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Yes you read that correctly. Last night marked the midnight excursion for the over three hour viewing of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - and I'm at work the next morning! I'll save you the calculation troubles and say that I only slept two and a half hours last night (4am-6:30) but it was well worth it. This ranks as the third most fun movie going outing in recent memory (Numbers two and one being The Fellowship of the Ring last year and seeing Goonies at the Beverly when the whole theater sang Happy Birthday to me for my 21st - there's no topping that)
Anyhoo, the movie (although perhaps not as excellent as the first) was supreme and the company sharing it was hilariously awesome. Combining the fact that I was on drugs (caffeine, Aleve, Amoxicillin, and a Cherry/Cola ICEE) and Emily brought action figures plus we were all slap happy - it was totally nuts. (Shoutouts to "my twin", "Snood Froggy Frogg of Elandel", "Bob Marie Lupin", and "the Monkeyboy Princess of the Fu Dogs" who would be the only ones clued in on the jokes I could start spewing out right now that came up during the movie - and are the only ones who understand their own nicknames.)
In other news we're having a pizza party at work today. We got a Giordano's gift certificate for ordering a bunch of lab supplies from some company - they like to bribe us...and we're pretty easily bought.
Oh and I just earned a taco.
That's not as random as it seems. (Well it is, but I'll explain...) One of my coworkers pointed out that the time it takes to check one's e-mail is equivalent in salary to the approximate cost of a taco. So I guess my the time I write a whole LoL I've earned myself a combo meal! And the other randomness from the people on my floor at work is that in the middle of preparing glycerol stocks yesterday I was interrupted with the message of "All your base are belong to us".
Needless to say I couldn't think up the next Zero Wing response so all I could say was something to the effect of "that was sooooo five minutes ago!" So now I have shocked the Cancer Center with my knowledge of poorly translated Sega video games. I don't know why I know these things, I JUST DO!!!! Kind of like if someone randomly came up to me with the phrase "You fight like a dairy farmer" I would have no choice but to respond with "How appropriate, you fight like a cow!" Not that either of those phrases would appear in any sane or normal civilized conversation but, hey, you never know who's a Guybrush Threepwood fan these days. ("Look! Behind you! It's a three headed monkey!!!!" .....no?)
Alright it's settled. Lab Technichian, Lord of the Rings fan, elite knowledge of video games.... I'm officially a geek! No, it's not an insult. I'll accept my fate and be proud that my intelligence and odd taste for bizzarre pop culture items with cult-like followings have earned me such a title. Blame my brother or my cousin who first lent me Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms novels or Kristin and Lauren who even before that share my memories of "Science Camp". But as I cling wholeheartedly to my love of shopping (especially for shoes) and my occasional high maintenence primping sessions, I refuse the stereotype and officially deem myself a new breed of Geek that can be nerdy and stylish and witty and smart and fun all at the same time!!! (And I know that many of you on this list are equally qualified for my new genre of NeoGeek and your credentials are noted - all I can say is welcome to the club!)
On that note I think I'll write this entire e-mail off as sleep-deprivation induced insanity (oh wait...that's ALL my e-mails!!!)
NeoGeekfully Yours,
lisa :)
p.s. I came up with NeoGeek as in "Neo" meaning "new" but I guess it also works as a play off of Neo from The Matrix who was 100% Geek but also 100% Cool.
p.p.s. The whole dairy farmer, Guybrush Threepwood, Three-headed monkey deal was a reference to the series of "Monkey Island" video games - hilarious, addictive, challenging, and all out awesome! Let me know if any of y'all knew what I was talking about there and shoutouts to all y'all that can place Gabriel Knight and Tex Murphy too.
I couldn't decide if the subject of this e-mail should be Almost There or Almost Here, hence the weird parenthetical T. I think either phrase applies about now though, and I guess it's just a matter of perspective anyway - Are you waiting for something or is something waiting for you? For some/most of you it's approaching the wonderfully interesting finals week (best of luck!!); for others it's eager anticipation for LoTR: The Two Towers (BTW, 6 DAYS LEFT!!!); or maybe it's just the time of year to get excited about the holidays.
Before I get too far off my original point (if I actually have one...) a couple shoutouts: Big super fun birthday shoutouts to one of the sweetest cheeseheads in WI, Jacklyn D (she turned the big 21 on Sunday!!!) and also to the always super spiffy Natalie U (she celebrated her 22nd Yesterday!!!) And also another shoutout to Beth who commented on my previous use of Bcc "to protect the innocent" I purposely left all recipients visible just this once, for you! :)
So anyhoo, life is pretty routine these days aside from the fact that I might possibly be potentially coming down with a cold and/or sinus infection. I hate getting sick. Not that I think there's anyone out there who actually enjoys it (the exception being playing hooky, but that doesn't really count as sick and besides, at one time or another we all wanted to be Ferris Bueller or even Cameron Frye...) but I have this tendency towards denial anytime I'm coming down with something so I'm just going to make NyQuil my new best friend for the week and be back to my hyper chipper self soon. (Yes, I did just use "chipper" to describe myself....blame the NyQuil...)
The good news from work is that Jim got a new job. (For those of you who missed the schpiel Jim's the guy who's job I sort of unintentionally stole) He's got some management type job helping fund new Biotech companies. And of course this prompted Alex (the doctor I work with) to want to start his own company cause "zat is vere all zee real money is at" (with Russian accent). But there's this whole joke in the lab that Helen (the lab manager) always calls Alex "Sparky" after the protein SPARC (my new best friend...next to NyQuil) so she said that if he started a company it would have to be "Sparky's Biotech". To which of course I had to add in the suggestion that it sounded better as "Sparky's Biotech & Pet Supplies" Of course after that it all turned into jokes involving radioactive dogs.
So yeah, back to my original intended subject of "Almost (T)here" [with the weird parenthetical T...and no I'm not even going to question if parenthetical is a word or not....it is now.] Hard to believe that Christmas is just two weeks away. I certainly don't have all my shopping done let alone, Christmas cards, Christmas cookies, etc. etc. But my family was over and we trimmed our Christmas tree tonight.
It's three inches shorter. :) hee hee...get it... "Trimmed" the tree... it's shorter....okay. That was lame. sorry. We did DECORATE our tree though and it looks quite awesome. We've never had a theme to our tree, it's pretty chaotic - like my family - but each year my siblings and I always got a new ornament so now I have a box full of 22+ ornaments made of memories (plus wood, plastic, metal, glass, yarn, or even macaroni).
That's a pretty warm and fuzzy note to end on.
Sentimentfully Yours,
lisa :)
p.s. and yes that's "Sentimentfully" not to be confused with "Sedimentfully". I'm full of warm happy thoughts, not sand and silt. ;)
p.p.s. This is the more serious note that just wouldn't fit with the rest of where this e-mail went but should still be said about now, call it a PR since some of you were asking about that. I had a really cool time at church on Sunday. First, I ended up sitting with a friend from Illinilife that I didn't even know went to my church (Georgie T!! Nat, Slovett and some other folks may remember her from the pillow-fighting days of the "One Holy Passion" conference in 2000) Second, there was a really cool message about Salt & Light and I was really challenged to start thinking/praying about doing something big for God in my life. If anyone has any insights/prayers for me along that line of thought, I'll be forever greatful. Otherwise I guess I'll keep ya'll posted. :)
I'm assuming this is the first time you've all gotten a little hello from someone on the INSIDE of a giant Snowglobe.
Yes, Chicago has become an amazing winter wonderland which would be great except that traffic delays are now being counted in days instead of minutes. Not that it effects me too much, I'm Metra Girl - that's my wannabe Superhero name. It's cool though because all the buildings where I work are connected by skyways so when I walk to lunch and there's snow blowing all around I feel like I'm actually in a Snowglobe...minus the weird shaking upside down part. And actually if I was in a snowglobe scene I'd be the little snowman out in front of the house with my stick arms waving and my coal mouth smiling... no particular reason there, I just think snowmen are cool. I have this idea for a cartoon that my sister Laura's gonna draw for me: There's a snowman out in the snow (cause that's where snowmen go!) and he's saying "Two roads diverged in the snow and I took the road less traveled..." and then the caption is "Robert Frosty the Snowman".
hee hee.... ummmm.... or not....
