Say Hi to my little friend

This is my snowboard. Courtesy of Nate!

Rambling thoughts on Project Runway Canada

There's a new episode of Project Runway but I can't get my hands on it. That's made me very dissapointed

What I am able to get my hands on is Season 1 of Project Runway Canada. After watching the first episode, here are my thoughts.

1) Iman is super awesome. Her accents is so much better than Heidi's. And she's honest and blunt.

2) The tagline in Canada is LAME. Heidi has "As you know in fashion, one day you're in , and the next day, you're out." Iman has "Let's see if you measure up."

3) Drama-rama galore! I love all the cattiness and bitchiness.

4) I miss Tim Gunn!!!!
Brian Bailey is like a lame cross of Michael Kors and Tim Gunn. Except he talks too much about what he likes. Tim is a mentor. He doesn't impose his views or offer to much. He asks the designers what they want to do and offer advice to help them realize theri vision.

5) Where's Nina? Nina Garcia serves up no-nonsense advice. I'm not sure where I stand with this Canadian Elle Editor in Chief.

6) Designers - Very interesting bunch. I'm sad to see the major drama queen gone in the first ep. Hopefully the other drama queens last a bit longer.

7) Why are Canadians more touchy feely? One thing that I notice about this show is they offer a lot more commentary from the judges, makeup artists in general. PLus, the designers say a lot too. I'm not sure where I stand on this. I like to hear what the designers have to say in their thinking process. I'm not so interested with what freaking Brian Bailey has to say about other people's work, at least not during the creative process.

Seriously!

Seriously, how can my team lose to Notre Dame. Everyone who has played ND has destroyed them so far in NCAAFootball. And then my team comes along and loses. WTF! It's so embarassing.

But not as embarassing as USC losing to Stanford.

I have a LAKE!

Being named Sylvia is hard.

Nothing is named after you. People like Jude, Roxanne, Tommy and Gina, Jessie, Danny, Julie, Sharona, Rita, Eleanor Rigby, and the like have songs for them. No one has songs, poems, or anything named after Sylvia. The closest famous person I get is Sylvia Plath, and what is she best known for? That's right, killing herself by sticking her head in an oven.

Thankfully, my old boss from CSULA goes hiking and finds this gem!



That's Lake Sylvia and the Crystal Range in the background. It's super lovely since my niece is named Crystal!

I run gels like that!

Jesus, I didn't know my genotyping/PCR digestions can be used as art. Now I have a new way to decorate my apartment! Maybe next time, I'll do a microarray heat map or something.



The art that is found in science reaches beyond this lame gel. Clearly, the artist have not seen images of the flourescently-labelled mitotic spindle and chromosomes aligned on the metaphase plate like such:



If only he knew what other awesome pictures are being captured within the cells just by labelling the right proteins.

The Boss

My boss tells me today what whiel he was gone at a scientific meeting, he managed to play tennis with John McEnroe and partied on a yacht with The Killers. WTF!

I can only expect my first scientific meeting with him would somehow involve playing horse with Michael Jordan and hanging out wit the Foo Fighters.

Google Irony

I just posted how I love google. I come home, open the latest issue of the Economist on my desk and find this article

Inside the Googleplex

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9719610

The article talks about the dilemma Google is facing with user privacy. Where people like me love it and would use all their products. At the same time, I'm relinquishing my privacy to them, as they know what pictures I order, what addresses I look up on the maps, and if they can get a shot of me on google earth (god, I hope none of those exist).

Anyhow, Interesting read.

Sweeter than an Iphone

So there's rumors that a GooglePhone, or GPhone is in development and may be launched.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070831075133.jtwjdcbg&show_article=1

I personally can't wait for them to do it. Everything google touches is golden (practically). I love the search engine, Gmail, Gtalk, Google Maps, and Earth, Google Calendar. Google Scholar and News are something i frequently use. Plus, I'm a great fan of Picasa, its photo editing suite because it's so user-friendly and has just about all the features necessary for less-than-pro photographers like me.

The idea of a Google-loaded phone is a good send. According to the article, features will include "a special version of Google Maps, compatible with built-in GPS, and compatibility with Gmail," Google's email service."

Which is so awesome because I always get lost!

This will be amazing. Google Labs, Good work!

