dave goodlett's blog

Sunday, December 26, 2021

Christmas 2021 in Victoria BC

Waking up on Boxing Day to snow on the ground and wildlife in the area. Looks to be frozen over until Tuesday at least here. So the car is probably stuck until then at the top of our steep driveway. Yesterday, missing Tuscany or just the sunny Mediterranean, we feasted on pork roast braised in a Dutch oven in milk with sage and rosemary accompanied by fagiolli all'uccelletto, and tomato cucumber salad with basil. The gravy the roast made was delicious over polenta with parmesan or just about anything for that matter. And of course we had chess pies for desert with fresh whipped cream. I'm pretty happy with my chess pie recipe - finally. In this case I used cream in place of evaporated milk, which produces a firmer pie filling, and half the sugar called for in the original recipe which is way too sweet for me. The day even started with pie: a German style bacon onion pie. The day before Christmas Eve my Dad (seen here 3 years ago), born 90 years ago on 29 DEC on the farm he now lives on, went in hospital after falling outside while burning debris. That meant Mom spent Christmas Eve and Day in hospital in Florence. While he sounded normal when I spoke to him, the fall has revealed or caused - no way to know at the moment - a problem with his right hip meaning he'll require some rehabilitation before he can go home. They hope that can start tomorrow and in Decatur if not Moulton, but regardless the new year will get off to a complicated start for them.

Speaking of complicated, this year got off to quite a start in the US with the first breaching of the capitol since the Brits had a look around during the War of 1812. Before we knew so much about Trump it would have been hard to believe that a sitting President would try to stop the vote count he rightfully lost by sending rioters to the capitol much less by calling the Georgia Secretary of State asking him to find more votes. Incredible (sounds better said with French accent), but sadly all too believable now. And this came after a year of his confused discussions of a deadly virus ravishing the world like none since the 1918 flu pandemic. Remarkable (also sounds better with French accent) that so many still refuse to be vaccinated when all their lives they have been vaccinated just to go to school. Fine for them to express their rights, but I don't think they should receive preference over the vaccinated who need ICU beds. No matter how you spin it, their refusal to be vaccinated has tasked the medical ICU professionals to the point of breaking because now most pandemic victims in ICU beds are not vaccinated. Sadly, it seems that once you believe one conspiracy, the second one is much easier to believe. Something like a third of Republicans don't believe Biden is the duly elected President. So there ya go...

As you will have seen on Instagram we bought a house this year in Victoria, British Columbia. Before moving I was admonished by Donna “I’m not doing any renovations in Victoria! We are buying a ready to move in house!!” well, we got the last part right technically at least but my mitre saw is still in a storage unit in Moulton since there was no need for it here, LOL. Renovations are ongoing and likely will be … maybe forever. Kitchen reno is almost done but it took four months for the ventilation hood to arrive and it still needs to be installed. That will happen this week - maybe - and then the backsplash tile can go up. The master bath and walk through closet reno is next. And while the drawings are ready, we need to organize the trades to get started. Not exactly straight forward because they are all in short supply here. Outside the 100 yrs of ivy growth is 99% gone but the 1% lurking out of sight will never be gone because of course you can’t kill that sh*t. Pennsylvania blue stone (quarried on Vancouver island) will be going in soon for the walk way leading up to the house. Double A Painting are coming out early in the new year to assess the situation. While the exterior original wood siding is a mess, it is still salvageable but probably can’t go too many more years without some wood repair, sealing, and painting. Lots more work to do in the yard and the wall out front needs work too....and then developing the yard such that plants can survive the annual Summer drought and Winter wetness requires some thought. Thus, the previously Donna “not goan do no reno” Goodlett has been busy and will be for some time to come. She worked hard removing loads of wall paper, painting and more to get us in the house in July and then redesigning the gutted kitchen, planters and chimney, etc.

