ZOMG

OK, it's been more than 7 months, and for that I apologize. It's likely the majority of my posts around here will start with an apology like that, but them's the breaks.

Anyways, just a quick note to say "still alive". Not sure why I'm writing right now, I just felt like writing I think. Which is odd, considering how much writing / rewriting / analyzing / reanalyzing / proofreading / editing / designing / et cetera on my computer at school I've been doing for the past... say... 7 months or so.

News, I suppose, is in order.
1. Not going North this summer, which is sad. Everything was lining up nicely for me to spend an excessive amount of time at Resolute Bay, but funding fell through at the final hurdle.
2. On the other hand, this does give me time to get some serious lab work and data generation done here in Saskatoon. Back to the molecular grind, in other words - which I'm actually looking forward to, I've been telling people "yes, I do PCR" but in that uncertain, hypothetical sense that I'm sure came through in my tone of voice and body language. It's one thing to say "I do PCR", it's another to say "I'm running a PCR right now, stop bugging me this damn pipetting robot is trying to kick-start the inevitable robot uprising again and I'm a little busy suppressing several of the metal ones".
3. I have been on many Sunday Drives since my last post, and I have not improved noticeably in my ability to edit & upload the photographs (and rare video) in anything like a timely fashion. However, I have taken steps that I feel are starting to address this imbalance.
3.1. I have purchased a "pro" Flickr account, visible here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49837331@N06/ Link for those whose browsers don't like that URL.
3.2. I have purchased Lightroom 3.3, for about $100 using the 'education' discount. I will argue that my educational position fully qualifies me for discounts on photo-editing and photo-management software - a handful of my photos have been published by University publications!
4. I guess I should follow up that last point - back in the fall, a person whose job description includes publicity things for the Faculty of Agriculture and Bioresources approached me about having photos from the 2010 field season in the High Arctic. I did indeed, I put some together and sent them to her, and a few showed up in an article about our work in the University's internal newspaper - uncredited, of course. Oh well. Minor additional upside: she also shoots a Pentax, so there's a possibility for further gear-geekery in future.
5. More driving: I joined the Saskatoon Sports Car Club, and was nearly immediately elected to the exective (with only 17 active members, pretty much everybody has to take turns as director at large, or president, or treasurer, sooner or later). We've got about 18 autocross events planned between the end of May and the beginning of September, and I'm planning to get to every event that I'm in town for (and that my car is up for). New tires are in order, anyways.
6. Good news on the funding / scholarship side of things, but it hasn't been officially announced yet so I can't talk about it. It's very good news, though, and I am pleasantly surprised. Also, somebody done screwed up, 'cuz I sure don't deserve it.
7. Plenty of other things are in the works for the coming year. No promises, but I plan to avoid neglecting this place for quite so long an interval.

One of the reasons I like Flickr is because it supposedly streamlines linking pictures to a blog, as I will now attempt to demonstrate.

Yes, my Flickr username is "Execudork". I chose that name long before I considered the possibility that one day I'd have to spell it out over the phone to my mother. Could have been worse, I suppose. Thanks, Internet!