Hot Buttered Sole

So Saturday night I was at Longhorn's steakhouse with the usual eat-out crew (minus a few)and it was quite crowded. We waited about an hour for a table, and I took up my usual spot on the end, right beside the high chair. Nick and Noah fell asleep while we waited, but by this time Nick was wide awake and in full "I want chicken fingers and root beer" mode. Noah ws still unconscious however, lying on his back across my lap. Eventually we get our food - for me, grilled chicken breasts smothered with portabella mushrooms, asparagus, and melted provolone cheese, along with a baked potato with butter and sour cream. *mouth watering at the memory* Anyway, just as I dug in, Noah woke up and began to thrash. Before I could secure him and sit him upright, UP went his right leg and then (in what seemed to be slow motion) DOWN came his right leg right on the table. My son's shoe landed smack-dab in the middle of my baked potato. His shoe was covered in sour cream and (now) mashed potato. Nothing like a little faux leather and dirt to improve one's dinner. At least I provided comic relief for the table across from us. I thought the girl who saw the whole thing was gonna spit her beer on her date.

Richard Kiel, what hath thee wrought?

There's a relatively new song out now on the airwaves by Nelly and some other rappers extolling the virtues of having a tricked-out mouth. Rappers Paul Wall, Lil John, and Baby, or Birdman, of Cash Money records are extremely proud of their platinum and diamond-encrusted dental work - Mr. Wall in particular. I don't think I've ever seen a photo of him with his mouth closed.



Perhaps I could bolster my image by donning precious metals in my oral cavity. I've found several styles which match my personality. Perhaps you, dear reader, can help me decide. Come to think of it, my new grill could double as a retirement plan. As I accrue wealth, I could bling more & more teeth. When I reach retirement age, I can just cash in my dentures. I'm liking the sound of that...



I'd be remiss if I didn't give credit to the first to sport the metallic grin. Honor to whom honor is due and whatnot.



Jaws, all dentists, orthodontists, and jewelers salute you.

No grits or sweet tea to be found.

It's been a long week. San Diego was great, thanks to brethren and my labmates. We arrived in SD around 6:00 Friday evening. It sure gets dark early in CA. Their sunset is about 30-35 minutes earlier than here. After arriving at my hotel, I unpacked (something I NEVER do) and ate a solitary dinner at the restaurant on-site. Afterwards, I read some in Psalms and passed out.

Sabbath morning I had a leisurely breakfast at the same restaurant, and made contact with Joe, my ride to services. Services were great, as usual. Mr. Way gave a sermon on the 9th commandment. After services I met his family, as well as everyone I didn't meet before services. We ended up being among the last to leave, and I rode with a professional shuttle driver to the Young's place in Crest. There we had a festive meal of green and red enchiladas and taco salad. There was lots of stimulating conversation about various aspects of our beliefs. Mostly, I listened, which is what I tend to do around people I'm just getting to know. My new shuttle-driving friend gave me a lift back to the hotel around midnight, and once again I passed out.

Sunday was my busy day. I attended the Cotton Workshop and the International Cotton Genome Initiative meetings, and managed to stay awake the entire time. I was a little worried about that b/c I ate a huge liver and onions dinner immediately before the meetings began. Later that night my old boss at Clemson took a group of us out to dinner. It was basically people who'd worked for him at Clemson and people who now work for him in Arizona. There were other scientists there as well; people with whom he'd collaborated at one time or another. There were about 30 of us altogether. I recommend the Old Town Mexican Cafe if you're ever in SD. Did I mention that I was almost late to the meeting b/c I was watching the end of the Pittsburgh/Indy game? That was one of the most exciting 4th quarters I've ever seen. Poor Peyton. I really wanted him to win and shed the "can't win a big game label." It's getting harder to defend him though.

Monday was the day I had to stand by my poster. I basically found out that my data looked like crap. I mean, it would've been considered good if I was using poly-acrylamide, but since I was using agarose the marker bands should've looked more crisp and with less background. Enough of that. We hit the Cheesecake Factory after that with some lab-mates and then I came home and passed out.

Tuesday was a free day for me. We went on a 3-hour whale watching tour that morning and saw quite a few California gray whales, along with pelicans, sea lions, and dolphins. It was quite a trip - until I ate the Hebrew National and got a little queasy. Once I hit the bay though, I was fine. The guys went to tour this WWII aircraft (the Midway), while a couple of the gals went kayaking. The aircraft carrier was cool - even though I felt like I was in a submarine inside it. We eventually found ourselves in Pacific Beach, which is in La Jolla, I believe. I eventually made it home and passed out.

