In a "statement of research" essay for a grad school, fellowship, etc. application, is it appropriate to have a short lit cited? For example: "we are becoming more aware that x is important in understanding y (Doe et al. 2010), so I will include an examination of x in my research on y and z" or "collaborators and I have used new technologies in novel ways to further conservation research (Labmate et al. 2011)."

In the past week, I have had 1.5 days of class and 3.5 days of cancelled class. First it was the snow/nasty weather causing class cancelations. Then we went to school 2 hours late on Thursday, and after about 4 hours, they cancelled class for the rest of the week due to natural gas shortages throughout the state. In smaller towns, people weren't getting any gas delivered to their homes, and so they had no way to heat their homes in sub-0 weather. UNM and all the state gov offices closed so as not to take gas away from the state gas company, so fewer people would go without heat. Plus, on Thursday UNM seemed unconcerned with heating the classrooms even when we were there. Not sure what they did about greenhouses and labs with animals in them.

I don't know if we're over the gas shortages at this point, but it has warmed up to a balmy 40F, with lows only in the teens, so who needs gas/heat?!

Matt's heat broke on Tuesday morning and was fixed Wed afternoon. The pipes to his hot water heater froze around Wed. Then, on Friday, he woke up to a broken water pipe flooding the garage, so he had no water all day. Luckily, his landlord got that fixed within a couple hours. I think he still doesn't have hot water, and the water pressure is still really bad. Matt's issues are pretty typical of what most people are dealing with here in the Land of Enchantment. I have a friend whose apartment hasn't had water since Friday, and another whose house has been without water since Thursday due to a frozen/busted water main near the house. It's a good time to be a plumber in NM.

I will NOT be driving in this crap. I mean, really, solid shit is fall from the sky. Now that class is cancelled, Hermione and I are "working" from home, under blankets.

You know that huge storm that's supposed to pulverize the midwest? It's here in NM, kicking our ass. It was sleeting yesterday afternoon as I walked from school to my car, then turned into snow as I drove home, and it's apparently been snowing pretty much ever since. Forecasts look like it will snow almost continually through tomorrow. UNM cancelled the 1st 2 hours of class today, but nothing else. I'm expected to go to school in this mess. People here do not know how to drive in this kind of weather (we live in a dessert! No one here knows how to react when we get any form of precipitation. Add in the icy patches on the roads, and you have a death derby). Hell, I don't know how to drive in snow/ice. And NM doesn't waste money on salt for the roads. Nope, we use red dirt. Works almost as well, really. Yet I'm supposed to make it to school? Ha. I think I'm going to be crashing with Matt the next couple of nights, since he lives walking distance to campus, so if they make me teach tomorrow, at least I won't have to drive in this crap again to do so.

THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!!

I'll let you know if I make it to school alive today.

Amazing lab-inspired Gaga costumes and hilarious lyrics. I tried to write my favorite line, but I can't chose one. They're all great.

The problem with my Super!Cute! new haircut: the layers/bangs/thingies framing my face are almost long enough to tuck behind my ears. Thus, when I ride my bike to school, the helmet straps push the short pieces of hair across my face and into my eyes, where the wind plasters them in place until I shove them out of the way with my hand, at which point the helmet pushes them back into my eyes, and the wind holds in place...... I guess it's time to find some old headbands or barrettes for my ride to school.

And it was soclose to being the perfect hair style for me.

I wish I had done a better job of recording my thoughts on my 2 months last fall in Peru. It was an intense trip, with many great and bad experiences: beautiful new birds, quarreling field assistants, jaw-dropping scenery, being detained by the Peruvian police, learning new field techniques, a borrowed tent that was neither bug- nor water-proof, and collecting lots of data for my dissertation.

