That Sweet Southern Air

Tomorrow my "boyfriend" releases yet another album, "Jacksonville City Nights." This is the second of three albums Ryan Adams is releasing just this year. I find that incredible. In this day of big business musicals, complete with tours, tours, tours, and tee shirts, music is rarely about the music. But that is what I love about Mr. Adams. His prolific, albeit quite heterogeneous writing is actually recorded, released, and transmitted along my auditory nerve. There are no strings attached. This truly is a modern anomaly. Great poets and artists have always been keen to express themselves in a sort of emotional supernova, choosing explosion rather than implosion. And in homage of that seemingly lost art, I credit Ryan Adams for following this artistic tradition despite it's dim financial prospects. But he has never been one to play the game of the music industry anyway. For instance, he honored his record company's request to record and release "Rock N' Roll" only if they would release what I consider his best album, "Love Is Hell". The man is no sell out. So whether this album is a jem or junk, a part of me doesn't care (although from what I've heard so far, I'm certainly leaning toward jem). Ryan Adams is a musician for music's sake. I look forward to "Jacksonville City Nights" and it's accompanying DVD documentary.

Check back soon for my review.

2005 NGP Retreat

Yes, neuroscience graduate school has challenged me. And I've complained in the past. But then we have retreats. Maybe the novelty will wear off being that the more senior classes have low turnouts, but I really enjoyed myself this year. The science was for the most part interesting, the people were great, we had a respected neurophysiologist from University of Washington speak, we had a bonfire and beer, and the weather was nice. I know I sound like I just got back from my best-est summer at camp, but it wasn't just a "fun" experience; it motivated me about my research in specific and biomedical research in general. This is a good thing. I've found myself staring at blank western blots more than once wondering why I care. When I attend seminars, I'm reminded of the perseverance required for results and the methodologies involved to obtain those results. In other, transcendental terms, I was enlightened; enlightened that IP3 may be one of the most important lipid signaling events in receptor physiology and that the Oregon ocean is much warmer if there is a keg nearby.

Ahhhhh.....It's Back!

This is returning to Portland tomorrow:

I'm picking it up at the airport (evidently it doesn't have wings) at 7PM. I would like to welcome it back to "Beertown" with...well, a beer. $2 Tuesdays happen tomorrow at the Hedge House (3412 SE Division). Come celebrate it's return to Portland and OHSU!

****special note: please keep all $1 bills away from it

That's Not A Bunyan!

It's official: Christina has camped. She slept on hard, cold soil amongst worms and things with more legs than her; she ate granola (actually I can't verify this, but camping in Oregon must at some point involve granola -- or at least the mention of it); she saw lights in the sky that were not construction cranes; she swung a hatchet toward woody plants with the rage of Mr. Bunyan himself; she consumed generous volumes of Mirror Pond ale. Yes, the woman was camping by most standards. And she was warm, poofy, and purple at the same time -- if you don't believe me, just look at the pics.

Saddle Mountain camping last weekend, a.k.a. luxury camping, was spectacular. We had the entire forest to ourselves. We had volumes beer. We had volumes of caffeine. We even had volumes of beer that had caffeine in it. While these facts were unfortunate for most nearby ungulate creatures, the inner non-hoofed mammal in us was emancipated. As an added bonus, the weather cooperated nicely. What looked to be a soggy night turned toward our favor, giving way to starlight. Levity was in the air, as the fire flickered, stories were told, and songs were written.
We were blessed to be amongst the genesis of a new camping classic, "The F**cking Buffalo," that will soon supplant Kum By Ya at Weebalos outings across the globe. And speaking of Weebalos, a new animal species was characterized (soon to be published in the "Journal of Experiments") that may be proof of the genetic chasm between the common buffalo, "boofus maximus," and the Oregon Beaver, "beavage oregonius". This new species, the "Beavalo" -- or "boofus beavage" -- is, as you can imagine, a medley of hair (no, that's NOT fur), claws (no, those AREN'T hooves), horns, and large gnawing-like teeth. The animal is rather benign to primates, save for it's raptor-like caterwaul, pounding tail, and stampedes (which are thankfully brief due to numerous trees in Oregon forests). Stay tuned to TheAstroSite for updates on this fascinating creature!

