Fat Frank update

Frank is fat. Not phat, but obese. He will eat crickets as long as they are there. No will power. Frank has definately begun to follow in my footsteps.

Fat Frank Foto update. As per request of several individuals. Enjoy!

A twista, a twista!

It's not Kansas... its Wisconsin.

Last night tornado touchdowns peppered southern WI from about 6pm through 7:30pm. I personally am an east coast guy and typically think of hurricanes as something to fear, but these tornadoes really did a number in my neighborhood.

The stats so far indicate one person killed, and as many as eight were hospitalized. Fifteen homes were demolished and thirty-five others had moderate to severe damage. More cars than could be counted had been wrecked by flying debree and fallen trees. From the Fox47 News station, David Murray says, "The sky just exploded. It was debris everywhere."

Stoughton is a small town that really got the wrong end of the stick this time. I included a couple pictures from news report and just wanted to say I now have a better appreciation for tornadoes. Dorothy was much braver than I gave her credit for.



PS, I found and really enjoyed this basic tutorial website on tornadoes called the Why Files.

My Mood

WHY WON'T YOU WORK DAMN IT!?!?
Science is stressful.

myTUNES

OK. Who likes iTunes... raise your hand.
OK. Now put your hand down, you're probably at work and look pretty stupid right about now.

I know I like iTunes, but I keep running into certain "that pisses me off" kind of situations. Categorizing my music. That's my job not iTunes job. Defining the style and audio settings of individual albums and/or songs. Just leave that one to me. I know, I can change settings and work around defaults, but there's two reasons I get irratated.
(1) I have to make the mistake first and then search to resolve it.
(2) Like any good comglomerate company, the software is designed to do everything for you as long as you always buy/trade/use their equipment. We all know how Metallica fought... and we see how well that paid off.



Example--did you know that if you buy a song from iTunes, it is automatically downloaded in an encrypted format (*.mp4 layered encryption of some type, I'm a science nerd, not computer nerd)? What this means is that if you try to play the music on software other than what Apple has created, you can't. You can, however, burn the music to disc and then rip the music off the CD back onto your computer in another format (such as .AAC or .mp3). What a bi&%h that can be!

Luckily, software has been made to work around this (Haha apple nerds). The best software I have seen is JHymn.

Oh well!

I must say thought that they have brought many small town people to the forfront of the music industry. Check out my old roommates band , Three Track Mind, Gavin's music is incredible and I hope his album "Throws Like a Girl" becomes a collectible. I also enjoy their free weekly downloads, which have actually paid off for me at least a couple times. The latest... Candy by Riton (sample at Amazon if you don't have iTunes).

The songs are cheap and iTunes allows the wanna-be people to pick out just the songs that are popular, but I almost don't like that. Freedom of choice and don't buy what you don't like and yadda yadda... still I'd like to think I have a deeper appreciation for the music I listen to. Even if it isn't the most popular or best track of an album, it was produced by an artist I enjoy and I still would like to know what the artist can and cannot accomplish. I can't agrue in a world of popularity and soundtracks, people telling you what goes well together.

In all, iTunes beat most of the industry to the punch and I can't blame them for how the system is set. Still, at the end, I love my music and still buy CDs and like it that way. Because, they are myTunes... not yours.

Frank

It's come to my attention that I have not posted a picture of Frank. Here's frank,

Frank is a Californian chorus frog. He hasn't begun singing yet, but I think a lady friend might be needed to persuade him. So.... where did Frank come from? Why is he sitting in lettuce in this picture? Hold on a minute and I'll tell you.

Frank cost my girlfriend (Renee) ~$1.25 at the grocery store. You see, Frank was found in a frigid head of Dole Iceberg lettuce. Yes... in the lettuce. Whilst the unknowing Renee was preparing Taco salad, Frank was slowly waking up from his four day slumber that started in southern Cal. As soon as the salad was removed from the plastic, Frank then felt it was appropriate to scare the Bejesus out of Renee.

Mission accomplished Frank.

