Random Grad Happs
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Losing Weight Recap
Remember back in August I went through the third installation of the Ultimate Weight Lose Challenge? Check out the I'm Fat tag for August. Well now that I got my pictures off my camera I can show the results. Let's look back:
This first image was taken my last day in Chicago while I was feeling extra bad about myself.
This next image was taken a day or so after I got back from Chicago. The stomach is a little smaller because I wasn't eating giant deep dish pizzas anymore.
This picture is the last picture I took during the UWLC3. Notice the redness on my stomach. I had gone out for a run MID-day to tan up. Backfired big time...
Finally here is a side-by-side of those last two images.
I assure you, I am not sucking in. That is the real deal. Unfortunately, now a days I look more like the top picture.
This first image was taken my last day in Chicago while I was feeling extra bad about myself.
This next image was taken a day or so after I got back from Chicago. The stomach is a little smaller because I wasn't eating giant deep dish pizzas anymore.
This picture is the last picture I took during the UWLC3. Notice the redness on my stomach. I had gone out for a run MID-day to tan up. Backfired big time...
Finally here is a side-by-side of those last two images.
I assure you, I am not sucking in. That is the real deal. Unfortunately, now a days I look more like the top picture.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Halloween 2009
Billy Mays here for the Randomly Grad Life. Do you get bored surfing the internet? Do you frequently struggle to hit the correct keys on the keyboard? Do you wish there was just somewhere else to go? Well there is just by going to the Randomly Grad Life, the cure for the common blog!
Here are the costumes Stef and I made for Halloween. Stef is dressed as Rafael from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I am Billy Mays equipped with Oxi Clean, Kaboom, and the Zorbees (not Shamwow!). It was a great night and everyone loved our costumes. People had me pitching things all night long and couldn't get enough! Stef's costume was a blast to make. Here is what we did:
The shell comes from a costume we bought off eBay. It was a boy's costume and we cut off the arms and legs so we were left with the front shell. We then bought some metallic green and shiny red fabric and made the costume. We made a cylindrical piece from the green fabric for a tube skirt. Then we fastened a zipper to two pieces of fabric, one small and one large (both green). The small piece was sewed to one side of the front shell, and the large piece was sewed to the other side. We did this so that the zipper would be under her right arm. This would make the top. We then used some red fabric to make some frills on the bottom of the front shell. We cut out two equal width strips of red fabric to make the belt and the mask. In the mask we cut nose and eye holes. In the back shell we glued two pieces of green fabric to which we attached some velcro. We attached the complimentary piece of velcro to the sides of the top. We then bought some ninja sais to complete the costume.
What's new in ABQ?
Since my Candidacy Exam I have not been too active on the blog. I apologize and I'll get back on it slowly but surely. As you know my A-Exam (what Koch calls the Candidacy, my Dissertation is the B-Exam) was successful. My presentation was the complete opposite of the practice exam I provided for all you on slideshare. It went really smooth and from what I've been told, everyone was really impressed. What else has been going on? Hmmm, let me think...
Well my constant battles with weight has grown out of control. I have ballooned up (again), but I believe this is due to the fact that I have not been able to work out. Ever since the A-exam I feel like I'm in A-Exam mode and have to get a ton of stuff done at all times. While this self-stress allows me to be super-productive in lab, I come home and feel like I can't do enough. I will get back in the gym soon though.
Halloween was yesterday. Last year I learned how to use a sewing machine and made Protoman come to life. Within a couple days after that I decided to become Billy Mays. Stef had more trouble deciding what to be and it wasn't until earlier in October this year that we figured it out. I convinced her to be a ninja turtle, but only on the condition that it would be designed for a girl. Well I got to employ those sewing skills yet again and helped her become a female version of Rafael. We got pictures of the aftermath, and I'll post those soon.
This reminds me. I lost the cable to my camera so I haven't been able to post any pictures since August. Well I owe a lot and at least the "I'm Fat" from after August. So expect that in a week or so.