Like anyone buying a house recently we found the housing market’s price inflation was exacerbated by the pandemic’s creation of low inventory here and all over the developed world. While our row house in Baltimore sold seven years after purchase for $100k more than we paid in 2013, our Seattle house, which sold in 2013 for $550k, sold again this past Summer for $1.3M. Yikes! The housing market here is similar to Seattle because - as the locals say Victoria is home of the newly wed and nearly dead - having some of the best weather in all of Canada has people flocking here and at least the nearly dead have loads of expendable cash that they can't take with them. This meant despite our best intentions, we bought a fixer because the inflated prices and sealed bidding process saw us lose out on four houses from $100-300k over asking price before finally finding this 1920 Tudor. And those houses we lost out on were all listed for more than $1M! This Tudor, over run by ivy and with bathrooms last remodeled in 1960, had no other bidders, LOL, but even that would not have lasted long as the market is too tight here. In our case a prior offer fell through and the owners - to our advantage - were desperate to get out of the property. So timing was everything as it always is and there is of course no substitute in life for good old fashioned luck. To conclude I can offer home buying in a hot market tip #1: price is inversely proportional to the amount of ivy on the property. So if you can just barely see the house from the road due to ivy, then it is probably a good deal, LOL. By the way, this is the third property we bought that had parts of it overrun by ivy. So, something is clearly wrong with us, LOL :)

Mint braved the pandemic to come out for a visit in October. Where do you want to go for dinner was one of his first questions. Hmmm? We looked at each other and realized that due to the pandemic we had not been out to eat once in the year we had been here. Ugh%^&*. Normally we would eat out once a week, but COVID restrictions, an old dog with Cushing’s and Ham’s needs meant we had not been out once for an entire year. Argh@#$. So, we made a reservation at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel and sat outside for dinner for the first time since leaving Baltimore. Meanwhile back near Baltimore, Mint graduated in May with a degree in kinesiology from the University of Maryland’s main undergraduate campus in College Park which is right next to WA DA. His girlfriend, who is a delightful, strong Irish-Palestinian genetic blend, has another year to go there leaving him with no interest in moving. Since graduating he has freelanced in the “gig” economy working inventory in a tile warehouse owned by the Father of his Korean-American house mate whose grandmother – who can’t speak English and is slowly losing her fight with dementia - thinks Mint is the family mechanic because she saw him working on a car there one day, LOL. So, if you need a forklift operator trained in kinesiology and possessing a real talent for graffiti art, then he is your guy. Call me! I got to see him again in Philadelphia when I also braved the pandemic to travel to my annual science conference ASMS where I met my PhD advisor for the first time in a few years. Mint worked at the conference for the organizers as a “gopher” aka administrative assistant, something he excels at, for my mate Jennifer Watson. He can thank his Mom – not me - for his organizational skills as I am the traditional artistic type organizing in piles of this and that, LMAO, at best.

Thanks to one of former President Roosevelt’s "socialist" programs known as Medicaid, Mint with no full-time job, managed to get health insurance. Here though, thanks to an incompetent administrator at UVic, Ham still has no health insurance other than for emergencies. Three video calls with this person over the year prior to our move and she insisted each time we explained his situation (can't work or go to school, etc) not to worry. [insert explicatives freely like an Aussie ordering beer or pretty much anything] What she apparently meant was that she was not worried. While it turns out he can get health insurance on his own, this can only happen after I have permanent residence, or he just takes one class at UVic, which we had explained he cannot. Doh! We have applied for PR, but have no idea when it will be granted. For now Ham’s condition is more or less unchanged. An undiagnosed malady - by more than a dozen health professionals over a half dozen years – that leaves him unable to do simple things like open jars or cans, etc. Year five of this starts in the new year. The only thing left to do is whole genome sequencing to look for rare genetic mutations but this won’t solve any problems, just suggest possible origins. Seems almost useless. None of the obvious mutations they checked related to muscular dysfunction were candidates to explain his condition. Sigh.

Just before the province closed gyms – again – before Christmas and thanks to omicron this time, I managed – thanks to an amazing trainer named Johnson Nguyen – to get my deadlifts back to my pre-pandemic 225 lbs. My upper range is somewhat limited by a ruptured L5-S1 disc, but a simple cue was all it took to get my "normal" back. While it’s no record for my age-weight class, it is good enough to get your heart pounding. And! He also fixed my bench form. There, despite a hole in my left rotator cuff from a bone spur, which should have been repaired just before the pandemic shut Baltimore down but was not thanks to a ban on nonlife threatening surgeries, has kept me off form for a few years now. With Johnson I’m hopeful I can beat the provincial record of only 155 lbs for my age-weight class by 20-30 lbs. The record seems low but then maybe most guys in my age-weight class have worn out their shoulders. For now though I am packing on the pounds again unable to get to the gym but loving to cook, eat and drink too much 👀…

