Charles has a licking problem

I've been looking at some YouTube videos since I embeded the last video. I came across this video and was laughing hysterically. I don't know why...maybe I've been locked in the lab too long. Hope it makes you smile.

From YouTube:

"My dog Charles has a licking problem. I wrote a song about the licking, which accompanies this video."

Women, Know Your Limits

Update 1

Okay, okay...Kevin and I are getting a puppy. It's taken us a long time, but Kevin will finally get his first dog. We're really excited--and I'm super nervous. We're going to have to change our lifestyle a lot, but it will all be worth it. We picked out an English yellow labrador retriever from a breeder who trains and competes his dogs in dog shows. Our puppy is a descendant of some champs. We thought about rescuing a dog, but we were worried about getting a sick dog (physically and psychologically) for our first dog. We need a dog that we know will be healthy and that will be an easier first dog for us to train and handle. This is a picture of our pup. He's seven weeks old and won't be ready to come home with us for another week and a half. He's really sleepy in this picture because Kevin wore him out playing with him. We're busy trying to get the house and yard ready for him and are figuring out the house training schedule, since puppies have to be taken out every two hours, day or night. I'm sure you will be hearing more about him.

As for other happenings...

Not much else is going on. We've got puppies on the brain. I'm trying to get plenty of sleep before that gets taken away, and we've had a lot of shopping to do. If you've got time, check out this video clip taken from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart where Jon interviews John Bolton!



I would like to see if Bolton sticks to his view that the president should always be fully supported by every aspect of the government if (I mean, when) Democrats take control of the presidency. Enjoy Bolton's convoluted reasonings and his display of blind loyalty that characterizes this administration so well. If you only watch part of it, watch the last 40 seconds of it where Bolton talks about job performance. Classic. How can there still be 36% out there?

The Miller family will be growing!

Kevin and I would like to make an announcement: After nearly five years of marriage, we have decided it's finally time for our family to grow. I took a lot of convincing but finally agreed. I'm nervous about how all of this is going to go, since I'm extremely busy with school and lab work, but Kevin has promised to take the extra initiative to make sure everything goes smoothly. He's even promised to be the primary care taker for the little one. Now that we've finally made the decision, I'm really excited and can't wait. We'll keep you all posted on how things go.

On to other things. I finally picked a lab (it only took my eight months)! I am the newest lab member of Dr. Michael Ferdig's lab. I'll be studying malarial genomics (Plasmodium falciparum) and drug resistance. I'm really nervous about joining this lab because I have very little experience in genomics. But I'm told by many trusted advisers that adding genomics to my background in genetics and ecology will make me highly marketable (for what, I'm not sure). Plus, Dr. Ferdig has numerous connections with the NIH, which will come in handy if I decide not to go into academia. The other lab members are great too and were a major reason why I picked this lab. I have a project to start on, but I'm also hoping to develop a more integrative project later on down the road.

I guess that's it for now.

Spring Break Chicago - St Patrick's Day

It was Notre Dame's spring break this last week, so we decided to take advantage of it and take a trip to Chicago for a couple of days.

The first day of the trip was mainly spent driving and sitting in traffic on roads under construction. However, we finally made it to the temple in North Chicago and were able to attend a session. We ended up buying an I-PASS for the toll roads, so we don't have to worry about saving all of our change anymore. It automatically withdraws the toll from our account so we can go though the fast lanes at the toll booths.

We finally made it to our hotel around 7pm, then went and got some dinner at Trattoria #10 (a nearby Italian restaurant). The food was good but more fancy than filling. After dinner, we just went back to the hotel and crashed.

Then next day we meet Becky's Great Aunt Harue and her grand daughter Katiana at the aquarium. She is a member there and was kind enough to take us through. It is an excellent aquarium, and we enjoyed our time there. Afterwards, we went to the Oriental Theater and bought tickets to see Wicked next month when my parents come out.

We then met up with Jim (a cousin) and went to the Sears tower and paid 12 bucks for an elevator ride to the top. It was a great view of the city and is one of those things you have to do once in Chicago.



We had dinner at Hae Woon Dae, a Korean restaurant that was very good and very authentic. It used a charcoal grill at the table to cook the kalbi. It was a fun little trip, although we missed the big parade in Chicago and dyeing the river green. We did find a fountain that had dyed green water, so we took a picture by it.

High Water Bill?

Water Bill... Read text first, then see attached video

Jennifer and Jim kept getting huge water bills. They knew
beyond a doubt that the bills weren't representative of their actual
usage, and no matter how they tried to conserve, the high bills
continued. Although they could see nothing wrong, they had everything
checked for leaks or problems: first the water meter, then outdoor
pipes, indoor pipes, underground pipes, faucets, toilets, washer, ice
maker, etc. -- all to no avail. One day Jim was sick and stayed home in
bed, but kept hearing water running downstairs. He finally tore
himself from his sick bed to investigate, and stumbled onto the cause
of such high water bills. Apparently this had been happening all day
long when they were not at home. Knowing that few would believe him, he
taped a segment of the 'problem' for posterity -- see attached video .
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FOX News

I found another link on Digg.com. This one is about Fox News and it's "fair and balanced" views. It's a compilation of a bunch of their headlines from TV and their website. It's entertaining to look at it. If you haven't looked at Digg.com before, you really ought to. It's a great website.

Check this out!

I found this fun link on Digg.com. It's a personality test of sorts that uses pictures instead of questions. Check it out. It's fun and only takes a minute. Link: http://dna.imagini.net/friends/

Should We Get a Dog or a Kid?

Have you seen this e-mail? Someone's been listening in on my conversations with Kevin...and then added pictures. At least you won't get in trouble for locking a dog up in a cage.

More Birthday Wishes!!

Happy Birthday to Ulli and Dennis!! Sorry for the late wishes, but our blog got locked for a couple weeks (they thought it was a spam site!). Not much is going on here. I'm just getting over a nasty cold and looking forward to Spring Break.

Kevin and I were able to go to a Second City show on campus. It's the improv group that got Stephen Colbert started. The show was called "Truth, justice or the American way." It was great fun.

Honestly, not much else is going on. I've been couped up at home trying to get better so I can start working in the lab again. I'm also still trying to figure out which lab to join. I did find a really cool way to hem jeans (short people will appreciate this). It's a way to hem called a Euro hem where you don't have to cut off the original hem; instead you fold the pant legs. I was totally skeptical at first but tried it out on two pairs of pants, and it works great. Plus it's super fast. Here's the link to a website that explains it really well: http://daciaray.com/. I know this isn't the most exciting thing to talk about, but I know a lot of my short, Japanese family members read this and might find the link useful.

Well, have a good week! Stay healthy!