Rubisco!'s photostream  

Hey peeps! Wow, do you realize it's been 11 months(!) since I last uploaded a photo?!

Well, I'm not dead. I've just been busy. You know, trying to finish a research project, writing a thesis, moving across the country, learning how to live in a giant city, learning how to be a grad student, starting new research projects... etc. etc.

I've been thinking a LOT about tiny things in milkweed flowers here recently, and I wanted to share a picture of milkweed flowers. This is Asclepias curassavica. It grows like a weed here (yay subtropics!). Such a pretty flower.

Also, Alesia and I finally upgraded to a D7000. I'm super stoked about it. Expect a cliche beach video clip soon.

Nikon FE Kodak Tri-X 400

Awesome cacti at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix.

So in case you're not up to date on my doings, I've been really busy. Most of my time is spent on my thesis project and my school work, yet most of my brain power is going in to thinking about where Alesia and I will be next year. We applied for grad school last semester, since this was always our plan: finish undergrad, then go to grad school. Well, finding a grad school for two people simultaneously is really hard. We ended up applying to 4 grad schools (well, 5, but two of them were in the same city). I was invited to visit two schools, UW-Madison and Ariz State. Alesia was only invited to one, Ariz State. Well, we both really liked Ariz State, but my potential adviser there didn't have funding for me, so they couldn't accept me. Alesia still hasn't heard back from them which probably means she's been put on some secondary list. I was rejected from two other schools and it didn't look like I was going to get into the third. So there we are, our plans for next year basically ruined, scrambling to figure out if we can extend our undergrad another year (you have to realize we are professional students, it's just what we do). We applied for the FAFSA and since we're married now, they realize that we're poor college students who need the moneyz. So that looked good. A relaxing year to publish some of our research and take a few classes. I even found a potential way to get a Master's degree at OSU in the next year. It was all looking pretty good.

Cue last Friday: I get an amazing email from my potential adviser at University of Miami. She says that although I was on a secondary list there, they decided to accept me, and offer me this amazing fellowship for tropical research. You have to know that this was my top-choice school just because of the opportunity to do tropical research, especially if I got this fellowship. Alesia and I really really want to do work in the tropics. How can I pass up this opportunity? Well, I don't know if I can. But if I did accept it, then it means that Alesia would have to chill for a year until she can apply to graduate school again. And it's really expensive to live in Miami. But, I think we could make it work. I'm going to visit UM, my potential adviser, and the city at the first of May. I'm really excited, but super nervous too.

We have big decisions to make. I hope we make the right ones.

Nikon FE Kodak Tri-X 400

Nikon FE Kodak Tri-X 400

Nikon FE Kodak Tri-X 400