What I <4

"Why 4? Cuz it's more than 3..."

While I am not at work analyzing AFLP gels or setting up field experiments...
...this are the things I am currently lovin':

Remembering how great Chuck and Samantha Who are:
"It's not happening if you don't look at it. Like poverty."

Listening to my favorite artist of the moment, Santogold:
Which I fell in love with thanks to the awesome music found weekly on Gossip Girl (seriously...get this album):
Talking like Rachel Zoe:


"You're shutting it down..."

And obsessing over the fact that I am the same age as the old people on teen shows:Seriously, I am a few months older than the teacher on the show. Next thing I know, I will be the same age as the 30-year-old parents of the 16-year-old characters on these shows. Awesome.

Cuz I Don't Want to Miss a Thing...

My little family (which did consist of myself, argyle sweaters, polos, DVDs and 6 open Burt's Bees chapsticks), expanded this week to welcome a new little baby: TiVo!It is a decision we all have been thinking about for awhile. I had to assure my DVDs , especially the West Wing seasons, that even though our family is growing, I will continue to find time for them.

But on the plus side, I can now watch every show on my own time! No more watching missed episodes of 30 Rock or Brothers & Sisters online with commercials. As I type this, TiVo is making sure I am not missing one second of Paula Deen cooking pork chops with 3 lbs of butter, Joel McHale ridiculing the The Hills girls ("it was a hamster...now it's a guinea pig"), or Tyra actin' a fool on any of her 5 shows.

It is going to be a great Fall season! I am referring to both the argyle sweaters I can wear AND the shows I can record.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

In my new capacity as a Visiting Research Associate, I will be spending more time out of the lab and in the field. My first opportunity to journey into the wild came last week on a little trip to Southern Utah, Arizona, and Nevada. Now at first, I was a bit worried about this trip because 1. I had no idea what to wear (went with Banana shorts and an Urban top) and 2. I am not exactly an outdoorsy-type of person. I knew I was the odd man out when I was the only person on this trip not wearing Chacos and carrying a Naglene bottle. But the trip could not have gone better.

The main focus of the trip was to collect soil samples from different locations in the area. However, since the collecting only took a few minutes, we had plenty of time to enjoy the outdoors. And I actually liked it. On one small hike, we were able to catch a glimpse of Zions National Park and see a wonderful little waterfall. A snapshot from this hike reveals a sight only few have seen:Steven Harrison wearing a hat. Now this rare treat only occurs about once every twelve years when the conditions are right (...no shower...bad hair...the need to protect my eyes...).

Later that day, we went spelunking at the Mammoth Caves. It was an eerie feeling to turn around and see complete blackness behind you. Seriously, some creepy little creature could have totally snuck up behind me. At some parts, the cave was only 2 feet high or less so we had to crawl on all fours through mud and bat droppings.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip. It was great to be able to escape from my windowless lab and remember what nature is.

Same as it ever was...Same as it ever was

Alright, just go ahead and ignore the last post about moving out East soon and all the other posts about Johns Hopkins. After quite a bit of thinking and looking into the program more (something I should have done months ago), I decided that the program was not really going to help me because of its lack of research oppurtunities. Sooo....I am staying put for another year, continuing my research, joining the esteemed BYU Faculty as a Visiting Research Associate, applying to a PhD program to start next Fall (so be on the lookout for another pro-con list about the potential PhD schools), and catching The House Bunny in theaters August 22nd. Should be another fun year full of TV watching, gchatting, lunching, hanging out, and working when I find the time. Yippee.

Last Trip West Before Heading East

So I haven't blogged in awhile because I have been busy taking trips to California. I figured I better get all my visits in now because it will be harder stop by once I move across the country. So here are a few photos from my trips to CA:

I wakeboarded

I golfed

I went to a Giant's game

I saw a group of segways

I went to Alcatraz

I beat up a printer

I hung out with the coolest kid ever, my nephew Shane

I saw my brother fall off a skateboard and get life-flighted out in a helicopter

Yup, my brother stepped off a skateboard and got two compound fractures in his leg. Since we were staying outside Tahoe and a hospital was a long, bumpy drive away, he got life-flighted out in a helicopter that landed next to the golf course. The landing interrupted many golfers and resulted in our family being the talk of the town for the rest of the weekend. This little accident was my brother's second hospital trip resulting from a skateboard. On a trip home one summer, my brother had a bad fall and ended up in the emergency room with a concussion. That accident happened to also be the same week I decided to jump off the roof with a sheet as a parachute and ended up in the emergency room. Ooops.

TV-On-DVD Man

When I was younger, I was obsessed with X-Men and their powers (but I never read the comics...honest...I only watched the show and played with the action figures). I sincerely believed that if I tried hard enough, I too could have mutant powers. For hours at a time, I would try moving the TV remote from across the room to my hand by sheer will. All I had to show for that were headaches from staring at the remote all cross eye for too long.

After watching a superhero movie the other night, I got to thinking about mutant powers again. As a diploma-ed geneticist, I reasoned that not all mutations could be used in a fight, like the X-Men. I mean how you are going to fight alongside Wolverine's animal claws when your mutant power is making animal calls? Will your ability to boil water in a watched pot or the power to do long division in your head really keep the evil forces away? It is like that poor kid on Captain Planet that fought with the power of Heart while everyone else had Earth, Wind, or Fire. Lame.

I realized that I too have one of these non-fighting mutant powers. I have the ability to watch TV shows on DVD quicker than anyone else. I am being serious. I have the uncanny ability to make any show fix the schedule I want. I may have to leave for campus in 17 minutes, yet some how I am able to watch a 22 minute Will & Grace episode before leaving. I swear I can watch 4 episodes of the West Wing in the time it takes most people to watch 3 episodes.

The picture at the top is one I took in London almost 2 years ago with Bryan Singer, the director of the X-Men and Superman Returns movies. At first I had no idea who he was, so I called over some official-looking woman to find out. After demanding to know if she was famous too, I was informed it was him. I see it as proof of my evolutionary progress.

As I once told my Dad when he said I was self centered and demanding, "yes, Dad, I do believe that the world evolves around me."

The Rest is Still Unwritten

While interning in D.C., my fellow interns and I would spend hours on gchat talking about important issues, such as which other intern lost the TV remote and if for dinner we should go to Thai Palace or Taj of India. One morning, after watching a fresh episode of the Hills, we started talking about how funny it would be if MTV made a reality show in D.C. about the lives of interns called "The Hill." We laughed about our clever idea for awhile and discussed which of us would be on the show. I mean how funny would it be to watch two staffers run into each other in the Capitol and yell at each other "You're a sucky person...you're a sucky person" or "You know what you did...YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID!"

I swear...MTV was listening. According to this article by Perez, my joke might become a reality! But on the bright side...since I am moving back to D.C. maybe I can find a way to be on the show! I can be an East Coast Audrina.

And yes, this does answer the question I posted earlier about what college to attend. I will be attending Johns Hopkins this Fall in Washington D.C. And yes, it is Johns not John. I was talking to an academic advisor there the other day and I thought he had a lisp...but no. It is Johns.

Now only if MTV would listen up when I talk about bringing Undressed back...