In Chile

I love flying over southern Chile when the sun is shining! Got in late last night, no major issues (slight delay in Miami) and all the bags made it. The sun came out for some of the flight so we did get to see some of the spectacular Andes, with the long snaking glaciers, high mountains and deep fjords. It's probably my favorite flight on this planet when you can see out. 

Today Laura and myself are headed down to the ship to get our Extreme Cold Weather gear and start to think about this cruise! 

Getting ready for sea....

Getting ready to get back to sea - in less than 2 weeks i'll be flying south for the summer.....yes, I know that's not quite the right direction! Spring has most definitely sprung here too, so it's going to be quite hard to leave it behind and head back into the depths of winter. It'll be good to finally get down there and throw off the bow lines, be away from land, and the hassles that go with land, for a while. I love going to sea, it's an enormous sense of satisfaction to see a project go from an idea in your brain to proposal, to funded and finally to reality. See the samples we only dreamt we'd get and the secrets of the sea they hold. Of course it doesn't always go the way you first planned, but there's not been a single cruise i've been on where I haven't learnt something new, and that's exciting in itself.

This last week has been hectic, lots of things going on (from proposals, reports and green card paperwork) and it's not going to stop until I get on that bus to Boston on the 2nd. I had hoped to get out in my tent for a night before I left, but it rained last weekend, and this weekend looks the same, so it's a no go, it'll just have to wait until I get back!

Check out the cruise blog if you have the time and let me know what you think!

Beavers!

So the government did not go into shutdown, and a big sigh of relief was heard from over here. Of course we can't speak too soon, as although no shutdown is good, they have agreed to some massive budget cuts, and at the moment, no-one knows where those cuts are coming from. We'll find out soon I guess.....

This weekend has been amazingly productive and lazy at the same time. Despite being highly jet lagged all week and having a tough time pulling myself out of bed, this weekend i've woken up at 5.30am on both days....argh! But I have managed to reorganize my "living room", as much as I can right now without shelves, couch etc., which are just going to have to wait until I get back from the Antarctic and have a few more paychecks under my belt. 

I tidied the spare bedroom, as with the potential for Kathy to come visit, and hopefully Diane visiting shortly after I get back in June, I bit the bullet and ordered a bed for that room - the mattress has arrived, the bed should get here sometime next week. I did also manage to make a decision and order myself a dresser, which is much needed to get the piles of clothes that cannot be hung off my floor. I always seem to move from house with lots of shelves to a house with lots of hanging, and that is true here, there is very little storage compared to my little place in Hawaii, which is amazing really. But I finally feel like i'm almost organized enough I can find most things and won't drive myself crazy when I come back from the Antarctic staring at boxes. 

I also did a little drive around houses for sale this weekend too, there's a bunch on the market right now, and although i'm not quite ready yet (esp as i'm headed out for 2 months really soon!), it is fun to look, and it's good to drive around. The snow has mostly melted (though i'm told more is on the cards) so everything looks different, it feels like i'm discovering for the first time again. It's been a gloriously sunny few days as well, the kind of days that made me fall in love with New England way back when. Ahh. Why am I headed back to winter in Chile? 

And, I had a first today too. I went to check on Chris and Gabby's house (they're on vacation) which is just up the road and drove past a pond and saw this little fella. So cute! 

Hope you all have a great week! 

Watching and waiting

A little pre-flight lunch with the girls - Jenny and little Hannah pictured, and Laura and Sue too! 

I've been back for 4 days now. Even though my life is far from organized, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I had the relaxed and calm feeling of being "at home" pretty much as soon as I walked through the door. Which considering I had such a fantastic visit to Hawaii was nice. I didn't make many "good friends" out there (the kind you hang onto forever), but this trip really reminded me of how much I miss those people. Despite that, Maine is home, and it feels good to be home. Even if only for a few short weeks before I head south on my Antarctic cruise (and man what a bear the organization of that is turning out to be.....but i'm going to spare you there....).

The big news here of course is that the government could go into shut-down mode tonight if they don't come to a budget consensus soon. I'm not a federally funded employee, so i'm not worried about not being paid, but the majority of my research grants are federal, not to mention the several I have in review right now, that will be in stasis until this gets figured out. Our cruise to the Antarctic is federally funded, and though we think we're all okay, impacts are not quite certain right now. The biggest impact is with my collaborators - Kathy from Woods Hole, who works for USGS and Bob in Alaska, who works for NOAA could well be in limbo next week, without pay. If the government goes into shut down, they're not just told not to work, they are physically locked out of their buildings, out of their email, out of their phones - they are literally not allowed to work.

