one more chapter

Well, I finished prepping Chapter 6 ("Metabolic reactions and cellular respiration") out of the new book. This one wasn't so very different from my old one* so I could mostly just recycle the slides I had before and put in some new artwork

(*One thing I've noticed is that some textbooks go "Cellular respiration has four stages, Glycolysis, Pyruvate Reduction, Krebs Cycle, and Oxidative Phosphorylation" were others combine 2 and 3 and then split Oxidative Phosphorylation into Electron Transport Chain and Chemiosmosis and still others insist there are only THREE stages.....it's frustrating because it seems like every time we switch textbooks, that author does it a different way. It's not a matter of "new knowledge," it's a matter of "How does this particular author perceive it." But it confuses some of the students.)

I have a little research stuff I should do - one of my colleagues was wringing his hands about "What if the guy bonds out of jail, might he come back to the building" which I think is exceptionally unlikely (and would be exceptionally foolish, but then, as my mom says, "The smart people don't become criminals") but still, I don't think I want to come in here tomorrow; I want to give it one more weekend for things to settle down.

And I need some relaxation time. I think I pushed a little too hard this week with stuff. I might take the book home and read Chapter 7, and I have some grading to do (which can be as well done at home as over here) but at least there's nothing URGENT right now.

I think I'm gonna do the cupcakes. They have the virtue of being easy to mix up and easy for whoever is tasked with putting the desserts out (I am eldering so I cannot help set the meal up) AND the recipe I have does not have egg in it so that means I can lick the bowl with impunity (not having to worry about salmonella) and I don't care what anyone says, being able to lick the bowl after making some kind of batter or sweet dough is one of the simple pleasures of life.

It's an older Hershey's recipe. I can't find the exact one online but I have it at home. I know I do; it's the one I used for the cupcakes I brought in when my niece was born. All I'll have to do is get a small container of buttermilk. (I know you can make soured milk yourself but I think these things are better made with buttermilk.)

I also just need some relaxation time because I think I've hunched over my work too much or been too tense this week; my upper back is hurting. If I were the kind of person who went and got massages I would get one but I think maybe a warm bath with Epsom salt will suffice.

ALSO: gonna watch nothing but cartoons and Waltons and weird medical shows this weekend because it's the Katrina anniversary and I am so not happy with the disaster porn the news has already been playing - one channel re-showed footage of a man who was crying because his wife had drowned and I am like what purpose does dredging his pain out again serve? This next couple weeks are gonna be bad, between Katrina and the remembrances of 9/11.

I think having tasteful memorials is good. I think having moments of silence is important. I think saying, "We are going to have more resolve when it comes to things like hurricanes so this doesn't happen again and also we need to help those who are the most impoverished and vulnerable" is good. I don't think that showing ten year old footage of people who just lost everything is helpful. There's enough pain in the world, take your pick, without replaying old footage. (That may related to my, "Transform your sadness" post of the other day...)