Fun and busy times-and Caitlin's prom and 18th birthday

Our family had a fun and busy Memorial Day weekend-sorry I'm just getting around to posting about it. After I am done here, I really need to get moving on a fellowship application that is due at the end of June. I am working at home today so that I will not be distracted. Hopefully, I will be able to get a draft ready by the end of this weekend.
Friday night, Brad and I went to see the "Dave Mason Band" at the Ark with Mark and Pam Keech. He is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was a fun night; we had great seats right in the middle against the back wall so we could stand up without blocking anyone's view. The Ark brings in a lot of first-class acts, but only holds about 400, so it is a very small venue where all the seats are close to the stage.
Saturday, after her job feeding zebrafish, Caitlin got her hair and nails done for the prom.
Brad went to the store and ran other errands while we were gone-and bought a Wii Fit at Meijer's. We had heard so much about how hard they were going to be to find, but he found six of them right in the display case. He actually couldn't find anyone to unlock it, so he had to call the store to ask for someone to come back and help him! We spent the afternoon trying it out. The yoga poses especially should be a lot of help for Caitlin to regain her balance, but everything we tried was fun.
Caitlin and her friends met for pictures, then went out to eat at Mediterrano's and to the prom.
She looked beautiful and had a fun night-to see more pictures from this weekend, click on the "flickr" icon on the right side of the blog.
Brad and I had run into our friends John and LeeAnne the night before on our way to the Ark, and they invited us to a barbecue at their house. We met their friends Mark and Elphie and we all had a fun time watching the Detroit Red Wings on TV.
Sunday, Brad and Caitlin went to pick up Caitlin's friends Lindsey (Peanut) and Kristen (Blizzie) in Lansing (they came from Holland to meet halfway) and brought them back here. We then drove to Brittan and Jillian's house in Sandusky and played Wii Fit for awhile. Brad and I had bought a toy keyboard for Austin and he had fun playing with that. We cooked out and had an ice cream cake to celebrate Caitlin's birthday-which was the next day when she would be at Cedar Point with her friends. Caitlin and her friends stayed at Grandma Eileen and Ralph's, while Brad, Buddy and I stayed with the Gill's.
Monday, Brad dropped the girls off at Cedar Point, and we all played Wii Fit for awhile. We then decided to get outside because it had turned into a beautiful day after an early morning thunderstorm. We walked around downtown Sandusky and the dock, then stopped by Toft's for ice cream.
Caitlin called from Cedar Point and was not feeling well, so Brad picked her up early. It was her first time going on rides after her surgery, so maybe she will have to ease more into that kind of thing. Brad and Caitlin picked up a "Hot Wing and Cheddar King Kong Pizza" at Chet and Matt's (no website, sorry) when they went to pick up her friends and we ate some of that before we headed home.
Tuesday, Brad took Caitlin's friends to meet their parents in Lansing and it was back to work.

Caitlin's last day of high school and 3-month follow-up MRI

Caitlin's last day of high school was yesterday, and she is pretty excited to finish. As you can see in the photo above, she was being her usual (un-)cooperative self when I wanted to take a picture to mark the occasion and refused to turn around. Oh well, that's Caitlin, and I actually like the picture this way, anyhow ;)
Afterwards, she walked to my lab (~2.5 miles) and we went to lunch at the hospital cafeteria before her appointment with her neurologist. He went over the results of the MRI that Caitlin had last Saturday (it has already been 3 months!) and said that it still looked as if the tumor had been completely removed. We have been feeling very optimistic since she has been feeling so well lately. The next MRI will be in another 3 months, just before she leaves for college. If that is clear, the next couple will be at 6-month intervals, then yearly. The MRI was not nearly as hard as Caitlin feared-the hospital has a new system whereby a person can watch a movie through special goggles during the procedure, which took about 45 minutes. Caitlin watched "Enchanted" and the time went fairly quickly without any feeling of claustrophobia. Isn't technology great?
Here is one of the pictures from the CD they burned for us-they are absolutely fascinating. There is a bit of scar tissue, but that is to be expected. Everything is healing very nicely and we feel extremely fortunate to have had such expert care.

