No updates for two months?
Well, I'm on vacation this week, so LET THE DAM OF WORK BE SUNDERED, AND A THOUSAND ACCUMULATED JPGS BURST FORTH.
First off, I turned 30 in early April. I was going to write a big ol' thoughtful post on Turning 30 and What That Means to Me, but you know what? Things are pretty good. I like Australia, Canberra has, to the surprise of all, grown on me, and I just found out (in February) that I have three more years of funding for beetle research as an ANIC postdoc. This time I'm responsible for leiodid systematics and nothing else, except probably continuing iridescence research and helping edit/ write for the revised, three-volume edition of Beetles of Australia/ Australian Beetles. It's a little heartwarming to think that I'm working on the new edition of the first beetle book I ever owned as an undergrad, not to mention the antipodean equivalent of the book whose presence above my desk at Berkeley inspired this blog's half-assed title. Also, I still haven't gotten sick of kangaroos. I know, it surprised me too. (ROO BOXING! Finally! Turns out they really do lean back on their tails in order to kick the other guy. Never get in a fight with a kangaroo.)
So far, 30 could be worse. I love my housemates, the chickens are of course great (New Chickens are inquisitive and will tentatively enter the house if the door is left open), we have flying foxes in the yard and a tawny frogmouth in the front tree.
Bonus bird: an Australian raven atop Mt. Ainslie. They have creepy white eyes, unlike our northern-hemisphere ravens.
I think I've mentioned this here and there, but I'm betrothed to a very nice herpetologist who went out of his way by leaving the US and moving to Australia. How could you not, with the herps we have here? Below, a single evening's catch at the lab's Atheist Jewish Easter Party:
Baby brownsnake! "Hello," he says,"I'm Pseudonaja textilis, pleased to envenomate you."
Pygopodid gecko: looks like a snake, but he has sad little limb flaps where his legs should be. According to Wikipedia, "...like the geckos, Pygopods have the ability to vocalise - emitting a high pitched squeak. Snakes are incapable of vocalising." NOW YOU KNOW.
And of course an actual tiny normal-legged gecko, chilling on the front porch, eating moths by the porchlight.
We also had a very educational visit to the Royal Easter Show, a sort of glorified county fair held outside Sydney in mid-April. There were all kinds of unlikely creatures, from green alpacas
... to my very favorite poultry breed, the elusive Froduck:
I also attended a demonstration on "chook washing." This was pretty great start to finish, but my favorite part was the guy who probably has a Masters of Poultry Science but was mainly in charge of blow-drying a chicken. "This is what my life has come to." he thinks.
In a few hours I'm off to visit my beloved little sister, on what I think might be her first legitimate vacation since college, and definitely my first time going overseas without a laptop and beetle notes. If I have time, I'll try and slap some art up here-- there's a huge pile of it waiting to be posted.
Cheerio!
First off, I turned 30 in early April. I was going to write a big ol' thoughtful post on Turning 30 and What That Means to Me, but you know what? Things are pretty good. I like Australia, Canberra has, to the surprise of all, grown on me, and I just found out (in February) that I have three more years of funding for beetle research as an ANIC postdoc. This time I'm responsible for leiodid systematics and nothing else, except probably continuing iridescence research and helping edit/ write for the revised, three-volume edition of Beetles of Australia/ Australian Beetles. It's a little heartwarming to think that I'm working on the new edition of the first beetle book I ever owned as an undergrad, not to mention the antipodean equivalent of the book whose presence above my desk at Berkeley inspired this blog's half-assed title. Also, I still haven't gotten sick of kangaroos. I know, it surprised me too. (ROO BOXING! Finally! Turns out they really do lean back on their tails in order to kick the other guy. Never get in a fight with a kangaroo.)
So far, 30 could be worse. I love my housemates, the chickens are of course great (New Chickens are inquisitive and will tentatively enter the house if the door is left open), we have flying foxes in the yard and a tawny frogmouth in the front tree.
Bonus bird: an Australian raven atop Mt. Ainslie. They have creepy white eyes, unlike our northern-hemisphere ravens.
I think I've mentioned this here and there, but I'm betrothed to a very nice herpetologist who went out of his way by leaving the US and moving to Australia. How could you not, with the herps we have here? Below, a single evening's catch at the lab's Atheist Jewish Easter Party:
Baby brownsnake! "Hello," he says,"I'm Pseudonaja textilis, pleased to envenomate you."
Pygopodid gecko: looks like a snake, but he has sad little limb flaps where his legs should be. According to Wikipedia, "...like the geckos, Pygopods have the ability to vocalise - emitting a high pitched squeak. Snakes are incapable of vocalising." NOW YOU KNOW.
And of course an actual tiny normal-legged gecko, chilling on the front porch, eating moths by the porchlight.
We also had a very educational visit to the Royal Easter Show, a sort of glorified county fair held outside Sydney in mid-April. There were all kinds of unlikely creatures, from green alpacas
... to my very favorite poultry breed, the elusive Froduck:
I also attended a demonstration on "chook washing." This was pretty great start to finish, but my favorite part was the guy who probably has a Masters of Poultry Science but was mainly in charge of blow-drying a chicken. "This is what my life has come to." he thinks.
In a few hours I'm off to visit my beloved little sister, on what I think might be her first legitimate vacation since college, and definitely my first time going overseas without a laptop and beetle notes. If I have time, I'll try and slap some art up here-- there's a huge pile of it waiting to be posted.
Cheerio!