Resolution Roundup #9 - September is in the books

We survived September for the most part intact. We had visitors from afar, and school started. I've been busy at work and things don't look like they will calm down until around Christmas. Here is a rundown of the resolutions so far.

1) Volunteer: I didn't get a chance to do anything this month as I have been insanely busy.

2) Pay down debt: The house in KS is continuing to be a problem but hopefully this month we will get something resolved.

3) Read four books a month: I did it this month! I read through four books. The first book was The Mystic Art of Erasing All Signs of Death, by Charlie Huston this book was rocked and yes trauma cleaning is a real life business although not quite as competitive as the author portrays it (at least I hope not). This book follows are young protagonist (yes, I took a literature class in college - it was required) Webster Fillmore Goodhue, a fellow who is depressed over a number of events that have happened recently and like most Huston novel thrusts him into the center of another someones drama. I won't go into details but the book is a quick read.
The second book I read was the The Girl Who Played with Fire by the Swedish author Stieg Larson - who died shortly after submitting three novels to be published. This is the second novel in the Lisabeth Salander series and follows a number of events related to her past and how she was pretty much shafted by the Swedish government. This book was fast paced although I do feel sorry for the authors common-in-law wife who recieves no royalties from the book as Sweden does not reconize common law marriage. This is a highly unfortunate ironic situation as the main point of the books is to bring violence and social injustice against women in Sweden to the forefront of public thought. The third book I read was Dead Lines by Greg Bear. This is the authors first foray into horror fiction and basically the idea is that a new IT company has tapped a spirtual conduit keeping the dead in the real world to allow for better cell phone reception (good thing AT&T hasn't tried this yet). The book was an easy read, although I kind of wish it hadn't started with the line "Phil is dead". Remind me not to piss of Greg Bear again (I told him Darwin's Children was not as good as Darwin's Radio) the next time I have sign something. The final book I read was The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, which is the last of the Lisabeth Salander novels and by far the weakest. This is largely because the original series was supposed to have 10 books but the author kicked the bucket, therefore obviously the end of the book was sewn together to piece together nicely. I do recommend the Swedish movies of this series as at least the first was pretty good - so better to watch them now before Hollywood gets a hold of them and ruins it for everyone.

4) Publish: This continues to be a ridiculiscous (thanks Modern Family) resolution. I had another article go to the In Press stage, I have another that I'm co-author on that is submitted, another article has gone to the PI for approval but she just had a baby so that may have to wait, plus I may get one from the Genetic Analysis Workshop procedings, another from my dissertation - which becoming like Moby Dick, and I need to write a book chapter. However, this is all on hold write now as I need to prepare for a couple of conferences and write a grant renewal. Honestly, I think I need to slow down but I do enjoy writing and the more I do the more comfortable I get with it. Here is a list of the published and In Press articles

Melton PE, MJ Mosher, R. Rubicz, M. Zlojutro, and MH Crawford (2010) Mitochondrial DNA diversity in Mennonites from the Midwestern United States. Human Biology. June: 82(3) 267-289. Abstract | PDF - This is also available as open access from Human Biology.

Rubicz R, PE Melton, G Sun, V Spitsyn, R Deka, and MH Crawford (2010) Genetic Structure of Native Circumpolar Populations Based on Autosomal, Mitochondrial and Y Chromosome DNA Markers American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 143:62-74. Abstract

Melton PE, S Rutherford, VS Voruganti, HHH Göring, S Laston, K Haack, AG Comuzzie, JE Curran,M Johnson, E Moses, TD Dyer, J Blangero, ET Lee, LG Best, RR Fabsitz, RB Devereux, PM Okin, J Bella, U Broeckel, BV Howard, JW MacCluer, SA Cole, LA Almasy. (2010) Bivariate genetic association of KIAA1797 with heart rate in American Indians: The Strong Heart Family Study. Human Mol. Genet. 19(18): 3662-3671. Abstract | PDF

Melton PE, K Haack, HHH Göring, S Laston, JG Umans, ET Lee, R Fabsitz, RB Devereux, LG Best, J MacCluer, , LA Almasy, Cole SA. (2010) Genetic Influences on Serum Bilirubin in American Indians: The Strong Heart Family Study. American Journal of Human Biology. IN PRESS

5) Clean the Garage: I didn't get to it this month but this needs to be revisted, we do have a ladder so hopefully that will help things along.

