As many of you know, I’ve been moving recently. For the record, this is the 11th time I’ve moved since August 2000. Hopefully, I will only have 1 or 2 moves left before I’ll be able to settle down somewhere for an extended period of time.
Here’s to another “Only in JDE” moment: watching Snakes on a Plane in a theater with nearly 60 other people that you know or are otherwise connected to in various capacities. If you were there, you understand; if you weren’t, I feel very sorry for you. 
I was surprised to find that when I walked home for lunch today, it was only marginally warmer than when I had left for work in the morning. Combined with the moderate northwest wind and the low humidity, it felt like…late September.
Today is also the first day of Nebraska high school sports practice and UNL’s greek rush; some poor kids even had to go back to school today. The march of the seasons carries on.
A new store, Bad Robot, opened in the first floor of my apartment building last week; they sell overpriced trinkets and coffee. Along with the Pangaea Cafe that opened up in The Chatterbox last month, there are now five locations that sell coffee within a block of my residence. Oddly enough, none of them is a Starbucks.
I received the results back from my Genographic Project Y-DNA test, which can be summed up thusly:
“Surprise! My genetic markers indicate that I’m descended from western Europeans!”
The markers and values I had tested are listed below. (The markers outlined in red are the ones that place me in the Atlantic Modal Haplotype.)
DYS 385a 13
DYS 385b 14
DYS 388 12
DYS 389-1 13
DYS 389-2 29*
DYS 390 24
DYS 391 11
DYS 392 13
DYS 393 13
DYS 19/394 14
DYS 426 12
DYS 439 12
*Also reported as 16, using Genographic nomenclature.
As for those of you who care for some non-obvious reason, the tests have confirmed that I’m a member of the R1b1 haplogroup. Since my unstoppable thirst for knowledge dovetails nicely with Family Tree DNA’s desire to make money, I have ordered an additional, more detailed Y-DNA test that should place me in a “smaller” haplogroup within R1b1.
So, I guess the upshot of all this is that if you happen to be a male Whidden and you’re thinking about having your DNA tested, don’t bother, as I have taken care of this for you. (Don’t thank me all at once…)
My parents are currently on vacation in Alaska. I’ve asked them to send back pictures of their travels with the intent of providing some of them as desktop wallpaper. So, here’s an image of Denali National Park. Enjoy! (The mountain itself is barely visible; it’s the very white area among the clouds.)
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