My birthday and International Day of Climate Action

Friday was my birthday, and to celebrate I went bowling with a few folks from the lab. Saturday was the 350.org International Day of Climate Action. 350 ppm is the maximum amount of CO2 in the atmosphere that is compatible with life on Earth as we know it, according to American climate expert Jim Hansen. The idea is for people around the world to create elaborate displays of the number 350 and take pictures, which are distributed throughout the media. Hopefully those pictures will convince world leaders attending the climate conference in Copenhagen in December to agree on a powerful carbon tax.

An article in the New York Times mentioned that 350 ppm is an impossible goal to achieve, and so by publicizing 350 this movement is actually telling people that we've already blown it, so might as well enjoy life while we can. I think this is a valid point, but on the other hand the role of the 350 number was mostly to create a common rallying call for people who speak many different languages and provide a simple symbol of the climate change movement. The actual numerical value of 350 is not as important as what it symbolizes: a coordinated and passionate movement among people of all cultures on earth demanding action from world leaders to avoid catastrophic climate change.

I started Saturday by participating in a human thermometer on Baldwin Street to depict 350 ppm CO2. Somewhere between 50 and 100 people showed up for this morning event. Then I rode into town to the Dunedin train station, the site of the 350 food festival. I had only a few minutes to do a preliminary walk-around before the 350 riders bike ride began. We rode about 5k out to the Vauxhall boat club, snapped a few pictures with all the riders arranged in a 350, and then rode back to the food festival. There were hundreds of riders participating.

The food festival was similar to the usual Dunedin Farmer's Market, except there were additional workshops and a live band. I attended a workshop on beekeeping. At midday hundreds of people gathered in the garden in front of the train station for a photo taken by a guy in the bucket of a fire truck.

Here's a link to pictures on the 350 website. And here are a few I got myself.

Put the champagne on ice

This week I completed preparation of a variant of the DnaK protein doubly labeled with two fluorophores for FRET experiments. Unfortunately, I could not detect any FRET--reasons for this are 1) the so-called Forster distance for the fluorophores is too small for energy exchange at the positions they are located 2) the protein is not actually labeled with two active fluorophores 3) the protein is in too low concentration, a probable possibility since I lost most of it during troubleshooting of the preparative process. Disappointing, but I'm still optimistic I'll have it ready soon.

Today was a nice, relaxing Sunday. I began with a walk through the rhododendron dell in the Dunedin Botanical Garden. This week is the Dunedin rhododendron festival. I saw many pretty flowers and some really neat New Zealand parrots as well. I got a few pictures:



Then I continued on to the Otago Museum to see a special exhibition on West African art, music, food, and spirituality. An expert weaver was demonstrating his craft. The loom was a rather complex machine and it took me about fifteen minutes to get to the point where I thought I had an idea of how it worked. There was also an exhibit on how clay pots are made, and there was one interesting video showing a group of women making a pile of pots, covering them with dry grass, and lighting the whole pile ablaze to harden the pots.

From the museum I went to Kmart and bought a kite. The wind wasn't so strong today though, so I didn't get it flying for more than a couple minutes.

It is now exam season at Otago Uni, and most of the honors biochemistry students are really freaking out. The thing is that the exam period runs from last Friday until the middle of November. Some students have one exam now and another four weeks later. This seems incredibly inconvenient if you want to go home for the summer, yet most don't seem to mind. Apparently they intend on studying steadily for one class for weeks on end. And they're still going nuts! Some of them incessantly complain about how stressed out they are, yet they don't take any study breaks. All of this just boggles the mind because back home we had four days of reading period, then one solid week of exams. Having two exams in one day was not uncommon. A good 48 hours of intense studying interspersed with a naked mile or a polar bear swim was usually sufficient for one class. Students here are severely lacking in study skills and studying efficiency, and I think the Uni exacerbates the problem by giving them over a month to prepare. One week was plenty of exams--get it over with and go home.

This Saturday is the 350 international day of climate action. I will begin the day by participating in some sort of giant human scale at Baldwin Street, the World's Steepest Street which is a 1/4 mile from my house. Then I will cycle down to the Dunedin railway station to participate in the Spring Food Festival featuring Otago's best produce, beer, cheese, music, beekeeping, etc. At 10:30 cyclists in Otago are having a short 10k ride around the waterfront to rally the troops. In the evening is a showing of the film Food Inc. I'll give a full report next week.

In a shocking development last week, a student who I know in the biochemistry department was beaten unconscious by an intruder in her own home. She has no memory of anything in the past few years, including the biochemistry department, her studies, and her friends here. It's too early to say whether her memory will come back. Our thoughts are with her and her family.

Robo Rally

Last week I had a lab presentation, which has been posted here. If anything, you'll get the sense that I've been running many SDS-PAGE gels.

