Look, I Did Good

Your Blog Should Be Green

Your blog is smart and thoughtful - not a lot of fluff. You enjoy a good discussion, especially if it involves picking apart ideas. However, you tend to get easily annoyed by any thoughtless comments in your blog.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

well, i certainly hope i can pass 8th grade science. if i couldn't, i'd have absolutely no business going for a doctorate in the field. perhaps the people who designed this quiz should learn a little spelling, since on one question they say "neuron" when they mean "neutron"... otherwise the question doesn't make sense.

Ice Pilots and Early Christmas

wow, so the pilots went 2-1 this weekend with an overtime win in columbia and a shootout victory in greenville (those bastards) and a 7-1 shellacking by gwinnett saturday night (glad chad and i decided not to go that one). i'm impressed. jacquo had goals in both of the wins... let's hope this trend continues tuesday and wednesday on the road trip and back at home next weekend. the win one, lose won pattern is a huge improvement over the lose, lose, then lose some more pattern we're all so familiar with.

and now for some more exciting news about an early christmas present chad and i decided to buy ourselves. wait for it... we bought a plasma! as in a 42" plasma tv. i'm so excited. as many of you may know, chad and i are frequent visitors to best buy, where i especially enjoy drooling over the 50" plasma tv's. well, while we were at his parents house on thanksgiving, we did some perusing of their sale papers for "black friday," and we found a deal at best buy that we couldn't resist - a 42" magnavox plasma tv with a built-in HD tuner and all kinds of other stuff that chad was really excited about for $1499. when i first started drooling over plasmas, a 42" was going for around $7,000. prices have been steadily dropping and are now usually in the neighborhood of $2500 - $3000 for a good 42". and we bought ours for around $1500. it appears to be a really good tv. well, it will be. we don't actually have it yet. when we arrived at best buy around 9:45 friday morning, they'd sold out, but the nice salesman informed us that he could order one for us that we can pick up tuesday, we just had to pay for it friday to get the sale price. sweet. so, day after tomorrow, i'll be watching the flyers play on my new plasma!

My Paper, She Is Published

*sings*: i'm so excited, and just can't hide it... *does a happy dance*

i have just received the confirmation email informing me that my paper was published in the scientific journal Marine Ecology Progress Series (MEPS) on november 21. *excited squeal* this is so awesome! i just visited the USA library website to have a look at it. it was so sweet to look up my paper. if anyone has access to MEPS (if you're at a university, i'm betting that you do) and cares to have a look at my name in print (first author!), the title is: Seagrass–pathogen interactions: ‘pseudo-induction’ of turtlegrass phenolics near wasting disease lesions, and it can be found in Marine Ecology Progress Series, volume 303, pg 123-131, published november 21, 2005... available online in pdf form.

I am a Lion, Hear Me Roar!

You are a Leo, the star of the Zodiac. You're fun,
confident, enthusiastic, warm, powerful,
generous, creative, loyal, charismatic,
sensitive, and a natural born leader! Of all
the animals in the world you are most like a
lion! You are noble, royal, and as brave as
a lion, and every once and a while you
"roar" to show everyone your strength
and pride!

-Your lucky colors are orange and gold, the colors
of the sun

-your metal, is gold, but not any gold PURE gold!!

-your precious stone is a bloodred ruby

-you day of the week is sunday, get it SUNday

-the planet you are ruled by is the sun, which is
not really a planet but a star, just like you

-your element is fire

-the parts of the body that you rule are you back,
spine and HEART

-your true love matches are a your own leo, an
aries, sagittarius, libra, or a gemini


What is Your TRUE Astrology Sign? (for guys and girls with incredibly detailed answers and incredible pictures+READ MEMO PLEASE)
brought to you by Quizilla

hmm... i have always generally thought that the crazy astrology definition of a leo, my birth sign as well as my "true" sign, apparently, fits me. is it because my element is fire that i always seem to set things ablaze? and my lucky color is orange - a possible reason for my attraction to the philadelphia flyers (although i really hate their orange jerseys - i like the black ones)? oh well. i'm really becoming a little too quiz-oriented these days.

