At least Marie Osmond didn't run over my foot this year...

That is what happened last year in the airport coming home from our big science conference! This year I got to go on a nice hike and see lots of beautiful wildflowers at 11,000 ft.
My talk went well and work has been crazy since getting back. My advisor is writing a grant to try to get me some moola to do work out in the field and at a facility that has all the fish and lab supplies I need. In addition, I am writing a mini-proposal for the head researcher at the facility to try to get the a-ok on their end to do my work and even maybe get some free housing! The prospect of paying my mortgage and somehow paying to live in a different state is pretty daunting so free or cheap housing would be fantastic. I turn the proposal in tomorrow- Wish me luck!

I am in a weird state though. I am in a funk- hense the few posts lately. I am really feeling like I am on the right track research wise after a year+ of floundering around with side projects and complex out there ideas that would NEVER work. It is time to get it all on paper, make it official and get going. When I think about it all rationally, it is just the typical grad student strife. But still, I guess I am just overwhelmed with a lot of things. The worst was Winston, my red earded slider, dying just 2 weeks after Yoko (his 'girlfriend') dying. She died when V was gone so I had to deal with all the icky things that come along with a dead turtle in a tank. Winston was even worse though. He seemed fine so I was pretty caught off guard. Just the day before he was swimming around in all the little lettuce bits that he couldn't quite catch in his mouth. He was my first pet that was mine alone- I got to pick him out and name him and had him for over 9 years! He traveled with me from IL, to TX to PA. Winston and Yoko were good turtles and they will be missed. We buried them under our roses in the backyard.