6) Get Maintenance done on the cars: Thanks to relatives, the brakes on the minivan are fixed now onto the steering and new tires. I need to get some minor work done on the XL-7 and repair the AC clutch, although now that it is cooler not an absolute necessity.

7) Catch up on a boatload of TV shows, mostly beginning with B: I finished Friday Night Lights season one - honestly I think they won 94.6% of their games in the fourth quarter while dealing with doping, teen alcoholism, and every other cliche from SAG.  I started 24 but that is pretty much blah, about the only TV show worth watching is Modern Family from ABC. I'm boycotting Sister Wives and Jersey Shore.

8) Do a 365 walk project: This will return probably with a host of other things.

9) Learn to meditate: I have the meditation thing down - it is the slowing the brain down part and experiencing the exact moment you are in that is the hard part.

10) No computer after 6 pm: This is getting better has I have to get the kids into their nightime routine.

2010 Resolution Roundup #5 - May

So May has come and gone rather quickly and really there is not much change from April.

1) Volunteer: This remains on the back burner again - yes one day I will volunteer for something.

2) Pay down debt: This is pretty much the same as last month. It continues to go down without accruing any more debt.

3) Read four books a month: Once again I made it through three books. I'm slowly working my way up to four - so maybe by the end of the year. The first book, The City and the City by China Mieville, was recommended by a friend. This was highly original, highly interesting story about a city that is effectively two countries somewhere in Eastern Europe, where citizens of one city ignore citizens from the other country or are basically removed from whatever country they inhabit. The story is basically a detective novel but has such an interesting back story makes it highly readable. The second book, Murder City, was highly depressing account of the violence in Juarez, Mexico. The author Charles Bowden makes a fairly good point that this is not a war against drugs but a war for drugs and that as long as those people dying are just the poor there will be little sympathy for them from the US. I find it interesting that the AP did a recent piece on this, stating that the Mexican Army is basically backing one of the major cartels. The third book was the fourth novel in the Sookie Stackhouse vampire series, Dead to the World. I have no idea why I subject myself to these novels, they are basically trashy romance novels with a supernatural twist, yet they are somehow addictive. I also finished reading the first Harry Potter book to the kids. Basically, I've been trying to do this for years but now the boys seem old enough to listen, although X is pretty sure Snape is behind all the bad things.

4) Publish:The status for this is pretty much the same as last month. The Mennonite mtDNA article can be early viewed for free at the Human Biology website. The AJPA article is in the in press cycle. I'm still waiting to hear about two other articles that have been submitted. I plan on spending the next month writing three more articles. Right now I'm in the process of submitting abstracts for conferences in the fall.

5) Clean the Garage: Once again the egg cartons seem to multiply like rats in our garage. There also seem to be an undetermined amount of shoes and toys that have migrated out of the mini van.

6) Get Maintenance done on the cars: The XL-7 got its tags and passed its inspection, son to the next thing.

7) Catch up on a boatload of TV shows, mostly beginning with B: This month we watched seasons 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 of Battlestar Galacta. This is a pretty good series, although I don't always like the plot line. The acting is phenomenal and they do a really good job with the special effects.

8) Do a 365 walk project: This is intermentinent and based on whether or not I get up early enough, although has the heat has risen so have my children earlier and earlier, plus they are staying up late. This doesn't bother me for S, but for X, C, and L if they don't nap they are cranky and whiny the next day.

9) Learn to meditate:I need to get back to this, I've basically forgone my morning coffee in lieu of green tea (which helps the digestion more than relaxation). However, in a house with four kids, sometimes it is hard to find extended moments of solitude, unless it is either early in the morning or late at night.

10) No computer after 6 pm: the policy for this is just don't ask.

2010 Resolution Roundup - April

Is it just me or did April seem to take for ever this year. For a short month it seems that it was worth about two. We had our second SA visitor, g-ma, who came to visit and help out supermom while I was away in New Mexico at a conference. I gave two poster presentation, one of which was well received and another that was somewhat ignored. Probably, because I spent six years in grad school prattling on about it. Anyway, here is the list.

1) Volunteer: I donated blood so it does count as some form of volunteering. I have a rare blood type so it is always good to know they have a supply on hand in case I need it.

2) Pay down debt: This continues to go down and hopefully one day, it will be finished. At least we are not taking on additional debt, which is good.