It was kinda fun this year not being the only one from the lab at a conference. I guess it's back to the daily grind now. I think I'll have another glass of wine and then go pass out.

Pulling an Annette...

For the geek in you... This is the poster I'm taking to the Plant & Animal Genome Conference in San Diego tomorrow. Helloooo Cheesecake Factory!

I'm supposed to be in San Antonio...

I can't begin to imagine the anguish the people of Tallmansville, WV must feel. After being twisting in the wind as to the fate of the miners trapped 260 feet underground, the families and friends of the trapped miners were euphoric after being told that 12 of the 13 miners were alive. According to an article I read on Worldnetdaily, and according to statements given on Anderson Cooper's show, officials knew within twenty minutes that this information was inaccurate, yet did not inform the families of the true status of the trapped miners for 3 hours. With the 12 deaths, then the added pain caused by the inaccurate information, I sense a major class-action lawsuit in the future.

I just heard Ariel Sharon has had a brain hemorrhage. Didn't he have a light stroke last week? I wonder how things will change in Israeli/Palestinian relations with the advent of a new Prime Minister. I wonder if Netanyahu will regain the office.

USC & Texas are starting to pick up steam now. The fourth quarter promises to be a dandy.

Dear Coach Bowden:

Please recruit kickers like you recruit for the other positions.

Sincerely,

FSU fan watching Penn State celebrate after we missed an extra point and 2 field goals

PS: I don't blame you, Mr. Cismesia. I know you didn't miss intentionally .

Sell-out...

... or Convert? I just bought an Alison Krauss CD from Cracker Barrel.

And Kansas City is out for the kid.

And I still haven't seen King Kong.

Nick-isms

Comment from Nick as we’re sitting around the dinner table munching on homemade nachos:

“Umm, this is good!  Mama you’re a good cooker!  I’m gonna be a good cooker too when I grow up and get a job.”

“Daddy, when I grow up, who’s gonna be my grandparents?  And who’s going to be my mommy and daddy?”

You gotta love kids.

Power to the People

Several of the local brethren are without power tonight after an ice storm passed through. Luckily we weren't affected, though the dogwood tree in our yard was a casualty. We stopped by the Brooks' to find them sitting in the dark around a kerosene heater. Did I mention the giant redwood that was blocking their driveway? I'll let TMan tell yall about that. Greenville, Williamston, and Anderson were hit harder than Clemson, apparently. I know that Country Girl is without power, but her mom has electricity. I don't know about the Greenville brethren, or the Hughes, Higgingbotham, and Wakefield families. The Burdettes are OK too.

Potluck sure oughta be interesting tomorrow. I foresee lots of cold cuts and peanut butter sandwiches.

1 Little 2Little 3 Resurrections...

Hey - the Recover post link really works!

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Rev 20:11-13, NKJV

This past Sabbath we heard a sermon from Rod King on Resurrections. I enjoy this type of sermon for a few reasons: 1) It shows God's incredible love and mercy in insuring that ALL humanity will have a chance to choose to receive His offer of salvation; 2) The Scriptures we covered are great for reviewing a "trunk of the tree" church doctrine; and 3) It helps me look forward to the day when I will see my daughter again.

Daughter? What daughter?

The M.R.S. and I had a daughter, Kierra Nicole, on August 13, 1997 during the sixth month of pregnancy. She didn't survive, but she didn't suffer either. She never took a breath. I can remember holding her tiny body in my hand; she was soooo small. I remember her perfectly formed hands and feet, and the fact that she had my nose. We had a little funeral for her, and I really remember only two things from that day: my mother-in-law bringing in a dress from a doll, because that was the only thing that would fit Kierra, and I remember her casket. It was about the size of one of my shoeboxes. The sight of the miniature coffin amidst the normal gravestones was incredibly surreal. It was almost like I was outside of my body watching the goings-on from afar. The M.R.S. took it pretty hard, but we've both recovered pretty well, I think. Forgive me for piggybacking on something the Burdette girls mentioned a while ago, but it's scary when I realize how infrequently I think of her. And I feel guilt also; not only don't I think of her enough, I remember how bummed out I was initially over the pregnancy and how inconvenient the pregnancy was to my life. So much for not being selfish and callous. But boy, am I gonna make it up to her! I'm going to be the daddy of daddies to her. I look forward to seeing and raising my little girl. Of course, I'll let mommy love her too. And change her diapers.

