Homely Scientist

So … yes I skipped a day, but rest assured I’m still not smoking.  I also ran out of patches and haven’t had one on since Thursday.  I meant to get to the store on Friday and just never did.  Today?  Same.  The thing is that my stress-o-meter has hit red line.  Stress is my big trigger for not being successful at quitting.  I could just cave, couldn’t I?  If you knew the back story, I think I’d get a pass.
However, the plus side is that when my stress-o-meter red lines, I also don’t feel like going out, which means …read more

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Yep, it’s been almost a full week without a cigarette touching my lips.  Yes, I remembered to take my patch off last night.  Just barely though.
Anyway, I got up, patchless, and got right to work.  Couple hours in, as you can read on my Twitter stream, I needed that patch.  Normal?  Yeah for sure.
Right now what I miss is smoking when on the phone.  It was just something I did.  Grab the phone or answer it, grab a smoke, go outside and talk.
I wonder if this is the final time.  I hope I’m strong enough to do it.  Right now …read more

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I’m sure that Christina has covered this, but since this is a very important topic I’m going to hit it again.  Right now I’m taking 1000 mg a day of a powerful antibiotic for my sinus infection.  My course is for ten days.  Today, in fact last night, I’m feeling better but that doesn’t really matter it’s a 10 day course and 10 days will I consume my horse pill twice a day.  But the question is why is this so important.  It’s all Darwin’s fault.
It’s a natural selection thing, really.  When you start taking an antibiotic, the “weakest” bacteria …read more

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Okay still no smoking.  Beyond the patch I think having a sinus infection has a lot to do with it.  I’ll take it though if it gets me over the first couple weeks.
Anyway, one of the earlier times I tried quitting smoking I used the patch and was warned (it’s even on the box/insert) if you keep it on at night you’ll have vivid dreams.  I remembered this last night, just not just before I went to bed.  So, yes, I fell asleep with the patch on.  Vivid dreams?  OMG.  Bizarre.  Freaky.  I had essentially two dreams last night that …read more

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It’s been nearly a week since I really wanted to smoke.  I did have a smoke last Thursday, almost just to see if I liked/craved them.  Nope.  Since I was feeling like death anyway I didn’t notice the first days of nicotine withdrawal, which is probably a good thing.  I was more than a tad grumpy on Friday, which was probably a combination of withdrawal and just being tired of being sick.
Anyway, I weathered the weekend smoke free, even with Lorraine still smoking (for now).  Today the cravings hit.  Thank goodness there aren’t any smokes in the house or I …read more

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So I’ve been sick for the past week.  It really, really sucked.  I’m finally getting it together here to be able to write cogently again.  I’m drinking a ton of water to balance out all the stuff that I’m blowing out of my nose.  Snot, however, isn’t the point of this post, quitting smoking is.  See, Lorraine and I planned on quitting April 1 but I caught this killer cold/flu thing last Sunday.  Smoking became just something that I just couldn’t do.  During the week, Wednesday especially, I had no energy or desire to smoke, so I didn’t.
Which made me …read more

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 We all know that spit carries stuff like DNA, germs, and other goodies, but it turns out that spit might also have proteins in it that are markers for diseases like cancer and autoimmune disorders.  I was reading Wired last week and saw the article headline.  I thought, hmm, okay, let’s see.  The science is pretty straightforward.  For many diseases there are protein markers that reveal the presence of the disease even if there is no pathogen.  Think of it this way.  When you have a cold, the cold virus is everywhere in your body.  Taking a sample of your spit …read more

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When I’m in the right mood, I like to watch those shows that tell you how consumer products are made.  It’s kinda geeky, but sometimes pretty interesting.
Just watching this afternoon I learned that it only takes 5 minutes for paper to go from hitting the conveyor belt to being cellulose insulation.  Five minutes!  Holey smokes!
Anyway, no matter what my favourite “how is it made” topic is how the ancient Greeks and Romans pressed olives for oil.  See I had to take an “Ancient Technology” class as a part of my Anthro major (I also had to take Chem for my …read more

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And does it really matter at this point?  It’s March Break time here in B.C. and so I had my kids over for the first half of Break.  Of course they both decided to get sick in the days before I picked them up and very kindly shared their germs with me (nothing like being trapped in a car with coughing kids).
Sunday it hit me.  Not hard at first, but hard enough for me to know I was going to be in trouble soon.  Well, Monday I was just toast.  Chills, coughing, more snot and mucus that should come out …read more

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Yes I know you can make solid hydrogen by getting it cold enough.  That’s not really effective for a lot of applications is it?  Takes a lot of pressure to make it happen.  Anyway, some smart cookies at UNB Fredericton have figured out how to make a stable form of solid hydrogen that can be tapped into whenever you need a little H2 gas:
Researchers at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton have made a breakthrough in hydrogen storage. They have successfully condensed hydrogen gas into a usable solid under mild conditions.
“The challenge is to find a safer, more efficient …read more

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