Good Morning, Internet

how strange is it that my mood is so often tied to the weather? i'm sure that you all get very tired of reading about the weather in mobile. perhaps i seem a little obsessed with current and future meteorological conditions. well, the weather outside is actually pretty crappy right now - cold and gray, yuck. however, i have just learned that thanksgiving day should be sunny with a high temperature in the neighborhood of 74 degrees. how awesome is that? looking forward to a beautiful and not freezing thursday might even make me hate the cold and windy tuesday and wednesday in between a little less. though my throat is still a little sore and i still have the sniffles, the last few days have been all right (despite my recent anger at NHL referees).

friday afternoon i met lindsey at the lab, and we finished our collections for freshwater ecology. that's right. we each have 60 specimens all identified and labeled and preserved in ethanol - with no harm to the local waterfowl. four of my fish (that found their way to me courtesy of susan and charlie) are not technically freshwater fish (a bighead sea robin, a spot, a sand seatrout, and an atlantic midshipman, which is one of the coolest fish i have ever seen), but as they are all bay species (and they came from the mobile/tensaw delta, which runs into mobile bay), i'm pretty sure i can talk mccreadie into accepting them. plus, juvenile bighead sea robins actually can live in fresh water. anyway, now linsdey and i only have to log onto google earth and get gps coordinates for our collections sites, and we're finshed for good. yippee!

this weekend was also pretty good for hockey, if i forget about the flyers' overtime loss on friday. they went on to defeat pittsburgh 6-3 on saturday, with the fabulous simon gagne scoring two goals to reclaim the NHL goal-scoring lead and both rookies (mike richards and jeff carter) putting the puck in the net. chad was pleased to learn that tampa bay managed to hand the hot carolina hurricanes their second home loss of the year last night, and we were both excited about pensacola's third win of the season. yeah, it definitely sucks to go into the pensacola civic center expecting the pilots to lose... but it's nice when they win. dare i hope for two in row?

all right. i might not have a class today, but i do have an assignment due tomorrow for ecotox, and my laundry is in desparate need of washing, so the procrastination ends now (until later).

Hey, That's Pretty Accurate!

You Are Pecan Pie Soda

Sweet, but totally nuts

What Jones Holiday Soda Are You?

*Thanks*, Refs

who knew how much you desired a win for the atlanta thrashers? well, you certainly must have wanted to ensure a thrasher victory, or at least ensure those bastards a point, since there were two of you out there, both supposedly watching the play (i.e., the puck), and you failed to call the hook or trip or whatever you wanted to call it that brought simon gagne down in the last 20 seconds of play as he was heading straight for atlanta's empty net. it was such an obvious call, dudes. even the seemingly anti-flyers tsn announcers thought that big fat trip should have been an automatic flyers goal, meaning that philly would have won that one in regulation. i actually would have settled for a two-minute minor that would have taken away atlanta's two-man advantage (with a flyer in the box and michael garnett out of the net). but no. neither of you freakin' idiots noticed the stick that brought simon down as he crossed the blue line into the thrashers zone. he would have walked the puck straight into the empty net because he was no doubt breaking away from the thrasher defense. but they couldn't have that, now could they? and neither could you. god forbid that the flyers play a shitty first period, totally redeem themselves in the second, continue to play well in the third, and pull out a win after being down 3-1 after the 1st. nope, you didn't want to see that happen. so you let the trip go, and freakin' atlanta would move back to philly's end and score with 7 seconds left... and then manage to win it in OT. dammit. atlanta should not have had so much as a single point from that game, but instead they come out of it with two points that should have belonged to philadelphia. i blame you, refs. i blame you.

Stupid Canadian Air

stupid, stupid cold, dry canadian air. it's freezing outside, and i hate it. i hate the cold. can i just skip class this morning? it's too cold to go out... and windy to boot. boo, cold and wind. maybe i wouldn't hate cold weather so much if the wind would stay away. i hate waking up to temps in the 30's... and it will be in the 20's tomorrow. yuck. at this rate, i'm going to be sick for the next four months. stupid changing weather. stupid weather man talking about the cold, dry canadian air invading the south. stupid canadian air (but canadian people are all right - i just don't know how they deal with the freakin' cold). yeah, laugh if you like at the little southern girl sitting in alabama, next to the gulf of mexico, freezing her ass off, and it's not even thanksgiving yet. i know, compared to many places this is not cold. but for mobile, alabama this is cold. i would die if i lived somewhere colder. heaven forbid that i should ever have to actually deal with snow. then i think really would hibernate all winter. okay. time to venture out (though i'd like to put it off for a few more hours until it's slightly less cold out) and go to class like a good grad student.

