honey bbq chicken strip sandwich

Apparently the McRib is back. Do you think McDonalds temporally ties the revisiting of the mcrib to the monopoly game that they play? They call it a game but it has probably taken more than a couple of lives. These terrible companies are amazing at marketing if this was intended. I view the introduction of the mcrib analogous to whataburger’s long-awaited, monthly special that occurs only once per year: the honey bbq chicken strip sandwich. This special is not even that good to be honest, its just the constraint on its availability that keeps me from being able to resist. I showed up a day after they switched the monthly special from the honey bbq chicken strip sandwich to some other bullshit, and they refused to serve me what I came for. I asked them, “do you guys have chicken strips?” They replied, “Yea”. I then proceeded to ask, “Do you have buns and cheese?” I got the same reply. Then, I was nervous when I asked this question, since it is inherent that the sandwich would be worthless without this element, “.. and you guys have bbq sauce?” I got the same reply. I then asked if they could “make me a sandwich with the following ingredients.” THEY SAID NO.

gutter

As of late, I have been listening to an unreal amount of Lil Wayne. Even when writing, I cannot seem to escape him. I have come to the conclusion that it is not the lyrics that I prefer, but rather, the beat. If it were the lyrics I was after, I would hypothesize that I would have a difficult efficiently writing while listening to the music. Most of the beats he produces seem to carry a natural vibratory oscillation, which makes for easy listening. The beats flow and seem to remain at a high enough beats per minute to avoid putting me to sleep after long workdays. Maybe it’s not such a Lil Wayne fixation as it is a rap fixation in general. Wiz Khalifa is also high on my list right now. Only a few tracks from his albums have I added to a listenable list. I find the majority of his album tracks to be boring and mainstream. Wiz mixtapes on the other hand are quite the opposite. I am guessing that he doesn’t have to be the role model in this venue as he does for platinum record venues. Likewise, the beats produced by Wiz promote writing and keep me in an update mood.

selecting the parent

One note on picking which genotype should be represented by the male and female, respectively, should depend on the selectable marker of the male, or in other words, whatever selectable marker is associated with the gene being crossed into the female background. This acts as the experiment and as an internal positive control for the cross itself. For example, if the female is a mutant line that does not harbor a resistance marker, it would be advantageous to use a male that has a robust resistance marker associated with its transgene. A couple of examples of robust molecular plant markers would be BASTA (a herbicidal resistance gene), Kanamycin, or hygromycin. If the male parent is homozygous for the BASTA resistance marker, one can harbor seeds from the cross, plant F1s, and spray these plants with BASTA. Whatever lives should represent a productive cross that is heterozygous for the male transgene. 

crosses

Today I set up my first crosses in Arabidopsis thaliana. This is going to be a brief explanation of how to make crosses, but should provide enough information for anyone to perform an efficient cross between two parental lines. The first step is selecting an appropriately aged female. The proper age should be one primary bolt with no more than 3-4 flowers opened. Arabidopsis is an organism that self- pollinates, so one should be extremely careful to select flowers to emasculate that have not previously been pollinated. Emasculation should be performed with extreme caution. The goal here is to remove all male reproductive organs, namely, the anthers. After all anthers, sepals, and petals have been removed, the stigma, or female reproductive organ should stand-alone. After the flower has been emasculated, the plant should be set-aside for one day, until a crown has formed at the tip of the stigma. This morphological distinction represents a receptive stigma. This is the time that artificial pollination should take place. One should repeat pollination once a day for three consecutive days after the stigma has become receptive. 

rage

So last week my computer crashed, and of course, I had to give a talk three days after the catastrophe. Luckily, I was able to use the boss’ computer to give my seminar presentation to a new journal club our lab recently joined. I washed away the nerves and gave the talk. I feel the overall flow of the presentation was quite fluid (I did get a chance to practice this talk at another venue). Maybe this little tidbit of information made this talk a little easier to give. As I am trying to blog about this senselessness, I am being distracted by one of my lab mates, she’s quite a unique case (I should inform you of this so you disbelieve any of the following). She is frantically trying to finish her homework assignment for a class that we are late to right now. In her attempt to get this assignment completed, she is ranting and raving in a belligerent manner. CUSSING. 

Things on my desk IV

I also have a half drinkin cup of Starbuck’s Italian Roast coffee, a half eaten lemon cake (also a Starbuck’s purchase), sunglasses, phone, another used paper towel, a green nalgene water bottle (half full of reverse osmosis treated water, pH 6.5), and finally a very special black pen. I find this pen to be special and confusing, synergistically. On the side of the slender pen, reads “Le Pen”. This would lead you to believe that it is a French item. If you were to make this assumption, you would be sorely mistaken. The pen was actually made in Japan. Do you see the confusion? I think that is all. Actually, I am positive that is all. Nope, I left something out. A scotch tape dispenser with approximately 2/3 of a full role of translucent tape. This is good for taping things. It seems as if I have just received a text message.

Things on my desk III

On the right side of my desk: I have a white three-ringed folder with the instructions of “how to teach Dr. Holts Principles of Plant Physiology handbook”. I don’t know why I put that it quotes; it has been a rather useful resource for me this semester, as this is the first semester I have taught the lab section of this course. Atop my handbook, are some random papers that I don’t care to thumb through, as I don’t think it will affect the outcome of your day? Atop the stack of white papers, is my lab notebook. This is a sensitive subject, so this is another portion of my desk collection that I am choosing not to elaborate on. Due east of my lab notebook, useless white papers [I don’t know if they are useless (they probably contain some data that I collected and never bothered to jot down in my lab notebook)], and handbook stack lies my wallet. I have a ten-dollar bill and two one-dollar bills inside of it.

Things on my desk II

In addition to what I have already told you, I have a weathered green post-it note that has the following words written on it (in no specific order): Dad, OG+E, city, autoclave (with a smiley face?) Sony cybershot 8.1 megapixels super steady shot dsc t100, and finally (this is the best part) “cat mother and the all night news boys”. I think this might be a band that I was supposed to look into, however, I cannot back that statement up to any regard, so forget about it. I have my bio-writing textbook that is marked with a Korean bookmark on chapter 17. I have 11 coins on my desk. Of these 11 coins, 3 are quarters, 6 are nickels, 1 penny, and 1 dime – this totals to $1.16. For what its worth, I have no idea what you can get for that amount of chump change anymore. There is an iPod connection cord also. 

Things on my desk I

At this current moment I have on my desk: one blue and grey backpack that has no less than seven zippers. I have a Tupperware container that never seems to get as clean as it was it the time I purchased it, actually, it always looks dirty, I’m not trying to make this sound like something it isn’t. I have a pair of elementary ruled scissors with red handles. These scissors seem to be sharp enough to chop through an index finger bone. I have two full-sized legal pads and one carry-size legal pad, exclusively for “on the fly” note taking. I have a couple of used napkins, regrettably enough. There rests a pair of studio Sony headphones that I use to avoid talking to my lab mates. I have several scientific papers spanning the highly acclaimed scientific journals of Science, The Plant Cell, Plant physiology, Nature, and PNAS. Underneath my desktop computer, I have small Tupperware containing 3-month-old craisens.