The river was nice...

So, we went on a little weekend vacation to the Spring River. Some friends of ours have a house there, a very nice house! We stayed for 2 nights. By Saturday I was getting a little edgy...I needed to go outside and do something so, I did. Me, Josh and Jacob took a little hike upstream, jumped in the river and swam downstream, past the river house to the falls. We played in the falls a little and then hiked back up the the river house. Fun, Fun!!!

It's only Tuesday and I am already worn out, O-U-T! I had class this morning at 9:00 and then again at 11:00. I don't have class again until 6:30 this evening. Tomorrow is even worse...class at 8:00 in the morning, another one at noon and then the last one is at 6:30. Did I mention the 6:30 class isn't over until 8:20pm?!?!?! I am looking forward to Thursday, even though I have a class at 8:00 in the morning. I am teaching these classes not taking them so there is a little less pressure off of my shoulders but, still...

The time between classes has been spent in the lab and will continue to be spent in the lab. I usually get sick during the fall semester (typical cold/flu bug) and I am not looking forward to it. Not that anyone actually looks forward to getting sick...I am dreading it.

I have a Betta that lives on my desk at school. I changed his water today. He is very happy now! His name is Abita. He is blue with long fins. Wow, that sounds like a 7th grade English paper...LOL.

Fun Fact for the Day: During the female orgasm, endorphines are released, which are powerful painkillers. Thus, making headaches a bad excuse not to have sex.

To Be Continued

The river called my name this weekend...I'll tell you about it later...

Fun Fact of the Day: The can opener was invented 48 years after cans were introduced.

I like it when it rains...

And I have been very content the last 2 days as it has rained almost all day, both days. The last 2 days I have ran in the rain, it's very refreshing.

I was sore Tuesday, so sore I couldn't go down stairs. I am less sore today but, I would be less sore if I hadn't kept it up for the last couple of days. So far, I have only missed one day...While I jog outside, the hubby has be doing Tae Bo inside, he is doing really good with it, too (today is his sore day). I just can't get into it. I like to do my own thing, at my own pace, with my own music in my head. It's my time...

We have also taken to eating a little better; Turkey bacon, fake eggs, lite pancake syrup, a lot of chicken and green veggies...it's time for a change, to quote the next president (I hope). Those fake eggs have come a long way from what I remember as a kid. They taste like real eggs and with a little Tony's seasoning and black pepper, they are fantastic. We've gotta stick with these changes!

Fun Fact for the Day: The town of Kennesaw, Georgia has required its citizens to own a firearm and ammunition since 1982.
This one's for you, Jonathan...

A little bit of everything

A friend of ours came over yesterday evening to watch the Olympics so, that was my excuse for not running yesterday. That and I was freakin' sore! Man my legs were so sore...It hurt to lower myself onto the couch and getting back up was just as bad (kinda funny really). Today I'm doing good though. I will be jogging again today, come rain or shine. I say that because it's raining right now and there is a good chance it will be doing it this evening...I will run either way!

My parents are coming to visit in like 9 days. I am so excited... We are going to the Memphis zoo and Mud Island. They will really like the island and I can't wait to go back there...

The hedgehog is doing well but, he has figured out why I have been getting him out and holding him the way I do. He balls up really tight and won't come out. I have had to trick him a little so I can see his mouth. Once I get the syringe in his mouth it's all over...I push the plunger and in goes the antibiotic. This morning was a little different. Somehow, when I shot the drugs in his mouth, they shot back out onto my hand. So, I had to dose him again. Later on, I licked my hand because I had plum juice on it...I still had those drugs on it too. I now understand why he hates the procedure so much...That stuff is SO nasty tasting. Only 2 and a half more days of the nasty stuff...We are both looking forward to Saturday.

My turtle sperm storage turtles are beginning to reveal their lengths...kinda. I am also having to do MORE sectioning which sucks...but I guess that's science.

