Coral Reef, Sea Uchins, Marine Fish, and Macroalgae

After graduating I decided to take an advanced topic course in molecular biology that discusses the impacts of temperature, fishing, pollution and other factors have caused coral reefs around the world to bleach (this is the term used for a coral reef structure to become white instead of it's natural healthy beautiful colors). This is by far one of the most interesting classes I have taken. There have been hundreds of experiments and articles published that uncover extremely fascinating bleaching causes/mechanisms uncovered by clever scientists around the world.

I got the chance to read over a dozen scholarly articles about this topic, but the message I want to send to my friends who are not molecular biologist.

1. We should stop polluting the air. Stop overfishing! Protect the coral! This does affect the ocean and ocean life believe it or not. It doesn't just cause Los Angeles skyline to look brownish grey, the actual molecules that become absorbed by the ocean prevent life (particularly coral reefs) from building and growing, and this causes a negative feedback loop that causes fish to die, and economies to fail. It is a little complicated to explain, but if you read an article titled Coral Reefs Under Rapid Climate Change and Ocean Acidification by Hoegh-Guldberg you will be amazed how things really work molecularly. If you don't understand chemistry you might have trouble grasping this concept, but things are happening at a molecular level that are blocking growth in the the ocean. It's not very intuitive, but it is so important to learn. It is true that the world is a resilient place where organisms have evolved and thrived over centuries, but we are causing damage faster than we ever used to! I can probably write a few pages or more about this topic, but I just wanted to give everyone something to look at if they visited my page today. 

Priceless Photographs

I am 27 years old and this is the first time I have seen a photograph of my grandfather.
Eng Taing Bith
In the second photo he is the second from the left and my grandmother is the second from the right.
During the killing fields, very little photos were salvaged. This is of the few photos that remain.

Rathany Eng December 2010 Graduation

Finally I can  put this on my resume :)
University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)
Bachelors of Science, Biology. December 2010. Diploma

Just for fun:
Here was my Adventure:
Composition I and II
World Literature II
Evidence & Inductive Reasoning
Constitution & American Life
Sociology
Psychology
Global Economics
African American Dance
Philosophy
Reason & Critical Thinking
Fundamental of Life Science
Principles of Modern Biology I and II
Molecular Genetics
Evolution
Human Anatomy
Cell Physiology
Animal Behavior
Bioinformatics Seminar
General Microbiology
Principles of Ecology
Appl Statistics for Biological Science
General Physics I and II
General Chemistry I and II
Organic Chemistry I and II
Biochemistry I
Calculus
European History
and lot's more!

I also recently completed a fun workshop that I can use to put on my resume.
Certificate of Training
PA800  Beckman Coulter Capillary Electrophoresis
http://nsc.nevada.edu/6051.asp
What is next? I want to go to PA school. But I don't have the time to dedicate myself to it.
In the meantime, I want to spend more time with my son. Take a few classes. Tutor. Start my own company? (Details later)

Operation Lice Removal: A success story I want to share with everyone!

My niece moved in since March of this year, and she had lice. I remember having lice as a child and undergoing embarassment by everyone I knew. I was determined to remove my lice. When my niece arrived, I purchased Rid lice shampoo, and treated her hair for 3 days. I realized that the poison is not very good for her so because it was not working, I needed to research better ways. I don't know where I read the instructions on removing lice with mayo, but one night I got really desperate to have a sucessful removal. She was having her birthday party and all my friends with long hair may risk getting the lice! So I covered Tiana's hair with Mayo and a bag. I had her leave the mayo in her head for 3 to 4 hours. We later took a seperate lice comb from walgreens and thoroghly combed out the eggs and lice. It was not easy or fun. However, it works best of all the methods I have used.She is on her second week of lice freedom. Patting myself on the back. I heard she had been suffering from lice for many years and no one has been able to remove it. I actually used a lot of my own techniques as well as the mayo, that suffocated the eggs and migth have cause them to let go of their grip on her hair. I doused her air with mineral oil as I combed it. I shampood her hair and combed it out. Many times. Then I conditioned it and combed it out. After the cleaning process, I blow dryed her hair perfectly so that I could comb through all of the strands. So much labor.

Lice Removal Professional, Las Vegas,
Email me :)

My Keurig

I really enjoy this machine. It takes little "kcups" of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. You don't have to clean anything other than the cup. You can adjust the temperature, the cup size, and it is easy to refill with water. It fits perfectly on my new coffee station. It is very cute, and makes brewing coffee in the morning very fun. Thanks Lucy!
The kcups are about .40 each when you buy a pack of 24. It came with about 5 boxes of 12. It was easy to set up, it looks fancy, and it is very fun to use. I created this little coffee station so I can provide a home for my Keurig, but I hope to move in a espresso machine at some point :) I am definitely going to be drinking a lot more coffee and tea now at home.

Mission Impossible

My mission this month was to survive my last stretch of classes.  Is it still not August 8th?

M-F Physics class and homework
TWR Abnormal 4:00pm to 6:00pm
TWR Physics Lab 7:15pm to 10:00pm
Saturday European History 1848 - all day writing papers

All of my classes are going great, minus physics. Physics is information overload in one month. I am far from confident I will survive. Last week I was called in to work 8-5pm. Bad idea. Could I swing this schedule somehow? I was able to do well on my first Abnormal Psychology exam and have been maintaining high B in Euro History, with plans to raise the grade... but I don't think I can fit electrical fields, magnetism, and 2 hour labs. I was doing well toward the beginning of the week, but once my midterm began to approach, the hours at work began to take a toll on me. Leaving my lab at 10pm, bouncing up in the morning to arrive to work by the lake by 8am, then bouncing to school, and then lab again and the whole cycle over and over for 4 days... that was my limit. The outcome, was negative...

I decided to take a break today, and clean up the house and spend time with the family. I am dreaming of the day that I could go on a road trip.

Quote of the day:


"Failure is only a fact when you give up. Everyone gets knocked down, the question is: Will you get back up?" 


On a good note, Herbie is so cute. I miss him, but I hope to spend more time with him soon.

Record breaking Bikram Challenge?

With a big exam and quiz every week, and 3 kids running around. My stress levels are out of control. My weight almost unmanageable (134 was my weight this morning). I am happy to have found a group of dedication Biochemistry students who like to study at all hours (which is not conducive to healthy lifestyle because buckling down to dedicated hours of study means no time to cook, and carb loading for me at least...) These past couple of days I woke up bright and early, drove across town to do Bikram Yoga, for 90 minutes of heated 100+ degree sauna muscle torture, ran to class, got home at 3pm, picked up the kids (because it is so hot outside that you can get cooked in the sun.) Decompress for a few minutes, chicken headed about random Anatomy or Biochemistry facts with my friends via text, or try to teach my kids anatomy. I somehow have also been sneaking out after 8pm to study late night til 12pm or 1am.

So far I have gone to Bikram 3 days in a row, but I don't know if I can dedicate myself to a 30 day challenge unless someone pushes me into it....