I think my blog is on life support

I never (except right now) do list type things because I generally think that no one gives a damn what my top three things are… But two of my favorite bloggers (ajax, and mik wu) did it and it’s a list created by a fellow Field mouse alumni, so here goes it. Plus it looks like a good long entry to keep this things pulse.

3 Things I'm Obsessed with Right Now
1) Vegas
2) Bike Riding
3) Beer

3 Things I'm Obsessed with Permanently
1) Beer
2) USC Football
3) Fantasy Basketball

3 Things I Believe are True, But Aren't
1) People are all generally good hearted
2) I could’ve been a pro athlete
3) The world is flat

3 Things I Want People to Say About Me When I Die
1) He was a good man
2) He lived a good life
3) I miss him

3 Things I'm Good At (the conceited category)
1) Remembering facts
2) Looking at the big picture
3) Archery (yeah right, I meant drinking)

3 Things I'm Bad At (the low self-esteem category)
1) Being patient
2) Talking on the phone
3) Modern Video games (too many damn buttons)

3 Things That Baffle Me
1) Putt Putt golf
2) Languages other than English
3) Quantum electrodynamics

3 TV Shows That Many Other People Watch, But I Don't
1) American Idol
2) Survivor
3) West Wing (As far as T.V. shows go, I really only watch Lost and the HBO shows)

3 Inventions for Which "I don't know how we lived without it" is Not Just a Saying
1) The mobile phone (I don’t know why I was such a hold out)
2) The inter web
3) Satellite radio

I hope this entry doesn't cause my blog to "jump the shark". I promise more drunk'n tales soon.

Vegas on My Mind

I know this blog has been dead, but I’ve actually been busy. It’s been kinda hectic at work. I’ve gottta get stuff done before my vacations I’ve got lined up. All I can think about while I’m here though is Vegas. I haven’t been in a while and I can’t wait to see the I.P. in its full glory.


If you were ever curious about life in a lab (and I’m not sure why you would be) but I’m reading a book called Intuition that describes it perfectly. It’s a good book in general too, so check it out.

My loadassness (I like that word) has been lagging ever since my B-day. But I guarantee it shall return when I hit the ground in Sin City.

What a Happy (Drunken) Birthday

Keg Stand
Originally uploaded by dave_kujo.

Here I am looking a lot younger than my age. After this, I don’t really remember much, but thanks to everyone who came. I was flattered that so many people came down from the Dena just for my birthday. You are all a bunch of load asses.

Blood Money

No, that’s not my arm, but I did give blood today. And, I didn’t give it away for free, but rather for $100.00 cash money. See, researchers will pay to get blood for their experiments, and it’s the easiest money to make. Fifteen minutes of work, once every six weeks, free juice, and sometimes a slight light headed feeling afterwards. No problem.

Stop the Toll Road

Although our camping trip to San Mateo Campground at San Onofre State Beach was postponed, I look forward to returning there soon. For those who don’t know, there is a proposed toll road extension of the Foothill South Toll Road that would cut through this state park. The campground would be destroyed, the natural flow of San Mateo Creek would be disturbed, animals would lose natural habitat, and the beach and surfing resources would be degraded. There is a new website up that has lots of good information to help fight this planned project. Please check it out: www.savetrestles.org

I be Illing

I hate when things don’t work out the way you want. I know that sounds obvious, but it really applies in my line of work. I spent all week on some crazy experiment and I was supposed to get results like those below.


Well it didn’t happen. To make things worse I didn’t even get one little dot to show up and I have know idea why. Even worse, I rode up to lab in the elevator this morning with the head guy in charge and he was like “how’s that p53 gene expression going Dave?” I didn’t even have a good answer. I said something like “well… (long pause), uh….. I’m having some technical difficulties so to speak…..” Then he said, “well, stop by my office and we’ll talk”. Sounds easy enough right. Well that’s the last thing I wanted to do (I’ve yet to do it). The guy is nice, and never bugs me, but you have to go in all prepared and know what you’re talking about, and then my kick back job becomes a real headache. I know what your thinking, “stop bitching man”, so I will.

I really just want to go home and watch the Lakes while slamming a 12 pack, but I feel under the weather. I got a cold coming on (“stop bitching”, I know). Go Lakers!

How Much is Your Time Worth?

Sorry about the sports takes recently, but it’s playoff basketball. It’s the Lakers. It’s something I’ve loved since the good old days. I can still hear Chick, "Magic fakes left, shoots right, GOOD!" Go Lakers! And hey, they played good team ball back to back games and got a win. It's gunna be a good series.








Thanks to sitemeter, I found out that if you google "quickness originality delivery sting", the second result down is my blog. I thought that was pretty cool.

