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Eyeball, coloured

I must say, this is the first time I’ve broken out the watercolours in quite some time.

Maybe I’ll be more inclined to do some more illustration work.

Drug of the Day 2

Drug #2 (I’ll get up to at least 4 by the exam)

Simvastatin

What it is: statin (right in the name)
Indications: High cholesterol, living in North America
Administration: Oral
Mechanism of action: Statin drugs bind the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase. This enzyme is the rate limiting step in the synthesis of endogenous cholesterol. So if you block it, your body isn’t nearly as good at synthesizing cholesterol and it also start to up regulate LDL (“bad cholesterol“) receptors. This makes statins close to a miracle drug, since they’re limiting how much cholesterol you make and at the same time increasing the receptors that take the “bad” cholesterol out of the blood. Some people argue that statins should just be put in the drinking water (since hypercholesterolemia is so rampant in North America).
Interactions: None really. See, this is a miracle drug.
Adverse effects: In rare cases it can cause rhabdomyolysis (ouu, sounds like a House diagnosis), which is the breakdown of skeletal muscle. Fortunately this goes away once you take someone off the drug.

are you feeling Irish today?

I know I am! Actually I feel about the same, though my hair is particularly naturally coloured today, which I suppose automatically makes me more Irish-looking (it’s reddish). Of course my family came here in the 1800s, so I’m pretty sure that I can’t claim direct irishness. 

Go out and drink some green beer!

Letterpress book! (finally)

Finally, finally I have gotten around to taking photos of the little book I made in my letterpress workshop. It measures 3×4 inches, has a little pocket on the back cover and is sewn together. I did everything for this book short of making the paper. There was a WHOLE lot of cutting involved and the letterpressing part was probably the easiest step in the whole process. I’m very proud of how it turned out though and I’m definitely ready to start letterpressing a whole lot more.

Happy Birthday Hebb

It’s Mike’s and my cat’s first birthday today. Since his mom is my friend’s back home, not only did we get first pick, we know his exact birthday. Supposedly he was the first out out of the six. Now he’s big and poofy and thinks he’s a dog.

Geeky Christmas Ideas

So being a huge geek (and having friends and family who are also huge geeks), I’m always on the look out for nifty new geek toys and gifts. Though I’m been reading MAKE: and CRAFT: for a long time now but until recently I had never really checked out the maker shed, which is the store associated with the two publications. I must say, I felt like a kid in a candy store (albite an online candy store). There’s an awesome mix of slightly practical and completely nifty items.

First snow of the season

Though I already posted today, I figured this warranted posting again. The last two days have been very miserable. Lots and lots of rain and wind. Today wasn’t a whole lot better, mostly just cold rain blowing sideways (not umbrella-friendly weather). But this evening the temperature dipped down just enough for snow. I’m pretty excited, even though it’s kind of slushy gross snow.