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by Heidi.

The Rules:
Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird, random, facts, habits or goals about yourself. At the end, choose 6 people to be tagged, list their names & why you tagged them. Don’t forget to leave them a comment saying “You’re it!” & to go read your blog. You cannot tag the person that tagged you, so since you’re not allowed to tag me back; let me know when you are done so I can go read YOUR weird/random/odd facts, habits and goals.

Oh boy, where to start?!? These are not in any particular order :)

1. I really like quirky people. I think we all have our own little quirks and I enjoy discovering them. It makes life a lot more fun when you can embrace your idiosyncrasies! Then again, I am easily amused and tend to laugh at odd times/things. Although I am usually pretty reserved, I can be very direct and ask questions/make a comment just to see the reaction. I cannot hold a grudge, because I tend to forget what I was angry about and I like to avoid confrontations.

2. Although I love our family vacations, I don't mind traveling alone sometimes, wandering around and taking pictures. I really enjoy meeting people from other places. The next best thing to traveling myself is having the opportunity to interact with so many people from other countries through my work. I have learned so much about other cultures through my colleagues!

3. I hate to be late and tend to leave for my destination way too early just in case of problems. It annoys me when others are chronically late, or if they spend their time with me calling/talking on their cell phone.

4. This sounds pretty strange coming from a scientist, but I really enjoy shows about the paranormal (The Sixth Sense, Medium...). Sometimes I like to practice ESP, but no one has ever said that they have received my messages ;) I also tend to talk to the actors on TV as if they could hear me.

5. I know the words and music to most any children's rhyme or song. I think if you put almost anything to music, I could remember it. I also tend to make up random words and use them for specific occasions.

6. I am a lot more determined than people think I am at first meeting me, and like to surprise people who underestimate me. I also can be very competitive, although I am not always comfortable with it and would prefer to collaborate. Although I am usually fairly easy-going, I can be very opinionated, but I try to wait to be asked for my opinion before I offer it.

7. I tend to be obsessive when I am really interested and concentrating on a task. I will work through meals and forgo sleep to finish something unless someone really forces the issue. I also obsessively look up spellings/definitions (e.g. forgo) if I am not sure because mistakes really annoy me. Now I am obsessing that someone will find one and point it out-sorry :/

8. I am not particularly social and prefer a small gathering over a large group. I like to stand back and observe the group dynamics. I find it much easier to present a prepared talk in front of an audience than make small talk.

9. I think that I have a very creative side that also helps me in my scientific pursuits. I tend to come up with hypotheses and ideas for experiments at odd times. One of my favorite parts of my work is taking microscopy pictures.
On the other hand this creative streak can sometimes cause me trouble following conversations because something someone says reminds me of something else and my brain goes down its own little side-path. Before I know it, I make a comment that is totally unrelated to the conversation but makes perfect sense to me.

10. I am so incredibly proud of all of my daughters! They are everything I ever wanted to be- intelligent, strong, loving, beautiful, and confident women. I have just recently been able to gain some self-esteem and confidence in myself after I decided to talk to and encourage myself like I would them and not be so self-critical.

Well, I am sure that that is more than you ever wanted to know about me-and it is only the tip of the iceberg!

I am going to tag my sons-in-law John and Brittan, so I can add to my collection of family trivia.
I am also going to tag Brad and Caitlin, so look for their posts on this site.
Finally, I am going to tag my sister-in-law Shelly and her future daughter-in-law Monica to learn more about them.

Congratulations to Jake Long!

I am not sure if anyone has heard about this, but some guy that went through Winter Commencement at the University of Michigan with Therese was the overall Number 1 pick in the NFL Draft.



Jake Long would have been a top 5 pick if he had gone pro after his Junior season but decided to come back for his Senior season and get his degree. This turned out to be a very wise decision. By all accounts he is a great guy and deserving of his $30 Million guaranteed contract.



The wolverines will miss Jake's dominating presence on the offensive line next season but will somehow find a way to have a great season despite all the changes happening in Ann Arbor.



