Knitting, Botany, Mycology, Nature, Adventure, and Life... in no particular order.
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Anniversary!
Well, now that today’s workday is over I have officially been at my job for 6 years! It seems like 3 Nov 2003 was an awfully long time ago, and I guess it was. Looking back it is hard to comprehend all I have done, learned, affected, and continue to work on.
Some things I have had the opportunity to do in the past 6 years:
- Take a 3 week course in Miami on Biodiversity of Tropical Plants
- Participate in workshops on: Southeast Asian plant family identification, identifying diatoms, identifying lichens
- Go to Eagle Hill in Maine to take courses for professional development on Slime Molds (Myxomycetes), Bryophytes (twice!), and Hypogeous Fungi (truffles and stuff)
- Refresh my Latin and learn some German
- Take a mycology course
- Listen to countless fantastic speakers
- Go to a large Botany conference in Chicago
- Become a member of the IPM-WG and go to the working group meeting 2 times
- Work with wonderful, intelligent, compassionate and friendly people
- Learn a lot about databases and how to test them
- Give tours to all different people of all different ages
- Help with research projects
I can’t even begin to estimate how many specimen I have filed, and I could probably get estimates on the number of things I have sent on loan or databased but I think I would rather not know. I’ve corresponded with people all over the world and I’ve helped people translate English into Latin for publications. I have found things thought to be lost, and I have probably “lost” some other things. I’ve made my own field collections with my own collecting permit (and still need to finish the identifications!), I’ve gone on walks, and I even attended several forays (for bryophytes and for fungi). I have made many friends in many places who study many things.
I have not finished everything the previous person had not finished. I have not managed to knock the ever-growing piles of things to do down to a tiny pile, I have not finished every project I have started, but I also have not been miserable. Not once! Stressed and overwhelmed at times, but still happy with my job. I have watched at least 9 co-workers move on to other jobs, graduate studies, and places… not including graduate students and post-docs whom have also left.
And after these 6 great years I wonder what I will do in year 7. Will this be my final year? Is it time to move on to graduate school or some other place? Will I accomplish something great, take on some amazing project, complete some of the things I have been trying to finish for almost as long as I have been here?! I have no idea, and THAT is pretty exciting.
So here’s to you, job I love and that I have gown and changed with! Thank you for the past 6 great years and uncountable opportunities! Tonight I’ll raise a beer, some knitting needles, and perhaps even a field guide to you… and I’ll be back in the morning to see what is in store next!
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Planning
Some of you who know me may realize that while I am up for spontaneous fun and adventure, I like planning. I think it’s the act or organization, making lists, making piles, plotting courses, etc. If I didn’t like those things I would probably be less good at my job and I probably would not have done as many cool things on vacation in Seattle and San Francisco in the past.
So what am I planning now? Well there is the upcoming and forementioned trip to Maine, which requires good amounts of gathering of various nerdy equipment (and also material to explain and exemplify herbarium practices); a wedding present to make and give to my friends (well after their wedding next month it seems) that has me plotting with cables and with lace; what to make for a ravelry swap partner that lives way off in Canada (yarn to be purchased soon); and a running training schedule!
So the knitting things all seem reasonable and logical and unsurprising. (I spent a good portion of yesterday with graph paper and reference books!) The trip to Maine also seems like a good thing to plan. Showing up at a field station without your favorite reference books or flashlight or collecting gear (or Pooh Bear) would make for a difficult week! And well, of course I want to be organized and prepared to help figure out how the collections there could be handeled and grown, that takes a lot of thinking and energy! But running… that doesn’t seem so plannable, or does it.
A group of friends at work and I are going to participate in the Susan G. Komen 5K run in Massachusetts on September 26th. People will be running, joging, walking, pushing strollers, etc all to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research in Massachusetts. In addition to feeling like it was a good time to step up and raise some money, I felt like it was good time to step up my running game, so I joined a team. While there is no real onus by the team to run, and our training is fun, I have decided to go for it. 5K is a mere 3.1 miles, and I hope to really give it my all. Hence the planning. I have a decent schedule for the 8 weeks before the race and I hope to get my time in at 27 minutes at the highest. Right now I can do it in about 31-33 minutes so that seems reasonable. BUT this is planning that now leads into longer term planning…
I am giong to sign up and run my first ever 1/2 marathon in November! The Harvard Pilgrim Maine Coast Half Marathon in York ME! Whew! I’m excited/terrified, but now I have plenty of time to plan. Anyone want to join me?
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Summer Tradion
Many people have nice summer traditions like family barbiques, camping, hiking a certain mountian, a beach adventure, etc. This year will be my 4th year with my favorite summer tradition, spending a week in the woods of Maine learning about science!
The Humboldt Field Reasearch Institute at Eagel Hill (lovingly called Eagel Hill by those who are in the know) is a little spot on the coast of downeast Maine where you can ignore all the problems in the world for a week and focus on learning whatever it is that you think is exciting. They offer various natural history seminars where you take advantage of the flora and fauna in the area and use lab equipment on site.
My example of a typical day on site: Wake up early as the sun strams in the huge windows in your simple cabin, walk down to the main dining area and make some hot tea and sit outsite (or on the couches by the fireplace if it’s chilly), knit or read or look through your notes, hot breakfast, lecture or working in the lab, tea break, back to the lab/class, lunch, maybe go hike on one of the trails looking at/for respective organisims of interest, tea break, studying said collected organisms in the lab, social time at 6.30, dinner at 7, back to the lab to spend time working on the day’s material. This of course varies from course to course and person to person. You can put as much time in as you want, so though it sounds like a nice relaxing time (and in some ways is) it can also be 8-10 hours of brain work! Sooo Great!
Am I crazy… wicked crazy! Is it some of the most fun I have in a given year… without a doubt! Do I know know more than I ever used to about slime molds, mosses and hepatics… you betcha! Am I going to know a whole ton about hypogaeous (under ground) fungi when I get back the 2nd week in August… absolutely!
So while some of you may feel like watermellon, corn on the cob, and grilling is the perfect summer tradition, I think the perfect summer tradition is running around in the woods of Maine for a week learning!
