Sparkles and GFP

Look! I painted my nails!

Aren't they sparkly and pretty? Yeah, I know. You're all just jealous. But wait, there's more: they glow in the dark!

See?

What's that? You can't see? You mean glow-in-the-dark nails don't show up on film? Dang. Stupid camera...

Well, trust me, my nails glow and they are awesome. Thank you Relief Society!

Dr. Carpenstein shall sign off now.

P.S. If you're curious about the title, GFP stands for "green fluorescent protein". I don't know if that's actually what makes this stuff glow, but I know that GFP glows. Trust me, my biochem lab has given me a LOT of experience with this stuff.

P.P.S. Don't you love our sad noises on the video? Oh, and by the way, Sarah was photographer and videographer for the night. Thanks sis!

A Rainy Day with the Carpensteins

Ok, originally this was going to be a short post about how some birds pooped all over my car at work today. And I mean ALL over. See?

(That's just one view. There was lots more.)

And then I went inside and more interesting stuff happened. So, let's see where this post goes.

It all started with my little brother. Here he is.

About 30 seconds after I walked in the door, Zach says "Let's go ride bikes." Being the wonderfully spontaneous *ahem* person that I am, I say yes. (I can't even remember the last time I rode a bike, so this is bound to be an adventure.) After lots of staring at the air compressor and one phone call to the daddy, we got some tires pumped up and Zach's friend Spencer joined us for our ride.

Ah, the memories that came flooding back riding down our street on the way to the park. (Only this time it was cold.) Seriously, I was worried I wouldn't even be able to stay upright on that thing. But, turns out the whole "just like riding a bike" saying is true. We pedaled our way through the neighborhood and made it to the park (even with the wind almost knocking us over). I wish I'd had my camera with me once we got there. I may have to go back tomorrow and take a picture of Lake Emerald Park. Gotta love that rain! :) After looking at all of the water, we rode back home so we could feel our faces and hands again. Here's us in the garage after our ride.

(Sadly, this was the best picture of me with the bike.)


Zachy really likes our old school bike.


Admire my wind-blown hair!

After we warmed up, my parents left for some scout dinner, leaving us children ("the three younger ones", as we used to be called) to feed ourselves. Scary, I know. Want to know what we came up with? Well then, you're in luck, because I took *pictures!* (That's my sing-song voice, in case you wanted to know.)

We had:

Leftover beans and rice from Chino Bandidos


Fish sticks and Totino's pizza rolls

And I had salad and carrots.
(The other children did not want rabbit food.)

Moral of the story: the three younger ones need more cooking lessons.

This is Dr. Carpenstein, signing off.

Semester 8, Day 2

Well, day 2 of school has come and gone. It's been a long day. Good, but long. I have to say, it's been a long time since I've been outside before the sun comes up. But, if you want to get to an 8:30 class on time and you're taking the bus, that's what it takes. At least it was easier to tell when the bus was close by. (Thank you orange route information on the top of the bus!)

First off, I got to learn about drugs. No, really. My big chemistry class for the semester (in fact, my only major-required class) is medicinal chemistry. And it just happens to be taught by one of my *favorite* (note the sarcasm) teachers: Skibo. (In class I may refer to him as Professor or Dr. Skibo, but in my mind, he has no such title.) I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with him (again, in my mind--I don't think I can be mean to him in person. I'd be too scared.). Ok, so maybe he's not really that intimidating, but his classes are hard. I had him for o chem my sophomore year. Let's just say I have never been as happy--or worked so hard--to get a B in my life. But, I'm determined that this class is going to be awesome. Really, how many people get to go to class and learn about meth and cocaine? (Those were definitely in our slides today. No joke.) I'm actually really excited to learn all of this stuff. Now, I may need to be reminded of this excitement, oh, around February 21st, but maybe I'll actually keep up with the reading and "optional" homework assignments this time. Maybe.

Enough about that. Today, I also went to my ballroom dancing class for the first time. "Wait, ballroom and med chem?" you say. Oh yes, my friends. This is what happens when you take no elective classes for 7 semesters and suddenly have 9 credit hours of electives to fill. And you're me. I come up with some weird combinations. Food, clothes, class schedules, you name it. Anyways, I was super worried about this class. I know, probably silly, but the thought of taking a dance class at ASU with absolutely no one I knew was a bit scary. Oh, and the syllabus made it sound like it was going to be this really intense class. (It said we would have to draw out notations of each dance step. Psh.) Turns out, the class is AWESOME! I had so much fun--I don't think I've laughed that much in a long time. My partners probably thought I was crazy (actually, I'm pretty sure one did for a while), but I had fun. Hooray for a classroom full of people who have no idea of what they're doing!

Well, I hope I haven't bored you all to death. I'm sure I'll have all sorts of great stories for you once my classes really get going. Good luck to everyone starting out a new semester! (Or job or something else. You know.)

Dr. Carpenstein out.

IT'S ALIVE!

Hello all. I figured it was about time for me to start a blog. (How else am I going to get in touch with some of you non-Facebook-ers? :) )

So, about the name. I figure, being a biochemistry major qualifies me as a "scientist". As for the mad part, well, just wait for me to post a little more and you'll see how applicable that is. (I promise.) You know, I had all these ideas about what my first post would have. It would be brilliant, of course, and funny, and tell you all about me. But, now that I'm typing this, I'm drawing a blank. Hmm...what to say...well, I guess I'll leave all of that for another day.


This is Dr. Carpenstein, signing off.