12 October, 1959

Dear Mama and Daddy:

I'll tell you what our check stub record has right away, so that I don't forget about it. On 10 September, Lucy paid a bill to Happy's for $7.79. Enclosed are the slips for that order - one is a case of quinine which I got, and the other is a case of beer that Lucy telephoned an order for. The Aug. 4 item is for a case of beer (Quarts) that Lucy ordered; the Aug. 23 item is for the beer, etc., that I went over and got the day all those people were there with Mrs. Rosenwald. I guess that from our checkstub record we did not pay any bills to Happy other than those of June and July. Therefore it looks to me as if the $48.05 must be right.

I also enclose a bill from Alvins Photo which must be mostly yours. The 5 August item is mine, but the 2 and 26 September items are not; the 2 Sept. must be for your slides which I picked up, and I know nothing of the later item, since I had left Pasadena by then. Anyway, I am sending a check to them for the 7.28 item, and am suggesting to them that they attempt not to confuse my bill with yours.

While on the subject of money, there were a couple of items that you and Lucy didn't settle on. First of all, we agreed that you should buy from that part of the case of gin that I bought that we did not use; I think that we were responsible for the use of five of the bottles. The case cost $42.00, therefore the net for seven bottles is $24.50. That price was 20% off retail, which was the only reason I bought it in the first place. I also paid $17.00 to have your amplifier checked over and repaired, which I don't think Lucy had record of.

These items repeated, along with some others that my efficient wife didn't have on the list she gave you.

Seven bottles gin: $24.50; amplifier: $17.00; Pac Tel and Tel, 10 July: $3.79; Allen, piano tuning, 15 July: $20.00. Total: $65.29.

There is also a bill I paid to Monise for the Porsche: At a lube, which I feel I should pay for, I asked that the wheel bearings be repacked; however it was necessary to replace both the front wheel bearings and the grease seals, and thus this got a might expensive. I feel of two minds about giving this to you, though, since I had the use of the car all summer. However, that bill which I have here, was for $50.30 in total, of which $9.05 was for the lube and oil change. Of the remaining $41.25, I will leave to your discretion whether or not you feel that I ought to take care of that matter. While on the subject of the Porsche, that car is in excellent condition, and I feel is better than the new ones. I spent a good deal of time trying to make it look nice this summer, polishing the paint, saddle-soaping the leather, mounting the license plates correctly with little chromium frames, etc., and was rewarded, by making the car look prettv good. I only hope that it stays that way. I replaced little rubber gaskets here and there as necessary; as for performance, it ran fine for me all summer.

Well, enough on such a mundane topic. Thanks a lot for the check that you sent; I'm sorry that I haven't written sooner.

Our apartment is quite nice, and now we have gotten fairly well settled. However, the furniture that Lucy's parents are sending us hasn't shown up as yet, so we are still sort of camping. The table and chairs arrived with me in the car, none the worse for wear. The chairs rode on the roof, and got a little wet in the Oregon liquid sunshine. I left them in Uncle George's garage while I house-hunted, and he very kindly glued the split ones together for us. He certainly is sweet. I stayed for a few days with their son Sterling, who has a very nice new house, and then we discovered that their other son George Jr. lives right across the street from our apartment. Everyone has been very kind, and I think that they are not just being polite to a relative. I want to be careful not to impose on anyone.

School is going very well. I am taking Genetics of Microorganisms, Cell Physiology, Biochemistry, and Bacteriology. All of the courses seem to me to be well organized and valuable; I am particularly impressed by a fellow in Biochem named Edmond Fischer, who I understand was at CIT for a while. His lectures are just excellent, well organized and well presented, and he is very good at explaining difficult concepts to the class. For the first time I feel that I understand the Michaelis-Menton equation, and the derivation of the K_M. The committee and I decided that I would be wise not to try to do any research for a while, until I get full graduate standing. I think that this is wise, because research can be very time-consuming.

Two or three of my friends from Reed have come here as well, so that we have some friends around. I have also made an acquaintance with Jan van Niel, who is a grad student in zoology. He remembered visiting us in Pasadena in about 1946, but I confess I don't remember that. He is very nice, and seems to be a smart fellow.

There certainly are some interesting questions to think about. The present idea of a chromosome is that it consists of a protein backbone with the DM as little side chains. The question of separation of the two strands of DNA is interesting; I wonder if the segment completely uncoils, or if there is some process of breakdown and reformation. A second interesting point to ponder is the mechanism of gene action; with the Watson-Crick model, with the nitrogen bases in the centre of the helical structure, how do they transmit the information carried by their sequential arrangement to the outside of the molecule, to transfer it to RNA or nucleoprotein. If I can fit it in, I am going to take an advanced biochem lab from Joe Kraut, and he said that I could do much as I please. I think that I might do some density gradient study of phage DNA if I do take that course.

Well, I'm sorry so much of this letter is related to money. I also enclose something about [illegible].

Much love

Crellin, Lucy, Cheryl