He must have made a deal...

with THE DEVIL! Or, is the devil himself. I'm ranting about this because last weekend, my NFL Fantasy team was single handedly dismantled by the golden boy, scoring 41.64 pts (A LOT). I get 2 TD's from Antonio Gates, 2 TD's from Hines Ward, and a usual solid performance from Peyton Manning and still lose... to my buddy Dave K. no less. Needless to say, I'm distraught and bitter. I find myself actually wishing ill on Tom Brady, who at the moment, seems to be the face of the "Evil Empire" that is the Patriots, of the NFL. Am I insane? I think I can now finally appreciate the hatred Red Sox fan has towards the Yankees. When will it end, or will it? For me, it's a moot point unless somehow by the grace of god, I manage to sneak in the back door of my leagues 4 man playoff.

As an analysis of all this insanity, it is clear that the strangle hold that fantasy games now have on the sporting world has reached a frighteningly irreversible trend. In addition to the unrelenting statistical tickers that crawl below our TV's updating sports enthusiasts fantasy portfolios, I am now aware that satellite TV will now allow you to input your teams roster and live update you on their performance as they compile relevant statistics. Personally, I have become a "Box score whore" of a sorts, glued to my Yahoo Stattracker and satellite radio on Sundays, pining for statistical explosions from my starting line up. I find I'm constantly crunching numbers of C list players, in an attempt to squeeze the last drop of "fantasy juice" out of a handful of dry lemons. Is all this seemingly trivial? Just a hobby that adds to the enjoyment of already enthralling television that feeds the competitive fires of millions of Monday morning quarterbacks. Maybe for some, but I think this runs much deeper, and at some level has changed the presentation of all sports for good (& not necessarily for the better). My wife, subjected to watching sports on TV by default, is disgusted by the whole fantasy aspect of sports, and can't fathom how one could root for player over team, regardless of the teams that your fantasy players may play for. I have a love-hate relationship with fantasy sports. I love it, but hate to lose, and because sports is so intrinsically tied to chaos theory, one is made to ride an emotional roller coaster week in and week out, caused by inexplicable variations and volatility of real time statistics. If there is a silver lining, I believe that the emergence fantasy sports has created an air of excitement and possibly filled a void in many fans who watch televised sporting events, that only gambling could fill. Less gambling is probably a good thing. Life can be sweet... when your fantasy team is doing well

Cracking the code to Alzheimer's - Part 2

So when I last spoke about my work endeavors, I was trying to produce some images of amyloid deposition in mouse brain tissue, using a variety of biochemical techniques. Again, the significance of all this is to attempt to understand what may lead to a variety of diseases (including Alzheimer's Disease) caused by Amyloidosis. Pictured to the left is a perfect example of a 2 yr. old mouse brain tissue section that has tested positive for amyloid deposits, and below, a brain tissue section of a healthy mouse. The technique used here is called... immunostaining. All the brown spots in the tissue identify where the unwanted amyloid protein has accumulated. It's amazing this mouse could remember how to eat & breath. This is the most amyloid I've ever seen in any published journal images. In this case, an antibody specific to amyloid protein was generated in a host rabbit (to limit cross-reactivity with the mouse tissue producing a false positive result), and tagged with a chemical marker that creates a brown color when exposed to the appropriate solution. Worked like a charm... after months of trying several different staining methods, a few different amyloid binding antibodies, & hours of troubleshooting. With this proven protocol, we can now attempt to analyze the many mice that are involved in our various ongoing studies. The work is painstakingly slow. The process to acheive images like this, involves many steps that span days, even weeks. A typical study may require 12-30 animals... which = a lot of tissue to process, and can be hard to keep track of. Pictured to the right & below is my little nook in the Wentworth Lab downstairs, where I make notes, process, analyze and image all the tissue used in our research. Most of the staining is carried out in the Lerner Lab upstairs, where I spend most of my time... the view upstairs is nicer too.

Lost in Translation...

