It is hard to believe that July is already over, didn't it just start. I'm just glad that everyone is back safe and sound and we can now pretend to be somewhat normal.
1) Volunteer: So while I did volunteer for National Lab Day - the list of people they matched me with all live on the East Coast - you would think in SATX where approximately half the jobs are in biomedical they would have something. Also, X mentioned to me yesterday he would like to do something for kids who don't get presents at Christmas or spend time with their families. For a five year-old I thought it was pretty amazing thought, so we are going to look into doing something regarding this.
2) Pay down debt: This continues to go down but the house in KS may need a lot of work - as J discovered last month, a burst pipe under the foundation has caused some issues. We are hoping insurance covers it, but are currently in the holding pattern waiting for a response.
3) Read four books a month: This month I made it through three books. The first was Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst. This was a really good WWII book about the tension in Greece right before the Nazi invasion. What I have always liked about Furst is the way that he takes ordinary individuals and then enmeshes them in extraordinary events. The second book I read was Scarpetta by Patrica Cornwell. J is an avid reader of the books and I do like the distraction they provide. This one was pretty good but at the same time the characters are getting a little to one-sided and the books are becoming more like comic books rather than literature. The final book I made it through this month was Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed also by Patrica Cornwell. This book flat out states the English/German artist Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper. She bases this assumption on a number of factors including letters that he wrote, similar stationary used by both, some mtDNA evidence from the letters (both Sickert and the Ripper liked to send mail). I have to admit the mtDNA evidence is poor and is based on a number of assumptions out of the HVS-I region. She claims that a particular mutation (16294, 73G, 263G) only occurs in only 1% of the population, which is just flat out wrong. This particular motif belongs to haplogroup T and is found in about 20% of Europeans. Based on this assumption you could argue for just about anyone. Another two of the sequences belong to haplogroup X (based on mutations at 16223 and 16278). As one of the haplogroup T is from a Ripper letter and another X is also found from a Ripper letter suggest to me that this evidence is poor. I realize in the early part of this century mtDNA mutations were common for forensic purposes but the problem in this HVS region is mutations are common that makes it hard to make a definitive conclusion. However, they are usually associated with a coding region mutations, which would narrow your results. Anyway, whether or not he was or wasn't, the genetic evidence presented isn't that great.
4) Publish: This is pretty much the same as last month. I have three in press (you can download them from www.phillipmelton.com, just remember to use them only for educational purposes -although I'm not sure what else what you would do with them). I also have one in revision, another one I'm co-author will be submitted this month, and I hope to have two more 1st author papers completed by September. I also had a grant to write and I submitted an abstract for the Genome Research Day - which is a joint venture between UTSA, UTHSCSA, SFBR and I'm not sure who else.
5) Clean the Garage: OK, this now needs to be revisited and done once again due to X-mas decorations that have migrated from parts unknown. I will keep you posted.
6) Get Maintenance done on the cars: The minivan needs to have a boatload of work done with the brakes - we found out, so that will be the next major chore.
7) Catch up on a boatload of TV shows, mostly beginning with B: We continued with the massive litany of vampire TV shows. We are almost through the 2nd season of True Blood and maybe one day finish Angel - they aren't anymore are they - please I feel trained. While J and the kids were away I did watch two seasons of the Tudors on Netflix streaming. I can't wait to get a Wii so I can tell TW-cable to ___- off.
8) Do a 365 walk project: I'm planning to return to this soon, once we get everything more settled but hopefully by my birthday at the end of the month.
9) Learn to meditate: Once again need to work on this I did run into the book Meditation for Dummies at the bookstore, although 8 minute meditation is supposed to be pretty good and even I can find 8 minutes.
10) No computer after 6 pm: yeah right.
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