By the way, hi to Beth for just now being added to my list. (This is my weekly random e-mail list LoL=Lisa on Life) Beth is another one of my super spiffy crazy cousins and is the second actual relative of mine on this list (her sister Jenny was the first) I'm asssuming she won't mind me spamming her once a week or so, right?? :)
I'm also assuming that by now you've all noticed and laughed at my awful misspelling of the word "Greetings" in the subject line. What the heck is a "gretting"?!?? Oh well, I guess grettings to everyone who can't speel. ;)
But back to snow... (cue Bing, Danny, Rosemary and that other girl in four part harmony: "SNOW")... it's semi-blizzardy outside. And I'm not talking about the Dairy Queen dessert. Although that would be much more enjoyable. Snow should be flavored like DQ soft serve ice cream. That would rock. And for everyone who thinks that's crazy please note that this is a slightly more sane suggestion than my quote last night on the fact that I would enjoy snow more if it weren't so wet which spawned the idea that snow should be cold fluffy cotton falling from the sky (instead of building snowmen we'd all just go outside and stuff pillows....or not...).
Change of subject time: I have a feeling that I've missed, am missing or am going to miss a whole heap of birthday shoutouts. So along with my apologies let me know when y'alls birthdays are. In fact for everyone actually reading this, drop me a reply with when your birthday is and your current address and/or phone number. I'll try to be more organized about these things and I would love some help from y'all to update my address book. On the one hand I think I've done a pretty decent job of keeping up with most of you, on the other hand I have five different fingers.
[Kudos to Sean S. too for a hilarious e-mail of random silly quips like the one I just used. Totally funny stuff!!!]
Oh and for everyone who was curious about my Thanksgiving, it rocked. We had way too much turkey (yes, I had a turkey sandwich for lunch today..) but it was very fun to spend time with family and stuff. It was cool to see some of y'all over break and I wish we all could have hung out a ton more. And shopping on Friday was supreme! Kudos to Karrie for braving the early morning with us too. Kohl's, Target, and most of the major stores in the Fox Valley Mall all before noon! Actually the coolest thing was the freebie radios at Target (at least we HOPE they were free...they were free, right??? RIGHT?!?!???). Don't worry I'm not adding shoplifting to the unseen list of lisa's worst deeds that will permanently remain unseen [wouldn't you all just have a field day with THAT!]. The radios were free but they're really cool pocket size FM scanner radios with earphones. I think they even surpass Rudolph watches as coolest early bird giveaway! Mine is my new best friend for the train commute. Go Mix 101.9!! Down with the evilness of WINDY 100.3!!!!! heh heh.....
Snowglobefully Yours,
lisa :)
p.s. So just in case anyone didn't get some of my random references:
Metra Girl is because "Metra" is the name of the trains from the suburbs to Chicago. Plus I want a superhero nickname so that I can go be on the WB show "Birds of Prey". Yes, I watch that show. Yes, I think my mom and I are the only two people on the planet that actually do. No, my haircut is not an attempt to look like Huntress...that was just an added after the fact bonus ;)
Robert Frost is a poet. He wrote the poem about the road less traveled. He's also famous for the great quote "Something there is, that doesn't love a wall" (but that's another story...) Hence, I thought it would be clever to have a cartoon combining Robert Frost and Frosty the Snowman. Of course, the last time I thought something like this was funny, Lauren and I ended up with "Defrosty the Fridgeman"...
Rudolph watches were the day after Thanksgiving freebie at Montgomery Wards awhile back. They were kind of cheesy but my cousins, sisters and I all thought that they were the coolest things in the world. Of course that's before Wards went bankrupt. Hey, free watches.... bankrupt store.... I wonder.....
Oh and "Bing, Danny, Rosemary, and that other girl" is a reference to the movie White Christmas. (Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney....and that other girl...I NEVER remember her name!) Anyhoo one of the songs in there is all about snow and there's even some bizzarre line about washing your hair in snow or something. I think they were really desperate for a rhyme... but nevertheless it's a great movie.
(hee hee...kudos to everyone who knows why "nevertheless" is funny...)
:)
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
Okay so I know it's not till tomorrow, but I'm pretty excited! Four days off of work will be my longest (and most needed!) break since I started my job (August 19th). Crazy stuff, eh??
But yeah it's that great time of year when we're all overloaded with family, food, and football! And of course for those that have the extended joy of extended family you get that wonderful dose of questions "So are you seeing anyone these days?" "Any wedding bells ringing soon??" "When can we be expecting grandkids?" and all those other awkward no-pressure-really! questions. I urge you all to respond to these or any other bizzarre unwanted conversations with a simple question of your own: "What's the deal with Tofurkey?"
And just so you can be extra-wise asking questions that you know the answer to, tofurkey is tofu flavored (and sometimes shaped) like turkey as a Vegan/Vegetarian Thanksgiving alternative. I've never actually tried it nor do I have any specific desire to, but it's a great inspiration for conversation - especially if one is trying to redirect conversation away from one's personal life. First off, your audience may very likely just laugh at the very word "Tofurkey". If this doesn't happen there's a possible fear factor associated with the idea that a soy product could replace a several hundered year old November delicacy. If that happens go for the shock value and see if you can convince anyone post-mealtime that what you consumed was in fact the most realistic Tofurkey currently on the market. (...and if anyone's successful on that front, I want details!!)
Another random Turkey fact is that my mom bought a 23 pound Turkey this year. This wouldn't be too bad if we were having a year like last (fifteen people, three dogs and a partridge in a pear tree...) but we're not really having company this year. Granted at 9 people my family without guests is a sizable clan but when you realize that one of those nine is my seven month old niece, a quick calculation reveals that this comes out to almost three pounds of turkey per person. And we haven't even talked about side dishes yet....
So yeah, we'll all be eating leftovers until sometime half way through advent, but we need to keep our strength up for the Friday shopping extravaganza. My mom, sisters, (and sometimes aunt, and cousins) and I have the tradition of every year braving the crowds for awesome day-after-thanksgiving shopping deals. You know all those ads for "Early Bird Specials"? That's us. We're already scheduled to be at Kohl's at 6am. My sister Anne's bringing the coffee...lots of it... (As if you didn't think we were insane enough already...)
But I could ramble about holiday insanity forever and I'd rather give some cool belated-birthday shoutouts. Two super spiffy ladies had super spiffy birthdays last weekend, so happy belated birthday to Sara M and Kristin S...P!! [sorry, ;) still adjusting]
Hope you all have a wonderful holiday though and just to be extra sappy and cheesy, when we were little at Thanksgiving we would go around the table and everyone would list one thing they were thankful for. Even though we grew out of the tradition sometime around junior high, I think this year I would most likely say I'm most thankful for awesome family and friends like all of you!
Tofurke-fully Yours,
lisa :)
p.s. If anyone's in town and wants to join in on the insane early-morning shopping you're totally invited! Sleep deprivation and bargain hunting....it's a beautiful thing! Or better yet, if anyone's in town and wants to come eat Turkey, you're definitely invited!! TWENTY THREE FRICKIN POUNDS PEOPLE!!! Do you realize how long that's gonna last??? *sigh* maybe I'll start fasting now.... You have to love too how after the first couple days it starts mutating into it's various forms... turkey sandwiches, turkey soup, turkey casserole, turkey lasagna, turkey stew....
:)
Greetings from the flip side. There's an odd sort of irony to the fact that this is "#13" but I'm calling it "The flip side" to refer to the fact that this isn't necessarily going to follow my usual style of random hilarity. Granted I do still have random things to say but there are times too where I need you all to look a little closer at the serious side of yours truly.
I want to start with a birthday shoutout to the super spiffy Jenny T! Her b-day was actually yesterday but I didn't send this yesterday so happy birthday to her today!! At 19 years old she's also the youngest LoL recipient which is just way cool.
Speaking of birthdays, today November 19th is actually my birthday too. Now I know you're all going to jump on the fact that I already announced turning 22 in September, but today's my spiritual birthday. Four years ago today was when I first committed my life to Christ. You'd think that in those four years I'd have actually figured out how to do something as seemingly simple as live a Christian life but I'm still working on that one.
If there is one thing I've figured out though it's that life's complicated. There's a quote from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets where Dumbledore says "It is our choices, Harry, far more than our abilities that show us who we really are" (I like the way it's stated in the book better than the movie) and I think maybe I'm growing up to the point where I both accept and agree with this. The thing is I don't necessarily like to make choices.
