Welcome BF Baby!!!!

Alyssa Lynn, 6-28-08, 6lbs 13oz!

My best friend Kimmy and her husband (my therefore, best-friend-in-law) had their baby in the very early hours of Saturday morning (I have never been more excited to get a 4am phone call!!!!!)! Just 2 hours after celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary!

I just knew it was going to be a girl (they didn't find out the sex until she was born, which I think is the super coolest thing)!

And I am so excited to have a little girl to take to the zoo and on the carousel and go Target shopping with me & her mom! I can't wait to meet her!

(And I'll post more pictures when I get them!)

Congratulations
BF Kimmy & BF-in-law!!

Congrats Dr. RyGuy!

The week before I left for Jamaica was filled with lots of celebration & fun! Ry celebrated getting his actual PhD!! (Yes, technically he became a PhD in January, but the ceremony was in May!)

We started the week of celebration by a surprise present to go see the Yankees vs. Mets at Yankee Stadium! I was very excited about this because I have never been to Yankee Stadium! And Ry is a huge fan!! (And it took me weeks of eBay bidding to get the tickets!) Ry was happily surprised when his name came up on the scoreboard in the middle of the game! LOTS of fun!

Then there was the big "Hooding Ceremony" where all of the graduating PhDs recieve hoods from their advisors! Followed by copious amounts of champagne and celebrations by all!

The next day was the giant graduation ceremony which takes place on the football field because there are close to 2,000 graduates! Although it is geared towards undergrads, Ry insisted on going (because this is the only time he will ever get a PhD!). Ry was the 3rd person to get his diploma. Then it started to rain. The ceremony continued through the downpour, but most people left as soon as they got their diplomas. Not Ry (because this is the only time he will ever get a PhD!). He sat in the rain until the very end, so that he could throw his cap (because this is the only time he will ever get a PhD!)!

The next day we left for a 4 day vacation in Treasure Island, FL! It was lots of fun to stay right on the beach! We got sunburned the very first day, but still enjoyed the pool, Busch Gardens, a movie and a TB Rays baseball game!

A supposed a week is a bit long to celebrate Ry's PhD! But -- this is the only time he will ever get a PhD!

CONGRATS again, Dr. Ry!!

Ry & I at Yankee Stadium!

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Ry gets a hug from his Diva advisor just after hooding!
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Celebrating Dr. Ry with some chapagne!
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After much champagne, Ry's sis & I think it would be brilliant to all wear T-shirts to the graduation! Oh, champagne!
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Dr. Ry, alone in the rain, waiting to throw his cap
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Ry in the Gulf!!
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View of the sunset from our window!!
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Rhino & baby at Busch Gardens!
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Ry & I at Tropicana Field (2 MLB stadiums in 1 week!)
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Still tryin' to save the whales ...

On May 20, 2008, Iceland announced that it would allow 40 minke whales to be killed over the next six months. This is in open defiance of the commercial whaling ban that the International Whaling Commission (IWC) implemented in 1986, and a reversal of the country's decision in 2007 to halt this brutal practice.

There is no need for whaling. Only 17% of Icelanders would even eat whale meat (and with the number of whales they want to kill, each Icelander would have to eat 4 elephants worth of meat next year!!). And modern products are far superior to whale-made products. For more information about Icelandic whaling, please click here.

Besides, these animals are still endangered!! And they're facing enough problems (pollution, global climate change, etc.) without being brutally attacked by humans!

So, I ask you to take 2 minutes and write to Iceland’s fisheries minister, Einar Kristinn Guðfinnsson, and tell him you disagree with his decision to hunt whales! Just click here!

Jamaica, Jamaica

I thought about writing you all an exciting blog entry with a daily summary of my adventures in Jamaica (just like my adventures in Bagaces, CR). However, each day can be summed up as follows:

6:45 -Wake up, apply copious amounts of SPF 45, put on wet bathing suit, long sleeve shirt and capris. Get gear ready.

7:30 -Wander to advisor's flat with Joe. Eat breakfast of dry cereal and diet coke. Proceed to boat.

8:00 -Get in water and start collecting data.

10:00 or 11:00 -Drive advisor and various other professors and/or wives and/or fiances back to shore, then return to Reef to collect more data.

1:30 -Return to shore for the day. Usually the boat trip is hurried because Joe and I are trying to avoid being electrocuted in the aluminum boat. Everyday it is raining when we return to shore.

2:00 -Spend afternoon showering, napping, watching Lost Season 1 or entering data. Occasionally are able to check email.

4:30 -Meet at advisor's flat for Beer Thirty. Drink as many Red Stripes as possible. Cook dinner for advisor, his fiance, other professor and his wife (while drinking more Red Stripe). One time, there was an explosion as the stove had broken. Fight with Joe over who gets to hide in the kitchen and wash dishes while the other is forced to converse with "grown-ups".

6:30 or 7:00 -Make excuse to head back to our dormatories.

7:00 until about midnight - Drink a lot of rum. Beat Joe at poker. Watch Lost. Drink more rum. Call my RyGuy. Laugh about advisor and his crazy fiance. Drink more rum.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Repeat.

15 days in a row.

Luckily, neither Joe nor I ever woke up with a hangover, we collected lots of data and we made the best of being stuck on a fenced-in compound (gotta keep the raptors in somehow) with a crazy advisor and his crazier fiance and very little contact with the outside world! I have come to respect the power that Rum has to make everything alright!

Oh, and on a professional note, while we were down there, Joe & I found out that 2 of our manuscripts got accepted to (basically) the 2 best journals that we will ever publish in! More about that later!

Anyway, glad to be back! And looking forward to all of the rest of the adventures I have lined up for this summer!!

Obviously, it's me in a boat, on a boat, with some fish in a bottle. Obviously.
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One of our male beaugregory damselfish!
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Joe, taking data!
*************************View from my "terrace"!
I am sure I would enjoy the beauty of Jamaica more if I did not work there!

Thanks Friends!!

Thanks to everyone that donated to the Relay for Life! It was a great success and I almost reached my $500 goal!!

I really appreciate your donations and, even more, I appreciate all of the warm wishes for my dad!

Thanks so much friends!!

(And please feel free to hit me up in the future for donations to your favorite charity!)