Airport

Well, here I am sitting near my gate at the San Jose airport. I am all checked in and ready to go, but my flight doesn't leave for 4 hours! I have a lot of time to kill, so I thought I would write a blog entry. There is free wireless here and the place where my gate is located is actually pretty nice and modern-looking (my favorite part of the airport). I haven't eaten yet today so I will probably grab a snack in a little while. I am going to try to write a blog entry per day while in Miami so everyone can see just how truly exciting it is there (heehee, that was sarcastic). I get in suuper-late tonight but tomorrow I am going to try to find a place to get a haircut. I haven't cut my hair for over a year (I don't trust being able to speak spanish here and not end up with a mullet) so it is pretty long. It wouldn't be too bad if it weren't so darn heavy! I am also worried that it will grow mold since it takes longer to dry now -- this is a legitimate concern here where it is humid and wet all the time. A veritable mold paradise!

Miami in two days

Meh, I am not all that excited to be back in Miami soon, but I will be able to get a lot of things done when stateside. Here is a list of "business" things I will be up to during my trip:
* Meeting with Mike (my advisor)
* Give talk to my lab group (during our lab meeting on Monday)
* Have my annual committee meeting (also Monday, right after the lab meeting)
* Get a haircut (my hair is waaay too long and heavy now...it might grow mold soon!)
* Buy supplies to bring back to Costa Rica (notebooks, flagging tape, etc.)
* Turn in receipts for grant money
* Turn in another grant application
* Renew visa
* Buy more pants! (mine are all getting ripped to shreds)

I will also have time for fun stuff:
* See a movie (any suggestions? I have NO idea what is out now)
* Eat out (Thai food, Greek food, Japanese food!)
* Visit Whole Foods
* Drink a Starbucks

Well, that's what I have vaguely planned right now. I should also have a lot of time to write, which is always good (I am starting to write the introduction and methods of my dissertation).

Paku!

I just scanned a bunch of pages from my new Moleskine sketchbook and thought I would post one for your viewing pleasure. Heehee.

PS. I just found this funny/weird cartoon show on YouTube called Yakitate Japan and it is an anime about a kid with "solar hands" that is a really good bread baker. His hands are warm and provide the perfect temperature for yeast fermentation (?!). His goal is to make the perfect bread that defines Japan -- made by Japan FOR Japan! Woo-hoo, anyway it is really entertaining and weird.

PPS. "Paku!" is the sound made when a horse chomps on a piece of delicious baguette bread (in case you did not know this).

Beep beep!

Honk! This morning while Carlos and I were drinking our tea/coffee out on our porch we heard some really loud honking from a car on the road. We realized that today is Saturday and that means that around 7:30am the fresh veggie truck comes to the neighborhood! We ran out to the road and stopped the car to get some fresh fruits and veggies -- it's kind of like a portable farmer's market. We bought a couple of cucumbers, some onions, red bell peppers, tomatoes, and apples. It was a lot of food but only cost about $3. Now we can make gazpacho for dinner! Tomorrow morning is when the fresh milk/cheese/egg truck comes by and they sell fresh milk in bags -- but you need to pasteurize it before drinking.

Miami trip in a week

Wow, I leave for a short trip back to Miami one week from today. I am going to be there from 17 - 24 October to bring back supplies, check in with my advisor, have a committee meeting, and renew my visa. Blah, I am not really looking forward to going back, but at least it will be productive. The only thing I am excited about going back for is to check out the new, recently-opened Whole Foods store right across the street from the University. I have only been to one other Whole Foods store in Redmond last year for Christmas and it was really cool! There were tons of veggies and snacks and samples -- I definitely ate a lot of those free cheese samples! I hope this one is nice, but if it employs Miamians it will likely be most un-nice (i.e. ruuude). At least this saves me a long walk to the grocery store while I am at UM living in my office!

Blue singing mouse -- Laalaa~

Here is a sketch I did a while ago of one of my favorite mouse species: Scotinomys teguina, Alston's singing mouse. Yup, they really do sing! In fact, I've heard them a couple years ago in the montane forest of Monteverde where I did a short rat-trapping project. I actually caught a couple of these little guys and they make sharp chirps like birds in order to define their territories. There is even a colony of these mice living in Gainesville, Florida at the University of Florida!

PS. This mouse isn't blue in nature, that was just the color marker I felt like using. In reality, these little mice are dark brown/black.

More bats!

Wow, there are tent-making bats all over this forest! Today I saw another tent made in a Heliconia leaf, but this time the bats inside were from the genus Artibeus. These guys are frugivorous (i.e. they eat fruit) and were in a tent very similar to the Ectophylla tent I saw yesterday, only a little bigger. There are 5 batties in there!

Rain forest life

Today I got to have a nice look at a recently-built bat tent made by the species Ectophylla alba, more commonly known as the white tent bat. These bats construct "boat-style" tents from the leaves of Heliconia plants (these leaves look a bit like banana leaves). To make these tents, a bat chews through the leaf near the midvein so that the sides of the leaf fall down and shelter the bats within. The little group I visited today consisted of 6 individuals, but the other group I found a while back had 5 individuals. These bats are so cute and if you meet someone that hates bats, show them a picture of these guys and it will change their mind. Ectophylla look like little round fluffy white cotton balls with light yellow ears, face, and noseleaf. I have included a couple of pictures.


I also have some nice photos of an Agalychnus calidryas, the red-eyed tree frog. This one is a female I found in the lab clearing sleeping on a leaf! She didn't mind me taking photos and just kept on snoozing.

Well, that's all in a day's work out here in the rain forest!

Phantom Hourglass!

I just found out (way out here in the rain forest) that the new Zelda game for the Nintendo DS just came out yesterday -- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Wow, I have been looking forward to this game for a long time. This is the sequel to the Legend of Zelda game titled Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker which was released a few years ago on the GameCube console. I really liked that game and remember playing it a bunch at home in Washington with my sister (she likes watching me play all the Zelda games). This looks like it will be a really fun game and I would love to get it when I return stateside in a couple of weeks, but we'll see if I have the funds.

-- UPDATE: My dad sent me an e-mail saying that he has a brand-new copy of Phantom Hourglass from Target that he is going to mail to me in Miami!! YAY!! Thanks dad! --

Crafty-ness

I feel like it's been a while since I've written a new blog entry. Since things here in the rain forest are still more of the same (planting seeds, tracking seeds, hoarding seeds, digging them up...SEEDS!), I thought I would write a little bit about the stuff I do at night to unwind from my tiring days in the field. As you all know, I got a book entitled "The Cute Book" from my mom for my birthday a couple weeks back and this book shows you how to make really CUTE animals out of felt (with patterns and instructions) -- feel the cutiness vibe they say. I really like this book and have made a couple of things out of it (bear and squirrel) but it has also inspired me to make different things out of felt that aren't in the book. At night I work on these little felt things while watching a movie and they have turned out pretty nice! So far I have sewn: a glacier bear, squirrel, apatosaurus, ebi sushi, and kitsune fox with a red scarf! This is a really fun craft to do at night before going to bed. I will take some pictures soon and upload them...my next project is going to be an agouti!

-- UPDATE: I have added a picture of all the felt critters I have made: starting from the top: blue seahorse, kitsune fox with red scarf, glacier bear, goomba, squirrel, ebi sushi, and apatosaurus in the middle! --