I AM A STRONG BLACK WOMAN

Christmas Wish List

2009-11-30T11:14:00.000-08:00

Ok everyone...because christmas sucked last year I have decided to give you direction on what to buy me. Our family generally has little to no Christmas spirit because of some deep personal issues that apparently are somewhere deep deep down for the older members of our family.... So here is my christmas wish list:

Grey's Anatomy brand scrubs

http://www.pcscrubs.com/groupings/images/barco-greys-scrubs-page.jpg

Commercial Cookware (pots, pans, etc.)

-Stainless Steel cookware

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sku6461511/?pkey=ccookware-sets%7Cckwsetall

Vita Mix Blender

Professional Cooking Knives

-not the steak knives but the cooking knives.

-not a cheap one from some store like Ross

-PROFESSIONAL!!!!!

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sku1957448/?pkey=cknife-sets%7Ccutsetblk

Ski stuff

-I already have pants and coats so I don't need those. I want the actual skis, boots and poles

Pastry bag

-Don't be cheap on this either. I like nice professional things not walmart crap.

Toy chemistry set

-I am not to picky on this one....

Weird Head

-So there is this weird head thing at Urban Outfitters that is really cool cause it has all this writing on it. I have a picture of it on my phone and so does cassie if you need more specificity.

Backpack

-Specifically the backpack listed in this link

http://store.apple.com/us/product/TW991ZM/A

William Sonoma Crepe Pan

Commercial Whisk set

Kitchen Aid Mixer

Its been a while....

2009-07-19T18:18:00.001-07:00

So I will first show ya'll what I am doing while I am blogging on here.
I am hooked up to an IV full of Vitamin C and other stuff that helps you not be sickish. This is one of the perks of working for a naturopathic doctors office I guess. I am not feeling so hot today so I made myself one of these to see if it helps me get over this retched sickness fast. Airborn has nothing on what I put in this IV. :) I don't have time to be sick. Anyways...

I have lived alone for the last like month or so because Allen has been in Costaguatamexirico or something like that. So I have had sleepovers and good times here at my house. And my birthday was a couple of days ago and I happened to be the victim of a surprise birthday party that the kids threw for me. It was off the hizzy. It was awkward though because one of my coworkers who is a psycho pants was there and wanted to smoke pot and drink and stuff. And my group of friends is more the phase 10 and root beer kinda party'ersThis is a picture of my coworker and her friend. They were pretty much on my balcony all night smoking, but when they were in with everyone it was really awkward.

I'm also really excited to go to Thatcher this thursday for the 24th of July celebrations. Its gunna be super duper fun!

