I'm outta (t)here!

So this is it...Cook Pharmica. The terrible world of "INDUSTRY". Academics think industry-types are automatons that are obsessed with secrecy. I doubt it. Academia has its problems, and I'm sure industry does too, but all I know is I'm ready for a change. The lab I work in is great-the people are wonderful, but the work is less than stimulating. When I heard about this opportunity at Cook, I jumped. I start Monday; I guess I'll finally be using my degree in an official capacity. I'm still a little hazy on the exact details, but basically I'll be doing quality control- making sure that things are sterile. Whatever those "things" might be. :-) Looks like I'm leaving academia for the dreaded *industry*; I guess we'll see what lies ahead!

Tryptophan or just plain tired?

Are we there yet?
Originally uploaded by Imamamma.

Finally a few minutes of down-time! Since Dad's not a flyer, and the drive is too long for him to come out to Indiana, Nick Connor and I packed up and flew home for Thanksgiving. 6 days of craziness followed by 3 days of work craziness; now, almost a week after turkey-day and I finally have a chance to put my feet up for a bit. The house is a wreck, suitcase is barely unpacked, and God only knows what's incubating in my refrigerator, but hey...that's what weekends are for. It's just good to be home, however smelly and cluttery it may be.

The Very Arab Caterpillar

Connor learned some Arabic last weekend. Okay, I'm willing to accept the fact that he probably didn't retain very much, but it's a beginning. Our local library has a room specifically designed for little guys where they have fun games, story-telling and some neat toys. Every Saturday at 10:00 is an arabic lesson. They read us The Very Hungry Caterpillar (complete with hand-puppets!). Connor wandered around and wasn't terribly interested but the cool thing was that he found a group of older boys speaking Arabic amongst themselves. He wandered over to them and kinda watched them talking. They were clearly arguing (2 older boys were, I think, trying to ditch the younger one) but hey...hearing ANY language by native speakers is always a good thing. Even if he only learns how to curse!

...with visions of [chickens] dancing in their heads.

Poor Rubik, he's getting so old. 10 years this August...or is it 11? Jeez, time flies. In some ways he's really showing his age, but in others he's still a spry, at least middle-aged, dog. I've found a a golf-ball-sized tumor on his shoulder, and it popped up pretty suddenly, which tells me that it's probably not good news. Also, he's got one on his chest, near his armpit...I'm assuming dogs have lymph nodes in the armpits, like humans do? If so, tumors near the lymph nodes are never good. He's not eating nearly as well as he used to, so he's lost some weight, but he's truckin' right along. Started eating trash out of the garbage (charming) and diapers out of the pail (is charminger a word?) so he's still got energy for mischief. Sometimes I feel guilty for not taking him to the vet to have the tumors checked out, but honestly at his age would we put him through chemotherapy even if we could afford it (which we can't)? I think we'll just have to watch him and love on him while he's still not in pain. He's a helluva dog, even when I want to beat him about the head with the now-empty diaper pail.