...just a few bits of goodness.
Free php and perl scripts has a good php guestbook. The cgi one I've got has been spammed lately (only a little, compared to the comment/trackback spam I get on the blog, thank goodness for MT-Blacklist) but it would be nice to have a better (php) book.

Find out how fast you type, from Beccary. I think I might put this little module on my site, sometime...

I got things set up on our new account for the family website. So hopefully (before my mom's show this weekend, anyway) all will be well and I can stop thinking about that and start thinking about orgo test and report, resume, new job, new roommate. Perhaps not always in that order.

I did find out that my job actually lasts until May 30th, so that's a very good thing...and the first paper to ever feature Jennifer Shew as an author is now out in the Archives of Internal Medicine. If you've got access to medical journals, why don't you check it out? Luigi Fontana is first author. Still makes me feel weird that while my name is on the paper and I did do the substantial job of data acquisition, I didn't actually write the paper. it's a little odd. But exciting I don't think I'll ever get an actual copy of the journal, but I do have the pdf. Yay for the electronic age.

Posted by Jen at 5:19 PM | Permalink |

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  Celtic Dance
  The Grand Crusade, Michael A. Stackpole. Wonderful!
file under: muses

My cousin and aunt got in ok yesterday. Good deal. I wish I could have spent more time with them, like take-the-day off time, but alas that's the way things go. I spent most of the time in front of a computer trying to get into the FTP for the family websites, so we can get away from the hosting provider we had to this new one. But for some reason it doesn't like the password we supply, and I don't know why since we picked the darn password ourselves. Sigh. Hopefully it can be fixed and we can move on out. Sigh. Aunt Carol did bring some of her original art for me to put up in the apartment, which is nice. Though I almost don't want to put anything up now since I'm not all that positive I'll be able to afford the apartment in two months. Boo. But yay for original art.

In case you're curious. here's a load of info on Daylight Saving Time (no 's' on the end of Saving, btw, that's proper) Educational exhibits about time, clocks, daylight saving, and calendars Since I was looking up the time in the Pacific time zone, that's what I found. Yay. Who knew there was a whole government website devoted to time?

Wouldn't it be nice to have this? Keeping warm, and all that.

Posted by Jen at 4:31 PM | Permalink |

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  Jars of Clay: Redemption Songs

file under: thoughts

It's fitting that even though this is the first week of spring, today has been dark and rainy and will continue to be, since he loved the rain. A year ago today my uncle Johnnie died. I still can't believe it's true. It doesn't seem possible. But it is, and it's so sad to think about. So mostly, I try not to. But there's always that little niggling thought in there. Every time I pass by the hospital where he died, I remember, every time I visit my cousin or my aunt at what I still think of as 'his' house, I remember. I know that he's so much better now, where there is no pain and much love, but I miss him. I pass by the cemetery that he's buried in every time I visit my parents, but I've only been there once. I'm not even sure where his grave is. God. It's hard.

Family is coming in today. I hope we can get things taken care of, like the website, which has, unbelievably, taken this entire year to work through. Hopefully we'll get it all worked out. Also hoping to get off a little early from work so I can see them earlier. There's nothing I'd like so much right now than a hug from my family.

On the upside, Luigi asked if I could stay on at work until May, which is a good thing, though I still need to find another job. Haven't heard anything from the person I talked to last week, but I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Here's hoping that I find something soon.

Posted by Jen at 1:06 PM | Permalink |

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  a moment of silence

file under: serious

Now there's a Lotr Trival Pursuit-DVD Edition, which could be fun. Alas it's $50 which is more than I want to spend on anything right now.

Corey and Aunt Carol are coming into town tomorrow, so hopefully I'll get to spend lots of time with them. Thank goodness I don't have to do a TGF-Β this week...that would make it near impossible to have free time. Ah well. It's funny how yes, I'm supposed to work eight hours, but take a 7 hour assay and add to it the dilution, acidification, neutralization and just plain thawing time and there is a great chance that I would be late to class that night. I guess the only thing for it is to go in early. Boo. But that's in the future.

