Who Went to the Zoo?

That's right, I went to the zoo!

For my Animal Behavior class, we were given a ticket to the Cincinnati Zoo in order to observe wild animals in captivity and study some of their behaviors. I went yesterday and took quite a few pictures of the animals I saw. I won't share my actual assignment today since loading these pictures is enough work by itself; today I'll just let you see my pictures and maybe I'll report on what I observed and comment on the pictures tomorrow.

I Voted

That's right, I voted! Since I won't be in my home state for Election Day, I requested a by-mail absentee ballot. I received it on Wednesday, filled it out, and sent it off yesterday. I have to say, it was pretty exciting! This was my first time voting in a presidential election (not my first time voting, mind you), so that is a big deal.

On top of the presidential election, Tennessee is also electing one of our U.S. Senators; my area is also electing a U.S. Representative, a county commissioner, and a couple of other positions. Also, there were four or five Knox County charter amendments and a liquor referendum. Wow, so many things to consider! But I read over everything carefully and voted what I thought was right.

Okay, so now where's my "I Voted!" sticker???

The Twenty

Anyone that has talked to me in the last few days knows exactly what "the twenty" are. For all of those who feel out of the loop, did you think I wouldn't explain it to you, too???

As you probably already know, I am taking a class called Biochemistry. This is a class that is concerned with biomolecules (such as proteins) and their structures, functions, and importance to the organism in which they are found. The basic building blocks for proteins are the amino acids, of which there are twenty that are found in all life forms. Those amino acids are "the twenty" of which I speak; lucky me, I get to memorize them all! My first test in that class was on Friday, so it was my task to memorize all of the amino acids before then. Luckily I was able to do so, after making flash cards and practicing drawing them ad nauseum. For you curious readers out there, here they are, in all their glory! (Made possible through the contributions of my own pen, paper, and artist's hand.)

My favorite, if only for sheer enjoyment in drawing it, is tryptophan. And yes, that is the amino acid that you hear about at Thanksgiving time that is found more abundantly in turkey. Though, that is not really the reason why people get sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner. Anyone want to conjecture why? (Or does anybody already know why?)

At any rate, I hope you enjoyed your little Biochemistry lesson for the day. If the interest is there, I may have another lesson some day. If there is no interest, you may see some more anyway!

No Words Necessary

Okay, so I needed to say something to go along with this. In case you have been living in a cave and for some reason haven't seen at least part of this clip, here it is for you. This is a skit from the season premiere of Saturday Night Live starring Tina Fey as Gov. Sarah Palin, and Amy Poehler as Sen. Hillary Clinton. This has to be the funniest thing I have ever seen on tv... Enjoy!

Happy Labor Day!

Yesterday I did something that I had yet to do while here at Xavier: attend the Labor Day fireworks in Downtown Cincinnati. Boy, was I glad I went this year! I have been to fireworks shows in Knoxville, and a very cool laser/fireworks show at Stone Mountain in Georgia, but this was something else. These fireworks lasted approximately 40 minutes, and they were spectacular to say the least! I was fortunate that Xavier rented buses to take us Downtown, and very fortunate to find a great spot on the Riverfront that faced the fireworks. I took a few pictures, and here are the ones that turned out the best.

Unfortunately, my camera's batteries ran out before the Grand Finale, but that was definitely the best part. They pulled out all the stops on that one, shooting off rocket after rocket with brilliant colors everywhere. This was truly a remarkable experience that I will never forget.

Once Again, All Over Again

I am back once again, hopefully for good this time! I don't really have too much to blog about tonight, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I was back.

I have already completed a week of classes, and so far, so good. Here are the classes that I am taking this semester:

Animal Behavior
Biochemistry
Methods of Biological Research
Studies in Fiction
Music: Now!
Theory of Knowledge

This semester is somewhat different from the past, since I don't have ANY 8:30 classes! My Tuesdays and Thursdays don't start until 10:00, and my MWFs don't start until 11:30... Ahhh, what a relief! Since I'm not really a morning person, I'd say this semester will go quite well.

