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| oh yes, and there was wine |
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Field Season 2011
Field Season is upon us! Well, upon me, and my team. (I have a TEAM!) So much is going on!
For this final round of insect collecting I'm looking at 50 (up from just 16 last year) different sites, some vacant lots, several different types of gardens, and sites in various Metroparks surrounding Cleveland. I'm laying out 10 yellow pan traps, like last year, but oh, there's more. I'll be putting blue and white pan traps out in addition to the yellow. Blue traps attract more bees, white traps attract more flies, and yellow traps attract more wasps.
My TEAM consists of a group of undergraduate/post-baccalaureate/graduate students, and a few volunteers that aren't currently in school, and who have very little science experience. Among the team we have two "plant people", one "bird person", three "bug people", one "map/rocks person", and several students that haven't found their focus.
We'll be doing insect collections next week, bird surveys in two weeks, and vegetation surveys and pitfall traps in three weeks. (Holy data, batman!)
Wish me luck!
For this final round of insect collecting I'm looking at 50 (up from just 16 last year) different sites, some vacant lots, several different types of gardens, and sites in various Metroparks surrounding Cleveland. I'm laying out 10 yellow pan traps, like last year, but oh, there's more. I'll be putting blue and white pan traps out in addition to the yellow. Blue traps attract more bees, white traps attract more flies, and yellow traps attract more wasps.
My TEAM consists of a group of undergraduate/post-baccalaureate/graduate students, and a few volunteers that aren't currently in school, and who have very little science experience. Among the team we have two "plant people", one "bird person", three "bug people", one "map/rocks person", and several students that haven't found their focus.
We'll be doing insect collections next week, bird surveys in two weeks, and vegetation surveys and pitfall traps in three weeks. (Holy data, batman!)
Wish me luck!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
5 Happy Things
1. School Bus Yellow Bowls.
2. Dr. Who
3. Mom-made Ham and White Bean Soup for lunch
4. Adele.
5. Rottweiler Puppies. I want one. No, two.
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| All the better for catching flying insects, my dear. |
2. Dr. Who
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| Guilty Pleasure! |
3. Mom-made Ham and White Bean Soup for lunch
4. Adele.
5. Rottweiler Puppies. I want one. No, two.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Another Semester Finished
After toiling under the weight of my books for another 16 weeks, I've finished another semester of my graduate studies. This semester was a heavier course load. Happy to be finished.
The summer brings a whole new animal: Klaire Catches Bugs Round II
I'm expanding the number of sites I'll collect at, from 16 to 60. (!) To manage this I'm cutting back on how often I sample-- and will collect only early summer and late summer sample periods, one week long for each.
Next (Fall) semester I am taking a statistics class, and focusing on research.
Looking like a good summer already!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Happy Earth Day!
Happy Earth Day!
It seems so very sad that we only have ONE day of the year to celebrate the Earth.
Do something good for the Earth today, and every day after!
Love,
Klaire
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Friday, April 8, 2011
Journey
I am young, still.
At times I feel old, as if I have lived long enough to know all, as if I carry wisdom in the dust on my feet.
I am a fool.
I know some things of the world. I have so much more to see, to learn. I must remember that knowledge is not understanding, experience is not wisdom. I have only just opened my eyes to the world, my life thus far only a glimpse -- and blurred as in the first moments of waking. I have learned that the world will not hand over its secrets to me calmly. I must fight, clawing my way against the surge of those who bet against me. Sometimes it is only a battle to stay afloat, in other moments I seem to speed ahead, leaping and diving forward into life head first.
Sometimes I find myself sinking.
Yet, I have been blessed enough to be loved. Those who love me have come and pulled me back towards the surface countless times. I must remind myself to remain calm, so I do not drown them in my panic, or force them to let me go. This lesson has been hard to learn, and certainly not one I have mastered.
One thing I have learned:
Trust is such a delicate creature. In one foolish, panicked moment it be shattered, crushed, suffocated -- and it cannot be resurrected, there is no 'breath of life' or miracle technology that can heal those wounds. If you are lucky, bits of trust might be found buried in love (as love cannot die, only languish), and from those remnants you can begin to rebuild.
I only hope that as I discover the world, I become less a fool, stepping carefully and remaining calm, so that I can pull those who are sinking up with me.
Maybe, some day, we'll fly.
At times I feel old, as if I have lived long enough to know all, as if I carry wisdom in the dust on my feet.
I am a fool.
I know some things of the world. I have so much more to see, to learn. I must remember that knowledge is not understanding, experience is not wisdom. I have only just opened my eyes to the world, my life thus far only a glimpse -- and blurred as in the first moments of waking. I have learned that the world will not hand over its secrets to me calmly. I must fight, clawing my way against the surge of those who bet against me. Sometimes it is only a battle to stay afloat, in other moments I seem to speed ahead, leaping and diving forward into life head first.
Sometimes I find myself sinking.
Yet, I have been blessed enough to be loved. Those who love me have come and pulled me back towards the surface countless times. I must remind myself to remain calm, so I do not drown them in my panic, or force them to let me go. This lesson has been hard to learn, and certainly not one I have mastered.
One thing I have learned:
Trust is such a delicate creature. In one foolish, panicked moment it be shattered, crushed, suffocated -- and it cannot be resurrected, there is no 'breath of life' or miracle technology that can heal those wounds. If you are lucky, bits of trust might be found buried in love (as love cannot die, only languish), and from those remnants you can begin to rebuild.
I only hope that as I discover the world, I become less a fool, stepping carefully and remaining calm, so that I can pull those who are sinking up with me.
Maybe, some day, we'll fly.
