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Himay's Journal

himay
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12/31/2009 13:01 #50704

Bacteria Gone Wild!
Category: science!
Who needs Girls Gone Wild?
image
terry - 12/31/09 15:23
how'd you get a puffball in your E.Coli sammich?
heidi - 12/31/09 14:28
I like the fungal donut picture.
himay - 12/31/09 14:22
Might have found an ID on whatever that spiky thing was:
Lycoperdon echinatum :::link:::
or possibly also...
Lycoperdon pulcherrimum :::link:::

We don't have a microscope in the lab to really check 'em up close for confirmation, and I'm not about to try and dissect one of them just to further perpetuate whatever infestation(s) we have going on in our air-handling systems.
himay - 12/31/09 13:46
Ah, and now that I've learned to read the help/FAQ page....
Flickr pictures! :::link:::
himay - 12/31/09 13:45
Argh, that worked horribly. We're just going to do this the old-fashioned way (I hope).
[link=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcbaxter/2370266286/][/link]
himay - 12/31/09 13:41
The bacteria (Escherichia coli) are the boring, flat colonies on the plate.

Those spiky fellows, I have no idea what they are. Can only assume they're some kind of fungus/mold, as the plate (and another one like it which also had one spiky dude) contains chloramphenicol (a rather robust antibiotic). Our lab also works with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (which happens to be chloramphenicol-resistant by nature), but it grows nothing like that.

I'm still trying to find a decent guide to do a taxonomical identification of these guys. Usually our contaminating buddies look more like this:
[link=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcbaxter/2370266286/][img=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3050/2370266286_a8b559c6c7.jpg][/link]
tinypliny - 12/31/09 13:21
They are from contaminated Alien worlds that haunt (e:himay)'s lab ducts.
theecarey - 12/31/09 13:16
very cool.

As with (e:paul), I'd like to know more, too.
paul - 12/31/09 13:08
What kind of bacteria are those?

12/31/2009 12:59 #50703

NOMs
Category: food
Homemade trail mix (kind of), only because I can never find any with blueberries in them!

So voila, peanuts, cranberries, and blueberries. NOM!
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janelle - 12/31/09 13:53
I feel like you should be my new best friend. We both love blueberries, have sinus problems and live on the same street! Lol.
himay - 12/31/09 13:49
Aldi currently has dried blueberries in their Fit'n'Active variety of dried fruit. It looks like it's a seasonal item, but at $2.99 (I think; it could have been $3.99) for a cup of them, I'm hoping they make them a steady in-stock product.
tinypliny - 12/31/09 13:20
Ooh, where did you get dried blueberries?
paul - 12/31/09 13:08
Yum

12/31/2009 12:42 #50702

Odd Working Hours
Category: random
2am last night, and some pickup truck was plowing snow along the north half of Lexington and the sidewalk in front of The Place. I'm all for snow removal and got quite used to it growing up (my house growing up was on a 4-lane major thoroughfare in Minot, ND, that had to be plowed regularly), but I'm really not used to someone going back and forth and back and forth for what seemed like 30-40 minutes. I figured it was a one-shot (maybe two) deal and it was plowed, amirite? Oh well, I managed to sleep through the plows during daylight this morning after the parking ordinance switched sides on Ashland. I swear, I really could sleep through (once I am asleep) a tornado or something comparable if I was really stuck in that situation again.

Thankfully the plague that is my non-sterile sinuses stayed under wraps, without antibiotics no less! However, due to the causative nature present at tailgating/watching the Bills home game against the Patriots, I'm considering rescinding my attendance to the Colts game this Sunday. I still have an in to it with friends, but I'm at a loss of how to prevent my sinuses from being overrun again. I'm still clearing out the last of the residual drainage; it's no longer than vile yellow/green as the infection was setting in.

One of my best friends from the MN/ND area where I went to college was supposed to try and come up for this weekend (her boyfriend was flying out for work-related travel for 5 days). Unfortunately, she turned riotously ill with something that left her retching all night and in no shape to drive this morning. So alas, those NYE plans are a wash. I was just invited to go to the party at Queen Victoria Park over in Ontario tonight, but those sinus-issues don't have me inkling to stand in the cold (and potentially rainy) weather for 3-4 hours. Nor amongst 30000+ people. I'm not much of one for big parties (like just 30-40+ people), let alone over 9000.

I saw (and was recommended by (e:tinypliny)) the invite for NYE at the 24. I'm undecided if I want to go meet a bunch of strangers yet, but that's my only feasible social option for the holiday (all my other friends are basically out of town or elsewhere for the holiday break, except Mr.-Queen-Victoria-Park-Party).

In other news, my overnight digest (or recovery) completely consumed my plasmid. Time to go figure out where it went and/or digest a fresh batch!
janelle - 12/31/09 15:29
Oh, yeah, that house is annoying too.
himay - 12/31/09 14:11
Are you referring to that "party" house just to your east, or whatever it is that had the fire department show up a night or two ago? It looks like a 4-unit rental house from the doors on the front (it's something like 253 or 255 I think).

Sounds like a bunch of college kids living there, from the drunken hoots and hollers late into the night.
janelle - 12/31/09 13:51
I live down the street from you! Plowing sounds are annoying, but just be glad you don't regular hear the goings on at our neighbor's house! Or maybe you already have ....
tinypliny - 12/31/09 13:17
Yes, we are very scary and you should be scared. You have probably seen us on the streets everyday but together we are like sea anemones or maybe Portuguese men O' war and some of us like Whitney Houston.
heidi - 12/31/09 12:55
For meeting a group of strangers, this is the easiest group to meet. I showed up for the 2008 Halloween party only knowing the (e:peeps) virtually. It was and still is well worth it. Please join us! I've been looking forward to meeting you.



10/15/2009 21:15 #50024

Tightly Wound
Category: rant
Sometimes I feel like I need to rip a hypothetical rod out of my ass. I get ridiculously upset with blatantly intentional reckless driving in this city. It's far from the first time I've bore witness to people sitting in a "turn only" lane, only to gun it at green to get ahead of traffic. Between that, the unwarranted running of reds and the blatant disregartd for cell phone etiquette (even by our fair police forces), I just want to lose it!

I wouldn't be so concerned in most cases, but it pushes me to the urge of wanting to yell at the offending culprit. Not only that, it makes me an unnecessarily aggressive driver. I want to run them off the road, or give them a taste of their own medicine to show them how screwed they can get.

I know some people tell me to quit being concerned with the person I want to become and simply be the person I am. This isn't exactly one of those cases where I want to exercise that.

For now, I'll just have to hope the crazy lady (I may be presumptuous in this assumption) here in the laundromat quits ranting about DNA tests so vehemontly, and I can just wind/cool down while folding my laundry once it's dry.
tiburon1724 - 10/16/09 18:29
Overall I find drivers here to be courteous and respectful. The lack of traffic helps. You'd die in Orlando, I dreaded getting in a car when I lived there.
jason - 10/15/09 23:15
(e:Himay),

My brother told me Buffalo has the worst drivers, and he has been all over the country. I trust his judgment. Defensive driving is a skill well earned. It is just going to happen, a clueless driver doing whatever, react! :-)
tinypliny - 10/15/09 21:18
Hahaha, don't ever drive in Delhi, bro. Consider yourself warned. ;-)

10/04/2009 12:15 #49922

mobile fun
Just testing out the mobile site and making sure I can upload stuff.
image
carolinian - 10/05/09 13:47
You should seriously consider posting that to failblog.org
tinypliny - 10/04/09 13:42
Hahaha - nice picture selection.
paul - 10/04/09 13:33
Did you have a good time in the rest room ,lol.