Did anyone else ever read those "Choose Your Own Adventure Books" as a kid? Basically you'd start reading a story and it would be something to the effect of ...you're walking down a road in a forest on your way to an enchanted castle (there was almost always an enchanted castle) and you hear a noise in the bushes off to your right. If you want to check out the bushes to your right flip to page 33 ; if you continue on towards the castle flip to page 18. etc. etc. etc. Thing is, I really liked these books but I'd almost always cheat. I was the one who flipped to pages 18 AND 33 to see which outcome I liked better. You can't do that in life. Once you're on page 18 you're on your way to the castle without ever looking back again at that noise in the bushes off to the right. In a way this makes life simpler - you can live life forward and define it backward. But in a way it makes life crazier - once you've chosen something you have to live with that choice and all the resulting consequences.
I think this is why I take so long to act on choices I make and why often times I let other people decide things for me. I rarely have confidence that what I do is "for the best" and especially when something will actually be better for me, I have an impossible time doing it if it hurts someone else.
To cut to the chase, Mike and I broke up yesterday. It was by no means an easy choice to make, but it was a choice. Please don't respond to this e-mail with how SORRY you are (find SOMETHING else to say). I don't want pity right now, and in many ways I chose this more than he did. It was an area of my life that needed to change. I'm not even going to guess what God's got in store for either of us relationship-wise in the future. I do wish only great things for Mike though, and I believe he really wants what's best for me too. I guess I just need the chance to take a look at my life in a simpler scope right now - to see who I am and what choices I make - without trying to be who other people want me to be or without constantly trying to please others.
So I guess that's the flip side. Me trying (and most likely failing) at an attempt to be more profound than I have any desire, reason, or right to be. But as always, make of it - and me - whatever you will.
Choicefully Yours,
lisa :)
P.S. Many of you know that my favorite fiction author is R.A. Salvatore and as cool as he is he got even cooler by releasing another novel (that's starting a new trilogy - sweet!). I have this odd deal where I'll pull quotes from his writing that speak my thoughts or feelings in words I could never put together on my own. The latest addition to my "QuoteBook NoteBook" is something of the following:
"It's one thing to know one's heart. It is another thing to admit it.
It is something altogether different to follow it."
~ R.A. Salvatore
Okay I really have nothing of any consequential importance to say right now, but I'm a bit early to work so I thought I'd fill in my time - at least til someone else in my lab gets here - with this week's random update.
I got a flu shot yesterday. My arm hurts like...well it hurts a lot. I wasn't gonna get one too because the last year that I did is the only year in the past 10 I can remember that I actually got sick with the flu (yes, most of you have heard about my literally vomitous Valentine's Day 2000). But regardless I figured that Chicago winter combined with working at a hospital and taking mass transportation every day might be cause to try to insure myself against the flu.
And I'm just now realizing that my flu shot is by no means the most anecdotal part of my week. (Is anecdotal even a word? anecdoteable?? anecdotifiable?? whatever.) Regardless, here's my week:
Monday: it was monday...enough said.
Tuesday: I received an official Poopinator Award recognizing my acheivment in the field of Being able to laugh at almost anything. How cool is that??
Wednesday: I thought I had learned to stop asking the hypothetical question "what else could make this day crazier?" but I made the mistake of asking it yesterday and cursed myself with way too much going nuts. In short, the flu shot, two major experiments, journal club, sushi outing for lunch, an unexpected phone call, and the return of Jim.
Since the next question is obviously who's Jim, I'll spare you asking it and say that Jim's the guy who had my job before me and left to go work for some high profile biotech company only to get laid off a week after I'd been hired as his replacement. Awkwardness anyone??? To make matters odder everbody loves Jim. Seriously, he should have his name changed to Raymond. Ever since the day I started I've heard how awesome Jim is and since he got laid off there's been an essence of Jim that's been hovering around the lab. To make a long story short, he showed up yesterday and got invited to lunch with us (us being me and three of the other ladies I work with). No really that's not awkward, "Hi, you must be Jim. I'm Lisa... thanks for the job???" He actually seems like a pretty nice guy too which leaves me with inevitable feelings of "oh my gosh I stole this poor guy's job".
So after convincing myself that his unemployment was not my fault or my problem I went home to an incredibly bizzarre conversation with my mom about an incredibly FALSE rumor that she heard from my aunt based on a three minute conversation with my cousin (and Jenny, let me know if you have Beth's e-mail address - I have some things to say to that girl! and do me a favor and DO NOT believe anything she or your mom is currently reporting about my life and future plans). It wouldn't have been so bad too except that my mom believed what she heard. My aunt convinced her that I had confided in my cousin something that I didn't want to share with my mom.
Grrrrrrrrrr.... So yeah, I'm currently seeking out weed killer for the rumor weeds sprouting up all around my family. But yeah it's Thursday now - WOOHOO! and aside from my typical evening plans of Survivor/CSI/ER my mom wants to go out to a midnight preview of the new Harry Potter movie. Seriously, this is her idea not mine. Not that I'm objecting of course but in considering my spastic spontanaeity, I now see where I get it from.
Anywho, I should probably start getting some work done now.
Harry Potterfully yours,
lisa :)
p.s. Sorry this e-mail isn't very amusing but I did hear some funny stuff on the radio recently:
news report in the morning last week: Winona Ryder didn't take the stand in her shoplifting trial...probably cause it was bolted to the floor.
random commercial for a fitness club:
Announcer Voice: What exactly is Pilates?
Big Booming Voice: I AM PILATES!!
Announcer: It's not a Greek God.
Snobby Voice: I'd like a large Pilates.
Announcer: It's not a froo froo drink.
Paniked Voice: Doctor, I think I have pilates!!!
Announcer: It's not a disease. Pilates is the new fitness craze sweeping Chicago....blah blah blah
I dunno it made me laugh but if you're not amused just see the previous note about why I won the Poopinator Award. Happy Thursday!
:)
***
Disclaimer: Yeah I know it's out of order but I just realized that I forgot to send this out last week. I figured I'd send it now too seeing as how #11 is a little more ranty than I usually am!
***
First off, thanks to everyone who responded to my request for "Things that make you go HA!". To share a few replies (in the order received with no comment on their relative funniness):
1) Exudists: no, not nudists, exudists as in people who exude. Like me exuding caffeine. Or Jessica and her friend Ellen who exude happiness (or was it hyperness...probably both).
2) The Barundi Wand: no, I won't explain except to say that it's pure unadulterated evil (with a Brittish accent) - not to be confused with The President of Barundi...that's a whole nother story
3) TV theme songs without words that are great to sing along to: Law and Order is great in this category, as is Survivor which only sort of has words, but best is the theme to ER with the little "nyew nyew" part that Lauren always makes fun of me for singing along with cause I can never get perfectly in sync with the theme
4) The "Huh?" guy in Indiana Jones: Okay everyone go obtain a copy of Raiders of the Lost Ark, now there's a scene towards the end where Indy's in some car chase scene (I think he's going after the Nazi's with the Ark?) but the jeeps they're driving go crashing through a village under construction or something and there's all these dudes on ladders and one of the ladders gets hit sending the poor climing dude crashing onto Harrison Ford's windshield. This really wouldn't be hilarious except that the dude looks directly through the windshield (and thus right into the camera) with a stunned "Huh?" look before taking a tumble off the car.
5) Infomercials: Can you do anything but laugh at them??? I'm still thinking that the Revo Brush is super cool cause I can get one for me, one for a friend, one for my neighbor's dog along with attachment sets for a number of hair styles including wavy, curly, straight, mohawked, 80's frizzed, crimped, flipped or even go bald all for forty five easy payments of $666 along with a three minute warranty contract that they'll throw in if I opt to sell them either my soul or my first born child - I mean, I'm thinking about calling now! How can anyone resist this deal??!?! [On the serious side the Revo Brush is an actual infomercial product that's a psycho spinning brush thing and I'm really concerned about the people using it on the show because honestly if you have difficulties with a standard round brush I think one that spins is just an all out evil thing to try. But they did promise to throw in "A Magic Comb"...what's up with that? What's so magic about it? Can you just wave it over your hair and get a style? ...actually that would be pretty sweet....] There's also a store in the Fox Valley Mall called the As Seen on TV store where all their products are marked with the little red "As Seen On TV" logo. I like walking through there cause it only takes a few minutes to feel like you just watched eight hours of TV at 3am. :)
That's about it for now. Thanks again to all who shared funny insights and stories.
