“Ain’t nothing wrong, ain’t nothing right and still I sit and lie awake all night”

I just listened to 40 oz. to Freedom for like the millionth time and I remembered Pete saying one time “I wonder if we’ll still listen to this album in 30 years?” The answer is yes, absolutely.

So I overheard two people at work today discussing this immigration debate that seems to be all the rage. First of all, I can never understand why America has had such a history of blaming problems on immigrants and why we’ve never learned from it. From the persecution of the Irish, to the Chinese, to the Japanese, to the Mexicans, etc… not even getting into this country’s history of slavery and mistreatment of Black Americans. It’s really disgraceful. The bill that passed The House called for a bigger fence along the Mexican border and making it a felony to be an “illegal” immigrant. Even our genius of a president thinks that’s ridiculous. As far as I’m concerned everyone living and working in America is an American and we should all have the same treatment and access to opportunity. Even though in reality we don’t. I could and should go on and on, but I actually have to get some work done.

What I was impressed with though, was the reaction by people. The mass protests and walkouts that occurred. I think in this day we don’t protest or mobilize enough. I mean there’s this bullshit war going on and no one seems to want to do anything about it. What ever happened to the Vietnam days? The environment is going to hell too, and no one seems to be passionate about that either. Why is it almost cool to stand up and protest anti-immigration bills that most likely won’t become laws, but un-cool and hippie like to protest young soldiers dying without cause and the earth being polluted daily? I think politicians just bring up these socially volatile issues to distract people from the real problems in our world.

Anyways, for some first hand insight on the walkout experience read this.

Strange Consequences of Global Warming

I read this article in the New York Times today. To sum it up, hikers found a frozen body in a glacier and it turned out to be a WWII pilot. I mean the guy must have fallen from the plane and then literally got frozen in time. Now with global warming, the glacier melted and they found him. Sorry but that’s just crazy. The military ID'd the guy and is going to give him a "proper burial". I don't get why the military is so bent on burying people. I think if it were me, I’d rather be frozen in a glacier than be cremated or stuck in the ground. And speaking of glaciers, every one needs to check out Glacier National Park in Montana. Especially before all the glaciers melt. I think I need a picture to prove my point. Isn’t it pretty?


But back to drunken tales…. St. Patty’s day was a mess, so we went to a house party and I passed out on a shitty sofa. The next morning we continued with mimosas, Jamison shots, Irish car bombs, tequila shots, tall beers at a baseball game, pitchers of margaritas, and ending with grand marnier and me passed out on my own couch this time right around sundown. Not so pretty.

Is the weekend here yet?

Why didn’t I take today off? I should have just stayed home. I mean, I’m tired and hung over, it’s St. Patrick’s Day, it’s a Friday, and there’s basketball on. I think at least half of America is hammered by now. On the way in to work today there was no traffic, because everyone else was smarter then me and took the damn day off. I was going 80 in the fast lane, and then this weird thought crossed my mind: “what would happen if I just smashed my car into the middle divider?”. Not that I’m suicidal or anything. It was just an odd thought. I thought about how many flips my car would take, what it would look like afterward, you know just imagining. I remember as a kid I had a great imagination and used it to entertain myself all day with thoughts of being a super hero, or a soldier, or who knows what. Now I’m using it to imagine a horrific crash, I wonder why. I guess I really should have stayed home. This wasn’t meant to bum anyone out, but…

… stay away from green beer. It goes in green and comes out green. That just can’t be good for you. Stick to Guiness and Irish whiskey, trust me.

RE: Comments

Please allow me to "blog" on a few of your comments. Ms. Hoffman did have a mean mullet, and Amgen is a great company. That lab we did way back when was really cool and highly educational. Most people would never get to do hands on Molecular Bio until the middle of college, not the middle of high school. If we were smart, we would have bought Amgen stock in 1995 and then sold it in 2005 (Check the Chart) and all been rich. Damn it.

As far as Matisyahu goes, I think he's a highly talented reggae vocalist with a band that can blend all types of reggae beats well. But, I think he's a bit over hyped. I mean the only reason he's so popular is cause he's a white Jewish guy. There's a lot of good new reggae in San Diego, such as: Kush, Elijah Emanuel, and The Devastators, but they're not going to blow up like Matisyahu. It's like the Eminem phenomenon. I mean granted he's talented, but he blew up cause he was "different", largely because he was white. Music in general is a weird scene. I have no idea how people can listen to that garbage by groups that I'm ashamed to even know exist, like the Ying Yang Twinz, Dem Franchize Boyz, and that unbelievable song, "I'm in love with a Stripper". You have got to be shitting me.

On another note, the Big Bear trip was fun (click on my flickr badge to see some pics, or check out the load asses in the hot tub). The cabin was cramped and they had these weird, internment camp style, pull out beds; but the company was good and the snow was even better.

Science Baby

Sorry, no drunk stories today. But people always ask, “What do you do at your job?” so I’ll give you a glimpse (just because I can post a pretty picture). I did a simple PCR to genotype some mice. Then I ran the samples on a gel and took a picture. Whoopee.

Sorry, the results are top secret. But if you want to get crazy and read my “published works”, have fun.

Antibody Interference with N-Acyl Homoserine Lactone-Mediated Bacterial Quorum Sensing

Enzymatic incorporation of an antibody-activated blue fluorophore into DNA

Sorry to bore you, I'll be more entertaining next time. Maybe I'll even bash my favorite state, South Dakota.

Karma, The Ponies, and of course Beer

I'm sick of people talking about Karma (okay, so I said I wasn't going to rant on this thing but eh?). Every bad break I get, especially when it comes to women, people I talk to often attribute it to bad karma. First of all karma is not real, it's a belief (see karma). It's made up. It's like the Easter bunny. Or not eating meat on Friday's for lent (that affects me because I work in a fish restaurant and it goes off on those nights now). Second of all, it’s almost like people insinuate that I deserve bad karma for all the girls I’ve screwed over or something. I know this is hard to believe, but I don’t think I’ve ever screwed someone over, at least not intentionally or malignantly. Furthermore, it's as if people think some guy in the sky is keeping track of every good and bad deed, and then doling out good karma for those who do "good". It would be nice if it worked that way, but it doesn't. I think I’m a pretty good person, and I try to be honest and helpful to others just because it's a better way to live one’s life; you shouldn't do good for some mysterious incentive like karma or heaven. Bottom line: you should never be accused of having something as asinine as “bad karma”.

And on a drunker note, we drank all day Saturday. We started at the broken yolk (mimosas), then bet on the horses at the OTB (numerous coors lights), and went out to the bar (jack and cokes, shots). Horse racing is so much like life. It’s all should’ve, would’ve, could’ve. The one race I don’t bet Kent, he wins, beating my horse in a photo. Anyhow, I ended up in this girls crazy pad and some how hailed a cab at three in the morning. It was a good time.

Oh, and check this out, I got some random e-mail on myspace today from some chick in SD trying to "meet good looking guys". Check out her page, WTF?

It Continues

blogging is tough work, it takes commitment, it takes passion, it takes time. so, i'll try to keep it entertaining with these takes, but it's hard because you want to tell good compelling stories but at the same time, you don't want to get yourself or others in trouble. according to linoln "Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt".

but this is the load ass blog, and i was out two nights ago with my roommate for happy hour, and next thing i know i'm doing shots at the Fox. my buddies sister gives me her keys at some point and says "don't let me drive home". sure enough though, two in the morning, i'm passed out and someone's knocking on my door. it's her, and guess what (no she does not want to get down), she wants her keys to drive home. i mean come on. i'm hereby over holding people's keys, they always just take off anyway.