What a Day!

Well, we survived yesterday relatively unscathed. Lost power yesterday morning with the first round (out of three) of storms. Luckily, campus still had power, so I worked in Stelios' office for the day. It was a good place to be, as we had power to monitor the storms and it's underground. After 11:00 last nigh the front finally went by and we went home - luckily the only things we have had to deal with is lack of power and some water in the basement - lots of grilling in our future. We are both feeling very lucky as there is a lot of damage throughout the area and several people have died. Hopefully we won't have to experience something like that again, or at least for a long time! Whew!

There must be something in the water....

So I wanted to let everyone here know before FB tells the world.

I'm pregnant and due in late October. :-) We're very excited. And yes that shirt says geek inside. On this same theme, we've already planned possible Joshoween costumes, me as a fly or something that was parasitized, Josh as a parasitic wasp, and the new arrival as a grub.

We just finished an egg coloring, egg hunt, and pinata filled birthday bash here. I wish you all lived closer. I'll post more pictures on that later since they're not on my phone.

On other news, I'll be on sabbatical this fall working on barnacles again. So life is going well.

((hugs)) to all

Dessert Time

Once again I ask students to look at a map of the world's biomes, pick 2, name them, tell me two characteristics of them and name an organism that lives there.
While this batch is not as funny as the frosted biome or the zebras of the tundra, we do have some new biomes this year, in addition to the ever popular desserts:
Forest, Africa, Terrestrial, Tropical, Temperate, North America (located on the tropical rain forest), South Africa, Egypt, Coniferous, Brazil, Temperate Broadleaf and my new favorite: "Freshwater" which is located on the savanna and has the characteristic of, "it has salty water".
Good times.

Moody Cranky Advice

I've been cranky, moody and wanna-be-uber-weepy this semester. At least once a week I have a day when I really just want to curl up in my office and cry. Not cry about anything, just cry.
Actually, moody isn't the word for it either, since I haven't been in a bad mood and these spells overtake me without much of a change in my mood. I don't know. There have been some blue or down times, so very tired times, some rationally irritated, some irrationally irritated, some worried times (see my blog when I eventually post about ventriculomegaly, which I just looked up again for the spelling and am re-concerned about) but those are mostly just normal emotions. This season I've also had spells of feeling emotionally really bad that felt like a physical symptom, rather than an emotion.
Anyway, this is fairly new territory for me. I think I have a fine grasp on the long-term- this certainly doesn't feel like it is inescapable or permanent. I can definitely envision that my hormones will change and that I will feel better. It's the short term that I'm having trouble with.
I don't want to explode at/cry at/nag my wonderful Mister any more than he actually deserves. I don't want to feel any fatter or lazier from sitting around eating and doing nothing than I already do. I don't want to be any farther behind in work or life projects than I already am AND I REALLY WANT to explode/cry/nag/eat/sit and do nothing.
Any advice for how you deal with ickiness you know will pass in ways that will make your loved ones still want to deal with you after it has passed?

Celebrating Season

Beth will celebrate a double digit birthday on Sunday and Irene and her Mister celebrate six years of married life (Saturday, I believe). Meanwhile, Max will be turning 13 months soon, Cheryl and her Mister have been married 5 years and Annika turned 3. 3! That's crazy big-girlness.
Happy spring to all.

Haiti ecotourism gear

The logos are done! You can buy a shirt with one here: http://www.cafepress.com/zwazoyo. Let me know if you would like to buy a shirt or water bottle for an ecotour guide or ecology teacher I train in Haiti!