To those that missed this magical moment amongst the rough, fear not. Christina has been seasoned, so to speak, and there are more nights not too dissimilar to this one in our future. Next time, however, we may attempt to ditch the cars and earn our camping site with a hike. Thanks for playing!

Buck Naked

There is a special favorite of mine in the Oregon Cascades. It's name: Buck Lake. After careening through a network of fire service roads, a short half mile hike yields a precious lake with clear -- yes, CLEAR -- waters and makeshift campgrounds. Kristin and I stopped by over Labor Day to forget as much as we could about trace amine receptors and cyclophilin D. The water was brisk, but aggressively refreshing (if that's considered a temperature). And at night: a celestial peppering of the finest ground stars.

...Walt Whitman, kiss my ass.

Cramping

Christina wants to like camping. But it's her hair that gets all cramped up. A solution? Camping with me. I'll gladly cramp the camp. Hair. enough to make a mule's ass look stylish. I do this about once a weekend anyway, so why not. Another solution? Organize a "damn! Classes and rain will start again soon so we should all go camping." Trip. Jonathan and I visited "Saddle Mountain" last weekend and, save for relegating ourselves to car camping, we enjoyed it -- especially the views.
Just check out the photos we took. An easy three mile hike yields (at least on a clear day) the best view I've seen in Oregon. To the west: The Pacific Ocean and Coastal Range; to the east: the Cascades and even Mt. Rainier; to the north: the Columbia River and Astoria; to the south: umm...i don't know, some mountains, clouds, and shit.

Saddle Mountain is a quick 60-90 min. away (+/- traffic), right off Hwy 26 about 10 miles before Hwy 101. The turnoff heading 7 miles north from Hwy 26 is paved. Parking is at the trailhead. There are ample campsites with firepits at the trailhead. No reservations are needed. There are very clean bathrooms. There is drinking water. Therefore, we should go. The minor caveat: good days to do this are numbered. We have the new student barbecue coming, graduate program retreats, and of course, less sunny days. So after some talk with a couple people, we are thinking of Friday, Sept. 9th. Some of us can leave work early and get there in the afternoon; others can show up whenever since it isn't that far away and it is easy to find. The student barbecue is the next day, but that doesn't start until 4PM -- which I think is plenty of time to make it back, chill out, and uncramp the camp. Hair.


In Summary:

What: car camping at Saddle Mountain
When: Friday, September 9th
How to get there: http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_197.php
Cost: Sites are $12, each accommodating up to two tents.
NOTE: Since there is no need for reservations, we can cancel at the last minute if the weather is looking to leave us with Saddlebag Mountain

Post a comment to this blog if you're interested so all the tent/gear arrangements can be made. My tent, bags, and air mattresses will be claimed, but I can bring a nice stove with pots and pans. BYOF(ood). BYOB. Carpool. Capeesh?

...Let There Be Site

I have always thought I should keep a journal. This plan has never materialized. Instead, my thoughts and reflections have been exclusively captured in lyrics, song, photos, and conversation. "The Blog" offers me a new chance. Hence, "The AstroSite" is born.

An interpolation: the blog name is a tribute to neuroscience in general and the astrocyte in specific, those mysterious and abundant cells in the brain that provide the atmosphere for the neuronal storm; in other words, a brain without astrocytes is like (this is a very loose analogy...) a supercomputer running on Windows 3.0. - the circuitry is there, but there isn't sufficient means to run at capacity. Interestingly, Albert Einstein's brain was shown to have a significantly higher glia:neuron ratio (astrocytes are a subcategory of "glia") in some parts of his brain, thereby formulating the hypothesis that Mr. Einstein's genius could have been the result of his ability to "fuel" his neurons. Einstein was shown to have a normal number of neurons. End Interpolation.

Anyway, feel free to post opinions, critiques, or any comments. I will post to the blog intermittently with what will likely become an eclectic cyber journal of my sometimes interesting life. An added advantage will be my ability to share photos without clogging up e-mail inboxes. If the last year is any indication, check for less-than-dignified photos. I also plan to use this blog as an info source for the frequent OHSU "extracurricular" gatherings and activities - with postevent photos, of course. So to close on topic, my neurons are requesting a nice, frothy Portland-crafted microbrew. Until next time, "Iechyd da"!