Go Blue!!







Jacki, Jake (not Jacki) Long and Therese prior to U of M Winter Commencement last December

Six word memoir - from Brad

Here it is....

Don't let regrets replace your dreams!

Brad

The Proclaimers in Ann Arbor! - I would walk 500 Miles....

The Proclaimers, the Scottish band that recorded the famous Roth Family classic wedding reception song; I'm Gonna Be... (500 Miles) will be in Ann Arbor for a concert later this month. They will be playing at The Ark which is a lengendary concert venue in Ann Arbor that has hosted many famous acts over the years.

I would love to see this band in person but unfortunately I will be out of town for a business meeting on 4/30/08. If anyone else is interested in seeing them you can check out one of the links here.

Brad

Dalai Lama Lecture

Brad and I went with our friends John and LeeAnne to see the Dalai Lama give the "Peter M. Wege Lecture on Sustainability". He was in Ann Arbor for three days, and this was the final talk- the other talks were on “Engaging Wisdom and Compassion”. On Friday, he was at Hill Auditorium for a discussion on "Buddhism and Art".
It was a fun day: we all went to early mass, then out for breakfast at Angelo's. I also gave them a short tour of the Biomedical Sciences Research Building (BSRB) and the Life Sciences Institute (LSI) where I work. The weather was gorgeous and we had a nice little walk around the medical campus before we headed to Crisler Arena for the lecture. We were able to find a parking spot nearby and walked past hundreds of Chinese protesters to reach the venue. It was a peaceful protest against the Dalai Lama's teaching about Tibet being separate from China, and to promote a peaceful Olympics in Beijing this summer. It was interesting to see and to read some of the literature they were handing out.
The lecture itself was general admission (I stood in line for 1.5 hours back in March to get tickets), but we were able to get great seats with a straight view to see and hear the Dalai Lama. I was glad that he gave the lecture in English, since the other talks had been through an interpreter. His English is very good, but he wanted to have the advantage of knowing all of the nuances of his native tongue for his spiritual teaching talks. He was a very interesting speaker, but the arena was pretty warm and stuffy, so it was hard to concentrate and stay awake. He also answered questions at the end and handed out some scholarship awards and gifts to the event organizers and sign language interpreters. He was very gracious; I am glad that we got the opportunity to see him speak.
*Update: The Dalai Lama lecture has been archived and is available here.

Almost 5K

Brad and I went on an "Almost 5K Walk/Run" this morning to benefit the U-M cancer survivorship program. We walked it-we are not runners-and it wasn't as bad as I had thought. I seem to have developed some exercise-induced asthma recently and I forgot my inhaler, but it was a pleasant morning. The last half was uphill, so it was a little harder going, but we actually ended up somewhere in the middle of the pack. Brad could have gone much faster, but we walked it together. I spent most of the rest of the day working on a PowerPoint presentation for our lab meeting on Tuesday morning. Brad did chores around the house and cleaned out my car for me :)

Caitlin had her NHS Dance Marathon last night (7PM-7AM) to benefit Mott Children's Hospital. Thanks so much to all the people who donated money; it is of course a cause very close to her heart, since they took such good care of her there in February. She had a fun time, and slept until the middle of the afternoon, then we went to feed the fish at the BSRB.

Six word memoir

About a month ago, Heidi tagged me to write a six word memoir. I couldn't really come up with anything and I sort of forgot about it. Well, I just remembered and decided to give it a shot. The rules are posted on Heidi's blog.
Here is my attempt:

Always an enigma, especially to myself

Brad and Caitlin may come up with their own later.
Here is one for our dog, Buddy:

Always on guard, protecting my family

I will tag a couple of other people, but I don't know many bloggers other than ones already tagged.

Lab lunch at Sadako

Aimee, Nahid, Yukiko, Amita, Jun, En Jun, Therese, Hebao, Varun, Trenton

Yukiko (the Principle Investigator-P.I.-of our lab) took the whole lab out to lunch on Friday at Sadako, a Japanese restaurant in Ann Arbor. We had been trying to find a time we could all get together, but it is hard to coordinate everyone's schedule and we had to reschedule several times before we finally managed to pull it off. It was delicious and we all had a great time. Trenton just decided to join our lab as a graduate student. It was also Aimee's last day, and we will miss her. I was glad to be able to get a picture of everyone.

