Fourth of July

This past weekend Wade and I took our first "vacation" since I started my job. We had Friday off, and we took Monday as a vacation day to spend a four day weekend at my mom and step-dad's house on Anna Maria Island.

As a bonus, we were able to spend the time with Mike and Melissa and their little one, Gian (sounds like John). This was also his first big trip on a plane and with so many new experiences he was a trooper. It was so good to catch up with them and fun to watch Gian experience his first beach and pool. The pool he was a fan of, but the beach will take a little more convincing it seems. He was not thrilled with the results of wiping his face with a sandy salty hand! Below is a picture of the Valenti clan enjoying some old Florida time one the fishing pier while we waited for fish sandwiches.

It was a really nice weekend of relaxing and cramming in as much sun as humanly possible. We were also treated to a bonus visit on Sunday from Marilyn on her way back to Miami and Michelle who came up for the afternoon. Below is everyone frolicking in the pool (sorry for the blurry image - that's actually from the heat and humidity!)

Surprisingly, it was a little rough at the beach this weekend, so Wade was having fun trying his hand at body surfing the waves... with mixed results. I am fairly certain that he completely flushed his sinuses a few times.

All in all it was the perfect weekend of relaxation, fun, friends, and sun. Just what every holiday should be filled with!

Dominica

Dominica ("Dom-in-eek-a") is one of my favorite places in the Western Hemisphere. Granted, I still have a lot to see, but when Wade and I stopped here on our honeymoon we couldn't wait to go back. The island is one of the few left in the Caribbean that hasn't been seriously developed, so it's known as the Nature Isle. There's almost 80 freshwater rivers (complete with waterfalls!), mountains with boiling lakes, rainforest, coral reefs, and beaches made of black sand, smooth stones, or brown sand. The people are fairly friendly, and due to the rich volcanic soil, no one goes hungry - they can grow just about anything you can imagine. They also make their own rum and beer there, both of which are delightful.

So, I have already gotten lost in describing the wonders of the island, but didn't mention why I was there! I was giving a talk at the Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean meeting, that was being hosted this year by the ITME lab, in Roseau (Rose-oh), Dominica (the southwestern coast). I will try to recount this in a daily journal style to keep my thoughts organized....

Monday, May 25: I flew into San Juan, Puerto Rico to meet up with my co-worker Whitney for the one daily flight to Dominica. Our flight ended up leaving an hour late, but we weren't in a hurry, so we went with the flow. I made one last call to Wade before we took off knowing phone service would be unavailable or expensive while "down island". To land at the airport in Dominica, we cut across the island and brushed the tree-covered mountains before dropping into the valley that housed the airport on the eastern coast of the island. We were greeted with mountains, palm trees, and the ocean as we disembarked the prop plane and strolled across the tarmac. We made it through customs and hopped into a "taxi" (the 14 passenger Nissan mini-vans that are ubiquitous all over the Eastern Caribbean) for an hour long ride across the island to our hotel. Whitney and I were both in desperate need of relaxation by this point, so we were happy to crank the windows open to take in the seabreezes followed by jungle smells and sounds. We arrived at the hotel in Roseau to find happy hour in progress. We dropped our stuff in our ocean front room (and squealed with delight), threw open the doors and windows to let the seabreeze in, then ran down to enjoy rum punch and some dinner. I was excited that we ran into a friend from grad school, Erinn. She had dinner with us while we caught up on where we've been. That night Whitney and I fell asleep under a fan and seabreezes to the sound of the ocean washing up on the stone beach below.