Have Fun & Keep Smiling,
lisa :)
p.s. One more funny thing to share: My car. See, a while back my mom got a new car so my dad took my mom's car and I'm buying my dad's car. Somehow I've had a lot of really random/ funny conversations involving this simple fact. And there's some blah blahs at parts I can't quite remember but here's the jist of a few:
Me: blah blah blah...my Saturn is toast...I'm buying my dad's Lincoln.
Karrie: What kind of Lincoln?
Me: A black one.
Karrie: (rolled eye look)
Me: (moment of realization) OH...heh heh...you meant model....
Me: Hey, once I buy dad's car can I get a license plate that says "ABE"?
My mom: Abe???
Me: Yeah! I want it to be an "ABE" Lincoln!
:)
Yes, tomorrow is the wonderful first Tuesday in November when citizens everywhere rush to their local polling places only to see their shadows and determine that there'll be another six months of winter. Unless of course we're talking about voters in Florida who never really have winter and can't quite figure out how to use ballots anyway.
Am I being a little too cynical here?? Probably, but I'm starting to find that the only thing really great about election season is bribery. And for some odd reason every candidate for an Illinois public office seems to think that people who commute to Chicago from Naperville must be the dumbest - or at least most easily persuadable - shmucks in the entire state. Not that I can complain too much because last week a candidate for state Treasurer was bribing all of us schmucky train riders with free Krispy Kreme donuts. The very next day a candidate for the same position was giving us all coffee. [Note I'm leaving out all names because I refuse to endorse anyone with this e-mail] I will stop to point out, though, that I think some more thought needs to be put into some of the bribery attempts that are going on. This morning I was accosted by some lady who wanted me to vote for her favorite candidate for the sole reason that she gave me a 4" by 6" flag designed car decal.....a car decal....and you're giving these out at the train station.....if I'm riding the train doesn't that sort of simply that I don't use my car too much???? And then of course there's the lady who approached me with her literature as well as the question "Are you old enough to vote?" I can't tell you how hard it was to bite back a snide reply of "Yeah, and I have been for the past FOUR YEARS!" (Do I seriously look like a seventeen year-old??? Maybe instead of med school I should just go redo high school. I could be like John Cryer in Hiding Out....and I'm betting that my obscure 80's movie reference is lost on the majority of you...)
But I honestly wouldn't mind the whole election thing if it weren't for excessively stupid commercials. "Vote for So-and-So! He supports Illinois Schools!!!" "Vote for What's-Her-Name! She'll lower unemployment rates!" I mean seriously people! Is any candidate ever going to say right out "I couldn't care less about education and I'll do my best to get people laid off!"??? And I think I could even tolerate choking on the cheesiness of these ads if they weren't on the tv or radio every 30 seconds. I just got done watching the six o' clock news and not a single commercial break went by with less than three campain ads (yes the misspelling is intentional) I honestly never thought I'd look forward to seeing a nice non-mud slinging McDonald's, Coke, or Nike commercial. Heck, I'd even take the Britney Spears Pepsi ads....
...ok so maybe I wouldn't go THAT far....
Anywho, I guess my biggest beef too is that I'm not even voting tomorrow. Yeah yeah you can all lecture me on civic duty and democracy at some other time. I was registered in Champaign (since that's where I was the last 4 years) and I missed the deadlines to change all my info to my local stuff. I suppose I'll take all the annoying propaganda as my punishment for not being a good citizen or something like that.
But to all of you - regardless of Republicrat, Democan, or Groundhog - Happy Election Day!
vote-fully yours,
lisa :)
So I'm gonna make this e-mail a little shorter than my normal random rants and ramblings. I've discovered concrete evidence to support an often stated theory that many of you and I'd say a good 99% of all people that know me believe to be true:
Statement: Lisa is easily amused.
THE EVIDENCE:
Exhibit A: Words
Did you ever notice that there are some words that just make you laugh? Maybe it's just me but "snood", "marf", "sunglassify", and "tormentia" will always make me giggle. And if you don't think any of those are funny....I leave you with "poopinator".
Exhibit B: Movies
Okay so I think Death to Smoochy is one of the most randomly crack induced movies I've seen in some time but it cracks me up. Even more random though are the cheesy 80's movies that constantly crack me up with their excessive cheese. And yes, I did watch "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (the movie) this weekend. Come on, it's hilarious! And actually what's funnier is that we turned it on because the movie "Supergirl" was deemed too cheesy and too 80's....
Exhibit C: Caffeine & Sleep Deprivation
Everything's funny under these circumstances. Especially the idea of me consuming so much caffeine that I become so potently hyper that I'm a sort of "Caffeine Patch" able to transmit caffeine to other people just by touch.
Exhibit D: The Free Cell Icon Dude
This is like that piece of evidence that once you hear it you're just going to say case closed, Lisa is easily amused (as if this is really a point of debate). Anywho, open up the game Free Cell on your computer. (Come on just do it even if you hate the game) Before you even start a new game move your mose cursor back and forth straight between the free cells on the top left and the cells you play to on the top right. As you do this though watch the little King icon dude in the center. He watches you!!! I have zero explanation as to why I find it hilarious but stop to consider the fact that some programmer decided to make the little icon dude change directions to face your cursor and maybe you'll laugh too!
easily amusedfully yours,
lisa :)
p.s. A couple copyrights here:
"Snood" is a video game but it's become a noun, verb and interjection thanks to Lauren. "Marf" is Mike's own unique creation - still seeking a definition. "Sunglassification" and it's subsequent conjugations tions are attributed solely to James. "Tormentia" is the nounification of the word "torment" and is on record as the first official "Tonyism" (where "Tonyism" became the second official Tonyism). Last but most hilariously not least "poopinator" is quoted from Karrie as the less technical substitute for the veterinary device known as a fecalizer (Coming soon Poopinator Key Chains, Poopinator Pen Holders, Poopinator Necklaces, and Official Poopinator Award Statues simply for the reason that I'm way too amused by the word "Poopinator").
p.p.s. If anyone has any random stupid/silly things that for no apparent reasons crack them up please share them with me and I may possibly send out an ammendment to this LoL with all of your contributions!
Six 'o clock am and I was just in the middle of a dream - I was kissing Valentino by a crystal blue Italian stream. But I can't be late cause then I just won't get paid and these are the days when you wish your bed was already made. Have to catch an early train, got to be to work by nine and if I had an aeroplane I still couldn't make it on time! 'Cause it takes me so long just to figure out what I'm gonna wear. Blame it on the train, but the boss is already there.....
I wish it was Sunday cause that's my fun day, my I don't have to run day, but it's just another Manic Monday!
Okay I'll stop quoting 80's music (The Bangles) now (even though these ARE the days when you wish your bed was already made, yeah, right like I ever make my bed in the morning!) but I figured it fits since it is Monday and the Manic part seemed somewhat appropriate considering it's me talking here. Anywho....
Have you ever thought about how funny it would be to be driving down the road and seeing twenty some people standing at a bus stop doing the electric slide?
I think that'd be pretty amusing. No change that - I would be downright hilarious. I was at the bus stop this morning and when the three people to the right of me got on the UIC bus (which comes 5 minutes before the NWU bus) I sidesteped grapevine style to where they had been standing and the previously mentioned image of line dancers at a bus stop popped into my head.
Then again maybe not.
I'm bored out of my mind at work right now. If anyone reads this before 5 e-mail back cause then I can at least pretend to be engrossed in imortant e-mail...oh wait, I'm ALREADY doing that ;) I had to watch a radiation safety video today too. That was funny. Indiana University Copyright 1982 - need I say more?
I have to put a shoutout in here too to super spiffy crazy lady Agnes cause the whole thing was just a little too reminiscent of CHEM 393 (Principles of Lab Safety) and I really needed someone I knew watching it with me cause it was very worthy of being mocked. Also, to all the NNHS-ers, "Hi" from Kate N. I saw her on the train this morning, she's taking classes at Columbia studying Marketing/Advertising.
