Broken

Two weeks ago Ryan and I decided that we might as well take advantage of our newfound proximity to my parents and pay them a visit. It helped that Dad bribed us with an old set of Harvard Classics and free laundry, but mostly we wanted to have a fun weekend with family. Unfortunately our car had other plans. We made it as far as Tensed (I didn't know such a town even existed!) before the car decided that its alternator was tired and that it wanted a nap, so it turned itself off just in time for us to hit the first parking lot of the town. Balanced precariously on the edge of a certain curb in front of the "Circle H Saloon" I was able to get just enough of a cellphone signal to call Dad and AAA for some curteous roadside assistance. We actually did get a surprisingly good deal on towing for the 45 minute trip back to Moscow, but our weekend plans were thwarted. Determined not to let it get us down we opted for renting a movie (Shrek-2) and eating pizza. Unfortuantely Papa John's oven was broken, so after approximately fifteen minutes of waiting we were forced to go in search of other pizza, with eventual victory in the form of Dominoes.

It turns out that the car and the pizza oven weren't the only brakeable objects; after fencing competitively throuhgout highschool, I finally sustained my first fencing injury last Wednesday (with the exception of the time I kicked myself in the finger while stretching before a tournament...but that wasn't too serious after we got some ice on it...). I went in for a deep lunge and a few pops later I had a pulled hamstring and a strained knee. I've graduated to only one crutch by now, but probably have about a week left before I can walk normally again. I've noticed a few things now that I've been reduced to a snails pace: 1)Moscow has many, many hills and a comprable number of stairs, some of which would benifit from installing hand rails, 2) The biology department has quite a few funny cartoons on the walls in the hallways that I now have time to read as I pass by, and 3) there's a ginko tree just outside of the door that houses the elevator to the fourth floor of the biology department. It could have been years before I noticed that if I didn't change my route to increase elevator access. I love gingkos!

By now the car is fixed and I'm on my way to recovery, just in time for Fall to hit full force, nicely parralleling the cylce of the seasons and reminding me that I had better enjoy what's left of warmth and greenery while I can! To celebrate the last of the warm weather I think Ryan and I will make a second attempt at our Sandpoint visit, hopefully with a bit more success this time!

Settling in

Sometimes it's amazing how easy it is for people to settle into a new life. I suddenly find myself married, in a new town, two months into a Ph. D program studying plasmids that a year ago I didn't even know exist. At the moment I don't feel like I'm in the process of adjusting to a new stage of my life, but by all rights that's exactly where I'm at. In keeping up with Jenni's blogs and reading about all the exciting changes that she and her family are going through I finally decided that maybe the best way to hold onto the excitement that life holds is to immortalize it through writting. If nothing else it will give me a break from all the science and labwork!

So I guess I'll lay some groundwork with the basics:

• I'm happily married as of June 21st, 2008 to a wonderful husband who is currently working as a care-giver and studying to be an EMT. That should come in handy as I seem to break easily, especially when he, his grandmother, and tennis are involved...
• I now live in the cute little college town of Moscow, Idaho in an apartment that is much bigger than the dorm rooms or trailer that Ryan and I are used to. We even have a dishwasher and a library! What more could a girl ask for?
• I'm hoping to eventually gain a Ph. D in biology here at the U of I studying bacterial plasmids. The idea is that bacteria have the DNA that makes them bacteria (chromosomal DNA that codes for all the processes and protiens that allow it to survive, grow, reproduce, etc.) and sometimes they also have plasmids (other DNA that can often give the bacteria special traits, such as antibiotic resistance) that can often be transferred from one bacterium to another. In the case of my research I'm interested in those plasmids that can be passed from one type of bacteria to a different type of bacteria altogether (like from E. coli to Salmonnella). These kinds of plasmids (called broad host range plasmids) play a huge role in the spread of antibiotic resistance that has so many of us worried about the future effectivness of certain medications...but more on this later...
• I've started fencing again! It's been a long time since I've really gotten to fence or be a fencing student, and I've missed it! I'd forgotten how energizing it is, and after a long day in the lab it's just what I need!
  

That's the quick and dirty outline of the world of Julie Hughes, née Nichols, but there will be more updates later!