It would only be expected that I blog about tryptophan on Thanksgiving, given the myth that the turkey gets blamed for making everyone tired (hint: lay off the potatoes and you'll be bright eyed and bushy tailed).
Tryptophan is not an element, but an amino acid, another type of building block. In this case amino acids are the periodic table of proteins. Luckily there are only about 20 and change, depending on if you are considering human or bacteria amino acids.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I am so thankful to everyone who reads this blog - it's been fun to post and to learn more about the elements than when I started this blog.
There are certainly many things I am thankful for, but that list might get too exhaustive. I'm enjoying my break in Ohio (the worst state according to crazy Michigan football fans) but I am certainly missing being home in the 'dacks where there is a blanket of beautiful white snow.
Fun Fact: Chicken has more tryptophan than turkey.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Thallium
It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is next week with the weather fluctuating between dreary cold grey and bright warm sunny days. Snow is in the forecast for Michigan (!!!) and while I wish I could get my first Michigan snow day, my New York self tells me I'm going to have to wait awhile longer. In honor of the crazy weather patterns, here are some crazies of my own:
Dreary cold grey: I just paid $3000 to fix a cracked cylinder head in my car (yes, the new car that I've had since August - I know what you're thinking)
On the bright side: The mechanics cleaned my car (wash AND wax), charged me only $6 for an oil change (the least they could do), and aligned my tires...FOR FREE.
Dreary cold grey: My middle school mentor teacher ruptured her achilles tendon playing basketball over the weekend. Because she had to have surgery to repair it, she is out until after Thanksgiving.
On the bright side: Another middle school teacher took us under his wing for the week. He has the most charismatic turtle I have ever met and I'm pretty sure I wasted a half hour staring at the tank. Substitute mentor for the week is an awesome teacher - I have never been so jealous of a teacher voice before.
Dreary cold grey: I realized today that I had not turned in a paper for a tuition grant due in August (whoops).
On the bright side: Telling the financial aid woman that you completely forgot is a good enough excuse to turn in said grant in November. She even processed it same day!
Some more on the bright sides - I've gotten some cool ideas recently for my blog (but I would totally love some more if you have any ideas!). After reading a college friend's teaching blog, I am trying to put together a cool wardrobe post (let's be honest - I talk about tights too much sometimes). And my usual NY Times staple did a recent series about being a science major in college. Did you know that 40% of intended science majors never follow through? Look for those posts in the coming weeks!
Fun Morbid Fact: Thallium poisoning was prevalent during the Cold War era, as its symptoms are common for most general ailments - fever, cramps, and stomachache. Because the effects are long-term leaders would used it on their enemies so that they would not be implicated in their death. If you watch House or read Agatha Christie novels, both have featured thallium poisoning!
Dreary cold grey: I just paid $3000 to fix a cracked cylinder head in my car (yes, the new car that I've had since August - I know what you're thinking)
On the bright side: The mechanics cleaned my car (wash AND wax), charged me only $6 for an oil change (the least they could do), and aligned my tires...FOR FREE.
Dreary cold grey: My middle school mentor teacher ruptured her achilles tendon playing basketball over the weekend. Because she had to have surgery to repair it, she is out until after Thanksgiving.
On the bright side: Another middle school teacher took us under his wing for the week. He has the most charismatic turtle I have ever met and I'm pretty sure I wasted a half hour staring at the tank. Substitute mentor for the week is an awesome teacher - I have never been so jealous of a teacher voice before.
Dreary cold grey: I realized today that I had not turned in a paper for a tuition grant due in August (whoops).
On the bright side: Telling the financial aid woman that you completely forgot is a good enough excuse to turn in said grant in November. She even processed it same day!
Some more on the bright sides - I've gotten some cool ideas recently for my blog (but I would totally love some more if you have any ideas!). After reading a college friend's teaching blog, I am trying to put together a cool wardrobe post (let's be honest - I talk about tights too much sometimes). And my usual NY Times staple did a recent series about being a science major in college. Did you know that 40% of intended science majors never follow through? Look for those posts in the coming weeks!
