Back in business

Well, friends, my family has departed. It was a good visit, and I learned that I like Oregon so much better when the people I love are in it. A week of traveling with family was a good chance to rediscover all that is good about this state - the landscapes, the rivers, the wineries, the mountains, the small towns, the lakes, the valleys. I'm actually proud of how well I know my way around here.

Now that I've cleaned my apartment and drunk the last Diet Pepsi in my fridge (Mom's go-to beverage), I'm back to sciencing. I started yesterday by catching up with my labmate, Caitlin, and touching base with my adviser. Apparently, while I was busy galavanting around the state with relatives, Caitlin managed to fix two old pieces of equipment just by reading the manual. Score two for her.

We actually spent a good part of the day yesterday packing up boxes of lab equipment to ship to the U.S. east coast. Our adviser, Craig, has a research cruise coming up next week, and a number of OIMB students and scientists are going. We're flying to North Carolina, boarding the ship, and heading north. After three weeks at sea, we'll end the cruise in Massachusetts and fly home. I'm pretty excited for the trip, but it means I have a lot to get done before I can leave town again.

I'm spending this week processing data, hopefully collecting more data, and packing, packing, packing!