WE HAVE MOVED!!!

For some reason, this site has been blacklisted by Google and we can't get them to acknowledge that we are perfectly harmless! We have migrated our content to a new site:

nicholas-christina.blogspot.com

Practically Perfect in Every Way

Last night we saw Mary Poppins downtown. It is nice to be in a big city that gets hit on all the major Broadway tours regularly. The Performing Arts Complex is so cool! Apparently it's the second-largest arts complex in the country, second only to the Lincoln Center in New York.

Before the show, our friends took us to this trendy Mexican restaurant with $1 tacos on Tuesdays. So dinner was pretty cheap, which was nice. We got $25 dollars off our seats from a deal on the Denver Performing Arts e-mails I have been getting since Wicked. So we splurged and got better seats than we would otherwise have been willing to purchase and it was great! We were about 2/3 of the way back on the lowest level very near the center.

Mary had a good voice, but Chrissy thought they should have turned up her mic a little. Bert pretty much stole the show, with a great voice and a fantastic character. I also like Mrs. Banks quite a bit. There were many magical things including the hat-rack, plant, etc. being pulled out of a carpet bag, flying Mary Poppins, and an upside-down tap-dance on the roof during Chim-Chimeree. Overall I thought the stage adaptation was very good, though there were a few things I would have done differently. Most notably, the dancing penguins in "It's a Jolly Holiday with Mary" have been replaced with dancing marble nude statues, complete with marble-colored unitards, drawn-on muscles and attached fig leaves. It was pretty weird...I much prefer the penguins.

They definitely tried to infuse a message into the songs that in the movie were just for fun...or maybe I'm just more mature now. Chim-chimeree was all about enduring hard times and being happy in spite of your troubles. Feed the birds was a powerful moment in the play with a strong message of giving and seeing beyond outward appearances. Also, I really got into the character of Mr. Banks since I am starting a family and will have to learn to balance career pressures with family. I need to remember to take time to "go fly a kite" with my kids. I think the fact that I went to see a show two nights before three consecutive tests is a good start. Now back to studying!

Midsemester Update

We haven't posted in a while, so I thought I would just give a general update on how things are going.

Today we have our final ultrasound before the baby comes. It's supposed to check his position, which is funny because he's getting so big you can pretty much feel exactly where he is and how he's positioned. I won't complain though--ultrasounds are pretty fun. We painted the nursery last weekend. We took little sample cards from Home Depot to Baby's R Us to match the paint to the comforter and crib we have picked out. Coincidentally, the shade we picked is called "Sweet Baby Boy." It looks great. Now we just need to cover up/scrape off a few stray drops on the baseboards. Christina is getting bigger, but really not swelling much. She is a very cute pregnant lady. :-)

The campus a cappella group, the Arrhythmias is progressing nicely. Christina does a great job and we have a lot of fun with that. We just found out the Donor Memorial Service we will be singing at will be outdoors which will pose some interesting challenges for us, but it should be fine. We are glad we have been able to get involved in this way doing something we love.

Our Whitacre concerts last week with Kantorei were fantastic. He is such a wonderful musician. His direction transformed our singing and made the combined choirs sound fantastic at the concert at DU. It also helped that we had a packed house full of very enthusiastic fans who cat-called and snapped photos all night of the young, fashionable composer. I think they liked the music too. :-)

Christina was just asked to conduct Stake Choir which is in two weeks. It's good she's so talented because she can pull that off, as long as people show up. I hope the word got out!

Travis the Trap and Penelope the Pitcher Plant are doing well, especially Penelope. They will have more carnivorous companions as soon as the seeds Chrissy's mom gave me for my birthday germinate. On Monday it will be three weeks since they were sown, so they could sprout any time in the next three weeks. We have a new pet plant, though this one is not carnivorous. Her name is Olivia the Orchid. I gave her to Chrissy for Valentine's Day. She is doing well, but I am worried we are not giving her what she needs. We bought a whole book on orchids and some special fertilizer so we can hopefully keep her alive.

