Studies

So I thought I'd give you a little peek into what I'm doing in school right now. To give you some background, every week, I do work in a lab for a class studying the properties of viruses. This past week, we worked with a virus called T4 Bacteriaphage to observe the action of transduction: the transfer of non-viral DNA from one bacterial host to anther via a viral vector(carrier).

::

"In this lab, properties of transduction were tested for and observed. Horizontal transfer of non-viral DNA between two distinct strains of bacteria via bacteriophage infection was the ideal observation. We attempted to identify the correct titer that produces useful viral plaques. This was accomplished by taking a strain of bacteria that was antibiotic-resistant, infecting it with a virus known for its transduction capabilities, then infect a new antibiotic-sensitive bacterial strain with the same virus. Testing for levels of transducibility, dependent upon location of the tranducible material: host genome, plasmids, or unknown coliphages. We expect to see incongruity in levels of transduction. Because we are studying the transfer of non viral-DNA, we hope to see growth of the antibiotic-sensitive strain in the presence of antibiotic; indicating successful transduction of specific antibiotic resistance markers originally found in the first strain."

That's what I will put in my report, or at least a revised version of that. Basically what it is saying is that we'll grow a culture bacteria that are resistant to an antibiotic, then infect that with bacteria that will hopefully, during replication and transcription of the viral DNA within the cell, pick up some of the DNA that has antibiotic resistance. Then when we isolate that virus out and infect a strain of bacteria known to be susceptible to antibiotics, the virus will then, again, hopefully transfer some of its DNA again to the new bacteria wherein we can test to see if that bacteria will then grow up on an antibiotic media. That's what all the quoted stuff meant.

It sounds interesting but the thing about all of this is that there's really nothing to see ever. On occasion, you'll get to see some turbid(cloudy) mess in a test tube but really it's not all that great.

Anyway, I just thought whoever reads this might want to know a little more about what I do here at school. I'm pretty removed from everything most of the year so I thought that might be a kinda interesting for some of you.

Wesley & Helen (sequel to Wesley and Moises)

Wesley and Helen came down from seeing Evan last weekend. T'was glorious! They arrived and we all, Wesley & Helen and Sarah & I, sat down for some homemade Chicken tortilla soup (just okay sadly, but still filling). Then it was a quick jaunt over to campus for a tour of the Cal Poly and an impromptu visit to an art gallery furnished with graduating students' senior art projects. By the by, the weather was wonderful the whole time, a nice 75 degrees during the day and just chili enough at night... Great! Then we went downtown to walk and talk and stop in at Linnaea's for some music and dessert. I had a great time talking with Helen and i think it was also very nice for wesley to get to talk with Sarah too. All in all it was a very sweet time with some of my favorite people.

The next morning we woke up late

and went on over to good ol' Sally Loo's Wholesome Cafe (where Sarah works) and then they were off. It was quite the whirl wind tour of the CA coast via the Chungleground Railroad but I'm sure

that it was a huge success, at least my leg of the trip was. Amen.

Here's some pictures i got of us at Sally Loo's and at ma maison.

Zo... Ze Garden Beginz (something something quite contrary, how does your garden grow?)

I put together my garden the other day in the back yard, put down the soil, sowed the seeds, and became one more man to experience/endure the curse upon man instigated by Adam in Genesis III. I must say it's wonderful to have some ownership of something. I feel like I'm a home owner. ha. I also love the fact that after X number of days I'm going to have a great little garden flourishing with the following: Spinach, red peppers, strawberries (by Sarah's request), chives, basil, lemon cucumbers, and some cosmos for a splash of colour.

I'll keep everyone updated as to how my garden grows! I'm pretty excited.

Boris Smile ~ ze rockets EP

I attended a great Boris Smile show about three weeks ago and took some shots of Wes and the band. I am still working on some of them but this is just to tell those of you that check this occasionally that i'm still working and i haven't forgotten about it.

Here's one I liked of wesley emerging from the darkness. More to come soon. Too busy with studying viruses this quarter to do much editing. Ha... i say that like i know how to edit.

RADIOHEAD vs THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

I'm not sure if everyone knows this but I am a music minor here at Cal Poly. That means i get to mix a couple of music classes in here and there with Genetics, O Chem, and Animal Physiology. It's great!

I recently wrote a term paper for a class dealing with music in society, specifically that of the United States. We could choose anything that has influenced American culture in some way. Basically, with that kind of instruction, I interpreted it as we could write about anything we wanted, so I did. I chose to write about RADIOHEAD and their innovative album, In Rainbows. The paper focused on the efficacy of the "Pay What You Want" release method and its effect on the Record Industry... it could be worth reading if music politics somewhat interest you.

I've posted a copy of the paper below.

Who is Radiohead?

My Paper:

Radiohead Paper

New Glasses

or

these are potentially the new glasses that I'm getting. Just thought you guys might want to check them out and see if you have any suggestions or comments.

I actually am liking the first ones more.

Monday Night Finals-Bleh

Tonight is the first night of finals week. I already took one final today for three full hours on Evolution. When it gets down to it, I really hate studying evolution. it really has been a terrible labor to study for that but now it's over. That class is forever over and I never have to think about it again. Now onto the next class: Music in Culture: music of the USA. Also extremely boring. My professor is smart and he knows what he knows. The only thing... He only knows so much---and that isn't very much! He takes history, pure stories, and boils them down into a bulleted word document that he just reads to the class. He makes it so boring!Anyway, that final is tomorrow and I'm not worried about it because the class is nothing like my bio classes and it's at least a switch.

this is My Finals Schedule:

Mon: Evolution

Tues: Music in Society: music of the United States

Wed: Biological Psychology

Fri: Micro Biology

Then I come home on Saturday!