Pretty Sweet Weekend...and it's not even over yet

I'm having a blast this weekend. Thought I'd share the awesomeness

It's been a wonderful couple of days here in Boston. The weather is amazingly warm. Thursday and Friday was pretty miserable, completely muggy and hot.

Thankfully on Friday night, my friend Alison invited some girls over to her apartment to watch the first season of Entourage. I had not watched the show before, but have heard great things about it. Let me say that it did not disappoint. I was hilarious. The worst of all was that I know of all the places that they visit. I squealed witih joy when Drama was sipping from a cuup which I recognized was from In N Out. Then, there was another scene where the guys were having brunch at Urth Cafe. One of my best memories from undergrad was at Urth Cafe.. They have the best desserts there.

Saturday started with an awesome pancake breakfast, hosted by the ever-awesome Dave Rhee. He went all out with the toppings, fresh fruits, etc. Although he's usually a stickler for culinary superiority, he opted for insta-pancake mix. The pancakes came out amazingly magnificently thin yet soft.

Then, we all walked to the Hatch Shell for Earthfest, a hippy, Whole Foods sponsored outdoor concert. Guster and KT Tunstall played. It was a little bit of a walk, but the sights and sounds of Boston's Back Bay kept us occupied. When we got there, the place was PACKED. Luckily, we found a little spot underneath a tree, a bit far from the stage, and just camped out there for a few hours. Just enjoyed lovely company of my classmates and the nice weather.

After that, went out later that night to Sissy K's, but went home early b.c the strobe light was giving me a headache.

Today, I slept til noon. Alison and I went shopping at H&M. She had a 25% off coupon. So I walked to the one at Newbury and met up with her there. I bought this really simple black jersey dress that fits amazingly well, a white skirt (b/c it's summer!), a three halter tops. I may return one of them since I know realized that i'd never need that many halters. But they were super cheap....I'm torn. I also picked up two hand bags. One looks like a large brown canvas tote (but stylized), the other is a medium black purse. It's simple and should serve as an important intermediate from my small black clutches. You know, when you want to carry more than just cell phone, keys, and wallet, but dont want something too big.

After that, I went to lab for a bit. My mice were super cooperative, so I got to leave there earlier than normal.

As I was walking home, I came across this stash of used books on the sidewalk. The owner had marked it as free. I went through the stack and found a couple of gems. Brought home two David Sedaris (Naked and Barrel Fever), and a couple of random titles. Maybe i'll read the others eventually.

On the way back, an old friend called. It's great to catch up with him.

Finally, I spent the rest of the night at a friend's place with their impromptu barbeque. They ventured into making banana cheesecake icecream. Came out surprisingly well!

Plans for tomorrow include dinner at Masa and outting to the MFA for the Edward Hopper exhibit (on sale for $6)

Hopefully, I'll wake up early enough for a jog. I had intended to exercise more this week, but because the weather had been miserably hot during the week, and I'm also feeling sick and coughing a lot, I haven't done anything. That's why I've been trying to make up for it by walking everywhere possible. Today was a perfect day to run, but I was running out of time

What's in store for the upcoming week? It's the Genetics Retreat in Newport, RI. Rumor has it that there will be a lobster dinner. I can't wait!

I've Caved

I was quite staunched about it. I thought I can hold out until marriage. But I couldn't. I just made a facebook profile. I've lost a little respect for myself.

Got jetlag? Get a boner!

Got this as part of a news update from Drug Discovery.
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Viagra cures hamster jetlag
Little blue pill might help people shift their body clock forwards.
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Here are my questions
a) Why would you do that to a hamster. What's the motivation behind the experiment?

b) Is it really useful at all? After a long flight, sleeping it off is not enough?

Daily Show Hottie

Although I'm ready to offer my uterus to Jon Stewart (Hear you me. Come Nov 27, when I will attend a Daily Show taping), I may take it back and give it to this guy. After all, pretty looking guys who HAPPEN to be freaking fighter pilots are hard to come by on the Daily Show.

