Worms, with Guns!

So I had to write a paper for Environmental Toxicology about the effects of firing range soil from a Fort Benning firing range on the survival and growth of earthworms. It was due this morning, so I spent most of my weekend polishing it up to turn it in. Then someone convinced the teacher to move the due date to Wednesday. I just had to get it out of my hands so I could move on to the next assignment I have to do, so I turned it in. I'm not sure if the worms disliked the soil because of toxicants, but they totally all tried to escape. We came into class the whole next week after setting up the experiment to find dried up dead worms all over the floor. This is the stuff that occupies the mind of a biology major.
My senior research project is still plodding along. It has been really slow due to malfunctioning of equipment, contamination, and pretty much clumsiness on my part. I did get some positive results in one experiment, but I still have to repeat it because of some wonky results in one concentration. We were supposed to do that today, but the cells weren't completely ready to be treated today. I'll be so glad to finish this up!
There's only a month and a half until the trip to Tanzania! I'm so excited! I've installed a Swahili app on my phone that sends me a word/phrase of the day. I know how to say "Call the doctor," "I think he has fainted," and "breast." I don't pick which words they send me, I just learn them as they come!
Graduation is looking to happen Spring of 2014. I was going to be finished this December, but I decided to take another run-through of Organic Chemistry 1 so that I could understand 2 come spring. It also looks like Micah (my son) and I will be doing Ochem together! Won't that be fun!
Just wanted to slap another update here. I've given up any kind of regular posting. :)
~Ciao!