Austin is doing great!

Last Tuesday 10/24, Austin was taken to the Vet to have his bladder stones removed. John dropped him off bright and early in the morning and I headed my way to work. As planned, the vets were going remove the stones with a non-invasive procedure called hydrpulsion, as I described previously.
At about noon I got a call from John. The vet said that no all of Austin's stones had come out since some are too big, so they had surgically remove it. Ofcourse, being me, I was in panic mama mode. To to make matters worst, John received another update from the vets, this time they said there were complications during surgery. OHH MY GODDDD!!!! NOW WHAT!!!! I must've been screaming already. Apparently, during surgery a stone got stuck in his dick and the pressure in his bladder got too high and subsequently perforated his bladder! I was almost going Shannon in the lab. Finally they said it was fixed and they will need to keep him overnight for observation.
It was a rough night for John and I worrying about Austin. The next day after work, we went to pick him up from the vet. We were expecting Austin all dazed and confused, sleepy, out of it, wasted, drunk bla bla bla. Actuall no, he came running out jumping and jumping which he wasn't supposed to do. He's FINE! He behaved like he didn't have any surgery. Poor guy he had a long incision next to his penis and thruought he abdomen. It was about 4 inches. Ouch!
10 days have passed since the drama. He already went for his first weekly checkup and is recovering very well except for a few stitches that came out from his licking. We got him a cone to put around his neck that will prevent him from picking at his scar, but to no avail, stitches still come off. Well, whatever happened, I'm glad that Austin is back home and giving us all his love and psychosis.

I AM INNOCENT

Hi everyone... Over the past year or two, I believe all of you have been hearing about my bad behavior at home, peeing all over the house fo no good reason. However, I truly wish to contest such defaming statements about me and I have medical reasons to clear my name (Austin) .
My mom and dad (Eu Han & John) recently noticed blood in my urine. So, just this past Monday they took me to see my Doctor, Dr. Alex Clausman, D.V.M. at Southdale Pet Hospital. The doctor and nurses were so nice, they pet me and kept reassuring me everything was all fine and happy until they lifted me up on to the exam table, where they started fondling my jewels and kept staring at it. It felt weird for a while but eventually I started to like it.
Not tool long after that, my urine exam came back. It was not good at all. They found a lot of Calcium Oxalate crystals and a bunch of lymphocytes. This led them to take an X-Ray scan of my bladder to look for stones. To everyones disbelief, the X-Ray showed a bunch of stones. This is why I find it so hard to control my urinations. Aunty Flynn, I hope you understand now... I didn't mean to scare you or make you cry on your first night babysitting me.
Anyways, I will have the stones removed in through a non invasive procedure this coming Tuesday. They will first pump saline into my bladder through the urethra and then literally squeeze me to force the stones out. I am confident that this procedure will go smoothly since I will be sleeping through it. I hope all you beatches out there now know that I am innocent. I miss all of you and lots of kisses and licks to you.

Sniff, sniff... woof! wag wag wag(80rpm)

Austin

Saturday

To start off, I would like to mention that I am very happy that the verfaillie gang have begun to read my blog and posting comments. I believe Stephanie and Reiner has made contact with me, boy its been such a long time already! Stephanie... I'll make sure to post more Fall season pictures for you. Those reading my blog, please read the comments. They are rather entertaining!

Eric, I know this is not very fair, but:

1) No, I don't always have iPod headphones on in the pictures.
2) I met up with Shannon and she says hi from Flynn and herself
3) Do you always:
a) write like:
i) this in point form all the time?
ii) I think you do
4) Lots of hugs and kisses from us over here.

Dangers in the lab

Phew... okay here we go. It was Wednesday, 10/4/06. I had a busy day working on my stuff in the cell culture hood, it all went well and almost picture perfect until I started to shut down the hood. As I was pulling the glass shield down, something broke lose and a loud bang came with it, and all of a sudden the shield weighed about a 100 lbs. The hood's alarm was buzzing and the shield would not go to its normal resting position. It would only rest at a position lower than that, but with a BUZZZZZ WAAAAAHHHHHH cacophony of sounds. Anyways, the shield was getting a little too heavy, so I let it go expecting it to rest at some position. Well, no it didn't it just came crashing down toward my feet. Thankfully, the waste bucket was there to stop it from breaking my feet. Ofcourse... I was screaming louder than Shannon and becky was laughing her ass off because I was screaming like a girl, Val tried to calm be down by saying that there are worst things that could happen ( but she couldn't think of any) Oh well... I guess that hood's out of commision for a couple of days.
I bet you guys in Belgium have brand new hoods. Do they have speakers in there with an iPod dock or something like that? Feel free to comment.

Fall is here... Yay!

Fall is here!!! I absolutely love this season. The temperature is cold but with a calming effect to it.The leaves start to change their color and will soon fall to the ground where it does its magic. They form a bright coat of fiery orange color on the ground, and the winds from the west will make them dance. The perfect way to enjoy this season is to have a cuppa by the window.
So far I am having a wonderful week. I did above average in my exam, the journal I contributed data to finally got accepted, and it will be in print soon, I hosted a Project Runway party last night and made really good food to accompany it, and I am starting to work on a really fun project! Hooray!! The melancholy part of my week however, is that John is in Texas for a whole week. That leaves me to some quality mother - child time with Austin :D.

