And somebody spoke and I went into a dream....

I love gymnastics dads.

I stopped by the Big 10 Women's Gymnastics Championships on Saturday to cheer on my alma mater, the Minnesota Gophers, as well as my current team, Michigan (obviously) and I had almost forgotten how much of a rush I get from the whole atmosphere. I somehow ended up in seats next to the entire Michigan men's gymnastics team, so I got to hear them gossip about the women's team, and talk about gymnastics. I was just a few rows away from the Minnesota cheering section, and the Michigan moms and dads were situated a section away from me.

Cute things that gymnastics dads do (and remind me of my dad):

• "I liked it when she did the thing with the flips..."
  
• Jump up excitedly at every dismount, vault, or after every floor routine, and wildly wave their arms, with or without a tee-shirt representing the school, in their hands.
  
• Sing the fight song after every rotation.
  
• Get that look of the utmost pride in their eyes... The one that's only between dads and daughters. Any boys out there probably don't know what I'm talking about, but they will if they have little girls someday.
  

It was a great meet. Michigan came out on top. I got to see a girl from Penn State score a perfect 10 on vault. The tumbling was awesome. Michigan State has some flashy leotards.

Gymnastics = Completely awesomeness. It made me want to go back to the gym and start tumbling.


Saturday night, the girls, Krishna, Andy and I got fancied up and went to Royal Oak to eat fancy food. It was fabulous, except super yuppie. I was glad to head back to Ann Arbor and get the heck away from all those Hummers and expensive fake hair dye jobs. Then, Andy and I got dressed up in a different way... for a Fashion Faux Pas party. I wore: red fishnets, black legwarmers, my Sibley athletic shorts, Adidas Gazelles, ATHF "Mooninites > You" shirt, and underwear on my head. There were mostly second years at the party, so I had to go around meeting people, but it was still fab. I met a dental student named Jodie who was crazy, but I really liked her anyway.


Instead of gymnastics, I went to play frisbee on Sunday. That was fabulous, until the guy on the field next to us broke his femur. Luckily, Dr. Steve ran to the rescue, along with some guy who was just starting his ortho residency. Steve's really funny because there was the call of "Is there a doctor on the field?" and he gets embarrassed and runs over yelling back, "Sort of... I'm a 4th year." Also, despite the fact that the hospital is basically across the street from our fields, it still took an ambulence a long time to arrive. The EMTs sat on the field for a long time with this kid, and eventually a fireman arrived. I'm not exactly sure why... Maybe because the ambulence was a good 80 yards from where the kid went down, so they had to carry him steadily all the way over there.

We decided to keep playing on our field, despite our loss of one player who had to play doctor. We ended up winning our game, which also happened to be the longest game in all of ultimate history. I sat out one short point at the beginning of the game, and, by the end of the game, had lost all of my energy reserves. So, I ended up sitting out the last couple of points in order to mow on a granola bar and not fall over.

We opted for a hard cap at 15 because the rest of the teams had cleared out at least 30-45 minutes before us. Also, it was chilly and rainy. It was a good game, though, and we only won 15-14. I got to guard this girl for most of the game, who was really fun because we were around the same age and had a similar attitude about the game. I felt a little bit bad though because I was faster than her... and I have tricks about girls that I'm faster than. I let them get open so they get thrown to, then get in front of them for the D. It's a little mean, but it's life, right? Also, I scored a bunch. That was fun.

We have a fun team. We've decided to call ourselves MOTH - Minions of the Helicopter, since we're fairly close to the helipad for the hospital and get to watch helicoptors take off and land while we're playing. It's me, Steve, Andy, and Matt J, then this girl named Jules who is awesome, and a bunch of the Ignition guys, as well as some young kids who play high school.


Yes, my weekend was spent surrounded by athletics -- running, watching gymnastics, playing frisbee -- and eating good food (Cottage Inn, some fancy Italian place in Royal Oak, Zanzibar, and the great chocolate-M&M/chocolate chip cookies I made on Friday). Unfortunately, I didn't get as much work done as I was hoping. Now, I'm currently at the hospital trying to get these last few charts off of our shelf to make room for the new ones I ordered.

Also, one last time: MY PARENTS ARE COMING TO VISIT THIS WEEKEND. All of my friends want to meet them to see the greatness that made me.

With your past and your future precisely divided, am I at that moment? I haven't decided.