The other difference this year is that I have a roommate in my apartment. It was by shear happenstance that I had the apartment to myself last year, so now it is the way it should be (apparently). So far, that is working out well, although it's been hard for me to get used to living in this place with another person. But as time goes by, that should become easier and easier to tolerate.

Other than that, I really don't have too much else to say tonight. I wanted to blog a little bit about my summer, since y'all haven't heard from me in almost four months! I think I'll take some time over my long weekend to do that, so look forward to that soon.

Do You Have What It Takes?

Whoopi Goldberg recently mentioned a practice Citizenship Test that contains some questions asked of citizens who wished to be naturalized in the United States. That piqued my curiosity, and I had to find out about this test for myself. Upon searching the Internet, I found one such test on the MSNBC site:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13442226/

Not to brag or anything, but I did score a 100%! There are about 20 questions regarding the Constitution, national symbols, American history, and roles of elected officials. Go ahead and try it out, and feel free to post your scores as comments on this post. Seriously, it's fun! Would you pass the test and be allowed to become an American citizen???

Happy Easter!

Well, obviously today isn't Easter, but technically Easter lasts until Pentecost (this year, May 11th). As most of you know, I was home for Easter, and I got to spend some time with friends and family. I had a great time (after all, I got to be home for my birthday, Spring Break, and Easter...what a combo!), and really got to enjoy my time off and relax. I took just a couple pictures that I wanted to share, so here they are...

Part Two

As promised, here are my thoughts and explanations of the other parts of the "turn the other cheek" passage in Matthew's Gospel. Sorry that it has taken so long, but with finals and other school things going on, I haven't had as much free time as I would have liked...

The part about the coat and the cloak is again a cultural reference that the author is presenting. A coat, much like today, was a garment worn outside the rest of the clothes. If a person owed someone else a debt, it was a common practice for the person owed the debt to seize the coat of the one owing the debt. Sometimes this was a legal matter that involved a lawsuit, since the person who owed the debt may not have been forthcoming about paying up. However, Jesus throws in the notion of having the debtor sue for your cloak. To give up one's cloak at that time, when he already had given up his coat, would leave the person naked. Nudity at the time of Jesus was a huge no-no, and very shameful. Not so much shameful to the naked person, but shameful to the person who made that person naked. So in this case, the debtor would be the one shamed by everyone else. Jesus is saying this to show how greed and selfishness can lead to shame and humiliation.

Finally, the part about walking the extra mile is a reference to the Jews under Roman occupation. If a Roman soldier were to come upon a Jewish citizen and ask to have his things carried, the Jewish person had an obligation to carry the soldier's items for one mile. Upon completing that mile, the Jewish man had fulfilled his obligation and was free to go. In this instance, Jesus is saying that instead of going on their way after one mile of service, stay for another mile. Again, this is a cultural reference with which most of us are not familiar. For the Jewish man to take up the Roman's stuff for another mile, he was keeping another Jewish man from undergoing the same humiliation. Instead, the humiliation would fall on the Roman soldier, since it would seem as if he did not have "control" over the Jewish man as he should.

So, you see, what Jesus is saying in this passage is that no one is superior to another person in God's eyes. We are all equal, and there is no reason to feel entitled to something that others are not. What Jesus was doing in saying these things was giving hope to the people to whom he was speaking. At this time, the Jesus-believers were being persecuted by their Roman occupiers, and by the traditional Jews, so Jesus is saying this to give them hope. His use of these situations is a way of explaining this concept to the people of that time, in ways that they would understand. Sure, these people think they are hot stuff, but they will get their justice. He urges them, and us today, to be the bigger/better person, and just maybe those that were out to get us or make us look bad will get what's coming to them.

Turn the Other Cheek

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow."
--NAB Matthew 5:38-42

Most of us are familiar with the "turn the other cheek" statement. But does any of us truly understand what this means? The way I always interpreted it, and probably the way most people do, was that Jesus was telling us to be subordinate and not stand up for ourselves. Well, this isn't exactly true. Taking into account the context of the time, you might say that Jesus was the original proponent of nonviolent resistance.