Fun Fact for the Day: If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

And I ran...

So I decided it was time to get off my ass today and take a little run. It was more of a jog and it didn't last very long, but I walked for a while afterwards. I also did lunges and side steps so, I may not be able to get out of bed tomorrow. I am going to make this an everyday thing. It's good for me and I need to keep it up. Encouragement is encouraged...it helps.

Tomorrow I will stain the last of my tissue. I started to look at what I had already put cover slips on and I think I know what I am looking for. It is going to take a little time but, that's okay. I WILL get it finished.

Josh and I went birding this evening. We say a gazillion blackbirds and Mourning Doves. We also saw about 50 Great Egrets. The Killdeer have done very well this year, too.

When we got home from birding, Josh was going to make tacos but, we realized that we had no taco seasoning so, I think the meat I thawed will be used for Sloppy Joe's tomorrow evening. We ate at McAllister's. I had the cranberry-orange chicken sandwich. It was pretty good. Next time I am gonna get my usual...grilled chicken spud. That's my favorite. We went to the mall after we ate. It was quite but, I guess it's a school night so all the youngins are getting ready for bed. We stopped by Bed, Bath and Beyond, I wanted to show Josh the shower head I want. It is one of those 'rain makers'. It's supposed to feel like it's raining on you (I love to go out in the rain). It has like 8 different settings including 'waterfall'. The BBB didn't have the one I wanted but, they had one similar for the same price of $99.99. Maybe I will get it as a housewarming gift...

Fun Fact for the Day: The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.

He looks good

The hedgehog went back to the vet yesterday for a checkup. We were told he is looking very good and just keep an eye on his eating and drinking habits. He also has to take his antibiotics for another week rather than 3 more days. I have 7 more fun-filled days of doping an inside-out pin cushion... On a more happy note, the vet didn't charge us for the visit! This vet place comes highly recommended!!!

We went up to the lab today and did a little staining. Unfortunately, I lost a little tissue from a couple slides, not too bad though. Tomorrow I WILL section the rest of my turtle oviducts and Tuesday I will stain them. I am almost done!!! I am getting ready to measure the sperm I took pictures of a couple of weeks ago...

I am pretty sure I get to teach this semester, which is good because we have income. I get to teach 9 hours. That's a lot. Nine lab classes, wow! I really want to get my lab work done before classes start so, I plan on busting my ass for the next week. Maybe I can have it all done and start the writing process again.

Good luck to all the teachers who start school tomorrow!!! You know who you are and I know you will do great!!!

OMG, I almost forgot...Our corn snake eggs are starting to hatch. Two of them have their little heads sticking out of their eggs. They started to hatch yesterday, they are taking their time adjusting to their new world. They are both albino...orange and cute as a button.

Fun fact for the day: Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled "Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden"...and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

And I'm proud to be an American...

Watching the athletes winning the gold, silver or bronze always makes me a little patriotic!

We have been religiously watching the Olympic games in Beijing for the last week. It has been fantastic!!! My favorite events are diving and gymnastics (men and women). The women rocked out last night in gymnastics...too bad it wasn't the team meet. Either way...Good job Team USA...

Back to real life...Tomorrow we get to take Hugo to the vet for a checkup. His abscesses are healing well. He is taking the meds a lot easier, but he is still grumpy when he gets woke up, for whatever reason.

I got more sectioning done in the lab today. I only have 4 blocks left to take care of. The end is in sight... Tomorrow I am going to go to the lab and see if I can finish the blocks and get most of the staining done. All next week will be spent on the SEM...I can't wait. The doc actually got out of the lab and had lunch with his grad students. It was nice to see the less-stressed side of him. Hopefully, we will see more of that this semester.

On another ASU note, I was asked to teach a couple (9) of labs. I am excited about it. It will be a little bit of work but, it will look good on the CV.


Until after the vet appointment...

1 down, 1 to go...

