Read this if you eat meat

The text below is from an article by Gregg Easterbrook (one of my favorite ESPN.com writers). He is discussing the Michael Vick dog fighting situation but in doing so he does a great job pointing out why any of us who eat meat are responsible for cruelty to animals that is equal to or worse than what Vick did.

"Yet I can't help feeling there is overkill in the social, media and legal reactions to Vick, and that the overkill originates in hypocrisy about animals.

Thousands of animals are mistreated or killed in the United States every day without the killers so much as being criticized, let alone imprisoned. Ranchers and farmers kill stock animals or horses that are sick or injured. Some ranchers kill stock animals as gently as possible, others callously; in either case, prosecution is nearly unheard of. As Derek Jackson pointed out last week in the Boston Globe, greyhound tracks routinely race dogs to exhaustion and injury, then kill the losers, or simply eliminate less-strong pups: "184,604 greyhound puppies judged to be inferior for racing" were killed, legally, in the last 20 years.

Hunters shoot animals for sport. They do so lawfully, while the manner in which Vick harmed his dogs was unlawful. But from the perspective of the animal, there seems little difference between a hunter with a state game license zipped in his vest pocket shooting a deer as part of something the hunter views as really fun sport, and Vick shooting a dog as part of something Vick views as really fun sport. In both cases, animals suffer for human entertainment. The animal-ethics distinction between Vick's actions and lawful game hunting are murky at best. A first-time offender should go to prison over a murky distinction?

Much more troubling is that the overwhelming majority of Americans who eat meat and poultry -- I'm enthusiastically among them -- are complicit in the systematic cruel treatment of huge numbers of animals. Snickering about this, or saying you're tired of hearing about it, doesn't make it go away. Most animals used for meat experience miserable lives under cruel conditions, including confinement for extended periods in pits of excrement. (Michael Pollan, who enthusiastically consumes meat and fowl, describes the mistreatment in his important new book The Omnivore's Dilemma.) Meat animals don't magically stop living when it's time to become a product; they suffer as they die. One of Vick's dogs was shot, another electrocuted. Gunshots and electrocution are federally approved methods of livestock slaughter, sanctioned by the Department of Agriculture for the killing of cows and pigs. Regulations under the Humane Slaughter Act of 1958 give federal sanction to shooting cows or pigs, or running electrical current through their bodies. Shooting and electrocution are viewed by federal law as humane ways to kill animals that will be consumed. Federal rules also allow slaughterhouses to hit cows in the head with a fast-moving piston that stuns them into semiconsciousness before they are sliced up. Being hit in the head with a powerful piston -- does that sound a bit painful, a bit cruel? It's done to tens of thousands of steers per year, lawfully.

Don't say "eew, gross" about how meat animals are butchered, then return to denouncing Vick. If you're eating a cheeseburger or BLT or steak or pot roast today, there's a good chance you are dining on an animal that was shot or electrocuted. You are complicit. You freely bought the meat, you did not demand Congress strengthen the Humane Slaughter Act. Livestock can be calmed and drugged before being slain. A few slaughterhouses do this, but most don't because it raises costs, and you, the consumer, demand the lowest possible price for your meal. Now about your turkey sub or coq au vin. Federal slaughter regulations apply mainly to large animals, leaving considerable freedom in the killing of fowl. Many poultry slaughterhouses kill chickens by slashing their throats rather than snapping their necks. Snapping the neck kills the bird quickly, ending suffering, but then the heart dies quickly, too. Slashing the throat causes the bird to live in agony for several minutes, heart still beating and pumping blood out of the slash -- and consumers prefer bloodless chicken meat.

Further, the Humane Slaughter Act exempts kosher and halal slaughter. In both traditions, the cow or lamb must be conscious when killed by having its carotid artery, or esophagus and trachea, slashed. The animal bleeds to death, convulsing in agony, as its heart pumps blood, which is viewed as unclean, out of the slashed openings. The delicious pastrami we consumed at a kosher deli, or the wonderfully good beef we could buy at a halal butcher, comes from an animal that suffered as it died.

Yes, Vick broke the law; yes, he arrogantly lied and refused to apologize when first caught; and yes, his actions before and after the dog killings indicate he is one stupid, stupid man. But Vick's lawbreaking was relatively minor compared to animal mistreatment that happens continuously, within the law, at nearly all levels of the meat production industry, and with which all but vegetarians are complicit. There is some kind of mass neurosis at work in the rush to denounce Vick, wag fingers and say he deserved even worse. Society wants to scapegoat Vick to avoid contemplating its own routine, systematic killing of animals. We couldn't all become vegetarians tomorrow: that is not practical. But American society is not even attempting to make the handling of meat animals less brutal, let alone working to transition away from a food-production order in which huge numbers of animals are systematically mistreated, then killed in ways that inflict terror and pain. We won't lift a finger to change the way animals die for us. But we will demand Michael Vick serve prison time to atone for our sins."

Star Wars Hilarity

I'm sure some of you have seen this already, but if not check out this parody of Star Wars from Robot Chicken. It is amazing!

Part 1:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gzrjAAzJ73w

Part 2:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=T2eg0gM2hHQ

Part 3:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0wFqHatgAXI

(Less than) 100 days until hockey season!

I missed the start of my annual "100 days until hockey season" countdown. We are actually at 96 days until opening night for the Griffins! Woohoo!

10 best Simpsons Episodes?

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/08/top10simpsons200708

The monorail episode is one of my favorites. I am glad to see that one on there.

I would add the episode with the alcohol ban (which gave us the classic quote: "To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems!")

Note to editors: make sure headline and article say the same thing

The following is one of the headlines on Google News right now. Read the headline, then read the text below it (and the alternate headlines at the bottom).

Eating tomatoes may help prevent some cancers
Food Consumer - 2 hours ago
By Ben Wasserman
A review by the Food and Drug Administration concludes for now that there is little evidence to suggest eating tomatoes and lycopene supplements would reduce risk of many forms of cancers.
Tomato study yields confusing results Canada.com
How Tomatoes Flunked the FDA's Anticancer Test MedPage Today

I love it how the first and last headline completely contradict each other. Is this another example of how the media never seem to be able to report accurately on scientific studies? (See the headline from Canada.com.)

I'll still be eating my tomatoes though...because they are sooo delicious!

Happy 7s Day!

Today is 07/07/07! How fun. I hope everyone enjoys the day. My only regret is that we can never have a 13/13/13. That would be really cool.

4 years since college

Katie W and I recently were discussing how long it has been since we graduated from college. (Katie’s comment: “Lindsey, you could have had two bachelor’s degrees by now!”) This made both of us feel very old. (But notice that Katie is even older than me!) It is crazy to think that it has really been over 4 years since I graduated from college. It got me thinking about all the things I have done in the last 4 years. I’ve:

--Driven my car almost 60,000 miles

--Attended over 120 Griffins games

--Set foot in 3 foreign countries and 11 US states (it will be 12 in a few weeks!)

