Your teeth fall out at 30.......

On top of packing up my life and moving to what feels like the other side of the world, I am also trying to get organised for a slew of Antarctic Research Cruises next year (four in total). To do this you have to get medical and dental clearance, its pretty extensive and a great big pain in the butt to be honest, but at least you know your healthy in body at the end of it........to go to the Drake Passage in the middle of winter I'm not going to say anything about healthy in mind.

So I went to the dentist today to get my dental exam and x-rays to send off to the US Antarctic Program. Ever hopefully this would be a simple affair (why do I not learn), I was prepared for a quick in and out. After doing an unexpected cleaning on my teeth (ouch, but probably a good thing), it was also announced that I needed an old filling replaced and two new ones put in and best of all they were all in different quadrants so would require three visits to do.......erg......Luckily they did one there and then, so just two more to go, wish me luck for monday and tuesday.

Anyone who knows me knows my long and involved history with dentists so i'm not going to go into rant mode, BUT I did make an off the cuff remark that it appears the more I look after my teeth the more I seem to need work done. Ha ha. Well the dentist took this all very seriously and told me it was because I was aging and teeth get softer, blah blah blah....

She then looked at my age on the chart and said very relieved (and I quote).."oh your only 29.....thank goodness your not 30" and then walked out so I never found out why it was good....

So apparently your teeth all fall out at 30..........29 forever I think.........or maybe be back to 28.....seeing as I frequently forget my age does it really matter..........my teeth are falling out NOW!

Research Cruises....

A friend just sent me this photo and it really made me laugh. This is from a research cruise in 2005. I'm being the "statue of liberty" with a Brusca and Brusca (the invertebrates), safety glasses and a deep water coral for my light......it was one of those cruises....

Well......

...it happened.....my house looks like a band of bandits came by and upturned everything.......and i've only been back 3 days.......

Canadians....

So i've been working up in Canada for a month, at the joy-less city called Thunder Bay. Situated on the shore of Lake Superior surrounded in beautiful wilderness, this city comprises of a university, two wood chip factories, on paper mill, many gangs, no good shopping, numerous strip malls and...........a world class Ancient DNA laboratory (the PaleoDNA Laboratory). Amazing huh.

This city is probably not a good group on which to base your views on Canadians, but I have noticed a few things. The first is that it is indeed true that canadians need to put the word "eh" at the end of every sentence. "is that what you want eh", "nice sweater eh", "good piece of DN eh"...that kind of thing. The other is that they don't travel well, and especially over the border. I went over to the Isle Royale National Park to go moose sighting for a weekend. This park is an American park, but is literally just over the border and less than an hour away from Thunder Bay. Do you think I could get a park map anywhere in Thunder Bay? "oh no, we don't carry that, thats over the border eh". Three independent stores all gave me the same answer.Hmmmmm....

So tomorrow I head out of here and let the mayhem of packing and leaving begin.......anyone out there want to pack for me?

In the Beginning...

So my first post in my first blog, what do I say? My reasons for starting this blog perhaps is a good place to start.

I'm about to move yet again in my life, big changes lie in the road ahead and I thought maybe I would document the highs, the lows and all the bits in between. Originally from the UK i've been living on Cape Cod (MA, USA) for the last 4 years plus and in just over a month i'll be hauling my life away from my Woods Hole family and heading even further from my roots to the island of Oahu in Hawaii.

This is a good change, a new job, a step up and a fresh beginning, but the road to get there seems to be getting ever longer with each day and the reality of this big change is just starting to hit. I've loved the cape and made so many life long friends, can the experiences i've had here really be repeated (or bettered?) another 6000 miles away? What the realities of living on 'paradise' (as well as hoards of tourists)? And am I going to really enjoy living in a city again when I really hated it last time??

The road is long and life is short, keep moving forward and make each day count......yeah, we'll see if that happens or if i end up tearing my hair out.....