Sent Home

Well the temp here in Dallas is down to 27F right now and everyone at my work is freaking out. There is this arctic blast moving in and its supposed to cause some snow-sleet-winter mix whatever. Anyway it snowed for about five minutes and my lab manager tells me to just finish up what I'm doing and get home. He then made arrangements with a coworker to stay at her house tonight because he has an hour commute to one of the mid cities (any 'burb that is inbetween Dallas and Ft. Worth is called a mid city). It is highly unlikely that he will be getting home tonight. I tried to argue that I didn't really need to go home and I could stay and finish up the work but he wouldn't have any of it. I don't see what all the fuss is but if they insist that I go home then I cannot argue.

At my old old job if you couldn't make it into work because of weather you needed to present documentation along with a treatise to a tribunal of 9 just so you could justify using vacation time for your absence. I'd always sing Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now by The Smiths, "In my life, why do I give valuable time to people who don't care if I live or I die?" I love being at a private institution.

I do feel guilty though. Many of the other staff here have kids that are in school and I believe that if anyone should be sent home first it should be them. I live ten minutes from work by car and if I really needed to I could just walk home if the ice was too much. My other colleagues live out in the mid-ctiies and therefore it is inevitable that they have to cross a plethora of bridges and highway overpasses/interchanges that will most likely be iced over. All I have to do is cross over one freeway overpass and I'm home.

Oh I forgot to mention that its Pearl Harbor Day.

Potentially New HIV Treatment

The research institute where I work focuses on immunology and it has some very notable faculty. Therefore we get many visiting scholars giving talks in the hopes of landing a job at the institute. The focus of the institute is to use cellular based therapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. There were two talks on Monday and because I can only handle so much scientific rambling in one day I limited myself to one talk that was of specific interest to me. Immunotherapy for HIV. The researcher giving the talk works at UT Southwestern, a giant research and hospital facility in Dallas. I thought her talk was pretty damn amazing and I thought many of you would be interested in hearing about this potentially new treatment for HIV that is not based in toxic pharmacological agents. I've provided a diagram cause its easier to understand with the visual. I've put this in laymen's terms but if you have any questions please email me, I'll be happy to answer.

So when you get infected with HIV the virus specifically infects your T-Helper cells. These cells are essential for fighting off opportunistic infections and when the HIV virus obliterates enough of your CD4 cells you get Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS. There is a latency period in which HIV has infected T-Cells but the virus is not yet being produced by the cell. This is depicted by the red latent HIV infected T-Cell. T-Cells with latent HIV infections express a protein on their surface, the purple lumps. This protein is specific to latently infected T-Cells and can be recognized with an antibody. This is where it gets cool. This researcher has coupled the antibody that recognizes the protein on the infected cells to a toxin, as shown by the antibody with toxin. Then the antibody with the toxin attaches to the cell, the cell will ingest it and the toxin will destroy the T-Cell. No more latently infected T-Cell, one less factory for HIV to be produced in. Because the antibody is specific for ONLY HIV infected T-Cells it will leave uninfected T-Cells (Blue) untouched so that they can remain to help fight infection. Pretty cool huh?! I think so.

This method doesnt attack the virus itself but by destroying the latently infected T-Cells you reduce the number of loci where HIV can be produced later on. Less HIV factories means less overall HIV and your remaining T-Cells are available to fight off other infections and the virus.

What's good about this is that instead of taking a drug that has a global affect on the entire body, such as a retroviral, you can have a "drug" that only targets cells that are infected. The results of this therapy in the lab have been very good and the clinical trials are going to be starting soon. This therapy isn't completely foolproof and there are caveats. There will most likely be some issues to iron out in clinical trials but I think this approach has a lot of promise.

A Little Cup O' Love

soy latte poured by Shane @ Victrola
Originally uploaded by tonx.

