Farm Lane!

It's open; it's open!

MSU has been working on a fancy bridge over Farm Lane forEVER! But Farm Lane - and the bridge - are now open! We drove down it to the ponds for bio lab. I may well bike in using the bridge just for the heck of it tomorrow.

Chemistry Exam

My organic chemistry exam has just been moved from next Wednesday to next Friday due to the Engineering Career Fair. More time to study, I suppose. (Or put off studying? Just kidding.)

Midterm Time!

They're coming, folks. Papers due, heavy quizzes, full-blown midterms.

I don't have anything too insane, I don't think. Check back in a week...lol.

Woohoo, Reen!!

Loreen finished the LakeTrek...1,000 miles around Lake Michigan! (LakeTrek.blogspot.com)

'Twas a lot of fun celebrating. And it's good to be home...(With my grandmother's coffee table. Thank you, Granna. : ) Though we're now sans Fred...I sent him to Papa with Mommy tonight. He'll live out the remainder of his happy days serving Wesley.)

Off to the Windy City!

Granna, Mum, and I are off to the Windy City to play! The reason for our visit can be read at laketrek.blogspot.com.

Love ya!

I love Getty

Professor in Honors Biology:
So, with all this jargon. You can look it up in your text. But it would probably be faster and better to just go to uh...Wikipedia with it.

I thought he was going to say "Google," terrible enough as it is. But no. He said "Wikipedia!" The blessed man told us to use Wikipedia!

URAB

I was just invited to a meeting of the Undergraduate Research Advisory Board. How fun.

"As a student leader with a record of scholarly achievement, you can help to shape the future of undergraduate research at Michigan State through your service on the Board. Your experience and insight would contribute much to the future development of UR at MSU."

Gee, yay! lol. The Board only meets twice a semester; I'll go and add my voice but will not (I will not, I cannot!) take on any additional role other than email conversations.

Good Morning!

I walked into campus this morning. My bike is outside Wilson Hall where I parked it yesterday morning. Tonight is church and Wesley - I'll make Erik the engineer and general mechanical-whiz look at it before going into the bike shop.
In other news, I get Judaism today! I love this class. Days without it are so depressing. But on days with it, I don't get anthropology, honors biology, or international relations...and that's depressing too. Good grief, I'm a freak.

Happy Tuesday!

Classes have been great today. Unfortunately, I have a flat back tire...and was slightly late to Anthropology today as a result. Takes forever to bike like that. I will work on resolving that tonight.
Hope you all are having a fantastic Tuesday; I certainly am!

International Day of Peace

It's today! Happy peace, everyone. Let's live in Shalom, shall we, folks? Love each other, dangit!

Fortune Cookie

"You will always get what you want through your charm and personality."

Well, it's worked so far...
lol. Just kidding - seriously, folks.

On that note, though...anyone want to buy me a horse? Heehee. Teasing. I don't actually want a horse.

My next fortune: "Simplicity and clarity should be your theme in dress." What kind of fortune is that?!?

Megan and Meatballs

This weekend has been one of food and friends. Megan came in from Mount Pleasant to visit. Friday night I went out to eat with Alec and his grandparents, and then Megan came over to his dorm room and a huge number of random people played Mario Kart for an absurd number of hours.
Saturday was an adventure in meatball-making. They actually taste good! YAY!
Saturday night we saw "Star Trek" at Wells Hall with the Campus Cinema, and then headed back to Bailey's room to open presents her mother had sent for St. Piven's Day. (Don't ask...I have no idea what St. Piven's Day is or who St. Piven is...though I've probably been told at some point in my life).
And today is church, a meeting, and then home to actually get something useful done!
Love y'all!

Crude Moment in Bio

We looked at the "Frank and Ernest" cartoon asking "If the theory of evolution is right, how come mothers still have only two hands?" I quipped that it's because they wouldn't be mothers - no one would mate with them. Prof replied to the tune that it might, in fact, increase attractiveness. And let's just say it wasn't phrased quite that politely.

