.the gpb kids.

Lazy Sunday

Posted by Mike - June 14, 2009 at 03:06:03 pm

I’ve been jumping between a few things today. Did a little work on a side project that I thought up on Friday, played a few video games and ran an errand for Jules. During the errand I took a few pictures.

Jules planted a ginger.

Flowers are blooming everywhere. I need to go on a hike.

These leaflets had a really nice texture to them. Really soft.

Lavenders are an excellent addition to any yard.

I can’t wait to grow my own fruit trees.

Dispatches from Borneo

Posted by Mike - May 23, 2009 at 12:05:34 pm

Renan Ozturk does dispatches from his expeditions. He describes them as “Episodic & on the fly creative content cut in the field and sent with satellite technology.” They’re pretty amazing. Here’s a series from a trip to Borneo.

Quick snack when I’m too lazy to make a real dinner

Posted by Jules - April 29, 2009 at 08:04:27 pm

I’m really enjoying all the fresh asparagus that’s been coming in our CSA boxes. Quickly sauteed with salt and pepper + a soft egg and melted cheddar on toasted sourdough.

There’s a Zombie on your Lawn

Posted by Mike - April 24, 2009 at 01:04:12 pm

In the event of a zombie apocalypse, perhaps we can use our garden plants to protect us.

Bloomin’ Flytrap

Posted by Mike - April 22, 2009 at 03:04:46 pm

My venus flytrap that I brought to work is blooming. But unfortunately I think it’s one of those last ditch efforts by the plant to produce progeny before it dies. The plant knows it’s dying so it uses up the last of its energy to bolt and create the flowers. And my “mother of thousands” doesn’t look like it’ll be a mother any time soon. Perhaps I should get some plastic plants.

Snowshoeing

Posted by Jules - March 26, 2009 at 10:03:15 pm

Who’s that weirdo on the end???

Oh yeah, that was me.

For some reason, I couldn’t get the rest of them to display much enthusiasm. Though my P.I. did raise his hand.

Lake Berryessa

Posted by Jules - March 15, 2009 at 07:03:08 pm

Copied from Mike’s post at ThisMoment:

On Saturday Jules and I wanted to go on a hike so we drove north in search of a trailhead. We passed by one little lake that only had some fishermen and no signs of trails. Even though I thought Lake Berryessa would have more boat-happy people, we made our way over there.

As it turns out, we were the only ones in the parking lot. In fact, when we got there we didn’t see anyone on the lake at all. No boats, no people. So we decided to walk along the edge of the lake for a while. The water level looked low, but with the recent rains, some of the plants that had started to grow near the water line had become submerged. You can’t really tell from my photo, but there were bubbles forming on the leaves of the plants. Oxygen creation in action?

We continued to hike around and watch the water fowl. Eventually we made our way to a small hilltop overlooking the lake and I gave Jules her birthday present: a small blue bag from Tiffany & Co. I let her unwrap it until she got to the ring case and I promptly snatched it back. I sheepishly got on one knee, opened the ring case and blurted out “willyoumarryme?” at such a rate that Jules didn’t even hear what I said. But she assumed correctly and said yes. At that point I looked at the ring case and noticed I was holding it upside down. Why would the bigger half be on top? That doesn’t make any sense.

After she said yes I proceeded to try and put the ring on her finger. Failure! The ring was too small. So we had to pack it up for later.

After a little while we decided to leave the lake and check out a dam that we saw on the map. The dam itself ended up being fenced off but we got a pretty good view from the parking area. Apparently it has one of the largest spillways of any dam. They actually referred to it on the sign as the “glory hole.” Perhaps they didn’t know?

After the dam we returned back to Yountville to prepare for dinner at Ad Hoc!

Skewing the Feedback system

Posted by Jules - March 4, 2009 at 11:03:28 am

It always irritates me when I see feedback that doesn’t really pertain to the quality of the product they are reviewing or the service they received, like, “I love these earrings. Great quality. However, these earrings are smaller than I would have liked, but they are true to size”. And then mark 3 stars out of 5 because the earrings were smaller than they would have liked, even though they knew the exact size before they purchased them. That’s really not the fault of the product, and I don’t think that they should mark a product down for something like that. If they didn’t like them that small, they should have paid attention, and purchased the larger size. There was nothing wrong with the product itself, as they noted.

PS. I bought a pair of earrings from Blue Nile. I like them.

Wii Fit

Posted by Jules - February 22, 2009 at 08:02:10 pm

Mike trying out the Wii FIt

Strawberry DNA

Posted by Jules - February 9, 2009 at 03:02:26 pm

Today I was testing out a protocol for isolating DNA from a strawberry for class tomorrow. It worked beautifully. That white slimy stuff on the stick is the DNA. As well as the bubbly wispy strands floating in the clear portion of the solution. Materials used: strawberries, dishwashing liquid, water, salt and cold 95% ethanol (well, -20C actually).

Protocol taken from The Tech Museum

Each strawberry yields around 25 mls of strawberry extract- enough for 25 students.

For 3 strawberries:
~1/2 tsp salt (2.5 g)
~1/3 cup H2O (80 ml)
~1 tbs liquid detergent (15 ml)
~Chill ethanol (rubbing alc should be fine; no need to break out the Everclear) in freezer

1. Mix salt, water, and detergent together in a bowl to make the extraction liquid. This is double what you need in case you mess up. (~1 tbsp/strawberry).
2. Squish strawberries in a plastic bag.
3. Add 3 tbsp (45 ml) extraction liquid. Squish thoroughly.
4. Strain through a cheesecloth.
5. Aliquot ~1ml, or more, into each tube.
6. Slowly add cold ethanol on top. DNA precipitates at the interface.

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