Summer's upon us. I know this because pick-up ultimate is full-blown and great, and spring league is starting this week. The news is that I'm being courted by two co-ed teams this summer (Ignition and Hybrid). It's nice to be a girl frisbee player -- you end up with a thousand men around you bribing you to be theirs... or at least on their team. So, I'm actually considering playing co-ed this summer. It sounds like one of the teams is looking to be quite competitive -- looking for a spot in nationals, with the thought that they just combined a really great men's team with a really great women's team and they've got a chance. The other team seems a little more laid back.

I haven't played co-ed in a while, aside from a few tournaments here and there with friends' teams, just because my knees are absolutely horrible. I'm attempting to beef them up by running more frequently. They kill after about 3 miles, but within a day or two, I can pull it together and do it again. I definitely need to work on my speed if I decide to play co-ed this summer, though. I'm definitely not as quick as I used to be. So... the seed has been planted in my mind. It's definitely a possibility that I'll make it to a few tournaments this summer. Maybe I'll hit Cooler and Sandblast, at least.

---

What else? St. Paddy's Day was a few weeks ago. We had a blast, of course, despite the fact that we had three tests to study for! Here are a few photos:

Some of the girls:
Emily, Marina, Kristin, Catherine


The boys, jigging:
Krishna (and his awesome tie), Steve (and his awesome kilt), Andy (and his snazzy, non-Irish outfit)


Swinging with Andy


I had stolen Andy's tie to make him more comfortable.
Steve didn't approve of my tie-tying abilities, so he had to show me the proper way.

---

Academically, this semester I've rocked my first presentation given since high school. It was a group presentation that we managed to pull off fairly last minute, but still turned out pretty well. No one knows a darn thing about plasma-cell leukemia, so I think we could have made stuff up and no one would have noticed. I did fabulously on my first set of midterms. My second set was a bit harder, though I still did pretty well.

I'm ... still .... waiting .... to hear about my internship with RickAwesome. He's struggling with funding issues, which makes me a little sad because it threatens my position with him. However, I may have found myself some funding if he can find us some lab space, so at least I won't be in the poor house this summer, if he can take me on. Fingers crossed for me?!

---

So, yup, life is pretty okay. The internship-thing makes me slightly nervous, but Rick's so laid back and not worrying about it so it keeps me sane. But, I've only got a month of school left, and my parents are coming to town in a week! My dad will certainly rock the Zingerman's first thing upon arrival, I'm sure. I'm really looking forward to seeing them!

The stars are going out, and the stripes are getting bent

The bleeding-heart, liberal runs through me. I'm almost certain it's genetic. Like mother and cousin, I share the idea that people can be better than they generally act, and need to be held accountable for their actions. We should be challenged to love our fellow humans in brotherhood instead of falling into the demons of ego and selfishness.

Today, walking down the street, I pulled myself away from joining a protest, knowing that I had work I needed to do. I got about 50 feet away and had to return and shout. "George Bush, you can't hide. We charge you with genocide." "Money for health care, not for war."

When you believe in it, you have to join with your fellow voices in order to be heard. It's when nobody speaks that the silence is defined by those who don't necessarily represent our voices.

Five years in Iraq? End the occupation now. He put us there; it's time to find a way to get out.


Ani DiFranco, "Self-Evident"

yes,
us people are just poems
we're 90% metaphor
with a leanness of meaning
approaching hyper-distillation
and once upon a time
we were moonshine
rushing down the throat of a giraffe
yes, rushing down the long hallway
despite what the p.a. announcement says
yes, rushing down the long stairs
with the whiskey of eternity
fermented and distilled
to eighteen minutes
burning down our throats
down the hall
down the stairs
in a building so tall
that it will always be there
yes, it's part of a pair
there on the bow of noah's ark
the most prestigious couple
just kickin back parked
against a perfectly blue sky
on a morning beatific
in its indian summer breeze
on the day that america
fell to its knees
after strutting around for a century
without saying thank you
or please

and the shock was subsonic
and the smoke was deafening
between the setup and the punch line
cuz we were all on time for work that day
we all boarded that plane for to fly
and then while the fires were raging
we all climbed up on the windowsill
and then we all held hands
and jumped into the sky

and every borough looked up when it heard the first blast
and then every dumb action movie was summarily surpassed
and the exodus uptown by foot and motorcar
looked more like war than anything i've seen so far
so far
so far
so fierce and ingenious
a poetic specter so far gone
that every jackass newscaster was struck dumb and stumbling
over 'oh my god' and 'this is unbelievable' and on and on
and i'll tell you what, while we're at it
you can keep the pentagon
keep the propaganda
keep each and every tv
that's been trying to convince me
to participate
in some prep school punk's plan to perpetuate retribution
perpetuate retribution
even as the blue toxic smoke of our lesson in retribution
is still hanging in the air
and there's ash on our shoes
and there's ash in our hair
and there's a fine silt on every mantle
from hell's kitchen to brooklyn
and the streets are full of stories
sudden twists and near misses
and soon every open bar is crammed to the rafters
with tales of narrowly averted disasters
and the whiskey is flowin
like never before
as all over the country
folks just shake their heads
and pour

