Okay, we’ve had these pumpkins for almost three weeks now, but we didn’t want to carve them up too soon because they would turn to mush like those nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

But today was the day. Before setting about our artistic endeavor, we grabbed a six-pack of our favorite holiday beverage, Woodchuck Amber Cider.

Hey, we shouldn’t be expected to carve pumpkins completely sober, right?

The worst part was pulling out the guts.

Tah-dah!

In the last few months we have seen an out pouring of compassion towards victims of recent hurricanes. When the tough gets tougher, we humans know how to band together and help each other out. But how does this trait separate us from our cousin the chimpanzee?

A recent study by Joan Silk showed that chimps are not so willing to help out their fellow chimps. Two chimps were placed in side-by-side cages. One chimp had the option of pulling one of two ropes. One rope would only reward him with a piece of food, but the other rope, if pulled, would reward both chimps with food. Half the time the chimp pulled self-reward rope and the other half of the time he pulled on both-reward rope. Here’s where it gets kind of sad. Even when the chimp in the other cage made begging gestures to other chimp, he still wouldn’t pull on the both-reward rope.

Of course lab chimps and wild chimps behave a bit differently. Chimps in the wild are known to share food with other group members, but you also have to consider that there’s more politics going on in wild chimp groups. Silk agrees and says there’s still more research to be done. Next she wants switch the chimps around to see how the chimp that had been able to reward himself with yummy pieces of banana feels to not get any and to see if this has any effect on his behavior.

I suppose for the most parts we tend to be compassionate towards each other and willing to help each other out, but you still see too many people out there reverting back to their inner chimp. It’s that guy who cuts you off on the freeway or that lady who shoves you out of the way to get ahead of with her 100 items in the 20-item-or-less check out lane.

This week is stretching into the longest week ever. I think it’s because Chris is still gone. He’s been on the road for three whole days now…alone…with my dad. Though it’s great that he’s getting this opportunity to earn some cash, I miss him. It’s boring at my house without him around.

The dog misses him too. Hooper will come running into the house in the evening and head strait for the office (where Chris usually is). Then he comes running out and heads for the kitchen. Finally he comes back to the living room and looks at me with this confused where-the-hell-is-he look on his face. Chris is the one that takes Hooper out at midnight and who stays up late with him watching TV. Hooper has had a hard time adjusting to bedtime at 9:30. We both aren’t sleeping very well.

Last night I took the dog to the park in hopes that he would burn off some energy. He ran around the park like a dog on crack, but he still came and woke me up at three-something this morning. I know it’s because he sleeps most of the day. I’m going to invent a device that has a mechanical rat, squirrel, or whatever turns your dog on attached to it. The device will be set to go off every thirty minutes or so and cause the dog to jump up and chase it around a few times. Maybe the device could switch around. Like one time it’s the squirrel that runs by and the next it’s the rat. I bet I could make some major moola with that idea.

Anyhoo, Chris comes home hopefully tomorrow. I can’t wait!

Chris is gone this week to drive a car to Colorado with my Dad. They were leaving from Tulsa, so yesterday we met my Mom in Stroud so she could take Chris home with her. Stroud is a good half-way point. We didn’t feel like paying $1.50 (or whatever it is) to take the turnpike to Stroud. Instead we took Historic Route 66.

There’s something really appealing about the kitschiness of Route 66. I really wished I had remembered to take my camera. We passed things that you see in all those coffee table books about 66 like the Round Red Barn and The Lincoln Motel where all the rooms were in these neat little cabins in a row along the road.

Somewhere along the way we passed a sign the said “Corn Maze�. Chris said “Do you think they put maze up there for people who don’t know what corn is? They’re the people who go around calling popcorn popmaze�. I giggled and said that I had no idea. Later on we passed another sign that said “Don’t miss the corn maze�. That’s when it dawned on me. I said “I think they mean maze like the kind you walk through. If it was maze they would have spelled it maize.� Then we were just both amazed that I new the difference between maize and maze.

It used to be that when planning a new community, planners would just build up housing without thought to the people who were going to live there let alone the environment. The goal of urbanization was to just create housing for the growing number people moving to cities for jobs. Things like grocery stores, gas stations, fast food places and even parks were an after thought. You can still see neighborhoods like that today (like mine).

The urban planners of today have better ideas for urbanization, ones that include parks. But one of the things urban planners have had a problem dealing with is rain run-off. During heavy rains and big floods (like what happened with Hurricane Katrina) rain water mixes with all the bad stuff that may be laying around like pesticides and even dog poop. Water treatment facilities can become swamped with contaminated water, sometimes so much so that they end up just passing it on through and into the nearest river instead of letting it back up into the public sewer.

Urban planners have begun building series of culverts, ponds and artificial wetlands to collect rain run-off so that water treatment facilities don’t become overloaded. The problem with the pools is that after a while they start growing algae. Some algae is not so bad, but eventually algae can kill a pond by sucking all the oxygen out of the water. Miklas Scholz, an environmental engineering researcher, started adding goldfish to experimental research ponds. The fish kept the ponds algae free and also make the ponds more aesthetically appealing.