The Discovery of DNA

2009-05-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

The discovery of DNA had many cultural, social, and scientific consequences. This discovery was invaluable to the progression of knowledge and science. It also let to a Nobel Prize for three researchers and disappointment for others. This race to understand the structure and function of such an important molecule was a vicious task that lead to what now is used in science and medicine every day changing how we treat diseases, understanding heredity, and diagnosing diseases before babies are even born. The molecule of life is what researchers had been studying before they even knew what DNA was.
The race for understanding DNA began long ago in 1868 when Friedrick Miescher separated what he called “nuclein”. Later when Oswald Avery discovered the ability to transfer disease to new generations it was decided that this held the genetic material that was being searched for. Researchers began searching for what the molecule to life would look like only knowing where it was and that it contained adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine.
Using many different disciplines of science people began trying to determine how this molecule might bond and function. How the structure my bond would show how it moved, acted, and reacted. It was understood that there was the different bases but not how they might bond, it was when Erwin Chargoff realized that there were equal amounts of adenine and thymine and equal amounts of cytosine and guanine that James Watson realized how they paired together. This along with photograph 51 lead to the discovery of the double helix.
The double helix fit all the criteria for the functions that DNA needed to fulfill that were already known as well as the chemical rules it had to follow. James Watson and his partner Francis Crick also believed that this double helix model explained how it might reproduce, it had a mechanism that made sense. It showed how the new generations, or daughter cells, could be identical to the original cell. Knowing where the DNA was, how it functioned, the structure of the molecule led to many new and exciting discoveries. It opened the door to huge advancements in science. It help lead to a completely new biological discipline called molecular biology. Scientists today can manipulate the genes that are in DNA to even correct and better understand this vital molecule.
Science can be a very competitive sport for many people. The race to be the first, like the race to the moon, and be known for a discovery is important to researchers. To cure countries of diseases. To be the first to discover a new cell. To fill in the missing link that no person has been able to find is a great honor. James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize to share for the monumental and invaluable discovery that has changed the course of science forever. But one researcher went unrecognized, Rosalind Franklin was also an important key to discovering the DNA structure. She discovered the double helix structure because of her work with x-ray diffraction and it was her very work that led to Watson and Crick’s model. However, she was never nominated for the prize and it was far to late after the prize had been awarded for her to receive it. The scientific community can often be seen as ruthless to be the researcher accredited with a discovery and Rosalind Franklin was a victim of this very crime. The views of scientist being men and the humanistic selfishness of Watson, Crick and Wilkins is just one example of how others who contributed often get forgotten.
Today work is still being done with DNA to understand its complexities. Trying to enhance medicine every day by using what these researchers gave to science. The ruthless and vicious race to be the first to discover the unknowns of DNA still continue and like Rosalind Franklin scientist still go unnoticed for the invaluable work that they contribute. But its because of their work that advancements in medicine, genetics, and science in general are being made potentially saving thousands of lives. Its these scientists that go often unnoticed that is owed a debt of gratitude. And like the discovery of DNA will hopefully change the social, cultural, and scientific world forever.

What Mendel Didn't Know

2009-04-25T16:10:00.000-07:00

Ok people out there in blogger land here is another one of my wonderful papers! ENJOY!

WHAT MENDEL DIDN'T KNOW

Gregor Mendel’s research using the pea plants was only the first stepping stone for what we now know about chromosomes. Mendel knew nothing about genes, chromosomes, genotypes, or phenotypes; it wasn’t until Thomas H. Morgan took Mendel’s forgotten work and the idea of the chromosome came into better understanding. Explaining how characters showed in reproduction. Mendel used a mathematical approach to understand the outcomes of breeding by setting up ratios. Morgan looked at the actual recessive and dominant characters that would appear to determine the most probable outcomes, thus setting up what we now know today about what Mendel didn’t know.
The underlying principal of Mendel’s research was that each parent contributed to the daughter cell(s) had no influence on the other. In a cross between a red plant and a white plant the outcome would be a 1:1 ratio; thus creating 50% red and 50% white. Mendel proved his own theory by creating the results he wanted and didn’t not account for the hybrids he created that had both characteristics in one organism. His understanding was that it was either fully recessive or dominant and not ever co-dominant or incomplete dominance. Even during his trial through several generations his idea of the outcomes showing ratios of what would appear didn’t account for these hybrids that had multiple characteristics of both parent species.
It wasn’t until Morgan’s research that the bigger idea of chromosomes was discovered. The research Morgan did showed that there are two chromosomes of each kind and together they are a pair. Morgan originally doubted Mendel’s research as well as the existence of genes at all. In his attempt to breed fruit flies in the dark to eventually create flies without eyes, he discovered a fly with white eyes, drosophila. This is when Morgan’s research began to really take shape. When organisms reproduce, Morgan’s research showed, half of the chromosomes come from one parent and another half come from another parent. The actual characteristics that show are dependent on which parent has the more dominant genes. These findings are not to discredit Mendel, but rather add on to what was know about the characters that show up. Rather than take the mathematical approach to these findings, Morgan took a approach of determining what was dominant and then determining the possible outcomes.
It wasn’t until 1906 when Bateson and Punnett found the linkage to inheritance that they called gametic coupling, that it could be statistically predicted what results should be expected in the new organism. And it was Lock that was actually connected the information together and created the theory about the linkage between the chromosomes and the genetic outcomes we now know as the phenotype. And it took even more research to account for the phenomenon of mutants or variations in these organisms. Morgan was able to take all of the information present and add it onto Mendel’s work and create what is now knows about genetic outcomes. Proving Mendel’s theories correct but also opening the door to even bigger research that would be done.
By using what Mendel provided, as well as what we now know as the Punnett squares, Morgan was able to explain the ideas of the various outcomes that could be expected. Morgan was able to explain how two traits at once could appear and all the possible variations that could be expected. Depending on the number of chromosomes an organism possess, and the complexity of an organism, the different chromosomes can create a wide variety of results in the new ‘hybrid’ organism.
There was still more that neither Morgan nor Mendel new at the time that we now know. They didn’t know that several genes code for height, weight, hair color, and eye color. That the 23 pair of chromosomes codes for the sex of a human. The internal influence of what sex an animal is will affect the gene function. The external influence on the organism can affect gene function as well. There was so much that has been determined today that the monumental research Mendel did has only become a stepping stone of greater research. We still use the original ideas Mendel created such as artificial fertilization, but on a bigger level. Our understanding of genotype and phenotype has allowed us to pick the sex of our own babies and predetermine the possibilities of problems that can be risks for parents in their children such as Down’s syndrome. Mendel and Morgan’s research has even become the subject of politics and ethics today. Thomas H. Morgan was able to add on to Mendel’s work and fill in the holes of what Mendel didn’t know.

