Road Trip 2006.1: beyond AFS...

well i need to be up in a few hours to move on from the scenic Lake Placid, NY and on to the big city. it will be a major change of venue, but should prove to be quite eventful nevertheless. another long drive (this one shorter at 5.5 hours)? bring it on!!! this conference has proven to be very entertaining and useful for both academic, social, and professional contacts. a great time all the way around, and the fisheries folks really know how to have a good time. more pics, etc on that to come. so yeah, i need to crash now so i can head out to NYC tomorrow morning...to continue the epic adventure in yet another chapter and meeting up with other friends. ...and just in case i don't get to post before then...GO BLUE!!! <:><

pic:

view from the main lounge of our hotel at Lake Placid

visiting a scenic area near Lake Placid; (L-R), Brad, James, Damon

Road Trip 2006.1: "FishtoberFest"...

...you may think i'm joking, but i assure you it does exist. it took place this evening. ONLY at a fisheries conference could something so ridiculously (yet appropriately) named actually exist...ok so it's feasible that said event could also take place at The Tank. more to come at a later date...things are crazy, entertaining, and unique at Lake Placid to say the very least. peace out kids <:><

music:

"Hot for Teacher" - Van Halen

"What We're All About" - Sum 41

pics:

one of the views from the lawn of our hotel in Lake Placid...scenic to say the very least...

see? i told you it was real. we have picked up so much fish stuff at this conference it's not even funny. james and i plotted to steal this sign, but have yet to pull it off. oh, but we got t-shirts...

Road Trip 2006.1: solo-drive, not exactly a placid conference...

ok this will be short...why? because i still need to make revisions on my talk. when is my talk? you guessed it, TOMORROW at 11am. ah well; at 11:20am it will be over with and then the real chaos of a fisheries conference will take place.

a couple things:

-this road trip has been the farthest i have driven by myself; and i must say it was quite pleasant and i wouldnt mind doing it again. canada is NOT that exciting...BUT after tiring of doing the pseudo-calculation of kilometers-to-miles on the speedometer i just decided to go 85mph and see what happened. the result? i drove 500+ miles through canadia and saw only two cops and still got passed every now and then. i stopped at a canadian fish store (mere coincidence, but still amusing), paid an american $5 for a $4.23 canadian subway sub and got back useless canadian change, and filled up on gas which i was too lazy to do the calculations on as well.
either way, i beat the mapquest estimate and managed to drive through a lot of upstate new york forest/mountains and not get lost.

-Lake Placid is AMAZINGLY scenic. i have taken some pics so far (still no sign of that crocodile), but we have visited the 1980 Olympics "Miracle on Ice" rink several times and my talk is just next door. it's very impressive how gorgeous this adirondack resort town is. many pics to come.

-free drinks at the conference is probably a questionable idea.

-i got A TON of free fish stuff. seriously, damon/james/myself will have probably increased the fish paraphernalia for The Tank by 25% by the end of the week. included are a plush stuffed sturgeon, plenty of pens, some posters, and a lot of things that light up. i even won a virginia-tech teddy bear through a raffle when we (kind of but not really) crashed the v-tech social. don't worry, we got in trouble for being late to the michigan alumni social in the process.

-the week has been quite eventful so far, and it's only two days into this conference/road trip. gwen has confirmed our reservations at the posh park avenue country club for the Michigan vs Notre Dame game, and i was mutually excited to talk to hilary and parul over the course of the day when they called to confirm their attendance at said events...going to be a crazy weekend to end a crazy week for sure!!!

ok i gotta finish up this talk so i can blow through it and move on with the socializing/fish-nerdery tomorrow. peace out kids <:><

music:

"Sweetness" - Jimmy Eat World

"My Stupid Mouth" - John Mayer

pic: this little sturgeon (currently residing at The Tank) has already gained a bit of fame at this conference. yeah, we are THAT big of fish nerds that people know about it already...and word is only spreading further.

so the rest will have to wait...

