The Thoughts of a Frumpy Professor

2012-01-31T06:37:00.001-05:00

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All is OK

Happily, the battery procedure for my elderly father-in-law went very well. It was actually able to be done via out-patient services and he came home yesterday. I suspect (and am hopeful) that he will be so up-to-snuff by Friday afternoon that he may be interested in an afternoon of pipes and libations.

PipeTobacco

2012-01-30T06:14:00.000-05:00

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Surgery

My elderly father-in-law is having surgery today to replace the battery in his pacemaker. I am hoping and praying all goes well. He is a wonderful friend and I greatly enjoy his company.

PipeTobacco

2012-01-29T11:18:00.000-05:00

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Psalm of Value

Today in Mass, the following Psalm was sung:

"If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts."

I ask that I learn better how to follow this advice. I want to be a better, kinder, gentler person. I want to be slow to anger. I want to be rich in kindness. I want to be loving and forgiving. I need and want to be a better person.

PipeTobacco

2012-01-28T07:45:00.000-05:00

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Saturday

Today will simply be a day of cleaning the house and various other mundane fix-it tasks. It is an edict from above, and I have no options.

PipeTobacco

2012-01-27T11:07:00.002-05:00

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A Need To Be Consistent

I *know* I need to be more consistent in posting here. It has been a struggle, not because I do not want to write... I do. The struggle has been that I have been being pulled in far too many directions. So, for me, I think I *NEED* to force myself to make time each day for writing here as a continuation of my effort to destress my life. I am still committed to that goal. I have been shedding some of the time stressors and time eaters in my life, but it is a constant battle as new "opportunities" arise regularly to usurp my time.

I need to be heavy handed in my protection of my time and beginning today, I am vowing (again) to make my posts here a priority for me as a way to symbolize and show my commitment to getting my life back in MY control, not the control of others.

PipeTobacco

2012-01-25T06:14:00.000-05:00

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Liquor On Your Breath, Eh?

A very interesting neurological study about the effects of drinking on endorphin release in the brain. It makes tremendous sense that the pleasurable aspect of drinking is due to the alcohol switching on a trigger of the brain's natural mood-elevating neurochemicals. Also interesting in the design of the study are the groupings used:

The study consisted of "13 heavy drinkers (10 to 16 drinks per week for women, and 14 to 20 for men) and 12 light and nondrinkers (fewer than five drinks a week for women, and fewer than seven for men)." I fall into the "light and nondrinker" category by that definition. Skoal!

Study Tracks Booze’s Buzz in the Brain: Morphinelike Chemicals Released in Both Heavy and Moderate Drinkers
By Laura Sanders in Science News
Web edition : Wednesday, January 11th, 2012
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

A shot of high-octane booze causes the brain to pump out its own version of morphine, a new study finds. If confirmed, the results may help explain why drinking the hard stuff feels good.

Many animal studies have found that alcohol can cause release of feel-good endorphins in the brain, but the new brain scan study, which appears in the Jan. 11 Science Translational Medicine, is the first to show the effect in humans and to home in on where the effect occurs.

Knowing exactly where alcohol causes its effects brings scientists closer to developing drugs that could block the “high” that alcohol brings without unpleasant side effects, says study coauthor Jennifer Mitchell of the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center in Emeryville, Calif., and the University of California, San Francisco. “I really think we’re close,” she says. “There’s a lot of hope.”

Mitchell and her colleagues studied 13 heavy drinkers (10 to 16 drinks per week for women, and 14 to 20 for men) and 12 light and nondrinkers (fewer than five drinks a week for women, and fewer than seven for men). To get a sense of how many endorphin-detecting proteins were in the participants’ brains, the team injected a radiolabeled chemical that latched onto the detectors — a signal picked up with a PET scan.

After an initial scan, the team brought out the cocktails.

Each participant downed a shot of extra-potent, lab-grade alcohol mixed with juice. The drink was strong enough to raise blood alcohol levels to about 0.05 percent with a single dose. (Because the participants had to lie still in the scanner for several hours with no possibility of a bathroom break, the researchers wanted to minimize the volume of liquid.)

The participants then underwent a second scan. The same radioactive chemical was injected, but this time, some of the sites in the brain where it had originally bound were already occupied by the brain’s endorphins, which had been released after the drink. The brains of the heavy drinkers and the light and nondrinkers showed similar boosts in endorphin levels.

“Our results were a bit unexpected,” Mitchell says. “We didn’t see a big difference.” In both groups, endorphin release was prominent in a region called the nucleus accumbens, a pleasure center in the brain. The authors also found evidence implicating another region in the front of the brain called the orbitofrontal cortex, which is thought to help process rewards.

The results need to be confirmed in larger studies with more carefully selected participants, says psychiatrist Raymond Anton of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. “People with alcohol use disorders are drinking probably twice as much as these heavy drinkers,” he says. Also, Anton believes the data are insufficient regarding the orbitofrontal cortex’s involvement.

The amount of endorphins released after a drink seemed to correlate with how good the drinker reported feeling on a questionnaire. This finding complements a recent study by University of Chicago researchers, who found that in heavy drinkers, the pleasure derived from alcohol predicted levels of alcohol abuse, says psychiatrist and addiction researcher Henry Kranzler of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Ultimately, the results need to be replicated in real-world situations, Kranzler says. “We don’t care about what happens in a PET scanner. We care about what happens in bars.”

*****

It is also interesting in this study that the subjects had to sit still while they were being scanned. I wonder how challenging this was for the researchers while the patients were intoxicated (grin)?

PipeTobacco

2012-01-24T07:32:00.002-05:00

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Stuck on the Whirlwind

I do not understand why, but I am so frustratingly busy, I have no time to think or even be at the moment. It is disappointing, especially with the work I have been doing to try to lessen my workload. It is truly depressing. I am at a loss on how to proceed to try to make it better.

PipeTobacco

2012-01-18T08:50:00.003-05:00

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SOPA & PIPA

Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the Internet and slow economic growth in the U.S.

Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.

The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Urge Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.

PipeTobacco

2012-01-12T19:05:00.003-05:00

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A Helluva Week!

Even though I had the best of intentions to get regular posts up this week, the first week of a new semester is always one of tremendous business. Unfortunately, that business kept me from getting here, but the good news is that it was a reasonably good start to the semester and that the routine seems well set. I think I *now* shall be back to posting on a very regular timeframe.

PipeTobacco

2012-01-05T14:12:00.003-05:00

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Days of Wine and Roses

The 1962 epic film starring Jack Lemmon, was a classic about the problems of alcohol dependency. Here is a new report that may offer some interesting science about the effects of alcohol:

Drug Gives Rats Booze-Guzzling Superpowers
Rodents Get Less Drunk, Recover Faster and Appear Less Prone to Alcohol Addiction

By Laura Sanders at Science News
Web edition : Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

Rats dosed with a compound isolated from an ancient herbal remedy appear all but impervious to quantities of alcohol that put their compatriots under the table. Rodents on the drug can drink large quantities of alcohol without passing out, show fewer signs of hangover and even fail to become addicted to alcohol after weeks of drinking, researchers report in the Jan. 4 Journal of Neuroscience.

If the compound proves to have similar effects in humans, it may offer a powerful way to combat alcohol’s dizzying effects, the dreaded hangover and even alcohol dependence. “I think it’s really pretty incredible that one study opens up avenues for so many angles,” says neuroscientist A. Leslie Morrow of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.

Researchers led by Jing Liang of the University of California, Los Angeles began by surveying herbal compounds that reportedly have antialcohol effects. A promising candidate caught the researchers’ eyes: an extract isolated from the seeds of the Asian tree Hovenia dulcis, first described as a primo hangover remedy in the year 659.

In the new study, Liang and her team tested one ingredient of Hovenia called dihydromyricetin, or DHM, on rats, which respond to alcohol in similar ways to humans. After rats were given the human equivalent of 15 to 20 beers in under two hours, the animals passed out in a drunken stupor and lost the reflex to flip over when placed on their backs. The rats took about an hour after this binge to begin to regain control of their bodies and flip themselves over.

But when the rats received a shot of DHM along with their alcohol, they tolerated the booze better. These rats still lost the ability to flip themselves over, but the stupor took longer to take hold and lasted only about 15 minutes.

DHM had benefits beyond the inebriated period, too. A dose of the compound helped ease rat hangover symptoms two days after an alcohol binge by curbing anxiety and susceptibility to seizures.

The standout result, says Steven Paul of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, is that DHM also curbed alcohol consumption. Rats allowed to drink alcohol gradually start consuming more of it. But rats that drank DHM-laced alcohol didn’t increase their consumption, the team found.

“When you drink alcohol with DHM, you never become addicted,” Liang says.

Though the results are exciting, they don’t mean that a hit of Hovenia extract can enable a night of consequence-free binge drinking, Morrow says. Alcohol has many effects in the brain, and DHM may not block them all.

Alcohol works in part by changing the behavior of proteins known as GABA receptors, which are involved in curbing brain excitation. DHM blocks alcohol’s effects by latching onto these receptors in the brain. Another compound called RO15-4513, discovered by Paul and collaborators, also blocked alcohol by interfering with GABA receptors, but it caused seizures.

So far, Liang and her team have found no side effects from DHM. The researchers now plan to test DHM’s effect on people.

* * * * *

So, while this DHM compound may potentially offer some promise in medical treatment for people who have problems with alcohol abuse, the more interesting aspect, scientifically, is how the DHM compound may be altering the GABA receptors in the brain. That an exogenously applied compound is show to temporarily alter receptor function (behavior) is very noteworthy for the brain.

For a general, run-of-the-mill indulger in a few drinks now and then, there isn't any meaningful applicability to me.

Here's mud in 'yer eye!

PipeTobacco

2012-01-04T07:42:00.000-05:00

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New Book

Although I have not read anything much new in a while on Ernest Hemingway, I have been a very big fan of his writing and also of the biographies about him for many years. In my library, I have probably in the neighborhood of 50 different biographies about Hemingway in addition to a copy of each of his books and short stories.

This interest in Hemingway originated while I was in graduate school. Being far away from family and friends, and missing them greatly, I decided I needed a hobby. But I had no idea what I would want to do. But, I knew I needed a hobby of some sort that I could deeply immerse myself in as a break from the intense reading/writing/researching in biology I was doing as a graduate student.

During that time, while I was trying to figure out some sort of hobby to "grab on to" to help with being away from my family and friends, I happened to be in the office of one of my committee members, casually chatting with him, as he was cleaning his office. Dr. (Professor) Herman Krause, who was VERY German in mannerisms and demeanor. He spoke with a fairly heavy German accent, and his diction was rather staccato. He had a very, very bushy, grey moustache and beard that he wore in a goatee style. Dr. Krause was clearing some of his bookshelves of books when he picked up a copy of "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" by Hemingway. He looked at it quizzically at first, and then commented that he had thought he had given it away already. He was an avid reader, and while he kept almost all of the biology texts he read, he would not keep other books, especially fiction, but would give them away after he read them. He offered the book to me, saying it was "...interrrrresting..." but that it was not Hemingway's best work in his opinion.

I thanked him and took the book with me when I left.

The book left an enormous impression on me, and I quickly started to read and collect all of his works I could find. I also started to read and collect biographies of the man.

Well, there is a new book that I received from my sister as a Christmas present and I began to look through the volume last night. It is a book of Hemingway's Letters. I had not really read or even looked for anything new about Hemingway in several years, but I must say, starting this book brought back a flood of enjoyable memories about how much I enjoyed reading the fellows work and biographies about him and about times past when I was in hot pursuit of a rare biography of the man at any number of used bookstores over the years that I visited on my various travels.

PipeTobacco

2012-01-03T09:15:00.000-05:00

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Back to the Grindstone

I am here at the U now, working on getting things moving for the upcoming new semester. I am not feeling particularly motivated at the moment, but I have a goal to get things set up well, so I can have a better start to the year and keep working on my long-term goal of having more joy and happiness in my life with my family and also a helluva lot less stress. So, since I do have a helluva lot of things to get done, I better keep the post shorter today.

PipeTobacco

2012-01-02T07:34:00.000-05:00

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January 2

Today is the second day of 2012. I am just relaxing, and reorganizing the house. Tomorrow, I go back to the U to get things ready for the new semester. Oh... it is also my one nephew's 26th birthday today.

PipeTobacco

2012-01-01T01:22:00.000-05:00

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A New Year

Here is wishing all of you a Happy New Year. I just polished off a very pleasant bottle of wine just prior to midnight. My wife and I spent the latter part of the evening eating hummus and baba ganoush on pita bread along with Mederanian pickles and olives. We also wrote our annual "Hopes & Dreams" for the new year. This is a list that we have done each and every year on New Years Eve since we started dating so very long ago.

PipeTobacco

2011-12-25T22:45:00.002-05:00

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Merry Christmas

Family. Food. Libations. Celebration of life. All is good.

PipeTobacco

2011-12-24T12:46:00.002-05:00

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Day Before Christmas

It is the day before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse (nor a damn rat either). I hope all of you have a great day and evening tonight, and if you celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas day tomorrow.

PipeTobacco

2011-12-23T12:43:00.000-05:00

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Not For Imobilization

Austere asked why I wanted to imobolize my finger. Truth is, I did not use the splint for imobilization. Instead, I simply used it as a hard covering over the end of my finger to avoid hitting the end of my finger from use and causing re-injury. It actually only imobilizes my first joint on the finger, so while cumbersome, it is worth it for the protection.

PipeTobacco

2011-12-22T14:34:00.002-05:00

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Aggravating Finger

A brierfer post today. I am wearing one of the contraptions above to protect my finger where I was bitten. It is not a serious wound, but it is deep, and I think that by wearing this for a few days prior to the holiday, my finger will heal more rapidly, and not be continually bumped. The metal cage does protect the tip of my finger (the site of the injury) but it is clumsy and cumbersome. It also makes typing a bit of a chore. However, bumping the injury can cause the tissue healing to take longer as it keeps re-opening the repairing tissues.

PipeTobacco

2011-12-21T13:31:00.002-05:00

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Damn Rat

Laboratory rats are usually very docile and pleasant creatures to work with. However, one genetic strain of rat that I currently am using for one strand of my research is much more edgy and intense. Today, one of these rats bit my finger. It is nothing serious, but it is annoying. It is only the third bite I have ever experienced in my many decades of working with thousands of rats. The difficulty (problem) is that rat bites are deep, so they are slower to heal.

PipeTobacco

2011-12-20T10:01:00.002-05:00

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Suicide

Today is a wretched milestone. 17 years ago today, my niece, who was 17 at the time, committed suicide by swallowing a handful of beta-blocker, hypertensive medication that belonged to one of her parents. She would now be 34 years old if she had not done that asinine act.

She was a wonderful, academically smart, beautiful young lady. She had been accepted at the college she had desired and was planning on becoming a high school teacher. She even had a significant amount of scholarship money that she had obtained as well as backup support in the form of grants and loans if needed.

Why did she do it? She was awoken shortly after taking the damn pills, and then went to the emergency room where her stomach was pumped. She was lucid and talking for much of the time. Unfortunately, enough of the drug entered her system that she went into cardiac arrest and was unable to be revived.

I do not know why I am even thinking about this now. For the first year or so after her passing, it was exceptionally hard. She had been the niece I was the closest to in terms of personality. I was filled with rage, anger, and despair. I am not sure how a person is *supposed* to deal with a suicide, never having had one occur in my family previously. I also am not sure what is the *best* way to handle the issue in order to "move on". For me, I simply have learned to shut down and compartmentalize the rage, anger, and despair into some sort of box which I bury deep somewhere inside myself.

Today is the first day in quite a while that I have actually THOUGHT ABOUT her, and purposefully tried to REMEMBER who she was before that day. For the most part, I do not think about her or the 17 years she spent on Earth, because to do so brings back the numerous happy times and happy memories of who she had been. That may sound good, but then the rage and pain return because no matter how I try, there is no longer any way to remember just those good times. The suicide itself is the overwhelming event that has now defined each and every aspect of her life.

Thinking about her today causes significant pain. I had forgotten how harsh that pain was. In my mind's eye, I replay over and over in my mind her younger sister (who was 13 at the time) as she cried and wept and screamed at her sister as she was dying on the hospital bed in the intensive care unit to "wake up", to "come back", to "not leave".

As it is, I am writing now with tears streaming down my cheeks into my beard. This is stupid. It is foolish, it is a waste of time for me to write this sh*t. It is a waste of time for me to think about this sh*t.

PipeTobacco

2011-12-19T14:50:00.002-05:00

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Mushy-In-The-Head

I am feeling mushy in my mind.... mind you, I am not suggesting the *pleasant* sort of mushy mind feeling after having had a few libations. I am talking about the unpleasant, unfocused sort of mindset you get after having spent an entire day engrossed in minutia details. I am going through my syllabi with a fine toothed comb to ferret out any errors, and to adjust and check dates, and to finalize what labs will occur when during the next semester. Working through all of these knit-picky little details has given me a headache, and I think I am going to go home and just forget about it for a while. I will head back to it either tonight or tomorrow. I just want to get my secretary the details sometime tomorrow so that she can fix-it-up to make it look nice and polished and ship it off to graphics.

