…but I just can’t resist the cookies.

Canadian Blood Services is doing a big drive right now because of flu season stuff - I guess they need extra at this time of year.  Anyway, it was time for my regular bimonthly donation, so in I went.  Apparently Thursday night is pizza night.  Who knew?  I guess they get a lot of students on Thursdays because of this.  I’ve always gone in the afternoon before, and I highly recommend avoiding the 5-7pm range.

One of these days I’ll successfully get a shot of them inserting the needle.  I know a lot of people avoid watching needles go in to their skin because it freaks them out or something, but I’m honestly fascinated that this great huge PIPE can go into my vein, and that my body can then close up the hole within minutes of the needle’s removal.

The big excitement of the evening: I was a gusher.  It took 4 minutes and 30 seconds for me to fill the bag.  Apparently 5 minutes is considered quick.  I suggested that they should keep track and give out prizes for the fastest donations every month, but I don’t think they were going for it.  They did tell me that most men are VERY pleased with themselves when told that they were quick.  I guess it’s one of the few times in a man’s life when speed in bodily functions is considered a positive trait

Last night I became a cyborg.

Electrodes in my hair.  Awesome.  Electrode gunk not washing out in the morning shower, less awesome.  Itchy rashy bits from tape, totally not awesome.

Still, I did have this totally sweet control panel:

I don’t know what any of this stuff does (well, aside from the gloves XD), but it was right outside my room.

My phone home finger gave me awesome powers

…which I used to gain access to a massive supply of totally inadequate blankets.  Being a cyborg is chilly work.

So much of what goes on in the insect world would make brilliant fodder for bad horror movies.

These incredibly tiny parasitic wasps

emerge from the mummified remains of a caterpillar.

That’s right, they all wiggle out of those little holes.  Sam Raimi’s got nothing on evolution.

Since all of the Gypsy moth caterpillars from the greenhouse experiment are now dead or pupated, I’ve been organizing things.  First I took all of the emerged moths out of the freezer and put them into little glass vials.

Obviously they’re all dead - the ones that say “dead” are the ones that didn’t make it to adulthood, but died along the way.  Now I’m working on organizing the lab’s parasitoid collection (hence the horror movie intro).  I’m taking this

and turning it into this

which entails dividing into species and then subdividing into gender, and finally subdividing once more into host groups. A large part of this work had previously been done, and then partially undone in the effort to identify species and subspecies, so it’s not as though I just have a jumble of random wasps to work with.  I’d have offed myself by now.

All of this seems particularly appropriate right now with the wasp bloom we’re experiencing in Toronto this summer.

This thing is freaking cool.

I don’t know what it’s for, but it’s better than a lava lamp, and I want one in my living  room.  It’s in one of the labs with the freeze dryers and centrifuges, but this is the first time I’ve noticed it.

In other news, I finally managed to make something on the wheel in pottery! Okay, there was that one cup thing a few months ago, but it’s way too small to be useful.  Tonight I made 3 bowls! Actually I made 4 bowls and a cup, but one of the bowls collapsed when I tried to knife the bottom, and the cup was too thin and would have cracked during firing.  I present to you my new cereal bowls:

I also picked up a bowl that I glazed last week which may yet become a christmas gift, so I don’t want to post it, and Mom’s birthday present is finally finished.  I’ll post that before the end of September, but I don’t her to stumble across it and ruin the surprise.