Back in the days of Jesus, most people in that region were right-handed, or at least used their right hand for most tasks. The left hand was used almost exclusively for "bathroom duties." When a superior or some other antagonist set out to punish someone else, it would almost always take the form of a slap. And this was no ordinary slap; this was a back-handed slap on the face. Since people were right-handed and the left hand was only used for one purpose, the only way to slap someone with the back of the hand was to slap them across the right cheek. This was seen as the ultimate punishment to put someone "in their place."

For Jesus to say "turn the other cheek" was more controversial than it seems. If a person were to turn their left cheek to their superior, the superior would be unable to back-hand slap him with the right hand. Instead he would have to slap the subordinate with the palm of the hand. This, instead of signifying putting someone in his place, would signify that the subordinate was instead an equal. Equals slap each other with the palm of the hand. For a subordinate to turn his left cheek to the superior was seen as the ultimate insult, and the ultimate way to stand up for oneself without using violence. So, you see, Jesus was much more revolutionary than we sometimes give Him credit.

This was just one section of Matthew's Gospel that was recently explained to me in my Christian Scriptures class. I must say, this is all very interesting to me, since I have been hearing some of these stories all my life. I am now getting a better explanation about what they mean, and just how much we can benefit from learning the Scriptures in their original context. What a beautiful thing! In case you are still curious about the rest of this passage, I will give my explanation of the cloak part and the "walk two miles" part soon. And I will continue to share my new-found knowledge of these things for the rest of the semester, so look out!

I Go A-Walking

Knee Deep

Well, not just yet. There is a massive snow storm that has been moving through Cincinnati since about 8:00 this morning, and it has a history of some major accumulations to the south. Classes starting at 12:30 or later were cancelled; this had no bearing on my schedule, since I am done by 11:30 on Fridays. But nonetheless, I will enjoy the snow.

As far as accumulation predictions, the meteorologists are using the B word: b-b-b-blizzard! They are calling for between 8-12 inches, with some areas even seeing 15 inches by Saturday afternoon. Being the snow lover, I, of course, am extremely excited about these high amounts of snow! I have nowhere to be this weekend, so I will just enjoy being toasty warm and getting some things done around here. Well, then again, I might take a little walk to survey the beauty around me (I know how much y'all love my pictures! haha)

One other thing I wanted to mention, I had the experience of driving around in the light snow this afternoon. By the time I got out of classes, we had already gotten an inch or two of snow. I always go to the grocery store on Fridays after classes, and today was going to be no different. Well, a little bit different. After spending ten minutes clearing off the windshields and getting everything warmed up, I slowly made my way to the store, which, by the way, was where everyone and his brother was this afternoon. I made it there and back safely, albeit with some minor problems along the way. Traction is an issue with snow on the ground, so I had a couple incidents with wheels turning and judging how to accelerate and brake. But, I think I now have a better understanding of how to navigate in snow: slow and steady wins the race, as they say.

Everyone keeps saying that Spring is just a couple weeks away. Kind of hard to believe given the Winter Wonderland outside. Oh well, this is life. Maybe if I get out tomorrow, I will take some pictures and share them with you fine people.

PCR

Y'all may be familiar with the "We Are the World" song that came out in the 80's. Well, this is a parody of that song that my Genetics professor Dr. Engle showed us last week. (My longtime readers may notice that this is the same professor that I had as a freshman. She was the one that said to thank your mitochondria!)

At any rate, the song parodies "We Are the World" on the subject of PCR, the polymerase chain reaction. PCR is a way of rapidly amplifying and replicating DNA, and we have been studying that in my Genetics class. It involves heating, cooling, and reheating until new strands of the desired DNA have been put together. While the video below is supposed to be humorous (oh, and it is!), it is still somewhat informative. So, I hope you can learn something! (Personally, my favorite part is the "who's the daddy" part...haha)

Paczki Are Baczki

C'est Mardi Gras!

