Mice and Jesus

Sometimes, I can find God in the simplest things.

I love my mice at work. I don't think I would like my job nearly as much if I didn't get to play with them and take care of them every day. I adore the young pups when they're around 2 weeks old. They are just so adorable and soft and funny to watch. Around two weeks old they're dubbed "popcorn mice" because they're so jumpy, they bounce everywhere, like tiny little Tiggers (from Winnie the Pooh). Yet I love my old mice too, I have two boys who are going on 10 months old who are so fat. I'm not sure why, they don't have special food to make them that way, or have a genetic knockout or anything. But they look like black beanbags, they're that fat. If I hold them, they take up the entire palm of my hand. It's pretty comical to see. Anyway, young or old, I take good care of all my mice and love each one.

But sometimes it's hard to love them, because as we're using them in the context of research, I need to study them and yes, sometimes sacrifice them. It's here where I'm reminded so much of God.

The mice remind me of Jesus. It seems funny, but it's true. The mice are sweet and innocent, and have been born into the lab for a purpose, and that purpose is to save human lives. Like Jesus, they are innocent creatures who were born to die, to save us. Now of course, I'm NOT saying that the mice are in any way equal to Jesus and all that he did for us, I'm just saying that as I work with my mice, I'm reminded (and so thankful and grateful) for the sacrifice Jesus made for me.

And in a tiny way (again, NOT equating myself with God) I'm reminded of how God must have felt to see Jesus on earth. To watch over him, and take care of him, all the while knowing his purpose and then letting it happen. It can be really hard, and I'm sure God's heart was breaking as he watched his son suffer for all the wrongs we've done. My heart breaks a little every time I have to take a mouse. I have to always remind myself of the people who will benefit from this little life.

So to end this blog, I think it's a good reminder for us to be thankful for all the sacrifices made for us- for the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made for us, and for the small sacrifices these research animals make for us.

Concert time!

This past Saturday, I and my sister Britt and our friend Paula drove up to Montage Mountain for a Taylor Swift/Rascal Flatts concert. I was really excited, as Rascal Flatts is one of my favorite bands. They're so talented and I love their songs. I've never seen them in concert before either, so that made it even more exciting! I had seen Taylor Swift before, last August I saw her at the Allentown Fair along with Jack Ingram, Kelly Pickler, and Brad Paisley. THAT was an awesome show!! I loved it. Taylor Swift is so cute, plus, I have a lot of respect for her, as she writes her own songs. In fact, for those who read this who don't know, she's the youngest country artist to ever have written/co-written every song on her platinum selling album. Wow!

So we get to Montage Mountain and it is PACKED. There were soo many people! But we made our way through the crowd to find our seats, which turned out to be AWESOME!!! We were in the 27 row, which is really close to the front for a concert. If I had thrown a baseball as hard as I could, I could've hit the stage, we were that close. Which was great because it was such a great show! I had such a good time, I'm so glad I had that time with Britt and Paula. Taylor sang a new song that will be on her upcoming album (out in November) that's been debuted at the Olympics. I really liked it alot, I believe it's called "Change" but I'm not 100% sure. And Rascal Flatts was AMAZING. The opening was phenomenal, and it was so high energy and they sang almost all my favorite songs, some of which are "Feels like Today," "God bless the broken road" and their cover of "Life is a highway" which they did for the Disney/Pixar movie Cars. We had such a great time!

Anyway, Britt and Paula took a million pictures, so if I ever get some from them, I'll post some for your viewing pleasure.

Myrtle Beach pictures!

Here are some pictures of my trip to Myrtle Beach, enjoy!

Britt, Beth and I


All of us at Planet Hollywood





The view of the beach from our hotel... it was so close, and the weather was great the whole week!

All of us (me, Britt, Danielle, Kyle, Paula, Maria, Steve, and Beth) at Captain George's Seafood Buffet.... absolutely DELICIOUS :)

Our hotel.... it was so nice, even if it was a little smaller than last years

Fall is in the air

Ahhh, fall.... my absolute favorite season. I hate when it's too hot, and I especially hate humidity. Thus, the advent of fall is a joyous time for me. It snuck up on me this year, I didn't realize how close it was until I woke up to go to the gym yesterday. I like to go to the gym early, around 5:30 am, and when I woke up to get ready, it was still dark. When did that happen? That is a bummer about fall, I hate the shorter days. Winter is absolutely depressing when it gets dark by 4:30 pm. But anyway, another thing I had noticed was that it's been cooler in the early morning as well. I can't wait till the leaves start changing, and the air has the crisp briskness to it, and I can start wearing sweaters and long sleeves again. No matter how much weight I lose, I'll always feel more comfortable the more covered up I am. :P

Fall's a great time because I love the holidays around that time- Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas (yes I know Christmas is in winter, but we start getting ready for it right after Thanksgiving at my house, so close enough). I used to love going back to school too. There was such anticipation, I loved buying my school supplies, and picking out my outfit for the first day back. Sigh.... I miss school. I really do. If I could, I'd be a professional student for the rest of my life.

Anyway, I'm excited for the new season. Fall, hurry up already! :)

Beach Time! :)

So last week I took a hard-earned break and headed down to Myrtle Beach with my younger sister and some friends. There were eight of us total, and we had a blast. Great weather, the only day it rained was Wednesday. Our hotel was really nice and closer to more things than the one we'd had last year, although this one was smaller. However, we were very inventive on keeping space and working things out with showers and sleeping arrangements, so everyone was happy. I had just a fantastic time hanging out with my sister and our friends Paula, Danielle, and Kyle, as well as making new friends with Steve, Beth, and Maria.