(The view from our balcony)

Mini-digression#1: For those who don't know, I love rum. Particularly the "real" stuff made in the Caribbean which is stronger and better flavored than what you can find in the States. On our honeymoon, I thoroughly enjoyed sampling the rum punch on each island we visited. :)

Tuesday: We awoke to the sound of the ocean and sunlight streaming in our open windows. Without lifting my head from my pillow, I could see the ocean! :) What a fabulous way to wake up! We drug ourselves out of bed and stumbled down to breakfast where we enjoyed fresh tropical fruit and a full breakfast with the birds. Some of the local birds (bananquit & bull finch) apparently like sugar so they come into the porch where breakfast was served to snack on pastries and each sugar out of the sugar jars on the table. We found it immensely entertaining. We also discovered that Tuesday was cruise ship day and the ship was pulling into port as we were eating. It was amazing how everyone in town seemed to spring to life in response to the cruise ship... it's a shame thought that most people don't realize the impacts that large scale cruise tourism can have on small islands, people, and coral reefs.

(The view from my pillow - we could hear and see the ocean!)

After breakfast, we headed to the meeting to watch talks and we were able to sit with two other friends from grad school, Alison and Jill. (Although I missed Wade, I was relishing the week of girly fun with friends!) After lunch we snuck out early to work on our talks for a bit. Yes, we're bad, I know, we should have already made our talks. but, since mine was supposed to be based on the findings from my workshop and things were a little more difficult than expected, it took me a while to process things. Once the talks were done for the day, there was more rum punch, then we tagged along with Jill who was helping staff the meeting (during grad school, she did work at ITME, the host lab). We piled into the back of truck and headed 20 minutes to hang out at the lab. On the way up we stopped for sandwiches and were treated to bats flitting through the air just overhead! (we also found out that Dominica is home to a fish eating bat!) We talked the night away at the lab before finally heading back to melt into bed. Although we were getting seabreezes on the island, it was still hot and muggy, so we quickly discovered the cold showers were a best way to stay cool.

(Whitney, me, Jill, and Alison hanging out at ITME)

Wednesday: We performed the same breakfast routine then headed out for the field trip day. Yes, that's right, field trip day. I have a lot of respect for people who purposefully schedule fun into a meeting to facilitate networking and general appreciate for the area you're visiting. Whitney and I picked a hiking trip to Middleham Falls that also went to Titou Gorge. We were ready with cameras, but could have kicked ourselves for not bringing an underwater housing! Fortunately, Erinn also came on our trip and saved the day with her underwater camera. :) We drove up to the rainforest to start our hike. It took about an hour, and man was I beat. (I am so out of shape right now, despite biking to work) however, we were richly rewarded with the beauty of the falls and the cool waters to swim in. It was so frigid I shrieked like a girl and everyone laughed, heck even I had to laugh at myself. One of the great things about Dominica is how clean and clear the freshwater rivers are there. You can drink from them and it's the best tasting water... so good in fact, it supplies all the water needs for the island. Once swim time was over, we hiked back out and took another ride to the Gorge for more swimming (and shrieking by me), and playing in a waterfall. Here is where I should mention that a lot of parts of Pirates of the Caribbean (all three of the movies) were filmed in Dominica. Other shots are from St. Vincent (we saw the sets there during our honeymoon in 2006) and the Bahamas. This gorge is one of the locations they used. On the walk back to the van we were even able to see one (of the two) local parrots species fly overhead (pretty rare). That night we ate dinner in the bar at the hotel and I was finally able to get my laptop to connect to the internet so I could "talk" with Wade. It was a great virtual date. :)

(The bottom of Middleham Falls, which is a few hundred feet high!)

Thursday: After watching Jill, Alison, and Erinn give their talks, I was starting to feel nervous about my talk (sucking). After breakfast, I went back to the room to practice then rejoined the group after lunch for my talk. Whitney and I both spoke in the early afternoon and we were both happy once it was done. To celebrate, we went for a swim in the hotel pool that looked out over the ocean. That night was a banquet and I was happy to see more vegetarian options than meat options on the buffet line! When I asked the chef what was for dinner his response was "Ah, vegetarian - that's how we do things here!". It was a good dinner, and after it and some more rum punch, Whitney and I were ready to fall into bed. We turned out the lights, but ended up talking and laughing in bed for another hour before finally drifting off to the sounds of the ocean.