Oh and I normally do actually have work to do at work. Today's just one of those waiting days which is not so bad considering that 90% of my day on Friday was devoted to opening, closing, labelling, reopening, reclosing and relabelling microcentrifuge tubes. I'm gonna write the world's shortest novel titled Things I Love About Plasmid Mini-Preps.
manic mondayfully yours,
lisa :)
p.s. and for the record I wasn't actually having dreams about Valentino last night. it's just a song. and speaking of songs Wheezer's "Island in the Sun" just came on the radio and I'm debating how wrong it would be to turn the volume to max and start singing and dancing my way through the tissue culture work I get to do in the next hour....
Hello all and welcome (back) to the insane world of the weekly Lisa update [LoL = Lisa on Life]!
Something I don't normally do here is welcome people to the list - there's four newbies and sorry, Melinda but you're the odd one out. The reason I mention this at all is that the other three new additions are all named Jessica. (How weird is that?) Melinda you're added by request, Jigga-Jess D you're added cause Jigga-Jason gave me permission to spam you ; Jess G you're on here cause this is my forum for sharing crazy work stories plus J-Darkknight mentioned you might be up for some homecoming plans ; and Jess C you're added because in adding the other two Jess's I realized that I never added you to my list (sounds like France is way cool - rock on sis!!). So to Melinda and the Jessicas (that sounds like a girl rock band) - welcome to my insanity, you're under no obligation to stay but I thought I'd at least give ya a chance to get in on the fun. I also have to point out too that this now makes "J" the most popular letter in my address book - you're all grouped by first names - "J" was formerly tied with "K" but has now taken over.
Not like any of you care about my address book anyway. Okay Lisa lay off the crack and say something important! Homecoming weekend!! Woohoo!! October 25-27 at U of I!!! Yes, I am coming to visit! And although I was trying my hardest NOT to make plans - these things happen. Here's what I got so far: I'll be ariving in Chambana late Friday night (with Karrie) ; staying in the supreme Hotel de Lauren :) ; hopefully going out to Curtis Orchard Saturday morning (consider this your not so formal invitation to join in on the fun) ; going to the Homecoming game Sat afternoon (with cool people Sean, Greg, Sara, Brad, Karrie, etc) ; maybe catching SNG and hopefully a way cool SNaG ; Sunday lunch at Miko's if that works for Emily (if that don't work Sat dinner is maybe an option too) and who knows what else way cool fun stuff. Oh and there's all these rumors about when the barn dance is - 18th? 25th? Nov 1st? - and if November 1st is correct there's a chance you Chambaners could get a double dose of Lisa visits which would be cool since I'm sincerely hoping but not entirely sure that I'll see y'all Homecoming weekend. Oh and anyone who wants to reach me at any time that weekend (or actually anytime at all) call my cell phone.
Okay and here's where I give little shoutouts to Jenny and Kristin cause they're non U of I folk who probably couldn't care less about Homecoming weekend plans.
Now for the random insanity: I've had a lot of recurring teeth problems lately. (Told you it was random) Luckily my dental insurance just kicked in but I have to have my wisdom teeth taken out and I think I might have another cavity. Anyhoo the reason I mention this at all is that I've been really paranoid about the fact that my gums kept bleeding every time I brushed or flossed so I decided that I'd start in with the whole super healthy Listerine mouthwash (named after Joseph Lister and his favorite bacteria Lister monocytogesomething....did somebody say...McBio?). But anyway every time I use it I feel like I've set my gums on fire. Maybe I'm getting gingivitis from excessive coffee drinking or something but more likely I think Listerine is really just one part green dye, two parts alcohol and three parts hydrochloric acid. I'm not saying I've hit the green fairy hallucination level but ever since absinthe and NyQuil I would think that people would start being more suspicious of green alcoholic liquids.
And for the sake of more insane amusement I have to replay a little scene from Saturday night (that has nothing at all to do with Listerine but it's funny and random so enjoy):
[Border's Books & Music, Route 59 store ; 8:30-ish pm]
Karrie M & Lisa B perusing the standardized test study guide aisle; Earlier Saturday Lisa purchased an MCAT study guide at Barnes & Noble, Karrie's on a quest for a similar item for the GRE. Only problem is there are a million to choose from.
Karrie: How do I know which one's the best?
Lisa: Well, I know Kaplan's a good company but if you're like me you pick one out by the price tag.
Karrie: Do they have "GRE: For Dummies"?
*both laughing* [Lisa's cell phone rings]
Lisa: It's my sister. (answering phone and beginning to talk to sister)
Karrie: (turning around in the aisle to look at more interesting books - points enthusiastically at book on shelf) OH LOOK! It's the "Government has thousands of dollars for you" dude!!!
Lisa: (turning around to the sight of book with scary "Government has thousands of dollars for you" dude on the cover and cracking up) [to phone] sorry, Karrie's quoting infomercials at me. [Pulls Guiness Book of World Records off shelf and hands it to Karrie trying to distract her from being distracting] Here, find a record for us to break. [back to phone conversation]
Karrie: [opens book to random page] How about "Most Albino Siblings"?
Okay it was funny. Maybe you had to be there but we were both laughing a lot. And we eventually decided that since Albino siblings might be a bit tough we're gonna try for most clothespins stuck to one's face (what was the number 43? ouch.) Then again these were the ideas developed under the influence of Dairy Queen. It's Pumpkin Pie Blizzard season! SOOOOOO yummy!! I may even have to insist upon a DQ trip while in Chambana or else there's always TACO BELL (yes, I meant that to be overenthusiastically capitalized!).
I'll stop rambling now. Love to all!!
pumpkin pie blizzardfully yours,
lisa :)
p.s. I just realized that this e-mail is void of any funny work stories so even though it has nothing to do with work just a quick note for all the science nerds, Lauren informed me that this is currently the Year of Atmospheric Oxygen. Yea for science nerds who can figure that out!! And for all the non-science nerds I was watching Moulin Rouge on HBO last night - love that movie! - and can I just say that Ewan McGreggor is just way cool??? I was reminiscing about how as a mockery of Bree Sharp's song "David Duchovny, why won't you love me?" Emily and I developed our own version of "Ewan McGreggor, come to my kegger!"
...(and don't worry we were talking about a Root Beer Kegger) yes, I am insane as is almost everyone I know!!
:)
Yes It's time for another Lisa Rant on the all out yuckiness of mornings. See, it's not even 9:30 am yet and I've been up for three hours. THREE HOURS!!! That's just not right. Especially with this whole October less hours of daylight thing going on. As if it's not hard enough to get out of bed pre-seven o'clock, now you want me to do it without even a hint of sunlight???? I don't think so! There should be a new rule about not being allowed to be up before the sun. HEL-LO, people! Day has NOT started yet!!!!!!
*Sigh* But alas, here I am at work on a cold Tuesday morning and I'm facing the ultimate problem that my body is awake before my brain. Normally I would be chugging coffee but lately my good friend caffeine has been making me kinda sick so I'm trying to cut back. Yes, I, the Queen of Caffeine am cutting back (please note that "cutting back" is nowhere near "giving up"). I think my biggest problem is that I had too much fun over the weekend. It always makes the week that much harder to start. It's what we call the "fun hangover" - meaning that you had too much fun, not necessarily involving alcohol - over the weekend and don't want to get up on Monday. But yeah on Saturday I went to a wedding of some friends of Mike's and it was just a total blast. The official quote of the day was a remark about the vanilla ice cream dessert "It tastes like wedding". And I'll refrain from sharing the other amusing stories about Random Drunk Guy (there's one at every party...or at least every party with an open bar).
But now it's Tuesday (I don't quite even know what happened to Monday....) and I'm seriously I'm having one of those weird brain dead daydreaming mornings.
On the train I actually found myself pondering such questions as if Ian McKellan as Gandalf (in Lord of the Rings) went up against Ian McKellan as Magneto (in X-Men), who would win? And then sanity slips in and says that such a fight would never occur because as far as I know he doesn't have a twin. But then you start considering the possibilities of cloning him but then you decide that since he's actually SIR Ian McKellan he probably would be too dignified to get in a fight with himself in the first place. Then you just boil the whole thing down to a much simpler debate of who's cooler and Gandalf wins hands down. Unless you take into consideration pity points for Magneto's traumatic childhood, then it's closer but I still vote Gandalf. But since it's a coolness contest you then have to consider other LoTR possibilities like who's cooler: Sean Astin as Sam Gamgee or Sean Astin as Mikey Walsh in The Goonies? (and actually the jury's still out on this one...but leaning towards the Goonies...)