This is What My Life Has Come To

sorry, guys. i've been reduced to posting random quiz-things. nothing else is really happening... i haven't been honked at in the recent past, but i might have something better for you tomorrow.

The Movie Of Your Life Is A Black Comedy

In your life, things are so twisted that you just have to laugh. You may end up insane, but you'll have fun on the way to the asylum. Your best movie matches: Being John Malkovich, The Royal Tenenbaums, American Psycho

If Your Life Was a Movie, What Genre Would It Be?

maybe this explains why i crack up every time someone unexpectedly gets hit by a bus in a movie... you know, like in final destination and mean girls. seriously, i laughed my ass off. yeah, i might end up insane, but i'm definitely going to have fun along the way.

Well, it was the color of my prom dress...

Your Power Color Is Indigo

At Your Highest: You are on a fast track to success - and others believe in you. At Your Lowest: You require a lot of attention and praise. In Love: You see people as how you want them to be, not as how they are. How You're Attractive: You're dramatic flair makes others see you as mysterious and romantic. Your Eternal Question: "Does This Work Into My Future Plans?"

What's Your Power Color?

West Mobile Boys DO Like 'Em Dirty

that's the going theory, anyway. and the farther west you go, the more boys will honk. it's crazy, but that doesn't mean it's not true. lindsey and i went collecting today at big creek lake (among other places), and the number of honks directed at us while we were doing this collecting was insane. apparently, lindsey + latina + grungy field clothes + pony tails + jeans rolled up huck finn style + a couple of sexy dip nets = smokin' hot. apparently the wolf-whistle a couple of weeks ago at that random stream on grelot rd. wasn't just a fluke thing. the honks began when the two of us were getting the nets out of lindsey's car. many more followed when we actually made our way down into the shallow part of the lake and tried not to sink up to our knees in mud (we weren't so successful at that a couple of times). do normal people just honk at random girls they see from an overpass? it was nutty, really. i guess there's just something about the combination of me and lindsey that triggers the honking reflex in guys.

oh, and just for laughs here are a couple of band names we came up with based on random phrases we've said because of freshwater ecology. wouldn't this make a great flier?

Don't Miss
Lindsey Timmerman and the Undescribed Chub
Opening for
LaTina Steele and the Intoxicated Waterfowl

sounds exciting, right? the intoxicated waterfowl thing came when i was a little frustrated with the number of specimens we were able to collect yesterday (though i did get this one big ass mussel, and it was awesome), and i suggested that we throw a duck (not a canada goose this time) in our giant jar of ethanol and use it for our collection (we aren't really allowed to do that - the only vertebrates we can use are fish). then we speculated about mccreadie's reaction when we pour out this huge, soaking duck that, rather than being pickled by the alcohol just got drunk, and starts wobbling around the lab. we imagined it going a little something like this: mccreadie says, "what is that?!?" then i reply, "intoxicated waterfowl." then came the, "hey, that's a great band name" from lindsey, ending the speculation about mccreadie's reaction and leading to a whole new line of craziness. we'd already decided that undescribed chub is just weird enough to work as a band name after lindsey identified one of our fish, and it turned out to be an undescribed chub (though it was very well described, right there in the book she used to i.d. it).

anyway, despite the giggles (of which there were many), it turned out to be a pretty productive day. i'm glad we skipped two classes to go to big creek lake instead. i haven't skipped a class in a while. it was ok. mccreadie said it was all right. he knew what we were doing. we went to freshwater ecology, asked him if we could pick up our tests from last week (i made a 97 again - sweet) and then go over to big creek lake, and he said it was fine with him. so he also knew where we were when we skipped his lab later in the afternoon (we were just identifying specimens anyway).

so, that's all folks!

Somebody Kill Me, Please

shoot me now and put me out of my misery. i thought this whole sore throat sickness thing was gone, then i woke up this morning feeling like my brain had been scrambled like an egg and someone had been doing cave drawings on my tonsils with a chain saw... and i had to go take an ecotox exam. i just want to sleep... and then sleep some more. but instead i had to dope myself up and go take a classic dr. rice test (one that takes 15 minutes longer than the class period to finish), which was enough to induce a headache all by itself. at least mccreadie took pity on me and cancelled freshwater ecology today... well, it wasn't really all because of me. he was supposed to be gone to a conference in florida today, but it was cancelled due to damage from hurricane wilma. he forgot to change the syllabus, though so it still said there was no class today. of course, no one bothers to check the syllabus, so we all thought we had class, and everyone showed up anyway. lindsey and i talked mccreadie into letting us go do other stuff, though. anyway, now i can just stay here and sleep all afternoon. yay, sleep.

ok, going to take a nap now, since no one wants to shoot me.

