The Boat

Often I have spoken of The Boat to my friends and family, but unless you work at PISCO, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about when I say 'The Boat'. I'm usually always talking about a specific boat, and that boat is the Elakha. It's a lovely little boat, and today our class got to do some trawling up and down the bay. Well, half of our class got to do trawling. My half on the other hand, we had a little adventure instead.

We cruised up the bay a little way, heading towards the third in a series of five trawl sites that our instructor has done over the last decade, so we were headed to gather more data for his monitoring series.It was a great day to be out on the water. While the sun was shining there was a bit of a breeze which meant that you could stand out on the deck and hang out but could still bundle up in fleeces. I love bundling up in fleeces. Here's a photo of me at the rail, in my ever so stylish PFD. Yay for safety!

When we got to the first trawl site some folks volunteered to help set the trawl. This may be where it all began to go wrong. Our team didn't have the smoothest launch of them all, and we almost lost some people over the side as the net drug out behind the boat and stretched out. Once set, we let it trawl for about 10 minutes before trying to pull it in. All of a sudden we heard a large noise and felt the line shudder and the boat do a double take. Then the line went slack. The net had snagged on something. We pulled the line in by hand only to find that the bridles were completely broken off at the chain. Our net, and thus our efforts at trawling that day were completely over.

So instead of doing the trawling we got to take a little ride around the bay. Not as exciting, but still fun. ALSO: Check out the "Fish dissection" post for some photos of Trista and I getting friendly with our fish...

The Hallowed Halls of Hatfield...

I thought today that some of you, for whatever reason, won't be able to come visit me while I'm down here in Newport (I'm looking at you, Mr. Ellis!). That's a bit of a shame since if you were able to come, you'd get a full (nearly) behind the scenes tour of Hatfield Marine Science Center. So instead I thought it would be a good idea for me to give a virtual tour of sorts so that you all can see what life here is like.

Part 1: The Education Wing

Most of my time is spent in this one hallway, tucked back in the same building where the Visitor's Center is housed, and leading off onto the library. The Ed-wing (as it's lovingly referred to) is used for community education as well as university education. It's not uncommon for my class to be sitting through a lecture on the physiology of fish reproduction while a group of fifth graders goes walking by, wondering what we're talking about when we mention estradiol and vitellogenisis. On the left side of the picture is a set of classrooms, here's a picture of me getting my study on as I work through complicated hormonal patterns and pathways. I like to study using the big whiteboards in our classroom because it lets me write things out and draw arrows and make notes to myself in a format where I can step back from it and look at the 'big picture'. So many teachers tell you to look at the big picture but it's hard to do, except when you have a giant white board!

Another feature of the Ed-wing is the series of wet labs that run down the hallway. A typical wet lab houses a series of tanks which are connected to the water system at the center which pulls water from the ocean to circulate in the tanks all around the center. Once the water has run through the system it gets filtered and pumped back out into the bay cleaner than it was when it came in. In our wetlab we have a series of tanks that are used by students (including me) to house portions of their research projects, I personally have a couple of purple sea urchins which I need to return to Boiler Bay because they were spared the horror of dissection. There's a also a second set of tanks towards the windows which house our specimens for class, currently they're being occupied by some fish and also some nudibranchs from our invertebrate section. Those poor little nudies need to go back to their homes!

Well, that's all for this part of the tour. Next time, the apartments!

Never to late to start...

This is a bit late in coming, but it's taken me a bit of time to process and now I think I can do it justice in the written word.

In fall 2004 I started running because it helped me to focus my energy into something other than what was going on in my personal life. When I was running roads my head was so focused on putting on foot in front of the other that it didn't have time to think about other stuff. Ultimately it got me through many days. I set my sights on running a race in November 2004, but I never did. The race date get getting pushed back: lack of time, fear, uncertainty; so many excuses but none of them carrying much weight now that I look back on it. I just wasn't ready for some reason.

Last fall I found myself in much the same position. Reeling once again I started running again, more sporadically this time, but doing it all the same. Pushing my body through cold mornings and tears but wanting to feel something other than pain again. At the turn of the year I made that decision, and that's all it took, that I was going to finally run the race I'd promised myself two years ago. I chose the Shamrock Run in Portland, taking place March 11th this year, because of it's reputation as being a relaxed race where people feel comfortable at walking anytime during the race and the point of the race is have fun. Building up to the race I knew the work that I had to put in, and I did, however I hadn't managed to run the 5k that I would be running race day.