Trixie - now 14 - has had to get use to two homes in the last year. Neither having a fence means we have had to get use to taking her out because there is no shortage of beautiful wildlife distractions as well as macabre looking black squirrels, owls looking for squirrels, raccoons and baby deer. And, with Cushing's disease firmly in place she drinks way too much water and is up every night between 1-3 to go outside. So our sleep patterns are more like parents with a toddler than what we would like. That means naps in the afternoon to avoid being like zombies all day. That and the general malaise affecting many brought on by the pandemic means that I have - despite posting my arrangement of a Christmas classic last year - not had much time for my music. I did manage to design a new logo based on a combination of an old "Goodlet" coat of arms from Scotland modified with a book placed on the original "or a fess gules" and the University of Victoria arms. Thanks to DPAK (seen here back row 4th from right) for implementing it! And many thanks to him for his work on the didactic portion of our mass spectrometry focused Summer School, postponed two years now but hopefully on again in July 2022.

That's all for now. I'm still on Twitter and Facebook etc. So feel free to reach out or visit if the pandemic ever eases up! Happy Holidays from Dave, Donna, Ham and Trixie near Government House with an amazing garden in Victoria's Rockland neighborhood where we are minutes from the beach with water too cold year round to swim in without a Finnish sauna nearby!

Thursday, December 24, 2020

Of twenty-twenty, we have had a plenty...good bye and good riddance!

Like you, my year started pretty normal. Right out the gate I was off to Edinburgh, Rotterdam, Leiden, Amsterdam and Gdansk, where there is a lovely Ferris wheel (links to photos on my instagram page), all in a two week period. Standard stuff, but by March life had slowed considerably. Ugh@#$%^&* The SARS virus we had been hearing about from China was in Maryland and in all the places I had just visited in the EU. Fortunately, Governor Hogan took steps early to implement quarantine actions. Stay at home orders went into place in March and the University of Maryland complied. Don't go to work if you don't have to we were told. Mask up inside. Limit contact outside your bubble. Social distance. Only "ZOOM" video meetings. Lots of new words in the daily lexicon. For me being use to working from home or where ever I wanted, this didn't sound bad at first. And, by then my lab had dwindle to a few and I was contemplating moving. So, there wasn't much going on in the lab that needed my attention. However, suddenly being forced to work from home felt confining in the same way that pre-COVID working from home had been a luxury.

Speaking of moving, we did so during the damn pandemic making it our 5th time to move across the continent. Shipped the Kia Sportage to Seattle and rented a lux SUV that Donna drove the entire way every day for five days from BWI to SEA. I worked off and on the whole way and tried be generally as annoying as I felt safe being all in order to help keep her awake. Once there we took a couple days to regroup, picked up the Kia and then moved on Northward. Even got in a lovely lunch with my former driver while we waited on the Kia to arrive at his house near Seatac. Arriving in Victoria on 1 OCT we went straight into quarantine for two weeks - as per government requirements and yes they called to check that we were in fact staying home. No going out. No going off property. Thanks to Donna's foresight in packing all the household things we would need in the two week quarantine when we could not get to our belongings, we were mostly set. And, thanks to delivery of fast-food and groceries it went by well enough bolstered by help from Dave Schibli and Derek Smith. These guys work at the lab I inherited from Christoph Borchers who resigned as Director back in July 2019. They insisted on helping move all of our belongings from their de facto quarantine at the ABF terminal in Surrey (an inexpensive way to move but requires you load your own trailer) which is right at the border. Not a simple journey from Surrey to Victoria as it is three hours one way including a 1.5 hour ferry ride, but these guys insisted on helping even though it meant unloading off the ABF trailer in Surrey onto a UHAUL and then off the UHAUL into our Victoria rental. Long day, but felt like we had arrived to find family waiting on us.

