Houston Museum of Natural Sciences outing

I dropped by Houston Museum of Natural Sciences this weekend. But perhaps more importantly, Saturday morning I went out of the loop! I live inside the loop and rarely venture out. I was out for the first time since... spring break when I drove people to the airport. That's about two months living inside the loop. Whoa.

Since I'm on my No Spend Month, I parked on campus and walked over to the museum. I didn't mind too much because the scenery en route was beautiful.

Sam Houston statue

The Reflecting Pool

I wandered around the museum. I liked the Wildlife Exhibits because there is no other way we would actually observe these scenes in real life. The animals would run away three miles before we got there. Many of the animals were donated from zoo's... which made me picture zoo's as stuffed animal factories. Look at this Circle of Life in action.

I made my way to the Gems and Minerals, where I actually recognized and appreciated the minerals and gemstones displayed (thanks Petrology!). I went inside the Gem Vault (probably the most popular exhibit here- so many ladies ooh, aah-ing). The jewelry pieces were beautiful, but I thought it was fascinating that these gemstones- rocks, really- have no intrinsic value. Humans have arbitrarily assigned them to have value, mean something, cost $$$$.

My favorite exhibit was the Energy Hall especially the Geovator. We went down 7,000 underground into an oil well with a guide! I learned what fracking is (Hello, I was down there when they used it- boom!) and learned a bunch of interesting information I never thought about (How do we find oil? What does it look like when we drill into it? How do we get oil out?).

I feel I have come in a full circle. About a year ago, Lo and I went on a field trip here. I had decided to take a gap year but had no definite plans. By the time I came back from the field trip, I had a job.

Look at this shirt- I want. This reminded me of the "dinosaurs find life's meaning" cartoon I wrote about a while back.

Yikes....

Higgs Boson demystified

If you do ONE THING today, make it this (from my dental blog: write this down on your checklist):

watch this video on the Higgs Boson particle from PhD comics.

I am amazed at the drawings (the movie moves like Prezi).
How exciting is the possibility that we might find this "God particle" in our lifetime? There's motivation to eat healthy and keep exercising for you.

Today's the first day of my No Spend Month and I'm going out to a Mediterranean buffet in 20 minutes...

Chemical senses for the hedonist

NPR has an article about the cuban sandwich contest between Miami and Tampa. What! Tampa, of course. I miss those Cuban sandwiches! Last year when my mom flew up for graduation, she brought me Cuban bread loaves (baked with palmetto leaf) from La Segunda! Besides the beautifully lit Ybor City at night, grabbing Cuban sandwiches at the Columbia Cafe at the Tampa Bay History Center by the beach? I'm nostalgic (and hungry) this afternoon.

Also from NPR "Are Your Friends Bombarding You with Food Porn?" N-cakes once asked me, "isn't your blog a food blog?" because I talk about food ALL THE TIME here. Naturally because I think about it so much.

I want to try this. But I'm afraid I'll drop dead after first bite.

But what is it about taste and smell that makes people so happy? People don't abandon their new year's resolutions to "SEE" or "HEAR" something beautiful. These two senses in particular can make people irresponsible and lose all willpower. Is it because taste is so intimately linked to our survival? Other senses are not directly important in sustaining us (they take in a stream of information but for taste-and indirectly smell- every sensation is important).

Case in point: yesterday I had half-and-half in my coffee for possibly the first time and it was unbelievably smooth and delicious! Where have you been all my life? (Milk probably ups the pH too- happy teeth.) I was so happy sipping this cup of coffee on my mini-break. I could "sense" the endorphins and seratonins shaking hands with their receptors.

I'm adding dairy creamer to my groceries list! I'm doing a No Spend Month challenge for May so this is a mega-luxury but I view it as buying "happiness".

People reward themselves with ice cream or chocolate. But why not other senses? We can start small with smell. If I finish grading exams today, I'll grant myself one sniff of the acacia by the playgrounds. Somehow I'm not as excited.

(What is all this raspberry ketone business?)

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I've had four cupcakes today and it's not even end of the day yet.... Holy shimozzlies.

"25 before 25"

I'm totally re-inventing myself in dental school. For one, I won't care about school. I mean, I won't only care about school. I will also love and enjoy school. I mean....

This weekend was just lovely. Take a look at this scene outside of our department:

After thundering and pouring all afternoon on Friday, this weekend's unexpected beautiful weather coaxed me to work outside.

I sat outside and thought about 25 things I hope to accomplish before I turn 25. It's at D is for Dentist: "Yesle's 25 before 25."

And I want to have an identity outside of school: "Don't let school define you."

(Can you tell this two-blogging is getting complicated for me?)

I wore my Chick-Fil-A shirt to the gym today and wondered if this was totally inappropriate! Oh wells. Happy Earth Day.

why being the first 100 at chick-fil-a will wreck you

I spent 27 hours with 109 strangers camping outside in a concrete parking lot yesterday. All for the promise of free Chick-Fil-A for a year. (52 meals for one meal a week anyway).

I learned how to pitch a tent for this occasion (It's surprisingly easy). I felt a little rugged and outdoorsy until I remembered why I needed to be outdoors.

It is sort of like being on a cruise. Since there were more than a 100 people, there was a raffle to determine the lucky 100 with 10 more alternates. I made friends with a former longhorn who works at a downtown hospital.

The crowd was predominantly middle-aged and female. There were a few other college students. Some of the raffle winners were wheel-chair bound so they had "guests" who stayed to move them around. You have to be at least 18 but there were a handful of kids that stuck around with their parents who had won the raffle. A lot of them, I found out later, are home-schooled. Some moms had brought their infant babies! Fortunately the weather stayed cool so no medical emergencies there.

The same people host the Chick-Fil-A openings nationwide. Many of the people were repeat customers who knew the CFA staff like old friends. A surprising bunch had driven hours and hours for this. One elderly woman told me she drove eight hours from Louisiana and was planning on coming in again next week to Katy.

Let's think about this. At 52 meals valued at $250, I was just at the tipping point of making economic sense, missing an entire day of work and babysitting. But to do this repeatedly? I wanted to ask others how they were spending an entire day sitting out here. I was in the parking lot from 5:30AM Wednesday to 6:15AM Thursday.

After lunch, there was a mini-jam session behind the building in the shade! I took my papers, poured myself a cup of iced sweet tea and studied listening to live music.

I met people I would normally never talk to. Being in the same boat naturally confers a feeling of solidarity. Huddled by the one outlet charging phones, talking about homeschooling, discussing "old" antibiotics (She gushed, "I remember when methicillin came out!"). I danced two-step with new friends, found another Kurt Vonnegut aficionado, checked off an item on my bucket list, and oh, got 52 free CFA meals.

#12 and #13 after an entire day in this CFA parking lot

But about the title (besides having your last exam two hours after you pull out from the CFA parking lot...), from the Chick-fil-A meal calculator I added up what I ate:

I had made some actively healthy choices, such as not constantly pouring myself sweet tea, ordering a chargrilled chicken sandwich for dinner, not winning a milkshake for a contest. But this day was out of control food-wise. My fitness calculator told me I'd gain an extra five pounds in five weeks if I kept this up. YIKES. Many people brought in chips and cookies in addition to the CFA food we were fed, so...

Some final thoughts:
I wondered why homeless/jobless people weren't here. For them this would be a great opportunity right? One speculated they probably didn't know because she heard about it on the Internet- how did I figure this out? (Facebook through a friend). People who could benefit the most from these openings simply don't know about them...

Did you see me on the news?? Houston Press and Click2Houston