It's All Chris Heid's Fault

except it isn't really. that heartbreaking loss to columbia last night was actually corey's fault, since he's responsible for columbia's game-winning goal, but i'd rather blame it on heid. he certainly didn't turn out number one star last night, now did he? i still don't see how the guy was first star friday night, what with coming out of it a -2 and all. i stand by my original heid sucks opinion. and i take back what i said about fulghum growing on me. he screwed up a lot last night, too (despite scoring a goal). to steal chad's nickname for luke, he looked like an uncoordinated monkey out there, especially in the third period when there was a complete and total defensive breakdown. he had that whole butterfingers thing happen again, and the guy couldn't keep his stick on the puck to save his life (darth totally would have won that fight), and forget about him getting it to where it needed to be. chad and i both agree that he needs to do the pass-accepting egg drill from the mighty ducks.

this won't surprise anyone who reads this blog, but the one ice pilot who didn't completely disappoint last night was my favorite little hockey player, jacquo. he worked his ass off out there, and he scored that shortie all by his lonesome. too bad he cramped up and couldn't play in the 3rd period... and all because he had to go back to canada to get his car and was off for a week. that was not the smartest decision. but anyway, i've got no beef with st. jacques. he played a good game... and don't think i'm just saying that because i'm biased (which i freely admit that i am). he actually deserved to be named 2nd star last night. and don't go thinking that even if st. jacques screwed up i'd still say nice things about him. i'm an equal-opportunity smack-talker. if jacquo screws up, you'll read about that too.

now, let's talk some smack about the flyers... they actually managed to win against atlanta last night, but they still sucked (except gagne, he never sucks). it was the thrashers, for pity's sake. if they'd lost that one, i would have flown to philadelphia just to bash some heads together. it seems that the only person on that team who can score these days is simon. i was proud of him and his second career hat trick. he was most definitely the best flyer last night. forsberg scored the flyers' only other goal, and gagne managed an assist on that one, too. once again, the flyer penalty kill was pretty non-existent after the first period, and even their power play wasn't that great (though they did manage two goals on two different 5-on-3's). but freakin' atlanta just kept coming. i'll give the thrashers that - they never gave up. but the flyers' skating and puck-handling abilities deteriorated throughout the game. every time the camera focused on a flyer, he fell down or ran himself into the boards or coughed up the puck in a really bad spot. they actually looked really bad throughout the whole game. even esche made some iffy moves out there - you know, the ones that make you swear you're having a heart attack, even though you're only 23 and not a hippo and you know your blood pressure is normal. i was very relieved when that one ended. the flyers have really got to stop taking penalites when surely they know by now that they can't kill them off. i hope to see better play from all of those guys on tuesday against boston - that one's on OLN, so i shouldn't be the only one around here who watches it.

ok, this procrastination has to stop now. my ecotoxicology notes won't magically commit themselves to my memory.

1st Star?!?

wow. was that ever funny. i can't believe they made heid 1st star last night. chad laughed his ass off at my "what?!?" reaction, since i'd been talking smack about heid the whole game (but so were the guys in front of us). he wasn't just a star of the game, he was first star. *shakes head and laughs* i don't know if i should say here that he proved himself, or if i should go on not liking him. you have to admit, he made mistakes last night. they weren't as huge as aldoff's mistakes, but still. the guy scores one goal that just happens to turn out to be the game winner (when i swear i didn't think he was the one who scored it, but i could have been wrong), and they give him first star credit. what about fulghum? ford? they both played a good game last night, too. geez. i don't care. i'm still gonna talk smack about heid until he plays better in his own zone. i guess maybe with the suckage of the rest of our guys, heid looks good? whatever. but now that i think about it, i didn't like materuhkin at first either. but he grew on me. luke (i am you father) is growing on me, too. there was a lot of trash talk about that guy spewing forth from my mouth those first few games, too. now he seems to have picked up his level of play. he's finally lost the butterfingers thing and learned to accept a pass, and he's stopped hitting post with every shot (which i guess takes a certain level of talent in the first place). ooh, and what about brian collins? man, did he play well. i haven't been impressed with him thus far (though i knew that he could play better than he was), what with all the repeated falling down and turtle-skating and all, but last night he was back in top form.

so, the guys looked good last night - and columbia definitely did not. this is the first place team in the division? wow. my hope for a decent season has been magically restored. let's hope for a repeat performance tonight (minus the couple of crazy goals in the beginning). *jacquo* should be back on the ice tonight (too bad he wasn't playing last night), and i hope he'll have a good game... score some goals... land some hits... i like this trend of team improvement with every game. they should definitely keep this up.