The day before, my mother and I stayed the night in Portland to avoid traffic issues and our hotel was half a block from the start line so we were assured easy access. I didn't sleep much the night before, and it's probably the understatement of the year to say that I was nervous that morning. I got up at 5.30 for a 7.45 start time, typical in my family though. I layed on the floor for awhile, stretching and doing some yoga to feel out how my legs were doing. They were in for a long morning but they felt fine. When I went to pick up my race packet with my number it was surprisingly warm, a good sign for me.

At the starting line I got a hug from my mother and then filed down the way with the other runners to choose my starting spot. I kept moving my legs, trying to settle some of the butterflies in my stomach. Before leaving her my mother said, "Just do it like you always do, one foot in front of the other." Her words kept scrolling through my mind, just one foot in front of the other. It seemed so simple at that moment.

I remember hearing the starting call, but really what I felt was the movement of the other runners around me. We all began moving and suddenly there was no turning back. It was time for me to go and whatever uncertainty I had been feeling was pushed aside as my mind took over to focus me on the task ahead. The actual gut of the race.

I was running with my pod, having a preselected list of music placed at strategic intervals to help me find whatever strength I would need. At the beginning I turned my eyes forward, Kelly Clarkson telling me to spread wings and fly away. Cheesy I know, but it was the same song I listened to over and over in 2004 when I couldn't even remember who I was or what I was doing in life. I encountered a long push up a hill through downtown Portland but in the middle when I felt my legs giving out and all I was thinking in my head was that line from Finding Nemo, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...", John Rzeznik came in my ears and 'Feel the Silence' drove me on and up to the top. I coasted down the hill back to the Naito Parkway after 2 miles where in the distance, 1.2 miles away, I could see the banner of the finish line. Tom Jones kept telling me I was a sexbomb as my mind became focused solely on that banner.

I flipped back to the Goo Goo Dolls again, and a strange thing happened to me in that last mile. My mind quieted and I felt as if my legs could have gone on longer. I wanted to go longer. I picked up some speed, 'Stay With You' pumping through my veins, and I passed several people on my last glide in. Then suddenly it was over. And I didn't want it to be. I wanted to stay in that zone where I felt completely alive again. I hadn't felt that for months, and I wanted more.

It took me 40 minutes to go 5k, but in retrospect I didn't notice the time as much. It went by much to fast, and when it was over, I felt like I'd finally kept that promise I had made to myself two and a half years earlier, I had finally put that part of my life to rest and could move forward. And I was excited for the movement.

Fish dissection...

All right folks, here's some of those promised photos from our fish dissection lab. So far here's a series of photos of my friend Trista and I getting snuggly with our rockfish, whose guts we're ripping out. Yay for learning?

Met met met met met

Just a cool thing, I was looking at the audit page for my degree and every single category is listed as "Met", meaning I've completed it for graduation. Well, everything except for the class I'm taking right now. But seriously, I never get tired of looking at that thing and smiling. It's so cool.

We started our fish section and already it's way cooler than algae. At least more exciting. We went beach seining yesterday (dragging a big net through the water, pictures to come) and caught tons of little silver sides, some baby salmon (they were so cute!) a couple perch, and even a pipefish! Good times.

Challah back (remix!)

Last Friday afternoon I set about making a batch of challah, because really it had been much to long since I'd braided bread. However, to make a long story short, the bread that I ended up making was decimated by other people in my class as well as by a grip of visiting graduate students. So at the end of Friday night I was right back where I started: with no challah.

So yesterday after our algae finals I decided to decompress and take out my dissapointment and frustrations over the test on some innocent challah dough. Kneading is very therapeutic. Except this time I didn't tell anyone what I was doing. Except for Bucket Brigade, and that was only so he would get some this time. For these loaves I decided to try out the rolling pin method of making my braid snakes. The loaf on the right is the rolling pin loaf, and the loaf on the left isn't because I got lazy and just rolled them out all lumpy. I'm pretty sure that Rolling Pin Loaf is the prettiest loaf of challah that I've ever made, and Gnarly Loaf on the left is, well, Gnarly Loaf is what it is. I baked them up and fed part of Gnarly Loaf to Bucket Brigade while giving out some slices to folks who had missed the bread on Friday (and it was only because they were out of town).