School is going well. Next week will be very busy with finals in both my med school classes and a take-home test for my graduate course. It is going to be crazy, but I am sure I will get through it. There have been new developments as far as my laboratory work goes. I have written before about a lab I was interested in, the Eltzschig lab. Last week we met and decided that since I was so serious about his lab, perhaps it would be better for me to rotate in his lab in Summer 2011 so I could have a seamless transition into my thesis work. So I began to hunt for a lab to rotate through this summer. The lab that was most attractive was Dr. Eltzschig's post-doc mentor's lab, the Colgan lab. After looking into it further, I am very excited about this lab too, since it connects old interests with new ones. I have an appointment to meet with Dr. Colgan next week. Both labs would be excellent choices, which is comforting. It will be nice to have options when I go to choose a thesis advisor.

Well, class is starting. Have a great week!

A series of unfortunate events

Yesterday was cram day. I had my second test for Disease and Defense today. Overall I was better this time about studying along the way, reading lectures beforehand and trying to review soon after. Still, there is an overwhelming amount of information to know and no matter how hard you try to know it all, you won't. I was in the library studying, when I realized there was four lecture-hours' worth of material I had inadvertently removed from my binder. It was time to head for the bus stop though, so I decided to get up early before my 8:00 AM test to cover that stuff plus review everything else one more time.

It was just beginning to snow. Not too cold and not too windy...yet. I left the library at 4:30 to make my 4:45 bus. There's also a 5:00 bus I can take, either of which should get me to the transfer station in time to be home by 6:00. At the bus stop, it started to snow harder. I knew the bus would be there soon, and it wasn't too cold yet, so I didn't put on my gloves or hat. It grew later, darker, colder, and windier. I couldn't see Children's Hospital just across the street because of the blowing snow. Two ambulances arrived at Children's and one left. There must have been accidents slowing my bus. Finally, an hour after I left the library, I laughed as I got on a bus. I texted Chrissy with stiff fingers to let her know that I was sorry I wouldn't be home to put the meatloaf in the oven, and that she might consider calling when she was available to come rescue me at the transfer station in the even that I not make my transfer. Then I focused on wiggling my toes and defrosting instead of studying.

Just east of school is the freeway. There were police cars blocking the freeway entrance, which meant that all the traffic normally on the very congested freeway at rush hour was on the road instead. After we got past the interchange, the traffic eased up a bit. We were nearly to the transfer station when there was another police blockade of the road leading to Buckley Airforce Base. Again! Why? You guessed it...President Obama had to make it to Airforce One.

This development tried my otherwise cheerful endurance of the evening. I understand the importance of respecting and protecting the President and I am sure my busy schedule pales in comparison to his. But it seems unnecessary to inconvenience the Denver Metro Area full of people with commitments, since President's private jet leaves WHEN HE ARRIVES. Also, I doubt the President had any other pressing engagements that evening since it was already 6:00. Anyway, after the motorcade passed we made it to the transfer station where luckily my bus was waiting.

Things were looking up and I was warm enough to study on the bus. I got off at my usual stop, this time adequately bundled. I was about half way home when Chrissy called. She was sorry she hadn't seen my texts sooner and said she'd be there soon to pick me up. As we said goodbye, the phone slipped out of my hand, bounced off the ground and disappeared into the only storm drain on the block. Gone.

The morals of the story are: 1) Always wear a hat and gloves while waiting for a bus on a snowy day, since it might take an hour and you just might freeze to death. 2) Once you get on the bus, don't forget that the President may need to pass at any moment to further delay your journey. 3) Bad things happen to good people.

Despite yesterday's events, life is very good. I think I did pretty well on the test which is why I'm rewarding myself with this break before I start my Immunology take-home test due Monday. Chrissy and Brinton are doing very well, though she has complained recently of "feeling pregnant." I have been exercising most every day which makes a big difference in my energy, ability to focus, and my waistline. Since Christmas, I lost 10 pounds and my clothes fit again! We are enjoying Kantorei and have concerts tomorrow, next Wednesday, and Thursday. We have wonderful friends at Church and from school and are quite content with our situation in general. So mostly we are very fortunate, despite occasional bouts of unfortunate events. :-)

It's belly time

Here are pictures of my growing belly by month, with a bit of commentary on each.

4 Months

Um, still not really showing. Those are regular pants and a regular shirt.