This weekend was the lab walk, dinner, and game night at Sigurd's house on the peninsula to celebrate three people's birthdays in October. We walked to Sandfly Bay, which I had visited a few months ago. There was quite a strong gale and so we learned why it's called Sandfly Bay--I was still grinding sand through my mouth on the drive back to Sigurd's place. The track down to the beach is a steep downhill through sand dunes, and when Sigurd started sprinting down we all joined him, which was super fun. At the beach we saw several sea lions and penguins; I got some dodgy pictures of the penguins using digital zoom. After hanging out at the beach for a while we trudged back up through the dunes and back to Sigurd's. I made pad thai which turned out quite well using this recipe. I had been practicing all week. We also had chicken casserole, sweet and sour pork, pizza, salad, and carrot cake. After dinner we all played Robo Rally, an obscure board game that Malcolm brought (He's a fan of many geeky board games and frequently travels to Cleveland, Ohio to participate in tournaments for the game "Advanced Squadleader," which is also a favorite of baseball pitcher Curt Schilling). Robo Rally is a very frustrating game in which you program a robot to turn and move along the board towards checkpoints, but are usually thwarted in your plans by conveyor belts, pits, crushers, and laser beams. Here are some pictures from the walk.



Here are pictures of some dishes I made last week. First is spaghetti--the sauce has mince, tomato paste, sugar, salt, garlic, oregano, and basil, then topped with parmesan. The sauce needed some white wine. Second is chipsi mayai rogo-style, which means fried potatoes, eggs, cheese, and tomatoes. Last is pad thai. I learned in my practice rounds that it is important to boil the rice noodles before you fry them, contrary to advice from the website linked above.

Protesting makes me hungry

On Monday last week I attended a flash mob for action on climate change organized by 350.org at the Otago Museum Reserve. The idea was to create a lot of noise and attract attention to ourselves and the need to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to below 350 parts per million. I brought a large empty jug that previously contained methanol (not a greenhouse gas?) from the lab and that made a low loud sound when I hit it. Other lab members brought beakers and bowls. Some people actually had semi-legitimate instruments like a recorder and African drums. A few protestors made phone calls to members of the New Zealand parliament to urge them to push for a powerful carbon tax at the climate meeting in Copenhagen in December.

Today I visited two flats on the Otago Peninsula, where I am considering moving for the summer months. I think it would be really sweet to relax out there in the warmer weather and ride my bike into town each day. I'll probably never have a chance again to live in such a beautiful place. The first flat I visited is in the village of Portobello, which has the added appeal of a weekly Farmer's Market and a volunteer fire brigade. The "flat" is a farmhouse built in the 1920s. The owner, a chef at one of Dunedin's best restaurants called Plato, has a dog, a cat, and a horse. It would be a very quiet and beautiful spot. The other place is in the village of MacAndrew Bay, which is significantly closer to town. The advantage of this place is that my flatmates would be closer to my age and perhaps a bit more interesting to live with, as the girl I met said they like listening to music and having barbecues, etc. Right now I'm leaning toward the place in Portobello. Obstacles to overcome are 1) the lease on my current flat doesn't expire until Dec 31, so I'd need to find a person to replace me for the rest of the year; 2) It looks like I'll be in the U.S. for most of December and January, so the value in moving may not be that high.

Cooking with Rogo Part II

Couscous and Vegetable Concoction
Fry carrots and courgette in oil. Add chopped onion after a few minutes. Boil 1 part water plus a bit of oil and salt. Add 1 part dry couscous, remove from heat for 5 minutes. Add some butter and stir to separate the grains. Add veggies and season with cumin and Chinese 5 spice.

Cumin and Chinese 5 Spice are some of my favorite spices. Cumin really brings out the sweetness in vegetables. This was a very satisfying dish.
Rating: 8
Try it

Broiled Sole with Cherry Tomatoes and Parmesan
Coat sole fillet in egg or milk, then cover in bread crumbs. Top with melted butter and minced garlic. Broil for a few minutes to cook. Top with parmesan and tomatoes. Season with oregano, basil, thyme, and salt. Broil a few more minutes to melt the cheese a bit.

Could be improved with a creamy sauce as opposed to straight parmesan cheese. Sole is not my favorite species of fish I discovered.
Rating: 6
Development continues


Honey mustard salad dressing
1 tbs vinegar
1 tbs oil
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp honey
touch of salt
1/2 tsp cumin
Deliciousness







Pizza Bagels


Top a real bagel (impossible to find in Dunedin) with tomato paste, mixture of your favorite cheeses, oregano, basil, garlic powder. Broil.










Satisfying Vegetable Stew

Sautee onion, garlic, ginger, curry powder, cumin, paprika. Add vegetable stock, potatoes, carrots. Simmer until cooked.

Would have been better with a little pumpkin or sweet potato...and nice big chunks of beef.
Rating: 5
Development continues





Fried rice and stir fry. These consist of a bunch of vegetables and some spices (like all my dishes). Fried rice is notable for Worcestershire Sauce, Soy Sauce, Water chestnuts, and cashews. Stir fry is notable for pineapple, peanuts, fish sauce, and soy sauce. Both of them were decent.
Fried rice



















Me eating fried rice












Pineapple stir fry













Kaptain Kool likes pineapple stir fry













This week I'd like to make a good pasta sauce (with beef) and Pad Thai.

