Let’s say you wanted to obtain a copy of this (infamous) paper.

1. Go to the Dahlgren Memorial Library web page.




2. Click on the link “Journal Finder”.




3. Type “Nature” into the search box.




4. Since “Nature” is a common word in journal titles, you’ll get too many hits if you do an unconstrained search. So, change the selection box “Partial Words” to “Exact Phrase”.




5. Click on the “Search” button.




6. Under “Full Text Access”, click any of the little icons that look like a check mark. I’d say go to the one corresponding to “Publisher”. This should bring you to the website of the publisher of the journal Nature.




7. Go to the link labeled “Archive” and look for the article there.

Let’s say you wanted to a PubMed search for articles about “transcendental medicine”. To search for articles in which this term occurs in the title, do this PubMed search:

     transcendental medicine [ti]

Hmm, no articles were found at the time I did this search. Maybe search for this term in either the title or the abstract:

     transcendental medicine [tiab]

Still nothing. Maybe there are no articles published on PubMed on this topic.

Or suppose you wanted to search for papers by author J. Smith. You could do the following search:

     smith j [au]

Since there are many authors whose first name began with “J” and whose last name was “Smith”, there are many hits. To restrict the list to only those papers where J. Smith was the first author, use the [1au] tag instead:

     smith j [1au]

There are still many hits. To further restrict the search to first author J. Smiths from Georgetown University, try this search:

     smith j [1au] AND georgetown [ad]

which demonstrates a boolean expression. To search for first author J. Smiths from either Georgetown University or Yale University, try this search:

     smith j [1au] AND ( georgetown [ad] OR yale [ad] )

which demonstrates the boolean OR and the use of parentheses. Boolean NOT also works, but I don’t use it so often.

Here are the search tags that I use most frequently, roughly ordered from most- to least-frequently used.

    2009 [dp]

    2009/2 [dp]

Searching PubMed

1. Go to Lauinger Library’s website, and click on the link labeled Articles and Databases; then click on the JSTOR link.




2. On JSTOR, do a search for “transcendental medicine” (yes, including the double quotes). This should yield about a dozen hits.




3. Right-click on the title of one of the articles, e.g. right-click on the word “Wonders” (article #6 in my search results). Select “Open Link in New Tab”. (Depending on your browser, you might not be able to do this, in which case you might have to open in a new window, or even just single-click on the link.)




4. In the new tab, click on the link labeled “View list of pages with search term(s)”. This should make a list of pages in which “transcendental medicine” occurred; click on one of these pages. In the “Wonders” article, only one page (page 25) has the words “transcendental medicine”.




5. JSTOR should show you the page where “transcendental medicine” occurred, and it should highlight the search words in yellow. In the “Wonders” article, we catch only the last half of the sentence; to see the first half of the sentence, click on the gold-colored bar to the left of the page to go back one page.




6. If you’re interested in the article, single-click on the link labeled PDF.




7. If you repeat the above steps for several articles and look at the sentences in which “trancendental medicine” occurred, you’ll see evidence that “transcendental medicine” had something to do with a mystical movement, and with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Earlier post on JSTOR.

In the morning, I split a sandwich (pavo y queso, if I remember correctly) at Starbucks with B.O. Then we visited the mountain-top Sanctuario of Schoenstatt. The road to the top of the mountain gradually became rougher and rougher, eventually becoming a gravel road, and then becoming a dirt road.

Here is a nice photo that B.O. took last year (26 May 2009) of the chapel. It looks like a scene out of a fairy tale.

Chapel of the Sanctuario de Schoenstatt

B.O. suggested I go over the crest of the mountain. On the city-side of the mountain, you could hear the city noise. But on the opposite side of the mountain where the chapel sits, it is quiet; peaceful; meditative.

Mountain-Top View from the Sanctuario (I)

Mountain-Top View from the Sanctuario (II)

Mountain-Top View from the Sanctuario (III)

Mountain-Top View from the Sanctuario (IV)

Vegetation at the Sanctuario (I)

Vegetation at the Sanctuario (II)

Me at the Chapel of the Sanctuario de Schoenstatt

Chapel of the Sanctuario de Schoenstatt (interior)

B.O. and Me at the Chapel of the Sanctuario de Schoenstatt

Then B.O. took me to the airport, and I returned to D.C.

