See-scientists do have a sense of humor

Yeah-I think it's funny :-)
BTW-Drosophila are fruit flies-and they are the model system that we use in my postdoc lab.

It's coming...leaving the nest

Caitlin will be off to college soon! She received her first semester class schedule in an email, along with links to building locations and professors. Her first Biology discussion session is with the professor for whom I was a summer intern back in 2001.

We also attended our area's sendoff party for first-year Hope students. She was able to meet some of her future classmates; one guy has his own web-designing business and is teaching himself Japanese. She even won a door prize-a Hope travel mug.

The sendoff was at a picnic shelter in Farmington Hills. There was a birds' nest in one of the rafters with baby birds in it (see photo above). They were pretty much overflowing the nest, so they must have been very close to leaving the nest, too (just like my baby). As I took a picture, the mother bird flew in to feed them and I got the shot just as they opened their mouths. I really like this picture; I wonder if the mother bird will miss her babies, too.

We're finally back - lots to catch up on.....

Wow...It has been over six weeks since we last posted. It hasn't been because there was nothing to post, but rather that we were too busy to write anything.....If you attempt to read the entire post, you may want to do it in a couple of sessions.....

And now a quick update on what we have been doing since the beginning of June:

June 4th - Caitlin graduated from Ann Arbor Huron High School - Home of the River Rats!! The ceremony was long since they had more than 500 graduates. Caitlin went to the all night party afterward and had a great time.
June 7th - Caitlin had her graduation party in Sandusky at Chett & Matt's Pizza - Always a regular stop when we are in Sandusky. We had a lot of fun spending time with family and friends while eating lots of Hot Wing & Cheddar Pizza.

Week of June 9th - We had a new driveway poured this week. The old driveway was full of cracks and really needed to be replaced when we moved in, but we tried to put it off for a while. The city of Ann Arbor had gone around town marking sidewalks that needed to be replaced and they said that two of the ones by the driveway needed to be done. Since we had to do that, I got a whole bunch of estimates and found a very reasonable one. This company was from a small town south of Ann Arbor and has been in business for three generations but was still a small family business. I checked out their references and saw some of their work and they got the job. We now have a new approach, four pieces of sidewalk, a small sidewalk path to the front porch and new front step. This made a huge difference in the look of our property, especially since we replaced the garage door several weeks ago too. They admitted that they gave me a better price because we are the first house in our development and they wanted the chance to get more business in our neighborhood. It worked out for both of us....I got a real good price (and a nice job) and they were able to get several other jobs in the neighborhood. They were there for a couple weeks on all the other work they got.

Weekend of June 14th - Brad & Therese met Jillian, Britt and Austin in Toledo and piled in the van to drive to Mason, OH for the wedding of one of Jillian's best friends from college. (Caitlin stayed home with Buddy) We loved spending some quality time with Austin while Jillian and Britt went to the rehearsal dinner, etc. It was a fun trip and served as a warm up for the upcoming trip to North Carolina.
June 21st - Therese's cousin Tim and his family (from Texas) and her sister Jackie and her kids (from Virginia) were visiting Sandusky so her brother John hosted a small family reunion for those who could make it. We all had a fun time catching up and playing games.




June 26th - My cousin Kevin and his wife Robin along with their children Theo and Loren came to visit us while they were "up North". (Kevin and Robin are both Doctors at the University of Alabama at Birmingham). They spent some time with Kevin's family in Sandusky and did the Cedar Point thing. Then they drove up to Ann Arbor to spend a little time with us before Theo checked out the University of Michigan's Engineering School the next day. We cooked some ribs and chicken and had a lot of fun telling old stories and playing Wii Fit. They have a Wii game but have not played the Wii Fit before. They were pretty good at the games and we had a lot of laughs.