Cooking with rogo

I will start posting pictures and recipe sketches of some of the meals I am cooking for myself. I say recipe sketches because I rarely measure ingredients. Instead I add what looks like the right amount, erring on the side of too little so I can add more if necessary. These dishes are produced entirely by improvisation, so since I am a relatively inexperienced cook the quality of the completed dishes is very variable. As a student, my goal in cooking is to minimize cost and maximize nutrition and variety of interesting flavors. Most things I make require only a handful of ingredients; meat is used sparingly due to its high price and low sustainability. I include a few comments and a rating for each dish. Rather than a measure of my personal enjoyment of the recipe, the rating refers to how well the final product matches my intention/expectations. Finally, I mention if the recipe sketch is worth being used as a guide by other amateur chefs or whether it needs major changes before I recommend it outside my own kitchen.

Chickpea Curry

Combine 1 can coconut milk, 1 can chickpeas, 1 fried onion, few minced garlic cloves, couple tbs minced ginger, 1-2 tbs curry powder, salt & pepper to taste. Simmer 15-20 minutes uncovered. Serve with white rice.

Comments: quite creamy, spiciness depends on amount of curry powder
Rating: 7
Try it

Rice Pork Noodle Soup
Cook one package rice vermicelli according to package directions. Combine 2 cups chicken broth and 2 tbs minced ginger and simmer. Cut off ends of bok choy and cut leaves into edible pieces (Leaving leaves uncut means you end up sucking up an entire leaf in one bite, which is unpleasant). Cut pork into small pieces and fry in oil. Fry 3 cloves minced garlic in oil. Add bok choy, pork, fried garlic, and cut up shiitake mushrooms to broth and ginger. Simmer for a few minutes. Add cooked vermicelli and simmer for a few more minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Comments: Needs more pork and liquid and less vermicelli and bok choy. Not as flavorful as one would hope.
Rating: 4
Development continues

Rice Tuna Casserole
Cook lots of rice if you're hungry like me. Combine rice, 1 can tuna, 2 cups instant chicken soup, couple chopped tomatoes, 1 tbs butter in casserole. Top with shredded cheddar cheese. Bake (or broil with aluminum foil on top if your bake function does not work) for 30-40 minutes at 200C/400F.

Comments: Needs more cheese and needs to be baked in a real oven.
Rating: 7
Try it

Penne with cheese sauce
Mix equal amounts of flour and butter and heat slowly to form a "roux." Stir in cold milk. When milk is steaming stir in shredded cheddar cheese. When cheese has melted to form thick sauce, add chopped onion. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika. Toss sauce with cooked pasta, preferably macaroni but any kind will do. Serve with green vegetable like broccoli, which tastes good when a little of the cheese sauce rubs off on it.

Comments: This was better the last time I made it. This time I didn't add enough cheese. I think the variety and quality of cheese is very important.
Rating: 5
Try it with greater quantity and quality of cheese.

This week is Conservation Week in New Zealand, so yesterday I played hooky from University and went on a guided walk led by the Green Hut Track group, a bunch of volunteers who maintain tracks around the Dunedin area. The walk was led by a 78-year-old, and nearly all the walkers were retirees. It was a nice relaxed day in the Silver Peaks.

My flag is a tourist destination

A couple days ago I failed to stop myself saying "cheers" when someone held the door for me. This may have marked a critical turning point in my time in New Zealand. My accent is still very American but I may be losing my power to keep annoying words like "mate" out of my vocabulary.

Last night I attended a class dinner for the fourth-year honors students at the Italian restaurant Etrusco's. All the honors students and their supervisors attended, and I was invited along because I've sat in on some of their classes and presented my research with them. It was a fun event and the food and wine were great. After dinner we went to karaoke, but unfortunately none of the faculty joined us.

This morning I saw a group of three expats getting their picture taken with my massive American flag in the lab window in the background.

This afternoon the Governor-General of New Zealand and Queen's Representative, the Honourable Sir Anand Satyanand, visited the Habitat House. He is supposed to be the patron for Habitat for Humanity in New Zealand but had never visited a house under construction before. He was accompanied by his wife, a couple secret service agents, a young Navy officer who planned his social engagements, and a few members from the Habitat for Humanity board in Dunedin. The Maori family greeted Sir Satyanand with a traditional greeting and song and Sir Satyanand responded in te reo Maori, which was judged to be quite good by the family. We had afternoon tea and Kyle and I got a lot of attention as the only student volunteers.

This better be worth it

Another of my lab presentations has been posted here. I've finally found labeling conditions and am beginning double labeling of DnaK T136C/S423C/C15S for FRET experiments!

Medical school secondary applications are dominating most of my free time right now. Essay questions range from "Describe an ethical dilemma you encountered and how you resolved it" to "Write an autobiography in 7500 characters or less." Quite an exhausting process. I get envious when people here tell me that medical school requires only decent test scores and grades.