B.O. first took me to Soriana to buy new rubber sandals, since I had lost mine somewhere along the way (probably in the transfer from Hotel Ibis to B.O.’s parents’ house).

Afterwards, we stopped by OXXO, where I bought a chicken salad sandwich.

The Sandwich From OXXO

We split the sandwich as a light snack on the road, and we also snacked on tuna (the cactus fruit, not the fish).

After a while, we arrived to the Termas de San Joaquín (San Joaquín Hot Springs). A bath house was built around natural hot springs; it was essentially a shallow swimming pool, with the water coming up to about waist level. There was a distinct sulfurous smell.

Lantern In The Spiral Ramp

Passageway

B.O. and Me At The Termas

We returned to Monterrey, and had a late lunch at the house of B.O.’s brother E., the father of little V. who was shown taking a swing at the piñata on August 14. who served us a gourmet Italian meal that he cooked himself. Also at the table were E.’s wife N., and his two daughters M.A. (whom we have seen earlier) and little V.

In the evening, we went to the Mall Valle Oriente, where I bought a tie at Scappino, and then stopped by Sanborn’s and had coffee. Afterwards, we saw the new G.I. Joe movie in a very fancy theatre at V.I.P. Cinépolis. Waitstaff is present so you can order out of a menu, and you can then have a meal (B.O. mentioned sushi as a possibility) while you watch the movie; but we didn’t order anything.

Here are some photos of the interior of the V.I.P. theater.

V.I.P. Cinépolis Theatre

V.I.P. Cinépolis Seat (Close Up)

V.I.P. Menu (food and drinks)

Finally, we had a late meal at Super Salads.

Trip Summary

Apparently my clothes didn’t fit me that well. So B.O. took me to a tailor that she has used for years, Don Alejo, and had three of my shirts and the pants for my two-piece suit adjusted. Don Alejo had the adjustments done in time for the wedding later that day!

Camisa:

Here’s a picture of Don Alejo’s shop (sastrería). That’s B.O.’s car on the right; B.O. is sitting at the wheel.

Don Alejo's Shop

Don Alejo and Me

I had packed a bunch of dark socks. But I hadn’t brought any dress socks, figuring that I could get away with wearing non-dressy dark socks at the wedding and reception. After all, when was the last time that anybody paid attention to the socks I was wearing?

I also hadn’t brought a white undershirt, and B.O. said that wearing a white dress shirt without an undershirt was a social blunder. I guess I have to believe her.

B.O.’s sister, D., went out shopping and bought me a pair of dark dress socks and a white undershirt to wear to the wedding. Thanks, D.!!

B.O. and I then went shopping for men’s clothing at La Argentina.

B.O. and Me at La Argentina

Afterwards, we had lunch at Sanborn’s.

When we got home, B.O.’s nephew R. and his band were practicing some music (some of which they had composed themselves).

R. And His Band

Soon after, we attended N.V. and R.C.’s wedding. The priest was Fr. Didier Marie Dugas; it was interesting to hear Spanish spoken with a French accent!

B.O. had the responsibility of making sure that small bells and bubble blowers were handed out as wedding favors. We left early to get to the reception hall, because B.O. was helping make arrangements there, too. I helped show guests to their tables; I am sure that many were wondering what an Asian guy was doing there at the reception.

The reception was held in the Salón Royal. The reception for another wedding was being held simultaneously in a nearby room across the hall.

Salón Royal (Lintel)

Salón Royal (second doorway)

Display Table

Guest Book

Wedding Cake

Bride and Groom's Table

S2, R, N, I., S., and B.O.

R.C., N.V., B.O., and Me

Here’s a photo that came out with an interesting, ghostly effect — an accidental double exposure.

Frolicking Men

Towards the end of the reception dinner, B.O. noticed that three women sitting to my right were sitting quietly, staring intently at their desserts but without touching them. B.O. was wondering, why aren’t they eating their desserts? Then she remembered: these three women were N.V.’s co-workers at Quitakilos, whose mission is to offer healthy food. (The name Quitakilos translates, roughly, to “Shed Pounds”; recall that B.O. and I ate at a Quitakilos location on August 11.) None of the three women wanted to be the first to touch her dessert, because each knew that her co-workers were watching.

