The Blog of the Future Dr. Britney Moss

i am a crappy blogger, but maybe i will be a good tumblelogger

2008-01-15T01:12:00.000-06:00

britmoss.tumblr.com

Travel Updates

2007-10-04T23:57:00.000-05:00

In September, I presented my research at the 2007 Society for Molecular Imaging Meeting in Providence, RI. It was a good trip filled with lots of science, food, drink, and laughter. The folks in my lab are so much fun, and to see what we did in Providence when we weren't talking science, check out this link:
2007 SMI Trip

After the meeting, I took the train (for the very first time!!) to visit college buddy, Missy, who goes to med school in Burlington, VT. I got to spend a couple of days driving around Northern VT while Missy was working and then we celebrated my B-Day on Fri. night. That same night another college friend, Andrew, drove up from NY and then the next the three of us (and Missy's friend Mike) drove to Montreal. Check out the pix:
Vermont/Montreal

The last few weeks have been crazy with presentations, 12 hr. experiments, lots of meetings, etc. But it has been a nice change of pace for me and I am looking forward to getting a lot of work accomplished this fall.

TTYL!
B

Britney's Piercing

2007-09-17T22:08:00.001-05:00

Here is video from when I got my eyebrow pierced back in July! I absolutely love it!!

Summer 2007

2007-08-16T12:27:00.000-05:00

Whew! This summer has flown by and I can't believe that I haven't posted about anything that I have done! Let's recap Britney Summer of 2007:

My Sister Got MARRIED!!! The wedding was on 7/7/7 in Atlanta and went so smooth! It was a lot of fun and Chan and Bo were so happy and excited that it was infectious! I got to see grandparents, aunts, cousins, and meet a ton of people from Bo's family and eat lots of good food. After their honeymoon in the Bahamas, the newlyweds moved to Augusta, GA where Bo is now a 1st year medical student at Medical College of Georgia.

School/Work:
Finished my qualifying exam in the middle of June so I am now officially a PhD candidate :-) I spent way too many late nights at lab, but got to know all of the nighttime security guards!

Along with my boss and some co-workers, I have submitted one review article and one research article and am almost finished with another research articel. Thus, I have spent most of my time in front of computers writing, making figures, re-writing, etc. But I am gearing up to get back to the bench to start up a new series of experiments.

I got to go to the Aspen Cancer Conference in Aspen, CO with my boss, Dave, and a fellow grad student, Snehal. It was such a neat experience: it was a very small conference and covered a wide range of cancer-related topics and many big whigs from the field were in attendance. It was very laid back and a typical day consisted of presentations all morning, lunch, afternoon free time, evening poster session or bbq/mixer, often followed by hanging out in downtown Aspen.

In September, my whole lab is going to the Society for Molecular Imaging meeting in Providence, RI. I will be presenting a poster there and am really looking forward to that and to hearing about the latest and greatest in the field of molecular imaging. I am then taking a few days to take the train up to Vermont to visit my friend Missy for a few days. I have never been to the Northeast before and I can't wait to explore and get to see Missy!!

Concerts:
Ozzfest- saw Static X, Lamb of God, and Ozzy Osbourne (with guitarist Zakk Wylde). Ozzy was very coherent and seemed to be in really good shape and he played some of his best hits (War Pigs, Crazy Train, Bark at the Moon, etc)
Family Values Tour- got to see Korn, Evanescence, Flyleaf, Atreyu, etc.
G Love and Special Sauce free at Live on the Levee
Upcoming concerts: Megadeth and hopefully Alice Cooper and/or Shooter Jennings

Outdoorsy Stuff:
I went on two hikes in Aspen. One was up to the Maroon Bells with Dave and Snehal and we probably hiked 5-6 miles and got to some gorgeous scenery! The next day, Snehal and I and some of the other students at the conference took the gondola to the top of Aspen Mt. and hiked around up there and got caught in an afternoon thunderstorm, but the views were great and the rain was refreshing!

A few weekends ago, my friend Shu and I decided to go to Meramec caverns and invited some friends to come with us. We had a picnic lunch and then toured the caverns. It was cool, but not near as cool as Lewis and Clark Caverns back home in Montana. And at the end there was a SUPER CHEESY light show (i.e. light bulbs flicking on and off against a rock formation, with old, crackly version of the MO state song and God Bless America playing in the background); I laughed so hard (though I don't think laughter was the reaction they were trying to elicit) that my sides hurt afterwards.

Other Randomness:
Superman Museum in Metropolis, IL. I took my pal Aaron who is a big Superman fan and we had tons of fun. AFter the museum, we drove to a place called Lambert's Cafe near Cape Girardeau, MO that is famous because the dinner rolls are served by a waiter who rolls a cart around the restaurant and throws the rolls out patrons who give him a shout out. We had to wait in line for ONE AND A HALF HOURS, but the food was quite good and it just being there was quite an experience.

I have become addicted to the game Guitar Hero 2. My buddy Josh introduced me to it and I went out and bought an XBOX 360 just for this game! I have already had a number of GH2 game nights at my place; it is a great party game! I also bought Dance Dance Revolution, but I really suck at the game and need to practice it.

OK, I should really be doing some work now, so I had better get. I will try to load pictures later.

B

The Dresden Dolls 'Shores of California' music video

2007-06-16T10:09:00.001-05:00

Watching this reminded me how much I LOVE the Dresden Dolls and how awesome Amanda Palmer is! Notice her cool eyebrows!

Celeb Biochemistry - Better shows require smarter consumers

2007-06-03T22:30:00.001-05:00

This is so awesome! A friend sent it to me one night to cheer me up when I was working late on my grant proposal.

Introspective...

2007-05-27T21:08:00.000-05:00

I was just listening to my iPod while working on my grant proposal when this song came on. I hadn't heard it in quite some time, but the lyrics just really struck me for some reason. I guess that of late I am just feeling a bit like the girl in the song. Probably the stress of school right now is getting to me, but I am making progress and will be turning in the written portion of qualifying exam on June 4 and then will have my oral defense on June 18th. Well...I better get back to writing.

She Won't Last
by The Panic Channel

She's waiting to fall apart
Blind to how bad things are
And I know now
She won't last
She's got everything
But she won't last

Fighting herself again
Pushed aside her closest friends
And they know now

She won't last
She come to the end of the road
I know that's just the way these things go
Now I know better

Days melt like candle wax
She says that she'll be right back
It's all so sad
She won't last
See her falling down

She won't last
She come to the end of the road
I know that's just the way these things go
Now I know better
Just one of those things
Another bleeding bird in love with her broken wings
I know that's just the way these things go
Now I know better

She won't last
She come to the end of the road
I know that's just the way these things go
Now I know better
Just one of those things
Another bleeding bird in love with her broken wings
I know
Yes I know
I'm no better
I'm no better
Yeah I'm no better
I know...

Metal Skool- Man In The Box

2007-05-22T17:52:00.001-05:00

I would have literally given my right arm (yes, my pipetting arm!) to have seen this live and in person. It just doesn't get better than David Draiman (one of my tope 5 fave fave rock vocalists!) singing a Layne Staley (another of my top 5 fave vocalists!) vocal part on an Alice and Chains classic with Jerry Cantrell (a true Guitar Hero) on axe and Metal Skool as backup at the Key Club in LA. I wish the quality of the video was better, but it still KICKS ASS!!!!

Online quizzes are a great way to procrastinate....

2007-05-20T13:09:00.000-05:00

Your Seduction Style: The Dandy

You're a non-traditionalist, not limited by gender roles or expectations.

Your sexuality is more fluid than that - and you defy labels or categories.

It's hard to pin you down, and that's what's fascinating about you.

You have the psychology of both a male and a female, and you can relate to anyone.

What Is Your Seduction Style?

Your Stripper Song Is

I'm a Slave 4 U by Britney Spears

"I'm a slave for you. I cannot hold it; I cannot control it.
I'm a slave for you. I won't deny it; I'm not trying to hide it."

You may seem shy, but you can let your wild side out when you want to!

What Song Should You Strip To?

You Are 64% Tortured Genius

You are smart. Brilliant in fact. And while it's a blessing, it's also a curse.
Your head is filled with everything - grand ideas, insufferable worries, and a good deal of angst.

Are You a Tortured Genius?

Your Rapper Name Is...

Rappin' Cheeze

What's Your Rapper Name?

You Should Go to Grad School

Grad school definitely isn't for everyone, but it looks like it's for you.
You have a pretty good idea of what you want to study - and how it will further your career.
So go ahead and go for it! You're ready to be a PhD.

Should You Go To Grad School?

Whew...I guess I made the right decision in coming to grad school :-)

Hey, little sister....

2007-03-03T12:17:00.000-06:00

Imagine me doing my best Billy Idol impersonation:
"It's a nice day for a white wedding!!!!"

Yep, you heard it here first, my litte sister is soon to become Mrs. Chanteal Stapler (or she could do something very Britney-like and go with Moss-Stapler or Mosstapler or keep Moss, but somehow I don't think that will happen :-). Her boyfriend of ~1.5 years, Bo Stapler, proposed this morning while they were on a trip in Memphis, TN. I am SOOOOO excited for them; they are two of the most amazing, loving, kind, devoted, funny, humble, intelligent, spiritual, and faithful people I have ever known and I count it one of the greatest blessings of my life that Chanteal is my sister and that Bo will become my brother. I love you guys and look forward to helping you celebrate your commitment to each other (I am available to act as DJ whatever date you decide to get married ;-)

B

Here are some recent fun photos I took of the lovebirds (more to come when I get back to my laptop):

2007 Up To Now

2007-03-01T20:56:00.000-06:00

2007 has been a busy year already!

Here is what I have been up to so far:
Army of Anyone with Hurt and Neurosonic Concert-at my fave hang-out, Pops across the river in Illinois; it almost got violent when the AoA guitarist jumped in the audience to duke it out with some idiot who kept shouting "freebird": it was actually kinda funny :-)
The Shiny Toy Guns Concert (see pix above)-at the Creepy Crawl, a small, kinda dingy venue in Midtown; i went with my pals Aaron and Valerie and we met some of Val's friends there-it was crazy fun and then we continued the party at Rue 13 downtown inspite of the snow storm!
Tony Award winning play "Doubt" starring Cherry Jones-it was a very intense play with superb actors; it was the first time i have been to the fox theater here in stl and it was awesome, so thanks for taking me with, Josh!
St. Louis Symphony-my buddy Jonathan had an extra ticket and was kind enough to invite me along; I was impressed with the wonderful symphony and with symphony hall and I finally got to see my friend Josh play (he is a trumpeter with the orchestra).
Coffee Tasting-some of my friends from church set up a cupping (coffee tasting) with one of st. louis's premier baristas, so my pal Andrew and I got to sample 6 different coffees and learn how the pros go about rating and purchasing beans!
French Wine Tasting-I was invited by my friends Monica and Kevin to attend this event which was held at one of the Lindell mansions; the house was for sale for a pretty decent price (1.2 million), but needs some pretty major remodeling. Afterwards, I met up with Josh to go hear Big Bamou at the Broadway Oyster Bar!
My Fair Lady-one of my friends from work was in the ensemble cast, so a few gals from work and I got together to go watch!
Ash Wednesday Service-I went with some friends to the Episcopal Cathedral downtown and it was the first time I have ever received ashes. The cathedral had some very ornate decor which I loved; I also enjoyed the liturgy.
Chinese New Years-I got to enjoy a homemade dinner with Shu and her parents (who were visiting from China for a month while Shu has been recovering from ACL surgery)

School Related Items:
-For the first half of spring semester, I have been a Teaching Assistant (TA) for undergraduate Biochemistry. My responsibilities for this have included attending classes, teaching three discussion sections a week, writing/grading quizzes, proctoring exams, holding office hours, etc. I have really enjoyed it, but has required quite a bit of time. I am finished next week and am looking forward to getting back to lab.
-I am taking a class called Signal Transduction and have thoroughly enjoyed all the lecturers who we have heard from so far. I have never learned so much about cardiovascular disease and hypertension!
-Lab work is going well (a bit slower this semester due to my TA duties), but I am working on two manuscripts to submit! These will hopefully be submitted by the end of this month and then I will be focusing on finishing my qualifier exam (I have to write a grant proposal and orally defend it).
-I am a co-coordinator for a summer high school research program and got to review applications and interview students for this year's program. We selected 13 outstanding students (4 county and 9 city) who I am looking forward to working with this summer!
-I am also continuing to serve on the Student Advisory Committe (SAC) in the Dept. of Biology and Biomedical Sciences.
-3 of my labmates have graduated in the last few months, so congrats goes out to Aparna, Seth, and Victor. Somehow I have all of a sudden become one of the senior grad students in the lab, now!

Upcoming events:
Jonathan and I are going to the Scissor Sisters concert, and I am also contemplating going to see Flyleaf, Lacuna Coil/Stone Sour, and Sevendust. I also wanna go check out the new Andy Warhol/Jim Hodges exhibit at the Contemporary Art Museum!

Well, I have some reading to get done, so I had better go for now. Once again, I will try to be better about updating this blog, but also check me out on facebook if you get a chance (i update there a little more regularly).

Peace!
Me

p.s. I also sampled sushi again and actually liked it!! I am so glad that I have moved to a city and have opened up my tastebuds to so much good food!

Dream On

2006-12-25T11:19:00.001-06:00

My mom remembered seeing an Aerosmith performance in which they were backed by an orchestra, and thanks to you tube, we found it. Enjoy!

AFI-Prelude1221/Miss Murder

2006-12-15T18:06:00.001-06:00

I have been obsessed with this video and song for awhile. I really like the band members' sense of style and the vocals on this song!

Ellen's House Tour

2006-12-03T21:49:00.001-06:00

Here is Ellen's version of MTV cribs; she is so funny!

a scarlet "letter" to my readers...

2006-11-26T22:07:00.000-06:00

alright, i have to come clean...i have totally been cheating on blogger.com with facebook.com! please forgive me! it started innocently enough by simply signing up for facebook and searching for a few friends online; pretty soon i was finding people i hadn't talked to since middle school and trying to come up with all my favorite music to list on my profile and obsessively checking my facebook account lest i miss out on anyone's status updates or profile picture changes. thankfully, i have curbed my obsessive behavior, and have achieved a more reasonable balance of life and facebook, so i am returning to blogger to ask your forgiveness and do a quick update on my life. but don't forget, if you are a facebook user, look me up and add me as a friend! (wow, did that sound as lame as it seems?)

here is a quick recap of what i have been up to:
spent an afternoon at the st. louis art museum
ate thanksgiving dinner here in stl with some fellow montanans
went to a nirvana tribute band concert
went to a led zeppelin tribute band concert
went to a johnny cash tribute concert (do i detect a trend here???)
went to las vegas with my pal shu:
-got to see my parentals
-went up the stratosphere
-paid $5.75 for a corona
-saw a super-cheesy and completely entertaining celebrity tribute show (featuring elvis, tim mcgraw, britney spears, madonna, and michael jackson!)
-walked the entire las vegas blvd. strip
-hung out with my cousin, bryan
-hiked in red rock canyon
spent the afternoon taking photos and enjoying the sunshine at the missouri botanical gardens with my friend andrew
went to a couple of parties
volunteered at the association for women in science event for young women from stl city schools
continued work with the young scientist program
was a greeter at church
talked on the phone a lot
lots of eating out (which i should probably cut down on)
watched many movies (the prestige, casino royale, art school confidential, da vinci code, teenage mutant ninja turtles, zoolander, etc.)
got addicted to the tv show arrested development (this just might be my favorite sitcom EVER!)
continued reading anne rice's novel "blackwood farm"
caught and got over a cold
research, research, research!!!

anyhoo, i have posted a bunch of recent pix on facebook, and if i get around to it i will post them on this blog. i hope you are all well and had a fun, food-filled turkey day (i know i did!)

peace out!
b

joan jett & the blackhearts!!!

