The Dynamic Duo

Found this a little bit late

UltraBob — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:31:00 +0900

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Understanding the Financial Crisis

UltraBob — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:27:01 +0900

On Comment Moderation

UltraBob — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:39:00 +0900

As some of you might have noticed, we received a couple of comment spam last weekend. If anyone noticed it was probably Chenoa as she may have received notification e-mails that someone had responded to her comments. I don’t like the idea of legitimate posters on our site receiving spam messages by e-mail from our website, but I do love the comment notification features. I hope I’ve reached a solution that will give us the best of both worlds.

Anyone is still allowed to comment on the website. You don’t have to be a member of the site, and you don’t have to give your e-mail address (your e-mail address will never be displayed on the site though so please don’t feel there is a good reason not to). You can continue to fill out the longer form and comment on the site as you have been (if that’s how you’ve been doing it), but your comments will not show up on the site right away. They will show up when we get around to going in and verifying that they are legitimate comments. In the parlance of the medium, your comments will be moderated.

The registration option is of course still available, and when you are logged into the site your comment form is shorter and easier to use. All you have to do is type your message and go. Even after registering and verifying the registration by e-mail however, your comments will still be moderated, but, and this is the nice part, as soon as we recognize that you are a legitimate commenter, we will move you into an elite member group which faces no such restrictions. If you are already a commenter in good standing (Chenoa, Tracey, Aunt Debi) you are already a member of this exclusive club. Also if you are, or ever have been, an author on the site (Johnny, UltraMom, UltraGirl, UltraBob, Jessica, Fran, Jean) you also face no such restriction. Your comments will cruise on through unhindered, unfettered, and dare I say ultrarelevant? No I daren’t

This should ensure that you never again receive an e-mail notification because a parasite who isn’t a friend of the site replied to one of your comments. All of you parasites who are friends of the site, fear not you continue unrestricted.

Sore deha…

Ridin’ on a horsey…

UltraGirl — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:18:00 +0900

We went to see Yabusame on Sunday at Zushi beach. If you want to know what is Yabusame, Wikipedia will tell you. I just want to share the exciting adventure Linc had with you.

Linc helps videotape Yabusame. Look at his little hand on the camera.

One of the horses

Focus on the target. You can do it, Kensei!!

Nice work!

That was awesome!

Obama is like Hitler, but I’m not comparing him to Hitler

UltraBob — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:53:00 +0900

I thought Chenoa especially would get a kick out of the last segment of this, as a result of her facebook fight club. I’m not at liberty to talk about it though, the first rule and all, you understand.

The Queen of Cable

UltraBob — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:05:00 +0900

Has been a pleasure to see Rachel Maddow succeed from her earliest days at Air America Radio. Being on Colbert has to be a pinnacle so far.

It’s an Obamanation!

UltraBob — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:36:00 +0900

and I feel fine.

Buried in Biology

UltraMom — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 03:06:00 +0900

Hey loyal readers. Sorry I’ve been posting-remissful. Hmm, Spellcheck does not think “remissful’ is a word, silly Spellcheck. Actually it doesn’t like the word “Spellcheck” either. Perhaps it is committing apoptosis? (also not a word, btw).
Lately I have been devoting all my spare time to learning about cell respiration, photosynthesis, mitosis, meiosis, bones and muscles. Ah, photosynthesis, I can hear you thinking. ‘That is simple! The sun shines on the geranium, and I make sure the geranium has plenty of water. Then the geranium breaths in the carbon dioxide and breaths out oxygen, which is why I have lots of geraniums in my windowsill. And thus the plant lives and grows.’ And you are right in a naive, grade-school type way. But you left out all the ‘good’ (ie boring) stuff: thylakoids, granum, light spectrums, chloroplasts, chlorophyll, Photo Systems II and I (yes, II comes before I just to make it more confusing) C3, C4 and CAM plants, and of course, the good old Calvin Cycle. And you do NOT want to ask me about that other stuff; I mean you do NOT want to even get me started (at least I hope not, cause it has mostly already left my head.)
So far, it’s been a nice weekend. UltraDad and I both had today off; it’s Nevada Day, a holiday for state employees. This year, it coincided with Halloween. I think it’s celebrated on the last Friday in October, delivering a nice little 3 day weekend for the fortunate. I think most of you are aware I now have a gimpy knee; the combined results of osteoarthritis and cartilage-removing surgery 15 or so years ago. A knee replacement is probably in the works somewhere down the road, but part of my stop-gap measures include ordering something called an “unloader brace” at my orthopedist’s suggestion. It was constructed to the unique specifications of my knee, thigh and calf size, and I got a call yesterday saying it had finally arrived. So this afternoon we went in to pick it up and get some instructions on how to wear the thing. Interestingly enough, the PA and tech also had no idea. I guess they don’t order them often, and they are all a little different, for some reason. Anyway, they muddled their way through instructions as we tried to help. After they finally thought they had it right, I made them stop and let me try to put it on myself, which was another process of trial and error. I wore it for several hours, and it didn’t seem all that comfortable, It is supposed to shift the weight bearing away from the inside of my knee where bone is rubbing on bone, and I couldn’t really tell it was even doing that yet. Anyway, after we got home and I checked the box they sent with us, I found several pad-like shapes in various shapes and sizes. Perhaps they are to provide some additional cushioning???
Anyway, UDad and I decided to reward ourselves with a movie and some take out KFC chicken. When we got back home, we settled down with our meal and “When Harry met Sally” with Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal. It was kind of cute and funny in a chick-flick relationshippy sort of way. UDad was nice about it, but I could tell he would been happier if there had been a gun fight or two. I think we had a total of 10 or so Trick or Treaters, so I have a bit of candy left over, which I may as well just pack right onto my belly and skip the middle man.
UltraDad pretty much finished tiling the guest bathroom floor two weekends ago. It looks very, very nice. He did an excellent job. I think the hardest part was putting the toilet back in. We had a fun little game where he crawled under the house to turn the water back on, after installing a new fitting on the water hose to the toilet. My job was to tell him if it was leaking or not. Leaking is not even close; the whole thing blew off and water geysered out, as I ran outside yelling “Shut if off!” I had just gathered all of the towels I could find when, in an action I would never have predicted, the geyser erupted once again. THIS time I yelled until I got vocal confirmation that I had been heard. I begged UDad to give it up for the night, but he patiently persisted, and got the thing done.
Last weekend I spent in Utah visiting my very good friend, Ima. She actually had the prison storekeeper job before I did, and we became friends talking on the phone. On our agenda for the weekend was viewing the Body Worlds Exhibit at the Leonardo Center in Salt Lake City. We had seen the ads and it sounded intriguing. Actual bodies were preserved through a process called ‘plastination’ and were in various poses, demonstrating different body structures and body systems. Jimbo, now living in SLC, agreed to go with us and allow us to take him out to lunch afterward. Ima and I set off from her home in Stansbury Park armed with 2 GPS Systems and a Mapquest to get to Jim’s apartment. The GPS’s talked to us in tandem, not always agreeing on the best route to take. We shut mine off to avoid the confusion, and listened to hers tell us to make 3 U-Turns in a row, which seemed very unproductive. We finally called Jim as a last resort, and learned we were nearly there. We made Jim drive to the Leonardo Center.
The exhibit was very interesting, showing off muscles, bones and body organs. One body showed nothing but the skeleton and the circulatory system; another, only the nervous system. There was a lot to see and a lot of people to take turns viewing exhibits with. When I sat down after nearly 2 hours, to check my blood pressure at one exhibit, I realized my knee was throbbing and I was exhausted. Jimbo later told Johnny that it was interesting, but that he very soon got tired, like he was at the mall!
We had lunch at Squatters; the food was good, but the activity at the next table was very distracting. A young, dramatic man who it appeared was with a party from yet another table spent most of the time we were there standing and talking loudly and animatedly to a woman at the table-next-door. At times he hugged her or sat on her lap. He finally bopped back over to his own table and sloppily dumped his food into a “GO-box” as members of his table asked him to lower his voice.
After dropping Jim back off at his apartment, Ima and I went back to her house where we talked and laughed at the antics of her three shitzu dogs. I even managed to complete my online biology homework.
Just had a very nice videochat with Linc and parents. I had a lot of competition from Beaker the turtle, toys and light reflecting in the window, but got a couple of nice smiles. Silly daddy UltraBob elicited some great laughs, leading him to conclude he should be a standup comedian for 6-month olds (and maybe their grandmas:)
And now, I think I’ve delayed starting my bio home long enough. In fact, maybe too long. I think it’s time for bed.
Later, Gator.