Now, let me adress the title of this entry. I was at Vons the other night to buy food and beer before the game, and the checkout lines were insane. I hate shopping at those huge grocery stores now. I wish I could buy everything online. It’s bad enough that you can’t ever find anything (I think they purposely make the aisles so tall that you can’t see where stuff is, and strategically place the shit that you need on opposite ends of the store) but then you have to stand in line behind a bunch of morons in order to pay. I always pick the wrong line too. After picking the shortest of three lines, and waiting for what seemed like forever, the girl in front of owed a total of $11.18, which she attempted to pay for with her debit card. It was denied. Then she gave the checker $10.00 cash and tried to charge $1.18. Guess what? Denied. Then she started to look through her bags to return something. She said, “this is so embarrassing”. To which I responded, “look, I got your $1.18, just let me get out of here.” I wasn’t trying to be nice or a good Samaritan. I was just paying for my sanity. Time really is worth money.

War Wounds

cut
Originally uploaded by dave_kujo.

Please cut your nails if you're going to play basketball. I almost got my eye gouged out yesterday. It looks like I got attacked by a cat. At least our team won.

Go Lakers

The Lakers need a win tonight to have a legitimate shot at getting past the first round of the NBA playoffs. I think they have a good chance too. They played good D in the first game and every starter scored in double digits. But, in the paper and on sports talk radio (yes, I listen to sports talk radio, it’s truly a vice) they bashed the Lakers and especially Kobe Bryant. I hate how much bad press Kobe gets (okay, I know he had off the court issues, he’s arrogant, aloof, etc…). But as far as the media is concerned he can’t do anything right on the court either. If he scores 50, they say he shoots too much. If he scores 23 (like he did in the first game) they say he’s too passive. The headline in the L.A.Times sports section was “Passive Regressive”, with the byline reading, “Lakers pick a strange time to play team ball”. Strange time?? I’d say the perfect time. Basketball is a team game. The Pistons are a great team because they play as a team. Now, I know the Lakes lost the first game, but they had a great shot at winning and they played entertaining basketball. They exposed the Suns inside, and Kobe wasn’t jacking up crazy shots. When I play pickup basketball, there’s nothing worse than having a guy on your team who’s just jacking up shots, even if he hits them and your team wins. Rather, it’s much more enjoyable to play with a bunch of guys that will pass and cut and shoot the open look.

In addition, I just read that Kobe is going to change his number from 8 to 24. That is whack. That’s gotta be a conspiracy with Nike to force people to buy new Kobe jerseys. Anyhow, I just hope the Lakers play good team ball again tonight and come out with a win on top of that.

Trivial Ramblings on a Friday

I wanted to go swimming yesterday to start training for another triathlon but I couldn’t remember the combination for my master lock (it’s been a while since I swam). I was pretty pissed. But, after a quick online search, I found an article that explained how to crack a combo lock. I tried it, and sure enough it worked. It only took a half hour or so of my time. I let my buddy at work try it and he cracked it too. It was actually pretty fun, and showed me just how easy it can be to open one (better get lock with a key if you have valuable stuff in your locker). The swimming however didn't go so good. I though I was going to pass out towards the end, and I'm sore as shit today. I wanted to do 1000 meters, but I think I only did about 800.

We went to half of hot wings night Wednesday at the Aussie pub. That reminded me of high school when a bunch of us would go to Ribs USA for hot wings. I don’t know why it is, but eating wings is always a good time. Some Bud Light girls snapped this pic and I thought it was funny.



The weather has been awesome in S.D. and I’ve been hitting the beach on the daily. My mom was down for Easter and I was pontificating about my love of the beach when she said, “It’s probably because I used to take you kids to the beach every Friday while you were growing up.” I replied, “not every Friday,” and she said, “no literally every Friday. I had Fridays off for years and I’d take you boys to the beach, we’d leave by 2:00 to beat traffic, and then I’d make tacos.” I remembered going to the beach a lot, but I didn’t realize it was such a weekly routine. I guess it also explains why I love tacos.

Student Loans Be Gone

Loan Payment
Originally uploaded by dave_kujo.

Wow, no more student debt. I have auto payment so I had no idea I was even close to paying off my loans. I guess it's time to go back to shool.

Yo Mamma’s a Pessimist

My bro and I were flipping channels this weekend and came across “Yo Mamma” on MTV. Maybe I’m out of it, but I had never even heard of this show. It’s quite possibly the worst thing I’ve ever seen, but we couldn’t stop watching and goofing on it. I seriously couldn’t stop laughing. In case you haven’t seen it, it’s hosted by the nerd kid on that 70’s show and involves “contestants” telling “yo mamma” jokes to each other in an epic drama filled battle. The judges make their decisions based on “originality, quickness, delivery, and that sting” for “one thousand dollars cash money” (you have to say it with a bad accent and it’s even more funny). To me, there’s nothing more entertaining than watching a bad show and cracking on it relentlessly. My bro and I can’t stop saying “don’t get it twisted, this is……. yo mamma”. Who tells yo mamma jokes anyway? If anything, the show is a prime example of the dumbing down of America. The “street talk” is so over done that the show looks like a bad SNL skit.