I kept him, and I feed him crickets. He is growing I think (started at ~1.2cm and may be closer to 2cm now). And he likes to climb to walls in the small cage I bought for him. This photo is from the first day I met Frank. He's been staying at my place for almost a month now and I should probably take another pic so everyone can see the progress of Frank. Stay tuned!

Has to be Smoke-free

Daryl, my next oldest brother, has informed me it is my turn to quit smoking. eL (my older sis)has been a non-smoker for three months. Daryl--3 weeks. Right now I think I last ~3hrs.

My motivation should be greater but as a graduate student in life sciences, very little of my time is spent being physically active. More or less my recreation in the Mid-West resorts to having a couple drinks with friends. Could be beer, could be coffee, but either way, it generally ends up in sparking a cancer stick. Ahhhh... I actually do enjoy smoking. The flavor, the smell on certain occasions, and certainly the sensation as it enters and leaves the lungs. I think it would be asinine for me not to admit that I am very much addicted at this point, but I just wanted to also note that people really can enjoy this awful habit... sorry.

In the past couple months, Madison has tried to restrict smokers by not allowing smokers to smoke in the smokiest of places known... the bars. This came as a huge shock to me actually. For sundry reasons, I disagree with how this notion took affect almost immediately without considering alternatives. My largest issue it that defenders of the ban claim that the people in those areas are having their rights violated. They chose not to smoke and yet our band of malicious smokers is forcing cancer sticks down their throat as they try to dine, or drink, or even as they work. HOW DARE WE DO THAT!

Hear's some news for people that depend on that argument. Nobody made bar-owners allow smoking. And nobody made non-smokers enter the establishment. Bar-owners allow smoking b/c a large portion of their business are people that smoke. If non-smoking was so popular, why aren't there more smoke-free bars? B/c a much smaller portion of the business will come. So who's rights are being defiled here? It just irritates me to hear that statement as an actual defense.

All in all, it was aggravating to see that happen, but maybe some good will come of it. I do eventually want to stop my disgusting habit. It is expensive and unhealthy. I know what it does to my body and I do care about the people around me. Maybe this will help out. Sounds hypocritical, but I really do hate those "non-smokers are better" type of statements. Whose next? Drinkers? Atheists? Am I staring at another prohibition down the line?

Probably not in WI. Everyone drinks. That's why they needed to stop the smoking. It compromised their drinking. Nice rationale guys, how's that sclerosis of the liver coming along?

Keeping Abreast of the Situation

What a beautiful day it is to work indoors like the nerd I am. It's breezy, 75F and fluffy clouds scatter the sky... but at least I have internet indoors!

I've been passing the time with a new bubble wrap game I downloaded from a nifty site. I would recommend checking it out (here's a tip, after unzipping the file you may have to use internet explorer to open it up). So far, my best time in Manic mode is 16.5 s. I look forward to getting comments about other people's best times. Beyond my boredom in the laboratory, I had dental work done this morning, which means I am also looking forward to being able to feel my face this afternoon.

I have to write this moment down. I saw a girl last afternoon, while I was smoking, with quite possibly the largest breasts I have ever seen on a human being. Well past an attractive size, by at least 18 cup sizes. They didn't sag or sway... they weren't exposed, pierced, or tattooed. They were just massive and perky. Unbelievable. Gravity defying boobs. If I had the fortune of owning a digital camera, everyone I know would also have had the pleasure of viewing this womanly anomaly, but alas, I am very much broke. She didn't seem odd or strange, very typical college age girl, probably on her way to some function or other. The shirt she was wearing wasn't purposefully tight in the chest, but with size triple E breasts, what shirt wouldn't be (aside from a moomoo or canvas tent). Surprisingly, to some of my friends, she also wasn't fat... full-figured, yes... fat-no. Sorry, to ramble, but this was really some new kind of feat by the Lord above, to have created something so innately useless yet captivating to both man and woman, and then to have made a pair of them that go to an unnecessary extreme in size.

Natural selection? Would Darwin believe that larger breasts made for a more suitable female? Or at least a female more likely to survive? You be the judge. I love boobs. They're awesome. But these boobs... the image has been burned into my brain. These boobs were absolutely fascinating.