5 Months

This was right after a performance we did with Kantorei, our community choir. Still little, though I could feel a difference in my body while I was singing since Brinton was right up to my belly button.
For all my Singers friends: you know you bought your Singers clothes WAY too big when they still fit at 5 and 6 months pregnant (my belly was narrow for 5 mos, but still). Supposedly this dress was the "right" size when it was our uniform in '03... Oh well! it was a blessing to have for this concert and our Christmas concerts a few weeks later.

6 Months

I was six months on Christmas Eve! This picture was taken in Utah by the Bishop's beautiful tree. Still wearing regular clothes.

7 Months

There it is! My belly finally started showing at seven months. Baby and I had a growth spurt over Christmas (all that yummy food?! hehe). Those are indeed maternity clothes--cute ones thanks to my lovely sister-in-law Miriam who gave me her whole collection.

A week from today is my eight month mark. Time is flying! Tune in for another update around that time.

In a nutshell, my pregnancy has been so great. Lack of severe nausea, lots of room due to a long torso, absolutely no anemia, encouraging friends at my exercise class, and incredible support from my awesome husband have been huge blessings. I feel great! I'm also at the beginning of the end, so I write this with lots of humility and high hopes that the pregnancy will continue to progress well.

I love you all! Thanks for your support.

A special thanks to Nick for posting these pictures from his computer yesterday during his busy school hours. :)

The Crib

I just finished a test, so I thought now would be a great time to start a blog (though it probable won't be posted until later). My parents bought us a beautiful crib for Chrissy's shower. We picked it out in Utah and picked it up here in Colorado. Babies R Us warned us the box was big, and they weren't kidding. Our friend Jake took us to pick up the crib in his minivan which we were sure would hold the box, but it was too wide and had to be strapped to the top. We got home and put it together that same night. It looks great! A crib in the nursery (and all our stuff out of it) makes it seem even more real that a baby will be there in just a few months. We are very excited! Here are some pictures of us and the crib:

Gotta go...time for class to start!

Denver Aquarium

Last night we went to the Denver Aquarium and had a great time. Our friends, Deena and Alyssa are visiting from Utah, so we all went together. There is a nice restaurant that has a huge aquarium for walls. I must say, the aquarium far exceeded my expectations...it was VERY cool. The exhibits cover a variety of climates and habitats, but my favorite were the tropical ones. In the jungle exhibit there are even tigers that swim in and play in the water...too bad they were asleep in the back of the enclosure. Here are some of the pictures/videos we took:

Chrissy narrowly escaped the jaws of death.

Jellyfish tentacles

Deena, Alyssa, and Chrissy with fish faces

Unicorn fish in a reef

Shark Length Comparison Blooper (it was meant to be a photo, not a video)

Stingray smile

Starfish

Me and Chrissy impersonating a big-lipped fish (cropped out because of blurriness)

A hiding seahorse

More seahorses

The Bearded Dragon

An anemone

Really cool blue starfish

Sea turtle saying hello

Jaws

As you can see, the Denver Aquarium is a great place! There are lots of other things to blog about, but that's all for now.

Ella vale un Potosí

We finally took care of a long procrastinated errand and I wanted to write about it. For our wedding two and a half years ago, my father-in-law gave us a silver coin from a sunken Spanish ship. Seems like a pretty strange wedding present, right? Well, he collects coins and is particularly interested in Spanish treasure since he served as a missionary in Spain. I happen to have been through the mine where much of the Spanish silver was mined, in Potosí, Bolivia.

Here's a picture I took of the opening to the mine shaft I toured in Potosí

I did a public health internship in Bolivia, and for a weekend trip, I toured the mines at Potosí. These mines were responsible for producing much of the wealth of the Spanish Empire, to the point that Bolivians have a saying used to refer to something of inestimable value: "Vale un Potosí," meaning, "it's worth a Potosí." My father-in-law knew the saying, and we had discussed my trip to the mines. For our wedding present, he wrote "She's worth a Potosí" on a card and gave us this coin that was mined in Potosí:

We framed it with a dark brown frame that is slightly weathered, as if from a shipwreck. The mat is a velvety red that matches the duvet on our bed.

