Eid el Fitir Celebration!!

Today is a very special day for the Muslims worldwide, for today marks the end of the beautiful month of Ramadan, and the beginning of the three days of eid. This celebration comes as a reward to all those who maintained the discipline and effort of fasting throughout Ramadan. On this day Muslims visit their famlies, go to the mosque very early in the morning and chant praises of God in unison as a sign of gratitude to God for giving them this magnificent month to for reflection and self betterment and obtaining rewards in their scale of deeds. It is also a sign of unity that all Muslims come together, fasting togeher throughout the month, meeting eachother at the mosque every night, and finally rejoicing together. Last but not least it is a time when Muslims can share their happiness with everyone, including our wonderful friends like those of the Casali lab.

That is why when Eid comes, everyone in the lab should hide from the Ahmed duo. If they catch someone, they obligate him to eat Ferrero Rocher chocolates from each of them and continue to do so until vomiting ensues. So Beware!!

I would like to wish all the Muslims in this lab , on behalf of all the Muslims in this lab I want to wish all of you the best in health, wealth, and happiness.

Attending Lab Meeting

Ok people we need to regroup here.

many of the Undergrads did not attend lab meeting this Friday. That is a problem... because without your participation, lab meetings are, well, they are umm...lets see umm empty. I geuss what I am trying to say is lab meetings are meant for all of us to come together and discuss things, it is not for Dr. Casali and the postdocs and the grad students alone, it is for all of us. So please make it to lab meeting next time or you will be excluded from the lab. Out of the 13 undergrads and volunteers we have in this lab, only 3 of you showed up. But you know what it is not your fault, I should have sent out emails. Please forgive me, I will send the notices periodically.

Good night and have a nice weekend.

A Case Only In the Twilight Zone

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On October 17,2006, some food items have been allegedly stolen from the Casali Lab fridge. Specifically, that of our Administrative Assistant, April Hinshaw-Toland. What could have been an eery and unsolved case might turn out to be more than just a case of poor manners but an interlab incident that might spark a war between rival factions of the Hewitt labs. Debriefing you is private investigator, known only to us as the limping detective. Here are his accounts.

Here is what we understand so far, around the hours of 8:00, One of the lab personnel noted a food item left on one of the food tables. Upon examination, he indicated that it was some thick yellowish sauce with a stench of garlic or spice. Later that night, another member of the Casali lab acts on a lead that there is food in the lunch room only to discover the items are missing. The missing items report is filed at lunch time the next day. The evidence has thus far exonerated the any suspects from the Casali lab. There is only one thing to do really, institute a dragnet. Through subtle interrogation it is found that an individual from the surrounding labs has taken the food under the impression that it was leftovers from a party that he was told he can have. Plea bargaining finally coaxes the alleged perpetrator of returning the lost food items.

Case closed, everyone is content??? Hardly, by the time authorities were able to return the items, the victim's lunch hour had passed and with suspicions mounting over the tampering of the items, the items are no longer usable.

Presented for your consideration, April Hinshaw-Toland, Administrative Assistant, friend of all, rival of none. Kind, courteous, but above all else unfortunate. To have the items gone, then returned only to become unusable. The inaccessible nature of things whether near or far, so imposing so as to render its presence obsolete altogether. An ultimate paradox in taking from those who are giving, and seeking what is inevetably thrown back into the sea of a world full of irony and predictable only in peril. A world known only as...the twilight zone.

Accounts of the Ice Campaign

8:30 AM the -80 freezer is beeping. Hong goes to investigate, only to realize that the so called -80 should be renamed the -39!!! We call facilities management and they come over and look at it. Sure enough we have to evacuate the freezer because the cooling system has failed. Apparantly the reason why it is still in the minus is because of the cold samples and ice in there! Several teams are scrambled to the scene. Zsuzsanna and I man the evacuation of refugees to makeshift havens of -40 freezers (previously -20) as well as an auxillary site halfway across the lab. Jack and Hong organize the rescue effort while Jeff maintains the supply line between various units. Meanwhile, general Casali debriefs the repairmen on the issue and opts to have it sent to the shop. Within fifteen minutes what was a disaster seen is now an empty space. An empty space of hope, hope that one day, the -80 will come back. Many medals were passed out for that campaign here is just some.

