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These are my peeps from BIOL 1020, the World of Biology lab I taught this semester (spring 2008). The girls are holding a sign that says, “I heart biology.” Shameless!!!

But seriously, I really lucked out with my students. They were all really good sports, and they put in a lot of effort for the class. (Not shown, but worth an honorable mention are Krissy and Ashley).

Congrats to the Seniors!

Thanks, guys!

We went to New Melones yesterday and did the Angel’s Creek trail. Holy hell! That trail was awesome, but it definitely kicked my butt. Next time we go, I’m gonna make that trail my biaatch.

Although it’s a moderately difficult trail, it took me several hours to finish it, and I even fell on a treacherous (to me) uphill. But I’m proud to say that even though I took a spill, the worst of my ills were just some nasty bruises and thorns IN my socks! I am vowing not to do any more trails in that park until I master this one trail. That means no falling, and peddling fast through the downhills and ramps. I want air, baby- and not by accident this time!

Below are some pictures of our afternoon. The weather couldn’t have been nicer, and we saw some cool vultures and lots of wildflowers.

Okay, I’m pale! I know!!! Nothing a little tan in a tube won’t fix. Don’t hate!

Update: beware the poison oak! That was the worst of my ills.

This is my pet onion. Back story: About three years ago I noticed an onion in my refrigerator was starting to sprout. Instead of throwing it in the trash I thought it would be funny to plant it in a pot outside to see what it would do. To my amazement it became a full-on plant. Hooray vegetative reproduction! After a year in the pot, and through four seasons of NorCal weather, the onion had grown almost three feet in height and flowered twice.

To further the experiment, I transplanted it in the ground on the side of my house that gets very little sunlight…and it’s thriving! So a couple of weeks ago I noticed the same thing happening to another onion. This time I skipped the pot and just planted it straight into the ground. I even have the automated sprinkler watering both of them at regular intervals. I’m curious to see how long this onion experiment is going to last.

There are two good comparison pictures below that show the height of the onion plants. One of the pictures has another thing in it I couldn’t bear to see die: Aulin the campus cat. Although, if you look at the last picture of the pigmy date palm you can see that Aulin is not earning his keep by ridding the backyard of burrowing critters. Lazy!

Just wanted to give a big thank you to my students that attended last night’s Chill Out event set up by fellow grad student, Wendy Olmstead, and the National Wildlife Federation. Half the class was there and almost everyone stayed awake through the whole thing. Bravo!

I dug up this picture from the spring of 1992 of my bff Jennifer and me at some park in Oklahoma. There was another girl from Stoia there (Mandy something?) but she’s unimportant so I cut her out. ha HA!!!

I love this picture because it’s from when we were hanging out with Becca (our senior Mommy) and we had major attitude. It’s before life kicked us in the shins. No tattoo’s yet, not really partying, and *gasp* still attending school regularly. Come to think of it, this is pre-Union high school, and pre-Looney’s. Oh geez, Looneys….

ANYWAY, I’m going to Texas in June for three weeks to hang out with Jen. Yay! I think I need to start saving up for bail money now.

I’m going to take it back to third grade now and say, “then the whole world will bow to our knees.” Sorry, inside joke, people.

I totally biked last weekend! Ok, so to test this post out it looks like I’m going to have to type a bunch of stuff. Here’s the story of the bike ride: We decided earlier that week that we were going to go to New Melones (yeah, right) so that we could work off some stress. By 2:30 the day of, we still hadn’t left the house yet and we were both hungry so we went up to the bike shop to buy a tube for my tire and get some Clif bars. The bike shop was out of Clif bars so we had to find a grocery store. After we got the Clif bars we headed out to Dry Creek because it is closer and easier and it was getting late. We should have taken the Garmin because we couldn’t find the trail head. We finally found a place to park and when we got out of the car the wind was FREEZING! Nothing a little bike riding wouldn’t solve! So we hopped on the bikes and ended up doing almost six miles. We discovered after we got home that my rear suspension was locked. Holy crap, I couldn’t walk straight for two days my ass hurt so bad! Oh well, looks like we’re going to do it again this coming weekend… only this time we’re going to go to New Melones… that’s the plan any way!

The technical name for it is malocclusion, and it can be fatal. Treatment is risky, but we’re going to give it a shot. On Thursday, an exotic pet specialist from UC Davis is going to shave his teeth to get them to align properly (and hopefully stop growing into his eye sockets). In the meantime, Ricky is enjoying being fed liquified timothy hay and canine pain medicine. The vet recommended acupuncture for a holistic approach, and we’re actually considering it, lol. Yes, it’s probably over the top, but we love him and he’s totally worth it.

Update: I won’t go into detail, but our precious Chin has gone to the big dust bath in the sky. Hopefully Ricky and Speedy are giving each other hell right now. And by hell, I mean Ricky is getting Speedy back for biting his finger off years ago.

Lately, in the computer lab I’ve been listening to my Ipod while doing my homework. Invariably the play list goes to Pink Floyd The Wall. I probably listen to this album four or five times a week.

I’m sure I’ll get tired of it at some point. Maybe when it stops raining every day I’ll feel like listening to some cheerful music, lol.

“Is there something eluding you sunshine- is this not what you expected to see?”

Poor Bugs, passed away from aggressive Pancreatic cancer on Wednesday, January 23, 2008. Gone before his time. He is survived by his mother, Mama Kitty, the Cellino’s (his human family), and many friends. He was only twelve years old. His late half-brother, Simba was my baby who died way too young as well.

Say Cheese!!

My very photogenic nephew, Christmas 2007.

I kept trying to figure out how to smuggle him in my suitcase so I could take him back to California with me, but apparently that kind of activity is illegal. (And his parent’s probably wouldn’t appreciate it either).

P.S.-see that Elmo doll? Yeah, that’s a gift from Aunt Jana and he loves it. Score!