Fun Comment to Overhear

I'm walking up the steps in Case...

"...particularly China. I don't know how the rest of Asia feels about it."

But you do know how China feels?

Chautauqua!

The dialogue group has started back up at State. This year's theme is "Creativity, Economic Development, and Ethics." I did some work on this over the summer, finding possible readings and the like.
We had a really great turnout tonight. Something we're working on this semester is involvement with the community. We had several community members present tonight in addition to students and faculty.
It's going to be a great year!

Chris's Status

A great status, in honor of the fantasticness that is Snyder-Phillips' cafeteria.

"‎‎Chris Heffner‎‎‎ ‎went to lunch at Sny-Phi today: $0.00 with meal plan. Listened to the classical music that was playing in the Gallery during his meal, $0.00. Found out that there is BREAKFAST FOR DINNER there tonight: priceless. Some cafs provide nourishment. For everything else, there's Sny-Phi.‎"

(Strangely enough, I really haven't missed it at all...love doing my own grocery shopping.)

Fajitas!

I have successfully prepared fajitas. (With help from mother's instructions.) But I did it all by myself...and they're edible! Not just edible, but actually tasty! Yay!

Which one?

Vote on your favorite format, folks.

Fifty Minutes

is a crappy amount of time for a class. Particularly a science lecture that happens three times a week. It's just not sensible. Really should have two seventy-five minuters...

Give Me a Title!

I need a title, folks. A title that will win this photo the Grand Prize in MSU's Study Abroad Photo Competition.
Thoughts?

This shot was taken on Mount Sinai.

I'm thinking something like:
Sinai Solitude
The Stillness of Sinai
Mount Sinai Meditation

Other ideas? Improvements on the above theme?

We've Hit 700 Posts!

The last post was the seven hundredth, by the way. Just in case anyone's keeping score...

BS, MHC, and Princess Diaries

Well…for those of you who read “Princess Diaries.” In the last book of the series, Mia talks quite a lot about MHC – major histocompatibility complex. She talks about how people are attracted to each other biologically due to MHC and how it affects our body odor…( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_histocompatibility_complex#MHC_and_sexual_selection). Anyways, this is what we talked about in BS148H today. I managed not to start cracking up. But now I want to read that book again…

Lay Abstract, Try 2

If you're not Charlie, you can probably ignore this. If you're Charlie...sorry to be a pain.

Following is the abstract with the bad effects spelled out a bit more clearly. I went over things again, and I don't think you're reaching the wrong conclusion...attached are the two graphs that give the results. Am I totally missing something here?


The way land is used in agriculture often affects natural ecological habitats nearby. In this study, information about the past and present collections of fish in both the central Chattahoochee River system and the in-stream habitats was used to test the sensitivity of fish populations to land use. A positive relationship was found between agricultural land use and the level of deposits in the river. The more agricultural land use near the water, the more sediment was found. Greater levels of sediment were generally accompanied by less fish diversity, that is, the more sediment, the fewer number of fish species present in the water. In mainstream water, a relationship between agriculture and species abundance was found: More agricultural land use was accompanied by a fewer number of species. This relationship was not observed in headwater reaches, suggesting that mainstream reaches are much more responsive to land use than headwater areas. These results are important in the field of fish conservation.

Train!

I got stuck by a train heading home last night! It was a huge cargo train. Fun! It went on forever...and generated quite the nice breeze.
I don't think I'll hit one on the way in, ever. But I'll need to time coming out of worship a bit better, or I'll hit the weekly cargo train all the time.

Bio Lab

Had our first full bio lab meeting yesterday. It was...a joy. This semester is going to be mostly ecological biology. And, much as I love trees and bunnies, studying them does not feel very "labby" to me. My TA is a agricultural landscape design guy who looks at how what we use land for affects the natural habitats around it, particular in streams and other bodies of water. But Kelsey promises me that it becomes science eventually. (Just not a science I care about...)

