Goats on trial

I was reading the paper this morning (kids sell it to you through your car window on the way to work), and there was an adorable close up photograph of a goat. The headline read, "Goats freed from DRC jail" and the picture caption was, "The goats were due to appear in court." I wish the actual story was as interesting as the title.

This afternoon we brought another lab's centrifuge into Immunology to help ease the burden of all the work being done. And of course the first thing we did was error out the machine. We figured out what was wrong quite quickly, but we couldn't figure out how to reset the centrifuge. Pierre, Joy, and I gathered together our collective knowledge of technology, and like proper biologists, we stood around the machine like simpletons and pushed the same series of buttons over and over again. To no avail. I managed to locate the user manual online, and after downloading for 15 minutes, it turned out to be in German. Scheisse-- I haven't spoken German in almost 8 years! NETZ-RESET, beim Einschalten muss sich der Rotor drehen. To reset, turn the rotor when turning on. :-/

It rained like crazy again this afternoon, and between the traffic jams and George's errands, I didn't get home until after 7. I actually don't really mind so much because he is fun to talk to. I'm changing my schedule a bit at the lab. Blood samples come into the lab from the villages in the afternoon and they need to be processed, which makes it difficult to get my own work done. I've decided to go into work before everyone gets there, around 6am, and work my butt of until the afternoon rush. Even though I'm a night owl, it's not a big deal for me-- it gets dark so early here, and I really don't leave the compound at night.

Here are some pictures of my friends here. The first is Sophie, Kristin, and Joy. Then me, Sophie, and Kristin. I've also added a photo of one of the most beautiful buildings in Kampala, the Mosque built by Idi Amin. It is currently being renovated by Gadaffi. Fot those of you curious, Christianity is the dominat religion in Uganda. Last is a huge stock I caught as it was flying out of a tree at the JCRC.