Congrats Rolo!

It's official.....our lab is honored to announce Master Rolando Omar Santos!

My labmate, Rolando, defended his Master's thesis last week!

Congratulations, Rolo!

The Lirman Lab took a field trip up to Nova Southeastern University to see Rolando's presentation and then met him out afterwards for a celebratory beer and delicious Thai food.

Wannee Fest 2010

I like music, I like camping, I like dancing and I like relaxing with my friends. So, what could be better than Wanee Fest up in Live Oak, Florida with The Allman Brothers, Widespread Panic, Dr. John, Gov't Mule and The Wailers (among many more)?
I drove up (the long 7 hours) from Miami and met up with Jordan, Pate (both of which I haven't seen in almost three years) and Kenny. Other friends of ours had arrived earlier and picked out a primo camping spot in the middle of a field by the bat house (no joke, they have bats there), so we set up camp and then took off to listen to some tunes. The festival grounds are right on the Suwanee River with lots of live oaks and spanish moss. The music was great and the weather was perfect- sunny and warm during the day and cool and breezy at night. The best part, is that our friends are also great musicians, so when the shows were over, we had our own jam sessions right there by the campfire.
Such a great time!!!

Contestant #4

Today, Britt and I tried the empanadas from The Boulangerie on Key Biscayne. The beef empanada was a little disappointing- the filling didn't have much flavor and the crust was a little doughy. But, the chicken was the BEST so far! It had nicely shredded white chicken meat and really good flavor. The crust was more pastry like (not like most empanadas), but nice and flaky. We have a winner!

I'm a sailor.....

I'm learning how to sail....and I have the bruises to prove it!
A friend of Britt is a skipper of a J24 racing sailboat and usually needs crew to help him race on the weekends. Britt was kind enough to invite me along and Mark was nice enough (and brave enough) to take on a novice sailor. One of the mail things about sailing is keeping enough weight on the opposite rails of the boat to counteract the wind pushing against the sails. If there isn't enough weight, the boat tips over (and that's a very bad thing). But, although I thought that would be my only job (shifting from one side of the boat to the other while tacking and jibing while not getting hit in the head by the boom (the horizontal beam that holds the main sail out from the mast) or falling off the boat), I was also put in charge of helping adjust the tweakers (which help guide the spinnaker sail- the big pretty colorful billowy sails- used while sailing downwind), the boom bang (which tightens or loosens the main sail against the boom) and the uphauler and downhauler (which move the spinnaker sail up and down against the wind). Pretty basic stuff once you learn that each term has about three other words used to describe it!
It can be a little stressful (especially during the starts because all of the boats are jockeying for starting positions), but it is so nice to be out on the water, enjoying the sun (or hating the cold water) and having little sandwiches, beer and good company! And, they say that some of the best sailing is right here in Biscayne Bay! Lucky me!
P.S. Please forgive me if I got any of the terminology wrong....I'm still learning!

Shrimpin'

Every year, shrimp migrate towards inlets and river to spawn and provide recreational shrimpers a chance to catch some dinner.

Most often, shrimp will migrate up the water column at night to feed on small zooplankton which make them easily accessible from the shore, bridges or boats. Our friends, Kristen and John, invited us out on their boat Thursday night to try and catch some! The migration often coincides with slack tide which meant midnight.

Brittany looks for the shrimp. They have to be out there somewhere!

We had a variety of nets to catch the little guys......

Kristen was a master shrimper....she could spot them right away and snag them with the dip net.

I was in charge of the goldfish net.....luckily it only required one hand. I got lucky and actually caught a shrimp in it from the water!

I hadn't thrown a cast net in years, so it took a little practice to figure it out again. How's my form?

Roxane caught our first shrimp of the night! Look at the size of it....only five more until we have a shrimp cocktail!

With our first shrimp, John ended up snagging a mid-sized tarpon. They put up a nice fight, but aren't worth eating, so it was merely catch and release.

Roxane was practicing casting and found a surprise in one of her hauls....a big mullet. He was quickly returned to the water though because it's mullet breeding season.