Just like the 18 years in Seattle, we put down roots in Baltimore in our seven years there making leaving bittersweet. Lots of friends left behind and sadly one homeless man, Leslie Dale Watson, who I had come to know well during my walks to and from work. Too many people to name, but thanks to social media they are virtually close except Dale who I'll likely never have the luxury of chatting with again. And then there was our hundred + year old row house with all of its charm like the marble fireplace that we bid farewell. Sold surprisingly quickly, but then Donna had staged it like a pro! Lots of charm in the historic Bolton Hill neighborhood like the veg and fruit man's horse drawn wagon that we will miss. All of the places we could walk to were also hard to give up as was our lovely patio decorated by Donna enjoyed by Trixie and where I worked and ate many meals. Even our 33rd anniversary was spent in quarantine but in style in the kitchen. Thanks COVID!

Our oldest, aka Mint, stayed behind in Maryland near the College Park campus where he is finishing up his degree in kinesiology. What he'll do with this degree remains a mystery but he has begun making job applications. Can't imagine the job market will recover by the time he finishes in May 2021, but loads of new graduates will be in this unnerving position. Sadly, this will be the first Christmas we have spent without him. Don't want to dwell on that but hope he can - pandemic pending - find a way to celebrate if even alone. He said perhaps he would be with his Seattle childhood mate Elliott who is now in the Coast Guard and nearby in Virginia. Our youngest on the other hand, aka Ham, is here with us. Soon he'll start his fourth year convalescing from an unknown medical problem causing debilitating muscle soreness. In July he and I traveled to LA to visit Cedars Sinai's Center for Undiagnosed Patients (CUP) to try to shed some light on his condition. CUP uses a team of doctors who meet patients individually and then meet as a group afterward to discuss possible diagnoses. Sadly, none was forthcoming. Even the genetic mutations ordered by the CUP neurologist failed to find anything pathological, sigh. As of now we are set to undergo whole genome sequencing to see if something inheritable shows up. With COVID ravishing LA even more so than when we visited, when even the homeless on the streets had masks on, it could be Summer 2021 before we are able to discuss results with the genetic counselor.

Our first morning in Victoria we awoke to the strangest feeling brought on by complete and utter silence. Not even any road noise in our Gordon Head neighborhood. Weird because in Baltimore we had become use to the daily sounds of urban life: gunshots, sirens, police helicopters overhead with spot lights at night, traffic scofflaws, pedestrians yelling obscenities at each other, squeegee boys, twelve O'clock boys and all manner of chaos one can imagine in a city where police abdicated control of traffic laws after the Freddy Gray riots. Despite all that, we will always miss Baltimore. What a wonderful and whacky place to live. The urban life - sans traffic scofflaws - suited us. I loved walking where ever I wanted and interacting with all the "scary" people we were warned about when moving there in 2013: "Don't live in the city! It's too dangerous" we were told. Well, it was fine and fun. Fantastic even. In addition to Donna's now good friends she left behind, I met a luthier - Phil Jacoby - who got all my guitars working again after spending decades mostly in their cases. More of this to come on that front I hope.

That's about all I got. We are happy to be at a University that wants me, but sad to have left our friends behind in Baltimore. Indeed, very sad to have left Charm-City with its gritty, funky, friendly folk where grocery store security guards wear bullet proof vests and carry firearms and remind you to "stay safe" as you exit the store. Victoria is quite a bit more boring by comparison, but we'll get use to it - I hope. Happy Holidays from Dave, Donna, Ham and Trixie! We miss you Mint!!!!! Hoping the border opens by the time you graduate so we can be together. Lots of love, hugs and kisses from all of us to all of you.

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

NATIVITATIS MMXIX

As the year winds down I am definitely ready for a break. Seems like I had more travel than usual this year, but it was probably just more international travel. Here https://www.instagram.com/p/BydZuABAfRs/ I can be seen "working" in Atlanta 🤓 and here https://www.instagram.com/p/B0BR06BgHBT/ in Dubrovnik 😎. Recently, on the way to the FDA I traveled through WA DC's union station where the main hall is more impressive than ever with the holiday decorations https://www.instagram.com/p/B6L4--vFct8/ and like NYC Baltimore is also ballin' for Christmas https://www.instagram.com/p/B6WSrYEg4GL/