The introduction of the goldfish may actually build up an ecosystem in these artificially built ponds. Fish do attract birds like cranes and there’s got to be some kind of animal that likes cranes and so forth. You know, its that circle of life thing.

I have a crush on David Folkenflik. It has nothing to do with the great reports he does for shows like All Things Considered and Morning Edition, though everytime I’ve heard him report on something he’s been great. No, the crush comes entirely from his name. I want to be Cindy Folkenflik.

No offense to Chris. Maddera is a nice enough name. I still think it’s funny that I’m Lucinda Elena Maddera (Ole!). I totally don’t look the part, but it’s the man I married, not the name. Now, if we could change our name to Folkenflik, well, that would just be cool. Folkenflik just rolls off the tongue in a seductive kind of way. Say it with me…�Folkenflik�. See what I mean? How could you not have a crush on David Folkenflik?

David Folkenflik!

This years Noble Prize in Medicine went to Dr. Barry Marshall and Dr. J. Robin Warren for the discovery of my favorite bacteria, Helicobacter pylori. Just saying Helicobacter pylori makes me giggle and if you order over $100 from Life Sciences, you get a free Helicobacter pylori doll.

Thanks to these two Australian researchers, we can no longer blame work for causing our stomach ulcers. Dr. Warren first noticed the bacteria in 1979 and found that it was present in 50% of biopsies from patients suffering from gastric ulcers. He also saw that inflammation was always present in areas where the bacteria were found. Dr. Marshall joined Warren as a clinical fellow in 1985 and managed to cultivate Helicobacter pylori. Then Marshall did what any true mad scientist would do. He had a gastric biopsy to prove that he didn’t already have H. pylori, and then deliberately infected himself with it. It still took about eleven years for the medical community to catch on and believe that stomach ulcers where indeed caused by these teeny tiny gram negative monsters.

Gastric ulcers are now treated with antibiotics and acid secretion inhibitors. It’s also been discovered that the presence of Helicobacter pylori can increase your risk for stomach cancer.

Helicobacter pylori!

Chris and I were sitting on our front stoop last night just talking about our day and his drive to Texas, when we heard someone talking. We looked up to see a very drunk man walking (kind of) down the road. When he got to our house he stopped talking to himself as he walked by. You know, it’s okay to talk to yourself when there’s no one around, but it means you’re crazy if someone else is watching.

He made his way on down the road swerving all around and he had just made it to the other side of our house when Hooper started barking at him. Drunk guy turned his head toward Hooper and slurred out a quick and defiant “Fuck you!�. Chris and I, silent up to this point, started laughing. Of course, the “Fuck you� didn’t deter Hooper any. He just kept on barking. If anything I think it made him bark even more.

The cool weather hit here about two weeks ago. I’ve been in denial over the end of summer, so instead of putting away summer clothes and getting out fall/winter clothes I’ve just left my cedar chest open, with clothes piled in and out of it.

During the first dig-through of the cedar chest, I came across a pair of jeans that looked brand new. I peeked at the tag and saw that they were size 12. I’ve been wearing 14s since (I think) this time last year. I thought I had gotten rid of all the size 12s, but I must have put these away with the intention of wearing them again someday. I tried them on and they fit. They’re a little tight in the waist, but I’m working on it. What’s odd is that I bought a pair of jeans this weekend that are also 12, but they fit just right. Go figure.

I have been very diligent lately about going to the Y everyday and sometimes twice a day. I do yoga everyday, instead of just saying that I’m going to do it. I thought about putting up a ticker tape thingy like Pink Dog’s, but it would move too slow. I weighed 178 lbs in March and now I weigh 172 lbs. That’s a pound a month. Paint dries faster. Also, I’m not prepared for having to move it in the gaining-weight direction if need be.

Yesterday, I sorted through all of my clothes and compiled three big bags for Goodwill (one of the bags contained shoes, which may not count). I packed away all the summer (heavy sigh) clothes and got out fall and winter stuff. The room is back to normal and the cedar chest lid is shut with everything put away neatly in its place. I can’t help but feel like I’m approaching the coming months with an Eeyore mentality.

Talking or thinking about anything quantum tends to make my brain hurt, but when I read this story on Wired I thought I’d put forth a better effort in understanding quantum mechanics.

It’s easier to wrap your brain around it if you know and understand the definition of the words. Quantum is the smallest amount of a physical quantity that can exist independently. Quantum mechanics deals with the theory of matter that is based on elementary particles having wave properties. Combine these two concepts and you can build a quantum computer.

Quantum computers are a thing of theory, but physicists in Australia have made a big leap into making it a reality. They have found a way to store information in a laser beam. The scientist slowed the laser light from 300,000 kilometers per second to several hundred meters per second. This allowed them to then load information onto the light using photons. Photons have a spin which gives them a natural orientation. They can be oriented to be facing up or down and this represents a one or a zero.

The scientists used a crystal made of silicate and praseodymium, a rare earth element, to slow down the light. The light beam is fired at the crystal where it becomes absorbed. Then a second light pulse is fired again at the crystal to release the first beam containing the qubits of information.

Just think of the possibilities! One day you may be able to store your blog on a laser beam of light and shoot it across the galaxy. You’ll have intergalactic blog readers. How cool is that?!?