Ultramom

UltraCast 109: Half Birthday Rambleonathon

UltraBob — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 07:41:00 +0900

The levels on this podcast are out of whack. Somehow between me getting the settings how I wanted them, and exporting the file, our voices got quieter than everything else. All for the best though. This was us at our most boring. Also for the record, the word is heinous not heinious.

Intro by Roy Trumbull via archive.org

Music: Bonefish Sam & His Orchestra - Live At Neurolux, May 2, 2007 (The Neurolux was one of my favorite bars in Boise, and nostalgia won me over)

Love at First Bite

UltraBob — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 07:12:00 +0900

Linc’s First Solid Food from UltraBob on Vimeo.

Click “Linc’s First Solid Food” above to view this video in HD.

Can’t Get Fooled Again

UltraBob — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 06:29:01 +0900

Colin Powell endorses Obama

UltraBob — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 01:03:00 +0900

This may be a bit wider than our main content column, but thought it would be worthwhile to put here so that anyone who cares to can review a video of Colin Powells remarks.

I lost a great deal of respect for Colin Powell as he was Bush’s point man for selling the war. I would guess that those reservations against him don’t apply for those of you in support of Bush, McCain, and the war. I think his argument here is well thought out and well stated, and would hope you would give it some thought.

UltraCast 108: The Japanese Health Care System

UltraBob — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:45:00 +0900

Your entire world just got a little bit brighter. We are back with UltraCast 108 and birds sing sweeter in the trees that seem just a little bit greener. Per Chenoa’s imperious demand we discuss the Japanese Health Care System, and some ways in which it differs from the U.S. “healthcare system”. Neither of us is an expert on either system so if we’ve made a mistake please correct us. Enjoy that little bit of extra umami that all your food now has compliments of the house.

3rd Presidential Debate

UltraBob — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:36:00 +0900

It doesn’t seem likely that I’m going to have time to finish a write-up of the 3rd presidential debate anytime soon. I did the first 3rd of it, but it seems like it is already to late to be putting something up so I’ll just stick the video up with text commentary from Rachel Maddow the smartest woman on television, and Pat Buchanan the bat-#### craziest man on television (disputed) which surprisingly enough ends up being a good mix on TV.

Response to Bob

UltraJessica — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:39:00 +0900

I watched the Presidential debate last night. McCain and Obama are only different in the way that they are going to fix/reform the issues at stake. They both are talking about fixing the same issues. I had hoped that there would be more of a difference between the issues themselves not just the way to fix them.

Now to respond to UltraBob’s post:

I do not agree with the bailout. I’m all for letting the financial institutions fail. However, the entire economy would come crashing down if they failed. Granted, the market is doing some crazy stuff right now, but it would be worse if all the financial institutions went the way of Lehman Brothers. I see how the bailout was necessary, but I like the free market. I want to keep government intervention to a minimum. Having the government be the biggest bank investor in the world, like they are right now, does not sit very well with me.

The statistic about 25% of the highest earners paying 84% of all income taxes is the one that I was referring to. So you can see that Obama’s tax cut to the middle class is not going to reduce tax income very much. Higher taxes on the upper classes is going to bring in more additional tax income than his tax cut will reduce so in a round-about way, he is going to increase the total amount of taxes that Americans pay. It just sounds so nice to put it the way he’s putting it.

I am against the government putting more regulation on mortgage companies. This is because I don’t think that someone with a law degree, even one from Harvard, is qualified to create regulations for the financial sector. I think that any regulation should come from FASB and the SEC. Those regulatory bodies understand this issue better and are more qualified to make regulations than a bunch of politicians.

Saying that the financial institutions defrauded thousands is not a really accurate way to state the situation. The reason that the financial institutions are having such a tough time is because people are defaulting on the mortgages that they own. The financial institutions are not getting the cash from the people who have the mortgages so it may be the people who are defrauding the financial institutions by not making their mortgage payments.

Predatory lending seems to have a very subjective definition. I don’t think that the mortgage companies were engaging in anything predatory. What good does it do the company when somebody can’t make their mortgage payments? The mortgage companies aren’t all evil. They are helping people buy houses. Last time I checked, that was a good thing.