PipeTobacco

2011-12-18T07:59:00.000-05:00

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Song About Psalm 174

There is a song we sing at mass frequently that has remained in my mind since yesterday as I was listening to it on a CD I have of the mass parts. I was driving around in my truck doing various errands. Amongst them, I went to a couple of stores to pick up a few items (bagels, flowers for my wife, some cheese, olives, pipe tobacco). The song version was far more moving than the writing of the words, but here they are:

I will praise your name, my King and my God.

1. I will give you glory, my God and King, and I will bless your name forever.
Every day I will bless and praise your name forever.

2. The Lord is full of grace and mercy. He is kind and slow to anger.
He is good in all His works and full of compassion.

3. Let all your works give you thanks, O Lord, and let all the faithful bless you.
Let them speak of your might, O Lord, the glory of your kingdom.

4. The Lord is faithful in all His words, and always near. His name is holy.
He lifts up all those who fall. He raises up the lowly.

PipeTobacco

2011-12-17T06:53:00.000-05:00

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What To Do?

I am still thinking about making a full blown effort to give up my pipe. Part of me thinks I should. Part of me resists. I am trying to figure out how to either a) get 100% on board with refraining or b) fully dispel the notion that I should quit from my mind. The "in-the-middle" state is frustrating.

PipeTobacco

2011-12-16T09:44:00.000-05:00

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Hot Damn!

No, that is not what I am planning to drink later today. It is an exclamation I am making as I am nearing the end of the semester and am working feverishly to get the obnoxious grades in.

Truth be told, I do not give a damn what grade a student earns. Grades mean absolutely nothing to me. I have known students who earn an "A" and are unable to think worth sh*t. I have had students who earn an "F" and are very insightful. And I have seen all manner of students at either extreme and in-between.

What I care about when I speak to a student of mine is how he or she THINKS. If the student can use their logical mind to discuss, predict, and hypothesize about matters related to the particular biological discipline I have taught them, then I have succeeded even if they have earned a "D" in terms of points.

Now, of course, the reality is that in the vast majority of cases, a student of mine would earn at least a "C" grade or better on my tests (which are logic based and driven), so most of my best students have earned "A", "B", or "C" from me, and very few of the "smart" ones have earned a lower grade, but it does happen.

I am thinking I will get some preliminary grades and allow them to "marinate" over the weekend. I am thinking I may "marinate" my mind with some pleasant libations this afternoon as well.

PipeTobacco

2011-12-15T09:07:00.001-05:00

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Food Cravings

It is rather unusual for me to get what I consider to be "food cravings." Do not get me wrong, I relish food and look forward to every meal with gusto. In the process of losing the 100 pounds (~45 kg)that I have lost, I actually find greater enjoyment and deeper pleasure in the foods I eat than I did when I was heavier.

Today, however, I am experiencing a food craving. Perhaps "craving" isn't the right word either, though. I have been thinking about pizza ever since I smelled a particularly good smelling pizza pie baking in the U cafeteria as I walked to class.

["Now, hold it right there, Bub!" I can hear you muttering, "It is only about 9am where you are at."

"You are correct!" I would say with a wide, furry-faced grin of bemusement.

"Who the hell eats pizza, hot out of the oven, at 8 o'clock in the morning?!?" you sputter.

"A large contingent of college students." I would say, laughing. "Our U tried an experiment to see if pizzas made that early in the morning would sell, and sure enough, the traditional pizza has become a very popular breakfast item."

"Hmm." you ponder as you do not know how to respond.

"All of us know that for generations, people have eaten COLD pizza for breakfast. So, why not hot pizza as well?" ]

So, suffice it to say, I have had pizza on the mind this morning. I was specifically, though, thinking about my favorite toppings. Hell, I like damn near all of them, so here is a listing of my favorites and then a smaller list of items I am not fond of on pizza:

The "Best of the Best":

Italian Sausage
Green Olives
Green Peppers
Pineapple
Black Olives
Mushrooms

"Very Good" Items:

Onions
Tomato Slices (fresh or sun-dried)
Jalapenos
Banana Peppers
Leaf Oregano
Leaf Basil
Double Cheese

Acceptable Items:

Pepperoni
Anchovies
Feta Cheese
Broccoli
Carrots
Raisins

Items I Dislike on Pizza:

Ground Beef
Ham

* * * * *

I really do not want to eat a slice of pizza at the moment, but the smell from the U Cafeteria as I walked by earlier, sure did send a flood of pleasant thoughts through my mind about pizza.

PipeTobacco

2011-12-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

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Hand Bicycle

At the gym each morning, I am now (in addition to my 5 mile walk outside), bicycling with a "hand bicycle" much like that shown above for 3 miles. I think it is having a positive effect on my arms and chest region. I started using this hand bicycle about 2 weeks ago. I should write down the date.

PipeTobacco

2011-12-13T06:13:00.000-05:00

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Newest News on Obesity

As is common knowledge in physiology circles, the nation is experiencing an obesity epidemic. Many very good researchers are focusing on the biological control of eating behaviors that can lead to obesity. There have been several studies showing potential hormonal links, genetic links, and other links. Now, very interesting research is suggesting a neural and neurohormonal cause:

Cilia Control Eating Signal: Little Hairlike Appendages in Brain Cells Control Weight by Sequestering an Appetite Hormone

By Tina Hesman Saey in Science Newshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Web edition : Thursday, December 8th, 2011

A primary cilium (red) protrudes from a neuron (green). Most normal cells in healthy people have primary cilia. New research shows that the hairlike cilia help suppress appetite.N. Berbari and Bradley Yoder

DENVER — The action of tiny hair-like appendages on cells can mean the difference between fat and thin. Now scientists have a better idea of how the little hairs, called primary cilia, control appetite.

Primary cilia — single, hairlike projections that all cells in vertebrates usually have — seem to sequester a protein that senses and responds to an appetite-stimulating hormone, Nicolas Berbari of the University of Alabama at Birmingham reported December 6 at the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology. In people and mice that lack primary cilia, the appetite stimulant works overtime, leading to overeating and obesity, Berbari said.

These findings may lead to new ways to control appetite and prevent or reverse obesity.

And the study may help scientists better understand the process of eating, said Kirk Mykytyn, a cell biologist at Ohio State University in Columbus. “This work is important because it’s more thoroughly clarifying the molecular mechanism involved in obesity associated with the loss of cilia,” he said.
access

A mouse that lacks primary cilia in its cells becomes obese (right) compared with a normal mouse (left).N. Berbari and Bradley Yoder

People with Bardet-Biedl syndrome have defects in genes responsible for building primary cilia. A prominent consequence of the disease is obesity. Working with mice that also lack primary cilia due to defects in the same genes, Berbari and his colleagues tried to figure out exactly how the cellular appendages are involved in appetite.

Previous research had suggested that primary cilia work like tiny antennae, helping nerve cells in an eating-control center of the brain to sense an appetite-dampening hormone called leptin. The theory was that taking away the cilia also removed leptin’s ability to put the brakes on eating.

But Berbari and colleagues found that mice lacking cilia still respond to leptin as an appetite suppressant, suggesting that sensing the hormone is not the problem.

“The original work was barking up what was the most obvious tree, but turned out to be the wrong tree,” Berbari said.

Instead, the researchers discovered that a protein called MCHR1, which senses an appetite stimulant called melanin-concentrating hormone, is normally found in primary cilia. Concentrating the sensor protein in the cilia may keep the protein from inappropriately triggering eating.

Berbari has preliminary evidence that his hypothesis may be correct. He fed peanut butter pellets containing a drug that inactivates MCHR1 to mice with intact cilia and to mice that have no cilia. The mice with intact cilia maintained their regular weight despite having unlimited access to food. Mice lacking cilia lost weight when given the drug, suggesting that turning off MCHR1’s ability to stimulate appetite corrects the appetite-control problems caused by missing cilia.

The researchers still don’t know exactly how MCHR1 activity stimulates appetite or how the cilia keep the sensor in check.

* * * * *

As with the case of the earlier discoveries of hormonal and genetic links to obesity, it is unlikely that this neural and neurohormone association is the complete picture. But, it is a very intriguing next step in our understanding of this issue.

PipeTobacco

2011-12-12T13:24:00.002-05:00

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Trying to Be the "Better" Me

I have been thinking about my efforts to try to be a better person. In general, I think I am "ok" as a person, but, there are PLENTY of things I could do to be a gentler, kinder, more helpful, and more caring.

However, because a part of being a better person involves being willing to be open to others, I find one of the most challenging aspects for me personally in trying to be a better person is maintaining that philosophy in my mind all during the day. What I mean is the following:

1. I generally *know* what I *should* do to be a better person.

2. When I try hard, I *can* be a better person.

3. When I am *not* focused on trying to be a better person, my mind easily drifts to other pursuits and I can easily fail.

4. What I need to figure out is how to maintain a sense of willingness to continually be a servant to others all the time. It is when I serve other's needs that I am being who I *can* become.

It is a profound and important lesson. But it is so damn hard to maintain. I want to do better.

PipeTobacco

2011-12-05T08:55:00.002-05:00

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Pleasant Weekend

I had a very pleasant weekend! It is so very nice thinking that I am perhaps already seeing some of the improvements in my life with my "End the B*llsh*t!" campaign. On Friday, I indulged in some libations and was feeling a little bit raucous during the evening. We played games and watched television and I read the conclusion of the novel I had been working through (Cook's "Mutation").

That night, I slept soundly, but awoke at 3:45am and felt wide awake. So instead of waiting until 5:00am (my usual walking time), I dressed and headed out the door to walk at 4:00am. It was actually very nice walking at that time of morning. I did not see a single automobile nor another soul. It was quiet and peaceful and I prayed the rosary and composed my thoughts.

We went to a museum on Saturday and helped out at a cookie sale (fundraiser) during the morning. In the afternoon we made a new red lentil soup that could simmer until dinner, and then went to Mass. Saturday evening was spent just relaxing.

On Sunday, we ate a light breakfast and immediately dug into decorating for the Holidays. There was enough of a temperature rise this weekend that I was able to even get outside to string lights on the house (I was fearful that I had lost the opportunity to put up lights.... with all the snow we have been having, the gutters were filled solid. However, the weekend had a brief upswing in temperatures into the mid-30s... just enough to clear out the gutters so I could hang the lights on the house.)

We took a break around 1pm and the whole family went to the local Eastern Indian restaurant to eat an early dinner (This resturant has a buffet from noon-three, which we enjoy because we get to have greater variety than ordering from the menu at other times of the day.). The different curries, and the various dishes were amazing and delicious as always and we ate our fill and probably some beyond that. There was a wonderfully beautiful and tasty addition to the dessert area as well. It was a sweetened rice dish in a carrot/pumpkin puree and it had some saffron in it as well as some other spices. It was good. My wife and kids were very partial to the other desert item (small cakes in glazed honey), and I ate some of that as well, but the sweetened rice dish really struck me as the best.

Upon returning home, we continued to decorate until we were seeing green and red swim before our eyes.... and gave up for the evening. We then sat down and watched television for about an hour before heading to bed, where I started a new novel.

While the above may seem rather mundane and "ho-hum" to many folks.... to me, this sort of weekend was a true gift. It is a gift I am hoping is a result of the very hard work I am putting in to the "End the B*llsh*t!" effort, and it is something that I hope becomes much, much more the norm than the exception as I keep working to bring my life back into the focus I want for it and my family.

PipeTobacco

2011-12-01T10:32:00.002-05:00

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1167

I am still on my quest to make life happier and better for myself and for my family. I am still making progress too! I am slowly clearing out the b*llsh*t and making my life my own again. I am actually seeing progress. It will still be likely through April or May for me to reach the point I am aiming for in ridding myself of b*llsh*t, but I can already feel some of the horrible, oppressive weight on the yoke on my shoulders starting to lessen. I am so very hopeful that I am going to continue to have success in this way.

I have been saying (sometimes here, but mostly in my own head) for the past three or so years that "I miss who I used to be." Part of me thought it was simply me growing older, having loved ones die, and all the normal day-to-day things. But, it has taken me concerted thought to finally realize the following:

1. Yes, I am getting older (duh).
2. Yes, there is pain and sadness in losing people you love.
3. Yes, there are always and will always be normal day-to-day frustrations.

BUT......

4. All those (above three) things are NORMAL and ARE things I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO HANDLE as well as anyone handles those things.
5. Those three items ARE NOT the major cause of my feeling so very, very low. Those first three issues do occasionally give me pause and may make me feel a bit sad or melancholy but not in an unrelenting way.
6. What has been making me feel the horrid ways I have been feeling *ARE* all the b*llsh*t tasks I have acquired (accepted?) that have been pure scutt work FOR OTHERS... and basically has allowed for an endless gripefest from a whole cadre of polarized nasty people at the U who do not know the meaning of compromise nor of academic congeniality.
7. I slowly began to realize how without meaning to, I fell into this quicksand-like trap of obnoxious, annoying, unrewarding, nerve degerating, happiness destroying, research reducing, teaching obliterating, SCUTT B*LLSH*T and IT WILL STOP!
8. Getting myself out of this quicksand is my number two priority right after making sure I show more love and devotion to my family.

* * * * *

With all my talk about b*llsh*t, you may be wondering why the hell do I have 1167 as the title of my essay today? Well, I have not updated you on this facet of my life in a while, but today is the 1167th day in a row where I have walked about 5 miles outside each and every day in a row without missing a day. Being sub-freezing now, I am in long underwear and sweat pants and sweat shirts on my early morning (5:00am) walk. Also, because of the snow, slush, and ice, I am wearing heavy winter boots as well. But it is a wonderful way to wake up in the morning.

I am also getting some new patterns for myself in the U gym that I have been visiting prior to getting to my lab and office each morning. I am now lifting weights to tone my upper body (I have been doing this, but had a 5 week refrain because the U dismantled the old equipment and it took 5 weeks to get the new stuff in and set up), but also I am now running (moderate jogging) a 1/2 mile each weekday INSIDE on the U track. I am doing this because it is not safe for me to jog outside with the potential for ice on the roads and sidewalks at this time of year. And, additionally, the U gym has acquired a handful of exercise "bikes" for your arms. These are actually resistance devices that look just like a stationary bike, but instead of pedaling with your legs, you pedal with your arms. I have been doing 2 miles a day on these machines and hope to work up to 4 or 5 miles a day for this equipment.

So, the image at the top of this essay is the only image I could find that had 1167 in it, so I used it. It looks like antique lamp shades of the sort that might find their way to Antiques Roadshow.

PipeTobacco

2011-11-23T09:54:00.002-05:00

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Coffee (Part 2) & Tea

BBC commented a bit about my coffee post and what he said gave me a bit more reason to talk about coffee and also now about tea:

In terms of the way I like coffee and tea... I like both very strong. Any coffee will do as long as it is very strong. At the U, there is a Starbucks, and occasionally I will buy a cup from them. The flavors are very pronounced and heavy... which appeals to me as well. Most days I drink three cups (if you count 8oz as a typical cup) of coffee.

I always drink my coffee black. Added sugar or cream or things like that will mute the rich, dark coffee flavor. I have had "flavored" coffees... these are coffees with extracts added to them like vanilla or hazelnut (but no sugar). I like to have these flavored varieties on occasion, but again.... black only.

As for tea.... I drink copious quantities of iced tea. I can easily drink three quarts a day of the stuff if we have it around and ready. As with coffee, I like my iced tea PLAIN. No sugar, no lemon. And when my wife makes iced tea for me, she makes in a large, glass, gallon container. Because I like it very strong, she will first steep 15-20 teabags in boiling water on the stove for several minutes and then let it cool. She will then pour this mixture into the glass container (including the tea bags) and fill the rest with cold water. After it sits in the fridge and gets cold, I pour it over ice and it is wonderful. I like virtually every type of tea I have ever tried, but regular, run-of-the-mill tea is great to me, as is green tea.

The one thing that is a bit odd in my coffee & tea behavior.... actually my drinking behavior overall is that I simply DO NOT LIKE hot beverages of any kind. I never have liked them. When I drink coffee, I will let it cool to room temperature or actually pour it over ice to get cold. I never drink hot tea, only iced. I do not like hot chocolate (I let it cool to room temperature or put ice in it). I do not like "hot toddies" (although, I will gladly enjoy the alcohol at room temperature or iced :) ).

This dislike of hot beverages actually parlays into food as well. I do not like hot food. I *always* prefer food that I eat to be very mildly warm at best, and tend to prefer room temperature or cold food. Because of this, I am always extremely "gracious" at all family events and other functions because I am more than happy to let folks go ahead of me in line so that the food has a chance to cool off. The only exception is when people use heated chaffing tables to keep food hot. In that instance, I prefer to try to get my food quickly to a plate so it can sit and cool off considerably prior to my eating it.

