I almost forgot…Happy Chinese New Year! Gung hei fat choi! Lai see dau loi? However that might be spelled. Anyways, tis the year of the boar and I wasn’t able to finish cleaning. Not to mention, I was about get a haircut, until Wikipedia told me that’s bad luck. Umm, not sure what to do now. Maybe I will clean…though I have a vague memory of my mom saying that’s also bad luck. Well, shoot.
By Sally Kuzemchak, RD, Prevention magazine
Your salad dressing has a dirty little secret. (Your bran muffin and ham sandwich are in on it, too.) These foods—and, indeed, nearly everything you might eat in a day—are loaded with a mineral that some experts fear may be slowly killing you. It’s sodium, and even if you don’t have high blood pressure, you need to start thinking about it.
(…read more)
The newest version of Windows Media Player was annoyingly installed on my computer last night. I forgot to hit “No, thanks.” and by the time I knew what was going on it was too late.
It is definitely pretty enough, probably an attempt to move towards a more Apple-esque look. I suppose the whole sleek, black theme is to complement their new Zune.
Well, in my few minutes of using the program, it has crashed on me 3 times (literally froze and refused to play anything). I also don’t appreciate the new setup as it doesn’t allow me to make my entire library a ginormous playlist that I can shuffle through. Then, while in transition from Tori Amos to Feist, the player flat out refused to play Feist and continued playing Tori non-stop. This may just force me to finally download another player, which I’ve been putting since the beginning of time.
Winamp vs. iTunes?
I haven’t taken one of these in years. Thanks Meg (aka Big Bird). To think, I’m a freakish little red thing that giggles like a maniac. “Middle aged women especially like you.” I did not know women liked Elmo. Maybe I will find out why when I become middle aged.
| You Are Elmo |
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I tried to think of a deeper, more interesting post to make, but…nothing. So, instead I will document the fact that I start another Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship thing last week. This will be my second position, after working for the Niyogi lab for 1.5 years (PCRing and planting Arabidopsis up the wazoo). My new position is with teh Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (from here on called MVZ). I am basically georeferencing specimens for Herpnet, a collaboration between museums around the world to create a database of herpetological specimens. Very cool concept, but rather tedious database entry. Knowing how many hours I can spend on a computer, I don’t think this will be especially taxing. I applied for the position thinking that it would be a nice continuation after working for CSTARS over the summer and taking GIS last semester. I must say though, I do miss working in a biology lab. There is just something about holding a pipette that never gets old. Oh, the tiny PCR tubes, the ethidium bromide, the BioRad gel picture taking machine thing!
I was originally going to apply for a workstudy position instead, as those are easier to get and YOU GET PAID (omfg), but I didn’t. The 10-15+ hours required seemed a little daunting. This somewhat stunts my goal of accumulating lab experience so I am immediately hiring material as soon as (hopefully before) graduation hits. Chatting it up with the Army Corp of Engineer folks at the Career Fair seemed to imply I needed 600+ hours of work before I graduate to do their STEP program. Hmm…I seem to be a bit behind.
I’ve forgotten about the awesomeness that are Threadless t-shirts. Oddly enough, I found some of their shirts at Futura last semester. If they weren’t oversized, I might have gotten one. $10!
I’m bored easily. I even get bored of the things I love (i.e. music, web browsing, movies). This is why I have a guitar and yet still don’t know how to play, an empty hard drive sitting under my desk and partial web authoring skills that never seem to improve. Oh yeah, there was that time I tried doing Illustrator tutorials and failed miserably. Darn vectors.
Instead of doing real work, I spent the last 45 minutes reflecting on how stagnant my computer skills have become. I just don’t devote the time I need to improve. *sigh* I have my basic HTMLing, my half assed graphics editing and my inability to move any further. I’m not even all that familar with CSS. I just guess and check. I took screenshots of my past layouts just to waste some more time (somewhat in order from before college)…
On a side note, the iMacs in VLSB are beyond fun. I discovered the camera and Photobooth app yesterday. If I had a microphone at home I’d learn to fiddle with GarageBand. Either way, 2 media related things I will try to spend my free time on campus doing are 1) watch movies in the Media Resource Center, 2) muck around with Illustrator on the beyootiful Macs.
So, I know what an endodontist does now. Root canals! I finally finished the apexification and filling process yesterday. I almost fell asleep in the chair I was so bored. I tried squinting to see my reflection in the microscope, but it was too small (I wish I knew what all that poking/scraping was). I just spent my time fighting off the drool and drowsiness. It was interesting getting the whole right side of my mouth numbed up though. It felt so swollen, but really there was minimal swelling (if any). I kept touching it on the bus ride back. The fact that my finger had sensation but not my mouth made it feel like touching a dead animal. 
When the anesthetic wore off I felt the pain. The funny part was that it wasn’t from the actual root canal, but from the clamp that kept the dental dam in place. It cut off the circulation in my gums and left this little red ring under my tooth. Now though, I understand how a dental dam work…inside/outside of the dental office. Te-he.
I also saw the Vagina Monologues (supporting V-Day) last night with Jackie and Carina. It was…interesting. I didn’t really have any expectations since I’ve never seen/read the original by Eve Ensler. I don’t personally agree with everything mentioned, but felt the play was a beautiful look into women. The same feelings apply to my femsex course thus far. I do however think that everyone (male/female) should take a female sexuality course. If there were still a decent male sexuality course I’d say the same thing. It’s amazing how little we know about the other sex…as well as our own. I find that sad and somewhat frustrating.
If you missed the links: V-Day and FemSex. Anyone is welcome to come see the femsex guest speakers, which have included a professional dominatrix, an ex-porn star, women’s health professionals, etc.
A Guide to the Most Efficient Things in the World. Here.
I don’t know about all of it, but I enjoyed perusing the “Office Supply” section. Biodegradable tape! Refillable air dusters! Post consumer binders! Oh my! I do love to ogle office supplies.
I haven’t been writing much lately. Instead, I spend my time Googling and finding all these fascinating links. Gah. My Klean Kanteen has a leak in it, so I am planning to pay a visit to REI this weekend to exchange it. I also need groceries. I’ve been living on cereal and nasty soy milk this last week. I do not recommend 8th Continent as a milk alternative.
After recommendation by Mike, Jackie and I went to see The Animation Show at Wheeler last weekend. I’m not sure it was worth $10 (then again, not much is), but I did enjoy myself. My favorite animations were 9 and No Room For Gerold.
On a side note (but really, there was no plot to this mish mosh of a post), I have had my watch for almost 6 years now with no battery replacement. *knock on wood* <3 watch.