*Sigh* Anywho, morning is morning and I probably shouldn't be spending quite this much of it on the computer. Hope y'all have a wonderful week (and go ahead an gloat if you're one of those who's first class is 10am....your time will come.) ;)
quasi-good morning,
lisa :)
p.s. Okay since I mentioned REM in my last e-mail I just have to say how annoying/bizzarre the radio at work is. Somehow it always ends up on light rock (Windy 100.3 for all you Chicago-area folk) and it's the sappiest cheesiest music you've ever heard. They have a play list of maybe 30 or 40 songs a day and with the exception of the occasional John Mayer, REM or Counting Crows it never extends beyond the realm of Celine Dion, Faith Hill, Shania Twain, Elton John, and everyone's favorite "no-talent ass clown", Michael Bolton. And it's always super sappy love songs. Not that I mind love songs in small doses but this is the kinda thing that if you were coming off a bad break up could probably push you to the point of suicidal!! And when you don't want to be awake in the first place, crap music is basically adding insult to the injury. Okay done complaining now. Time to go transfect endothelial cells!!
....and I know it's not Friday yet....
............but is it almost NOON????????????
:) <------ me, still smiling and hoping you are too!
Happy Over and Out Day!!
In the tradition of pointless, frivilous, unofficial holidays (I hope everyone had some fun on "Talk like a Pirate Day") I want to let you all know that today is officially Over and Out Day!! I don't know who first claimed it as an official unofficial holiday (?) but I first heard about it from my super spiffy former roomie Lauren. See it's Over and Out Day because it's October 4th....10/4...get it?? Ten Four Over and Out????
Okay so it's lame but it's also fun and kind of amusing. In fact just for the insanity of it everyone should talk on a walkie talkie at some time today. Or since that's a bit challenging just make a cell phone call and pretend you're on a walkie talkie (throw in a few alpha bravo charlie's and you'll sound really cool).
Now unfortunately Over and Out Day might be the most amusing part of this e-mail (sorry, Karrie the Oktoberfest hilarity and the Boxer Boogie just can't be described in words) cause with a couple exceptions I've had a rather mellow week. But before I go into all that it's shoutout time:
First a shoutout to the super spiffy Mike B who turns 23 tomorrow!! And Happy Birthday wishes also go out to the way cool Heather M whose birthday is sometime in the first couple weeks of October (my apologies for not remembering the exact day!). And also a super spiffy random shoutout to the wonderfully sunshiney Jacklyn D! And one more shoutout to anyone who likes Chuay Ghan better than Sook Jai or even knows what the heck Chuay Ghan and Sook Jai are.
DUDE - the coolest song just came on the radio. It's "Shiny Happy People" by REM. One of those songs that you just can't help smile at. :) Random fact is that I actually listed this as my most favorite song when I was in 6th grade. I have no idea why I remember that but it's a way fun song from back when REM was a fun pop bubblegum style band and before they got freaky and Michael Stipe lost all his hair. Just Kidding. I still like REM. Always have and probably always will. But yeah 6th grade....LONG TIME AGO. 1991 or 92....dude I feel old now. The weird thing too is that this gives me the perfect transition to what I really wanted the whole point of this e-mail to be. I think I'm turning back into a 22-year old version of my junior high self.
6th grade Lisa:
favorite movie: The Goonies
favorite band: REM
favorite food: Mexican or Italian
favorite fast food: Taco Bell
favorite free time activities: reading, running, rollerskating, hanging out with friends
favorite subject: science
life's ambition: become a doctor
So maybe REM's not topping the charts as my favorite anymore but everything else is the same and over the past month I've decided that I've returned to my junior high ambition and do want to go to med school. I think I only quasi know what I'm getting into (this goes with the decisions I mentioned in the last e-mail) cause it's gonna be a pretty major commitment that's gonna affect all my life circumstances for the next 5-10 years or so (time, money, relationships, work situation, living arrangements, etc.). But yeah, it's been a long time coming and it's time for me to just admit that it's what I should be doing and not panic about how it's gonna happen or if it's even feasible. First step - MCAT in April. Six months away.
Anywho, I guess it's time for me to make good on the promise too that I said this would be a shorter e-mail. And I know it's really not THAT short, but I could ramble on much longer here and to prove that this is shorter than it could be I won't include a p.s.
10-4,
lisa :)
(a.k.a. lola igloo simon alpha)
p.s. I lied. It just didn't seem right signing without one. Love to all y'all!!
Yes, you read it right. Instead of my usual Lisa update, I want to take a different spin on a day in the life of me. It's recently occurred to me how many bizzarre/disgusting/awesome scents I encounter in a typical day so I invite you in on a semi-normal day of in the life of my nose.
* Pina-colada (my froo-froo shampoo/conditioner)
* Bacon (my parents breakfast)
* Coffee (my breakfast - yeah yeah bring on the nutrition lectures...)
* Dew (outside heading to the car - dew as in wet grass, not the soft drink)
* Naperville train smog
* Chicago train smog (what can I say, the train stations each have their own unique smog)
* Bus smog (way worse than train smog cause it's usually mixed with cab smog and car smog and general Chicago air pollution)
* Construction smog (there's a new building going up across the street from where I work. They're in the "moving dirt" phase of construction. They take an empty lot and move dirt around for two years and then overnight - poof! a building appears. There's a theory that in the "moving dirt" stage they're actually planting building seeds.)
* Elevator (did you ever notice that elevators have their own unique smell? Pay attention next time. And I'm not talking about smelling other people on the elevator. That's just wrong. I just mean that elevator air in general smells...different. Ummm, yeah, moving on...)
* Latex lab gloves (I go through probably close to 100 pairs a day and if you've ever worn them, you know the scent I mean. And yes, I'm exaggerating on the 100 pairs. But I do change gloves really frequently. Especially working with RNA, it's super important not to contaminate anything. I've come to the conclusion that there are few things worse than being in the middle of RNA purification and having your nose start to itch. Let's just say it happened yesterday and if there had been anyone watching me they would have thought I was doing an impression of a hyperactive rabbit sniffing crack.)
* Bleach (it's the biohazard disposal stuff in our lab. I almost got high on it the other day too. I think it's some sort of super strong extra potent uber bleach. Actually it's just regular clorox but once you mix it with random cell culture waste it smells... in one word: nasty.)
* Alcohol (the other all too frequent chemical I work with. All you chem/bio people know too that Ethanol is abbreviated EtOH but it's funny cause we have Ethanol wash bottles in the tissue culture lab - for sterilizing hands/tables/bottles/etc. - but one of the bottles got the OH part rubbed off so it was just a bottle of ET. hee hee... wash bottle phone home...okay maybe I'm still high on bleach fumes. The other weird thing about the alcohol is that when you work with cells and stuff you have to keep your hands really clean so we wear gloves and then periodically wipe them off with EtOH which sterilizes as it evaporates. The problem is that the evaporation also cools your golves down which is fine for most people, but I'm cold-hands girl to start with, add in the fact that our lab is overly air conditioned and you can guess that a good portion of my train ride home involves thawing out my fingers!)
* Cafeteria (forget everything you ever heard about the grossness of hospital food. The NMH - Northwestern Memorial Hospital - cafeteria is awesome. Or maybe I've just been subjected to Allen dorm food for four years and have lost all sense of good/bad cafeteria food.)
* A toaster that's been left on too long (that's the only way I can really describe the smell of an autoclave to anyone who's never smelled one. It's not really a burning smell, just sort of a something fried here a long time ago and only it's scent remains type of smell)
* More elevator smell
* More bus smog
* CHOCOLATE (it's really cool cause on the way back to the train staion the bus I take goes right past the Blommer Chocolate factory/outlet store - the corner of Kinzie & Des Plaines for all you Chicago-ans out there - so if the bus windows are cracked you get this wonderful smell of cholcolate wafting through. So imagine after a long day being tired, hungry and eagerly anticipating dinner and all you can smell is chocolate...it's bad enough to turn anyone into a ravenous chocoholic.)
