My Work in the Real World!

The story goes, this guy gets into this horrific car accident, doctors state that if he does survive, he most likely would be a vegetable, he is given a "female" hormone progesterone immediately following the accident, and surprise, the guy wakes up from a coma 2 months later and is found sitting upright in a chair, walking normally and talking like nothing had ever happened. He was one of 100 people given this experimental treatment administered by Emory University researchers. The results look very promising. Just another cool "real life" story that matches my research quite nicely. Check it out!

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/health/stories/2007/08/16/braininjury_0817.html

Ending Summer On a High Note!

Sadly, for myself and possibly many of you, summer is kinda over since school is now back in session. For those of us who teach, it is back to the grind of listening to students cry about getting an 89 instead of the 90 they so desperately needed to go to the college/medical school they so choose. Back to sitting in classrooms trying to overcome the ADHD I've had since 2nd grade. Back to overwhelming the students with the red sharpie pen on their exams and so on.

To end the summer on a high note, Sneks and I went to Virginia this past weekend to visit some of her super awesome, super nice friends. Although it was hotter than hell (literally), we had some awesome adventures in mini-golf, baseball, regular golf, cards, and of course, some killer Xbox 360 action. Here are some pics from the "Greatest Virginia Getaway Ever!"

Me being me on our way to Virginia.

Sneks going for par.

The Buffalo gang playing the mini-golf.

No Kimmy, I'm not trying to take a picture of your ass. (Sorry about that).

Yeah, that can't be good. Damn water hazard.

The Guys getting ready to hit the 75mph fastball.

The guys at the driving range.

Sneks practicing her swing.

Anna's turn to use the driver.
Yeah whatever. I'm sure you're only trying to show her how to drive the ball.
The boys killing each other in Knockout Kings.

The Boys pretending to Rock out to Guitar Hero.

Anna and George wishing us a fond farewell.

Today I wish I was...........

in Niagara Falls, USA or Canada.

Albeit that you can get very wet from the mist of the falls, it would probably still be drier up there than it has been in Small Town, PA these past 3 days. Here are some more pictures from Niagara Falls when I first met Sneks' family last year.

Sneks and I on the Maid of the Mist

The Falls on the American Side

The Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian Side. The Maid of the Mist is the name of the boat located in the picture. Yeah, it takes you that close!!!

Super Bad was Super Good!

Despite the fact that it was probably one of the nicest days of the summer this past weekend, I decided to go to the movies with friend and labmate bW to see Superbad. It's basically your run of the mill American Pie type movie: 2 graduating high school seniors, who have been best friends forever, try to get "lucky" before they go off to different colleges. Their pursuit for the right girl causes them to try and buy alcohol as minors for a party. Of course mayhem takes place and in the end, they realize that they went about it all wrong and their friendship is stronger than ever. I may have made this movie sound boring and for that I apologize. This film was actually one of the funnier movies I have seen in a long time. I think it was extremely funny since this one kid nicknamed Mclovin kinda looked like me back in high school. Some of the comments made between these guys were just classic. The movie itself was about 2hrs long, and I would say I laughed for a good 1 1/2hrs. Freaking hilarious. I definitely recommend this movie for those of you who think crude humor is funny because trust me, this movie has a ton of it! 3 out of 4 stars!

Bitter Sweet

As the title states, today is a very bitter sweet day in my life. The bitter portion refers to the fact that a great friend and his wife, Dr. D 'n' A (yeah I went there) will be leaving little town, PA to go in close proximity to big town, WI. The sweet part in this is the fact that he now has what seems to be a wonderful job and hopefully a big fat pay check coming his way. Again, a truly sad day, but simultaneously, a time for celebration and congratulations. CONGRATULATIONS BUDDY!!!!!!

Professor D

"It doesn't matter what you wear or how much money you have in the bank. What matters is that you made a difference in the life of a child"

Typing is a Pain!!

As you can probably tell, I am currently taking a break from what I should be doing: typing. As we speak, I am in the process of completing one manuscript pertaining to specific aim one of my thesis while simultaneously beginning a manuscript for what would be my specific aim two. This is how I feel about my first manuscript.

It is really cool to just start this second manuscript because it entails about three year's worth of work that I have done as a graduate student at Small Town University. It gives me the hope (hopefully not false) that I will be finishing up my Ph.D. within the year since several of my chapters will have already been completed by that time. Again, the light at the end of the graduate student tunnel!!

However, the question is, is that light a good thing or a train coming at me at full force???????????

Where I Wish I Were Today...

Today, I wish I was on a nice warm beach, relaxing, taking in the sun, drinking a Corona. I haven't been to the beach this year at all, but here are a few of the beaches/places I have been to in the past couple of years.

View of the sunset from Waikiki Beach, Hawaii.