PipeTobacco

2011-11-22T15:21:00.002-05:00

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Beautiful Coffee

I relish coffee... like I relish many things. As I knew in my psyche, it is a substance that my brain likes a helluva lot. Here is a new science article helping us to understand why:

Coffee Delivers Jolt Deep in the Brain:
Caffeine Strengthens Electrical Signals in Rats’ Hippocampus

By Laura Sanders at Science News
Web edition : Monday, November 21st, 2011

Most caffeine aficionados would tell you that coffee sharpens the mind. It turns out that in rodents, a single dose of caffeine does indeed strengthen brain cell connections in an underappreciated part of the brain, scientists report online November 20 in Nature Neuroscience.

A clearer idea of caffeine’s effect on the brain could allow scientists to take advantage of its stimulating effects and perhaps even alleviate some symptoms of brain disorders. “Caffeine is something people are very interested in,” says neuroscientist Susan Masino of Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., who was not involved in the study.

So far, most of caffeine’s effects have been illuminated by studies using doses much higher than an average person’s morning cup of joe, says study coauthor Serena Dudek of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

Dudek and her team looked at the effects of smaller hits of caffeine on a small part of the hippocampus. In humans, this seahorse-shaped structure is buried deep in the brain behind the ears. After feeding rats the equivalent of two human cups of coffee (two milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body weight), the team measured the strength of nerve cells’ electrical messages in slices of brain tissue. Nerve cells in this particular nook — a brain region called CA2 — got a major jolt from caffeine, showing a bigger burst of electrical activity when researchers stimulated the cells. Nerve cells in a neighboring part of the hippocampus didn’t show this sensitivity.

And the higher the caffeine dose, the stronger the effect. A caffeine dose 10 times higher — a dose reached by only die-hard caffeine consumers — caused an even bigger response in nerve cells in the CA2 region.

The team found similar effects when they applying caffeine directly to CA2 nerve cells in a dish, a result that rules out effects from post-caffeine changes in blood flow. After five minutes of caffeine exposure, the synapses stayed amped up for three hours.

“We don’t know what it looks like in humans, but in rodents, we think this is the area most sensitive to caffeine,” Dudek says.

These strengthened synapses in the hippocampus may have a role in learning and memory, which makes sense because one of the main jobs of the hippocampus is to form spatial memories. (After navigating London’s labyrinthine roads for years, for instance, cab drivers have larger hippocampi than normal folks.)

Though the results are the first to establish CA2 as a caffeine hot spot, it’s too early to say how the research will apply to people, says psychologist Harris Lieberman of the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Mass. “It’s hard to jump from these kinds of studies to direct application to humans.”

* * * * *

It makes me think of a variety of potential corollary studies I could devise myself for my research students to work on. It could be very fun.

PipeTobacco

2011-11-21T13:36:00.002-05:00

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STOCK '84

My friend, BBC, asked me in the comments section about my opinion of "Stock '84" brandy. Unfortunately, when he had posed that question, I have to admit to never having had said liquor. I decided to rectify that situation this past Friday. I bought a fifth of the fluid and took it with me to visit my elderly father-in-law late Friday afternoon.

My impressions of the drink are highly favorable. I like a bit of a rough edge to the flavors of my amber liquors (a clear liquor like gin, I prefer to be smooth). Stock 84 was not harsh by any means, but it did have a nice little edge to its flavor upon swallowing. The brandy went VERY nicely with the pipes we also indulged in. An excellent afternoon was had by the two of us.

Although I will try to elaborate further on Tuesday, I am still working hard to shed b*llsh*t from my life, and although it is an elaborate, enormous effort, I am seeing some positive effects. I believe I am now going to be able to back to regular, daily (or nearly daily) posting as a result.

PipeTobacco

2011-11-10T09:11:00.002-05:00

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A Lot of Obnoxious B*llsh*t

A tremendous load of b*llsh*t has been going on at work and it has been very challenging for me to deal with emotionally. I have been working at adjusting my priorities in life so as to not let all this utter nonsense get to me.

One of the things that is so difficult for me is that I have the type of personality that really wants to find compromise when situations arise where there are two or more very opposed issues. Also, my personality is such that I also try to encourage tolerance and to be a tolerant person.

Well, in the last few weeks, I have been running head-long into a whole bunch of truly idiotic, intolerant, nasty, uncompromising people. And, I have felt almost smothered by their obstinate and simply vulgar behavior.

The difficulty however, is actually with ME. I have always had a stubborn, damn-dog determination to keep trying to find ways to FIX situations like these. In reality, I have been pretty successful BECAUSE of this stubborn, damn-dog determination most of my life. However, and this has been the extremely difficult thing for me to learn.... I *DO NOT* have to try to "fix" everything in situations like these. The physical and emotional toll this b*llsh*t puts on me us unhealthy, and I DO NOT need to let it control my life.

So, what I have been doing, especially since this past weekend is to work out a plan in my mind to disengage myself from this particular b*llsh*t issue AND... here is the even better part.... to disengage myself from all sorts of more minor b*llsh*t issues as well.

It will not be a swift task, unfortunately, because many of these issues are related to aspects of work I have committed myself to for years. But, in my strategy, I am getting rid of some of this crap each and every day, and I believe I should be able to disentangle myself from virtually all of this evil nonsense by perhaps the middle of March.

If my plan goes as I am envisioning it, I believe it will do me a whole helluva lot of good emotionally and physically. I think I will be able to appreciate and love my family a lot more. I think I will be able to even enjoy and love work again, and I believe I will feel unencumbered in ways I have not felt in at least 4 years.

This is the time of year in which I normally go to deer camp. Unfortunately, the dates for the deer hunt are not the best this year. November 15, 16, & 17 traditionally are the biggest hunting days of the year and therefore are the times when you have the best crowds for raucous drinking, smoking, eating, and poker playing at the cabins. With those dates occurring EXACTLY mid-week this year, it is challenging for me to get there on those dates with my teaching schedule. Weekend or close to weekend dates for those dates are quite frequent, and are much easier for me to work with.

What I am going to do though, is talk with as many of the gang I can get a hold of in the next few days and see if many of them are planning to stick around deer camp THROUGH the weekend after the 17th. If they are, I WILL go up there to join the revelry! If, however, as may be the case, they are heading out before the weekend, I may not go.

PipeTobacco

2011-11-01T17:02:00.002-04:00

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Why?

I have not been posting and may not post for a while, because since the last post:

1. I have been very upset.
2. I have been very angry.
3. I have been extremely stressed.

If I were to try to put down on paper my extreme emotions (such as seething rage, wanting to give up on it all, my despair) it would do no one (including myself) any good. So it is best I keep quiet until I turn a corner and can again feel a modicum of relief and happiness.

PipeTobacco

2011-10-16T09:54:00.000-04:00

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Important for Me To Embrace

The following is a devotion related to the mass readings I heard at my parish this week. I am hoping to embrace more the ideas of this devotion:

In detachment, the spirit finds quiet and repose for coveting nothing. Nothing wearies it by elation, and nothing oppresses it by dejection, because it stands in the center of its own humility.

-- St. John of the Cross

It seems that it could be a way to provide some of the comfort I seek.

PipeTobacco

2011-10-15T06:47:00.000-04:00

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Update on Exercise

Today marks Day 1119 of my consistent walking (and now oftentimes jogging) of about 5 miles each day without missing a single day.

I need to take a bit of pride in this accomplishment, for it is a big one for me. In the greater scheme of things I know it is inconsequential, but it has been very helpful, useful, and good for me. Besides improving my physical self in ways I have addressed before, it has proven to be a very important stress relieving activity as well.

2011-10-14T06:31:00.001-04:00

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A Grand Day! (Part 7... The Last Post on this Subject)

[Please note, if you have not done so, and wish to read earlier parts of this essay, please scroll down to the first entry where the essay begins. Subsequent parts occur in reverse order.]

It was disheartening to me to find the pipe so very dull. To me, at that age, I called things "dull" when they were boring, unexciting, and very different from what I had hoped. And this certainly qualified. There had been no amazement, no feelings of relaxation, no vibrant flavors, no anything of merit to the activity. I could not understand why it was so clear that my father relished this activity and yet for me it was nothing but DULL.

Yet, the day was still young, and I wanted to explore the fields for new creatures. I left the platform of the treehouse and went toward the creek. Very quickly I spotted a very large walking stick (insect) and a praying mantis. I was already fairly eagle-eyed about seeing these creatures in the woods and saw them more readily than others in my family. Since they were not new creatures to me, I did not bother to collect them, but instead went to the edge of the creek to look for any salamanders and amphibians that I could find. Although I worked for probably two hours or so, I only found two yellow spotted salamanders and a bunch of bullfrogs... nothing new, as these were the most common varieties in our area. Likewise I did not find any amphibian eggs (they are a helluva lot of fun to watch develop, and even to this day I enjoy watching the process and have included it as part of the work my students study in lab).

Without much success in finding anything new to examine, and having left my insect net back at the tree house (platform). And also being that I was hot and muddy from all my efforts, I decided to head back to the tree house and eat and read for a while before returning with my insect net later in the afternoon.

By the time I walked back to the tree house, I was powerfully thirsty... but then I remembered that I had left the sodapop in the creek to cool off. I raced back to the water, scooped out the bottles and raced back to the tree house. This added activity only exacerbated my thirst, and when I finally got back up on the platform of the tree house I immediately opened one bottle and gulped it down in less than 30 seconds. I didn't even bother to open my sandwich, and opened another bottle of sodapop and drank half of it at an equally fast rate.

I had just unwrapped my sandwich when (as my mother had warned me about), I started to have strong hiccups from having consumed the drink too rapidly. Even to this day, if I "guzzle" any carbonated beverage (sodapop, beer, etc) too quickly, it will cause me to have hiccups. These hiccups are very strong and usually last 20-30 minutes. It was very hard to eat when having a strong hiccup every 15 seconds or so, I knew I needed to postpone my sandwich and decided to pick up my book to read (hiccup). The book layed next to (hiccup) my father's pipe that I had "borrowed" and again I remembered how dull the experience was and felt somewhat sad. Why was it that my father found pipe smoking so enjoyable (hiccup) and yet I could not find anything exciting about the activity? I decided to try it one more time, to see if I could figure it out.

Striking the match (hiccup) was a little bit easier this time around. Fairly quickly I was able to draw little puffs of smoke from the stem. Again, nothing very interesting about the activity. "Perhaps," I wondered in my mind, "I needed to take lots and lots of puffs quickly to make it more fun?" I decided to try this, even though in the back of my mind I did not anticipate much as this was not a behavior I had seen my father engage in while he smoked his pipe.... his manner and behavior was always very methodical and patterned when he smoked his pipe. But, by this time, I figured I might as well try.

Puffing more rapidly on the stem (hiccup) did little to improve the experience. I did notice, however, that I was able to pull thicker, denser clouds of the smoke from the stem. The rapid puffs had apparently pulled the ember deeper into the leaf, ignighting more of the bowlful of tobacco. I had just drawn another large puff of the smoke into my mouth when I hiccuped again... (hiccup)... the hiccup caused me to involuntairily breath the puff of smoke into my lungs, which felt an odd thing to do, but not unpleasant. Suddenly, I started to feel quite different. There was a tingly sensation that began to spread throughout my body. My mind also felt this tingle, but also I started to feel a bit dizzy... not unpleasantly so... in fact it was rather pleasant. It took me a few moments to realize what I had done... I had inhaled the smoke into my lungs. All of the time I had spent observing my father, and yet I had not quite realized the mechanics of what he was actually doing when he smoked his pipe. It was more than just puffing the smoke out of your mouth, you also would inhale the smoke.

Now, I deliberately tried to inhale another puff of the smoke, and more of those feeling washed over my body. The additive effect was a bit strong for me, and I layed back on the platform of the treehouse and stared up into the leaves and sky. The dizziness was a bit stronger, and yet it was very pleasant as long as I layed down. I set the pipe aside and simply continued to experience those feelings throughout my body as I layed there. It was truly beautiful. As I looked up through the leaves of the trees towards the sky, the colors seemed more vibrant and vivid than they had only a few moments before. I felt much more aware of and more a part of my surroundings. My body felt both stimulated and relaxed simultaneously. This was what my father felt! I knew this was the magic, and I could imagine that my face must have held a similar relaxed expression on it as I had seen in his eyes and face so many times. The total even was blissful, and peaceful, and exciting all at the same time.

I layed there for a while and I eventually dozed off for almost an hour. When I awoke, the feelings were (sadly) gone, yet their beautiful memory remained. I looked around for a while, ate my sandwich, and drank the last of my sodapop. Then I struck another match and tried the pipe again. This time, I inhaled one of the puffs shortly after I had the pipe lit. Once again, the beauty of the leaf did not disappoint me... I felt that utter magic, that blissful relaxation that I had wondered about for all those many weeks after becoming aware of the expressions on my father's face as he indulged in his briar pipes. The day, the experience, the whole series of moments are seared indelibly into my neurons, and it was a beautiful, wonderful, life changing experience. From that moment on, I knew in my heart, my mind and my soul, that I was a pipe smoker, and from that moment on, I was.

The date of the above grand day was the 17th of July. It is a vividly magical experience for me even after all these many, many years. All those decades ago, when I was but a kid, and yet, at the same time, I was finding one aspect of my destiny. I cherish the memories.

PipeTobacco

2011-10-13T10:37:00.004-04:00

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New Way For Stem Cells

The following article from Science News identifies a new method to study and utilize stem cell therapies WITHOUT the need for embryonic stem cells. It could help to further develop this technology while at the same time curtailing the controversy inherent in the process as it stands now with most focus being on using embryonic stem cells.

For my own philosophy, I am not comfortable with the use of embryonic stem cells. So, for me, this is a great new path that could truly open the door to a wonderful new scientific methodology.

Stem Cell Advance Uses Cloning: Method Using Eggs to do Reprogramming is Successful in Humans

By Tina Hesman Saey in Science News
Thursday, October 6th, 2011

The same technology that is used to clone animals can induce human eggs to reprogram adult cells to a primitive embryonic-like state. The accomplishment, reported in the Oct. 6 Nature, may one day help researchers develop a source of stem cells that could be used to replace a patient’s own cells.

Scientists had previously shown through cloning experiments that egg cells from many different kinds of animals could perform the feat, but until now, there was no evidence that human eggs could do it.

“There was a big question mark whether this was indeed possible,” says Dieter Egli, a researcher at the New York Stem Cell Foundation.

Though promising from a research perspective, the stem cells Egli and his colleagues produced can’t be used to treat patients.

“This is only partial success,” says George Q. Daley, a stem cell researcher at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School. That’s because the newly created stem cells contain three sets of chromosomes instead of the usual two.

The extra chromosomes come from the egg, which contains one set of chromosomes that a woman would pass along to her offspring. In animal cloning, researchers remove the chromosome-containing nucleus from the egg and replace it with the nucleus from an adult cell. Something in the egg causes the adult cell to revert back to its earliest primordial stage so it acts like a fertilized egg and creates an embryo.

But when researchers tried that technique with human cells, the resulting cells stopped dividing after only four or five rounds. The scientists could reprogram adult cells only when they inserted adult cell nuclei into eggs that retained their own nucleus. So the resulting embryonic cells contain one set of chromosomes from the egg and the normal two sets from the adult cell.

The researchers hope that they will eventually develop ways of removing the egg chromosomes and still reprogram the adult cell. Egli thinks that if the researchers can pull out the egg’s nucleus after the reprogramming but before the two nuclei have a chance to merge, they can create stem cells that might be used in patients.

Regardless of the clinical applications of the newly created stem cells, the study is a “landmark,” says Daley. “We’re still trying to understand the basic mechanism of reprogramming.”

The new cells may help scientists correct flaws in another technology that is used to create stem cells without using embryos. Stem cells called induced pluripotent stem cells are created by transforming adult cells directly into embryonic-like cells by adding a cocktail of proteins. The technology holds great promise, but researchers have recently discovered that the reprogramming in the transformed cells is incomplete (SN: 8/14/10, p. 15; SN: 10/9/10, p. 28). Cancer or other problems might result if such cells were transplanted into a person.

With the new cloning technique, researchers may be able to figure out how the egg reprograms cells. That knowledge could then aid scientists in finding the missing ingredients that could be added to current gene cocktails to make direct, complete reprogramming possible.

Egli and his colleagues don’t yet know what the missing ingredients are, but speculate that they are either contained within the egg’s nucleus or associated with it.

* * * * *

I am still feeling out of sorts today, but I am making myself to do the usual tricks to force myself (hopefully) into a better frame of mind. Also, in case anyone is still interested, I will post the (delayed) conclusion to the "A Grand Day!" essay on Friday.

PipeTobacco

2011-10-12T12:42:00.001-04:00

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So Sad

Today is a very rough day for me emotionally after following a very difficult b*llsh*t laden day at work yesterday. I feel so very sad. I wish I felt like scampering about, but I do not.

PipeTobacco

2011-10-06T14:33:00.002-04:00

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Out Of Time?

The following article was an amazing one from Science News (see link below). It reports on data suggesting that specific organs in the body other than the brain may have actual clocking mechanisms as well. This is a pretty damn revolutionary idea because our standard understanding up to this point was that timing rhythms (circadian, annular, etc.) were driven exclusively by neuronal means.

