70s Fashion

I was watching Isis on Hulu and I had to get a screen shot when I saw this jacket. I cropped the shot and just have the jacket picture now. I just love this worst of the 70s fashion. It puts a big smile on my face, and I can hardly keep from laughing.

I used to watch Isis when I was a kid. From the date of the show, I must have been around five when it was on. It's so bad I just can't get enough.

Jury Duty

I have jury duty tomorrow. This is very awkward for us because Mr. K needs to get the kids off to school, take K to preschool, and pick her up about five hours later. One of his employees quit last fall, and the guy who replaced him quit after only a month at the end of December. Another guy just took a 10-day vacation in Australia, so all he has left working in the field this week is himself and one other technician. I am hoping this will be the only time I get called in. I think I have three more Thursdays after this that I could potentially have to go in for jury duty.

Time flies

I had my on-campus lab on Saturday, and I had a great time. It lasted from 9:30 until about 4:15. We brought lunches to eat there. It included a test taken on a laptop. The test had one multi-point extra credit about the names of the parts of the brain on a photograph of a model that the professor had gone over before we took the test. I did fine on the test, but it wasn't fun. The rest of the lab really was.

We weren't graded upon anything we did in the lab, but attendance counted. We looked at models of certain human organs (brain, kidney, heart, spinal cord), and we got to dissect a sheep brain, a sheep heart, a sheep kidney, and a fetal pig. We worked in groups of four, and it was much more fun than working alone on-line, like the rest of this class has been. We also did blood type testing on "fake" blood that had antigens in it (ours didn't--it was the O negative).

Mr. K watched the kids while I was gone. We made plans for this months ago, and I've been mentioning it all the time so he would not forget and schedule work for himself for that weekend. J went to a friend's birthday party for part of the day. She and her dad went to a Girl Scout Sweetheart Dinner/Dance after I got back from the lab.

I have concluded I learn much better in a class with a real professor, so it's good that I applied for the in person, sit down version of the nursing program when I turned in my application last week. I should learn if I get in for Fall 2011 in April sometime. As far as I can tell, my GPA for the courses they care about came in at a 3.925, which I hope will be above their cut off line. So far they've never cut off anyone with a 4.0. It's been above a 3.5 before, though. I'm also worried I could have screwed up something with the paperwork (no reason for this concern, though). I've done all I can for now, and I just need to wait. They have many people trying to get one of the slots in the program, and many get turned away.

None

This is a picture of what is left of Mr. T's home in the shed. So far he hasn't come to retrieve his belongings. I don't know if he ever will. He said it was animals that have messed it up so badly. He's got things in drawers, food on shelves, and flashlights here and there. So far Mr. L, who actually owns the house and land, is still paying the mortgage payments but hoping to sell it via a short sale. If he sells it or loses it in foreclosure, Mr. K may be unable to retreive his belongings.

I've got my lab on campus tomorrow. It will begin with a closed-book exam. I'm nervous about that. The exam covers a lot of material--the entire nervous system--brain, spinal cord, and nerves. There are 12 cranial nerves and 31 spinal nerves. They do all sorts of things.

Vultures!

There was a dead opossum in the road in front of my driveway. The vultures dragged it over by my prickly pear cactus to consume it. Every time I went to the window to get their picture, I could tell I was scaring them. I was able to get a picture of them in my driveway, taken through my kitchen window.

Chemistry fun with dirty dishes: Red Cabbage Juice Indicator

The dirty bowl on the right has residue from some red cabbage salad with a vinegar-based dressing (acidic). Note the pinkish color. The bowl on the left has residue from the same red cabbage salad, but I've added an excess of baking soda (a base) to it. Note the blue color.

None

My bean sprouts are getting away from me. I should have harvested them a couple days ago. With winter here, all I can grow to eat right now are sprouts.

Mostly the weather

We're expecting a lot of rain to come through tonight and tomorrow, I think. We are very lucky. To the north of us, and across a couple thousand miles of this country, the storm will hit as snow. It's supposed to be a huge snow storm. My dad is expecting ten to fifteen inches of snow. I am so relieved it will be rain for us.

My class keeps me busy, but so far this professor seems to be a bit easier than last terms (no papers have to be written). I don't know, though, how hard her tests will be.

Next week I have to turn in my application for nursing school. I find out in April if I am accepted.

Thursday I am meeting my friend for lunch. I haven't seen her in weeks, and she called today to see if I had any time available. I can't even remember what's been filling up my time, but I know I've been busy.

I see a nasty hurricane is going to hit Australia (Tropical Cyclone Yasi). I hope it isn't as bad as it looks. I've looked at population maps of Australia, and I see that it is going to hit near populated areas.

My Lenten roses haven't even begun to bloom. The stems that will have buds are still little bumps just emerging from the ground. Some years my Lenten rose is in bloom by now and I have crocuses blooming. I do see daffodils just starting to come out of the ground. Some years they are in bud by now. Last year everything was slow to bloom because it was under so much snow. This year we don't have snow, but there have been very few warm days to move things along. Tomorrow will be one of them. Our high will be in the 60s.