2006-11-10T20:57:00.000-06:00

a couple weeks back i convinced aaron and bill (and it really didn't take much convinving cuz they are always up for a good time!) to go to the joan jett & the blackhearts concert at mississippi nights. it just so happened that this was the same night as the world series was won by st. louis' own red birds! but we didn't mind missing the game too much because this concert was absolutely fantastic! one of my fave garage rock bands, the eagles of death metal, opened up for jj&tbh:

when joan and co. came out to play, it was such a surreal experience. aaron and i kept looking at each other saying, "is this for real? are we really watching joan jett?!?!?" the bartender had given us a tip for where to stand and so we had an unobstructed view the whole time and then went down to the pit towards the end so that we could have the complete concert experience. i would definitely love to see joan again!

cherry bomb:

i love rock & roll:

bad reputation
(in case any tender ears are in hearing range, there is some mild profanity in this one, but it is pretty funny!):

Pictures Galore 2!!!

2006-11-09T19:04:00.005-06:00

here are some pictures from my trip back to montana for my cousing meg's wedding to brad (notice in the first picture that i still have blonde hair):

here are some pics my mom took of me working in the lab (note that the longish locks are traded in for short and spiky again). she actually got to watch me give a presentation about my work to my labmates, so now she totally understands my research ;-)

PICTURES GALORE!!!

2006-11-09T18:51:00.000-06:00

hello to all my friends in blog world! i am finally posting some pictures from the fun stuff that i have been up to in the last few months. here are some pix of a fun day i spent with my mom (who was visiting for a week from mt) and my pals, cliff, corrin, and lainey:
we first drove over to the cahokia indian mounds in illinois. i had no idea how large some of them were! they were built by the mississippian civilization almost 1000 years ago!

next we were off to wine country south of st. louis. did you know that the winery will let you taste each wine they make??? it was a lot of fun and the fall scenery was beautiful!

Where to even begin....

2006-10-08T23:24:00.000-05:00

this has been quite a month and a half! here are some highlights:

-went on a roadtrip to Iowa to accompany a friend to a wedding; the drive was surprisingly scenic and the wedding was short and sweet
-flew back to bozeman, mt in the beginning of sept. to attend my cousin megan's wedding to brad; I had so much fun with my family and friends and helping out at the wedding, though it was very strange to be back there again. in so many ways the town and the people have not changed at all, and in other ways things are totally different; but more than that, i think have changed so much since i left. it was great to reconnect with friends and spend quality time with my family
-concerts: shinedown/rob zombie/godsmakc and beatles cover band playing with the stl symphony orchestra (I will write more about these in another post)
-japanese festival to see sumo wrestlers!!!
-cool king tut lecture at the stl art museum and the great forest park ballon race (the balloon glow the night before was pretty fun, but the actual race was majorly lame)
-molecular cell biology program retreat in new haven, mo. great presentations and key note speaker, fun times with colleagues, and i got to golf a couple of times with a bunch of my professors!
-my pals jason and kate got married here is stl; it was a beautiful service and reception and i really hope they get to move back to stl after j's last year of med school
-trip to eckert's farm in illinois to go apple picking with friends from church; golden delicious apples were in season
-fearfest haunted house in fenton, mo (four haunted houses in one location!)! went with monica, kevin, aaron, and bill and screamed and laughed and got to smell zombie breath!
-and of course lots of movies, going out to eat, haricuts (yeah, the long blonde locks have been traded in for short, spiky natural color again!)

lab is going very well; the main project i have been working on is close to being wrapped up and written up for publication. many people in my lab attended a meeting in hawaii in the beginning of sept, and the rest of us stayed back here in stl to hold down the fort ;-) next year i will definitely be submitting a poster and so will hopefully get to go to providence, ri. rumor has it that the year after that the meeting will be in paris or milan!!! i have one class this semester and i am also trying to work on my qualifier exam (which is writing a grant proposal), and am serving on the student advisory cmte, the young scientist program, and the mcb retreat planning cmte.

my mom is coming to town this week so that we can go to the aerosmith/motley crue concert!!! i am so excited that she is coming to visit and have all sorts of fun stuff planned for us to do. anyhoo, i will update again soon with pics and more concert details.

ciao!
b

Snakes on Britney's Blog!!!!

2006-08-21T22:45:00.000-05:00

I got home from lab and am wiped out from my wild weekend, so I am chilling on my couch watching online episodes of Rockstar: Supernova (Dilana kicks a$$!), and so I thought I should do a little update...

This weekend was really fun! On Friday night, one of my labmates was having a B-Day celebration at a local bar, so my buddy Aaron and I went over there around 11 and hung out playing darts and pool and chatting until the bar closed down at 3 AM!!! Then I slept in the next morning and ran errands before going to a pool party at my boss's home! We had TONS of food and got to play in the pool (I did a lot of treading water, and my arms were definitely feeling it the next day!). Then I went to a free concert held at Matthew's Chapel (which is a small chapel attached to Memorial Presbyterian Church). Caleb Travers with special guest Jude (who brought along his buddy Aaron) were this weekend's featured musicians. The chapel was lit with candles and the mood was perfect for the acoustic/folk rock songs. I hung around chatting with some friends for awhile afterward, and then it was off to another party that some of my friends from school were throwing. They had summer cocktails and a snake for entertainment! On Sunday, I went to church and then to my pal Mynda's for BBQ afterwards. Then I worked out, did laundry, and then went to SNAKES ON A PLANE!!! Bill and Aaron came over and we walked over to the Chase Park Plaza Theater and got to hear the organist play before the show started. The movie was tons of fun to watch and the crowd at the theater was very vocal during the movie! I think I enjoyed the cheesy dialogue the most. Then we hung out and shot pool and played music on the jukebox until the wee hours of the morn.

Brit's music recommendations:
I updated my favorite albums on the sidebar, so check those out. I have also rediscovered how much I like Edie Brickell (with and without The New Bohemians); I really connect with her song writing and unique vocal stylings. Also, like everyone else this summer, I have fallen in love with the song "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley; it has a sexy 60's vibe in it that I am really diggin'! I will leave you with this awesome video of the Dresden Dolls performing my fave song of theirs live; I have tickets to see them here in October, so I really hope they perform this one! Warning: their style is pretty strange (Brechtian cabaret punk is the genre of their creation :-) and there are a few "choice words" in the song.

The Dresden Dolls - Good Day

Concerts!!!

2006-08-10T12:18:00.000-05:00

Hey, all!

Well, I am finally posting an update to fill you all in on my last couple weeks. I thought I would start with some concert reviews. Each of these concerts was part of the Fair St. Louis series of free concerts under the arch:

1.) Sister Hazel/Better Than Ezra: I forgot how many good songs these groups actually have! I went with Shu and Aparna (see last post). The sound system could have been better, but it was still an enjoyable concert and fun to sing along with!

2.) Cheap Trick: took my parentals to this one! This is one of those groups that sings a lot of popular tunes that I am familiar with, but never realized they sang. My favorite had to be the theme song to "That 70's Show"!

3.) Lyle Lovett: I went with my parents and my pal J-Kwon from back home and I was kinda skeptical going into this concert cause I wasn't really familiar with Lyle's music. I was pleasantly surprised: the music was everything from bluegrass, to gospel, to folk, to big band, to country western! It was very entertaining and his band was great.

4.) Kenny Wayne Shepherd: I have been waiting years to see him in concert, so this was a real treat for me. Aaron and I rode the train downtown and met up with Scott and Heidi. KWS plays blues and rock and is one of the most talented guitarists out there! He sings sometimes, but his band also has another singer, Noah Hunt, who has a really soulful voice for blues. And it just felt so appropriate to be listening to blues on the banks of the Mississippi! It was great and reminded me that I really need to check out the STL blues scene while I am here!

5.) Live: once again, another band who I had forgotten had so many popular songs! I really like their lyrics and the fact that they can kinda sing sappy love songs in a hard rockin' way. Aaron and I went to dinner at Carmine's Steakhouse downtown before the concert, so we were kinda dressed up (and lookin' pretty dayum fine if ya ask me!) to go sit on the concrete steps at the arch, but we really enjoyed the concerts (the acoustics were better than at some of the other ones) and I thought that the band did a good job interacting with the audience (the crowd was much larger than any of the previous concerts).

After each concert, there is an amazing fireworks display (they launch them from a barge on the Mississippi River!). This really is a city that appreciates good food, good beer, and good music and does a great job at providing fun and free activities and events for its citizens! I will add pics to this post later...

Upcoming concerts I will/want to attend:
Rob Zombie/Godsmack/Shinedown (Aaron and I already have tix)
Aerosmith/Motley Crue (bought tix for me, aaron, lou, and my mom!)
Dresden Dolls
Joan Jett/Eagles of Death Metal
Ladytron (this one is in chicago, so i dunno if i will make it)

After the KWS concert, Aaron and I went to Shu's apartment and we all made crepes and margaritas! Here is a pic of me and some of the crepes that I made:

Live on the Levee!!!

2006-07-18T22:58:00.000-05:00

Friday night Shu and Aparna and I rode the MetroLink downtown (now that we all go free Metro passes!!!) to enjoy the Live on the Levee free concert series featuring Sister Hazel and Better Than Ezra! Here is my photodocumentation of the event!

The newscrew filmed Shu's Ben & Jerry's ice cream, but we didn't make it home in time to watch whether it made it on air!!!

Shu took this pic of me satisfying my craving for funnel cake! If you click on the photo for the larger version you will see that I already have powdered sugar all over my shirt, even though I haven't even taken a bite yet...you should have seen me afterwards!!!

Here is the view above where we sat; the seats were OK, I guess...;-)

Sister Hazel performed first and they were a lot of fun to listen to. One of the best parts of the show were the awesome gals who were at the stage signing for the hearing impaired. They totally grooved to the music and had such a great time expressing what they were hearing in visual form.

Aparna then got to chat with the lead singer and get his autograph!

Shu and I decided to take paparazzi themed photos of each other, but she started laughing right away and I couldn't get a good shot of her dissing me! But check out her blog for a shot of Britney the Diva!

I absolutely cannot control that one wisp of hair right out front; it always does its own thing :-(

Here is Better Than Ezra performing! After they were done it was time for fireworks:

The last one is of fireworks reflecting in the arch! Did I mention that this event was totally free?!?! And that it continues every Friday and Saturday for the next few weekends? This really is a great city with fun and affordable (i.e. free!) things to do all summer long!

Here are a few more photos of the arch

There is that darn sprig of hair out front again!

After the events were over, we rode that train back to the Central West End and then I went home a fell asleep on the couch (I was wiped out). When my parents are here, I think I will take them to see Cheap Trick at the Arch and then in a few weeks I am really excited to see Kenny Wayne Shepherd!!!

Reality Check

2006-07-18T22:30:00.000-05:00

This past week was very busy! On Tuesday night I went downtown with some friends to Copia Urban Winery for a panel discussion of Urban Living & Business, then we went out to eat at a great restaurant called Terrene that is not too far from where I live. This restaurant uses local/regional ecologically sound and sustainable foods; I had a salad and we split the white bean dip and I also tried the Pomegranate Fizz cocktail! The next night was my pal Carolyn's Birthday party, where I had some great conversations with friends from church and got to meet some new folks as well, and then Thursday was dinner at Joy Luck Chinese with Shu and a bunch of other first year students. We got to sample a bunch of different dishes and it was wonderful; thanks goes out to Shu who ordered everything for us off of the menu that was written completely in Chinese! Then on Friday I had a bunch of volunteer work and then lab and then downtown for a free concert (more about that in the next post!). I then got sick this weekend (headache, zero energy, sleepy, sore throat, etc), so it was pretty uneventful except for when I finally ventured out to a pool party at Keith's place Sunday evening.

I have been pretty busy at lab these days and have been putting in some 10 and 11 hour days, but I don't mind too much because I enjoy my research and my coworkers. But I haven't been sleeping well for quite some time and even if I do get 7 or 8 hours, I wake up still feeling tired and zapped of energy. My parents are coming to visit me this weekend and next week, so I am gonna try to get a lot of work done so that I can spend a lot of time with them and hopefully get some R'n'R!

On a slightly different note, the realities of world events have started hitting home for me. I work in a very international lab and have co-workers from both India and Israel, two places where terrorism is has struck hard recently. My Indian friend's brother had a close call with the train bombing in Mumbai (Bombay)-he got off the train 30 minutes before the bombings occurred! My Israeli friend's wife and kids left STL a few weeks ago to vacation in Israel and he is supposed to meet up with them in a week and then they are supposed to all come back to STL in August. He is originally from Haifa and today was using GoogleMaps to show us where bombings have occured and where he grew up and still has family living. His wife and kids are safe in a coastal city between Haifa and Tel Aviv, but this last week has been very stressful for him...it is hard to focus on little experiments with cells when your country is basically at war against fanatical terrorists and you are not with your family to protect them. I have definitely been learning a lot about Middle Eastern politics and society and it makes me realize just how ignorant I am when it comes to world politics and geography. I would definitely love to visit that region someday and meet the diverse people who live there! It has also made me very thankful that I live in a country in which mass terrorism is a very rare occurence; I pray that is stays this way here and that peace and calm might be genuinely and fervently sought out throughout the world.

B

July!!!

2006-07-09T22:39:00.000-05:00

Fun Stuff I have been up to lately...

Trip to the Anheuser-Busch Factory with my pals Aaron, Bill, Shu, and Shu's friend from out-of-town, Rachel. We went on a Sunday afternoon (which also happened to be the hottest day in STL so far this year!) and got the full tour of the factory!

Bill, Aaron, and Britney "horsing" around at the Budweiser Clydesdale stables.

The "lets take a photo of each other taking a photo" photo!

Of course, the best part of the tour is at the end when you get two free beers at the hospitality room. I sampled the Beach Bum Blonde Ale and Michelob Ultra spiked with Spykes Spicy Mango! They were both delicious. Here are Shu and Rachel enjoying their beverages.

Here are Bill and myself enjoying ours!

Fourth of July celebrations:
The same gangsters from above also celebrated the 4th of July together! We watched the fireworks from my rooftop, along with EVERYONE else from my building!

The weather looked ominous-rain and clouds, but the skies held out...

...until the fireworks started! This is evidenced by the dry butt spots where Bill, Shu, and Rachel had parked it during the fireworks display! Unfortch, I was not that impressed by the STL fireworks display, so next year I think I will go downtown to watch them and hopefully be more impressed. Go to Shu's blog to see her great picture of the display illuminating the arch!

After the fireworks, we enjoyed some beverages back in my apt...

...and Aaron got in touch with his retro side by trying on some of my sunglasses!

There is lots more to write about, but I will update more later this week. I will leave you with this hysterical video I discovered a few days ago. Someone put a lot of work into this and it totally paid off!

Britney, why haven't you updated your blog?!?!?

2006-06-26T22:05:00.000-05:00

Answer: laziness, I suppose. After getting home from Chicago, my head was still swimming with scenes from the concert and I couldn't decide how or what to describe and how much detail to go into and I was certain it would take me a couple of hours to write something provocative and profound about the whole experience. Then tonight I was sitting at the lab doing some experiments and I thought, "Why agonize about writing the post, just sit down and write it!" So here goes:

I had read about the concert a bit before going and was most anxious to form my own opinion of her "controversial" depiction of herself crucified on a discofied cross wearing a crown of thorns while singing "Live To Tell" in front of screens depicting scenes and statistics about the AIDS epidemic in Africa. I was not offended by the gesture, nor do I think it was meant to offend. In fact, I think the opposite was intended: to inspire people toward compassion! In between the sobering scenes of children suffering from AIDS in Africa, Scripture from the book of Matthew scrolled across the gigantic main-stage screen:
"For I was hungry, and you gave me food.
I was naked and you gave me clothing.
I was sick and you took care of me.
And God replied....whatever you did for the least of my brothers. You did it to me."
Though this aspect of the concert was definitely not even close to the pervasive and truly genuine social/spiritual relevance of a U2 concert, I do believe that Madge is concerned about the world's problems with war and AIDS and women's rights and she wants others to be aware, concerned, and actively involved in working towards solutions to these problems. And with how much $$$ she is making off of this tour, I hope she puts her money where her mouth is, and I hope her fans (including me) do the same! All this being said, it wouldn't really be a true Madonna concert if she didn't make some off-color remarks (about Bush, the audience, etc) provocative gestures (this is a PG-blog so I won't elaborate ;-0) or project polemical images (screens showing Bush, war, Blair, bin Laden, Hitler, Mussolini, etc).