The weather here in ABQ has been strange. September was pretty warm with temperatures in the 80's and October has been pretty cold. So much so that we had snow twice this week! Apparently here in the Southwest we go from Summer to Winter and skip right past fall. This week looks to give me something back as the temperature will be in the 60's. I have lost my skin, because that is cold to me now. I remember being in Albany and when it was 30 degrees I would consider that hot!
Speaking of seasons, I'm ready for the Christmas one. Not because I love presents (which I do), or because I'm uber-religious (which I'm not), but because every new holiday brings a new kind of Reese's creation and the hope that they'll unveil some kind of oversized version. Valentine's Day brought me a giant Reese's heart, Easter brought me some giant Reese's eggs, and the other holidays have been huge letdowns. Halloween (definitely top 2 of candy holidays) gave me a big fat nothing in terms of the giant Reese's which was a surprise. Here's hoping that Christmas provides! If it doesn't I'm writing a letter to Mr. Reese himself to complain.
Finally I'd like to talk about sports. The Yankees are in the world series... yay. That's all I'll say cause I'm not too big on baseball, but since they are the only good NY team I'll have to hold onto something. The Giants are lowsy. As of today, they have lost their last 3 games in miserable fashion. They look like a shell of their former selves and the defense is terrible. My fantasy team (which has only 1 Giants player) is suffering also for some unknown reason.
Lastly, basketball season is here! The Knicks are terrible though. They have lost their first 3 games, although the last two they mounted huge comebacks. In both games, they were down by at least 20 points and came back. One game went to double OT, and the other went to OT. Needless to say, they lost both. Danilo Gallinari looks pretty good though and he'll break some records this season.
Last year I bought NBA League Pass broadband (so I can watch the games online), and I'm struggling to decide if I should do it this year. For $5 more than last season, I can watch only 7 teams all year round. Last year I was able to watch any game. This year, David Stern has decided to jew me out. Oh well. I don't think I want to watch the Knicks lose anyways.
Well my constant battles with weight has grown out of control. I have ballooned up (again), but I believe this is due to the fact that I have not been able to work out. Ever since the A-exam I feel like I'm in A-Exam mode and have to get a ton of stuff done at all times. While this self-stress allows me to be super-productive in lab, I come home and feel like I can't do enough. I will get back in the gym soon though.
Halloween was yesterday. Last year I learned how to use a sewing machine and made Protoman come to life. Within a couple days after that I decided to become Billy Mays. Stef had more trouble deciding what to be and it wasn't until earlier in October this year that we figured it out. I convinced her to be a ninja turtle, but only on the condition that it would be designed for a girl. Well I got to employ those sewing skills yet again and helped her become a female version of Rafael. We got pictures of the aftermath, and I'll post those soon.
This reminds me. I lost the cable to my camera so I haven't been able to post any pictures since August. Well I owe a lot and at least the "I'm Fat" from after August. So expect that in a week or so.
The weather here in ABQ has been strange. September was pretty warm with temperatures in the 80's and October has been pretty cold. So much so that we had snow twice this week! Apparently here in the Southwest we go from Summer to Winter and skip right past fall. This week looks to give me something back as the temperature will be in the 60's. I have lost my skin, because that is cold to me now. I remember being in Albany and when it was 30 degrees I would consider that hot!
Speaking of seasons, I'm ready for the Christmas one. Not because I love presents (which I do), or because I'm uber-religious (which I'm not), but because every new holiday brings a new kind of Reese's creation and the hope that they'll unveil some kind of oversized version. Valentine's Day brought me a giant Reese's heart, Easter brought me some giant Reese's eggs, and the other holidays have been huge letdowns. Halloween (definitely top 2 of candy holidays) gave me a big fat nothing in terms of the giant Reese's which was a surprise. Here's hoping that Christmas provides! If it doesn't I'm writing a letter to Mr. Reese himself to complain.
