Yep. I'm done here :)

After much thought, I have decided to indeed hang it up here. However, I miss blogging, much to my surprise! I decided it's not necessarily the blogging that annoys me, just the anonymity and the fact that it's not really advancing my career / helping me to be a better teacher. If I'm going to spend time doing something, I'd like it to be productive. So I'm starting a new blog elsewhere, one on which my students will be required to comment and post regularly. (They don't know this yet - insert evil laugh here...) I'll be posting articles, maybe a few videos, some recent research pieces, etc. to keep them more current in the beautiful world of biology. I'm excited and hope it works out well! It will have my real identity, which is why I'm not going to link directly to it. If you're a regular commenter and care enough to want to see it, leave a comment and I'll try to figure out a way to get you the URL.

In the meantime, if you're looking for more good teaching stories, check out chalkle.com and make a story contribution of your own while you're over there. It's just getting started, so all stories are welcome! (And no, I don't run it.)

I think this might be it.

I've been doing quite a lot of thinking lately. Maybe it's the New Year approaching, maybe it's the winter blahs, maybe it's the fact that I've been sick with one thing or another for most of the month of December...

But I'm just not sure that I really want to keep blogging any more.



-It's been fun. 189 posts' worth of fun. That's about 139 more than I thought I would manage to do.

-I've "met" some really cool people I would otherwise never have met. And the interactions with them in the comments and on their own blogs have been one of my favorite parts of this whole adventure.

-I've gotten the chance to say things out "in public" and hopefully help to make the case for the importance of science education.

-Plus I shared cute stories about my adorable kids ;)

But, when it comes right down to it - I'm just kind of tired of it. There's other stuff I can do with my time and other projects I'd like to work on, both career-wise and on the home front. And I'm not really sure how much farther I can go with the blog, you know? (I'm really not looking for reassurance here or anything like that. I'm just explaining my thought process, to myself as well as "out loud".)

Jeez, I feel like I'm writing a "Dear John" letter to Blogger. That is sad, folks. Very sad.

I still plan to read my usual blogs, and maybe throw in a few more comments than usual - but I'm just thinking it might be time to hang up writing my own.

Maybe I'll change my mind. If not, maybe I'll do another blog someday. Who knows. But in case neither one of those things happens - it's been nice knowing y'all, and truly, sincerely, thanks for reading! I'll see you around the blogosphere...

Vino

Finally, just in time for New Year's...
The genome of the Pinot Noir grape has been sequenced.

Viticulturists everywhere are rejoicing over the news of the 19 pairs of chromosomes' decoding. (You'll notice that's almost as many pairs of chromosomes as humans... I like throwing those kinds of factoids at the students, who in their teenage invincibility believe that everything else must have, like, no genetic information when compared with them. I mean, like, totally. Grapes? Those are, like, so last year.)

And it was partially done using Sanger sequencing, which I'll be covering next week with the kids. Mmmmm, real-life applications of what we do in class...

No, seriously, the article is actually pretty interesting. It talks about the evolution of grapes as well as how knowing the genome could aid in preventing diseases.

I'll drink to that. :)

Fun with Fotos

Want a fun project to do with your students?

I highly recommend a photo scavenger hunt.

The kids were clamoring (as always) for extra credit. So I put together a list of 20 "target" photos for them... the more they successfully got, the more points they'd get. The photos had to be put into PowerPoint or PhotoStory, with captions detailing the who/what/when etc. of each photo. The kids formed teams of up to 4 people. I also made it extremely clear that they could not break any school rules or violate any laws or general behavioral norms while taking the pictures. Of course, the target photos were biology-oriented. I gave them about a month to do the project; most did it on the last weekend, in the midst of a major winter snowstorm.

