K...Site

Wonderful science news site, physorg.com, that a parent hooked me up with today. Best one I've seen so far!

Been very busy with work. Took a bit of a break over the weekend that was long overdue and has me in a crazy good mood, but still so crazy tired (can't you tell with the duplicate adverb?). Only 9 days until the ACR abstract deadline is here and then I can move on to other work. so it goes! Oh, and in more tech news, got my computer at the office today - at last! It's very nice and everyone is envious of the 30" screen. Thank you Apple.

Another radio program, Studio 360, on the arts/music scene in Omaha that I heard on the radio today. They compare it to Seattle, but add that the difference is that the artists are choosing to stay here even after they become big (which in my mind means they can't become too big). The web site above also has maps (including a Bright Eyes live concert that was held at the nearby park) and the program on mp3. This one is similar to the NYTimes article pointed to before, but audio. Enjoy!

Did you hear the news? Coke's profits were up a tremendous amount today thanks to sales in their Coke Zero brand. I go through one of these a day and have been proselytizing this drink since it came out last year (yeah, suppose I owe much of this to Jay... but that's besides the point ). What's sad is that I've recycled so many Coke brand boxes and never entered in any of their codes - one of the few places I don't like sharing my info with.

Have lots of projects due, still. Important one to finish tonight. Was working hard when I got distracted thinking about how many horrible things, important things and items worth taking time to do something about were going on, yet we still manage well by keeping busy with our jobs, keeping the economy going and staying somewhat apathetic or at least resigned to suppress. It was nice to see the large outpouring of flowers in the neighboring memorial park today for those at Virginia Tech. In other notes: Grandpa apparently recovered well from his surgery last Friday and I got to catch up a little with sis last night. Tonight I'm looking forward to getting a call from Mandi out in CA. Yes, another gorgeous day with myself buried behind my computer and repressing my own needs for outside contact (only in small doses). Listening to Hooverphonic, moving right along as this, too, is temporary...

Took a < hour break tonight to witness the Team Omaha Final poetry slam competition that was held at the Omaha Healing Arts Center. What a rush! I've heard that there are several places around town for this, but had no idea of the strong talent and enjoyment I'd get from being a witness/listener. These are poems and performances that I could easily see being on television on pre-NBC Bravo. I feel I missed out a lot living near SF for so long and not spending more time a the Edinburgh Castle or other intellectual/artsy locales. Guess that's while I'll have plenty to see when I visit. But this is another bright note for Omaha - there was so much life and energy in the Old Market section of downtown - quite the place to be!

Back to work - I'll come up for air in May.

Sounds like the name of a planet in a sci fi story, but no, it's a Cox-2 inhibiting NSAID that was rejected by the FDA today. Definitely of note for what I do. Arthritis patients in Europe have been taking it for some time already. Definitely a strong reaction from post-vioxx days. Not to say it didn't deserve this vote, just was surprised as to the vote tally and how still little we truly know the full effects of our pain medications.

A great mind of our time passed away today. Kurt Vonnegut. Nice article on him. I recall reading "The Sirens of Titan" in high school. Taught me to question what is fully meant by and justified in the name of "progress" - may even be linked to my strong interest in studying evolution of systems as well as trying to determine what's really important to me & us. So it goes...


(and to fully justify the tech tag, I have an Apple bluetooth keyboard and mighty mouse that I don't use - let me know if you'd like to try or buy them!)

No, not a sports reference this time. Just feeling extremely fortunate. Who would have thought that by this time in my life that I'd have spent time in person with 2 of my 3 idols from when I was 16. #2 was Bobby McFerrin and I got to listen with rapt attention tonight at the Holland Center in downtown Omaha. Terrific acoustics and amazing voice. Really blew anything I could create from recordings in an audiofile setup out of the water. Needless to say I was moving to all of his music. Wish I sat down in the orchestra section. I was online and chose "best available seat" and it was in the last row of the orchestra so I called and got a seat in the balcony and didn't think to ask for one near the stage. He had lots of audience participation even up on stage and I wanted to ask him questions which all seemed to be limited to those near him... next time. For those who may get the chance, don't ask him about or to sing "Don't Worry, Be Happy". Crazy that the one song that made him known to the world creates such a negative reaction (though he was still in good humor throughout).