Very exciting stuff!

Also, in case you were concerned, I WILL have the last installment of my "A Grand Day!" essay tomorrow. It seemed far more fitting to have on a Friday, anyhow. I am hoping that after I publish it, I will mosey over to my elderly father-in-law's residence and enjoy his company and perhaps some libations and pipes.

Heart Disease Has Its Own Clock: Broken Timers in Organs May Cause Disease

By Tina Hesman Saey
Where: Science Newshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Web edition : Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

Broken biological clocks in blood vessels may contribute to hardened arteries, even if the main timer in the brain works fine. The finding, from transplant experiments with mice, suggests that throwing off the daily rhythms of the body’s organs can have serious health consequences.

A wealth of evidence shows that skimping on sleep and working against the body’s natural daily, or circadian, rhythms can raise the risk of developing illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes. Scientists assumed that the diseases resulted from malfunctions in a master clock in the brain, which synchronizes sleeping, waking and other body functions with the rising and setting of the sun.

But recently, scientists have discovered that the liver and other organs have their own internal clocks that may work independently of the brain clock and are set by meal times or other cues (SN: 4/10/10, p. 22). It wasn’t clear until now whether disrupting these body clocks could also contribute to disease, says Satchidananda Panda, a circadian rhythm researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif.

The finding may help explain why shift workers, people with sleep disorders and others who disrupt their circadian rhythms by staying up late or eating meals at the wrong time tend to be more vulnerable to heart disease.“If you want to prevent people from getting heart attacks, you have to know whether to treat the clock in the brain or the clock in the heart,” Panda says.
To determine whether it is the brain or body clocks that malfunction when arteries harden, vascular biologist R. Daniel Rudic, of the Georgia Health Sciences University in Augusta and colleagues transplanted blood vessels in mice. Inserting vessels from normal mice into mice with broken brain clocks didn’t lead to problems, the team reports online October 3 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “The blood vessels were pretty normal,” Rudic says. “They didn’t seem to be impacted by the surrounding mess of circadian rhythms.”

But putting arteries from mice with broken clocks into normal mice resulted in the walls of the transplanted arteries becoming thick and less flexible, indicating that diseases may result from timing defects in the vessels, not the brain or the rest of the body. The researchers don’t yet know if blood vessels are more susceptible to circadian defects than other tissues, or whether people with heart disease have timing defects in their blood vessels.

* * * * *

Such an interesting idea!!!! It gives me many things to think about in regards to my own research.

PipeTobacco

2011-10-05T07:45:00.000-04:00

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Nicotine Vaccine?!?

As many of you have heard, there is now a vaccine that is being tested in trials that will cause an individual's body to form antibodies against nicotine. I find this technological advance very interesting in theory, but I find the end result to be rather sad and depressing.

To be able to create a vaccine for a chemical/pharmacutical agent is a very interesting and remarkable discovery from a scientific standpoint, but the agent that is being targeted, beloved nicotine, is one that saddens me.

I find it perplexing and daunting that there is such anti-tobacco fervor at the moment in our society. I personally think this fervor is due to three primary causes:

1. Tobacco in the modern world is so adulterated with pesticide residues, herbicide residues, and additives that there is no wonder that smoking such chemical laden material can prove health threatening. I am of the opinion, however, that if one were to grow and smoke organic, pesticide-free/herbicide-free/additive-free tobacco in a natural, pesticide-free wooden briar pipe, that there would be a much lower possibility of inducing illness. In other words, given a natural, organic, tobacco leaf and a natural orgainc pipe, I think the risks, if any, would be minimal.

2. The combination of poor ventilation in buildings since the energy crisis of the 1970s making building air less fresh and any tobacco smoke has greater impact.

3. The inclusion of sulfering agents added to cigaretttes in the last 50 years or so... the sulfer is added to cause the cigarettes to burn faster (to increase number of cigarettes consumed... to increase profit), but the sulfer makes the cigarette odor especially foul and able to incite rancor. Cigarettes prior to the mid-1950s did not have this sulferated odor and were not bothersome. (As a sidelight, the fall of use of pipes is a secondary cause as well... pipes, by their nature, tend to be less offensive to non-smokers... and even appreciated by some non-smokers, so that their decline and the rise in cigarette usage is associated with the rise in anti-smoking fervor).

The above three items sadden me and is, at heart, the root cause for this vaccine. I personally relish nicotine and would never wish to be seperated from the pleasaure it can give me. The nurturing comfort I receive from my pipe has helped shape who I am and has made me a better person that I would be without said hobby.

Thinking back to when I was a youngster before my beard and moustache were grey, hell - before I could even grow a beard and moustache, the world was so different, not only for the three reasons stated above, but for the gentle camaraderie that was often expressed... the squeaky wheel didn't always get the grease... instead, people were more tolerant of other's hobbies.

PipeTobacco

2011-10-04T20:14:00.002-04:00

A Grand Day! (Part 6... Second to Last Post on this Subject)

[Please note, if you have not done so, and wish to read earlier parts of this essay, please scroll down to where the essay begins. Subsequent parts occur in reverse order.]

I awoke at my usual time the next day, roughly 6am. I could already hear the hustling and bustling in the kitchen. Because it had been warm the previous evening, I had left my bedroom door open just a crack so there could be an exchange of air. I could see my parents through the slight opening of my door. My father had just sat down at the table, his fresh, clean work clothes... especially the vividly white, starched shirt and his richly-colored, dark brown patterned necktie, made him appear even more awe inspiring and worthy of my respect. My mother displayed her typical serene beauty in her simple white smock and beige, ladies pants. My mother had made the two of them breakfast. It was their typical toast and very strong coffee for. Additionally, my mother had opened one of her home grown and canned jars of peaches and placed a peach half in a small bowl for each of them.

My parents both enjoyed and relished each other's company, and they quietly chatted about their goals for the day as the consumed breakfast.

As for me, as it was still early, I decided to plan out my day. First and foremost, I would need to pack some essential items for the day. I brought along a book I had been reading and several jars in case I found some interesting specimens in the woods. I also dug out my insect net from the closet and placed next to my russack. I made a mental note, to ask my mother to make me a sandwich and also to ask for two or three orange and grape sodas to tak along with me for the adventure. Of course, I also had my small handful of matches with me, wrapped in paper and placed deep in my pack.

My father finished his breakfast and proceeded to gather the accoutrements he needed for the workday. As he started to check to see if he had everything, my mother stood up... and with her hand reached up to my father's face. She gently brushed off a few toast crumbs that were clinging to my father's moustache and beard. My father grinned, and thanked her by kissing her hand. He then proceeded to gather his briefcase of papers and books, his pipe, pouch, and matches and lighter, and finally the lunch my mother had packed. After another brief kiss (this time on the lips), and wishes to have a great day, my father was off to work. My mother started humming quietly to herself as she tidied up the kitchen. I finished straightening my room and then went out into the kitchen.

My mother had warming on the stove the oatmeal we older kids were going to eat for breakfast that day. As my parents were not particularly strict about timetables for us children during the summer, I was the only one awake, and hence I was the first one up and out. My other siblings were still sleeping. My mother and I chatted a bit while she prepared a bowl of oatmeal for me, putting raisins and slices of the canned peaches on top along with a large spoonful of brown sugar. Then she poured a little bit of milk onto the oatmeal and also poured me a glass of milk as well. She sat these before me with a spoon.

I heartily began to eat the oatmeal, it being one of my favorite foods. My mother came and sat beside me and we talked. I told her I had planned to spend time out in the woods today searching for things and asked if she would make me a sandwich that I could take with me. My mother, who also tended to naturally awaken very early had already made sandwiches for me and for my siblings that day and simply gathered one and wrapped it individually in waxed paper for me. I also asked if I could take one orange and one grape sodapop with me, and she smiled and said yes. She reminded me that I should drink the sodapop slowly as it often gave me hiccups if I drank it too rapidly. I promised her I would. With that I finished my breakfast and finished getting ready for the day of exploration. I waved to her as I left and she smiled and waved back at me.

The day itself was sunny, yet pleasantly cool and dry. It was perhaps 60 degrees and virtually no humidity marred the texture of the air. It was an unusually cool and dry morning for the start of July and I relished it greatly. Once out into the woods, I first ran to the edge of the stream and put my two glass bottles of sodapop into the water to get them cool, and the I immediately raced back to the platform of my developing fort. I climbed the latter and immediately sat down. I could hear many different, quite sounds from birds and insects as they too were starting their day. Forgetting for a second, I then raced down from the platform and went to the nook of the tree and reached inside and pulled out the bag with the pipe inside. Heading back up the ladder I sat down and opened my russack and pulled out the matches. I was terribly excited and nervous and anticipatory all at the same time. I gripped the stem of the pipe between my teeth and proceeded to strike the match against the rough surface of the rock. Again, just like in my initial attempt, the first match I tried broke off at the tip.

Fortunately, this time I had several matches. However, I could tell this lighting of a match was a more difficult task than I had first anticipated. I took the pipe out of my mouth and laid it on the plank floor, and proceeded to examine the match more closely. I kept trying to figure out what it was I did incorrectly. Thinking back to how my father lit matches, I kept looking back in my my memory at what he would do. I slowly recalled through deep thought about how my father held the match differently than I had been doing. He would hold the match between his thumb and index finger... near the head of the match, and then use the rest of his fingers to steady the back of the match. He then swiftly rubbed the head against a brick or a rock.

All right. "I can do this." I thought to myself, I slowly positioned the match between my index finger and my thumb. It felt very awkward. Then because my hand was so much smaller, I basically rested the stick end of the match in my palm. To me this seemed so strange and it did not feel natural. Previously I had simply grabbed the wooden end of the match with my fingers and rubbed it around on the rock. With the match in this new position, I tried again, but lost grip on it and it fell to the ground below. By this time I was very frustrated. I was bound and determined to do this correctly. Using a third match, I held it in position and rubbed it swiftly against the rock. Suddenly, the match flared into life! But at the same time, my fingers were VERY CLOSE to that flare! The heat seemed intense, and I involuntarily shook my hand and the match dropped again through a crack between the planks and fell to the ground below. I could not tell if the match was still lit or not, and I feared that it could cause the forrest to catch fire, so I quickly ran down the platform and looked at the spot until I found the match. Even though it WAS out and not lit, to be safe, I rubbed the ground and the match with the heel of my shoe to ensure it was safe.

Back on the platform, I positioned another match in my hand, this time not holding so close to the head of the match, and tried again. This time, while the flare startled me, my fingers were not too close and I did not drop it. I quickly repositioned my hand so that I held the wooden end of the match and reached for the pipe. Quickly, I put the stem of the pipe in my mouth and brought the flame of the match to the bowl. Pretending it was a drinking straw, I sucked on the stem and the flame was pulled into the bowl. It looked just like how my dad did it! I sucked in on the stem of the pipe a few more times and soon there was a little wispy smoke that was drawn into my mouth. It was not very flavorful, and did not taste as good as it had simply smelled when my father was smoking his pipes. Do not get me wrong.... it was not horrible, but it was not nearly as exciting as I had anticipated. I puffed on the pipe a few more times, but all I could think of was that this was.... DULL. Not only did the pipe not taste as amazing as I thought it would, but also, I did not feel any sense of relaxation from the pipe like my father did. What was going on?

I was discouraged and sad at my findings. The pipe, which seemed so utterly magical and beautiful for my father, seemed to be dull and even boring for me. I was completely disappointed.

I sat there for about 15 minutes wondering about why I did not find the pipe as exciting as my father did, and feeling quite "gyped". I sat the pipe aside, and decided to go hunting for insects and amphibians for a while. I did not know what I was going to do about the pipe, but I did not feel like thinking about it anymore, it was so... DULL.

[Another good stopping point for now. Comments or suggestions are always appreciated. Next.... the ACTUAL conclusion to this long-winded story.]

PipeTobacco

2011-10-03T16:05:00.002-04:00

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A Grand Day! (Part 5)

[Please note, if you have not done so, and wish to read earlier parts of this essay, please scroll down to where the essay begins. Subsequent parts occur in reverse order.]

The sadness that enveloped me and the frustration that gripped at my soul was enormous and I cried for a long, long time. However, after a while, the frustration dissipated and I needed to figure out what my next plan would be.

I had several options but was unsure which to select. One, I could simply forget the whole thing, knock the untouched pipe tobacco out of the bowl of the pipe and carefully sneak the pipe back into my father's den. Two, I could go sneak out a few more matches from the kitchen. Or, three, I could hide the pipe and tobacco and try again when the opportunity presented itself. Option one was quite distasteful to me and I quickly ignored that option. Likewise, however, option two... trying to immediately get matches from the kitchen, was also unlikely. I knew my mother would be spending a great deal of time in the kitchen for the remainder of the day. Because of this, I knew it would be nearly impossible to obtain matches to try the pipe. With the previous two options unworkable, option three seemed the best bet.

Luckily, as I had been building the platform that was to become the tree house, I had found a small cubby hole in one of the nearby trees that I had been using for storage of various asundery items. I had paper bags, nails, a book and a few magazines as well as other things in the cubby hole. I pulled out one of the brown paper bags... lunch bag sized and carefully placed the filled pipe into the bag. Additionally, I took the remainder of the tobacco leaf I had obtained onto a small piece of paper and folded the edges to keep the extra leaf contained. I also put this into the bag, and then proceeded to crumple the top of the bag closed. I placed the bag back into the far reaches of the cubby hole and then left and went back home.

* * * * *

The pipe sitting out in that cubby hole was just about the only thing I could think about that afternoon and evening. I was concerned that my father might notice it was missing. I was worried someone would find the pipe and steal it. I was fearful an animal might find it and chew it to bits. And finally, I was utterly anxious to be able to go back out there and try it out.

As I sat around, waiting for my chance to grab a few matches, I continued to watch my father engage in his own beautiful dance/battle with the pipe. Shortly after dinner, my father, still dressed in his work clothes from the day's teaching, would go out into the backyard and loosen and remove his tie, unbutton his collar, roll up his shirt sleeves and take off both his shoes and his socks. A rope hammock, strung between two large oak trees, was my father's destination. This was my father's favorite spot to read the paper on dry Summer evenings. He climbed in to the hammock and said back comfortably, the newspaper that was tucked under his arm, now resting on the white linen of the shirt, near his stomach. I and most of my siblings (those that were old enough to walk, anyhow), were playing in a rather raucous game of tag, and my mother was still in the house, mostly likely nursing one of my younger siblings.

My father gently unfolded the newspaper, and with his knees bent, propped the paper against him as he lay in the hammock. With unconscious precision, he reached into his shirt pocket and removed his pipe and lighter. Reaching toward his back pocket with his other hand, he removed his leather tobacco pouch and opened it with one hand and proceeded to guide the crumbles of leaf into the bowl of the pipe he held in his other hand. Again, without glancing up from his newspaper, my father filled and tamped the pipe, and brought it up to his mouth, his bushy moustache and beard enveloping the stem as he gripped it between his teeth. Using his lighter, he melded the flame into the leaf in the bowl and took large, rapid puffs from the pipe to get it going well. Finally, with the pipe well lit, he took a large draw from the stem and inhaled it deeply into his lungs. Slowly he exhaled the rich smoke, and I watched it curl slowly from his nostrils. Again, the sense of relaxation and contentment was on my father's face.

A few moments later, my mother, as was her custom, came out of the house carrying a glass filled with a beverage for my father. The drink was beautifully cold, and today it happened to be lemonade. Other times, my mother would bring my father iced tea, or sometimes a tall glass of beer. As she brought the drink to him, he grinned a broad grin, and removed the pipe from his mouth, took the proffered glass from my mother and took a drink of the lemonade, feeling refreshed. He then reached over to my mother and brought her face close to his and gave her a deep, prolonged, furry-faced kiss of thanks. My mother always appreciated my father and he appreciated her. Their love and kindness to each other and to us children, was a wonderful model for us to wittiness as we grew up. I think it helped each of us make wise decisions in the course and development of our own marriages and ensuing families.

Returning the pipe to his mouth and the half empty glass to his side, my father again began to read the newspaper as my mother went back into the house. After only a few moments, my mother came out with a tray with a pitcher of lemonade and glasses for us children and we also had the wonderful, refreshing drink. My mother went and sat in a chair that was near the garden, very near the hammock by my father.

I realized this was likely my best chance, so I put down the lemonade, and informed my parents I needed to go to the bathroom, and proceeded inside and immediately pocketed at least a half of a dozen matches. I then went into the bathroom and quickly flushed the toilet before heading back outside.

The rest of the evening was spent having fun with my family, but in the back of my mind, I was eagerly awaiting tomorrow, so that I could once again go out into the woods to try out the pipe.

[Another good stopping point for now. Comments or suggestions are always appreciated. Next.... nearing the conclusion to this long-winded story.]

PipeTobacco

2011-10-02T07:15:00.001-04:00

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Ideas from Mass

Let me now sing of my friend,
my friend's song concerning his vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside;
he spaded it, cleared it of stones,
and planted the choicest vines;
within it he built a watchtower,
and hewed out a wine press.
Then he looked for the crop of grapes,
but what it yielded was wild grapes.

