Happy Halloween!

In honor of Halloween... me and my black cat, Attila!

Friday's cruise on the R/V Friendship

Friday I went on an afternoon cruise aboard our research vessel Friendship to collect sediment samples so I can analyze them for microfossils, called foraminifera. The collections were a success. Here are a few pics of me doing important looking stuff around the vessel.

I cooked artichokes

I fixed up some artichokes last week. They were yummy (-:

First fire

With the cold weather approaching I felt it fitting that I start putting our fireplace to good use. It's pretty and warms up the room but as for heating the whole house it's pretty useless. I guess we'll have to rely on the furnace for that.

Rayn the contortionist

Here's Rayn being cute. I don't have much else to say other than click it for a larger view. P. S.- She's being a little imp right now.

Iron Chef Christopher vs. His Iron Stomach

Chris's culinary experimentation reached an all time high (or low) last week when he made his 21st century version of scrambled eggs. Start with peppers, onions, American cheese, ham, five eggs, and a shot of coffee liquor. Scramble and fry. Top with reheated leftover salmon from the day before. Chris says it was tasty, however I'm glad I fixed my own dinner that night.

Penobscot Narrows Bridge

This weekend, Sarah, Chris, and I ventured to Bucksport to see and walk on the new Penobscot Narrows Bridge. Here is a picture from town of the smaller old bridge with the massive new bridge behind it. The view was impressive. Here is a pic of Fort Knox and the Bucksport paper mill. The new bridge also has an observation deck, however it is not yet open. I'm sure the view will be spectacular. On the way back to the car there was a rock shop that I've passed in the car countless times but never stopped to look in. There were some neat Maine minerals like tourmaline and others, but my favorite things were the fossils, such as some perfect trilobites and crinoids. I'll be stopping by again in a month or so when they have some Christmas sales going on. All in all it was a fun trip. Be sure to click to enlarge the photos so you can see all the details I did.

Zip's feast

We weren't the only ones who ate well last night. Sarah brought down three mice for Zip.
Zip is my 3ft. 3in. corn snake, who is on loan to me this year from my dad. Normally he eats them head first but last night was different. Had Sarah known that Zip would be less humane about it she wouldn't have let me feed him (she had to leave the room).

My first bread!

I did it! Last night I tried baking my first baguettes and I was successful. They did fuse together, and weren't a pretty shape, but they smelled great and tasted even better. There were three but we already ate one. Who knew a little flour, yeast, salt, and water could produce something so wonderful. Lunch today will be sandwiches made with the leftover bread!

Drosophila melanogaster infestation

So Chris and I thought that we would save money by not paying to have garbage picked up, and instead just drop it off at school in the dumpsters. The idea made lots of sense and worked fine except when we let five or six bags accumulate in the basement, providing an ideal breeding ground for a family of fruit flies. We took out the trash days ago, however we are still plagued by an abundance of the flies. Our lesson has been learned, so now it is all a matter of time to wait for the flies to die and leave us forever. I suppose now is an ideal time to create a Drosophila genetics experiment of sorts. This guy a that I got a pic of is a wild type with red eyes and normal wings. All I need now is to cross it with a mutant with white eyes and vestigial wings :-)

Blah weather

So today is kind of a grey, wet, and yucky day as you can see from this picture of our backyard taken from the kitchen. But classes and research are going well. Plus the kitties found a way to stay nice and dry :-)

Waldo-Hancock Bridge

Here are a few pics I took earlier this semester of the new bridge in Bucksport. It will be open to traffic in mid-December and will be called The Penobscot Narrows Bridge.

The new additions to our house

Because Chris and I have our own house this year we finally were able to get our very own kitties. His is a grey tiger named Rayn. Mine is all black and named Attila. We adopted them from the Bangor Humane Society a few weeks ago when they were around 2 months old. The pictures may give the impression that all they do and we do is sleep. However this is certainly not the case (usually).

Aww...


An afternoon nap.


Attila!


Nap-time party.

Sarah G's race

This weekend I met up with the family at St. Joseph's College, where we watched my sister's cross-country race. While there I ran into some of my friends from Maine Maritime, which was neat. Here is a picture of my sister running. It's a little blurry since she was going so fast.

Breakfast with my fellow dems

Yesterday Sarah and I went to Portland with her fellow Husson College Democrats for a breakfast with Maine's most powerful democrats. While there we got to chat with Governor Baldacci, Howard Dean, and Congressman Michaud. It was so much fun! I'm lucky to have a girlfriend with such sweet hookups.


Myself with Congressman Michaud.


College Dems with Governor Baldacci and Howard Dean.


Chatting it up with the Governor.


Being surrounded by all those signs just makes us all the more sexy!