March 28, 2009 - Posted by danielle- 3 Comments
Per my usual Saturday routine over breakfast, I was just getting ready to check some blogs of yours. But then it hit me that I haven’t updated my own blog since my b-day on the 12th. *bad blogger! shame on me!* 
I could use being busy as my excuse, which is completely true. But the other part of it is that A) I didn’t feel like whining and B) nothing totally major has happened that ‘warrants’ blogging.
However, maybe some medium (but not minor and major) things have happened that are worth sharing.
1) Being busy.
Things are crazy this semester and they are just going to stay crazy as I give exams and have to grade these big lab research papers that my first year students wrote for Intro Bio. Most nights I have to do prep for lectures for the next day. Usually, I spend Saturday prepping for Monday. Sunday prepping for Tuesday. IF I have time during the workday, I prep for Wed. But let me tell you, by Wed night I’m staying up until 10, 11, midnight, doing the prep for Thursday. Then Thursday is just like Wed night.
Hard stuff.
By Saturday, I’m so exhausted that my prep for Monday is too slow, which is why I only get the prep for Monday done and not, for example, all of Monday and then half of Tuesday or something like that.
I’m really looking forward to Easter Break. (Thurs, Fri and Monday off) Yay for working at a religious school!
2) Maybe this is major. Job security.
I asked my chair to write the high-up people to find out my status for next year. In other words, am I being rehired, as expected, or did the letter telling me I wouldn’t be rehired fall through the cracks? For some stupid reason, they send a letter if you won’t be rehired. But just don’t send anything if you will be. How dumb is that? What if the letter gets lost in the system?
Anyway, the end result is that I’m still expecting to be issued a contract next year when they do the contracts for everyone else. So, that is a relief. The very last thing I’d have time for right now is a job hunt.
3) Summer research
I have 2 super students lined up to do summer research with me. This research is strictly to get things going. It wouldn’t help my tenure process in the future – presuming I get a tenure-track position. BUT it will A) allow me to apply for outside funding, if the results are decent and B) potentially get hired for that tenure-track position that they should have this fall.
4) The lab for my molecular biology class.
First, I LOVE the lab. It is a bit hectic, because the students take about twice as long to get stuff done as I do (if not more). So, I think that things are going to fit in the amount of time alotted to lab, and then they end up staying late. *sigh*
Second, I am replacing an outdated set of labs (Southerns) with an updated set of labs (sequencing). This seemed like it would be simple, because the labs were done in the Intro Bio class last semester. But, of course, in actuality it has been really hard. This is because A) when I ran through the labs to optimize them and check that everything is working, I got DISMAL results. Pretty much 3 reactions out of 6 worked. And there was no pattern to what worked.
BUT B) I just got the data yesterday from a second attempt that 7 out of 8 reactions worked! And the one that didn’t work was the one with the max amount of DNA in it. This is something that the company actually warns against, so it fits with their recommendations. Yay! Something that makes sense!
C) I got this working barely in time, since I have to give the students the next part of the manual on Thursday.
D) The manual.
It took me all of last Saturday, and part of Sunday to write the dang manual that I gave them on Wednesday! It was an incredible time sink. (look back at number 1 for how this was a major problem for lecture prep too)
E) Part of why I thought the expts were screwed up, was because the freezer holding the enzyme for the sequencing wasn’t hooked up to a generator when the power was out for 24 h. But that appears to not be an issue. Thank goodness. A missing extension cord could’ve been the reason for a loss of a $200 loss of enzyme. And how stupid is it that if you are the person responsible for the hook-up that you wouldn’t just go to a store and buy more extension cords???? I mean, come on, $20 extension cord vs $200 enzyme? Isn’t that a no brainer?
5) Singing for volunteer service
My church organized a day where they tried to get everyone at the church to volunteer for a couple of hours (or for 2 blocks of time, if possible). As it turned out, one of them was a recital for an assisted living complex. So, I prepped a couple of songs (acapella, because there was no time to get accompaniment lined up), and sang. I sang “Everlasting Arms” and “I’ll Fly Away,” 2 lively gospel songs.
I also led the whole group of church people in a song that we often sing at church to close the service. Probably not one you’ve heard of, because it is contemporary, but it was “Reign in Me.”
It was a good service opportunity. I’m glad I squeezed the time into my schedule to do it and didn’t just use the excuse of “I’m too busy.” Of course, I did it by skipping the church service that morning, but hey, you have to prioritize.
Okay, that was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay longer than I thought it would be. I guess this shows me that I need to update more frequently even when I only have “minor to medium” things going on.
One final note: Even though teaching is really crazy this semester it is still FAR better for me than research everyday. And next year will be easier, because it will be some of the things I taught this year. 
March 12, 2009 - Posted by danielle- 7 Comments
Today is my birthday! I am now officially 35. Although my Wii fit age says I’m 41, I’m hoping to drop that within a week or so.
Yes, I have my Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! HB got me a Wii for my birthday, but he gave it to me early. It was actually here the night that Galadriel died. He thought it would be a good distraction.
So, over Spring Break – which I just had last week – I played some MarioKart. AND right at the end of my break, my b-day present from my parents arrived. They got me a Wii Fit! (which is how I know my current Wii fit age)
I’ve already unlocked super-hula hoop (6 min), advanced step and free step, boxing, advanced snow slalom (balance), the bubble balance game, the penguin balance game, and the snowboarding balance game. I like the balance games the best, but I do the aerobic games to actually get a workout. I’ve also unlocked some strength training and yoga stuff, but I really suck at those, so I’m leaving those for later.
