1. Call me. . .
huh?

2. what are you listening to right now?
nothing

3. what was the last thing you ate?
A grapple. It's an apple soaked in grape juice.

4. if you were a crayon, what colour would you be right now?
Dunno

5. how is the weather right now?
nice, warm but not hot (indoors). Frigging cold outside.

6. last person you talked to on the phone?
Eric

7. favourite drink?
boba, milkshakes

8. favourite alcoholic drink?
midori sour

9. favourite sport?
running

10. hair colour?
Black

11. eye colour?
same

12. favourite band?
do orchestras count?

13. favourite months?
spring and fall. not too hot and not too cold. perfect running weather.

14. favourite foods?
too many to list

15. last movie you watched?
House of flying daggers (not yet finished)

16. favourite day of the year?
none

17. what was your favourite toy as a child?
panda

18. chocolate or vanilla?
definitely chocolate

19. favourite smell?
food, or Jo Malone perfumes

20. who inspires you?
people who can work tirelessly all the time

21. number of keys on your key ring?
too many to count

22. favourite days of the week?
friday and saturday

Las Vegas

Had a crazy 3 days that just passed. Am finally home, trying to eat some peach yogurt with granola. After all those buffets, I can use a little healthy living.

Sunday
Took off for Vegas. On the way there stopped by at Jill and Levi's home in Hesperia. It's a very nice home with 3 dogs, an iguana and 2 tortoises. My kind of family. Consumed a very large steak a la Levi. Made it to Vegas about 7pm. Ate at the Paris buffet and went to Risque after dinner. Played slot machines till 3am. Came out even, which is good news for me.

Monday
Woke up late, had continental breakfast. Went to Las Vegas Premium outlets where I bought a dress and skirt from Ann Taylor. Went to the pool and then the spa at the hotel. Spent ~an hour doing various spa things like sitting in a steam room/sauna, hot tub and drinking cold water. Went to the seafood buffet at Rio. It was awesome! Definitely the best Vegas buffet I had! Definitely ate too much crab. Went to Palms, didn't feel like paying $20 to get into a bar so went to the Indigo lounge at the hotel instead. Asleep by 1am.

Today
Woke up late (again). Had same continental breakfast before starting on the trip back. Back in LA about 4pm. Momo and Atticus apepar okay and happy to see me. Had a quick snack before going to UCLA. Met up with Bob at his lab and his undergraduates in his lab course. Chatted with Bob, Tomo and Javier before heading off for choir practice. Felt lazy learning Sanctus of the Requiem so left UCLA at 9pm. Home at 9:45.

Long day ahead. I sense the injections of many many sea urchin eggs. Sigh.

Old Mentors

I opened my mailbox when I got to work again and saw a message for Bob. It had been a while since I last heard from him, I believe since his lab Christmas party last year. He wrote me to tell me that Elizabeth is graduating from med school and I should go to her graduation--which I already knew as she sent me an announcement. But it was good to hear from him again. And as usual he loves to give advice. He remarked on how EHD's back has been bothering him, which of course all of us already knew and hopes that I graduate soon! And he got an 8 million grant from NSF. Definitely a huge deal, and I'm happy for him. He complains that I never visit him though I go to campus every week. I think I shall stop by next week. And I can check out his new undergrads from the HHMI program he's running.

