Madness! So I just got offered a post-doc today up at Washington State! It is a great situation, working with a great guy on interesting stuff. Kind of interesting really not knowing where you will be living in 9 months. I am really blessed to have received these kinds of offers. I mean I have worked my tail off, but I really didn't think it would come to pass so soon. I am so fired up about it. I will be interesting to see how the Westmont process will go. I hopefully will nail my interview and get the offer, but you never know. I think just being invited for an interview means they think I am good enough- it is more of a matter of fit at this point. Landing that job would be so nice for many reasons- one in particular being my family. It kills me to have to continually move my family around the country, but I guess we'll do whatever it takes. Crazy time in my life, having some high pressured interviews that will have lifetime implications. Yeah! This is what it is all about...

So I am sure that most of you know this by now, but I got an interview at WESTMONT! Exciting news for sure! I am still trying to nail down a date, but likely sometime mid-Jan to mid-Feb. Lots to do to prepare for it, I will be teaching a lecture in Physiology as well as giving a presentation on my research. I am not sure how many they are interviewing, but it typically is only three. So I just have to outcompete two others and I will be living back in Southern California. Obviously, mine and Rachel's families are excited. So pray for me to rock the interview.

For christmas news, we took Lucas' photo with Santa. So awesome. We are down with the family this week enjoying our time off.

So once again it has been awhile. I am sure that all my loyal blog readers have left me because I have been so inactive. Oh well. Such is life. Nothing too excited to update. I am nearly finished with applications so that is good. Now I am moving on to the post-doc apps. Fun Fun. Never ends. At least Monday is my last day teaching so I will be able to add an entire day back into my schedule. That will be amazing to have an entire day that I can devote to work. I cannot wait. How sick does that sound? hehe.
Lucas had his first major fall today. His face right into the corner of the table. He smacked it hard. We were actually going to get his photo taken, but decided to wait a bit so his face would be pretty. It actually doesn't look that bad, I think it actually may have hurt me more than it hurt him...
Lastly, I am learning computer programming. It is kind of fun. Right now I am writing programs with no purpose- typing in a page of code to get a DOS prompt to say "Hello World". Hopefully I will progress quickly. I am learning C because it seems to be the standard for ecologists. I was looking around though and realized that Access and my stats program use Basic to add functionality. I looked into that and found that you could download a free version with an entire set of instructional videos. I have been going through that instead of watching TV. I decided that I am going to put my "down time" to use. I can watch a programming video with actually more enjoyment than another predictable episode of the OC. Okay, that is enough blogging for now. Hopefully I can get back into the habit of blogging again. I'll see if I can rebuild by fan base. Hehe.

Oh yes, I have a blog! I have forgotten obviously. What's the latest? Rachel is sick in bed right now- no good. I just reformatted my laptop, had to start over- too many programs and other crap bogging it down. I just realized now that all my saved passwords and user names for my many internet site logins are gone. So I have to remember them all- so random all the variations on my name and passwords. I think if I ever lose my prodigy email account I will be screwed for life- because all my passwords, authorizations, and subscriptions are linked to it. What else?

Ahh, the job applications... I have sent out 11 (Westmont, Cornell, Seattle University, UC Merced, UC Boulder, University of the Pacific, UC Santa Cruz, Colorado State, Fairfield University-in Conn, Duke, and Guilford- in NC) finished 2 to go out tomorrow (CSU Stanislaus, UC Irvine), and have 3 more to finish (Seattle Pacific University, Cal Poly Pomona, San Francisco State). It will be interesting to see if I get any interviews. I am definately ready to work as an assistant professor- and have some great qualifications- I just have no idea what the competition is. I try not to get too excited about any one place, because who knows what will happen. The one thing I am assured about is that if I go the post-doc route- there are plenty of jobs out there. And many jobs in places I would enjoy living. This year will be interesting...

Lastly, Lucas and I voted. I think it is hilarious that all the propositions were voted down- what a waste...

Final photo.

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Cigars...

Brothers dominate.

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rebecca's wedding

Party getting starting...

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Blog, what's that? I have abandoned the blog. Too busy. To write a short summary of events: Bought new clothes yesterday, Applied for jobs Sat., Got new camera, because Rachel lost her purse on the subway in NY, Lucas was baptized. I think those were the main events. Now I will discuss them until Lucas wakes up, or Rachel gets home. Narrowed the schools I am applying to (so far) to these: Westmont, Seattle Univ, Seattle Pacific, Univ of Pacific, Cornell, Duke, Guilford, Fairfield (CT), UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, UC Boulder, and Colorado State. I got a phone off ebay today to replace the one Rachel lost on the subway along with her wallet, digital camera, etc... I am happy with the replacement digital camera, found a better one for $120. I love the deals. I can even get a waterproof case for this one and go SCUBA diving with it! So awesome. Lucas' baptism was awesome, great to see the family. I hopefully will post the baptism photos today, I finally got another drive to dump all the photos onto so I actually have space on my laptop again. I have backed up the whole computer on it, and am going to just reformat the whole thing. Too many unnecessary programs and I think uninstalling them often doesn't clean it up as well as it should. So I am starting over. Plus I got a crazy instant message virus, that kept spreading itself by IMing all my buddies. I am afraid it is looming someone on the drive and will come back.
As for current life, we are heading down to LA tomorrow night for Rachel's sister's wedding. Should be lots of fun! We are flying, thank god... Only thing nearly exciting as that (not really-relax) is that the Lakers start their season tonight!!! I cannot wait to watch 6 months of mediocrity! Hopefully they won't fall apart, and hopefully they finish better than the Clippers... That's all for now, I have to do the dishes before Rachel gets home... Hopefully I can actually return to blogging. Perhaps I'll try to send a mobile blog from the new cell phone when it arrives!

