Funded!

I just found out that I got a sizeable (for me) grant! I've been cautiously optimistic about my odds on this one, but was also comfortable with my backup plan (which would delay the completion of my field work my approximately 1 year but mean a shorter trip to the field this spring). I've been waiting on this to make plans for returning to Ukenzagapia, but now this means all systems are go and I leave ASAP. Eek! It's both exciting and waaay intimidating, as this means I'll be gone for about 3 months and have so much to do in the field while I'm there. Not to mention what I have to do before I leave!
Oh boy oh boy oh boy!

Google Voice for when you're in the field

I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, but Jon suggested that I set up a Google Voice number linked to my cell phone. Then Google Voice can transcribe my voicemails and send them to my email address (same for text messages). This is perfect for when I'm in Ukenzagapia for weeks on end and leave my U.S. cell phone at home. As long as I have email access, I can receive voicemail transcriptions and text messages. Way cool. I love technology!

Kids do and publish science

A class of 8-10 year old students in the UK designed an experiment to understand bumblebee vision. The paper was published in Biology Letters, and you can read an article about it, the paper itself, and more commentary on it for free.

The main scientist involved in the project, Beau Lotto from the University College London, has a webpage like I've never seen. This group is really, seriously sharing science in creative and novel ways (check out their Street Science and Flight of the bumblebee cubes). Kudos to them! What an inspiration!

The "Blackawton bees" project really sets a new bar for teaching science by doing science, and I expect we'll see more articles published by elementary and secondary school students in the near future. What do you think?

Puppy pic

Because you asked!

Anyone want to guess what she is? The shelter said "lab cross" but what is up with those ears? Usually they are practically overlapping on top of her head they are so high set. I think they might stand up, but who knows? She's 15 weeks now.

Numbers

We had a party on Saturday and then left on Monday to see family. Here are some numbers from the past few days.

Guests at our party: 17
People bleeding at our party: 3
Time party ended: 3:30 am
Guests who spent the night: 4
Beatles songs listened to on the way to see Jon's family: 213 (that's 9.6 hours- listened to chronologically by recording date)
Pounds of dog food brought along for puppy: 0 (oops- this is why we got a dog before having kids)

Tranformations!

For years now I have thought that there should be an easy way to capitalize or de-capitalize selected text. I always imagined it would be a key on the keyboard, but I just discovered that it exists in the magic world of right-click!
If I'm composing or editing text and I right-click, one of the options is "transformations" then the options are "Make upper case", "Make lower case" or "Capitalize". This is SO useful for editing the title of journal articles so that each letter isn't capitalized (this is often the case when I download the citation, but most bibliography styles require lower case).
For how long have I been tediously changing one letter or word at a time? Is this a Mac-only thing, or can my non-Macophile readers do this too?

We finally did it!

After years of talking about it and putting it off because the timing wasn't right or we didn't have enough money or whatever, we finally got a dog. We adopted a 3 month old puppy from a shelter. She's adorable!
Since I'm capable of doing most of my work at home (though I almost always prefer to work in my office at school), I've been mostly home with the puppy. My work is now often interrupted by stopping the puppy from peeing inside and keeping the puppy from doing other inappropriate things.
After more than 3.5 years of being car-free, it seems time for us to get a car since we can't take the dog on public transit. Then Jon will be able to bring the puppy to work with him, which will be important when I go back to Ukenzagapia.

Need something weird for your experiment?

Ecologists often have to design some of their equipment for experiments and get creative with materials. I'm in the process of tracking down a few particular items for my next trip, and just found the most amazing website: http://www.mcmaster.com/
If you're like me, you might often have a picture in your mind of what type of thingamabob you need, but don't know what to call it. This website is full of pictures! Need something that looks like a u-bolt? Or special screws? Wire? Cable ties? Plastic mesh? Oh my gosh, this place has everything. This is waaaay better than wandering through Home Depot.
Thanks to Jon for tipping me off to this great resource. I love being married to such a handy man :-)

I'm home

I made it home from Ukenzagapia in time for Thanksgiving, and had my first two completely work-free days since September! I'm basically back in the right time zone now.
I'm pleased with how things went this time, but I have so. much. work. to do here before I go back again... soon. Eek.

Step by step

Tomorrow three students from SFC will arrive and stay for 5 days. They'll each spend at least a day in the field with me, a day with Cam, and a day with Ian to get a taste of the different kinds of research. When they leave, I'll have six days left in the field, and then I'll leave the following morning for the city, where I'll spend 2 nights before I get a on plane to go home. Ai! I feel like I can barely keep up with everything that needs to be done in the field, yet I still have a long list of other things to deal with. Sometimes it's overwhelming. I just keep trying to do one thing at a time. What is the most important thing that I need to be doing now? Step by step...

Some stories from the field

-Through some kind of error in some database somewhere, by some omission or addition of zeros, I am paying less than $2 for 400 mb of internet. Normally this should cost at least $30.  As a result, I've been much more liberal with my internet use, averaging a whopping 18 mb per day. I'm so up on facebook. It's kinda weird.