Here's a picture of Rolling Pin Loaf after baking. It's just so pretty....Note about my recipe, I forgot the written instructions at home (crisis!) but I realized that I had made challah so many times that I didn't need the written recipe and was able to remember it off the top of my head. That kind of made my day.

Intertidal Greatest Hits

Just for kicks (and those of you who have never seen me in action), here's some of my favorite photos of me in the intertidal. Just remember, it's my job to run around in orange waders, knit hats, boots, and all kinds of weather while playing around at the beach. Where the land meets the sea, place of wonders. And joy and adventure, and joyness...

I found a prize!


Getting my study on at Strawberry Hill while fending off Pisaster


It kind of just snuck up on me.








Definitely not kosher...


Just another day at the office. Drilling holes with the Anihilator in the intertidal.


The raging ocean and I: Best friends forever.

Algae: not really that exciting

I guess in some instances algae would be exciting. I mean, who doesn't love looking at plants....ok, I don't. I admit it. As much as I love marine biology, I really don't love marine algae. It's got nothing to do with the algae. Really, it's not you, it's me. Sounds like a bad break-up. I'm up late tonight working on a poster for algae as well as studying for our final on Tuesday, and I can't help thinking that there are so many other things that warrent staying up late. Algae just doesn't jump right to the top of that list. So what do I do when I'm bored? Random photoshoot. That's right, it happened during the fall with oceanography, and it's happening now with algae! So there's a picture of me, taken by my little macbook and posted for all of you to see. Maybe enjoy? I don't know. Right now all I know is that I could care less about herbivory patterns of Littorina on bleached vs. unbleached Mazzaella species. Yeah, my life is so exciting...

"That Bananarama song was always better in my head..."

Just taking a moment to wish everyone a wonderful weekend. It's intensely gorgeous out here at the coast today and just thought I would pass on the good vibes. Now I'm late for a game of volleyball. Yay.

Update: I played volleyball for awhile this afternoon before heading over to lecture. We had our last real algae lecture and thank goodness because I'm really tired of algae.

I've been making challah this afternoon. (I hear you groaning Channa and Nate!) It should come out really good and I'm excited to share it with my classmates. We had a good round of basketball while waiting for the bread to have its third rise, and Nerd Crush (or Bucket Brigade as Wren and I refer to him) wanted me to play on his team. Awe...

Anyways, I'm out for now. Lots of homework to do this weekend including finishing my algae book and making a poster on my favorite algae. I'm not even sure if I have a favorite algae...Final exam next Tuesday, then it's on to fish!

Lazy (not so much) Sunday afternoon

Since we had a free weekend a group of us decided to take a hike. We set off Sunday afternoon for the Drift Creek Wilderness area just east of Waldport on 34 in the coast range. We were looking for adventure, I guess, and we found a good time in the process. We hiked downhill (yeah) for about 2 miles before we found this amazing creek. We assumed it was the reputed Drift Creek. The wilderness area was pretty much all old growth and we had a good time getting down the trail because of the collection of fallen trees from the winter storms. The trail was a bit muddy too but you can't ask for everything.

At the creek we stopped to have a rest and have lunch. Exploring around the site we found a huge tree which had other trees growing out of it and we decided to take some awesome pictures on it. Here's a picture of all of us (l-r: Justin, Jeremy, Jim, Me, Skylar, and Lou) standing atop the tree doing our best poses. I guess it's our best. Around the creek were a couple of obvious fire pits and we thought it would be super fun to come back and have a Hatfield overnight/camping extravaganza some weekend. Like possibly the next weekend we have. We'll see how that works out.

We went up the creek a little ways and found a nice little pebble beach where we skipped rocks for awhile. Here's a picture of Lou, mid-skip, while I watch on. (I'm the one wearing the skirt, as usual) We had a discussion about whether or not the six of us were affecting the erosion rate of the beach by sifting through and removing the best skipping rocks. It was a good laugh, as we realized that only such huge nerds would have such a conversation. We left soon after as it was getting late and we wanted to get back to the cars by dark. It hadn't occured to us until then that the 2 miles we had walked downhill was going to have to be walked back uphill. Good times.

Here's a final picture of us from the log, probably the best one, where we all show our flying skills.

I'm one of "those" 24 nerds...

I found this list online. I think it's funny. Rather funny indeed.

You can lead a horse to water, but Jack Bauer can make it drink.

Simon Says should be renamed to Jack Bauer Says becuase if Jack Bauer says something then you better fucking do it.