So i'm in two minds. Kathy and I have dreamed up a scheme that if this really happens she's going to truck up to Maine next week and come and hang out up here. We'll work on some "non-USGS" things together, and it'd be great to see her. I even went out and bought a bed and bedding tonight for my spare room just in case (so that pretty much guarantees it's not going to happen....). On the other hand though, Bob being locked out of his office means our live corals have no-one to look after them, all that hard work put into collecting them could go to waste. They're doing well so far too, but the big plankton bloom has just begun up there, meaning the water gets thick and sludgy, clogging up the corals - in the past this is the time of year the live corals suffer and often die if not looked after carefully. So we're concerned.

All this talk of government cut-backs included a large cut to science spending in the US, but it seems right now as if the government has conceded on most things except funding for Planned Parenthood - an organization here in the US that provides reproductive health care for low income families. This is the most stupid debate to me, coming from the UK, where both healthcare and contraceptives are free, as they should be. You should never have to decide between contraceptives and food in my opinion (~$10-$20 a month for the cheaper ones, with insurance), but many do, which is why Planned Parenthood, who charge less, is so important. Why is this even an arguing point? The Tea Party stresses it doesn't want federal funding to go to abortions and that is why it is not conceding, yet abortions provided by Planned Parenthood are not subsidized by federal money, those are charged at cost, so it's not even a true statement. What's more, if funding were increased for Planned Parenthood, to a level where contraceptives could be made free to those on low incomes, we would save a considerable amount of federal money not supporting single unemployed mothers and their children, likely more savings than shutting down the service. But we don't want to encourage people to have sex do we. That wouldn't be very republican. I love being in this country, but some things drive me nuts, this week has been full of them. Let's hope Obama doesn't back down on this one.

So in the end what's happening with science spending? I guess we'll find out soon. I hope I haven't just found my lot in life to have to give it up because science funding has tanked.....

Last day

Last day in Hawaii, boy 5 days really goes fast. I tied up all my loose work ends and Jackie successfully defended her Ph.D. on friday. So that left today to be a day off, and a grand one it was. It started with little Hannah's birthday party on the beach and continued with friend Laura going around a few bars sampling the Mai Tai's, sitting on the beach and going for a swim. Was much needed. Tomorrow we have plans for a nice breakfast, a little shopping and a nice lunch before I get on the long plane ride back to Maine. 

It's still unclear if I have to shoot up to Canada to get a new work visa in the next 3 weeks before I head to the Antarctic, i'm sincerely hoping not, but nothing like the International Office to mess up plans to do some decent lab work before heading out. 

Congratulations Dr. Jackie! 

The first on the midday bar crawl - the Pink Palace (Royal Hawaiian), the oldest hotel in Waikiki and serves the best Mai Tai's right on the beach. 

The halls of the Palace, and for $600 a night you too can stay here.....! 

The last stop, the Hula Grill and a nice Lava Flow. 

In Hawaii!

Got into Hawaii yesterday evening, and am staying with Jenny, Doug and Hannah until friday, then i'm staying with Laura to catch up with her until I fly out on sunday. Whirlwind visit, lots to do! Today has been fun though, went out to breakfast with Jenny and her sister Mary at the Kahala hotel (where they have the best buffet breakfasts!), then headed into work for a few hours and caught up with folks there. 

Little Hannah turned 2 today too, it's been so much fun catching up. She can now say Auntie Rhian, but has elected to still call me Mimi on occasion, which I still find just as darn cute as ever! Caught up with Miss Barkley too, I miss my furry companion, but we'll be trying to get her out to Maine when I get back from the Antarctic, so let's all hope for June! 

Some photos of the Aloha day! 

At the Kahala with Jenny, due for #2 on my birthday in June! 

View from the Kahala - a little difference in temperature from Maine! It's been super windy today though, making it quite pleasant rather than stinking hot. A beach day is already planned with Laura for Saturday - little Hannah's birthday party is in the morning, so we have plans to stick around Waikiki for the rest of the afternoon and work on our Mai Tai drinking and tans. 

One of the beautiful orchids in the wall of orchids at the Kahala. 

Miss Barkley. You're supposed to be in Maine right now little girl! 

And little H, loving her dat-dats. 

Earth Hour 2011

I hope you all turned off last night for an hour between 8.30-9.30pm! I enjoyed a little candlelit dinner on my new table, though will admit I left the radio on for company, as I was on my own. I then did a little candlelit organizing - fun! 

Furniture!