This was a classic Mexican Standoff!

(Here is a famous Mexican standoff in film.)

After our reception was coming to a close, B.O. and I noticed a mariachi band assembling outside the reception room for the other wedding. I quickly had a photo taken with the mariachi band; seconds later, they marched into the room and began playing music.

Me With Mariachi Band

Trip Summary

I checked out of Hotel Ibis in the morning, and for the rest of the trip I spent the nights at B.O.’s family’s house as their guest. Somehow, in the move I lost my beach sandals.

In the morning, we split a sandwich (I think it was queso y puerco) from OXXO as a light snack on the road, and drove to Coahuila state, to see the Museo de las Aves. Yes, it was a museum that was devoted exclusively to the birds of México; there were many fine specimens of birds were on display in various dramatic poses. There was a map at the museum that showed the various climates of México. It showed that Monterrey is in a temperate forested clime, not out in the desert.

Me With Display of Stuffed Ostrich

Something that I got to wondering was, when a taxidermist is presented with a dead bird to mount for display, how do they decide what pose to put the bird in?

B.O. and Me at Museo de las Aves

Comparing Crocs at Museo de las Aves

After the Museo, we visited B.O.’s friend V. in Saltillo, which is the capital of Coahuila. We didn’t stay long, since we needed to get back to Monterrey for dinner.

On the way back, we bought a braid of garlic (ajos) from a roadside vendor. The sign behind us indicates two local towns, Los Fierros and Rinconada; the vendor was from Rinconada.

Garlic Vendor and Me

Garlic Braids

B.O. has a ceramic container at home which she can use to roast the garlic. Roasted garlic — sounds delicious!

Roadside Landscape

In the evening, I attended the weekly dinner of B.O.’s extended family. About 24 people were present. This photos is a little underexposed, but it gives a flavor of the setting.

Family Dinner

Dinner was tostitacos, which looked like tacos in a red shell. B.O. assured me that this was the meal that they always had (i.e., they didn’t make a special meal just because I was visiting).

After dinner they threw a birthday party for me (although it wasn’t really my birthday), complete with birthday cake, to show me what their birthday parties are like. They give each birthday party a theme according to the particular celebrant’s in-jokes, personality, and history. In my case, the motif was Mr. Spock, which is a reference to an in-joke that B.O. and I have that I am very Vulcan. B.O.’s sister E. had spent a lot of time making cute table decorations; you can see one on the table in the foreground, in the photo above. They presented me with some birthday gifts, and then I showed them some old movies of my own family from the 70’s and 80’s.

Here are two of B.O.’s nieces.

M. and M.A.

Here’s B.O.’s nephew.

R. At The Computer

B.O.’s family had gone so far as to have a piñata custom made in the image of Mr. Spock.

Revellers and Piñata

Apparently, this helped drum up a little business for the piñata maker. I was told that two other customers saw the Spock piñata, and asked the piñata maker to make one for them, too.

The convention is that the celebrant gets the first swings at the piñata. But if the celebrant is an adult they take only “light” swings at the piñata without breaking it, to allow the children to take “real” swings. In any case, the piñata was surprisingly well-made, and didn’t break very easily (this one was not filled with anything).

Here’s A. taking a swing at the piñata. She is wearing her Snow White costume.

A. Having At It

And here’s little V. taking a swing (with a little help from her father, B.O.’s brother E.):

V. Taking A Swing

According to this web page, the traditional piñata is shaped like a seven-pointed star to represent the Devil and the Seven Deadly Sins. So hitting it with a stick is symbolic of fighting evil.

Trip Summary

B.O., her sister E., E.’s daughter A., and I started the day with a light breakfast at Starbucks (I ordered a cinnamon dulce latte). Then the four of us went to the Bioparque Estrella, boarded an open truck, and went on a simulated safari. E. bought about five large paper cups of food to give to the animals, and we each had a cup. There were only four of us, so somebody, probably E., was holding two cups.

View down the length of the truck.

The camels were surprisingly, shall we say, forward.

