I feel like dancing! I was kind of bummed because I was supposed to be busy all weekend doing stream sampling (getting wet in a stream while looking for aquatic bugs, basically) for my analysis of aquatic ecosystems class, but I just got an email from the professor saying that it was canceled. We got a ton of hard rain yesterday, so apparently the streams are too high to do any sampling. This is wonderful, especially since it is supposed to be cold and snowy tomorrow!:clap2:

So you can stay inside and play here on LBT with us all!?

Yep!

Actually, I really need to work on my thesis. I have about 70 videos of birds feeding nestlings that I need to get data off of so that I can do the presentation I have scheduled in April. I am WAY behind. Mainly due to LBT. It's addictive, damn it!

Ooh, lucky you!

I'm trying to rearrange the wall/vanity decor in our main guest bath. Maybe I'll post pictures and we can have a "redecorate Wheetsin's walls" party! What, that doesn't sound fun to you?? :heh: :heh:

It is, isn't it? I plan to spend as much time at home this weekend as I can and get caught up on some housework/paperwork stuff, including filing our taxes. I'm hoping it's rainy and cold so I don't feel like I should be outside!

Ooh, lucky you!

Oh, yeah! Bad lighting, bad records, birds that fly in at the wrong angle for me to tell if it is the male or female, birds managing to stick their heads behind a branch right as they are passing the food to the nestlings so that I can't see what it is. Some of the videos show the birds with bands on their legs before they were supposed to have been banded, which makes it lots of fun when trying to identify them. This is what I get for changing my thesis project three times. I get stuck with the crap project that my advisor has had multiple people making videos for, for the last three field seasons. Oy. It's just so hard to get motivated enough to actually work on it, you know? Every time I am in the mood to work on it, I run into a road block and have to get input from my advisor, who is the world's busiest man (he is a full professor, has at least 15 grad students, and is editor of a major ornithological journal). Of course, it takes him several days to weeks to respond. About half my tapes weren't working with the camera I have, so I went to him to see if he could fix it. He had them for three or four weeks before he gave them back to me with another camera they would work in. It was the same way when he originally gave me all my tapes. He gave them to me in October, but it was December before he gave me the records I needed to actually identify the birds I was watching.:):frusty::fear:

Oh, yeah! Bad lighting, bad records, birds that fly in at the wrong angle for me to tell if it is the male or female, birds managing to stick their heads behind a branch right as they are passing the food to the nestlings so that I can't see what it is. Some of the videos show the birds with bands on their legs before they were supposed to have been banded, which makes it lots of fun when trying to identify them. This is what I get for changing my thesis project three times. I get stuck with the crap project that my advisor has had multiple people making videos for, for the last three field seasons. Oy. It's just so hard to get motivated enough to actually work on it, you know? Every time I am in the mood to work on it, I run into a road block and have to get input from my advisor, who is the world's busiest man (he is a full professor, has at least 15 grad students, and is editor of a major ornithological journal). Of course, it takes him several days to weeks to respond. About half my tapes weren't working with the camera I have, so I went to him to see if he could fix it. He had them for three or four weeks before he gave them back to me with another camera they would work in. It was the same way when he originally gave me all my tapes. He gave them to me in October, but it was December before he gave me the records I needed to actually identify the birds I was watching.:ban::frusty::fear:

I really believe that studying birds makes you crazy. I've never met an ornithologist who wasn't absolutely dotty! :) :crazy:

Dang, you people without small kids are so productive! I plan to spend the weekend ferrying girls to soccer and ice skating and doung laundry. We might get in a hike if the trails aren't too muddy--it's going to be 50+ today which feels balmy! My house is a disaster that needs mondo amounts of attention, but it all seems so huge I'm putting it off until the girls go to college. :eek:

Laurend, I have a friend who basically samples streams for a living. It's cool! What degree are you going for, and what are your plans?

I have been reading what ya'll have planned this morning. Our lives are soooo glamorous, aren't they? I am having a great day because my husband and son are off to a soccer tournament for the weekend, and I am home with sister, for the home games. Can you say GIRLS WEEKEND!!! My twins are 11 years old... agreat age. We laid in bed watching tv until we fell asleep last night, and we will do girls stuff today, after we clean house a bit.

Alexandra, when your kids get a few years older, stick a chore list on teh fridge!!!! Works wonders! My daughter does virtually all of the laundry, and my son cleans bathrooms!!!

I am doing one exciting thing today. A friend of mine runs a program for felons serving out of prison who would not have any place to go. She just bought a huge new house, and I am going to help her work on it today.... and to help supervise inmate volunteers who will be doing the heavy work.

More fun than sampling in cold creekwater, huh?

I actually wanted to say thanks to ya'll...I am going to be banded early summer...i'm on my 4th month of the supervised diet....and I get so much encouragement from reading about you all and your stories...It is such a comfort to know that by this time next year, I should be healthier.

Thanks for all you do without even knowing.