- From Isaiah Chapter 5, beginning

Besides having me think about having a glass of nice, red wine, this excerpt from the first reading that I heard at Mass Saturday evening had me think about whether or not I am doing what I should be doing with my life. Am I working to make a real difference? Am I doing anything of merit? Am I using my time here in a way that is helpful?

I still feel flummoxed so much of the time.... the confusion always revolving around what I *should* do to try to be a better person... to be a person who *is* helpful and kind. At one level I feel like I do work to help the greater good. But if I peer at myself in a different way I only see my failure in life. I see how horrid I am and how wasteful I am.

It is so challenging to know what to do at times.

PipeTobacco

2011-10-01T06:09:00.000-04:00

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Four More Days

[I shall resume, "A Grand Day!" on Monday.]

Just a brief note about an important countdown... my barber will be back in four days so that I can revert back to my normal, somewhat natty, professorial look instead of being a scruff ball. More details forthcoming.

PipeTobacco

2011-09-30T07:05:00.001-04:00

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A Grand Day! (Part 4)

[Please note, if you have not done so, and wish to read earlier parts of this essay, please scroll down to the first "A Grand Day!" essay. Subsequent parts occur in reverse order.]

Fortunately for me, my father had numerous pipes in his collection. In his den, in fact, he had one pipe rack on his desk that was filled with his most frequently used briar pipes, and he had another drawer in a cabinet that had many other, more worn, less frequently used pipes. I figured this would be a good place for me to look and perhaps "borrow" one for a while. Additionally, while my father carried a tobacco pouch with him at all times, he also had several cans (canisters) of his favorite pipe tobaccos on one shelf of his several bookshelves also in his den. It would be fairly simple to open one of the canisters and to remove a small pinch of the golden brown crumbles of leaf.

On a day much like today, cloudy and threatening rain, I did just that. My father was beginning to teach summer school for those students who did not pass one or more of their courses during the regular school year, and so he was away most days. I was just at the start of my summer vacation after third grade (I started school young), and my mother was quite busy with household work (laundry, keeping up the house, etc) and taking care of my younger siblings, so I had a great deal of flexibility and free-time to explore and have fun.

As I stated earlier, the woods way in the back of our property were a true joy for me and I often spent hours and hours out there searching for various forms of wildlife. But today I had a different mission in mind for out in the woods.

While my mother was in the nursery, I quietly snuck in to my father's den, and opened the drawer and withdrew one of the pipes. It was a bit dusty, the walnut finish was quite dull and rubbed off in spots where my father had held it numerous times, and the edges of the opening of the bowl were battered and rounded from hundreds of times my father knocked out the ashes either into the large glass ashtray on his desk, some other ashtray elsewhere, or if outside, on the heel of his shoe or onto the palm of his hand when he finished. The bowl must have become somewhat brittle and weakened from use as well, for on one side of the bowl a small section of the rounded opening was missing, looking as if it had broken away giving the bowl a crooked, askewed countenance. However, to me, the pipe seemed majestic and beautiful and utterly amazing.

I slid this beautiful beast of a pipe into the pocket of my dangerous (jeans for you younger folks) and then quickly went to the bookshelf lined with various pipe tobaccos. Having always been partial to the colors of orange and red, I quickly gravitated to the canister of Sir Walter Raleigh pipe tobacco... in an orange & black canister, and grabbed a small pinch of the leaf and gripped it tightly in my small fist.

As I quietly ventured out of his den, I hollered loudly so my mother would hear "Im going to go to the woods to play!" and I heard a muffled, but positive reply from my mother in the nursery as I went into the kitchen. I reached up on the wall by the stove and withdrew one of the wooden kitchen matches and slid it also into my pocket. I then bounded through the door out into the backyard.

It took me only a few minutes to reach the woods at the far back of the yard. I then took one of the several paths I had made over the years, this one ended deep into the woods at a small tree platform I had been working on most of the Spring. It would over subsequent years become a fairly grand sized and entertaining tree house that I and several buddies of mine built together. But this early summer day it was simply a comfortable platform about 15 feet off the ground. I climbed the wooden boards I nailed to the trunk of the tree and was soon comfortably seated on my platform.

As I looked at the pipe, I grew more excited and nervous with each passing moment. In my eyes, that decrepit, battered beast of a pipe was majestic, beautiful, and utterly impressive. I uncupped my left fist and held the small pinch of tobacco in my palm. With a nervous and shaking hand, I took some of the leaf out with my fingers from my right hand and dropped it into the bowl of the pipe. I was sitting in such a way that I could hold the bowl of the pipe between my feet, my tennis shoes gently holding the bowl in position. I kept adding leaf to the bowl until it seemed full enough. Luckily for me, the pinch of tobacco leaf I had grabbed was rather small, so I was able to put all of the leaf into the bowl.

It was so beautiful looking, I was truly in awe of the pipe and leaf. Slowly and carefully I brought the stem of the pipe to my mouth and gripped the stem with my teeth. It felt rather hard and cumbersome, not with the comfortable, contented look I saw on my father's face as he gripped the pipestem between his teeth. But still, it the feeling, though strange was wonderful to me. The stem itself, slightly beige at the tip from use, had a slightly acrid flavor that I did not recognize at the time but still I enjoyed its texture.

I likely sat there for the better part of a half hour looking at and touching, smelling, and experiencing the look and feel of the pipe. Finally after a bit of my nervousness subsided, I withdrew the wooden kitchen match from my pocket. Having watched my father use a similar kitchen match out-of-doors frequently, I knew I needed to strike the match against the side of a rock. Luckily I had been carrying many different rocks up to the platform of the last few weeks so that was not a problem.

The weather had started to grow a bit cooler and I could feel a gentle mist starting. I thought to myself that I had better hurry, for it was going to rain heavily, very soon. Growing nervous again, I held the match up against the rock and slid it against the rough surface as I had seen my father do countless times. As I slid the match, I expected it to fire to life quickly, but nothing happened. Perhaps I needed to do it more strongly? So using more force, I slid the match against the rock again. This time the head of the match snapped off the matchstick and feel between the planks of the platform to the ground below.

I cried.

[Another good stopping point for now. Comments or suggestions are always appreciated.]

2011-09-29T07:01:00.002-04:00

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A Grand Day! (Part 3)

[Please note, if you have not done so, and wish to read part one of this essay, please scroll down to the first "A Grand Day! essay.]

The observation I made of my father when he smoked his pipe made me quite curious. Up and until that point, my father's pipe smoking had always simply been a part of who he was... I never thought much about it, other than finding the aromas reassuring that all was well with the world. I had never given any thought as to why my father indulged in the pipe hobby... again it just seemed a part of him. But to notice the visible sense of relaxation/contentment in my father's face.... the gentle drooping of his moustache, the relaxation in his mouth and chin that quieted the bristling nature of his beard. Additionally, I could see in his eyes and eyelids, even behind his owlish glasses, a perceptable change, a greater sense of serentity, his brows became unfurrowed, his forehead relaxed.

Never having noticed this, obviously never having paid attention in my previous eight years, I found it very curious and interesting. I continued to watch him every time he pulled out one of his massive pipes and began the ritual of filling the bowl with crumbles and ignighting flame and leaf. Each time, the same indicators of calmness and relaxation washed over him and I found it amazing.

After a few weeks of observation, curiosity got the better of me and I began to contemplate trying out one of his pipes myself to see more preciesely what was occuring with my father during indulgence in the beautiful briar.

The challenge was.... how?!?

[Another good stopping point for now. Comments or suggestions are always appreciated.]

PipeTobacco

2011-09-28T07:48:00.000-04:00

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A Grand Day! (Part 2)

[Please note, if you have not done so, and wish to read part one of this essay, please scroll down to the first entry where the "A Grand Day!" essay begins.]

As I continued to talk with my father about my school day, I also continued to more acutely watch my father's actions as well. After he had filled the bowl of the pipe with the crumbles of leaf, he (again not diverting his gaze from me or our conversation) used tactile sensation to gently tamp the leaf a bit more firmly into the bowl. He brought the curved black stem of the pipe up to his mouth and gripped it between his heavy and very white teeth. The grip was a gentle and loving one, and I noticed how the heavy hairs of his moustache and beard encircled the stem of the pipe, his moustache cascading over and around the top.

Striking a match, my father brought the flame up to the bowl and began to draw the flame into the leaf, melding the two together and causing thick, rich, grey plumes of smoke to be emitted. Only after the bowl was well-lighted, and after he responded to another one of my statements with a question of his own, did my father slowly draw on the stem of the pipe, and inhaled one of the great plumes of rich, vanilla tinctured smoke deep into his lungs. As he slowly exhaled, I watched in amazement as I could notice very perceptable changes in my father's facial features. His furrowed eyebrows seemed to grow less intense, the bristling of his moustache and beard quieted and seemingly relaxed, and even his eyes seemed to grow softer and more contented. His grin became broader and more gentle.

I found watching this process very interesting as a youngster of eight. I kept trying to figure out what had happened. My father is and always was a kind, attentive man, but there was a perceptable change I could see in his whole demeanor in just the span of perhaps 10-15 seconds, where he became EVEN more himself, and less affected by the work he had been engaged in. His face grew even more kindly and more the father I was used to interacting with.

It was surprising and interesting to see these changes, but what was the cause? To me, this was many years prior to my becoming a scientist well-versed in the scientific method, but even at that young age, I believe I enjoyed and appreciated order and began to look at the situation as systematically and logically as an eight year old could. After bypassing a few other possibilities, I concluded that his pipe must be the likely source.

As you would expect, my father was a venerate pipe smoker for decades before I was even a twinkle in he and my mother's eyes. It was always a friendly companion of his, emmitting a variety of pleasant aromas with vanilla-tinctured, whiskey-tinctured, cranberry tinctured, and apple-tincured being his favorites. While I was always aware of the site and odor of my father and his pipes, I had never really examined he and his pipe smoking behavior in any depth. It simply seemed to be a hobby or avocation he enjoyed. The reason for his enjoyment was not particular understandable to me, but neither did I think abou the issue all that much.

Seeing that change in his expression was interesting, and noteworthy, however. When my father inhaled the tobacco smoke, he became MORE his happy, contented self, in ways I could easily, visually discern. To me, linking his pipe smoking to his demeanor was the first clue I had about why he enjoyed his pipe. To understand more, I decided to watch him more closely and carefully.

That is what I did for the next couple of weeks.

[Another good stopping point for now. Comments or suggestions are always appreciated.]

PipeTobacco

2011-09-27T07:31:00.000-04:00

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The Grand Day!

There are many days in a man's life that are remarkable and sear themselves into a permanent circuitboard in your mind. They are often called milestones, and a lucky man has many positive milestones. Each time he becomes a new father, his wedding day, the purchase of a home, the first copulatory activity, the first new car, his first time getting drunk, the first day of school, the first home run he has hit, earning his Ph.D., these are but a few of many such milestones I have had the pleasure to experience. They are all wonderful, vivid memories in my mind. The same is true for the memory I am about to share:

The day itself was sunny, yet pleasantly cool and dry. It was perhaps 60 degrees and virtually no humidity marred the texture of the air. The woods had always been a fun and enjoyable playground for me to explore and feel excitement. Being only eight years old, the woods seemed vast and unadorned by any trappings of any other human. It was, I thought, a virgin forest that only I had explored, and yet it abutted right on the edge of our family's two acre parcel of land... how lucky was that? Suffice it to say, I felt these woods were my own personal space and I relished spending hours looking at various bugs, plants, twigs, salamanders, frogs and other ascundry items I could collect, examine, and learn to identify. Yet, this day was to be even more special and amazing in its effect upon me. As I sat in the small clearing in the middle of this forest, I gripped the magical beast and proceeded to...

The start of this adventure could be said to have been a part of me my whole life, perhaps it was genetic? But I only became cognizant of my interest in this adventure roughly 4 weeks prior to this monumental day. This start occurred, as I recall, when I was walking home from school and I met my father sitting on the rickety, old picnic table in the back yard, concentrating very heavily on a stack of papers he was grading. My father was an English teacher in the public school system and was busy making comments on the senior's final project, a 20 page paper over some topic or other that I do not recall. His brow was furrowed, his eyes squinting through the owlish lenses of his glasses, and his moustache and beard bristled from the intense concentration he was engaged in. A red grease pencil was poised in his right hand as he quickly made marks about poor grammar, incoherence, etc on the essays.

"So many mistakes!" I heard him mutter under his breath as I approached.

He must have heard my footsteps as I neared the picnic table for he glanced up and beaconed me over to sit at the table across from him. As I sat, I could see more vividly the concentration, tension, and focus his efforts in grading had on his facial expression.

"How was your day, my boy? Tell me what you learned in school today." said my father. He was a very focused man, and I could see I had his rapt attention, but I could also still see the furrowed brow and other facial features that belied how he was intently concentrating on work only moments before.

As I began to talk about and describe my day to my father, he reached over to the side of the stack of papers, and picked up his tobacco pouch and pipe in the nearly innate manner I had seen him do many times before. Using only tactile stimuli from his fingertips, not diverting his gaze from me and the details of my day, he proceeded to gracefully and with skill fill his pipe with the gentle brown crumbles of tobacco leaf that were in his pouch. Even though I had seen this process thousands of times before in my young life, for some reason this day I was more acutely aware and attentive to these actions than I had been before.

2011-09-26T12:11:00.002-04:00

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LAX

As many of you have probably noticed, when I am away for a while, it is usually because my life has gotten too damn busy for my liking. Indeed, this has been the case, and while crazy goings on are underfoot at the U, I am fighting back with all the energy I can muster to eek out more of my own time for life and living.

This blog post signifies my pledge to fight like hell to keep myself from being sucked back into the whirlpool-like tidal ooze that can be a very negative (and unnecessary) aspect of University life. It is a daunting challenge, but I am fighting the good fight to eliminate the following items of b*llsh*t:

1. To stay out of political wrangling b*llsh*t at the U.
2. To quit being the indentured servant for a bunch of administrative yahoos and an even larger supply of administrative wannabees.
3. To quit letting other's emotions dictate how I live my day.

And I am putting forth an equally good fight to do the following:

1. To give the most love and joy and guidance that I can to my beloved family.
2. Stay an active part of the U life and culture that I so enjoy.
3. Stay on top of my game in research.

I am trying to learn some new tricks here, and hopefully they will pan out.

PipeTobacco

2011-09-13T11:20:00.003-04:00

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Peeling An Onion

This is one of those "odd" days, I believe. I woke up this morning hearing a David Haas song in my head (he is a writer of music used in the Roman Catholic Mass). It gave me a feeling of melancholy about all the things I wish I had done better in my life... being a better father, a better husband, a more aware person about the love I have been given and so desperately crave.

The melancholy seemed to be especially all-encompassing, as it remained as I sat outside having a pipe and then even when I went on my five mile walk at 5 am. I almost let the feelings of sadness overwhelm me, but persevered and continued on.

Instead of crawling back into bed after my walk, I continued on with my daily tasks/chores before heading to the gym. I then went and showered and got dresses for my work here at the U.

This morning, I have written three tests so far, and I have written four other documents... all in an effort to keep busy to help dissipate the melancholy frame of mind I am in. Now I will go and lecture for a few hours.

I hope I feel happier soon.

PipeTobacco

2011-09-12T09:16:00.002-04:00

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Off My Chest

I need to get this off my chest:

C.C.G. and R.B.C. are obnoxious, uncaring people who do not give a damn about anyone or anything. It is so incredibly frustrating having to deal with those two yahoos.

PipeTobacco

2011-09-11T06:11:00.000-04:00

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10th Anniversary, But...

Of course, today is the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Yes, it was horrific on many levels. You can find a huge array of information about that date, the 10th anniversary remembrances, and all manner of related materials in roughly 7 million other sites on the Web. Please do not get me wrong, I am not trying to be callous or disrespectful. I am simply saying that *I* personally cannot spend the entirety of my emotions for this day focused on that event.

However, here today, I want to commemorate a few things that are *not* related to that horrific event:

1. Today is one of my sister and brother-in-law's wedding anniversary.

2. Today I will spend time trying to find my own peace and centered focus.

3. Today I want to show my family more love.

PipeTobacco

2011-09-10T09:10:00.000-04:00

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9 - 10 - 11

Although the notice of it will be very limited and far overshadowed by all the memorials to the September 11th tragedy, today is an interesting numerological date. If you use the American method of date writing with numbers, today is 9, 10, 11. That is a wonderfully nice pattern. To me, such patterns are truly beautiful.

PipeTobacco

2011-09-09T08:58:00.000-04:00

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Underappreciated

The hardest parts about the nonsensical b*llsh*t that being piled high upon me and my Department by the administration is that it does not make any sort of logical sense, and the issues are all about some "hush-hush" behind the scenes administrative prerogative that no one will talk about or explain (because it is not an academic or scholastic reason). The reason, undoubtedly, involves some monetary hocus-pocus that "trumps" educational concerns.

If people in administration would simply be honest and forthright, it would make all of our jobs a helluva lot easier.