The coin is inside a clear plastic case that is floated in a foam board. The mat and plaque are on one side of the foam board, and the original card and note about the history of the coin are on the other side.

This way both sides of the coin can still be seen, but just one side shows when we hang it.

We love the present since it has such significance for us and for Chrissy's father. It was a very thoughtful gift and will be a treasure in our home forever.

Merry Christmas...a little late!

I always look forward to Christmas, and this year it feels like it came and went very quickly. Even so, I still wanted to share a few Christmas images and thoughts.

Here are some of the decorations we put up for our first Christmas in our new home. We put up the decor on December 1st, took pictures shortly thereafter, but never posted until now. Better late than never, right?!

Our 9-foot Christmas Tree was this year's present to ourselves

This is the first posted picture of the interior of our house. More will follow soon.

Here is some of what we saw in Utah:

The lights on Temple Square

We loved visiting Temple Square with Nick's sister Emily and her family. The lights are always beautiful, but more brilliant than the lights is the great spirit of peace we felt there--the spirit that comes from thinking about Christ and what his birth really means to us.

Merry Christmas, and may we carry the spirit of the season into this New Year!

It's a Boy!

Yesterday we had our long-awaited ultrasound to find out the baby's gender. He's a he! We have had names picked out for a long time and our boy name is Brinton Nicholas Bishop, so I guess I can start using his name now. Brinton was very cute yesterday. He sort of yawned and made sleepy gestures with his little arms. It was fun to watch (not just hear) his heart beating. Being a parent is a very special blessing. Brinton already makes us very happy and he hasn't even been born!

Thanksgiving 2009

I am really enjoying school, but Thanksgiving (as always) seems like sort of a cruel teaser for the Christmas break that is right around the corner. This year we went to Henderson, NV to be with Christina's family for Thanksgiving. We have had a really great time catching up with family and enjoying the time together. Here's a picture of everyone who was there.

Many of Chrissy's siblings were with their respective in-laws this year. Thanksgiving was a little smaller and quieter, but very nice.

Here's a picture of just one of the delicious pies we devoured.

It is a perfect pecan pie, that happens to have been made by Christina! She never liked nut pie until she had my mom's walnut pie, so she made it for her family with pecans instead. Yum!

Last night we saw The Blind Side, which EVERYONE should see. It's easily the best movie I've seen in a while. Today we are going to the Las Vegas Temple and tomorrow Chrissy is singing O Holy Night in her home ward, which is a Christmas tradition for them. Tomorrow night we go back home and back to real life. I am thankful for Thanksgiving!

Introducing Bishop NH

My first scientific paper is available online at the website of the Journal of Cellular Physiology!!! Click here to see it. My name is still not showing up on PubMed (a major database of scholarly research), but I imagine that will come soon. Here's one of my favorite images from the paper:

Sperry, R.B.*, Bishop N.H.*, Bramwell, J.J., Brodeur, M.N., Carter, M.J., Fowler, B.T., Lewis, Z.T., Maxfield, S.D., Staley, D.M., Vellinga., R.M., Hansen, M.D.H. 2010. Zyxin controls migration in epithilial-mesenchymal transition by mediating actin-membrane linkages at cell-cell junctions. Journal of Cellular Physiology. Early view. Published online November 19, 2009.

*Sperry RB and Bishop NH contributed equally to this work.

Since I copied this figure from the journal webpage, and since I can, I thought I'd better be the first to cite the paper. :-)

Kantorei!

Christina and I were accepted into a local community choir called Kantorei! We are very excited and feel like everything has worked out miraculously. Both of us had been missing Singers a lot recently. A friend of mine joined a choir and was looking at her performance schedule online. I recognized Kantorei on the list of choirs singing at the same venue, because Dr. Staheli had mentioned the group when we told him we were moving to Denver. We both signed up to be notified for auditions, but didn't expect to hear anything till next season, since the only advertised openings were for second bass and first tenor.

Monday we got an e-mail announcing special auditions by invitation only. I auditioned for first tenor and Christina auditioned for an alto spot that opened up unexpectedly. We met the directors last night at our audition and were impressed with their friendliness and flexibility. Since we weren't expecting anything until August, we were worried that Chrissy's pregnancy might prevent her from performing with the group. Drs. Larson and Pohlenz assured us that many of women in the group have children. Some of them choose to keep singing and others take a break. Whatever we decide will be acceptable.