We had 4 corn snakes, we now have 3. Lauren took 1 of the 2 females for her classroom...woohoo! The snakes began mating this year, unfortunately, they are mating with their half brothers. We had to get rid of them. We have one left if anyone is interested!!!

We also have 2 ball pythons who are about to get the boot. It's not that we don't want them, we don't really have time for them and we fell bad that they just sit in the aquarium all the time...

The hedgehog is not going to be given away, no way, no how. He is doing much better, too. His face isn't really swollen but, he does have a pretty bad sore spot where one of the abscesses collapsed and is now healing. He is still taking his antibiotics and getting better at every day. The other day the vet's office called just to ask how he was doing!!! This is a different vet than we usually go to because our usual vet is in Oklahoma. I was shocked. When they called I thought they were going to say the check bounced or something but, no, just wanted to know how the little guy was doing...I was impressed. Jonesboro Family Pet Hospital comes highly recommended!!!

I was in the lab all day, again. It wasn't too bad though. I just put the iPod in my ears and sectioned away. Tomorrow I will be staining the 24 slides that I made today. What fun!?!?

More news from the lab...My advisor is going to lunch with the whole lab Friday!!! This is big...HUGE! He is very busy this time of year and he is going to eat with us. We are going to be a cohesive unit of master's students. By the way Jonathan and Josh, you MUST be nice to the Doc...he told me to tell you guys that. So "be nice!!!"

Until I stain the slides...I'm out.

I love to sleep in...

No, really, I do. I slept in this morning because bedtime didn't come until about 3:45 this morning. Several of us herpers went out with a couple of the ASU mammal people to help with a bat survey of SE Missouri. We helped them assemble the mist nets and then check them every 15 minutes or so. Because we don't have the rabies vaccinations, we didn't touch the bats. We caught a total of 5 bats...

Back to sleeping in...around 8:00 this morning we got a powerful knock on the front door. It was the maintenance guy of our apartment. He came to replace the kitchen sink fixture. I took advantage of this wake up call to administer Hugo's antibiotic, he was not happy to be woke up either. We both went back to sleep. I woke up for good around noon. It is 11:45pm right now and Hugo woke up about an hour ago.

We didn't go to school today but, we didn't lay around the house all day either. We cleaned it. Oh, and did laundry, fun, fun!!! Tomorrow is back to the old grindstone, well the lab anyway.

Stay tuned for more complaining from the lab...

Dehydration is no fun...

Yesterday was a VERY lazy day. We didn't do a damn thing, except watch the Olympics, Go Team USA!!! We should have cleaned or washed clothes or something but, no, we did NOTHING.

Today, I get to dehydrate tissue. It's starts in 50% ethyl alcohol and finishes in 100%. After that it goes into various cencentrations of xylene (nasty, smelly stuff). I know you don't care much about this but all the people I work with have to dehydrate too so they've heard it all. Oh, did I mention the whole process takes like forever...actually it takes about 4 hours but, during that 4 hours you can't venture too far from the lab so you can do fluid changes every 30 minutes or so. I am more or less tied to the lab today.

This evening a couple of us are going with a fellow grad student to catch bats. One of the mammal students is doing his thesis on bats of Missouri...fun, fun. We won't get back until like 2 in the morning. That is nothing new though, with Josh's research there were mornings we saw the sun rise on our way back from the mine shaft, then we got to sleep all day. Those were the days!!! Thankfully my research doesn't involve a long drive or camping trip. I could walk to my field site. It's about 10 minutes from the apartment and 4 minutes from the nearest liquor store.

Great as always

The zoo was fantastic! It was a nice day for the zoo, too. It was warm in the sun (90ish) and comfortable in the shade. We saw lots of animals, nothing new though.

After the zoo we ate at Olive Garden, it was good. I had chicken Alfredo. Oh, and of course their salad and bread sticks...yum, yum!!!