OK, enough about the "controversy", the rest of the concert was basically indulgent, body-moving, sing-your-heart-out, sweaty, sexy, retro/disco fun!!! She sang most of her new album (which I might have listened to 2-3 times the day of the concert) and many previous hits: "Lucky Star", "Like A Virgin", "Music", "Ray of Light", "La Isla Bonita", "Erotica", "Paradise (Not For Me)", and "Drowned World/Substitute for Love". Many of these oldies had been retooled for a disco sound, some good, some were disco-fried. My fave parts of the show were:
1.) Opener-Madge coming out of giant Disco Ball and performing sexy equestrian themed dances wearing Jean-Paul Gaultier designed equestrian/dominatrix outfit
2.) Like A Virgin-awesome acrobatics and provocative dancing while on a studded leather merry-g-round saddle with x-rays of her broken bones (from a riding accident last year) showing in the background
3.) Exciting acrobatic dances/displays to one of my fave new album songs, "Jump"
4.) Madonna playing electric rhythm guitar
5.) "Ray Of Light" cuz its such an awesome sing & she really rocked it and I thought her vocals sounded great on this one!
6.) The roller skating during "Music"
7.) Singing along to "Lucky Star"
8.) The Finale of "Hung Up", during which I called a bunch of friends and felt like I was in the biggest discotheque in the world!!!!

Complete Set List
1. Future Lovers
2. Get Together
3. Like a Virgin
4. Jump
5. Live to Tell
6. Forbidden Love
7. Isaac
8. Sorry
9. Like It or Not
10. Sorry Video Reprise
11. I Love New York
12. Ray of Light
13. Let It Will Be
14. Drowned World/Substitute for Love
15. Paradise (Not for Me)
16. Disco Inferno/Music Mashup
17. Erotica
18. La Isla Bonita
19. Lucky Star
20. Hung Up

So, then it was all over. I wanted to buy some schwag, but it was all WAY too overpriced, so I decided that my photos and memories were all that I needed and I headed out to my reserved parking spot (literally two minutes from the doors to the United Center!) and made my way back to my seedy motel and talked to my family and friends the whole-time about the concert. It was definitely one of the coolest things I have ever done and I will never forget it. Thanks for an awesome time, Maddy!

The rest of my time in Chicagoland was spent shopping in Chinatown and at IKEA and learning that driving in Chicago is a NIGHTMARE and is to be avoided whenever possible. Next time I visit, I want to stay in Midtown or Downtown and experience that part of the city. If you haven't already, check out my Madonna Concert Trip album on Snapfish.com (linked in the previous post).

B

Confessions...from the Madonna Concert!!!!

2006-06-15T23:05:00.000-05:00

So, I have just returned to sunny STL from my two-day trip to Chicagoland for the Wednesday, June 14 stop of Madonna's "Confessions Tour" at the United Center. Words can do not justice in describing the fantabulousity of this show! It was worth every penny (all ~12,000 of them!) that I paid! I will post many more details in the coming days, but I have created a photoalbum on Snapfish.com that can be accessed by clicking here and if that doesn't work, email me (britmoss@gmail.com) and I will send you an invite to view it. You have to do a super-short sign-up to view the photos because I have run out of album space on my flickr account and stupid Photobucket doesn't work with Mac. The photos were taken with my cameraphone because the tickets said that cameras were not allowed and I am paranoid, so I just took in my phone and used it. To see professional potos of the tour, go here.

If you want to see mucho higher quality photos, go here.

Stay tuned for more Madonna posts in the coming days and check out my updated previous post about what I did in the days preceding the concert.

B

Audio of Me Driving Thru Chicago

2006-06-14T18:28:00.000-05:00

Loft Living is the Life For Me!

2006-06-12T15:13:00.000-05:00

Howdy!

This weekend was really quite fun. Friday after work I went out to dinner with Shu and Melissa to Q-Doba in The Loop and then we decided to go back to Shu's place where we met up with Tom and watched the season finale of our (Brit, Shu, Mel but not Tom) favorite TV show, Big Love. Then we watched Moulin Rouge and sang along (loudly and off key:-) to every single song in the movie! After that we played video games and I fell asleep for a little while before going home at 3:30 AM...

Then I got up the next morning and got ready to go to the St. Louis Downtown Living Tour with my pals Heidi and Aparna. We took the MetroLink downtown and then walked all over Washington Ave. and some side streets taking tours of many of the loft condo and apartment buildings in the loft district. We probably saw at least 12 different developments, of which our favorite was definitely The Avenida lofts and Bankers Lofts which are both to buy, and of the for rent lofts, I liked the Paul Brown Lofts (which have a sweet rooftop pool with arch views!) and the Merchandise Mart apartments (which have a great sundeck and really cool two bedroom floor plans with reasonable rates!). After we were done touring, we were hungry and decided to have some appetizers at Kitchen K. We had the sweet potato fries with banana-guava ketchup and the chips and three-dips plates; it was quite delish!

Cool things about downtown living:
1.) Gorgeous lofts in beautifully restored turn of the century buildings
2.) Really hip restaurants and stores
3.) Cool art galleries

Not so cool things:
1.) Not yet a bustling place full of people
2.) Safety-I haven't adequately looked into this, but there are many homeless folks and some parts of downtown border not so nice areas of STL
3.) PARKING! Ugh...it costs a lot of $$$ to park

I am definitely considering the possibility of living in downtown in the next year or two, but for the moment I am staying where I am; I love the convenience of walking to work and living in the Central West End. But the uber-modern lifestyle offered downtown pulls strongly at my strings!!!

Then we took the Metro back and Aparna and I worked at the lab and I walked home just before the severe storms hit. In the middle of the lightning storm, a huge fireworks display went off in Forest Park; it totally scared me at first because all I heard was loud booms and I thought some power transponder was struck by lightning and I was gonna lose power. I still haven't heard what the purpose of the fireworks was, but it was kinda fun to watch the fireowrks compete with the lightning!

Movie review-"The Omen" Melissa and I managed to drag Shu (who doesn't like scary movies) to theater for this one, but none of us thought it was very scary. I really enjoyed it and thought the story was told well. That poor kid who plays Damien will probably be scarred for life though (I would never let my child portray the Anti-Christ!). I also watched "Adaptation" which is a semi-biographical Charlie Kaufman movie that stars Nic Cage, Meryl Streep, and Chris Cooper. This film had my complete attention the whole way through-I just couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next! It jumped genres and confused reality/fiction so smoothly-I loved it!!!

On Tuesday night I went out to eat at Aya Sophia with other first year students to celebrate passing our quals/finishing classes. The restaurant is owned by relatives of my pal Alex (pictured with his sister Tina) and has Turkish/Mediterranean cuisine. The food was absolutely delicious: we tried the appetizer platters, then sampled off of each other's entree's (mine was Bocha-seasoned ground beef, onions, and pine nuts baked into filo dough-extremely good!), and finished up with baklava and rice pudding! One of the highlights of the evening was the belly dancing: it is customary to praise the dancer by giving her money, so that is what Vince is doing in the picture below (his girlfriend Fiore is a good sport!). We had great food and fun conversation, and then I was off to go pack for MADONNA!!!!

Two Weeks: A Photoessay

2006-06-08T20:34:00.000-05:00

This was the night after the big qualifier exam. My pal Fiore had a great rooftop party and lots of yummy snacks and beverages. We vowed to not talk about the qualifier, but I am pretty sure that we talked(or more appropriately GRIPED) about it at least 65% of the time! (by the way, I found out that I passed!) The next day I finished up my rotation in the Novack lab and then had a three day weekend!!! Other fun activities ensued over the weekend and then I got to start in my new lab (David Piwnica-Worms group) on Tuesday!

I was getting bored last week, so I decided to dye my hair purple. I am sorta having separation anxiety regarding my spiky hair and I almost gave up last week, but my friends have encouraged me to stick with it, so for the moment I am continuing to grow it out. The most fun part is that growing my hair out sort of makes me feel like a hippie/rebel!!!

The paper about my angiogenesis research as an undergrad in Dr. Starkey's lab was published in the International Journal of Cancer!!! If you want a copy, email me and I can forward you the pdf.

On Saturday I went to the zoo with Aaron. The St. Louis zoo is quite impressive and we didn't have nearly enough time to see it all, so I will definitely be going back! The highlight had to be seeing huge turtles attempting to mate (see annotated, PG-rated photo)! Then we went and had burgers, fries, and beers at one of my fave STL hang-outs: O'Connell's. After that, we headed to my pal Tom's apartment for game night (where we learned the infamous salad bowl game!). On Sunday afternoon I went to a BBQ at my buddy Keith's place and then Aaron and I watched Pi (extremely strange movie with many cinematic parallels to his later film, a fave of mine, Requiem for a Dream) and Supersize Me (I thought it was very entertaining and creative; one would think that watching it might be an appetite suppressant, however I got hungry midway through and ate a bunch of honey-roasted peanuts while watching Morgan Spurlock puke up Big Macs).

On Wednesday night I went to Jazz at the Botanical Gardens with friends from church and we had a great time, but ended up having to sit too far away to really hear the music. But we had good food and fun conversation. Tonight, I tried to catch up with some laundry and then Shu and I watched the movie Sideways (really didn't like it that much). Well, I think it is past my bed time, so good night and have a pleasant tommorrow (ala Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon!)

B

P.S. Less than one week until me and Madonna take Chicago by storm. Do you think Chi-town is ready for the both of us?

School's out for summer! (I hope you're like me and can totally hear Alice Cooper sing this line in your head as you read it!)

2006-05-26T14:11:00.000-05:00

THE EXAM IS FINALLY OVER!!! It was actually much tougher and formatted way differently than any of us had aniticipated. Now we go into "hurry up and wait" mode while the professors grade the exam. After the test was over, I went over to the David Piwnica-Worms lab (where i did my second lab rotation) and officially joined the group! That means that this is where I will officially spend the rest of my time at Wash U (hopefully only four more years...). I am very excited to be in this lab and to be working on molecular imaging! Later that night, Shu and I went to a rooftop party to celebrate the end of exams with fellow Ph.D. students and then we met up with Melissa to go to the midnight showing of X-Men 3. I love the X-Men series of movies, but was kinda disappointed with this one. It was very much a brut-force action film with a lot of death and destruction; it seemed to me that some of the soul found in the first two films was missing. But I still enjoyed it and if you go see it, definitely stay for the scene after the credits!!!

Most of my time in the last couple weeks was spent working in the lab and/or studying for my qualifier exam, or finishing up final projects for my classes. I was able to get out and do some fun stuff though:
-Went to the Downtown art walk with my pal Heidi and then to Brennan's for a bottle of Moscato
-Seis de Mayo (cinco didn't work, so seis it was!)party at Monica and Kevin's place
-Yummy Chinese food with Shu, Melissa, and the Clark family and then a party at Shu's new apartment
-Picnic in Forest Park with church friends
-Watching some of my good friends graduate from Covenant Seminary
-My pal Suzanne and her pal Megan spend the night as they were driving cross-country back to MT; it was really fun to hang out and chat with them
-watched movies (memoirs of a geisha, american dreamz, wedding crashers), watched TV (this season i was hooked on desperate housewives, grey's anatomy, and big love)

Upcoming summer fun:
-MADONNA in three weeks!!
-Hopefully Phantom of the Opera in June
-Shooter Jennings concert
-trip back to MT for a week or two in August
-Shakespeare in the Park
-the MUNY productions this summer
-jazz at the Botanical Gardens
-rooftop parties
-swimming and sunning
-golf
-lots of reading (up first-The da Vinci Code), watching movies, listening to music, and hanging out with friends

I am really looking forward to this summer and am aiming to work hard, but to have lots of fun doing it and relish the fact that I have completed my first year of grad school!

p.s. check out fun pictures at my pal shu's blog

Coffee, coiffeurs, and qualifier exam...

2006-05-23T23:10:00.000-05:00

Here are some recent self-portraits. The last one was taken late last night whilst pulling out my hair after 5 cups of coffee and going over all my notes regarding eukaryotic replication and transcription (it is a pretty disturbing photo, so if there are any young children nearby, you may want to shoo them away before scrolling down). Two more days until the qualifier exam!!!

the internet is taking over!!!

2006-04-30T19:34:00.000-05:00

hello, hello!

classes are done!! woo hoo!! developmental biology grant is turned in!! woo hoo!! now i have mock study sections to review each other's grants, a final in my development class, and studying for my qualifier exam on may 25th. then i get to be a full time researcher!!

the picture above was taken at ben & jerry's free cone day! we went on tuesday afternoon and i had three cones: chocolate therapy, baklava (disgusting), and phish food (my reliable favorite: it never disappoints!). last week i was all about eating out: for three nights in a row, i ate out (with monica and kevin each time) at p. f. chang's (beef a la sichuan!), the majestic (grilled cheese and fries), and thai pizza kitchen (peanut pad thai). on saturday i got to see the LINES Ballet perform at wash u. they were excellent and my sister gets to study with them for a month this summer!!!

have you ever wondered if the internet is taking over society? well, i have proof that it is: after i turned in my grant on thursday (i had stayed up until 4 am working on it) i was wiped out and decided to order pizza. so i got online and ordered from papajohn's and had a pizza at my door within 40 minutes! they also gave me a free 30-day trial of blockbuster online and so i queued up 3 dvd's and had them in my mail box within 2 days!!! however, you needn't worry about me staying cooped up in my apartment with no need to leave: my car is too much fun to drive!

this weekend i went out with friends in my neighborhood, went to my pal corrin's bridal shower, and had friends over for a movie night. however, by today i was feeling wiped out with sore throat and headache and just laid low. i hope i am feeling better tomorrow.

music recs for this week: rhianna's s.o.s., red hot chili peppers dani, california, and better than ezra's juicy.

also, here are some recent pictures of me at work and hanging out with friends (shu's b-day and our trip to 3D IMAX):

"blah"gging and music recommendations

2006-04-19T23:40:00.000-05:00

i don't have a lot of time, but I wanna do a quick update. only a week and a half of classes left, but my faux-grant is due at the end of next week. it is a very time consuming project and i am hoping to get a ton of it done this weekend. most other class work has gone by the wayside and will be resumed after the grant gets finished. the topic of this grant is the modulation of embryonic drosophila primordial gonad cell migration by the wunen family of lipid phosphate phosphatases; i really like the topic, but it has proved to be more challenging than i initially thought it would be. my second lab rotation is going well and i am getting to do a lot of molecular biology, which i haven't gotten to do in awhile, so that is fun; i am learning all about bones and bone development from experts in the field!

social life: good and busy! i have been hanging out with shu and melissa alot lately and last night was shu's b-day, so we went out and partied it up wild-style (it was tons of fun!). i also got to hang with my buddy aaron this weekend and have a movie fest: we watched brokeback mountain (not what i expected: beautiful scenery that reminded me of home, but a story that i found to be very sad, especially regarding how the wives were treated, and poignant, but i think i went in with too high of expectations and was mildly disappointed with the acting) and sin city (cool cinematography and comic-book styling, but a bit too morally disturbing and violent for my liking). also got to hang with my friends from the stewart lab for a baby shower and eat dinner at the clarks house. went to an international student dinner and good friday service and also to easter service and a wonderful meal with the thompson family from church.

on tap for this weekend: end of class celebration friday night, dinner and ballet on saturday, and lots of working on my grant!

some random music recommendations: the yeah, yeah, yeahs; the dresden dolls; the eagles of death metal; and last, but not least, dave navarro's new group the panic channel

Dreams Do Come True, If You Shell Out Enough Money ;-)

2006-04-07T15:25:00.000-05:00

ON JUNE 14, 2006 IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS MADONNA IS GOING TO SEE BRITNEY MOSS LIVE AND IN PERSON (albeit angled kinda to the side of the stage and up in the nose bleeds; she will probably need binoculars to see me)!!! I can't even tell you how excited I am; it is going to be an awesome experience! Here I come Chicago!!!

