See You Monday!

J+M+J

Dad, Landon, and I are taking off to Chicago for that national NAQT quiz bowl, and too see some museums as well! I’m really excited, and we aren’t going to be back till Sunday night! I’ll take lot’s of pictures to post here afterwards!

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Flip Out!

J+M+J

We were at the store just in front of the main doors where there was a stand of flip flops. Maria had been itching all week to get some, and now she had just made her selection. Mom and I had also chosen a pair each, since they were only 2.50. As we proceeded through the store, we came upon another stand of flip flops, all different styles from the first and under five dollars each. We began to look through them eagerly, deciding which ones we would buy.

“Sarah, here’s some more over here,” Mom said, standing by an entire wall of flip flops.

“Ooh,” I said, as I turned around and saw wall of shoes behind me. I walked around the shelf, and found another, and another, and  yet another wall of flip-flops. I was amazed at the vast selection, and I realized that this was why I never see the same pair twice on the feet of other girls. I raised my eyes and saw a large, brightly colored sign above my head that said: ‘FLIP OUT!’. That pretty much sums it up.

We ended up with several different varieties, all really cute with little ornaments on them:

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Protista

J+M+J

Right now, I’m studying for a biology test on the Kingdom Protista, which contains algae and protozoa. They are both single celled organisms, but algae usually make their own food with photosynthesis and float in colonies wherever the water they live in pushes them. Protozoa, however, eat other organisms, usually have a way to move about, and generally don’t form any colonies.

I have learned a couple ways that people use protista, and most of them aren’t very appealing. For example, there’s a type of algae from phylum Chrysophyta (have to remember all the phylum names on the test) called diatoms that have a very hard cell wall, and when the diatom dies, the cell wall still remains and becomes fossilized. When there is a bunch of these cell wall remains clumped together, it is called diatomaceous earth, which is put into our toothpastes! Another algae contains alginic acid, or algin, which is used in puddings as a thickener.

I also have to study about all the harmful and parasitic protista, of which there are many. Malaria is caused by a protozoa in the phylum Sporozoa, genus Plasmodium. And when a dinoflagellate algae (phylum Pyrrophyta) such as gymnodinium brevis blooms or suddenly becomes very populous, it causes red tides which are deadly to the fish that live in the water and people that eat infected animals.

Each phylum has a different method of locomotion that I have to memorize, and I also have to identify a picture of a protista. This is where it gets really interesting. Take this amoeba of phylum Sarcodina:

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In this picture it is engulfing a Ciliophora, which it will then devour, dissolving it with chemicals and absorbing it! The amoeba moves by squishing out bulges from its body called pseudopods, and then pulling itself along with them.

Here’s another protozoa, a Ciliophora like the one the amoeba is eating. They move by beating their cilia; those threadlike hairs that are all around their body.

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Light at the End of the Tunnel

J+M+J

This last week has been really dismal outside, with temperatures in the 40’s, grey clouds covering the sky, and a lot of rain. Fortunately, it’s forecasted to let up, and get nice and warm again. Aahh! I can’t wait

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John’s First Holy Communion

J+M+J

Johnathan received Our Lord for the very first time Sunday, which was also Mother’s Day.

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Johnathan looked so grown up and handsome in his suit, but he wasn't very comfortable in it. In the morning before Mass I asked him how he was feeling (I expected him to answer 'excited' or something like that). He replied: "Hot."

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