*Still singing after all these years*

Figured I needed to use the humor category at least once to excuse its existence.

Cat takes bus regularly.

All lolcats on flickr.

The classic cheezburger one.

And, of course, a non-cat that still isn't old - Tyson the skateboarding bulldog.

Not mine, but lots of belated celebrations. Sat was a rare (for me, at least!) gathering of cuz's Laura & Chris and their families. Official party was for Ava's 2nd bday. Cute pics abound (will add soon). Parents were busy at rabbit show during the day - an Easter tradition.

On Easter Sunday, we did the belated bday celebration of several Michaud family members who had bdays in Feb & March (including Uncle Rob who has had less birthdays than me, though he's lived a lot longer - the curse/blessing of a Feb 29 bdate). Got to spend time with my parents, grandparents and most of the local Michaud clan. LOTS of good food, played Through the Desert board game, basketball across the street with brand new blue ball (still freezing!), chatted with family, and comforted Frankie (who is going through recovery after losing his front claws and "manhood" last week). Investigated the manly men working on the home-made ice cream in the basement and discovered the machine doing almost all of the work (pic below). Grandma & Grandpa still know how to be the "hosts with the mosts"!

OK, the last time I can positively remember bowling was at the Thai restaurant/Palo Alto Bowl circa 1998 (yes, feel free to correct me if 1) this was my imagination from eating there with George, Aron, Tarek & co or 2) if you bowled me with me more recently). So when offered the opportunity to compete in America's favorite participation sport with relatives I rarely see, how could I say no? OK, I could have said no, as I recall being very bad at bowling. So bad that I once got last place (score of 51) out of the entire KU marching band and I was the only one sober (this was when they were "recruiting" three of us from Haven High (Corey & Jason may not recall as much of that night )).

Yes, I'm building this up because after all this time (and only 3 throws on Wii Bowling), I got the highest score of our 6-member group! Yeah, for those that know me, this will be hard to believe so I've included a pic for proof (I'm KAL, btw). So I'm on a high from this and feeling like hot stuff and so round 2 comes around and the hard dose of reality returns. From 134 to 77 - I have a ways to go still, but for one moment there - on top of the world! Thanks to the family gang for making the night so much fun (Justine, Chris, Emily, Kendra & Kortney) and to those that made the day a hoot, too!

Will have to add more pics later, but Kendra had this power swing that made me fear for everyone else's life - but more than not, she landed the ball down the run way.

Don't know how I forgot this one, but everyone at UNMC got this in their email inbox ~10 days ago. Now folks know who I am and part of what I do research on, but not the other way around. It's a start. Oh, there's another pic of me on this same link, too - from early Feb.

One of the advantages of living in NE is having so many family members nearby in Lincoln. I've been making a few trips fixing computers and on Wednesday my Aunt Marlene gave me a haircut at her salon in exchange. Here's a pic from the next day after our monthly rheumatology city-wide grand rounds.

So the college basketball season is over and Florida won again, but what really matters. The bracket pools! So for the nth year I hosted a tourney on Yahoo! sports and I usually do ok. This is the first year where anything other than bragging rights was at stake, and with that first came the first time we had someone do so well (picked all of the last 7 games, only missed 11 out of 63) - Tarek, the physics prof at UFlorida - and someone do so poorly - Mandi, who chose mostly teams with feline mascots to win. One got in the top 0.2% and the other bottom 5% out of 2 million teams - very impressive year!

But what blew me away - today I was awarded the booby prize for coming in last place in the chief resident's pool - with over 20 teams! Oh how the "mighty" have fallen! What a crazy month that was. Where I had blizzards and rain and hail and winds and lots of sun in between. Now that it's April it's been mostly 30F daily. Aack! Keeps the wardrobe in constant flux.

Wonderful radio program out of NYC. They don't have any new shows, but they've been playing shows from 2005 all this week on my local NPR station and I'm enjoying each one completely. Yesterday was about how we know who we are. Today's was about stress. Here's their home page. Enjoy! (I have!) (tech note, unfortunately Season 1 is only on RealPlayer, which I despise, but Season 2 is available as mp3)