david's web-log

misadventures at harvard medical school

Month: January, 2009

Maggie Mischief

Hi there, if you happen to come by this site (which means you’re probably one of my family members, but we’ll pretend I have copious, anonymous readership anyway) and like “Maggie’s Musings” below, check out her new blog. She’s a funny gal.
www.davidcflood.com/sis

Francis Crick and the elegance of the genetic code

This was written for one of my courses at Bryn Mawr. It’s a fascinating topic.
After the discovery of the DNA double-helix, another mystery persisted: How was information actually stored in DNA? Scientists had several hints. It was known that proteins were constructed from amino acids, that there were 20 amino acids, and that DNA was [...]

Maggie’s Musings – Day 7

by Maggie
Day 7
Although Pocahontas County prides itself on it’s relaxing and quiet atmosphere, it was a dreadful night. The combination of Cliff snoring, a bed that allowed one to feel every single spring, and the fear that at any moment, the locals would turn on us and kill us all, did not allow for easy [...]

Raleigh, Lynchburg, Pocahontas

By the numbers:

11: Books Maggie has read on the trip, only surpassed by her number of naps
2: Small bags of Snyder’s mini pretzels eaten
26: Small bags of Snyder’s mini pretzels remaining
1: Times I’ve shaved
0: Excluding lettuce, amount of vegetables consumed by children
10: Different McDonald’s patronized. Food has been ordered in 2 of them
1925: Miles put [...]

Maggie’s Musings – Day 6

by Maggie
Day 6
After David and I had a charming breakfast of more stale fruit loops and warm milk while Cliff cleaned the room to “make things easier” on the illegal immigrants who would clean it later, we left Wilmington and head to Raleigh, North Carolina. Here we met David’s high school lad, Kyle, for lunch. [...]

Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and Wilmington

The photojournalist gets back.

Abandoned plantations are equally amazing and petrifying. It was basically a scary movie. I saw 6 ghosts. Hampton, SC.

Small-town hero begins his epic quest up the George Washington tree.

The going is not easy, but he perseveres against his relentless foes.

Victory is in sight, but he must not lose focus!

He has defeated the [...]

Maggie’s Musings – Day 5

by Maggie
Day 5:
The specialty of the day was David’s stupidity, which forced us to take off twenty minutes late this morning because he’d lost his iPhone. We found it in his duffle bag. After that excitement, we left Savannah and drove to Charleston, South Carolina, where David spent the majority of the walk around the [...]

Road trip adventures continue

Souther’n style.

A peeing black bear at Tallulah Falls.

“The Tree That Owns Itself” or, as we like to call it, “The Most Ridiculous Tourist Site Ever.” Athens, GA.

Dad trying to get hisself killed at SEC football stadium #2.

Yes, “image is everything,” especially when two of your metal e’s have fallen off. Savannah, GA.

Vintage Appalachia.

Maggie took a [...]

Maggie’s Musings – Day 4

by Maggie
Day 4
The morning got off to a slow start, as Cliff, fulfilling his lifelong dream of being a hotel maid, decided to clean the room to make the job of the housekeeping woman easier. Once we convinced him that scrubbing the toilet, although generous, was not necessary, we managed to make our way to [...]

Maggie’s Musings – Day 3

by Maggie
Day 3
We left the glorious Holiday Inn Express early enough to walk around downtown Dillard, where we met a nice furniture salesman who talked to us in between spits into his spittoon. Afterwards, we went to Tallulah Falls, where Dad and David attempted to ruin my birthday by forcing me to walk up a [...]