Adventures from the Bus

The sunshine has returned! I am so pleased to see the sun streaming in through our blinds in the lab. We have fabulous full-length windows to take advantage of the lovely southern California sunshine, that all of Los Angeles has been missing lately.

This also seemed to stimulate the crazies, particularly those that ride the bus. I will have to do a longer post sometime on some of my earlier adventures that include such notable characters as "please-part-my-hair" man and the spitting girl. Today's adventure involved Mr. "I'm on something really scary right now" Man. I got on the very crowded Culver City 6 bus, hoping to make it in time for the Monday 9am meeting. I noticed that this guy was staring at me, which caught my attention because most people don't even seem to notice my existence. Lo and behold, as the bus empties, the only available seat is next to him. I sit down. He says, "Hi. I'm starting my first day at my new job today. It's running servers. Linux servers. For a .com. I don't have a degree or anything, I've just been doing this for a few years. I'm not into the whole, you know, classroom scene." Or a close approximation thereof. He asks if I am going to work, (I am), where do I work (UCLA), are you a teacher (no, a scientist), what kind of scientist (biochemist). Now, here's where things went down the road to psychodelicdom. He asks if I invent drugs, like psychodelics, cause he likes them, but they FREAK him out. They are really scary. But he likes them. He has never once met my eyes, and now he's starting to get really animated. I freaked and got off at the next stop, wishing him luck on his first day...

Bad Weather Goddess?

I'm beginning to feel a little suspicious. I recall that in Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, there was a rain god who did not know that he was in fact a rain god. He just spent his entire life miserable, being followed by adoring clouds of rain.

I have noticed that every time I move somewhere, the weather goes straight to hell. I recall Cape Cod setting both snow and low temperature records while I was present. I visited Alabama just in time to experience the first snow storm in close to a decade. And now the weather in normally impervious-to-all-things-unsunny Southern California has turned cold, wet, and dreary.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/01/25/california.weather.ap/index.html

So, my guess is that I'm a lightning rod for bad weather (pardon the pun) or perhaps Meow has some sort of cat power to conjure up good feline snuggle weather... maybe the Egyptians were right about the cats....

I love Photoshop!

I spent about 3 hours using photoshop to merge 6 photos together to create the panorama above. I am going to print it out and put it in at 32" wide frame. I wanted to make it 4 feet high and 12 feet long but April reminded me that we don't have a wall big enough.

Oh well...

Political Commentary

I'm sorry, but this is funny.

And I'm probably going to vote for her!

Rest in Peace Ernie Cockrum

Ernest (Ernie) Cockrum, April's Great Uncle, died due to complications from Heart Surgery friday. Uncle Ernie was 75 years old, and he will be greatly missed. He is survived by his wife, Fay, who is April's grandmother's twin sister.

April will be traveling to Alabama for a few days to help her Aunt in her time of need. Please keep April and Aunt Faye in your thoughts as they deal with this great loss.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced at this time.

Happy New Year

A very happy 2008 to all our friends and family. We are hopeful that 2008 will be a much less eventful year for us than 2007 has been! We send all of you our best wishes for a safe, happy, and prosperous new year. We miss and love you all.