(The view from the pool, complete with my and Whitney's feet basking in the sun)

Mini-digression #2: Fresh local juice is served at every meal because there is such an abundance of produce... guava, papaya, grapefruit, passion fruit, "cherry" (some small fruit that is not what you would know as a cherry), etc. Because of this "natural resource", making rum punch (esp. with local rum) is really fantastic and cheaper than drinking soda or tequila or whatever has to be flown in.

Friday: We missed some of the early talks due to our inability to get ourselves to move faster than island time. By now, we had gotten in the habit of sleeping about 9-10 hours every night and it was glorious. After the talks, we wrestled up some brave troops for an adventure. I was really ready to see more of the island, and the allure of an island beach bar on a black sand beach was more than I could take. We ate an early dinner then Whitney, Alison, and I along with four others trekked across town to find a public bus (the same Nissan vans) which was super cheap. We found the right one and once we were all in, there were 18 people total in the van, our group of 7 squished in with 11 locals like sardines. But, it was well worth it. Once we arrived at Mero Beach, everyone's cares were forgotten. We ordered a round of rum punches (homemade with only fresh passion fruit juice and local cane rum) and the local Kabuli beer. We sat under the swaying palms and talked about the fate of the world and it's coral reefs. After two rounds of progressively stronger punch we were ready for the water. After soaking up the water and sun, we headed back to the bar for more drinks. On the way out I found seaglass in the sand (beach+bar=seaglass in greens, browns, and whites!) so we proceeded to pick through the surf for treasures before heading home (after one last rum punch of course!). That night, we stayed up talking about how to save coral reefs some more, before finally succumbing to bed.

(The black sand at Mero Beach - see how it sparkles?!)

(Sunset approaches on Mero Beach)

Mini-digression #3: One of the things I loved about traveling with Whitney is that she can sleep as longer or longer than I can. If you don't know, I can sleep about 12 hours if I'm really beat, and on average, I need about 9 or 10 hours a night to really function properly (yeah, I'm screwed if we have kids)



Saturday: All week, I had been perplexed about how early the sun must rise for it to be so bright by 7:30am. This morning I finally figured it out - I awoke once by accident at 5:15am to see dawn just beginning to break. And I knew that by 6:15 am it was fully up. This morning we stuffed ourselves at breakfast in preparation for our next field trip to the Indian River and snorkeling off the town of Portsmouth on the NE coast. We piled into a taxi with 3 other people, so it was practically like having a private tour. We enjoyed the scenic ride up the coast to the mouth of the Indian River. There we got into a row boat with a guide who paddled us up river. (This was another filming location for Pirates) We saw beautiful countryside, tropical trees, fish, and the air was filled with birds and their calls. After a half hour we docked at a little old wooden dock and found a little makeshift bar where they bring folks on tour. We ate local bananas and fresh coconut and watched hummingbirds, banaquits, and butterflies buzz about. It was incredibly relaxing and just what we needed. After that we were paddled back and taken to another beach bar for a late lunch (and more rum punch). Then we snorkeled before the rain moved in and we headed back. We got back just in time for me to meet up with Wade online again, then Whitney and I headed to dinner at what was rumored to be the best place in town. When we arrived, we were surprised - it was a very sophisticated looking place on the inside (but the entrance was in an alley!) that was open to the outdoors. The chef was jamming out to Prince and we had the place to ourselves. The food was wonderful (even for Sarasota or DC standards) and we toasted to having a fun and successful week. We packed that night and tried not to think about having to return to reality the next day.

(Our chariots await us - ours was the teal and yellow one)


(The view heading up the Indian River)

Sunday, May 31: We ate a leisurely breakfast before checking our work e-mail (I finally got mine to work). Ugh. Harsh reality sets in. Then we checked out and boarded the taxi for the airport. The drive to the airport was quiet despite the full van. I think everyone was saying goodbye to paradise and thinking about the work that lay ahead of them at home. Fortunately, we were flying out with a big group of folks that Alison works with, so it was nice to have company. Once we landed in San Juan, Whitney literally ran to make her connection, which she successfully did. I had dinner with Alison & co. which was fun - such a nice change not having to travel and eat alone! We eventually parted ways as they were destined for Miami, and me for Tampa. I got home a little late and was in bed by 1:30am. It was wonderful to see my hubby and furry kids again, but we were both exhausted and headed straight to bed.