Good ideas, often don't make it beyond quality control. It befuddles me that the marriage of these wonderful libations doesn't work... at all, and trust me... it is awful. The genesis of this grand scheme to trail blaze the already infinite inventory of "the cocktail", spawned at a Padres game. Already, with a couple of screwdrivers circulating through my veins, and much more chatty, I was attempting to explain to Crystal, my buddy Jae Lee, & a mutual friend, a recent realization. Thanks to the wonderful effects of aging, I could no longer handle the devastating consequences of drinking beer to excess, and had vowed to confine my binge drinking to the wonderful world of cocktails. My new drink of choice: The Screwdriver. I'm not sure when, nor why beer had suddenly become an arch enemy. Maybe one to many evenings at The Rock Bottom that resulted in me asleep on my couch at 8pm? Severe dehydration? Intestinal unrest. I had my reasons. The discussion weaved its way through a veritable "tioga pass", ending in "the valley" that is apple juice. A nice metaphor, because I do love apple juice, and insist that it must always have a place in our fridge at all times. Why couldn't you mix such a magnificently refreshing juice with any spirit... especially vodka. Why haven't we seen this before? How could this sure thing have been overlooked? Is it patentable? We were all sure we had a gem in the making, and would shortly be printing off Absolut Apple T's and rolling in cash somehow from this sudden blast of genius.

After coming down from the excitement of our newfound discovery, the 4 of us enjoyed the bottom of the 9th inning of a great game. 2 outs, 2 on, 2 strikes, home team down 1... walk off HR. Nice. An outpouring of high 5's amongst perfect strangers persisted for an eternity of minutes. Pure joy, however fleeting, shared with strangers exposes a slice of humanity that is so positive and good, and in that moment Life can be sweet.

A relatively traffic free drive home was a nice bonus. But before I lay me down to sleep, a nightcap was in order. After leaving cloud 9, and still on sort of a high, the cocktail (2 parts apple juice, 1 part Vodka) with unrealistically high expectations was utterly disappointing. Sweet & Vodka don't mix. There has to be that yang of tart to make the thing work, I guess. We hadn't stumbled on to the next big thing. We had simply stumbled down an old road littered with the remains of those who most certainly perished, trying to finish a highball of this wickedly evil concoction. Let Vodka happily mingle with its friends OJ, the crans, tonic, & rocks of course. And leave apple juice alone.

Addendum: Adding another part of AJ, diluting out the vodka doesn't help. Adding another juice to the mix barely helps.

Dark Side wins

The poll is officially closed. Dark Side of the Moon won with an overwhelming majority, 62%. Yes, 8 votes wasn't the data pool I was hoping for to give a statistically significant result, but I feel the winner is legit, and would have held up even in a larger voting pool. There wasn't a clear choice for 2nd place. The poll shows, that after a consensus for 1st, true subjectivity of the individual is revealed speaking to the quality of most of Pink Floyd's albums (I should have asked: favorite PF album after DSoTM). Wish You Were Here, The Wall, & Animals finished in a tie for 2nd with 12% each, while The Division Bell went voteless. The poll only allowed for 5 choices, and with PF's large album catalog, there were honorable mentions that didn't make the list: Meddle & A Momentary Lapse of Reason, both valid choices, in my opinion (Obscured by Clouds is held in high esteem, personally). Thank you to all that voted, and be assured, a new poll will follow shortly.

