Good to be back home

1.ii.2012
0149- on the internet
0952- getting ready to go into work
1446- tea time
1742- packing up the truck

Random Fact- the size of hybrid zones in birds varies widely- in the tropics some zones are only a mile or so wide while in the central US zone can be hundreds of miles wide.

Lunch- Cheesy Cheddar steak burger
Dinner- lots of salami

The best part of today was (as it always is) getting sequences back.  Even awesomer was the fact only 5 of the 86 reactions I did failed (less awesome was getting a parking ticket while waiting for sequencer to open the files).  I also had my Skype discussion today, which went well except for that when I asked a question my computer crashed and by the time I got it up and running again they had moved on to a different topic.  Luckily I had tea with Kevin right after so I got to ask him about avian hybrid zones.  Loading up the truck took forever- it seemed like my stuff was scattered more than usual but I eventually got on the road about 1930.  Since I don't have a real phone charger the drive was kinda lame- I couldn't talk on the phone or listen to an audio book, but I made it work.

2.ii.2012
0451- sleeping
0937- getting ready to head off again
1323- driving
1940- hanging out with Brad

Random Fact- Traveling to Hong Kong does not have the same visa requirements as China itself- as long as you stay on the island you can just pick up a tourist visa when you arrive.

Lunch- the rest of the salami
Dinner- Plate at Layne's

After sleeping at a truckstop in Little Rock I drove the rest of the way to CS arriving about 1630 after 100+ miles of rain.  It was amazing seeing some green grass and the lake levels starting to come up after the awful drought we've had the past year.  Brad and I got dinner at Layne's, and went to Best Buy so I could get a phone charger.  I almost lost the charger though because I dropped part of it in the store, luckily I checked before we drove off and I was able to relocate it.  Today's excitement though was finally getting my Philippines tickets purchased.  Now we just have to come up with the itinerary so I know what gear to bring.

3.ii.2010
0601- sleeping
0721- getting ready to head in to the lab
1131- at work
1944- at Sodalaks with Eric

Random Fact- The Schmidt Sting Pain Index rates the relative pain/sensations caused by hymenopteran stings.  The descriptions are rather amusing...

Lunch- Lamb Kebabs
Dinner- steak and potato salad at Sodalaks

We had an amazing thunderstorm this evening, it featured tornado warnings, hail, strong winds, and a couple inches of rain.  Eric and I met up for dinner at the new Sodalaks (the one in the hole, as everyone apparently identifies it) and when the hail started a waitress opened a door to see if it was hail or not (it was).  Only problem was the door got stuck open, she got soaked and ran away, and by the time they got the door closed again there was a pretty nice flood going on.  At this point they closed the restaurant (but we had already placed our orders) and the entertainment portion of the night started- 6 waitresses trying to push all the water back out the door.  Ironically the 12 year old helper had the right idea of using 1 squeegee perpendicular to the door while the others parallel, but the older waitresses didn't like the idea and went back to pushing 3/4 of the water into the walls with every swipe. 

4.ii.2012
0423- sleeping
0939- still sleeping
1052- starting to wake up
1706- playing WoW

Random fact- Midland, TX has gotten more snow than Chicago, IL this year.

Lunch/Dinner- chili and bread

Took the birds out about noon, but both of them were being kinda pissy, they're still a bit heavy from the trip, so nothing too exciting today in that regard.  After dropping them off back home I went over to Jim Cathey's so we could try and figure out why Betsy's hazard lights don't work.  We ruled out all the easy things, so now it's going to be a major challenge, unless I get really, really lucky and it turns out to be a missing relay (which doesn't appear to be located where the diagrams say it is).  I spent the rest of the day playing WoW and working on my sequences.  I got everything aligned, even the 12s wasn't too difficult to fit into place.