It would only take 1 bullet to kill 50 Cent.

Upon hearing that he was played by Kiefer Sutherland, Jack Bauer killed Sutherland. Jack Bauer gets played by no man.

Jack Bauer got Helen Keller to talk.

Superman wears Jack Bauer pajamas.

If Jack Bauer was in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and Nina Meyers, and he had a gun with 2 bullets, he'd shoot Nina twice.

Jack Bauer killed 93 people in just 4 days time. Wait, that is a real fact.

Jack Bauer was never addicted to heroin. Heroin was addicted to Jack Bauer.

Jack Bauer could strangle you with a cordless telephone

Jack Bauer's favorite color is severe terror alert red. His second favorite color is violet, but just because it sounds like violent.

1.6 billion Chinese are angry with Jack Bauer. Sounds like a fair fight.

Jack Bauer once forgot where he put his keys. He then spent the next half-hour torturing himself until he gave up the location of the keys.

If Jack says "I just want to talk to him/her" and that him/her is you... well amigo, you're fucked.

Jack Bauer doesn't miss. If he didn't hit you it's because he was shooting at another terrorist twelve miles away.

When you open a can of whoop-ass, Jack Bauer jumps out.

Lets get one thing straight, the only reason you are conscious right now is because Jack Bauer does not feel like carrying you.

Jack Bauer does not sleep. The only rest he needs is what he gets when he's knocked out or temporarily killed.

If you get 7 stars on your wanted level on Grand Theft Auto, Jack Bauer comes after you. You don't want to get 7 stars.

In kindergarten, Jack Bauer killed a terrorist for Show and Tell.

When you come face to face with Jack Bauer, you can do things the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is ingesting your cyanide pill.

Killing Jack Bauer doesn't make him dead. It just makes him angry.

As a child, Jack Bauer's first words were "There's no time!"

Jack Bauer has no problem following orders, unless you tell him to do something he doesn't want to.

While being put under in the hospital, Jack Bauer can count backwards from 100 every time. This annoys the doctors.

They had to change a street name from Jack Bauer to something else because people kept dying. Why? Because nobody crosses Jack Bauer and lives

Jack Bauer's gun is actually a water pistol, but the water shoots out in the form of bullets. Why? Because the gun is being held by Jack
fucking Bauer.

Jack Bauer's family threw him a surprise birthday party when he was a child. Once.

When life gave Jack Bauer lemons, he used them to kill terrorists.

The real reason the Army ditched the Army of One campaign? Jack Bauer sued for copy right infringement.

Jack Bauer literally died for his country, and lived to tell about it.

Every time Jack Bauer yells "NOW!" at the end of a sentence, a terrorist dies.

Jack Bauer won the Indianapolis 500 in a rickshaw pulled by Chuck Norris.

Every time you masturbate Jack Bauer kills a terrorist. Not because you masturbated, but because that is how often he kills terrorists.

Jack Bauer can watch all 4 seasons of 24 in 24 hours

The bumper sticker on Jesus's car reads, "WWJBD?"

Jack Bauer was conceived by torturing the other sperm until they gave up the location of the egg.

Jack Bauer has been to Mars. That's why there's no life on Mars.

Superman's only weakness is Kryptonite. Jack Bauer laughs at Superman for having a weakness.

When Batman is in trouble, he turns on the Jack Bauer signal.

It took Jack Bauer two minutes to beat a confession out of OJ.

People with amnesia still remember Jack Bauer

Jack Bauer killed so many terrorists that at one point, the #5 CIA Most Wanted fugitive was an 18-year-old teenager in Malaysia who downloaded the movie Dodgeball.

Jack Bauer can get McDonald's breakfast after 10:30.

When the boogie man goes to sleep, he checks his closet for Jack Bauer.

Every mathematical inequality officially ends with "< Jack Bauer".

When Google can't find something, it asks Jack Bauer for help.

When Jack Bauer was a child, he made his mother finish his vegetables.

What did you do with your weekend?

Here's what I did. So I had two whole days to kill so I made this video. It's supposed to be funny. If it's not, that's ok.

We started our adventures in Algae Land today.....and all I have to say is that it's going to be a long week. Guaranteed.

Finals and Food Festivities...

