Monday, January 30, 2012
Mississippi
Made another trip to De Soto National Forest in Mississippi yesterday with my lab mate Anthony to collect more plant material for his project. It's good to get out and do some field work before the class work of this semester takes over completely. Click on the panorama image below for a better view.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Trip to the Coast
Finally, a field trip to do some work on Phragmites, my focal organism for my research. I'd previously only been on one field trip before to help my lab mate and friend Anthony collect some soil and plant samples for his Masters project on Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica). This was in De Soto National Forest in Mississippi, which was quite nice as you can see in the photos below:
However, today we went southwest instead of northeast with the intention of collecting some Phragmites rhizome (root) material from three sites which we would use to propagate plants in our greenhouse and collecting any insects which were around. Driving to and from the sites was over two hours each way and the work we had to do was minimal which left us with a fair amount of time to go sightseeing which was great. We went four-wheel-driving along a Gulf Coast beach and through Rockefeller Reserve, checked out tiny fishing villages, took a ferry across a river, and walked around Sabine Wildlife Reserve looking for alligators. While driving and walking around we saw a dolphin, turtles, and lots of different birds, but sadly no snakes or alligators, the animals I'm really excited to see! Although, I'm told I will be totally sick of them come the end of the summer field season...
However, today we went southwest instead of northeast with the intention of collecting some Phragmites rhizome (root) material from three sites which we would use to propagate plants in our greenhouse and collecting any insects which were around. Driving to and from the sites was over two hours each way and the work we had to do was minimal which left us with a fair amount of time to go sightseeing which was great. We went four-wheel-driving along a Gulf Coast beach and through Rockefeller Reserve, checked out tiny fishing villages, took a ferry across a river, and walked around Sabine Wildlife Reserve looking for alligators. While driving and walking around we saw a dolphin, turtles, and lots of different birds, but sadly no snakes or alligators, the animals I'm really excited to see! Although, I'm told I will be totally sick of them come the end of the summer field season...
 |
| One of our sites called 'Creole 2' |
 |
| At 'East Cameron' after bashing a fresh trail through the Phragmites patch as my initiation to field work |
 |
| Sabine Wildlife Refuge |
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Nine Days of San Francisco
At 6am on Christmas Day (my Grandad's birthday - Happy 98th Birthday Grandad!), I got on a plane to San Francisco, California to take a much-needed holiday with my good friend Darko who I met the first day I arrived in Baton Rouge. We were to stay there for eight nights which we thought would be plenty of time to take in all the main attractions of the city.
Overall, the trip was great. San Francisco reminded me somewhat of Auckland, with the really steep hills, tall buildings, central-city parks, and marina area. The weather was amazing, with only two days where the sun didn't shine, and it only threatened to rain once. This made for excellent sightseeing and we managed to check out so many attractions including the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, the cable cars, Yosemite National Park, and a number of museums. The only bad things were when both our cameras ran out of battery before we even got to Yosemite National Park (because we were taking so many photos of the amazing scenery) and we had to buy disposable cameras as you can see from the quality of the photos. There were also lots of homeless people in the city and so many tourists that it was hard to get around. I can't imagine what it's like during summer.
Instead of writing a massive essay describing what we did, I thought I could tell the story through posting a slideshow of pictures from each day. With over 1,400 photos between us this was a bit of an effort. Check them out and see what an amazing place it was!
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Overall, the trip was great. San Francisco reminded me somewhat of Auckland, with the really steep hills, tall buildings, central-city parks, and marina area. The weather was amazing, with only two days where the sun didn't shine, and it only threatened to rain once. This made for excellent sightseeing and we managed to check out so many attractions including the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, the cable cars, Yosemite National Park, and a number of museums. The only bad things were when both our cameras ran out of battery before we even got to Yosemite National Park (because we were taking so many photos of the amazing scenery) and we had to buy disposable cameras as you can see from the quality of the photos. There were also lots of homeless people in the city and so many tourists that it was hard to get around. I can't imagine what it's like during summer.
Instead of writing a massive essay describing what we did, I thought I could tell the story through posting a slideshow of pictures from each day. With over 1,400 photos between us this was a bit of an effort. Check them out and see what an amazing place it was!
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Thursday, January 5, 2012
BCS National Championship
College Football is a huge tradition in America, and has an massive following of obsessed fans, not least the fans of the LSU Fighting Tigers. On Monday, January 9th, LSU will face the Alabama Crimson Tide in the BCS National Championship game, to decide who will be crowned the greatest team of the 2011 season. LSU is ranked #1 in the nation and has not lost a game all year. Alabama is ranked #2 with just the one loss - 9-6 to LSU.
Despite these rankings, Alabama are considered favorites, probably because of their domination in the previous game, which they should of won if their field goal kicker hadn't missed more than he hit. I think LSU is being totally underestimated and has many players who are able to pull off big plays at critical times, plus playing in the New Orleans Superdome means they will have some sort of home advantage.
By far the most exciting player for the Tigers is #7, the Honey Badger, Tyrann Mathieu, a player capable of entirely changing the course of a game in a matter of seconds. Playing on the defense and relatively small in stature, the Honey Badger takes what he wants: blocking passes, grabbing interceptions, creating and recovering fumbles, making huge tackles, and unleashing unbelievable punt returns, including three stunning runs in the all-important last two games of the regular season. Check out the awesome video below to see him in action.
My pick: LSU to get the job done by 7 points, 27-20.
 |
| A smart Alabama fan...I don't believe it |
Despite these rankings, Alabama are considered favorites, probably because of their domination in the previous game, which they should of won if their field goal kicker hadn't missed more than he hit. I think LSU is being totally underestimated and has many players who are able to pull off big plays at critical times, plus playing in the New Orleans Superdome means they will have some sort of home advantage.
By far the most exciting player for the Tigers is #7, the Honey Badger, Tyrann Mathieu, a player capable of entirely changing the course of a game in a matter of seconds. Playing on the defense and relatively small in stature, the Honey Badger takes what he wants: blocking passes, grabbing interceptions, creating and recovering fumbles, making huge tackles, and unleashing unbelievable punt returns, including three stunning runs in the all-important last two games of the regular season. Check out the awesome video below to see him in action.
My pick: LSU to get the job done by 7 points, 27-20.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
As True as Troilus
I haven't heard a band this good for a long time. Their name is FareWell Poetry, and they hail from Paris. The music they play could be described as very experimental, combining many instruments with spoken word and fairly unconventional songwriting. Their debut album Hoping for the Invisible to Ignite is an outstanding collection of four songs which flow seamlessly into one another, creating an ethereal sort of mood, especially when combined with the arty visuals they employ to complement the music.
Below is a video of the first song from the album being performed live at Eglise Saint-Eustache, a beautiful church in Paris. It's a long song, but all 20 minutes of it is pure quality.
Below is a video of the first song from the album being performed live at Eglise Saint-Eustache, a beautiful church in Paris. It's a long song, but all 20 minutes of it is pure quality.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)