Wesley Worship is Back!

Had our first worship at MSU's Wesley last night. We're focusing on "Change" for the first part of this semester. Our sermon intro last night was the music video of "Waiting on the World to Change." I'd never made out so many of the lyrics, so that was fun.

Lay Abstract

This is quite possibly going to be my hardest assignment in my Honors Bio Lab: write a lay abstract for a paper. I know how to write abstracts...but it's HARD to write one in non-scientific prose. If someone wants to read through this and just double-check I haven't been too science-y (a good sign would be if you hate science and can understand it!), I'd appreciate it.

Lay Abstract – The way land is used in agriculture often affects natural ecological habitats nearby. In this study, information about the past and present collections of fish in both the central Chattahoochee River system and the in-stream habitats was used to test the sensitivity of fish populations to land use. A positive relationship was found between agricultural land use and the level of deposits in the river. The more agricultural land use near the water, the more sediment was found. Greater levels of sediment were generally accompanied by less fish diversity, that is, the more sediment, the fewer number of fish species present in the water. A relationship between agriculture and mainstream species abundance was found, but a relationship between agriculture and abundance in headwater reaches was not. This suggests that agricultural land use has a greater effect on mainstream reaches – and their fish species – than on headwater reaches and the fish communities native to them. These results are important in the field of fish conservation.

Science Abstract - Historical and contemporary fish collections were used to examine the influence of agricultural land use on fish communities in the central Chattahoochee River, USA. In-stream habitat data were also collected to examine the relationship between agricultural land use and stream habitat structure. We found a significant positive relationship between agricultural land use and in-stream sediment (r2=0.43, P=O.Ol). Stream depth heterogeneity decreased significantly with increased sediment (9=0.39, P=0.02). Mainstream reaches draining agricultural lands
had significantly lower levels of fish diversity than forested reaches (r2=0.47, P<0.01). Agriculture also explained significant variation in mainstream species abundances but was not a significant predictor of species diversity or species abundances in headwater reaches. Most pool species that use coarse substrates decreased in relative abundance with increasing agriculture in the watershed. Our results suggest that mainstream environments and their associated communities are more susceptible than headwater reaches to the effects of agriculture. This finding has important consequences for conservation, since mainstream reaches are reported to function as species refugia during pulse disturbance events (e.g., floods, droughts).

Walser CA, Bart HL Jr. Influence of agriculture on in-stream habitat and fish community structure in Piedmont watersheds of the Chattahoochee River System.
Ecology of Freshwater Fish 1999: 8: 237-246. ©Munksgaard, 1999.

Microbes

Today's prize (though not exact...but close enough) quotation from MMG 301: "We've found evidence of microbial life on earth for a long time. They've been around even longer than us, believe it or not." HOW is that hard to believe? DUH microbes have been around longer. Good heavens...

Happy 09/09/09

I was typing out my date for notes...and realized it's 9-9-09. So happy Nines, everyone. (They should have had the new Elijah Woods movie "9" come out today...)


And...of course...it did. Haha. That'll teach me to post things before double-checking. As I was typing, I suddenly wondered if it was. But I posted before bothering to check. Naughty me!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, go celebrate the nines today.

Religious Studies

Judaism class=fun. I'm going to end up going to seminary or something if I'm not careful, I'm having way too much fun exploring religions academically.

Fun Moment in BS148H

Are viruses alive?
In isolation, they are unable to replicate its own genes or regenerate its own supply of ATP.

Now...try substituting "human" for "virus."
And if we really want to push buttons...try substituting "fetus" for "virus."

Not perfect, as we can argue over exactly what is considered "isolation" and that kind of thing. But fun to think about.

What a World

Today's fun item: An advertisement for the Uloop MSU Classifieds, where you can buy and sell textbooks. A small white piece of paper with...a sudoku on it. lol. It entertains me that this is how you get folks to hold onto and display a piece of paper. Very smart, actually...