I guess that about sums up a typical day in the life of my nose. It's been an insanely long week and I can't tell y'all how happy I am that it's Friday. Sorry if this was a little too bizarre or not quite amusing enough for some of you, but as a further warning, my next update will probably be something more on the serious side of things (but on the plus side I'll try to keep it shorter).
On that note too I want to add in what I'm gonna call the "PR" section of my updates. PR stands for prayer requests or press releases depending on whether or not you're the kind of person that believes God would heal a headache (and don't worry, I love you regardless of your stance on that one). Basically it's just gonna be the bigger things going on with me that are outside the bounds of the more trivial and humorous standard lisa ramblings. It'll go something like this:
This week's PR: I've got some big decisions on the drawing board these days. Some of you have the inside 411 and others will be filled in shortly but right now I'm in need of guidance to make some choices and confidence that the choices I make will be good ones.
And since I seem to be forgetting them lately - this week a very special spiffy shoutout goes out to Slovett (we'll do a one name thing for ya like "Madonna"!). She earns this shoutout by providing the awesome quote that's gonna be my motto if I ever need a campaign slogan:
"Lisa: living a normal life in an abnormal way."
have fun & keep smiling,
lisa (and her nose) :-)
p.s. note the inclusion of the nose on my smiley!
p.p.s. About that whole campaign slogan thing, no I'm not going into politics. But if anyone wants a really good book to read about some politicians and other cool people read "The Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokaw. It's a series of short story/biographies about people from the WWII era and considering I don't normally like biographies, WWII books, or Tom Brokaw if I say it's one of the best books I've read in a long time you KNOW it's gotta be good. :)
Another week another crazy mass e-mail from me! I've once again updated my address book which means that there are new people added to this list who have no clue what they're getting into.
[To recap: LoL = "Life of Lisa" or "Lisa on Life" and it's my crazy once a week or so update consisting of random quasi-pointless rambling on anything, everything or nothing that's going on in my life (or lack thereof). "Subscriptions" (?) can be added or canceled at anytime by simply e-mailing me with the request of "Attempt to Amuse Me" or "Please stop inundating me with your insanity".]
That's what you're getting (or have unwillingly gotten yourself) into. Here's this week's insanity:
So I was reading a Dave Barry article in the Chicago Tribune Magazine the other day (my new favorite part of the Sunday paper) and it was one of the funniest Dave Barry's I've read in a long time. First of all Dave Barry just cracks me up. Maybe that's why I started this whole rambling insanity thing in the first place - an ultimate attempt to find amusement in the overly ordinary. :) But anyway the article centered around the fact that two guys invented a holiday for September 19th. Seeing as how this day is tomorrow, I just had to share with you all wishes for a very happy "Talk Like A Pirate Day". Here's a link to the story if anyone wants to read it.
http://www1.dailycamera.com/bdc/community/article/0,1713,BDC_2404_1401011,00.html
And you probably have to cut and paste that cause I don't know if the link came through. It's really funny though...or else I just need more sleep and less coffee. Actually I'm on a pretty major sugar high today. It was a Journal Club Day. Journal Club is when every other week a bunch of the people on our floor (aka the Cancer Center) get together to hear one of the doctors or PHD students give a presentation on a recent medical journal article relating to cancer research. I definitely won't bore y'all with the details but it really is pretty fascinating stuff. Plus the presenters bring in cookies. (hence the sugar high tie in...that really wasn't a totally unrelated topic jump). Anywho, today one of the women I normally eat lunch with did her presentation (a really cool grad student named Kulsoom) on prostate and breast cancer and a study involving a protein called "trastuzumab". (pronounced: tras-TOO-zoo-mab) Isn't that the coolest word ever?? It's so fun to say!! Your challenge is now to use it in a sentence and you get bonus cool points if you use it on Talk like a Pirate Day. (Avast ye matey I be learnin about trastuzumab today!...or...not.)
Even better than Journal Club though is Dessert Club. Every thursday someone in our lunch group brings dessert for our entire table. Requirements are that it can be hommade or storebought but t has to be moderatly to sickeningly sweet and chocolate is always a plus! And you people wonder why I love my job... ;)
The only other thing I can think to rant about that sort of goes with my sugar high theme is that I finally tried Dr. Pepper Red Fusion. It's....interesting. And by interesting I mean it tastes sort of like someone got a case of Robitussin and exploded it (napalm style?) in a Dr. Pepper factory. But that's just my opinion. If anyone's a die hard Dr. P fan please try it for yourselves and let me know what you think.
There's a ton more I could say right now cause I had a wonderfully insane weekend and have a bunch more silly stories to share (like why my sister now has a pet turtle named Steve) but I'm gonna cut myself off here and save the rest for another edition which if I'm bored enough might come out later this week. ;)
Til then take care and have a Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day tomorrow!
trastuzumabfully yours,
lisa :)
P.S. DOH!! I forgot the shoutouts!!! Last minute shoutouts to the super spiffy Erika, Colleen, and Maria for sending extra spiffy replys to my last e-mail. You ladies rock!!! And a shoutout to Natalie U too cause I think your long lost twin works in my building - I did a major double take in the cafeteria!
I have a confession to make:
I love frozen burritos. That is I love frozen burritos once they're heated to gooey perfection and served as dinner on a stylish paper plate. I share this only because I've recently learned that some people are disgusted and perhaps even revolted by frozen burritos. I don't care what you say or how bad they are for me - there's nothing like getting home late from work and two minutes later helping yourself to wonderful microwaveable burritoy goodness.
"Burritoy"....that's a cool new word. Of course it kind of looks like Burri - toy as opposed to Burrito - y. Oh well. This is one of those elbakerone rice-a-roni problems again.
Speaking of great new words I'm gonna throw out a shoutout to the super spiffy Mike B for invention of the word "marf". Still haven't pinpointed a definition but it gets mondo kudos points for being fun to say. Especially as a substitute curse word. Also gonna give a shoutout to Colleen (aka The Younger Unger) who just got added to the list because Emily passed on your "hi" to me. And shoutouts to Jackie K and Heidi E too because I can't remember if this is the first or second time they're on here (along with apologies because I probably spelled at least one of their last names wrong).
Sooooo....what else is new with me.....Oh yeah! I'm old! (Shoutout to myself I guess?) Yeah so I turned 22 and had one of the most fun birthdays I've had in a while (let's just say that last year was NOT hard to top....). It was cool cause I got to celebrate with my whole crazy family (minus my brother who was away on a business trip) plus my future fellow Northwestern employee (hopefully!!!) Karrie M and the aforementioned super spiffy Mike B (yes we're still dating for everyone who asked for an update on "the boy"). Anyone who doesn't know my family, Mike, or Karrie might have a hard time imagining how crazily fun it was but I'll try to give you a breif glimpse of one part of the evening.
Somehow the conversation turned to what type of animal research we do in my lab and I mentioned that we work with mice and rats but that they're animals speciffically bred for research purposes. In fact I went on to explain that the mice we use are genetically altered hairless immunodeficient mice - more commonly referred to as transgenic nude mice. Leave it to my sister Anne to chime in with "Transgender Nude Mice??!?!?" Which then prompted my other sister Laura to comment on what exactly we remove when we perform surgery on them.
That's my family for you though. Crazy beyond all sense of reason, which is probably why I love 'em so much.
I feel like I should also have something to say about the whole one-year anniversary of September 11th, but nothing I could say can really bring any new meaning to any of it. I actually wrote a whole paragraph reflecting on my attitudes from last year and my looking back on them this year but here's where I censor myself. I can't explain all of it so I'd rather not explain any of it. I'll stick to the present and say Chicago was...odd on Wednesday. Union Station was the emptiest I've ever seen it and even optimistic susie sunshine me couldn't help but cringe driving past the Sears Tower imagining if tragedy had struck closer to home.
I guess that's about all I have to say for now. Sorry for my more somber tone. Except for the burrito stuff. That was about as random as I get. But I really do love 'em. In fact I'd have to say that Mexican food is actually my current favorite. And those of you that know firsthand how psycho-mentally indecisive I am, can take that as a sign that after 22 years maybe I actually am starting to figure out a little something about who I am.
Or maybe I just like burritos.