Ouch, a whole week without blogging! Just shows that I was terribly busy this week. Nothing spectacular, just working hard when it is time to work, and then going outside with Lucas during my time with him. Lately, he has not enjoyed being holed up and watching dad type. So let's see, Monday I started teaching. Pretty fun, tomorrow I am having them play a sophisticated game of tag to take data on and test a behavioral ecology principle. Should be fun. I also picked up a heater core I was pleasantly suprised to find it only cost $30. I was even more pleasantly suprised to see that it was only 6 screws to replace. Incredibly easy actually. Did it in an hour while Lucas tried to go to sleep. Was at a wedding yesterday- took a ton of photos I think I'll post them up on my normal photo site so all can see. Take a gander and tell me if I have a chance as wedding photographer if this whole ecology thing doesn't work out. At the wedding, my friend Molly from my ecology program was there. She went to Westmont and is still in touch with the professors there. Perhaps she'll put in a good word for me and I'll get lucky with an interview. Got to get back working on applications. I have been working on papers this week. Submitted another one to Trends in Ecology and Evolution. Meeting on Monday to talk about a short commentary for Behavioral Ecology. Should be a fun paper that we can get out quickly. Not like my dissertation papers. Hopefully I can start those this week as well. Enough for now.

I love it when the estimate shipping date is wrong and your package comes 3 days early! I got my mp3 player today! It is so cool. It is nice and small, and plays music from Yahoo music no problem. I just plugged it in- had it generate a playlist of over 100 songs that are "Like Blink 182". Now I am rocking for the next 10 hours... Works brilliant in the car with my new stereo. Good thing too... This morning I realized there was steam coming from my air vents. That means one thing- heater core is leaking... The heater core is like the one thing that when I got asked to do back in the days working at Joe Kerby auto repair, I would just groan. I dig tearing apart the engine, but usually to get to the heater core you have to go from the INSIDE of the car. I don't dig tearing apart the inside. Lots of cheap plastic pieces that easily break. I end up tearing out the entire interior to realize I only had to loosen this part and blah blah. Anyway, that is my fun car repair job for the week. Maybe I'll download some lullabyes on it and get Luke to fall asleep while I work on the car for 4 hours... Suck, I am going to go back to thinking about my mp3 player. I have been rocking out to Switchfoot's latest album this week. I mostly don't like "Christian" music, it is just too cheezy for me. I was raised on zeppelin, metallica, boingo even- the lyrics of most christian songs often make me laugh. I know they are meaningful, but they are just not for me. This was until Switchfoot. I really enjoy nearly all their songs. I wouldn't say that they are some incredibly remarkably band- but they actually play decent music with strong christian messages and they don't throw in the typical references to lambs, blood, fire, heavens, mountains, sea... Like a simple message that is so true to the core. "We are the corporate target, we are slaves of what we want ." I mean they even address the most critical question of God, why is there pain and suffering in the world? Their line, "The shadow proves the sunshine" addresses this in a way filled with imagery. Lastly, my favorite title, "Happiness is a Yuppie word" is apparently stolen from an interview with Dylan when asked if he was happy in his later years. He followed the yuppie comment with, we are either blessed or not blessed. How true is that? I started thinking about that today. How in our comfortable American culture we can "stress" about whether we are happy. Did you know that the word stress did not exist in the Italian language- they use our word. In our lives of measuring the stress of school, work, family, other cultures actually just call it living. We can reliably get food, water, and not have to worry about being eaten by an animal or shot or beat? Even our grandparents lived a much harder existence, but survived. They didn't talk about "balancing" work and home- they just did what they had to do. It is actually a luxury that we have time to stress about it. That has what has always kept me level during grad school. Whenever I start to get freaked out about all the work and responsibility I have, I just stop to think about working at my dad's shop. Now that was work. Long hours, thankless work, not much financial reward. I truly appreciate my education and the luxuries it has afforded me. Whether I wake up tomorrow morning "happy" "depressed" "stressed" or "mad", I will always know that I am truly blessed to have my education, my family, and my friends. Hehe, I love this blog entry- from the superficial of a new toy to the true meaning of life- now there is a blog!

So I am totally slacking on the blog I know. What I am not slacking on is the website. I just spent a couple hours tonight sprucing up the entry page. Check it out! I am happy with it for now. I need to spice up the title with some word art or something. It works for now. So I am slowly moving along on the applications. I have been bogged down by several distractions- Lucas getting teeth apparently makes him cry a lot more- so that's a drag. I bought NBA Live 2006- although honestly I have only got to play it a few times. I installed the car stereo, took me a little over an hour. It was hard to get out and then I had to re-wire the harness so I ended up splicing like 12 wires. The stereo face is a little cheezy looking- but the sound is better and it is so much nicer to just plug the ipod in! I am very happy. I start teaching on Monday, should be fun. I have not taught for a few years now, I am looking forward to it. Spent most of today working out logistics, will have to write my lecture over the weekend. What else is this weekend? Sat morning- picking up reverend brian from the airplane and dropping him off on the train. Sat afternoon- being sick to my stomach watching a close USC-Arizona St game. Sat night- nothing yet... Sun morning Church, afternoon- hanging with the dads, night- youth group. Should be packed with excitement! The hanging with the dads thing should be cool. My friend Tony had the idea for the fathers to watch the kids while the women went to see a play (Little Women). Is pretty cool and honorable for the rest of the dads that actually have 9-5 jobs and leave the wife home with the kids. Since I stay home a ton with Lucas it will just be another day for me- but this time I will get to have beer and football! Hehe. Enough for now. Have a great weekend!