In Shanghai I met up with two former colleagues from the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Biaoyang Lin of Zhejiang University and Wei Yan of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, both of whom have gone on to Professorships in China and are pictured here with me in front of the Parliament building:https://www.instagram.com/p/B2ZKXzcA3Mu/ Unlike me when they left Seattle, they left their families behind. Neither seemed happy about this, but you gotta go where the work is and their now Americanized families were not interested in moving back. For the record I tried this scam on Donna when we moved to Baltimore, but she would not go for it 🙄 Notably, as dual Chinese - American nationals they are no longer as Chinese as they use to be and can't work on certain classified projects there. BTW: the Chinese are killing it in Shanghai with architecture as witnessed in the beer bottle opener building next to Shanghai's famous tower https://www.instagram.com/p/B2ZKuNggEmQ/

I finally made it to Africa this year where in Accra, Ghana I spoke at the University of Ghana about our work in microbial diagnostics, sepsis and biomarkers. While I'm comfortable being a minority, Baltimore is 65% African (American Africans and African Africans - loads of which are Nigerian), in Ghana an Anglo really stands out 👀 Notably, at Ningbo University near Shanghai there were quite a few Africans on campus but in Accra, while there were many Chinese in the city, due to the Chinese push to gain influence, I didn't see any pale skin on campus. That was odd because campuses are usually hot zones of cultural mixing. Maybe this is just a sign that the University of Ghana is on the rise rather than having made it. In Accra the thing that stood out most was the style of dress for men and women. Lots of eye popping colors as seen in this photo at a textile outlet https://www.instagram.com/p/B4XYU2_A8dv/

The other thing that stood out was the amazing hospitality of Ghanaians. It made me wonder if this is a relic of the British system Ghana and other British colonies experienced: an organized society with instilled manners of social behavior. Possibly, as most ex-British colonies seem to have no shortage of manners. Regardless, it is still a fairly poor country where the main hospital was built by the British over 100 years ago https://www.instagram.com/p/B4RrUbFg62x/ and the street vendors perform amazing feats from their heads https://www.instagram.com/p/B4RlwdXA7sO/ Speaking of lovely architecture the Presidential residence - office known as Jubilee House is one of the most architecturally beautiful designs I have seen https://www.instagram.com/p/B4XYB5Eg0yO/ Ghana is a shining example of democracy in Africa with lots of room for growth in tourism and natural resources.

Meanwhile back in Baltimore David (Minter) Goodlett (aka the VII as in the 7th David Goodlett in a row but the first D. M. Goodlett) got through another year at the University of Maryland in their kinesiology program. He found some honest work this year for Jennifer Watson who runs several science conferences like www.asms.org, an annual event with 6-7k attendees. Jen's Mom, who started the company decades ago, fell in love with Mint and wanted to adopt him because of his manners and work ethic. Wait? What? Who knew? Looks like he'll get some more work with them in 2020. That's good as it's not clear he really knows what he wants to do when he graduates. Well, make a lot of money but he is not alone there. Judging from his choice of attire here https://www.instagram.com/p/B2ufB8eAlM3/ without loads of money to make it rain he may be pretty lonely 😜

Graham continued his convalescence away from school. Still no resolution to his chronic muscle pain that saw him drop out of University of Maryland's engineering program January 2018. As of this year only one of the four of us has not been hospitalized since moving to Baltimore, i.e. Donna. Graham had his stint back in September a result of medication and diet that saw him in for a week rebalancing his blood chemistry 🥺 Earlier in the year we tried to get him into the NIH's undiagnosed disease network but their reply was "we don't think we can help you". Ah right, so they are running a network for recognizable diseases that have not been diagnosed. Probably just trying to take in patients they know they can help which helps their success rate and and funding from Congress. Pathetic. Change the name of your damn program, NIH! ... We are now close to getting him into Cedar Sinai's undiagnosed disease network. Stay tuned. Hopefully, by next year there will be some resolution. Regardless, he turned 22 this year https://www.instagram.com/p/B4H0DSHAOSv/

