Yes!!!

I can't wait for this to come out. Is Snape bad? is Dumbledore really dead? Who is going to die in this one?
July is going to take a long time to get here!

why do I feel 40 pounds lighter???

I just turned my thesis into my advisor for review. The entire thesis. All 70 pages of it! Gosh it feels good to have that beast done and out of my hands. I know I am not out of the woods yet, but it sure feels nice to have the wheels in motion.

Now all I have to do is make changes to the thesis when my advisor is done, give those changes to the remaining committee members, make more changes, then get everyone to agree, then make a mother of all power point presentations, practice the power point, present and defend the power point, get all the required signatures, make the required amounts of copies and then I can relax and be done.

Dang!

harry potter a hippie???

Betsy forwarded this gem to me the other day. Apparently JK rollings is printing HP7 on recycled paper. How sweet is that! We environmental-hippie-granola-hemp wearing folks are taking over the world. Change, although slow, is coming! Keep up the good work, you!

poison oak...

I got the oak. Poison oak. It is not fun. My left arm is all red and blistery and swollen, My right leg has a red patch. There are other areas on my body where I was hit. I went to the hospital today to get some relief since my home remedies were not working. I am glad this job comes with health insurance.

So you may be asking yourself how does a botanist get poison oak? Bushwhacking through a willow thicket is how. Boy that sucked and to top it off I get the oak. Not my best day of work. This is a nasty plant! For most of my field biology career I never worked in the stuff. Poison oak does not grow at high elevation and does not grow in the desert. I guess I thought I was immune. Turns out that I am not. I will have to implement a strict decontamination procedure every day. I will have to wash my hands thoroughly every chance I get. And no more walking through willow thickets to look for snakes. I have to assume the oak is everywhere!

Neon bible...

The new arcade fire cd came out some time ago. I picked it up after we went to Zachary's Pizza. I love it. It is my favorite Arcade fire album to date. They are still dramatic but I am digging this album. Check it out.

Water temple??

Today for work, we met at the Pulgas Water temple. This temple was erected to celebrate the theft of water from the Yosemite National park. The Hetch Hetchy is the major source of drinking water for the city of San Francisco and the surrounding area. In 1934 when the aqueduct was completed the temple was also finished and a celebration took place here.
The temple is surrounded by about 1 acre of grass. the lawn slopes gently upward and forms a bowl. It would be a great venue for a rock concert. except someone would have a little to much to drink and start to swim in the pool!. It was rather warm today and I admit, I wanted to take a few laps!

So whats the deal? are we supposed to make a sacrifice every time we take a drink of water from the tap? Do we make a pilgrimage every full moon?

Turns out, no. The main use is for marriage photos and other special events. I guess there is some sort of symbolic something or other to the temple also.
If you ever find yourself just south of the westbound 92 exit on 280 and have some time to kill it is well worth the stop.
The temple is littered with pagan water worship symbols and quotes. What is with SF and their pagan worship? oh wait... that is a quote from the bible... oops!
on a sadder note, I was bitten by a soft-shelled turtle yesterday. Maybe it was all the mocking of the water temple. does anyone know where I can get a boat load of ox blood. I need to make amends.

egg mass

Maybe my earlier description of what I have been surveying for was not as clear. Thank goodness there are tons of photos on our network at work. Enjoy!









here is a photo of the frog. the egg mass is usually larger than the frog that laid it. Crazy!