Bow to the Brilliance that is Simon Gagne

man, do i love that guy. he played a huge role in the flyers' 8-1 whipping of the washington capitals last night. i swear, he pick-pocketed alex ovechkin (the caps' dynamic, high-scoring rookie) every other shift. chad hates ovechkin since he's gotten to the lightning (yep, right under their skin like our old pal digger the dermatophyte) every time the two teams have met. alex wasn't a problem for the flyers, though. eric desjardins was assigned to alex-patrol (until he left the game with a concussion, joining captain keith on the head-injury list), and he did an excellent job. no one really got physical with the rookie, though. they just skillfully poked the puck away from him. anyway, ovechkin was shut down, that's the point. it was really funny when, on the way to a commercial break, one of the caps' announcers said (as the camera focused on ovechkin), "and the flyers lead alex 2-1 here in the first..." not, "and the flyers lead the capitals" but "the flyers lead alex."

the flyers did a good job of taking as few penalties as possible (which they haven't really been good at so far), and they didn't allow a single power play goal. that may have been the first game all year in which they've killed off every penalty. but the flyers capitalized (ha ha) on the caps' penalties with two power play goals of their own. i'm glad to see the improvement in philly's special teams. i was worried at the beginning of the season when they ranked 24th on the PP and 29th on the PK. their PK still sucks (it's 27th in the league), but the PP is in the top half of the league now (11th). they do, however, still lead the league in short-handed goals, and jeff carter scored one beauty of a shortie last night. he totally faked out brett johnson, i mean he had the guy sprawling, and just flipped the puck right in around him. it was the flyers' prettiest goal of the night.

and now let's talk about simon. he and forsberg are so good together. one of the caps' announcers said they're like two players in one body. it really does seem as if they read each others' minds. forsberg was the best acquisition that the flyers made from the free agent pool. bobby clarke did a great thing when he swooped in and scooped up peter the great. he always finds a way to get the puck to gagne when simon is in great scoring position. and being himself, gange can usually find the net. his two goals last night prove that. every member of the forsberg/gagne/knuble line scored last night, and none of the goals was the result of a weird bounce (like forsberg's first two goals of the season were). it was excellent.

you know who else was excellent? jeff carter. for most of the season, i've been far more impressed with mike richards than i have with cater as far as flyer rookies go, but last night carter really shined. first, there was that absolute beauty of a short-hander, then he managed to strike again with a less pretty goal (one that was totally cap goalie brett johnson's fault - he just couldn't control his rebound, but he went down and tried to get the puck anyway).

so, now it seems that the flyers will be injury-plagued once again, as both captain keith and top defenseman desjardins are out with concussions, and johnsson is out with a pulled groin (he should be back in the line-up soon, though). i don't think it's really going to be a problem, though. the flyers have such a talented pool of young guys to pull from that i think they can pull out a good season, injuries or no.

now we just have to worry about the pilots. i'm hoping for a good game tonight... and maybe even a win (chris heid or no).

I Know We Needed a Defenseman...

but did it absolutely have to be chris heid? as i'm sure you remember (but here's a reminder, in case you didn't), i am not exactly the president of the chris heid fan club. maybe i was a little too hard on the guy, but he contributed to the ice pilots' crazy-awful playoff performance last year. since he was a new addition for the playoffs, he was easy to blame. plus, he did really stupid things in the defensive end. some defenseman, eh? anyway, now heid has once again been assigned to the pilots from houston, and i don't think i'm happy about it. they are in desperate need of defenseman... and scorers... so i guess anyone should be welcome at this point, but i can't help it. until he proves his defensive skills to me, i don't like him. so there's your challenge, chris heid. prove me wrong. prove to me that you don't suck and that you deserve your position in pensacola (not to mention being signed with an AHL team).