More numpties

Whilst I sit here waiting for my restriction digest to finish, just had a glimpse at the 'news' from Sky. Despite the vast maze of absolute shite, which they indeed call 'news' I found another blinding story.

So last week two muppets decide to take the legal drug/high whatever you want to call it, mephedrone. Not surprisingly they died.

Now, one week on, another muppet has taken it and guess what, she's dead.

Reporting on this story, another talented journalist, who's ending line (in the context of medical experts advising not to take this substance) of his report was:

'It is simply not known how safe it is'. Well genius, 3 people have died from taking it within 2 weeks. Let me tell you how safe it is: Not very.

Well like all of these sob-stories, we are supposed to feel so sad for the muppets that took it etc. The same old thing, their family comes out and says how great their little angels are and that this was the first time they did drugs etc. Well folks, we don't feel sorry.

Just because it's 'legal' doesn't mean its safe. As I mentioned before in an earlier post, drinking paint thinner is not illegal but why would you do it?! Lets try everything that is not meant to be put in our body because it's not classed as illegal, then see what happens. I might nip down to the petrol station for a quick beverage, I'll take half a gallon of diesel and a chaser of high octane petrol.

Really, I ask it every time, but what is wrong with people? Are they glorified babies, who put everything in their mouths? Do they not understand that getting 'high' in any way shape or form is not normal. That putting this shite in their body will probably not do them much good?!

Ironically, well not really, the coroners found other drugs in all these peoples bodies(apparently)- so their little angels are well....at least drugged up little angels.

So the lesson here, don't take any legal substances that could kill you. If you don't know what the difference between what should go in your body and what shouldn't- go and get educated, because no, drinking a few shots of toilet cleaner is not the way forward.Yes you might have a lemon fresh breath, but I'm guessing this will be very short lived (yes, in every sense of the word).

Don't get your hopes up just yet

Well for those who don't know we've been waiting for a dog for a while now. Well the good news is: 4 dogs have been born and even better, we have a male reserved. The tedious wait is also making me anxious as the pups are only 2 days old right now and I'm sure pretty vunerable to infection etc. I'm not sure how old they have to be to be 'in the clear', whether it's a week or two, or a month. I guess there's no guarantee at any time, but still, 2 days old seems a little early to get really, really excited.

Nonetheless, our breeder has put some piccies up, which you can find yourself on their website under 'valpar' (puppies) or here are some below. I'm not sure whether we have the röd or blå (red or blue!) hane (male) but either way they are pretty similar in terms of markings at least. Check out our potentially new puppy below:

p.s. His name will be Charlie (providing he survives etc for another 8 weeks before he joins us)

30 Seconds to Mars

So tomorrow is a trip to Stockholm to see 30 seconds to mars. I've heard good things, so fingers crossed it'll be a good evening. Here's the general idea of how they sound etc:

Potentially good news

I don't want to speak too soon but we had some news about our little (well monsterously huge) doggy. Turns out the bitch is pregnant (yes, I'm technically correct).

With how many little puppies? Well the easy answer is they don't know. Well the real answer is may be 4. Why such a hard answer to a potentially easy question? I don't really know.

Considering the pups will be born in 2 weeks, you would think a simple X-ray/scan (whatever they do) would be able to show up some clear things. Apparently not.

So why am I not jumping for joy? Well I am a little. But I have to be a realist. We have been waiting a long time for a dog, well why you might ask? The answer is in the breed.

You see, we want a Bernese Mountain dog. For those who don't know what that is, then check out the incredibly shite video about the breed below. The important part is the cheesy comment from the slightly eighties woman about half way through (something about adoption).

Lets just say if 4 are born, are healthy and all the works, that is half of it. We are amongst 2 others that want one (well 'promised' one). These people both want females, wherease we don't really mind. I mean the males can be pretty big, and by big I mean big, I'm not kidding. The bigger boys can be 60 kg, so yes, the same weight as me.

Also, the kennel wants to keep a female. The markings on these other dogs apparently have to be perfect as they want to show them (at dog shows, not randomly), whereas we are 100% not interested in all that pageants for dogs stuff. Ah yes, what I forgot to mention, was the waiting list for this breeder is up to 20 people including us, so to make the top 3 is a result, but the odds are not in our favour.

So fingers crossed the pups are healthy and indeed the right number as to please everyone. Male or female, we don't mind. We also don't mind if the markings are not perfect (for god sake)- it's a dog, not a model.

With slight optimism, we have realisitic pessimism. Our fingers are crossed and we should know within a few weeks, at least how many they have, what sex they are and more importantly, if we are going to get one.

Enjoy this amazing (ly bad) video- please don't laugh too much about the doggy bone thing at the end, weirdos.

p.s. I couldn't embed the video for some reason so just click on the link.

PhD update

Well good news, my first paper (second name author so can count towards my PhD) has been accepted! Very happy, a big thing for me!! The title is:

'Arg143 and Lys192 of the human mast cell chymase mediate the preference for acidic amino acids in the P2´ position of substrates'

You're probably wondering what the hell that means (well I question it too sometimes), but you can read more in a few weeks/months and find out a little more. In the mean time, have a cold one on me.....

p.s. the pic is of a mast cell