June 27 - July 7th - The family road trip to visit the Schreiners in North Carolina!! We had been planning this trip for months and figured it would take about 14 hours so we decided to leave on Friday evening when Austin was ready to sleep. We drove to Sandusky from Ann Arbor on Friday afternoon, put Buddy in the kennel, picked up a car top carrier from a relative of Britt's family (a whole other story). After getting everything securely attached, we packed the van up and headed south. I just got a new Dodge Grand Caravan Stow and Go a few months ago and it worked out perfectly for the trip. We were able to pack everything we needed (especially golf clubs) without being too cramped. The carrier worked out great and we never had a problem (thank goodness, because I wouldn't want Mark to find out about it if the carrier fell off or something crazy like that - I would never hear the end of it....).

I drove the entire way and Therese road shotgun while she felt the knockout effects of the motion sickness patch she used. Caitlin and Austin sat in the two middle seats while Jillian and Britt had a little extra room in the back three seats. When we got to Jacki and John's house, we parked, unloaded the van and never moved it again until we left for home. It felt good to have a week off of driving. Most places we went to required us to take two vehicles so we took John's big Ram truck and Jacki's new Toyota that she just got a few weeks ago.

One small problem when we unpacked - we found that a bottle of corn syrup had broken in the bottom of the Stow and Go sections and created quite a mess. Thanks to John's shop vac and lots of soap and water we got it cleaned up as good as new. (note to self - next time buy the Scotcheroo ingredients after you get to your destination.)


The week was probably one of the best vacations we ever had. We spent time playing Euchre, Phase Ten, watching John and Britt play GTA, golfing, playing cornhole, playing darts, playing Caitlin's new Nintendo DS, watching movies, cooking and eating a lot of food! Jacki made some great breakfast food - it was like being at a very nice bed and breakfast with an awesome rate! We went to play miniature golf at a pretty fun place and went to a very nice aquarium for one afternoon. Austin really liked banging on the glass of the huge tank and sharks swam by and he even touched a stingray in one of the tanks.

Jacki had set things up for us to get a family picture taken at the beach on Tuesday of that week. It was a beautiful evening and we got some fantastic pictures of the entire family as well as various group shots of families, girls, guys, etc. We ended up buying the rights to all the pictures so we could make use of Therese and Jacki's Photoshop skills to get copies of any pictures we wanted. My favorite is the entire family walking along the water and jumping in the air. Some of those shots turned out great.

While we were there, Jillian and Britt told us the big news - They are expecting again! After we returned, it was confirmed and the due date is 2/27/09. We all look forward to the new addition to the family!

While in North Carolina we went to visit Joe and Collette Samstag. Brad graduated with both of them and Joe is actually Britt's great uncle. Brad, John, Britt and Joe went golfing in the afternoon and later the others came to meet us and take a tour of Hatteras Yachts where Joe works. We were able to walk through several huge yachts to see how the other half (maybe .00001%) lives. One of the yachts was 110 feet long, but you can pick it up for less than $10 Million....They were incredible.

We then went to Joe and Collette's for a nice cookout and evening together. Joe pulled out a picture of the old "Vulture 50/50 club" from high school that he still has in a frame (if you don't know, ask me about it sometime.) I'm glad we had the chance to get together while we were there.
Austin decided to start walking the day we got back to Jillian and Britt's, so Jacki and John didn't get to witness that. He did learn to say "Jacki" while we were there, though :)



July 8th - We took Caitlin to meet her group to begin their trip to Australia. The trip was two weeks long with one of the weeks being World Youth Day that brought about 200,000 young people from throughout the world to see the Pope and take part in various activities. The first week was "Days in the Diocese" and Caitlin stayed with a family and took part in many activities and sightseeing. We only communicated by e-mail a couple times and have not talked with her since they left. We will be picking her up late Monday night (early Tuesday morning). We look forward to seeing all the pictures and hearing the stories of the trip.