Cover art

Great news! I just received word that a tumor cell image from one of my recent papers was chosen as the cover for the April 2008 issue of the journal Developmental Dynamics. My paper was published in the February 2008 issue. I am very excited and I hope they will send me a hard copy of the journal.
Here is a link to my first paper that was published in the August 2007 issue of the journal Glia.

Brad's first post here....

Hi folks....This is Brad and this is my first post on this blog. I had way too much practice when we set up the blog following Caitlin's situation with her brain tumor. Now it's time to post more mundane items as things have settled back to our old routines. Maybe now that both Therese and I can post on here we will update it more often.

Therese and I went to see Jesus Christ Superstar with our friends John and Lee Anne yesterday at the Fox Theatre in Detroit. We had not been there before and it is simply spectacular. What made it even better was John and Lee Anne treated us with tickets they got through John's work. We had private seating in one of the upper loge areas. This included a fabulous buffet dinner before the play and a great dessert during intermission. We also had drink service throughout the evening. I could get use to that kind of treatment!

This week I got my new company vehicle - another Dodge Grand Caravan. I have probably had about a dozen vans over the years for my company vehicle, but this is by far the nicest. It has many features I did not expect to get including automatic sliding doors and liftgate, an entertainment system that plays, my iPod, DVDs, satellite radio and even has video when backing up. It also has heated seats in the front and back. Hopefully we won't need them much longer this year. It has a ton of other nice features and should work out perfectly when we go on our road trip this summer with Jillian, Brit and Austin to visit Jacki and John in North Carolina.

This week we also had a new garage door installed. The door we had was one of those flat, one piece, cheap metal doors that had seen better days and had started to crack at the top. It was getting worse each time we opened and closed it. Rather than waiting for it to fall on one of our cars, we had a new one installed. The new door is the more modern sectional type and really looks nice. I took a couple pictures of the before and after....see below.

This afternoon we purchased a new game for our Wii system; Super Smash Brothers Brawl. It seems pretty complicated and Caitlin is just trying to figure it out now. Jacki and John are planning to purchase this game too. When they get it, we will be able to compete against each other on the game through the internet. That should be a lot of fun.

Caitlin update - She is feeling well and has gained back all the weight she lost since the surgery. She has been back to school for two weeks and is still trying to catch up. She was able to drop some classes that she does not need for graduation and that eased the burden. Caitlin's favorite part of being back in school is they gave her a key to the elevator! Her friends are so jealous....

Have a happy St. Patrick's Day!






Old garage door.


Old garage door with crack.

View of house with old garage door

New garage door.






View of house with new garage door.

Caitlin is doing great after her surgery

Caitlin is really doing well after her unexpected brain surgery on February 6. For all the details, check out the blog for her. She starts her physical therapy tomorrow, but I don't expect her to need much; although she is still a little unsteady and tires easily, she is getting around really well since she doesn't have the tumor affecting her coordination and causing headaches and nausea any more. She had the best care possible from the surgeons, nurses and everyone else at Mott Children's Hospital, and we are eternally grateful. Here are MRI pictures from about the same plane of section before (left) and after (right) the tumor was excised. Notice the line where her surgeon entered the cerebellum to remove the tumor and how the ventricle that was pinched shut was able to open for fluid to flow again.

She has her post-operative appointment with the surgeon Friday and we hope to get the final pathology report on the tumor. Although they are fairly confident that it was a pilocytic astrocytoma, we cannot be totally sure until we get the report.
We have also been so blessed in prayers from so many of our friends and family-I don't know what we would have done without all of their support. Last night my friend Melissa and her son Henry stopped by to visit and she brought some of her amazing seafood chowder for dinner. Caitlin and I both had two bowls of it-delicious! Caitlin should be back up to full strength very soon. She has received some of her school assignments and should get the rest of them this week. Her school actually has next week off for mid-winter break, so she will have another full week to recover before she returns to school and has to maneuver all of those steps (4 floors-her school is huge!).