--Taken blood samples from over 1,200 house wrens

--Attended at least 15 weddings…and 4 funerals

--Taught 3 classes at MSU and attended 11

--Bought my first (new) car, couch, cell phone, and adult-sized bed

--Given at least 10 formal talks about my research

--Moved 9 times (although those were all during the first 2 years after college)

--Used 3 different cell phone carriers and 4 phones

--For my wren project: used 249 nest boxes, 6 assistants, 2 pairs of field pants, and one pair of boots

Happy Solstice!

I'm celebrating the official start of summer by celebrating (counter-intuitively) the end of my summer field season! Woohoo! The good thing about starting your field season earlier than everyone else is that you get done earlier than everyone else! This summer I'm ending a little earlier than usual, even for me, because my Jr. labmate Jean is taking over the 2nd brood. Now there is time this summer for me to start writing that pesky little thing called the thesis...

Also, more good news: my PCR is working! I finally figured out what was wrong (only took me 1 1/2 years) and now my lab tech is making progress on getting my nestling blood processed.

The only sad news of the day is that my good friend Katie L left this morning for her new job (and new husband!) in California. I will miss her a lot. :(

New Phone!

Fyi, my replacement phone has arrived, and I can now contact the world again! :)

My phone is broken...

...so if you need to contact me please use email. Luckily, I got my phone 356 days ago and it has a 1 year warranty, so they are sending me a new one which should arrive in a few days. I feel so out of contact with the world...how did we survive without cell phones? ;)

Fun name link

http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html

I'm not expecting a baby anytime soon, but this website has a really fun interactive graph that shows the popularity of different names over time. (It goes as far back as the 1880s.) You can look at a specific name or parts of a name (for example all the names that start with Li" and you can look at each gender separately or together. I wasted way too much time playing around with it just looking at all the cool trends. :) For instance, the name Jessica had a peak in popularity around the time I was born but has since died off while Emma was popular around the turn of the century, almost disappeared for a while, and now is really popular again.

(Yes I am a nerd.)

Isis' big adventure

I arrived home from the office today to find the screen from my window lying on the grass. Since nothing in the house was missing, it suggested to me that someone had broken out, not broken in. That's right, Isis staged a jail break! I was so worried for her, but luckily about an hour after I got home I saw her stalking around in the backyard. I grabbed some treats and called her to me and amazingly she came! I brought her back into the house safe and sound! Now she keeps sitting by the window and crying though...she wants me to let her back out! I wonder what exciting things she did during her few hours of freedom.

Photo-a-day changes

To completely copy Lisa, I have moved my older photo-a-day photos (from Jan-Mar) into a new folder. (Apparently everyone's internet is not as fast as mine and load times are getting a little long for some. Sorry!) The new pictures (Apr-present) are still at the same link that many of you have. If you would like the link to the old photos, just let me know. Also, if you don't have the link to the current photos but would like it, let me know that too. Just reply to this post or send me an email. Happy Memorial Day!

Tales from the field

I've been seeing a lot of interesting wildlife in the field lately (besides the ubiquitous wrens, adult deer, and ticks). For instance, last week on a cold, wet day Brian noticed a baby fawn curled up in the grass. Of course Jean and I had to whip out our cameras while saying girly things like awwwwwwww! Brian probably wished he had never pointed it out.


We've also had some non-target captures in our mist nets, including a ferocious cardinal that kept trying to take bites out of Jean's fingers (pictured below), a catbird, and some near misses by other birds like chickadees and sparrows.


Yesterday I had a great day for wildlife viewing as Jean and I saw two birds that we are 95% sure were juvenile bald eagles!!!! They were much bigger than the red tailed hawks that we usually see and a uniform brown color (unlike the golden eagle which has a lighter colored head according to my bird book.) The head also looked very eagle-like and not much like a hawk at all. Unfortunately they flew away before we could get the camera out. I also saw the pair of sandhill cranes that have babies right now and we had a fun encounter with a snapping turtle who was not happy about me standing so close to get a picture!


It is a good thing the wildlife was so interesting yesterday because aside from that I had a very crappy day in the field. First, my severe seasonal allergies kicked in several weeks early (hopefully they still will only last a week or two like usual) and my nose was like a faucet all day! It was miserable. To top that off, my spectrometer (a crucial piece of equipment) broke! And then the Wings lost later that night to be eliminated from the playoffs one round short of the finals! :( (Although my head was so messed up from being totally clogged by snot and then by the allergy medicine I took when I got home that I wasn't really feeling much of anything at that point.)

Luckily, today was better. Claritin is a miracle drug, and I borrowed a new probe for my spec from my generous labmate until we can order another one. There are 47 nests with eggs now, and I expect them to start hatching on Monday!

Happy Birthday Isis!

Thursday marked the 2nd anniversary of the day I picked out Isis at the Humane Society! I've been so lucky to have this wonderful cat in my life for two years!

Isis' birthday cake: treats with catnip sprinkles!

Isis' birthday present: she destroyed the feathers after about two minutes!

Funny math song

For my math geek friends, check out this song (courtesy of Mike):
Mandelbrot Set by Jonathan Coulton

The boys are back in town

My male wrens are finally starting to arrive en masse! (The picture above is the view looking straight down into a nest box with some sticks that a male wren has placed there to begin construction of his nest.) The males were about a week late, so I was starting to get worried. I'm guessing that the late snowstorm we had slowed them down some. But, as of Sunday I had 28 (out of 68) boxes where a male had begun nest construction. I expect more males every day and that the females will be returning sometime next week.

Hockey Playoffs Update

Red Wings:
The Wings won game 5 today 5-1, giving them a 3-2 lead in the series! Game 6 is tomorrow in Calgary. The home team has won every game so far, so the Wings will try to change that tomorrow! I was disgusted by Calgary's dirty play at the end of the game today once the game was out of their reach, including the backup goalie swinging his stick like a baseball bat into one of our players and another one of their players cold-cocking one of our guys in the face. What a bunch of thugs. GO WINGS!


Griffins:
The Griffs won tonight too 4-1, tying their series with Manitoba at 1-1. Now we have 3 games at home this week (Mon, Wed, Fri), so I'm looking forward to some exciting playoff action. If anyone wants to tag along to a game just let me know, as there will be plenty of tickets. GO GRIFFS!

GO WINGS AND GRIFFINS!

Least surprising scientific study results of the year

Abstinence-Only programs don't work

"A long-awaited national study has concluded that abstinence-only sex education, a cornerstone of the Bush administration's social agenda, does not keep teenagers from having sex..."

I feel so much safer now

I can't help but think of the Simpsons episode where the dolphins took over the world...

Navy shows off anti-terror dolphins

Congrats National Champion Spartans!

The Michigan State University hockey team just won the national championship game 3-1 in a come-from-behind victory over favored Boston College! GO SPARTANS! Incidentally, a Red Wings prospect (and future Griffin?), Justin Abdelkader, got the game winning goal for the Spartans.

Game recap from ESPN.com

12 Angry Lindseys

Bah! I just got summoned for jury duty! Now if this had happened in say October it would only be a mild inconvenience. However, my date is right in the middle of field season and while I could probably spend half a day at the court house, I CANNOT actually get put on a jury during field season. At least not and still be able to graduate. There's something on the form about asking for a deferral or excusal or whatever. Has anyone had to do this before? Any tips on getting out of it (or at least getting them to move my date to after field season is over)?

