The Wus and the dogfish

I have been running growth curve experiment all day yesterday. The experiment has exploded into a whole day one and I have virtually no time to rest in between time points. I have spent all the time diluting and drop plating. It was a crazy day. I have depleted the stash of peptone diluent in the fridge. Wonder what is going to happen if someone needs more peptone diluent today. They have to order some more.
Boss is living in UK at the moment. She will be back next week some time. I will have to write up the literature review over the weekend when I am away practicing cello. Wish that I will have some quiet time in the evening to read some papers so I can structure the review in my head.
Goes home and the Wu family have come to visit us. They will be living in Mr. Lee's empty house. Mrs. Wu has brought milk candy from Taiwan and they are very delicious. They don't stuck to your teeth, so that's a bonus.
Didn't do any work after five o'clock. Watch Lost in the evening.
Mrs. Wu is a colourful character. She works for an insurance company in Taipei. She is not a secretary, but she has to do all the things around the company. Her younger son is doing chemical engineering in a technical college close to the place we live, but he is not boarding as Taipei is more comfortable and convinent for him to live.
Her older son lives in Auckland and he works for a travel agency. He sells plane tickets. After he gets the citizenship, he may move back to Taiwan, but who knows what will happen? If Taiwan no longer exist, will he want to go back?
Dad will take them to Taupo, Mt. Ruapehu, and also go out to the sea on his yellow boat. They may fish a little out in the harbour as well. Wish the weather will hold this weekend.
The first year Thursday class has dissected the dogfish this morning. They have been foul. However, some students have very clear organ structures and it's easy for them to note down the details in their lab book, however, some students didn't get organisms that have clear features so it's difficult to distinguish the organs.
Mark asked me a chemistry question after the lab and I have spent some time solving it. An-chi came into the lab to ask if she can borrow the lab coat or not. I did and we will see each other in Extreme Edge.
Hope the rock climbing goes well. However, I will have to practice cello once I get home. So busy today. Too many things are happening at the same time, I have to keep up.

Monday: dogfish and meeting

I have never smelled a fish so foul! This morning we look at the dogfish dissection that first year students are going to carry out this week. The stench of the fish is overpowering. I try to keep my face straight and my heart in the right place when the professor is opening out the stomach of the fish. This one is a male. The liver lobes are enormous. We can also see clearly the intestine, kidneys, dueodenum, and the rectal gland. The rectal gland excretes salt into the sea so the kidneys do not have to do so much work on excretion. The fish has to excrete large amount of salt otherwise the osmosis balance in the body will get out of control. This is adaptation of the animal to a sea life.
We leave the dogfish until Thursday. Take mail to Megan's desk but where is she? She is supposed to be in this dissection session. Eat lunch with Jo and Laura in university. Get back to Dexcel and discovers I am not actually late. Everybody is still at their desk waiting for the meeting to start.
We talk about what we should do in these few months. Supervisor is going oversea in June and will be back after that. The cow are still in gestation at that time and there's no milking. It will be quite cold around June/July and it's the time for us to get some holiday before the wheel starts to turn again around August/September.
I am assigned to write my Literature Review (Chapter 1) before the end of April. That means a lot of writing non-stop from now.

Outdoor rock climbing and movie

I rise bright and early today to prepare for a day of rock climbing in Wharepapa South. Dad takes me to the university bus stop and all of us meet there. Alex, Jess, Steve, Shannon, Darlen, Amy, Ben and Andrew leave university and we stop by the corner shop to pick up some lunch and drink. Going towards Te Awamutu, Steve tries his new tyres on the road. Pitch, tip, fast and slow! It is a lot of fun, but his CD collection sucks.
We arrive at a nice tranquil farm in Wharepapa South, not far from Mongakino. The rock formation is great and you can see a great view from the top. We register on the booklet and it doesn't seen to cost us any money. We pay for petrol, though.
Wearing the harness has proven to be difficult because I have become slack. With a little bit of adjustment, I start with the first wall but didn't get very far (about 1 m up). The second wall isn't too difficult and everybody get to the top. Jess and the girls skive off to the otherside to lead on the rock. We stick around to conquer the Indian Drift and the other rock sitting on the right. They are both awesome. I can't believe that I have done outdoor rock climbing. It's such a great feeling going up, and the scenery is breathtaking.
We rest for a long while. Steve and Jarod play the guitar. Darlene and I draw up the ROC club logo. Jarod is a great player, he knows so many songs and is real cool. He can do Jack Johnson! Sarah, Jarod's girlfriend, is very lucky to have a music man in the house.
We leave the rocks around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and drive back to Hamilton. People in our car go to the next party with Grant and Sonia. They have borrowed the projector from Dexcel so we can watch Indiana Jones and Finding Nemo in AgResearch grounds. Grant is working for InterAg and Sonia is working for AgResearch. They are both looking very happy. We meet some new friends as well.
The evening ends well. I give Alex a big hug in the car because he is cold (shivering). Go home and sleep. Dad is angry, mum is understanding, fuzzy is sleeping. However, I can't say that I am not happy about a day's outing. I am very happy indeed. Hope Alex is not feeling so cold anymore.