DNA and Isaac's Latest Masterpiece

It was on this day in 1953 that James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of the DNA molecule, which became the key to understanding how all organisms pass genetic information onto their offspring. James Watson was only 23 years old at the time. Crick was older, but he hadn't even finished his PhD. They were working in a lab in Cambridge, England, where they didn't even have the right equipment to examine DNA. That equipment was located at King's College in London. Watson tried to get a job there by setting his sister up with one of the King's College scientists, but it didn't work out.

Thumb Sucking and Exercise

Cute pic of Faith, impressive push-up skills (Isaac still does the butt-ups too, but he did make it 5 bars on the monkey bars last night), and Isaac showing Grandma his right cross.

Smoking

This quote reminded me when Isaac and I went walking through our apartments, and he kindly told the gentleman smoking on his balcony that "smoking would make him die". I guess our kids are getting the message.

Smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics. Fletcher Knebel

Old Hat New Hat

How about a book review. We love this one too...

I've always loved reading the Berenstains' Old Hat New Hat with kids. It's a simple idea. A small bear goes into a store in seach of a new hat, tries on every piece of headware in there, but can't find anything to match the comfortable old hat.

Kids - who like familiar things, whether surroundings, toys, or articles of clothing - relate to the little bear's 'Too big. Too small. Too flat. Too tall.' and enjoy the frustration of the snotty looking hat salesman. Any adult who's tried to persuade an indecisive child to make up their mind about a purchase, will relate too.

But what my kids and I always enjoyed most was the absurdity of the hats. We liked to pick new favorites every time we opened the book. Now I've always liked the twirly one myself, but then there's the holey hat and the silly one and ...

Health Update

Yes, my triglyceride count was very high (exactly like my father's) 894, with slightly elevated cholesterol, and high blood pressure. It seems genetics plus the French fry diet wasn't doing the trick.

However, on Sunday, after the rugby game and a 20 mile bike ride with Denise, my blood pressure had decreased to 129/79, it was 150/100 at the doctor's office. This also comes after a few weeks on my new diet (I made it myself, no French fries, no sodas, no coffees, no ice cream - everything else is OK). I'm not sure how scientific it is, but its working.

On the same note, Denise and I made two dishes (pinto beans and roast) with our Valentine's slow cooker; strawberry and banana shakes with our blender, and homemade salsa with the food processor. We are SOOOOO Healthy. YEA!

Candy

Anyone who uses the phrase 'easy as taking candy from a baby' has never tried taking candy from a baby. Unknown

Hubble Pics of Saturn

Click on the picture to see incredible large image. These are from the Hubble Telescope which will be apparently left without repair due to budget constraints.

Quotations of the Day and Rugby

I start back to rugby tomorrow, I finally got tired of watching. After a practice Wednesday, I found out the different muscles used to play as opposed to only running. The difference is startling (very sore after an ordinary practice). More updates to come...

Do not condemn the judgement of another because it differs from your own. You may both be wrong. Dandemis

Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to 'jump at de sun.' We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.
Zora Neale Hurston (1901 - 1960), Dust Tracks on a Road, 1942

Laugh and the World Laughs With You

I remember seeing the first portion of this poem in Grandma's bathroom. It's a little somber, but is very good. My favorite line is 'sing, and the hills will answer'.

Solitude

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all,—
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
For there is room in the halls of pleasure
For a large and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.

Faith and Christian's Island Adventure

Denise, Isaac, and I had our own adventure yesterday looking for hephalumps. Actually, we just took the day off from work, on a perfect spring-like day, and saw the new Winnie the Pooh movie. Faith and Christian look like they're inviting us to come to the islands to look for hephalumps (sounds like fun to me).

Blogging

Maybe the Brough's would rather be home in their underware writing weblogs. I know we miss being closer to them.

Maersk Vessel Pics for Christian

Christian, these are pictures of some of the vessels where Uncle Mark works, Maersk Sealand. Your Mom had mentioned that you had seen containers on the road, but I thought you might be interested in seeing the vessel. Did you know just the propeller on these vessels weighs 90 tons, the weight of a locomotive train. There definately HUGE!

A New Erector Set Design

Some pictures of Isaac and my construction work over the weekend. So far he his learning to organize and count the parts into sections, pick them out when called by name, and replicate some easy assembly, and he works the screwdriver very well (righty tighty, lefty losey). Although he can't yet follow the instructions (not an easy task for an adult), I think it's awesome stuff.

We all had a great weekend, I wish I would have had a camera during the great mudslide contest. I believe Denise was the winner with her awesome knee slide deluxe; but we all got very muddy, and had lots of laughs.

Happy Valentine's Day

Some Valentine's Day quotes.