This past weekend was good, though I once again waited until the last minute to write my conclusion for orgo lab. I've really got to stop that. It's not cool to try and function on four hours sleep. And my knees would probably hurt less if they were straight for a few more hours But after lab (and a nap, of course) I went to Blueberry Hill for dinner with Kate and Molly and Cat and Tony, which was nice, and then we headed over to Tony's place for a game of Trivial Pursuit (yay for tying the entry together, right?) and basketball. Not that I had any interest in the game, but the WVU/Wake game was pretty good. The one coach had a very blazing blue tie on. I miss basketball sometimes. Not that I was ever any good, but it sure was fun to shoot and make a basket, when it just swished in there perfectly...

yesterday I fixed my parents' internet...don't know what happened, but somehow the Modem control panel just went poof! Yeah for working again. That poor computer. It still works just fine, but it connects SOOOO slow to the internet. But yes, working is good. I feel bad, though, that I can't donate my old laptop to my parents' cause, as the monitor just doesn't work. Boo. I guess if that was your only computer, the extreme amount it would take to repair the monitor wouldn't be that bad, but I don't think it's worth it. Perhaps I should try to convince them to get a Mac Mini, since we do have an old monitor sitting in the basement from the old desktop that never got fixed. Ah well. I guess we'll see.

Tomorrow is a very sad anniversary, so I will talk about it then. Not now. Now I shall return to reading my very good book (total escapism here) while waiting for the ELISA to incubate. Yay.

Posted by Jen at 12:35 PM | Permalink

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  Fortress Draconis, Michael Stackpole
file under: thoughts

You know I had to commemorate the holiday where everyone is supposed to wear green.

Hope you all have a pint of green beer. Or dye your hair green like my cousin did.

So this morning on the news I saw a guy I knew in college...he was in BME like me, but he was always the odd duck. Did I never tell you about the guy in my freshman physics class who, after a certain incident, decided that skirts were more comfortable and going shoeless was a norm? Once in said physics class, during the spring semester, he was warm and decided to take off his jacket. Then a few shirts. He apparently had a bag full of clothing because he was going to a theater class later. Then more clothes came off. Finally he ended up sitting in the chair, hopefully not with his bare bits right on the seat, but wearing only a coat. Someone thought it would be funny to toss his clothes around the lecture hall, which it was, and the entire class was watching this little drama aside from the teacher. Who was totally oblivious, I might add. Every time the laughter would get too loud, he would finally turn around, but no one would move. Clueless.

Someone else thought it would be hilarious to leave early with all of this guy's clothes. So when class got out, we all walked outside to see his clothing up in a tree outside the hall. Luckily he had a skirt for that theater class, and he wore that. Like I said, an interesting duck.

Anyway, his father was on the Today Show this morning, and he's apparently a famous cancer researcher. But you can see where he got it from; his father's apparently the very model of an absent-minded professor, who occasionally forgets whether a red light means stop or go. It was kinda cool to see where he went after Wash U...Johns Hopkins. Wow. He's got a brother, and they introduced the two of them by saying one is a budding biomedical engineer and the other is studying neuroscience or somesuch. But they showed the brother as the BME son, which I laughed at.

Nice to know that someone from WU in BME is doing well. Wish things were going so for me...

Posted by Jen at 10:33 AM | Permalink

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FYI: this is a long ramble about the state of Jen...feel free to mosey right past it.

I really, truly want this. It's a 61-key MIDI controller that can be used for input into GarageBand, part of iLife, which comes standard on new iBooks. I like the program already, but I really want a method of recording music onto the computer (aspirations of songwriting, don't you know), and this keyboard looks like the way to do it. It's only got 61 keys, yes, but it's got an octave shifter so theoretically you could get the whole enchilada on a smaller keyboard. Of course, the one song that I will have memorized for the rest of my life (thanks mom) does in fact take up the entire keyboard, so I wonder if you could program a shift while you're playing? Hmm. Of course, from reading the previous entry you know that I won't have a job in a month, so 'tis bad to covet things now. I do have a tax refund coming soon, once I do my taxes, but a) who knows how big it will be and b) I really ought to save that for whatever else life sends down the road, since it seems I've had quite a bit of unexpected 'episodes' occur recently. And I want to get a new bike as well, especially since they're forcasting an entire summer of $2/gallon gas. Ugh.

Here at the end of all things (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist a LotR reference) I'm beginning to wonder if I'm really cut out for science. I mean, I adore science, I adore learning and understanding technical stuff, and I do hope to someday make the world a better place in some small way, but I don't know if I'll be able to do it in the scientific world. Even though I've been working for nearly three years in the field, I still feel like there's something I'm missing. I'm not smart enough, quick enough, knowledgeable enough for it. It's possibly something that I'm *not* doing, not being enough of something, or maybe it's just not right for me.