3) Read four books a month: This month I made it through three, all by the same author, Philip Kerr. He is more well known for writing childrens books but he also writes a series of detective noir novel about a German P.I. both before and after WWII. In these books the main character is generally thrown into encounters with famous individuals. The book The One from the Other, Bernie Gunter gets caught up in a case about a missing Nazi SS officer wanted for war crimes, later gets framed for it, then has to flee to Argentina. The second book The Quiet Flame, focuses on Peron's Argentina and a number of prominent Nazis, who escaped to the country after WWII. The third book, If the Dead Rise Not has Bernie, in Cuba meeting an old nemesis from his pre-war life. All in all, good quick reads, there are a few surprises hear and there.

4) Publish: So the status of this is: two are pretty much out, one with revisions has been resubmitted, another has been submitted, one is almost ready to submit and three to four more in prep. This month I hope to get a couple of these written and out to co-authors. Check out my website for updates and links to the published papers.

5) Clean the Garage: Our garage seem to be miraculous in its ability to attract crap. I clean it and new stuff shows up.

6) Get Maintenance done on the cars: Routine maintenance on the minivan and then get the new tags for the XL-7 are what is in order this month.

7) Catch up on a boatload of TV shows, mostly beginning with B: We made it through three seasons of shows this month. Buffy seasons six and seven plus Battelstar Galacta seaon 1. Buffy was worth watching but how vampires become proficient martial art experts still eludes me. BSG is really good much better than the campy show from the 70s, although the lack of the robot dog still upsets my seven year inner self.

8) Do a 365 walk project: I'm seem to fallen off the wagon here as travel interrupted the plan. This is off an on, since I got sick. The goal is to wake up walk, then have tea and meditate, then read for 30 minutes then head off to work by 8:00 or earlier. I hope to have this plan instituted starting this month. BTW my cholesterol is up to 214 so this may become imperative.

9) Learn to meditate:You would think sitting still and breathing wouldn't be so frickin hard. Maybe it is because of my type A personality.

10) No computer after 6 pm: We've adopted a don't ask, don't tell policy about this one.

2010 Resolution Roundup #3 - March

March definitely came in like a lion and appears to be going out as a Velicoraptor in my case. I started out in Lawrence at the 1st International conference on Migration where I presented a paper on Mennonites and co-authored a poster on the Rama from Nicaragua (previous post). I enjoyed my visit and got to re-connect with a lot of people and see some interesting Science and Anthropological work being done. Then I got back and Supermom who teaches at an elite private school in San Antonio (requires a specific genetic makeup), teaches a weekly gym class for SA homeschoolers, is an officer in the local AP group, and runs three co-ops (dairy fresh milk, farm fresh eggs, and organic eggs) plus manages the homestead keeps me organized and sane kept me busy until the end of the month. That plus work. Granted we did take some time and go see the Alamo, which was actually pretty cool (saw Davy Crockett's vest and an actual Bowie Knife) and we went along the Riverwalk, which is a little stressful with four little ones.

1) Volunteer: Still waiting for the right opportunity and time (fundamental constraint) to do it.

2) Pay down debt: This continues to be an ongoing process. We would like to sell the house in KS - so if anyone is looking for a nice big house, big backyard, park across the street, close to KU feel free to contact me.

3) Read four books a month: Yet again I only made it through two books. The first book was the Temple and the Crown, which a fictional account of the Scottish Wars of Independence, Robert the Bruce, and the Templars, who are believed to fought on the Scottish side especially after Philip IV of France persecuted them because he didn't want to pay them back and wanted their wealth - which he never found. I really like the way Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Harris were able to weave the history into it. I also always find it odd how I can relate more to the Scottish side of this war while a very distant relative William Melton, fought on the English side, granted the Melton were hardcore loyalists to the English crown until Oliver Cromwell came along and either killed them or exiled them to the Americas. Good read and definitely recommend. The second book I read was Gone to Texas, which is the book that the movie Outlaw Josey Wales was based on. This is an interesting book even if it was largely about a Missouri rebel. So oddly once again I was identifying with something that seems goes against my history, being a Jayhawk and all. Although General Order 11, obviously had repercussions and people died on both sides of the Border war. Anyway, Gone to Texas or GTT was a common phrase used by Southerners who were fleeing reconstruction. This book was pretty good but the history of the author is a little ironic. Forrest Carter is actually Asa Carter, a pro-segregationist who then attempted to pass him off as Cherokee story teller.

4) Publish: So the status of this is: one is out (see here), one is in press, one is in revision, two more are in the process of ready to submit, three more are in the preparation phase, plus there is a growing line behind these, throw in grants, posters, parenthood, etc less and less time for blogging.