For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

For the most part, fear is nothing but an illusion. When you share it with someone else, it tends to disappear. Marilyn C. Barrick

You are built not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more.

Oprah Winfrey (1954 - ), O Magazine, February 2003

Joke of the Week

Q: Where does spaghetti go to dance
A: A meatball

:)

Running Thoughts From Dr. George

This one's from Denise, she talking me into running another marathon this year in Dallas (April 03, 2005). Deep Breath...

There are as many reasons for running as there are days in the year, years in my life. But mostly I run because I am an animal and a child, an artist and a saint. So, too, are you. Find your own play, your own self-renewing compulsion, and you will become the person you are meant to be.
Dr. George Sheehan

Ideas on the Thought Process

The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.

Albert Einstein, (attributed)
US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in an clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.

Mahatma Gandhi
Indian ascetic & nationalist leader (1869 - 1948)

Spiral Notebook?

I wonder if our kids will ever know the excitement of buying a new spiral notebook for school? How about pencils or pens or colors (see Isaac's Picasso)? Instead they'll have the excitement of shopping for a new notebook or tablet computer. At least the backpack will be lighter.

A Spiral Notebook

The bright wire rolls like a porpoise
in and out of the calm blue sea
of the cover, or perhaps like a sleeper
twisting in and out of his dreams,
for it could hold a record of dreams
if you wanted to buy it for that
though it seems to be meant for
more serious work, with its
college-ruled lines and its cover
that states in emphatic white letters,
5 SUBJECT NOTEBOOK. It seems
a part of growing old is no longer
to have five subjects, each
demanding an equal share of attention,
set apart by brown cardboard dividers,
but instead to stand in a drugstore
and hang on to one subject
a little too long, like this notebook
you weigh in your hands, passing
your fingers over its surfaces
as if it were some kind of wonder.

Poem: "A Spiral Notebook" by Ted Kooser, from Delights & Shadows © Copper Canyon Press. Reprinted with permission.

Super Bowl Ad Rankings

Here's a site that ranks this year's SuperBowl Ads. Wondering if you even watched the SuperBowl in Korea? Guess it would have started at about 10AM Monday morning.

Even More Christmas Pictures

Pictures of Denise and I at her mother's house for Christmas. You should have seen all of the nutcrackers (very impressive).

Isn't Denise cute!

Quote of the Day

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.

Niels Bohr
Danish physicist (1885 - 1962)

Happy New Year

The Chinese calendar is based of a lunisolar calendar.

This is normally done by having a year that corresponds to a cycle of seasons and a month which corresponds to a lunation so that the day of month indicates the moon phase and the month of year indicates the season. Also there is usually the additional requirement that the year has a whole number of months, in which case most years have 12 months and the other years have 13 months.

Things

Things

What happened is, we grew lonely
living among the things,
so we gave the clock a face,
the chair a back,
the table four stout legs
which will never suffer fatigue.

We fitted our shoes with tongues
as smooth as our own
and hung tongues inside bells
so we could listen
to their emotional language,

and because we loved graceful profiles
the pitcher received a lip,
the bottle a long, slender neck.

Even what was beyond us
was recast in our image;
we gave the country a heart,
the storm an eye,
the cave a mouth
so we could pass into safety.

Dreaming of Butterflies

Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.

Chuang-tzu (369 BC - 286 BC)

Here's an interesting article in Wikipedia about Chaung-tzu. His philosophy was very influential on the development of Chinese Buddhism, especially Chan, and Zen...

one night, Zhuang Zi dreamed that he was a carefree butterfly flying happily. After he woke up, he wondered how he could determine whether he was Zhuang Zi who had just finished dreaming he was a butterfly, or a butterfly who had just started dreaming he was Zhuang Zi. It hints at many questions in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of language and epistemology, such as Descartes' famous question of how one knows one exists. The name of the passage has become a common Chinese idiom, and has spread into Western languages as well.

Fireman Mike is the BEST!

Finally pics of the most awesome firehouse visit of all time. We rode on the truck, we sprayed the water, we got inside the ambulance, we got an EKG, and more...

More Christmas Pictures

I finally got all the Christmas pictures. There are many to share, but I wanted to start out with this one. You will have to look at the larger size to read the sign.

Ties

I have this discussion at work many times, especially with my fellow computer colleuges.

What's the story with ties? It's one of the few (only?) pieces of clothing that appears to serve no functional purpose. Why do people wear ties? Do you wear one? Why? Do they hold something up, or together? I never wear ties, and I don't think I'm missing anything. Am I?

Interesting parallel

Interesting perspective for the elections in Iraq. Also interesting personal perspective, almost 40 years later we have an entourage of Vietnamese economic representative in the office trying to promote business in the country.

New York Times exerpt September 4, 1967

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.