Many of you may recall a blog by Aunt Cheryl a little over a year ago concerning the Polish doughnuts called paczki. They are traditionally made and eaten in large amounts for today, Fat Tuesday, the day before the beginning of Lent. In keeping with that tradition, I recently bought a box of four paczki. Kroger just so happened to have them on sale last weekend. (Coincidence? I think not...) The ones I got were Bavarian creme-filled and have a chocolate icing on top. I have already eaten two of them, and let me just say, mmmmm. I saved the other two just for today, so that I can indulge and "get rid" of them before Ash Wednesday.

For those of you that thought my title was CLEVER, thank you, but the idea was not original. I mentioned in a comment on Aunt Cheryl's blog recently that a bakery close to Xavier was advertising paczki on their sign. Just a few days ago, they changed their message to the phrase, "Paczki Are Baczki," and that was just too clever to go unnoticed. Naturally, I couldn't resist using that as a title for this blog! So in case those kind people are reading this, I give credit to the Busken Bakery on Montgomery Road in Norwood, Ohio. Perhaps I'll stop by and get some fresh paczki before tomorrow???

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys their Mardi Gras, and be sure to eat some paczki if you can get your hands on them.

The Ringing in My Ears

Sorry that I've been away for so long, but I am back and better than ever! (You can judge for yourselves...)

This past Wednesday in my Physics Lab, we looked at sound waves. Well, we didn't really LOOK at them; sound waves are, after all, invisible. Ahh, but what technology we have! We can detect the sound waves using a microphone hooked up to a receiver, and look on the screen to see how strong the signals are. By changing the frequency or the distance the microphone is from the speaker, we can notice changes in waves. When the waves have the highest peak on the screen, we can tell how many sound waves are present in the closed chamber. After achieving these high peaks, we alter the frequency or distance again until the peaks appear again. Then we know that there is one more wave in the chamber.

At any rate, the title of my blog is very appropriate, since this experiment involved sound. The sound waves were emitted by a function generator, and believe me, it is not a silent procedure. In fact, the entire time the generator was producing sound waves into the chamber, a high pitched beep was heard throughout the room. One by itself was bad enough, but imagine 8-9 of these things going off all at the same time! I would equate it with being in the front row of a rock concert; yeah, it was that loud. Fortunately enough I only had to endure that for about an hour and a half, and once I got outside the ringing was finally gone.

You know what, this Physics stuff isn't that bad sometimes...

Snow, Snow, Wonderful Snow

Sorry, Grandma, I had to take your idea for a blog title! I hope you can forgive me...

Well this weekend has been the time for the first major snow of the season. We were expecting between 2-4 inches here in Cincinnati by this afternoon. Notice that I said "expecting." The snow started yesterday at around 9 AM and continued for about three hours. Then it turned into rain for the rest of the day, washing away the 1-2 inches that fell (quite quickly, actually) that morning. Then the meteorologists were telling us that we would get another 1-3 inches today, since the rain would turn back into snow. Well, that snow started around 5-6 AM today, and ended just a few hours later. That snow didn't amount to much at all. Now, it seems like all we have is wind and a few flurries. Still, that's better than nothing!

So despite the fact that we didn't have significant accumulations (and I'm sure some of my readers in the great state of Michigan did experience those), I was still happy to see that wintry precipitation. It wouldn't have made a difference to have school called off this week, as it is finals time! They obviously wouldn't have cancelled finals, but I would have liked a little bit more to walk around in and take pictures. But alas, Mother Nature wasn't fulfilling my dreams this time around. Oh well, winter hasn't even started yet, so there will be plenty of time.

In other news, Happy Belated Birthday to my Grandfather! For those of you who didn't already know, his birthday was yesterday. If you, like myself, found yourself forgetting to send him a greeting for whatever reason, I'm sure he would appreciate even a late call, e-mail, or card. Or then again, you could devote a part of your blog to him :-D. Happy Birthday!

Finally, as you read above, this week is Finals Week for me. I have one final each day Monday through Wednesday, all at 8:30 AM. I also have one paper that is due by 1:00 PM Wednesday (a great alternative to another final). That means I will be busy busy busy, but also that I will be going home come Wednesday! I will try to blog again before Christmas (no promises), but in case I don't, I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! God Bless!

It's That Time

Registration time that is...