The person I interviewed with yesterday (which I suppose went well, but I'm not sure I'm the person they're looking for) asked what my goals were, and when I told her about possibly looking into medical school, she asked if the huge workload and classes leading up to it scared me, and I had to answer that it did. Frankly, anyone who goes into that without a little bit of fear is either insanely smart, or possibly just insane. I know it would be a great way to 'help the world in some small way,' to make a difference, would it be worth the heartache, stress, sleep deprivation, whatever.

All I know for sure is that one day I do hope to publish a book. I think I'm good at it. No one's hugely panned anything I've done, so hopefully that's a sign of what could come. I just have to *do* it, just write. There's a guy who graduated from MIT in 2000 who just published a fantasy last winter (see the previous post) so that gives me hope. After all, if someone from a traditionally science-oriented university not known for its creative endeavors can publish a fantasy, well then, what am I waiting for?

Hmm. Mom always says that I'd be good at anything I wanted to be good at, as long as I applied myself. I guess I should start applying to writing, if that's what makes me happy. Of course, I can't really start that until I finish the rather long chapter on Amines in my orgo text. Alas and alack that osmosis between text and head doesn't work.

Oh yeah, the Star Wars: Episode III trailer is out on the web today. Could be interesting. Hope it's good enough to be the 'end' of the series. Of course, nothing can top RotK for the greatest trilogy ending

Guess I'll head home and read. Maybe I'll write. Feel free to intrude

Posted by Jen at 4:17 PM | Permalink |

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  What Wondrous Love, Jars of Clay (Roots & Wings EP)

file under: muses

ATTENTION! If you're in the St. Louis area this weekend, stop by the Affton Arts & Crafts fair. My mother will have a booth, and you'll really like what she does. Pick up an Easter gift for someone.

After that nice public service announcement...how much things can change in such little time. The end of the entry was written before I found this out...

I just found out that my position will be terminated in April. Tax day, no less. The irony is that I'm 3 for 3 with lab jobs running out of money. The grant they pay me from has been frozen because we're between phases. Joy. There is hope though...a lab down the hall is looking for techs, and I'm supposed to talk to them on Monday. Luigi said good things about me, which is great, so hopefully I'll be able to just go from one to the other.

Huh. Now I guess I won't be able to take that vacation. I doubt they'll be able to pay me for it, either. Perhaps they'll carry over to the next one. My luck, I guess.

Now onto the stuff that was written before I had that most disturbing news.
Moon Names, in relation to the lovely scents that BPAL puts out. Incidentally I just got my shipping confirmation, so hopefully I will come home one day and see a nice little package for me. Also hopefully it will not be in the form of a post-it note on the front door saying "We could not deliver your package" grumble. Just because we have a locked entryway...boo. Just buzz around, people, someone's usually home...

This book looks interesting...gonna head to the bookstore tonight and see if it's around. Robots comes out today. Whee! Perhaps I'll get to see it with my family when they come into town next week. Well, in two weeks, really. It's not quite next week yet...

Posted by Jen at 5:17 PM | Permalink |

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JK Rowling says that today is Remus J Lupin's birthday. And he may not be *your* favorite Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, but he is mine, so there.

Did I mention how orgo is just not fun at all? I really must do homework. Boo.

And here's a gripe...for HIPAA regulations (privacy rules) the med school can't allow POP mail anymore, since it's not secure. So all access has to be from the web. The whole reason I like my Outlook Express is because all my accounts are in one place and I don't *have* to get on the web, I can just open up the one program and save the hassle of clicking through. Ah well. I understand the need for privacy, but *sniff* I like my convenience. Just another instance of me being spoiled, I suppose.

I should go home and study. I will, I think. Shortly.

Posted by Jen at 5:42 PM | Permalink

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And here's another chronicle in the 'Jen's life is weird' saga.
But first, the happy news that the cover of HP 6 is out. *love* So only a month till the next LKH book, two months to KOH, and four months to HBP. And most of the year before the GOF movie, but that's ok And if you know what all those mean, you've read this blog too much, hah.

