Resurfacing
I'm okay. Mark's okay. Libby... not so much. I watch her as much as I can on the webcam, and other than yesterday when she slept motionlessly for about three hours and I was totally panicking, she's restless all day, on the bed, off the bed, at the window, at the door, and apparently also howling or barking from time to time. I don't think she's ever really been alone before, and as the most pathetic omega dog possible, the loss of her alpha dog seems to have rearranged her world rather dramatically. When we're home she's clingy, and we spoil her with attention and treats. I'm hoping to take the family on a camping/collecting trip this summer. It might be good for all of us, plus at least one part of my trip won't be so lonely. Plus: free labor!

Other aspects of life: massive snowstorm that buried the city in lovely but impassable white fluff; bitter cold; adorable bunny tracks in the back yard. My first committee meeting is next week, and I need to get some kind of agenda out the door in the next four hours but am having trouble focusing. We gave our first Bio 230 exam yesterday and now I have 172 exams to grade.
Student: Do you think the grades will be posted this weekend?
Me: [helpless laughter]
And, I have successfully sequenced a piece of DNA from my species. As far as I can tell, it is the first time this region has been sequenced in this family (except of course the fully sequenced genome from cotton). Observe and be amazed by my pretty chromatogram:

- posted by Diane @ 10:54 AM