A busy LA weekend

Well, we said goodbye to our last houseguest early Friday morning. I headed into the lab at 6 am (yes, you read that correctly) to finish up a hydrogenosome prep that had to be completed before 5 pm. Now, just so you know, the organism I work on produces hydrogen along with some chemicals very similar to putrescin and other nasty smelling molecules. So I spent my Friday mostly gagging. Jay headed into his job in downtown LA, and by Friday night we were exhausted. But we didn't take any time to relax, oh no, not us! We were off and running on a busy weekend full of fun stuff.

Saturday morning found us fighting the crowds at the university laundry room. We won (probably because I had Jay as backup. I've found that the annoying Russian guy won't even meet my eye when my hubby's around, much less yell at me) and got four loads of laundry washed and dried and the apartment cleaned out. Back to pre-guest status. That afternoon we headed out to Hollywood to meet Dan and Gretchen for a baseball game. We took the train to Anaheim (there is some public transportation in LA) where we had great seats for the Angels vs. Twins match-up (thanks Gretchen!!). We got back to LA at about 1 am and I got my first view of Sunset Strip at night, as it is meant to be seen. The place was packed, the lines for the Rainbow Room and Whiskey-a-Go-Go were around the block. There were huge limos everywhere, and probably lots of famous people whom I would never recognize. We also passed a private bash in Bel Air that, as it turns out, was attended by such as Christina Aguilera that night. Sadly, we couldn't even sneak in through the back servant gate :(. I guess post-doc status does not immediately mean you are A-list.

The next morning we missed the farmer's market so we could go to the California ScienCenter. The ScienCenter is currently hosting BodyWorld3, and it is leaving soon. I have wanted to see this exhibit since I first heard of it. For those of you who may not know, it is an exhibit of plastinated human bodies. Yes, real human bodies. All the bodies on display were donated with this knowledge. Many people find this disturbing, because they are posed. In this exhibit, most were posed as atheletes of some type, either acrobats or gymnasts. The exhibit hall was absoutely packed with people. I loved the exhibit and found it fascinating. Not surprisingly, I was especially interested in the exhibits that showed the diseased states. I would be really curious to see specimans that contained parasites, but I imagine the ick factor involved in that would really turn off the public. At any rate, we both enjoyed it, and I personally thought that the bodies were treated in a very artistic and non-degrading fashion and had no problem with any of the ethical concerns that others have brought up. In fact, I recommend it to anyone who wants to be inspired to take care of yourself. I felt so encouraged to take care of this fascinating body that we all have.

Afterwards we went home and absolutely collapsed on the sofa. We're exhausted and ready to get back to what passes for normal around us.

Yeah, I know. It's been almost two months...

So we have been busy, okay?

Since the last post April has been back to the MBL for a week to set up BOP, and I was there for a couple of days. July 4th weekend was pretty lazy, one day at the beach in Malibu, bust mostly just sleeping late and doing nothing. We have also been up to the Bay Area for Mike Cipriano and Rose Mill's wedding (it was great fun) and a day in Napa with Shanda and Patrick (also tremendous fun, we will be back!)

I have taken many photos, and I will get them online this week. Next week will be very busy, my brother flies in from Texas on Thursday for the weekend, his daughter gets here from Montana on Friday, and she will be here all next week!

More to come...