Yosemite

It was a great trip, not without some drama. So. Where to begin... the beginning of course. This adventure was done without Aisley. We dropped her off at grammie's house the night before we left. Monday morning we got an early start, leaving San Diego at around 5 am. We headed north, past Mammoth mountain, and arrived at the last place to stop before entering the North-East entrance to Yosemite... The Mobil Restaurant. The drive to this point was super easy, with no traffic. We made great time. We were on the road about 6.5 hours, and on pace to reach our campsite at Tuolumne Meadows around noon, which conveniently is when the reserved campsites for the day become available. We bought some sandwiches to go, and picked up some ice to cool down my beverage of choice... Tecate, for the quick drive into the park to our campsite. In the parking lot, I filled up the cooler with ice, repacked the puzzle of equipment jammed in the trunk of the Honda, and in my haste & stupor from the long drive, closed the trunk... with the keys inside... doh. Oh, and the car was locked too. 2 sandwiches, 2 locksmith's, and about 2 hours later, we were granted entry back into the car. Let's just say simply, new cars are too smart for their own good, and leave it at that. The frustration of the earlier situation was difficult to let go. With many deep breaths and some help from the grand beauty of the surrounding park, ire was diffused to calm. We arrived at the entrance of the campgrounds at Tuolumne Meadows in good time... considering. Nervous because of the time we had lost, we feared we might be sent to a campsite next to the latrines. Luckily, camping midweek saved us. We were actually given a choice of location at the gate, and looking back, we chose wisely. There are 2 camping areas at the meadows: 1) by the Tuolumne River 2) away from the river in the woods with more privacy. We chose to be by the river. The neighbors are close, but the terrain here isn't flat, which helps create the perception of more space. We set up camp amazingly quick and after enjoying an ice cold beer, (which had been cooling for about 2 hours now) comfort set in with the realization that our delay hadn't significantly affected our trip. There was still plenty of day to enjoy around camp, and we decided to head down to the river (50 yards from camp), to explore a bit. It now felt like we were really on a vacation. A place like this has the extraordinary ability to clear your mind and induce a calm that everyone should experience on a regular basis. There were some great swimming holes amidst the gentle rapids of the boulder laden Tuolumne River. The water was so refreshing. Cool but not cold, and because the meadows is situated at a relatively high altitude, the air was warm but not hot in the mid day sun. A real highlight of the trip. In the early evening, we had a suprisingly good dinner at a local lodge, and after, proceeded to get a fire started before the sun disappeared. The fire from hell... the sun did vanish, and in almost TOTAL darkness fiddled for 2 hours trying to get a fire to burn on its own. A lot of newspaper and cardboard went up in smoke in the process. I have never had so much trouble with a fire... ever! We were convinced the wood was cursed. Almost at the point of giving up, a small fire was beginning to hold its own. We were "all in" at this point with our cards face up on the table. We left our fire in the hands of Prometheus and took a much needed break. If it took, we would have fire for a bit... if not, to bed, demoralized. We walked down to the river, in pitch black with a five dollar pen flashlight we bought at the general store on the way into camp (we forgot our flashlight at home... doh). Carefully navigating though the forest, we reached the river's edge and what did we find... absolutely the most stars I have ever seen in the sky ever. Another highlight of the trip. It truly was unbelievable, and is almost impossible to put into words and do it justice. It's something you just have to see for yourself. Upon our return to camp, and much to our astonishment, the fire was blazing. We enjoyed the fire for a bit, but debilitated by the 2 hour struggle, couldn't find the energy to enjoy a feast of s'mores. It got cold that night, and luckily we had brought enough blankets, but the cold has a funny way of eliciting the urge to relieve oneself, making it difficult to sleep... and it was cold. We found out the next morning from our neighbors, a black bear, which Crystal heard during the night, raided their camp (only ~ 15 yards from us) for some food that had been accidentally left out... eerie. When we finally emerged from hibernation after sleeping in a bit & hearing the news of our late night visitor, we enjoyed a nice hike following the tuolumne river upstream. The weather was perfect to spend a couple morning hours winding through the forest at the river's edge. When we got got back, we reluctantly packed up camp and headed off into the heart of the park through winding roads in a quest to reach Yosemite Valley. In hindsight, we would have like to stay in the meadows longer, but this, my first journey to Yosemite, was more of a reconnaissance mission. We really wanted to see as much of the park as possible, in an attempt to narrow in on ideal locations for subsequent trips.

