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Oh. Canada. Yes. Niagra Falls was neat.

It was rainy and stuff, but it was still beautiful.  I donated sixty bucks to the casinos, and bought some Skechers at the outlet store.  Wasting money is fun!

However, God gave us a nice rainbow to look at while we ate dinner in a nice restaurant, so that was pretty nice.

I went over to my brother’s house to see his new baby.  Adorable!  Anyway, we made funny faces, and did the Ty smile.

All of these pics are posed.  Don’t really know why my dad took a picture of our feet, and don’t know why I included it, but there you have it.  Also, I am no longer in possession of my lucky necklace.  So to my lucky necklace I will say, I hope you make your next owner smile, and I will miss you.  I never took that thing off, (you can see it in my Tahoe and mountain biking pics) and I felt like it always brought me luck.  Okay, bye.

BTW, it’s hotter than an mf’r here. Whatever nice things I said about this part of the country I take them all back. I’ve gone completely soft.

Update: Haha, kidding.  I’m just learnin’ how to sweat again.  Or as we say in Northern California, “Oh, I’m perspiring!” Luv u all!

This kid cracks me up! Jennifer took this picture of me holding Collin after he got a cool haircut. I have no idea how she made my arm look so big, but I think it’s kind of neat. I am sooooo not used to this heat and humidity. I am such a wuss! More pics later.

All I have to say is, take more pictures of the ones you love. You never know when tragedy will strike.

This cat was born in my closet in the summer of 1996, his mother is a tortoiseshell (still alive) and his father was a Maine coon (whereabouts unknown). Simba (named due to his striking resemblance to a lion) was 23 pounds of muscle. When we moved to California, we lived in an apartment for several years in the East Bay. We felt sorry for Simba because he was strictly an indoor cat and always wanted to go outside. Bill had the idea that we could plant grass in a container and put it on the patio for him. Simba LOVED it. So this picture is of him sitting in his “yard” on the patio in San Ramon. During the summer, we would take him to the vet and have him shaved so he would be more comfortable.

Five years ago today, I took him to the vet for a routine checkup and a vaccination booster. The vet was aware that Simba had asthma and he was highly sensitive to anesthesia. Upon her advice I got him the feline Leukemia vaccination (even though he was an indoor cat) and he had a severe reaction to it and his lungs filled with fluid and he died. He spent the last 12 hours of his life in agony. I later learned that the vaccination that he got from the vet was wholly unnecessary. This cat would be alive today if I hadn’t gotten him that shot.

We went to Truckee with some friends of ours to celebrate Bill’s 33rd birthday and were able to get some biking in. The weather was perfect! I was cooped up in the cabin writing a paper unfortunately, so I didn’t really get to spend quality time with anybody. But all in all, it was a good trip. I found the perfect pine cone that I almost stole, but I couldn’t think of what to do with a pine cone, so I left it there. Oh, and Sean and Nicole’s kid, Thomas is adorable and has the best smile!

I have more pics of Bill’s bike ride, but I still have to resize them. Stay tuned!

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!