That was my Prof on Colbert

Was watching Colbert Report last night and found out that one of my professors from UCLA, Jared Diamond, was on. It's not a stellar interview, but hell, I know that guy. One degree of separation from Stephen Colbert!

867-5309

Amazing Story
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Plumbers fight for famous phone number

LINCOLN, R.I. - One-hit wonder Tommy Tutone made the phone number 867-5309 famous in the band's 1982 hit single, which uses the digits over and over in its catchy refrain.

Now, a Rhode Island company and a national firm are battling over the right to use the number, which doesn't reach the "Jenny" that Tutone sings about, but could find callers a decent plumber.

Two years ago, Gem Plumbing & Heating of Lincoln, R.I., trademarked the phone number in the early 1980s hit, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Gem acquired the number in Rhode Island when its original owner, Brown University, gave up 867-5309 after growing weary of the constant prank calls.

Gem's number works in the 401 area code in Rhode Island and the 617 area code in southern Massachusetts.

But Florida-based Clockwork Home Services, also a plumbing company, uses a toll-free version of 867-5309 in New England. They argue a company can only trademark a vanity number, like 1-800-FLOWERS.

Gem won round one in its legal fight over the number when a federal judge in Boston recently barred Clockwork from using the number in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, effective this week. But Clockwork's lawyers said they would fight on.

Tommy "Tutone" Heath told The Boston Globe that he'd prefer if neither company used the number.

"It's ridiculous," said Heath. "If I wanted to get into it, I could probably take the number away from both of them."

I met Watson!

I met Nobel Laureate Dr James D. Watson! Yes, THE WATSON OF WATSON AND CRICK. I had been warned of his visit ahead of time. So I ditched work to go hang out and just hover around waiting for the sighting. Raghu ushered us into his office, where Watson had been spending his day. There, he shared all these stories about other VERY famous scientists and other odd thoughts. The man is known for his outspokenness.

So sweet of Raghu to have us meet him.

Being the nerd that I am, I brought two of his books for him to sign. It wasn't that I was greedy. I just couldn't decide which was the better book. The first one, "The Double Helix" is more traditional. The other, "Genes, Girls, and Gamow" was less scientific and more about his stories after the discovery. Yeah, I got them signed. I'm happy for that, but it wasn't my original goal. I wanted an autographed Bobblehead. How sweet that would have been.

Why Ed is Awesome: Reason 2435

I was chatting Ed last night.


hum on duckie: like you said, you were born in the wrong century
hum on duckie: i mean decade
hum on duckie: century would be bad
oddlyhayden: yeah, i hated the turn of the century
oddlyhayden: i wouldn't have liked it
hum on duckie: what's wrong with working in horrid conditions and being paid shit?
hum on duckie: its like doing research


Oh SNAP!

Colbert's got his own K POP video

So terrible, but so true. Love the last line. "Rain, I'm gonna be all over you like egg on a bowl of beebimbop"

Daily show clip

An Office joke on the Daily Show

Forward to about ~1:45

Michael Moore makes UCLA look bad

Michael Moore's face is plastered all over the web today because he is being investigated by the US Treasury. In the picture, he's smugly wearing a UCLA cap. This makes my school look bad. USC is the school that's normally associated with criminals. Not UCLA. I hate the association.

But I'm not an ambiturner

Most of you know my handicap with directions.

Now, apparently, I share a common trait with Derek Zoolander of Zoolander fame.

I went sailing after work today. It was a light wind day, so I took the boat out on my own again just for some practice. As it turns out, I dont know how to tack (turning left or right heading upwind). I would get decent momentum, but end up stuck in the middle of the water when my boat is facing directly into the wind. I would change directions a bit and try it again.
This happened a few times before I would give up.

So to turn, I would jibe (meaning turning left or right heading downwind). I would do a full turn so it'd end up going the right direction

Here's in illustration of what happens.


I'm so lame.

Sailing

I took the boat out on my own yesterday. I didn't do too well, but I didnt capsize. So in all, a learning experience. Yay!