Worms

Well, more precisely, nematodes.... and even more precisely, Caenorhabditis elegans have been on my mind today.  These beasts are small (~1.5mm in adulthood), but they are profoundly valuable research organisms. It has been, I estimate, ~10-12 years now since I have incorporated these little wrigglers into my research.  Their value to me is that I have been able to translate much of my rodent and fly work to similar methods of study for this nematode.  It has been very helpful to me in my research work with undergraduate students especially because of its very rapid generational time (~2 days) which means undergraduates, with their chaotic schedules (my graduate student’s schedules are more flexible and lab focused) can more easily be involved in research meaningfully.  PLUS, their semi-transparent/translucent body plan allows for relatively easy observation of various of their body systems real-time watching them under a simple light microscope. The generational time for my rodents varies between 90 and 120 days, and even my flies have a generational time of 15-20 days. And, both my rodents and my flies are rather opaque even in early development.   

Well, today I have spent a good deal of time producing and storing food for the little worms and culturing up populations of them for use in one of my classroom lab sessions AND also for some new research work to be starting soon.  

But, what I was thinking of in the back of my mind while working, was when I was able to briefly meet the fellow atop of this entry.  He is the Nobel Prize winning biologist, Sydney Brenner (he used the nematode in his research)  And, he has been a long-standing "hero" of sorts to me from when I first happened to see him in a television program decades before he received the Nobel, back when I was a young undergraduate myself.  

Brenner lived within the same time frame as my parents,  roughly at the tail end of the "Greatest Generation" and the start of the "Silent Generation.  In fact, Brenner's birth year was 1927, only one year earlier than my Mom.  

I was able to hear one of Brenner's talks at a very early research meeting I attended in the start of graduate school.  It was so very exciting to me.  I was in awe.

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I did go to the "Retiree's Cigar Group" yesterday, and it was wonderful.  It was a smaller group than usual.  There were only four others besides me, which actually was even nicer in some ways as it encouraged me to open up and talk more.  It was pleasant, jovial and relaxing in all regards.  

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I am starting to feel the cold when I run in the morning.  Most days, even though the high temperatures are still (surprisingly) reaching the 70s (and this weekend perhaps the 80s), the 5:00am time when I hit the pavement is usually somewhere between 44-48 degrees.  I am still forcing myself to run in shorts, but I also am running with a sweat shirt and a thin pair of gloves. My prayers as I work through the rosary and listen to Mass music (on my Pandora app on my phone) while running have been especially emphasizing a sincere request to have the pressures I have been experiencing reduce, and I have been asking for guidance on how to work and strive to become a kinder, more helpful person in my work, in my home, and in my external life.  I also ask for help and support in reducing the selfish thoughts I sometimes have.  

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After the fiasco about the abstract resolved, things have felt wonderfully even-keel.  I am hopeful for continued smooth sailing, for a while at least.  I even felt relaxed enough last night that I searched around on my pipe racks at home and stuck a pipe in the jacket pocket I would eventually wear this morning when I headed to the U.  Even though I do have a rack of pipes in my outer office here at the U, It gave me a sense of happiness to have selected one from home, and to have purposefully carried it with me while I worked.  I listened to my Crosby, Stills & Nash channel (again on Pandora) while I worked in the lab with the worms.  The channel pulls random songs of a similar ilk of CSN in addition to actual CSN music, which is nice.  But, what is especially nice is that every once in a while, the app adds in a rare, seldom heard (at least to me) CSN song as well, and it feels especially fresh and exciting.  And, I have also enjoyed when Pandora slips in some of the solo works by the members of CSN (& Y) every once in a while too!  I have minimal prior exposure to much of any of their solo careers, and there have been a large number of gems.  I give them a thumbs up to keep them in my Pandora rotation for this channel.  

PipeTobacco