What I appreciate a lot: Good Service

In the last few days, I had to deal with a lot of bureaucratic shit and customer service calls, bouncing from one office to another and subsequently, one incompetent and not very helpful receptionist to another.

It makes me very annoyed when I've been asked to call ahead of time, show up to an appointment, and have the receptionist who was clearly the one I had spoken to, completely not know who I am. I had explained to her that I had just talked to her half an hour ago, and she has no recollection at all.

Then there's the Comcast automated service. I needed to get new cable service at my apartment My roommate was moving out and she was taking the cable service with her. So I called the comcast customer service number and was promptly greeted with a prerecorded "Please enter thetelephone number including area code where you have or want" Well I can't do that...We don't have a landline in our apartment since we all have cell phones. So I punch 0 as a default, since normally, that will direct your call to an operator, who may be able to help me. I do that three times because the damn machine things I'm just a delinquent. After the third time, they forward my call to some other line, which is completely not of help! In essence, I was hung up on. Most insultingly, they tell me to call a number for Time-Warner, ending with "It's very easy, just hang up the phone and dial the number mentioned" I was fuming at that point. Not only was the whole automated service of no help, but it ended the phone call completely patronizing me!

What I appreciate more than ever now is good customer service. The one that is helpful. Where they listen to what you want, and even though they can't do too much to make everything go your way, they can make it a little bit less frustrating.

Here are two examples:

1) Cashiers who ask to see my ID when I swipe my credit card because the signature box on the back tells them to ask. Some people might find this to be an insult, and incovenience, but it's one of the few inconveniences that I will actively encourage. Identity theft is rampant and I dont mind being asked to show my ID. It's out already when I take my credit card out from my wallet!

2) Fidelity. I had an Roth IRA account with Fidelity and after realizing that I am not able to contribute to one due to some really bullshit tax definition. I had to ask a lot of questions to clarify things and these people were so helpful with my questions. Calls were redirected promptly. They always give me their extension so if the call falls through, I can reach them again. It was just great. I loved dealing with them. In fact, they're so good, I will definitely go back to them again!

Oldie but goodie with response!

Two videos today. First is the classic Yellow Fever video.


The second is a very good and funny song. Diana, you'll love the plastic reference.

Unfortunately, Bill Gates is still richer

Why my school is awesome and why they should pay me more!

Harvard's endowment hits $34.9 billion

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

BOSTON (Reuters) - Harvard University, already America's richest university, said on Tuesday its endowment grew to a new high of $34.9 billion, boosted by bets on emerging markets, real estate and private equity.

Returns for fiscal 2007, which ended June 30, grew 23 percent, significantly above the 16.7 percent gain posted for 2006 and the 19.2 percent gain reported for 2005.

Harvard, whose investments are closely watched in the asset management industry, also extended its run of beating its internal benchmark and besting the average university's investment returns.

The Ivy League school made headlines last month when it lost $350 million after Sowood Capital, a hedge fund run by a former Harvard employee with whom the university invested, collapsed.

What started with problems in the subprime mortgage market quickly spread and pushed global stock markets lower, hurting many funds, including Sowood.

The school said the Sowood loss would have translated into a decline of about 1 percent on a stand-alone basis.

But the portfolio actually gained 0.4 percent in July because of its positioning and strong risk management. John Longbrake, a university spokesman, declined to say how the portfolio was faring in August, as sharp moves in the yen, metals and stocks left some hedge funds with heavy losses and others able to turn July's declines into gains.

Harvard, unlike many universities, still manages a chunk of its endowment in-house at its Harvard Management Company unit. It also relies on outsiders, including HMC alumni, who have launched their own hedge funds, to invest much of the money donated by former students.

The endowment is not a single fund but roughly 11,000 individual funds, many restricted to specific uses like scientific research or the creation of a professorship, the university said.

Mohamed El-Erian, who replaced Jack Meyer as HMC's president in 2006, is an influential emerging markets bond specialist. And for the second straight year, investments in emerging markets posted the year's highest total return.

Since arriving in Boston, where HMC is located, from California where he worked at Pacific Investment Management Co., El-Erian has rebuilt HMC's depleted staff and implemented other changes. HMC said it restructured the allocations it made to external managers, but gave no details. Looking ahead HMC plans to concentrate on under-exploited market segments to help develop new investment vehicles.