Geeking it up in Monterey, California

The Rocky Shores of Aruba

A giant bolder on the beach of Barbados

Megan's Bay in St. Thomas

The "North Shore" beaches in Oahu, Hawaii.

Probably One of the Last to Find Out

I admit to the fact that I tried to not get swept up into the whole Harry Potter craze that has been going on for, I guess, nearly 10 years now.

I remember my little cousin showing me the book that started it all (The Sorcerer's Stone) way back in 2000 (or 1999 maybe). I thought it would be a cute little book for young kids to sit and enjoy, you know, to actually enjoy reading again . But never did I think that it would be a good book for me to read. Fast forward to about 3 years ago when nearly everyone I knew could not stop talking about Harry Potter this and Harry Potter that. I still did not want to read these books because I thought they were for kids. Then, I decided to go and see the 4th Harry Potter in theaters with Sneks (apparently we were so close together when we went with our friends that people started to say that we looked like a human pretzel???? Nevertheless....good times) and from what I could remember, the fourth movie (Goblet of Fire) was damn good. So I began reading these books till finally last night, I finished the 7th and last Harry Potter book.

I would have to say that it was one of the best books I have ever read. Great action, and better yet, a fantastic conclusion to 7 of the best books I have read in a while. Don't get me wrong, Lord of the Rings is still my favorite fantasy book, but Harry Potter was nonetheless a great book to read.

So for all of you (the whole 1% of the population as I was myself) who have not read these books, I suggest read them and enjoy them! They are really good books!

More Summer Time Fun!

This summer has been one of the more adventurous summers I have ever experienced. Research in the lab has been going well, and in between all of the work, I've been doing a lot of traveling. Some of that traveling fortunately for me has been with my super awesome girlfriend Sneks. Here are a few of our adventures in traveling so far this summer.

Blurry picture of Sneks and I at the National Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada.

Sneks and I in Monterey, California.

A ridiculously tan Sneks with me at AT&T Park in San Fransisco, CA.

Although summer is coming to a close, it is sad that we won't be doing this until possibly next summer when she's not working her ass off doing research somewhere in the western hemisphere. But I look on the bright side, I have a wonderful girlfriend, hopefully I'll be finishing up the Ph.D. sooner rather than later, and HALO 3 comes out this fall!!!!!!!

More Alaska Pictures...

As promised, here are more of my pictures from the adventures I had in Alaska this past summer. Enjoy!!

The view from my cabin cruising the inside passage near Seatlle.

Sunset at around 10:00pm one night cruising to Ketchikan, AK.

Totem pole in Ketchikan, Alaska. I forget off the top of my head (no pun intended) as to what it means.

One of what seemed to be thousands of eagles in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Rainbow near the mountains heading up to Juneau, Alaska. This is from the top deck of the ship.

Wilderness on one of the hikes I took in Juneau, Alaska. I love the reflection in this little pond.

Me in front of the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska.

Close up of the 150ft high pillars that make up the front of the Mendenhall glacier.

Train I took up to the top of the mountains where the gold rush took place way back when in Skagway, Alaska.

Just one of the thousands of breath taking scenes along the railroad in Skagway, Alaska.

Another picture from the train in Skagway, Alaska.

Where I'd Rather Be Today is....

Juneau, Alaska.

I was there this past summer on a cruise that left out of Seatlle and lasted 7 days. I gained 4lbs. from all of the food I ate (including a midnight chocolate buffet....The best thing EVER!!!) and had such an amazing time taking every breath taking scene in. This is a picture of the Mendenhall Glacier. You may be familar with this one as it was featured (I believe) in Al Gore's documentary "An Incovienant Truth." I'll share more of these pictures in the near future!

Blood, Gore and then some!!!!!!!!!

Sadly, Sneks is out of town for the weekend visiting some of her really nice friends from down south. The only good thing about this, truly, is the fact that I can pop in a movie or two that she may not like (I thought the first Fantastic Four was ok, come on?????). With that in mind, I watched one of the better movies I have seen in a while, 300. Talk about blood, guts and some of the best fighting sequences ever directed, 300 was just a great movie. Basically, it is about King Leonidas and 300 spartan soldiers kicking ass and getting the living crap kicked out of them by the Persian leader/god Xerxes. I would have to say, out of four stars (naturally based upon the Star Search System....thanks Dr. D!) I would have to go as high as 3.25 stars. It would have received higher, but there were way too many six packed abs for me to handle at times during the movie. Nevertheless, a great flick to watch for any guy!!!!! Highly recommended!!!!!

Neurds Softball....but not really

This is an image of the 2007 Biology Neurds softball team.............but not really. I am shown in the bottom right of the image next to Mr. Burns. You can turn yourself into a Simpsons character at http://simpsonizeme.com/#. I look like Grimey (only a select few will know this character from the Simpsons). Enjoy.