(A banaquit sneaking some sugar at breakfast)

(The bar, and only place we could get internet, go figure)

For more pictures from my Caribbean adventure, check out our Picasa site here .

A numbers game

10... the number of fun people and old friends from college that sat at our table during Sarah & Evan’s wedding.
9.... The number of days I’ve been away from home for this trip so far (and also my longest trip so far)
8.... The number of times I contemplated quitting my job this week.
7.... The number of people supporting me this week to make our workshop successful.
6.... The number of plane flights I’ve been on (slept through) in the last 9 days
5.... The number of different hotels I’ve stayed in over the past 5 days.
4... The average number of hours I’ve slept each day this week.
3... The number of different states we were in on Saturday (TX, VA, FL)
2... The average time we went to bed for the last three nights – 2am.
1... There is only 1 place I want to be right now – home!

My workshop was a trial by fire this week. This is not the first workshop I’ve organized (more like the 5th?), but it is the first that I’ve been responsible for planning the content (presentations, working group discussion questions, output goals, etc). This was also the first meeting I facilitated which was daunting and proved to be a crash course in mediating conflicts in discussions as we had a lot of strong personalities in the room.
Next comes building a coalition and drafting a policy brief to submit to Science magazine.

The upside of the week was being able to see friends (old and new), tour the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, and being able to travel with Wade for the week. We also were able to slip out of DC for a day to see Sarah and Evan tie the knot. It was wonderful seeing two fun people get married who are so happy and right for each other, and wonderful to see old friends from college. Thanks to Taryn for sharing the following picture of the happy newlyweds! Look out world, here comes trouble! ;)

I write this as I sit in the San Juan, Puerto Rico airport (one of my least favorite airports). I am headed to Dominica in a few hours to attend a week of meetings and hopefully get a tiny bit of R&R in (which I desperately need). I’ll be traveling with a friend from work (Whitney), so that will help keep things fun. When I get back next week I’ll have a few days at home before heading to DC again for a presentation of my program to the executive board of EDF on June 10. Yeeahhhh.... that’s going to be super.

Calm before the storm

Well, by now I should have written about 5 blogs. There's one about my last trip to DC at the end of April, but I can sum it up pretty easily: terrible. There's one about my office mate and friend, Kellyn, leaving for a new job in Asheville , NC: bittersweet. The next would be about my and Wade' new adventure learning to sail with Megan's Dad, Steve (see his website and travel journals under our link section (Steve & Joy): exhilarating. I can't forget that Wade started his first post-doc job with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) a few weeks ago: daunting and interesting. And the last would be about celebrating Easter with my Mom & Larry (our present was to teach them how to blog): fun.

So it seems pretty lame to give you a one word synopsis about all five of those, but that's because I've been pretty much consumed with preparing for a meeting I am holding in DC next week. It really is everything I've been working towards for the last 8 months and really will make or break my program. This week I've been working non-stop in prep for it (yes, I did work until midnight on Monday...), and we're undergoing some cuts at work which has everyone on edge, including me. So I've had to be extremely focused to get everything done while not freaking out about who's going to be let go...

On Sunday Wade and I will fly to DC together for my workshop which is part of a larger suite of meetings. Although he's really going for the other meetings, it will be wonderful to have him along for moral support. We spend a week there, then head to TX for a day next weekend for Sarah & Evan's wedding, then back to DC for a day to wrap up the meetings, then back home. But alas, after a week, I won't actually get to go home. We'll overnight in the hotel in the Tampa airport so I can fly out on Memorial Day for a week in Dominica for another meeting where I will be giving a talk. Wade will stay home with the kids, but I will be meeting up with a friend and colleague from work, and two friends from grad school.