Well I've come across quite a rare thing. Yesterday was our first round of final exams for the course, a wrap up of our two week marine invertebrate adventure. It was an intense four hour block of scheduled tests, lecture and then lab practical, but we all came out the other side relatively intact. Except now that we've all realized that we have a genuine two day weekend because we have no homework. We'll begin our phycology (algae) section on Monday which wraps with an exam in a week. Intense, but great. So here I am faced with a real weekend. I plan on doing some sleeping, knitting, reading, and then probably some more sleeping. As my mom said, this is the perfect way to end my time at OSU.

Last night after our finals were over Sally treated us to a crab/chili feed in the dining hall. There's no pictures on my end of the event, and I could give you an elaborate story as to why that is, but the truth is that I just forgot to take my camera with me. I'm sure some photos will be put up soon and I'll post those (with due credit) when I can. It was a good night though. We started at 6 and had tons of crab, chili, salad, garlic bread, chips and dip, and other great foodies. A high point was a fellow classmates 5 gallon drum of homebrew which he brought out to make the occasion. It was an interesting beer, including the touch of chili flakes that left you with a bit of a tingle in your mouth. Good stuff though.

The night was filled with lots of drinking, laughter, playing various games around the ping pong table, and finally concluding with a viewing of Happy Feet. Through the movie I was sitting between Sally and a guy named John Schaefers (who I had aquatic entomology with last term), which was an interesting experience. Witty remarks were rampant though and it was a genuine good time.

Since I was so lax about taking my camera last night, here's a video that I made for a guy in my class. It's from our field trip to the mudflats when we were all cleaning off.

"Why is it always me?"

We've been having quite a good time out here on the coast. Last Friday Sally took us over to the aquarium where we lived it up like real geeks identifying species and getting ourselves stuck in random tunnels. Good times. It's amazing how the little kid in all of us seems to come out at the oddest times. But then again, what's the point in growing up if it means we can't be silly?

Today we went down to the docks to search for more invertebrates. We ended up coming home with some really cool stuff including a ctenophore (tiny little guy) which we named Andre the Giant. The funny thing about sampling off the docks is that you actually have to lay down on your belly to get a good look and to be able to catch anything. So there we all were, laying on the docks on our bellies like a bunch of sea lions. It was great! Another aspect about dock sampling is that we're amongst the locals, an experience which can be fun but for the last couple of months local interaction at the coast hasn't proved to be so much fun for me. Today when we were walking back up to the vans one of the guys in the class informed me that some sketchy guys from a crab boat were checking me out. I wasn't even wearing my waders this time! Why is it always me??

For those of you who were curious as to what my living accomodations are like, here's a lovely photo of the apartment "complex" at the center where I'm living. It looks like a little motel complete with it's own boardwalk which I refer to as The Walk of Fame. Good stuff!

A little bit of vertigo

So I've been here for a week and I've finally had a chance to rest and catch my breath a little bit. It would be useless to say that this class is intense. If you think that you've got long hard days at your classes on campus, I'd love for you to come out and hang with us for a little while. Because it is rediculous. But you know what, I'm so in love with this class.

In summer 2002 I went to the Bahamas for broadreach and it was really the same kind of class. Tons of time in the field, lots of lectures, all in the space of a few weeks. Good times though. This class is basically broadreach for adults. And I saw adults because mostly all of us are 21 and over. This is my last term at OSU, and really I'm not even at OSU. I've completely detached myself from campus and right now I just feel like I'm having a lot of fun instead of taking an actual class. I'm learning so much, but it's so much fun at the same time.

I keep saying that over and over. How much fun this is. I've been really thinking that it's the first step in the rest of my life you know. That from now on the train has left the station and I'm just kind of hanging on for dear life some of the time, but that's a good thing right? That the adventure has begun and I have the tools necessary to live in this world on my own. That's a really scary part. But it's a good thing. That I could pick up and move from Oregon if I wanted to and I would be able to find a place to live, get a job, pay my bills, all those things that you have to learn how to do.

Well, this post is getting a little bit into the realm of sentimentality, but that's kind of how I'm feeling right now since I've had a chance to stop and slow down for a day or so.

Attack of the Mud People!

I promise that the slew of B-movie titles to my posts won't last forever, I'm just on a bit of a kick. So deal with it.