More memes

From Tina's blog

Surprise surprise...

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Science/Math Nerd (Absolute Insane Laughter as you pour toxic chemicals into a foaming tub of death!) Well, maybe you aren't this extreme, but you're in league with the crazy scientists/mathmeticians of today. Very few people have the talent of math and science is something takes a lot of brains as well. Thank whosever God you worship, or don't worship, so thank no deity whatsoever in your case, for you people! Most of us would have died off without your help.
Drama Nerd
Social Nerd
Literature Nerd
Musician
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Anime Nerd
Artistic Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Hmm ok...




Which of Henry VIII's wives are you?
this quiz was made by Lori Fury

Movie meme

From Nancy's blog...

1. Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times.
Star Wars (all 3 originals)

2. Name a movie that you've seen multiple times in the theater.
Lord of the Rings (all 3)

3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to see a movie.
Johnny Depp

4. Name an actor that would make you less likely to see a movie.
Any of the Wayans brothers

5. Name a movie that you can and do quote from.
Clue, The Princess Bride

6. Name a movie musical that you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs.
Phantom of the Opera, several animated Disney movies (Beauty and the Beast, the Lion King, Aladdin...I had the soundtracks when I was a kid!)

7. Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with.
See above

8. Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see.
Dogma

9. Name a movie that you own.
Gattaca

10.Name an actor that launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops.
Will Smith

11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in?
No

12. Ever made out in a movie?
No

13. Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven't yet gotten around to it.
The Godfather

14. Ever walked out of a movie?
No

15. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater.
Forrest Gump

16. Popcorn?
I prefer something sweeter.

17. How often do you go to the movies (as opposed to renting them or watching them at home)?
In the summer (when good movies are coming out) probably every other week. Only every three to four months in the winter.

18. What's the last movie you saw in the theater?
The newest James Bond movie (It has been a while!)

19. What's your favorite/preferred genre of movie?
Sci Fi/Fantasy/Action Adventure

20. What's the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?
The Little Mermaid

21. What movie do you wish you had never seen?
Scary Movie

22. What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed?
Moulin Rouge

23. What is the scariest movie you've seen?
Silence of the Lambs (I don't watch many scary movies.)

24. What is the funniest movie you've seen?
Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Happy 10th Anniversary!

It's been 10 years since one of the most memorable hockey games in my lifetime. "[N]ine fights, 11 goals, 39 penalties, 148 penalty minutes, one hat trick, one "turtle" and two Stanley Cup champion goalies duking it out in an overtime thriller." It fueled the flames of a great rivalry and launched the Wing into their `97 Stanley Cup run (and also Cups in `98 and `02).

Happy anniversary to Red Wings, Avalanche
by Thomas Neumann

Lets go Red Wings!

I heart Joss Whedon

The Legacy of Joss Whedon
by Anthony Letizia

Ten years ago, on March 10, 1997, the cult television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered on the now-defunct network The WB. Based on a unsuccessful motion picture of the same name, no one gave the show much of a chance at the time, especially since no one was giving The WB much of a chance to begin with. But succeed it did, for seven seasons, in many ways changing the television landscape — and for the better — in the process... (click on link above for more!)

Favorite non-Simpson?

Coolest Non-Simpson 'Simpsons' Characters

My favorites from this list are Sideshow Bob, Kodos, and Mr. Burns. I'd also add Ralph and Duffman, although they didn't make this particular list.

An Epic Journey

Okay, maybe not epic, but I still had a heck of a time getting home from Rochester on Monday!

For those interested, here are the details:

For reference, it took me 8 hours to get to Rochester when I went out there on Saturday. (It would have been 7 1/2 but I spent a little more time at the border than I was planning on.)

On Monday, I left Rochester at 11:30 AM. The roads were clear, the weather was good. I made it about 20 minutes down I-90 and suddenly ran into completely stopped traffic:

I didn't think this was so bad at first, I mean sometimes you have traffic jams. However, 1 hour and 45 minutes later when I was still sitting in park in exactly the same spot, I felt a little more unhappy about it. However, I did do every single puzzle on the puzzle page of the USA Today that my hotel had given me that morning. Finally, after almost 2 hours traffic got moving. I finally found out what had caused the highway to be completely closed for almost 2 hours:

It was an accident that occurred during a whiteout involving 14 semi-trucks. You can see some of them in this picture on both sides of the road. Remember, this is 2 hours after the accident happened. However, after I got past this accident things went smoothly. There was no wait at all at the border, and in Canada I had about 2 hours of driving where it was even sunny. However, once I got on 403 going inland I met a familiar sight:

This time the car in front of me has an Ontario license plate! Yes, once again a highway was closed because of an accident. This time, they directed everyone off the highway (which took over an hour for me to get to the exit.) So, I was in the-middle-of-nowhere Canada with no idea where to go and the highway closed. So, I improvised. I had a guy from Ontario following me (and I have a Michigan license plate so I obviously didn't know where I was going so I have no idea why he was following me) and together the 2 of us wandered around the back roads for several miles until I finally found my way back to the highway, where it was open! My Ontario friend gave me a triumphant wave as we got back on the highway and moving. Our enthusiasm was short-lived, however:

We had only gone maybe 2 miles (~4 km, since we were in Canada eh) and right where 403 joins 401 we had traffic at a dead stop again. Yes, for the 3rd time on my trip home my highway was closed because of an accident resulting from a whiteout! Then I spent 2 hours sitting on 401. (The pic above is the view behind me from my side mirror.) I went a total of about 1 mile in those 2 hours and finally got to the exit where they were once again kicking everyone off. Luckily there was a truck stop by this exit, (although it was basically chaos because EVERYONE was stopping there,) but I did get to pee and get gas. Then, as I was coming back out to my car trying to decide what to do next, I noticed a heavenly sight: cars were moving on 401 again! I hurried back on the newly re-opened highway and headed for Michigan.

Unfortunately, the whiteouts were not done, and I had to go 25-45 mph for about 60 miles to try to avoid becoming another whiteout accident myself. Then, about 10 miles from the border, it totally cleared up! Michigan welcomed me home! I still had to get all the way across the state, so I didn't actually make it home until 1 AM. So my trip turned into a 13 1/2 hour ordeal. The lesson: uh...it sucks when they close the highway you are traveling on, but it sucks more when they do it to you three times in one day. Thats about all I got from it. Oh and when you are on a road trip, make sure you pee and eat when you get a chance, cuz you never know when you will have to sit in park on the highway for hours.

The Madness of March

McDonalds directly on my way home from campus + Shamrock Shake Season = INEVITABLE!


Actually I've already had 3!

I even got Tom to try one today. The even scarier thing is that I'm about to go on a road trip where I'll actually have to stop at fast food places anyway. Now might be a good time to buy stock in McDonalds! ;-)

In other news:

March certainly had that "in like a lion" thing down today. We had thunder and lightning, rain, freezing rain, sleet, hail, and snow. Here's hoping it means that during nest boxing time at the end of the month the weather will be lamb-like.