On the yoga, you have to keep your center of balance in this little yellow circle and it detects when you are swaying. My “trainer” tells me that I’m swaying and that I should use my core muscles to hold my position. yeah…. core muscles, I have those, right?
HB and I are going out to supper tonight. We’ve nixed the Zelo thing, since we’ve had a lot of unexpected expenses recently. So, we’re headed to Outback. yummmmmm. steak.
And I made the chocolate chip cheesecake for us over the weekend. It is pretty good. I think I might have overbaked it just a tad, because it is a tiny bit drier than I remember. But it is still pretty dang good.
Well, I hope things are going well for you. Take care, Danielle
March 7, 2009 - Posted by danielle- 4 Comments
I set these flowers up in one of the Girlie’s favorite spots. This happens to be my usual spot for taking flower photos, but also happens to be one of her favorite places.
It was a little later in the day than she really liked, but the light was good for photos. So, it was a compromise.
March 1, 2009 - Posted by danielle- 10 Comments
The Girlie-girl died this week around 2:30 am Thursday morning. She was 13.
How do I ever write a synopsis of 13 years of life? Years and years of love… ….just the thought makes me cry.
She was so incredibly important to us, to me. She was always there for me. When HB would be out of town, she was always at home to greet me and was waiting at the top of the stairs.
She loved to be petted. We had this wonderful routine of sitting on the couch after supper. I’d get settled in with the blanket and I’d pat the couch next to me and say “come on” (a little bit high-pitched). She’d jump up and would get into the petting position. I’d usually pet her for 30-45 min. It either ended when my arm wore out, or when she decided she’d had enough for the night.
In addition to being petted, she loved to sleep.
And we loved to watch her sleep. She would tuck into these adorable positions with her body all curled up and the top of her head smushed against the floor, chair, or couch.
Going through the photos I have of her, it was surprising how many of them were of her sleeping or playing with tissue paper. That was really her favorite toy. She could really rip into it. I imagine she liked the satisfaction of getting her claws into it and shredding it. I know that she liked the crackle of it.
We always had to watch out for her claws and teeth. She was quick to use them when we were playing.
And she loved to investigate and be located wherever we were located. Anytime I did a flower photo-shoot, she was right there with me.
Those are some of my favorites. It, of course, shows the flowers, but it also shows my girlie, so curious, so involved.
My very favorites of her are ones with us. But because they show our faces, you’ll have to log in to Flickr to see them. But they are located here. I’ve winnowed my favorite photos of her down to 35 photos. Since I started with 294, it was hard to restrict them to a manageable number, but I did it. Today, HB has scanned some of our prints from her earlier years. We still have a few to go, but I wanted to get this done today.
You might be wondering what happened to her. Well, she stopped defecating, and we thought maybe she’d stopped eating, but we weren’t really sure. We took her to the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Center. They admitted her last Saturday in the late afternoon into the ICU. They suspected a kidney infection and gave her antibiotics and iv fluids. She was in the ICU until Tuesday night when we brought her home. They thought that she would do better at home, since she gets so stressed in medical facilities. And, the doctors thought she was ready to switch to oral antibiotics and not iv. The U of M Vet Med Center was really wonderful with us. They spent a lot of time talking to us and going over her care with us. I’m really glad we took her there.
She seemed much happier at home. I know that we, at least, were happy to have her home. The main concern, though, was that she was not eating much, and was drinking minimal amounts of water.
Wednesday night, I must have petted and brushed her for 45 min before supper. And then a half hour here and a half hour there over the course of the evening. We all went to bed, and she was in bed with us, in her usual spot between HB’s legs, when she meowed and woke us up. We had just enough time to turn the light on, pet her, and try to see what was wrong when she took her last breaths.
The vets had noticed a heart murmur (which is a valve defect) when they had examined her. They warned us that she could end up dying of cardiac failure. That was probably what happened to her, but we’ll never really know.
The main thing is that she was with us, and not at the hospital when she died. And we’d spent so much time with her, focused on her, and petting her that night. I’ll always be grateful that we had that time together with her at the end.
It has been an emotional week. Today, I spent the day going through albums and my digital archives, trying to find every picture that I have of her and collecting them into a set on Flickr. I have put them all into a huge set. It was really comforting to remember so many happy moments. That is part of why I have posted them here. It helps to think of all of the good times we had together.
But it was hard to get to the last photos that I took of her this Christmas and then the ones in January in front of the fireplace and realize I’d reached the end.
HB bought some yellow tulips in memory of her. If I’m up to it tomorrow or so, I’ll take some photos of them.
For now, I’m adjusting to the loss of her not being here. At work, I get busy with work, am distracted, and it is less noticeable. But at home, every time I turn around, I expect her to be there. She was such a creature of routine. She tended to lay in certain spots at certain times of the day. So, I walk past those spots and still expect to see her there. I still detour around areas where I always had to be careful of stepping on her. I catch myself doing it, and it makes me sad all over again.
I really miss her.
I have to believe that her spirit has moved onto heaven, and that I’ll see her again someday.
But for now, I just wish she were here.