I had the best surprise today when I got coffee at a non-Starbucks cafe here in Dallas named Gachet. When I was handed my latte the foam on top had a lovely flower design in it. At first I thought, "What a happy accident." I even asked the barista if the floral design was on purpose and she giggled and said yes. My jaw went slack and I thanked her profusely for making my latte so special. She giggled with pride in her creation and said thank you.

I told Brad about it when I picked him up from work and he told me that latte art is something that he had read about on the internet. I did a google search and lo and behold there is a Flickr photoset with latte art. Amazing.

If you're in Dallas check out Gachet. Not only do you get a lovely design in your coffee it actually tastes good too; better than Starbucks. Not only that but it has FREE WiFi and you can call ahead and order your coffee so that its waiting when you arrive. No waiting in line in the morning. The only thing extra I've ever gotten in my Starbucks is an unwelcomed shot of attitude.

Gachet Coffee Lounge
1804 Greenville Ave
Dallas, TX 75206
214.887.8095


P.S. my Say It Sunday post finally posted along with all the other trials I made yesterday. I've put it down below with Sunday's transcription.

My Brother Exposed

I've exposed myself now its time to expose my family. Last Christmas Brad and I went to Brooklyn to spend the holidays with my family there. My mother is a teacher at a high school in Brooklyn. During the school year my dad and her live in the garden level apartment of an old brownstone in the historic Ft. Greene district of brooklyn owned by my brother and his partner. When school lets out they escape to Scottsdale, AZ for the summer. Trust me the dryness is much better than the humidity.

My brother, Paul, and his partner, Allen, have been together since I was about six or seven years old. That would make them at about 18 years now. Take that Joe.My.God.! My brother is a lighting designer and his partner is a set designer. They have worked on numerous broadway plays, NYC Operas, soap operas (the few that are still filmed in NYC), and commercial displays.

Because they do production design they both have knowledge of how things ought to look according to period. When they bought their house in 1998 it was a wreck. The stairway was falling off the wall. The kitchen was tiny and bathed in the tasteless elegance of the 1970s and many of the home's historic features had been covered up by poor design trends. They are both extremely talented individuals and they now live in a world of unparalleled beauty.



Although their house is not what I would call comfortable or my taste whenever I visit I am in awe of how amazingly elegant their home is. This is my favorite room in their home, the dining room. The mirror is a restored antique from the ante bellum period of which the home was built. Let me just say that everything in this room is of the period that the home was built. The fireplace was made to their specifications. The table and chairs they acquired at an auction in Georgia and were from a plantation home. The wallpaper was custom designed by a friend of Allen's who does wallpaper for theatrical productions. The chandelier was a piece of junk when they bought it but they had it professionally restored.

Wait there's more. Nothing in their house is fake. The garland that you see on the fireplace and the chandelier for the holidays is a string of cranberries that Allen made. The oranges that you see in a crystal bowl on the top of mantle were also hand studded with cloves by Allen. All of the pine garlands that you see are also real. They have such an acute attention to detail that they make Martha Stewart look like a country yokel.

Here are some other photos of their kitchen which is equally impressive. Paul is on the left, Allen in the middle, and my mom is making fresh cranberry sauce. Jellied cranberry sauce in the shape of a can in my brother's kitchen?! NEVER!! Did I mention that he's an accomplished chef as well? They have all the latest modern amenities but have managed to hide them very well.


Being that my brother is so many years older than I am (forty years older than me) I don't have that much of a relationship with him. The year that I came out to my family I spent the holidays in NY, the house had not been finished this much yet. When my dad picked me up from the airport he told me that my brother was upset that I had never spoke to him about my sexuality or my relationship with Brad. I guess he wanted to be there for me but I honestly never knew. That year he and I trimmed his tree together and I was nervous as hell. I was nervous firstly because I wanted to be a good assistant with the decorating. Secondly I was nervous because I so desperately wanted to say something to him about Brad, about my sexuality, and how I was touched that he cared. I didn't say a word to him and we trimmed the tree in utter silence.