So today marks the day! The day I finally am able to solve a rubik's cube! Took me a while to figure it out, but I have finally mastered the cube. Fullfilled a childhood dream...
So with the money I saved on the mp3 player, I bought a car stereo that has an auxiliary port so I can play it in the car. Shouldn't be too hard to install- we'll see tomorrow when it arrives. The player still won't come for another week... grrr.
Yesterday I went and bought NBA Live 2006. Such a sweet game. It came out today, but EB games gets them a day early. I showed up at the store and had the guy open the morning shipment. There were tons in it, and I was the stores first sale of it! So awesome. I played a game online- so fun to play a real person somewhere around the world. I of course made a character modelled after me. I dominate...
Tomorrow is the lab meeting where we talk about our goals for the quarter, and list our failings at completing the goals from last quarter. It is always fun. Especially the part where we list goals and then we cut each other down on whether that is really a goal. At one point, there was going to be some competitive rating about who did the best- but I don't think that really motivates folks to do stuff. My goals are apparent this year...

Here is the token Lucas photo...

Today, was fun package day! I got an incredible new lens for my digital rebel, and the DVD set of the original star wars. So cool.

Went in today and dropped off a couple tiger salamanders into Rachel's classroom today. I gave my 15 minute talk to the class. They loved them. My favorite part was teaching them the word fossorial. Don't know what it means? Look it up.

Lastly, I bought my first slick deal today. So I was ranting about the creative zen micro photo earlier, but I got tired of waiting for it to come out so I started researching around. I found another player that does the same thing but got it for super cheap. Like $100 cheaper. Slick deals.com rules! I like the look of this one better anyway. I wanted it in red, but the deal was only on the gray one and for that kind of savings I am not passing it up. Downloaded subscription music will soon be mine! I am so excited! It will give me something to do while waiting in the courtroom during jury duty... Yes, got a jury summons in the mail today. First one ever. Well not really- I got them in college but I blew it off. There is probably some summons for my arrest somewhere. This time I better go. I'll have to just bring Lucas to court. It can be a learning experience for him on the judicial system. Keep him out of trouble at an early age. Speaking of, he has been asleep for like 2 hours now. This is where I start to fear that he has suffocated and is laying dead in the other room. Of course he is not, and of course when I go check on him he will awake. Reminds me- this morning when he woke up from a nap I let him bang on my computer. In the past it has been no big deal. But this morning, HE RIPPED OFF MY ? KEY!!!!! Like it was totally off. Luckily, I could fix it, and it seems to be working fine. Today marks the beginning of the struggle between baby lucas and daddy's technology...

So day 1 of the crazy schedule has begun. I get things done. Well today anyway. It is amazing how easy it is to work in the office when no one else is around in the early morning! And I have discovered that turning the TV off at night gives me an unprecedented focus to actually write. That bodes well, I am hopeful I can sustain it. Tonight I am working on the research statement for applications. Thought more about Westmont, seems a great place to be. Once I found out they had faculty housing, made me feel much better :) Otherwise, no way we can afford a house in beautiful Santa Barbara! This whole thought process about next year is quite a whirlwind. Anytime people ask me about it, I find myself listing out all the possible options for about 10 minutes. Talk about being in the hands of fate! It can be quite scary and intimidating at times, but on the other hand incredibly exhilerating. What are you going to be doing next year this time? To be able to honestly say, "I have no idea" is quite exciting! It really would be nice to be back down in Southern California to be near our family. To be able to do what I love for a living, and live where I would love, man Westmont is sounding more like a dream every minute. I guess I better stop dreaming about it and get back to work!
PS (I promise I will include a photo of Lucas in the next entry).

Been awhile since I have updated this, too busy. Found another great school to apply to: Westmont University in Santa Barbara- I am guessing that my sister-in-law (or out-law as I call her) is the holiest one out there since she was praying for a job to open up and it did! Her brother went there so I am depending on her to make some calls to make it happen... I think I got a decent chance. My credentials are good, but I know I will not be competing with 300 other applications there. They ask you to sign a statement of faith, and it is pretty extensive. Fits with everything I believe about Christianity, but this is when it is an advantage that most biologists are NOT Christian. So we'll see what happens. Working hard on the applications...
I had a meeting with my advisor today to discuss this next years plans. He told me that it was going to be quite a year for me to get it done and apply for jobs and write several post doc grants and raise a son. I love the challenge. I also am satisfied knowing that if things don't work out this year, I can quite easily stay another year in Davis. Although I must admit, walking on to campus today it felt a lot like walking onto my high school campus senior year. Something about a last year that gets you going.
Final note: I played basketball with my lab outside from 4-5:15. It was so hot outside! When I got in my air conditioned car, I started feeling much better- so I headed over to the church to play from 5:30-6:30. I am so freaking exhausted...

Play-doh Madness!

Annie and Nate Playing...

Continued from below- read that first.
So from there we headed out to the funeral. It was a great ceremony- many family members spoke (Rachel doing it spur of the moment) speaking of the great life he led. I meanwhile was changing Lucas' diaper in the back. He decided to crap his pants at the end- I just know Grandpa Krueger was laughing his ass off in heaven watching me. From there to the burial site. It was real nice, Rachel's dad read some stories from his military record. Apparently he saw some serious action in WWII. His claim to fame was tracking (he was a radar operator) Roosevelt's plane to the peace summit. Hit me the hardest when the color guard played taps. Flashed me back to my grandfather's funeral- he was in the marines- Staff Sargeant I think. He had a 21 gun salute. I am wondering if my grandfather was a war hero. Don't know much about his military service. Probably a reason most serviceman don't talk about whichever war they were in. Anyway, from the funeral I decided to head back up to Davis. On the way home we stopped to celebrate my birthday. Yeah sharing a birthday with a funeral... I got a lot of birthday wishes, and most people were like, "sucks to have a birthday today eh?" Oddly enough, and those that know me know I am a fanatic about my birthday, I wasn't bummed at all. In fact, I really enjoyed the time it gave me to think about life and aging. Being a parent, seeing the many generations present- thinking about what kind of life I lead and what will be said at my funeral. It was probably one of the most introspective birthdays I have had. I enjoyed it. I did not enjoy the drive home. We got in at 1:30am. So that was my weekend. Still have the past two days to discuss! The blog is lagging!