Subprime mortgages have higher interest rates and fees because of the increased risk to the mortgage company. People generally have to take out subprime loans because they have:
• Two or more loan payments paid past 30 days due in the last 12 months, or one or more loan payments paid past 90 days due the last 36 months;
• Judgment, foreclosure, repossession, or non-payment of a loan in the past;
• Bankruptcy in the last 7 years;
• Relatively high default probability as evidenced by, for example, a credit score of less than 620 (depending on the product/collateral), or other bureau or proprietary scores with an equivalent default probability likelihood.
I got this information off of Wikipedia. These are all pretty bad things to do with your credit. People can easily attain good credit even if they come from a less than privileged financial background. All it takes is good management of one or two credit cards.

Part of the issue with poor credit is that people don’t understand how to manage it. The most common misconception is that if you make the minimum payment on time, you will have excellent credit. The problem is that on-time payments are only 35% of your score. There is a lot more that goes into it. This is why I think there needs to be comprehensive financial education in high school. That way kids can learn why you shouldn’t fill out a credit card application for a free t-shirt or take out 5 retail cards in one day just to save ten bucks. It’s easy to establish good credit. You just have to know how.
Another thing that this topic could relate to is the whole idea of keeping up with the Jones or wanting to live beyond your means. It’s not just Wall Street that is greedy. It’s also the people on Main Street. I could also go off on a tangent here about how parents are screwing over their kids with allowances. In the real world, you don’t just get money for existing. You have to work for it.
It seems impossible to me that a person could realistically expect to fill out a tax return in five minutes. Just filling out the form may take five minutes, but the preparation should take longer than five minutes. Maybe it’s just because I’m going into accounting and like to make lots of calculations.
Before my last reply on the issue, I had only read Obama’s opinion on social security. Apparently I don’t agree with McCain either. Like I said, I don’t think that there will be a Presidential candidate that I agree with 100%. Social security is going to fail one day. I don’t expect to ever collect it. I’m also positive that I can get a better return with my money than the government can. Sure the market is going down the drain right now, but I’ve got 44 years until retirement. I can weather a few storms. Plus, when the market hits the bottom, I can buy and ride it back up to the top! What goes up must come down. It’s unrealistic to expect the market to just keep going up indefinitely. Thankfully, we have a fundamentally sound economy so it’ll go back up and continue growing.
Our views on embryonic stem cell research and abortion probably differ due to a difference in when we believe human life begins. I believe that human life begins at conception. The instant the sperm penetrates the zona pellucida and fertilizes the egg, it’s a human life. It’s not a tiny cluster of cells that will develop into a human life someday. It is a human life. I don’t support the destruction of human life for any reason. When do you believe that human life begins?

I get really touchy whenever somebody starts talking about family farms. I’ve found that most people think that it has to be tiny, unprofitable, and all the cows have names. I come from a farm and all of the farms I know of are family farms. Some of them are huge, but they are still owned and operated by a family. A lot of people get a really romanticized image of the family farm in their mind, and I think that they might be put off by the fact that family farms can be large and successful and that none of the cows have names. People forget that it’s a business and that families depend on it for their livelihood.
I don’t see any reason why Americans should not be allowed to own assault weapons. They only account for 2-8% of all gun crime so banning them doesn’t really have much of an impact on gun crimes. If you wanted to stop gun crimes you would have to ban handguns, which would be impossible and I’m sure that you are very well aware of that fact. Banning assault weapons may be a way to pander to the gun control groups without angering the majority of the American people. It’s like a Ferrari, we don’t need it, but it’s really cool and we want it. There are a lot of things that we don’t need and are more detrimental than assault weapons. More people die from obesity related illnesses and diabetes than from gun crimes. Let’s ban fatty and sugary foods. No more soda!

The mentally insane who go shoot up schools need to be better controlled. The guy who killed a bunch of people at Virginia Tech had a long history of mental instability and had been declared mentally ill by a judge. Yet, he was still able to purchase guns because his mental condition was not on his background check. He should not have been able to purchase guns. The school shooting in Finland was done by a kid who had announced the shooting earlier that day in a YouTube video. The police even had him in custody at one point, but had to release him. He was blatantly anti-humanity and had stated that in YouTube videos. The police should have been able to keep him in custody because of those comments. It doesn’t really relate to gun control really well. However, it would help to reduce school shootings which are often blamed solely on possession on guns.

I looked up the Keating 5 Scandal. McCain said that it was the worst mistake of his life. Obama said that he does not condone Bill Ayers’ terrorist activities so I guess we’re going to have to leave this one as a draw because I don’t have enough time to read up on it enough to refute your statements.

A response to Jessica’s objections to Barack Obama

UltraBob — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:36:00 +0900

Thanks for your comments Jessica. That comment thread was getting a little long so I decided to create a new post to carry on the discussion. For those of you who haven’t been following along, the original post can be found here.

Obama’s plan is to be funded at least in part by:

Repealing Bush’s tax breaks for the wealthy
Enacting a windfall profits tax on the oil company’s that are quarter-after-quarter literally making world record profits
Raising taxes for families with income over $600,000 (approximately—source)
Increase capital gains tax rates to 20 percent for those earning more than $200,000, $250,000 for married couples (no one expects this to bring in much revenue in the immediate future)
Phased withdrawal from Iraq

Your argument of $50 billion vs. $700 billion is misguided. The $700 billion package is an effort to try to stop the financial sector crisis from bringing down the entire economy, and was not George Bush’s plan. Barack Obama’s $50 billion plan is divided evenly between a State Growth Fund to support state health, education, housing, health, etc programs and prevent increases in property taxes; and a jobs and growth fund to aid infrastructure projects and prevent job loss. The $700 billion package exists whether Obama’s $50 billion package exists or not, and Bush, McCain, and Obama all supported the $700 billion bill.

“His tax cuts are good for the everyday American, but he can easily say that because the occupants of the $250,000 and up tax brackets pay about 80% off all the income taxes already.”

To be more precise: in 2004 the 25% of the population with the highest earnings paid 84% of the income and at the end of 2001 10% of the population owned 71% of the wealth. That is why we have a progressive income tax system. Even paying a higher tax rate, the wealthy keep a much larger amount of money than the poor who are paying a lower rate.

You state in a very general way that you are against all of the regulation that Obama wants to put on the mortgage companies. I read that as you are against certain elements rather than that you are literally against all regulation. I find it hard to believe that anyone would still espouse a position in support of predatory lenders, and will not assume that that is your position. It is hard to go much farther on this without more detail about what you object to.

