Christmas (and Colbert)

Merry Christmas all,
Christmas this year was white. I haven't been in snow for Christmas since living in Tahoe.
Betsy and I are spending the holidays in Pleasent View, UT with her family. This was a shot out the window on Christmas morning! Snow everywhere! Snow in Utah is so light and fluffy!
Christmas was fun. Presents, food, sledding, naps, more presents, more napping. I got tons of gifts and gave many too. It was fun to be with young kids on Christmas morning!

One of my favorite gifts I received this year was a copy of I am America (And so can you). So funny! I remember a time (before the strike) where I would watch the previous night's episode on DVR while getting ready for work. I miss Stephen's quirky views of current events. Almost as fun as Tatanka's point of view. Reading the book over the past few days reminds me that I miss the show. I hope the strike ends soon so I can enjoy new episodes.

Pick up a copy!

BEARS.....

The other day at the academy I was trying to finish my thesis. I needed a break and was walking down the hall and came face to face with a giant grizzly bear! Holy smokes. I thought I was done for. For some reason, the bear seemed distracted and was staring to his left.
I moved forward slowly and was sure to not make any sudden moves. Luckily this was before lunch and I didn't have any food smells on my body so I was able to get close enough to snap a quick photo and then made a run for it.
It was scary! I think it saw me running and gave chase. I made it to the hallway and was safe. The bear must have been chained up or something because he didn't make it down the hall.

I can understand why Stephen is so afraid of these things!

Tropical Plants of the week!

So I haven't updated my blog since Oct 14, 2007. Holy smokes. I have no excuse. I just haven't had the time or desire to update.
Also, winter.

It is hard to update a plant blog when the dead of winter is upon us. Not so many flowers. Luckily a few weeks ago for my honeymoon I went to the tropical lands of Hawaii. Here is a small sample of what I saw...


First up it the state flower of Hawaii, Hibiscus, a member of the Malvaceae family! This flower is everywhere. You may recognize this flower in its more common form....

another common flower we saw in Paradise was this orchid. People leave them on your pillows, deliver them to your room, etc....

another great thing about the tropics are chance meetings with your favorite fruits. They grow on the side of the road and in plantations, even in the lobby of your hotel. Here are some bananas

and here is a mini pineapple growing in the lobby.

the very rare chocolate covered strawberries grow wild here...



this is a member of the Piperaceae family. Members of this family are distinct because of the large bract and stalk of small flowers. There are hundreds of tiny flowers on that stalk.

Here is a member of Nyctaginaceae, or the Four o' Clock family, Bougainvillea.
members of this genus also have showy bracts but have tubular flowers in a set of three. They are usually white.

a member of Iridaceae...

many of the flowers you have seen here are used in the garden trade. I love the tropics!

gone fishing

Last week I got to do something completely different for work. I was able to help some biologists do a fish survey. How does one do a fish survey? By using an electrofisher of course. Elecrofishing is used by fish biologists to survey streams and lakes. They make ones for boats as well as a backpack model like the one we used.
Someone is lucky enough to wear the backpack unit and hold the pole with a metal loop on the end. Current is applied to the loop and fish that come into contact are stunned.
The range of the loop is about a few feet. The stunned fish float belly up and are quickly scooped up using a net.
So we find natural pools in a stream surveyed the years before. We string nets across the pools to trap the fish in the pools and do sweeps. All fish are placed into buckets to identify and measure. Measurements include length and weight.

It was a fun time trying to capture fish. I was on bucket duty since I had never done this before. As you can imagine, mixing electricity and water is a bad combination and can be dangerous so we had protective gloves and extensive safety training.

The current is not that strong and is dialed in to stun and not kill the fish. The electricity only stuns the fish and after a few minutes they become active again. I am not sure how they decide how many volts to use but it involves measurements of dissolved oxygen and turbidity and other nerd stuff.

We measured many fish and it was fun to work with them. We kept them in a special cage until we were done and let them go back in their pools. Electrofishing is an easy, fast way to catch fish. I know that some people use this method to fish for sport but is cheating if you ask me. I think someone died using a bug zapper to fish but that may have been in a Simpson's episode.


On the way home I saw a tarantula crossing the road. I guess the males are out and looking for mates. He was crossing the road and he was sooo big!

RADIO LAB!

My favorite new NPR show as of late is Radio Lab. I heard it on This American Life a few weeks ago and downloaded the podcast. I love it. They only make 5 shows a season but they are so good. The episodes are funny, smart and entertaining and have great sound effects!

The premise of the show is they take a topic and explore using science. Today I listened to 2 shows at work, Placebo and Sleep.

The Placebo episode explores the history of placebo research. One of the stories explores when a solder in war gets shot their pain levels are less than when a person in society gets shot. Listen to the episode to find out why.

The Sleep episode explores the evolution of sleep and sleep research on animals. Did you know that dolphins rests one half of their brains at a time. so cool

So download the podcasts and listen when you get a chance. I am sure you will not be disappointed!

wait, you have a blog?

well then why was your last post way back in August? Why are you slacking on your blog? How come no sweet plant photos? What gives?

I am busy. Simple as that. I have been working long hours in the field, helping to plan a wedding, and over the past few weeks have been hunting for an apartment. From the look of things, so has the rest of the San Francisco. I have never visited craigslist so frequently on a daily basis in my life. Apartment hunting is a full time job in itself, with remembering open house dates, phone numbers, rents and realty names and addresses. Whole weekends were lost driving to open houses jut to find out they were dumps, and still 25 people were fighting over them. Morale was low. We got so sick of getting passed over we created a rental packet, complete with a generic application, credit reports and a cover letter with our contact info on it, all bound in a nice report folder.

If anyone out there is searching for an apartment, this is the way to go. People are impressed you went through the trouble and the rental packet makes you stand out. I don't want to jinx anything but I believe by Monday, our search will be over. More details to come.

I hope things slow down soon so I can update my blog more regularly in the future. I believe that it will.

so this weeks PLANT OF THE WEEK is the sunflower. I know, I know, i knew this one already but I did not know this flower is Helianthus annuus which is native to California. This flower is a member of the Asteraceae or sunflower family, with all members having a composite of smaller flowers. This family is the largest in California but the second largest in the world behind Orchidaceae.

I took this photo in a huge field of sunflowers. They were pretty. This flower is another great photography flower because of the contrasting colors. I need a digital SLR!!!

The office

Thanks again Cindy for another great online quiz! you rock! I think the description is true, I am a bit awkward sometimes. I need to work on that!

Which Office Character Are You?
	You are part Michael. Deep down, you are caring and good-natured, but you often express yourself in insensitive ways. Though you always try your hardest to make your talents be seen, you could use a little more self-awareness to avoid being awkward.
	You are part Jim. You are personable, easy-going, and always socially aware. Your great sense of humor and impishness soften the blow of what might otherwise be a dark, cutting cynicism.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com