Yup, the first semester of my Ph.D. career is over, and I came out smelling like a rose with two A's (physiology and fishes) and a B (conservation bio seminar). The end grades of finals and the CBS paper were lower than my previous standards, but considering everything that's happened in the last month, I think I still did pretty darned well.
Funny how I haven't had any tight neck muscles or stress headaches for four days.
So what am I doing with myself until I head home on Friday? Reading the newest Laurell K. Hamilton, watching TV and a couple of movies, playing the new Bejeweled on MSN games, collecting research articles to read over the break, and making fudge. Yes, you heard correctly, making fudge. The kind you actually have to cook and get to a certain temperature and all that jazz. Well, my attendant Natalie cooked it, but I picked out and read the recipe! Still waiting for it to cool, but I'll let you know how it came out.
It actually got cold here in NO. Today's high was 45 degrees with 10-15 MPH winds. A might chilly, especially living on the lake. I've heard it's as cold or colder at home, so I told Dad to warm up ye olde chili pot. Mmm, I can hardly wait.
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Aquarium of the Americas
Took a break from studying today (we'll just pretend I actually HAD been studying, OK?) to go to the aquarium. My friend Amy was back in town to do some training with JASON, and she and her fellow trainee Pat had the weekend free. I hopped the bus to the Quarter (no sprained ankles this time), met up with the ladies, and we headed off. We ran into Hector (the tech in Barney's lab) as he was also on his way to the aquarium for his weekly volunteer session, so I got to introduce Amy to one of my new science-geeky pals down here.
I've heard as aquaria go, this one is not that remarkable. I, however, enjoyed it immensely. The Gulf of Mexico exhibit was one of my favorite stops where I quizzed myself on how many of those blasted fish I could remember from the lab practical. Amazing how different they look alive versus preserved for thirty or forty years!
Favorite exhibit number one was the seahorses. Three tanks had hundreds of tiny babies, and one bigger tank had several hugely "pregnant" males. Poor guys looked miserable. Amy and I marveled at what evolutionary processes could POSSIBLY have driven the development of seahorse shape, then we saw the seadragons. Also a seahorse, these guys have multiple protrusions all over their bodies which mimic the vegetation in which they hide. Obvious advantage, but the energetic cost to maintain! It boggles the mind . . . . OK, maybe just mine, but I'm a nerd like that.
Favorite exhibit number two was the jellies. I LOVE jellyfish and comb jellies. So delicate, so beautiful, so relaxing to watch, so dangerous. Reba, though, was not impressed. She liked the jacks and sharks and rays and pretty much everything NOT a jellyfish -- they move more quickly and apparently are much more entertaining doggie TV.
Speaking of rays . . . saw an incredible one. Called simply an orange-spotted ray, it is all-over pure, unadulterated black (total absence of color black) with orange spots. The contrast was astoundingly beautiful, and it looked as soft as velvet though I KNOW it was rough as sandpaper.
Man, I love Nature.
I've heard as aquaria go, this one is not that remarkable. I, however, enjoyed it immensely. The Gulf of Mexico exhibit was one of my favorite stops where I quizzed myself on how many of those blasted fish I could remember from the lab practical. Amazing how different they look alive versus preserved for thirty or forty years!
Favorite exhibit number one was the seahorses. Three tanks had hundreds of tiny babies, and one bigger tank had several hugely "pregnant" males. Poor guys looked miserable. Amy and I marveled at what evolutionary processes could POSSIBLY have driven the development of seahorse shape, then we saw the seadragons. Also a seahorse, these guys have multiple protrusions all over their bodies which mimic the vegetation in which they hide. Obvious advantage, but the energetic cost to maintain! It boggles the mind . . . . OK, maybe just mine, but I'm a nerd like that.
Favorite exhibit number two was the jellies. I LOVE jellyfish and comb jellies. So delicate, so beautiful, so relaxing to watch, so dangerous. Reba, though, was not impressed. She liked the jacks and sharks and rays and pretty much everything NOT a jellyfish -- they move more quickly and apparently are much more entertaining doggie TV.
Speaking of rays . . . saw an incredible one. Called simply an orange-spotted ray, it is all-over pure, unadulterated black (total absence of color black) with orange spots. The contrast was astoundingly beautiful, and it looked as soft as velvet though I KNOW it was rough as sandpaper.
Man, I love Nature.
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
World AIDS Day
I was reading an article on Yahoo earlier this evening about a widowed woman in Pakistan who has been fighting a monumental battle to make her country more aware of HIV. She contracted HIV from her husband in 1995 who received infected blood in Africa after an accident -- he has since died from the disease. She has never had money for meds, she has two children, and she lives in a conservative Muslim nation which not only is in denial about the presence of HIV/AIDS in general but doesn't listen to women, widowed or otherwise. I was simply in awe of her bravery and determination. How many of us would just decide to live our life in the best way we could and just be with those children? Would any of us have the guts to speak out to those who don't want to listen because of our gender? This woman has been speaking out for nine years. NINE YEARS of no one really listening, and still she keeps going, keeps talking, keeps ramming the issue down the throats of those who have closed their eyes.
How many of us would have that kind of courage? How many of us have read about someone living with HIV or AIDS and said, "They probably deserved it, being like THAT." THAT is not the issue the majority of the time. The issue is that there are thousands, millions, of men and women and CHILDREN living every day with this disease that eats them from the inside out, and too many of us would shun them if we met them. I've known a couple of people with HIV, went out with one of them, and I'm here to tell you that they deserve our attention and our admiration for fighting a battle that for right now has only one, terrible end.
I admire that Pakistani woman, I admire that man I went out with, and I could only hope that I would be as brave in the face of a terrible disease that NO ONE should have to suffer. Tonight, I light a candle in honor of all those who are battling HIV and AIDS, and I pray that each day one more person's eyes and heart can be opened, and I pray for a cure.
How many of us would have that kind of courage? How many of us have read about someone living with HIV or AIDS and said, "They probably deserved it, being like THAT." THAT is not the issue the majority of the time. The issue is that there are thousands, millions, of men and women and CHILDREN living every day with this disease that eats them from the inside out, and too many of us would shun them if we met them. I've known a couple of people with HIV, went out with one of them, and I'm here to tell you that they deserve our attention and our admiration for fighting a battle that for right now has only one, terrible end.
I admire that Pakistani woman, I admire that man I went out with, and I could only hope that I would be as brave in the face of a terrible disease that NO ONE should have to suffer. Tonight, I light a candle in honor of all those who are battling HIV and AIDS, and I pray that each day one more person's eyes and heart can be opened, and I pray for a cure.