so here's a toast to all the folks who live in palestine
afghanistan
iraq

el salvador

here's a toast to the folks living on the pine ridge reservation
under the stone cold gaze of mt. rushmore

here's a toast to all those nurses and doctors
who daily provide women with a choice
who stand down a threat the size of oklahoma city
just to listen to a young woman's voice

here's a toast to all the folks on death row right now
awaiting the executioner's guillotine
who are shackled there with dread and can only escape into their heads
to find peace in the form of a dream

cuz take away our playstations
and we are a third world nation
under the thumb of some blue blood royal son
who stole the oval office and that phony election
i mean
it don't take a weatherman
to look around and see the weather
jeb said he'd deliver florida, folks
and boy did he ever

and we hold these truths to be self evident:
#1 george w. bush is not president
#2 america is not a true democracy
#3 the media is not fooling me
cuz i am a poem heeding hyper-distillation
i've got no room for a lie so verbose
i'm looking out over my whole human family
and i'm raising my glass in a toast

here's to our last drink of fossil fuels
let us vow to get off of this sauce
shoo away the swarms of commuter planes
and find that train ticket we lost
cuz once upon a time the line followed the river
and peeked into all the backyards
and the laundry was waving
the graffiti was teasing us
from brick walls and bridges
we were rolling over ridges
through valleys
under stars
i dream of touring like duke ellington
in my own railroad car
i dream of waiting on the tall blonde wooden benches
in a grand station aglow with grace
and then standing out on the platform
and feeling the air on my face

give back the night its distant whistle
give the darkness back its soul
give the big oil companies the finger finally
and relearn how to rock-n-roll
yes, the lessons are all around us and a change is waiting there
so it's time to pick through the rubble, clean the streets
and clear the air
get our government to pull its big dick out of the sand
of someone else's desert
put it back in its pants
and quit the hypocritical chants of
freedom forever

cuz when one lone phone rang
in two thousand and one
at ten after nine
on nine one one
which is the number we all called
when that lone phone rang right off the wall
right off our desk and down the long hall
down the long stairs
in a building so tall
that the whole world turned
just to watch it fall

and while we're at it
remember the first time around?
the bomb?
the ryder truck?
the parking garage?
the princess that didn't even feel the pea?
remember joking around in our apartment on avenue D?

can you imagine how many paper coffee cups would have to change their design
following a fantastical reversal of the new york skyline?!

it was a joke, of course
it was a joke
at the time
and that was just a few years ago
so let the record show
that the FBI was all over that case
that the plot was obvious and in everybody's face
and scoping that scene
religiously
the CIA
or is it KGB?
committing countless crimes against humanity
with this kind of eventuality
as its excuse
for abuse after expensive abuse
and it didn't have a clue
look, another window to see through
way up here
on the 104th floor
look
another key
another door
10% literal
90% metaphor
3000 some poems disguised as people
on an almost too perfect day
should be more than pawns
in some asshole's passion play
so now it's your job
and it's my job
to make it that way
to make sure they didn't die in vain
sshhhhhh....
baby listen
hear the train?

And the edge of your sword isn't sharp enough for me to bleed

I want to conduct an epidemiological study to assess the association between the Factor V Leiden mutation in females who experience blood clots while on birth control, since Factor V Leiden mutations cause hyperclotting due to blockage of protein C, an anticoagulant, and the warnings put out by Ortho Evra (aka "The Patch") that their pharmaceutical has been associated with an excess of serious blood clots.

That is all.

I'm looking through you, where did you go?

Is that really my dad?
(Guitar, second from right.)



Mom, who are the rest of these guys?

All along the undertow is strengthening its hold / I never thought it'd come to this, now I can never go home

There are so many reasons for the smallest of smiles to come creeping across my face at the most random times of the day.

This week has been all too unproductive, and quite hyper for me. Though I've had a lot to do, my mind is already on spring break. Luckily, I'm filling my spring break up with school, so perhaps it balances out in the end. I took my cancer epid midterm today and it was fine, I guess. We'll see. I talked to a classmate about it afterward and I felt pretty okay with it.

