Fragments of Toaster's Mind Blather

1) Debating ethical-ness of studying non-work stuff at work. I already carry around my Janeway's Immunobiology with me, so why not my Llama Book as well?

2) Finished -80C freezer inventory. No one had ever done so and my PI has had the freezer for ~15-20 years. I found tubes that contained the entire GI tract of mice in there, not to mention the many other unidentifiable things floating around (take note: if you're putting it in long term storage, clearly label what it is. "17" is not a valid label!) Now, unfortunately, I'm sorta bored.

3) I only have 2 projects right now, and they're both sidelined waiting on reagents/supplies. The lab is rather clean, too. See Fragment #1.

4) Does anyone have any wise tricks for dealing with student loan companies?

5) I'm going to go see Monsters vs. Aliens tonight!

6) I tried stopping eating cookies and burritos for 2 weeks not long ago and promptly lost 5 pounds. I promptly introduced doughnuts, pie, and pie into my diet and have managed to get 3 back. I'm becoming resigned to the idea that my ribs and hip bones will always be highly visible until I hit the mid-forties.

7) Sooner or later I'm going to wind up shanking a jogger. Not because I want to, mind you, but because that's what you get when you manage to sneak up on Toaster. Normally I can hear them coming many yards away (and smell them; for some reason many of the female joggers spray themselves with some kind of flowery scent before they leave, which I suppose is better than poop), but there's one part of my plod home that's really traffic noisy and I can't hear them when they're running on the grass. One surprised me recently and I had my umbrella out of my coat pockets ready to take out his knees before I realized what exactly was going on.

8) I realize that I've come to the age where little children no longer regard me as being just a big kid and now think of me as an ominous adult. Maybe it's just that children are inherently wise enough to avoid asking a Mad Scientist what's in his backpack.

9) OK, honestly I don't know what's in there anymore either. Let's investigate:

2 mechanical pencils
lead
highlighters
1 tattered index card with the word "gonads" written on front
1/2 bottle Pepto Bismol
8 chewable doses of ivermectin
1 green hair Scrunchie
1 blue hair Scrunchie
1 pair black and grey striped fistwarmers
1 pair blue striped knee socks
lots of batteries
Everlast brand fisticuffs
1 dirty Tupperware container from several months ago
several plastic bags (dog poop bags?)
1 empty envelope
1 burned copy of the Big Lebowski (unwatched and unlikely to be)
5 official transcripts
1 Janeway's Immunobiology, 7th ed.
1 old sketchbook from cartooning job containing various obscenities and stick figures
1 ream of unread papers
2 bars of graphite
3 1m-long high-tension rubber bands

10) Mercifully self-censored complaint about the fit of my underwear.

11) I need to write myself a Perl app and install it on all the computers I use to remind me to eat. Due to a self-experiment that I've not yet blogged, I have developed a rather extreme tolerance for hunger. I have caught myself going 14+ hours without food before realizing that I actually am hungry. Often I don't remember that I haven't eaten in quite a while until I have real hunger pains. And before you tell me that maybe that is why I am scrawny, it should be noted that when I eat it is usually best measured in kilograms and what it is would make a nutritionist cry (e.g., just the other day I discovered how delicious chocolate chip peanut butter sandwiches can be).