon... probably tomorrow actually.

For all of you on the edge of your seats about the outcome of my discrete test today... good not great.  I have a feeling if I make at least a C, I probably won't learn my lesson and will cram again for the next one.  eh.

Well if I want to get 6 hours of sleep, I've gotta start now.  Good night moon, good night readers, good night fellow bloggers, good night llamas...

if p then q.

p → q.

This is what I have learned from Discrete mathematics thus far.

 p → q reads: if p then q.

p= premise, q= conclusion.

Now let's take an example.

p= not studying for test.  q= fail test.

put it all together? p → q = If I don't study, then I fail.

yup, this is what I have learned.  and what am I doing? updating my blog? not studying? so according to the logical argument, what happens? oh right, I fail.

oh Discrete mathematics, how I hate you.

Okay so as you may have guessed from my math lecture, I'm not studying for my test and probably should be.  Now, I have had some pretty solid, good intentions all night.  I picked up my book, looked at the notes, got really bored within the first 5 minutes, and then found something else to do.  I've realized that when there is something that I really need to get done and don't want to do it, I become the most productive person in every other aspect of my life.  I figured out medical school loan applications, filled out an online quiz for another class, didn't study, worked on my planner, cleaned the kitchen, didn't study,  picked up the apartment, looked out the window, stared in the mirror, and didn't study.

yeah. I'll let you guys know how it goes on Wednesday...

This weekend with Jane= best weekend ever.  I was most definitely not ready for it to end. The food yesterday turned out great, but I think we all had a little TOO much of it.  I wish I could post pictures of it all because it looked amazing (not to toot jane and I's horns or anything).

Okay so I seriously have to study right now.  This procrastination is getting to be a bit too much.  I'll post more later.  But on one final note...

might I make a suggestion...

I have a suggestion for my readers... if you want to be in a very deep depression for a good solid day, go watch the movie Precious.  I saw it last night with Tad and am just NOW getting out of the funk that it put me in.  I didn't sleep well, have serious bags under my eyes today, and have teared up every time I thought about the movie.  It is definitely not for the faint of heart, and it definitely pulled on some purkinje fibers.  The one good thing that came out of that movie is that it makes you so grateful for the life you have, and you truly realize how lucky you are.  I'm going to try not to complain as much about the little things.  people have it so much worse.

Another suggestion for my readers... Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris= funniest book I have ever read.  So far, two people that have seen me reading it in the gym have come up to me to ask how I'm liking it.  It definitely has gathered attention and according to my random gym friends, I should be in for a very hilarious and very vulgar read.  I'm on page 30 and have thoroughly enjoyed it so far.  I'll keep you posted.

Best friend Jane is coming into town this weekend... can't wait.  Superbowl party on Sunday and we'll be making some very yummy food.  wings, spinach dip, pigs in a blanket, bacon wrapped bbq shrimp, queso, cupcakes, brownies, oh my!

Tad's camera doesn't have a charger, so pictures are going to be scarce until we can find one.  My "take more pictures" new year's resolution might not start till march...

So my laziness this week is most definitely going to catch up with me next week... expressing/purifying two proteins, discrete test, and biochemistry homework due friday. gotta love it. All three of these activities should take up about 10 hours each day.  unfortunately, I am only allotted 24.  should be interesting. good thing I made a dent in my bed this week... definitely failed in productivity:)

I'm going to leave on one final note... can I PLEASE have this llama as a pet.

reading, ranting, reclaiming...

another busy day in the office (aka my bed).  I discovered that the Genius tool bar on my itunes makes playlists for you. This is what has occupied me for most of my day. and yes, I realize that I am the last to discover this.

For the first time in my life, I stopped reading a book halfway through it.  I haven't read an entire book in a long time because of this one particular book slowing me down.  I just couldn't get through it and thus, no other books could make their way in.  Finally, I was told last night that I just need to put it down, forget about it, pick up another one, and continue.  so I did... and it felt really good.  I started reading a new one last night and it was finished by noon today.  Now this might seem like quite a feat but it was a James Patterson novel, which means it consists of one page chapters, large font, and a fairly intriguing plot.  Although it had a pretty disappointing ending, I was glad to reclaim my love of reading and finish a book.  Now most of you are probably wondering what book I couldn't finish.  Sadly enough, it was the Julie and Julia book.  The book about the blog that inspired The Natalie Project.  Essentially it was a collection of her blog posts over an entire year.  This also brought on another sad thought... If I thought Julie's blog was boring and plotless, then my blog must be REALLY boring.  I don't see any book/ movie deals coming my way anytime soon! sad.

Yeah and for those of you who read my comments and thought that the anonymous comment from a couple days ago was actually from a random reader... it wasn't. it was my brother.

Now I would like to rant for a bit about the University of Arkansas.  So as I've mentioned before, there was hope for a snow day on Monday.  All of the public schools in Northwest Arkansas were closed, so there was a good chance the University was too.  So anyway, 5:30 am on Monday rolls around... I check my phone.  There was an email/ text message/ voicemail from the university saying there was a 2 HOUR DELAY.  So what did I do? I set my alarm for two hours later, thinking my 9:30 was moved to 11:30.  Doesn't make much sense for the university to do that, but whatever.  It made sense at 5:30 in the morning. So I get up later, check my email again, and see an email from the biochem teacher saying that the 9:30 class will be held at normal time and same location.  Good thing it was 9:33 when I looked at the clock. Apparently, class schedules stayed the same but office staff were given a two hour delay to show up to work.  really U of A? really? Could you maybe put a more deceiving headline on your notifications next time? thanks.

I unfortunately have to leave my bed in a bit to go prepare for the big brothers big sisters meeting tonight... I'm predicting a whopping two people will show up.  High hopes I know, but if anyone is in Fayetteville, AR and would like to lend a listening ear, I'll be in room 312 in the union.  should be a good time.

update: I apologize to all for turning my blog into just about the girliest thing you have ever seen.  I worked hard on it this afternoon and decided this was much more fitting of my personality than the previous one.  For those of you who know me well, you will probably agree. I'm still working on the header though... it's not wanting to cooperate.  And I've decided I need a new title.  open for suggestions :)