Janel's Place

Good morning. It is Tuesday and I do not have lab meeting. I will go and sort some flies just as soon as I say something profound.

In the morning, I am in a fuzz,
I remember a chicken, at least I think that's what it was,
I grabbed him by the tail and he cussed me out,
He will hate me until the end of his days no doubt.

I have to go sort flies,
I think I know why,
But because it's so early
I won't really try,
To explain why I spend so much time with these bugs,
Could be fame, money, weirdness or drugs.

It's best not to know why we does what we does,
That's why we go to work with our brains in a fuzz.
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A baby fly with bubble-wings



My pathway to fame. He has ten wives now. Oop. Nine. One has perished.


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Or I would if I was an elk.
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Wow it's cold in here. I grabbed my sweatpants instead of my jacket this morning so I've been wearing my pants on my arms all day. What's more amusing than that is that nobody really cares if you are wandering around with pants on your arms.

I've been thinking about Grandma Mac after hearing stories about her from my Uncle Jim last week. I miss her. People need cheery grandmas in their lives. She's been gone... a little over 5 years now? Yup. I also thought of Jack Preiss today. I have no idea why he popped into my head, but when he did I remembered that interesting encounter up on the second floor of Biochemistry... he walked by the door, then turned around, stormed in the door, and chewed me out for telling him something some of my students didn't like about his teaching style. I believe the end result was me crying in his office trying to explain that I was only relaying information and he had asked us to give him feedback and why was he yelling at me! Rarr. So insecure. A nice blank stare would have sufficed in that situation. I wonder if life is really just a long journey toward complete emotional detachment. If it's not, it could be. People are so darned unpredictable and you never really know what's going on underneath that smiley face, do you?

I'm going to head home. Hurricane Rita hit my room. It starts with the birdseed and birdfeathers, and goes downhill from there. I'll leave you with a proverb of the day:

"Any fool can start a quarrel."

..And a picture of the day:



I miss you Grandma!
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How many hours have I logged listening to that fridge? It's that annoying part of the day where I would like to go home, and can, but it's too dark to go for a ride. I may be collecting some fabulous flies with red eyes tomorrow. That's not exciting, I have at least 2 crosses to go before I find out if I wasted a year making these flies or not. I'm in a genuinely bad mood. I've been in it since yesterday and I need to get out of it. Generally when I find out that the Ark of the Covenant was an electrical capacitor and the Levites had special insulated robes I am entertained for a week. What will you come up with next Dad? And where do you find these things and why do you believe them? It would be a relief to not give a darn what other people believe, let me tell you, but I'm not going to get to that happy place. It's not real.

I have a new nephew. WHOA! His picture is online now! Check out this adorable little duck!
http://www.uch.org/babies_fr.asp?URLid=3L4O3N5D3P

Bad mood all gone. Awwwwwwwwwwww what a cute baby!
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Schroeder gone? Newly elected Afghan legislature? Condi threatening U.N. santions in Iran? Israelis out of Gaza? All these things go on while I sort flies.

It's been a week of flies, chicken drownings, and a heart-rending horse issue. My little starving Appy down the road was too far gone to save, so we got her home only to put her down an hour later. I guess I need a little more reality educated into me, and will take to heart the "better a little too early than a lot too late" advice when it comes to ending animal suffering. I hate death. Always have. Who doesn't?

Well I guess I'll go see what Pastor Meyer has to say about people coming from gaseous energy fluctuations. I wonder if I'm past all that now because I don't really feel the need to go. My inane love of arguing is ebbing away and I'm on the hunt for a better approach. Man! People are annoying.
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My post-Japan addiction to country music brought me this song this morning. I love you guys, see you in a better world.

Arlington
Artist : Trace Adkins

I never thought that this is where I'd settle down.
I thought I'd die an old man back in my hometown.
They gave me this plot of land,
Me and some other men, for a job well done.

There's a big White House sits on a hill just up the road.
The man inside, he cried the day they brought me home.
They folded up a flag and told my Mom and Dad:
"We're proud of your son."

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property.
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company.
I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done.
I can rest in peace;
I'm one of the chosen ones:
I made it to Arlington.

I remember Daddy brought me here when I was eight.
We searched all day to find out where my grand-dad lay.
And when we finally found that cross,
He said: "Son, this is what it cost to keep us free."

Now here I am, a thousand stones away from him.
He recognized me on the first day I came in.
And it gave me a chill when he clicked his heels,
And saluted me.

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property.
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company.
I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done.
I can rest in peace;
I'm one of the chosen ones:
I made it to Arlington.

And everytime I hear twenty-one guns,
I know they brought another hero home to us.

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property.
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company.
We're thankful for those thankful for the things we've done.
We can rest in peace;
'Cause we are the chosen ones:
We made it to Arlington.

Yeah, dust to dust,
Don't cry for us:
We made it to Arlington.
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Yup I'm back. How different am I after this experience? I don't know. I learned a lot of things over there. Maybe I can list a few before my brain shuts down.

1. Patient perseverence. I didn't hear a lot of complaining over there, granted it may have been in Japanese. I decided I would get a Ph.D. and I will eventually get it, it's as simple as that. When has complaining ever really accomplished anything? I guess I should ask the liberals, they might know. *OUCH,* I know, but blaming George W. Bush for the effects of hurricane Katrina is a level of pure liberalism that almost astounds me but not really. I'm used to it.

2. Everyone is interesting. I find myself wanting to strike up a conversation with absolutely anyone, and it tends toward a generally friendlier me. I like animals so much more than people sometimes that I was headed for being a crazy hermit in the woods someday, but I think a long summer without them changed that for the better. People can be real pains in the butt, but there are quite a few genuinelly nice ones in the bunch and you may just have to sift thorugh a few PITBs before you find them.

3. Slow down and choose words carefully in order to be understood correctly. Who doesn't need to hear that? But the language barrier gave me some good practice.

4. Be nice to foreigners. Help them out, especially if they can't read, and just be a friend to them.

I'll bet there are more, but I am now losing it. Coffee is wearing thin. I think I just squashed the fly that escaped Tuesday night, so provided he/she didn't find a husband/wife in the past 2 days I have just saved the world from the monster tsrRNAi fly that may reap fly vengeance on the human race and shake our frozen heads off or stick us with pins and dissect us alive.
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