They didn't teach me that in science class...

I found a great picture of the coolest-hotel-in-the-world-that-I’ve-never-visited-and-probably-never-will – here, check it out:

Wow, huh? And usually if I see a picture of this place, I simply gaze longingly at it for a few seconds and then move along to something else. But this time, for some reason, I was struck with a sense of familiarity. I mean, I’ve seen pictures of the hotel before, of course – but it was reminding me of something else, something other than a hotel, and something other than a “sail.” It’s obviously a hotel that looks like a sail – so what else could it be reminding me of? And then I figured it out:

Yep, it’s a double helix! It’s DNA. It’s the stuff we’re all made of. You can almost imagine all those tiny little Burj Al Arabs floating around in your veins… If you just twisted the top of the hotel 180 degrees, you’d have a lovely representation of DNA, right on the beach. But I suppose “boat with sail” on the beach makes a lot more sense than “deoxyribonucleic acid” on the beach. Nobody is gonna say, “let’s go see the hotel that looks like crime scene evidence!” It just doesn’t quite sound right. But now that I’ve seen it, I’ll be thinking “DNA” every time I see that hotel…

Okay, now that the “Lisa is a weirdo” portion of the blog is out of the way… :) Mom and dad left for Buffalo this morning, to visit my grandmother in the hospital. She hasn’t been doing very well. She originally went to the ER because of what seemed like some sort of bug, but she was getting weak and dehydrated, so they kept her at the hospital. But even once the infection cleared up, she didn’t regain any strength. And then apparently a few days ago she had a stroke. She couldn’t talk or swallow for a while, but last I heard, she was actually doing a little bit better and able to eat again. So we’re all hoping she can recover, but I guess doctors aren’t always optimistic when they’re talking about someone who’s 84 years old.

Sometimes I wonder about that – do doctors purposely give people as little hope as possible, so if the “worst case scenario” occurs, it’s not as much of a shock? Or are they just generally rather pessimistic people? I suppose the “pessimistic” approach could be an advantage for the doctors, actually – if they say something like, “I’ll do everything I can, but the prognosis is dire,” and then a patient ends up recovering, they’re seen as amazing miracle workers. It’s a PR thing… I mean, that would explain why, when I sliced my finger on that umbrella on the Mediterranean cruise, the ship doctor said, “I’ll do everything I can, but I’m not sure I can save the finger.” How happy was I when I ended up with a fully-functioning finger? (I’m just kidding… he didn’t really say that… but it would’ve been funny if he had…)

Anyway, with mom and dad gone, I’m taking care of the cats – which at this point includes several “outdoor” cats that have wandered into The Winstrom Pet Sanctuary and Exotic Animal Refuge. Because mom and dad’s house backs up to a marshy pond area, there’ve been some interesting creatures out there. They’ve seen raccoons, possums, snakes, crawfish – and what was it that Eric found in the pool skimmer that one time? A rat? A rabbit? I think it was some sort of rodent. Not to mention all the scorpions. Ick. I HATE scorpions. (Does anyone NOT hate scorpions?)

And just think – all those living creatures are made up of tiny little Burj Al Arab hotels… isn’t biology amazing? :)