And just as uplifting is knowing that all who have lost children, parents, friends, and lovers will see them again as well. Think of the mistakes we've all made in relationships with others; people you've left on bad terms, never to see them again. People you've loved whom you hurt in one way or another. People we weren't able to help whose problems cost them their lives. Think of how good it will be to be able to help them; to repair damaged relationships; to be able to help them achieve the happiness which is available for all. God speed that day!

Moving

Don't you love it? I came home Monday to find a notice from Family Housing. The University is shutting down our complex due to the rising operating/maintenance costs. It appears that some of the underground oil tanks are leaking, and must be dug up along with any contaminated soil. So far they've tested 7 of the duplexes, and found 2 oil tanks to be leaking. They had to dig 75 feet down to remove all the contaminated soil from the first duplex, which damaged the foundation and forced the demolition of the unit. The second duplex is scheduled to be demolished this month; it's leak did not descend as far as the first one but covered a larger area. According to figures shown at the "town" meeting last night, it cost Housing ~$360,000 to take care of the first duplex; the second is expected to cost about $150,000. There are also 36 townhouse units which need sprinkler units to be brought up to university standards. This is expected to cost another $150,000. It's estimated that to keep these facilities going would require us to pay more than $300 additional bucks per month in rent. They realized that isn't feasible, so they're shutting the units down. There are 98 families living here, and many of us went to a "town" meeting last night to hear from the Director of Housing. Needless to say, there was quite a bit of anger directed at her. I felt sorry for the lady. Anyhoo, we all have until June 30, 2006 to find new cribs. At least we have 6 months. So Tman, what are you doing around the end of June/beginning of July? lol

Thanksgiving weekend

The M.R.S. and kids


Tryptophan.


Me and my neice Ashleigh


Nick, Ash, and cousin Queen


My older brother Ronnie with his neice and nephews


Cosa Nostra

H.G. & Me

I’ve been skimming H.G. Wells’ The Outline of History (yes, THAT H.G. Wells) and came across some interesting passages.  I thought I’d share them with you.  The italicized comments are Mr. Wells’ – the rest are mine.  

We shall tell what men have believed about Jesus of Nazareth, but him we shall treat as being what he appeared to be, a man, just as a painter must needs paint him as a man.  The documents that testify to his acts and teachings we shall treat as ordinary human documents…  This is what we have already done in the case of Buddha, and what we shall do later with Muhammad. (Outline of history, page 497)

We are left, if we do strip this record of these difficult accessories (the great star that brought wise men, the massacre of the male infant children, the flight into Egypt, etc.) with the figure of a being, very human, very earnest and passionate, capable of swift anger, and teaching a new and simple and profound doctrine – namely, the universal loving Fatherhood of God and the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven… (page 498)

Now it is a matter of fact that in the gospels all that body of theological assertion which constitutes Christianity finds little support.  There is, as the reader may see for himself, no clear and emphatic assertion in these books of the doctrines which Christian teachers of all denominations find generally necessary to salvation…  …There is no evidence that the apostles of Jesus ever heard of the Trinity – at any rate from him.  The observance of the Jewish Sabbath, again, transferred to the Mithraic Sun-day, is an important feature of many Christian cults; but Jesus deliberately broke the Sabbath, and said that it was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.  Nor did he say a word about the worship of his mother Mary, in the guise of Isis, the Queen of Heaven.  All that is most characteristically Christian in worship and usage, he ignored.  Sceptical[sic] writers have had the temerity to deny that Jesus can be called a Christian at all… (page 499)

As remarkable is the enormous prominence given by Jesus to the teaching of what he called the Kingdom of Heaven, and its comparative insignificance in the procedure and teaching of most of the Christian churches…This doctrine of the Kingdom of Heaven, which was the main teaching of Jesus, and which plays so small a part in the Christian creeds, is certainly one of the most revolutionary doctrines that ever stirred and changed human thought… (page 499)

