Dear Friends and Family.....

As the holiday season approaches, the following question has been raised "What are you doing for the holidays?" Well, the deal is, if we win Powerball we will be taking all of you to some desert oasis where we can drink Cranberry Margaritas and eat turkey enchiladas.

But being as the chances of winning Powerball are not in our favor, we will have to likely take up some other plans. With the economy the way it is and the cost of plane tickets, we will likely stay here in Minnezona (as Kendall calls it).

HOWEVER, I would like to extend a generous hand out to all of you and say, that we would LOVE LOVE LOVE if you wanted to come visit us. We will cook you good meals, you can sleep on our hideaway bed, we will show you the city and more. If you want to go to Cabela's we will take you there....if you want to go to the Mall of Ameria....we are all over that, or if you want to just relax and watch Netflix.....we are down with it. Please just know that we would love to have you.

PS: No subliminal messages/pictures were used in this letter as a way to make you want to come visit us ;)

Awards Update

I can't help you...I have never heard of the Peace Prize winner or the French writer that won. Sorry.

Random Thoughts for a Sunday Night

1)High School Reunions....I think that they should have 4 years of grades all together for a reunion. And if you grew up in a small town, like I did, you have all the high schools from those grades, convene together. This whole Facebook phenomena has reminded how many great people were in different grades and went to different schools then I did. I am not saying that old Flag High Class of 93, wasn't the best damn class EVER....I just think it would be fun to see some old friends. 2)There Will Be Blood---anyone seen it? I swear there is a lot of symbolism rolling around in that movie....Oil Tycoons getting too much power, the problems greed can cause, Southern Conservatives being very powerful, the environmental devestation........Maybe I am reading too much into it. Oh, and I am only an hour into the movie.

I am glowing.......

We should have known, GFP wins the Prize. The stuff is like water, it is everywhere, it is hip and cool and a pretty color and it will help save lies. All the cool science geeks use GFP. AND it glows under UV. In my opinion anything that glows is pretty much a shoe in for a Nobel. Oh yeah, if you didn't hear, GFP (Green Fluorescent Protein)---which was originally obtained from a Jellyfish, was the big winner of the prize....well actually the scientists that discovered it got the prize. It would be hard for a Jelly Fish to spend 1.4 mill. You can insert GFP in a gene and when it turns on, it glows. This allows you to look at genes that would be potentially life threatening. You can look at neurons, cells, and entire organisms (puppies, rabbits, little babies (j/k) in GFP: (From yahoo: Shimomura, 80, now works at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., and the Boston University Medical School. Chalfie, 61, is a professor at Columbia University in New York, while Tsien, 56, is a professor at the University of California, San Diego, and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The trio will split the $1.4 million award.) (in fact today, I even wrote to you in GFP......)

Physics is the least cool Nobel, in my opinion

Not to mention, particle Physics isn't exactly the easiest field of research to understand. Those guys are like super uber geniuses. Quoting Yahoo News : Two Japanese scientists and an American won the 2008 Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for theoretical advances that help explain the behavior of the smallest particles of matter. (Inserted Opinion: Like Duh?) The American, Yoichiro Nambu, 87, of the University of Chicago, won half the $1.4 million prize for mathematical work he did nearly a half-century ago. "I had almost given up" on getting the Nobel, Nambu said. Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa of Japan shared the other half for a 1972 theory that forecast the later discovery of a new family of subatomic particles. So parental units and friends that are of a slightly older age group---there is hope for you. You still have a very REAL chance to win a Nobel. And if I were you, winning it might be a good idea, being as your (and mine) 401K, pension, Roths, IRAs, savings, etc....are all being snorted up the nose of some CEO sitting on the beach in St. Lucia. Sorry, my message was meant to be hopeful and awe inspiring. Let's just hope the dudes that win the Economics prize can help us all out.

It's that time a year again.....

You were thinking Elections...but you would be wrong. It is that time of year when they award the Nobel Prizes. Seriously folks, this is good stuff.....did I not say just a few months back, how important viruses are? (Thanks Dr. Martinez Hewlett for my awesome virology class at U of A.) Today, the awards for medicine and physiology were handed out to the geniuses that discovered HIV (French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier) and Cervical Cancer (HPV-Human Papillomavirus)(awarded to Germany's Harald zur Hausen ).....However, I bet for years to come there will be a controversy over the HIV award. If I can recall, the US group (Gallo) was working neck and neck against the French group....and although the French were the first to identify the virus (as ruled by the courts)--they waited a long time to use the HIV test to test their blood supply. As a result, many more people in their country got HIV from their lack of using the test. Anyways, many thanks to these brilliant minds. Awards to come: Physics tomorrow Chemistry Wednesday Literature Thursday Peace Friday Economics Monday I know you can barely wait....but I will keep you posted. You can depend on me for your Nobel news...... Here are what the guys in Vegas are saying: Rumors are that Bono is up for the Peace prize again. Others are saying that the committee may give it some Chinese or Russian groups to sort of "spit" on them for their horrible human rights policies.....