5) Clean the Garage: There seems to be an odd phenomena where I clean portions of the garage and it fills up with egg cartons.

6) Get Maintenance done on the cars: The next step will be to get new tires for minivan, renew the plates for the XL-7, and then get the AC fixed in this car before it gets hot (already in the mid 80s in March).

7) Catch up on a boatload of TV shows, mostly beginning with B: OK so we made it through two seasons of shows this month. Buffy season five and Angel season two. Both of which are pretty good and I can see why supermom likes them although C appears to have developed a crush on Spike, along with X's crush on Kat Von Dee, this means the years between 13 and 20 for these two might be stressful.

8) Do a 365 walk project: I'm seem to fallen off the wagon here as a mild illness and travel interrupted the plan. I'm now waking up doing number 9.

9) Learn to meditate: I'm getting pretty good at this, I found this useful primer that helps a lot. I'm amazed at how much the mind wanders when you try and focus and be still. Although it does allow me to ground myself early in the morning before anyone is awake. I then usually have a cup of green tea, go for a walk, then come home. The early morning solitude before anyone else is up helps my mood and allows me to be more productive at work. This is also helpful advice.

10) No computer after 6 pm: Don't ask about this one and don't tell Supermom either.

May Book Report - Killing Rommell

This month's edition of the book report is Killing Rommel. This is an excellent book, the intro almost had me convinced that this was a non-fiction book. The book follows a member of the Long Range Desert Patrol and the British SAS in their attempt to kill Field Marshall Erwin Rommel. The last part is fictional but Pressfield does an excellent job of bringing in historic accuracy to make the whole book feel real. I also liked how he didn't broaden out that much and kept us pretty much in the dark while they were out on patrol. All in a good read and will soon be a major motion picture (are there other kinds?). Next up on the reading pile is Stealing Lincoln's Body a non-fiction book about an 1876 plot to steal the embalmed body of Lincoln and hold it for ransom. Some time truth is stranger than fiction.

Thirteeen Book Review

Carl Marsalis is a genetic throwback, engineered to be an super aggressive alpha male from the days of the early Pleistocene, a thirteen. Now humanity has decided that his kind is illegal, he has become a bounty hunter - hunting down his peers and shipping them to Mars or killing them. The United States has split into three countries, the Northeast, the Pacific Rim, and the Republic. Carl finds himself locked up in a Republic prison in Florida after getting busted for paying for a one-night stands abortion. That is until another 13, crashes a space ship from Mars, after surviving nine months by eating the fellow passengers. Now, the 13 has gone on a cross country killing spree. Now the company that owns Mars needs to find him before this gets out of control so they turn to Carl. The journey takes them from Florida, to NYC, Turkey, Bolivia, California and back and forth several times. They eventually find the culprit but wait it wasn't him, it was another 13. This set up a wide-ranging conspiracy that takes us back to the days before the US split up and several important figures are implicated along with the Quechua mafia. I actually really liked this book and it was a fun read. It had a number of interesting ideas, and was kind of cyberpunk noir. A conflicted main character, an honest cop, bonobo engineered humans, etc.

February Book Report

One of my new years resolutions (you know those things that come back to haunt you the rest of the year) was to read two books a month (one fiction and one non-fiction), well I've accomplished this for February.

The first book up is Caleb Carr's The Angel of Darkness. This is by the same author as the Alienist (says so on the cover), which was a pretty good book, imagine CSI-New York 1891 and you pretty much get the idea. The main character in this book or group of characters are a group bent on solving a horrific crime that the inept corrupt police force can't not solve, so it is up to these heroes to do their best to bring about justice. The Angel of Darkness is told through the voice of Stevepipe a young kid who grew up by himself from the age of 4 on the mean streets of Manhattan (watch Gangs of New York) and knows the ins and outs of the various criminals that the Carr Crime Cabel encounters. In this case, a daughter of a Spanish diplomat has been kidnapped, but the father wants nothing done to locate the child. The mother then turns to protaganist 2 (Miss Howard) - female sleuth - to help solve the crime. She then recruits Moore, a journailst from the New York Times, Two Jewish detectives (who imagine this use Science to solve crimes), and our hero Dr. Kreizler, a forensic psychologist that holds amazing insights into the criminal mind.