For some reason, I am thinking alot about my close friends that are far away from me but very close at heart. Although I haven't heard from them in a while, I'd like them to know that I am constantly thinking of them. Chimuis, Reto, Flynn, Karen, Carlos, Miguel, Christina, Aynhoa (eye no ahh), Lee S.(mmm... should've taken off his pants in Bucca. Dammit Staci, you're one lucky beatch), Bea (hhhellooo!), Aernout, Shannonigans, Fernando, Valerie, Julianna H., Molly, Yves (your bike was great in my 2 races!!!), Oki and wife... (where the hell is this guy?), Stepahnie, Reiner, Marta, Connie, Eric Mentalhall... who else am I missing???

Anyways, miss ya guys... Well, I am getting sleepy, its great sleeping weather I tell ya. Can't miss much of it. Nite nite! I think Austin said goonight John...

AARRGGGHHH!!!

OK, here's the story. I am trying to get into graduate school next year. So, I figured that taking graduate level classes would add fragrance and spice to my application. I enrolled myself into 2 courses, a 5 week GRE prep course, and a semester long BIOCHEMISTRY 8002 course. On top of that I kinda work 8 hrs a day. I don't really have a project to work on but it means have to read tons of papers to come up with one! GOOSSSHHHH!!!! Can it get any worst?
As we know, I have been slacking for the past 2-3 years, took only ONE course, which was primarily journal reading and one written final plus it wasn't bad at all. Anyways, I am currently on the brink of death. Minutes ago I managed to fend off a self attacking multi-channel pipette, like the one you're seeing on the picture. Yes, it is stressful as you can tell. So many papers to read, exams constantly around the corner bla bla bla bitch bitch bitch.
I'm supposed to be reading a long ass paper right now and write up about it by tommorrow morning. I am so sick of reading, my poor brain is pooped. To all the undergraduates out there... switch majors, go do business or something. I should have majored in underwater basket weaving, I hear that basket weavers make tons especially underwater ones.

Can't sleep

Alright... its 11 pm, and I can't sleep. I just finished reading a couple of journals on NK cell development and again... I can't sleep. Sleep, one of my worst enemies. I usually sleep pretty well, but ocassionally I get these streaks of insomniac spells. I don't know why? I just took some tryptophan 30 mins ago, I should be feeling pretty sleepy by now, but to no avail my serotonin levels have not reached the sleepy threshhold yet. Well, I'll just keep blabbing till I feel sleepy.

Its monday tommorrow, what do I have to do? I have a class at 9 - 10 am. Head on to work. Ahh... I should plan out my list of experiments to do! OK! I think I am sleepy now. G'nite BEEAATCHES!

Sunday Sept 24th 2006 - 3rd anniversary, First blog ever

Wow! this is my very first blogging experience and I am very excited about it. Today is also a very special day for John and me, for those who don't know who John is, he is my partner! Mind you, he is neither my business partner, study partner nor tennis partner. He is my life partner. It is our third anniversary.

Anyways, the day is almost ending now. I am relaxing on my favorite chair at home, listening to some tunes by John Mayer... ohhh here comes Casey and her dog Madison. Austin, our wire haired Fox Terrier Dog, has a play date with Madison right now. They're going at it as I speak. Before I sign off, I would love to share how John and I celebrated this auspicious day.

Of course, we had to get up this morning to begin with. John and our friend Meri went to the Zen center, just up the block, for a group meditation session from 9-11 am. I however decided to go for a 6 mile run. The run was a great one except that my knees started to hurt at the end of the run. I got home, feeling great from all the endorphins, which ended abruptly when Austin decided to pee right in front of me. I was furious of course, and he got the spanking of his life.

It was almost Noon when John got home and we had decided to go somwehere special for our anniversary lunch. We quickly got ready and headed to Sushi Tango, obviously a Japanese restaurant, for their special happy hour menu. The food was great and relatively inexpensive considering what we ate. It was a satiating meal, not too much not too little. We then headed out to Lucia's Bakery for a cup of coffee and desert. It totally hit the spot.

It was about 2 pm by then... we still had time spare. Well, I decided to go search for a triathlon bike. I went to 3 bike stores and BOY!!!!!!!!!!! I was drooling over all of the bikes. I got to test ride 3 tri bikes today, my very first time on them. It felt sooo comfortable and the speeds I was able get to with these bikes were unbelievable. As much as I would love to, I don't think I'll be getting any this year. I plan to wait until next year when better deals come along, just in time for the next triathlon season.

That was done with, we headed home only to find Austin had left another present for us. Poop on the kitchen floor. What do we do now? This dog is 3 years old, has not yet learned that eliminating in the house is not permitted. Sigh... he is cute, he pulls it off just by looking at us with a pathetic face.

The dogs are still playing, wrestling on the rugs, chasing each other in circles, tugging toys and what not. I'm going to do some reading before I go to bed. Well, happy anniversary to us!!!! Woo hooo!!!! Stay tuned!