About Me

Monday, August 31, 2009

CYP3A Involved in Cisapride Metabolism

In this paper, the hydroxylation and dealkylation of cisapride in various in vitro systems is described. CYP3A is implicated as being the major enzyme involved in the N-dealkylation.

My New Favorite Hot Sauce

Tennessee Red Lightnin! Put some heat on your meat!! It's definitely not weak sauce!!

Day 3 in Monterey

We started our last day in Monterey by having breakfast by our fireplace (it was a COLD morning) and then went to the Aquarium to see The Secret Lives of Seahorses exhibit. We also were able to see them do a feeding of the big tank of fish! We also saw jellyfish, blue fin tuna, a white shark, barracuda, and of course load of seahorses (e.g. potbelly).



Day 2 in Monterey


We took bikes out for a little ride on the Monterey Coast prior to our no whale watching tour and drinks at Rappa's. We ended up getting pizza for dinner and watching a couple of movies to cap off the days festivities.


Day 1 in Monterey

We went to Monterey to celebrate our anniversary weekend. These are some of the sights we noticed on our first day. The Chinese writing means "Path of History" and we thought was a nice touch to add for tourists.



An Indian Hammer

I bought this hammer while on my trip back to MN. It is sweet!!

Planes Landing at SFO

I spent 8/27 at a conference at the SFO Marriott and afterwards, I sat and watched the planes land and take off from SFO. I had a great view from the lobby/bar area of the restaurant!

Sweet Rims on Brannan

Best rims I've ever seen! Good viewing at Zeke's!

The Dedication in my PhD Dissertation

As I was showing KL my PhD thesis this past week, I was reminded of the dedication page I added. I also included a special shout out to Dr. Terry Bollea and Randy Poffo. Awesome!

Happy 4th Anniversary!!

We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on 8/26. We started off at ACME Chophouse for a couple of cocktails and then Epic Roasthouse for a great dinner. We even ran into an old friend at Epic!

Drinks and Dinner with Bamba and Face

Got together with two college buddies for drinks and dinner on 8/24. Pre-dinner drinks were at Chevy's and dinner was at Papalote followed by a crawl to Cha Cha Cha's and Beauty Bar. Great times!

Fish Feeding Time

I recorded this video at the Monterey Bay Aquarium of fish feeding time!!

Amazing Jellyfish

We saw these super cool jellyfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium this past weekend!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

BBQ and Champagne

Had a great time with all the jabronis at a BBQ on Saturday. We had a champagne taste test for AH's birthday. Great food and good times! Happy birthday, David!

Filoli Mansion

We took a tour of Filoli Mansion on 8/18. Beautiful well landscaped gardens. Most of the staff are volunteer horticulturists. Then, we went to Noah's for some beerzookas and then Tamarine for dinner. Great day!






Saturday, August 22, 2009

Interview with David Treuer

I listened to this very interesting interview with Ojibwe author and translator David Treuer about the Ojibwe language and his interest in keeping it alive. After listening to this interview, I really wish I would have learned it as a kid. He makes it sound so very colorful and powerful. I really hope the language doesn't die out in this century as some experts predict!

$150K per year?! Seriously?

I can't believe this story in today's SF Chronicle by CW Nevius! The chronic drunks in SF cost the city $150,000 each/year. That's craziness!!

Atp1a3 Involved in Epilepsy

This team at the University of Leeds used transgenic mice to study the impact of the Atp1a3 gene on epileptic like seizures. The mice that lacked this gene had the seizures and were cross bred with mice that had a double copy of the gene. The offspring of these mice were completely free of epilepsy. The mouse Atp1a3 gene is >99% identical to the human gene and encodes for a sodium-potassium pump. Epilepsy affects around 1 in every 200 people.

Nanoparticles Cross BBB

This team of researchers from my alma mater UW engineered nanoparticles that could cross the blood brain barrier and illuminate brain tumors in mice. Their technique significantly improved the contrast in both MRI and optical imaging compared to conventional techniques. Their work is published in Cancer Research.

Activity Probes of CYP450s

A nice new set of CYP450 activity probes from Ben Cravatt's lab at Scripps.

American Indian Travel Destinations

I read this article in the NY Times about taking American Indian led tours of their tribal lands in the canyons of Arizona and New Mexico. Sounds like a great idea to me!

La Briciola

Love this new SOMA restaurant, La Briciola! KL and I went here for a 2nd time and it was as good as the first. She loved the halibut and I got the chicken with mushrooms. Awesome dinner and the people are so nice there!

Brand New Indy














The splints finally came off this past week and Indy is back running around again. He looks like his old self! Great job, San Francisco Veterinary Specialists! I just wish it didn't cost so much!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

When Yellowstone Explodes

I read this fantastic article about the earthquakes and volcanic eruption that have occurred and are likely to occur under Yellowstone. The eruption could be so much bigger than the eruption of Mt. St. Helen in 1980 and looks to be MUCH worse that anything that could happen in San Francisco!!

Sanford and Son

Opened up a shop in Benson, MN!!

Jimmy's Pizza

There is only one pizza that I've eaten that I like better than Zachary's Pizza in Berkeley and that's Jimmy's thin crust pizza in Benson. It's the best!

Ketchup Bottle

We went to the Whistle Stop for lunch today and saw this enormous ketchup bottle. Everything is big in MN! Great burger and fries too!!

Long John from Benson Bakery

Best pastry EVAR!!

MN - Land of a Gazillion Mosquitoes

How true!!

Craziest Cat Lady

Now THAT'S KARAZY!