Paolo Casali: Meritorius Leadership Medal: For overseeing all operations and commanding forces
Hong Zan: Congressional Medal of Honor for directing teams with composure under extreme conditions
Jack Xu: Sentinel's Medal for early response Operations
Zsuzsanna: Purple Heart: For injuries sustained during replacement operations
Jeff Bonenfant: Congressional Medal of Valor (sustained heavy resistence during rack carrying operations)

Thank you all for a superb job, it has been an honor serving with you.

I believe now I can truly say that all is quiet on the western blot front

For the lab ghosts among us

A toast if proposed would do no right
By the few honored spectres of the night
Who, left by comerades to pick up the tab
Carry on in the dark recesses of the lab

When mortal hands are still and eyes in compliance
Theirs dance to the slow solemn song of science
Alert but deaf to a clock's beseeching chime
All senses sharp but the only sense of time

From the East a Sun declares war
On the sleepy moon and lazy snore
There they stand now, dazed and worn
bitterness in a voice full of scorn

Scorn for those that complain of waking up at eight
And having to endure this cruel and unusual state
Quiet they remain, muted by the hours spent alone
Infernal fatigue, for what vile sin will this atone

Solemn oaths passed here and there never to return
There they are again wary and full of dire concern
With no choice but to embark on their nightly missions
Slipping back into the shadows, these hapless apparitions

Cry for them if you must laugh if you choose
Take care though not to fall into their shoes
What they endure to you might be vague
Like the cluless jester amidst the plague

And the next time you sit before your screen
You may be shocked at what your eyes have seen
For something is surely amiss or out of place
When ghosts from graves can wear a human face!

Fun with the IMAC Camera!

Happy Chu'sok (Korean Moon Festival)

Chu'sok ("fall evening") is a Korean "Harvest Moon" (Han-gawi) festival set on the 15th day of the eighth lunar moon-- so it is on 24th of September. Early on this morning, Koreans perform an ancestor worship ritual with an offer of food made of new crops to thank their ancestors for giving them good fortune.

This festival is a harvest moon festival, but it's also a Thanksgiving day for the Korean people. This festival is one of the most important festivals in Korea. Family members come from all parts of the country to visit their ancestral homes. So they go to their graves and they bow and also give them very special food which they made for the festival so probably their ancestors will be very happy too.

Quote

“It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure.”---Albert Einstein

Congrats

Congrats to Brenden for he is the sonicator.

September Undergrad of The Month: Brenden Yee

It is our pleasure to announce the recipient of the Undergrad of the Month Award for the month Award. This Award goes to Brenden Yee, who oddly enough joined the lab one year ago last September (how befitting!). Those working with Brenden note his dramatic development as a mature and responsible research student who takes a genuine interest in his research topic. "His committment to understanding the techniques and how they fit into the research project is one aspect that distinguishes him from most of his peers" says Zsuzsanna Pal, his research mentor. Also, Brenden has exhibited an admirable sense of committment and dedication to his research and his skills in the lab. For example, one of the first skills he immediately excelled at was animal handling with the mouse colonies as well as sonication techniques (led to his nickname, "the sonicator"). Indeed Brenden is worthy of this award as all dilligent research students should be recognized for their genuine efforts. He remains an example for other research students striving to learn and mature in the laboratory setting.

Jennifer

Jennifer's Birthday get-together was lots o' fun! It is activities such as these that connect our lab members together. : 0

I hope that everyone enjoyed themselves and had fun with surpising her.

Happy Birthday Jennifer

So our lab manager Jennifer, is one year younger today. We celebrated her birthday yesterday, with some nice chocolate cake, ice cream and of course, flowers. Somehow we were able to successfully prepare for the surprise without her ever noticing! Excellent stuff guys, everyone played clueless very well. It was funny though when she walked in, you would normally expect the ambush team...I mean err the patrons. We just stood around like we were loitering or something! That was so funny but then again we are lab people. But then again we're not. We're more like a family, this lab affords many things usually not granted in the normal lab setting. There is no corner for any one to go hide in and do experiments, everyone depends on someone else for something. Therefore, for someone to be successful they need to know everyone as each is an expert in some aspect of the lab. Even our undergrads have something to offer. What might that be you ask? Simple, whenever something goes wrong in lab we use them as scapegoats because after all they are not liable for anything, they come in very handy indeed (j/k much love to our undergrads). Around here labs dont make the people, its the people that make the labs, and with people like Jennifer, I am sure I speak for everyone when I say this lab is a welcoming and interesting environment.