PipeTobacco

2011-09-08T09:52:00.002-04:00

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Rough Start

It has just been a rough few days here. There is a helluva lot of administration b*llsh*t going on that I and others of the Department have been dealing with. It is frustrating and tiring to have to do this kind of crap instead of what my job is really supposed to be:

1. Teaching students and teaching well.

2. Researching and discovering new knowledge.

3. Being of service to my community.

Having to be embroiled in inane and useless b*llsh*t just saps the energy out of me and makes it 100x harder to do the above three things which *are* truly enjoyable... and are what my job as a professor is supposed to be about.

PipeTobacco

2011-08-30T13:05:00.002-04:00

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Woke Up At 4:30, Grumpy

My wife and I spent a good deal of our limited free time, yesterday, working through our "issue" which caused such a rift on Sunday. Fortunately, things have gotten patched up and things are now ok with us.

That said, however, I think I have "PASI" (post-argument stress issues) I am working through at the moment (in the past, this typically lasts about a day after the argument ends). Typically, as a result of our argument, I will have some pronounced muscle soreness (most notably in my forearms and in my lower legs.... usually from my clenching my fists and my feet, which I have do even when asleep if I am stressed enough) and usually an aching jawline, ear and neck as I also very frequently viciously grind my teeth and clench my jaw when I am upset.... and I already do this to a degree when NOT upset as I have temporomandibular jaw disorder.

This morning, I awoke at 4:30 am and my jaw radiated enormous pain which was a residual of my clenching. It hurt so around one tooth that I used Ambesol to deaden the pain, and went walking.

So, I am still feeling somewhat grumpy, but the pain is subsiding and other than the fact that the damn link button on blogger is malfunctioning (I tried to put a few links in this essay, to no avail), I am doing better, and am anticipating to be pain free tomorrow.

PipeTobacco

2011-08-29T08:26:00.002-04:00

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Not A Great Start

The start of the new academic year is not off to a positive one. Unfortunately, my wife and I had words yesterday morning. It did not make for a very enjoyable morning, afternoon, nor evening. I do not feel particularly happy this morning as a result.

Yet, I *am* going to do two things:

1. I am going to keep plugging along, doing what I am supposed to do. This means I will continue to follow the plan I have set out for myself. I did get up as is in my plan this morning, and walked my 5 miles at 5:30 and I was in the gym by 7:00 and in my office by 8:00.

2. I am going to focus my energies today on having the two classes I teach TODAY get off to a good start.

Hopefully, this will help me to be better prepared to cope with the rest of my day after work.

PipeTobacco

2011-08-23T23:27:00.002-04:00

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Just Keeping Moving

I am simply keeping moving in my day-to-day tasks. Lots of preperation for the semester, working at JOGGING every day instead of simply walking, trying to keep things in order... that sort of thing.

Emotionally, I am generally neutral at the momement with several moments of happiness. No inordinate down times. I am spending a lot of time listening to Wind Band FM which has, I think, helped me with focus and feeling even-keeled.

PipeTobacco

2011-08-19T07:52:00.000-04:00

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It Would Have Been (Or Is?)

Today marks the 65th anniversary of the marriage of my mother and father. I miss both of them so very much. I wish there were here physically on Earth to celebrate this day. I hope that they are happy and joyful together in heaven.

Mom & Dad... I miss you greatly and love you both so very much. I hope that are proud of me and I hope that I have done well to respect you both and the many gifts you gave to me. It is through you that I have learned how to love and how to be. It is my sincere hope that you can see and know how much I try to live my life to be a good, loyal, hard working man. I hope you are both pleased with me.

PipeTobacco

2011-08-18T07:02:00.000-04:00

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Wrist Watch

I find it so odd that a larger and larger percentage of my students DO NOT wear a wrist watch. I would say that my current estimate is that perhaps only 20% of my male students wear a wrist watch ( probably ~10% of female students ). I know this change is due in large extent to the rise in cell phone usage. I suspect that 95+ % of my students have a cell phone, and probably of these 90+ % have a very expensive "smart" phone. The cell phone (whether a "smart" or a "dumb" version) typically has a digital time read-out on it and that is what most students today use.

I have such a digital time read-out on my own cheap-*ss, six year old, pay-as-you-go cell phone that I have spent approximately $200 on in minutes over the six years I have had it. I know some students who pay $100 a month for their "smart" phone.

That said, I still prefer to have a wrist watch.... and of the many watches I own, I still prefer to primarily wear the ANALOG varieties I have over the digital. And, to top it off... I also still prefer to MOSTLY wear the three different wind-up watches I have that I need to wind each morning rather than my battery driven watches.

PipeTobacco

2011-08-17T06:49:00.000-04:00

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Papadum

I had meant to mention the appetizer my wife and I also had with our Indian meal on Saturday. Papadums are a thin, crisp Indian preparation made from lentils that are sometimes described as a cracker. It is typically served as an accompaniment to a meal in India. It is also eaten as an appetizer or a snack and can be eaten with various toppings such as chopped onions, chutney or other dips and condiments. In some parts of India, it is served as the final item in a meal.

We shared an appetizer of these prior to our meal and like the meal itself, they also were a delight.

PipeTobacco

2011-08-16T08:37:00.000-04:00

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Indian (Eastern) Food

My wife and I are both very, very fond of Indian Cuisine. We ended up going to a local Indian restaurant on Saturday to celebrate our Anniversary and had a wonderful time.

I ended up having chana masala chole which is one of my favorite dishes... it is a curried chickpea dish with lentils and peas served with saffron infused basmati rice. I had my order made extra spicy and it was wonderful in all ways... texture, flavors, and spicy heat. My wife is much more timid than I am in food choices and had a simple chicken and potato dish very, very mildly seasoned.

It was delicious!

PipeTobacco

2011-08-15T09:31:00.003-04:00

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Woke Up Annoyed

I woke up feeling annoyed and aggravated about people at work. It was not a good way to wake up, and it was not the way I wanted to spend my day feeling. I have been working to:

a) get over those feelings
b) remind myself how much of a waste of time these feelings are
c) keep focused on how those feelings rob me of my own chances to feel happiness

To try to get rid of those feelings, I got up and walked especially briskly at 5:30 this morning, and then I went to the U gym and lifted more weights than usual.

I am feeling better, though I am still harboring some aggravation from my getting up on the "wrong side of the bed". Hopefully I can further dissipate it so it is gone before noon.

2011-08-10T05:24:00.001-04:00

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Anniversary

Today is the anniversary of the day in which I married my loving wife. I was very fortunate.

PipeTobacco

2011-08-09T06:15:00.000-04:00

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Brain News

From a recent issue of Science News

Brain Waves Make a Fast Brake

By Laura Sanders
Web edition : Friday, July 29th, 2011

In a fast-moving car, the brain can hit the brakes faster than the foot. By relying on brain waves that signal the intent to jam on the brakes, a new technology could shave critical milliseconds off the reaction time, researchers report online July 28 in the Journal of Neural Engineering.

The work adds to a growing trend in car technology that assists drivers. Though it may eventually lead to improvements in emergency braking, the new brain signal technology isn’t ready for the road.

“As a basic science study, I was quite impressed with it,” says cognitive neuroscientist Raja Parasuraman of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. “I just think a lot more needs to be done.”

In the study, computer scientist Stefan Haufe of the Berlin Institute of Technology in Germany and his colleagues measured brain wave changes while participants drove in a car simulator.

The participants drove around 60 miles per hour, following a lead car on a curvy road with heavy oncoming traffic. Every so often the lead car would slam on its brakes, so that the participant would have to either do the same or crash.

For most drivers, the lag between the lead car stopping and themselves slamming the brakes was around 700 milliseconds. Particular neural signatures were evident during this lag time, and they could be early indicators that the drivers wanted to brake.

“Our approach was to obtain the intention of the driver faster than he could actually act,” Haufe says. “That’s what the neural signature is good for.”

Haufe and his colleagues designed a system that detected and interpreted these neural patterns. In computer simulations, the system, which included EMG data from leg-muscle electrical activity, performed about 130 milliseconds faster than an unaided driver, the team reports. For a car traveling at 60 miles per hour, this time difference translates to about 3.7 meters of stopping distance — the length of some compact cars.

At peak performance, the system would incorrectly slam on the brakes almost two times per hour, a false alarm rate that needs to come down if the system is going to be useful, Parasuraman says. “We all hate alarms that go off when you have no danger, like the fire alarm that goes off when there’s no fire,” he says. “Even a 1 percent false alarm rate would not be acceptable to most people.”

And even if people could be convinced to wear the uncomfortable and obtrusive EEG cap while driving, introducing driver-assisting technology might bring another set of problems, Parasuraman says. People might become overly reliant on the technology and reduce their vigilance on the road.

******

This is the basic idea that has fueled countless classic science fiction works... and now it is one step closer to becoming reality... for good... or bad.

PipeTobacco

2011-08-08T07:50:00.000-04:00

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Pipe Quandary

I have been thinking long and hard again about my quandary with my pipe smoking. There are pros and cons to the issue and it is hard to make a long-term decision:

1. I enjoy smoking my pipes.
2. I enjoy the tobacco.
3. I enjoy the neuronal stimulation of my mind via nicotine.

Yet, there are things that are disappointing of late with the hobby:

4. It is not always very fun to step outside at a gathering or other type of social event to indulge in a pipe. Yet, it is also *sometimes* not fun to refrain from smoking my pipe during said social event.
5. It is economically wasteful to smoke a pipe (it is still a helluva lot cheaper than cigarettes or cigars), but none-the-less it is getting more and more expensive.
6. The attitude of non-smokers to pipe smokers is becoming more negative. It used to be that even during the growing dislike of cigarette smoking, gentlemen who smoked a pipe were viewed as kind albeit a bit treated kindly and even jovially. That sort of treatment is becoming more and more rare.

And, there are things that I dislike with the hobby as well:

7. I do not like the potential health risks.

So, I am again contemplating what I should do and what I will do. I just do not know. I see three options each with different issues associated with it:

A. Keep going as is... smoke my pipe freely and indulge as I wish. This is probably the easiest option, but it does nothing to address the health issues, and I am also still bothered with the disappointing aspects as well. This approach does, however, allow me to maintain what I do *like* about the hobby.

B. Quit smoking a pipe... this will be a challenge, I suspect. I am not sure how much of a craving for nicotine I will have, but I suspect I have the willpower and stubbornness to work through that issue. However, the psycho-social habit itself may be much more challenging for me. I *am* in my very nature, a pipe smoker. I have always enjoyed the mechanics and art of the hobby, and after all these many years it has become an ingrained part of whom I am. To change that will be a challenge.

C. Develop some sort of intermediate plan... this has potential, but many challenges as well. I have thought that perhaps I should try to "unlearn" being a daily pipe smoker and only smoke my pipe under specific circumstances (such as while drinking). If I can figure out how to implement this successfully, it could be a wonderful option. However, I suspect it may not be very easy to do.

So, I will have to continue to try to figure this out.

PipeTobacco

2011-08-07T11:35:00.000-04:00

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Mass

The Mass readings this weekend are very interesting. Here is the first reading:

1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a

At the mountain of God, Horeb,
Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter.
Then the LORD said to him,
“Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD;
the LORD will be passing by.”
A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains
and crushing rocks before the LORD—
but the LORD was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake—
but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake there was fire—
but the LORD was not in the fire.
After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound.
When he heard this,
Elijah hid his face in his cloak
and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.

It makes me wonder what I may be missing out on in my own life. What am I not hearing that I should be listening to in order to help me be the best person I can hope to be. I do feel that I *try* to be a good person and to do the right things, but I so very often feel as if I am a pitiful, neglectful, wretched failure in all ways in life. What is it that I cannot (or at least *do not*) see that I should do? Do I hide from the role I should have in life?

PipeTobacco

2011-08-06T06:34:00.001-04:00

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Fruit Fly

The common fruit fly is an amazing beast. Most of my cultures are commercial preparations from one of the various fly houses nationwide, but I have a few different local strains as well... one from my back yard, one from a nearby orchard, and one I started from a pair of fruit flies I captured in a local grocery store.

While most of my work is with rodents, I have a side stream of research using the fruit fly as a research model. I started this strand about 15 years ago because of the desire to have a complementary animal model that a) had a much shorter reproductive cycle, b) had a shorter life span, and c) was often easier to use while teaching undergraduate students interested in research, some basic techniques.

PipeTobacco

2011-08-05T09:24:00.000-04:00

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Bite Splint

Tempormandibular Joint Disorder (TMJ) is a condition I have had since I was 15 years of age. Basically, because of a bulldog shaped jaw and dentition pattern (my bottom incisors are about 1/2 centimeter higher than the bicuspids and molars on my bottom jaw) I have always had a strong tendency to clench and grind my teeth. Added to this is the fact that I tend to be a damn worrywart and get stressed out about damn near anything.... and what happens is that I end up grinding and clenching my jaw to such an extent (especially while sleeping) that it inflames my tempormandibular joint.

Luckly, a good 75 - 80% of the problems of my TMJ are alleviated by my wearing (and wearing out) the bite splint shown above. I have had numerous bite splints over the years and have worn through quite a few. They are a Godsend. I have perhaps *not* worn the bite splint a total of 4 evenings in all the decades I have been diagnosed. And each and every time the pain and discomfort was hellacious.

PipeTobacco

2011-08-04T08:15:00.000-04:00

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Peanut Butter

One thing I *really* enjoy indulging in (well, I indulge in a helluva lot of things... pipe tobacco, rich food, libations, ect, etc.) is peanut butter. If calories were not a concern, I would easily consume a full jar of peanut butter every day just with a spoon. I would feel as if I were in heaven if I had a) a full jar of peanut butter to eat and b) a full can of mixed nuts to eat every day.

PipeTobacco

2011-08-03T12:09:00.002-04:00

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Done (Almost)

The bathroom is finished, and as Austere asked... yes, the bathroom has all white trim and a white ceiling. It has turned out well and my in-laws are very happy with it. I am still planning to put up a small chair railing (in white) as well, but want to let the paint dry a week or so before starting that little finishing touch.

PipeTobacco

2011-07-26T10:03:00.004-04:00

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Remodel

I am in the midst of a remodel of the small bathroom in my in-laws. It was remodeled (very, very poorly) only a few years ago.... unfortunately by a fly-by-night yahoo. Basically anything I do should be an improvement.

However, while I *can* do exceptionally nice work, I am, truth-be-told, VERY slow at remodeling because it is not something I do often, and because I fuss and fret, and hem-and-haw about each and every detail. But, the conundrum is that I NEED to do this remodel very rapidly because my in-laws are out of town and it is much easier to do while they are away. Basically I need to have this remodel done by Thursday evening.

I have plastering, plaster/drywall repair & patching, priming, painting, sanding, electrical work, cutting and installing trim molding, window trim work, installing a new light fixture, bathroom mirror, and bathroom cabinet. And of course various odd-and-ends that I cannot think of at the moment... as well as the probable, and nearly inevitable "redos" of some things.

Wish me luck! The above color of the eggs (Robin's egg blue) is the paint color I have selected.

PipeTobacco

2011-07-25T09:43:00.002-04:00

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Is It Today?

Not sure. But, I am working hard today. Perhaps today will be "the day" for a lot of different things. What would I wish for if it is today:

1. A fast, enjoyable effort in the classroom.

2. Ample time with family enjoying their company.

3. A lack of meloncholy and despair.

4. A lack of anger.

5. A lot of inertia and drive.

6. A refraining from my pipe so I can make it my servant, and not have me ruled by it. (I am wanting to retrain my brain to only want to smoke my pipe when I am drinking.)

7. A fast, clean, and pretty effort on the remodeling I am doing for my elderly in-laws.

8. A feeling of contentment and wholeness.

9. A feeling of tranquility and relaxation.

10. The feeling of accomplishment.

PipeTobacco

2011-07-23T10:19:00.002-04:00

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Wearing A New Hat

There is really no use going into the details of this recent past, let me just say that I have been exceptionally sad and upset. I have cried and screamed and been so feeling despondent that it was horribly difficult for me emotionally. Yesterday was the breaking point, however, and I was able to resolve some of the issues I was feeling so bad about.

So, instead of the old analogy about me picking myself up by my bootstraps, instead, I am working on a new basis of "putting on another hat" to demarcate my working and striving to climb out of the pit of despair I had been in. I am making a resolution to myself to work to find a happier place in my mind and in my soul. I am thinking I am going to do this through a journey in which I engage in a helluva lot of hard work and hard play. I am going to try to force myself to be more perpetually active and doing things.... both work and play. I have noticed in myself that when I feel sad and hurt, I almost inevitably will lose all inertia and my whole life comes to a screeching halt. To move, to function seems nearly impossible. But, if I keep my movement, keep my inertia in working to try to do things, and keep trying to do things, even the harsh sadness, the despair, and the feelings of utterly loneliness and pain do not hurt as much. The shame and anger I feel is decreased by hard, physical labor and effort.

