because i like to share

I have been reading articles by Christopher Falvey on his web site the VN/VO. He seems to have a pretty decent perspective. At least he doesn't seem to be touting the media party line. Check out some of his writing here if you get a chance and let me know what you think!

Hot Water Mystery

While I am very happy with my new little apartment I have had a few complaints. The second biggest being the apparent lack of quantities of hot water. (the first being the large insect population) I like hot water. I like it for washing dishes, I like it for washing my hands and I really like it for showering. I quickly discovered that the capacity of the hot water heater in this new place was not quite up to my long, hot, luxurious, water-wasting shower standards. In fact, I had to relearn the art of the 4 minute shower, this being the approximate duration of the hot water's issuance from the shower head before exhausting itself into cold. While not inspiring of great showers, I decided that it could have a positive effect on my water bill and perhaps even my electric bill and figured I'd grin and bear it.

ast week I began to notice that my water wasn't even getting hot. It was only reaching that mild baby milk level of warmth. I attributed this to the decided drop in mercury that occured this past week and figured I just needed to have the heat adjusted on the water tank.

Wednesday I woke up to NO HOT WATER AT ALL!!!!!! I didn't panic. I called my trusty neighbor (who has a beautiful shower with hours of hot water) and was granted the use of her shower facitilies for the morning. On my way to her place I noticed a brand new hot water tank sitting outside the apt. building. I had a hard time containing my excitement and I quickly located the maintenance men and asked them if they were fixing my hot water. Joe (the maintenance guy) told me that no, this was for the apartment below mine, but he wanted to know if I was having problems. I let him know my problems but we both figured that the lack of hot water that morning was due to the work they were doing on the apt. below mine. Needless to say I checked out the water situation as soon as I returned from work in the evening. It came out of the faucet just fine and warm so figured I'd give it one more shower before calling in my own complaint. The next morning I jumped into the shower with mixed emotions. (I was struggling with jealousy of my downstairs neighbors as I envisioned that shiny new hot water heater chugging away in their service and at the same time reminding myself to be thankful for the bit of hot water I did have) I washed my hair and conditioned my hair, then I stood under the hot water to savor the last bit of warmth knowing that at any second it would turn cold, and I stood and stood and stood...and I checked my watch and still the fountain gushing from the wall remained nice and hot! I like to experiment and would have kept myself in the shower till it turned cold just to see how long it would last but I had to get to work at some point. Since Thursday, I have had hot water past the four minute mark and I still have not discovered its depletion time.

So What Happened?!! Did they give me the new tank by mistake? My theory is that somehow my neighbor's and my own hot water are combined. In fact, I suspect that I may be paying for my neighbors hot water bill. The other theory is that while fixing my neighbor's hot water tank, they ajusted something on my own tank. But this would be very out of character for my landlord. Of course they could have fixed it accidentily which would be much more plausible... So although good, it is still a mystery and one into which I must make further inquiries.

Quote of the day

There is no past that we can bring back by longing for it. There is only an eternally new now that builds and creates itself out of the Best as the past withdraws.
J.G. von Goethe

Writing

Some people write from the depths of their soul, the words that appear are representative of the deep feeling and ideas they have inside. This is not the case with me. When I write, what is produced is merely the white noise that covers my thoughts. I get so frustrated with this. When my mind is filled with ideas that are growing, points of baby green only lasting for a moment before becoming incorporated into the dusky green of adult obscurity, I sit down with a clean piece of paper and my favorite pen and begin to write in an attempt to capture them. After some time has passed I reread the words that have mussed the page only to find a mess of my daily thoughts reproduced there. So why keep writing? I suppose it clears my brain enabling me to think about what really matters to me. So while nothing of value is produced on the paper, the value is found in the clarity of thought inside.

Bistro Dog

I just shared a nice bottle of Bistro Dog Shiraz with a friend. It was a nice wine, not a ton of flavor but easy to drink with just a slight hint of berry sweetness. It doesn't have the greatest scent, but neither my olfactory epithelium nor my palate (craial nerves X11 & IX if you are interested) is trained to be discriminating beyond my own personal preferences. Anyway, the guy at the liquor store recommended it and it is easy on the wallet so I wish someone else would try it out and let me know your thoughts.

Slide Staining Correction

We continued to work on stains and counter stains in lab tonight. I am proud to report that all my slides turned out nicely. However I need to correct the things I said about inks. I had orignially stated that inks had either a positive or a negative ion, in actuality the inks that we use for staining have both a positive ion and a negative ion. In acidic stains the color is in the negative ion and in basic stains the color is in the positive ion. So, when staining a slide of bacteria, which has a slightly negative charge, a basic stain would be used. And with a positivly charged organism the acid stains.