Down in the heart of Texas ...

Just 2 days until DancingFish and I leave for Study Butte, Texas! Crazy!

This Buffalonian will be spending a month with the advisor looking at desert fish (yes, I said FISH that live in the DESERT). And I am also told I will see scary spiders, snakes, scorpions and other assorted animals. I hope to see an armadillo. And cacti. And I want to go to Mexico. And get a cowboy hat. And get lots of research done.

We're road trippin' it through Chicago, Kansas (YAY -- we'll see Kathryn!!!), and Austin over the first few days. On the way back I hope to see the Southern Yankee in GA and see BF-Kimmy & the BF-in-law in Virginia!

Once we're in the middle of nowhere, it may be a bit difficult to keep up the blogging, but I will surely have lots of fun pictures to post when we get back on June 15th!

Hope you're all starting your summer adventures too!

Guess who my favorite guy is!

Battle of Puebla

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Hope you all had as fun a Cinco de Mayo celebration as we all did!

Ry's advisor had everyone over for some backyard fun! The grill was fired up and the keg was tapped! Bucket of Margarita was in the freezer and we all left school a bit early to enjoy the sun!

We played some volleyball and the boys had to show off their wiffleball skills! Dr. Dave tried to hit one out of the park .... I think all the beer and grilling went to his head!

We all ate way too much food (yes, I ate a hamburger!! DancingFish has a picture of the first cow I have eaten (sober) in half a decade)!

As the sun went down, more bottles of booze were discovered (Ry -- what are you drinking baby??) :)

Which, as with most summer parties, led to the 2nd round of grilling -- even more chicken wings, ribs, and burgers! (Who will win the cheeseburger? Brad or Franklin the Diva Doggie?)

Fun was had by all and I slept very well that night!

Hope you enjoyed your quasi-Mexican Holiday!

Cheers!

Master Stephanie!

Congratulations to Steph on a job well done!!!!

YAY for her graduating with a Masters in Education!!

We're all so proud!

Crazy ... like a peacock

Do sexual selection & behavioral isolation form a continuum?

Does anyone care?

Does anyone even know what that means?

I'm going a bit crazy as I have been working on this review paper for my Speciation class for the last few days.

Crazy like a peacock.

(Because, really, who can discuss sexual selection without peacocks??)

Leaving for Texas in less then 10 days!!

Crazy.

Like an armadillo.

Fiery Hot in Kansas!

Geez ... crazy things always happen to my friends!

Apartment Fire in Kansas

All the best to 'thryn as she cleans up her smoke-damaged apartment!!!!

Happy Birthday Matt!

Happy 25th Birthday Mattie!!

Such a fun Birthday Celebration!

The Mighty Mitochondria

I couldn't be the only Science Geek blogger who hadn't taken the cell part quiz!

Lately, with it being the end of the semester, my score seemed appropriate! Too bad the only thing I remember about cell bio is that during the Krebs Cycle, I think 32 molecules of ATP are produced? Anyone back me up on that number?? :)

Mitochondria You scored 73 Industriousness, 32 Centrality, and 19 Causticity!

You're a mitochondrion! The mitocondria is a "power plant" of the cell. Nothing could ever get done in the cell without you creating energy. Since both the Citric Acid cycle and Oxidative Phosphorylation happen inside the mitochondria, you are critical to every eukaryotic cell. You are always a hard worker, no matter what you are tasked to. Most of the time, you tend to be working in the background, but that often suits you just fine. You get along with almost everyone, and aren't these the most important things?

I should get back to work now ....