It's been mostly a great year with lots to be thankful for like this Bolton Hill mansion from which we can walk to work, grocery store, pharmacy, doctor, dentist, hardware store, movie theater, opera house, symphony, dinner-drinks, and train station. For Donna, proximity to the train station means she is only 45 minutes away from all the best protests in WA DC. Notably, the best (45th) President ever and everyone knows it (his words not mine 🙄) does not disappoint there https://www.instagram.com/p/B1ZyNAdgYPp/. Alas, it doesn't seem possible that we could ever live such a pragmatic urban lifestyle for the money a Professor makes any where else. Certainly the same row house in Boston or NYC would cost 4x more than this 4k sq ft mansion in the heart of the city. Donna, seen here https://www.instagram.com/p/BwhcyCQhyQm/ at our favorite local eatery, Noona's by the Mt Royal light rail station and a ten minute walk from our place, continued her part-time work at Sunlight Natural Health http://sunlightnaturalhealth.com/ for a naturopathic doctor who is among the many Doctors treating Graham.

We hope to have exciting news to share in the new year. 🎉No. Donna is not pregnant again and no we didn't win the lottery 😜 For now we wish you all a happy holiday season and blessed new year.

💕🥰 🙏🏼Dave, Donna, Mint, Ham and Trixie

P.S. For those interested in my work see the following link https://proteomics-now.com/speakers/35-dave-goodlett/index.html which I found while searching for a tweet from the lab. Seems the web never forgets 👀 I recall making the video in Finland but don't think I ever saw this webpage with a link to an interview of me that was made for an online proteomics forum.

Monday, December 24, 2018

Christmas 2018

For our 31^st wedding anniversary we traveled to Italy and Croatia, two places we both adore. While there I spoke twice at the Croatian Biophysics Society Summer school held in Split, which is where the Roman Emperor built his retirement palace. It was originally more like a fortress of course (www.diocletianspalace.org) which the modern city grew up around and into. Now melded seamlessly, the two are difficult to distinguish. We stayed at Marmontova apartments (www.marmontsplit.com/) run by a lovely family that put us only five minutes walk from the promenade where we consumed lots of sea air, wine and coffee at the many outdoor cafes.

Split's food fresh and prepared

From Split we flew to Rome and took the train to Florence where I spoke at a workshop at the International Mass Spectrometry Conference (www.imsc2018.it/). We had both only ever been in Florence for one day each but not together. As time at the conference permitted we explored from a base at hotel Brunelleschi (www.brunelleschihotelflorence.com/) in the old town very near the Duomo. We skipped the Duomo tour due to long lines but went through the museum next to it, which contains loads of stone carved frescos from the original Gothic façade to the cathedral. Well worth the visit just to see how folk use to learn about what was in the bible. LOL ... For example, I learned that Noah was fond of wine and going commando (lower right panel below where the actual caption was "Drunk Noah" LOL ... and just above you can see that Eve really did come out of Adam's side).

Old and new art of Florence

From Florence we spent a day in Rome and then were off to Dubrovnik to visit with the Master Hotelier of the Sesame (www.bbsesameinn.com/en-gb/photos), Misko Ecergovic. He always hugs Donna straight away on exiting the taxi ignoring me while collecting her baggage. Because he is one of those people who instantly make you feel like family, most nights he took the time to buy us nightcaps at a local seaside café. Previously, we would just sit at his place, the Sesame (www.sesame.hr), where is partner Marina is the head chef and have drinks. Now though he has leased it out to better enjoy his family, but with Marina in place as chef the food remains delicious. The "retired" and well-seasoned Misko has lots of stories and opinions about life. For example, he favors the Socratic form of education which is difficult to accommodate in the modern education system. Adding to Misko's world view is the time he and his son were interred in a “concentration” camp during part of the Croatian Independence War (1991-1995). The Sesame Inn and restaurant are both in a stone building long owned by the family with the rooms decorated by artwork from when the lower floors were an art gallery.

Dubrovnik scenes

No visit to Dubrovnik would be complete without a stay in Cavtat, which is the village closest to the airport. If you can afford it, Hotel Croatia is the place to stay (hotel-croatia.cavtat.hotels-hr.com/en/). An all-inclusive resort built during Yugoslav times it was briefly occupied by Montenegrin forces during the war. A short stroll around the bay takes you to one of our favorite restaurants, Bugenvila (bugenvila.eu/). The harbor water is so clean and clear that you could literally jump in for a swim after dinner or maybe just to float around.