For those of you who do not know who Bob is, I credit him with the reason why I am in science today. If you ask me who is the single most important influence in my decision to pursue science as a career it would be him. It sounds like the stuff of movies but this is a true story--I swear. I arrived at UCLA in the Fall of '94 from NJC deciding that I hate science (particularly biology) and never want to have anything to do with it. My first bio GE class in psychobiology confirmed my decision; even though I did well it didn't really excite me to much. In the spring of that year I took Bob's HC25 class:The Human Genome--prospects for a super race? I figured that it was just another class to fulfill my GE requirements. But it was nothing like I had imagined. We studied science from the point of view of experiments, not facts, and that made all the difference. I believe the science in general is pretty badly taught, particularly at the pre-college levels. Teachers teach to the test way too much instead of teaching so their students can learn something and be inspired. And Biology is the worst of all, my non science friends tell me that it's all about memorization, when it doesn't have to be. It's about designing experiments, obtaining the data then interpreting it. Science became an adventure for me, always trying to figure out what experiment was done to solve a problem, rather than the standard regurgitating on an exam. In my 4th and 5th years as an undergrad I worked in Bob's lab, and we became very good friends. He's always been a great mentor to me, helping me with all my problems and looking out for me. He was the one who told me about the HHMI undergrad research fellowship, the NSF pre-doctoral fellowship, telling me to apply for these things. To this day he still gives me plenty of advice on coping with grad school and EHD (he was EHD's postdoc back in the day ~30 years ago). And I made some good friends in his lab, particularly Paul, who is now in New Zealand and is about to start a new job. It's funny when I look at his lab webpage now and only know Brandon and Anhthu. But that is the way science is, and that turnover is a good thing. You always get new blood, that's how you do great science.

My baby fish 

Friday Afternoon

Friday afternoons are always very laid back. People take off early to get a head start on their weekends. I am trying to work without a great deal of success.

Had an early celebration for Paola's birthday. AndyR bought her a cake from Patticakes. A very lovely chocolate cake with a cream center. hmmm......

Stefan will be having a party tonight which I will go. Party starts at 8pm but I certainly can't be the first one there.....Julie and I agreed on between 8:30 and 9 instead. I think Roger will go around that time too.

My mom will be coming back tomorrow, that means I need to make an effort to try and get the house a little cleaner so she won't complain too much. But she will take her cat back home with her, which is good for she stresses Atticus out.

Looking forward to my Vegas trip. Will stop by and visit Jill on the way. She says Levi will be planning on making his famous steak.....hmmm......the weekend of pigging out starts before we even get to Vegas!

I have more baby fishes than ever. I think there are ~20 in the little net breeder now. I promise some to Ping and Sagar when they get a little bigger. For now they have to be separated from the big fish or they will get eaten up.

Wordplay

The Washington Post Mensa Invitational
The Washington Post asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

Here are this year's winners.

1.
Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

2.
Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

3.
Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

4.
Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

5.
Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

6.
Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

7.
Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

8.
Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

9.
Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

10.
Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

11.
Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off these bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

12.
Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

13.
Glibido: All talk and no action.

14.
Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

15.
Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

16.
Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

17.
Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

And the pick of the literature:
18.
Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

Stay Happy!

Happiness helps people stay healthy
17:55 18 April 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Shaoni Bhattacharya
People who are happier in their daily lives have healthier levels of key body chemicals than those who muster few positive feelings, a new study suggests. This means happier people may have healthier hearts and cardiovascular systems, possibly cutting their risk of diseases like diabetes.

Previous studies have shown that depression is associated with health problems compared to average emotional states. But few studies have looked at the effects of positive moods on health. Now, researchers at University College London, UK, have linked everyday happiness with healthier levels of important body chemicals, such as the stress hormone cortisol.

“This study showed that whether people are happy or less happy in their everyday lives appears to have important effects on the markers of biological function known to be associated with disease,” says clinical psychologist Jane Wardle, one of the research team. “Perhaps laughter is the best medicine,” she adds.

“This is the best data to date that associates positive emotional feelings with good effects on your health,” says Carol Shively, at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, US. “We usually concentrate on things that are either bad or wrong, rather than good or right.”

Civil subjects
The team studied 216 middle-aged men and women living in London, UK, who are part of the ongoing “Whitehall II” study of thousands of civil servants, led by Michael Marmot.

This subset was asked to rate how happy they had been feeling in the last five minutes at about 33 points during their working or leisure days. At these points, their heart rates and blood pressures were also measured by an automated system.

Saliva samples were also taken from the volunteers at eight points during a working day and a leisure day to test levels of the stress hormone cortisol. On one occasion, the subjects were invited into the lab and given a “mildly stressful” task to perform while their biological responses were measured. The team controlled for factors such as socioeconomic position, age and gender to try to tease out the effects of happiness alone on health.