Through a series of stops, fights, and 200 pages the main suspect appears to be Libby Hatch, a women with the propensity for smothering (quite literally) babies. She is also a master manipulator who is able to recruit the famed trial lawyer Clarence Darrow to her cause. The main argument here is that females are incapable of committing these horrible acts unless a male made them do it. Here Carr is at his best setting out a modern argument in a historical evidence, using real people (who happen to be dead for 100 years - so no likeness rights necessary). As with every good psychologist (or least Freudians) Kreizler takes us back to the beginning of Libby murder spree, where eventually she cops a plea. This is technically where this book should have stopped (sometime ambiguous endings are a good thing). Unfortunately it didn't. Libby slits the prosecutor and the guards throat and escapes back to her hideout in New York. This requires the Carr Cabel to recruit Teddy Roosevelt to help send in the Navy (no I'm not really kidding), where they brawl with the Goo Goo Knox boys (once again not kidding) and Libby bites it in roof top showdown. Honestly, a little bit of stretch for the last 150 pages.


The non-fiction book was Boys Adrift by Dr. Leonard Sax. This book came highly recommend by my wife. The basic tenet of this book is that American boys are being affected by a systemic lack of motivation. Sax identifies five major things behind this: 1) education; 2) misdiagnosis of ADD; 3) Video Games; 4) endocrine disruptors; and 5) lack of healthy intelligent male role models. The book basically goes though the five things chapter by chapter. The book is well written and easy to read, if you read some these parenting books they can be a little heavy handed. Overall I agree with most of the book but is written oddly from a feminine perspective. This may be because Dr. Sax is a pediatrician, so he probably sees more females and is more used to interacting with them then with males. Two or three things about the book. One I agree with the idea of male role models in person's life - for me my hero was my father. However, while we know the importance of fatherhood in the life of a child, but is Homer Simpson a role model. If we look at the ways males are portrayed a lot today in the media. They are bumbling idiots, no offense to my genetic brethren but come on. Look at any movie from the mid 80s on, where you have a male parent - they are always idiots or assholes. It would be nice to see an actuall father figure who loves his kids, of course no one would go see that movie unless it was set on Mars in the year 2347 and it involved lasers. So what makes a better father, I would have liked to have seen him touch more on that than point. Second, this book mostly refers to white middle class suburban kids than with other ethnic kids - he mentions Latinos and African - Americans but never really talks about how to address some of the problems boys in these groups might face (i.e. gangs - there is an obvious male bonding exercise but counter productive). I suppose that is really it at this point. I suppose if we don't do anything as John Varley once wrote in "ten years the penis will be obsolete".

What the kids are listening to these days (Top 8 Songs of 2008)

So in order to celebrate and say good riddance to the last year. Here are my top 8 songs of 2008.

What the Kids are listening to.

1. Viva La Vida - Coldplay
2. Float - Flogging Molly
3. Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon
4. Paper Planes - M.I.A.
5. Sometime Around Midnight - Airborne Toxic Event
   
6. Cath - Death Cab for Cutie
7. I'm Not Over - Carolina Liar
8. Violet Hill - Coldplay

Feel free to add your own list in the comments or disagree vigorously with this.

Day 150: Book Reviews Nonfiction edition (8/19/2008)

I haven't given up reading but it has just been a little while since I posted anything. I kind of went on a two-week Middle Eastern neo-con reading kick. First up is Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden. I have always liked Mark Bowden as a journalist and this one doesn't disappoint if you want to know every solid detail in the Iran Hostage scandal of the late 1970s. He argues that this is the US first confrontation with Islam and I think that is somewhat of a misnomer. The US has a long history of confrontation prior to this - there was the war with Barbary Pirates in the 1800s all the way to the Arab Oil Embargo of the 1970s. Then there was the assassination of the American Ambassador to Lebanon in 1977. Also, Iran is Shia whereas the Arab nations are Sunni so there are some misconceptions in the title but overall a pretty good read.

Mark Bowden started out as a journalist for the Philadelphia Enquirer which is one of those papers that doesn't get the credit it should. Just because it doesn't have color graphs and a lifestyle section in every issue (it might I don't know I live in Kansas). This book is a series of article he wrote for the paper and the Atlantic Monthly

If you have any liberal leaning at all, I would strongly suggest you not read this book. However, if you are like me and willing to read anything, it is a pretty remarkable story about death and survival. The author was the sole surviving S.E.A.L of a Special Ops mission in Afghanistan and his story his entertaining if you can get by the Rush Limbaugh-like quotes about liberals and the media (although at times I agree with him on the media - they should report facts not editorialize everything they write).