Wednesday, April 30, 2008

computer melt down

Well, last night my computer  tried to eat itself. I don't know what's wrong with it, I haven't messed with any files lately and it has plenty of memory (56 gigs!). Hopefully I can get my professor to work some magic on it and get it up and running. If not, I don't know what I'm going to do!
 So for now, I will be spending a lot more time at my desk on campus until they kick me out of the graduate office... next week. But I am working a temporary job for my department so maybe my other desk will be ready by then. Of course, the best scenario would be for my MacBook to fix itself so I can finish my freelance projects at home. Pray to the technology gods.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Parade of lizards


I was looking through some of my pictures today for a project, and I noticed a pattern. I seem to like to take pictures of lizards in exotic locales. Or perhaps that's just where I find the lizards?

This guy was running from us on St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. He was hanging out at a plantation house where we were learning about sugarcane production.




This guy was hanging out in the banana trees on
 Roatan Island, Honduras, looking down at us as
 we tested the soil under his tree. 












This big guy was on the Isla De Mujeres, the eastern most spot in Mexico. He was right on a 100 foot ledge the wind was whip
ping around, but he seemed
 to be having fun.

Friday, April 25, 2008

I never knew me a better time and I guess I never will


Last night I had the opportunity to see Sir Elton John in concert. It was an unexpected treat, mainly because I am poor, but my fellow grad student Anna is the keyboardist's cousin so we got free tickets that were pretty decent.

Anna got sick before the show, so I was scrambling to find someone to go with me. Unfortunately it seems that all my friends suddenly turned studious (that's what exams will do I suppose). I ended up taking Dr. Lori, a former UF professor who now works at Purdue and happened to be visiting this week. She loved it and I was glad that I could share it with her. 

Elton was amazing...I envy his musical abilities. I think I am such a big fan of music because I appreciate what other people can do that I can't. His style of piano playing reminds me of how my dad sits down and just starts playing blues and boogie... I love it!

I thought it was appropriate that he played Crocodile Rock while in the swamp. I especially liked the graphics in the background.