I was transforming some bacteria today when I realized that we heat-shock competent cells at 42 degrees. FORTY-TWO! Why, that’s the meaning of life, the universe, and everything! Now THERE’s something to think about. Well, until that movie comes out, I’ve been taking more advantage of my Blockbuster online membership lately. Among the better flicks I’ve watched were Ray and Ocean’s 12. I also saw… Saw, which had an interesting plot, but horrible acting. I even got some episodes from the first season of Star Trek: TNG to relive my bygone days as a high school geek. Btw, is it just me, or have any of those guys actually aged since the series began? Beside Jonathan Frakes growing a mustache, I don’t think they’ve changed at all!

Since returning from vacation, I’ve been consumed by the desire to recapture the ramen experience which made the trip to Hawaii so memorable. A visit to Sapporo Ramen at Porter Exchange yesterday, however, was less than satisfactory. Though the noodles were fresh and springy, they were drenched in a bland, uninspired soup base with an uninviting herbal odor. With Boston being so deprived of Japanese noodle shops, I’m beginning to fear that our options are dwindling. I also got a chance to pull my tennis racquet out of hibernation for the warm spring weather. But after an embarrassing hour of play, I feel like I’ll be needing a LOT of practice. By the way, for those of you who wanna see more pics from Hawaii, check out the travel page.

When I returned to work this morning and people asked me what the best part of my Hawaii vacation was, I naturally replied “noodles.” Yes, noodles. More specifically, Japanese noodles. After spending a week in this Pacific island paradise, I’m convinced that our 50th state is really just a small piece of tropical Asia colonized by the U.S. to cash in on Japanese tourists. Even at the airport, I noticed that signs were printed in English and Japanese (not Spanish). Even more, among the usual McDonald’s and Burger King at the airport was a noodle shop! I knew then that I’ve come to the right place. We arrived late Saturday afternoon to explore Waikiki, where we dined on authentic shouyu ramen in a shop that was actually run by real Japanese people (what a concept!). We spent Sunday morning at the beach and had some freshly-made cold soba for lunch before our day tour of the island. The evening concluded with a dinner cruise along the Honolulu skyline, which would’ve been okay if not for the roar of rowdy high school punks on one side, and squealing Japanese girls on the other. Monday was a bit more laid back with a tour of Pearl Harbor, a hearty nabeyaki udon bowl for lunch, and a lazy afternoon at the Waikiki Aquarium and beach. Actually, we had originally intended on going snorkeling at the picturesque Hanauma Bay, but alas our plans were foiled by the evil jellyfish (curse you and your squiggly tentacles!). And since it was Melody’s birthday, we took her out for a fancy sunset dinner at Hoku’s, overlooking the Mandarin Oriental Hotel’s private beach on the Diamond Head. On Tuesday, we hiked up to Manoa Falls in the morning, and spent the rest of the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center, which despite its educational-sounding name, turned out more like a low-budget amusement park with Tahitian hula-dancers, Samoan fire-eaters, and a spectacular evening show. Our last day was spent on the “Big Island” of Hawaii, where we got to wander over vast spans of crusted lava flow at Volcanoes National Park as we pondered the power of mighty Pele. This is no joke, as you can witness from this novelty pen I found in a souvenir shop. The thing I hate most about vacations is the trip back. Not only do you realize that your long-awaited week of pleasure is over and that you’ll only have work to look forward to, but that you’re also at the farthest possible time point from your next vacation. The absolute farthest. Any earlier, and you’d still be on vacation.

It’s been a while since I last remember seeing sunlight before heading to bed. This week, however, has given me plenty of opportunities to revisit those good old times. Hello, sunrise… we meet again. Over the past week, I’ve been surviving on less than 4 hours of sleep each night working first on that journal club, and then my fellowship which I managed to submit right before the due time of noon today. Heck, I was EARLY. It’s just 11:58am right now 😉 I’m actually surprised I haven’t crashed yet. In fact, I’m running on so much adrenaline I have trouble going to sleep! Anyway, I just have to present my poster at the HST forum this afternoon and then do a review session for my Pharm class this evening, and it’ll soon be Aloha from the Pacific!

My mind’s been so cluttered lately I don’t even know where to begin. I’ve got a study card due tomorrow, though I’m still not sure what to take. I also have a fellowship due next week which, after staring at it for 2 weeks, I’m just too tired to care about anymore. On top of that, I’m supposed to present the departmental journal club on a paper that’s about as interesting as a small block of wood. Meanwhile, I’m also juggling like 8 different experiments which I can’t keep track of ’cause my boss keeps asking me how they’re going. By the way, if this is beginning to sound bitter, that’s ’cause I am. For some strange reason, I’ve also got this old Red Hot Chili Peppers song stuck in my head. You know, the one that goes: “How loooong… How loo-ooo-oong will I slide… Separate my siii-iii-iiide…” It doesn’t help, of course, that I keep it looping on my mp3 playlist, but such is the way of the obsessive-compulsive. All in all, the week’s been turning into some really warped acid trip for my little brain.

