Returning to Midway!!

Anne and I will be returning to Midway on June 20, so we're busy getting everything ready.  I'm moving out of my house, finding a student to sublet, and helping my housemates find a new house because we have to move before I return in September!  Plus, I'm writing a paper for my education class, finishing up some genetic work (more later on that!), and participating in SCWIBLES workshops 9-5 all next week (more on that too later).  I still find time to take my housemate's Australian shepherd, Hula (left), and my parents' Shetland sheepdog, Bailey, to the dog beach!

Our other big news is that Wendy Cover is becoming Dr. Wendy Cover on Monday!!  She's giving her dissertation seminar (Monday at 4:30 pm at the La Feliz Room at Long Marine Lab, if anyone wants to come by!), which is the final step towards finishing her dissertation.  She's working hard on her presentation, but also looking forward to the barbecue with her family and friends afterward and the "roast" presentation of funny photos and stories about her that we're all contributing to!  Then her graduation ceremony is on Friday, which will be very exciting for her, her family, and Don.


I feel like I should put up a photo or two on what we've been up to since last September.  A big one for me was going to French Polynesia (Tahiti and neighboring islands) with my family over Christmas.  Many of the fish and inverts are very similar to what we see at Midway, so my family was very impressed with me!  I learned a lot about pearl oysters and pearl farms because we visited about 4 pearl farms that are using black-lipped pearl oysters just like I study at Midway.  Here's a photo of me with a lot of pearl oyster shells, but I also snorkeled at a pearl farm!  Also, here are photos of my brother Kevin and I enjoying the sunshine and a fish we never see in Hawaii - anemonefish (similar to Nemo!) on an anemone! 

Funny story: The other day, I was buying GPS bags at West Marine and happened to ask if they had desiccant to put in our underwater camera cases.  The manager was extremely nice and helped me look thru all their shoeboxes to find it for free - I ended up collecting about 30!  That should last us a year or two! 

I will definitely put up some photos from Wendy's presentation and more info on our travels to Midway soon, so keep your eyes on this space!  I'll probably start doing once or twice weekly blogs once we get to Midway in a few weeks.