-It has hardly rained since I arrived. This is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it means that the roads are relatively fantastic. On the other hand, the rains are late, and that's not good for life in general.

-I saw a big gecko try to eat a small gecko. OMG geckos, please eat the insects in our house instead of cannibalizing your babies (and if you could not poop on my things I'd appreciate that too).

-Recently we had to go over a bridge under construction. They had laid down some big logs but hadn't put the planks on yet, so we had to walk the motorbike across the logs. Then we had to carefully maneuver past the trailer that was blocking the entire road. It's days like that when I am thankful to be on a motorbike instead of in a car, because we would've been SOL in a car. 

-I saw Mommy Dog get stuck butt to butt with Loverboy (her dog boyfriend) after what I thought was a failed attempt at mating. They were stuck together for at least 10 minutes. I didn't even know this was possible. My kind veterinarian friend explained it to me over email. Apparently it happens all the time- after a successful mating. I guess I haven't seen enough dogs mate.

-I think the likelihood of a person arriving late is correlated with the number of children they have at home. B has 4 kids at home (not 3 like he's been telling me all along) and T has 6 kids at home (and one more nearby in her own home with a child- which makes him a grandpa at 38!). T is late much more often than B, and it's usually related to a child being sick.

-I'm at the point now where I'm starting to think about the logistics of going home. What am I going to leave here in Ukenzagapia? Where will I leave it? What do I need to bring next time?

-I've barely gotten any rash at all from poison tree (knock on wood). Let's see how I hold up.

I'm so sick of writing grants

The title says it all. The summer before I started grad school, someone told me, "If you just apply for as many small grants as you can, you're bound to get something eventually." I took the advice to heart. I applied for a whole bunch of small grants and I got a bunch of small grants (and some fellowships). That's awesome. I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing without that support. What I regret now is not trying to apply for bigger money about a year ago. I've funded everything with a couple thousand dollars here and there, totally piecemeal. I've spent an inordinate amount of time keeping track of all of the expenses from the different pots of money (and then trying to get my university to actually give me the money...). Unfortunately, I'm not quite finished. I sent out a grant last week that will cover almost everything, but even if I get that I'll need a little bit more, and if I don't get that I'm not sure what I'll do.

If I'd known when I was applying to grad school what I know now, I think I might have tried harder to find an advisor who already had a big grant that could support at least some of my research. I guess I could've gotten in on Herb's big project, but I chose to strike out on my own. What was I thinking? I'm so sick of writing grants.

A Mennonite, a Quaker, and an Atheist

There's got to be a joke in there somewhere.

I'm living with two great housemates whom I have been meaning to introduce for weeks now (because I love to name people on my blog). Cameron (Cam) is another biologist studying some other critters. Ian is a social scientist doing some really awesome applied research. I can't tell you how much happier I am to be living with Cam and Ian compared to living by myself last time. SO. MUCH. BETTER. Ian has a printer (so much better than the virus-ridden setup at the field station), Cam has tons of household goods, and I have the best Ukenzagapese in the house. Everyone wins!  I've evangelized Radiolab to them and they've lent me their books that I haven't had time to read. We share supplies and computer tricks, and commiserate when days don't go as planned. 

It's helping the time to pass quickly, but it also means I have an easy outlet for my thoughts rather than blogging. Things have been slow around this blog, and I apologize to my faithful readers who eagerly look forward to new posts (I think there's at least 3 of you :-). Maybe November will bring a flood of posts.

Two sides of the same coin

Hands down, the coolest part of my life as a scientist is getting to explore the world and work outside in beautiful places. I can't go into what makes my particular field site amazing, but trust me it is. I meet new and awesome people from different cultures who broaden and challenge my view of the world and what is possible.

At the same time, this awesomeness does have a drawback. It means that I leave home for weeks or months at a time. I was fine with that idea in my early 20s, but it's not nearly so easy to just go now that I have a place to call home and a husband with a job there. I'm trying to work as hard as I can in the field so that I can minimize my time away from home, but it doesn't feel like enough time in the field while simultaneously feeling like too much time away.

Over the long term (after my Ph.D.), I might shift to doing research that doesn't require international travel but I would hopefully still be working in beautiful places, albeit perhaps somewhat less extraordinary or exotic. For the time being though, I'm playing with the coin I chose, trying to figure out how to be the best scientist and the best partner I can be at the same time.

Gah

The days are zipping by, which is a good thing and a bad thing. It means I get to see Jon sooner (or rather it feels sooner), but it also means I really have to get a lot done! I just submitted a grant that has been hanging over my head for the past 5 weeks (more on that later maybe) so I'm relaxing a bit tonight. It's a huge relief to have that done, so now I can start tackling the other zillion things I need to do (when I'm not in the field- being in the field alone is a full-time commitment).

Last week did end better than it started, and Thursday was only mildly disastrous due to a literal roadblock and some miscommunication. I did get a pineapple out of it. It was delicious.