Sunday, June 20, 2010

some welcome R&R

I am spending this weekend in Maine relaxing. I am justifying this because we leave for the cruise on July 1st and that is when the science-marathon begins. (Funny how I feel I need to justify relaxation to myself. Luckily, I can rationalize just about anything.) Once we set "sail" it will be all science all the time. For the amount of money it costs to do this type of research, you sacrifice sleep and "down time", and I am totally cool with that. After the cruise is over, we will have time-sensitive samples to analyze, so the marathon will continue. I am fine with that also. It is hard to know how I will deal with that type of rigorous schedule, but I like to think I'll do alright. It may be illogical, but I am trying to rest up (physically and emotionally) ahead of time in the hopes of setting myself up for as much endurance as possible. I think the good food (aka mom cooking for me!), sea air, some tide pool time, and general relaxation of my family's place in Maine will be good for this.

Speaking of family, today is both Father's Day, and my big sister's birthday. I made my dad a 3 berry pie. I used to do a lot of baking, but haven't in a long time (one of the many things I have felt too busy to do), so it was really fun to do. It also turned out pretty well. I'll post a photo soon. I love being close to my family. I don't see my sister as much as I would like (and I have historically forgotten her birthday more often than I have remembered it), but its at least more than when I lived in Texas. I also talk to her more often then I did in Texas. I really think that the pace of grad school would be a lot more difficult if I didn't have them all supporting me, and relatively close by. (Just in case they're reading - I love you guys!)

In other news... I just summarized a cool new study that links sperm whale poop to the carbon cycle (and therefore climate change) in the Southern Ocean via microbial metabolism over at MasticatedScience check it out. I used as many different ways as I could think of to say "poo" without cursing (I think I got 7)... did I miss any?

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