As to your statement that the subprime mortgage crisis is not solely the bank’s fault, I can cede to you that many of these people could have avoided getting themselves into the mess they are in had they been more savvy. The same could be said of the victims of con-men. The parallels here are nearly direct. Subprime mortgages are called subprime because the lenders know that it is unlikely that they will be paid back. Even if it was a crime to get yourself into bad financial straights, that would leave each mortgage holder responsible for one crime. The financial institutions that defrauded these people are responsible for thousands.

A subprime loan is categorized as a subprime loan based on the financial and credit profile of the consumers to which they are marketed. In other words subprime loans are marketed to those that the lending agency thinks are likely to be unable to pay. By your own logic these are the people that are least likely to understand credit. There is a reason why this is also known as predatory lending.

I think it is true that good credit is not hard to achieve when you come from a solid financial foundation to start with, but not everyone is fortunate enough to be in that situation.

I don’t find anything at all ridiculous about making a standard tax return simple enough to do in 5 minutes. He isn’t saying that if you want to hire an accountant to do your taxes for you or spend a lot of time and claim individual deductions on your own that you can’t. A lot of people don’t have the time and resources to hire an accountant or pore through the tax code trying to find every possible deduction they could be making. For those people the standard deductions will probably save them money. No matter what you do on the bottom end of the tax scale you aren’t going to hugely effect the amount of overall tax revenue the country receives.

His 10% Mortgage Interest Tax Credit is universal. This means it can be applied to homeowners that do not itemize on their tax returns. This means approximately 10 million people who are not receiving the credit now will.

“Reform Social Security: John McCain will fight to save the future of Social Security and believes that we may meet our obligations to the retirees of today and the future without raising taxes. John McCain supports supplementing the current Social Security system with personal accounts—but not as a substitute for addressing benefit promises that cannot be kept. John McCain will reach across the aisle, but if the Democrats do not act, he will. No problem is in more need of honesty than the looming financial challenges of entitlement programs. Americans have the right to know the truth and John McCain will not leave office without fixing the problems that threatens our future prosperity and power. ”

This is as close to a statement on Social Security policy as I could find on the McCain website so I’m not sure what his policy really entails, but given the current financial sector crisis, the idea that investing your retirement funds would have been a smart choice seems a bit off.

The embryonic stem cells used in research are created in fertility clinics for the purpose of fertility treatments. Not all embryos can be used for treatment and many are discarded. I have never been able to understand why it would be the argument that it is superior to throw away these tiny clusters of cells (that were never going to develop into a human being anyway), instead of than using them to try to improve actual living people’s lives. Whether you are anti-abortion or pro-choice this doesn’t seem like an issue that should be controversial.

I don’t know about you, but I never managed to find a job in college that would pay me $40/hour. How is getting a job better than doing 100 hours of public service to receive a $4,000 credit for school? Obama’s plan benefits the community, thee student, and the future of the workforce and economy all at the same time.

As for Obama’s policy on family farms, how is the tax code to distinguish from the “family farms” and the agricorps if not by overall income? It may be the case that some who have started off as family farms have done well enough that they can bear the higher tax bracket. Having grown up on a farm it is certainly not my experience that most farms are incorporated or large. Regardless, Obama is not anti-farm, if anything he is just not giving large farms preferential treatment

I won’t argue with you on education. I think you are likely right on this issue, but it is kind of a non-sequitur, as McCain doesn’t state any position on this issue either.

Regarding gun control, Obama supports a permanent reinstatement of the assault weapons ban, he is opposed to the confiscation of guns from private citizens. The basic difference between he and McCain is that McCain supports the repeal of the assault weapons ban. Please have a look at the definition of the weapons that would be banned and consider whether civilians really need to have these types of weapons.

Tighter control of mentally unstable people who go shoot up schools is great, but the problem is that they’ve already gone and shot up schools. I’m not sure that we are all that lax on people once they go shoot up schools. Perhaps I am unclear as to exactly what you are trying to propose in this regard, and how it is related with not wanting gun control.

Bill Ayers’ terrorist activities took place 40 years ago when Obama was 8. They are not close and Obama has publicly denounced Ayer’s radical actions from the 1960’s. McCain was in the room when Marylin Shannon praised domestic terrorist Shelley Shannon (no relation) at a conference of the Oregon Citizen’s Alliance in the early 90’s. In fact he spoke right after her and never disavowed her comments. Shelley Shannon is an abortion doctor shooter, and Marylin Shannon was a McCain delegate at this years convention! By the Ayer’s standard according to the McCain campaign; McCain is a supporter of domestic terrorists. I think you can agree that the notion is as ridiculous in the case of McCain as it is in the case of Obama.

Finally on the bailout issue, I think we’ve run this into the ground a little bit, but this bailout of the financial industry harkens back to a bailout during the 80’s of the Savings and Loan Industry. McCain was one of the 5 Senators implicated in the Keating 5 scandal. In fact McCain was the only one of the five with close social and personal ties to Keating, and in 1989 Phoenix New Times writer Tom Fitzpatrick opined that McCain was the “most reprehensible” of the five senators. There is no dispute about this and it is a matter of congressional record. If you aren’t familiar with it please go look it up.