I am telling you all of this in advance b/c it could be difficult to get a hold of me until June (seriously). And once I get back I am already scheduled for 2 trips to DC, one of which will be a big review of my program... and in a not so fun kind of way. Ahh, belt-tightening.

Amidst all this hustle and scurrying, I've been working from home more to ward off stress. Snuggling, I mean, working with the cats around has been wonderful, and we've discovered that we're running our own little bird sanctuary in our yard. We now have a full family of Carolina Wrens and Downy Woodpeckers winging through the yard and singing in the trees. It has been very entertaining watching the youngsters learn how to use the feeders and inspect us on the back deck. This new life is already on top of the small Tufted Titmouse family, gang of blue jays, Red-bellied woodpeckers, Mr. & Mrs. Cardinal (who might also have a nest), various warblers, occasional Red-shouldered and Cooper's Hawks, osprey, and Great Flycatchers we regularly hear in the neighborhood. I am also excited that we're just now getting the cicada's singing again - one of my favorite sounds of summer. I hope the promise of summer is as exciting for you all as it is here in our own yard!

And I'll do my best to send out updates while I'm traveling. In the mean time, hold tight and we'll be back with pictures and stories soon. :)

Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day and as such, I took stock of what we've done in the last few years to be kinder to Mother Earth. I recently read a book that asked people to imagine they were on a spaceship headed to another planet hundreds of years away... a limited supply of air and water and the only resources you had were what you could fit in the ship! You wouldn't want to produce any wastes that couldn't be reused or recycled (or else they'd taint your air, water, and food) and in turn you would want to create things that could be reused to create less waste.
Pretty interesting and daunting scenario right? The thought of space travel might make you claustrophobic, but if you think about it, we're all traveling through space on a blue and green space ship - stuck with a finite amount of air, water, and food.... yeah, it's cheesy to say, but we're on Spaceship Earth. Think about that. Then think about what you can do to make less pollution/trash and reuse the stuff you've already got.

Here are some easy tips on things we do everyday. Start slow, we've been adding these slowly since we got married so they've all added up. Pick one new thing to try until it's a habit, then try another. There are lots more out there if you check some of the links and books on the side of our site.

1. Take your own cloth bags to the grocery, Target, pharmacy, take-out place, wherever.
2. Buy a reusable water bottle to refill instead of buying (evil) plastic bottles. Better for you, your wallet, and the planet.
3. Just in case you haven't heard - recycling rocks. Do it, it's easy and free.
4. Buy produce from a local farm/farmer's market, bonus points if it's an organic farm.
5. Buy things with less packaging (less waste!) - and look for packaging that can be recycled (aluminum cans, glass bottles, etc).
6. Compost. Send less food scraps and yard waste to the landfill and instead use them to nourish your plants and trees! Or give them to a friend who composts - sometimes cities even collect it for you.
7. Use biodegradable plastic bags for garbage, doggie poop bags, and litter box liners (actually we don't use those anymore at all...)
8. Use the library to check out books and DVDs. Sharing saves resources and saves you money!
9. Drive less. Walk, take the bus or the metro when possible - it'll save you money too!
10. Change out your lightbulbs to Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs). Saves electricity and money! You can also save both of those by unplugging appliances (TVs, microwaves, computer monitors) you aren't using and turning off fans and lights when you leave a room.

So there you go - things to help your wallet and help the health of the planet, and ultimately everyone's health. Enjoy!

Cherry Trees and Monuments

After L.A., I headed to DC for two days to do some training. It was nice to be able to travel with my office mate Michelle - having a friend to talk to is better than sitting with a stranger for 2.5 hours! The first night, the usual suspects (Whitney, Preetha, and Michelle) and I made the pilgrimage to Georgetown to visit the Patagonia store then have dinner at the tea house - always a good evening! The next day was a full day of communications training, after which Michelle, Preetha and I deemed it necessary for a hearty Mexican dinner and margaritas. Feeling a bit tipsy and full, Michelle and I then headed out to walk the monuments at sunset and see the cherry trees. Below is the Washington Monument at sunset from across the tidal basin - along the water you can just see the pink blossoms on the cherry trees.

