Back from Portland and JMIH!

Well, the trip went great! I had a terrific time seeing old friends/colleagues/collaborators, meeting new peeps, hearing what everyone is up to research-wise, and exploring a new town.

On the research front, my talk was very well-received. I have a pile of email addresses to whom I have to send various updates, resources, and tips/tricks. I have another pile of email addresses from which I need to request various updates, resources, and tips/tricks. A request (possibly a demand?) to come down to Cincinnati for Oktoberfest this fall. An invite to do a lab and site visit at UConn in August (I'll be there anyway with my lab), and a beer. There's always beer for ecology get-togethers. And a position as calendar committee chair for the graduate student arm of Herpetologist's League.

On the family front, D-train's birthday was fun! We went to the Oregon Zoo and had a great time. Dinner at the Rogue Brew Pub with Eric, Pat and Dave, and found an amazing chocolaterie. With drinkable chocolate. Not hot cocoa- drinkable chocolate. The shop is called Cacao- if you're in Portland, go there. Also, Leonidas is fantastic. Got a couple books from Powell's, met Tie-Dye Eric (and currently deciding what I want to buy from him), and found some fun local eateries the rest of the time. Ken was thrilled with the trip- planes, trains, swimming, the zoo, chocolate, and mama/daddy-time. It was little boy heaven. We bribed good behavior out of him with the promise of a skull (yes, a skull, the Skulls Unlimited guy was at the meeting, and Ken loved him) although by the time Sunday rolled around, he decided he would rather have Deionychus claws. He also got some little hand-carved wooden cars, and the goodie bag from the meeting.

Looking forward to next year at Providence already! Now off to catch up on ICLW, writing, email, sleep, etc.

I promised pictures

So here they are. It was an I love my job kind of day. These were out at the research wetland the university made as mitigation for a little Woopsy-daisy when they built a new rec center.

Fishing spider

Sparganium sp.

Yep, dragonflies. Doing it.

Muskrat.

Bumblebee. Helping a flower do it.

Yes, my mind is in the gutter. But how can it not be with all the life going on out at the wetland. And one last pic, just because. My favorite bug.

Ugh...

I'm sore. I hurt. I'm tired. But I'm almost caught up. Almost. What have I been doing? What could be more important than writing on here? Why do any of you care?

Well, the truth is, you probably don't. Your eyes will glaze over when I discuss my current project. It's the normal reaction. If anyone ever didn't have their eyes roll to the back of their heads when I started to talk about tadpole dietetics, the mystery of omnivory, amphibian mating and reproductive styles- I'd check for a pulse and then call the coroner. My life is banal. I'm one of about ten people in the US that have a clue what in h3ll I'm talking about when I start blathering about Typha phenolic compounds and developmental effects. I know that. I'm OK with it. I'm not a people person, so not making any sense to others is my modus operandi.

But sometimes, someone does understand me. Once in a while, some one gets what on Earth I'm trying to say. They might even recognize some rellevance in it. And today, I felt like that was the case. First thing in the morning, before breakfast even, I was checking my email (because I'm OCD like that) and found out that my first publication is going to be cited in a new Ohio Amphibians book being edited by a colleague. I use the term colleague loosely here- we both work on frogs, we both are involved with the frog call survey, we have attended some of the same conferences, but we live on opposite ends of the state. He probably wouldn't even recognize me in a crowd. But he'll know my name. He'll know my work.

And then my mind does a tail spin. He'll know it's crap work. He'll see some flaw I didn't notice. He'll laugh at my ignorance in my chosen field. He'll point out to others how wrong I am in my conclusions. And thus- "Ugh..." Why can't my brain just accept the good once in a while? Why must my brain find the negatives, real or potential. I didn't used to be like this. I don't think.

Ugh...

Pictures will come in due time, I swear.

A Treatise on Typha

Yesterday and today I've been working. A lot. Hard work. That ends in "ow." I've been getting ready for my research season, and that means setting up one square meter enclosures, adding one square meter of sod, either Phragmites australis (common reed grass), Typha angustifolia (narrow leaf cattail) or a mix of native wetland plants. The cattail sod- she's an SOB.

I've cut sod before. I know how it goes. It's nothing unbearable, but not easy either. Cattail sod just kills you. Takes so much freaking work. It *is* unbearable. It's been a great "know thy enemy" couple of days. And here's what I've learned about Typha.

Typha is superior to humans in all ways- better defenses, stronger, more benevolent, and more cunning.

By rights, Typha should be ruler of the land as it has the upper hand in all things.

It is by the will of the cattail alone that humans spread as we do across the land.

Typha is my benevolent master, and only because Typha allows it can I study Typha and manipulate it as I do. I am nothing without cattail.

All that being said, I'm just one human and like humans, I am malevolent, stubborn, short-sighted, and dull witted. Being all of these things, I will continue my pursuit of the destruction of Typha until it is done. I shall not just study, but destroy Typha angustifolia. I shall not rest until I have eaten the heart of the beast.

Or, more appropriately considering that it's a plant and I'm a vegetarian- until I chew the root of the Commelinid.

Vegetarian- an old Mayan word for "bad hunter." :-)