My birdfeeder count:
~Junco
~Goldfinch
~Black capped chickadee
~Tufted titmouse
~Nuthatch
~Cardinal

It's about time!

Women players to earn equal pay at Wimbledon

Ummm...

Another chocolate is good for your brain article.

Katie, what are the chances of getting another chocolate order in? :-)

Amazing Race!

In honor of Amazing Race Allstars starting tonight (8 PM, CBS) I was thinking about my all-time favorite TV shows:

Drama:
1. West Wing
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Buffy
4. Veronica Mars
5. (tie) Lost (the first season) & Firefly (which I only saw after it was canceled)

Comedy:
1. Simpsons
2. Colbert Report
3. Scrubs
4. Arrested Development
5. Seinfeld

Reality/Game show:
1. The Amazing Race
2. Jeopardy
3. Flip This/That House, Property Ladder
4. Iron Chef

Comments? Additions? Deletions? Cries of rage?

C-c-c-c-old!

I got home from the office this afternoon and thought...hmmm it feels cold in here, I think I should turn up the heat. I went to go check the thermostat. It was 58 degrees. (The thermostat was set at 68.) I called maintenance. The guy came and made loud noises in the basement. He went back out, got in his truck, and left. Bad sign. I bundled up. He returned later, made more noises, and finally I heard the heater starting! Good sign! The house got warm again.

I went to a hockey game. The Griffins won! I got home and thought...hmmm it feels cold in here. Bad sign. I went to go check the thermostat. It was 48 degrees. BAD SIGN. I called maintenance. He told me to try turning the switch on the furnace on and off. (Isn't that what you do to your computer when you don't know what is wrong with it and don't know what else to do?) I turned the switch on and off. The furnace started. Good sign? The house is finally almost warm. I just took my coat off two hours after getting home.

It is 7 degrees outside. If I don't ever post again it may be because the heater died again and I froze in my sleep. :(

Did I mention I'm hosting a party tomorrow night? I'm sure my guests won't mind if the house is 48 degrees...

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Winter is here with a vengeance! I think it is trying to get back at us. It is saying "I know you managed to keep me away for longer than usual this year...you had a green Christmas, it was 40 degrees and sunny in the middle of January, but I finally managed to get here and now you are going to pay!!!" We have a blizzard warning today and they have already canceled the home Griffins game that was tonight. DARN YOU WINTER! MESSING WITH MY HOCKEY!!!! And it doesn't look like it will get any better soon. High temperatures are forecasted to be in the single digit with continuing snow for a while. I know that the groundhog didn't see his shadow, but I have trouble believing spring is right around to corner!

So, since I don't have a hockey game to go to anymore tonight, I have time for one of my sporadic updates about what is going on in my life:

I went to the MOST AWESOME TALK EVER at MSU on Wednesday night. Jorge Cham, the author of PhD (Piled Higher and Deeper) comics came to MSU!!!! (Check out the link under the "links" list to the right. Also check out my photo-a-day site for a picture of Katie W and me with Jorge afterwards!!!!) His talk was amazingly funny! It was basically a survival guide to grad school. Everything he said had us rolling in the aisles because it was so funny and so completely and perfectly true. He really helped us realize that we are not alone in the unique struggles that grad students face. I was reminded not to give in the to guilt of how there is always something I should be doing, that procrastination is a good coping mechanism, and that no one is ever really happy with their thesis, so I shouldn't be putting so much pressure on myself. (Oh also that F=ma. You don't argue with F=ma!) And I laughed harder than I have laughed in years.

And...on a related note, I gave a talk at KBS about my research on Friday. All of us grads are required to do this each spring. My talk went well and I got some good positive feedback. Also I've very happy that I'm done with it! To celebrate, Katie W stayed overnight and we had a great time hanging out, playing games with our friends (the hat game and doko...I lost doko like usual but was MVP of that hat game...where the East Coast babies beat the West Coast babies twice in a row!), and then veging and watching movies today. And playing with Isis of course, who betrayed me and slept with Katie like usual!

It has been a busy but good week, and I'm looking forward to watching DA BEARS take down the Colts tomorrow!

Picture-a-day 2007

My picture-a-day pictures are up! Email me or comment here if you would like me to send you the link.

Let me just say that Shutterfly and Flickr suck! I tried them both first, but Picasa (Google's photo thingy) is the way to go if you are putting pictures up online! It is leaps and bounds ahead of the others imho. (And I'm not just saying that because I blog on Google's blog thingy! Notice I tried the other 2 first before I even got to Picasa. The first two just didn't satisfy me!) :-)

Get out of the way Isis, I'm trying to take a picture of the cardinal!

I realize that I haven't blogged in a long time. So what's new with me lately?

I finally got some cardinals at my bird feeder! However, as you can tell from the photo above, my efforts to document this fact photographically have so far been fruitless.
My extensive, tremendous species list for this winter now sits at 4:
~Black capped chickadee (2)
~Tufted titmous (2)
~Nuthatch (1)
~Cardinal (3)
All 8 of these birds show up every day. They are going through my seed like crazy!

I have been teaching this semester, and so far it is going very well. I have really missed having this sense of meaning to my weeks. The downside of course is that I am really busy (hence the lack of blogging.)

I'm giving a talk about my research plans for the summer in 2 weeks, so I guess I better figure out what those plans are soon eh?

I'm also working on getting my photo-a-day photos online. Hopefully I will have them up soon.

Comment grab bag

Happy New Year!

Sports comments:

I just watched the ceremony by the Red Wings to retire Steve Yzerman's #19. Stevie Y was the best leader ever in hockey. He was a great captain, player, and person. He is the ultimate example of a humble, decent, and classy athlete.

The Griffins played two amazing games at home this past weekend. Each of our goalies recorded a shutout against the #2 team (Hamilton, 2-0 shutout by Liv) and the #1 team (Rochester, 3-0 shutout by Jimmie Howard) in the division. In addition to solid goaltending, our team defense and motivation actually showed up! The Griffins have been really streaky this year (with exactly a .500 record right now) but if they play like they are capable of this may be a good year after all!

Headline on ESPN.com: "Lions to keep prez Millen despite continuous losing". The losing has technically not actually been continuous, it just feels that way.

The Lions couldn't even lose when they are supposed to! With their upset win against Dallas on Sunday, they lost the #1 draft pick. (Although, see previous comment for why it wouldn't have mattered anyway.)

And I don't even want to bring up the Rose Bowl... :(

Non-sports comment:

I am going to (at least attempt) a photo-a-day project for 2007. Once I get a few more I'll post a link. Does anyone know of a good photo-hosting website for me to use? The only one I know of is Shutterfly, which I'm just figuring out how to use and I'm not sure if I like it.

It had to end sometime

I'm back in the country! I had a great time in Mexico! The weather was perfect (low 80s and sunny), the resort was luxurious and gorgeous, and the food was delicious. Thank you mom and dad! We stayed at the all-inclusive resort the Aventura Spa Palace at Riviera Maya (1 hour from Cancun). We also took a day trip to Tulum to see some Mayan ruins and to Xel Ha, a nature-water park.

Below are some pics. If you'd like to see rest let me know.