UltraMom and Recent Academics

UltraMom — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:39:00 +0900

I know, I know I promised Part 2 of a Weekend in Utah with Jimbo. All in good time, My Pretty. But tonight I’m going to write about what has been consuming my life for the past 9 weeks or so: College.
I just checked the Biology spreadsheet to see how Fibroblast did on crazy hard Cellular Biology Test II. Again, 50 questions Multiple Choice rife with “none of these”, “A & C”, “All of these but D”, etc. Here is a synopsis of an actual question: “You decide to perform a pulse-chase experiment on the route of the digestive system. You eat a radioactive banana, and ‘chase’ it 5 minutes later with 5 normal bananas. After ½ hour, where would you expect to find the highest concentration of radioactive particles? A) Teeth B) Mouth C) Stomach D) Large Intestine, E) How do I say this……the toilet?
We did talk about a pulse-chase experiment, albeit a vastly different one. I think I finally guessed “C”. I’ll let you know when I get a look at the test on Wednesday.
Anyway, I was at first disappointed to see that my score was ‘82’, but after checking the rest of the scores and noting that the highest grade was ‘84’, I was much happier. In fact, get this, at this moment in time, Fibroblast has the highest average of the first 2 test scores in the class!! Of course I probably also studied more than anyone else in the class, but I’m also undoubtedly the oldest student, so allow me to bask a moment. I already celebrated by actually turning the TV on; in fact I’m typing this while watching Law & Order, which is practically unheard of, at least for me.
I should actually get back to the books: tomorrow is Lab Practical in Biology, and on Thursday is Lab Test in Anatomy and Physiology. Speaking of A & P, we had a mildly interesting lab last Thursday night. It seemed we were actually going to conduct an experiment instead of merely listening to the Prof drone on for half the lab period. We had just begun studying the muscles and this activity would correlate with this. We were to measure the circumference of our dominant arm “in centimeters instead of inches, because we are being scientiferific” instructed Prof Ports. Then we would do bicep curls with elbow on table with a 5 lb weight until our arm was tired, and the results would be plotted. There were only 2 weights, so in the meantime, the rest of us were free to get out the box-o-bones and study for the upcoming lab test. My partner Korrie and I got to work identifying bones, processes, facets, tubercles and foramina. Every once in a while, we looked around to notice the weights still in use, with results gradually accumulating on the dry erase board. Finally we were the only ones left. Korrie measured my right bicep in centimeters. “27” she announced. I looked at the board: it was by far the smallest one. “That can’t be right,” I said. “Measure it again.” “Uh, maybe 26 ½” she said. “Never mind, let’s go with 27,” I muttered, setting my elbow on the table and getting to work. We continued to study, but it was hard to make notations with my right arm so engaged. “Maybe I’m about done,” I told her after a bit. “How long has it been?” “Five minutes,” she told me. Heck. I had to go longer than that. Meanwhile Korrie got a weight. Her bicep was 31 centimeters. I quit at about 12 minutes. While it’s true that I wanted to use my time studying, and the lifting was interfering with that, I have to also admit that my arm was getting tired. I had by far the shortest lifting time of the class. I think Korrie went for 30 minutes or so. Somehow, in the midst of this, we told our ages. Korrie is 46. Prof Ports, whom I would have sworn was near 70, is 56. I am somewhere in the middle….okay, okay, I’m 54. Anyway, next week, we will get the data and have to make some correlations and explanations and write it all up as some kind of report.
I told Johnny this story, and he said “Sound like good blog material.” I told Jimbo, and his reaction was “Are you about finished? This is one of THOSE stories, isn’t it?” referring to the long, meandering stories I occasionally tell, which sometimes end with the phrase: “So, I was right. He did look like Brad Pitt.”
So, I guess what I’m saying is it’s up to you to decide. Amusing (and well written) human interest story, or long, pointless, ‘looking like Brad Pitt” drivel?
Anyway, off to review parts of a cell and the process of DNA replication. Hope your evening is just as enjoyable.

UltraMom

Second Presidential Debate

UltraBob — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:16:00 +0900

Note: Please don’t miss UltraMom’s post just before this one. They were posted at about the same time.

Here is the second 2008 presidential debate:

Commentary (no time stamps, but roughly in chronological order:

It takes some real nerve to continue mischaracterizing someone’s position after they’ve just corrected your misinformation. McCain’s BBOR (Big Brass Ones Rating) goes up.
Pretty horribly condescending to state that you think the person who just asked you a question on the economy may not have heard of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac until the crisis hit.
McCain really likes to compare things with nailing jello to the wall, an admirable hobby I’ll admit.
McCain states that the last person to raise taxes during tough economic times was Herbert Hoover. I guess he’s trying to stick some of the association with Hoover that he is covered in to Obama.
1. For those of you not familiar:
  1. McCain on Sept 15, 2008: “The fundamentals of the economy are strong.”
  2. Hoover on October 25, 1929, the day after Black Tuesday: “The fundamental business of the country, that is the production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis.”
Following on from McCain’s last time someone raised taxes statement: According to Paul Krugman, Bush’ wartime tax cuts are the only ever in the history of the world
McCain lies about Obama’s tax plan, Obama put in the tough position of having to dump, for the most part, the question about Social Security and Medicare to address the McCain lies. Fortunately McCain immediately comes out as a (dare I say) douchebag (apparently I do) by making a snarky comment about how he’ll answer the question.
What is this 94 times voting for tax increases or against decreases thing McCain keep talking about? Note to self: go figure out where this talking point comes from.
I get the impression that McCain couldn’t remember Ingrid’s name, but did a reasonably good job of playing it off.
McCain on Nuclear power = nonsense
I think Obama was talking about the military developing the Internet, not the computer. It is possible he was talking about ENIAC but he said it was for use in communications, ENIAC was for generating artillery firing tables.
McCain kindly tees up the Iraq issue for Obama to knock out of the park. Obama schooled him on it last time so it was really nice of him to bring it up again, and in such a gift-wrapped fashion. Obama doesn’t understand...
This one is out of order, but what was up with McCain calling Obama “this one”?
I’ve had enough of “fundamental difference”, “my opponent”, “my friends”!
A cool hand at the tiller?
My first priority right after...?
exacerbating our reputation?
Ooh, here we go setting Obama up again, don’t talk about talking softly and carrying a big stick Mr. Bomb Bomb Iran. Ah crap, that was bad for you wasn’t it? Everyone but you saw it coming my friend.
Tom Brokaw is doing a crappy job, and he is whiney.
Aha, now I understand: if your old veteran friend (who incidentally did NOT sound like he was joking) declares that we should bomb Iran, it is perfectly ok for you as president to do the same
. It is all about who you are following I guess.
Another out of order one: McCain says we’ve been to the four corners of the world. Does this mean it actually is flat after all?
Again with McCain’s secret plan to get Bin Laden, that we will not be able to avail ourselves of unless we make him president.
McCain’s hands ALWAYS look awkward. I’m the same way, but mostly just on the dance floor.
Man that looked into his eyes and saw three letters, KG and B joke is awkward.
John McCain does sound fluent when he speaks about the Baltic region, which is refreshing since he seems really poorly educated with regard to the middle east.
But we are all Georgians now was simply ridiculous.
Obama constantly talking about how he wrote a letter or made a statement warning about something is grating. If he was so aware of the problem why didn’t he actually take some kind of action?
Would like to know where this muddle through bit he keeps attributing to McCain is coming from, will have to google.
- Turns out it is pretty out of context:
McCain is blinking and smiling blankly, as soon as the cut to him we’re going to be hit with a lame joke.
ah “Maybe” that guy is a laugh riot.
Again, precondition is not the same word as preparation.
McCain being able to pat the former petty officer on the back and shake hands while Obama was unable to approach was good for McCain.
Obama looks so much smarter than McCain when they talk about meeting with enemy leaders. McCain should stop bringing it up.
I guess Peggy is asking about the known unknowns.
Good line about learning what he doesn’t know by asking Michelle.
McCain’s eyelids seem to be voice-activated. Whenever he speaks he starts blinking frantically.
Well, that’s all folks, get out of the way so Tom can read his script.
None of these debates are actually debates, this has been the worst. McCain didn’t come out like a rabid lying bulldog as most pundits were predicting. Overall I’d say Obama won, though this format is much more favorable for McCain as there is less opportunity for being called on lies and half-truths