Til Next Week,
lisa :)
P.S. I also have to give a shoutout to Greg M because first of all he said he always laughs at how long my P.S. notes are and secondly because he answered my rhetorical question of "who puts alcohol in a vial marked H2O" with the amusing comment of "an alcoholic". Hee hee. I thought it was funny. I also learned today that the ethanol that we use in our lab is from a new supplier than it was 10 years ago. The reason they switched? The old stuff was a drinkable grade.... heh heh...that'd be a FUN lab! ;)
P.P.S. I'm also currently seeking good books (preferably fiction) to read on the train cause I'm all done with Lord of the Rings - e-mail me back with any suggestions!!!
Life is like a series of biochemical reactions.....especially when you work in a bio lab and day in and day out your life IS biochemical reactions.
Yes, that is my astute and profound statement of the day. Now for real business (NOT!)... first off, only about half of you were in my address book when I sent out LoL #1 (LoL=Life of Lisa) so sorry if you feel left out but for those of you that have been with me from the beginning (all 2 amazing episodes!!) thanks for staying tuned in - or something cheesy like that.
So yeah my life has been something more than normal, something less than totally chaotic lately. It's one of those deals where sometimes everything in life just clicks into combination for a perfect day and other times everything that that can go wrong, does. Hence the real reason life is like a series of biochemical reactions, sometimes things work, other times one little slip messes everything up. For instance... (you had to know there was gonna be a "for instance"!) I was getting really frustrated that for three straight days I couldn't get my PCR experiments to work right (that's polymerase chain reaction for all the science nerds in the audience). Finally Alex (the doctor also known as Sparky) figures out that the wonderful little test tube on our lab bench marked H20 is actually alcohol!! Who in the world labels vials "H2O" if they aren't filled with water????? But that's really my only gripe at the present time. And you'd be amazed at how much better experiments will work when they're not evaporating mid-reaction. :)
Other than that the interesting thing that I have to comment on is again having to do with my experiences as a train commuter. There's this wonderful process of getting off the train at Union Station in the morning that's something like instantaneously turning into a cow and joining a massive herd of numerous other slow moving cows all trying to get to the same place as quickly as possible which somehow makes everyone reduce speed to slower than turtle. This would seem like a major annoyance but I find myself laughing at the whole situation while playing snipets of the Matrix soundtrack in my head. You know that scene where Neo's in the agent identifying training video thing and he and Morpheus are walking down the street with tons of people going in the OTHER direction? That's the song I'm talking about.
OH OH!!!! IT'S SHOUTOUT TIME!!!!!!!!! First Shout-Out goes to the wonderfully spiffy Laura G whose birthday was last weekend!!!! (September 2nd - or was it 3rd?) Either way, hope you had a great one!!! And also a shoutout to all of my favorite Soph-fours - I miss you girls and hope everything's going great for y'all! And one more shoutout to Karrie M cause she's just cool and I hung out with her at Karrie-ibou (I mean CARibou) Coffee the other day and I'm going to drag her off to work at Northwestern with me so that we can be train buddies. (I'll take runon sentences for $300, Alex.....)
Other than that things in my life are pretty sweet. Saw the movie "The Importance of Being Ernest" this weekend. I'd highly recommend it. Also if anyone hasn't seen the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" - go see it. It's one of the funniest, cutest feel-good movies I've seen in a really long time. It's also at least 20 times funnier if you know anything about my family or if you come from a huge loud family.
Random thought of the day... I heard some DJs on the radio this morning talking about an article in People magazine debating whether or not Ben Afflek wears a toupee. My first reaction was "who cares" prompting me to change the radio station. Then after the tailend of a Celine Dion ballad (I was in the car with my dad...) a new set of DJs began the same discussion about Ben Affleks hair! I guess it was a slow news day or something but does anyone (...besides maybe Matt Damon) care whether or not Ben's hair is real???
Well, I guess that's about it. Except for some other random wonderings and inquiries that I'll save for the P.S. Hope all is going great for all of you!!!
smiles & sunshine,
lisa :)
P.S. So what's up with all the random soda flavorings these days?? I mean sure I was the first one to jump on the Code Red Mountain Dew bandwagon and I can't say that I was anything but pleased with Lemon Pepsi Twist and Vanilla Coke (Cherry Coke is NOT new people, it's been here since the 80's!!) but I think things are getting a little carried away with Pepsi Blue and Dr. Pepper Red Fusion. It's like some big head honcho CEO's of Coke and Pepsi are sitting there with a crayola colored dart board flinging darts to find out what new color/flavor they're gonna add to their soft drinks!! I'm all for inovation (and actually Pepsi Blue is pretty tasty...haven't tried Red Fusion yet) but please tell me they'll stop before they hit Grap-epsi and/or Mocha-Cola!
Even I - the sugar queen herself - have to admit that a line must be drawn. Till then, stay caffinated. :)
Greetings and welcome to the official LoL e-mail list. (LoL = Life of Lisa) Some of you have voluntarily added yourselves to this list, others were added by default! Regardless, I guess this is part one. But as with any e-mail series - a few disclaimers to start with:
Disclaimer #1: The ramblings and opinions expressed in this and all future LoL e-mails are nothing more (or less!) than the byproduct of my strange and caffinated not quite 22-year-old mind. I herby promise to be truthful about my thoughts/emotions to all of you but be forewarned that what I'm thinking one minute is liable to change from day to day...I mean from hour to hour...no wait, let's make that minute to minute....uh....yeah you get the idea.
Disclaimer #2: I'll try to never again use such formalities as "hereby".
Disclaimer #3: Anyone can be added to/removed from this list at any time by e-mailing me with your request without fear of offending me in any way. I know I tend to get a bit verbous at times so I'll try not to make these too long and keep them at least mildly entertaining.
Disclaimer #5: I'm not very good at counting. ;)
Disclaimer #6 (or 5): In case you're wondering why this is "LoL #1" the whole numbering system is a direct theft from the nswbitclem's and TL's (& CTL's & OTL's) but I'm betting I have Darkknight's forgiveness and Tolbert already gave me kudos for the lunch bunch series.
Anywho....now that THAT's all out of the way let the insanity begin!!
In case anyone hasn't heard (yeah right!) I'm working at Northwestern University in Chicago right now. I'm helping to cure cancer. Isn't that cool?? It actually makes me sound much more important than I am. I really just work as a research assistant in the Cancer Center of Northwestern Memorial Hospital which means I play with DNA and cell cultures all day. My job's spiffy though. The people in my lab are really cool and I get to wear jeans and tennis shoes to work. It's comfy! I always feel weird going to work though because here's me on the train - surrounded by three piece suits, shiny shoes and black coffees... wearing blue jeans with Sketchers and chugging down a Mountain Dew.
My new fun game to play on the train is "Who looks like a celebrity". As the name suggests I sit around and try to find other passengers that look like famous people. I saw a John Cusack wannnabe this afternoon and last week I caught sight of a Peter Jackson (he's the director of Lord of the Rings). Speaking of Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers is my on-train reading material and I am very eagerly awaiting the movie (less than 4 months!!!!).
Oh and as with any good mass e-mail it's shoutout time:
Shoutout to the super spiffy Lauren J cause it's her birthday today!!! Woohoo, Happy 22nd b-day Lauren!!!
Second shoutout goes to Emily H because she's the only person besides Lauren on this list who can appreciate the fact that I ran into Brian Jeselnick (sp?) on the train last week too. He works for Merril-Lynch downtown. We had a fun HS reunion chat. :)
In the brilliant words of Forrest Gump, that's all I have to say about that. You guys can all let me know if you think of any great games I should play on the train. Also, any of y'all Chambana folk that know when Homecoming weekend is let me know ASAP and I can hopefully be coming down for that. Sorry that this e-mail is lacking in amusement. I'll try to be funnier next time. :p
peace, love, & DNA,
lisa :)
P.S. Quick funny story (well, I think it's funny, you can judge for yourself) : the main doctor (Alex) that I'm working with found a protein that's specifically for preventing tumor growth by stopping the growth of blood vessels (called an angiogenesis inhibitor). Anyway the protien has some really long chemical name thats abbreviated SPARC - pronounced "spark" - so Helen, our lab director nicknamed him Sparky.
...Okay so maybe it's not that funny of a story but you have to admit that it's kind of amusing to work in a research lab for a doctor called Sparky....
...or maybe I just have a bizzare sense of humor.
Either way, love to all y'all!!!! Till next time...
:)
