First Rotation: CHECK!

For the past three months, I've been working in Dr. Zayzafoon's Lab investigating S100A4 protein and it's effect on the prostate cancer cell line C4-2B. It was a great ride, with of all the scientific drama you should expect from a budding scientist in the room with a bunch of expensive equipment. I screwed up many western blots (a technique we use to look at protein levels), learned a lot about the scientific process, made some excellent new friends, and maybe did one or two successful western blots. :)

I have a lot of people to thank for making my rotation a success.

• Dr. Majd Zayzafoon for taking me into his lab and being an enlightening, caring mentor

• Min-Kyung for letting me use her reagents, data, and other information and giving cell lines on multiple occasions and also for adding sunshine to the lab!

• Jennifer for being a fun and entertaining benchmate, and for answering more question than I can shake a stick at.

• Kayiu for being full of humor, and lending us all the benefit of his experience because we were constantly asking him things.

• Niroop, who became one of my best friends in Birmingham, for being a all around great help the lab and friend in and outside the lab.

• Laurel, also a good friend, for teaching techniques without me even asking her and answering all kinds a questions while also encouraging me in the dark ages of western blotting.

• Vishnu, who wasn't even in my lab, but was almost like a second mentor. I owe him a lot for the information he was willing to give me and all the advice as well.

Now that I've completed my first rotation, I'm very glad to be starting my next one January 7th with Dr. Joanne Murphy-Ullrich. I'll be working on extracellular matrix proteins and cell death due to a lack of adhesion. Does the sound of that make you as excited as it makes me?

The Drive to Alabama

There's been a pretty long radio silence since I last posted, but that's only because I was getting ready for and moving to Birmingham. Since then, I've had some incredible adventures and visited some pretty awesome things, all of which I hope to address later on, but for right now, I just want to share the experience of my long, long drive. This drive comes to you in seven parts. That's right, seven parts. Ride with me as I travel the entire distance between North Carolina and Birmingham.

Make sure to watch them on youtube, too, with video annotations!

Shaw Rowe Greenville Goodbye Adventure

Shaw is an awesome character that I wish I had gotten to hang out with more than I did over the last couple years. This weekend, though, I got to visit him in Greenvile, NC and see what he's been up to. Right now that includes putting together an RC plane, which I was privilaged enough to see in the works.

We had amazing pizza and the best sausage dip I think I've had in my whole life at a place called Basil's. To my knowledge there's only one, so you'll have to pilgramage to try it if you're not nearby. When we got back we watched a Bunch of movies that included

• 21,
• Into the Wild,
• Hot Fuzz,
• and Batman Begins;

and on top of all that, we had a mountain of a delicious, mouthwatering cake called Tres Leches. It was so good, we ate almost an entire cake by ourselves. Shaw gave me the recipe, and I might post a recipie for it here if it all goes well. It's very easy to make, but you have to be sure to add the right amount of love.

It was great getting to see Shaw again. Soon, he'll be moving too, so I'm really glad we got to hang out.

David and The Dark Knight

David has been a good friend of mine since my sophomore year at Campbell and a roommate my junior year, which is widely considered to be my favorite one. We had the best room on campus in the best "dorm" of anywhere I've ever seen. You would have to see it to believe it.

So David and I decided to go see The Dark Night in the Imax, and it was spectacular. If there were ever a movie worthy of the Imax and worthy of Imax prices, this is the one (I give it five out of five stars, and Google agrees with me).

After that, we ate at Rockola in Garner (an old haunt), and then I got some silky smooth delicious frozen wonder custard from Goodberrys Frozen Custard. I'm really going to miss that place.

It was great to spend some time with Dave. I'm really going to miss him.

Have you ever seen David and Batman at the same place at the same time?

Virginan Goodbye

I just had a wonderful weekend with my Mom visiting my Virginian grandparents, aunts, uncle, and cousins. We got to go Yard Saling, celebrate my Mother's birthday, eat tons of food, and talk a lot about the old times. My grandparents, MeMama and Papa as we call them, have been two of the most unfailingly loving people in my life, matched for that only by my parents, I think. No matter how much we disagree on things (which we do sometimes), the big thing is that we love each other no matter what, and that's something we definitely all agree on. I'm going to miss them a lot.

Aunt Patty, Uncle David, and Aunt Janice were kind and awesome enough to spend a lot of time with me this weekend, too, coming with us on our adventures. Kenzi and Kyle, my cousins, also added their exuberant energies to the visit, and to top everything off, we all went to the Olive Garden for Sunday supper! I even found a great desk for my Alabama condo at Staples during the trip. This was an awesome goodbye adventure.

Greensboro Goodbye Adventure

I just had a great weekend. Ever since Sunday, when I got off from work, I've been able to visit and talk to a lot of the people that I really wanted to see before I move to Alabama with even more to come. This past weekend I was lucky enough to visit four great friends of mine in Greensboro: Anna Garret, Danielle Dollan, Rachael Traylor, and Josh Canup. I even got to meet someone new, a friend of Anna's named Edward, who loves to take pictures. All really great people.

We spend a lot of our time just talking and having a great time. We relaxed a lot, walked around in a humongous park, spent a beautiful afternoon downtown and in the bookstore, and I got to eat some great meals prepared by Anna, Rachael, and Danielle. I want to thank them, not just for the hospitality they showed me this weekend, but for the love and friendship they've given me over the past four years. I'm really going to miss them, and I look forward to the interaction we'll continue to have in the future.