Celebration!

I have been working at Purdue for less than 2 years (just barely - May 8 makes 2 years) and I have been co-authors on 2 publications in big journals. Both of these have come out in the last month and I have done considerable cryo-EM (cryo electron microscopy) work (including sample prep, freezing, and data collection) for these 2 projects.

The first paper came out earlier in the month in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology. The article is Binding of a neutralizing antibody to dengue virus alters the arrangement of surface glycoproteins.

The second paper just came out today in Science. The article is Structure of the Immature Dengue Virus at Low pH Primes Proteolytic Matruration.

I think we will be celebrating sometime this weekend with dinner out!

Now lets hope all the other projects I'm working on go as well as these did...

Free samples

I got some free samples a couple weeks ago and really like them. They were samples of True Lemon, True Lime, and True Orange. If you go here you can sign up for a sample of each flavor.

One of the things that I really like about these samples is that they come in little packets (like the Crystal Light to go packs), but they have no artificial sweeteners and give just a hint of flavoring to your water. There are also recipes on the website where you can use the "crystallized" lemon, etc in your cooking and baking (like a lemon pound cake, yum).

So click the link and try it - you've got nothing to lose as it is free and you may find something great just in time for summer and the hot weather.

Grandparents

A couple weeks ago we were in Michigan and had lunch with Heather's parents and Gramma. We were in Michigan for a couple reasons: to pick up Jase after he spent a week with his grandparents, to visit some really great family friends for the weekend (upcoming post), and to visit one of the sister missionaries that taught Heather.

So, here are some cute pics from our lunch at Cracker Barrel (mmmm, one of our favorites when traveling).
It is always great seeing family, especially since we live father away and can't just go for a short drive to visit.

How many of me?

I received a link to this website this morning from a friend and played around with it a bit this morning. What it does is statistically calculate how many people in the US have your name (first, last, and both). Here are the stats for my family:

Joseph: 9 J H in the US and Joseph is ranked #10th for first names
Heather: 2 H H in the US and Heather is #104th
Jase: there are no other Jase's and Jase isn't even in the database (which they say means it is relatively uncommon)
Meghan: there are no other M H and Meghan is #800

So how many of you are there in the US?

Movies

I've seen some pretty funny (and good) movies over the last couple months. Here are my reviews of them:

Wild Hogs: absolutely hilarious; I have not seen a movie this funny in years; we woke the kids up from laughing so loud.

Stardust: an ok movie; not a favorite at first, but it is growing on me each time I see it.

Bridge to Terabithia: loved it, although not as much as the book that I read and loved as a kid, but still great

Miss Potter: I saw this one months ago and then just recently saw it again; it has sad parts, but I think it ends on a happy and content note.

No Reservations: I liked this movie, although not as much as Chocolat.

The Bourne Ultimatum and Rush Hour 3 were good, but not as enjoyable as the first 2 in each series.

What is the best movie you've seen in the last couple months? Anything I should watch?