Upon realizing I have not posted in 2012

I have been shamed into creating a post that goes nowhere.
I do not have time to write about my exciting research ideas. (That's just how exciting they are).

...now, Rice University EEB

... all right, since I didn't want to stop chasing after bugs and running around in West Texas (or anywhere outdoors), I enlisted in the Ph.D. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program at Rice University. I am still getting my bearings, in Houston and on campus, but I have to just admit it: I can't bring myself to stop LEARNING and STUDYING the natural world. If I play my cards right, I might even be able to engage in manipulative experiments testing hypotheses! That's the goal, anyway. And make it snappy. As in, fresh and new.

And then what...?

I am days away from participating in a ceremony declaring my completion of a Master of Science degree. Hooray. Parents and in-laws will be here, the town will be crowded with other people's parents and in-laws, the ceremony will last several hours, awkward smiles, tired feet, funny hats... the whole shebang.

And then what...? Need to finish manuscript no.2, maybe get more sequence data, think about Ph.D. programs, and JOBS.

And then what...?

Immediate future: bake sugar cookies.

There's no crying in science!

I really didn't mean to, but I pretty much went a whole year before posting here again. Ah well. I've been... busy. This image captures the latest in my Very Busy Year. Lee and I occasionally (playfully) recreate this scene. I cry about the work I have to do, and he says, "There's no crying in science!" and I go back in my cave... i.e., the lab/my office/the bench.

Lee at Oak Thicket