This is really abhorrent:

WCNC.com (North Carolina) - Residents of a North Carolina town feverishly cut down trees of the endangered Red-Cockaded Woodpecker because they fear restrictions on land use and property values

"What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label "Liberal?" If by "Liberal" they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of "Liberal." But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a 'Liberal.'"
-John F. Kennedy, September 14, 1960
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And, finally, some heartening news:

NY Times - Sir Richard Branson pledges to finance clean fuels

Do you ever wonder how many pieces of yourself are left behind?

I was going through some photos my dad sent me, most of which were taken in Canada, some of which were taken in Toronto. I live now in Alabama, but a piece of me will always remain in Canada, the country I love. Another piece of me is left behind in ecology, in the what-could-have-been of a PhD in the field I love. So many pieces of me are scattered in different places and different times -- will I run out of pieces one day?

What do I do at work all day?

(click on the picture above to see it full-sized)

This picture represents the culmination of the work I have been doing of late. Essentially, all the DNA extraction, PCR, gels, etc. are done to obtain this bit of sequence from the genomic DNA. I don't know exactly where in the genome this sequence falls, but it represents the place where Burmese cats (the breed) may have a mutation that will result in a type of GM2 gangliosidosis, an autosomal recessive disease. That means that the cells in their brains won't be able to degrade a certain cellular byproduct, leading to progressively more bodily shaking until they eventually die. The tests I do are diagnostic: trying to see whether cats have this disease or not.

The DNA sequence between the orange arrows represents the normal condition, so this particular cat is normal. In mutant cats, they lack this particular sequence of 15 base pairs--it has been deleted from their genome. Carriers have both the normal and mutant sequences, so you would see two humps in the graph portion from the first orange arrow onwards.

There are several different mutations that can cause similar physical effects, e.g. GM1, GM2 Baker, GM2 activator, GM2 Korat (in Korat breed cats) and GM2 Burmese (in Burmese breed cats). I will test our colony cats for the first four of these, and Burmese breeders from around the world send in their cats' blood samples, which I test for the fifth.

It's pretty interesting stuff! :-)

Hooray at last!

Yay! Today in the mail I finally got notice that my application for permanent resident status (I-485) was approved! I know that I previously (last year) told y'all that I was approved, based on what the official conducting my initial interview said. However, if you've talked to me at all within the past year, you'll know already what a mess it's been to figure out what happened to my case and why I hadn't received a green card yet.

Finally, though, I have something in writing. Very many things in writing, in fact: the USCIS center sent me about 5 notices (exactly the same) saying that my application has been approved, and that Darryl's petition for relative (I-130) has been approved. However, I still have to wait to receive either a green card by mail or a notice that I need to have my photo and fingerprints taken (yet again) prior to being issued a green card.

Thank God!

This is a huge deal for me. It means that I can: legally live here, travel to and fro as I please when I please without seeking prior approval (or paying fees), work here without having to renew a work permit (and associated fees) every year, own property, and in 3 years I can become a U.S. Citizen. This is such a relief!

I still don't think I'll be able to make it up for Dave's birthday, though, since I would have to have my green card in hand. That's a bit of a bummer, but I rather have the whole shebang approved than simply the travel papers. Honestly, I think that perhaps it was through the application for travel papers that my case finally came to be approved: the people looking into the travel papers application may have had to look for my case file and, when they couldn't find it, made inquiries, etc. to get it out of that storage place and finally looked at. I am really grateful that this finally got done. I was really starting to feel as though I had fallen into a bureaucratic black hole.
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My first test in 2.5 years went well, I think. It was easier than the sample exams the prof had made copies of from previous years. So that was some good news as well. :-)


mood: ECSTATIC!
currently reading: "Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank

Welcome to Blogger

Although not very many people read our previous blog (in LiveJournal), I've been persuaded to move myself over to Blogger. It will allow me to customize layout to a greater extent (I hope!) and essentially just "start fresh". This will be my adult blog. Hopefully I'll update it more often than I was wont to do with LJ, and hopefully I'll have more interesting things to post. Our old blog is still available for viewing (it does record our history from May 2004-September 2006) at: http://dkpendergrass.livejournal.com.