Sachi and I are currently sitting at Amer's on State Street working on our papers for lab that are due tomorrow evening. Then I have to get my cat to his kitty hotel, get my plants to Steve's, pack, hang out with a bunch of people, then leave! Lots to do!

My roommate is leaving for China tomorrow. She'll also be doing an internship there this summer, which is pretty exciting. I'll miss her though. Luckily, Steve, Krishna, and Josh will be around to keep me company all summer.

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed about my internship. We should find out soon!!!

My mathematical mind can see the breaks / so I'm gonna stop riding the brakes

I am such a dork.

In my genetics assignment, we are to find LOD scores, and maximum likelihood estimates in one of the problems. We are to estimate the MLE by plugging in 5 values (chosen by the professor) and saying which gives us the maximum value. Well, this isn't enough for me.

At one time or another, I was fluent in the language of calculus. As most languages go, once you stop using them, you begin to forget important communication tools. But, I was determined to find the REAL maximum value by taking the derivative of this absolutely horribly ugly function, then setting it equal to 0 to find the maximum value. This took about 10-15 minutes, which was a horrible waste of time, but, darnit, I proved to myself that I can still do some mean calculus!

High five.

Take that and rewind it back

I rocked it. Yup. The impossibly hard Epid 601 midterm -- I took my air guitar and rocked that thing. Big, fat A.

Class average was 55%, up from last year's 40%. As previously mentioned, who knew that an open note, multiple choice test could be so difficult?

So, now: one down, three to go, a few homework assignments, prep for a group paper/presentation, and then I'm coming home in a couple of weeks.

And, as your sweet departure gift, I post a picture of me "breakdancing" at Gotham:

Got my toast and my tea and I'm warm and...

It's currently 36 degrees and raining, on February 9, 2008. What a strange winter, with all this rain... and 60 degree days in January. But, I didn't begin writing this to talk to you about how the weather belongs in April, or how we might just have green grass and roses tomorrow. There might be more important things to discuss, but perhaps not.

So, I had my first midterm of Winter Semester last week. When our teacher said it was to be an 11 multiple choice, 1 problem-solving test with 90 minutes for completion and open notes, I have to admit, I scoffed a little. Seriously? Open notes and only 11 multiple choice? Ha!

I could have used at least 10 more minutes. I had no idea that anyone could make a multiple choice test that difficult. Oh, Epid 601, you make me yearn for the days of Epid 600...

This week, I have a biostats exam, as well as a genetics midterm due (it's take-home). Being in that genetics class is all sorts of inspirational for me. I've considered trying to get into a genetic counseling program after I'm done with my MPH so I can combine epidemiology and genetic counseling, but, on the other hand, I feel that if I were going to do a few more years of school, it'd be more worth my while to just get a PhD. Thus, I'll probably just graduate and get a job.

My genetics professor is awesome. She's literally the coolest woman on Earth (aside from my mom). I kind of want to follow her around all day and have her teach me everything she knows. I'd even be willing to be her errand girl, just for a taste of her humorous, yet insightful, stories and anecdotes. I'll even watch all 4 seasons of Battlestar Galactica so I can relate to her a little better.

Speaking of genetics, I had an interview last Friday with a post-doc who is hoping to get some grants to go through and set up a lab to do epigenetics research this summer. Assuming he gets his money, I'm working with him this summer. He is also really awesome, and, assuming things work out, I'll actually have the chance to follow him around like a puppy and steal his knowledge. I can't wait. More on that in a few weeks when I know whether or not he's funded.

Completely unrelated to my education, my friends are pretty neat out here. Yesterday, Steve and I were looking for something to do, so we decided that we were going to make Indian food. Of course, I didn't get home from the hospital until 6:30, and he got home even later, so we didn't actually start cooking until around 8:30 or 9:00. By the way, if you're starving, don't make Indian food. Naan took us hours to make (yeast had to rise).

Marina and Andy came over to enjoy our company as we made daal and naan, and we watched The Simpsons Movie. Andy brought beer over, and Marina brought a bottle of wine. It's nice to have friends who can cook, because I am not very good at it.

Our daal resembled this. We put it over rice.

And our garlic naan looked like this:


Tonight, Sam's jazz musician friend is playing at the Firefly, so I think we're heading over there. We also may or may not go ice skating, though, with the heat wave, I bet the ice will be horrible!

We're gonna party like it's 19-99

Another day, another dollar. Or, I guess, another semester, another class... My first semester of graduate school is el fin and went quite well. Now, I'm onto semester numero dos, which is filled with the adventures of cancer epid, genetic epid, biostatistics, general epid (2nd semester), bacteriology/virology lab techniques, and capstone. I'm interviewing for summer lab work, and may have found a place in a laboratory working on mice being the model genetic organism. It sounds like great work. I'm also set to speak with a PhD student doing epigenetic research (assuming his grants go through) this week about a potential possibility.