We were in no rush. The weather was gorgeous, and made many stops to soak up the scenery on the way to the valley. One highlight in particular was Tenaya Lake... "mini Tahoe" we called it. A really nice spot about 10 miles west of the meadows. A perfect spot for a day excursion, with a variety of different things to do. After a few other stops along the way, we reached the valley in just over 2 hours (~ 60 miles), where the temperature was significantly warmer... hot actually. Driving all the way into Yosemite Village, trying to conjure up Crystal's childhood memories, to our surprise, the actual village itself was much smaller than we had expected. There's really not a whole lot there. It's more of a staging ground for an assortment of trailheads, all of which afford glimpses of the park's many scenic wonders. The Pines (Upper, Lower, & North) are probably the best camping spots in the valley, always full in the summer, and we found the most difficult to reserve. It's important to note that in the summer, the valley can get surprisingly void of water. The Merced River was really low, and it as well as many of its tributary's were completely dry at the higher elavations along some of the more popular hiking trails. Almost all of the falls were dry. Bridalveil Falls normally a deluge of water, was reduced to a drizzle. We scoped out most of the village, and drained from the drive, found sanctuary in the visitor center. We ended up watching a 20 minute movie about the "spirit of Yosemite" in a small, air conditioned theater. Refreshed a bit, we decided to save energy for the next day in the valley, and go check into our hotel The Yosemite View Lodge, just a couple of miles outside the South-West entrance to the park, ~ 20 minutes drive from the village center. For $ 150 a night, we had a pretty nice room with a view of the Merced, a TV (usa network-tennis US Open coverage), and A/C. It also had a really good pizzeria, which we ended up having for dinner 2 nights in a row. Jacuzzi. Then lights out.

The bed was pretty stiff, but we both slept much better than the previous night. We got an early start hoping to make our last day in Yosemite a full one, packed up our gear for the day and drove into the valley. Again, we surveyed "The Pines" campgrounds on our way to the trailhead for a morning hike to Mirror Lake. We weren't overly impressed with "The Pines". It's flat ground, woodsy camping in close quarters. They are all conviently located to several renowned hiking trails, and there is a good bus system that can get you to anywhere in the valley in 20 minutes or less. We followed the trail north to Mirror Lake on the southern bank of Tenaya Creek which was much more remote and less populated than its counterpart on the opposite bank. I was able to scratch my itch for rock climbing at a couple of places along the trail which was fun for me. As I mentioned before, the valley was particularly dry this summer, and the creek and the small "lake" which we would eventually come upon, were dry as evidenced by the photo (left). The trail to mirror lake was also nice because it followed along the base of Half Dome, which was impressive from that vantage point. The hike took about 2 hours round trip. We made our way back to the village for lunch, and after, decided to abandon the valley to see yet another part of the park in the south, the Mariposa Grove, home to the giant sequoia trees. On our way to the groves, we passed El Capitan, and much to our amazement spotted various sets of climbers making their ascent up the vertical face of the mountain. Seeing the mountain with the reference of humanity, really allows you to fully absorb the true size of these natural wonders. After our quick stop, the drive south was picturesque. On the way up, out of the valley, there is a road stop called "Inspiration point", and true to its name, the view is awesome. You have a birds eye view of the valley with all the major granite attractions set perfectly on a grand stage. From the valley, the drive takes about 1 hour, and it's well worth the time. The size of the giant trees, like almost everything in the park, is hard to appreciate unless you're actually there. Hopefully, the pictures we took can attempt to convey the enormity of this rare occurrence in nature. The California tree is pictured right. Making our way back to Yosemite Valley, we made another stop at Inspiration point in the waning light of dusk to snap few more photos, and then on to our hotel. We soaked our aching bones in the hot tub right outside our room, had our pizza to go this time on our patio overlooking the Merced, and watched R. Federer demoralize A. Roddick in an entertaining US Open quarterfinal match-up. Thanks to my swiss army knife and some ingenuity, we were able to enjoy the few s'mores we missed out on our 1st night, in our room for a late night dessert over "campfire"? We had an early Thursday morning ahead of us. We needed to get back before 4 pm, so we could get Aisley out of day care. Again, we made great time ( Home in under 7 hrs. w/ a stop at In 'n Out for lunch). Planning the trip post Labor Day, and midweek was key.