So much to tell... an intense and long "weekend." Started out with the Friday night drive down, Lucas + 6 hours in the car = Plane ticket next time. Too much unhappiness. Saturday, my cousins wedding. A CRAZY day. Drove from my parents house to pick up my brother in Northridge (which involved me ringing the doorbell obnoxiously at his neighbor's house- oops wrong house). From there to Rachel's parents house to drop off her sister (which we picked up from LAX) and have Rachel fitted for her dress for her sis' wedding. Rushing from there to the wedding which started at 2pm, we showed up at 2:30pm which was no big deal because apparently the actual ceremony didn't start until 3:15pm (good tactic for our family). Lucas was a complete mess beginning to end. Turns out the bag pipe guy that played for an hour straight pretty much did him in, and there was no escaping him. Like some bad horror film. We stayed only until 8pm which was not nearly enough time to hang out with my cousins, but entirely too much time for Rachel to be stuck with our screaming child. From there we stayed the night at Rachel's parents house. Left the next morning for my parents house and the birthday party. Lots of fun sent the pictures via my cell phone in the previous blogs. It was a 4 time celebration- my brother and I (as always) my cousin Josh, and my brother's girlfriend's boy (get that?). I loved it. At one point there were 4 laptops going in the living room- geek fest! The online gift list worked like a charm- got mostly money to buy everything I want on it! So I will have the NBA pass, the new game, the new star wars movie, and money for the mp3 player! I love it. I did get some actual gifts- my brother broke the bank and bought me a box of El Rey Del Mundos (what we are smoking in the photo below). Lucas bought me the Star Wars trilogy on DVD which was fitting because he and I watched it together when he was first born and keeping me up all night. Monday morning we headed out to Hemet for the funeral. The viewing was that night. I have sadly been to enough now that it no longer freaks me out. I actually enjoy being able to see the person one last time for closure. Seems freakish, since most folks hate that sort of thing but I will never forget kissing my grandma goodbye on the cheek- perhaps the most healing thing. It seemed to have the same effect on Rachel as well. She was a little freaked about having to go to it, but really thought it was a good thing in the end. If I had a camera and was bold enough to use it, the photo of the night would have been when Rachel's dad took his two grandchildren (Lucas being one of them) to say goodbye to his dad. The juxtaposition of two such lively and happy babies next to their passed on great grandfather showed the amazing power of life. That was a tough night for many. We left early to put the kids to bed. We all hung out (I, Rachel her brother and sister and sister-in-law) in the hotel room for awhile while we locked the kids into the other room to sleep for a few hours. It was kind of funny when their aunts pulled up and we told them we were going to have dinner and left the kids in the room- they were relieved to know we meant we ordered pizza and were not actually abandoning our children. The next morning (my actual birthday) I was awoken by Lucas at 4am. (speak of the devil he is waking up right now). I will have to continue this later...

Cigars

Brother bought me a box of cigars!

birthday party

Here is my cousin art - live from the Bday Party.

Bad news... Rachel's grandpa passed away tonight. He was ready to go, I am not sure if the rest of us were. Tonight, a Romeo y Julietacigar and a tall glass of whiskey. Only the finest in remembrance of him. I am sure he is having much better...

So today I am now listing out all the jobs I am applying to for next year. So far I am at 13! And they are all over the country! One is in Nebraska (where I know Rachel would never want to move) but I have to apply at least! One is at the University of Tennessee- Flemings love that! Although I just found a new one that really excites me- Seattle University! It is in a terrific location (rain= amphibians) and at a school with a spiritual base (Jesuit). This may be may new favorite that I feel I have a shot at. I also have family up there (my long lost favorite uncle)! So get excited and start praying for my favorite new school- or selfishly your nearest city: (Greensboro NC, Geneva NY, Syracuse NY, San Marcos, TX, Santa Cruz CA, Houghton MI, Lubbock, TX, Knoxville, TN, St. Louis, MO, Bloomington, IN, Lincoln, NE, Washington, PA or Seattle, WA!) The photo has nothing to do with this, but it is so awesome.

Okay, so the deal has been altered. Instead of the 6GB Micro Zen, I am waiting for the 8GB Micro Zen photo. It is a better version with a color screen for only $30 more. The word is it will come out this month or next, so I am patiently waiting... I'll let you know the progress on my geeky front.

I have started the application process. Today I worked on my CV and cover letter for Guilford University in Greensboro, North Carolina. I feel like it is a pretty strong CV, but I have no idea what the competition will be. I would absolutely love to get an interview there. I sent it around to my lab for comments. Already got some good feedback. Got a month to work on it.

Getting excited about going home this weekend. Always good to see the family. They are going to freak out about Lucas. He is SO MUCH BIGGER than when they last saw him. He totally can sit up on his own, grab things, we even started feeding him rice cereal. I will have to put up the photos of that... too awesome. He eats like a champ. Seriously, the first time I fed him he totally knew what to do. Opened his mouth, sucked it down, and grabbed for more. He has eaten pretty much every day since Saturday. What's next!?!

Deal's going down (see entry below)! So sweet...

USC clobbered Hawaii, not suprising- but makes me happy. I am grateful the Trojans are on top as the Lakers rebuild. Tough to 3peat, but I am pulling for them. USC vs Tennessee- what do you think Flemings?