Other than that, I'm still enjoying my time in school, as well as my weekends away from it. Last weekend, we had a "High School Party" at Kristin's parents' house, about 30 minutes north of Ann Arbor. It really was a lot of fun, and the party went all night, complete with preps, jocks, punks, and altie "kids" drinking cheap beer and cheesy '90s pop music. The following morning, Emily made French toast for all of us, and Kristin made this meal she learned when she was at school in Hawaii called "Loco Moco" -- rice with a ground beef patty on top, and an egg over easy atop that.

Here are some of Emily's pictures, since I have yet to upload mine to this internet-thing...

Andy, as Band Geek


Kristin, representing the River Rats


Me, with my hair in Mickey Mouse pig tails, wearing a character shirt


Look ma', no hands...
Andy and Steve, making me fly or something...


Samantha and Kellie dancing like madwomen

And we're only several miles from the sun

On January 8, 2008, it was 60+ degrees in Ann Arbor. The feet of snow were melted in most places, and we had our windows open and heat off. After school, I went on a walk through the ice and mud at Black Pond Woods Park, behind my apartment complex. Here are a few shots from my outing.


Standing under the arch


Atop a fallen tree


Wrapped around a tree


Snow melting to fog


Cecropia cocoons

Hey Joe, where ya' going with that gun in your hand?

Last weekend, Sam, Kellie, and I went to Trader Joe's to do some grocery shopping. While there, I couldn't help but notice the toddler sitting in his mom's cart who would scream loudly at random intervals throughout his mother's shopping trip. Toddlers are great in how they throw random temper tantrums. While down a certain aisle, the Death Cab song "When Soul Meets Body" came over the radio system. I was grooving a bit. The kid stopped his screaming and said, "Mommy... I like this song!"

It was pretty darn cute.

So this is the new year...

It came on my iPod while I was working in the crypts of the hospital today, and I find it appropriate since it is just post-New Year's beginning and all...

So this is the new year.
And I don't feel any different.
The clanking of crystal
Explosions off in the distance (in the distance).

So this is the new year
And I have no resolutions
For self assigned penance
For problems with easy solutions

So everybody put your best suit or dress on
Let's make believe that we are wealthy for just this once
Lighting firecrackers off on the front lawn
As thirty dialogs bleed into one

I wish the world was flat like the old days
Then I could travel just by folding a map
No more airplanes, or speed trains, or freeways
There'd be no distance that could hold us back.

There'd be no distance that could hold us back [x2]

So this is the new year [x4]


Death Cab for Cutie
"The New Year"

here come the earth intruders / we are the paratroopers

First it was the polar bears...

Chagrin and Bear It
Melting sea ice makes polar bears starve, drown

Travel agents hawking trips to the Arctic have been boasting lately of an increased likelihood that tourists will see polar bears -- because starving bears are encroaching on human settlements to scavenge for food. Polar bears have traditionally used ice floes to hunt seals, their favored prey -- but Arctic ice, in case you hadn't heard, is melting. According to new research in the journal Arctic, the spring hunting season for polar bears has been reduced by nearly three weeks in some places, causing female bears to gain up to 175 pounds less than normal. Far from enjoying their slender physiques, the skinny bears are more susceptible to disease and have diminished reproductive capabilities, and their cubs are less likely to survive. In 1980, the average weight of an adult female polar bear in western Hudson Bay was 650 pounds; in 2004, it was 507 pounds. The Arctic study warns that the risk posed to polar bears by global warming is potentially irreversible. How's that for a Monday downer?

Now it is the walruses...

I Was the Walrus
Walruses trampled as a result of climate change -- no, seriously

Here's a climate-change impact you don't think about every day: trampled walruses. When walruses get tired of swimming, they clamber onto sea ice to rest. With ice in increasingly short supply above the Arctic Circle, walruses are huddling on shore in extremely high numbers. The tusky animals are prone to stampede at the appearance of a polar bear, hunter, or low-flying airplane, and those stampedes are proving increasingly deadly as the walruses cluster in denser groups. More than 3,000 are estimated to have been trampled to death by their panicky peers this past year. Boo boo g'joob.

source: Associated Press

And some people are too lazy to even recycle....

Sidenote: I used to live alone. I never got lonely. Now Kellie is out of town and the apartment is scary! Only children: bred to live in solitude until their imaginations drive them mad!