This week has been a week of furniture, and i'm so excited about. Excited and nervous. This is the first place i've ever rented unfurnished, and though i've always bought small items, the big things have remained out of my reach until now.

This week a bed arrived, unfortunately frame first and then the mattress, but either way, it's here now and i'm sooooooo happy not to be sleeping on the floor anymore. It's a (cheapo - not the one you're thinking) memory foam mattress, and is so so so so comfortable. After 2 months on a futon in Hawaii and then the floor here, my back is so much happier with me now.

And today it was kitchen table time! I ordered it last week from a local place and today Chris helped me pick it up. It's nothing fancy, but I am completely over the moon to have somewhere to sit and eat. To put this in perspective I haven't had a table I could eat at in over 5 years. In Hawaii my place was 300 sqft and back in MA the last place I lived in was too small for a table. Sitting in front of the TV eating dinner is okay on occasion, but every day and night really sucks. It's just nice to be somewhere else other than the couch (not that I have a couch here yet) to eat, to type, to work.

I loved my little Grodnick in Hawaii. I loved being confined to 300 sqft, it kept me honest, it kept me from expanding. But long term, it's just not me, I LOVE having a table to be able to eat, type, craft, pay bills, etc. etc. on. It sounds ridiculous to be so over the moon at a table, but I am. I feel like an adult. :0)

And just as I get comfortable again, I'm off again. On Monday i'm down to Boston overnight to catch an early flight out to Hawaii. I'm back on the islands for 5 days for one of my graduate students defenses. It's going to be nice to see everyone again, i've been missing my friends. I've made a couple of friends here, but with the madness this few months has been, haven't really met many people yet, especially not my age and "hang aroundable" with. It'll come, I just need to be here, both in body and brain, and that might be closer to fall/winter before that happens.

Here are some photos. Don't forget Earth Hour tonight!

If all else fails i've found i'm a prepacked furniture wizard......

My BED! Oh so nice to be up off of the inflatable mattress on the floor! I even bought some new bedding today, decided it was worth the splurge to replace my 8 year old el-cheapo threadbare sheets. I particularly like my bedside table, don't you?

The much more assembled kitchen. Still not totally unpacked and in place, but much more useable, and I think i've found most kitchen boxes now. 

The light of my life right now (sad isn't it). My table. 

Spoke a little too soon.....

And we're back to winter! Photos from this weekend through today.....

Exhausterpated....

That's my new word of the day. I don't know if i'm coming down with something (possible, but I really hope not) or the exhaustion of the last few weeks/months caught up with me today. Either way, horizontal has been my position for a lot of the day, I didn't really get out of bed properly until 1.30pm, quite possibly a record for me.

I can honestly say I've never put this many proposals in in such a short period of time (4 in 3 months), and they all take so much mental energy (they've all been "new" proposals this time, rather than recycled unfunded ones) out of me I just feel so drained. Add that with moving, unpacking office, lab & home (twice), dealing with the Antarctic cruise prep (which has been a real bear this time) and then the Alaska trip, and I can honestly say i'm beat up. I'm hoping it's that rather than a cold, I have a proposal due on the 28th I need to put a lot into next week.

I'm still loving Maine, making some fast friends and starting to get into the swing of things, but I also feel like i'm not putting my energy into being here right now. And that's probably just how it's got to be for a bit. I REALLY like it here, and REALLY want to stay, so REALLY need to keep throwing in proposals so I have a job past next Feb. It's so much at the forefront of my brain i'm finding it hard to relax at all. Not really how I wanted to start up here, but I guess it is what it is, work my ass off, suck it up for a while and hope it all works out.

I did finally get out for a run yesterday, which was just glorious (thanks Mum for sending me my running jacket - and thanks for the mini eggs!). My first 2 miles in Maine, and it was a gloriously sunny day (i'll download some photos from this weekend and post them, it's been gorgeously sunny, still cold, but just beautiful). I'm thinking about races in the fall, about a big hiking trip in September, keeping the eye on the prize and trying to convince myself all this work at the start of the year will pay dividends. It'll all be worth it, I have a good feeling about this place, I really do feel like i've come home.

Hope all is well out there, i'll try and get back into updating, apologies for the hiatus! As usual i've come back from this trip pining to go back. The photo was taken by our first mate, loaded on the zodiac and getting ready to head out to dive (it's about 80lbs of gear you wear!). It really was so spectacular, I hope I get to go again next year, let's all put in good thoughts for that proposal to get funded!

Some video from the trip!

