another day, another year

older, that is. yep, yesterday was the big day. the quarter-century mark. i had a blast, though...maybe right up there in the top 5 birthdays ever. top 3, even...i think my 7th and 17th birthday are the top 2. =D anyway, i was going to work sunday and take monday off, but some of the researchers here (Ben and Robby) convinced Josianne and i to take the sunday off and go to the beach! it was a lot of fun, although we didn't end up leaving MTRI until 2pm since we had to give other turtle researchers (Daniel and Peter) a ride on the motorboat across the lake, where they're camping out and trapping turtles. we drove down to Summerville beach, west of Liverpool, where the fog started rolling in. nova scotia! it was still really warm, though, and the water wasn't too cold, so we went in anyway. ben brought a football so we threw it around for a few minutes, then we played beach volleyball. haven't played volleyball in a while so i sucked! ben and i were initially on the same team, against robby and josianne. we were winning initially, but started losing and kept on losing =P then we switched teams and robby and i were losing. then we switched teams again and josianne and i were losing. so, my conclusion: i suck. but it was fun especially since i hadn't played in a while. and i forgot how much the legs hurt after squatting so much! i'm still in pain, and climbing the ladder to get up to the attic at the shack is very difficult! anyway, we got tired of the volleyball after 4 games, so we went back in the water and played frisbee this time. then the fog set in completely and we left. had dinner at Mersey House in Liverpool...seafood pasta, yum! josianne, ben and robby paid for my appetizers (we shared 2lbs of mussels!), drinks (white wine), and dessert. definitely an awesome b-day eve.

the following day (my birthday) was turtle and snake meeting day...i was going to take the afternoon off but no one else was around to do stuff with, so i just ended up doing data entry. so i didn't take the day off like i meant to. but it's ok, because i did take a day off on sunday when i didn't mean to. but while i was doing data entry, a bunch of other MTRI researchers came in with a cake and singing! i had no idea...we had cake for other people's bdays but since i did stuff the day before, i was definitely not expecting it. but that was very nice of them! and later on four of us (Tara, Robby, Ben and I) drove to Bridgewater and got groceries and played pool at Dooly's. yeah, not too exciting, but i had enough excitement over the past 2 days, so that was a nice way to end things.

other than that, things are not too exciting over here. i'm still in the field, and we've started doing wetland characterization, which is what i'm supposed to be here to do. it's hard work..didn't realize it until we started doing it! wading hip, sometimes waist-deep in swamp/marsh/lake water trying to identify vegetation and take measurements. i'm lucky that i get along well with my field partner (Josianne)...otherwise i'd go crazy. i'm also slowly getting things organized for my project. the hatchling transmitters have been ordered (after i bugged them so much about it), i have an assistant until the end of October, my supervisor seems like he will pay for the car rental and accommodations, and i'm in the process of trying out different ways of attaching transmitters (velcro!) and measuring habitat. so, overall, it's been a productive summer and hopefully will continue to be so. it'll be over soon enough, and it'll be time for me to start working for real! =D