During this indefinite time (the first two centuries A.D) a considerable amount of a sort of theocrasia seems to have gone on between the Christian cult and the almost equally popular and widely diffused Mithraic cult, and the cult of Serapis-Isis-Horus.  From the former it would seem the Christians adopted Sun-day as their chief day of worship instead of the Jewish Sabbath, the abundant use of candles in religious ceremonies, the legend of the adoration by the shepherds, and probably also those ideas and phrases, so distinctive of certain sects to this day, about being “washed in the blood” of Christ, and of Christ being a blood sacrifice…  The contributions of the Alexandrine cult to Christian thought and practices were even more considerable.  In the personality of Horus, who was at once the son of Serapis and identical with Serapis, it wa natural for the Christians to find an illumination analogue in their struggles with the Pauline mysteries.  From that to the identification of Mary with Isis, and her elevation to a rank quasi-divine… was also a very natural step.  Natural, too, was it for Christianity to adopt, almost insensibly, the practical methods of the popular religions of the time.  Its priests took on the head-shaving and the characteristic garments of the Egyptian priests, because that sort of thing seemed to be the right way of distinguishing a priest.  One accretion followed another.  Almost insensibly the originally revolutionary teaching was buried under these customary acquisitions… (pages 512-513)

Jesus called himself the Son of God and also the Son of Man; but he laid little stress on who he was or what he was, and much upon the teachings of the Kingdom… (page 514)

Mr. Wells certainly did not share the COG view of who and what Jesus was, nor did he have the same understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven – but it’s interesting that he could see that that was the thrust of Jesus’ message while here on earth.

Blue-eyed devil?

My wife is convinced she’s married to a white man – although she’s the one with the pointy nose, thin lips, and green eyes.  This belief is most often vocalized when I’m singing along with those country and 70s AM Gold compilations you see offered on television at 1 in the morning.  Hey I can’t help it if my musical tastes cover several different genres.  I tell her she doesn’t have anything to worry about until I come home and start singing bluegrass tunes.  Incidentally, I DID almost but an Allison Krause and Union Station CD when I stopped by Cracker Barrel yesterday.  Almost.  Maybe she should start to worry now…

I had to make an impromptu trip to Anderson yesterday, and while I was there I stopped by the Ridgeway’s sign company.  I ended up staying there for about an hour and met several of the people who work there.  It’s kinda odd seeing people you know socially  in a professional environment.  All is I know is if I ever need a sign made, they’ll be the people I turn to.  I even got to chat with Caesar the iguana for a while.  Reptiles are sooo cool.  Patti was surprised to find out that I wanted to be a herpetologist at one time.  I wanted to curate a reptile exhibit in a major zoo or in a natural history museum.  And here I am working with cotton.  Go figure.

It was quite a pleasure seeing Desiree this past week.  Nick didn’t want her to return to California.  It was also nice to see Tom, as well as the other visitors we had at services.  Mafia was a pretty fun game.  I’ve just got to remember not to be taken in by Summer’s sad “y’all are pickin’ on me” faces.  Mr. B., you would’ve put Johnny Cochran to shame in a courtroom.

I’m really considering skipping the San Antonio conference and driving to KC.  What do I do?  The San Diego trip in mid-January is a done deal though.  Got my tix and everything…  Nothing beats San Diego in January man, absolutely nothing.  Except eating Pot Stickers at the Cheesecake Factory for lunch in San Diego in January.   One of my co-workers wants us all to go whale watching while we’re there.  Sounds cool to me.

One other thing I learned while in Anderson yesterday:   it’s amazing just how much of a guy’s crack can be exposed to the world and him be completely unaware of it.  And that’s all I have to say about that.

Incredible.

?????

Troop 625

I was a Boy Scout once.  If I remember correctly, it was for about 3 years, beginning somewhere around the time I was 12/13.  I absolutely hated it.  Boy Scout Troop 625, Clio, SC.  Our meetings were on Wednesday nights @ 7 p.m.; our hut was a little wooden building about ½ mile from my house.  There was this one house I had to walk past that had dogs.  I still remember the fear of not knowing whether they were going to pick this week to chase me home or not.  For some reason, they never seemed to bother me when I was on the way to Scout meeting.  In my memories, the hut is always cold when I arrive, though I know that couldn’t have been the case in the spring/summer.  The mind is funny that way.  You ever wonder how many of your memories are actually memories, and how many of them are revisions of what REALLY happened?

Anyway, I was the first (and only) black member of the troop.  My brother joined a couple of years later, but I was on my way out by then.  My Scouting experience has been one of the few times I intensely felt like an outsider.  I NEVER felt like I belonged.  For one, I just wasn’t gung-ho on camping like most of the others.  I couldn’t enjoy our canoe trips, or our tubing trips down the Chattooga River because of my inability to swim.  Try spending 12 consecutive hours fighting panic and see how you like it.  The biggest reason I think I never “fit in” is because of some preconceived racial/socioeconomic baggage I brought with me.