Being my first trip to Yosemite sort of late in life, and with a wealth of traveling experience under my belt, I had high expectations for what the park had to offer. For the most part, I think the park lived up to them. There might have been a few things that didn't live up to the hype, but the many highlights of our trip were memorable. The Meadows, Tenaya Lake, the stars... oh, the stars, on their own, reason enough to go back. I can say say for sure that with a trial run in the books, it won't be too long before we get back to Yosemite and share some of these experiences with friends and family. This trip is more proof that Life can be sweet.

Post script: See the link to our Yosemite web album to see all the pictures from our trip.

Addendum: We discovered after the fact... Someone who has access to your spare keys can help you in a pinch. They can call your cell phone and use your spare remote entry clicker into the mouthpiece of their phone while you hold your cell phone aimed at your locked car from a close distance. Bingo! Your door unlocks. We tested this on Crystal's 2007 Honda. It may not work with all cars, and aiming of your cell phone at your car takes a little trouble shooting, but it does work. Maybe this knowledge will save you in the future.

The Geek Squad is taking over.

I was easing into my morning, enjoying my daily cup of vanilla nut blend, when I stumbled upon this gem and I had to laugh. Who knew the pressure was on to crack the iphone of its ATT shackles. I love the photo, and it just seems to validate the stereotype. It's interesting though. While in my mind, I would have pictured a hacker like THIS..., this new breed of hacker, thanks to the emergence of Apple and all its i-this&that, hip new technology, is sort of a romanticized version of geek & rock star. A hybrid of Bill Gates crossed with Vinny Chase if you will. If I'm having tech trouble with the latest Best Buy gadget, and I give The Geek Squad a jingle, this kid is pulling up to your house in the black & white beetle... right? It sort of says something about what's become cool in America these days.

Score one for Root.

As I have said previously, a good weekend should start on Friday at the beach. I felt obliged to confirm my credo. With the prospect of family showing up for my mom's 60th birthday weekend, I sensed it necessary to bounce out of work after a late lunch, and meet up with my sister Jennifer at Torrey Pines S.B. for a Root rematch. As luck would have it, Friday, August 17th was a gorgeous day here in San Diego. With all the crucial supplies for an extended beach outing: beer... cold beer and maybe a beach chair, umbrella, music, towels, & spf 30, we headed down to the beach at about 1 pm with plenty of time to soak up some afternoon sun. In our haste to get to the sand, food/snacks were forgotten... oops. I did have a few small packs of Nabisco trail mix in my beach tote reserved for emergencies, courtesy of Mike W. from our Baggo @ the beach day a few weeks before. In the right state of mind, they're delicious, but generally... not so good. The last time I played root happened to be after an epic day of Baggo, and seemed overwhelmingly inadequate as a recreational staple. A huge let down. I had actually gone online earlier in the week, and ordered my own Baggo kit, but because I wasn't willing to part with an extra 20$, I was still waiting on UPS to "bring home the Baggo". With Root as the only available option, with significant apprehension, it was going to have to do. To be at the beach was so nice and after base camp had been established, a couple of beers had been consumed, & before we got down to the business end of our mission, we both took advantage of the 70 + degrees ocean water for a refreshing dip. Taking advantage of all the beach has to offer on a day like that makes San Diego well worth the price of admission. Now, in the right state of mind, we were ready to compete. Since my last Root post on LCBS, I had found a site that clarified the scoring system of Root. This was key. Previous attempts at remembering the finer points of Root, had been desperate stabs at piecing together LA roadtrip memories clouded by purple haze. The first game got off to a rocky start. Figuring out the right tossing distance takes a little troubleshooting. Jenn was distracted by a work situation, & I had a spontaneous distraction of my own. I will elaborate...