El-Erian said Harvard plans to be more transparent about its structure, activities and governance, setting an example in an industry well-known for its secrecy. Next month, a new Web site will be launched, and in October 2008, HMC will publish its first-ever annual report.

The median large institutional fund returned 17.7 percent in the last fiscal year, according to the Trust Universe Comparison Service.

Harvard, located across the Charles River from Boston in Cambridge, relies heavily on its endowment to cover annual expenses and said it spends about 5 percent of the endowment every year on university programs.

Fashion Faux Pas

This past Monday, I wore a green/blue striped shirt to work. When I put it on, I thought to myself, I hope my boss doesn't wear the same shirt I knew he had one b/c he had worn it once before.

Stupid thought, but it came true. Here's the proof.



Oh yes, to those of you who read my blog and don't know, this is my boss, Raghu Kalluri. He's the head for the Center of Matrix Biology at the Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center. Because we are mostly interested in the role of the microenvironment in health and disease, the focus of our lab spans most organ systems (we have papers about heart, liver, kidney, angiogenesis, and tumor biology.

The mess behind us is my bench. The kimwips to the left of me helped me through many sneezy days.

My Mad Skills

In high school I worked on the school newspaper. There, I learned to use photoshop, adobe pagemaker. I used to copyedit all the text before publication. All of a sudden, I'm going through a little bit of deja vu.

I used photoshop to edit the contrast of some of my picture from lab. I used illustrator to make my figures. Those programs, all made by Adobe, has certain common functionalities and it just felt like I was getting back into newspaper again. I even remember the key strokes! Instead this time, I'm begging for money to do scientific research.

It's strange.

My Irrational Fear

We all have our fears. Some of us are scared of clowns. Chandler Bing from Friends is scared of Michael Flatley.

My irrational fear are circular things that look organized, but really shouldn't be.

For example, I am scared of hair plugs. I saw a guy with fresh hair plugs a year ago and I got chills up and down my spine. They were pores that were unnaturally aligned, even spaced.

Another thing that gave me chills are the pods on the back of ferns. They're so regularly spaced, but not in any organized fashion.

So yesterday, I was doing some immunofluorescence work and found this. And it scared me a lot.

Reason why Ed is awesome - Reason #30,455

Returning to Real Blogging

Lately, I've been posting links and stories that I find terribly amusing and not so much about me. Clearly as a blogger, I place myself above all others and I love to talk about me because I am the most important, I must indulge my narcissism a bit by once again, returning to my favorite topic of all, ME!

In months past, I had exercised incredible restraint, refraining from both Dunkin' and Starbucks. A can of coffee grounds lasts me three weeks and costs me about a venti-caramel macchiato. That's so much money saved.

However, I've become a sucker for muffins and ice coffee. I stop doing coffee in the mornings at home because the coffee was hot and it was too warm to have hot coffee. Plus, it just doesnt' go well with yogurt and granola or cereal. Instead, I decide to skip breakfast at home, take the first M2 I can get my butt on because I'm already late (a recent knack for rolling out of bed at 9:20) I get on campus at around 10:30 and conveniently between the bus stop and my lab is a little coffee shop. They serve cold starbucks coffee for 1.50 and a muffin for 1.50 (always banana nut or blueberry) As a student, I exercise my Crimson cash and get a 20% discount.

Much cheaper than dunkin or starbucks, I say to myself. However, it's gotten bad. In the last two weeks, I have eaten every breakfast at this coffee shop or at Dunkin' (on the weekends mostly) It's always the two donut+ice coffee combo. Most peopel can resist eating both donuts, but I can not. My once-about-to-be-svelte-stomach has gone to waste. Alas I am undone.

Now I'm trying to get back on track with the coffee. I'll make coffee the night before and put it in the fridge. Or I can just add a crap load of ice to it (as long as I make it super dark) Hopefully, I'll stave off eating that muffins/donuts. That's what really doing me in.

Bad Thai cops to endure Kitty shame

This is too HILARIOUS! Story taken from AP by way of Yahoo!



BANGKOK, Thailand - Thai police officers who break rules will be forced to wear hot pink armbands featuring "Hello Kitty," the Japanese icon of cute, as a mark of shame, a senior officer said Monday.