The winning activity we did was Mud Island. It began as a sandbar in 1900 and by 1913 is was a permanent land mass. The best part was the half mile miniature Mississippi river that started at the headwaters and ended at the Gulf of Mexico. It also had the Missouri and the Ohio rivers flowing into it. This was one of the best history/geography teaching models I have ever seen. You could even walk in it. When you reached New Orleans you could walk in Lake Ponchartrain, which oddly enough had a fountain in it (I have been there and I don't remember a fountain but, it was nice). To get to the island you can either walk the bridge or ride the monorail. We walked, it was free. There is also a museum but, you have to buy a ticket, we didn't see the museum. We just walked Old Man River and did a little bird watching. We are going back Labor Day weekend with my parents.

On another note, we gave Hugo his second round of antibiotics. We started working on it at 9:15 pm we finished at 10:15 pm! It was a little difficult. He HATED it! We had to reload the syringe 3 times. After we gave him the meds we had to clean the abscess wound with hydrogen peroxide and he hated that too. I'm guessing we aren't very high on his list of favorite people right now...

Well I have been up since 6:30 am, I am going to SLEEP...

He's gonna pull through!!!

We just dropped $79.50 on vet care for a hedgehog!!! He is worth every penny...see picture to the right.

We think he had an infected molar a couple of weeks ago (which is why he wasn't eating) and the infection has since moved out of his mouth and to his face. He has two HUGE abscesses on the left side of his face. They both popped while we were at the vet, too. It was a little gross! So know we have to give him antibiotics, orally. If you know anything about hedgehogs or have ever been around them, then you know giving one antibiotics (orally) is like giving a cat a bath in water. We figured the vet would have given him the first dose if he had been a cat or a dog but since he was impersonating an inside-out pin cushion, he let us give him the first dose when we got home. Although, he did very well this morning. We get to go back to the vet in a week, bright and early, 8:00am!!!

Now, it's off to the zoo!!!

Swollen face and all...

So, the hedgehog has a really swollen face, on the left side. I mean like REALLY swollen. We get to take him to the vet tomorrow, 8:00 am, bright and early. I hope it doesn't cost us an arm and a leg but, I hate to see the little guy suffer.

To add to the last entry...I scanned sperm of another turtle. I am like a fifth of the way done with the scanning part!!! Hooray!!!

I got to see a friend's classroom today. She is a forth grade science and math teacher. It's her first year but, I know she is gonna be great at it. She is has so much patience!!! Her room is so neat, too!

Oooh, oooh, we are going to the zoo tomorrow (after we get back from the vet, of course). We bought a membership to the Memphis zoo a couple of months ago and by-God we are gonna use it.

One step closer to a Master's degree...

I found the sperm storage tubules in the oviduct!!! I know where I need to be looking! I know what I have to cut out! I officially know what they look like! I am one step closer. Oh, and I scanned and photographed 35 sperm of one turtle and measured it. Now I need to convert it...that will be done before I go to bed tonight.
I'm not sure what I want to work on tomorrow though. We are going to lunch with the advisor at like noonish. I can either scan more sperm or dehydrate tissue. I think I will scan. I can do that and stop mid-scan but the dehydrating has to be continuous and once I get it into paraffin I have to do something with it after 24-36 hours which means Saturday work. I'm not going into school on Saturday, we are going to the Zoo!!! Scanning it is!!!

It's not quite so hot but, it's not cool enough to keep the skeeters at bay. Did I mention that the skeeters around here are huge, blood-thirsty creatures who stop at nothing? They are not bothered by bug spray and slapping them rarely kills them. Anyway, it was a comfortable 89 degrees out. The high temps are supposed to stay in the upper 80's, low 90's for the weekend...that's why we are going to the zoo.

I'm off to convert numbers for my thesis. I gotta get it done. I plan on moving in December...