In Addition, for anyone who hasn’t been able to track it down yet, here is the first debate:

Let’s have your analysis boys and girls. Incidentally in the first debate the beadiness of Jim Lehrer’s eyes is off limits. In both debates McCain’s constant statements that Obama doesn’t understand something he seems to understand perfectly well and usually better than McCain are very well within bounds. Ready. Set. GO!

A Weekend in Utah, Part 1

UltraMom — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:15:01 +0900

A Weekend in Utah: Sept 26-27

The prep for this weekend actually began several weeks earlier when Jimbo got a call from Rebecca, an old high school friend. She had met a great guy and after knowing him only a couple of months, was going to marry him. Did I, Jim inquired, want to attend the wedding with him? After ascertaining that the wedding would be held in Utah at a location not terribly distant from Jim’s present digs in Salt Lake City and that Jim would actually LIKE for me to go with him, I answered an emphatic ‘Yes!’ I arranged for the time off work and packed my bags.
UltraDad, meanwhile, considered the pros and cons of coming along. He definitely did NOT want to go to the wedding, but he DID want to see Jim. He SHOULD stay home and work on tiling the bathroom, but he DID want to see Jim, and so on. At the last minute, he decided to come.
We were trying out a new Auto GPS I had bought, a Garmin Navi 200 , or some such number. I entered Jim’s address and off we went. Everything went swimmingly until we turned a corner near where Jim lived. “You have arrived at your destination,” my GPS informed me in an authoritative female voice, “on the left.” As it turned out, ‘on the left’ was a concrete divider. I pulled into the next convenient parking lot and called Jimbo. Apparently, this GPS, like me, has a little trouble with her ‘lefts’ and ‘rights’. As per Jim’s instructions, I made a loop, and coming back down the street again, took a right and then a left turn (I think), this time arriving at my destination in reality.
We hadn’t arrived with a lot of time to spare, so I made a quick change into my wedding duds. Jimbo set his Dad up with movies to watch and told him to help himself to anything in the fridge, and we were off to the wedding. About 10 minutes after leaving the apartment, Jimbo realized he had forgotten the wedding announcement and did not remember the name of the resort we were heading towards. “Call Dad,’ he instructed. “The announcement is next to my computer.” As I prepared to make the call I suddenly remembered that Dad’s cell phone had a dead battery, and he had not brought his charger. “Shall we go back for it?” I wanted to know.
“No, I think I can figure it out,” Jim replied with typical male confidence. “It’s somewhere near Wellsville.”
It was a good thing we had allowed plenty of time. The drive was a little longer than we had anticipated, but as we neared our ostensible destination, the scenery became more and more…..well, scenic. The hillsides were covered in trees in various fall colors. “This is reminding me of when I used to go to Utah for Ladies Retreats with my church group years ago,” I told Jimbo. “It was at a really great place called…….uh…..” Just then we passed a sign pointing off to the left reading “Sherwood Hills Resort.” “That’s it,’ said Jim. “That’s where the wedding is.” “That’s it,” I said in turn. “That’s where I used to go for Ladies’ Retreat.”
We were able to turn around about 5 miles down the road, and, after taking the proper exit, drove down a winding road with even more autumn hued hillsides and soon arrived at a parking lot. A short walk past that, in a clearing surrounded by trees, and a little artificial waterfall (not nearly as good as mine, I assure you), the scene was clearly set for a wedding. We visited with several of Rebecca’s family members and met the groom. I took Jim on a short walk, pointing out various things I remembered from my Retreat Days. “I think the Osmonds had something to do with this place back in the day,” I told him. I remember some of the rooms had their names on the doors.”
“Like Ozzy?” Jim wanted to know.
“Uh, no, like Donny and Marie,” I answered, marveling at the generation gap. It was several hours later that I realized Jim was referring to Ozzy Osborne, not Osmond.
The wedding was smaller than we thought it would be, but very nice. Rebecca wore a traditional white dress & veil, but had a green sash tied about her waist. She was, of course, beautiful and glowing. I was fervently glad I had brought my jacket, and wished I had worn something more on my feet besides summer sandals. It was downright chilly!
We debated skipping the reception, which was being held at a friend’s home about 15 minutes away, but in the end we went, mainly because we needed to deliver the wedding card. Lanterns were lit and tables set about in the yard. They served slices of pumpkin rolls the bride had made with her own two hands, and cut the cake.
By the time we were on our way back to SLC, it was after 9 pm, and we were hungry. We were feeling a little bad about leaving UDad alone at Jim’s for so long without any outside communication, so we made a quick stop at an Arby’s drive through, where we bought sandwiches and fries for three. UltraDad had watched three movies in our absence and seemed happy to see the food. We played a little game of cribbage while we ate, which Jim, true to form, won with ease.
Jimbo gave his comfy bed to us and slept in his recliner. When I awoke the next morning, it was quite late; I must have been more tired than I realized. The guys had been up for hours and were starving, so as soon as I grabbed a quick shower, we went out to find some grub. We ended up having ‘brunch’ at Squatters, a locally semi-famous establishment known mainly for its microbrewery. We dined outdoors, enjoying watching the birds that boldly landed inbetween tables looking for a handout. We did not avail ourselves of the famous beer at 11:00 AM, but did enjoy burgers, or in my case, a greek salad.
We debated how to spend the rest of our day, and after spotting posters around town, decided to attend the circus. We got tickets online and set off. I was really glad Jimbo was doing the driving; the traffic around the ‘Energy Solutions Center’ (formerly the Delta Center) where the circus was being held was a nightmare.