B

Your Vote Can Make A Difference....

2006-04-04T19:43:00.000-05:00

please vote for your favorite britney mascot to become this month's profile picture; leave your vote in the comments section:

1.) labgrrl: britney wearing her lab coat and blue nitrile lab gloves while listening to madona on her ipod (singing aloud loudly, of course!) and taking bioluminescent images of cancer-bearing mice

2.) chicbrit: casual, but funky britney dressed for class, church, or crusin' in the 350Z

3.) britnasty: this girl is CRAZY! notice that she is a hybrid vampire/werewolf who has just come back from battling storm troopers and it looks like she'll need a few more stitches before rockin' the mosh pit

make your own south park character at: www.planearium2.de/flash/spstudio.html
if you do, please send me pics!

A Great Week Was Had By Me

2006-04-03T23:07:00.000-05:00

This has been a really great week full of good news and fun activities.

First off, remember that National Science Foundation fellowship that I wrote about last fall? Well, I found out this week that I got it!!! I really was not expecting to receive one, so it was such a wonderful surprise; it will pay me more than I am receiving currently and gives me money to present my research at and INTERNATIONAL meeting (now I finally have an excuse to get a passport!). This is such a huge blessing from God and it really feels like He is confirming to me my calling to be here pursuing my Ph.D at Washington University.

Other fun stuff: I went to a movie by myself for the first time ever! I went and saw The Libertine (starring Johnny Depp and John Malkovich). It was pretty strange and depressing, I wouldn't really recommend it unless you are a JD fanatic who has to see everything he makes (his acting is great as usual, but the character he plays is disgusting). On Tuesday I went with friends to a French Wine Tasting at a really hip new bar/lounge called The Maryland House. It just opened and the interior design is spectacular. I tried two of the wines (a white and a red) and thought they were pretty good, but I am by no means a wine expert and thus can't really describe them further. On Friday, some friends and I went and saw the Deep Sea 3D IMAX movie and then had dinner at one of my fave restaurants, O'Connells. That night I went to great coffee hour discussion at church where we discussed sex, relationships, and chastity. The panel members and some folks in the audience had a lot of great advice and insights and gave me a lot to think about. On Saturday, I did some painting in Clif and Corrin's new house and then Heidi and I went shopping and cruising around STL in my car (the weather was gorgeous so we could zip around with the windows rolled down and the music turned up!). Then Shu and I had dinner at the Clark's (whose hospitality has been incredible and much appreciated by me) and later hung out with Melissa and watched TV. On Sunday, I was a greeter at church and then got to go out to eat with friends at Talayna's pizzeria (which has a great Italian mobster-like persona!). It was a busy, but really fun weekend! Tonight I hung out with a bunch of friends at an NCAA B-Ball party at Scott and Heidi's place; I didn't really pay too much attention to the game, but did eat some great snacks and have some fun conversations.

As for school, I had a few meetings with profs last week and then had a grant brainstorming session with classmates. I have decided to do my third rotation in Deb Novack's laboratory and am excited to start that tomorrow. I am having major school motivation issues, so I really need to get over that and dive into the grant and other class-related reading. I think I am just so ready to be focused on research and hanging out in the lab that school seems like such a distraction. I can't wait for this summer when I will be full time research!

MADONNA NEWS ALERT! The self proclaimed Queen of Dance will be in Chicago in June and I am definitely going to try to get tickets!!! Web rumors say she will have three catwalks that project into the audience and that her set will include quite a few old and new classics mixed in with songs from the latest album! In other music news, I got the new Rob Zombie CD, Educated Horses, and have been surprised by it. It is quite different from his previous work and sounds to me like an opium lounge rock band; my favorite songs so far are Foxy, Foxy and Seventeen Year Locust and Death Of It All. I wish I could catch him in concert, but I don't think it'll happen...

Aright, I really should get to work on my grant or on Bible study prep (we are up to Galatians 3 and I just found Martin Luther's Galatians commentary online, so I am gonna read some of that). I am gonna give a final shout out to my parental units who are celebrating their 27th wedding anniversary tomorrow!

B

Back from spring break!

2006-03-26T21:37:00.000-06:00

Whew...I have lots to talk about, but I will try to keep it relatively short. I spent part of my spring break in Georgia visiting my sister and Kent. Some of the Highlights: hiking up Stone Mountain in Atlanta; seeing the Bodies exhibit of dissected, plasticated human bodies (extremely fascinating to get an intimate look at the intricacies of our incredible bodies-Chan showed me all the places she has been injured!); visiting Chanteal's boyfriend Bo at his laboratory at Emory; Thai food at Doc Chey's restaurant; Callaway Gardens with Kent and his parents; the Hills and Dales Estate tour and steak dinner in La Grange, GA; and going to church at Chanteal's church, Christ Church Presbyterian and then lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express. Whew!

At the beginning of this week I was really busy with school and catching up from spring break, but towards the end it was less hectic and I got to have dinner with my friends Bruce, Sarah, Lydia, and Rosemary Clark. Then I hung our with Shu and Melissa and we watched Bridget Jones. On Saturday, me and my car got hit on from a lovely, elderly gentleman who lives and my building and loves the purr of my 350Z (we were flattered!), and then Rita and I indulged in hot fudge sundaes at Crown Candy Kitchen, a St. Louis tradition. Ohh, I also got to sample Turkish Coffee with some of pals from school at the wonderful St. Louis Coffee Oasis; the coffee was great and the so was the baklava.

Very briefly, I will say that Kent and I are no longer a couple; it was a hard decision, but is for the best and has lifted a heavy weight of uncertainty off of both of our shoulders. We will definitely stay friends and both feel like we can each focus on moving forward in our respective lives in St. Louis and Georgia.

P.S. The below pics feature a scary creature coming out of a well, a geologist flexing his muscles at the quarry, and a shaggy haired hiker on Stone Mountain (I am really not liking having longer hair and am losing confidence that I will keep it growing, so don't be surprised if I show up with super-short hair again!).

One Year On Blogger

2006-03-12T00:39:00.000-06:00

Whew! This has been a long week. I didn't go to bed before 2:30 AM a single night this week and so now my schedule is completely messed up and I should be going to bed right now so that I will be awake and attentive for church tomorrow, but I am still awake and am obsessed with watching the weather reports for the STL area as we are having severe thunderstorms in this part of the world (complete with tornados and baseball sized hail!). For as along as I can remember, I have had a fascination with tornados and seriously thought about going on one of those storm-chaser vacations in "Tornado Alley", but have since decided that there are better places to spend vacations than in a minivan driving through rural Oklahoma. I had a test on Thursday and an abstract due on Friday and then showed my apartment to potential Ph.D students this morning. Then on Monday I am giving lab meeting presentation. I don't think that I have ever been as exhausted as I was by the middle/end of this last week. I am still having trouble sleeping at night (my brain will not shut off and allow me to get some REM!) and I have found that I am now most productive from the hours of 10 PM to 1:30 AM.

I had a lot of fun last weekend hanging out and watching the Oscars with my pal Heidi; I also got to go for Thai food with a bunch of friends after church. This coming week I am traveling to Georgia on Wednesday for some much needed vacation time! I will get to spend time with my sister in Atlanta and with Kent (and his parents!) in Carrollton. Though I will have school work that I need to do over the break, I am really looking forward to sleeping in, watching movies, eating out, and spending time with loved ones.

It has occurred to me that I have been blogging for one whole year already! I just looked back at my posts from my first month and had a wonderful, yet melancholy, walk down memory lane. It is incredible to think how so many parts of my life have changed since last year (new location, back in school, living by myself, new church, new friends, new furniture, different hairstyles, new relationship with kent, etc), and how so much is still the same (same friends, same relationship with kent, same phone number, same struggles). You might point out that there are some inconsistencies in those lists, but somehow, some things have simultaneously managed to change and stay the same. I have been contemplating life, career, relationships, and priorities a lot lately and it has been very challenging, frustrating, enlightening, and inconsistent. Inconsistent seems to describe me quite well these days; I seem to cycle through staunch determination, then utter confusion, and then apathetic existence. Sometimes this cycle can occur within a one hour time span! I am trying to trust God, to be diligent in prayer, and to suppress my selfishness (which can be awfully strong these days!). This phase of always changing my mind and never quite knowing what I believe, think, or feel can be really draining and I sure hope that it is an artifact of being in my early twenties, and thus that I will grow out of it at some point in the future. For some reason, it is often easier for me to voice all these feelings in the impersonal medium of email or my blog; when I talk about science or academic things, I feel like I have a certain eloquence and comfort in what I am saying, but when it comes to personal, intimate matters, I get nervous and reticent and feel like I am making absolutely no sense! I have so much to learn and pray that I will have a teachable attitude...

B

Orchids

2006-02-25T14:44:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures from the Missouri Botanical Gardens. They are having an orchid exhibition right now and my friend Shu and I went this morning. We had great fun taking pictures and enjoying the beautiful gardens. Afterwards we went for pizza at Racanelli's here in the Central West End. It was so great to be out of my apartment and enjoying nature! This afternoon I am going to hang out with my girlfriends from small group. Enjoy the photos and have a great weekend!

B

yummy!!!

2006-02-19T23:08:00.000-06:00

this week went by so fast! i spent a lot of time in the lab and have been getting some great results. if things keep up, we might even get a publication out of this!!! classes are alright; the lectures have been kinda confusing lately and so i am actually taking a break right now from re-hashing through a few of them trying to clarify some stuff in my brain. i have got some deadlines coming up for my faux-grant that has to incorporate topics from both my developmental biology and advanced cell biology classes; i have some general topic ideas, but i really need to get it ironed out into specifics.

saturday i was very lazy and didn't go outside all day because it was super cold here. i got to watch some olympics and have discovered my new fave event is the biathalon (cycles of skiing and target shooting). if i could compete in any winter olympic sport, i would choose this one: not only does it require endurance, strength, and speed, but also wicked hand-eye coordination and a cool gun!)

the above picture was from saturday night when some of my friends from school came over to my apt. to hang out. shu brought some delicious chinese food and monica & kevin brought yummy sorbet that came in the actual rind of the fruit it was flavored from! we watched "the order" and then played a really fun card game, dutch blitz, that shu learned in college. it was a nice low key night and i look forward to more wild games of dutch blitz in the future!

on sunday i went to sunday school and church services and then my pal, shaun, and i went to target and trader joes to stock up on food. then i came home and talked to kent on the phone and have been watching tv and doing homework. it has been an emotionally tough day: i have just felt drained and a lot of emotional/spiritual pain (i think i am kinda homesick right now and missing my boyfriend a lot). and it doesn't help that i am feeling a touch of a cold coming on. anyways, i am praying that i will be very productive in school and lab this week and spiritually humble, yet strong.

stay cool, my babies!
b

p.s. ohh yeah, in case you can't tell from the picture, i am transforming into chia-brit! yes, i know it is hard to believe, but i have decided to try a new hairstyle that requires me to grow my hair out a bit! ahhhhhhhh!!!! what am i thinking???? i love my hair short (and thank you to rachel for her very kind comment about my hair; sorry to disappoint you with the news of the slight hair growth, but i promise i will still strive for something bold and different!), but i kinda forgot to make a hair appointment and it just kept growing and finally i figured it was getting so long i might as well try growing it out now. i am going for a 60s retro style, but will consult with my stylist, paul, to see if he has any wild ideas. i will keep you all posted as to how it is going and whether i have the gumption to stick with it!

this just in: britney has finally blogged!

2006-02-09T14:35:00.000-06:00

this past weekend kent got to come visit in stl! it is certainly not easy being in a long-distance relationship and it has been over a month since we have seen each other, so we were so very excited for this time to spend together! he flew in on friday morning and i picked him up from the airport and then showed him around my apartment, neighborhood, and school/lab. that evening we went on a date to the st. louis art museum to check out some of the incredible artwork and to hear a fascinating lecture on "qumran and the dead sea scrolls". then we had dinner at wolfgang puck's restaurant at the museum! it was such an amazing night! on saturday we drove around the stl metro area, went to the mall, visited our friends bruce and sarah clark, and then had a bunch of my friends from church and school over for a game night. we played trivial pursuit and had a great time laughing, teasing, chatting, and eating! on sunday we went to sunday school and church and then out to lunch at a neighborhood greek restaurant with a bunch of folks. then it was back home to pack up kent's stuff and then back to the airport. it was a very emotional weekend and it was so hard to say goodbye again, but i am hoping to get down to georgia in march!

whew...i thought this semester might be less hectic than last semester, but so far it is keeping me on my toes! classes are going well, but require a lot of reading to try to keep up with the professors expectations. i have already given two class presentations, both of which went well. now i am focused on preparing a grant that i have to write for both classes; i have deadlines for that coming up the first week of march. lab work is going very well; i love my research and the people that i am working with! i have been getting a lot of data lately and am spending a lot of quality time with microsoft excel!

did ya'll see madonna on the grammy's? she has confirmed that she will be touring this summer and I WILL NOT MISS IT!!! mark my words, i will be there! i hope that she will be in atlanta or chicago so that it won't be too far of a trip. what else do i have to report??? if you aren't already a google gmail and google talk member, email me and i will hook you up with an invite. i love their chat feature and would love to chat with some of you! i hope that you are all doing well and staying warm this winter!

hugs and kisses!
b

Second Semester Start!

2006-01-17T21:13:00.000-06:00

Today was my first day back in classes at Washington University. I am excited to be back in school and in lab and back to a regular schedule again! This semester I am taking Developmental Biology and Advanced Cell Biology, as well as working in the David Piwnica-Worms lab. Lab work is going very well and I am quite excited to be doing molecular imaging again and am having a great time getting to know the people in this lab (there are probably ~15, so it is much larger than any lab I have ever been in). My parents are going to be back in town this weekend, so I am sure we will be out and about in the STL. Then in February Kent is coming for a weekend, so I have something fun to look forward to in the coming weeks. I am also going to be co-leading a Small Group Bible Study within the next couple months with my friend Jason, so I am really looking forward to that. I am also trying to devote myself to regularly working out at the gym so that I can become "freakishly strong"! (25 bonus points to the reader who identifies this quotation and leaves the answer as a comment on this post)

Blog updates: I finally updated you all on the rest of my Christmas vacation (see previous post), I updated my current music and readings sections on my side-bar, and I have updated my links.

The picture was taken when my family and I were visiting the Arch. I just happened to catch the plane when I was taking photos and didn't realize it until I was going throught the pictures on my camera later that day!