Today was my day to register for classes for the Spring 2008 semester. If you have been reading my blogs for a while, you will remember how much I hate, HATE registration days! Well, this one was like all the others, except only to a lesser extent. I got most of the classes I wanted; there was one that I wanted to take but couldn't, because I had to take a different section of a lab that would have conflicted with the time. I was shocked to find earlier today that all the lab sections for Genetics had been filled before the lecture had been filled. Later I discovered that they added spots in each lab section, giving me the impression that someone had made a mistake. A BIG one... So, it worked in my favor that they changed the number of seats, since I was able to register!

So, here's what I will be taking next semester:

Genetics
Genetics Lab
U.S. History II
College Physics II
Introductory Physics Lab II
Introduction to Christian Scriptures

I will be most interested in the Genetics and Scripture classes. I have had some background in Genetics from high school, but nothing compared to what I'm sure I will experience here. Also in high school, we were required to take Scripture our Sophomore year, but that class focused mainly on the Old Testament. I will be interested to go more in-depth into the New Testament, since I have relatively little experience, outside of what I have read and heard at Mass over my lifetime. What do y'all think???

Fall Colors

I was walking around campus today and couldn't help but notice all the beauty around me. I took a few pictures of all the color I found around where I live, and figured I would post them on here as well. Nothing else to blog right now, just look and enjoy!

Wheelchair Football

The last activity for my Cultural Diversity class was to attend a wheelchair football game hosted by the Department of Occupational Therapy. My professor would be there as would most of the people in that class. We were only told to wear comfortable clothes since we would most likely be asked to participate in the game... Boy did that make me nervous! So I went there only intending to watch.

I got there a few minutes late since I really didn't know where to go, and the game was already underway. The two teams were headed by actual disabled people; one was in a motorized wheelchair and the other was in one of those specialized ones with the slanted wheels for easy movement. After sitting and watching for a little while, my professor, who was taking pictures of the action, came up to me and started talking to me. She said, "You need to let them know that you want to sub in!" To that I said, "Do I have to???" And she replied, "Oh, you want to!" So I just sort of laughed that off and continued being a spectator.

A few minutes later, one of the girls playing came to sit out since she had been playing for quite a while. She came up right to where I was sitting and asked if I wanted to play. I told her no. She asked if I was sure, really trying to get me to play. I said I was sure and just smiled as she rolled away. Then, not more than five minutes later, another girl sat out and rolled over to the set of bleachers where several students and my professor were sitting. She asked if anyone wanted to play, and right away I saw my professors arm pointing right over in my direction. I heard "Get Sean to play! Come on Sean, it's your turn!" Oye, now I have to play, I thought to myself. I couldn't with a good conscience say no after drawing all of that attention, so I agreed and took that girl's place.

I was on the team of the younger boy, who as it turns out is very skilled at playing football in a wheelchair. I actually had a lot more fun that I had expected, and all those nervous feelings went away after awhile. Though I didn't score a touchdown on my own, I was successful in blocking for the person with the ball, and I almost made an interception when the other team had the ball. Our quarterback did try to throw me the ball on two occasions, and I was so close to catching them. Probably a good thing that I didn't, since I'm sure I wouldn't have known what to do after catching it! I managed to leave the game without any cuts or bruises, and I didn't run into any walls or obstacles this time! I did however get too close to another player and got one of my wheels caught on his chair; what a predicament, let me tell you! I could only imagine if I had been really handicapped and not able to stand up and maneuver the chair around. But other than that, I really had a great time.

Though this was probably something I would never do again, I am glad that I did actually participate in the game. I most likely would have regretted not playing afterwards, since it seemed like everyone else was having fun. So, no regrets for this experience; I just wish I had been able to score a touchdown on my own...

A Wheelchair Experience

Recently I had a wheelchair experience that was part of my Cultural Diversity class "E Pluribus Unum." The class focuses on "The Disabled as a Discriminated Minority," so part of our assignments was to go to a public place and spend at least two hours in a wheelchair. Since I already wrote a paper for this project, I'll just copy and paste it here for you to read!