Stay tuned for Part II: The Circus and Dinner at Ima’s, coming soon to a blog near you!

UltraMom

UltraMom has some Friends

UltraMom — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:08:01 +0900

I just had a couple of very nice weekends sandwiched inbetween studying my brains out. I’m going to try to stay awake long enough to tell you about it!
This past weekend, I had some rare and very welcome company from Idaho. Several weeks ago, my very good friend Debbie Bailey called. Debbie and I used to lead Weight Watchers together when I lived in Idaho; I also had the privilege of having her kids at my house on a couple of overnighters where they entirely won me over by playing games with me til even I had had enough. Debbie and her girls, Rachel and Amy, have been to visit me in my new location a couple of times and they wanted to come again. The answer, of course, was an emphatic YES! I had to warn them there was only one operational bathroom in the house, the one next to my bedroom. UltraDad had been working on tiling the guest bathroom for the past several weeks, and had removed the toilet, which is a key component to any operational bathroom. I was relieved to hear they would come anyway.
That Friday, UltraDad and I had spent the morning in Elko at our Annual Health Fair, where we got blood drawn for a fasting blood test, got our flu shots, and went around to various stations where we got our body fat analyzed, tested our lung function and took our blood pressure. I was grumpy that my body fat tested a little on the high side, but Ultra Dad’s was perfect. His lung capacity was also very good, while mine was on the low side. I felt a little better after a good breakfast of ham, eggs and English Muffin in the local café. Then UltraDad insisted on showing me around the new Cal Stores that had just opened in Elko. I was a little nervous as my past experiences with Cal Ranch in Idaho Falls involved wandering around aimlessly looking at cowboy hats and livestock supplies for an hour or two while UltraDad pored over tools and irrigation boots. I had to remind myself that our farming days were over, and we had a great time selecting a new toy for the ‘boys’ and a new wallet for UDad. We got home just in time for me to leave for work; no time to vacuum before my guests arrived. UltraD graciously agreed to handle that chore after I pulled out my best cajoling and threats.
Debbie, Rachel and Amy were there visiting with UDad when I got home from work that night. After dinner, UDad took off, having decided it would make the bathroom situation more tenable if he spent the night at sister Pat’s, which was very considerate of him (and of Pat for putting him up.) The ‘boys’ also had a guest: Molly the poodle. She was probably three times bigger than my poodles and scared to death of them. Rowdy was delighted to find someone he could terrify, and when he could get away with it, chased Molly around the house snarling and growling ferociously. Murphy wasn’t much better, and they rather resembled little velocirapters tag-teaming their prey. Being locked in my bedroom for 1/2 hour or so calmed them down for a little while.
We talked, played games, made cookies and ate, all favorite pastimes of mine. The girls were as fun and cute as I remembered; I can’t believe Rachel is a high school senior this year, with Amy only two years behind. Their brother, Nathan, also a favorite of mine, is in his second year of college in Tennessee.
To make my weekend complete, my sister Panther called and said she wanted to come out on Saturday. She arrived late that afternoon, bringing the most wonderful produce out of her husband, John’s garden. That guys thumb is more than green. There were watermelons, cantaloupe, cucumbers, summer squash, onions, tomatoes, eggplant, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, raspberries and peaches (I think the peaches came from a neighbor). Not only does he grow a great garden, but he also puts up the produce, and in addition to all the fresh stuff, I also got home processed grape juice, salsa, tomato sauce and jam! Hey, I just thought of something…….where are my pickles???!! Panther also brought lavender bouquets from HER garden, plus fresh lavender spears so she could show us how to make lavender wands. As we all proved lavender wand-challenged, she went around the table providing remedial help and encouragement.
Supper was wonderful; Debbie B had brought ingredients and the recipe for a great chicken crockpot dish. I’ll include the recipe for your dining pleasure: throw in the crockpot some whole chicken breasts, 8 oz cream cheese, one envelope Italian seasoning, 2 TB sour cream and a can of cream soup. Cook it all day, and serve with rice. Divine!
After Rachel helped me with my Biology homework for about an hour, we played Cranium, the ‘mature’ women against the ‘girls’. We did a lot of laughing, which is one of my favorite activities.
On Sunday, the Baileys had to leave early to get home in time for an activity for the kids, and it is a 6 hour drive. I forgot to mention that Amy did most of the driving as she is working on her learner’s permit. Panther and I went to church in time to sing in the choir, which we enjoyed. Then it was time for her to get started on her 6-hour drive back home.
It feels great to know that people want to spend time with me badly enough to drive 6 hours to do it.
Meanwhile, UltraDad with the thoughtful help of Pat got the tile cut and laid down on the bathroom floor. Next week, he can apply the grout; it looks fantastic, and we may soon be back to having two working bathrooms in the house.
I am going to have to write another post to tell you about the previous weekend, which we got to spend with Jimbo. It’s nearly midnight, and I still have a little Biology to read. But that was a great weekend too, and I promise to fill you all in very soon.

Popular UltraMom

An Addendum

UltraBob — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:56:00 +0900

Just a quick addendum to my last post on the VP debate. Did anyone else soil themselves a little when Palin asserted that the constitution allowed for the VP to exert more power if they chose to? After Cheney, I think we should all be able to agree that the mere thought is terrifying, but I have a hard time believing that she was willing to say it aloud. I wonder how much the press has picked up on that in the US?

VP Debate

UltraBob — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:48:00 +0900

I listened to an audio version of the Biden-Palin debate earlier, but wanted to watch the video too so that I’d be able to pick up on body language cues and other things that don’t show up in an audio file or a transcript. A couple things come to mind that really get to me.

First, Palin not only doesn’t answer the questions from the moderator, she doesn’t even try. She goes to far as to announce that she isn’t going to answer the questions. What then, is the point of having a debate? As I see it the purpose of a debate is threefold:

See how the candidates stand up in a contentious situation. Looking an opponent in the eye and disagreeing with them is not something you have the opportunity to see a candidate do very often, and it does give some insight into their temperament and character.
Have the candidates discuss a wide range of relevant issues in a forum where they can be challenged. The role of the moderator is to keep the candidates on track and to keep the discussion moving forward and not off the rails. I didn’t think our moderator for this debate did a particularly good job, but she wasn’t horrible either
Demonstrate how the candidates deal with a series of issues coming at them in a fashion that they don’t have the opportunity to rehearse specifically for. This gives some indication of how a candidate would deal with the wide range of issues that will be coming at them in office. It at least demonstrates for us (hopefully) that the candidate has considered the issues long enough that she is able to speak about them somewhat intelligently, and that she would be able to understand a briefing in office related to said subject.