Me

BLoG uPdaTe

2006-01-16T18:33:00.001-06:00

Here is a post I wrote over a week ago and am just now posting:

Alright, I am finally getting a chance to update my blog with post-Christmas info! I am currently sitting in Carrollton, GA in Dr. Kent Ratajeski's office at the the University of West Georgia Department of Geology. How, you may ask, did I end up here? For the answer I must begin a few days before Christmas...The day that I left for Bozeman I called Kent, who was my boyfriend back home in Montana before I moved to Missouri (we broke up in March of last year, but had remained friends) and he surprised me by informing me that he was coming to Bozeman for Christmas. In the previous ~ month he and I had lot of serious correspondence and realized that we both had very strong feelings for each other still and really wanted to spend more time together, so I was so excited. He got to spend a week in Bozeman with me and my family and we even took a short trip to Idaho to visit my grandparents, aunt, and cousins who live there. We got to spend time with our great friends in Montana and just enjoy being in Bozeman again. It is such a great town filled with great people and I pray that I will have many opportunities to return for visits during my time in graduate school in St. Louis. Kent flew out on the 27th back to Georgia and I left for STL on the 28th (Kent's B-Day). I had just enough time to clean my apartment and get my haircut before my (for free!!!)parents and sister arrived on the 30th. As soon as Chan got off the plane we went to the St. Louis Art Museum to see the special exhibit of the Royal Tombs of Ur, which was awesome! It is incredible that these relics have survived multiple millennia so that we can have a peek into ancient history from our 21st century world. The next day we went to the free St. Louis Science Center and took in the IMAX movie "Mysteries of the Nile". I am such a fan of IMAX and this movie did not disappoint; it chronicles the journey of a group of modern day explorers/thrill-seekers and their bid to travel the entire length of the Blue Nile, from source to mouth (a feat that no one had ever survived to accomplish). The scenery and the story were beautiful and I highly recommend that you see this film if your local IMAX is carrying it. Then we went downtown and went up the St. Louis Arch (630 feet high!) for a bird's-eye-view of the city. Then we ate at P.F. Chang's and took in some shopping before going home to ring in the New Year in high-style (in our pajamas drinking Moscato and eating Cheetos!). Other fun things we got to do were church and Bible study together, more shopping, and touring the Anheuser-Busch brewery (also for free) where we got to see the famed Clydesdales and sample some of their fine beverages! On Tuesday, mom and dad took off driving for ATL and Chan and I flew from STL to ATL. We have been shopping, meeting some of Chan's friends and adopted family, and exploring the Atlanta area (via many wrong turns and almost-accidents!). Last night Kent came into ATL from Carrollton (about 1 hr. driving time) and had lasagna (prepared by chef-extraordinaire Chanteal) with our family and Chan's boyfriend, Bo. Kent and I came back to Carrollton and have been running around the town and the university getting ready for the classes he is teaching this spring and will meet up with my family again in ATL tomorrow to go to the Georgia Aquarium and then to church at Christ Church Presbyterian on Sunday (after which I leave for STL). It has been a whirlwind of a vacation so far, but it has been so much fun and brought many blessings and much happiness.

pre-christmas update (soon to be followed by the post-christmas update!)

2005-12-27T19:34:00.000-06:00

i am finally back to my blog!!! these last few weeks have been filled with presentations, radiation safety tests, final exams, final papers, and very little sleep! i have new respects for the powers of caffeine! i think that both of my in-class final exams went well, but my final take-home test in molecular cell biology was killer! i spent many, many, many hours working on it this weekend and finally finished it monday morning at 12 AM, though not to the level of perfection that i was aiming for, so that was disappointing...but, it is over now and i can quit worrying about it and just relax and enjoy my christmas break. i am currently on the plane to bozeman right now...it has been five months since i have been back home and i am absolutely ecstatic about seeing my family and friends; this is the longest that i have gone without seeing my parents. this morning i was completely surprised and elated to find out that kent is coming to bozeman tomorrow (tuesday) for a whole week!!! it is going to be so great to reconnect with him. on this trip i am also going to go visit my grandparents, aunt, and cousins in salmon, idaho. i will post again after the break with all the juicy details of my trip back to bozeman.

december highlights, besides school work ;-)
1.) christmas concert at church with the choir and an orchestra! rita and i went and got to hear our buddy jason sing a beautiful solo.
2.) i went to dinner at bruce and sarah clark's home in st. louis-bruce is the brother of my pastor in montana. it was such an encouraging and fun visit and i am looking forward to getting to know them and their daughters better.
3.) white elephant gift exchange with my bible study pals-i gave out an eyeball candle and received a crazy book! it was a good break from all the studying i had been doing.
4.) lab christmas party with the piwnica-worms lab, who i will be working with jan-mar. we had great food, fun conversation, and even played trivial pursuit!!!
5.) science and faith discussion group-we read philip johnson's book "reason in the balance" and discussed the first part of it. i thought it was a great book with many intriguing observations and ideas and lead to some great discussion amongst our group!

Nearing the end of my first semester in grad school...

2005-12-02T13:25:00.000-06:00

...now only 11 more semesters to go!
Well, we have had our first snow flurries here in STL! It has been pretty cold lately and I have had to bundle up to walk from home to school. Tonight it is really cold and walking home reminded me of walking across campus at MSU to get to my trusty old Buick Park Avenue after a long winter's day of class and lab. I really miss home... So I have a bunch of random things that I want to write about, so here goes:
1.) So I read on the bozemandailychronicle.com that my doctor in Bozeman, Terry Edwards, got to see the derrière of each member of Motley Crue when they requested Vitamin B12 injections to stave off hangovers!
2.) I got to go to a really cool concert a few weekends ago with my awesome friends Lexy and Nate. The first group was was a band called Emory Salem who categorize themselves as "folktronica"; they consisted of an acoustic guitarist/singer, computer/keyboardist, and singer/visual aesthete (my favorite part was when he began knitting a scarf while singing!). My friends are actually good friends with this band! The second band was a group called Wolfy who reminded me quite a bit of the band Keane. It was great to get out and hear some live music and meet some new people.
3.) My pal Aaron and I drove to Atlanta for Turkey Day! Chanteal was the hostess with the mostess and we got to spend thanksgiving with her, her friend Tabatha, and my great friend Kent! After our delicious meal we went to see the movie "Walk The Line" and loved it; I would definitely recommend it! It was only after seeing it that I found out that my mom and her sisters (who had a country-western band when they were young) got to open for Johnny Cash and June carter-Cash in Great Falls, MT in like 1968 or 69!!!! How wild is that?!?! My mom was a drummer and for awhile their lead singer was none other than Tanya Tucker! Other fun Atlanta things: eating at Benihana, going to Piedmont Park (where I snapped the above photo) to soak up some sun, hanging out with Chan and her friends, watching crazy celebreality TV on VH1 and MTV, Aaron and I getting our butts kicked by those Georgians Chanteal and Kent when we played Trivial Pursuit, and going to the IKEA MEGASTORE (which was absolutely awesome and could easily steal my paycheck out from under me!). It was a long drive, but it was fun. The night that I got back from ATL, we had tornado watches in STL city!
4.) Tonight I went and saw "Rent" with my friend Shu. It was alright,but I didn't think the songs were that great and didn't really get into it. Shu and I then had coffee and now I am procrastinating by typing this random novella on my blog.
5.) School-I only have two weeks left of my first semester! I will have two finals and then I get to fly home to MT to chill (literally) with my peeps up in the B-Z-N! It will be a much needed break!

OK, I am going to do some reading now. Keep it street!

B

confessions...

2005-11-15T20:23:00.000-06:00

so, i fell off the face of the planet for awhile, but no worries, i have reentered earth's atmosphere and find myself back safely on the ground and recovering from being in microgravity for many weeks (i wish!). the last couple of weeks were spent finishing a national science foundation grant application, a lab meeting presentation, homework problem sets, an in-class molecular cell biology exam, a take-home molecular cell biology exam, an in-class nucleic acids exam, and numerous written critiques of journal articles. ohh yeah, and lab work in between! whew, grad school is definitely a crazy busy time! the amount of work we get assigned is so overwhelming that i was getting kind of getting discouraged, but i got some good results at the lab that helped perk me up and renew my excitement in science!

i last posted before halloween, so let me update you all on my social life since then. on halloween night, aaron and i watched one of my fave movies, queen of the damned, and then we met up with friends at the central west end halloween street party. there were some totally crazy costumes, but i was pretty lame-o and went as a homicidal psycho maniac (they look like everyone else!-ala wednesday addams in the incomparable addams family movie-erica should remember this movie well because she and i watched it well over 15 times as kids and even tried to recreate the mamushka knife dance scene with plasticware!). i have been to see the movies "jarhead " and "pride and prejudice" and watched a bunch of movies on tbs and fx and re-runs of that 70's show and king of the hill (these are turn my brain off activities!). on many friday nights i am so wiped out that i just hang out at home relaxing and going to sleep early; pretty wild and crazy, huh? in other exciting news, i became a member at memorial presbyterian church on sunday; i am also participating in a science and faith discussion group that i am very excited about. we are starting by reading through phillip johnson's book "reason in the balance", and then we are going to read through dr. jack collins' book "science and faith: friends or foes?". aaron bought this book for me for my birthday and had it autographed by dr. collins, who is one of his professors. a few weekends ago we went to hear dr. collins speak about this subject and i got to meet him briefly. i can't wait to dive into these books, i am just going to have to be diligent about making time to do the reading in and amongst my school reading assignments.

madonna news! her new album, "confessions on a dancefloor", is out today! i was going to buy it today, but didn't get a chance to go to the barnes and noble on campus, so i will get it tomorrow. i have considered buying it off of itunes, but i just love having the actual cd and liner notes to add to my collection of madonna music, so i think i will go with the buying the actual album (i am so old-fashioned!). it is a really cool house/dance album that is much deeper and introspective than music traditionally found in this genre. i am so excited that madge has totally brought purple, my fave color, back into the limelight! in honor of this monumental occasion, i wore purple shoes, a purple shirt, and purple hair today! speaking of hair, i really need a haircut. my last haricut, by paul at lemon spalon, was pretty funky: it was shorter on one side and transitioned to longer on the other side. i don't know what to do next, but i am thinking that something kind mohawkish would be pretty cool, but i have to think about it some more. i also really need to bleach highlights in my hair because i haven't done it since i moved here and now my hari is completely au naturel and i just don't know if i can deal with that! anyhoo, i will post when i finally make a decision about what i am going to do, and maybe i will even post pics! anyhoo, i have droned on enough tonight, so i will quit typing and let you get back to more important things.

word!
b

p.s. in the spirit of "confessions", i thought that i should confess something that will shock those of you who know me well and takes a lot for me to fess up to. so here it is: ever since i moved to stl and got basic cable, i have been watching country music tv. pick yourself up off the floor and continue reading...it seems that there is a big rock'n'roll/country infusion going on and i have a new found appreciation for a muscial genre that i had previously considered so egregious! i have even detected some punk infusions in country! what, you may ask, is my favorite "country" song? well, here is an itunes link to little big town's boondocks; it is a very roots/americana/country sound and something about it just strikes a chord with me. wow, i can't believe that i have just admitted this to you all; i know i am gonna hear from some of you!

PUNKINS!

2005-10-23T20:45:00.000-05:00

Hey!
Here are the magnificent pieces of fine art created by Britney, Rita, and Katie (from left to right). I kinda just started carving and somehow got an ogre who has been named Kroeger the Ogre. Rita also made us a delicious pumpking lasagna and Katie baked pumpking seeds from our carving carnage. Happy Almost Halloween!!!

B

TGIF!!!

2005-10-21T21:22:00.001-05:00

Hey!

Well, Fall is arriving in STL! This pic was taken of the beautiful colors in Forest Park from my camera phone when I was sunbathing last Sunday afternoon on the sundeck. The weather has been really beautiful here, but the last two days have been rainy and cool, kind of a nice change and now I can start digging into my winter wardrobe! Lately I have been spending a lot of my time working on an NSF grant that I am applying for and trying to keep up in school and lab. My last test turned out pretty well so that was a big relief.

Last weekend I went to see In Her Shoes (which was a good movie about sisters and reminded me how much I love my sis!) with Rita, Katie, and my friend Shu. Then we went to the Pinup Bowl, a hip 50's themed bowling alley/bar. Then I came home and Aaron came over after he got done working and we watched The Incredible Hulk. The next day I had to do some homework and work at the lab and I was bumming pretty bad since I couldn't be back in Bozeman celebrating Bob and J-Kwon's wedding, so Aaron took me out to eat at P.F. Chang's (the food was excellent!) and then we went and saw the movie Domino. On Sunday I went to Sunday school and church and then met up with friends afterward for lunch. Then Aaron and I hung out on the sundeck studying and soaking in the beautiful sunshine! On Monday night I got to go to Bible Study and meet John, the adorable brand-spanking-new son of my friends Joe and Rebecca. It was such a treat! This week we are going to have Bible Study at my apartment!

What else do I have to report? Hmmm...Last night I got to watch my fave girl, Madonna, on Dave Letterman. She is so funny and always so in-your-face; it cracks me up. Dave even convinced her to get on a horse for the first time since she was thrown off and broke her arm a few months back, and they went riding throughout the streets of NYC! I managed to find a download of her first single off her upcoming album and it totally kicks! The whole album is dance/electronica music that is getting rave reviews by the critics. As I mentioned before, I am totally digging the TV show Commander In Chief, but am not too excited about Alias this season. I have heard rumors that this may be the last season. Tonight after school I went with Rita and Katie to the grand opening of our new H & M store at the Galleria; they have some great clothes there and I spotted some leather pants that I would have loved to try on, but there were seriously 20 people in line to get into the dressing rooms and I do not possess that much patience!

Alright, well I am pretty wiped out, so I am going to get in my PJs and crawl into bed and read about eukaryotic transcription machinery!!!

B

White Wedding

2005-10-11T16:32:00.000-05:00

Jacque and Bob
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

Howdy!
This coming weekend Bob and Jacqueline will become Mr. and Mrs. Woodenshoes (Klompein for all you Dutch speakers) back home in Bozeman. I am so sad that I cannot be there to celebrate with them. This picture was from the bachelorette/21st Birthday party that we threw for J-Kwon before I left for STL; we let the boys come hang out after we had done all the girly-stuff. I am sure that they will have an amazing wedding service and a totally rockin' reception; I wish I was there to request some really great music for the DJ to play. Here is what ears at the Woodenshoes Wedding Extravaganza would packed with if DJ Britnasty was there:
Sugar by Trick-Daddy and Ludacris (u iz nazzzty, kwon!)
More Human Than Human by White Zombie (cuz itz a partyin' kinda song)
White Wedding by Billy Idol (who doesn't love billy idol?)
Hot In Herre by Nelly (when its time to be freaky on the dance floor)
Like A Prayer by Madonna (madonna is my favorite and it wouldn't be a britney music list if madge wasn't on here)
and to top it off, Slow Motion by Juvenile (j-kwon will get this one!)

I wish I could be there with you all of you to celebrate, but know that I will be there in spirit and will be thinking of you all the time this week. I am really missing my MT home and friends and family these days and I am so thankful for cell phones so that I can keep up with my loved ones!

Well, I had a test on Monday in my nucleic acids class. I spent ALL weekend studying; the amount of material on this test was probably equivalent to 2 or 3 tests as an undergrad! We were given an unlimited amout of time in the classroom to work on the test and I was in there for 3.5 hours. I am just hoping for the best. The last test I took in my molecular cell biology class turned out very well for me, so that was a relief. My life hasn't been too exciting in the last week+ because I spent most of my time studying, writing papers, preparing presentations, etc. A couple of weekends ago I got to hang out with Rita and Katie; we went out to Brennan's and Luna on a Friday night to have drinks and chat. It was fun to get out and be social. Aaron and I have had some great study/dinner/movie time and a few Sundays ago we went to lunch after church to a Thai place with Jason, Lexy, and Nate. I love the awesome variety of restaurants in the city and if I wasn't a poor graduate student, I would probably eat out all the time!!!

Upcoming events: getting my hair cut this afternoon, molecular cell biology retreat, pumpkin carving with rita and katie, hanging out with my small group/Bible study friends, etc. Tonight I am going to watch this cool new show on ABC called "Commander In Chief" (Geena Davis plays the first female President) and then study. I will update again soon.

Stay cool my babies!
B

Quick Update

2005-09-28T21:40:00.000-05:00

I just finished working on a presentation that I am giving for our lab meeting tomorrow from a paper titled, "A General Strategy for Selecting High-Affinity Zinc Finger Proteins for Diverse DNA Target Sites". The methods on this paper were really cool! I have been reading a lot of papers lately for my classes and am praying that I can keep up with the reading load. At the lab I have been working in our Biosafety Level 2+ room infecting cells with lentivirus (an unharmful relative of HIV) in hopes of getting my cells to turn off specific genes to see what effect this has on their growth and on their telomeres (the ends of chromosomes).
We have had a lot of rain lately in STL, so that has actually been a nice change. Fall is definitely in the air and I can't wait to watch the beautiful color changes in the trees across the street in the park and am intending on picnicking there with some friends this weekend. Well, I am back to homework, sleep well and have a pleasant tomorrow!