So, that is where I am at. I am bound and determined to work hard and to play hard and to write here often so as to keep me from sliding down into that crevasse of no movement, no effort, no life. I am going to keep the idea of kinetic energy in my mind, and try to infuse the idea of kinetic action in my heart and soul.

PipeTobacco

2011-07-18T14:09:00.002-04:00

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Yogurt

This is one of the things I ate this morning.

PipeTobacco

2011-07-15T10:00:00.003-04:00

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Exhaustively Busy Days to End!

Work has been non-stop for the last three weeks with me at the U... but now that is on the verge of stopping! I am extremely relieved. The truly limited amount of time I have had is now going to free up!!!! It feels so good. Starting yesterday evening, I have started to feel playful and jovial again and back to my "old self" (or at least the "old self" that I like a helluva lot more).

Let the fun begin (And more regular posting)!

PipeTobacco

2011-07-07T11:44:00.003-04:00

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Daydreaming While Proctoring

I am sitting here proctoring an exam. I have played a little bit on the Internet, and am listening to classical music on NPR (I have a small "Walkman" style set of headphones that I have plugged into this computer. I could be doing something more useful like planning a new strand to my research, going over an inventory list of materials to purchase for a new teaching lab, or simply starting to write the next exam. But, for whatever reason, I typically end up only playing and/or daydreaming during proctoring of exams. I have been daydreaming again about pipes and pipe tobacco. The beauty pictured is a new one I have found that has strong aesthetic appeal to me.

PipeTobacco

2011-07-05T07:50:00.003-04:00

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Quiet & Peaceful

It was a wonderfully quiet and peaceful weekend. My wife and I went to a movie on Friday. On Saturday, we went to mass and then went to see the fireworks with the family, on Sunday we had a big "Bagel" breakfast and tried out several new, wonderful vegetarian recipes for dinner, and on Monday we went to the in-laws and had a cookout.

PipeTobacco

2011-06-30T07:56:00.001-04:00

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Joel

In yesterday's essay (which I used a secret, "magical" technique to invert), I happened to include a comic of "Gasoline Alley" featuring one of my very favorite characters in comics of all time.... Joel.

I happen to empathize with Joel. In fact I see a fair number of similarities between this cartoon character and myself:

1. There are a variety of physical and behavioral characteristics that are similar including his manner of dress, his proclivity for hats, his hair/beard/moustache, his pipe, the way he tends to clasp his hands behind his back, his pipe, etc.

2. A propensity to be misunderstood.

3. A quiet, thinking demeanor.

4. Most think of him as being a comedic buffoon, but he really is a deeply caring man and thoughtful man.

PipeTobacco

2011-06-29T14:42:00.002-04:00

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ǝnɹʇ ʎןǝnbıun sʎɐʍןɐ sı ןǝoɾ

˙ʍouʞ ǝɯ ʇǝן uɐɔ sɹǝɥʇo ǝqʎɐɯ ˙˙˙˙ןɐɔıdʎʇ ɹo uoɯɯoɔ sı ʎʇıןıqɐ sıɥʇ ɟı ǝɹns ou ɯɐ ı ˙uʍop ǝpısdn ǝɹɐ ʎǝɥʇ ɥƃnoɥʇ uǝʌǝ ɯǝɥʇ pɐǝɹ oʇ ǝɯ ɹoɟ sı ʇı ʎsɐǝ ʍoɥ uo ʇuǝɯɯoɔ sǝɯıʇǝɯos ʎǝɥʇ puɐ ɯǝɥʇ uo ʞɹoʍ ʎǝɥʇ sɐ s,ɹǝdɐd sʇuǝpnʇs ʎɯ ʇɐ ƃuıʞooן ɯɐ ı uǝʇɟo ˙ʎɐp sıɥʇ oʇ uʍopǝpısdn pɐǝɹ oʇ ʎsɐǝ ʎɹǝʌ ʇı puıɟ ןןıʇs ı ʇɐɥʇ 'os ɥɔnɯ os ˙ʇı ʇɐ ʇdǝpɐ ǝʇınb sɐʍ ı 'uoıɥsɐɟ ʇɐɥʇ uı ʎןןnɟǝsodɹnd sʞooq ןɐɹǝʌǝs pɐǝɹ ƃuıʌɐɥ ɹǝʇɟɐ puɐ unɟ sɐʍ ʇı ʇɥƃnoɥʇ ı ˙uʍop ǝpısdn sʞooq ƃuıpɐǝɹ ʎןןnɟǝsodɹnd pıʞ ɐ sɐ sɹnoɥ puǝds oʇ pǝsn ı 'uosɐǝɹ ppo ǝɯos ɹoɟ ˙ǝןoɹ ƃıq ɐʌnןןǝɥ ɐ sʎɐןd ʇı ʎɐs ןןıʍ noʎ ɟo ʇsoɯ ʇɐɥʇ ƃuıʇɐdıɔıʇuɐ ɯɐ ı 'ʞɹoʍ uǝʇʇıɹʍ ǝɥʇ uı ʇsɐǝן ʇɐ 'ןןǝʍ ˙sǝʌıן ɹno uı ʎɐןd uoıʇɐʇuǝıɹo puɐ uoıʇsod sǝop ǝןoɹ ɐ ɟo ɥɔnɯ ʍoɥ

:ʎɐssǝ ʍǝu sıɥʇ ǝǝs ʎǝɥʇ uǝɥʍ ǝןdoǝd ɯoɹɟ sı ǝsuodsǝɹ ǝɥʇ ʇɐɥʍ ǝǝs oʇ ƃuıoƃ ɯɐ ı ˙ƃoןq ʎɯ uo ƃuıʇsǝɹǝʇuı (ʎןןɐuıƃɹɐɯ) puɐ ʍǝu ƃuıɥʇǝɯos ʎɹʇ oʇ ʇdɯǝʇʇɐ ʎɯ sı sıɥʇ

oɔɔɐqoʇǝdıd

2011-06-29T07:06:00.000-04:00

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Trying Out A New Routine

I have been feeling grumpy as hell the last couple of days because I am teaching a Summer class which I volunteered to do (a long time ago). It is not that I do not enjoy teaching... I do. I am just feeling out of sorts because I was really enjoying the less structured aspects of my Summer vacation.

It is stupid of me to get grouchy about this, so I have been devising a plan in my mind. Basically, what I am trying to do is to use this teaching time in a way that I will (hopefully) teach MYSELF something as well....

My goal is to teach myself to improve my a) patience, b) my acceptance of what is, and c) to put into action more of the PROACTIVE goals I have for myself. "A" and "B" are philosophical constructs that I wish to improve in myself. I think if I can make some headway on these I will be a better person for others and will be more content with myself. "C" is a more direct goal... in which I am aiming to think ahead (in a carefully prescribed fashion) so as to garner more time outside of work and inside work. I will try to flesh this out more in tomorrow's essay.

PipeTobacco

2011-06-28T07:54:00.002-04:00

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Not Alot

Not a whole helluva lot to say this morning. Just going about the routine of the day. I jogged, I ate breakfast, I showered and shaved my neck, and trimmed my moustache and beard. I smoked my pipe. I drove to the U. Now I will teach all day, and then I will go home.

2011-06-27T07:14:00.000-04:00

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Using Light as An On/Off Switch for Disease

In my continuing quest to bring you interesting new discoveries from the fields of neuroscience, endocrinology, and biology in general, I come across a lot of research. But this new research line is ESPECIALLY promising in my opinion. It is using our existing nervous system as one would use the wiring in a house when you want to add some new gizmo like another lamp. Read it anhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifd see if you are as excited as I am. It is from Science News.

Blue Light Used to Treat Diabetes:
Engineered Cells in Mice Make Protein that Controls Blood Sugar

By Tina Hesman Saey

Blue lights activate specially engineered cells implanted under mice’s skin to make a protein that helps control blood sugar levels. The new technique employs a light-sensitive protein from the retina to manipulate the biochemistry of the cell and might one day be used to help treat diabetes or other metabolic diseases.Image © Science/AAAS

Attention, shoppers: The latest blue light special could help combat diabetes and some genetic diseases.

Scientists have harnessed a light-gathering protein usually found in the eye to turn on the production of a protein that controls blood sugar. Researchers in Switzerland and France rigged kidney cells to make the blood-sugar control protein when exposed to blue light and then implanted diabetic mice with tiny capsules containing the engineered cells. Shining a blue light directly on the mice’s skin or through an implanted optical fiber brought blood sugar levels back to normal, the team reports in the June 24 Science.

Other researchers have switched nerve cells on and off with light-activated proteins (SN: 1/30/10, p. 18), but this is the first time such a system has tackled a metabolic disease in a mammal, says Edward Boyden, a neuroengineer at MIT who was not involved with the study. “They offered a compelling clinical demonstration that you can change the physiological state of an organism,” he says. “It leads to some powerful thinking about what this could lead to.”

The new technique could be used to spur the manufacture of proteins lacking in patients with rare genetic diseases such as phenylketonuria, in which an inability to make an enzyme can lead to brain damage. Modified versions of the system might also help scientists figure out which biochemical processes are going haywire in a wide variety of diseases, Boyden speculates.

Conceptually, the system is simple. Researchers start with human embryonic kidney cells engineered to make a protein called melanopsin and then insert a gene for whatever other protein they want to produce into the cells. Melanopsin is a light-harvesting protein normally found in the retina of the eye. It responds to blue light and sets off a biochemical chain reaction that sends nerve signals to the brain. Instead of sending nerve signals, the scientists harnessed a chain reaction already present in kidney cells to turn on the inserted gene.

In the new study, shining a blue light on the melanopsin-carrying kidney cells turns on production of a protein called glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1. That protein, in turn, governs production of insulin and other proteins that help control blood sugar levels.

“From the ground up we designed this to be all human,” says study leader Martin Fussenegger, a bioengineer and synthetic biologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, located in Basel. Using human cells that make human proteins helps reduce the risk that the immune system would attack the proteins if the technique is ever developed to treat people.

Fussenegger wouldn’t speculate on how long it might be before light-activated cells are treating people with diabetes or other diseases, but says “it’s the first step in a new direction for treatment.”

Engineers may have a few kinks to work out first, though. Bright sunlight or light sources that contain blue wavelengths might activate the system when it’s not wanted. Covering implants with a patch might solve such a dilemma, says Fussenegger. “We’ve never done the experiments at the beach,” he says, but normal indoor lights did not turn on unwanted protein production in the lab.

* * * * *

This is (in my mind) even more revolutionary than was the human genome project.

PipeTobacco

2011-06-26T08:17:00.000-04:00

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Assisi

"Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love."

"No one is to be called an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one does you harm. You have no enemy except yourselves."

The above two quotes are especially relevant to me. I have felt they represented pretty well some of my own personal philosophy on how to live life. Please do not get me wrong... I am not suggesting in any way that I am good or being grandiose. I am saying that philosophically these are some of the ideals I would wish I could uphold more in my daily life. Fr. Assisi lived a life of service and I hope to continue to work to be more like that in my own life.

PipeTobacco

2011-06-25T08:44:00.001-04:00

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Pipe Dreams

For the last few years (since around 2007 or so) it is RARE that I recall any of the dreams I have while sleeping. The few that I do recollect typically dissipate quickly upon the first few minutes of awakening. I think there are probably 10 or fewer dreams that I vividly recall since about 2007.

I used to have a much better retention of the dreams I have while sleeping at night. I miss that. However, I guess there is somewhat of a silver lining to this decrease in awareness of dreams... it is also associated with what may be a decrease in awareness (or perhaps occurrence?) of nightmares as well.

This morning, however, was different. I remember vividly my dream, and it was an interesting dream indeed. I was about 20 years younger than I am now, and I had somehow inherited a pipe and pipe tobacco shop in a small village in Northern Germany. It happened to be late Spring, and so I went over there to live in the small apartment above the store and figure out what to do... my conundrum was whether to a) stay in my role as Professor at the U and sell the tobacco shop, b) chuck it all here at the U and take my family to Germany to run this shop, or c) keep my job here at the U and be a long-distance owner of this tobacco shop who only visits during Summers and break periods.

The shop was located in an ancient but well kept up building. The apartment was nice as well. My mercantile neighbor to the right of me owned a quiet beer garden and to the left of me there was a used book store. Across the street were a bread shop, a cake bakery, and two restaurants.

My wife told me to go to Germany and figure out what is best for us to do. The pipe shop was beautiful and quaint. The stock was of good quality and the customers were ample and every friendly (note: Germany currently has a much higher percentage of pipe smoking gentlemen than are seen in the United states. In my reading about this subject perhaps a year or two ago, I believe only country with a higher percentage in the Europe was Poland.). While my German was extremely fractured and grammatically poor, the people I met were friendly and helpful and often would assist me by switching over to English when I was having an especially difficult time communicating. Even though I still wore my beard and mustache, I had started to let my mustache grow longer with visions of attempting to grow something more startling like this Bavarian looking fellow.

I kept exploring the city, kept working at my pipe shop, kept smoking wonderfully rich and pleasant pipe tobacco in my pipes and was trying to figure out what to do. Unfortunately, my alarm went off then and I awoke, but happily the dream was still in my mind with clarity.

PipeTobacco

2011-06-24T07:34:00.000-04:00

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Friday

I am oddly having significant hunger pangs for a turkey sandwich right at the moment (yes, I know it is too damn early to be thinking about lunch, but it is where my mind is at). My very favorite rendition of the turkey sandwich is as follows:

toasted rye or toasted pumpernickel bread
4-5 ounces of extremely thinly sliced, oven roasted, smoked turkey
sliced tomatoes
lettuce
sliced kosher dill pickles
very thin slices (julienne style preferred)of fresh cucumber
a teaspoon or two of finely ground cranberry relish
a teaspoon or two of Dijon mustard MIXED with a 1/4 teaspoon of curry

PipeTobacco

2011-06-23T13:22:00.002-04:00

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Buzz

No, not the kind that a lot of the kids are talking about for after they complete their finals.... although it does sound appealing. My buzz is to symbolize a busy Apis mellifera going about its tasks.

I have not been doing much of anything exciting. Yet, I have been productive, preparing numerous lectures and research items the last few days. I have been willing and able to focus on these mundane tasks all this week, which is good for me, for usually I am either unable to focus on them due to time constraints, or unwilling to focus on them (because they can be rather dull at times).

One interesting thing that happened yesterday, was involving exercise. I ended up sleeping through my alarm on Wednesday morning and hence got up later than I had intended. So, instead of my normal, very early morning walk/jog... I went to work figuring I would find some time later in the day. I did... but in a way that was quite different for me. I ended up jogging for four complete miles WITHOUT a break... and this is the best part... I jogged all around and throughout campus. Some of you may be thinking.... "So what?". But, many of you know and/or realize that I have traditionally been very self-conscious about exercising or doing just about anything non-professorial while on campus. So, this has been a good and productive step for me. I am working on being less self-conscious about many things in life.

PipeTobacco

2011-06-19T06:43:00.001-04:00

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The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

The above is the name of the day for today that I learned while at Mass. I offer the following as a reflection of mine related to today:

From Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9

Early in the morning Moses went up Mount Sinai
as the LORD had commanded him,
taking along the two stone tablets.

Having come down in a cloud, the LORD stood with Moses there
and proclaimed his name, "LORD."

Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out,
"The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God,
slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity."

Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship.
Then he said, "If I find favor with you, O Lord,
do come along in our company.

This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins,
and receive us as your own."

* * * * *

The passage above guides me to be especially appreciative of the following statement: "slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity". This is what I believe very strongly that I need to strive to be more like in my daily life. I feel it is perhaps the most valuable thing I can *do* as a person to be able to be more helpful to others in my day-to-day life.

It is and has always been an extreme challenge to be slower to anger, striving for being kind, and to exhibit true fidelity... but deep in my heart, I know that is the one way that I can attempt to make a true difference in life. I may be able to find actual meaning FOR my life if I work to be truer and kinder and more gentle in my life.

Also, a very, very happy wish for a beautiful Father's Day up in heaven for my beloved Dad. I miss you greatly and I wish you were here physically with me here on Earth so that we could sit and talk, and go out to eat Coney Dogs, root beer, and have a few pipes together. I miss you so, so very much. I will be smoking several of the pipes of YOURS that I have today.

PipeTobacco

2011-06-18T12:35:00.000-04:00

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1000

This is an unbelievable milestone for me. I am happy that I have been able to be this consistent in my efforts. I walked regardless of temperature (range from -21 Degrees Fahrenheit (-30 Degrees Celcius) to 113 Degrees Fahrenheit (45 Degrees Celcius)), weather (snow, rain, ice, blizzard, blazing sun, etc), holiday, or illness.

My next major goal is to reach day 1111. :)

PipeTobacco

2011-06-17T07:26:00.000-04:00

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999

Today is the 999th day in a row that I have walked outside each and every day consistently without missing a single day. Here are some updated statistics:

Today's outside walking number: 999

Weight (as of last Sunday): 178 pounds (loss of 104 pounds)

Typical Time of Day Walked: starting at 5:00am or 5:30am

Rate: Usually I am jogging roughly 40% of the distance each day.