Looking out at the ocean over my favorite beach spot to sit and read in the sun

The jacuzzi in our room (yes you heard me!) along with a little towel friend left by the maids

The ruins of a Mayan palace at Tulum from about 1000 AD.

PCR is back!

Thats right, last night I did my first successful PCR in I don't know how many months. I think it was last spring, although I might have done one in July. Anyway, it is still not working totally properly, but I have all my supplies and I can get it to work well enough for my purposes. Woohoo! Now it just has to stay working while I process 300 wren DNA samples. Ahh...pray for me!

In other news, I can definitely confirm that mailboxes look like deer. When you are driving through the countryside at night (say, from KBS to EL and back...just as an example) and you are already hyper-sensitive because you keep seeing lots of deer, some of whom try to cross the road in front of youl, seeing a dark mailbox leaning over the road with a little reflector on it that looks like a deer's eye is really disconcerting! And I'm not crazy or drunk, Emily G agreed with me!

This will probably be my last post before Mexico, so ADIOS!

Anything you can do...

Ability meme...from Tina's blog

You bold anything you can do, italicize anything you wish you could do, and add one new skill you're proud of to the end.

+ Use chopsticks
+ Speak more than one language
+ Roll my tongue
+ Play a musical instrument
+ Name every single pokemon character
+ Sing in tune
+ Use html
+ Cross my eyes
+ Put both feet behind my head
+ Ride a horse
+ Swim
+ Shuffle playing cards with a fancy move
+ Move and wiggle my eyebrows independently of each other
+ Play chess and win
+ Ride a bike
+ Drive
+ Do long division in my head
+ Draw quite convincingly
+ Bake cakes
+ Stand on my head (I could do this as a child...but not anymore!)
+ Do cartwheels (ditto)
+ Spell Czechoslovakia without having to look it up first
+ Identify any garden bird
+ Mix a mean cocktail (I have Aaron for that!)
+ Read music
+ Style hair like a professional
+ Tell the difference between Prada and nada at a glance
+ Whistle
+ Recite whole passages from the Lord Of The Rings books by heart
+ Remember birthdays and anniversaries without being reminded (It's called a calendar!)
+ Tap dance
+ Defuse an argument easily
+ Nurse any sick plant back to health
+ Cook anything
+ Forgive quickly
+ Train a dog (I trained Zoe to play dead...does that count?)
+ Commit things to memory without effort (at least some things)
+ Stick my big toe up and my little toes down
+ Freakishly bend my double-jointed thumb
+ Remove any stain
+ Do anything with makeup
+ Open jars without trouble
+ Charm the pants off people
+ Hold my breath for a minute
+ Roller-skate
+ Understand Shakespeare
+ Listen
+ Sew curtains
+ Decipher morse code
+ Click my fingers
+ Complete crossword puzzles (thanks to crossword puzzle races with Katie L and Kosha during stats lectures)
+ Finish a book once I start it
+ Fold napkins into pretty fan shapes
+ Crochet scarves
+ Cheer people up
+ Write multi-chapter fan fic stories
+ Rock at Six Degrees of Separation
+ Tell a debit from a credit in general ledger accounting
+ Solve legal problems and say 'yes, the answer would be yes, but it all depends you see...'
+ Teach
+ Teach real estate agents
+ Repair a bicycle puncture
+ Assemble flat packed furniture
+ Wiggle my ears without touching them
+ Type over 60 words per minute (never been timed but I am pretty fast)
+ Run a nuclear reactor
+ Take ugly writing and make it pretty (although I'm probably not as good at this as many of my friends who might be reading this blog)
+ Confidently talk about sports with anyone

(For my added one, I was going to do something about capturing or taking blood from wild birds, but I figured fewer people would be able to (or would want to) do that.)

I wish more conservatives thought like this...

"My position is, unless we are caring as much for the vulnerable outside the womb as inside the womb, we're not carrying out the full message of Jesus. ... They began to think this might threaten their base or evaporate some of their support, and they said they just couldn't go there."

- Rev. Joel Hunter, explaining his resignation as president-elect of the Christian Coalition, after realizing he would be unable to broaden the organization's focus to include issues such as poverty and the environment. (Source: The Washington Post)

(Quote is from yesterday's Sojomail.)

Isis tales

Two cute Isis stories:

First, she has learned that when I finish my bowl of cereal in the morning, there is some yummy milk left in the bottom. Now, as soon as I start eating breakfast she runs up to me and stares until I finish and let her lick out the bowl. Is this bad for her? Maybe. Can I resist? No!

Also, I just got a birdfeeder. It is the kind that has suction cups which you use to attach it to your window. I thought it would be entertaining for Isis, but I think she is frustrated by the fact that these darn birds keep coming back but she can't catch them! Whenever one lands, she jumps up against the window to scare it away. When she can't catch it she makes funny little peeping noises as she yearns to give chase. I couldn't get any great action shots, but here is one with a bird flying away. Curses, foiled again!

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is officially over but I wanted to take the time to think about some things that I'm thankful for:
-> My wonderful, supportive, caring family
-> My great friends in Lansing, KBS, and GR
-> The fact that I don't have to worry where my next meal will come from, or whether there will be a roof over my head, or how I will pay for health care
-> That my family, friends, and myself are generally healthy and happy
-> My great cat Isis :-)
-> More trivial things: being able to travel to so many interesting places, the huge block of chocolate that Katie and Travis helped me get that is SOOO good, sunny days, the sound a hockey puck makes as it is shot around the boards, the internet, pay-at-the pump gas stations, The Colbert Report, Woody's yummy food, Netflix, the peace and quiet of living in the country, $3.5o 1st run movies, ESPN, diet black cherry vanilla coke, sunsets, fireworks, mashed potatoes and stuffing, and so much more...

Torture Lindsey Day 2006

...is over! I managed to survive a dentist and doctors appointment on the same day! I sat in waiting rooms for about 3 hours total today, but at least I got everything out of the way.

A bad sports weekend

The teams that I care about were a collective 0-6 this weekend. Granted, I expected Michigan to lose to Ohio State (and they did keep it close, losing 42-39) and the Red Wings did pick up one point by losing in a shootout, but still, what happened to all my sports luck???

For the record, I don't want a UM-OSU rematch in the BCS title game, because they would probably just beat us again. I'd much rather play in the Rose Bowl where we would stand a decent chance at winning. As long as Notre Dame doesn't play for the championship, I'm happy. And they shouldn't because even if they win out, we only have 1 loss (to the #1 team) and they would have 1 loss...to us! (They didn't play the #1 team.) So there is no way you can put them in there ahead of us! But just in case...go USC!

Even better!

Chocolate is good for your heart!

Moo!

Eating red meat linked to increased risk of breast cancer

I knew there was a reason I stopped eating it!

This and that

A cool Stewart/Colbert interview coming out in Rolling Stone...

Also, Todd and I played in a doppelkopf tournament this weekend and got our asses handed to us (me=11th out of 11, Todd=something like 9th or 10th), so we need some practice! If anyone at KBS wants to learn an awesome card game, let me or Todd know. And if anyone in Lansing in doing a doko night, with a little advanced warning I can be there!