Sooo, on with the wackiness:
Sunday afternoon I got up late because I could (though I should have gotten up early and started studying orgo, as usual) and headed into the kitchen to make some lunch. In the course of doing that, I realized that a canister of stuffing that was on the bottom level of the shelf next to the fridge had lost its lid. So I went to search for it, and realized that said lid was actually in pieces beneath the shelf. It took me a moment to figure out what that meant, because I noticed that the bulk pack of ramen noodles that has been sitting under the table in the kitchen for over a year (remember the grocery strike here in town, anyone? honestly, it's ok, they have so many preservatives they'd probably last years more) periodically replenished, and minding its own business, was EMPTY! I mean, ten or so packages were just gone. At first I thought, well, maybe my roommate was exceedingly hungry and she ate all of them, which I of course immediately knew was silly. So I looked around the kitchen, just to see if they'd somehow migrated somewhere else, and lo and behold, I see a package sticking out of the crevice between the wall and the dishwasher. I go to investigate, and sure enough, the package has been chewed, and there are several more wedged back there!

Unfortunately the crevice is terribly situated so that it's nearly impossible to put anything in there to clean it out, but I'll try. So yes, some animal had managed to pull every single one of the crinkly plastic packages out of the box (where they were squished and partly under plastic, I want to add), across the wooden floor, shred some of them up, and stuff them in their little hideyhole, all without waking me up. Jeez. Greedy little buggers.

So I put in a maintenace request, not quite sure if that was the thing to do, but a guy came in yesterday and left some bait under the sink, where there's a hole leading to the dishwasher intake. I'm glad he did it (and he said he would order a door sweep as well, to stop up the gap between the back door and the floor, and hopefully keep other little creatures from entering) but I'm worried that a) I'll freak out when/if I see a little dead mouse on the bait (which is silly, really, since I see dead mice all the time around here at work, but come on, dead things not in science context are a little gross) or b) the mouse or whatever it is won't die on the bait and it will just start decomposing behind the dishwasher. Ew. I suppose if we notice something noxious in that general vicinity there will be another request, this time for removal of the dishwasher. Not that we use it much anyway, but what a pain.

So alternately I hope and dread to find a mouse under the sink (and it's sooo silly how I freaked out last night when I heard a noise coming from the kitchen, and I looked, but just as I opened the cabinet I heard a scratching noise, so I took my hand off the handle. No mouse, but there could have been) because then it will hopefully be the end of it, but then I have to clean up. Boo. But then I worry if I don't find it, you get the icky scenario detailed above. Ew again.

Luckily ramen noodles are cheap and I have replenished my supply. Rest assured they will not reside on the floor anymore. I wish no critters in my living space! I feel like such a girl, to be frightened by noises or death. Ah well.

I always thought that my life wasn't all that exciting, but then I have times like this. That same day, about an hour before I was to head out for my mother's first art show of the year, just after I realized there was a mouse in the house (remind me to tell you about the mouse in my parents' house, the ridding of which I slept through), I was inundated by emails telling me that spam had been stopped on my site. This is good, except that when 300 spam comments are moderated, that means 300 emails saying so show up in my inbox. What a pain.

Happy now, Alex? Lots of news.

Posted by Jen at 12:20 PM | Permalink |

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  Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves sdtk

file under: rants

...or make new layouts. (the title is from the Oscar-nominatee for Best Song from the movie version of Phantom, sung by Minnie Driver in the film and Beyonce on the show, for some unknown reason...) I've actually had this done for a while, just never got around to putting it up. I was a little busy, if you hadn't noticed. Hopefully this layout will only be up for a few months, as I hope to do something cool for Kingdom of Heaven, and that opens in May...we'll see, I suppose. I need good pictures first.

And on the computer front...things are going ok, mostly. There are some printer issues, but perhaps it will work out. It's very pretty, though, and sometimes it jumps on someone's wireless network, though it's titled my apartment number. Weird. I have to restrain myself from playing with it, since there are more important things to do like studying for orgo (speaking of which, I think the lab midterm was a near total disaster; thank goodness it's only worth a lab report). I could tell you all about the damn 3 am printing session last friday/saturday night, but that would take up too much time before orgo starts. Don't you just love it when you're very far behind in reading? Boo.

I still want a vacation, but I doubt I'll get a raise anytime soon, so said vacation, if it happens at all, would not consist of a trip. Alas for me and my lazing desires. Oh well. Better study while I can. And yes, I know there are things wrong with the layout. I will fix them. Soon. Just not now. Now is class. Adieu.

Posted by Jen at 5:47 PM | Permalink |

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  Tonight, Jars of Clay

file under: webetcetera