Got back to Maine early monday morning and have been in a fog ever since. Unfortunately no magic fairy came and unpacked either my house or my office while I was away, nor furnish my house, so it's all been a bit ass to come back to. But i'm getting through it, boxes are being unpacked slowly, dishes being washed and piles being made. Today my bed is supposed to arrive, unfortunately the mattress doesn't arrive until next week, but hey, at least it's a start. Other furniture is going to have to wait for some travel reimbursements to happen, but I did set up the TV on boxes last night so I have a little background going while unpacking. It'll get there, it would just be nice to get at least one of my spaces unpacked and not looking like a garbage heap.

Here is some of the dive video from the cruise I just went on. Most is still embargoed by National Geographic and they have to release it back to me (which i'm sure they will), so I can't post photos until they've gone through them. Hopefully it'll be soon, we got some great photos! This video will give you a good flavor of why this cruise was probably the most special underwater experiences i've had in my career. Submersible diving is fun, but I have to say, this beats almost every sub dive i've ever done, hands down.

Photos from Juneau

We're on weather watch here, it's been high winds in the channels so we've been delayed, hopefully by not more than a few hours (we're hoping to leave monday midday), but we're still all on tenterhooks. My technician Christian arrived out this morning, and this afternoon we're going to take all the gear down to the docks, so that as soon as the boat arrives (it's been stuck 150 miles south of us) we'll be ready to go. 

In the meantime, aside from lots of packing, organizing and catching up on work, I have had some fun in Juneau, I really like it here, such a beautiful place. Yesterday we did my check out dive (required to work with the folks here) which was awesome - so much to see, I really should have taken my camera!), then Bob and Michelle took me cross country skiing on the Mendenhall Glacier Lake. It was hard work (no trail and icy), but to get that close to a glacier an icebergs was pretty amazing! 

Here are some photos!

View from the office i've been using here at the Auke Bay Laboratory. 

Bob took me on a tour of downtown - got to be careful of snow falling from bridges around here! 

The Governors house - where Sarah Palin used to live. Looked hard, but really couldn't see russia from here....

Avalanche on Mt Juneau! These happen everyday in the winter, pretty spectacular! 

Some of the awesome icebergs frozen into the Mendenhall Lake. 

More icebergs - this one with a hole through the middle. 

Which of course I decided to slide through! 

Bob and Michelle! 

The Mendenhall Glacier. Pretty different from when I was here in September! 

I couldn't get enough of the frozen icebergs! 

The frozen waterfall. This is where we hiked to in September, looked pretty different back then! 

The new pad!

Here are some photos of the new pad! Now i'm off to Boston, then Juneau early in the AM tomorrow. I'll be updating my work blog - http://alaskacorals.blogspot.com/ - if you want to keep in touch while i'm in Alaska! Otherwise, i'm back in 2 weeks!

My dining room, complete with elegant furniture!

Kitchen

Bedroom #1

Bedroom #2

Basement/living area

Other side of the basement

House moving weekend!

Moved into my duplex this weekend, with the fabulous help of Kathy, Rod and Niko! It went faster than expected, and was way more overwhelming than expected too. To the point that i'm actually staying in the farmhouse at the DMC tonight, I needed the bed, internet and space without boxes. I leave tuesday for Boston to catch the early flight out to Juneau on wednesday, so there is really no hope of unpacking anyway (least of all because I have no furniture!). I didn't take many photos of the new place, here are some of cutie Niko though...:0)

Niko versus the lobster! I bought this for Barkley just before she was supposed to arrive. At the moment the plan is to try again for June for Barkley to become a Maine pup. 

Niko loves the snow!

Romping at Pemequid point - it was super chilly today!

Niko at the new pad!

Moving Up!

This is becoming somewhat of a theme, but it's been super busy again this week. And today, i'm moving house! Moving out of the Darling Marine Center and into a house in town - it's going to be so nice to have somewhere "off campus" to roost. Even if it's only for 3 days, as on Tuesday I drive down to Boston to catch an flight super early Wednesday morning to Alaska! Kathy and Rod have driven up to help me today, they stayed in Freeport overnight and will wander up here around midday to help the schlep. I'm so excited about seeing them, and having some help to move all these boxes!

And....it snowed again yesterday! I am truly loving the snow, though I admit yesterday was a bit much, as I really wanted to start moving boxes over. But the snow was the wet slippery kind and when I ran out to Damariscotta to do an errand at lunch, I was sliding all over the place, so decided it wasn't such a hot idea to move boxes around yesterday, so I packed up the farmhouse instead!

Here are some photos from the snow, i'll update on the move before I head to Alaska!