Auf wiedersehen!

Well, Carlos and I leave for lovely Germany tomorrow afternoon. Our flight leaves in the late afternoon, we fly through the night, and land in Frankfurt early tomorrow morning. Hopefully we'll get some sleep on the plane and trick ourselves into forgetting jet lag when we land. I'll write in my journal and post all about the trip when I get back in two weeks -- auf wiedersehen!

Leaving on Thursday -- for Germany!

I am running around, trying to get a few last-minute things done before Carlos and I leave for Germany this Thursday. I am getting really excited -- I have never been there before! This trip should be really fun and productive; here are some things I am planning to do over there:

- Visit cool museums and wander around "Mainhattan" (Frankfurt)
- Attend the premiere, international ATBC tropical biology conference and present my research
- Tour Marburg: its university and fairy-tale castle
- Boat tour on the Rhine
- Visit castles, ruins, and vineyards in St. Goar and Bacharach
- Sample some Reislings -- the specialty of the region
- Relax in Rothenburg ob der Tauber and see the sights of this old-fashioned walled town on the Romantic Road
- Try a German beer and eat lots of pastries!

I am getting excited and while I would also love to visit the Black Forest, Berlin, and Munich, I will have to save those areas for a future trip. Wouldn't it be nice to visit Germany during Christmas-time?

Rawkin

The other day I received a letter in the mail from my friend Molly (an actual piece of real mail!!). In it, she included a little piece of art that she'd made during an arts and crafts night. In return, I drew her a random little picture of a kitty playing the drums. I hope she likes it!

PS. The original image is in color, but the scanner was being lame and only copied in grayscale. Boo.

Poster done

Today I printed out the full, final version of my poster that I will present at the ATBC conference! I am glad to have this stressful task finished -- the final product is (L x W) 4' x 3'. I had to be careful and wait one hour for the ink to dry before I could roll it up. Then I carefully boxed it up (in a random FedEx poster box) and toted it home. I need to go to the USPS store to buy a cardboard tube so I can carry it on the plane and from Frankfurt to Marburg. I am still undecided as to what I will do with my poster at the end of the conference. I will be traveling around central, western, and southern Germany for a few days post-conference and I don't really want to drag around a poster and big accompanying tube! On the other hand, I am really proud of my poster and I want to hang it up outside my office (this actually kind of expected of us -- to show off our work to other students, professors, and the public) so I shouldn't just throw it away. Hmmmm...what should I do?

Ex Libris

I've been doing a bit of drawing recently to clear my brain at nights before going to bed -- it's been pretty productive! Last night I drew an ex libris for myself (basically a bookplate). My ex libris has an agouti and a California poppy within a shield with my first and last names in the ribbon above (I've blurred out my last name). Now I need to find a way to print this onto archival sticker paper so that I can put it inside all the books in my library!

BOOM!

A couple of days ago, I went to Target and bought a 4th of July-themed T-shirt. I'd noticed it a while ago, but didn't get it until now since it was on sale for $1.25! I like it and it reminds me of the old Batman TV show with Adam West. I also noticed a similarity with a scene from my favorite video game (EarthBound). In the game, you ride a little flying ship called the Skyrunner, but it crashes and makes a big explosion -- BOOM!

My new T-shirt:

EarthBound's Skyrunner crash:

So similar -- I like my shirt even more now!

2 weeks until Germany!

I looked at the calendar today and I have only 2 weeks until I leave for Germany! I am getting really excited especially since everything is all reserved and our plans are set. My poster for the tropical biology conference is done (it just needs to be printed) and I am starting to make a little pile of all the stuff I am bringing on the trip with me.

I always like to plan out my travels (while also leaving room for random day plans) and I always place things in a little out-of-the-way pile before I leave and until I pack everything up the night before. In this picture I have a few clothes and my day pack. There is still a lot of stuff that I need to organize before the trip -- it's coming up fast!

Clam Bam

In my last post, I mentioned that the walls of Carlos' and my apartment need more art -- so I made some!

I was inspired by another artist (Sidney Pink) in the color and style of this picture I made to gussy up my bare walls. Pink makes light pastel paintings of school girls playing video games and I decided to instead have an otter playing the arcade game "Clam Bam." I think the object of this game is to break clams on rocks that otters hold on their tummies. Unfortunately, this is a river otter (not a sea otter) and he's not very adept at breaking clams in this manner -- he prefers crawfish.

Mario x-stitch frame

Last night I found a little Super Mario Bros. cross-stitch that I had done, but never got around to framing so it wasn't displayed. It is pretty small (approximately 5cm x 5cm) and doesn't fit any standard framing mat sizes so I decided to make my own little frame for it and hang it on the wall. I used a piece of extra cardboard I found, did a little measuring, cut out the middle with a sharp pocket knife, decorated the edges, and attached some twine to the cross-stitch. Voila -- it is now hanging up on the wall and I like it. I need to add some more art to the walls here!

More Germany planning

My Germany trip is fast approaching -- about 3 weeks left now! I am finalizing my itinerary and making some more hotel/hostel reservations. Here are the places that I will be visiting on my trip:

1) Frankfurt (this is where Carlos and I fly in); 2 days to wander around

2) Marburg (where I will be presenting my research at the ATBC conference); about a week here

3) The Rhine Valley (St. Goar & Bacharach); around 2 days

4) Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Bavaria; up to 4 days

Those are the main highlights before returning to Frankfurt and flying home. I will be abroad for about 2 weeks and I am really excited to be visiting Europe again!