Happy Halloween!

I barely notice how time is flying here! It's Halloween weekend and and then it's November! Midterms and crunch time for fellowship applications so no rest for me!

There is a bright red tree outside my window that is really enthusiastic for Autumn.

This is an Eastern Blue-tongued Lizard, Tiliqua scincoides scincoides (skink-like, hence the name scincoides), to your left. They puff up when threatened and stick out their tongues and hiss at you! Adorable. They are popular pets in Australia where they are common. I think I would like to have one if I lived there. I don't really like reptiles as pets but these guys are cute and seem affable enough. Look at their little feet...

Maybe I could wear a mottled brown sweater and eat a blue popsicle and show up to a party as a blue-tongued lizard. Now there's an easy costume idea!

Greetings all!

Alright, no introductions necessary since all of you who come here should already know me :)

Well, I was quickly running out of storage room in my old blog due to all my pictures, and I was a little peeved at how difficult it was to customize certain parts of the layout once I picked a theme...so I jumped ship to a new host! I'm a swift little pathogen I am!

Things are a little more simpler on Blogger and I am noticing the site operates much faster than the old one so that satisfies my impatience with all things technological. I'll see how I like the other features once I mess around a bit more, I think I'll find it up to snuff.

As for life, it is a little rainier, a little colder, and every day it is getting a little darker. Summer passes by very fast here and before you know it it's long coat weather! I wore a long coat today! And a scarf! I cannot believe it is October already, and almost a full week in. I have been here for over a month now and am decent at finding my way around (for the most part). There is still that stranger in a strange land feeling which is silly because I have lab-mates who moved from overseas and I just hopped from one coast to the other. Although there is 3000 miles between them.

Gears are turning...starting to think about what I want to research...it is so exciting! I did not think I would be planning my own research project a year ago!

Look at this guy:

Isn't he a cutie?? Heleioporus australiacus, the giant burrowing frog of Australia. I like that they are very plump :) The more I learn about amphibians the more I grow to love them. Knowing me I think you can replace 'amphibian' with any creature and the sentence would still hold true. If it can apply to ticks it can apply to anything! Really, all life is worth knowing. Everything is fascinating once you dig deeper, look closer. That can be a problem. I read a quote once that went like : 'Try to learn something about everything, and everything about something.'
I like it. I think most people do this.

Anyways it is getting late for me. And I want to eat this grapefruit. Until next time!