Monday, December 11, 2006

Excitement in the next room

Right now, as I type, my advisor is sitting in the next room with one of the organizing researchers of a Norwegian deep sea biology cruise next summer. When my advsor stepped out to get something he needed, I took the opportunity to pop my head in and show interest in the project. I was given a full run-dwon of what they're planning and what thye found last year. There are, just north of Iceland, the only known shallow-water geothermal undersea vents in the world. They are going to be continuing their research on the known ones and looking for new ones in deeper water. I talked to him for a little while and then he said that there is definitely space for me on the boat and tht I should just give him my e-mail address so he can start keeping me up to date. he said that he already had my address somewhere (my advisor is always trying to mix me into his projects as well-as a good advisor should) but that he wanted to be sure to have it. Unfortunately, this voyage would mean that I would HAVE to fly to Norway to get aboard...tough life!

Don't forget...or get confused

My flickr.com photo site is getting a lot of traffic. I think that setting that thing up was the best thing I did this Fall. I've always loved taking photos, but having a site that's so easy to use and full of all kinds of great little perks is fantastic. I've been taking a lot more potos. This year, I even had some Christmas gifts printed out with photos of mine in them. I'm definitely going to do that again. It was cheap and yet they look really great. The great thing about something like that is that I made them myself and put my life at risk to get the photos (well, okay, so maybe my life was not at risk, but there were some days when my hands were surely at a risk of frostbite!), and then I put all kinds of thought into setting up the layouts. If you get one, let me know what you think and if you want one next year.
I'll say in advance, that, due to bad planning, I won't be getting one out to my fan in Korea. Sorry, dude. I'll make sure to put you on my list for next year.

Oh, just in case

Just in case anyone reading this doesn't know and has a desire to know...Inga's third pregnancy is going well. We're going to have another boy, thank God (just kidding about the "thank God" part-for although I do believe girls to be far more difficult I know I would not be a worse father to a girl than a boy).

Apparently

It seems I may be able to save my grant! A kind young man over at the Marine research Institute is going to lend us some photos and specimens for classification so that i can have something to write in my progress report. The progress report is a paper about what's been going on in the project this year and is used as a means to judge whether the funding organization is going to give us more money next year. This is really exciting for me because I thought I was going to have to change gears and hop from deep sea benthic ecology to studying the shallow water biology and ecology of the edible crab Cancer pagurus. That project would have been fascinating and very enjoyable to complete. But I would rather hold myself to the project I started on in May. So, I guess two of my friends will have to suffer through taking the crab.

That's my good news.

Aurora Borealis

Despite my somewhat childish hopes for a better life, my life is not perfect right now. The cause of my dissatisfaction at the moment is the continued lack of someone in my life who is willing to forego all worldly comfort to appreciate natural beauty with me. You see, I live now in an area of the world where the Aurora Borealis is almost a nightly occurrence. Right now, there are lights in the sky that defy imagination and inspire me with all kinds of feelings and thoughts. But, as has always been the case, I'm torn between being with my desire to be outside until the show's over (probably tomorrow morning) and returning to the human world that everyone I care about inhabits. Currently, the people who occupy the largest slices of my mind and heart are my wife and son and a couple of my friends. None of them would actually wake up or stay awake long enough to go out into a dark field with me right now (at 20 minutes to 1 AM) to lie in the cold just to watch some beautiful lights in the sky. This does not make me love them any less. I know that my wish to lie in the grass until frost forms on me so that I don't miss a moment of some flashing green and purple lights in the sky is a strange and possibly insane wish. But I can't help it.
This desire to take in Nature drives me in all kinds of things-not the least of which is photography. But I know that I could search through piles of millions of people without finding a single one that would be willing to sit until his/her hands are so cold they've stopped hurting just to watch a seal on a beach in February. I've never known anyone who has fallen asleep because 3 AM is just too late to be lying in the undergrowth looking up through the canopy to watch the stars march across the sky.
There is a hole in my experience caused by an aloneness in this pursuit of observation and I doubt that it will ever be filled. Once again, I must heed the call of my tired eyes and drag my attention back down to Earth. I know it will be absolutely wonderful to lie down next to my beautiful, sleeping, soft, warm, pregnant wife. I know that I will smile and sigh contentedly when I do so. but tearing myself away from the sky is a tough thing to do tonight.

Monday, December 04, 2006

long pause

As Isaid in the last message, Blogger beta has not treated me well and the labyrinth that is Google Help is far beyond my gleaning a single grain of useful information. I'm trying this again-at the risk of frustration.

My masters project is a bit up in the air due to lack of the ability to use the damn submarine during the months since May. I may have to switch to research of a new-comer to Iceland's shores- the edible crab (töskukrabbi). But for now, I'm still trying to save our grant for the other project.
My home life is going very well. Inga's womb is swelling with my spawn. I'm hoping that all the kicking going on inside of her means that the kid will be tired after he's born from a 9 month expenditure of energy. But I know the odds of that are slim and he'll probably be one of those hyperactive little stinkers one sees on Super Nanny! But if so, he'd better watch out because his parents are ready for anything: mamma is a specialist in education and management of brats and papa has a swift temper.

I'm studying for my final today. I'll be done with yet another semester on December 18.

My crayfish are brooding like there's no tomorrow. If any of my dear readers wants an aquarium animal that's easy to take care of, fun to watch and doesn't require a lot of space...let me know and I can provide you with a few crayfish.

Last Friday I went to the annual employee/grad student Christmas dinner. It was a lot of fun. I'm not much for hangikjöt that tastes like a mouthful of smoke, but other than that the food was good.

That's about it, for now.