Bad news, my dad's cousin died of brain cancer last weekend (51). She was always nice and sunshiney. Couldn't make the funeral in SoCal, but my prayers are with my family. We actually know my dad's cousins fairly well- hung out with them when I was younger and we have a family picnic with them every year (although there has not been one in a few years).

Found even worse news if you can believe that- won't discuss it here though...
Sorry to leave you hanging, but too sad to tell.

Here is my latest goal. You know me and my toys. So here's the deal. I got this sweet Yahoo Music Engine program where I can play over a million songs on my laptop when its hooked up to the internet. The sweet thing about Yahoo (over the others) is that you can download these songs to an mp3 player and take it with you anywhere. The bad thing is that this feature only works with certain players- this one being one of them, ipod not being one. So since I have two ipods, I am negotiating a trade. My ipod for a creative zen micro. I think it is a fair deal. To buy both new my ipod is at least $40 more, typically $70 more so used it ends up being a good deal for both of us. Not finalized yet, we'll see if it falls through, but if not I will be stoked. That's all for now. Now that the printer is fixed, Rachel is begging me to print out photos...

So here is where my new job will be at- yep a castle in Italy. I was just looking at a job in North Carolina at a small teaching school. Looks like a pretty nice school, and they have a sweet study abroad program. And of course they'll need professors to go and teach there... And hence I will be living in a castle. Now that is cool.
Thumb healing up, it was just really swollen that day- after a tough regime of icing it is much better. Even played some bball with it today. I was a little timid on defense because I didn't want to reinjure it. Apparently, I am now in charge of bball on Tuesday, rumor is I am getting a key even. The responsibility is overwhelming... We are hoping to get more folks involved and playing in there more often. Lord knows I need it.
Last night I smoked one of my new cigars- a Romeo y Julieta Madera Reserve. It was a beautiful cigar. Had a tight draw in the beginning, but loosened up to quite a good smoke. I read an excerpt from the imitation of christ during the smoke. Good read, inspiring in fact.
Lastly, we made a donation to the Red Cross today for the Hurricane victims. Brutal. I cannot watch the coverage for more than a few minutes. I take for granted so much in my life.
Lucas is sick and he's crying, I better go console him. "Look at our castle Luke!"

GREAT NEWS!!! I fixed my printer problem!!!! It has been an incredibly frustrating problem for the last 5 months. To have an incredibly sweet photo printer, a newly born firstborn child, and a wife begging for photos for the album. It kept screwing up the color. Apparently I was messing in the startup menu and discovered that it was automatically loading some crazy color adjustment. So I removed it from the startup folder, and viola perfect photos once again!!! It did give me a chance to evaluate all the different photo printing companies. A quick evaluation- 1) Winkflash- $1 shipping, 12 cent prints, and great pictures on incredibly good photo paper. 2) Snapfish- also 12 cent prints, but photos were not as great, although still good. 3) Shutterfly- 29 cent prints, good photos, great online storage (where I store photos for folks to look at from my website).
I also figured out that the lighter takes butane fuel, not zippo fuel- hence the leaking. Got some at rite aid for a couple bucks (and a lakers colored pacifier)- works great! Might have to try out one of my new cigars tonight!

Wow! I actually got a comment! Someone really does read my blog. I know you blog readers are out there, don't be afraid to comment...

www.jakekerby.com is coming along. My latest stage is setting up advertising, I might actually make some money if someone orders a satellite system through my link. I doubt it though. More so, it makes the site look more official if there are ads on it, don't you think?

Behavioral observations are done on the experiment. I still will go in daily to collect the tadpoles as they transform. Now time for the data analysis... Perhaps I will see if I can post an interesting graph up here. Well interesting to me that is...

On the job front, I saw a posting working for Exxon in ecotox. I could sell out and make bank! Alternatively, there was an opportunity in Santa Cruz- one of the lead investigators was a prof both my brother and both current post-docs in my lab have worked with. Always good to have a personal ref. It says it starts in Dec 2005 though, wonder if they will wait for me to finish my dissertation. I guess that means I better start it. BLAH!

Grrr... okay today just sucks. So yesterday at bball I tweaked my thumb. Didn't think much of it last night, but today it is swollen and hurts real bad. I mean bad. So bad that I am worried it may be more than a sprain, but that I retore a ligament in my hand I had surgically repaired years ago. Its probably fine. Why it really hurts is because anytime I try to do anything with Lucas, he wacks the hell out of it. So it is being reinjured about every half hour. Trying to maintain composure when someone keeps wacking your hurt hand is not easy. He's just a baby Jake...
He finally went down, I got a quick nap, cleaned up a little and was feeling good. I decided to check out my cigar kit (it arrived yesterday). The cigars are awesome. The ashtray is awesome. The lighter I thought was awesome... I filled it with lighter fluid, or tried to. It didn't really take, so it didn't light. So I put more fluid in. Apparently, I spilled lighter fluid on my hand because when I lit the lighter my hand CAUGHT ON FIRE! Not like the fun burn off the lighter fluid for a second, more like the smell of burning hair as I pounded my hand out on the floor!!! So now I have 1st degree burns on my left hand and a sprained right thumb and get to in an hour take data on my experiment (which requires catching frogs) while Lucas in on my chest (in the carrier). Crappy crappy crappy day!
Perhaps I will log in tonight and tell you of any other injuries that occur.

Still awaiting the arrival of my cigars... I am so excited!

Big news today is that we have confirmed the date of Lucas' baptism. Oct 16th at University Covenant Church. Brian Solecki will be doing the honors. Still have to find out which service, but it is that date so plan on being there!

Experiment is going well, I think I will end it tomorrow. Over half of the tadpoles have metamorphosed, so it is about that time. Ugg... but that means I have to start writing. Maybe I can think of a few more experiments to run...

Today's picture is my artisitic shot of the Solecki family- posted without their approval... hehe

JakeKerby.com coming along. Still no formatting, I will make it pretty soon enough- I just want to get all the key links in there so it is usable.

