crazy times and slowinternet so posting is quite difficult. the space bar also sticks but whatever,its colombia. that is right folks, I am currently in Colombia. We went to Tobago for a week of diving and waterfall hunting. We then took a ferry to Venezuela and took a por puesto to a town to catch a bus. A por puesto is supposedly a taxi like car that will take a bunch of different passengers going to the same place. In actuality it is a car that has been through a demo derby. ours was a molester van which none of the doors shut, which was convienent since the driver kept vomiting. From this van we were also forced to give a "collection" to the Venezuelan army. no worries-when in Rome.. .from the bus ride,we slept in the airport in barcelona and took an early flight to Maricabio. Spent 1 night and then took a local bus to the border with Colombia. The bus ride was supposed to take 2 hours as it isonly 100 kms to the border, but we were stopped by the police 8 times. We think this is because everytime an officer gets on the bus driver collects a bribe. Consequently, every officier that can stops the bus. The ride took 5 hours. Then the border crossing took 2 hours- it was quite ridiculous. Suprisingly, we were only stopped by police 3 more times on the colombian side and they never asked for money. Now we are chillin in a costal town called Santa Marta-don´t know where is next but will try to keep everyone updated.

peace & grease

Don't let the bed bugs. . .

I have been quite bad at posting lately, but I will quickly tell everyone what is going on. I went to the Galapagos about a week ago with mom and dad and had a really good time, despite being sea sick. We swam with turtles, sea lions, and penguinos. and of course, no one will forget all the boobies. So after a week at sea and a night in Quito, I met Mr. Flames in Caracas. We stayed 2 nights in Caracas, one of the most uninteresting cities I have ever been to. Not to mention that Venezuela is currently really expensive. The official exchange rate is $1 USD=2500 Bfs. However, the black market rate is $1 USD=5700 Bfs. You guys can all guess which rate we chose. After hanging out in caracas, we decided to go to the beach town of Puerto Colombia so we hopped on a bus to Maracay. The bus to Maracay is supposed to take 1.5 hrs, but with caracas traffic it took 4 hours. We then drove around in a taxi looking for a place to stay and they were all booked. We got into a hotel which at the official exchange rate would cost $100 USD. There were prostitutes using the hotel's hourly rooms for their business and it had bed bugs.

I have to make a long story short. I am in Trinidad & Tobago at Ada's house (we met her at the airport in caracas) and using her computer. It would be nice if the strangers she brought home last night didn't monopolize her internet. I think we are going to Tobago to dive for a couple of days and then we may be headed to Colombia.

By-week

I left Quito last Monday, after failing to climb Cotopaxi, to come home and do my thesis corrections. Not a very fun prospect, but it will be good to get it out of the way. I had the worst cab driver on the way home the airport in Houston. It is a 45 minute drive and he kept trying to hold my hand. Very strange. Thankfully, I had purchased a Newsweek magazine, rolled it up, and kept smacking him with it every time he tried to touch me. That is not an exaggeration, I was actually hitting my cabbie like a dog that took a crap in the house as we are barrelling down the freeway at 70 mph. Since then, I have been working on the thesis corrections and I am almost finished. I did get to spend Thanksgiving with Kate and her family having a fabulous turkey dinner and lots of wine. We also started whiskey tastings at 10:30 am. It was a great day! In a couple of days, I am off to Ecuador again to go to the Galapagos and then on to Venezuela. Kate has learned that her work will give her 4 to 6 months extended leave so we will soon be running around the world together and that could only spell one thing: T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

It´s all about the O

or more correctly those places that end in O. Colorado, Cabo, and now, Quito. I am living with an Ecuadorian lady somewhere in Quito and taking Spanish classes. I have no idea why, seeing that I don´t plan on moving to Spain or Latin America, don´t really interact with many Spanish speakers, and suck at pronounciation, but here I am. Already getting in trouble. This morning I was at Mama Cecilia´s house and she had put lunch for me in the microwave. This is at 9am and lunch is just sitting in the microwave. This just seemed wrong to me as I wasn´t going to eat for a couple of hours, so I was going to put the plate in the fridge. I open the fridge with the plate in hand and discover the fridge is pretty full so I start rearranging stuff with one hand while balanicng the plate with the other. At this point, my realistic capabilities center in my brain said, "you are a klutz, you are going to drop this plate." However, my over-confident superman center (these are real brain areas, trust me I am a neuroscientist) said, "What? That´s crazy talk. You´ve tottally got this." As you all know me, you can guess which one was correct. Rice and meat and sauce is all over the floor, inside the fridge, outside the fridge, and under the fridge. GREAT! Mama Cecilia is going to come home and think that I took the lunch she made for me and promptly threw it in the bin. I am now trying to clean it up with the random cleaning utensils which I can find in the kitchen. I have rice stuck to the bottom of my socks. I am getting very tired since Quito is located at 2850m and very frustrated at my stupidity. I go lay down and will clean up later. In the meantime, Patti (mama cecilia´s daughter) comes home to find part of my food on the floor. GREAT! Now, do they not only think that I threw their lunch on the floor, but that I was also not planning on cleaning it up. FABULOUS!