Police officers caught littering, parking in a prohibited area, or arriving late — among other misdemeanors — will be forced to stay in the division office and wear the armband all day, said Police Col. Pongpat Chayaphan. The officers won't wear the armband in public.

The striking armband features Hello Kitty sitting atop two hearts.

"Simple warnings no longer work. This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor," said Pongpat, acting chief of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok.

"(Hello) Kitty is a cute icon for young girls. It's not something macho police officers want covering their biceps," Pongpat said.

He said police caught breaking the law will be subject the same fines and penalties as any other members of the public.

"We want to make sure that we do not condone small offenses," Pongpat said, adding that the CSD believed that getting tough on petty misdemeanors would lead to fewer cases of more serious offenses including abuse of power and mistreatment of the public by police officers.

Hello Kitty, invented by Sanrio Co. in 1974, has been popular for years with children and young women. The celebrity cat adorns everything from diamond-studded jewelry, Fender guitars and digital cameras to lunch boxes, T-shirts and stationery.

TIE HER TUBES!

First thought: Why did it not surprise me that the husband's name is JIM BOB.
Second Thought: I wished my breeding mice are as good as her.

Arkansas couple welcomes 17th child

By JILL ZEMAN, Associated Press Writer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - It's a girl — again — for the Duggars. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar welcomed their 17th child, and seventh daughter, into the world Thursday.

Jennifer Danielle was born at 10:01 a.m. at Saint Mary's Hospital in Rogers, Ark., the Duggars said in an interview. Jennifer weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces and arrived five days after Michelle's due date.

Less than 30 minutes after giving birth, the Duggars already were talking of having more.

"We'd love to have more," Michelle said, adding that the girls are outnumbered seven to 10 in the family. "We love the ruffles and lace."

Jennifer joins the fast-growing Duggar brood, who live in Tontitown in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children — whose names start with the letter J — are home-schooled.

The oldest is 19 and the youngest, before Jennifer, is almost 2 years old.

"We are just so grateful to God for another gift from him," said Jim Bob Duggar, 42, a former state representative. "We are just so thankful to him that everything went just very well."

Jennifer joins siblings Joshua, 19; John David, 17; Janna, 17; Jill, 16; Jessa, 14; Jinger, 13; Joseph, 12; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 9; Jedidiah, 8; Jeremiah, 8; Jason 7; James 6; Justin, 4; Jackson, 3; Johannah, almost 2.

The family includes two sets of twins.

Michelle Duggar said that Joshua, Janna, Jill and Jessa were at the hospital, but that the rest of the family planned to visit their new sister later Thursday.

Michelle Duggar said she started feeling contractions Wednesday night and went to the hospital at about 5 a.m. Thursday.

"It actually went fast," she said. "I guess once I started progressing, it went within 30 minutes."

Jennifer was born via a VBAC — or vaginal birth after Caesarean, Jim Bob Duggar said.

The Duggars have been featured on several programs on cable's Discovery Health Network. The next special, the Duggar Family Album, is scheduled to air next month, Jim Bob Duggar said.

Among the "fun facts" listed on Discovery Health's Web page devoted to the Duggars: A baby has been born in every month except June; the Duggars have gone through an estimated 90,000 diapers, and Michelle, 40, has been pregnant for 126 months — or 10.5 years — of her life.

Cantab

Went to the Cantab Lounge in Central the other night. It's a small hole-in-the-wall but they have great live music. A lot of blues and jazz and it's great!

Dammit, They beat me to the punch!

From http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8QMEDE80&show_article=1

Company Rents Pets to Animal Lovers

Jul 29 03:11 PM US/Eastern By LISA LEFF Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - From the state that popularized purse puppies, drive-thru dog washes and gourmet dog food delivery comes the latest in canine convenience—a company that contracts out dogs by the day to urbanites without the time or space to care for a pet full-time.

Marlena Cervantes, founder of FlexPetz, bristles when people refer to her five-month-old business as a rent-a-pet service. She prefers the term "shared pet ownership," explaining the concept is more akin to a vacation time share or a gym membership than a trip to the video store.