Finally, my car hit 50,000 miles on the way home from Lansing. I bought it new when I graduated from college. I am old. Have I really experienced 50,000 miles worth of life since college???

The exciting things that happen in Grand Rapids, MI

I can't believe this made it on to the front page of CNN.com. Yes, this is my hometown:

Deer breaks free of plastic jack-o'-lantern

VOTE!

Remember to vote today! For those of you in Michigan, we have important things to vote on: governer, US senator, and several proposals. Vote vote vote!

The toughest sport?

Just saw this article on ESPN.com's Page 2 where they "scientifically" ranked 60 sports based on how tough they are. Here is a sample from the list:

1. Boxing
2. Hockey
3. Football (American)
4. Basketball
5. Wrestling
6. Martial Arts
7. Tennis
8. Gymnastics
9. Baseball/softball
10. Soccer
...
56. Curling
57. Bowling
58. Shooting
59. Billiards
60. Fishing

For the most part I agree with the rankings. (I've always argued that hockey was tougher than real football which is tougher than soccer.) However, I'm surprised about some of them, such as that rugby (13) and bull riding (42) aren't higher and that gymnastics (8) and figure skating (19) aren't lower.

I find it interesting that the 4 major US sports are all in the top 10 in toughness. Is that because we like tough sports, or are we overvaluing the toughness of sports that we like?

Snow=evil part 2

I had to scrape my car today before leaving work! SCRAPE MY CAR!!!!! NOOOOO!!!! I'M NOT READY!!!!!

Cell phones linked to male infertility

Heavy mobile use 'damages sperm'

First laptops, now cell phones...looks like the women are going to have to do all the work from now on while the men stay home and do our housework! ;-)

Iraqi lives matter: 30,000>3,000

I read this in a column on ESPN.com today (TMQ by Gregg Easterbrook) and thought it was worth thinking about:

"Of the many moral questions regarding the Iraq War, the one the American political and media systems are not dealing with in any way, shape or form is the number of Iraqi deaths. A few months ago President Bush said the estimate he has been given by military intelligence is 30,000 Iraqi deaths caused either directly by our military or set in motion by our invasion. American forces have been trying to avoid killing the innocent. But no matter how carefully our armed forces have behaved, why is the American conscience not shocked by so many innocent people killed owing to our unilateral decision to seize another nation? Why did the media shrug when Bush used this shocking figure?

Had some other country or group done something that caused 30,000 deaths here, we would claim an unlimited right of self-defense and retaliation. Yet the death the United States has brought to the innocent of Iraq isn't even being discussed here. Some of the Iraqis who have died because they have been hit by our bombs, or in the sectarian violence our destruction of the Iraqi government set loose, would have died by now regardless; perhaps some of them would have been killed by Saddam Hussein, had he remained in power. But by invading Iraq we made ourselves responsible for what happened next, and what has happened next is killing of the innocent. When 3,000 were villainously slain here, we called it a crime against humanity. Since then we have caused or played a role in the deaths of perhaps 10 times as many in Iraq, and this is spoken of here as if it were some mere unfortunate side effect of policy. History may judge America harshly for acting as though Iraqi lives have no value. "

"A typical liberal"

A friend just gave me the link to "Wikiality: the truthiness encyclopedia" and I just had to share the entry on "liberal":

"A liberal is any individual who hates America, our Troops, Freedom, and everything that it stands for. The typical liberal is a henna-tattooing, tofu-eating, bear-hugging, whale-saving, war-protesting, marijuana-smoking, pornography-watching, Godless hippy moonbat bent on destroying American values."

For more, go to http://www.wikiality.com/Liberal

Stevie Y!!!!

I just walked down a flight of stairs directly behind Steve Yzerman...wow! I needed to share that!

Dr. Lindsey

Recently I received a letter addressed to me as "Dr.". Please see this PhD comic for an exact representation of my feelings on the matter:
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=376

Happy Birthday Colbert Report!

This week marked the 1 year anniversary of the Colbert Report! I can't believe it has only been one year...Stephen, it seems like you have been in my life for so much longer than that! How did I get by without you???

To celebrate his 1 year anniversary, Stephen is auctioning off (for charity) a portrait of himself that was part of the set of the Report for year 1. I just checked it out on ebay and the bid is already up to $6,200.00!!! I guess you guys are going to have to all chip in to get it for me... ;-)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290040269306

New look

I got sick of the green. Otherwise everything is pretty much the same. Enjoy the blue!

I'm a Presbyterian!

Today I officially joined First Presbyterian Church of Kalamazoo! I love how progressive the Presbyterian USA denomination is. (The first ordained female pastor in the P-USA preached at my new church back in the 1950s! Any church that had female pastors long before I was born is definitely thinking about things in the right way!) Also, First Pres has a huge focus on outreach to the community, which I really think is important and many times overlooked by churches. For instance, they started a health clinic that serves hundreds of uninsured people in downtown Kalamazoo each year and are also very active with Habitat for Humanity, tutoring in the local inner city school, world peace and justice activism, etc. It feels good to belong to a chruch where I finally really feel like I belong!

Snow=evil

I almost cried when I woke up this morning. Snow!!! NOOOOO!!!!! It is only Oct 12!!! Sad sad sad...

10/14 edit: Phew it melted! That was close!

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving. Now, (American) Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because of the FOOD, so if I get a chance to celebrate it twice a year I'm going to take advantage of it! Travis (from the Lansing gang) made a spectacular Thanksgiving feast on Saturday (although it is unclear whether the group knew it was actually Canadian Thanksgiving or not) and we all gorged. We enjoyed turkey, stuffing, mashed and sweet potatoes, apple and pumpkin pie, etc. Let me just say that Travis is a super cook anyway, and when you combine that with Thanksgiving food...heaven!

So, we can thank Canada for hockey and two Thanksgivings! I knew I liked our neighbors to the north (or east or south in some parts of Michigan).

Honk for the Christian Left

I just came across this site that sells "religous left merchandise" which turns out to be some really clever/cool bumper stickers, T-shirts, etc.

http://www.cafepress.com/turn_left

I'm not necessarily lobbying you to buy any of these things, but if you feel like procrastinating or something, surf around on the site for some interesting/funny/thought provoking ideas. Some of my favorites:

"GOD is not spelled GOP"
"Stewart Colbert 2008"
"Pro-life does not end at birth"
"Poverty is the worst form of violence"
"Who would Jesus torture?"
"The Christian Right is often neither"
"Why care about the poor when you can be a single issue voter?"
"You cannot be pro-life and pro-death penalty"
"War is a defeat for humanity -Pope John Paul II"

Now I just need to find an "Obama 08" sticker...I actually saw one on a car the other day!

The countdown continues...

Veronica Mars: 1 day
Red Wings' season starts: 3 days
Griffins' season starts: 4 days
Griffins' home opener: 12 days
Lindsey and Kath at the Wings: 71 days
Mexico: 75 days

4 years???

You know you have been in grad school for a long time when:
1. You have to make the font on your CV smaller to keep everything on two pages.
2. You are introduced to a 2nd year vet student and you say "Hi I'm Lindsey!" and he says "I know, you were my undergrad ecology TA."
3. You are so distressed about #2 that you forget how many years you have been a grad student until your labmate reminds you (thanks Katie).