This morning was the morning when we were going to venture out into the mud flats of the estuary to look for mud shrimp and see eel grass beds. Oh, and play in the mud. The morning started off as so many on the Oregon coast do, and that is foggy. But you know as they say, "If you don't like the weather on the coast, wait 5 minutes." So true. Sally suggested that we gear up in hip waders but to be wary because the mud has a tendency to grap your boots or anything and hold on to it. To bad for me anyways because my legs weren't long enough for any of the waders that she had for us to borrow. I wasn't the only one though which was all right.

We arrived at a place called Sally's Bend, a section of the estuary where Sally has some ecological experiments set up, and we got out of the vans and headed down the banks to see a fog covered mud flat stretching before us. Striking out into the flat we found that the mud was indeed as bad as we had thought it was going to be. Believe me, it was super cold too! But after a little while you don't really notice the cold anymore. What I did notice though was all the little rocks that were getting caught under my foot in my Chaco. Not cool! I even lost one of my Chacos at one point! My heel slipped out and I couldn't get my shoe out of the muddy hole it was in so I had to pull my leg out minus the shoe and reach down into the hole and grab my Chaco before the mud filled back in. Quite the balancing act. Mostly because my other leg was thigh deep in mud when I had to rescue my other shoe!

We were rooting around the mud for these little shrimp and managed to find them by taking cores of the mud with a giant garbage can thing and then scooping out the mud inside. Very scientific I know but sometimes you have to do the best you can with what you have. And that's all we had at the time. Still it was really cool to be picking these shrimp out of the mud while we were falling down in it.

After collection some people decided they'd had enough of trying to stay clean and finally gave in to the lure of the mud. Throwing mud around and pushing each other we all eventually got dirtier than we had probably intended, but it was still so much fun. I don't think I've ever had as much fun getting dirty as I did this morning!

The Revenge of Strawberry Hill...

So it was bound to happen sometime. I completely bit the dust today during our field trip to Strawberry Hill. In the past when I have fallen I was fortunate (?) enough to land on my butt which while painful didn't really do that much damage. However, today I was not so lucky. I slipped sideways and my knee cracked against the corner of a very pointy rock outcropping. Upon impact I thought I was going to throw up. Thankfully Gayle was near-by and came over to help me up. She let me hold on to her while I gained control of my senses against my now throbbing knee.

After a few minutes it seemed all right and we continued around the tide pools, hopping a little more carefully this time, and found tons of stuff. By the time we got back to the vans though my knee had swollen up and was taking on a purplish tint. Needless to say it was hurting quite a bit. I've been icing it and taking ibuprofen all day, hoping to get in front of some of the swelling, but I guess we will see how it is in the morning when I have to go out into the mudflats with everyone....

Tuesday though was a great fun day. We went up to Cascade Head to view the coastal headlands and other geological features that we had discussed that morning in class. It was great fun. Here's a good shot of the Westwind beach (with a smokin' rip tide) from the top. It's always nice going up Cascade Head because it reminds of the first summer at camp right after I had graduated from high school. Except this time it was a little more special because that first time was really the beginning of a new time in my life and now I'm working on finishing that chapter. Fitting that I should include Cascade Head in that.

I've been thinking about what my project is going to be for this class, and I'm starting to churn over ideas concerning anemone reproduction. Anemones are the cousins of corals, and I'm really getting interested in the genetics of corals, and while I won't have the capability to do genetic studies on anemones, although I would LOVE to do genetic surveys of aggregate anemone colonies to determine their level of relatedness, I think that I will be able to come up with some kind of project that includes anemone reproduction. Great stuff.

I was going to include a picture of my busted knee but I figured that I would spare you guys the sight of my disfigured self and rather give you a lovely picture of me at the top of Cascade Head with the Salmon River Estuary behind me!

Day One...

While the title may seem promising, I can assure you that I will not have time to do daily posts. Why is that you say? Well my dear friends it's because I'm spending the term at the Hatfied Marine Science Center. And I can say with some degree of confidence that it's going to be a very challenging and busy term, but it's going to be amazing.

This morning we woke up to find a lovely sunrise coming over the coast range onto the estuary and the campus. Despite the lovely sun it was still very cold so we all traipsed over to the library (not a long walk at all) for orientation and other welcomes. We were treated in the afternoon to a tour of the R/V Wecoma which was docked for a little bit before taking off on other research adventures. While on board I kept wanting to sing the songs from 'The Life Aquatic', but resisted the urge to do a Zissou style tour of the boat. Still lots of fun though since it's not to often that someone such as me gets to go on the Wecoma. Here's a picture of the Wecoma as it's going out under the Newport bridge.