Cells

Here are some of the immunofluorescent pictures I took over the summer. I used an inverted microscope and oil immersion to take these. I spent two weeks taking over 300 pictures of cells with Spot Advanced softwareand then another 3 weeks analyzing them through Photoshop. On top of that, each colored picture is actually composed of three separate images, in red, blue, and green that are laid upon each other. In the image, red is the membrane of the macrophage cell, blue is the nucleus, and the green spots are bacteria that have been engulfed by the macrophage. This blue image to the left is just one of the pictures that makes up the full colored one.

PoTAYtoe, PoTATtoe

Just pulled these homegrown potatoes tonight. The little buds mysteriously appeared in the garden at the beginning of summer. Eventually they grew stalks that reached four feet and bloomed small white flowers. The potatoes grew in the dirt, right at the surface. Cleaned em, boiled em, and then mixed em into a delicious potato salad!

TB in the level 3

So I've worked in the cell culture room before, but it really wasn't big a deal. But today I worked with living, breathing, killing M. tuberculosis. A level 3 biohazard. Dangerous stuff! First we gathered all the materials we would need to bring into the level 3 lab. After donning respiratory masks, lab coats, and shoe booties, with waiver signed, and boss's fingerprints we were finally granted access into the room.

Now usually just having the bunsen burner on makes me nervous (esp. after Loryn set her lab bench on fire). But then on top of that I was handling all these test tubes that containing something I knew could hurt me. My hands were sweating profusely, which didn't help when I needed to put on new gloves everytime I left the hood. Taking as many precautions as I could, I definitely made my mask so tight it hurt. But I didn't want any bacteria getting in! They gave me a TB test when I started, and I have to take another when I leave to make sure I didn't catch anything. Doesn't inspire much confidence. haha.

Four hours later we were finished with our protocol and had to dispose of everything in red biohazard bags to be decontaminated later. My boss gave me some chocolates at lunch. And then I finished off the day taking some immunofluorescent pics of bacteria upatken by macrophages while listening to Girl Talk. All in all, today was pretty exciting!

McNees

On my family history...As many as three ways of spelling have been found in one document...If it is spelled without the "E" then it would be Scotch. The Irish way of spelling would have an "E" on the end, for as the Irish would say "No one but a Scotchman could be so tight that he would not waste enough lead of a pencil to add the "E"."

Song of the Week

On My Way -Billy Boy on Poison

I found this song randomly under the free songs on iTunes. When I heard it, I thought oh man, this would be perfect for a Gossip Girl commercial. Then I looked up the music video on YouTube, and I found out it already is. Oops :)

License Plate Birdhouse

Just finished my second birdhouse! Like my first one, the inspiration came from the same trip to Cambria two years ago. I saw a similar-looking birdhouse, and thought I could make that! So I bought the license plate at an antique shop; I think it was $7.99. It was the most colorful one, and has this cool-looking cracked surface. It's actually reflective as well. Building the barn house took so long that I never got around to making the license plate house that summer, but decided to give it another go this time around.

My biggest initial challenge was cutting the wood--it was too thick for me to use a hand-saw. I decided a bench saw (which I have) would be the easiest tool to use, however my mom thought it was too dangerous for me to use, having not had any previous experience with it. I watched YouTube videos on how to use it, but she still didn't approve. So I went to Karlie's after practice and her dad showed me how to use a bench saw and we cut all the wood using his. We then used two different drill bits to add the entrance hole to the wood and the license plate. I took home all my pieces to assemble myself.

So basically the house has a wood frame that is covered by a license plate. The wood is all nailed together and screws hold on the license plate. I used an electric drill to add the hole for the golf tee perch. The roof is made of metal with a wine cork for a chimney. Without the roof and chimney, the house measures 6 inches tall, and 5 inches wide.

Now all I need are the birds! Sassy looks like she's ready for them too!

Plant of the Day: A Pineapple

I decided to start featuring some of my garden highlights. I will start with one most people are really surprised to see. It's a pineapple! This one is still pretty small, about the size of a fist, with black, green, and red coloring on the body. When it's ripe, it should be be about 6 times this size, and will appear more yellow and brown. These homegrown ones will not grow as large as those sold in supermarkets, but I find them to be much sweeter.

Growing the pineapple: So originally, we had bought a pineapple at the store and then cut off the top as normal. That top was then placed in a shallow dish of water for a few days before being transferred to a pot of dirt placed in direct sunlight. More and more of the green spokes (they're much thicker and sharper than what I would consider a 'leaf') grew out of the top. About two years later, a small pineapple began to show and then grew bigger and bigger. I would say in all, it takes about three years from start to finish, but it is well worth the wait!