Science (non) Fiction

I’m thankful for being able to leave for home earlier than I though possible - it looks like I can head home tonight or tomorrow morning - I’ve got a ton of work to do on the computer, so I don’t need to be in the lab to do it! But I wasn’t counting on that, so I’m thinking I’ll have to take dirty laundry home with me - flashback to me in college…

We’re hosting about 60 people (at the church, don’t worry!) for Thanksgiving dinner this year, a continuation of our tradition of hosting youth groups from Operation Christmas Child, here to work at the processing center - bigger group this year than we’ve had, but it should be fun, and with Matthew in NYC til Friday, it will be good to have lots of other peeps around. I’m going to have to come back Sat night though, since I think I committed to staying around for Thanksgiving nursery - but that’s ok, cause I’ll need time to get things back to normal around here after the holiday off…

So I’m off - have a great and safe holiday - hopefully I’ll see some of y’all over the next few days!

All right, so it’s been too long since I really updated…

I had a great visit home last weekend, complete with lots of shopping, as predicted - Matthew and I spent several hours scouring the city of Charlotte (seriously, we went all the way across town!) for his birthday present clothes - came up with lots of good stuff, if I do say so myself! Had a really nice lunch too (my first time at Red Lobster - yum) - we had a good time! We bonded over listening to my new favorite CD, the RENT movie soundtrack - good times!

Mom and I spent several hours at the Southern Christmas Show in Charlotte - it’s such a great tradition, and we found several things there for people on our lists - we seem to hit up the same places each year, but it’s still lots of fun - and I have been listening to more Christmas music since then, so the holidays are in full swing!

I came back to Winston Sat evening in time for a bonfire at Captain Mike’s house - lots of (cold) fun, including hide-and-seek in the dark and s’mores - hopefully we can have another one sometime soon…

OK, something I’ve been thinking about recently - I think there was a song on the radio that sparked this, but I can’t remember what it was. I don’t want to be known for what I DON’T do - I want to be known for what I DO do. I mean, as a Christian, there are a lot of things that I don’t do (drink to excess, sleep around, etc) but I don’t necessarily want those to be the things that define my life - you know what I mean? I wouldn’t want those things to be the first things that pop into the head of someone I know when my name is mentioned - this is probably most relevant with my non-Christian friends, but maybe not… I’d rather be known for the positive things that define my life, but I guess that’s what I need to work on… Anyway, something I’m thinking about…

On a sad note, the Mozart Club of Winston Salem will not be performing Handel’s Messiah this year (for the first time in >70 years) - I don’t know why, but I’m very sad that I won’t have that to get me into the holiday spirit
Also, my uncle Tim (mom’s brother) is in the hospital for blood clots in his lungs, and they recently found another clot in his leg, so they’re checking for several kinds of cancer, since clots are often associated with some cancers - so prayer would be appreciated greatly - I think they might let him go home later this week depending on test results…

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
that in thine ocean depths
its flow may richer, fuller be

O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee,
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
that in thy sunshine’s blaze
its day may brighter, fairer be.

Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee,
I trace the rainbow through the rain
and feel the promise is not vain
that morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
and from the ground there
blossoms red life that shall endless be.

Not a real post, just wanted to say thanks for praying - my boss’s mom came through surgery really well (better than he thought even!) and she was walking around a bit a day or two afterwards - she’s still got weeks/months of rehab and therapy ahead, but I think he’s pretty relieved it went as well as it did - I was kind of thinking he might not be back til later this week, but he was here bright and early this morning.

I’ll post more later this week…

Well, I’ve now managed to waste almost the entire week in terms of getting any data out of experiments - I have poured three gels of the same type, and none of them have worked out (all for different reasons) and now today I was trying something else and realized way too late that I’d gone too far and messed it up, which means I now have nothing productive to do the rest of the day… except I should be writing…I’m planning on leaving early today and heading home to Charlotte and maybe getting some writing done there tonight and tomorrow… I just hate wasting time in lab so much - grrrrrr!

I’m going home anyway, to celebrate Matthew’s birthday (he gets several celebrations this year) - also, Mom will now be home, so we’re going to take our traditional trip to the Southern Christmas Show (for those of you not familiar, it’s a HUGE Holiday extravaganza with everything you could possibly want to buy/eat/make for the holidays - we get quite a bit of Christmas gifts/ideas there each year) on Saturday - should be tons of fun! We’ve gone every year for at least the past 7/8 years probably - I was worried it wouldn’t happen this year with our busy weekend schedules… I’ll also be spending a few hours shopping with Matthew for his birthday present (he said he wants dressy-ish clothes) so lots of shopping ahead! Whoohoo! Plus, the Christmas show really says to me, this is it, it’s finally getting to the holiday season, you can start playing Christmas music, etc… sooooooo exciting!

In other news, I got the soundtrack for the new movie version of RENT (out in the next month or so) - it’s knock-your-socks-off awesome! I hadn’t heard the music since college (suite-mate who played it constantly - thanks Kelly!), but it’s still great! There’s this heart-wrenching song I keep listening to over and over called ‘Goodbye love’ - where two of the main characters sing back and back and it makes me get all choked up (which you know it saying a lot), but I keep listening to it on repeat, so I’m walking around the lab in a perpetual state of teariness… now I really can’t wait til the movie comes out! I recomment it highly, even if you’re not necessarily into musicals (it’s quite controversial though, I’m just warning you - AIDS, homosexuality, drugs, sex, profanity, etc… although with just the music it’s a little cleaner than watching).

Gotta run to seminar - good speaker today!

My boss just found out that his mom broke her hip yesterday, and he’s flying up to MI today or tomorrow to be with her for the surgery - she’s apparently not in good health to begin with, and he’s in charge of her medical decisions if she’s incapacitated, so I’m not sure how long he’ll be there - please pray for her and for the whole family, for safe travel for everyone going to see her, for wisdom for the medical staff…

Thanks!

Wow, I was gone for the weekend, and it’s like fall came to town while we were gone! Leaves changing and falling all over the place, even though it’s been unseasonally warm here, and continues to be this week…either way though, it’s beautiful!
The beach was wonderful - perfect weather, warm during the day but cool at night, lots of time spent relaxing in the fabulous house Becky found for us (kudos Becky!), plenty of good food and lots of laughs - good times! I unfortunately forgot to bring my camera, but others took lots of pics, so maybe I can post some later on…

Happy (early) Birthday to my little brother Matthew, who’s turning 24 tomorrow! I’ll be home at least part of this weekend to celebrate - good luck at work this week too! Love you lots!

Well, I think I’m coming down with something - woke up with morning with a sore throat, after spending most of yesterday afternoon feeling like I was walking around in a stupor - not sure exactly what’s going on, but I came in late today and will most likely be leaving early, so maybe some rest will clear it right up…
On the other hand, I had a good time last night with Wendi and the two Beckys - Becky and I were going to watch Angel and answer the door for trick-or-treaters, but we ended up all four being there, so we ate the beef stew I brought over (football stew - yum!) and then went to the ‘haunted house’ around the corner and did a little trick-or-treating ourselves in Ardmore - very fun! But I did get to bed pretty early for me - still a little tired…
Well I better go figure things out for the rest of the week - if I’m going to leave early, I’ve got to make sure things are in order…