Packing party

Kharis and Maikani in the lab with their mountain
of packed boxes - 10 in all.

There's a sense of finality when you add zip ties to an Action Packer. We use the large plastic boxes to ship our equipment and samples across the globe for field work, and we secure the lids with zip ties. Once the zip ties go on, there's no more getting into the box - at least not without breaking them. At that point, sealing the box back up would mean starting over. You never put the zip ties on until you're really, truly finished. 

Today was a day of zip ties. They sealed box after box for shipment, and the sense of finality brought with it a feeling of accomplishment. Kharis and Maikani have each been spearheading the packing of gear for an upcoming field trip - yes, my lab has multiple field trips in the next few months. For whatever reason, they both finished today. It was great to see the lab transform from a chaos of boxes, gear, and clothing to an organized stack of packages. 

I'm so excited for the work we have coming up! I don't want to give away too much right now, but between now and the end of June, my lab will be sampling at depths from just below the surface all the way to the deep sea and from just north of the equator to the high Arctic. It's going to be a busy spring!