No Class

Good grief! It's the fourth day of classes...and already a canceled session. ANP 270, Women and Health, is canceled this morning due to (female) instructor illness. Ah, the irony.
What I don't understand is that she has a TA - a graduate TA who has taught full classes herself before. So why she's just not handling the discussion I do not understand. But whatever.

Running!

I finally managed to get myself up and running this morning...felt absolutely terrific. I stumbled upon a Therapeutic Riding Center just a ways behind the condo complex! Granna, did you know it was there? It's a full center for the differently-abled - there's a Special Olympics outpost, a sensory trail, and several other buildings. I'll have to check out their volunteer policies.

(Another) New Computer and Ukai

Grampa Farnum came and brought me the Mac desktop he created out of parts in the basement. Then he and Grandma and I went to Ukai Japanese steakhouse. Very good food, and a lot of fun to watch as the guy came out and cooked in front of us.
Tonight will consist of setting up the new computer and writing a paper for my James Madison International Relations class. Also watching "That Thing You Do" with Tom Hanks and Liv Tyler. Fun!

Sunday Errands

Went to church today, and took the boys who are obsessed with Egyptology some photos of Egypt. They were very excited.
Then stopped at the Student Bookstore to grab a few more textbooks. So I get to do more reading this afternoon!
On the way home, I grabbed a few essentials - chocolate chips for pancakes, and some cheap used DVDs. I got "Down With Love," "Man in the Iron Mask," and "Failure to Launch" for $7.42 with tax! And then the guy at the counter gave me "Forrest Gump" for free because it was a collector's edition but didn't include the extra disc. Life is good!

A Lovely Day

Today consisted of reading coursework, watching movies, doing condo chores, and generally being incredibly happy.
Love you all!

Dinner with Alec, Boyd, and Judy

I went out to dinner at Chili's with Alec (the oldest son of the woman I'm named after, all of whom are close family friends) and his grandparents (who are my grandparents' best friends and whom I've known basically forever). Alec is a freshman at MSU this year. Chili's was good...they have a nice 2 for $20 deal where you get an appetizer, two entrees off a pretty long list, and a dessert.

Percy says "Hi"

Ladies and gents...I am typing my first blog entry from Percy. Percy is a Compaq; he's silver and shiny. Unlike Fred, he has a number pad (the extended keyboard). Also unlike Fred, he does not currently speak in Alan Rickman's voice or have pictures of adorable family friends on his background. So we'll be dealing with those issues for a little while...

New Computer

Ladies and gentlemen...
Today, I have purchased a new computer. I left Fred's power cord at family camp, and Cedar Campus couldn't find it. Fred also needs a new copy of Windows. I was working my way up the price ladder to fix him, and he's had a lot of wear. I love him dearly, but I (well, Dad) acquired another Compaq today. He will be named Percy in honor of Fred's passing.
Fred will happily live the rest of his days at Wesley@CMU, where Papa will get him going and use him for slide shows and things. I kind of wonder why, if Papa is going to spend all the time getting him going again, I am buying a new computer instead of just making him spend the time for me. But I shall love Percy, too, and Fred will be useful at Wesley.

Large Lectures

I do not like them. I was incredibly fortunate not to have any last year. This year, I have three. And my Honors Bio is pretty blasted large as well. It's not fun. Though they're incredibly easy to 4-point...because generally they grade based only on fairly easy tests...

REL 310

First class! Yay!!!
Highlights:
Prof is a practicing Jew. He was wearing a very off-center yarmulke today that was small - so from the right angle, you couldn't tell it was there.
Mark Bogner, a friend from chemistry and fellow ADS, is in my Judaism class. (I knew that going in.)
We chatted about the year today; 'twas lots of fun. I really like the professor (surprise, surprise). The class is invited to a Shabbat dinner in November - that will be fun! He and another religious studies prof are also working on a field trip to Toronto to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit...