Thank You Veterans

I am taking a short break from my prelim exam to say thank you to the US veterans as well as those currently serving in the military and their families. Veterans are the reason I can have this blog, speak my mind, go to school, vote and live my life as I see fit (within reason of course). And if not for the army I wouldn't have this picture, given to me by my grandma, of my daddy looking like a snazzy young stud back in the day!


Daddy enlisted after finishing high school, he saw the Cuban missile crisis and spent some time over in South Korea after the war. His older brother got drafted and spend the Vietnam war over in Germany doing something involving supplies. Daddy fixed things with the army version of duct tape (think he calls it "green tape") and did geek stuff. He "fondly" recalls SOS, which is a delicacy apparently ;).

Members of the US military, current and past, and their families: Thank you for all you have sacrificed to ensure my safety and freedom, you are the reason I am proud to be an American and I salute you!

Influenza Information and Vaccination

Dear Family and Friends,

I hope this message finds you all well. I have decided to write this to help get factual information about the H1N1 influenza strain and its vaccine to you all to help you make informed decisions about what is best for you and your family. There has been a large amount of misinformation spread by both traditional media sources and the internet. When this outbreak first started in Mexico there were numbers coming out of Mexico that caused much panic in the US and the world. After awhile it was determined that these numbers were inaccurate and we may never know how many cases and deaths there actually were, the numbers reported were higher than they are in reality. When the virus spread to the US panic spread even quicker that the virus itself, newscasters were referring to this strain as if it were going to kill us all. After awhile it became pretty apparent that this strain is not nearly as bad as they hyped it up to be.

Current data show that this strain is highly infective but it tends to produce a more mild and shorter infection in many patients. This does not mean that this virus is "safe" and something to forget about, it can still cause complications and death just like any strain of influenza, especially in children and pregnant women. There is also the possibility that it will mutate or recombine with other strains of influenza that can cause it to become a dangerous hybrid strain. Influenza can be a very unpredictable virus and so people should always take precautions to avoid getting it and spreading it if they do get it. Frequent hand washing is quite possibly the best way to avoid contraction and spreading of influenza and other infectious diseases. When washing your hands use warm water and soap that does not contain anti-microbials (studies have shown they can cause more harm than good), make sure to get every part of the hand, people often forget between the fingers, the top of the hand (the part many wipe their nose with) and under the fingernails. Proper hand washing takes at least 20 seconds which is about how long it takes to sing "happy birthday". Alcohol-based hand sanitizers have been found effective in killing influenza viruses and can be used if there is no access to a sink and soap, keep in mind that if your hands are dirty/grimy that the hand sanitizers are less effective. Avoid touching your face if you are out in public and have not washed your hands. Avoid coming into contact with infected people if possible. If you are infected the best thing you can do is stay home until you are no longer symptomatic. If you must leave your home make sure to wash your hands frequently, cough and/or sneeze into a clean tissue (or your sleeve if you do not have a tissue) and then discard it and wash your hands.

And now onto vaccination. It is recommended that everyone get a seasonal flu vaccine annually, there are select groups of people that should not get this vaccine, mainly those who are allergic to eggs as the vaccine is produced in chicken eggs. You most likely know if you are in this group, if you have any question about it ask your doctor to make sure. There is a vaccine against the H1N1 strain being produced and tested right now, it is made in the same way as the seasonal vaccine and thus far all safety testing shows it is no different than the regular vaccine in terms of safety, as was expected. Some of you may have heard of the 1976 swine flu vaccine issues, please do not believe the propaganda comparing that vaccine to the current one, trust me when I tell you that immunology and vaccine development has changed drastically in the past 33 years. No vaccine is completely without risk but the influenza vaccine has a very low risk and most of the side effects are mild and short lived, especially when compared to the symptoms and risks that the influenza virus poses. When it is made available to me I plan to get the H1N1 vaccine and I want my six year old niece and the rest of my loved ones to get it as well. I have already gotten my seasonal flu vaccine and recommend anyone who has not gotten it to get it as soon as possible, it takes time for it to kick in. Getting vaccinated does not guarantee you will not get the flu as there are many strains of influenza and they can only fit three into the one vaccine and it does not work against other viruses and bacteria that could cause an upper respiratory infection but as the three strains they choose are the most prevalent and/or dangerous strains it is definitely worthwhile to get the vaccine. Currently H1N1 is the most prevalent strain of influenza in the US but it is very early in the flu season, which normally peaks further into winter, and the seasonal strains could follow behind or coexist with the H1N1 strain as the season progresses. Flu season can be hard to predict but I believe that it is better safe than sorry and get vaccinated yearly.

For more information refer to the following links:
H1N1 Vaccine Safety Information: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/vaccine_safety_qa.htm?s_cid=tw_flu45
Cool Public Service Announcement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gwUdmPl0bU
CDC's H1N1 Site: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
Collaborative US Government Site: www.flu.gov

I hope that I have helped clear up any confusion any of you may have had, feel free to link this to anyone you feel might benefit from this information. Remember that the worst thing one can do is panic in these situations, it can only hurt you as stress can lower the immune system. Knowing the risks so you can make informed decisions with confidence is the best thing you can do for yourself and your family. Feel free to ask if you have any questions about this topic or if something I wrote was confusing in any way, I will do my best to answer your question(s) or clarify points I may not have fully explained.

Take care,
Karen

Three Cheers for July 30th

While I try to live my life so that every day is special, today is a very special day for me, for three reasons. And since today is extra special I've decided to take the time to share why with all of you =)

Reason 1: It is Daddy's birthday! About a million or so years ago my father was born. He was raised on a farm in Indiana, and a member of the 4H club. Lucky for me Grandma gave me some old pictures of him growing up, isn't he adorable with his baby cow?:


Fast forward somewhere around 50 years and you have the picture Niecey took of him after snatching my camera (I may have given her permission to play with it) over Christmas:


Happy birthday Daddy, you have always been there for me and are a wonderful father to my siblings and myself as well as Niecey. You are the best daddy a girl could ask for and I love you very much!

Reason 2: It is Niecey's birthday! Six years ago today I had a very very very sore arm from being Middle Sis's leg holder. It was highly traumatic seeing my sister give birth, I NEVER want to view a baby being born again, including my potential future offspring! Even though I am scarred for life over seeing my sister shoving an 8lb 2oz baby out of her nether regions it was all worth it. I was blessed with the most adorable little niece after enduring all that and watching that tiny little baby grow into this little girl has been amazing:


And who doesn't like morning snuggles? Whenever I visit and Niecey wakes up before me she will quietly play by the room I sleep in and check periodically until she sees my eyes open. Often she will try to get me to get up and play with her but usually she'll humor me and give me some morning snuggles before "making" me get out of bed, one of the great perks of visiting the homeland!


Happy birthday Niecey! I hate that I've spent the last 4 years of your life so far away but know that I am doing it in part to be able to give you a better future and even though there are 350 miles between us I am always here for you. Thank you for making me an Auntie, I love you with all of my heart and am so very proud of you!

Reason 3: One year ago today I decided to stop being just an observer of the blogging community but to join it. I started this humble little blog for several reasons but one of the main ones was that I followed so many wonderful people and felt close to them even though they had no idea I even existed for the most part. I wanted to see if perhaps some of these great people would find me amusing and let me join the fun. In that year I have made friends with so many amazing people and am so proud to be a part of such an awesome community. We laugh together, we cry together, and when someone needs help people in the blogging community step up and do what they can to support whomever is down, whether it be with a sweet comment or by donating money/supplies or in my case a fellow blogger opened up his home and let me stay the night when I got stuck in traffic and was going to have to try and find a hotel in a city I had never been to (I have not forgotten you and your wife's kindness and what a great time we all had Kevin, thanks again and I will get around to writing a post about it one of these days!). I think the world would be a much better place if real society followed the example of the bloggers. Thank you all for reading my blog, for the great comments you leave and for befriending a nerdy grad student, I love you guys!

So two birthdays and a blogoversary all in one day, definitely reason to celebrate! What better way to celebrate than with a yummy chocolate cake:

The 6 yellow candles are for Niecey's birthday (yellow is her favorite), the green one is for Daddy and the blue one is for my blog.

Eyes for Jaclyn

The other day in water aerobics a fellow regular was passing out fliers and asking we post them and try to get the word out for a local charity. When she handed me one I told her I would try and do one better, given that it is summer there aren't as many people in my building and I'm not sure how many pay attention to the bulletin boards I told her I would write a blog post about it. I took the flier home with me and then went on the website listed, which led to a journal and I got to know a bit about this lovely family:

Don't they look nice? That picture was taken last summer when they went to Colorado, they had no idea that a year later they would be in a very different situation. This spring their sweet little Jaclyn, the one in the middle, started complaining about her eye. At first it seemed like it something minor and then they got a diagnosis that no parent wants to hear, their baby girl has retinoblastoma, cancer of the eye. They had to remove her right eye and unfortunately discovered that the cancer has spread and so she now is undergoing chemotherapy, she is only three and a half years old.

After surgery she made her puppy a patch just like hers.

Her first new eye, it has a little flower "tattoo" on the top because she wanted a pink eye, they compromised ;).

Given that this state is predominantly rural and the severity of Jaclyn's cancer they have to travel somewhat far for her treatments and to get her prosthetic eye. They thankfully have insurance but as everyone knows that does not cover every expense that they have related to getting Jaclyn the care she needs. As a result their family and friends are putting on a benefit next month to try and earn money to help them cover those extra costs. Anyone in central Iowa is invited to attend the event, it is on August 15, 2009 in Gilbert, IA from 5-7pm. They are also selling "Fight Like a Girl" clothing & merchandise and people can send monetary donations, for more details here is the benefit's website. **They recently added an online donation option, just scroll down to the bottom of the page and you can't miss it =)**

Big sister Courtney and Jaclyn at the zoo.

Jaclyn being totally adorable!

Please consider helping this family, whether it be through buying a shirt, attending the benefit, sending a donation or simply just keeping them in your thoughts and prayers. Any help in spreading the word is greatly appreciated, I have badges (see image below) that you can put in your sidebar, e-mail me at microblogologist@yahoo.com and I'll send you the code (let me know if you have one or two sidebars as the sizing is different). Also I would be thrilled and honored if any of you were willing to have this as a guest post on your blog. I will make sure all supportive comments get forwarded to Jaclyn's parents. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post and for anything you do to help this family =)!

Note: All pictures are the property of Brenda and Leo Gessner and used with permission. The Eyes for Jaclyn graphic was made by Jaclyn's uncle, I just added the border and code.

Thanks Daddy...

Tonight I was harassing talking to my baby sister on the phone when my dear father person started laughing hysterically. Worried that he might have drank too much of his home brew, or was getting sudden onset senility or something we inquired what he found so funny. Turns out he somehow discovered what he has dubbed my theme song on youtube. It is a blast from the past, he thinks it came out when he was in high school or maybe jr. high, so back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. And what had my father cackling and risking brain damage due to laughing too hard to breathe? Well my dearest readers it was a song about people who are altitude-challenged like me and he learned how to send links on skype just so he could share it with me, behold my alleged theme song:

Now the question is would he have dared link me that song if he was aware of how kick ass I've become due to my water aerobics classes? I mean would YOU mess with this:





I think not! Watch out Daddy, I know where you live and sleep!

Happy Birthday Angel Weasel

Since I joined the community of bloggers I have befriended a number of people, one of whom is WeaselMomma. I discovered her through reading NukeDad's blog and had the great joy and honor of meeting her and her wonderful family over the thanksgiving holiday. Her blog is one of my favorites and if you do not read it I highly recommend it, just make sure you take a potty break and don't eat nor drink while reading it as you might wet yourself and/or spray your computer laughing at her hilarious posts!

But not all of WeaselMomma's posts are funny. As I read through her archives (I am an archive stalker) I quickly noticed a discrepancy. She has five weasel children (and an adult child aka Mr. Weasel) listed in her nest but she made references to being the mother of six (not including Mr. Weasel). Being an anal-retentive person who had an English teacher hell bent on cramming "bookmarking" into my brain (basically critically analyzing books as you read them) this created a sense of foreshadowing for me, that and her references to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) charity and research. I didn't want it to come, hoped that WeaselMomma had forgotten how to count she does have quite a few weasels running around, a love for coors light and my mother couldn't even keep three kids straight, but she didn't and I cried when she introduced Claire to the blogosphere.

Claire Elaine

I am not sure what it is about Claire, she is sadly not the first nor only child I have read about who has passed away, but she is the one that has stayed with me and grabbed a piece of my heart. I think about her somewhat frequently and am so sad that I never got to meet her as I did her brother and sisters. I simply cannot fathom the pain her family has gone through losing her after only two weeks and how much of a struggle it has been for them to rebuild their lives as best they can. They are truly one of the most beautiful families I have ever encountered, even my niece could sense how special they are when we got to go and meet them and celebrate Monkey Weasel's birthday with them. We literally had to physically fight Niecey to get her coat on and come home with me, this was the only time I know of that the "Fine, I'll just leave without you." bluff was called and I think she actually would have let me leave without her (I totally understand, I honestly didn't want to leave myself!).

One thing that has allowed the Weasels to keep going and to get back to functioning is SIDS of Illinois, a long standing organization that offers support to families who have lost a baby, education to help prevent SIDS from claiming more babies (In IL incidents of SIDS has gone down 68% with the Back to Sleep campaign!), funds research to try and end SIDS deaths and more. And so, today on Claire's birthday please remember WeaselMomma and family in your prayers, go give her some love, and if you can spare some please help honor and celebrate Angel Weasel's life by donating to SIDS of IL or perhaps some other organization like it to help other families going through such a horrific loss and hopefully prevent other families from losing their precious babies.

Dearest Claire, I never got to meet you but you have touched me nonetheless, I love you and your family and hope you have a very happy birthday up in heaven.

In Remembrance

American Flag flying over Main ISU Campus (State flag of Iowa beneath)

Today is Memorial Day, the day Americans remember those who have given their lives for our country. It is usually celebrated by spending time together with family and friends, often involving a cookout. Most towns across the US will be decked out with the US flag and have a parade. My niece will march with her girl scout troop in the parade of the town I grew up in and this Auntie couldn't be prouder! I feel this is an appropriate time to dust off one of my favorite patriotic songs of all time:

Thank you those who have died so that I can live free in the best damn country in the world! I'd also like to thank the family and friends of those who have given their life for this country and the soldiers currently serving us along with their family and friends. God bless you all and God bless the USA!

*Check out NukeDad's post, he links ways one can give back to help soldiers and their families.

Pray for Dakota

This little girl is very sick, she has a blood clot in her leg and a blood infection. This is a very bad combo, the bacteria in her blood are growing/hanging out in the clot in what is called a biofilm. Biofilms are microorganisms living and interacting together in a goo matrix (goo is not the technical term), they are highly resistant to stress that would kill them if they were going it alone, this unfortunately includes antibiotics. So the bacteria in her blood get knocked down by the antibiotics (she is on several very potent ones) but they are replaced with ones coming out of the biofilm/clot. They are using medication to try and dissolve the clot, which is a problem by itself, so the antibiotics can do their job but this is not without risks. They are using very aggressive treatments to try and knock this out once and for all so that they can save Dakota's life. She was born prematurely and so has been a fighter since the day she was born, please pray, send positive thoughts or whatever you believe in that the doctors have gotten her on the right treatments and that she has the strength to beat this thing! Thank you all!




Note: Thank you to all my regulars who are still reading this blog, I am sorry I have been too busy with work and life to keep up with both writing this blog and keeping up with your blogs. Once I get my life balanced and some issues worked out I will hopefully have the time to resume blogging more, so much has happened of the past few months I am pretty overwhelmed. I've been trying to stay in touch using twitter, if you have it and want to chit chat with me on there I am Microblogology, send me an @ message so I know you are one of my bloggy friends and not a spammer. If you have skype that is even better than twitter. Miss you all!

Tipsy Tuesday

Ever since I got my dad the Mr. Beer brew kit he has been hooked on brewing his own beer. I remember him attempting to make his own when I was a kid but it did not last too long between it not being very successful and my mother very much was against this hobby (it does create an odor that may not appeal to all). When I was an undergrad I took a microbiology course that included a lab component, in this lab we made a batch of beer and in doing so I became aware of what Daddy had been doing wrong. When you bottle beer while home brewing you need to add a bit of sugar, aka priming sugar, the yeast metabolize this sugar and convert it mainly into carbon dioxide, which creates the fizz that is associated with beer.

Daddy had been trying to add the priming sugar to the bottles individually and it was messy, difficult and often did not produce the right amount of carbonation. Too little carbonation and you have a flat beer, not very appealing I imagine. If you have too much carbonation you will have to get a ladder and lick the beer off the ceiling if you want any, which WeaselMomma probably would have done if this happened to her Coors Light the day after Lent. In micro we added the priming sugar to the bucket and then bottled it, worked every time. The Mr. Beer kit's instructions agreed with my lab protocol and Daddy adopted it and low and behold it works! And so without that challenge he has had time to experiment with other aspects of making fermented beverage. Like when I managed to get him a sample of super yeast, he is still playing with it since the first batch.

One of his recent challenges is making hard lemonade, one of Baby Sibling's alcoholic beverages of choice. They have very different versions of how this came about, Sibling says Daddy just offered to make it because he was interested in the challenge, this account is Daddy's version:


The continuing adventures of the BrewMeister……

Following my great success with Bill's Kickass Ale, I have continued to develop my excellent, high quality low cost Brew. I found a hops source which charges less than $2.00 per ounce for high quality leaf hops in pound quantity, which drops the price of 5 gallons by up to $5.00. The first batch was a bit weak but drinkable; Richard loved it and with his revitalized taste buds that is saying something. The latest batch is the best of all. I used the new Hops (Glacier alpha of 5.9) and boiled it for an hour.

But alas my euphoria of creating the perfect brew was short lived; my bubble was burst. My ego deflated. My youngest daughter asked a very degrading question: Can I make Hard lemonade? The BrewMeister was degraded! Humiliated! Why would the BrewMeister want to make disgusting swill like lemonade? Nonetheless, if a true BrewMeister can make peanut butter out of shit (sorry Texas) hard lemonade cannot be that difficult.

A Google search for hard lemonade gave several ghastly recipes involving killing the yeasties and artificial carbonization. Peasants!! A true BrewMeister does not kill yeasties and artificially carbonate. They deserve to drink supermarket swill! My first batch will be bottled in a few days and my bet is that between Richard and my daughter it won’t last long.

Now, about that Peanut butter challenge…


Microblogologist again, I have no idea what this weird peanut butter reference is, perhaps NukeDad can enlighten me as he is from Texas. There is a chance Daddy was testing his experiments when he wrote his post, I wouldn't be surprised one way or the other with him, lol. According to the Sibling this nasty concoction was delish, as I have in the past I question her taste... Of course the fact that I am not a fan of lemonade and any form of lemon with the one exception of lemon bars might make me a bit biased about something lemon flavored (do NOT get me started on one of the most vile drugs in the world, carbonated lemon flavored magnesium citrate, and what I believe should happen to the idiot who came up with this absolutely wretched drink!). I hope you all enjoyed this post, feel free to leave some ego inflating comments for Daddy, mayhap we'll convince him to start his own blog, though that might not be a good idea since I won't get these lovely guest posts from him then! Quit laughing Uncle Richard, you might not get enough oxygen to your brain if you keep it up!

I'm a huge McFan of McMommy!

McMommy, who is fabulous and if you do not read her blog you are totally missing out, had a fun idea to have her McFan's post fan pics similar to the one she made for Oprah when she joined the twitterverse. This has given me the motivation to go through with an idea I have had for awhile now and show you, my dear reader(s), how a blog addict such as myself views the world, which can be very different from how "normal" people view the same world.

It all started when I decided I was hungry and didn't want to go home and cook or perhaps had no time to do so because I had lab work after water aerobics and decided to hit the local Wendy's before heading back to my hermit cave rock I live under according to BFF Pasha apartment or lab. I did this somewhat frequently until one night I was totally thrown off, they had to close the road in front of the Wendy's and I REALLY wanted my kid meal and chocolate frosty with cookie dough added (I love that they will spike my frosty with the dough stuff for I think a quarter!). I was trying to figure out how I could get to the Wendy's as I passed it and observed the layout of the barricades. And then, just when I thought all hope was lost I looked ahead and saw the golden arches of a McDonalds. I had no idea it was there because I don't get out much this is on the opposite side of town from where I normally am. I got my happy meal, complete with toy for Niecey and decided that I like the McD's kid meal better than Wendy's except for the lack of the awesome frosty goodness (I hate that McD's "chocolate" shakes are really vanilla shakes with some chocolate flavor added, gross!) and so have switched over.

Another reason I enjoy going to the McDonalds is that it reminds me of two of my favorite bloggers, McMommy and HappyHourSue (her blog title is Happy Meals and Happy Hour, which you would know if you aren't her husband and read her awesome blog!). And so dearest reader(s), I present to you what I see in my mind when I am going on a happy meal run:

Welcome to McMommy's, can we take your order please?

Here is the menu for the food:

A happy meal option that is extra happy!

Here is the McCafe menu:

McMommytini anyone?

And here is what comes with the most popular meal by far at McMommy's, The Happy Hour Sue Happy Meal:

The yummy crusty browned part of the turkey stuffing.

A Mojuito

Chocolate

And your very own Bathtub Gangta Mini!

So there you have it, a blog addict's view of the world. And Melisa, I remember you bringing up this question in a post at some point and this should be proof positive for you that you are not the only one that is often reminded about their bloggy friends/idols, though my being the one that is proof that it happens might not be the most reassuring as far as if it is sane or not ;).