Scientist, Editor, Wife, Mommy of 3

Today at 2:30 ET, the Mississippi Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in the case of Cory Maye.

The court will have a live video stream here.

To remind you, here is an article on the case.

Here is the pdf of the appeal brief. I'm not a lawyer, but I think the appeal is so convincing that only a fool would deny it.

Cory is a wonderful man with a kind heart and a deep love of God. We write to each other, and through our letters, I've seen what a loving and generous man he is. He deserves his freedom, and I hope it is granted him.

What a day this has been. I got some great results this morning - results that mean a lot of work lay ahead of me, but really great results! Then I had a fantastic conversation with my favorite cubicle-worker corto, with a really special treat of a little phone call.

There's nothing like a voice to really help you make a connection.

So it's back to business, the lab is empty, I'm out in the hallway talking with ashfault76 when the phone starts ringing in the lab. It rings and rings and rings. . . I run in to catch it and hear a familiar voice asking for me.

When I realized who it was, I got that all-over body quiver and I swear I just about lost my knees. I know I started squealing or something, because my boss came out of his office to see what was going on.

It was Lee Prokowich on the other end of the line. It was Lee. I couldn't believe it. It's been 8 years since we've seen each other, but when we last communicated we were teenagers, we were struggling and we cared for each other very, very much. I still have all of his letters. Every epic-length epistle :-) We were R.E.M. fans together - the Monster album came out the year we last saw each other. We were Calvin and Hobbes fans together. We were frightened together. We were musicians together. We never quite knew what to do with each other.

And then we lost touch and I have missed him and wondered ever since.

Lee called me today. He's going to call me back at home. I am SO excited!

Oh, and by the way. I forgot to tell you all that I was on local TV last week :-) I went to a City Planning Commission meeting about a proposed rezoning/development just south of my block. When they opened the floor to the public, I was fourth in line, after the Bryan Park Neighborhood Association officers gave their prepared statements. Hehehehe. The three guys who spoke before me made 2 good points, but only spoke for about a minute each - the third guy didn't have a leg to stand on, unfortunately. Then it was me!

I haven't seen the broadcast yet, but one of my friends saw it when it was on - LIVE! - and said I did really well. Lots of people stopped me afterward to talk to me. It was so cool. I keep going back to Channel 5 to see if they're re-broadcasting it :-D I wanna see me on TV.

There's another meeting on July 7. I'm definitely going back, this time I hope with a prepared statement! I DON'T want this development going in - at least, not the way they had it presented last week.

My first foray into politics. What fun!

And so I've not had much to say.

Sorry this space hasn't changed much for several days. I have a ton of work to do and I haven't been doing it. Well, now I am. . . so livejournalling hasn't been much of a priority. I've been reading and commenting, but not composing.

I'm finishing up my poster for the meeting this weekend.

I have to pull something together for lab meeting this week. I was informed this morning that I'm up for Thursday night. Talk about mixed messages, in one breath I was told that powerpoint wasn't necessary but that I could share some of my micrographs. I'm not to spend much time on preparing for lab meeting because I'm expecting to be doing a whole lot of other things.

Oh.

Yeah. So my motivation meter better kick it up several notches.

That and I really need to stop making the dumbass mistakes I've been making. Last week I twice ran the right experiment on the wrong sample. Twice. After I finished smacking myself in the forehead, I ran two experiments at the same time, didn't mix them up and got the results I needed. But damn! I wish I knew where my brain was hiding the other two days.

Still no word from Denmark on the software that will get me going on cranking out statistical data on those 27 GB. I just spent 4 hours making pretty pictures from about 300 of my image files, but pretty pictures do not a convincing argument make. *shrug* They do, on the other hand, a pretty poster make, so that's what I'm going to have to settle for today.

I did my exercise vid on Saturday night. Not very well, I might add. All this microscopy and data crunching and winterizing has turned me into a little ragdoll. I haven't gained any weight, but I'm definitely a little ragdoll.

Dave and I went shopping this weekend, too. Danger! Danger, Will Robinson! I spent money, yes I did, but I spent money on things that I like a great deal and will enjoy for a good while. A little guilt, yes, but tempered because I enjoyed it and I didn't overdo.

So there.

Speaking of money, time to pay the mortgage, phone and electric bills - and finish lunch. For those of you who may be wondering, Lean Cuisine chicken carbonara (Now! with Real Bacon!) is tasteless and I swear I can't find the bacon. Blah.

I got to talk with my dearest friend Hadley last night. Hadley-Bronwyn, as she's called, between the two of us, as we consider ourselves cosmic soul-twins.

She reminded me what we were taught about how people deal with loss: Doubt, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. I don't know if I buy all of it, but being very far away from somebody you care about can make it very hard to make their death feel real.

Anger? Yeah, I'm right there with the anger, boy. Am I ever angry. So. Angry. Honestly, there just aren't words for how angry I am. Wesley was just 21 years old. He'd already survived leukemia. Had reached his benchmark remission year. And then, last February, he started having bad headaches and disorientation and vision changes - a brain tumor. Anger doesn't even begin to describe how I feel.

I may move on to the other stages eventually, as I sort of did when my 14 year old cousin was killed by a drunk driver almost 20 years ago. But the anger can always be revitalized, it seems, and the acceptance is never complete. I don't ever want to accept these deaths because they simply are not acceptable.

I'll move on and get on with my life, doing the things I need and want to do simply because that's what I have to do to live my life and make my own life worth living, worth remembering. Just as Wes and Greg left their impressions on me, I want to make some positive impression on the people and world around me. That's always been my purpose, my goal.

Last night, Dave and I were leaving campus after finally getting out of class around 8 o'clock. I pulled out first and found that I could just barely squeeze through the end of the parking lot where two, count 'em, two SUVs had been planted.

Not only were they illegally parked, but they were illegally parked, having no parking permits whatsoever.

Dave and I fumed and fussed and griped and swore vengeance on the "sorority whores" as Dave so lovingly calls them and their inconsiderate and illegal parking habits.

So what do I do? I go home, pick up the phone, and call IU Parking Operations.

I explained the long-running complaint of biology graduate students, staff and faculty that we can rarely find parking spaces when we need them (early morning, late at night, weekends) because the lots are full of permitless cars. I also mentioned the offending SUVs.

I was assured that no one should be parked in those lots without a permit of some kind at any hour of the day, that someone would be sent out tonight (last night now) to check on the situation and tow if necessary, and that there would be more vigilant monitoring of the lot.

*wheeee!*

And then this morning, still high on my parking high horse, I pulled into the lot at 7:25 to find, that's right, no available spaces. Most spaces were taken by A and C permitted cars - noooooo problem! But one was taken by a little Pi Beta Phi. I put the car in park, left the lights on, and walked over to the kitchen door of the Pi Beta Phi house.

A very sweet staff woman answered the door. On hearing my request to find the offending chickie, she shook her head and said, "we have such a problem with these girls taken your spots and OUR STAFF spaces. Something needs to be done."

She went off in search of the president, who told her that everyone was asleep, how could she find who's car it was??

*pbtht*

I was debating the wisdom of walking up and down the residence hall shouting, "Get the fuck out of bed and move yer goddamn car!" when a bleary-eyed sorority girl came out and moved the offending red Jeep Cherokee.

Saved me the trouble of shouting.

So. Long boring story, I know, but it just felt so good. As I returned to my car to take my hard-won space, an A driver gave a fist-in-the-air "Good for you!" and told me that she, too, had called to have the offending SUVs towed on a couple of occasions.

Wronged permitted drivers of IU Unite!