B

I really should be doing homework...

2005-09-23T19:27:00.000-05:00

...but instead i am writing on my blog and watching one of my all time fave sitcoms, That 70's Show! The picture is taken from the sundeck on the 16th floor of my apartment building. It is looking east toward downtown and the Arch. Click here for another eastern view, western view, southern view.

I had my first test today. I took the in-class portion this afternoon and now have the weekend to work on the take-home portion, as well as catch up in my other class! I didn't get much sleep this week and am feeling wiped out, so catching up on sleep will also be a priority. I was so mentally fried that I have decided to take the evening off and my friend Aaron called me and we are going to go to a movie. I wish that I could go to a movie every weekend; it is one of my favorite pasttimes! We are trying to decide which movie to see, but there are so many good ones right now: The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Corpse Bride, Lord of War, The Constant Gardener, etc. I will let you know which one we saw and give my review.

my parents are visiting chanteal in atlanta this weekend and should be arriving as i type this. i am so jealous because they are going to ikea tomorrow! i think that if st. louis had an ikea my paycheck would spend way too much time there.

lotsa love,

b

long live rock'n'roll!

2005-09-20T22:14:00.000-05:00

well, i had just written my best blog entry to date and hit post, when lo and behold, the stupid internet ate my post and all my wonderful witticisms! so, due to time constraints, you all will have to get the cliffs notes version of my former post. i am currently watching the rockstar finale and am putting my money on jd! i will update with more info when it is finished. i spent my first b-day away from my family last week, which was kinda tough; thankfully my cool lab mates got me a cake and we celebrated my 22nd at work. i spent the rest of that day trying to finish a homework and two papers i had due last week. school is keeping me super busy, but i think i am getting the hang of it again.

what else have i been up to? well, two weekends ago my friend aaron and i went to see a local theater troupe perform my fave shakespeare, a midsummer night's dream, in tower grove park. we bought wine and picnic items and had so much fun! the next sunday a group of us went to have vietnamese food after church and it was delicious!!! this past weekend i went to dinner and a party out at covenent seminary and then aaron and i came back to the central west end and met up with rita and katie for drinks at brennan's, a great wine/cigar bar a few blocks from my building. i love sitting outside and taking in the sights and sounds of this neighborhood! then on sunday, after sunday school and church, a huge group (20+) of us went to a pizzeria and enjoyed good food and great company! it sure makes the hectic life during the week easier when i have such fun to look forward to on the weekend. i really thank god for blessing me with great new friends here in STL and for being able to stay in touch with my awesome friends from home.

well, it turns out that i have a new roommate! as i was heading out to bible study last night, i spotted a wood roach in my shoe closet! i was absolutely horrified and so after i the study, my buddy jason came over and helped me search for it, but we didn't have any luck. i am thinking about demanding he pay half the rent, but i don't think my apartment complex allows me to sublet, dang...

results are in: jd fortune is the new lead singer of inxs!!! i can't wait to hear their new album and see what becomes of my favorite contestants (jordis, mig, suzie, etc). it sounds like they are going to do another season of rockstar, but didn't give any more details. i want your thoughts: if i had a decent voice and were going to try out for this new season, what song do you think i should sing? leave me your vote by clicking the word comments directly below this post. i can't wait to hear what you all think!

rock on!
b

My Neck Is Kinda Sore...

2005-09-06T21:18:00.000-05:00

This is me doing pilates! Wait, that's even more unlikely than me being possessed by an evil spirit! Actually, my awesome sister took this pic when we visited the City Museum in STL. This is the actual cross from outside the STL hospital where the young girl who inspired the Exorcist movies was treated!

I am now a board-certified, licensed graduate student. My two classes, Molecular Cell Biology and Nucleic Acids & Protein Biosynthesis, are already full-on. I had a homework assignment due today and am reading my way through a pile of papers. This weekend was really fun. I went to a wedding this weekend at my church (congrats Caleb and Aimee!) and then my friend Aaron and I headed over to the Missouri Botanical Gardens for the Japanese Festival! We met up with Rita and her friend there and walked around taking in the sights and sounds and eating green tea ice cream! When it got dark, the Japanese Garden was lit with candles in paper lanterns and peaceful Japanese music played softly throughout; it was such a beautiful experience and I can't wait to go again next year! On Sunday morning I went to Sunday School and then was a greeter at church. In the afternoon I did homework and lab work. I spent most of Monday studying, but got to take a break to go to a movie and then to Bible study.

In other good news, my friends Ingrid & John and Mindy & Ryan have recently become engaged! I am so excited for them and wish them all much love and happiness. Also, my good friends Jacqueline and Bob are a little more than a month away from their nuptials; I am so sad that I will not be able to be in BZN for their wedding, but I will be there in spirit!

Later,
B

Are those 100% cotton?

2005-08-29T00:44:00.000-05:00

Hi!
First off, the pic is from when Chan and I visited the City Museum in St. Louis. What I thought was so funny about this pic is that it looks like I was actually getting up close and personal with the tighty-whities, when in truth I was a few feet away!

Well, I wanted to give you all a quick update via "Da Blog"! This week I spent time working in the lab and going through graduate student orientation. On Friday night, the senior graduate students threw a party for all the incoming grad students, complete with a DJ and plenty of food and beverages. On Saturday I played 9 holes with a few of the other first-years who like to golf. The course wasn't in the greatest condition, but we had lots of fun. I didn't play the greatest, but God graciously granted me a few good shots to remember my how I could play in my glory days! Later that evening I had some friends over to watch a movie and eat my first batch of home-made ice cream! On Sunday I went to Sunday School and church services and spent the afternoon reading articles and working at the lab. In the evening I hung out with people from church and learned how to play the game "Speed Scrabble"! Classes start on Wednesday, so my official schedule will be sleep, class, lab, study, sleep, class, lab, study, etc. with occasional breaks to eat and check email ;-) Have a great week and don't forget to watch Rockstar: INXS on Tues. and Wed. nights on CBS (my other study break!).

Over and out!
B

P.S. Check out the new 2007 Jaguar XK here. I would love to drive one of these!!!

A Smorgasbord of Ramblings

2005-08-23T20:40:00.000-05:00

Well, another couple of weeks have gone by since I posted. Work at the lab is going well; my experiments aren't necessarily cooperating right now, but I am confident that they will change their attitude soon! My boss Sheila is leaving for a couple weeks to go to Taiwan and Vietnam, so I would love to have some successful results to show her when she returns. I started orientation yesterday and have already gotten to meet some fun new students; we have various orientation events up through next week and then we begin classes. I will be taking two classes this fall, along with working in the lab. I am getting kinda excited and anxoius to get into the classroom again (I am sure I will be swallowing these words in a few weeks!)
What other fun stuff has Brit been up to? Well, two weekends ago my wonderful sister, Chanteal, flew up from the ATL to the STL to see my new crib and hang in my neighborhood! We hung out at the botanical gardens (stay tuned for pics), were star-struck by the mummies at the St. Louis Art Museum, ran for cover during a severe thunder storm in the Central West End (CWE), got lost driving around down by the arch at night, sampled some delectable desserts at Bailey's Chocolate Bar with my pal Rita, brunched with friends from church, and we got to be kids again when we explored the incredible city museum (this place had an indoor artificial cave system that was so realistic it blew my mind!). Needless to say , God blessed us with a great time and it was very refreshing for me. This last weekend, Rita and I went to hear my pal Abhi deejay Indian dance/techno music at a CWE club. On Sunday, I went to church and grabbed lunch with a friend at a really cute coffee shop that reminded me of being back in MT because it had such an outdoorsy theme. I had to run to the lab for a few hours that afternoon and get ready for our lab meeting. That night, I was invited to dinner at the home of a few Covenent Seminary students from church; we hung out there for awhile and then went back to the CWE and hung out with a bunch of other people from church. I had a great time conversing and getting to know my new church family.
Other tidbits: I am still totally digging RockStar: INXS and watch it pretty religiously. My faves are MiG, Jordis, and Suzie and I think that Suzie and MiG have the best chance at actually winning the gig. MiG stole the show last week with Peter Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your Way", which he did acoustic, accompanies only by himself on the piano. This week's performances, which I just watched, we all pretty good, with the surprising exception of Jordis's "Dream On", which she didn't rearrange a bit to better suit her voice and you could tell that she wasn't feeling it. MiG got to sing an original that he wrote and was looking very snazzy in a very Dave Navarro/late 80's Michael Jackson pop-rocker look. Ty and Deanna wrote a song that Deanna performed very well, and Ty sang "Proud Mary". He is a good performer, but I think his voice comes off too vibratto at times. Suzie and JD (who I usually don't like) gave really solid performances that I think really showcased how well they might fit in a group like INXS. Marty is still too scary and serious; he is definitely not mainstream. Thank you for going along with my rock critic fantasy, your check is in the mail and will be arriving shortly.
Finally, I am reading a book right now that I would highly recommend. It is by Donald Miller and is titled "Blue Like Jazz". It is sort of stream-of-consciousness with a logical progression and is so relatable and thoughtful. I will post more as I read more, but so far, it is an honest look at the culture of modern christianity and the church. More later...
Alright, I am heading off to sleepy land, so all you boys and girls get a good nights rest and update me on your life with a comment or email or call if ya get the chance.

B

Wash U. Gangsters

2005-08-07T15:27:00.000-05:00

Well, its official: within two weeks of moving to St. Louis, I have become a true gangster! Well, I guess more of a "lady of the night" who pays no heed to prohibition laws! I have always wanted to have a period photo taken and my wish came true when the Stewart Lab Group (who I started working with last Monday) spent Wednesday at Six Flags St. Louis! I am really enjoying being a part of that lab; the research is extremely interesting and everyone in the lab gets along great and are very fun to work with.

On Thursday I went to coffee with Rita at a local coffee house and then we had drinks at a local wine bar called Brennan's. There are so many coffee houses, restaurants, and bars in my neighborhood, it will take me my whole time here to visit them all! Yesterday I worked at the lab and then ran out to Costco/Target and discovered that the person who parks next to me in the garage has door-dinged my car five times! After recovering from my heart attack, I had to leave them a note and am going to find out if I can switch spots. This morning I went to Sunday School and church services (the Sunday school is doing a very intriguing study on the book of Revelation, but I am coming in on the tail end of it) and then went to brunch with Rita at a place called La Dolce Via. I had delicious pancakes and hashbrowns. The rest of the day has been cleaning, laundry, and many phone calls.

I am expecting a busy work week because I want to get as much done as possible because my sister is coming to visit this weekend!!! I am so excited and we are going to have so much fun together. In a couple more weeks I think I will be getting visits from J-Kwon (who will be driving through back to MT with a new car) and Suzanne (who will be driving back to school in GA). It will be so good to see them again!

While this week has been full of fun and excitement, it has also been struck with tragedy. Some friends of mine, the Bloem family, at Gallatin Valley Presbyterian in Bozeman just lost their son and brother, Nicholas, a marine serving in Iraq. My heart mourns with them and I pray that Christ would grant them "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding" (Phillipians 4:7). Please keep them in your prayers, and all of our men and women serving in Iraq, as well as their families.

B

My New Apt.

2005-07-30T11:35:00.000-05:00

Well, I have finally gotten around to posting pics of my apartment; you can take the tour here. I have decided that my apartment is styled retro-modern with a russo-asian flair. I am very pleased with how things turned out. My apartment was furnished mostly by the good folks at Target; Kmart; Bed, Bath, and Beyond; Linens'N'Things; Wal-Mart; World Market; Value City Furniture; and the Don and Dorothy Moss Fine Home Furnishings Store. In the future, I would love to furnish my home in B & B Italia, Huppe, Weiman, and FEG, but I am quite happy with what I have now! We spent almost the whole week shopping around for furnishings and putting them together and hanging picture in my apartment. Yesterday my dad went golfing in the morining and my mom and I walked over to the medical school and met Dr. Sheila Stewart, whose lab I will begin working in on Monday. I am really excited to be working in her lab and to learn a lot more about telomere biology. Later that day, we walked down the block to the cinema at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel and saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I enjoyed the movie, but was most excited by a preview I saw for a new Tim Burton movie called Corpse Bride that looks very funny. Then we went to the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park and were there until it closed at 9 PM. I was so excited because not only did we get to see ancient Egyptian artifacts, but we also saw works by Gauguin, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Degas, Renoir, Rousseau, Rodin, and others. We only made it through one level of the three level museum. Anyhoo, don't forget to watch Rockstar this coming week (this last week had some really good and really crappy performances and in the end, the band decided to get rid of two of the contestants instead of just one).

B

We Hopped All The Way To St. Louis

2005-07-27T23:59:00.000-05:00

0721051720.jpg
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

Hi there, boys and girls!

I have arrived in the great city of St. Louis, MO in one piece, but sans giant jackalope (I know, I am just as disappointed about that as you are!). This great pic of my mom was taken on my camera phone at Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it is a giant "drug store" that takes up a city block in small town SD and is home to restaurants, kiddie activities, collectibles, drugs, cowboy attire, and photo ops galore (in other words, a tourist black hole that sucked my mom and I in for about 45 minutes of our trip to Middle America). The next day we also visited another great South Dakota tourist trap, The Corn Palace! Yes, you heard correctly, those crazy South Dakotans have actually constructed a "palace" out of corn and other local crops; the inside has a basketball court/special events center, and get ready for this, a gift shop!!! While my mom and I made these little pit stops in my car, my poor dad was driving his truck and pulling the U-Haul carrying all of this material girl's material possesions. Unfortunately, the large load he had to pull meant that his air conditioner would cause overheating and so he couldn't use it. He had to drive on the freeway in the 100 degree weather with his windows down and shirt off to keep survivably cool. I owe him big time!

We arrived in St. Louis on Saturday morning and spent the afternoon unloading the truck and uploading my new apartment. We then went and ate some food and explored the area a little bit before coming back to the apartment to put together furniture and unpack boxes. I will have much more apartment commentary in my next blog update, but I will tell you that I absolutely love my new place! On Sunday my parents and I attended church at Memorial Presbyterian Church across Forest Park from my apartment building (about a 5 minute drive), which I had researched online before moving here. It is a beautiful church built out of stone in a neo-gothic style with gorgeous stained glass windows. It was a very Christ-centered service and the worship music was a balanced mixture of old hymns with contemporary hymn music and great singers and musicians. The people I met were very friendly and genuine and there seems to be other graduate and medical students who attend the church. I have already been invited to a few small groups and am going to lunch with one of the gals (who is going to school at Covenant Seminary) on Friday. I am really excited to get to know people there and get involved. That night my parents and I had dinner with Rita, my student contact here at Wash U. We ate at a restaurant a few blocks away from our apartment building (she also lives in the Parc Frontenac) and went on a walking tour of the Central West End and the hospital complex in which the medical school and research labs are located. I am so excited to begin working in lab and to be taking classes again!!!

The rest of this week has mostly been spent driving all over the metropolitan area looking for items to fill up my apartment and then putting together said items. Other items of interest: today we rode the elevator in my building with Georgia Engel (who played Georgette on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and more recently had a recurring role on Everybody Loves Raymond). I believe she is in town performing in the musical Mame at The Muny, the largest and oldest outdoor theater in the country, which is in Forest Park across the street from me! We might try to get tickets to go tomorrow night!

Well, I will take apt. pics tomorrow and post them for you all to see. Until then, keep it real, my babies!

B

Rock Star: INXS

2005-07-13T11:58:00.000-05:00

Well, this has been the summer of Britney-themed reality TV! First it was “Hit Me Baby One More Time” on NBC. This show catered to the 80’s-early 90’s music lover (moi!) and showcased bands like Tommy Tutone, The Knack, Vanilla Ice, and Haddaway performing the song that made them famous and then a cover of a recent pop hit! Then the audience got to vote for their favorite act of that episode and award money was donated to the performer’s charity of choice.