Scenes from Lokrum

Scenes from Cavtat

Meanwhile in Baltimore, other things happened that kept us occupied in 2018. Some good. Some, not so good. In my case, I continued to search for a new home for the lab. Insert the politics of academics, which makes everything more complicated than it needs to be, and the best I can say is that we love living in Baltimore but my job - not so much. I can only say here that the power brokers of academic politics are often outside the reaches of the normal legal system leaving Professors to fend for themselves. Hopefully, the situation will resolve in 2019. On the bright side of 2018 at work, six students graduated from the lab with their Doctor of Philosophy degrees (aka PhD = piled higher and deeper). This was really a great bunch of students who either began in year one or two after our move here in 2013. When I first started in academics in 2004, Sam Miller - a colleague in Seattle who was a few years ahead of me - said that students keep you young. Absolutely true. In many ways they are like adopted children who grow into young adulthood while with you. It's a blessing to have so many of them to enrich my life.

Baltimore scenes

In January Graham, having been at College Park for only a week of his 4^th semester, was back home unable to go on. After three semesters of success in math and physics and chemistry, he had just been admitted to the very competitive Chemical Engineering program at the University of Maryland. Going back to his start, the night before starting at College Park in Fall 2016 he received a Lyme disease diagnosis and started antibiotic therapy. However, by January 2018 his symptoms were worse to the point where he was dealing with so much pain that he had to drop out being unable to use his hands except like you might with no opposable thumb. For him, 2018 went by going through various therapies, but his symptoms did not resolve. We are now more convinced than before that his symptoms are not due to Lyme and have begun the process of going through various specialists to try to sort out this medical mystery.

Mint and Ham

Mint (aka David Minter) continued the year at College Park without his brother and in their kinesiology program and will probably also end with a minor in business from his time at Towson University. We think he’ll finish Fall 2019 and then who knows. Medical school? Graduate school? Physical therapy school? Time to decide later because like his second grade math teacher explained to us during a conference “this kid will never die of a heart attack”. At least in public he never seems to lose his cool, which is an admirable trait. This though cannot be said of his watching Auburn University football games. Given the team’s woes this year, the curses flew fast and furious at the TV. So animated were he and I during games that Trixie usually left the room after just a few minutes into the first quarter. War Eagle, damnit!!!!

In a story line that might be heard in a country song, the dog - Trixie - cost me at least $2000 when one of her toes was remove due to a malignancy. We were told this was cheaper than chemotherapy. Chemotherapy? For a dog? Yep. It's a thing. So, I thought to myself - self - this is thousands more than the standard American veterinary care in the back country that my Grandpa administered as needed. Not long after the toe was removed, she went in to have a tooth removed. Back home, she was missing five teeth! When I asked how much that cost, “you don't want to know” was the reply. However, it had to be cheaper than the crown put on one of my molars recently. When I told Donna this would cost $340, she growled “why didn’t insurance pay@#$%!?” to which I replied “they paid half”. LOL. C'est la vie. I still don't know how much the dog’s dental work cost, but more than mine I bet@#$%^&*!

Donna continues to work at Sunlight Natural Health (sunlightnaturalhealth.com/) helping out in the office. She also spent the year as a patient of Arivale (www.arivale.com), a company founded by my former boss Leroy Hood (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leroy_Hood) at the Institute for Systems Biology (systemsbiology.org). Arivale use massive amounts of patient specific data they collect along with lifestyle surveys to reshape your biochemistry by reshaping your interactions with the world. This is certainly one version of the future of personalized medicine that I recommend keeping an eye on. As an aside, early in the year Donna received the results of her 23andme genomic analysis (www.23andme.com). As expected given our geographic genealogy for the last couple hundred years she was mostly Irish, English and Scot but there was a small % of Finnish of all things. No idea where this came from if not from some Finns involved in the Viking raids of the UK. I'm waiting on my kit but I'll be shocked if it is much different than hers save for perhaps the Finnish component.

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram (instagram.com/davegoodlett/) and twitter (twitter.com/goodlettlab1) and for now in Baltimore but who knows where we might be this time next year. We are only 20 minutes drive from BWI airport and 10 minutes walk to Penn station, which takes you to WA DC in 45 minutes or NYC in a couple hours. So, please stop by when you are in town.

Happy Holidays from the Baltimore Goodletts ...