“The happier you were, the lower your cortisol levels during the day,” says Wardle. “For men, but not for women, the happier you were the lower your average heart rate was.”

Cortisol is a stress hormone of which high levels are linked to conditions such as type II diabetes and hypertension. And lower heart rates are associated with good cardiovascular health.

Sticky blood
In addition, individuals who said they were happy nearly every time they were asked had lower levels of a blood protein called fibrinogen following the stressful task. This molecule makes blood “sticky” and is vital in the clotting process, but high concentrations can signal future coronary heart disease problems.

Shively notes that scientists have theorised that emotions enable individuals to respond appropriately to the environment. “Here’s a great example of how happiness might be modulating responses to the environment. Happiness might be every bit as important as other emotions which get a lot more press, like anger or depression.”

Wardle adds that the way the brain functions during happy states “perhaps makes the little hassles and irritations of everyday life loom less large, so you don’t get such strong reactions to them”.

Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0409174102)

Whale riders 

Flying dolphin 

Feeding a dolphin 

California's state marine fish, the Garibaldi 

Am trying to work at home for the next few days. I need to analyze my data, write an outline for the paper (including what experiments I might need to do to complete it) and think about my committee meeting, which will occur 6/9, 2 days before my Verdi Requiem concert. I really like the Requiem, and in true Verdi fashion it is rather grand.

Went to dinner at Saladang with some labmates. Eric finds the place too trendy, but I personally like their crab fried rice. Had a good time, ate way too much food and probably consumed all the calories I burned during my run today.

Things that happened today...

A new pope was elected. I find the Catholic Church hierachy very interesting. Being not a Catholic I can't say too much on the matter, other than that he is too conservative for my taste. But supreme court justices have been known to surprise, so perhaps it might be the case here as well.

Went to a rather boring seminar by a very famous Harvard professor. Funny how what is interesting to one person can be incredibly boring to another.

Decided to enter the Caltech 1st Annual Vocal Competition. Not entirely sure what it would be like, but the cash prize is pretty good, and heck, it'll probably be fun! But the competition is next friday, which doesn't leave me much time to practise. I still need to find an accompanist--think I will ask Stefan, since he is a decent piano player. Haven't quite decided on the arias yet, but it will be a Mozart one from "Le Nozze Di Figaro" and an English or French one of a contrasting style. A few come to mind, but I have to decide soon.

Sagar tells me that Caltech (probably former?) grad student was sentenced to 8 years in prison. Well, he got the punishment he deserved for destroying all that SUVs. I'm guessing his Singaporean gf and him aren't together anymore--since it appears that he won't be available for a while...

Read about this PSC scholar from Singapore who had caused quite an uproar by making racist comments on his blog. Many feel that there shouldn't be any consequences for what he did because it is an infringement on his free speech rights. Now, I do believe in the first amendment and the right to express one's opinions. But when a person who is funded by a government (and is in some ways a representative of the country cos after all, you only give your best and brightest study-abroad scholarships) and makes such remarks, there should be repercussions. Perhaps revoking his scholarship would be a little extreme, but to not do anything just sends the message that one can be a racist and a bigot and get away with it. Punishment may not change a person's views, but not doing anything will definitely reinforce it. And I don't buy the explanation that it was all a joke and the comments were taken out of context. There is nothing ambiguous about commenting about the "irksome features" of certain ethnic groups. And there is NEVER an excuse for making such comments. And seriously, if you think that if you publish something on the web (even IF you password protect it) it won't get out then you must be real stupid. Good friend of mine talks about going back to Asia after her PhD because she will not be the target of racism there. If you do nothing when you see hate and sterotypes being perpetuated, then you have just contributed to the problem because you were there and didn't do anything. The people who said "well if he's just thinking about it and not acting out his thoughts then it is okay." But thoughts do turn into action (or inaction) when the circumstances arise, and that can be a very dangerous thing.