DC this time of year is quite beautiful - trees budding out, cherry blossoms around the tidal basin, and tulips and daffodils everywhere you look. It was my first time seeing the cherry trees so we thought it would be fun to do a tour. Once we got to the Jefferson Memorial where the tours start we realized that everyone else and their brother was thinking the same thing! So, we did our own unofficial tour. We started at the Jefferson Memorial (a first for me), then around the Tidal Basin to see the cherry trees, then through the Roosevelt Memorial (another first), over to the WWII Memorial (yet another first), then we ended at the Washington Memorial. We saved the Lincoln Memorial (one of my favorites) and the Vietnam Wall for next time. The walk made for the perfect ending to our trip. Below is a view of the Jefferson Memorial at night through the cherry trees. Check out more pictures on our Picasa site.

It was a quick trip this time around, so it was nice to be home in time for Easter. Saturday we picked up a nice bunch of veggies from the farm, met Kellyn for some time on the beach (my shoulders now resemble a lobster), then had pizza with my extended family. Sunday we had my folks over for Easter dinner and made them Mexican food with all the veggies from the farm.

I'm happy to be home for a week before I head to DC again!

The Coral Entourage Goes to the O.C.

Although we don't have television, I've seen enough to know when my job intersects with TV shows. This past week I was in Orange County, CA (The O.C.) for work. With me came: my boss (Amanda), a colleague from NOAA (Glynnis), a scientist and big name in the aquarium hobby (Eric), and my funder (Kristine). The first day there we all piled into the car and drove to L.A. to meet with a saltwater aquarium importer who's actually doing things right. Afterwards, we met with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (the folks who check what animals are imported into the U.S.) to talk about enforcement issues. We even got to follow around an inspector for a few hours helping with inspections at LAX airport which was really interesting (and made me feel like we were her entourage). I was also half expecting to see some scary Chinese triad people smuggling cars while we were in the warehouse district too... but alas, my TV-generated expectations of LA were not met (haha).

The next night Glynnis and I were up for a little adventure so we drove to the heart of the O.C. (as seen on television we were told) to have dinner in Laguna Beach. We walked the beach a bit and I saw my first sunset on the Pacific Ocean (and of course took an absurd amount of pictures).

After the sun went down, we hoofed it past my first tsunami evacuation route sign (see our Picasa site) on the street to a really cool sushi place. It was quite an adventure since it was a "fusion" sushi place - meaning we barely recognized anything on the menu (and there weren't a whole lot of veggie rolls). One roll I ordered had 3 kinds of fish, mango, banana, avocado, walnuts, and sprouts. Crazy, but delicious! We also ordered sashimi that was a slab of rice, grapefruit, and avocado seat-belted together with some seaweed. We were skeptical, but it was fantastic and really refreshing.

The third day we spent with Eric at the Marine Aquarium Expo (he was giving a talk) to meet some people and get the scoop on various businesses involved in the trade. It was incredible to see how much coral was for sale and how small the pieces were compared to the price.

After we'd seen everything we took Eric out to lunch for more sushi. At this sushi place they had fantastic vegetarian rolls - some even with pumpkin! I was also happy to eat sushi three times in 5 days because it gave me a great excuse to use my travel chopsticks. In a continuing effort to cut down the amount of waste I create I have started using a set of Snow Peak traveling chopsticks (they breakdown in half) and an REI metal spork. I frequently eat Asian food and oatmeal (no, not together) when I travel so these are essential tools for me. I also use them when I'm not traveling - the spork is even good for frozen yogurt! I love being able to cut down the number of plastic spoons and wood chopsticks in landfills. Wade liked my chopsticks so much he has a pair now too!

This was one of the few trips I've taken that I was able to travel with people, so it was really nice to have company and even better that everyone was fun to hang out with. It was also an inspiring experience spending the whole trip with fellow vegetarians (who had been for 20+ years!).

To see more pictures on our Picasa site, click here.