Rachel's grandfather has not been feeling all that well and requested some letters from his grandchildren. Rachel wrote him a real nice one and sent some photos she had of her grandparents with Lucas. I was going to write him a letter, but Lucas insisted that I write out his instead. For your amusement, I have posted it online.
What else? I ordered some cigars today. A ten pack of robustos that cigar magazine rated. What is significant about it is that the cigars come with a rating kit. They send a folder with the same instructions they gave to actual reviewers to rate the cigars. So you get to try and rate the cigars and see how well they match up. I will be heading down to LA for a weekend, so should be fun to bring some down and rate cigars with my bro.

Two updates:
I have completed the most vain action of them all- and created a web site using my name as a domain! www.jakekerby.com I tried for drkerby.com but alas someone has it already. I figure what the heck, it was only a few bucks and it will make it easier to tell people where to look for this blog, photos, and all my other internet musings. So spread the word... Actually, not yet. I am still working out some bugs so it may look like either a really cheesy template, or a terribly boring white page. Any recommendations?

SlickDeals.net is the coolest site ever. I just got 50 free 4x6 prints for $1 shipping. Seriously, go to winkflash.com, upload 50 photos, and enter coupon code: P3C6M4S2 RIDICULOUS!!!!

Lucas with a few of his toys...

Well today I posted my birthday wish list. You all still have a few weeks to prepare- September 13th. I have caught some grief about making a list online, but most people just don't understand my family dynamics. Anyone that attends my family bday parties is usually in awe with the pomp and circumstance involved. From the hearty happy bday song, to the blowing out of the candles, to the re-lighting of the candles, to the blowing out of the candles by my brother (our bdays are 5 days apart), to the cutting of the cake, to the opening of gifts... That might be the crux. My mom insists on photographing us with every gift we ever receive. Anyway, every year my mom calls me and asks me what I want. I never can think of anything on the phone and then will think of something later and then forget it. So now, I just list it on the web. People email Rachel to see if what I want has already been purchased and viola! Although, my dad apparently doesn't ever listen to Rachel because he has bought me duplicate items two years in a row. No big deal, actually the one year was sweet because I got two playstation 2s! Took one back, and bought a Tivo- back when nobody knew what Tivo was...
Anyway, still have to clean it up, but the list is progressing. Today i thought of getting a domain name and linking it to it. That way I could link all my stuff, this blog, gift list, lab website, lucas photos, on one page that I could easily reference to people. Once I track down a decent (and free) web host, I think I may do it. Enough for now...

Here is Lucas in full Lakers gear. So awesome.
So yesterday I was going to write about how sweet it was that I got this job offer. How awesome my friend Julie is for offering to watch Lucas for the hour I would be teaching. How fun it would be to teach at Sac State. Instead, I will write about how I got a letter in the mail saying I didn't get a job. Then how I got an email from the chair of the dept asking if I wanted to teach a lab since they had a late change. How I set up the babysitting and took the job (this all happened in 7 hours yesterday). Then how we set up a time and place to meet to sign the paperwork and get keys. Then how I get a call this morning telling me that, just kidding, we don't really need you. Apparently, they hired someone thinking that they could not make her full time, but then the dean said they could this morning, and so therefore there is no more lab for me to teach. Sounds like I should be pissed. Frankly, I really don't care at all. It would have been fun, but likely a pain to deal with it and the class at Davis I am teaching, and writing a dissertation, and oh yeah- raising a son. Good news is I am top of the list for next semester- when we might actually need the money. And hopefully I will be offered more than just one section. Because once you go to the trouble of preparing for one section, you might as well teach 2 or 3 and make some money. Lucas is sleeping now, so I better get some work done while I have a chance!

Well, I want to smoke a cigar- but I think I will blog instead- oh wait! I have wireless! I can do both!!!! Much better... I am on my balcony puffing a Bel Mundo. Yeah, I know, smoking is bad for you. So are Carl's Jr. super star burgers, and I am not giving up those either. I don't know, what it is about cigar and pipe smoking, but for some reason it makes me feel smarter. Perhaps not smarter, but definately better. It may have something to do with the fact that it often leaves me alone with my thoughts and not being numbed by the TV. When I smoke a cigar with someone, it often leads to long conversations that turn deep. And the nicotine helps I suppose...

Enough on the cigars... I started my "makeup" experiment yesterday. Not anywhere the same complexity or scale as the previous, but when I went in today I found some suprising results. I think that is why I love doing research. Despite all the time spent reading books and journal articles to develop a cool project, it can take a wild turn and show you something you thought you would never find. I cannot wait to see how it progresses tomorrow... Lucas cannot either. Tomorrow begins what will be the rest of my year as father/grad student. Since Rachel has to go into work, and I have to run an experiment at the same time, Lucas will be with me taking data. Hopefully it works out well. Luckily he is cute enough, and my labmates are awesome enough, to offer some support watching him during the midst of it all. Hopefully he will be happy.

Lastly, the job thing is getting started. Any free time I have this week is going to be spent developing my "generic" job application. I have no idea how competitive I will be, but looks like most of these things are due in October so I better get crackin'.

I got half a cigar left, so that is enough for now. I need to relax and enjoy the rest of it.

Today's topic: Jobs
So in Montreal I met with a professor about doing a post-doc, the next big step. There are several possibilities but they all boil down to coming up with a great idea, writing a grant, and getting it funded. This is basically what I have been trained to do since day 1 arriving at Davis, but a lot is riding on developing a good proposal. Alternatively, I can apply straight to jobs being a professor at a small school. There is a sweet job at Hobart & William Smith Colleges, but can the California boy survive in Seneca, NY? Sounds like a beautiful place and I will likely apply- but now I have to generate a statement of teaching philosophy, a statement of research interests, start thinking about a plan for the detailed nitty gritty of space I need, equipment I need, etc. Crazy stuff, but I love it. I basically start applying for professor jobs now, and start writing grants to submit for post-doctoral stuff by January (for those not in the know, a post-doc is a research position at a school where PhDs are to sharpen their expertise and widen their horizons, making them more attractive applicants at bigger universities). The madness continues...