And at the end of our hard night's work......Our catch!

Not quite the haul we were hoping for, but Britt turned our 20 shrimp into a delicious shrimp, snow pea and butternut squash curry!

Fitness trainers

If you are going to have to excercise, it might as well be along the beach with dolphins playing in the water!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's the SPACE SHUTTLE!

There is something absolutely amazing about someone achieving their dreams.....especially when it involves becoming an astronaut and piloting the space shuttle!

Rich's classmate from the Air Force Academy, Col. James Dutton, Jr., fulfilled his lifelong dream and piloted space shuttle Discovery Monday morning at 6:21am. He is piloting one of the last 4 remaining shuttle flights of the space program and the last night launch in history.

The shuttle is scheduled to deliver food, equipment, a new astronaut sleeping quarter and other necessary goods to the International space station which was seen arching across the sky just minutes before the shuttle launch.

I have to admit that I had chills as the launch started- I've never been this close to a launch before- we were on a rooftop at a command center on the nearby Air Force Base. The sight of the sky lighting up and then the delayed sound of the boosters igniting was phenomenal! This video doesn't do it justice......

This is the shuttle about a minute after launch. Unfortunately, the photos don't show the clear detail that we could see from the roof.

You could even see when the boosters seperated from the shuttle!

The AFA Class of 1991 used the occassion to have a mini-class reunion and celebrate their classmate's amazing accomplishment. I was able to tag along with Rich and meet some of his classmates. Col. Dutton even prepared a short video welcoming everyone and thanking them for coming to support him. He also showed lots of photos from his training and preparation for his 13 day space journey.

While Rich was in Florida, we visited the Everglades and biked around Shark River Valley. Rich was a little nervous about turning his back on these gators!

But, it was a beautiful day!

They weren't close, but we did see three Roseate Spoonbills!!!!

We had lunch in the Grove (tacos at Sandbar) and then took a walk on the beach at Key Biscayne.

For Easter, we stopped by to visit Claus and Michelle on our way to Cape Canavaral. We had dinner at Shrimper's Grill and Raw Bar. Delicious!

Benthic Ecology Meeting 2010

There seems to be a lot repeating itself this year- for instance, I went back to the first place that I conducted field work and now, I've gone back to the first conference where I presented an oral presenation!  The Lirman Lab traveled up to Wilmington, NC to attend the Benthic Ecology Meeting.  This meeting is designed for scientists and students to present their work on all aspects of benthic ecology such as seagrass, coral reefs, other inverts like crabs and lobster, etc. 

We arrived on a Wednesday night and walked to the closest place to unwind from traveling, The Carolina Ale House.  Rolando takes a quick break to answer an important phone call.

We were shuttled to the meeting everyday from our hotel on "The Special Bus".

BEM 2010 participants: I presented data from a fragmentation experiment in our old coral nursery, Chelsey who gave a presentation about her Masters work, Rolando presented a talk on spatial characteristics of submerged aquatic vegetation in Biscayne Bay, Brittany presented part of her PhD dissertation on spatial characteristics of patch reefs and fish communities at Glover's Atoll, and Caitlin presented methods and preliminary data from coral nurseries in Honduras and the Dominican Republic.  Congrats to Rolando and Brittany who both won graduate student awards for their presentations!

The best part of conferences is getting to discuss your work with other scientists who are interested in the same field, see what new and exciting research is going on in the world and do a little networking.  On the last day of the conference, we went for a steamboat ride down the Cape Fear River with southern BBQ, drinks and dancing!  A nice way to let loose after three full days of learning!

Brittany and Scott enjoy the view from the boat. 

The Lirman Lab. 

Rolo and I enjoy a tasty beverage.

Britt and I do what we do best.....make silly faces!

And we ended the night we a foosball challenge!  Look at the determination on my face!

I really enjoyed getting to meet up with some people that I have worked with in the past and catch up on what they have been up to.  I got to see my advisor from graduate school at Georgia Southern and many other colleagues from my past work!