In Your Face, and Up Close & Personal

Not expecting the animals to stick their necks within the truck, B.O. had been keeping the food between her legs. One of the camels (we think it was “Brutus”, a two-humped Bactrian camel) reached in and grabbed the food right out from between B.O.’s legs, giving her a HUGE fright! Afterwards, B.O. was muttering “Brutus, stupidus, idiutus…”

Camel Grabbing For Food

A man sitting just to our right had a similar fright. He was feeding a camel, and suddenly a second camel shoved its head in the way, trying to get some food, too. Everybody became wary of the camels, who were tall enough to reach into the truck and grab food!

From left to right: me, camel (Oliva?), A., and E. Note our body language.

The giraffe was friendly, too.

E., B.O., and A. in front of whale skeleton

E., me, and A. in front of whale skeleton

Then the four of us went to a “magic town” close to Monterrey, the Villa de Santiago (here’s a description in English).

Street Scene in Villa de Santiago

There, we went to a restaurant named Los Escamoles. Here is a picture of the wash basin in the men’s room. I was informed that the ceramic used for this sink probably comes from Puebla.

Wash basin in Los Escamoles

At this restaurant, I tried a distinctly Mexican/Aztec food called escamoles.

Escamoles

This has been described variously as either the eggs or the larvae of ants. Sounds a little scary, doesn’t it? But surely you’ve eaten caviar, perhaps on sushi? Think of this as an insect caviar. I was expecting escamoles to be salty, like caviar. But it wasn’t that salty at all. In texture, it was kind of like a pasta al dente; and in flavor it had a mild, nutty taste. (This reminds me: I read somewhere that wichetty grubs are eaten as an ethnic food in Australia, and that they have a nutty taste.)

Another dish that I tried was a pepper drenched in a nut sauce, studded with pomegranate arils. This was chiles en nogada, one of the most famous dishes in México, and the recipe is from the same place that produces the nice ceramics, Puebla. The colors (red, white, and green) celebrate the colors of the Mexican flag; and the dish is available only seasonally, in August and in September.

Chiles en Nogada

E.'s daughter, A.

Later in the evening, I attended a wine-tasting event at Buké Restaurant. The theme for the evening was wines from Piedmont, Italy. Three red wines were paired with food. Here’s the announcement for the wine-tasting:

Here’s a photo of me with the two owners of Buké, Gonzalo and Néstor, as well as with Luigi Travi, the wine expert who led the wine-tasting event.

Gonzalo Palazuelos, Luigi Travi, me, and Néstor A. Leal

Luigi works for a wine importer named Enotria; I gather that they actually specialize in Italian wine.

B.O. at Buké

Afterwards, B.O. took me to an area high in the mountains named Chipinque, which is close to a famous mountain formation known as the “M”. There, we took some night-time photos of Monterrey.

Monterrey By Night

Finally, B.O. and I went to the Monterrey Koldbar (Ice Bar).

Scene in the Monterrey KoldBar

Here’s a photo of an ice sculpture of a bear that B.O. took back in June.

Ice Sculpture of a Bear

B.O. and me in the Ice Bar

Trip Summary

In the morning, B.O. took me to 24 Horas, where we had fruit smoothies for breakfast. I chose one named Murcielago (“bat”), which was a dark red color. Here’s a photo of our drinks; my Murcielago is on the right.

Fruit Smoothie Breakfast at 24 Horas

Here’s a colorful photo that I took of the menu. Above the post for Carolina, you can see the ingredients for the Murcielago: oranges, beets, and celery. I’m not sure what the numbers “20-28-36″ under the ingredients mean. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium? (Just kidding.)

A Few Items on the 24 Horas Menu

Afterward breakfast, we stopped by the Laboratorios Moreira, a private laboratory where B.O. had some routine bloodwork done for her annual medical check-up. Within hours, she was able to check the results via the internet, something that I am unable to do in the U.S. I believe that people can’t check laboratory results in the U.S. in general, possibly because HIPAA requirements may make it infeasible. California may be an exception; in 2001, bill AB 1490 was signed into law (see page 20).

