What an un-believeably fabulous week!

OMG! After my first confined pool dive last night I was on such a high - giggling, aloud, to myself, after I got home (Deanna was at the Sting concert and Wayne was at his girlfriend's so I had no one to share it with besides texting a couple of friends). There are 5 of us in the class and 2 instructors. After the introduction, they got us all suited up and in the pool. Man, was it freaky at first! I was having a hard time with breathing...not used to the resistance and after complaining twice one of the instructors looked at my regulator moved a switch and it was much better. It's so weird at first I was very nervous about trying any skills but after the first one I realized how easy it was. I learned how to clear my regulator (the thing you hold in your mouth and breathe through) of water, how to recover it if it's dangling behind you, how to clear my mask of water and how to share air with a buddy who's out of air (or if I'm out of air) all in water only deep enough to kneel in. I was in the middle of the group and the instructors started at the ends watching one person at a time do a skill so I had plenty of time to practice the last skill and get comfortable with it. I kept getting cramps in my calves from kneeling cause of the awkwardness of the fins and being tense and just being prone to them anyway - but that went away when we moved to the deeper part of the pool (3.5 meters, I think) and I could stretch out and relax. And that was sooo fantastic!! At the end, one of the instructors said I had the biggest smile he'd ever seen and that he had felt bad when he had to tell me it was time to come up...too much smiling under water means lots of time spent clearing water out of my mask...I think I'll be doing that alot! We'll spend both of the weekend afternoons in the pool and don't head out to the ocean until the last weekend.

This week has been absolutely beautiful in general. I was told it never gets in the upper 70's but it was 3 days this week. I took off early on Wednesday and took my reading for diving to the beach for a couple of hours. I did get in the water but only up to my neck for a brief moment and then was back out. After working all weekend it was great to take off a couple hours early and wonderful to relax in the sun! Have I mentioned I sent a draft of my manuscript to Bob? I'm way happy about that!

I got a package from Kristi yesterday! It was so unexpected and wonderful...coffee mugs, a travel mug, starburst, skittles, a candle and my fav - Chipotle sauce!! I can't wait to have it on enchiladas for lunch today as my mouth has been watering for it since I opened the box!

Research is going GREAT! My genetics stuff is off to a great start...I'm getting lots of and pure DNA from my parasites...Devon even did a little dance the concentration was so awesome! And...AND, I still haven't been able to find any local snails infected with my parasite, BUT I found another girl working on the same species (but doing a completely different project) who emailed me today saying she's found several locations on the north part of the south island where the parasite has a good prevalence in the snails. Woo hoo! So it looks like I will be planning a trip shortly.

Excitement over work - yes, I realize I'm weird

I spent most of the weekend working on my manuscript...I've got a draft nearly completed that I am happy to send to Bob...I am soo frickin' excited about that I can't even explain. I get a lot of flack here about how much I work on evenings and weekends but I guess I'm a bit of a work-aholic...it's just that I feel like I have sooo much that I need to be doing right now and would find it extremely overwhelming if I wasn't putting in so many hours. I'd rather work more and thus be less stressed. I did watch the last few episodes of the 1st season of Heroes...Deanna's got me hooked at the end of the 2nd season and she borrowed 1st season from a friend so I've been playing catch-up. And Sunday eve I finally took a break from the manuscript, and Rebecca and I got fish n' chips and took it to the beach for dinner. The video is of the beach that is closest to my house - the one I run along. There were quite a few surfers out but I couldn't capture any catching a wave.



My feet relaxing in the sand :)


Had my medical exam for diving this morning...had a difficult time with the short blast of air you need to do but passed anyway. I'm all set to start Thursday evening - woohoo!

Helping Julie collect crabs

Took Julie out in the field again yesterday, helping her collect cockles and crabs...you can click on the photos to make them larger

Julie's field site, Hooper's Inlet

Julie collecting crabs

Video of Julie searching for her crab species

And she found it - the stalk-eyed crab...only 71 more to go

A cool looking crab species with a white band

Another type of crab

Me in waders

Arrrrgggghhhhhh!

After a long frustrating day in the lab on friday - I'm not finding snails that are infected with my parasite - I went for a run on the beach and out to dinner with Deanna and a woman who used to live in my bedroom a couple years ago. Saturday, Rebecca and I went to the farmer's market and totally loaded up...apricots, nectarines, tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, radishes, lettuce, banana peppers...lots of healthy eating this week, which is so needed after the holidays! Then we headed to Tomahawk lagoon, which is one of my study sites, so I could release some snails, get some lagoon water for my snails in the lab, did some birding and walked along the beach (link to the photos is on the right). I spent the afternoon in the lab but still haven't found my study species in a snail yet. Rebecca, Julie and I went to I am Legend last night...holy shit, I was soo not prepared for it to be a scary movie...it was good, but horrible! Don't think I'll ever watch it again. Today, I went on a cleaning frenzy. Then came into school to get on the internet to upload pics and do some brief work in the lab...I might have found my species...not sure...not getting my hopes up...hopefully I can confirm tomorrow. Now I am about to head home to make a wonderful stir-fry with all those fresh veggies!