Besides for the wonderful time at the beach (where I didn't burn but got nice and tan, yay!) some of the highights of the week were our dinner spots- we tried Sticky Fingers (if you like barbeque and barbeque sauces, you'll LOVE sticky fingers.... I know I did!) Planet Hollywood (really tasty drinks there as well as fabulous salad choices, yum) Dick's Last Resort (the restaurant where the staff is purposely mean and obnoxious... last year was more fun, and honestly, it's kind of crude. I didn't really enjoy myself this year) and Captain George's Seafood Buffet (UNBELIEVABLY delicious, plus a huge spread of food, though it is pricey. However, it's worth it!) Other highlights included time at Broadway at the Beach, where Britt and Paula and I got henna tatoos (I got a butterfly on my ankle, Britt got a butterfly on her shoulder, and Paula got a fairy on her lower back). Britt and I also posed as Old West saloon girls for those Old Fashioned Pictures... we love them! This one was my best one I've done so far. I've had five done so far.... two were old Victorian ones of my whole family, one was of my older sister and I as an angel and a devil, one was my sisters and I as 40's gangsters, and now the latest is this saloon girl one with my younger sister and I. It's so much fun to dress up!

So that was a bit of my vacation, pictures to come! :)

The American Dream? Or the American Nightmare?

I just read a terrible story on cnn.com where nine people were killed in a car crash in Arizona, and 10 more were injured. These 19 people were all in the same car, and apparently were illegal immigrants. That so many people were killed or injured is horrible enough, but what was truly disturbing to me were the terrible, malicious comments people left about the story. Namely, that they were glad nine of the "illegals" died, though they were complaining we still have to "take care of ten more." Also, people were happy that "no Americans died."

What is this? How can people rejoice in the death of others, no matter what the situation? Quite frankly, illegal or otherwise, Mexican people are some of the hardest working people I know. And ironically, I'm sure most of the people complaining on that site are people who would never stoop so low as to do the jobs the illegal Mexicans are doing. I was taught that there is no shame in working, in working ANY job. And to take pride in whatever you do, do matter how simple or complex, or how much or little money you make doing it. However, I've found that I'm quite in the minority with a mindset such as this. People just assume if I'm doing a menial job, I have no ambition. Most people assume that about anyone doing a menial, simple task. And that's really wrong, and sad. Whatever happened to the hard work ethic of American people? When did the American Dream consume us to the point of sucking out our souls? We have no compassion, no pride in good, honest work. We put a price tag on everything, and expect and demand nothing less than the best, no matter what it costs, or who it hurts. How did this happen? How did we get to this point? And more importantly, how do we get out of this?

Augh, the perils of science :P

I like to do so many things, why did I ever decide to choose scientific research as a profession? Most people do not realize the insanity that ensues when trying to discover something that a masterful God created. Everyone laughs when Thomas Edison took two thousand tries before creating the light bulb, but have you ever thought how frustrating that must have been? And the amount of patience and persistance it took?

Well, I know. And being that I am not very patient, sometimes my job gets the best of me. Sometimes going to work is like heading into a battle. Lately I've been battling the PCR machine and losing. Badly:( For those reading who aren't scientifically minded, a PCR machine is a nifty little machine that basically amplifies DNA over and over again. So you put in a little amount of DNA, it replicates it so you have a lot of DNA, and then you can further use the DNA for whatever you want (in my case, I'm checking the genotypes of mice). However, this little machine is very precise, and if anything gets contaminated or is off in any type of way, your results are basically crap. And trust me, it's easy to mess things up. This week, the PCR is all messed up, and I'm thinking it's because I came into work on Monday only to find that the door to the freezer where I keep all my reagents was left slightly ajar. ALL WEEKEND. Hence, most of the things inside the freezer had thawed. CRAP. So now I have to go through and basically "guess and test" all the reagents to see which one (or ones) isn't working. It's tiring, it's tedious, and I'm thoroughly sick of it. Thank goodness my vacation starts Friday at 5 pm! I cannot wait!

I'm on the radio!

So I haven't posted much recently, but last week was somewhat busy for me. My boss was in Colorado for a heart conference, so I was swamped with stuff at work she had given me before she left. But an exciting thing that happened last week was that last Monday, I went to the Ben FM radio station down on City Line Avenue and recorded a commercial for Bella Medspa! It was a really cool experience. I've been a customer of Bella Medspa and they've been fantastic. I wrote a review on their website, and they must have liked it, because that's why they asked me if I'd help them with the commercial (I'm on air talking about my experience with them). So if you ever hear a commercial for Bella Medspa, you may be hearing me! It's 95.7 by the way. ;)

Anyway, this week isn't going to be as exciting, and I'm hoping the week doesn't drag too long, which is probably will since I'm going on vacation Friday night! The anticipation always makes the days seem longer. I'm really excited for this vacation, I haven't had any days off since March (with the exception of Memorial Day and July 4) so I'm needing a break! Like last year, my younger sister and I are heading down to Myrtle beach with a bunch of our friends, we're leaving Friday night around midnight. Can't wait! :)