Some examples of target photos:
Team members with an animal whose exoskeleton is chitinous
Team members all costumed as famous biologists
Team members with a plant considered an invasive species in our state
Team members with someone who uses biology in their job each day
Team members with an organism which is not photosynthetic but has cell walls

You get the idea. You can customize the project based on what you want the kids to get out of it - if they need a little extra boost in the genetics department, have them look for people who know what a Punnett square is, or who display a recessive phenotype. Etc. It worked really well and I definitely plan to do it again next year!

Happy Anniversary, Dear Beagle

On this date in 1831, the HMS Beagle set forth on her journey.

Want more info?
Check out The Beagle Project or AboutDarwin.com.

Hits and misses

Biggest hit of Christmas, as predicted: The little-kid versions of the iPod, aka the Fisher-Price KidTough players. They loved them and had a great day with them. (And no, they were not "insulated from the world" as my mom had feared - they were still fully interactive and adorable kids, who were surprisingly well behaved and generally contributed to a good time being had by all.)

The not-so-appreciated gift: Lobster's Secret, a gift set put out by Smithsonian. I bought it for my 5-year-old thinking, hey, he likes stuffed animals and likes watching the animals at Red Lobster - why not?! As it turned out, he could not care less about the lobster. It is lying at the bottom of the gift pile, still in its box. Oh well.

Most surprising gift of Christmas: The silverware set, pictured above.

There's a story behind it. My mom took a temporary job this season at a local department store, working the customer service desk. So as part of her job, she wears the funky headset and is connected to people all over the store. And one day, someone came over the headset and said, "We're about to yellow-dot some flatware. Anyone want flatware?" Then he said the price, and added helpfully that employees would still get their discount, so my mom said quickly that she would take two (one for my sister and one for me). She was waiting so impatiently for us to open them... not because of our deep love of flatware, or because we needed it, but because she just could not wait to tell us how much of a bargain it was.

As you can see, it is a brand-name flatware set - service for 12, including 12 steak knives, an extra set of 12 teaspoons, and a serving set (with a meat fork, which actually I needed). Original retail price on the set is $180.00.

Go ahead. Guess how much she paid.

I'll update tomorrow with the answer :)

UPDATE: The actual price paid was $2.52. No, there is not a misplaced decimal there. That is the actual price. With tax included.

The meat fork alone made it worthwhile.

My mom rocks.

Commercialism

Yep, I admit it - I'm all about the commercialism of Christmas. That's why husband spent most of last night trying to get the kids' new FP3 players to work with stupid @#$% Vista software - at least now they won't have to wait while we break through the super-hermetically-sterile plastic and wire packaging tomorrow morning.
I'm also about the commercials of Christmas. I am notoriously affected by said commercials, often actually tearing up at the particularly pseudo-emotional ones. When I was a little kid, there were two in particular that stand out in my memory - and now, thanks to the wonder of YouTube, I can see them again :)










Of course, now that I'm older, I have much snarkier taste. While I will still tear up at your average Kleenex commercial, I also prefer commercials like the one below... the part about "does he bite?" just cracks me up for some reason.




So, no matter what holidays you and yours may celebrate throughout the year, here's hoping that none of the gifts you exchange will bite!!
Safe travels to one and all... and if you're bored, don't forget to check out NORAD Santa. Last time I checked it Santa had just been to Iles Crozet, French Southern & Antarctic Lands, which I found intriguing since there are no permanent residents there, only seasonal researchers and bunches of penguins. Perhaps the penguins were especially good this year??

What the...

Quote of the day:
News anchor: "After it turned your skin blue - you're still drinking it?"
Blue guy: "Yes - well, but much less."

SERIOUSLY?!

Why, sure - that makes complete sense! And apparently the argyria is not treatable or reversible, so the guy is stuck being blue permanently.

Now THAT is a gift

I received word today that my DonorsChoose grant proposal has been funded by a generous donor!!
(It may be several donors, actually - the project totaled almost $600, and they do accept partial contributions.)
This was a total stab in the dark for me and I'm really excited... and I can't wait to tell the students tomorrow!