Happy Birthday, Brad :)

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Brad,
Happy Birthday to you :-D
xoxox

This is one of my favorite pictures of Brad, holding one of our our best presents ever-our grandson Austin.

New job

It was two weeks ago today that I started my new job. Brad was very sweet and sent me flowers on my first day.
It has been going pretty well. I have been spending a lot of my time getting acquainted with the lab and building and getting a lot of paperwork filled out, as well as straightening out all my access issues.
I have also been busy reading journal articles and grants to better understand our lab's research focus. I had my first presentation at our lab journal club yesterday (it went very well!), and also talked to Yukiko about my specific project. I got my first vials of Drosophila (fruit flies-yes, just like those you see at home by the ripe bananas) yesterday to start my crosses! I need to wait for the next generation, though, which will take about ten days. I have also been learning and practicing some of the new techniques I will be using. Here is a phase-contrast picture from one of my first fruit fly dissections:

It is all very exciting, but also a little scary to start in such a different field from what what I worked on before. Everyone in my new lab has been very friendly and helpful, though, so that makes things much easier.

SMCC Hall of Fame

Brad and I went to see his brother Jude get inducted into our high school's Hall of Fame yesterday. It was a very big honor for him and we were glad to be able to share in the excitement. The whole family is very proud.
His mom and Ralph were even able to postpone their return to Florida to see him.
I also got to see a former classmate that I haven't seen since since graduation, Marcia Faber, and we had a chance to catch up for a few minutes.

Inhale...and cough

Sorry I have been away from blogging for so long; I have just not felt like posting lately. I will try to get back into it.
I went to the doctor last week to check out a persistent cough. I ended up with medication for GERD and an inhaler. Apparently, gastric reflux can cause a nagging cough and wheezing.
I also had blood work done since I am on Simvistatin for high cholesterol-everyone in my family seems to have high cholesterol, so it will probably always be a problem for me. Statins usually keep it under control, but this time my overall cholesterol was high, my HDL (good cholesterol) was low and my triglycerides quadrupled from normal to very high. No wonder I have not been feeling well! I had not been paying attention to what I had been eating or exercising regularly the past few months and during the holidays. It just goes to show how fast health can decline and the need for vigilance. I have been trying to get back to healthier eating and exercising; I am feeling better already.

Ph.D. commencement

Yesterday was my Ph.D. commencement from the University of Michigan-and also the first major snowstorm of the season! Some of the other universities in the area canceled their commencements, but the U-M bravely carried on. Some of the roads were very bad, as they hadn't been plowed yet, but others were okay. The parking lot of Crisler Arena had been cleared very well. Since we had given my mentor Kate a ride, we were able to park in the reserved area very close to the building. I was very bummed in the morning when I realized that none of my family or friends from out-of-town (and even most of the in-town ones) were going to be able to make it, but it turned out to be a very good day. Besides Brad and Caitlin, Jacki was able to be there since she came in on Wednesday. Other friends that were able to make it through the conditions were: Kate, Alisha, Martha, Melissa, Todd and Henry, John and Lee Anne, and Alexander and Alexandra. There was certainly plenty of food and cake for all! Of course, Saturday and today (Monday) were beautiful days, but Nature has her own plan. At least Caitlin got her wish and today was a snow day at school, so she got to sleep late.
Why do the shortest people always seem to be seated next to the biggest? Here is my mentor Kate with her seat mates.

The ceremony got started about a half hour late because of the weather conditions and only about half of the reserved seats for the graduates were filled, but it turned out to be a great graduation. This is Kate and me during the hooding part of the ceremony.As my mentor, Kate put the Ph.D. hood on me for the first time just before I received my diploma.
I even got to meet Francis Collins, our commencement speaker and the head of the Human Genome Project at the NIH. He and my mentor Kate were colleagues when he was a Professor at Michigan, and she got his autograph on a program for me. After the ceremony, Brad caught his attention and asked if we could take his picture, and mentioned that I worked on NF1 (one of the genes that Dr. Collins cloned while he was at Michigan). Dr. Collins asked me "Are you Therese? I just autographed a program to you for Kate". Then he graciously posed for a few pictures with me and talked with us for a few minutes. It was quite exciting for me to meet him and he was an extremely nice guy.