One of the aspects about my time in Peru that I continually revisit is the humbling generosity of the Andean Peruvians we met. We traveled up and down Andean rivers, searching for campsites along workable stretches of river every few days. In doing so, we asked many different people and communities for permission to live and work on their land. We arrived in an expensive 4x4 truck filled with pricey field and lab equipment, and usually we were offered a place to camp for free. Elderly women would walk miles on steep mountain roads carrying produce on their backs, and stop in to give us a sackful of avocados or limes, accepting nothing in return. These people have next to nothing: their shoes are worn sandals (even in the cold wet seasons of the high Andes); they wear the same clothing for days in a row, presumably because they have nothing else; an elderly woman with shoulder joint pain I met could not afford Advil/Tylenol; empty disposable plastic water bottles (which we would have thrown away) were eagerly accepted as valuable tools for hauling river water to livestock. Despite their extreme poverty, they shared what they had with us. Their produce is their livelihood, and yet they gave it to us, rich gringos who clearly did not need it.

I hope I will never forget the generosity and hospitality of the women we met, and that it will continue to inspire me to more generous behaviors and attitudes.

I talked with Mom today on the phone, who informed me that my nephew Jayden (8 months old) has learned to crawl. Except the genius kid can only crawl backwards. That's right, he hasn't figured out how to propel himself forwards. Even funnier is that when he's playing with an adult on the floor, he's all happy and smiles, and scoots himself backwards. He becomes less happy the further he gets from the adult, but keeps moving backwards until he ends up stuck in a corner or under a table, at which point he cries until he's rescued.

I really wish I was home with my family to see this newly discovered adorableness.

The corvids [crows, ravens, and jays] exhibit the most complex play behaviour of all passerines, which includes playing tricks on other species, even when they have nothing to gain by doing so. Play behaviour .... contains elements of practice for the serious business of life, and also of showing off prowess to potential mates and rivals. But some playful behaviour, such as repeatedly sliding down snow banks, appears to be done just for the fun of it.

Two bicyclists stabbed in Jacksonville; one in critical condition | jacksonville.com

At the end of my dad's group bike ride today, some asshole in a pickup truck hit a couple cyclists, then followed the group into a parking lot and started a fight. After my dad's friend and teammate, John, punched the guy who hit them, the guy pulled a knife, stabbing John six times and also stabbing the arm of another cyclist who tried to pull them apart. My dad's friend was stabbed in the back and chest, his lung was punctured, and they weren't sure if he was going to make it at first, but now he's going to be ok. My dad was right there for all of it - it could have easily been him. He used a bike tube as a tourniquet on the other cyclist's arm, afterwards telling a reporter, "You can fix anything with a tube and a spoke." Classic Dad. The number of times he fixed things around the house with either a tube or a spoke... none of us thought he'd save a life with used bike parts. I'm proud of him, at the same time that I'm heartsick and worried and angry.

The asshole will be charged with aggravated battery. Why not attempted murder? He intentionally hits a group of cyclists with a truck (you really can't miss a group of 25 cyclists midday wearing neon colored spandex - it was no accident), follows the cyclists to the lot where their cars are parked, yells at them, makes the first physical contact ("chest-bumping" is what my dad called it), then pulls a fucking knife and stabs someone 6 times in the chest and back. How is that not attempted murder?

Dad has been run off the road, had beer bottles, (full) water bottles, and other shit thrown at him, and we've both been yelled at to get off the road (while riding in the bike lane, not impeding traffic in any way) countless times. Cyclists in North Florida are used to having rednecks be aggressive towards us, but none of us ever expect someone to stab a cyclist for just being a cyclist.

Some of the comments on the article posted above make me sick. Someone suggested that this guy was acting in "self defense" by pulling a knife. He hit they cyclists with his truck. He followed the cyclists, when he could have just driven away. He made first physical contact. John should not have punched him. But I know how it feels to have just been hit or almost hit by a car. It's infuriating, especially when you have reason to believe the car hit you intentionally. Your reaction is to flee (but the asshole followed them, so that didn't work). And then your reaction is to lash out against the person who attacked you with a metal death machine.