You see, the rest of my troop was white.  And they went to Marlboro Academy, the private school in the county.  Many of their parents taught in the public school system, but they sent their kids to the private school.  We (the black kids) were taught that the reason the private school existed had nothing to do with academics – it was strictly an option to integration.  In short, they didn’t want their kids interacting with US – which was fine, in that the public school and academy kids didn’t cross paths much.  We assumed they didn’t like us, and called us n-----s when safely within the confines of their precious academy, so therefore we didn’t like them.  I have no idea how accurate that picture is or was, but I do know that that’s the picture I had in my head as I tried to become part of the Scouts.

As a result, I held back.  I was polite, somewhat friendly, etc.  But I refused to completely “buy in”, so to speak, partially because I didn’t completely trust the other guys.  Looking back, I never had any problems with any of the guys.  Many of them went out of their way to make me feel welcome.  I just couldn’t shake my preconceived notions.  Couldn’t shake them.  When we were having fun, I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop – the racist joke (“No offense, Mike), the “accidental” use of a racial epithet…  To my knowledge, it only happened once, and it was perpetrated by someone who came into the troop after I did.  Even though I know better, there is still a large part of me that wishes I’d knocked him into next week.  What made it worse is that I don’t (and didn’t then) think he said what he said to be mean – I think he thought what he was saying was acceptable and OK.

Once I got into high school sports my practices interfered with attending Scout meetings, and I eventually stopped going altogether.  My brother pretty much stopped when I did.  I do wish I could go back and interact with those fellas again without my biases.  Most of them were good guys; several of them went to Clemson.  We occasionally crossed paths, and exchanged pleasantries.  I lament the missed opportunity to forge stronger and longer-lasting relationships.

Scouting wasn’t all bad though.  We had a memorable campout on the beach, where I found out that sand gets EVERYWHERE.  There was a five-mile hike, followed by the planting of hundreds of pine trees that ended up being very enjoyable; and there were trips to Carowinds that were quite pleasurable.  And I did learn to tie a bunch of knots.  I think the Scouts are a good thing; perhaps the boys will get to experience it.

Something I meant to post a while back...

A link to an article by Philip Skell, from Penn State U. it's entitled "Why do we Invoke Darwin?"

Not surprisingly, his article generated some responses. I also like his reply to those responses. I won't post the responses, but he has a link to them.

Post-op Deux

Noah’s procedure went quite smoothly.  The docs called him back at 8, and the doc came to tell us everything went smoothly at 8:07.  By 8:45 we were sitting in Cracker Barrel eating breakfast.  Not bad, Medicus, not bad at all.

I was experiencing shoulder and neck fatigue last night and this morning, so I jokingly mentioned to the M.R.S. that maybe I should hit Jalen up for one of his Loritabs.  Well, mother-in-law (who went to the doc’s with us) pulls out this Tylenol bottle and whips out a Loritab.  She gives it to me and I take it on the way home.  After about 15 minutes my neck and shoulders started to feel much better.  I decided to lie down for a little while and take a short nap before going to work.  This is around 10:00.  Next thing I know it’s going on 2:30 p.m. and I’m just now coming to.  I rush to my 3:30 seminar and still feel sluggish and drowsy @ 5:10.  No more of those for me.

Thanks for all the well-wishes and prayers.  I think I’m going home now.  A nap sounds nice.

20051117

So Nick drew a picture of the earth yesterday and showed it to us at the dinner table last night. It's a fairly good representation, overlooking the fact that he had Greenville and Clemson (30 miles apart) on different continents. He graciously labeled a few other key locations: American, Jamaica, and My Am Me (say it quickly). Apparently our Feast trip has made an indelible impression upon the young man. I love this kid.

Noah gets the tubes in his ears tomorrow morning. He can't eat after midnight, so I really hope he sleeps through the night and doesn't wake up looking for sustenance. I suggested stuffing him with a nice big bowl of oatmeal around 11. Let's pray it works.

We had our first frost this morning - almost six weeks before the end of the year. This year's weather has certainly not been normal. Oh well, it's back to homology searching for me. Technically it should be similarity searching, since the term homology assumes an ancestor/descendant relationship. Let me not bore you guys. Later!

Grrrrrrrrr

I am hating UNIX right now. And similarity searches. And labwork. And seminars.

OK. I feel better now.