END OF CIVILIZATION

2009-04-10T11:47:00.001-07:00

So I have meant to post this for so long now...and I finely am!

Check it out!

MAN A MACHINE

2009-03-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

So this is probably one of the most boring papers ever but I am publishing it on here anyways because like I said before I put too much time into these for only one person to see them.

Man a Machine

The man, as referred to by Julien Offray de La Mettrie, is more than just a machine because he has an imagination, customs, reasoning, and can even love. The human body is the machine of the soul and the soul has those feeling, the soul is the you, the soul is responsible for the decisions made and the every action. La Mettrie based his beliefs on trying to give what was thought of as the soul a more realistic perspective. From a historical perspective Mettrie based his thinking on a comparison to an actual machine because he was living during the industrial revolution and the time where the mechanical mechanisms were being introduced. This was a revolutionary publication because the churches were beginning the religious revival, but they were loosing power due to the religious revolts and science was gaining more credibility.

La Mettrie begins his writings by discrediting the religious views that were used to describe what was known about ‘the man’. La Mettrie said, “Experience and observation should therefore be our only guides here;” arguing that the way the man had been studied was done backwards. Instead of trying to understand the human body and spirit from a religious view, instead it would be better to try and understand the spirit and greater workings from what can be physically studied. He discredited the philosophers by saying “only physicians have a right to speak on this subject. ... Is it not ridiculous to hear them shamelessly coming to conclusions about a subject concerning which they have no means of knowing anything.” Physical objects are study-able, tangible, and observations can be made and documented. So La Mettrie found it ridiculous that the physical man was being ignored and was trying to be understood from a spiritual side.

The industrial revolution was happening during this time when it was written and can be accredited for many of the comparisons made. Much like a watch the idea that one thing affects another is part of the thinking of La Mettrie. A machine is made with a specific purpose to be beneficial, from the birth to death of the machine (the man), and constant maintenance made to improve the functions of that machine. Much like an actual machine humans have purpose in life and improvements can be made, this is an example of education and taking part in the work force. La Mettrie relates productivity to food, and according to his understanding, that without food the productivity decreases; or also without education and knowledge the usefulness of the person is limited. La Mettrie believed that the brain is a system with the need of food or an energy to fuel it; much like the digestive system. This is not to discredit the presence of a soul, but rather to show that the brain also has biological needs. His understanding of productivity in regards to an actual machine is that with food (i.e. coal) the machine continues to produce energy or products. These machines also need an operator to control the functions and maintenance, a core, or a soul.