A couple of month's ago, my 9'0" G&S gem of a board got ripped from my mom's garage. I got a new board, and for the most part... I'm over it. I have to say though, when around my mom's neck of the woods, I do find my wandering eye focus in on every ~ 9 ft. ish longboard I see. Is that it?... no. It's a curse. I know it's long gone, but some part of me thinks I'll see some jerkoff walking to Torrey Pines with my board under his arm. Which brings us to the present distraction. I am facing north on the beach, lining up my toss of the root, when some "jerkoff" covered in tattoos appears past the trestle at tower 7 carrying a ~ 9 ft. ish longboard under his arm. The difference this time? From about 80 yards away, I could see the hallmark G&S logo on an all white canvas, with a single large blue fin. Disclosure: I am about 3 - 4 beers deep. I really thought that this was my board. The windmills of my mind were whirling, playing out all sorts of weird scenarios that didn't end well. All of a sudden my root ability went to hell, and it was obvious to Jenn something besides the game was commanding my attention. I hadn't at this point revealed to Jenn why I was distracted. I really didn't know what I was going to do, and wasn't 100% sure it was my board. Was I going to walk over and say "Hey bro nice board, where did ya get it?", and then cold cock him? You could cut the tension with a... well, with a surfboard it was so thick. Tattoo boy fiddled with the board for it seemed an eternity, waxing it or something which obscured the view, allowing even more time for me to stew. When he finally picked it up to head for the surf, I was able to see the top of the deck. It had a pretty healthy coating of wax, but... It had 2 long, thin, barely visible pinstripes on either side of the stringer. My "baby" was a clear canvas, void of any extra top or bottom deck graphics. And, as my head began to clear as the windmills slowed down, I remembered that my single fin was yellow, not blue. I had given my blue skeg to Ted to use on his longboard. At this realization, it was like the Red Sea had parted in front of me. For about 10 minutes, I had might as well of been blindfolded tossing the root and ball. Helen Keller could have given me a run for my money. At this point, I disclosed to Jenn what was causing my obvious diversion. We laughed. And decided, another swim in the ocean was needed to clear our heads before we could even attempt resuming our match.
After chilling out a bit, the next games were good. We both seemed to have a radar for the stick w/ the root & the root w/ the ball. Jenn scored the most possible points in one turn without being a game winner: leaner with the root, ball through the root, ball hits the stick, 5 pts. very well done (pictured left). Root this time was much better, and honestly, gave Baggo some real competition. Getting out early that day was huge, and got the weekend off on the right note. Another good day at the beach with Jenn Jenn. Something tells me this will have to be a more regular occasion. Good times, LCBS.

Post script: The photos were not staged!