Anyways, thesis corrections are in! The good news is that I don´t have to do any more experiments, the bad news is that one of my examiners wants me to redo most of the figures. Might be going to houston to get corrections done before Ellis and Kate come to play with me, especially cause I really suck at Spanish.

Payin' cash, sittin' next to Vanna White

I went back to NYC last week for the sole reason of dressing up in short shorts and running around the city with jousting sticks. Literally running around the city. Kate and I went on a hash run through the city streets while wearing our American Gladiator costumes of fabulousness. IT WAS AWESOME! We were a huge hit with the crowd and got to lead the hashers through the parade on the account that no one could see anything except our jousting sticks. We also ran into another pair of gladiatresses who had a substantially more elaborate costume. Big hair and gold leotards-the works-I think they actually were American Gladiators in the 80's. It took me almost a day of arts and crafts to make the jousting sticks and we threw the iron-shirts together 30 minutes before the has run and it was worth it. The night ending with Kate and I laughing maniacally and throwing cold cuts at each other.

The rest of the week was great. Kate and I got to hang out heaps, just going to dinner and vegging. I got lost enough that I ended up seeing most of the sights of NYC. Kate got at least 5 phone calls a day starting with the phrase "okay, if I am standing at the corner of. . ."

I am off to South America on Monday to go live with an Ecuadorian family and bum around Venezuela. Will be back stateside on Jan 23rd. Be naughty and take care of each other.

Love Heather

Girls gone MILD!

I can't take credit for the title, it was Jaklin's colloquialism. It was definately a rough week, having to lay in the sun, sipping drinks, and eating nachos brought over to the cabana by our pool waiter, Carlos. If the truth ever gets out about the weekend, I am sure Jaklin and Andreea's husbands will not let them go on a girls only holiday again. We got lost a lot. . .in bad neighborhoods. . .and we are cute. There was the bus ride that never ended until a nice man politely told us that we were on the way out of town. Of course, he only responded directly to our breasts ( I say our but I mean Jaklin and Andreea's) when a question was asked about how to get back to the gringo area. Then there was the dinner that began with a walk lasting about 2.5 hours and involved a dark field that was whistling at us and ended with us pushing our waiters car from the adult movie store.

We spent most of our time in San Jose del Cabo to avoid the spring break atmosphere of Cabo San Lucas, except for the night that we went dancing at Squid Roe. Before the night was over we (I say we but I mean me) had sufficiently demoralised an 18 year-old (I'm a puma!). We had to explain to the lad that when the MC invited us to dance on the table he meant the LADIES. We had to admonish the young man to the floor so that Jaklin could get up on the table and dance with us. I am sure at some age this will become unacceptable behavior but it is not soon.

The week was full of spa treatments, sun lounging, and laughing. Lots of laughing. From forming a girl group called "Fantazajazz" to sending Jaklin a "memo" when it was time to nude it up to literally dancing in the street (and everywhere else). We had a blast and I am so glad I got to spend this time with my ladies. I suppose I have to thank Steve and Nick for that.

CPT or bust

AWESOME NEWS!!! I saw leopards doin' IT. They don't take long and it involves more biting than I like, but it was awesome to see. We also say some leopards with their impala kills. We have finished with the game drives and are now in cape town. Cape town is a kick ass place. I may see if the University of Cape Town has any open spots, especially since I got news that the grant Peter and I wrote in Australia didn't get funded so there is no salary for me to take a post doc there. Peter may be able to finagle something, but the outlook isn't so good.

I am off to eat pizza on the waterfront. I am starving!!!

Out of the truck, in to the food chain. . .