Little boys in overalls

A long time friend of my Mom's (Janet Clark) give me these overalls when Mason was born. They were too big at the time, but now they fit just right. She hand sewed "Mason My Son" on the front pocket with a little sun in the middle. Little boys just look so cute in overalls...why is that? Thanks Janet for being so thoughtful.

Some good things (music related)

Maybe it is the cold winters or the beautiful autumns or the abundance of beautiful lakes, but there is a lot of GREAT music here in Minnesota. (come visit, I will show you around). I am currently very much in love with the sounds of Haley Bonar. If you happen to be in Fargo, ND on November 2nd, she is playing with Mason Jennings (HOLY MOLY GREAT SHOW ALERT!) And strangely enough, the guy that makes her guitars, lives out here on the Lake. Check Er Out--NPRs Song of the Day AND Now for one of the greatest inventions....EVER. Pandora...geez what took me so long to find it? Pandora is an online radio station. You type in a band or song you like and it picks some music it thinks you should like. And so if you like a variety stuff, you can have your SnoopDog Station and your Dolly Parton Station and your Jimmy Buffett Station. Current Favorites of the Monkeys: 1)Dan Zanes (always at the top of the list) 2)The Pipettes

Nicknames

When I first found out I was pregnant with Kendall, at the time we hadn't thought of a name and so for the entire pregnancy she was Peanut. Then when she was born it was Sweet Potato or Sweet Girly.....(strangely, I still call her my Sweet Girly, but only when she is going to bed.) Well, Sweet Potato morphed into Tator...and well, that is her name now...sometimes it is Tatorbug, or Sweet Potator...but all in all, she is my Tator. Then along comes Emmie (Auntie Em, Emmylou, Lemonie, Lema-Nema-Ding-Dong (sp?)) and she starts calling Kendall, Dilly. All of which are fine names. So to summarize Kendall = Tator, Dilly, Monkey Then the Mace shows up and yes, we call him Mace (or should we spell it Mase?)---lately, he has turned into the Masonator and even Kendall will say (where is the Masonator, Mommy?) So now we have the tag team of Tator and Masonator(sometimes referred to as the Poopmonsters or the StinKy Pies or the Monkeys) (Side Note: Maybe we need a cutesy nickname for Mace? Toodlebugs, Pooh Bear, Sweet Pea---ideas will be considered). Now on to my lovely nicknames (can you hear the satire in my voice?)---my wonderful husband calls me, (hold on)--Beccalingus and Beccaringus. Aren't they soo purdy? No seriously, they sound like sexually transmitted diseases. Sometimes when we are joking he will call me Schmoopie. That is a tad cuter. Now on to the family, or as the Sisty Uglers referred to it--the famn damily or damn family.....there is my mom, Co. When we were kids, my brother and I jokingly (and VERY VERY lovingly) called my mom Annie (after that one Stephen King movie) and on some rare cooking occasions, "Jane Brody". Jane Brody was big in the 80s, she was ahead of her time. Nutritional and organic and healthy and well....YUCK. SOOO anyway, back to the nick names--on Josh's side--there are a gazillion nicknames....in fact, I can't even name them all. There is Dude, Cookie, Noonie, Birdie (Auntie Birdie Freaky).....name overload. can't. compute. can't. remember. the. rest. Then there is my brother, Dave. Now lovingly referred to as Unky Dave or Hunky Dave. In school my brother had a white guy afro, so he was called Screech, after that dude on Saved By the Bell. And then along the way, he became Roscoe. I have no idea why. And lastly, there is Lou-Lou. My little sister....she was just always little Lauren Lou-Lou. Oh wait, there is also my friend ALBERT that lives in Alaska, but to me he will ALWAYS be Binky. Got it.

Times they are a'changin.....

Have I mentioned lately how cute my husband and kids are???

So, yesterday, Friday, was my last day at work. For the past nine years I have been selling cytokines, antibodies and ELISA assays for R&D Systems. You are probably asking yourself, what the hell are those? Well cytokines are the majority of the proteins that float around in your body. They are critical for wound repair, cancer, HIV, alzheimers, heart burn, pregnancy, .....on and on and on.....and your next question might be....what is so great about them? Well, I will tell you why...because if you can control those proteins, or some in cases increase the level of those proteins or decrease the levels--then you can really do a lot for disease prevention. So anyways, my whole point for telling you all this is that I was very proud to have sold these proteins. But now I am moving on and not looking back. I have a new job, starting monday and I will take all the good vibes you send me. Change is scary, but necessary and so I am ready for the challenge.