Dawn Patrol

The start of any good weekend should include a hunt for quality surf... maybe not this early though. However, anything truly worth while rarely comes without a heavy price. So my buddy Joel and I woke up at the crack of dawn, and met up at the trestles parking lot, a couple miles from San Onofre State Beach. In the dark, we loaded up into my car, and headed off for the beach. We arrived at the entrance just before 5:30 am, and still on a day with small surf in the forecast, had to wait in a line of cars about 10-15 long. The line proceeded to lengthen with every passing 5 minutes, and at opening time (6:00 am), disappeared behind us into the darkness. 10 $ to get in... /2, no biggie. Through the gate, winding down the bluff, past the entrance, you come around a corner that exposes a view of the beach. At this point (if you're not a regular), you're stomach sinks a bit. You have to drive south, down the beach quite a ways to get to the area where the best waves break. When the surf is small, that's the only place the waves break, which was the case that morning. The beauty of Old man's at San Onofre is that it's a sweet little stretch of coast that has a primary peak situated perfectly to receive the brunt of any good (or not so good) S-SW swell that might be passing through. Waves break pretty far outside (far from the shore) at this spot, in front of the "Old Man's" life guard tower, allowing for some wonderfully long rides. Because we were (in a way) "rookies" at the whole dawn patrol situation, we didn't rush to get right in the water...which we now know is KEY! We were some of the first people in the water @ about 6:15, but that didn't last long. By 6:45 am the water went from looking like the face of a 15 year old, sprinkled with a few zits, to a canvas peppered with humanity like a Jackson Pollock painting. For about 30 mins., I caught some surprisingly nice waves... without "old men" in front or behind me: KEY! Bonus: I felt like I had finally tapped the true potential of my new CON long board, which had kind of been a sore spot of mine since the theft of my G & S about a month ago. Hint: you need a long board, especially when the surf is small. Joel found this out the hard way, sitting on his 7'6" SR egg... sitting, literally. The waves are slow, especially outside at the primary break, which demands the extra couple feet of foam an LB provides. More importantly, you really need the big stick to compete with the baker's dozen of surfers paddling for every wave that roles through. As many people as there were, I still had a blast. The waves at Old Man's were probably of the best form I've surfed all summer. The water was warm (70 ish), which helped cut the chill of the air on a pretty overcast morning. We were in the water about 2 hours... the longest I'd been in the water all summer. All in all, It was a pretty successful trial run. We definitely learned few things, that will make the next DP better. It was good to hang with Joel too. It had been awhile. Good times. LCBS... and was.

Post Script: I had the best burrito at Pipes Cafe in Cardiff, on the way home.

Addendum: I forgot to add... you can NOT have alcohol at San Onofre. Wow! I would never have guessed. Beach & beer go hand in hand in my book. Times they are a changin'. Just thought that should be pointed out as critical info for serious beach goers.

Baggo!

So... another good day, proving that Life can be sweet! The beach on a sunny weekend, summer day with good friends & ice cold beers spells good times. The ocean water temp. was 70 degrees... at least. Jae Lee, Mike W., and I headed down to Torrey Pines after lunch to set up camp in front of tower 7 away from the madness at the mouth of the lagoon. Unfortunately, the mighty Pacific took a day off and was more or less flat, making the decision to lug our 40 lb. longboards ~ a mile seem vain. I didn't matter. Once base camp had been established and we had been "rehydrated" by cold beverages, the good times that is BAGGO began (TY MW). I hadn't seen or heard of this game before. Apparently, it's really popular in the Midwest. Jae Lee brought a little experience to the table, having played some Baggo before, when he lived in Chicago. It's a really simple game, but loads of fun. We spent about 6 hours on the beach playing Baggo non stop. As hard as it is to admit... Jae Lee dominated. It was only until we wore him down late in the day, that I dethroned him. I have to say, I think it might blow "Root" out of the water. Jenn, we might have to get one of these.

Addendum: if there was any debate as to the quality of day it really was...
Fallen soldiers: 11 Tecates, 12 Bud Lites, & 10 Coors Lites. Ted is to thank for the reinforcements & food at a desperate hour.

Quick thoughts...

Why is it so much fun to disfigure publicly displayed photos. I admit, I do enjoy taking part in this inane activity on occasion. I didn't take part in these particular instances. For me, being at work somehow keeps the inner 12 year old at bay. If a photo is displayed long enough, you can bet this will happen. These probably stayed clean about 2-3 weeks.

post script: I personally prefer the pirate look over the cliche Satan portrayal.

Termites...who knew?

Did you realize that pound for pound termites pack more protein than meat or fish? They do, and if put into a survival situation, they could possibly keep you alive. An added benefit... there waste can be burned on a fire to repel mosquitoes. This would really come in handy if you were lost in a Costa Rican rain forest. Thanks Bear.

I'm telling you, I am so addicted to Man vs. Wild on the discovery channel. You just learn so much cool (& utterly impractical) information. I am dying to get dropped somewhere with a flint, knife, and a canteen, left to find civilization... maybe. I'll start with Yosemite in September.