Sea World

Finally got to use the Sea World passes I got for my birthday last year. After waking up late and an even later brunch, we made it to the park around noon. First up was the dolphin show, in which we saw dolphins do various tricks like jumping really high and trying to get the audience wet. We saw most of the attractions, including the Shamu show (of course), the penguins, sharks, haunted lighthouse, polar bears, beluga whales. Of course did the overpriced sting ray and dolphin feedings, but what the hey, when am I ever going to touch marine mammals again? I have to say that I was very impressed by how the animals were trained. It was rather cloudy when I arrived, but eventually the sun came out and it got rather warm. Even the sunblock I lathered on myself did not prevent myself from getting slightly burnt. We had a great time, though we did get very tired towards the end of the day. Dinner at a Chinese Islamic restaurant before heading back to LA. It's the first weekend in a while in which Eric and I actually did something different. His job just doesn't leave him much time at all.

Stefan passed his candidacy today. We are going to Amigos for a drink to celebrate.

I think that I may have finally gotten a date for a committee meeting. But Ellen just wrote me back and says that my estimate of an hour for the meeting is VERY optimistic......:P Roger and I think that perhaps it should be 1 1/2 hours instead.

Also have my eye on....never thought I'd be one to wear strapless dresses, but this one actually fits well. 

My latest acquisition 

Getting back into the groove

A drawback of going on a trip, whether for work or pleasure, is that when you return you pretty much lose all momentum that you had garnered before the trip. Right before the SU meeting I was going through one of the most productive periods in a long time. After I returned however, it has been very slow and difficult for me to get back into things. I have been back in the lab for 2 days now, and all I have done is chat with people whom I hadn't seen in a week, catch up on old emails. I did organize my desk (somewhat) today, and was trying to organize more of the data that I had generated by not filed away. And yes, I did take the first step of organizing my committee meeting by emailing all the professors involved.

So I think that I really need to get back to what I was doing before I left--assign specific tasks to a day. I found that it worked rather well for me, to put down in my outlook program all the tasks I need to perform on a particular day. It took a little bit of planning the day before, but this way I was able to stay on track in the lab. And knowing that the weekend is so near really doesn't help.

Some of the things I would like to do more often are:
Read--(both academic papers and books). The plane ride to and from Boston got me started in reading a book called "The Secret Life of Germs" An interesting, albeit a little paranoid, foray into the world of microorganisms.
Run--yes I know that I am already reasonably active, but it had been really hard for me to get more than 3 runs in a week these days. Mostly inertia, not really for lack of time so much.
Cook--per my previous post, I'd like to try a new recipe a week. Looks like it will not happen this week :P

The choir started again (for me) yesterday with the Verdi Requiem. I am quite happy now that we are singing classical stuff again. That whole show choir thing just really doesn't do it for me.

Will meet Cheryl for dinner in Pasadena. Both of us like this little Japanese place called Kansai on Fair Oaks. Reasonably priced with authentic udons and stuff.

Movies this week:
Spanglish
Ocean's Twelve
Dying Young
My Boss' Daughter
Hotel Rwanda

Roger is done with his taxes. That must be cause for celebration!

Prestige, Pictures and other stuff

As you can see, I have finally downloaded the pictures from my trip to the SU meeting. And I threw in some others for good measure.