And now music reality TV has achieved nirvana with Rock Star: INXS on CBS. On this show, 15 rockers are contending to be the new lead singer of the quintessential 80’s/90’s rock band, INXS. Former lead singer Michael Hutchence (a brilliant vocal talent) died in 1997 and since then the band has been searching for and trying out new front men and women. Here is a list of reasons why this show rocks
1.) Rock music! None of that lame music that often shows up on those other music-themed reality TV shows; so far on RS:INXS we have gotten hear the rockers sing songs from groups like Blondie, Nirvana, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Pat Benatar, The Black Crowes, and the Doors.
2.) DAVE NAVARRO! He has been my favorite rock musician for about two years now and he is one of the co-hosts of RS:INXS. He sits with the band and gives input to the contestants and will be doing some jamming with the band. I love that he is always so positive and funny! If you have noticed my links section on this blog, you will have seen that I frequent Dave’s blog and the blog of his new band, The Panic Channel, and their lead singer, Steve Isaacs. Anyway, I love Dave and am so excited that he is playing a major role on this program!
3.) INXS! These guys have some of the greatest rock songs out there and are working on a new album (which the winner of RS:INXS will sing on). Plus, from what I have seen on the show so far, they seem quite intelligent, fun-loving, and really care about the contestants and helping them be the best rocker they can be!
4.) Three Times A Week! Not only do I get to watch it on Mon., but also on Tues. and Wed.! Now that I am hooked (after only two episodes!), I will probably be planning my social life around being able to watch this show (or tape it when unable to be at a TV). Thanks, CBS!

Now it is time for me to pick favorites and make predictions. After episode 1 & 2, my faves were Jordis (a soulful singer with a versatile voice and cool rasta hair!) and Ty (who rocked the song “Cult of Personality” and has an awesome stegosaurus mohawk). Last night Jordis bravely sang the Nirvana song heart-shaped box and made it her own. She has such an incredible voice and cool presence; she totally blows me away. Ty’s song last night was “Heartbreaker” by Pat Benatar and his energy and talent are infectious. Other faves were Mig (covered The Kinks), Heather (covered Jefferson Airplane), and Daphna (The Doors). I will even admit to you all that this was the first time that I ever voted online for a reality TV show contestant (if you don’t count voting for locations for Where In The World Is Matt Lauer? In like 1998).

Anyhoo, regarding things in my own reality show, my parents had a get-together at our place on Monday night and we all had tons of eating dessert and looking through the telescope. God blessed us with the most prolific night of satellites and shooting stars seen through the scope that I have ever experienced and he capped the night off with Northern Lights! That same day Kent and Liz and I golfed on the Par 3 course at Cottonwood and had tons of fun! This last weekend we launched rockets (because I figured it would be my last chance to do that in a long time) and we watched movies and had Chaos at the Clarks on Sun. after evening service. It has been an awesome week! Tonight I am going to cheer for my friends J-Kwon and Becky at their soccer game and then I am going to go to Billings on Thursday with my pal Ingrid (check out her blog here) to visit some friends over there.

Rock On!
Brit

Glacier Park Adventure!

2005-07-08T12:29:00.000-05:00

Hi, Everyone!
Well, we made it back safely from our Glacier National Park weekend and the two grizzlies we saw didn't even decide to use me as a toothpick! My "weekend" began on Thursday night when my mom and I drove my car to Salmon, ID to visit my grandparents, aunt, and cousins who live over there. We spent all of Friday there with them and then got up early on Sat. and drove up to Missoula, to meet up with Kent and my dad. Kent and I then drove up to the west entrance of Glacier, but traffic and road construction in the park made us very late for our meeting with Andy and Liz at Logan Pass. Thankfully, we made it and quickly got ready for our 7.5 mile hike along the Highline Trail over to the Granite Park Chalet. I have created a photojournal of our Glacier experiences that can be viewed here. If you click on each picture in order it tells the story of our trip. On Sunday we hiked up to the lookout and then back down to the road and camped at the Fish Creek campground. On Monday, we rented two-person inflatable canoe-like boats and floated a river in the afternoon, ate dinner in Whitefish, and then rowed upstream into Whitefish Lake to watch the fireworks from the water! The fireworks are actually lit off from an island in the lake, so we had an unbelievable view and the way the explosions echoed in the mountain valley was incredible. One of the lake homes we were floating next to spent thousands of their own dollars on some spectacular fireworks. We then headed back downstream in the dark to our put-in location and had lots of fun boating in the dark! The next day our caravan (Kent's car and Andy's truck) drove all the way through the Park on Going to the Sun Road and made many stops on a geologic tour of Glacier. This was made possible by the geologic expertise of our resident geologist, Dr. Kent Ratajeski, a field guide to Glacier, a pair of walkie-talkies, and the nasal-tinged narrations of Britney Moss. It was really fun, for me at least! We capped the day by eating fries and shakes at the Park Cafe just outside the east end of the park and making the 5.5 hour drive back to Bozeman.

P.S. We saw the grizzlies from the chalet we stayed at on Sun. after we got back from the lookout. Some folks with binoculars and spotting scopes found them and we spent a good 30-45 min. watching them. I never realized how light colored they can be! They were in a meadow beneath the chalet that is an infamous bear hang-out. In fact, a very famous book called Night of the Grizzlies by Jack Olson was written about this area after two women were killed by a bear there in one night in 1969. We carried bear spray at all times and took every precaution possible to protect ourselves, especially since the trail that we hiked had just been closed and re-opened due to bears that hung around the chalet and the trail a day or two before we were there.

As you can see, I've been a little busy...

2005-06-23T17:14:00.000-05:00

dino
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

Hi, Everyone!
The picture was taken by my friend Dave when we were in Alberta, Canada! I think it might be my mom's new favorite Britney picture. I have been enjoying my free time this month and have kept fairly busy. I have gotten to go on a few good hikes; click here to see pictures from my hike to Lava Lake. Over the Fourth of July weekend I am going on a trip to Salmon, ID to see my family there and then up to Glacier National Park to go camping with Andy and Liz and Kent. This weekend two of my friends are getting married in Bozeman and so we have events to go to on Fri. and Sat. for that. Tonight, I am going to the MT Shakespeare in the Parks presentation of The Taming of the Shrew! I have also been frequenting my buddy Jacqueline's soccer games, hanging out with my church family, playing space toys with the Clark kids, watching movies, and talking on the phone with my sister a lot!
My biggest excitement for today was that I received word that our angiogenesis paper has been accepted into the International Journal of Cancer!!! We have to make some revisions and resubmit those and then they will publish it. I am so excited about this and can't wait to see it in print!
Well, I will update when more interesting stuff happens in my life. Hope that you are all well!

B

I Am Finally At A High Speed Internet Connection!

2005-06-04T15:23:00.000-05:00

Hello, hello! Well, it has been awhile since I wrote and I have a lot of updates. I am done with my work for Dr. Starkey and Dr. Spangler. It is bittersweet: on the one hand it is nice to have some free time and to get to just hang out with friends and family, but on the other hand I am going to miss everyone there so much and am eternally indebted to them for the training and opportunities and friendship they have given me during my time here at MSU. I am excited to keep getting updates from them about how our research project is going and to get to share with them what sort of research I will be doing in St. Louis. Tonight my parents and I are going to a party at the Spangler home out in Pray, MT (south of Livingston) and I am really excited to see everyone again.
Last weekend I took a quick trip to Calgary, Alberta with my buddy, David Fouchard, to get some American Visa issues resolved for him. We ate some good Japanese food while there (mine was cooked, Dave's was not: he loves sushi!) and got to drive around the downtown area. I was quite impressed by how big of a city it is (over a million people) and how metropolitan it seemed! I hope that I get to go back some day to explore further. It was a lot of driving, but we listened to some good music and chatted the whole way. The rest of the weekend was spent at church and hanging out with my awesome friend Suzanne on Sunday night and with my awesome friend Jacqueline on Monday. I went in to work on Tuesday morning to make sure everything was going smoothly because Dr. Starkey was out of town and then met up with my mom, dad, and sis in town that afternoon after Chan's flight arrived. For the rest of the week, she and I have been hanging out and bonding together in illnes because we both contracted colds. We got to watch some ALIAS episodes together and have done some very productive shopping. Anyhoo, I will post some pics as soon as I load them into my computer and will update again as soon as I am near a fast internet connection. I love you guys!

Be cool, my babies!
B

P.S. I have found yet another plus to owning my Z Car: when I don't feel very well, simply getting in and driving it around lifts my spirits and actually seems to lessen my illness (seriously, I actually feel like I am healing from my illness when I am sitting in my black bucket seat and my feet are on my race-car inspired pedals and my hands are gripping the leather steering wheel, all while the fresh MT breeze is blowing through my cement-stiff spiky hair). Man, I really love my car!!!

Parc Frontenac

2005-05-23T17:41:00.000-05:00

Parc Frontenac
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

Hello, Hello! I am sorry for promising to post again last week and not doing it! I now promise to not make any more promises on my blog...

Anyhoo, the picture is of the place where I will be living when I make the move to St. Louis! It is a highrise apartment building in the Central West End within walking distance of school. I will have a one bedroom place (either floor plan D or K) and a reserved parking space in the 24-hr. attended parking garage (lab rat will be safe!!!). Check out their website for more information, floor plans, and pictures.

This weekend I got to go see Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith and it was awesome! My mom bought me eps 1 and 2, so I watched those before to refresh ourselves with the story and then saw ep 3 on Saturday afternoon with my mom, dad, and friends Dave and Suzanne. The tone was very dark and evil, much like ep 5 (The Empire Strikes Back), and did a good job of presenting the circumstances which lead Anakin Skywalker to become Darth Vader. My sister saw it on Wed. in Atlanta, and she is coming home next week and we are going to go to it again! That night we also watched one of my favorite movies from childhood (yes, I was a VERY morbid child) called "Death Becomes Her". I hadn't seen it in a very long time and was nervous that I would probably hate it now that I am older, but I still totally enjoyed it and laughed a lot! If you like dark comedies, then I highly suggest it.

What else is new? I hung out last night at Brian and Alicia Clark's home (my pastor and his wife) with a bunch of people from church. This is something we do almost every Sunday night after evening church service and it is so much fun. We eat and talk and play with their 4 amazing kids (Bruce, Brandon, Brianna, and Brooklyn). Bruce loves Star Wars and he drew me three Star Wars pictures which I immediately put on my fridge! My pal Gregg, who teaches philosophy at MSU, left for Switzerland today where he will be teaching all summer at a place called La'Abri. Last night was the last time that I will get to see him until I come home for Christmas, so he was my first official "good-bye"; it was kinda sad...

Here is a list of things that I am currently into in no particular order or categorization: Beck's new CD "Guero", Dave Navarro's book "Don't Try This At Home", watching re-runs of "That 70's Show" every night from 6-7 PM, driving my 2004 Nissan 350Z car (wait a minute, I am ALWAYS into that!), sending my sister video/picture messages on our cell phones, and reading the book of Kings to prepare for reading the book of Isaiah in my Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible.

Well, I hope that you all have a great day and please stay in touch: you can email, call, or leave me messages on this blog (even if you aren't a member of blogger, you can still leave me messages). Love ya!

B

Sorry I haven't posted...

2005-05-17T12:25:00.000-05:00

the_ring
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

The picture is of J-Kwon's beautiful engagement ring from her sweetie, Bob Klompien. Interesting fact, klompien is Dutch for "wooden shoe", so I have taken to calling all Klompiens by the literal translation of their last name!

Well, I haven't posted in a long time because I was concentrating on getting ready to move out of my townhouse on Greenway Ave. back to my parent's house for a few months before moving again to St. Louis. I got this done this weekend and also managed to go to two Survivor nights at the Rowe's, out to dinner with my girls before moving out, running a gazillion errands with my mom, watching Star Wars Eps. 1 & 2, and going to Sunday School and Church services. It has been very busy and exhausting, but fun. Tonight we have our last Tuesday night women's Bible study, and I am sad that it will be over, but definitely intend to keep praying for and encouraging the women who have been involved.
Work has been good; a student who will be working this summer has started and I have been training her. We are going to go to the microscopes today and try to get our new shutter and controller set-up at the laser in physics dept. I don't have lots of time, but I will post again tomorrow with info about my housing in St. Louis!

B

The Steel Arch

2005-05-09T14:44:00.000-05:00

The Steel Arch
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

Hi!
Today I am doing odds'n'ends around the lab and trying to visualize the latest version of our drug. I also have a touch of a runny nose/sore throat/headache thing that is wearing me out. This weekend consisted of more packing and now I only have my bed, half my clothes, my bathroom stuff, and a few other things. I think that Thursday/Friday will be my final time on Greenway Ave. I am really gonna miss my awesome roomies, but I have a feeling that I will still be hanging out there quite a bit. Yesterday I went out to eat with my grandparents and parents at Old Chicago to celebrate Mother's Day. I also called my grandma in Idaho and ended up talking to her on the phone for over an hour! I don't get to see her very often anymore, so I am going to try to take a roadtrip there this summer in June.
On Saturday night I went and saw "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" with my pal,Kent. It was a crazy movie, but was very entertaining. I especially liked Sam Rockwell in it; he played his smarmy character, the President of the Galaxy, quite well! And two of my other favorite actors, Bill Nighy and Alan Rickman, were also in it.
New music recommendations: The Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian, Razorlight, and Astaire. Click the names to be taken to their albums in iTunes Music Store.

Bob and Jacqueline

2005-05-04T13:21:00.000-05:00

Bob and Jacqueline
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

I hear wedding bells! My awesome friend/roomate/sister-in-Christ, Jacqueline Bielefeld, and her great boyfriend, Bob Klompein, became engaged this weekend!!!! They met soon after Jacque moved here from her home state of Maryland have been dating for over 1.5 years. Bob is the brother of one of our other roomates, Jackie. We are all so excited for them. The picture would give one the impression that I caught the actual proposal in action, however this pic was taken last summer when Bob was serenading Jacque at our apartment. The actual proposal took place on a picnic/hike last Sunday afternoon.

News in my life: well, yesterday I did a bunch of calling around to different apt. complexes in St. Louis and found some good leads. Then I ran some errands and came home and prepared my favorite meal: szechuan/thai peanut veggie sitr-fry! Then we had Bible Study and examined/discussed Eph. 4:1-5:2, focusing specifically on exercising our Christian virtues to guard our Christian unity. This group is such a blessing and a source of growth in my life and I pray that God is also using it in an awesome way in the lives of the women who attend. I think that leading this group and spending time with these women is going to be one of the things that I miss most about moving away from Bozeman. But I know that they are the type of friends who will be my friends into eternity. I love you girls!

Anyhoo, tonight after work I am going to a party at the home of the Microbiology Dept. Head, Dr. Tim Ford. Then I plan on reading my National Geographic Issue about poisons!

B

The Arch Baby!

2005-05-02T12:28:00.000-05:00

The Arch Baby!
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

Well, my move to St. Louis is quickly approaching, so I thought I would put up a picture of the view that you will all have when you drive into town to visit me (you are going to visit me, right?). My mom and I will probably drive down in June to look at housing possibilities and I have been researching it like crazy on the internet! Wash U. set me up with a student mentor who has been very helpful in this process. I am getting really excited to be living in the city and to be back in school!
This last week was a busy one. Besides working everyday, I went to an MSU Colege of Letters and Science reception, Gregg and Michael's weekly Wednesday social evening, had Bible study, Survivor night at Andy and Liz Rowe's new house, a housewarming party for the Rowes (their house is beautiful!), threw a surprise B-Day party for Megan, went to church, started packing, etc. I am still tired...but I had tons of fun!
Work this week will be more confocal microscopy because the laser is not running right now and we are waiting for a new set of filters for our mouse scanner. If I get some good pics from the microscope, I will ask to post them here. I am going to spend this evening preparing for Bible study tomorrow and hopefully getting some sleep!
B

Dinner at the White House!!!