OMFG

Some people irritate the ever-loving crap out of me. No, a lot of people do, but this is only about this one group...
Everyone (some TV censor parent group) is getting pissy about the new Gossip Girl ads and about how racy they are. Here's a thought, don't watch that channel, enforce their bed time, block the channel, take the TV out of their room, but don't punish young adults, like myself, because YOU don't want your kids to watch teenagers drink and have 'sex'!!! Think about all the porn daddy thought he hid well only to find out that little Mikey has been watching it after school or, how easy it is to look at porn on the internet...C'mon people, wake up!!!

I agree, some of the billboards are a little racy, but look at the beer ads or the 'come to the Caribbean' ads. I don't pick my beer based on how much skin is shown on a billboard, but it's get my attention. Whether it's negative or not, attention is attention and that is exactly what the CW wants and now they are getting it from everyone...Bravo!!!

Something to talk about

Once again, it's another scorcher here in the delta! I think there are 3 more days of 100+ degree days. According to weather.com it will cool off next week, you can bet I'm ready and so is every other person in Oklahoma and Arkansas. It's so freaking hot!!!

I didn't do much today, too hot I did go to Wal-Mart, cooked dinner (taco salad) and did some laundry. Typical Sunday of a non-church goer. Oh yea, I slept in a little...noonish.

Started counting points the Weight Watcher way yesterday. I went WAY over my point limit yesterday...by 8 points. Today I have like 9 points left over. Make that 7, I want some cheese. Let's see if I can stick with it this time. It works wonders, you just have to stick with it, but it's real hard when your significant other loves Sonic and rice crispy treats...

On another note, my shoulder itch like crazy. It's from the dreaded after sunburn peel. I went to the zoo last week on a 100+ degree day and I wore a shirt that had a huge square neck. Lots of sun exposure...next time I think I'll wear sunscreen.

More about the zoo. August 29 the Memphis zoo is having a world beer tasting evening. We get in cheap cause we are members. I think we are gonna go. I'm excited. It will be in the evening so no sunscreen...LOL!!!

Enough about me for the day, I'm headed to bed...

It's still fun, after 20 years...

We went to a friend's house this afternoon. By the way, it was 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Lest we not forgot about the damn heat index...100 looks nice compared to what it felt like outside, 110 degrees Fahrenheit!!! There are people in the north who have no idea what a heat index is. For those of you less fortunate, it is a scale that factors in the temperature and the humidity to give you how it feels outside. Ah, I love the south...We are currently experiencing the 2-3 most unbearable weeks of the summer, it's sooo hot!!!

Anyway, we went to a friend's house to do a little Slip N Sliding. It was so much fun. Let me paint you a picture...they live on a slight hill in town. They bought tarps from Lowe's. They used 2 lawn sprinklers and a hose to wet it down. It was 130 feet of wet plastic, downhill, with a ramp! It was a blast. So, I'm 26 and I still LOVE to Slip N Slide!

I remember my first and only Slip N Slide...about 30 feet of yellow plastic that you stake down with metal stakes and you hook it up to a hose. The best way to help increase your speed was to put soap on it. Once you did that you had only about 10 more minutes of fun until you got soap in your eyes. Wiping it out with your hand was no good because your hands had soap on them too. The only thing that soap was really good for was getting you out of taking a bath that night. You just use the argument..."I already had one, on the Slip N Slide, with soap and everything!"

Josh decided to give people a boost as they went down (without soap). He would follow behind them and push their feet. I got a good extra 6 inches of air on the ramp when he boosted me! I am going to be so sore in the morning. I'm already noticing tender spots on my knees and feet. I know one of my thighs will be sore, it has crazy grass burns on it.

All my friends are doing it...

In the last 2 weeks 3 friends of mine have started blogging. I guess I should start doing it too, so I can be cool like them!!! I won't tell them about mine; let's see if they find it on their own.

I was once a member of Xanga.com. That lasted for about a year or so. I kept in touch with a lot of friends from camp, but then we got Facebook.