Friday, November 11, 2011
Mercury
Ah the poisons of mercury...how they can be likened to the endless papers that have poisoned my blog writing. I apologize for the absence, it's amazing what back-to-back-to-back assignments do to the mind. To show you that I am still alive, here's the next best thing to an actual beating heart - a mercury beating heart!
Since my last post I have transitioned to a classroom of sixth graders, which in two short days provided me enough material to make a comedic act. The only (well not really only) bad thing? Those kids are too darn respectful of adults to make crass jokes about my stockings. Because of this I ordered maroon tights. Take that teaching world.
To give you an idea about my life in middle school, here are some tasty tidbits:
1. On walking into the school, one student asks his friend loudly "New kid?" The kid next to him goes "Idiot...new teacher." What a relief...I guess I'm an adult now.
2. My students tried to guess my age. According to their poll, I am somewhere between 18 and 48.
3. Puberty is a real interesting character. Girls are taller than guys, some kids come up to my hip when I'm wearing Danskos, but the best one is trying to figure out who the girly voice singing in the class is coming from.
4. In sixth grade, having a girlfriend means that you can wink at or possibly touch a girl in the hallway. She also gives you her school picture. Anything else? Well that's just too serious.
5. Having a student's older sibling in your old placement makes you instantly cool. As a test of your coolness, you have to be able to spell their name (because that's TOTALLY what your older brother told me about you and it's not like I could get that off an attendance sheet kid).
6. Kids talk. This is no surprise. While my students in ninth grade told me some RANDOM things, sixth graders take random to a whole new level. One kid will not stop talking about food...today's five minute rant was on turkey clubs. Mind you this kid is shorter than short and is lucky to have any ounce of fat on his body (I promise you he is well-fed). Another one of my students tells me about science fiction movies, as if I watch them all the time (I don't). And others just inform me about people they wish would go up in nuclear mushroom clouds (that was talked about with my mentor teacher :/).
7. Animals. We have a palm-sized toad, a lizard, and a family of millipedes living in the class (in cages). Note: I will never touch those things...gross. This also ended up in my placement partner and I taking a baby mouse who was supposed to be toad food back to Ann Arbor with us because the toad is apparently a picky eater. Baby mouse? Well he's in the freezer happily sleeping for the rest of time.
Fun Fact: Liquid mercury is so dense that lead will float on it.
Since my last post I have transitioned to a classroom of sixth graders, which in two short days provided me enough material to make a comedic act. The only (well not really only) bad thing? Those kids are too darn respectful of adults to make crass jokes about my stockings. Because of this I ordered maroon tights. Take that teaching world.
To give you an idea about my life in middle school, here are some tasty tidbits:
1. On walking into the school, one student asks his friend loudly "New kid?" The kid next to him goes "Idiot...new teacher." What a relief...I guess I'm an adult now.
2. My students tried to guess my age. According to their poll, I am somewhere between 18 and 48.
3. Puberty is a real interesting character. Girls are taller than guys, some kids come up to my hip when I'm wearing Danskos, but the best one is trying to figure out who the girly voice singing in the class is coming from.
4. In sixth grade, having a girlfriend means that you can wink at or possibly touch a girl in the hallway. She also gives you her school picture. Anything else? Well that's just too serious.
5. Having a student's older sibling in your old placement makes you instantly cool. As a test of your coolness, you have to be able to spell their name (because that's TOTALLY what your older brother told me about you and it's not like I could get that off an attendance sheet kid).
6. Kids talk. This is no surprise. While my students in ninth grade told me some RANDOM things, sixth graders take random to a whole new level. One kid will not stop talking about food...today's five minute rant was on turkey clubs. Mind you this kid is shorter than short and is lucky to have any ounce of fat on his body (I promise you he is well-fed). Another one of my students tells me about science fiction movies, as if I watch them all the time (I don't). And others just inform me about people they wish would go up in nuclear mushroom clouds (that was talked about with my mentor teacher :/).
7. Animals. We have a palm-sized toad, a lizard, and a family of millipedes living in the class (in cages). Note: I will never touch those things...gross. This also ended up in my placement partner and I taking a baby mouse who was supposed to be toad food back to Ann Arbor with us because the toad is apparently a picky eater. Baby mouse? Well he's in the freezer happily sleeping for the rest of time.
Fun Fact: Liquid mercury is so dense that lead will float on it.
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