We have moved to a significantly more posh camp today still on the Okavango delta. I am staying in a “tent.” I use the word loosely. My “tent” has a porch, a queen bed, a desk, a phone, air conditioning, full length mirror, bar fridge, safe, and a shower bigger than my last apartment. Did I mention that we are currently on the edge of the Kalahari desert? on the poorest continent in the world? in a country with a 45% unemployment rate? There are people in this country without access to fresh drinking water and I have a BAR FRIDGE in my “tent.” A maid wakes me up at 6 am with tea and biscuits which have to be brought in my room right away because of the abundance of thieving monkeys. I then walk 200 m to the main lodge where breakfast is served. At 7 am, we drive around for 3 hours in our own personal Landcruiser with our own guide (The carbon foot print for this trip is tiny- for my friends not well versed in sarcasm-that was it.) We then return to the lodge for brunch, siesta in our air conditioned "tents", and a dip in the pool. After all the riding, sleeping, and eating it is then time for afternoon tea. We will need our energy for our afternoon game drive. How could we sit for 3 hours if we didn't have a full stomach? (again-sarcasm) A full 4 course dinner is served when we return from the drive at 8 pm, after which we can relax on the deck, or in our "tents", or go for an environmentally-friendly night drive (I really shouldn't have to tell you this time) Most of the time I am embarrassed to be a part of this culture. It must seem utterly ridiculous to the Botswanan people that us "whiteys" demand so much luxury in the middle of freakin' nowhere. I constantly want to apologize to the waitress, barman, maid, gardener, and driver for the frivolous nature of all of this, for my president only giving money to AIDS organizations that teach abstention, and for my British colonial heritage.

On the other hand. . .
I have seen elephants, giraffe, cheetahs, lions, zebra, 5 different types of antelope, hyena, hippopotamus, wildebeest, and jackals. Thank you mom & dad! I have also seen the oh-so-adorable baby elephants, giraffe, lions, zebras, and hyenas. This is a truly beautiful place and despite having nothing, some of the most wonderful people. Yes, I realize my parents are paying them bunches of money to be nice to me, but they seem nice anyway. I spent a while talking to this huge African man named Julius. He told me how Oprah once came to the game ranch, HE flew in HIS own plane. Julius didn't know how HE made all HIS money though. Julius didn't know that Oprah was a woman, but knew it was very important that HE came. This made me giggle and I politely told Julius that Oprah was the first black Queen of America. It seems true enough.

Well, I gotta go now. It is time for high tea and I want to get there early so I can make an appointment with the masseuse. (Fortunately/unfortunately that was not sarcasm)

I will post pictures later. . .

I shot a man in Reno. . .

I just got back from celebrating Big Daddy Cash's 90th birthday in a land called Tennessee. It was a riot! No really, Covington played Brighton in the local football game and there was a mini riot consisting of old men punching each other in the parking lot and one shotgun fatality. Other than that, I spent all weekend encouraging Big Daddy to eat dessert first, which he is happy to oblige. It is a practice that I indulge in at 27, and you can bet your britches (look ma, I got my hick speak back!) I will do it when I am 90. He and Mimi were so sweet on each other. They may not always know where they are going, but they know they are going to go there together. I especially enjoyed Mimi watching TV. . .

Mimi: "Heather, who is that colored boy on the TV?"
Heather: "That is Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time and a multimillionaire."
Mimi: "I thought that was who that was."

Other successful accomplishments for the weekend include convincing Nanny (my Dad's mom) to be made into a diamond when she dies and, being the only cousin of reproductive age without children, staying far away from the tiny terrors.

The weeks before that I have been in Colorado hiking, cutting oak brush, and riding 4-wheelers (I was born to race) with my Dad. Mom would be on one side of the house feeding squirrels and Dad would be on the other shooting chipmunks with a pellet gun. Mom won't let him use the shotgun around the house anymore. They are, after all, civilized people.
We had a 5/6 day hike on the Continental Divide trail planned, but after 2 days one of our traveling companions became very sick. David had a kidney stone which made him vomit and he couldn't keep any fluids down, so we bailed out early. The bail out wasn't the easiest thing, about 11 miles and a 3,000 ft change in elevation, all with some extra pack weight to try and help the rescue attempt. David did make it the whole way under his own power and pure will. He then got to a hospital for treatment of dehydration and kidney stones. All very exciting, except to him.

I am now off to Africa and won't be back until October 11th. I have already started taking my hallucinogenic Malaria medicine. The non-hallucinogenic stuff is 4 times more expensive, so I figured a cheap trip was worthwhile. I have had some crazy dreams including a romp with guinea pigs that I genetically engineered in my evil laboratory to have eyelashes like javelins sticking straight out of their heads and fending off lions with a car door. They say the dreams get worse the longer you take the meds. . .I got enough for 23 weeks!

Party up in NYC. . .

Just got back from visiting Kate for her birthday and it was FUN! We went out to Montauk (the end) for a weekend of sun. Started innocently enough with some drinks on Friday night and ended up with me pranking everyone in Abi's phone. Just to highlight some of the gems said. . .