There have been some intersting discussions regarding the prestige of a school and how far should an institution go to upkeep it. Like Jean and Andrea, I went to St Nicks, and I feel bad that the students these days have a hard time getting into the top JCs because of the affliation the schools have with some other secondary schools. That doesn't seem like a fair system to me, but how far should St Nicks go to try to "get in the game?" I really don't know. What I can say is this--being in one of the most prestigious institutions in the world, I think that a person should not define oneself by the status of the school he/she goes to, but rather by a standard of excellence in everything he/she does. One cannot deny that a degree from a well known school confers certain advantages, like the ease of finding a job and getting a good postdoc. However, you also have to earn these advantages, and you do so by pursuing excellence. During my time in grad school, I have met all kinds of students. Some are truly amazing, and others are unimpressive. But those who are willing to work hard and learn leave with the knowledge of how to do good science, and that is more important than the name of the institution on the diploma. And that is something that you take with you for life. The institution may get you into the door, but your success will be determined by much more than that. And I think that schools often focus on the academics and forget about character. If a school is able to turn out good upstanding citizens, then I believe it has done the most important job. Just like I believe that goodness of character is the best trait in a partner, not job security, education and looks. Looks fade, money cannot buy happiness, but goodness comes from within and will always be there.

Have finally booked my hotel to Vegas. Will be staying at Ballys for the trip. I am looking forward to it. No gambling for me, but I have a good time watching the shows and eating the buffets and getting plenty inebriated. Eric and I haven't spent a real weekend together for a while, so it will be really nice.

It's EHD's birthday today. He's 68 years old. And he's still so productive. I wish I can be like that when I am his age.

One of the MBL's exploratory vessels 

Our dorm in woods hole 

My poster from the SU meeting 

With Momo and Atticus 

Coconut tarts. I was too lazy to do the egg wash, so they're a little pale. 

Gab's Farewell

We had a little party for Gab tonight after the talks. M went to a local supermarket and picked up a cake for him. It was surprising good for a supermarket cake. I think Gab was touched by our gesture and the CD we made for him. It's strange that he will be leaving for Naples directly after the meeting and we won't see him again when we go back to work next week. Seeing Jon and Cris and Takuya here was really just like old times when we were all still in the D lab. But after tomorrow people will go back to their prospective labs and their lives and we won't see them again for a long time. Personally I am thinking that this will be my last meeting so it might be years and years before I see some of them again.

I was sittng through the talks today and realised how, in a way, we are really fortunate. It's easy to forget what kind of a priviledged environment that I am part of. Usually I take it for granted that I am surrounded by some of the most intelligent people on the planet. The professors at Caltech are so good, and I had gotten to a point when I thought that it was how things are everywhere else too. Then I hear some of the other talks and realised that (perhaps I am biased, but I think not) EHD has these amazing ideas that no one else has, and that we are doing some of the most exciting research around. Strange isn't it, and T was telling me that the D lab is like heaven on earth. Funny coming from a guy whose last months before leaving was absolutely miserable. But I guess you can hate someone for their policies and respect the ideas that they have.

Woods Hole

I always forget how in a strange way I am always warmer on the east coast even though the temperature is much lower. Sure it is cold if I go outside, but all the buildings have such good temperature control that often I am actually warmer than I would be in LA. New England is beautiful. It is so different from the vast desert that is southern CA. There are trees everywhere, no leaves yet on many of them, but it is lovely. The buildings all have sloped roofs for the snow that comes every winter, and the style is completely different.

It's good to see old friends again. I was really glad to see Takuya and Cristina and Jon. It feels like things never change, except that now Jon and Cris brought along their own postdocs and grad students. It's like the children have all grown up and brought their own families with them. The meeting seems a little smaller this year, but the usual suspects are here, with a few exceptions.

Finally finished my poster for the su meeting after much stress. I thought that I was almost done with the thing like a week ago, when I decided to bring a poster. Figured that a little bit of editing here and there from my last poster from the SDB meeting and it would be done in no time. Then I started fixing figures and text and next thing you know, I was only printing it out yesterday evening. But finally it is done, and sagar and I sat around and cut it. That sweet guy is going to bring it for me to the meeting, and then I will bring it back for him after the meeting as he is going to upstate NY with Nahoko.

So I'm here now at Eric's pad with my two cats. He will catsit for me while I am gone. I think they are still a little apprehensive in the new environment but things are better. Momo has already started following me around. Atticus still hides in the closet but has come out for food. I'm sure they'll be used to it by the time I get back.

Think I will head to the Carlsbad beach for a run later. Looks like a nice day outside.