I now measure my life in fiscal years.  No longer is January the month of reflection.  No longer will I spend the time after Christmas reviewing the joys and pains of the year past.  June 29th is the day in which I will turn over my years and measure my time. This little man: is one year old today. […]

Sarah will understand the context. Among some well-known culinary facts: Watermelon: Is an excellent natural diuretic. Caffeine: Is also a very effective diuretic. What this means to my life: Do not, EVER eat a huge helping of watermelon and drink an enormous cup of coffee immediately prior to attending a three hour project planning meeting.  […]

Lost in all the excitement to get my family and my husband ready for his impending surgery, a small milestone got overlooked.  Two weeks ago, my son went to his first ballgame Jon Montgomery (aka The Tall).  Like most minor-league franchises below AAA, it’s relatively easy to come by cheap or free tickets, and Jon got a batch […]

Today, I sign over a LOT of money to a financial consultant.   This is supposedly a way to make more money, but I will admit to having mild panic attacks at the thought of writing the checks.  I grew up poor.  Not dirt-floor, no-shoes poor, but it was definitely a hand-to-mouth existance without a lot […]

I know it has been quiet around here.  There’s been a few distractions. My husband had surgery last Thursday.  This is a man that has only once had something more involved than a bad cold in the thirty six years of his existence.  The surgery was relatively minor.  By minor, I mean as minor as […]

I just finished a teleconference with the FDA, and I’m feeling all professional-like, back in my office and settling down to my desk to write up a meeting summary with action items and resolutions and flow charts and lots of technical jargon.  I flex my fingers and put them to the keyboard, stretch out my legs […]

Professionally, as a researcher (or former researcher, since I don’t do primary research anymore) in infectious disease, I have long been a proponent of the “hygiene” theory of immune-related diseases.  We are just too clean.  Don’t challenge our respiratory systems at a young enough age?  We set ourselves up for asthma and allergies. Don’t get […]

If you kept up with my Myspace blog you know that I decided to make a serious entry into the digital photography world, and replaced my old Pentax 35mm SLR that perished in Katrina with a brand-spankin’-new Nikon D50 digital SLR.  This camera, while it doesn’t have the megapixel superiority of the Canon Rebel EOS, quite […]

It’s about two weeks old, but a bit of news from New Orleans just came across my email today.  Almost 65,000 homes were simply abandoned by their owners after Katrina.  Somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000 will ultimately remain vacant and will be blighted by the city. My home is NOT one of those being condemned.  […]

Okay, this has happened to me before, and I cannot remember how to fix it. As you may have noticed, my sidebar has moved south. I am working on it… …Now it seems to be fixed.  Unfortunately some sort of weirdness with my previous post caused it.  I am renovating said post and hope to […]