In the Eye of the Storm

With the first week of class down, we had our first quiz in DNA Biotech. It was fairly simple as we matched names to faces and identified improper lab procedures. The last portion of the quiz is online-accessible and take-home over the weekend. I'm not worried, because Jody and our TA Colby have always been available to answer questions, and even assured our study group last night via live conference call that only basic review material we'd covered in class would be the test topics.

Our main focus of the day was on the methylation lab, immediately following the quick quiz. This experiment repeated a similar procedure for different reaction, so we again performed gel electrophoresis, only filling our wells with different reagents.

Extra precautions were necessary when working with our fluorescent gel dye, the carcinogenic ethidium bromide- a chemical which unzips, binds, and mutates DNA. Fortunately Jody outfitted me with a personal box of gloves, so I won't be getting tumors from my forgetfulness.

Meanwhile in the lab, I've been starting a trend. Packing a pair of yoga pants to easily slip on and off over shorts in the lab is catching on; I've passed it on to my friends in the BioMed lab class as well.

After lunch, our plans to invite everyone to play sardines at the Rock were foiled by drowsiness. This week has been a blast, but I was surprised by my exhaustion. As a reward, I took the liberty of napping.   I awoke at 5 PM, reinvigorated for an even more refreshing two hour workout at the Bear's Lair. These five hours of hibernating in the dank basement and retreating to my hideout spanned the storm and kept me dry. I didn't even hear the thunder rolling over the buzz of the AC unit, treadmills, and the blaring music of my workout playlist. I love it there. The gym facility's running dehumidifiers are probably the best motivation for me to go exercise.

Working up an appetite, I hit Thayer Street with Tayler. We figured it'd be impossible to choose between all the fastastic-smelling eateries, so we decided to sample some favorites. Passing by Plouf Plouf food truck, we spotted our dessert destination to come back to. Our first stop was introducing Tayler to Antonio's pizza. 

It was one of the few places open yesterday when, in the middle of the night, Niki, the guys, and I madly sprinted in for a halftime snack between watching for the OKC Thunder comeback that never came. When there's only 3 minutes left before third quarter tipoff minus time to sprint back to campus, pizza boxes in hand, it's much easier to make a decision on the enormous variety of toppings. Today however, we were confronted with choices ranging from chicken tortellini, black beans and rice, sausage-roasted red pepper, spinach-bleu cheese-portabella, to the ode to our home state: California avocado. As a former big Blondie's of Berkeley fan, I must admit my conversion. The non-greasy quality, intense flavors, not to mention extreme variety and unheard-of combinations here earn my worship. Tayler and I will be back to conquer their next bizarre creations.