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This past weekend I had the interesting experience of shopping at Kenwood Town Center in a wheelchair. I took my friend Megan along as moral, and at times physical, support. The first thing I noticed about this experiment was how difficult it was for me to get the wheelchair into my car. I had intended to put the wheelchair in my trunk, but found that it would not fit. I had to maneuver the equipment around several times before realizing I needed to fold down the back seats. However, this turned out to be one of the least of my problems. The second problem was finding a place to park that would not be too far away from the entrance. I was successful in finding a spot very close to the Dillard’s entrance, but found it frustrating that there were no cuts in the curb to get up on the sidewalk. I eventually was able to roll myself up to the entrance, where a middle-aged gentleman held the door open for me. I was feeling very good about humanity in general at that moment!

Upon entering Dillard’s, I found it fairly easy to navigate through the aisles and winding walkways. Most of the people I encountered coming the opposite direction moved over or stopped to let me cross; this was another good thing. Since the entrance I used was in between floors of the main mall, I had to take an elevator to the first floor to get to the food court. I had to consult a store map to find where the elevator was, and it turned out to be in a far corner of the store. However, the elevator itself was very quick and roomy; I was even able to turn around completely before rolling out upon our arrival. We found the entrance to the main mall very easily, and I was able to navigate to the food court.

Upon arriving at the food court, the first thing I noticed was that the tiles made it a very bumpy ride up to the food counters. I chose to get some Chick-fil-A, and I was able to reach and handle everything, until it was time to roll away and find a table. I had to hand off my food to Megan until I got situated at the table. I managed to find a round table with enough room to get my body right up to the table, which was very convenient. I did notice some children and their mothers looking over in my direction, but no one said anything or did anything to make me feel especially discriminated or uncomfortable. Eating in the wheelchair was quite similar to eating while in a regular chair, and I found it very simple to do so. However, I noticed that I needed to lock myself in place to keep me from rolling away while I reached for my food.

After eating we went towards the smaller shops, since we already knew that the larger department stores were easier to navigate. We went inside American Eagle, Eddie Bauer, Aeropostale, Brookstone, and the Hallmark Store, and all five were just about the same in their setup. Eddie Bauer was the easiest of the stores to navigate, since there was a good amount of room between clothes racks. American Eagle was about the same, but the fact that there were more people in the store made it more difficult. I did purchase some items from there, and I found it fairly easy to do this as well. The cashier that checked me out was helpful in leaning over the counter to help me, which was very nice of her. Also, no one said anything or asked me anything, which made me feel more comfortable with the situation.

The other stores were a little more difficult to navigate. Aeropostale was the hardest to navigate, since there were people standing in line everywhere. The way the store was situated, there was an area of clothes up front, fitting rooms and the checkout stand in the middle, and more clothes in the back. I was unable to get to the back of the store due to the people in line for the fitting rooms. They just stared at me as I tried to wheel by, and no one moved or offered to help me. This was rather frustrating, so I simply left the store and waited outside. The Hallmark Store was not as difficult, but there were breakable items on low shelves where I was trying to navigate. I was very careful in not hitting any of these items, but it was difficult to turn and stay away from them. Brookstone was the same way, but the plus for that store was that there was ample space to turn around.

Before we left, I made a point of stopping in the mall restroom to see how accessible it was. First of all, I noticed how difficult it was to open the door to the bathroom. I stayed “in character” the entire time, and a kind person behind me held the door open for me. I was able to get to the handicapped stall easily, but getting into it was another story. Once I finally got situated in there, the front of the wheelchair was wedged up against the toilet, and the back of the wheelchair was wedged up against the door. There was also very little room to the sides of the chair, so even I had a hard time getting around that. I was able to get out of the chair and maneuver around it, but this would have been very difficult for anyone with a real disability. Upon leaving the stalls, I also noticed that the sinks, and in particular the paper towel dispensers, were very high up. However, I stayed in character and reached for everything myself. I had the sore arms and the back pain to prove it! I also found it difficult to open the door on the way out, since it opened inwards. As I was reaching for the handle, a man walked in and almost hit me. Luckily he was kind enough to hold the door for me to exit.

