WOW!! Go Amazing Friends!

My friends and family never cease to amaze me!

I posted and emailed about supporting the Relay for Life in honor of my dad only 24 hours ago.

And in that time -- just ONE day -- I have received almost $300 in donations!!!!!!!

PLUS, I have received many emails asking for my address so that checks can be sent!

THANK YOU!
You all ROCK!!!!!!!
Seriously.

I am the luckiest girl to have such giving, supportive, selfless, wonderful friends!

Please continue to raise awareness about cancer research and cancer survivors! Tell your friends and have them tell their friends!

You all just proved that a few people can make a difference in a very short time!!!!!!!

UPDATE: As of 30 hours post-posting, we have raised almost $350!!!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Dear Friends ...

As many of you know, my dad was diagnosed with cancer about 4 years ago. He has been doing well and is currently trying new treatments to stay healthy. There is no "cure" for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that affects the immune system.

In his honor, I am taking part in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. This is a great event that raises money for cancer research and cancer survivors. For 24 hours, my BOGS team will walk the track at a local high school to raise awareness!

I urge you to visit my webpage and make a donation. Both in support of my dad and in honor of everyone that you know that has been affected by cancer.

You can donate directly on the webpage using a credit card or you can send me a check in the mail!

Every little bit helps! Just a few dollars really does make a difference!

Thanks so much for your support and contribution!

Go to my Relay for Life webpage by clicking here!

Baby Katherine

Mom (and other interested folks),

If you want to check out photos of Baby Katherine visit this page: The Southern Yankee

BF Kimmy and I can't wait to go visit this summer!!

Hot News from Arkansas

So ... it's a bit hard to read ... but, trust me, it's worth the eye strain!

Thanks to Kathryn for always sharing news from the "red states"!

Despite residing in Kansas, she is still a "reasonable person".

I am a dork!

I cannot WAIT for the summer of Harry Potter!

The 5th movie AND the 7th (final) book!!!

Award-winning week!

This past week has been a pretty exciting week for Ry and I!

Well ... as exciting as an exciting work week gets.

First, Ry took part in a student research symposium during the inauguration of our school's 13th president. This was a very big deal as he was one of about 20 students from the entire university that was invited to show off his work. I am so proud of him (and doesn't he look handsome?!)

Then, we found out that Ry has been awarded the Graduate Student Leader award! This award is a nomination-based thing, and a few weeks back there were some departmental emails suggesting that another graduate student should be nominated by everyone. Ry's advisor (in some odd random act of kindness) replied to everyone that he'd be nominating Ry instead! And Ry won! YAY! This means some cash for him and a fancy dinner for the two of us next week!

Finally, to top off our exciting week, we attended a local all-day evolution and ecology symposium on Saturday where I presented some research that I did with Dancing Fish this past summer (the photo below is hers!). It's not at all the focus of what I study, but it was an interesting story about some little desert fishes.

I enjoyed presenting it, received really good questions afterwards and was awarded best graduate student presentation!! So exciting! My prize consisted of a hand shake and a "the check is in the mail", but that's OK! It was very exciting to be recognized (and a line on the CV!)!

All-in-all, a very good week for us, professionally.

Super Big Happiness

Hamster_Grrl is my favorite and I will remember her fondly while she is away in Australia for the next few months.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Awesome PEEPS gifts courtesy of Kathryn!
I really should post about our PEEPS phylogenetic analysis ....

Not quite a Woman, not yet a Misses

There are only a handful of other blogs that I actually read, the majority of which are written by people I have actually met in real life and are my friends.

However, I do stop by Crazy Aunt Purl's page quite often and couldn't stop laughing at her last post: Dear Fashion World ...

If you are also not a size 2 and have been perplexed by the clothes created for women with curves, I urge you to click on over to her latest post. I couldn't have expressed my feelings any better!

I love hockey!

Zamboni driver skates by drunken driving law

I am surprised this story is NOT from Buffalo!

Thanks for the great New Jersey story, Kathryn!

Palm Saturday in Bangor

Because Ry and I are heading to Buffalo in May and because we plan on being with the family for Christmas this year, we decided to spend the Easter Holiday with his family.

The festivities began with a gathering for Palm Sunday. On Saturday.

As I learned at Christmas, it is important to Ry's family to get to church early. One hour early. To get good seats. In the back.

After a very exciting mass, we headed over to The Galley to eat fish dinners. Well, the rest of the family ate fish, but Ry and I don't eat ocean creatures, so we had pasta.

We then traveled to the local bowling alley for some fun and excitement. Ry's parents spent the whole day discussing what good bowlers they were. Too bad I (a pitiful bowler) scored about 30 points more than everyone in the first game.

I also enjoyed watching the locals on the other lanes. I did spot a mullet or two. The highlight was defintely this woman. Who I think was there with her grandson.

YAY for holidays with the "in-laws"! Can't wait to see what this weekend's big holiday brings!

Someone wants an A!

Today, I walked into my office after class and found some beautiful flowers on my desk!

Ry was in the room and immediately declared "They aren't from me!", as though I had accused him of some heinous crime.

The flowers were actually from one of my Animal Behavior Lab students!

Isn't that sweet?

I thought they all hated me! :)

Well, at least one of them liked me!

This goes up there with my Genetics Lab evaluations of "Jen's Hot" and "Jen is bringing sexy back".

(Seriously. I kept them. Maybe I will try to scan them in for you!)

Go Metric?

Did you know that in 1975 Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act??

Therefore, by law, if I submit any grant proposals to government agencies, I must have all measurements converted to metric units.

I mean, it's science, so we pretty much only use the metric system. But I thought the reasoning behind it was because everyone else in the world uses the metric system. Not because it was a LAW!