Distance: Typically 4 - 5 miles

BMI (as of last Sunday): 22.9 (Normal Weight)

Shirt size: Medium

Pant waist size: 34

Shoe size: 13 (I had been an 11 for decades, but I guess the pounding of my feet from all this walking and jogging as well as natural aging has caused my feet to elongate.)

Tomorrow (God willing that I am able to do it) may be a very fun day!

PipeTobacco

2011-06-16T08:09:00.003-04:00

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Neural Development

In my continual reading of the literature about neuroendocrine research developments, I stumble across some articles that I think more people, even outside the research community, will find especially interesting. Thus, today, I wanted to bring your attention to this developmental article. It examines and shows how there is an age related developmental difference in math reasoning that can be demonstrated. All parents can recall how they intuitively knew this, but the specifics are what is striking. The ability is there early and late, but that the later ages have the brain becoming MORE EFFICIENTLY able to do the same tasks. This is logical of course, but the evidence is more important than just for confirming what is logical. Instead, it gives us insight into HOW to look at the process of learning from a nerual region and even neuron-to-neuron perspective. I hope you enjoy:

A Year Adds Up to Big Changes in Brain

By Laura Sanders from Science News

Neuroscientists have confirmed what any kid knows: Third grade changes everything. Compared to kids just out of second grade, recent third-grade graduates use their brains in an entirely different way when solving math problems, a study in an upcoming NeuroImage finds.

“I think this is really fascinating,” says cognitive neuroscientist Daniel Ansari of the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada. “Anybody who doesn’t believe that development is important needs to read this paper, because it really shows how dynamically the brain changes as we learn.”

Cognitive neuroscientist Vinod Menon of the Stanford University School of Medicine and his colleagues recruited 90 children, aged 7 to 9, who had just completed either second or third grade.

The youngsters calculated easy (3 + 1 = 4) or more complex (8 + 5 = 13) addition problems while Menon and his team scanned the children’s brains using functional MRI.

Third-graders’ brains behaved very differently than second-graders’, the team found. “It’s not a minor change,” Menon says. “At this point, what’s clear is that the brain and brain function is undergoing major changes.”

Overall, second-graders’ brains tackled the easy and hard problems about the same way. Third-graders’ brains responded very differently to the easy and the hard questions. This may reflect a cognitive strategy shift as third-graders grow more adept at handling the easy problems.

Third-graders showed heightened activity in a brain region important for working memory, which keeps relevant info handy. Earlier studies of older children found that this region, the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, was less active with age while doing math, so the new results may reflect an age-specific approach to math that later gives way to something else, the authors suggest.

Connections between the dorsolateral prefrontal region and regions in the back of the brain, some of which are involved in vision, were also stronger in the third-graders as they crunched numbers, the team found.

It’s not yet clear whether the differences were actually caused by math classes. Normal development may cause some of the changes, but training and skill acquisition probably play a role, too, says developmental psychologist Ann Dowker of the University of Oxford in England. “A lot of it will be due to the fact that the children are receiving instruction, practice and exposure to arithmetic.”

Ansari says that researchers need to figure out what these brain changes actually mean. “School changes your brain, but what do we do with that?” he says. “That’s the next big question.” So far, scientists don’t know whether these changes correlate with stronger math performance, particular kinds of math training or how good a child will be at math in the future.

Studies like this may ultimately help educators figure out the best kinds of math instruction, Ansari says, though the science isn’t strong enough yet. “It’s very risky at the moment to say you can get definite answers from brain imaging about how to teach children math,” he says. Yet one day, brain scans might serve as a means of testing the effectiveness of competing instruction methods, such as rote memory learning and more concept-based approaches.

* * * * *

I wish they made a miniature version of an MRI or Cat Scan that I could write a grant for to use on rodents. Some people have successfully bought time for rodents at their local hospital settings, but I have investigated that possibility here, and it is highly unlikely.

PipeTobacco

2011-06-15T08:47:00.002-04:00

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How to Try to Become Better

Every morning during my walk, for the last year or so, I have used that time to focus on prayer and reflection by contemplation and reciting of the rosary. It has been a good addition to my walking/jogging, as it is a patterned way to force me to reflect and contemplate on how I wish to become.

Between each decade of the rosary, I contemplate a particular mystery and think of the potential fruits of that mystery. Then I go through an array of prayers for friends, family, and myself that is often something like this:

1. I pray for the immediate members of my family that we may be able to live a happy, healthy, joyful time here on Earth as a family for as many years and decades as possible.

2. I pray for the immediate members of my family that we may be able to live forever in happiness and joy as a family eventually in Heaven.

3. I pray for each of my kids, specifying precise details about each of their needs, hopes, and aspirations.

4. I pray for my wife so that she may attain her goals.

5. I pray that my wife and I continue to strive to be better spouses for each other and that we continue to strive to be better parents for our children.

6. I pray for various family members and friends who are experiencing difficulties at this time (death of a loved one, illness, they have a family member who is ailing, etc.).

7. I pray that I may be forgiven for my sins. I ask forgiveness for all my sins, those I recognize and those that I do not.

8. I especially pray for me to not be an angry, sarcastic person.

9. I pray for the victims of Japan's nuclear incident, especially for those who are still being exposed to the radiation.

10. I pray for guidance on how to deal with my pipe smoking.

11. I pray that I may walk the path that God, Christ, and Holy Spirit wish for me to walk.

12. I pray for guidance on how to be a better, kinder person.

The above prayer guided by the rosary typically takes me 45 minutes or so during my walk/jog each morning. After I have finished the five decades of the rosary for that day, I will typically finish my walk/jog by listening to NPR during the last 15 minutes.

The above image is that of the Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. It is where I attended Mass this past Sunday. It is a beautiful structure. And, as always, I love how even though I did not "know" anyone other than my family members, I still felt as part of a big family. Being able to visit other parishes/dioceses/cathedrals during my travels always is so very comforting and reassuring.

PipeTobacco

2011-06-14T08:13:00.002-04:00

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Walking the Path

Friday in Chicago was the primary day I spent with other researcher friends in talks, discussions, plenaries, etc. And, it was also the primary evening spent with these researcher friends indulging in ample libations and food. When I awoke to take my walk on Saturday morning (5:00 am as usual), I left the hotel room and rode the elevator down the 47 flights to the entrance to the hotel. Turning to the left I strode for a few blocks while I stretched my legs and arms and shoulders as I worked up to my normal walking speed. I had reached the "Magnificent Mile" in Chicago, which is a region near the water that is jam packed with all sorts of shops of all sorts, many of which are open 24 hours a day.

As it was so early, there were only a relatively small number of folks out an about... numerous shop owners using power washers to clean their little piece of sidewalk, a few homeless, some people still staggering around from the bars, a few early shifters at the Northwestern University Hospital. I felt very good, albeit a bit thirsty from too much salty food and from the many libations, so I decided to exercise in the 10-5 pattern (jog for 10 minutes, walk briskly for 5, repeat and repeat) for the hour.

As luck would have it, just as I was finishing my hour, I ended up being near an "Einstein's Bros." bagel shop which had just opened. I bought the largest coffee they had (their hazlenut flavored coffee is one I enjoy quite a bit). I took the coffee to their outdoor seating area, bought a paper, and relaxed with a pipe. Being the only person outside as the sun was rising was enjoyable. I had two refills on the coffee and a second pipe while I read through the paper.

When I had finished, I dropped the paper off inside so someone else could read it, and then started to walk the several blocks back to the hotel while I enjoyed another pipe. I opened the door to my hotel room at 10 minutes to 8 and heard the beginnings of rustling of others in my family.

PipeTobacco

2011-06-13T10:54:00.002-04:00

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Vehemence

I returned to home late last night, after attending a research meeting in Chicago. It is always nice to be in a large, metropolitan city for a few days, because it is so very much different a lifestyle than in my normal, sleepy, college town. My research talk went very well, and I had a large cadre of people stop and ask me questions and want to talk for quite a while afterwards. It felt good. I truly think I am onto something "big" in regards to my research... I will keep my fingers crossed as I continue to work.

Yet, attending the conference is about a whole lot more than the science. In some ways, the science is actually secondary. Being in the new environment, with family, and enjoying each other's company is the most important part of these adventures.

Being away from the day-to-day requirements, and going to "the big city" for a few days forces me to adapt to the new environment quickly and in doing so, gives me reason to contemplate my current life in new ways.

A few of the things I remembered/recalled from my contemplative, reflective time in Chicago... I want to focus more and more deeply on having joy and happiness be the goal that I have for myself, my family, and also as the goal I want to try to provide (or at least help in) for others. I want to feel an inner peace and harmony with all the things I do. I have found that unless I focus on that idea of working on harmony within myself for me, my family, and my community, it stays tantalizingly just out of my reach.

PipeTobacco

2011-06-09T11:08:00.004-04:00

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My Apologies

To all my friends out in the Internet Community, I apologize for my absence. A few issues have nearly every moment of my time here at work since my last post. The issues are FORTUNATELY not problematic or troublesome.... just time consuming. And, as I still have not "bitten the bullet" so-to-speak to get my home system operational (yes, Billy, you are right and I encourage you to keep telling me to get the damn thing up and running), I have not been here.

I do, however, see the light at the end of the tunnel. I suspect that Monday, I will be free and clear of all the yokes I have upon my shoulders and my free time will increase again.

So, I miss talking with all of you, and expect to be back on Monday!

PipeTobacco

2011-05-19T11:27:00.003-04:00

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How To Become Motivated?

In my goal to become pipe tobacco free (actually, my preferred goal is to be mostly pipe tobacco free except for a few special occasions), I have been thinking a great deal about what will be the challenges and pitfalls I will face in this transition. My being a pipe smoker developed through many different facets of my physical and emotional self. In order to be successful in this goal, I need to be aware of all of these facets and to have strategies available for me to resist the temptations to revert back to my old (current) unregulated pipe smoking self. So, I thought what I would do here is try to address these facets of myself as I recognize them and try to brainstorm over what they mean and how I may address them. I may not get all (or even most) of these facets down in this essay, for I suspect this will be a work in progress. But here it goes:

Physical Aspects of Pipe Smoking

1. Biochemical (aka Nicotine) -nicotine is an alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants (Solanaceae) that constitutes approximately 0.6–3.0% of the dry weight of tobacco. Nicotine acts on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, specifically the ganglion type nicotinic receptor and one CNS nicotinic receptor. The former is present in the adrenal medulla and elsewhere, while the latter is present in the central nervous system (CNS). In small concentrations, nicotine increases the activity of these receptors. Nicotine also has effects on a variety of other neurotransmitters through less direct mechanisms.

In low concentrations consumption of nicotine acts as a stimulant and neurotransmitter mimic in mammals and is considered by many a primary factor responsible for the dependence-forming properties of tobacco smoking. Nicotine's mood-altering effects are different by report: in particular it is both a stimulant and a relaxant. First causing a release of glucose from the liver and epinephrine (adrenaline) from the adrenal medulla, it causes stimulation. Users report feelings of relaxation, sharpness, calmness, and alertness. Like any stimulant, it may very rarely cause the often catastrophically uncomfortable neuropsychiatric effect of akathisia. By reducing the appetite and raising the metabolism, some smokers may lose weight as a consequence.

When tobacco is smoked, nicotine-rich blood passes from the lungs to the brain within seven seconds and immediately stimulates the release of many chemical messengers including acetylcholine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, vasopressin, arginine, dopamine, autocrine agents, and beta-endorphin. This release of neurotransmitters and hormones is responsible for most of nicotine's effects. Nicotine appears to enhance concentration and memory due to the increase of acetylcholine. It also appears to enhance alertness due to the increases of acetylcholine and norepinephrine. Arousal is increased by the increase of norepinephrine. Pain is reduced by the increases of acetylcholine and beta-endorphin. Anxiety is reduced by the increase of beta-endorphin. Nicotine also extends the duration of positive effects of dopamine and increases sensitivity in brain reward systems.

Research suggests that, when smokers wish to achieve a stimulating effect, they take short quick puffs, which produce a low level of blood nicotine. This stimulates nerve transmission. When they wish to relax, they take deep puffs, which produce a high level of blood nicotine, which depresses the passage of nerve impulses, producing a mild sedative effect. At low doses, nicotine potently enhances the actions of norepinephrine and dopamine in the brain, causing a drug effect typical of those of psychostimulants. At higher doses, nicotine enhances the effect of serotonin and opiate activity, producing a calming, pain-killing effect.

In my own self examination, I find that I rarely, if ever indulge in pipe tobacco in the "short quick" method that is designed to produce a low level, stimulatory effect. Virtually all of my pipe smoking is in the "deep puff" form to apparently produce a mild sedative effect.

I believe that nicotine is ONE aspect of the reason why I am a pipe smoker. I enjoy the effects of nicotine on my brain and central nervous system. Yet, I do not believe nicotine alone explains all nor even most of the facets as to why I am a pipe smoker. For example, in my whole life, I think I may have consumed less than 50 cigarettes (that is 2.5 packs). I do not enjoy them. Once, I even thought that perhaps the way to break my pipe smoking habit was to quit smoking my pipes entirely and allow myself to smoke cigarettes to assist in the transition. That experiement/attempt failed very quickly. For, while I was able to obtain the nicotine I thought (at that time because of what is typically published in the literature about tobacco use) would be the challenge to my quitting. I even thought that by smoking cigarettes instead of trying the gum or other nicotine products, I would be able to more easily put away my pipes. Yet, I lasted only a few days before I threw away the pack of cigarettes I had and went back to my pipes.

I am thinking, though, that nicotine is one factor that I need to address in my next effort. What I am contemplating this time is to consume nicotine lozenges (now available over the counter) if/when I feel the physical desire for nicotine.

2. Sensory effects - to me, a pipe is a beautiful visual work of art. I think many pipes could easily be worthy of being museum pieces. I can look at and examine a pipe, its bowl and its stem for long periods of time and find new, beautiful aspects every time. In my effort to refrain, I *could* still very easily look at and enjoy my pipes without smoking them. Yet, I am not sure if that is going to be a successful strategy. I suspect that looking at my pipes will (of course) allow me to see and enjoy their beauty, but I fear it also will trigger yearnings and desires to SMOKE my pipes as well. So, I am not sure what I plan to do about this aspect.

Also, a pipe is very tactile. You can touch and hold the beast in your hands and grip the stem between your teeth. As longer time readers know, I have tempormandibular jaw disorder, which basically means the architecture and design of my teeth, jaw, facial nerves and facial muscles gives me a strong propensity to naturally clench my teeth and to grind my teeth while sleeping. I have worn bite splints since I was in my mid-teens and it helps immensely. The bite splint simply puts a prescribed space between my upper row of teeth and the bottom row decreasing the impact of clenching my teeth together and decreasing the inclination to grind teeth while sleeping. I think I may have found the pipe stem to be an early sort of "bite splint" that kept me (at least while smoking the pipe) from clenching my teeth together so tightly as is my inclination otherwise. In terms of my TMJ, I can wear my bit splints during the day more frequently to accommodate the loss of the pipe stem between my teeth, and I *could* still handle and hold my pipes in my hands and even technically grip empty pipes between my teeth.... but like in the visual discussion above, I think that may be a risky strategy as it may also cause me to yearn to actually smoke my pipes again.

For many, pipe tobacco is very much associated with the senses of taste and smell. In my thinking of my pipe tobacco indulgence, I do believe the taste and smell of the pipe tobacco is something I enjoy, but I do not think it plays a huge role in my effort to refrain, so I do not think I need to plan anything for these sensory aspects.

* * * * *

I think I shall stop here for now. In the next post I will likely continue with other aspects of pipe smoking that I know I need to address as well.

PipeTobacco

2011-05-17T11:16:00.002-04:00

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Frustration & Postponement

I am having a (fingers crossed) few hard days of annoying paperwork effort yesterday and today at work related to some b*llsh*t I find very distasteful but shall refrain from discussing. Therefore, I am still only in contemplation mode about the reduction of my consumption of pipe tobacco.

I still am planning to work to reduce (and dare I suggest, eliminate) my consumption except on special occasions (I am thinking perhaps the following will be those occasions: 1) Remembering my father's birthday, remembering my grandfather's birthday, and when I am drinking) If I were to get to this level, it would mean my consumption at its most extreme would be confined to one period of time a week or less.

PipeTobacco

2011-05-16T09:31:00.004-04:00

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Must Change Myself

While all of you long time readers know of my fondness and enjoyment of smoking pipe tobacco and pipes in general, I believe I need to do something to reduce or eliminate this hobby/avocation from my life. I have been thinking about it for a few weeks and monitoring more closely the rate of consumption I currently have. The results are that I am on average consuming roughly 6 ounces of pipe tobacco a week. This is a higher rate than I think I should indulge in. Billy, an Internet friend of mine over at Spirit Doings, has said he has been consuming roughly 6 ounces a month.

I am still contemplating my course of action at the moment, but I believe this effort, this time, will be one that I will be successful in forcing myself to adopt. I am not 100% sure what my plan will be (I am mulling over several), but I will write more as I firm up my plans.

PipeTobacco