While Caitlin was in Australia, she got the notice of who her Hope College roommate would be. Her roommate is from California and we e-mailed the info to Caitlin. The next day, we noticed that they were already friends on Facebook. Wow, this internet thing may catch on after all...haha


Week of July 14th - The Annual Ann Arbor Arts Fairs were held this week. There are actually four different fairs, and two of them are among the largest art fairs in the country-drawing exhibitors and attendees from all over the U.S. and several foreign countries. They say that about 500,000 people attended in the four days of the festival. Therese again had some of her artwork displayed and for sale at the BioArtography booth. She also worked the booth for several hours on Friday.
Therese and I went to the fair 3 of the 4 days and did not come close to seeing everything. On Friday night, Therese and I went to the fairs with our friends John and Lee Anne after a cookout at their home. It was a lot of fun and Therese bought a hand-painted scarf.



If you have read this far in one sitting I would be pretty amazed. Thanks for checking it out and have a great summer!

10 things about Brad

I have been "tagged" and have to provide some info about myself. Here it is. Have fun.....

1) All the males in my immediate family (Dad and 4 brothers) have 4 letters in each of their names; First Middle, Last and even Confirmation name. My Confirmation name is Eric – It fit in the numbering scheme and who hasn’t heard of St. Eric?

2) Many years ago when the group Hanson (MmmBop) was big, we took the girls to several concerts and needless to say their music was in our house all the time. I was actually a fan of their music and every day when I got home from work I would sing the title of one of their biggest hits – Where’s the Love…? It was a little embarrassing when we had company at the house that I didn’t know about.

3) Speaking of music, did you ever notice how many songs you can insert the words “Uncle Joe” in and make it rhyme? Probably not. I usually try to insert our kids’ names into songs when we drive down the road, but it is always easier to make Uncle Joe work for just about any song Try it sometime…(Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Uncle Joe!) – See, I told you ;-)

4) My left leg is shorter than the right and my right calf muscle is still noticeably larger than my left due to a childhood disease I had (Legg-Calvé-Perthes Disease) when I was 7 – 10 years old. A few weeks ago I was with another person from my company from St. Louis who recently had a hip replacement. While discussing this, I found out that he had the same disease as a child. I have not had any problems with my hip and hope I don’t need that surgery.

5) People find it odd that I can cheer for The Ohio State University (by Birthright), Notre Dame (by Baptismal Rite) and Michigan (Geography and following the money trail – Therese received her Master’s and PhD from Michigan and is employed by the University). Most people that follow one of these teams hate at least one of the other teams.

6) When I graduated from High School, three friends and I bought a car for $25 (1963 Dodge 330 Special with a “Three on the Tree”!) and drove it all the way to Florida and back. When we got back, I drove the car in a Demolition Derby at the Erie Country Fair. Four years later I drove another car in the Demo Derby.

7) I did a parachute jump while I was in college. My sister Sharon, Mike Trautman and Rob Lauber (Rest in Peace) went to visit Kevin Roth at the University of Michigan and did the jump at a small airport near Ann Arbor. When we got back we were interviewed by the Sandusky Register and they had a big article in the paper with pictures. I am not sure if it was just big news in Sandusky or if it was because we had a relative working at the newspaper.

8) I was on the St. Mary’s 8th grade football team and even started a few games at defensive back although I weighed less than 80 lbs. soaking wet. When I went for a football physical the next year, the doctor said he wouldn’t sign the form because I was too small to play – That was the end of my football career. To this day, I am not sure if my mom told him to do that or not. It was probably a good decision but I was devastated. I still had a dream that I would hit a growth spurt and end up being 6’ 5” and 285 lbs. I am still working on the weight part, but I have given up on the height.

9) I have traveled a lot with my career as well as some vacationing. At last count, I have been to about 43 states and 10 foreign countries. Someday I hope to visit all of the states and more foreign countries. I would love to go to Australia- Therese was there last year and Caitlin is going there for two weeks next month. I am still waiting…..

10) Although many people think that mini-vans are only for soccer moms (Hi John) I love driving a mini-van. By my best estimate, I have had about 10 different mini-vans as my company vehicle over the years and even owned two other ones. These vehicles are extremely versatile and the one I currently have has a ton of nice features. Since I drive about 35,000 miles a year, it is important to have a comfortable, convenient and safe vehicle.

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.