"I have a womb, I'm think I'm fertile, call me."
"It's like clue, but nobody gets murdered."
"Bonjooooooooooooooooooooooour! elle élève du chats"
"Just want to let you know that you can run it in my 18th hole."

The interesting part is that every guy we called, called back! It was definitely juvenile but it kept us giggling for hours.
The next day was more sun and beach during the day and party at night. Micheal found a black casing on the beach and was informing everyone that it was a shark egg. I laughed and informed him that it was most certainly NOT shark eggs as sharks give birth to live young. To prove that I am oh so smart, I picked it up and ate a piece of it. Dr. Scott says, "oh yeah, it is not a shark egg, it is just some kind of seed or something." Turns out that some sharks give birth to live young and some lay eggs (http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/topics/lh_rep_modes.htm). Guess which kind of shark lives near Montauk! So yes, Micheal tricked me into eating a dried up shark egg. It is not one of my proudest moments.
Saturday night started off with a great birthday dinner at The Inlet restaurant and the biggest lobster ever. Micheal looked like a pimp with his harem of honeys. Then, we got to shake our bums with a bunch of rude, drunk people and of course we drank until we turned into rude, drunk people. I got into a scuffle with a man with a broken arm over him jumping into our picture. We then convinced some guy to switch shirts with me for a dollar and a pash n' dash. The night ended oh so eloquently with Kate and I walking home without our pants, for no apparent reason. Of course, we couldn't go to sleep without calling all the people in Kristin's phone. This we do not remember so well but it ended up with me receiving the best text message I have ever received. "This is Brian. You called me captain underpants. Who is this?" Just a typical weekend with the girls!

Adios

My niece, Julie Van Husen, was born on July 26th, 32 days pre-mature. She has some respiratory complications and has been moved to a neonatal ICU in Odessa, TX. She is still under oxygen and being fed through a tube in her stomach. We are all hoping for the best and should know in a couple of days when she will be able to come home. In light of this development, I will be leaving Oz a bit early on Aug. 10th and heading to Midland, TX. to be with everyone.

I had such a great time playing paintball and partying before I left Brizzy and it made me sad to be leaving all the relationships that I have formed in the past couple of years. Fear not, though, Kate and I have tickets back to Brisbane on Feb 12th after a week in Fiji. I know it is hard, but try not to hate me.

1861310 seconds-ish

After 3 years, 7 months, and 19 days I have submitted a 43,519 word document, entitled 'The role of excitatory amino acid transporter 2 in Alzheimer's disease', that only two people in the world will read. Sounds like a good read, doesn't it? Here is the only thing most people will care to read, the acknowledgements:

First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Peter “Doddy” Dodd for being my mentor, friend, and father. You taught me so much about life, science, and unfortunately statistics. I am grateful to have had the experience of working for you. A special thanks to my Aussie brothers; Rudi “Dr. T” Tannenberg, Dustin “Newbes” Proctor, and Florian “Flosi-bär” Gebhardt, I cannot imagine working in a place where a helicopter did not fly, where music did not play, and where laughter was not heard. My experience was better for having had y’all around. To Allison “Alli E” Eckert; for being an excellent example of what I want to be when I grow up. Without you, the lab would cease to function.

Thanks to Drs. Naomi Etheridge, Diane Dennis, and Scott Stanfield for their generous help in proteomics; to Dr. Niels Danbolt and Dr. David Pow for their charitable donation of antibodies; to Dr. David Innes for his gentle persuasion and sharing his molecular biology expertise; to Drs. Robert Vandenberg and Ann Mitrovic for their invaluable help with electrophysiological techniques.

I am indebted to the donors and their families, without which this project would not have been possible and to neuropathologists Drs. Anthony Tannenberg and Thomas Robertson.

I am forever grateful to Ryan “Wally” Walton for undertaking this adventure with me; to Rita Tower for teaching me the meaning of the words, hard-work and dedication; to Andreea “Schnelba” Saileanu-Martin and Jaklin “Kitten” Kaden for always reminding me that home was just on the other end of a phone call. A special non-thank you to Lt. Ellis “Mr. Flames” Caffin for coming up with ridiculously fun stuff to do while I was trying to write my thesis. This thesis is dedicated to my parents for their continual support, for telling me that I could be anything I wanted, for leading by example, and most importantly, for being my friends.

And lastly to Kate, my most significant other, I don’t know who I am without you. I could not have done this without knowing all the support, all the love that I needed could be obtained by picking up the phone and calling you.

WTF?

I am trying to figure out how this works. I feel like Mimi trying to work the answering machine. I should really be writing my thesis but this is way more fun. Plus I am tired of doing linear regressions.