The splendor of old town Montreal... Just returned last night sans luggage of course. Turns out Montreal is completely in French. Most everyone knew english, but everything intially began with a Bon Jour... Too many stories to tell. It was a fun trip. Mostly hung out with my lab members current and past and had a blast. My talk went well, and the session I assembled was quite a hit. Everyone in the field was excited to see it and thought the speakers in it did a great job. A reporter from an environmental magazine asked for my card, I laughed and told her I don't have a card!!! Guess I better get some eh? One of the speakers did not show up, still a mystery why not- just sent an email seeing what happened. All around a good conference though. I felt really good when I was sitting in a talk on Thursday and looked up to see my name in someone else's talk! The recent Trends in Ecology and Evolution article I wrote with a post doc in our lab was being cited and touted as one of the must reads. She after the talk told us that the article has become required reading in her class. It is nice to get an occasional ego boost like that. I will have to hold onto that inspiration once I dive into the fun of dissertation writing. I met with a well known professor about doing a post-doc in his lab. A good lunch, looks like a great lab with highly productive people that I could actually hang out with. Now all I need is a great idea to generate grant money (story of my graduate life....). It was also great to get to talk to former labmates about their post doc experiences. It is nice to have them as friends and as a source of knowledge and experience. It was also fun to have the newest grad student, Val, there. I got to know her much more and am more and more impressed with her (not that I wasn't already). It was nice also to be reminded of that first year student enthusiasm for meetings.
I got to see most of Montreal, all by foot. When you hang out with ecologists, even when you know the destination is 3 miles away- you walk it. Why spend the $2 each on the shared cab fare? We explored the several different sectors of town. St Catherine Street was like a movie, particularly at 3am. Picture a street with strip clubs abounding- then picture walking down that street when they were all closing. The only term I could think of is riff-raff. I kept thinking this is crazy! And then, Rachel would not like this at all. From steroid driven bouncers escorting their stripper girlfriends past goth dressed throngs of inebriated youth leaving a club to a group of black guys cheering on their friend as he openly made out with a white girl on the street as her friend was trying to stop her. The street got too intense so we turned off of it- but landed in china town where two men were trying to restrain a strung out Chinese woman who was flailing around and screaming. Then the cops came screeching down the street running up the curb, barricades were involved... it was quite entertaining. Enough for now, I just realized I really have not eaten anything for nearly 21 hours and I probably need something...

LAX

Here are lauren and val working hard. boarding for canada in one hour.cigar aficionado Magazine to keep me entertained.

I know, I am slacking... and I am off to Canada in the morning, so nothing more for another week. If I can remember I will do a cell phone post from the airport. Who knows the cost for using a cell phone in another country- so it is getting shut off. I finished my talk, packed my bags, and am ready and excited. I will feel much better after my talk on Monday, I have been doing this for awhile now but it still generates a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I am learning to just ignore it and move on. I did get an instant message from India this morning, that was pretty sweet. My friend Tyson is on a missions trip there. The internet is quite an amazing thing...

Eventually I will talk about the recent trip to LA and put up a bunch of photos. As for now, I am freaking out because I have to finish a presentation. I always procrastinate. I have great ideas and are going to do all these cool analyses and graphs, and then I just copy and paste from past talks... We are giving practice talks in our lab tomorrow for the conference in Montreal. It was my idea to move the practice talks up to Thursday from Friday. Why? Because I know I procrastinate and the only way I get things done is if I make unreasonable deadlines for myself, so I have more time to actually work on it when I fail to meet the early deadline. But now that I am panicked about getting something done in time for tomorrow- I figure instead of working on it, I am going to blog. Now I am feeling guilty though, so I better actually get to this thing.

Well, we made it to LA. Here is Lucas watching Dodger baseball with grandpa. He got a sweet Dodger outfit (complete with sweat wrist bands). So awesome. He got his first baseball too, a home-run ball from pre-game batting practice at Dodger stadium. See no pressure... my kid can like another team than the Lakers. The trip down was nice, Lucas did not make a peep. He slept most of the way. I had to entertain him for about 20 minutes of the 5 hour trip. Now that is a pretty good deal. I am nervous about the trip home- likely the inverse will happen. Nice to be down south, I'll take traffic over 100 degree days... 

Ahh, relaxing by the pool... Clearly, Lucas enjoys it as much as I do. After the research snafu, it was time to regather myself and move on... poolside.
I haven't posted in awhile, let's see... Friday was our 5 year anniversary- pretty sweet. It was also Lucas' 4 month old "birth"day. We went out to Putah Creek in the afternoon. I suprised Rachel with an anniversary gift- some black Chacos (fancy stream/hiking sandals). She was excited. We then were getting out at the creek when she saw the second gift I intended to give her later. Oh well... She opened it there, a nice diamond necklace. She felt bad for not getting me anything- I keep dropping the plasma tv hint... That night Reverend Bone and fam took the kid and we went into Sacramento and dined at Cafe Marika. It was really good Hungarian food. Rach had Gulash, I had Paprikash. I just like saying Paprikash. At the end of our nice dinner, I attempted to pay the check with my credit card. Apparently, they only took cash... We scrounged up enough for the bill, but were a few buck short on the tip. I felt bad, but seriously what dinner restaurant doesn't take credit???? I mean even Jack in the box takes credit cards!?!?!