2005-04-22T13:39:00.000-05:00

So, last night I had dinner at The White House! Before you get the wrong idea, it was at The Anaheim White House, but it was just as elegant as if I was at the White House in Washington DC! This special event was in celebration of our successful poster presentation at the American Assocaiation for Cancer Research meeting in Anaheim and for all the work we have done in the last year. We were picked up at 7 PM by a white limousine with white leather interior and driven 5-10 minutes to the restaurant. We entered the house/restaurant and waited a few minutes in the foyer where I learned by the photos on the walls that the likes of Brad Pitt, Jimmy Carter, Gwen Stefani, and MADONNA had eaten here in the past! We were seated at our table in a small room with champagne colored taffeta adorning the ceiling and were given a choice of three different bottled waters (we chose the Voss spring water). Our waiter was very friendly and made it a point to find out where we were from and why we were in Anaheim. We started with cocktails: I had an amaretto sour, Charlie had a Bombay Sapphire martini, and Jean had a Compari on ice. They brought out fresh bread rolls with a whipped butter that was to die for! For hors d'oeuvres: I had tossed greens in a passion fruit vinaigrette served in a rice paper nest (delicious!), Charlie had lobster ravioli, and Jean had calamari. We shared a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label champagne (which was excellent!) with our meals: I had the Tomba Rigatoni Formaggio, Jean had the
Romeo Gigli Salmon Chocolat, and I believe Charlie had the Versace Nodino di Vitello. After the meal, I was so full, but was told that I must have dessert, so I decided upon the creme brulee' and a Godiva White Chocolate capuccino. Then to top that off, our waiter brought us each a glass of port complements of the house in celebration of our successes. I was just blown away by the extravagance and elegance and deliciousness of everything. It was a definitely a night that I will never forget! Please go to their website to see how aesthetically creative the food preparation is and to see what the dining rooms look like!

Complete Low Down on the Trip to ATL:

2005-04-22T13:36:00.000-05:00

Click on this picture to view other pics from my trip to ATL!

I arrived in ATL on the 31st of March and my sis met me at the airport and we rode the train and then the bus to get to her house. That night we went out to dinner with one of her good friends from church, Liz. The next day we were planning on going to an outdoor, bohemian shopping area called Little Five Points, but it was raining really hard, so we decided to ride the bus to a nearby mall. And wouldn't you know that once we had been inside for a little while, it cleared up and was nice outside. We spent the afternoon hanging out at the Atlanta Ballet Co. studio and got to meet all the people that Chanteal always talks about on the phone. Then we met our mom and aunt Diana at the train station. We unloaded their stuff at Chan's apartment, and then took the bus to the AMC Backlot theater in Buckhead. This is a movie theater in which you are served dinner while you watch the movie! We saw Miss Congeniality 2, which was a good laugh, but not as good as the first one (mainly because Benjamin Bratt was noticeably absent!). When we left the theater, it was pouring rain and we had to walk to the bus stop. Once we got to the bus stop, the puddle on the side of the road was so deep that when cars drove by, the water splashed into the air over the covered bus stop. We stood behing it, but still got drenched!
The next day we rode the train to the CNN Center and looked around there for awhile before heading off to Olympic Centennial Park. From there we walked to Underground Atlanta and to the World of Coca Cola and had our soda-pop sampling fun! On Sunday we got to go to church at Chanteal's church (Christ Church Presbyterian) and got to meet some more of her friends from her awesome church (of which she just became a member!). In the afternoon we picked up a rental car and drove around the Buckhead area looking around at some of the beautiful homes.
On Monday we awoke very early and drove out to to Hilton Head Island, SC. We spent the afternoon soaking up the sun at the beach. The next day we drove about 45 minutes to Savannah, GA. This was definitely the highlight of the trip! We walked all over this beautiful, hisoric town seeing the town squares, the parks, the cemetaries, the churches, and the shops and restaurants. We ate lunch at the Pirate's House which is one of the oldest establishments in the state of GA (some of the buildings in this complex date back to 1734!) and I got in touch with my inner pirate. That evening we drove out to Tybee island and had drinks at a resort overlooking the ocean and then drove back into Savannah and went on a walking ghost tour of the colonial district! It was so much fun to hear about the spooky/kooky history of this city and we had a great tour guide. The next day we went to the beach again and then did some fun shopping in Hilton Head. We got up and left the next morning for Atlanta because the weather outlook was not so good for the afternoon. Once we got there we went to the Mall of Georgia where I found some great clothes (including an awesome Napoleon Dynamite shirt!). Friday we went to a very bohemian/punk area of Atlanta called Little Five Points that had some really cool stores in which I purchased some really cool stuff (I think I spent too much money on this trip;-). That evening we went to the Atlanta Braves opening home game against the NY Mets. The stadium also unveiled its new jumobotron which is the largest HD TV screen in the world and it was unbelievable. The coolest thing they showed on it was President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalyn who were at the game! We got free foam tomahawks which we used to cheer the Braves on to victory! Pretty soon I will have to become a die-hard Cardinals fan, so I better get rid of the tomahawk before the move to St. Louis. I came back to Bozeman on Saturday evening with a full suitcase and nice little tan! It was a great trip and I had so much fun with my sis/aunt/mom; girl trips are great! I already miss Chan and am hoping that she will get to come back to BZN in May, but if not, we will try to meet up in St. Louis when I move down in end of July.

World of Coca Cola

2005-04-11T13:24:00.000-05:00

coke in russia
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

Hi!
I am back from my trip to Atlanta and in the lab again. I don't have a lot of time right now to give a detailed account of the trip, so I will probably do that on Wednesday. But quickly, we spent time in Atlanta, Savannah, and Hilton Head Island, SC. One of the fun things we did in ATL was go to the World of Coca Cola. The memorabilia was really neat to see and it was fun to learn a little about how this popular beverage came into being, but the best part of the visit was the tasting room! We got to sample about 20 different pop flavors that Coke owns throughout the world. Some were very tasty, others were not, especially the Aperitif Bitter sold in Italy; that taste stayed with you long after it had gone down! The picture is of a sign advertising Coca Cola in Russian. It says "Drink Coca Cola" at the top and "Trade Mark" at the bottom. Anyway, I will update again soon with more details. Have a great day!

2005-04-08T12:25:00.000-05:00

I AM IN ATL!

2005-04-01T14:54:00.000-06:00

Hi!
I just wanted to give a quick update. I arrived in ATL last night and got to go out to dinner with my sister and her pal, Liz. Then we hung out at Chan's apartment with her roomie, Rachel. It has been very rainy, and we were going to go to an outdoor shopping place this morning, but we decided to go to an indoor mall because weather was bad. However, it turned out that the rain stopped soon after we got to the mall and we could have been outside! Ohh well...We are at the dance studio right now waiting for my mom and aunt to arrive from the airport. I have gotten to meet a bunch of her awesome friends and co-workers. Tomorrow we are going to the CNN center and the Coca-Cola factory and maybe the Centers for Disease Control (I hope!). Then on Monday we are leaving for eastern GA. I hope all is well and I will try to update again soon!

B

Four legged friends...

2005-03-30T21:56:00.000-06:00

brit&mouse
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

Today was mouse day at the Starkey Lab! After having a couple of relatively unsuccessful days at the confocal microscope, I got to spend all of today working with cute little SCID mice (one of which is on my hand in the picrure). SCID stands for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency and basically means that the mice have no immune system and thus we can inject human tumor cells into them and the cells will grow into a tumor because they don't get attacked by immune cells. This morning we injected seven mice with human breast cancer cells and injected two mice with our drug and then irradiated their tumors with the laser.

I am so excited because tomorrow morning I am leaving for Atlanta to hang with my sister for nine days! We are going to spend the first few days in Atlanta and then drive down to Savannah, GA and Hilton Head Island, SC. It will be so nice to have a long vacation! I am going to try to live audio/visual updates during my vacation on this blog, so stay tuned...

Last night we had our second Ephesians growth group. We had a smaller than usual group, but we had a great time. We celebrated our friend Amber's birthday with all sorts of great desserts afterward! Well, that's all for now. Catch ya on the flip side!

cool cells

2005-03-25T16:35:00.000-06:00

cool cells
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

This is a collage of four images that I have taken recently on the confocal microscope (click on the image to see a larger version). LysoTracker stains the location of lysosomes (cell garbage and recycling centers), MitoTracker stains the location of mitchondria (energy supply centers), and Syto 16 stains the nucelus of the cell (where most of the DNA is located). Dyad is our drug. I can't say much more than that due to proprietary issues. Anyhoo, I tried to take some more pics this morning, but was unsuccessful because one of the stains didn't work properly. I will retry on Monday and Wednesday of next week.

Last night I went to see the Ring 2 at the Ellen Theater in downtown Bozeman. I thought that it was cheesy (aren't all horror movies, though?), but enjoyable and it even made me jump and scream at one point! I don't have any plans for tonight, yet...

Tomorrow I am going to start getting things ready for my trip to Atlanta next week and for Bible study on Tuesday night. I talked to Chan on the phone this morning and she was sun bathing by the pool at her friend's apartment complex! Meanhwile, I had just walked across campus wearing three-layers of clothes! At least it is sunny outside!

Snowing....

2005-03-23T13:11:00.000-06:00

snowcar
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

Hi!
This picture makes me sick! My beautiful little sports car doesn't like to be coated with snow and its rear-wheel drive really doesn't like to drive on the snow, but I guess this is what I get for having it out in MT in March!

Sorry that I haven't written in a while. Last weekend was all about birthdays. We celebrated my Grandma Moss's b-day on Friday night with a pizza party and my dad baked a delicious German Chocolate cake for it! Then on Saturday evening my parents and I drove out to the Starkey residence to celebrate my boss's birthday. I pigged out on lots of carbohydrates (my favorite food group) and had a good time chatting with some of my co-workers and friends that I hadn't seen for awhile. That night I watched one of my favorite songstresses perform on Saturday Night Live: Gwen Stefani. I love her sense of style and her musical experimentation! Sunday was my dad's b-day, so we went to lunch at Old Chicago to celebrate. Afterward, I actually took a nap (something that I don't do very often) and it felt wonderful!

What else is new? I am reading Anne Rice's book "Interview with the Vampire". I started it on Saturday and am almost done with it. I also got the next two books in the series, which also happen to be the basis for one of my favorite movies, Queen of the Damned, which is about the vampire Lestat becoming a rockstar. The soundtrack to that movie is one of the best CD's I've ever heard and directly led to me winning tickets to a Nelly concert (that is another story for another time).

We have started the Tuesday night Bible study again and are studying the book of Ephesians. I have decided to focus on how Ephesians is a guide for Biblical counseling and focuses on the beautiful mystery of the church. It is such a blessing to be back into Bible study again and it was such a blessing to see all those wonderful women again.

Tonight I will be going to my roommate Jacqueline's indoor soccer game. I will try to give a research update later today or tomorrow.

Saliva Concet

2005-03-17T00:39:00.000-06:00

Post Saliva Concert Pic (Brit, Meg, Jackie, Jacqueline)
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

Here is a pic from a couple of weeks ago when my roomies and I went to a hard rock/metlal concert in Bozeman. We saw the band Saliva perform. It was a crazy concert because it was in a small venue that resulted in basically everyone being in the mosh pit. I spent the first few songs worried to death about little Jacqueline (on the right) getting crushed by the crazy concert-goers, but she pushed right back at them and held her own. We also had two guys end up acting as our bodyguards and protecting us from the rowdy types. But it was really fun and we all had a blast! Notice our sweaty clothing after the concert; it was very warm and VERY loud (Jackie's ears rang for over a day!). Also notice I got to wear my awesome skeleton torso/bleeding heart shirt; I figured this was the perfect occasion!

Back at the lab again, I gave six mice cancer today. It will probably take three weeks before we can see tumors growing under their skin. Also, today is Dr. Starkey's birthday, so a big happy b-day goes out to her! I spent a lot of time helping my sister get her blog updated and worked on my own: made linked words on my side bar profile under my picture and added an iTunes display so that you can see what is the last song I have listened to on iTunes when you check out my blog! And if you scroll down, there will be a regularly updated selection of quirky additions to my sidebar.

Well, I really should try to go to bed. I have had trouble sleeping lately, so I usually end up working on this blog 'til the wee hours of the morn, but tonight I am actually going to try to go to sleep before midnight. We are expecting a winter storm tonight, so maybe I will have snow pictures to show you all tomorrow.

B

A Cancer Cell

2005-03-15T13:52:00.000-06:00

cell
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

Here is a picture of a tumor cell that has incorporated our cancer drug. The red color is representing the signal the microscope received from the infrared (not visible to the human eye) dye attached to the drug we are developing. Stay tuned for more cool pictures...

I had a pretty good weekend. I watched a few movies (Ray, Hostage, and I Heart Huckabees), got to spend time with my mom, went to church, and just plain chilled. I had to come in and take care of some cancer cells and collagen on Sunday. Today I injected some mice with an antibody that prepares them to receive injections of tumor cells tomorrow and then Dr. Starkey and I autopsied three mice that we had given drug injections to so that we could harvest different organs and save them to do more experiments on later. This afternoon I will be preparing some cells for use on the microscope.

Have a great day!
B

Another Beautiful Bozeman Sunset

2005-03-12T13:37:00.000-06:00

sunset from the M
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

On Friday I was very busy at work doing rat tail collagen isolation. It is kind of a stressful procedure (mentally and physically), so to relax last night I tagged along with my good pals J-Kwon, Lizard, Andy, and Mary (mother of J-Kwon and Lizard) on a hike. We trekked up the "M Trail" (to get up to the giant M painted on the Bridger Mountains outside of Bozeman) to see the sunset. It was incredibly gorgeous, as you can see by the picture I took when we were at the top.

So yesterday it was in the 60's and this morning when I woke up it had snowed! I am going to take my friend Kent to the airport today and then go out to lunch with my mom and Liz, J-Kwon, and Mary. After that, I am not sure what I will be doing, but I have no doubt that I will come up with something. Have a great weekend everyone!

B

My 2nd Blog Post!

2005-03-11T01:58:00.000-06:00

perfect sushi roll
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

Today I felt much better, so I was able to go to work. I spent the morning taking images of cancer cells on the confocal microscope (I will ask my boss if I can post some of these so that you all can see what they look like). I also went to a seminar about physiology in extreme environments (such as earth orbit!) and then used Nair to remove hair from the stomachs of three mice (we do this because it makes seeing the luminescent tumor inside the mouse easier for our ccd camera). And in typical mad scientist fashion, I blew up a solution of sodium bicarbonate and dialysis tubing! Well, it didn't really blow up as much as it overheated and the glass beaker cracked, but it sure made a mess!

Anyhoo, the pic that I included today is of the perfect sushi roll that I created at my friend Gregg's birthday party a couple weeks ago. I like to fill mine up with wasabi (a very pungent and hot spice similar to horseradish which is sold in the U.S. as a green paste) and then cut them up and disperse them among all the other rolls so that a lucky few people get to unknowingly bite into a little bundle of flaming hot culinary delight! Is it wrong to take pleasure in the contorted faces of pain espoused by those poor, innocent sushi lovers? All I know is that I love to make sushi (even ones without excess wasabi), but I really don't care to eat it. However, I do love to eat wasabi with pickled ginger, so if my victims watch carefully at the next sushi party, they will probably see my face take on that same red-colored, teary-eyed complexion that they too have experienced. I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment!

B

My Very First Blog Post!!!

2005-03-09T22:20:00.000-06:00

flowers1
Originally uploaded by brimtoss.

Hi, Everyone!

Welcome to my new blog! I have been enjoying reading other people's blogs for some time now and finally decided that I needed one of my own. So please check back here regularly (and leave me a message by clicking comments underneath the post), because I am on the web all the time and chances are that I will update this site frequently.

Today was a beautiful day in Bozeman, but I was mostly indoors trying to recover from a cold. I didn't go to work today and mostly sat on the couch along with my roommate Jacqueline (aka J-Kwon) who has a really bad cold. When I gained a little more energy we sat outside for a while and then I did some reading and laundry and cleaning. I am feeling better tonight and think that I should be much more energetic by tomorrow, when I will probably be irradiating mice with lasers and using the confocal micrsocope!

Have a great day!