Finally I'd like to talk about sports. The Yankees are in the world series... yay. That's all I'll say cause I'm not too big on baseball, but since they are the only good NY team I'll have to hold onto something. The Giants are lowsy. As of today, they have lost their last 3 games in miserable fashion. They look like a shell of their former selves and the defense is terrible. My fantasy team (which has only 1 Giants player) is suffering also for some unknown reason.
Lastly, basketball season is here! The Knicks are terrible though. They have lost their first 3 games, although the last two they mounted huge comebacks. In both games, they were down by at least 20 points and came back. One game went to double OT, and the other went to OT. Needless to say, they lost both. Danilo Gallinari looks pretty good though and he'll break some records this season.
Last year I bought NBA League Pass broadband (so I can watch the games online), and I'm struggling to decide if I should do it this year. For $5 more than last season, I can watch only 7 teams all year round. Last year I was able to watch any game. This year, David Stern has decided to jew me out. Oh well. I don't think I want to watch the Knicks lose anyways.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Shotgun DNA Mapping Poorly Described with Sound!
Practice Candidacy Exam
View more presentations from Anthony Salvagno.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Blogger's Hiatus
I have been a bad boy when it comes to working on the blog. I have an I'm Fat ready to be put on Youtube, but haven't had the time to upload it and edit. I also have a whole slew of blog posts but again haven't had the time. What's been keeping me so busy? Why, the reason this very blog exists in the first place... Grad School!
I have been busting my hump trying to get an experiment working and have had a whole slew of stuff to deal with in terms of that. I won't get into it now though. Right now we are in the final stages of Shotgun DNA Mapping and I'm just trying to put all the pieces where they need to be. I have one week to get it done before I go off on my next venture.
That venture will be my candidacy exam. This is a presentation that I give that proves that I deserve to be in the PhD program and upon completion have 2 years to complete my goal, which would be Shotgun Chromatin Mapping. I know, you don't know what the hell I'm talking about but my "Research Explained" posts will return to explain the lovely details of this project. Unfortunately they will not come until late in October because I need to dedicate all my time on my research and my presentation which right now is scheduled for Oct 20. I will have one post between now and then, and that will be to tell everyone (the whole world) when and how you can see my talk.
Also one last update. As you all know I have delved into graphic design over the past couple of years and I am ready to take my skills public. Launching soon will be a company dedicated to graphic design. Right now it is kinda just images (illustrator), but I want to branch out into movies (flash), websites, photography (photoshop), etc. I hope to have a website by the end of the year. Only time will tell. But the reason for the update is I received my first customer last week (just before I went to Vegas) and just completed the job for him. I won't show you the logo just yet because I don't know how trademarks work and all that, but when my employer gets a website I will link you there. So excited!
I have been busting my hump trying to get an experiment working and have had a whole slew of stuff to deal with in terms of that. I won't get into it now though. Right now we are in the final stages of Shotgun DNA Mapping and I'm just trying to put all the pieces where they need to be. I have one week to get it done before I go off on my next venture.
That venture will be my candidacy exam. This is a presentation that I give that proves that I deserve to be in the PhD program and upon completion have 2 years to complete my goal, which would be Shotgun Chromatin Mapping. I know, you don't know what the hell I'm talking about but my "Research Explained" posts will return to explain the lovely details of this project. Unfortunately they will not come until late in October because I need to dedicate all my time on my research and my presentation which right now is scheduled for Oct 20. I will have one post between now and then, and that will be to tell everyone (the whole world) when and how you can see my talk.
Also one last update. As you all know I have delved into graphic design over the past couple of years and I am ready to take my skills public. Launching soon will be a company dedicated to graphic design. Right now it is kinda just images (illustrator), but I want to branch out into movies (flash), websites, photography (photoshop), etc. I hope to have a website by the end of the year. Only time will tell. But the reason for the update is I received my first customer last week (just before I went to Vegas) and just completed the job for him. I won't show you the logo just yet because I don't know how trademarks work and all that, but when my employer gets a website I will link you there. So excited!
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