Just checking in

Hi everyone,

I've done it again -- I've gone months without checking the blog! Horrible, I know, since I really do enjoy reading the updates from everyone, which I'm looking forward to doing again now. My excuse, if there is one, is that I post lots of photos and the occasional inane update on Facebook and figure that's enough of a mass dissemination; my relatives really enjoy being able to keep up with their Nebraska crew that way.

But anyway, everything's good here. Little Z is 20 months old already and is a big chatterbox. She's getting long and lean and is generally a blast to hang out with. W and I are doing fine. He continues to tinker with honeybees as a hobby, with 4 hives in our backyard. He's also just about to start an MBA program, a little bit at a time. I have the summer free to spend with Z-toddler and O-dog, but as I got a decent state-funded grant to do 1 year of research with some students, I do that twice a week this summer, too, and will have 1 course release in the spring as well as 3 weeks in Costa Rica during our J-term. A requirement of this state funding is that I submit a full NSF Career proposal; that July deadline is looming. In the fall, I'll be teaching comparative (supposedly vertebrate) anatomy, which is freaking me out a little. I've never had anatomy and have had ornithology and mammalogy but no other vertebrate-ologies. I'd frankly rather (and be more qualified to) teach botany or entomology. But I digress. Any ideas you guys have got would be welcome! I've assigned a typical textbook as well as "Your Inner Fish" by Shubin.


W and I just got back from a week in Alaska. My parents insisted we leave Z with them for a while, so it was our first time away from her. Everything was great on both ends, although the packaged tour was a little too packaged-tour-y for me. We got to see great views of McKinley and plenty of critters, too. My favorite part of the trip was an air tour of McKinley that turned into a glacier landing at the climbers' base camp.



Otherwise, we're just rolling along here. I'm looking forward to going through the last few months of posts and hoping that everyone's well.