1. NPR's How To Do Everything podcast continues to be delightful.

2. THIS POSTER, YOU GUYS. We have a paper copy in the lab and I had to call over another postdoc to marvel at it with him ( Read more... )

Taking off until Monday night or so to dig for plants in Malheur National Forest. Whee! I've been wanting to go to one of these for years! Camera batteries are charged and ready, and I have a new awesome trowel as well as my weeding fork.

Headaches for six of the last seven days, especially bad yesterday. Bursts of chainsaw noise starting at 8:15 today are Not Helping. They've now added a chipper, which at least reduces variation. (I already feel more awake than I ever managed yesterday; hopefully it'll last.)

Ooh, Bioblitz! I don't think I'm doing anything more important than ( Read more... )

Waiting for the confocal sales reps to finish installing our new motorized stage! Can't really start anything until they're done. Hence, links ( Read more... )

Yesterday: I got a collaborator! She's very interested in an implication of my project that I hadn't even thought about, which is so cool. And today she presented in a definite, sweeping way that completely demolished the "women present more tentatively, perhaps because it works better for them" data set we had going. I wrote YOU GO [NAME] over ( Read more... )

Last night I volunteered as a Real Scientist at an elementary school science fair in a nearby suburb. The organizer had written to several departments at the U and obtained graduate students, who were motivated by the prospect of official acclaim (see icon). It was incredibly fun, even though at the last minute my year-mate C couldn't make it. ( Read more... )

( pretty! )

Yesterday our culture curator brought me a present -- my very own bottled algae culture. She says it was in thanks for doing a good job teaching last quarter, but I think she also likes to make these. They survive pretty much indefinitely in their little bottles, and most labs in the building seem to have at least one bottle hanging around.


( Read more... )

Tomorrow morning: talks on our current/thesis research, so we all know what everyone is doing. The nice part will be having the day off after around 11:15; the 8:30am part is not so nice, though cinnamon rolls are promised at breakfast. [For the afternoon: farmer's market, maybe sculpture park, probably missing Labs lunch, oh well ( Read more... )

European centaury, which is adorable and (since non-native) potentially kidnappable to garden by me.

Harvest brodiaea, a shocking spot of blue-violet on the path to an instructor's apartment.

Pink honeysuckle is supposed to be hairy, and this isn't, but there are really no other pink options. The leaves are also a little off. Hmm.

Yerba buena ( Read more... )