Seagrass and Plain White T's

so, here i am, in the lab all day once again. man, i can't wait to get out in the field again. being in a lab 40+ hours a week, doing the same thing day in and day out is really starting to get to me. i need to be in the field, in the heat and the sun and the water. i am so ready for the bahamas. i've started preparing all of our gear and making arrangements for when we go - 2 weeks from tomorrow. i also found out that of the 10 students in the class, there are only 2 guys. hopefully, the dorms at CEI have more than one bathroom for all those girls.

i'm hoping that i can at least go over to perdido key and collect some seagrass before we leave. it will only be a day trip, but still. see, i have decided to attempt the impossible, a feat that no other seagrass biologist to date has been able to accomplish. i am going to try and culture turtlegrass - and maybe even shoalgrass. this is for my own convenience (there is really no other way for me to get truly ungrazed seagrass for my experiments), but if i'm successful, it will have boundless implications for seagrass restoration. that appeals to my ego. i would love to be the person who finally conquered the art of keeping turtlegrass alive in a lab for more than two or three weeks. i hear it's horribly difficult, but i'm talking to a guy i know in maryland who has successfully cultured eelgrass (a seagrass species we don't have here - it's too hot), and hopefully with his help i can make this work - and possibly make some money by growing seagrass and selling it to other labs who need it for experiments and/or using it for restoration purposes. so yeah, if that works i'll pretty much be a goddess in the world of seagrass biology. even though i'm sure dr. v. will claim partial credit, though it was actually an idea brought up by some of my committee members after he had left our meeting last week. he is my advisor, so i guess that is his right. not that i think he'll try to steal my glory. he's not like that. plus, if i'm successful, it makes him look good.

ok. when i started typing, i did not intend to go on and on about science. i wanted to share my thoughts on my new favorite band, plain white t's. i downloaded some of their songs the other day, as i usually do when i notice a new band that i think i might be interested in, and i pretty much love them. three songs you should check out (if you haven't heard them already): "my only one", "so damn clever", and "hate (i really don't like you)."

they have a song ("hey there delilah") that's currently played on mtv (they may have others, but i really don't watch mtv much), but it's not my favorite. it's not bad, but it's not their best. since i've given away the mtv connetion, i am forced to admit that plain white t's may be a little teenage-punk-pop for some people, but i dig it. am i too old for music like that?

i guess it doesn't matter either way, because i listen to it anyway.