Research Update 4.8.2011
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| MEEC Poster |
I'm meeting with my advisor and a crew of important people associated with the project today to plan the next round of research. We're essentially going to increase the number of sites we sample at, but limit to two weeks of collection, one early summer and one late summer. Should be interesting!
I have four more vials to point and then the pointing will be finished! So the Summer 2010 samples will then be identified to morphospecies (with help from Tom at CMNH) and quantified. I'm pretty excited for that.
So much to do!
Classes are going well! GIS is harder than I thought it would be, so much to remember!
:)
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Incredible Students
One of my students has applied for a scholarship. Please vote for her HERE.
The prompt: Who has been most important tutor, teacher or coach in my life and why?
This is her essay:
I just started my education at Cleveland State University in the fall of 2010. I believe the tutoring program (TASC) at Cleveland State is a very successful program in which students (mostly graduate students) help undergraduates with their classes. I have been very successful with my tutor, Klaire, for my fall and spring semesters. In my fall semester Klaire helped me with study skills and learning how to deal with a teacher that has a thick accent for my Anatomy and Physiology class. Klaire has also been very great to me. Other than a tutor, Klaire is a friend, and a peer mentor to me. She is always keeping me in a great mood and wanting to study. In my spring semester, Klaire is helping me out with two classes which include Anatomy & Physiology 2 and Microbiology. Two sciences are very hard and if there was not anyone to reinforce how much i needed to do to accomplish my goals i would be struggling. Klaire has taught me many things about college. She has taught me how to study, manage my time, have fun, make friends, and deal with roommates. I look up to Klaire so much. She has a great personality which is caring, humorous, and energetic. Klaire also is very determined, strong willed, successful and awesome. I know I could sit here and write more about Klaire and how she has affected my life, but I would just stress how spectacular she is. Klaire has made my college experience much better, and I will take everything she has taught me about time management, team work, personalities, roommates, and goals with me for the rest of my life.
The prompt: Who has been most important tutor, teacher or coach in my life and why?
This is her essay:
I just started my education at Cleveland State University in the fall of 2010. I believe the tutoring program (TASC) at Cleveland State is a very successful program in which students (mostly graduate students) help undergraduates with their classes. I have been very successful with my tutor, Klaire, for my fall and spring semesters. In my fall semester Klaire helped me with study skills and learning how to deal with a teacher that has a thick accent for my Anatomy and Physiology class. Klaire has also been very great to me. Other than a tutor, Klaire is a friend, and a peer mentor to me. She is always keeping me in a great mood and wanting to study. In my spring semester, Klaire is helping me out with two classes which include Anatomy & Physiology 2 and Microbiology. Two sciences are very hard and if there was not anyone to reinforce how much i needed to do to accomplish my goals i would be struggling. Klaire has taught me many things about college. She has taught me how to study, manage my time, have fun, make friends, and deal with roommates. I look up to Klaire so much. She has a great personality which is caring, humorous, and energetic. Klaire also is very determined, strong willed, successful and awesome. I know I could sit here and write more about Klaire and how she has affected my life, but I would just stress how spectacular she is. Klaire has made my college experience much better, and I will take everything she has taught me about time management, team work, personalities, roommates, and goals with me for the rest of my life.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Conferences
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April 1-4 I'm going to the 2011 Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. That's MEEC 2011 at SIUC. I'm presenting a poster -- a decision that was made only two weeks ago, giving me a total of six weeks to get funding, itinerary, data, and poster organized.
Thus far: I've applied for a travel funds scholarship from CSU's College of Science, I've submitted my abstract and registered, booked the flights, reserved a hotel room (ok, its a Bed and Breakfast-- my Papa insisted on that), and have started working on the poster (and data).
I'm going to present the same poster at CSU's College of Science Research Day, on April 15th.Spring break is next week. I'll be at school, in the lab, making my poster and pointing the pan trap samples. Although I might take a day off in the middle of the week to go on a hike. Busy.Classes are going well. I got a B on my first evolution exam, which I'm not happy about, but now I know EXACTLY what to expect for the next exam. The engineering class I was worried about turned out to be a piece of cake. (Thank you, physics minor.) I just had the first engineering exam yesterday, pretty sure I aced it. 4.0 here we come.
I'm also:
1. Planning my second round of sampling
2. Working to get through pan trap samples for the August ESA Meeting
3. Trying to decide if I should hike the Appalachian Trail with two of my best friends after I graduate.
Life is good.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Committee Meeting, Research Update, Life
SO MUCH CHANGE!
1. Moved back home. My family is incredible.
2. Had committee meeting: proposal and academic plan approved (sure, a bit late, but my project is great), my general awesomeness affirmed.
3.Research: I, with the help of the super-awesome Sarah, have completed sorting and IDing the Beat Net samples. All 13340 individuals. I'm looking through the vegetation height complexity data, pointing the pan trap samples and planning a second round of sampling, as field season is fast approaching.
4. Coursework: Oh yeah, I'm also taking 11 credit hours of coursework, with classes in environmental engineering, GIS, and aquatic ecosystems. I'm doing ok with these, but it's a delicate balancing act.
1. Moved back home. My family is incredible.
2. Had committee meeting: proposal and academic plan approved (sure, a bit late, but my project is great), my general awesomeness affirmed.
3.Research: I, with the help of the super-awesome Sarah, have completed sorting and IDing the Beat Net samples. All 13340 individuals. I'm looking through the vegetation height complexity data, pointing the pan trap samples and planning a second round of sampling, as field season is fast approaching.
4. Coursework: Oh yeah, I'm also taking 11 credit hours of coursework, with classes in environmental engineering, GIS, and aquatic ecosystems. I'm doing ok with these, but it's a delicate balancing act.
Pointed Hymenopterans
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