Side story: Some of you out there have heard this story already, but for those who haven't... here it is. A few weeks ago, my sister had dinner with Bear... no, not alone. (I wish. What a cool brother in law. He's already spoken for anyway.) At a dinner party. She calls me and leaves me a voice mail, "guess who I'm having drinks with... Bear Grylls". Being a huge fan, only very recently, I almost dropped my Treo. I have to quickly thank Crystal's sister Daisy for turning us on to this show, which I was hesitant to watch at first. I text messaged her back, and asked her to send my best wishes to Bear, and was curious if he would divulge a key component to the success of all of his televised survival situations: the brand of knife he uses. Apparently this is a popular question posed to him primarily by his American fans. Fitting... I suppose. Personally, If I'm going to drop $$ on a nice knife, I want the best knife to chop down trees for raft and shelter making, as well as starting fires with flint. I actually think peoples' obsessions about these kinds of details is more a reflection of our culture's obsession with bandwagoning to the best... in any arena. Whether it's buying Nike because Tiger wears/uses it, or buying Gatorade because Michael drinks it, we Americans are hopelessly bewitched by this kind of materialism. All of his other survival supplies are here (case & point). The skinny: he told my sister that because of the beating he would put his knife through in each survival situation, he would by a new knife prior to each Man vs. Wild episode in the airport of where ever they might have been shooting the show. The truth: It doesn't really matter what kind of knife you have so long as you have one. But if you have to have his brand of knife, click the link. Be warned they are custom, military quality knives, and aren't cheap. I think I will just go to Sport Chalet.

Side note: Apparently, Bear is also very charming and the life of a party. Surprise, surprise. It's that British accent I think... that's what my wife says anyway.

Addendum: So... this just came to my attention. I had heard whispers of foul play here and there, but I guess this is sort of damning. read the link and make your own opinion. It doesn't really bother me. The hotel thing kinda sucks if that's true. The show is still really entertaining regardless. I hope the show doesn't get ruined as a result of this pseudo scandal. I am still a fan.

Cracking the code to Alzheimer's

So. This is part of what has been keeping me busy at The Scripps Research Institute. One of the areas of research my lab is exploring, is how inflammation caused by a few key molecules may contribute to amyloidosis. Amyloidosis is the process that leads to the pathology associated with Alzheimer's Disease. Pictured left are the type of images I am trying to produce in the lab. The top is a healthy brain free of amyloid deposits. The bottom is a diseased brain riddled with amyloid. There are various ways to detect amyloid deposits in brain tissue using histology, which I have become very familiar with over the last several months. This is one method using a fluorescent compound that binds to the unwanted proteins that accumulate in the brain and begin to cause the various symptoms associated with the disease.

This is just one of the few projects that's keeping me busy at the moment. People always ask me what I do, and rarely can I articulate in an interesting way some of the day to day work that goes on in the lab. Here's an attempt. Enjoy.

Post Script: This filled my day today and just a small step in grand scheme of this project. (making sure you have the right mice before you start the proposed study...ty kujo, PCR was a breeze.)

I'm Back

Geeze... It's been awhile. I was on a roll there for a good couple of months last year, but work destroyed me. I am still at Scripps, but I work in a new lab, doing new things that required all my available brain power and energy... and overwhelmingly busy to boot.

Things have since settled down a bit. So much & nothing has happened since. Life does move on, whether you're truly in control or not. The 4th fell on a Wednesday this year, and on the heals of finally getting some closure with a few projects at work, I took the rest of the week off... GOOD Decision.

I went surfing in the morning, and after helping out at my daughter Aisley's swim lesson before lunch, spent all Friday afternoon at the beach in Del Mar. I had Board & Brew for lunch, washed down with ice cold Tecate's, all the while listening to Stern. Eventually, Jenn showed up and we played Root. A real blast from the past. I have a lot of good memories playing root in LA @ Hoover's place.

The point of all this? Make the time to have a good day. It's worth it. Work can wait another day. Life can be sweet if you make the effort.