yeah the blogging has suffered as of late since everything has been extremely busy. rest assured i do plan on catching up, but for now i wanted to update with the schedule of upcoming adventures as the fish guy (& co.) hits the road to New York for a week! what is involved, you may ask? schedule as follows:

-im hoping to actually leave on time tomorrow (by 11am...probably noon is more realistic). because of an insanely busy weekend i still havent packed, but have a series of post-it note lists with all kinds of tasks/items/schematics to keep things organized and efficient tomorrow. yeah, i didn't quite buy that either.
i'll be driving on my own to meet up with the rest of the fish crew (and other grad students, profs) in Lake Placid, NY (yeah, like the movie with the big crocodile, and also former location of the Olympics) for the annual meeting/conference for the American Fisheries Society (the biggest fisheries science meeting in the country). i'll be presenting there as will several of my peers, but of course that presentation has some final adjustments to be made...which may happen while i am giving it. we'll see.

the conference runs until the end of the week and then i move on as the rest of the group returns to ann arbor...to where you may ask? ...the logical choice, a 5-hour drive to New York City!

-the NYC trip will involve quite a few events packed into just a few days...including appearances/adventures with some former ann-arbor residents and good friends; brenda, hilary, and parul are all scheduled to attend at some point over the weekend for what should definitely be a crazy time.
we'll be getting together at the park avenue country club/Michigan alumni club to watch the Michigan vs Notre Dame game, visiting various venues pre-planned by some of the above-mentioned group of friends, checking out one of the largest aquarium fish stores in the country, and an epic road trip back...

...but i won't be completely by myself the whole time, double D and gwen are heading out to NYC too! since we've played out just about all the entertainment scenarios in ann arbor as of late, we figured a change in venue (but probably doing a lot of the same stuff :P) was in order.

ok it's late and i need to get to bed. i should have access over the course of this sure-to-be-eventful and epic adventure, so stay tuned. oh yeah, i also recently got a sturgeon...but that's another story. peace out kids, and have a good week. GO BLUE!!! <:><

music:

"Walls" - Tom Petty

"Main Hoon Don" - Don movie soundtrack

pic:

ah The Big House...even with the rain delay for the Central game it's always a great time...

trilogy 2006 - Part I : a brief tribute to Steve Irwin...

for those of you not familiar with the story, here are links to the news articles:

CNN.com Story

The Courier: Steve Irwin's Death a Loss for Conservation

i cannot do justice to explaining what a loss the tragic death of steve irwin is to conservationists, environmentalists, zoologists, science, and the public in general. he had such an infectious passion for what he did that almost anyone who watched his show or visited his zoo or met him was immediately captivated, entertained, and learned something. australia zoo wouldn't exist without him, a lot of what we know about animal behavior would also still be a mystery, and let's face it, few of us would be willing to investigate such mysteries involving up-close-and-personal encounters with crocodiles, venomous snakes, and other dangerous wildlife. whether you thought he was a great field scientist, charismatic television personality, or just completely out of his mind (or all of the above), i think anyone who knew who he was could admit that they learned a thing or two and that he will be missed.

i'm not going to lie, he was a personal hero of mine, and although his show came on well after i was into undergrad, after seeing it i knew i shared a similar passion to his for (as liza would often say about me) 'all the creatures' around me...tracking down snakes and various other animals, diving right into the muck, as well as video taping close (but obviously not as close as his) encounters with alligators in the wild. i often thought about someday doing what he did, or something similar, and since it is hard enough to believe he's gone, it's even harder to write about it with much clarity. let's face it, he was a freak, he loved what he did to the absolute extreme and wanted to share it with as many people as he could.

in the end, he died doing what he loved, and that's how i would want it to be as well. <:><

music:

"Rough Draft" - Yellowcard

"Way Away" - Yellowcard

pics:

some shots from Australia -

a visit to a crocodile farm in queensland; the guy leading our tour was a personal friend of steve irwin's and also part of Australia Zoo-

the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), the largest of the extant crocodilians and a force to be reckoned with.

you get the picture.

me and liza back on the boat after diving the great barrier reef off the coast of Queensland, same general area where steve irwin was shooting the documentary and encountered the stingray.