“Imagination is the soul” and is the where the reasoning, justifications, and decisions are made. According to what La Mettrie knew about the human body and by finding special cases of amputees he concluded that because the soldier could feel his missing limb, phantom feeling, the soul was responsible for this and did not suffer the same changes. The soul is the actual person, not the man. You are not the man, the man is not the soul, the soul is you; was La Mettrie’s point. And if the you are the soul, and the soul is in charge of ‘the man’ then the conclusion can be drawn that the soul has the ultimate power over the body and nobody else. The soul simply resides within the man. He used examples of people committing crimes and the grief they would feel, the urges and needs of the human body can be controlled. “Nature has created us all solely to be happy” and any decisions contrary to this is only at fault of the soul in charge. La Mettrie was basically saying that the only person responsible for the outcomes is the the person who made the choices.

The creator of the machine or man, whether it be nature or a higher god, had to condition and create it for a purpose. Although the ideas of Darwin where not yet known, La Mettrie already had the idea of the stronger, more knowledgeable creatures moving and creating more evolved creatures. He believed that a mans intelligence can be determined by the looks of his face. La Mettrie’s said that by finding an intelligent looking gorilla, and giving it to a intelligent professor, that the gorilla could be taught to speak and be more human like. He based this on what knowledge he had available and what he knew about humans. This theory was incorrect to a extent and does not accredit for the many other principals that deal with the evolutionary differences that are between humans and gorillas. If humans have a soul and are in control of the functions and movements, then a gorilla because it can reason and think should have a soul too. That by “polishing the mind” of the gorilla it too can share the same ideas as humans and become more human like.

La Mettrie was not trying to discredit the presence of a soul, but he was trying to give the soul a biological basis of function. He took what he knew about life, religious beliefs, science, and other bits of information to understand the concept of the soul and give it a scientific basis. La Mettrie used mechanical devices like the clock, steam engines, etc. to try and understand the relationship between the man and the soul and the affect of processes happening in the body. The soul is in charge of the man, you are the man, the man is not you, the man is just a tool like a machine for production. You are the operator of the machine and nobody else is responsible for the actions and production of the machine. You are the soul that resides within the machine and you are the one responsible for all the outcomes of your machine.

SPRING BREAK AND SO MUCH MORE

2009-03-21T13:37:00.000-07:00

Ok so this is for Aunt Tauna because I know she is just waiting for me to update this. I recently went to Utah for springbreak for a couple of days with my friend Amanda (who Carter has renamed "A Panda") I took her to Temple Square and showed her every building and the church museum and anything else I could find; and we also ate at the Lion House because I was jones-ing for a role from there. However, it was kind of a disappointment because the roles were a lot better in my memory. But as many of you reading this probably now nobody made roles better than Oma Erma.

So I also we

nt to visit friends up in Utah as well. This is my friend Erin White who I used to work with. She is pretty much as black as they come and I freaking love her to death! I think I have her talked into moving down here to Tempe as well because I told her that I could get her a job and Amanda wants her to live with her.

We also visited one of my best friends in the whole wide world Mark. We played with Mark and Kade up in Salt Lake City for the majority of the time. A

nd this is a picture of us in Denny's at like 2 am because we wanted breakfast food and it was close to the house.

Random though: I think I might start putting all the papers I have to write for classes on her...I put a lot of freaking work into those and only one person gets to see them. hmmmm....

So school is going great. Thanks for asking. I am really doing good this semester because I am back in science classes which is what I actually enjoy; as a posed to stupid humanities and society classes that make me wanna jab my eyes out.

The lightrail!

2009-01-22T09:20:00.000-08:00

Look how I get to school!

2009-01-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

So I just started my new classes and its going to be a tough freaking semester! AHHHH! Some of my classes are kinda scary. But I am a smarty so I'm pretty sure I can pull it off.

Here is my schedule for those who are interested (mainly mom and dad)

And the second picture is a picture of my History of Biology and Science teacher Dr. Manfled Laublicher (hows that for a name). He is from Germany and has a super thick accent. I took a picture of him and sent it to Kellie (cause thats what we do) cause hes kind of funny looking. He was wearing this weird green german vest thing that made him look like a something from the Sound of Music.