We've actually never heard the group sing, but we feel like it is a good one. Dr. Staheli did mention them, which is definitely a good sign. Several alumni of Singers have been in the group. We love the repertoire they choose. They have been invited to sing at the South West American Choral Directors Association meeting in Denver this February. And lastly, they liked us, so they must have good taste. :-)

We are very excited to be a part of a high quality choral group again and feel so blessed that everything worked out okay.

SNOWY HALLOWEEN!!!

That's right, today is a SNOW DAY! It has snowed about a foot and campus is closed as of yesterday at 1:00 pm. It may even be closed tomorrow. Here's a picture of the snow drift in front of our door before I shoveled it:

Here's the snow piled up on our newly stained deck. Glad we got it stained before the weather hit!

I am grateful for the snow. We have had fun together at home today. All the time I think of things I would like to blog about, but I don't usually find the time to do it. Perhaps someday you will get to hear my thoughts on cadaver dissection, my excitement about a lab I may rotate through, my experiences with my new clinical preceptor, or my gratitude toward our excellent ward. But not today. Instead of trying to catch up with everything, I am just going to start where I am, and cover those topics if I can.

So for the Head and Neck unit of Anatomy, several guys from class vowed not to shave their heads or necks for the three week unit and have a beard-off. Here is mine (the day after our test, with my neck shaved).

I know the toothbrushing is sort of weird, but it's the best picture I have of the beard. During the week, my beard shrank to a goatee, a mustache (for five minutes) and then to nothing in preparation for our Halloween costume: Edward and Bella from Twilight. If you look closely in the first picture, you can even see my sparkly skin.

Here's a picture of some food we brought to a Halloween party with some med school friends. There was supposed to be a contest for the spookiest food, so we brought eyeballs served on cross-sections of arms.

Also for Halloween, my parents came in town for a night and we saw Wicked downtown. It was even better than I imagined it. I'm glad they made it out of Denver before the worst of the storm.

Well, I guess that's all for now. Happy Halloween to everyone!

Vail

This weekend Chrissy and I went to a retreat in Vail for the Cell Biology, Stem Cells, and Development (CSD) Graduate Program retreat. It is beautiful there and the pictures I will post do not really do it justice. We both enjoyed the talks and I am particularly excited about potentially rotating through the lab of one of the speakers. Chrissy and I ditched one of the talks to drive up to Vail Village, which is where all the condos and shopping areas are in Vail. We had fun just walking around and enjoying the scenery.

We have also enjoyed watching the semi-annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints yesterday and today. Hurray for live online streaming (we don't own a TV). We missed being with our friends and family for the conference but we also enjoyed the time together.

-Nick

Terrorists in da 'hood

So if you haven't heard, one of our neighbors is a terrorist (or at least a suspected terrorist). He's a young airport shuttle driver who is being tried for being involved in a terrorist plot. I'm pretty sure he was my shuttle driver when I came to interview. I had no cash so, as a tip, I offered him a card to receive a free video from the Church, but he seemed offended and informed me curtly that he was Muslim. Anyway, it may or may not have been him, but it's crazy to think about it.

Yesterday on the bus, I didn't notice anyone I thought was a terrorist, but I did fear for my iTouch, my Macbook, and my life (just a little). When I boarded the bus, two guys were talking about how many of their friends from jail they had seen on the busses that day. They were talking pretty fast in Ebonics, so it was difficult to understand--it really is like another language. Anyway, I heard gang names dropped and talk of illegitimate children, drugs, etc. Then another guy came on the bus, who I am pretty sure was under the influence of something. He sparked a debate with the first two about who was the best rapper in the history of the world--50-cent or Tupac. The debate became quite heated and people from the back of the bus started to weigh in as well. I was in the middle of what I was afraid would become a physical brawl. The first two men got off the bus and then, after they calmed down a bit, the remaining debaters discussed the inconvenience of having to take public transportation after they lost their licenses for DUIs.

I'm not in Utah anymore...

My new addictions!