He is also a great speaker. He gave the best commencement address I have ever heard. After talking about some of the usual topics, he said that it is always important to keep a sense of humor, too. After telling us that he could not lecture on humor, he said that he would show us, instead. Then he pulled out his guitar and sang a song that he had written to the tune of "My Way". The song was not what you would expect from a man of his renown and stature! It was hilarious and brought down the house... I don't think any of us will forget that speech, unlike all of the other commencement speeches I have heard. I had my camera with me and taped each verse of the song separately. If you are interested in hearing them, I uploaded them to YouTube. Here are the links...
intro
verse 1
verse 2
verse 3
last verse

Busted

I was wrapping Christmas presents a couple of nights ago. As I started to wrap some books I bought for Jacki, I couldn't help but glance through one of them (a memoir-one of my favorite genres). Before I realized it, I was thoroughly engrossed. I thought I could finish it before Jacki arrived, but I wasn't done before we picked her up at the airport yesterday. I was finishing it last night in my study room when Jacki walked in and asked me what I was reading. Of course, I became flustered and "fessed up". While Jacki seemed rather amused (I think she is used to my idiosyncrasies), Caitlin (who tends to see things in black and white) was appalled. Anyway-I really liked the book and I hope that Jacki does, too.
Sorry about my "sneak preview" Jacki, but I hope we can discuss it when you finish.
Has anyone else ever read a gift book they bought before they gave it to the recipient?

Tagged (weird, random facts about me)

I've been tagged by Jacki!

Rules
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 4 random and/or weird things about yourself.
3. Tag 4 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

A lot of my weird, random facts are similar to Jacki's. I guess we are a lot alike :) I will add a few extra ones to the end, because I am very weird and random ;)

1. I changed the spelling of my name in the first grade. It is spelled Theresa on my birth certificate, but there was a girl in my grade who spelled her name Therese-I decided that I liked it better and I have been spelling it that way ever since. It is Therese on all of my legal documents and everywhere else, so please don't spell it with an 'a'.

2. I also find grammar and spelling mistakes very irritating, and I am my own biggest critic. I often use a dictionary to verify spellings and definitions, even when I am fairly confident. If I make a mistake that I can't fix, I tend to obsess over it and feel really dumb.

3. I live in Michigan but I don't especially like snow or cold weather. I would be happy if it only snowed during the week between Christmas and New Year Day, or if snow and ice did not stick to sidewalks and streets and make them dangerous to navigate.

4. I get terrible motion sickness, but unlike Jacki, it has gotten slightly better as I've gotten older. I still always wear a patch behind my ear when I travel, though even that doesn't always help.

5. I have a Facebook page, which isn't so weird in itself except that most of my friends are 10-25 years younger than I am. Of course, that is because I have been such a non-traditional student and I know most of my Facebook friends through school. It makes so much easier to keep in touch with people, even though I tend to forget to check my page and to update it.

6. I love new technology (yes, I really said that, Jacki) and I like to have the newest versions of computer software. I think I may have been born 20 years too early, because my personality seems much better suited to the newer ways of doing things-shopping online, digital imaging, keeping in contact through email, blogging...

7. Even though I enjoy vacationing with my family, I also like to travel alone. I have taken solo trips to Australia, London, and Aspen and really enjoyed the freedom of setting my own itinerary. Even though my trips were science seminar-related, I had a fair amount of free time, too. I usually like to walk around, take pictures of the sights and people-watch without being rushed. It's a lot easier to meet people from other places when I am by myself, too, since I often ask for directions, or recommendations on where/what to eat, sights to see...

Well, I guess I will save the rest of my weird, random facts for another post.

I am going to tag Jillian, Shelly, and Cindy because they are the only people I know who blog that Jacki (and Heidi) didn't tag already.