A Mountain

2009-01-21T16:56:00.000-08:00

So here is what I did on my last day before school started up again. It was a blast! Me and Amanda climbed A mountain and then hiked to Mill Ave and ate at Hooters and watched the people below. We walked for like 5 hours that afternoon and the weather couldn't have been more perfect :)

Cheesecake!

2009-01-12T10:21:00.001-08:00

So this was the second project I was working on. It turned out amazing
as well! It is gunna taste so amazing when I finely get to try it with
Cassie and Erin :)

FLAN!

2009-01-11T18:58:00.000-08:00

So I am pretty sure that only Aunt Tauna will appriciate this but I made a flan today! YAY ME! It took a long freaking time and patients but I did it! AND ITS BEAUTIFUL! I am so proud of it! I love it! AHHHH!!!!!! LOOK AT IT!

I also made something else today that is soon to be revealed as soon as its finished! So stay tuned!

DAY 2

2009-01-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

So this is the final day of my little remodeling project....I was going crazy by this point. I started painting the red on and it looked pink and I was pretty scared. But the paint did end up drying the right color. It looks a lot lighter in the pictures than it actually is so if your thinking it is too bright right now calm down its all ok. I really like how it all turned out. I am gunna put up some black curtains to balance the white and red out. It has already been nicknamed the target bedroom because of all the white and red going on.

Carter cracks me up!

2009-01-09T19:02:00.000-08:00

So Jen told me that I should write this on here and she always puts her funny Carter stories on her blog so I am going to put mine on here too!

So last weekend while I was home everyone was at the house for Sunday lunch and Carter and I were rough housing around and I told Carter I was going to make him a sword. I was downstairs looking for some tape getting frustrated because mom (Ga'ma Giffin) is too cheap to buy some. Well Carter came looking for me downstairs cause he wanted his sword. I finely found some medical tape and was using that getting more frustrated cause I couldn't make it stick to the news paper sword. I told Carter that he could have the sword after he went and told Ga'ma Giffin, "you're cheap and a Jew." I could see Carter processing this and this look of distress was on his face and he looked at me and said, "NO! Ga'ma Giffin's not cheap and a Jew! Shes Ga'ma Giffin and I love her!" I was trying to keep a straight face and talk him into it but he would not budge! He refused! He would rather not have a sword then say a few little 'harmless' words. Funny kid.

2009-01-09T19:01:00.000-08:00

I found a random picture today of Kellie, Logan, and I today I kinda like it...so here it is!

2009-01-09T18:47:00.000-08:00

Here are some random pictures from today of us all working. I dragged all them into my project with me :)

2009-01-09T18:31:00.000-08:00

So I am finely updating this thing and putting a little effort into this. And I dedicate this to Aunt Tauna. I'm not sure why but I felt the need to do so because she's my favorite.

Anyways I will start by showing you what I have been up to lately. Here is my current project :)

So I am painting my room blood red. Yikes! But I have always wanted a red room so this is my attempt. And I think its kinda fitting being blood red with my job and all... I feel kinda bad though for all those people out there who have to paint entire houses now because I am going crazy with my little room.

The bathroom is getting some really cool blue tile in the tub area and then is going to be painted like a charcoal grey with black slate tile floors and its gunna look pretty rockin'. If you have any suggestions I am open to those as well :)

Fort!

2008-11-23T02:22:00.000-08:00

Me and Kellie built a fort at our slumber party!

2008-11-22T20:04:00.001-08:00

2008-11-22T20:03:00.002-08:00

2008-11-22T20:03:00.001-08:00

Family. You can pick your friends. You can pick your nose. But you can't pick your family.

2008-11-22T19:57:00.001-08:00

SHOPPING!

2008-11-22T19:52:00.001-08:00

The things that happen when Kellie and I have too much time.

2008-11-22T19:31:00.001-08:00

2008-11-22T19:15:00.000-08:00

This is funny to me.

2008-11-22T19:05:00.000-08:00

This is me throwing up vista....

2008-11-22T19:04:00.000-08:00

This is awesome!

2008-11-22T18:58:00.000-08:00

MY FAVORITE THINGS!

2008-11-22T18:48:00.000-08:00