Completing my very intense, very fulfilling masters degree and diving right into--well--nothing, particularly, has been a bit of a struggle. School gives every day meaning and purpose: there is always something to be done for classes, some test to prepare for, some concert program (in my case) to be polishing, etc. etc. etc.

So, after 20 years of being a student, I landed with a thud in this thing we call "free time," and I had no idea what to do with it. At first I wandered aimlessly around our new house and checked my email too many times a day, but as the weeks have passed, I have slowly rediscovered SO MANY things that I love to do--so many things I have a passion for. Here is a quick rundown of what I do to occupy my time these days:


Cooking! Well, when I have enough first-trimester energy for it :) I already posted about my cookbook-reading craze, but I just had to reiterate what a joy it is for me to cook right now! Fast forward 7, 8, 9 months, and I know this enthusiasm will be greatly diminished by the brand new baby that will demand so much time and energy. But right now in this brief season of pure self improvement and indulgence, I am loving it. And I especially like it when Nick comes home to a nice warm meal and tells me how much he loves it.

Reading! I unpacked our books a few weeks ago and decided it was high time I read the many classics I placed on the back burner for all these years while textbooks and music took over my life. I can't even begin to count the number of times I had this thought: "Wow, I wish I had time to read for fun." Happily, the time is finally here! I learned that my Ward Book Group was reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, and I eagerly consumed it in a matter of days. I have since started reading Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (oops, I was definitely going to read that before going to South Africa 2 years ago!), but even that has taken a backseat to my newest addiction...

Family history work! Oh my gosh, if you haven't checked out the new family search website, you NEED TO!! It is so awesome. I used to be a family history consultant, and I knew this database was coming down the pipe. But until I got on the website myself, I didn't realize how much it really offers. In a nutshell, it combines everything from the old website, and I get to streamline the information into my very own family line that all my relatives can see and work with (it was a serious headache to share pedigree information before). Best of all, it is very easy to see what temple work needs to be done. Awesome! Check it out if you haven't already: https://new.familysearch.org/

Blogging! Okay, that's obvious! But it has to do with something else I have been terrible at for a long, long time: keeping in touch with people. I have written more letters to missionaries in the past 2 months than I have in the rest of my life combined (sorry to all my older brothers!!). I have also called and emailed people with our baby news, and I have enjoyed renewing past connections with old friends. I am going to see an old BYU friend tomorrow, and I didn't even realize she was here in Colorado until last week! I also have high hopes of sending out a Christmas Letter for the first time this year. We'll see how that one goes!

These are the jewels I have rediscovered and reconnected with. "Free time" is not as bad as it seemed initially, and I know that it will be hard to come by as my life is filled with new responsibilities and purpose (particularly next April).

For now, I can't get enough of it!

Big news!

We are pleased to announce that we are expecting a baby! The due date is April 15, and we can't even begin to express how excited we are.

I have been feeling great, overall. A bit nauseous occasionally, but it never gets too overbearing. And I haven't thrown up yet--unless accidentally gagging myself with my toothbrush last week counts :)

We are so excited to be parents!!! We'll keep you posted as the baby grows (and as I grow) over the next 6.5 months.

Accepted at last!!!

In all the stress of medical and graduate school, I had sort of forgotten about the manuscript I had been trying to get published for the last year. Dr. Hansen said he would take care of continuing to revise and resubmit, so I quit worrying about it. Well, on Friday I checked my e-mail in the dissection lab and was surprised to see that our manuscript has finally been accepted! I was so excited I couldn't focus on the dissection for probably a half hour afterwards. It feels like I'm a real scientist now that I'm actually going to have a publication. I'm not sure when it will actually be published, because the acceptance is pending minor revisions. Also, I think they plan the issues months in advance--the November edition of the journal is already available online. But anyway, I'll be sure to post a link when it is available so you can all see my pretty pictures. :-)

How to post a comment...

For all you readers of our blog (and I know you're out there) I thought I'd figure out how you can post without an account on any of the sites listed in the drop-down menu for comments. Just select "Name/URL," from the menu, type your name in the "Name" section, and leave the URL blank. Type your comment and click "Post comment." You will be asked to type the warped text to make sure you're a real person. And you're done! Hope this helps.

-Nick