Last year he gave Brad and I tickets to see Twelve Angry Men on broadway. He and Allen were the head lighting and set designers respectively. The production had a star studded cast and the sets and lighting were phenomenal. I was so proud of the both of them that I was anxious to see them the next morning after the show and tell them how beautiful their work was. I did but I couldn't possibly express in words to him that I was so proud of his and Allen's work that it brought me to the verge of tears.

My brother is a tempermental provincial New Yorker who thinks that everything outside the city is the hinterlands. My mother is always getting on my case to call him and to have more of a relationship with him. I think in the coming year I'm going to make an attempt to do just that.

I didn't intend this post to be so long or go in the direction it did.

Say It Sunday: Transcribed

Audioblogger seems to be taking the day off so I am going to just write down what I had tried to post twice with audioblogger earlier today.

First of all I never mentioned Scotty over at The Other Side of Straight. I just wanted to say thanks to him for organizing Say It Sunday.

Family Life

I've had more down time than usual this past week at work and of course I've been reading many a blog. I have noticed that several gay bloggers have been recounting stories of familial issues, especially over the holidays, regarding their sexuality. I have to say that these stories make me very sad and my heart goes out to everyone that has to deal with that kind of bullshit. I hate to use such a trite and vulgar term to describe it but I think its appropriate. I am truly lucky to have a family that supports me and my partner and our life together.

Be that as it may I do realize that my situation is unique being that I had two gay brothers come out years before me and that one of them passed away. The lesson that came from that though is that our time here is shorter than you realize and no one should take family for granted. So many people hold grudges thinking that they have enough time to make amends but all too often its too late and they lose the opportunity to let people know that they really cared.

I think the best thing to do in strained family situations that result from sexuality is to always offer the olive branch. Make yourself open to them and put the ball in their court. That way you know that you did the best you could to build a relationship with them.

Politics

I wanted to draw attention to a great op-ed post in the Huffington Post that was posted on Friday by jane Smiley. She wrote a response to an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal by Holman W. Jenkins Jr. which stated that he thought that people who buy Toyota Priuses are getting duped because they are not getting the most for their money. She defends her Prius and that she buys natural organic foods for the hope of creating more demand for such products so that they no longer are premium; so that everyone will be able to eat healthy foods and drive economical and environmentally conscious vehicles. She also touches on some great points on how deregulation was the worst thing to ever happen to this country. You can check it out here

Pop Life

I'm really excited this week because on wednesday is the season premiere of Project Runway 2. For those of you that missed the show last season its basically The Apprentice for fashion designers. I hope this season has personalities as large as last season's Jay McCarroll, Kara Saun, and the Capote-esque Austin Scarlett.

Have a good week everyone!

Say It Sunday

Mall Excursion

My friend Greg is going to be proposing to his girlfriend this Christmas when he goes home to Paris to see her. Therefore he needed to buy a ring. Kim and I accompanied him to the galleria this afternoon amidst the sea of holiday shoppers. Its rare that I go this north in Dallas and I hadn't been in some time so I was looking forward to seeing how the majority of Dallas spends their weekends. Greg was a bit nervous about the big leap so we did our best to make the excursion fun.

After lunch we encountered one of those kiosks that sells shit that you really really don't need like hair extensions and cell phone covers with your alma mater's logo all over it. This particular kiosk was hocking fake puppies and kittens. They looked remarkably realistic and to top it off they're bellies would move up and down to make it look like they were breathing.

It was especially disturbing that when you picked these faux critters up from their beds they were completely flat on the bottom. I was getting terrible thoughts at that point that maybe these were taxidermy. Dog anyone?

We moved on to Nordstrom where Kim and Greg raided the discount winter accessories. Fabulous darling!

Obviously a mannequin done by a gay employee at Nordstrom.

Not to be outdone by Kim and Greg's display I found a rather fetching hat and posed while Kim worked as my fashion photographer. I think its amusing that this is another photo of me with coffee.


As the day ended we were greeted with stunning anti-war propaganda. There is actually quite a bit of these kinds of flyers posted around Dallas. I need to find who's doing this and join them!