I am a Geek

scientists are called many things--here is a venn diagram my dad sent me that helps to explain the differences between them

werner herzog makes everything better...

mangroves and slugs

I have been quite lackadaisical recently with my postings, and for that I apologize. However, I would like to bring your attention to my friend Christine's blog, which is more often updated. As she is also a scientist in the Hawai'i program, and is often discussing interesting bits of research, I will link you over to her. Here is a post she recently did on our field trip to the mangroves. I found the little photosynthetic slug--a recent discovery for science! Photosynthesis in slugs is not a common occurrence!

My sister, brother, and friend Monica recently visited and we took over the island; driving everywhere, going to Lanikai, North Shore, Hanauma Bay, Diamond Head, among others. Here is a pic my sis took of my octo :) click to see the whole pic--i can't figure out how to fix that....

Coconut

I thought I should put some pictures up of my new home. Here is a view of my front yard, and a view of the moon through the palm tree.




Also, they filmed Lost here recently. Here is a picture of the boat they brought to film on.

A Day

I would have begun that phrase with "what," but that implies some negativity. And indeed, there were some quite negative parts to this day, horrible parts even, but, there were some splendid parts as well. I would love to say that the splendid outweigh the horrible, but I would be lying...

My day began as all days begin: I woke up late and had to rush to get to campus on time. I did SEM work for Les, which was pretty uneventful. Then, I had class, in which I struggled to keep awake. All this was fine until my external hard drive decided it was dead. Forever. And all of my pictures and grant proposals and resumes are on there. Everyone has helpfully pointed out that I shouldn't have put them all on there without a backup. While I know this is true, fat lot a good it will do for me now... It will cost at least $300 to get everything off of there. I am trying to weigh the memories with dollar values, but it is getting me nowhere. I finally decided I didn't have time to dwell on this issue because as a spontaneous exciting adventure, my friend Kasie asked me to go on two night dives with her!

The night dives were fabulous, splendiferous, magnupendous! Each dive was around 100ft. The first dive was to a small circular coral reef that you could swim underneath. There were lots of white tip reef sharks there, and morays, and soldier fish, frogfish, and a huge carrier crab (what looked to be a carrier crab). On the way up from the dive, we turned our lights off and swam in the phosphorescence. I looked up at the ocean surface above and it is so beautiful. I always feel so much more at peace in the water. The second dive was on a wreck where we saw several huge turtles, more morays, butterfly fish, parrot fish, and many others. When I am underwater, I forget about all the stress and frustration of everyday life. All I want to do is be in the moment and explore the amazing life around me...

After the dives, I was excited to drive home, have a shower and eat something (the first thing I would eat all day). At this point it was around 9PM and I was looking forward to a late night bike ride. Everything was going well until I got about five minutes from home. Then, my bike started to sputter. I thought perhaps I was getting low on gas. However, as soon as I got to a stop light, it stalled. It was dead. I tried to get it starting again, but to no avail. I sat for a bit on the side of the road, let it rest, then pulled the choke forward, and got it going. I made it to the gas station, filled up and that was it. No more. It would not start ever again. He is dead. I tried and tried. I left him for a bit, and still, no go. I left him in the parking lot of the gas station, but I am worried for him. It is raining and he's not covered and I hope he doesn't get stolen. But also, I am so frustrated. I just got this bike fixed. I finally got it back--they apparently fixed the starter, and now it is dead again! What the hell?!!!? Ugh! I am so mad. I had to call someone to pick me up, and I felt really bad because it was late and raining. Now, it is almost midnight, I still need a hot shower, but have finally gotten some food in me.

Somehow I feel that whenever I am fully at peace with the world and excited about what there is to come, something goes wrong... Am I not allowed to be happy? I feel like I am always shot down right at the moment of peace....