Enough for now. We are heading to LA on Wednesday for a few days. Rachel is throwing her sister a wedding shower. It will be nice to visit down south. Nice to escape the 100 degree heat! Lucas is freaking out, so until next time...

So little did I know I would return to that Carl's Jr so soon...
Too tired and pissed to talk about it in depth now, but after weeks of setup and preparation, stressed days of trying to collect animals in the midst of performing two experiments, and preparing the family for a four month old to venture into the wilderness...

With one fell swoop- all was canceled. The reserve manager approved my application apparently without reading it. After accusing me of lying, he waited until I actually started the experiment and exposed the animals to pesticides- before the professor came in and shut down the whole experiment. Basically told me it was a mistake and there is no way this experiment could be done there at a natural reserve. Nothing I said changed their mind.

So home we are...

So pissed.

On the road...

Heading for Mendocino in our geeky matching shirts.

Ouch

Good thing I changed the brakes. They were completely gone!

So last night was truly a beat the clock moment. Done with my tad readings at 4:40pm, I had until 6pm to do a complete brake job so I could get a labmate to bleed the brakes for me before she left. Little did I know how thrashed the brakes were! Luckily, I have changed a ton of brakes in my career at Joe Kerby Auto Repair. So despite spending 30 minutes dealing with a frozen caliper I completed the job at 10 to 6pm. That was close!

Today I spent basically running around like a complete lunatic. My undergrad help got called into work early so I had to call in Rachel and Lucas for help with the tadpole weighing. I spent the rest of the time gathering experiment needs. Thank god I have a great wife to take care of packing the clothes and food. I just spent the last hour calculating concentrations for my experiments. Usually takes only a few minutes but my brain is on overload. I thought I would never use the chemistry I learned...

Today went well. I had special assistance from Lucas. Here he is overseeing the crayfish hunting in his outfit I purchased at the Natural History Museum in Washington DC (first souvenier I ever bought for him). I didn't actually end up doing any of the measuring, but I did get crayfish and made it to Ace. Tomorrow will be fun, add to the previous list everything I didn't do today and... replace front brakes on the explorer! The pads are completely gone on one side. Probably not good to take on a 4 hour drive. I guess I will fit it in between the 4 and 6pm readings???

This is what I will call my organizational blog... I need to think out what I have to do in the next couple days to prepare myself for the haunted shack research vacation.
Tonight: Figure out how to work this $50 headlamp I just bought- 8 modes, one button- question: anyone know the purpose of a strobe light on a headlamp???
Tomorrow: 9am- Crayfish checks. This is where I stand over 20 tubs and mark where crayfish are in the tubs- trust me its important and fascinating stuff.
9:45am- Trip out to the American river to capture 40 crayfish for the experiment. One of these days I am going to go out and catch then fur eatin'
11:45- Stop by Ace hardware and get 8 feet of PVC pipe.
12:00pm- Bring them back to the lab and measure and weigh each crayfish. Think that's boring just wait...
1:00- Cut PVC pipe into 3" segments. Still not the boring part...
2:00- Change the water on the tadpoles and count out the number of each. Then separate into groups of 10 and weigh them. Yeah, you guessed it- non stop excitement.
3:00- Another crayfish check.
3:20- Back to the tadpoles...
5:00- Call it a day- and head out for a concert at the zoo... I love free babysitting. THANKS Annie and Susie!
Wednesday: Just shoot me now.
8am- Tadpole check. This consists of checking the location and activity of tadpoles in 30 ten gallon aquaria. Trust me its important and fascinating stuff.
9am- Crayfish check.
10am- Tadpole check.
11am- Crayfish aggression assays- this is real science but actually what most boys would do with access to crayfish. This consists of dumping a piece of sardine into the afore mentioned tanks and recording every time the crayfish fight over it. So awesome...
12pm- Tadpole check.
12:40pm- Back to the crayfish
2:00pm- Tadpoles...
2:45- Realize I haven't eaten anything all day long.
3:00- Check email and beg for equipment to use.
4:00- Tadpoles again.
5:00 Wonder why I created the methods for the experiment this way.
6:00- Tadpoles again.
7:00- Call Rachel and reassure her that I am alive.
8:00pm- Last tadpole reading- thank god!
9:00pm- Crayfish check.
9:30pm- Head home.
10:00pm- Realize all the stuff I forgot to do.
10:30pm- Feed Lucas- the highlight of my day.
10:40- Put Lucas to bed, and wish I were going there too.
11:00pm- Review manuscript that was due 2 weeks ago.
5:00am- Wake up on the couch, and head for bed...

Thursday-
8:00am- Take final tadpole reading.
9:00am- Crayfish check.
9:30am- Begin takedown of experiment. Consists of emptying the 30 tanks of water, while collecting the tadpoles. Then weighing the tadpoles.
5:00pm- Curse the experiment for taking so long to take down.
5:30pm- Freak out about all the details I have forgotten to take care of. (obtaining a water quality meter, contacting the pesticide analysis lab, creating datasheets, packing up crayfish and tadpoles, finding the bubblers, finding the adaptor for the water filter, etc.)
8:00pm- Decide I will just go home and do the rest in the morning.

Friday-
Pack up and head out for Mendocino!
I am not even going to try and guess a time table with a 3 month old baby in the mix...

Hopefully I will remember and send another blog from the road. Cell phone blogs are cool...

Here is where I slept last night and where I will be staying next week. Hope it doesn't collapse on us... 

On the road back from nowhere.

Isn't photoshop cool? This was Rachel's mother's day gift. 

Quality time... 

Welcome to my blog! This is new and exciting... Or I am bored and tired after doing 11 hours of observations with 2 more to go. I hope to post photos of my exciting life, mostly of my boy Lucas because he is just so handsome. Feel free to comment!

-Jake