So if the candidate doesn’t answer the questions given her, why even have a debate. I knew she would do better in the debates than in her one on one interviews because in debates the moderator rarely pushes the candidate very hard to answer, and the opponent can’t without seeming like a bully. I wouldn’t have ever in my wildest dreams expected this though if I hadn’t already listened to a debate she had when running for governor of Alaska where she did much the same thing, albeit to a lesser degree.

The second thing that is really bugging me is English. Both of the candidates supposedly speak it as their native tongue. Biden made his share of slip ups during the debate, but Palin makes him look like an English professor. Her two greatest hits though I thing stand out as proud monuments to being stupid, which really does seem to be the goal. Palin is in a big hurry to show off her lack of education and sophistication so this probably plays right into her hands. I guess it worked for Bush. The first big one comes directly from him after all. The word is nuclear, not nook-yoo-ler you nincompoop. It should be a prerequisite for being in a position to order the deployment of nuclear weapons that you can pronounce nuclear weapons.

The second big English language gaff was Palin’s remark that she wouldn’t want to attribute all of man’s activities to global warming. I’ll just leave you to stew in that until you, like I did last week, vote Obama.

Some Neat Quotes:

“there has been more ans more revelation, made aware now, to Americans about the corruption and the greed on Wall Street.”
After Biden talks about supporting allowing judges to adjust the principal owed on mortgages to help keep mortgage holders from defaulting and said he though McCain and Palin didn’t support that, the moderator asked Palin if that was so: “That is not so, but because that is just a quick answer I want to talk about, again, my record on energy, versus your ticket’s energy ticket also.”

And, so that my dear mother can compare, here is the actual video:

Crossing Great Waters on a Fun Vacation

UltraMom — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:56:00 +0900

At long last, trip to Japan Dec 28-Jan 9 booked and confirmed. UltraDad has received his passport. Leave time from jobs approved. It appears that my fortune from Monkey Sun Restaurant will be coming true:” You will soon be crossing great waters on a fun vacation.”
Japan and Linc, here we come! (UltraBob and UltraGirl too of course.)

Excited Ultra(Grand)Mom

Linc update

UltraGirl — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:03:00 +0900

I just wanted to provide some updates on Linc, the wonder boy. He received some new clothes, a hat, and some fuzzi bunz (cloth diapers) from his grandma a few days ago. He is wearing the clothes and hat surrounded by the fuzzies in the picture.

Let’s start out with Linc’s stats; He is 4 months and 3 weeks old, weighs 7.34 kg (16.2 lbs) and is about 65 cm (2 feet 1.5 inches) tall. He successfully rolled over yesterday. He is ready to start solid food in a few more weeks. His favorite toys are Mr. Yellow and the one he just got from grandma Kathy. He can now almost sit up without support.

He dislikes having his nose cleaned, and loves listening to people talk and flying in the air at the end of Daddy’s arms. His favorite song for bed is Amazing Grace (works great when sung by his mommy). The most interesting thing in the world for him at the moment is his own toes, he grabs them and examines them.

He has hard time falling asleep but once he’s firmly in dream land, he won’t wake up for about 6 to 7 hours. He is excited to meet his grandma and grandpa in December. Last but least, his favorite person is… his mommy. Sorry UltraBob, but he has to eat!

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

UltraMom — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:45:00 +0900

I can’t believe it! I got a 90% on my first biology test. I feel like shouting ‘Woo hoo!” but it would kind of be wasted on Murphy and Rowdy, who would probably be terrified instead of ecstatic. My instructor, Dr. David Freestrorfer has a unique way of posting grades in the class. There is a section on ‘Web Campus’ titled “My Grades”, but the good doctor maintains it is cumbersome, so he uses instead an Excel Spreadsheet. When I access ‘scores’ under ‘class content’, the spreadsheet loads up, showing scores, percentages, means and medians for the entire class. “How can he do that?” I can see you thinking. (Yes, I can see you thinking. Unsettling, isn’t it?) “Isn’t that a violation of some sort of confidentiality rules?” Of course it its, but he cleverly gets around this by using aliases! So, if you knew, for instance, that ‘acidosis’, (or ‘covalent, mole, DNA or interferon) was the pseudonym of the cute blond who always sits in the front row and asks so many questions, you would also know her grade. But if, as she should, she kept this information to herself, confidentiality managed. And that is exactly what I’m going to do. No, don’t even try……..okay, okay stop tickling, I’ll tell you. I am ‘fibroblast.’ (actually one of the cooler aliases to my way of thinking.) You wormed it out of me.
Now I’m sure you want to hear all about the test. Well, it was 50 questions, multiple choice, taken by shading in bubbles on an answer sheet with a number 2 pencil. We had the entire 1 ½ hour class period to take it; I finished in about an hour, one of the last to do so. The information covered chaps 1-3 about cell theory, molecule bonding, properties of water, energy, proteins and enzymes. I felt confident in about 70% of my answers, reasonably sure of another 10% and ‘not a clue’ with the rest (what is that, about 20% or so?) So, using my math wizard skills, my score of 90% must mean I missed 5. The high score in the class was a 92% by that show-off ‘erythrocyte.’
When I left the room, my stomach hurt and my shoulders/neck were all knotted up. I was glad Yoga class was next, and I did feel much better after an hour of calming, gentle yoga stretches. In case you are picturing UltaMom sitting with her leg up over her ear, you will need to adjust your ‘TV screen.’ Instead picture a middle aged woman modifying stretches with blanket and yoga blocks to favor her bad knee and general inflexibility, sneaking surreptitious glances at super-supple young Candace who is sitting in a legs-spread-wide position while her upper body is prone on the mat in front of her
I did study a lot for this test, probably much more than most of the kids with their young, supple brains, but the point is: I CAN do this! My brain, though softer than it used to be, is not yet entirely mush! Some small credit must be given to Jimbo whose amazing brain still remembers much of this stuff and whose clarification on Neutrons, Protons, Atomic Number and Atomic Weight is responsible for at least one right test answer, maybe two.
Okay, one small ‘dance of joy.’ Then off to cram and stress for first A & P lab test on Thursday.

UltraMom, the Biologist’s Apprentice