After the bathroom incident, we went back to Dillard’s to get to the car. We had spent a little over two and a half hours in the mall, and I was completely exhausted! My arms were sore, my legs were sore from not walking, and my hands had blisters and were numb. Once I got to the car, I was able to reenter the world of the “non-disabled” and was able to use my legs again. After reflecting on this experience, I realized how difficult a person in a wheelchair has it. Even though no one made comments or asked about my “disability,” it was emotionally stressful and somewhat embarrassing to require special treatment. And although I only had one run-in with a clothes rack, it was still hard for me successfully maneuver at first; I was lucky to have Megan with me, which then made me think about those that have no one to help them. All in all, this was a very enlightening experience for me. I now have a better appreciation for the disabled lifestyle, and the obstacles they must face. I think now I will be reevaluating how accessible certain businesses are, and perhaps making suggestions on how to improve accessibility.

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So, as you can see, I had a very enlightening experience! It definitely gave me a difference perspective, and I will appreciate the little things a lot more now...

Of Mice and Metabolism

One of the first sections we studied in my Physiology class was metabolism, and this is being followed up in the lab for the next several weeks. Most people know what metabolism is (or at least the popular culture definition), but many don't realize that metabolism involves more than the breaking down of food for energy in the body. That is only the half of metabolism called catabolism. There is also anabolism, which is the building up of bio-molecules in the body, proteins for example. Metabolism varies in people based on age, gender, activity level, percentage of lean muscle mass, and other biological factors. Part of the laboratory exercises we are doing involve measuring metabolism.

Measuring metabolism in humans is a very complex procedure, more complex than what our class can accomplish. It would involve a large, self-contained chamber to measure everything that is going on in the body. As a certain former president would say, "Wouldn't be prudent..." That is why we are using mice for this experiment. The mice we are using are a variety of black obese mice. They are obese because they have been genetically altered that way; this involves removing a gene from the DNA that codes for the feeling we get when we are full. So, generally speaking, these mice eat and eat and eat, and never get full, and therefore become obese. The purpose of using the obese mice is to test a dietary supplement called bitter orange, which has claimed to increase metabolism. By increasing metabolism, we expect to see weight loss in the mice.

Measuring metabolism in mice is also fairly complex, but is easier to achieve due to their smaller size. Whereas a chamber for humans would be bulky and quite expensive, a self-contained chamber for mice can be created using basic lab equipment. For our equipment, we are using large Erlenmeyer flasks, a rubber stopper with long rubber ports, a manometer (to measure changes in pressure in the chamber), a thermometer, a giant plastic syringe, and a balloon filled with 100% oxygen. The mice are coaxed into the flask, and the stopper is placed over the opening. We leave the ports open so that the mouse can breathe while everything else is set up. Our first objective is to flush the chamber with pure oxygen to get all the "room air" out of the chamber. By using 100% oxygen, we can get a better calculation of metabolism. After this is achieved, we fill a syringe with 60 cc of the oxygen and set that up on one of the ports. Then we close off the system and wait for the pressure to normalize.

Once the pressure is stable, we begin timing and watching the mouse. The mouse goes about its normal business moving around and cleaning itself, and is continuously breathing in the oxygen. However, there is the problem of carbon dioxide being produced by the mouse; one would assume that as the mouse is breathing in the oxygen, they are producing CO2 and ridding the air of the oxygen. Well, we accounted for this too. We hung a little bag of something called "soda lime" which apparently pulls the carbon dioxide from the chamber. This ensures that the only gas in the chamber is pure oxygen. Since we are drawing the CO2 out, this makes the pressure go up in the chamber. We can see the change in pressure on the manometer, since the liquid starts to move towards the higher pressure. When the liquid drops enough, we start to push more oxygen into the chamber with the syringe. Then the pressure stabilizes again, and the mouse just carries on as normal. We measure how much oxygen we have pushed every two minutes, until we push the full 60 cc. Once this has happened, we stop the time and open the system up to the atmosphere.