"Our members are responsible in that they realize full-time ownership is not an option for them and would be unfair to the dog," said Cervantes, 32, a behavioral therapist who got the idea while working with pets and autistic children. "It prevents dogs from being adopted and then returned to the shelter by people who realize it wasn't a good fit."

FlexPetz is currently available in Los Angeles and San Diego, where Cervantes lives. She plans to open new locations in San Francisco next month, New York in September and London by the end of the year.

She's also hoping to franchise the FlexPetz concept so the dogs will have housing options other than kennels when not in use. For San Francisco, she's hired a caretaker who plans to keep the dogs at her house when they aren't on loan to members.

For an annual fee of $99.95, a monthly payment of $49.95 and a per- visit charge of $39.95 a day, (discounted to $24.95 Sunday through Thursday), animal lovers who enroll in FlexPetz get to spend time with a four-legged companion from Cervantes' 10-dog crew of Afghan hounds, Labrador retrievers and Boston terriers.

The membership costs cover the expense of training the dogs, boarding them at a cage-free kennel, home or office delivery, collar-sized global positioning devices, veterinary bills and liability insurance. It also pays for the "care kits"—comprised of leashes, bowls, beds and pre-measured food—that accompany each dog on its visits.

Charter member Shari Gonzalez said she was thinking about getting a dog when a dog trainer she consulted suggested part-time ownership. At first, she had reservations.

Gonzalez, 22, never doubted there was room for a dog in her heart. The issue was her life, which included a small, two-bedroom apartment and a full-time schedule of college classes in San Diego.

"I was thinking, 'How is a dog going to bounce from house to house and be OK with that,'" she said. "I didn't want a dog that would come into my place and pee."

Her misgivings were allayed after she spoke with Cervantes, who explained that only dogs with social temperaments were picked for the program and that each would ideally be shared by no more than two or three owner-members.

Since signing up, Gonzalez said a black Lab named Jackpot has become a treasured part of her social network. They spend an average of one day each weekend together. He sleeps at her apartment and she takes him on hikes, to the beach and to parks frequented by other dog owners. The money spent on her membership has been well worth it, she said.

"I never even thought that was a possibility," Gonzalez said. "I thought you either owned a dog or you didn't."

Although she has never seen the doggy day care center where Jackpot spends his off-days, Gonzalez recently met another of his part-time companions, graphic designer Jenny Goddard, 33. Goddard, who is married with a 6-year-old son, said having a dog a weekend or two a month has been perfect for her busy family and encourages them to spend more time together outdoors.

"It's funny," she said. "He is so friendly and immediately playful with us, people are surprised he is a rental dog."

The idea of commitment-free pets is not entirely new, although no one in the United States has tried it with as much drive as Cervantes. Most private animal shelters, for instance, encourage volunteers to become temporary foster families to animals awaiting adoption.

For 15 years, the Aspen Animal Shelter in Colorado has gone a step further with a Rent-a-Pet program that allows residents and tourists in the resort town to take dogs out for a few hours or overnight for free.

"It benefits the homeless animals, keeps them socialized and exercised and in the end they end up getting adopted," said owner Seth Sachson. "The people benefit, too. When a tourist walks around town with a dog, they feel like a local."

Melissa Bain, a veterinarian with the Companion Animal Behavior Program at the University of California, Davis, said she had concerns about, but no hard-and-fast objections to a service like FlexPetz.

On the positive side, it might give people an easy way to test the ownership waters and keep a few dogs from being euthanized, Bain said. Possible downsides would be irresponsible members who treat the dogs like a lifestyle accessory instead of a living thing.

"It depends on the people and it depends on the animal. Some dogs may be fine and some may become stressed because they are moving from home to home," Bain said. "Perhaps they had a good experience with a good part-time owner and then they get shipped back. What kind of message does that send to kids? That dogs are disposable."

Cervantes said the hour-long sessions Flexpetz members are required to spend with their dog and a trainer before their first outing ensures the dogs are going into caring, competent homes.

Her members, who range in age from 5 to 60-plus, include single women in search of security and a conversation starter, Navy personnel who love dogs but are at sea for much of the year, and seniors who live in apartments where dogs are not allowed.

"Usually, our dogs are lavished with attention, and it's undivided attention from our members because it is the only time they have together," she said. "Some people take a dog home and realize, 'Hey, I can adopt a dog.'"