happy earth day! this weekend rounded out a busy week of grant writing, data analyses, and sample processing (on a machine that i have a love-hate relationship with). yesterday was a day for monterey bay aquarium associated fun. i am a mentor for the student oceanography club, which is a club for 6-8th graders around the area who are interested in the ocean and conservation. we have a theme every month that our meeting and field experience revolve around and april was tide pooling month. we took our 50 kiddies into the field yesterday to play in the intertidal. one girl was really excited about all the different kinds of algae out there so i got to teach her about the different ones we saw. i know i am a science nerd, but it was fun. last night the aquarium hosted its annual dinner for all their volunteers. if you have never been to the monterey bay aquarium, you should make an effort to see that amazing place. but it is a whole new level of wonderful when you get to eat yummy food in front of any exhibit you want to (think of giant tunas swimming in front of you) and decadent dessert trays are set up in nearly every corner of the building. AND despite the fact that there are still a lot of people in the aquarium, very few of them are running, screaming children. it is kind of a fancy shindig so i asked pete to wear a tie and i put on a dress and lipstick. a good time was had by all.