Anton

Anton hanging out in my bedroom window, which he now loves to go in and out of...lucky for him he usually shows up at it before I go to sleep because they're SOL and stuck outside for the night once I'm snoozin'.

Post-Christmas Pics

Pics for my mom so she can see I did save my stocking for Christmas Day and what my tree looked liked...and no, those aren't all my presents...

2008

Julie, me, Rachel

2008 came with drinking, dancing, fireworks and a raging headache. Hung out at Rachel's before heading to the Octagon for the band and fireworks. We had a fabulous time! I'm not sure where I'm looking in the picture, at the fireworks maybe?, but it's the only pic where all 3 of our faces were in the frame. After the fireworks we checked out a couple of clubs...The Fever, which had great 70's music but the crowd was even too old for me...then another club, at which the crowd was a bit young and by that point I had a major headache so the music wasn't helping. So we called it quits sometime after 2 o'clock...I know Rachel and Julie could have kept on going but I had had enough. I don't know what I was thinking, not drinking any water and not taking any aspirin before going to bed, so I woke with an even worse headache. But it wasn't long before I was re-hydrated and I was feeling alright. The 1st was beautiful and I washed my sheets and got them out on the line...nothing quite like fresh sheets dried in the sun! And I celebrated New Year's eve yet again as it turned midnight in MN and I was on the phone with Mindy, Tammy and Michele...I'm glad I didn't miss celebrating with you three completely! I have been dividing my time between 2 homes for a few days while Deanna was camping...taking care of our cats and the cats De is sitting for. And the last couple of days I've spent watching the 1st season of Heroes and making scalloped potatoes and ham and pea and ham soup...trying to make use of the left-over ham from Christmas. I'm back at work today...flipped over the calendar and realized I missed my medical exam for my diving course this morning - crap! Now the doctor is on vacation for 3 weeks, so I had to run home for the list of doctors that do these exams and scheduled another appointment for 3 days before my course begins - whew! And I only have 2 weeks left to get all my studying done for the course...I'm a little (maybe alot) behind on that!

Girls playing in the mud

So I was helping Julie in the field yesterday...collecting anemones and crabs. We were having a difficult time finding the crab species she needed. Finding holes in the sand/mud at low tide and making a big scoop around the hole and sieving...found very few that way. Finally we started finding bunches around the rocks and in the muddy gravel. I had to laugh out loud as we were picking up rocks and digging in the mud/gravel with our hands where there heaps of worms and crawly things and we were having a great time...except for my few girlfriends I've made in biology, all the rest of them would be disgusted! Afterwards, Julie introduced me to her favorite cafe that is out on the peninsula...I'll definitely be going back there. Aside from that, I had a productive day in the lab as I dissected fish and Julie helped me by setting up my snails for shedding (putting the snails in an incubator with light so any parasites will leave or "shed"). My lab has not previously found this stage of my study species...which I need to do experimental infections. I'm disappointed to say that there were none of my species swimming around in the dishes today. There has to be some infected snails because the fish are infected with the stage that leaves the snail. So now I'll be collecting snails from another site on Monday and trying those. Other than that, I'm spending my weekend dissecting fish - woohoo.

Left-overs galore!

As I just ate chili for the 4th day in a row, it's a good thing it was the last of it except for what I put in the freezer...and that includes taking it to a potluck and feeding it to Deanna and Rachel after the movie last night...no beach or horse races as it poured most of the day - Golden Compass was great! And I agree with Emily...who the hell wouldn't be in it for Daniel Craig! - Anywho, back to the left-overs...I've had Oyster Stew twice and am saving the last bowl for De. And we have heaps of ham left! I'm planning on making pea and ham soup and scalloped potatoes and ham. Also lots of pineapple upside-down cake with loads of whip-cream left that I'm trying to feed to anyone that comes through the door! De's peanut butter cookies however can't be given away...I'm working on those and the Sangria too! Christmas was good and relaxing and full of food (good thing De and I fit in a walk on the beach each morning). And after working for 3 weeks straight, I did not work at all over last weekend like I intended to. Back at school today...to do a little bit of work as I'm also helping Rachel move this afternoon. But I gotta get back in the swing of things as I have heaps of lab work to do and am helping Julie in the field tomorrow to collect crabs. It was great talking with everyone over Christmas...I talked to or left messages for most of the family and many friends, which was great! Hope all is well for those of you I didn't get to talk to!

Merry Christmas!

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! I will be spending most of my weekend working. Then Christmas eve I'm making Oyster Stew and Chili and bringing the chili to a potluck at the home of one of my fellow lab member's. Will probably return home to hang and drink with Wayne and his girlfriend and open all my presents...I haven't gotten this many presents since I was a kid! :) Christmas morning, aside from opening my stocking that was Priority Mailed from Santa, I will make mashed potatoes and Pineapple Upside-down Cake (birthday cake for Jesus as my mom says) for the dinner potluck. Spend the day with Rachel and a couple of other girls, then head to Jen's for the potluck, White Elephant gift exchange and Christmas movies. The 26th is Boxing Day...will be doing something fun with Deanna and some friends...beach bbq, horse races...depends on the weather. Somewhere in there I will call as many folks back home as I can! Keeping too busy to miss home too much!