First Post

Hahaha! Oh, hey, would you look at this! I have a brand-new blog that I created for the sole purpose of following my mother's Bible study. Then, of course, I forgot to follow her Bible study, but I went to go comment on a blog post of hers in reply to another comment, wherein I was told to stop biting my cuticles (and I do - it's part of my evolving manners: I used to bite my nails, and now I've switched to cuticles). Having left my two-word comment, I capriciously decided to click on my own name (which happens to show up as "shannon" and the lack of capitalization just kills me, but I guess it must be my own fault) and I discovered that I have a blog named "aldolcondensation". Well, that is just too good to pass up.

So here I am, randomly writing in a blog that, if I'm lucky, no one will ever find, and we'll treat it like Livejournal except not, because on LJ I write to an audience consisting of Dave and Christina, although most of the entries are - not for posterity, which I used to think meant something about "for the sake of having it" but which actually means for future generations, which Davey was so kind as to inform me when I made a redundant comment without realizing it was redundant - for my own memory. I waste a lot of time reading old blog posts.

Well anyway, I might as well talk about aldol condensations just in case anyone is worrying about why I would choose to call my blog "aldolcondensation". It's fairly arbitrary, actually, beyond the fact that I wanted an organic chemistry term. I've used aldehyde before, but I wanted a reaction, not a functional group, so that was out. By that same logic, I wasn't going to use "Methyl-X", which I have facetiously claimed as my alter-ego (a superhero! the thrill! the joy!) or any element or compound names (although I do believe I contemplated "norbornane" and "buckminsterfullerene").

Finally I settled on aldol condensations, probably mostly because I tutor organic chemistry during the fall and spring semesters, and those particular reactions are at the end of the spring semester. However, the mechanism is somewhat involved, really cool, and I can do it in my sleep. The coolest thing about it is that it proceeds to the same product (assuming only one possible alpha-hydrogen position which is, I'll admit, quite the restriction) whether the reaction is under acidic or basic conditions.

Chemistry is so cool!

Okay. So, currently I have a lot of meaningless projects for the rest of this summer to occupy the time I do not spend getting in touch with FX, meeting with FX, or (hopefully soon!) working in the lab with FX. He is my professor and also my employer this summer; I'm doing a project in organic synthesis and natural products. It's new, it's challenging, it's exciting, and it stresses me out.

I went to Wal-Mart with Laura this afternoon because VBS is this coming week and she wants crazy socks to wear as a gimmick for the first grade kids she's going to be working with. While we were there, we had to do some exploring because nothing is where it used to be, but I don't really mind. I guess that's weird, but it makes me feel like I feel when I'm really cleaning my room, not just shuffling papers into folders and organizing stacks of books, but when I'm totally reorganizing. Maybe I like the new organization better; maybe I just feel like change like that is good. Anyway, we went and I picked up some new Trident. It's strawberry flavored. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet.

The whole family (including Grandma and Grandpa Carpenter) went up to Cato (I think it's Cato hahahahahahahaha) to see our land. We wound up visiting with the Hills who will be our next-door neighbors if we move anytime in the next fifty years, and then we went to the B'ville Diner, which was awesome. It would have been even better if the fan hadn't been immediately below a light, so the lights flickered the whole time we were eating. That was okay as long as I wasn't trying to read something. So basically it was okay when I wasn't looking at the menu.

I've had shingles for a week now, but it's starting to go away, which is a huge blessing. When I went to see my pediatrician (who is married to FX), she brought up the summer programs that I applied to and asked what I was doing this summer. I kind of stared at her for a minute, then said, "Um, actually, I'm... working with your husband." That threw her off a little. That was awesome. Hopefully FX didn't get into too much trouble over that.

Well, I can't think of too much more to write right now. It's been a long time since I've managed two blogs at once. Even my LJ only gets updated 5-15 times a month. I guess that's not terrible. Since I don't really anticipate any avid readers, I don't suppose it matters.

Woohoo! Signing off!