Formulaic Fantasy

I recently have been reading a new-to-me fantasy series by David Eddings (The Belgariad, thanks to Carl and Todd) and I am enjoying it, although it contains the very familiar themes, characters, etc. that can be found in most fantasy series. What I found interesting was that Eddings admits to this, and actually emphasizes it in his new preface (from 2002, the books were written in the 80s.) This is how he describes it:

“The story itself is fairly elemental—Good vs. Evil, Nice Guys vs. Nasty Guys, (or Them vs. Us). It has the usual Quest, the Magic (or Holy) Thingamajig, the Mighty Sorcerer, the Innocent Hero, and the Not Quite So Innocent Heroine—along with a widely vaired group of Mighty Warriors with assorted character faults. It wanders around for five books until it finally climaxes with the traditional duel between “Our Hero” and the “Bad Guy.””

When you think about it, it is striking how many of the fantasy series that I enjoy (Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, Robin Hobb, even Star Wars) all follow this formula quite closely. And yet I still can’t put the books down. I wonder what it is about this classic story that so grabs my attention.

Hail to the Victors!

The University of Michigan football team just crushed, smashed, and obliterated a HIGHLY overrated Notre Dame team in South Bend! 47-21! Woohoo! I scared my cat because I was cheering so much. Did I mention I hate Notre Dame? Go Blue!

Also, my hometown West Michgian Whitecaps just won the Midwest League (A baseball) title, so congrats to them too!

To celebrate I am using the new muffin pan I got for my birthday to make some yummy muffins.

Half way to fifty

“I’m excited to be 25! I’ve been waiting, like, 25 years to be 25!” –Giselle, supermodel

Fall Countdown

College Football: Already started!
NFL Football: TODAY!
My bday: 1 day
The Amazing Race: 7 days
Grey's Anatomy: 11 days
Red Wings' Season Starts: 25 days
Griffins' Season Starts: 26 days
Griffins' Home Opener: 34 days
Mexico: 96 days

Feel free to add your own...

God loves evolution!

I would like to recommend that everyone read The Language of God by Francis S. Collins. Dr. Collins is the director of the human genome project (one of the top scientists in the world) and also a Christian (who started out as an atheist). In the book he addresses the interaction between science and religion, explaining how science helped lead him to God and also how science (yes evolution!) is compatible with and even enhances religion! It is very readable, written so that those without a background in science will have no problem keeping up, but also very satisfying to me as a Christian scientist to find someone else who shares my views so completely.

Whether or not you are a Christian, and whether or not you accept evolution, if you care at all about issues of science and religion, this is a book you have to read. I would love to lend a copy to anyone who is interested in reading it.

Back in Black!

Well I'm baaaaack!!!!! Back to reality... I have lots of grand ideas for all of the work I am going to get done this fall, I am just worried about finding the motivation to do it. This is Isis doing an impression of my motivational state right now:

Post for the sake of posting?

Not much going on with me right now, but I am still alive. I have not had a very healthy month, with a nasty cold, a suspected case of mild food poisoning, and some mystery headaches/dizziness that might possibly be caused by my allergy medication. Or maybe I’m just getting migraines. Joy either way.

In happier news, my field season is almost wrapped up and I will be taking my annual summer vacation soon, which I am very excited about! I am thoroughly looking forward to turning my brain off for a little while and not thinking about science. ;-)

Mama turtle

This is a picture of a female snapping turtle laying eggs that I took out at my field site in the beginning of June. I put the screwdriver next to her so you can see how big she is. No particular reason to post it, I just thought it was cool. :-)

87 days until hockey season!

The Griffins home opener has been set for October 14!!! Actually, the season starts the week before on the road, so it is really only 80 days! Woohoo!!!

In other news, I finally saw my brother’s band “A Thousand Plateaus”. (Bonus points if you get the reference!) They played a kick ass rock show! (I think “kick ass” is their favorite phrase…Doug can confirm or deny.) Check out their website and listen to a few songs: http://myspace.com/thousandplateaus

Hello Moto!

I got a new phone today that actually works in my house! Imagine, having a cell phone that actually rings when people call me and that will dial out without me having to go into the basement to make it roam! Amazing! I am giddy at the thought!

I went with Cingular since it is the only service that seems to be able to get reception to my dead zone of a house, and I got a RAZR, so now I am cool or something! Anyway, feel free to call me, you may actually get through now!

PS the number is still the same as my old one

Wuv, twue wuv...

I realized tonight that I don’t believe in love. (I am referring specifically to the romantic movie type of love.) There is just nothing in my experience for me to be able to relate to anyone feeling in such a way as to do all the stupid things people do for love in romantic movies.

But even though I know those situations are exaggerated, I really have a hard time believing that there exists any kind of human relationship that goes beyond what I have with close friends and family. Yet all around me my friends are engaging (haha) in this strange behavior of coupling off which I just don’t understand. I have absolutely no way to relate to the motivation behind this behavior. I’m not talking about physical attraction, (which I have definitely felt!) but about the emotional/mental/physical/spiritual combination that I hear love defined as. I have never seen the potential for me to have that kind of relationship with another human. I’m not saying I’m not open to it or don’t want it necessarily, just that it…doesn’t happen. Nothing is there. Maybe this is how an atheist feels about Christianity?

Anyone who is (or has been) in love want to let me in on the secret????

Maybe I should turn Catholic and become a nun… ;-)

110 days until hockey season

I am watching Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals (go Hurricanes!), which means that after tonight there will be no more hockey until fall. This game has been great! Awesome action, speed, hits, saves, goals...and it's only half way done. Hockey is the best sport. I love it! I can't wait for October....

Eggs in a row

Okay sorry that last entry sounded really complainy. I didn't mean it to be that way, I just wanted to explain why I haven't been updating. To make up for it, here is a cute picture of a clutch of wren eggs. The numbers tell the order that the eggs were laid. Of course, these eggs are 14 day old babies now and almost ready to fly. :-)

I'll give you an update!!!

Wow I had no idea so many people actually read my blog!

So as you have all probably guessed I have not updated in almost a month because it has been heavy duty research time. I have been working 80 hour weeks and I have not even turned on my TV for a month, much less had time to do any other entertainment activities.

This was my daily schedule 7 days a week for the last 3 weeks:
8:00 wake up
9:00 head to field
2:00 come in for lunch/break
3:30 go back to field
9:00 come back from field
9:30 dinner/shower
10:30 enter data from day, plan for next day
midnight bed

Now things are getting a little better and I’m only working 8 hours a day, 7 days a week. By the 4th of July things should be back to a normal 40 hour work week, and then you can start expecting more regular blog entries.

I have some cute wren pics to post and other things to talk about, but they will have to wait for another day because I need to enter my data yet tonight and then get to bed. Thanks for caring guys. :-)

It’s a bad sign when…

I have to preface this story by explaining that my landlord has been installing a new well at my house, which has been an extremely annoying process involving 3 weeks of having bulldozers and drilling trucks destroy my front yard, random men in my basement at all hours of the day, etc.