You might wonder how measuring the amount of oxygen can tell us metabolism. Well, there is a direct correlation between oxygen consumption and metabolism. We perform some calculations using the amount of oxygen consumed per minute, and convert that into kilocalories per hour (we call kilocalories simply Calories on our food labels). In this way, we are able to roughly determine the mouse's basal metabolic rate, or the rate at which the mouse body carries out all basic functions (breathing, heart beating, etc.). Over time, we will be measuring this again and again to determine if the dietary supplement is having an effect on the mouse metabolism. Interesting, huh?

Well, that's all I have to say about metabolism today. I hope I didn't bore you all with this, but I really thought it was interesting! If you have any questions about metabolism or the experiment in general, feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to answer!

Guess Who's Back?

I'm back, that's who! School has started back for me, so now I will have the time and opportunity to blog more often. For example, today was my first day of classes, and actually I just returned from my only Tuesday class, an 8:30 U.S. History class. I haven't learned too much history yet, but you can be sure I will share my wisdom once I am able to get more into this course.


In other news, Sunday was move-in day to my new on-campus apartment. When we got here, I was surprised to find that the roommate I had been assigned was not going to be here. That means...I have an apartment all to myself! There is one large bedroom/living room/office with a small kitchen, a fairly large closet area, and a small bathroom. It is perfect for my needs, and is much quieter than the dorms and other residence halls (major PLUS). I was told by the resident assistant that I would be contacted by the people in charge in about three weeks to determine if a roommate could be found. She said most likely that there would not be anybody right away, and it was very likely that I could just have this place to myself all year. I told her I could handle that......... Yesterday and Sunday evening were spent getting things to make this apartment livable; since I am on an apartment/campus house meal plan, I plan on spending only a very small amount of time in the cafeteria, and a majority of time fixing my own meals. For those that do not know, I love to cook, and would venture a guess that I am a better cook than the average 20-something male college student.


For those of you that were waiting to hear something about my summer, I will go into that briefly in this post. (I might elaborate a little more next time.) I spent most of my time at home or at the grocery store this summer, but I did have occasions for fun and excitement. As you may have read in my last post at the end of last month, my family had a celebration for my grandmother's big birthday in Atlanta. You have probably seen the pictures from my aunt Cheryl's blog, but I do have a few of my own to share.











Other than family dinners, a birthday party, and plenty of Catch Phrase game nights, we spent our time checking out the tourist scene around Atlanta. Just to name a few of the sights we visited, we saw the Coke Museum, the Aquarium, Underground Atlanta, Stone Mountain (with the best fireworks/laser show), an Atlanta Braves game, and the "historic" Varsity Club for some hot dogs and onion rings. A good time was had by all, as they say, and I was pleased that for the first time ever (for me), the home team won the baseball game. I wouldn't say that I'm obsessed or a fanatic, but I am finding myself able enjoy baseball more than I had ever in my life. I guess a big thank you goes out to Uncle Duane for that!


The other main event during my summer was my best friend Emily's wedding on August 11th. She and her then-fiancee honored me by having me be a part of the wedding party as a groomsman. Although I was attending the wedding mostly for her (I have been friends with her since we were five), I had gotten to know Joel over the past couple of years, and have found him to be a really nice guy. I think now I would consider them both as friends, so it was a great honor and privilege for me to be there and stand behind them at their wedding. The ceremony was simple, yet very spiritual and charming. The reception following was simple, yet elegant, and I even got to visit with some classmates I hadn't seen in several years. After we had gotten something to eat, myself and other members of the wedding party decorated the best man's car (the newlyweds were taking his car to their honeymoon) with toilet paper, ribbon, a large bow on the antenna, and that car chalk all over the windows. With exploding streamers instead of rice, we sent them off in a great way, and watched them as they drove off to Disney World.


Well, now that I've created an update to end all updates, I think I'll wrap this up for today. Since I only had my one History class this morning, I think it's time for a little nap and some more unpacking/organizing in my room. Tomorrow will be my busy day with classes from 8:30 to 2:45, and NO breaks in between! I will make sure, at the very least, that I update everyone after my first week of classes, and report all that I have learned. In the meantime, I hope everyone had a great summer, and that y'all have a great week.