SalSis Returns

You can read about her adventures with special missionary flights over on her blog, but I'd thought you'd all like to know that SalSis is back safely in Kansas.

Belated: Zoey's Appearance

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I've visited GBKD but have enjoyed getting caught-up. It sounds like everyone is doing well and keeping busy, and certainly many of us are working diligently on our F1 generations!

Zoey was born on October 1 and has been doing very, very well with nothing I can really complain about. She's thriving and has been an absolute joy to observe, since each day there is some new development. She's almost 4 months old; some of the difficulties of having a newborn seem like ancient history, not to mention how long ago it seemed that I was pregnant. Was there actually ever a time BEFORE that?

Today I started a blog on which I want to share our adventures with Zoey. I just have a single short post for now, but I plan to add to it often.

Finally, here's a recent photo:

From Good Housekeeping

My mom sent this to me and I had to share the amusement!

Student e-mail of the day

Sent to one of my colleagues about lab* for my class: "Hi! I will not be attending class today. I will do the work in my dorm room. If we cover any thing in class today can you please write me back and let me know. I will be there next week!!"

There was not a subject line.
*It's a double lab because last week was interrupted because of a water line break.

Finally saw Avatar

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/science/19essay.html?em

We finally went and saw Avatar in 3D, and I definitely recommend it. This article waxes lyrical about the coolness of the biology in the movie, and the biologist (a plant biologist no less!) who is one of the important characters. Careful though, there's a spoiler at the end of the article.

Who else has seen it? Did you like the world's biology?

(BTW, Beth, I remembered to click through Cinekin to buy tickets via Fandango :-) )

Contact Hours

For those of you teaching, how many contact hours per week do you have? How many office hours are required? Just curious...

Green Slug

So the "part animal, part plant headline" is a bit misleading, but boy is this cool.
Photosynthetic slugs (not from symbiosis) are knocking out Tasmanian Devil tumors as a new species as the hot topic of conversation around here. For one semester only we have four biologists in our office suite and the biological chemistry is great (probably helps that I hired all the other three in part because they fit in well)-- one biochemist/microbiologist, one invertebrate/cell physiologist, one wildlife ecologist/ornithologist and me. It's way cool. We actually discuss tumors and slugs . . .

Where is Sally's Sister?

I just read about the earthquake in Haiti. Does anyone know if Sally's Sister is still there? Is she okay?

Amuse me while I pump

So I'm back at work (survived my 8, 9 + 10 am classes) and am pumping. The thing I can do easily while pumping is clicking and screen reading.
So it is your job to post something for me to read and smile about.
Today's topic: Office supplies that make you smile.

I'm enamoured by new pens. Gel pens in particular.
I also now have an enviable set of color sharpies, but black is still the best.
How about you?

Bonjour!

I made it to my final destination in Haiti, and am having fun learning Creole by immersion. I posted my trip in the capital on my zwazoyo.blogspot blog. It was around 75 and overcast today, damp so it feels chiller than it is, probably 60 now, glad I brought a sweatshirt and fleece jacket. I saw that Lawrence has a low of -15 tomorrow, so I can't complain! Tomorrow I start working with the guy that I teach birding. Orevwa!

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2010!