While on the subject of street talk, here are a few slangs we’ve been saying a lot lately (in addition to load ass of course). Douche Bag, Cheese Dick, and Fuck Stick. These phrases generally apply to guys with tight bright shirts with the collar popped. They are almost interchangeable. Yet, each slang has a specific usage, especially when out at the bars. A douche bag is generally a guy who thinks he’s the shit but is really a moron. A cheese dick is a dude that rolls up on girls with those cheesy lines but somehow gets away with it. And a fuck stick would be a complete asshole but gets chicks cause he does roids or something. Maybe we’re just haters, but it’s funny. We even crack on our boys like, “what the fuck was that cheese dick line all about?”

In other news, someone told me the other day that I was a pessimist. I tend to think I’m a realist, but maybe that’s just same thing as a pessimist. This came up when my buddy told me he had trouble starting his car one day but wasn’t gunna have it looked at because it only happened once. I then told him, “just watch. It’ll happen again on the morning of a test or something and then you’ll be screwed.” Is that pessimistic? I tend to think if you’re always optimistic, you set yourself up for disappointment when things don’t go your way. Damn it, I really have to get back to work, and I feel like I’m on a roll… till next time.

Gooler Wedding

Here's pics from the Gooler wedding. They're having a boy.





Two post in one day just means i'm bored at work and the boss is on vacation.

Monday Thursday?

Actually I think it’s Maundy Thursday, or last supper day right? I went to Sunday school way back when. Today is also exactly one month from my birthday and we’re going camping to celebrate. I can’t wait.

I was listening to Gangstarr on my ipod today for the first time in a while. Allow me to quote…

“Sometimes you gotta dig deep, when problems come near
Don’t fear things get severe for everybody everywhere
Why do bad things happen, to good people?
Seems that life is just a constant war between good and evil”

I love that part. It goes on…

“Don’t even feel like drinking, or even gettin high
Cause all that’s gonna do really, is accelerate
The anxieties that I wish I could alleviate
But wait, I’ve been through a whole lot of other shit, before
So I oughta be able, to withstand some more
But I’m sweatin though, my eyes are turnin red and yo
I’m ready to lose my mind but instead I use my mind
I put down the knife, and take the bullets out my nine
My only crime, was that I’m too damn kind
And now some skanless motherfuckers wanna take what’s mine
But they can’t take the respect, that I’ve earned in my lifetime
And you know they’ll never stop the furious force of my rhymes
So like they say, every dog has it’s day
And like they say, God works in a mysterious way
So I pray, remembering the days of my youth
As I prepare to meet my moment of truth”

I think I like the theme of perseverance. The whole, what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger cliché seems to resonate with me. You have to think through problems, but be yourself, take responsibility, and respect will come.

Back to what I was going to say… I keep hearing on the news that gas will be $3.00 a gallon this summer. I hate to tell you, but at the Chevron by my house in San Diego it was $3.10 for regular today. I decided not to fill up just out of spite. It makes me wonder though how high the price will get, and when people will stop buying it. In Cali gas is like the air you breath, you need it to survive. But, if the price keeps going up, it’s really going to start to squeeze people. It affects people without much money even more because they usually have older cars, longer drives, and obviously less extra cash. It’s been over 100 years since the first gas engine was used and you think we’d move on by now.

Four Five Six

At 1:02:03 in the morning today, it was 1 2 3 4 5 6. Weird… So, my goal was to blog twice a week, but it’s been more like once a week. Sorry, but it’s hard to post lucid and entertaining stuff. I’ve been busy too, even though I quit one job, I am going crazy at the other. As much as my lab job sucks, at least I can drive two minutes to the beach at lunch, eat a sandwich, and stroll on the sand. It’s very therapeutic. You’ve got to take advantage of these things.



Speaking of my job, there’s this lady who works here who’s deaf, but can read lips perfectly. It’s pretty cool. She obviously can’t use a phone. But, she can use a web cam to sign to an operator, who can then talk on the phone for her. I’m watching her right now, and it’s pretty wild. Sign language is crazy. I think this is the only good purpose a web cam could possibly have (besides live porno of course). While I’m on this subject, there’s this other lady at work that seems to think if she talks really LOUD to her, maybe she’ll hear or something. It cracks me up every time.

Again, this being the load ass blog, I got an e-mail today that said it’s “National Alcohol Screening Day”. Here’s the link where you can answer a few simple questions and it tells you if you’re an alcoholic or not. I didn’t do it cause I think I know what it would say.

“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.