I finally get the word that everything is done, the health department approved the new well as safe to drink, and they have switched my house over to the new well. Excellent! I say to myself. I return home from a long day in the field, flush the toilet, wash my hands, and…the water stops running. Bad sign. No water all night.

So, I inform maintenance and they arrive the next morning. “Aha! I just forgot to turn the breaker back on!” On of them says. No problem. I hear water running again. Wonderful! “Uh oh” from the maintenance men. Bad sign. I hear low talking about the water being “full of crap.” Now my “wonderful” has turned sarcastic. “I need to go get another tool, I’ll be back in a few minutes,” maintenance man says. Everyone leaves. Bad sign.

So that’s where we are right now…two guys were back working on stuff, but they just went on break. I’ll let you know if I have any water tonight.

This is why I love hockey!!!! Part 2

I lost my voice tonight from cheering!

Things did not look good for our heroes, the Grand Rapids Griffins. After blowing a chance to finish off the North Division finals on Monday night by losing to the Manitoba Moose 3-1, the Griffins had fallen behind in the series-deciding game 7.

Midway through the 2nd period they were playing terribly and losing 4-1. The Moose had all the momentum and the Griffins looked awful. You could hear a pin drop in the arena. The home team managed to score a power play goal at the very end of the 2nd period to cut the deficit to 4-2, but heading into the 3rd the situation was still grim.

Then, my boys played the most exciting period of hockey I have ever seen, scoring 3 more goals, the last one with 2 minutes left, to complete an electrifying come from behind victory to win the series!!!! LETS GO GRIFFINS!!!! If they played like that every period there would be no stopping them! What an amazing win!

Next up: The Milwaukee Admirals come to town to begin the Western Conference finals on Thursday!!!

Happy Birthday Isis!

It's not her real birthday, (she actually turned 2 sometime earlier this spring,) but today is the anniversary of when I adopted Isis from the Calhoun County Humane Society. I can't believe she's been with me for a whole year! She's been a great cat! Today to celebrate she got some catnip and a new toy. :-)

Stephen Colbert is my hero!

First of all, his show is HILARIOUS!

But, recently he spoke at the White House Correspondents Dinner. I don't know how the people who schedule these things picked him, but they should have known that Bush might not appreciate his humor. Of course, all Stephen does it tell the truth!!!! ;-) But you have to admit it takes balls to lampoon the President of the United States when he's sitting 6 feet away from you looking very un-amused by your act. GO STEPHEN COLBERT!!!!

Here is a link to an article that gives a great summary of Colbert's speech. Even those of you with less of a "liberal bias" than me will find it funny I think. Thanks to Tina's blog for the link. And here is a link where you can watch the whole speech, if you are so inclined.

Good news and bad news

Hockey Playoffs, Round 1

Good news: The Griffins looked great dispatching the Toronto Marlies in 5 games, including two overtime victories. The team went 1-1 at home and 3-0 on the road. In fact, we won two games in Toronto with our third string goalie, since our first stringer was called up to Detroit and our second stringer is out with a long term injury. The Griffins looked confident beating a team with a hot, experienced goalie that gave them fits all season. Next we play Manitoba in the Division Finals. The Moose (yes Katie W, they are the Manitoba Moose, but you still aren’t allowed to cheer for them!) are another good team with a great goalie, so they will be another good challenge for the Griffins. At least we don’t have to worry about anyone being called up in this series because…

Bad news: The Red Wings got their asses handed to them by Edmonton, losing in 6 games. The Wings have way more talent, but they didn’t bring it when it mattered. The only Wings players that caught my eye as having a good series were Lebda, Kronwall, and Zetterberg. Captain Steve Yzerman’s injury and absence did not help as he is the heart and soul of the team. The Wings rested on their laurels, expecting Edmonton to just roll over. When they didn’t, the Wings didn’t adjust and up their game in time to avoid being ousted in the first round. The have only won one playoff series since their last Stanley Cup in 2002. The regular season excellence of the past few years means nothing when you can’t win in the playoffs.

Death Cab for Cutie Lyric of the Week

From "Crooked Teeth"

I'm a war, of head versus heart,
And it's always this way.
My head is weak, my heart always speaks,
Before I know what it will say.

And you can't find nothing at all,
If there was nothing there all along.
No you can't find nothing at all,
If there was nothing there all along.

Yeah for spring!

Why I love this time of year (late April/early May):

~Fun field work: NO DEER FLYS, comfortable temperatures, not too much crazy work yet
~Hockey hockey hockey: Playoffs on TV every night, Griffins and Red Wings playoffs games to go to
~Great weather: no snow, not super hot or humid either
~It stays light until almost 9
~Did I mention playoff hockey????

This is why I love hockey!!!!

Game 1 of the playoffs, Jiri Hudler gets hit in the face, takes 18 stitches, and comes back to not only finish the game, but score the game winning goal in triple overtime! GOOOOOOOOOOO GRIFFINS!!!!!!!!! The Griffins were behind 4-2 going into the 3rd period, but came back to win it 6-5 in 3 OT. Also the Wings won 3-2 in 2 OT! Woohoo! The playoffs are here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Doe, a deer!

This is what I saw out my back window a few days ago:

Three little deer decided to make my backyard their salad bar!

Arrrr!

My pirate name is:

Captain Anne Bonney

Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Hot new band

Everyone go see "A Thousand Plateaus" at the Intersection (front room) in Grand Rapids on April 24.

http://www.myspace.com/thousandplateaus

Disclaimer: This post may or may not be motivated by nepotism. ;-)

Death Cab for Cutie Lyric of the Week

From "Your heart is an empty room"

The flames and smoke
climbed out of every window
and disappeared
with everything that you held dear
and you shed not a single tear
for the things that you didn't need
'cause you knew you were finally free

And all you see
is where else you could be
when you're at home
out on the street
are so many possibilities
to not be alone

NHL rules!

Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images

Although I’m pretty sure none of the four people who actually read my blog care about the NHL, I care about and so I post these interesting links that I discovered today while I was procrastinating doing real work:

First, a great interview with my favorite player (and Griffins alumni) Nik Kronwall.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=amber_david&id=2404391

Next, an article that I thought was hilarious because of the title for the link on ESPN.com: “Ovechkin reaches 100 points, earns pie”
Ovechekin, the probable rookie of the year for this season, is one of my top five favorite NHL players, but I’ll let you read the article to find out about the pie
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=260410001

And finally, a column by John Buccigross, my favorite NHL columnist, (who actually replied to an email I sent him once, calling me “Lindsey love,”!), written during the NCAA basketball final four, about him not caring at all about basketball and feeling like an outcast at March Madness time, and why hockey is better. :-)
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=buccigross_john&id=2387250

Death Cab for Cutie Lyric of the Week

From "Marching Bands of Manhattan"

Sorrow drips into your heart
Through a pinhole
Just like a faucet that leaks
And there is comfort in the sound
But while you debate half empty
Or half full
It slowly rises
Your love is gonna drown

Woohoo!

Put July 27, 2007 on your calendars: THE SIMPSONS MOVIE!!!

You can see a very brief trailer (preview): here

My new favorite quote

"Speaking of Plato, he would have been a Red Wings fan." ~John Buccigross, ESPN.com