This weekend consisted of good music, some magic cream, and a full-body massage… not all at the same sitting, of course (though the thought IS coming to mind as I type =P). On Saturday, we headed over to the Kresge at MIT for the regional semifinals and finals of the ICCA, which among the various collegiate a capella groups from the Northeast, featured the professional vocal group Ball In The House. These five guys literally blew me away with an amazing performance combining pop rock, R&B, and hip hop with no other instruments but their voices. First place ultimately went to BU’s all-male group the Dear Abbeys who was clearly a class beyond their competitors. Though I was starting to zone out toward the end of the 4 hours, it did bring back some fond memories of my bygone days in chorus. On Sunday morning, we invited a few friends over as test subjects for some new recipes Melody found, including a quiche lorraine with spinach, a souffléd corn pudding, balloon puffs (biscuits with marshmallows), strawberries with amaretto, and some magic cream (a heavenly concoction of Cool Whip, vanilla pudding, and milk which we just experienced at a wine & cheese party on Friday). After the brunch and some work in lab, we drove to the Bella Santé day spa at Lexington. This being my first massage experience, I was initially taken back by the sensation of someone gently trying to break my back. Walking out of the spa, however, left me floating like a kid in Neverland. It’s too bad I couldn’t stay there forever, as thoughts of lab experiments (i.e. punishment) soon crept back into mind.

After dealing with my new iPod Shuffle over the past several days, I’ve come to realize that one simply cannot triumph over a higher power. Despite the new features and lower cost, it’s still just an Apple product, which means that it’s not gonna let some silly little thing like its USER tell it what to do. Not only did it require the cumbersome iTunes nightmare to put songs onto the device, it even forces a monogamous relationship with my desktop PC. When I tried to sync it with my laptop, it deleted all my songs. It’s like, ‘do what we say and no one gets hurt’. Though I tried almost every 3rd party software I could find to overcome these limitations, even a control freak like me had to succumb to their control. All hail, o’ great one!

It’s true. I just want them for their bodies. I don’t really care about their brains. By “them”, I meant rats of course (what did you THINK I was talking about?). Since our animal protocol in lab has been held back by some administrative red tape recently, I’ve turned into a vulture of sorts, leeching rodent parts from other people doing dissections in neighboring labs. It’s been tough though not only adapting to different kinds of specimens, but also to other people’s schedule. I love the whole idea of community and collaboration in science, but sometimes, it’s just a lot more efficient working alone. The weeks have thus felt longer and longer, and what little time I have off has mainly been spent indoors. The lull has only been broken by occasional outings for food, and intermittent impulse buys ranging from wireless headphones to a see-thru scanner. Looking back, buying stuff off the internet just isn’t the same as the old days, when I would spend hours scrutinizing the product packaging before pulling out my wallet. Sometimes I feel like I should read all the retail package labels and pamphlets, just because I’m paying for it after all. Or maybe I’m just weird. Anyway, this month, I will also be donning a pair of white earbuds as I become assimilated into the Ipod collective. Ah… So many toys, so little time…

Ma-ia-hii … Ma-ia-huu … Ma-ia-hoo … Ma-ia-haha! I just can’t get this song out of head! It was Friday when a friend forwarded me this link to the new 19-year-old Romanian webcam lip-syncing sensation which strangely has attained a reputation worthy of CNN, VH1, the Today Show, and Good Morning America. Some even claimed this to be the funniest online fad since All Your Base. I can’t really explain it, but it just makes me happy and really brightens my day. Otherwise, the past week’s been pretty lax overall, though I predict that my experiments should start to pick up in the upcoming weeks. I’ll just have to keep in mind the magic of the Numa Numa dance. =)

Welcome to the Year of the Rooster! It’s unfortunate that Chinese New Year had to fall on a Wednesday. It also doesn’t help that I have to prep for my first Pharm class tomorrow and my lab meeting on Friday. It’s only halfway through the week and already I feel overwhelmed! Can’t wait till I head back to NYC this weekend for some home-cooked comfort food. Btw, there’s a new press release about our paper. The same article may be viewed at Science Daily, Eurekalert, Innovations-Report, and RxPGnews.