Resolution Roundup #6 - June

It is hard to believe the year is half over and I'm still a horrible blogger. Oddly, I can find the time to read pretty much the entire fantasy series for the Song of Ice and Fire in a fortnight. I'm currently on Feast of Crows and will start Dance of Dragons after that then wait 8 million plus years for George RR Martin to finish the last two books unless he decides to break this into a thirty part series and break HBO in the process or he dies and has someone else finish it. I also spent part of the month of June back in the old haunts of Lawrence, KS. I was there doing some research on male genetic variation in American midwestern Mennonites. I stayed at a wonderful B&B called the Halycon house (highly recommend), hung out in the newly constructed lab and got to see a lot of friends that I now only generally see at conferences. Here are some pics of the visit (P.S. the girls didn't come along but they are cute).

Personal Fitness
1) Do P90X at least once this year: Due to the intense heat I have kind of put this on hold and will probably take it up when it cools down or rains for longer than 10 minutes at a time.


2) Learn to Jog: Once again off the table due the habitation of the surface of the sun. I swear squirrels spontaneously combust outside AC homes and humans are melting left and right. Probably why traffic isn't so bad this time of year, look at that upside.

Finance
3) Go to a cash-based only system for at least 3 months out of the year: We will revisit this a little later in the year.


4) Don't eat out for at least 3 months of the year: This may become mandatory as we are finding that potentially other kids are gluten-sensitive besides Cordy. Granted a few restaurants have gluten-free items but sometimes things are hidden in it that make it difficult. 

Professional
5) Publish an article from my Ph.D. dissertation: I actually have completed one of these but now need to revamp it to go once again. I'm sure by the time it is finished it will look nothing like what I had in mind but that can be a good thing as well. However, at this point is in on the back burner. I currently have two articles and a book chapter in press, then another book chapter, article, and a grant that need to be written by the end of July so after that I can relax for the rest of the year. No wait I have to do two presentations so no rest until Novemember at the earliest.
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6) Organize a symposium for a meeting: This is now off the radar.

Family:
7) Sunday Dinners: Seeing as it stays hot, we continue to try and eat breakfast together or we have a light dinner and play a board game after.

8) Spend one on one time with each child, each month: For Spencer's b-day we went out and got him a bike, and went out to lunch and to see Rango, which was quirky kid movie western about a lizard.

Other
9) Begin writing a novel: I plan to still work on it but I may shorten it and write a short story instead. The dream of novel writing is still there but I have no time unless to read recreationly or write non-fiction.

10) Blog at least once a week: I'm like the worst blogger in the world but you guys probably already knew that.

11) Read 13 Non-fiction books this year: Aside from spending my time with George RR Martin, I have also read the Long Walk, by a Polish guy who claims to have walked from Siberia to India during WWII after escaping a Russian work camp about 100 miles north of Lake Baikal. There is some controversy about walking that far or if he even did it but I'm inclined to believe him as who want to make something like walking across the Gobi desert without water.

So until next month enjoy.

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.

Mitochondial DNA diversity in Mennonite communities from the Midwestern United States

Human Biology Volume 82,issue 3

Phillip E. Melton, MJ Mosher, R. Rubicz, M. Zlojutro, MH Crawford

This study examined mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation in six Mennonite communities from Kansas (Goessel, Lone Tree, Garden View, Meridian, and Garden City) and Nebraska (Henderson) in order to determine their genetic structure and its relationship to population history. Mitochondrial DNA haplogroup and haplotype information were obtained for 118 individuals from blood samples. Molecular genetic variation was analyzed using diversity measures, neutrality test statistics, spatial analysis of molecular variance (SAMOVA), and multidimensional scaling plots. The Mennonite samples exhibited eight western European mtDNA haplogroups – H, HV0, I, J, K, T, U, and X. Comparable to other populations of European descent, haplogroup H was the most frequent in all six communities and ranged from 35% in Lone Tree to 75% in Old Order Mennonites from Garden City, Kansas. A total of 58 different mtDNA haplotypes were found in these groups with only one shared among all six populations. Haplotype diversities varied from 0.81 in Goessel to 0.96 in Henderson and Garden View. Multivariate statistical analysis of these populations indicates that these Anabaptist communities formed new congregations by fissioning along familial lines. Population subdivision of these communities into congregations support previously documented patterns of fission-fusion. In conclusion these haploid molecular data provide a more accurate reflection of biological relationships between Midwestern Mennonite communities than evidence based on classical genetic markers.