Next, we visited B.O.’s friend N.V., to plan for her wedding and reception on August 15. Then we went to Divisas San Jorge Casa de Cambio, where I changed some dollars to pesos, and then went to B.O.’s office, Principal Financial. Here’s B.O. at her office:

B.O. At Her Office, 2006

Then we made a stop at Home Depot to buy blinds for B.O.’s room. The Home Depot felt like any Home Depot that I’ve been to in the U.S., except that all the signage was in Spanish.

In the parking lot of the Home Depot

Afterwards, we visited B.O.’s sister A. to ask her husband A. to install the new blinds. B.O.’s father E. joined us after several minutes. Then B.O. and I went to Carl Jr.’s to have burgers (yes, not very Méxican) for lunch. The Carl Jr.’s was crowded because people were watching the U.S. vs. México soccer game on the TV there. México won, 2-1.

Then we went to the nearby Gandhi Bookstore, but as we were just about to enter the store I realized that I had forgotten my mochilla (backpack) at Carl Jr.’s. Since it was so close, it was easiest for me to simply walk back to the Carl Jr.’s to retrieve it.

Backpack Retrieved

I bought several books, mostly having to do with Mexican culture and history.

At the end of the day, we had dinner at the house of one of B.O.’s other sisters, D., whose husband J.R. served up grilled vegetables (onions, peppers, and nopales) and meats (beef and sausage). Here is the official Mexican site for the nopal and its fruit, tuna, which are considered very healthful foods.

Here are some photos of the food as it was being grilled.

Dinner on the Mesquite Charcoal Grill

Close-Up of Vegetales

Trip Summary

In Reagan National Airport, we boarded the airplane in the standard way: from back to front in blocks.

The trip itself was uneventful. As the airplane was descending to land in General Mariano Escobedo International Airport, there was an overhead announcement stating that the airline was very sorry, but they didn’t have immigration cards to fill out. We were instructed to find immigration cards on some desk in the terminal. In the resulting confusion in the terminal, I was unable to find any immigration cards! I finally just went up to the immigration officer and asked for one. All told, it took me about one hour to get out of the airport.

Here’s a map of the airport.

Monterrey Airport Terminal Layout

B.O. was there to pick me up. After we bought some bottled water from a nearby concession stand, we walked over to her car. Driving out of the airport’s parking lot, my first comment was that it felt very much like the U.S. Even the makes of the cars looked pretty much the same; sometimes when I’m in foreign countries, the types of cars look very much different from the cars you see in the U.S. This made B.O. chuckle; she said that Mexicans from outside Monterrey often make the same observation, saying that Monterrey feels like the U.S.

From there, we went to QuitaKilos, where we had lunch. Here’s their menu for August 11:

B.O. and I ordered the same meal: the Pay atún (tuna pie; the fish, not the cactus fruit), Crema de coliflor (cream of cauliflower soup), and Ensalada de zanahoria (carrot salad).

B.O.’s friend N.V., whose marriage we attended on August 15, used to work at Quitakilos. This resulted in a humorous situation at the reception, as you’ll see when I get to that post. For now, here’s a photo of B.O. with N.V. taken 22 August 2008, at N.V.’s sister’s wedding; it is a sort of preview of N.V.’s 15 August 2009 wedding.

B.O. and N.V., 22 August 2008

We briefly stopped by B.O.’s home, to pick up B.O.’s laptop computer. Out front waiting to greet me were B.O.’s sister D., D.’s son R., and B.O.’s niece A. Inside the house, I met B.O.’s cousin A. and B.O.’S sister E. (the mother of B.O.’s niece A.) B.O.’s parents weren’t home; I believe they were out on vacation.

B.O. lent me her laptop computer so that I could have internet access during my stay at Hotel Ibis. They have Third Generation (3G) Internet in Monterrey.

Afterwards, we went to the Iglesia de San José en Monterrey, which you’ll see listed on this web page. B.O. would often pray to St. Joseph at this church, so it has special significance. Here are two photos of the church.

La iglesia de San José

Another photo of la iglesia de San José

Then B.O. took me to the Ana Elisa Beauty Co., a hair salon, to get my hair cut in preparation for the wedding and reception on August 15. In the salon, there was a cute little doggie named Nini, a shitzu, I think. Here is a map showing the location of this hair salon.

Finally, B.O. drove me to the Hotel Ibis Monterrey Valle, where I checked in and got some rest.

Trip Summary