Blogging during my lunch break

Well... The semester came and went--I came out on top.
I have an apartment now with Nick and Derek.
Went to Costa Rica again and had a great time.
Started my REU Internship, and well.... here we are!

This summer will be my most productive summer yet.
I ate through two GRE prep books during my Costa Rican escapade and am on task to take it in July.
Things are great, especially since I turn 21 in eight or so days and am planning a real party.

Anyhow... Here's what I've been doing during my internship so far:
Tuesday May 26, 2009:
Topped off formalin in several fish collections. Properly labeled all of the fishes involved in the gut-content analysis. Weighed and measured “NTD” fishes. Taught ST students how to perform basic lab procedures, including the removal of brains from telescope shiners. 9am-4pm

Wednesday May 27, 2009:
Performed ten gut content dissections, keying out contents to LPL. Researched for aquatic insects and plant DNA extraction. Attended REU orientation meeting. Sifted through April plankton samples, taking pictures of several specimens for identification. Removed gill sections from six female 2007 Telescope shiners and placed each in carmine stain overnight as a pilot project. Cleaned up. 9:20a-5p

Thursday May 28, 2009:
Began this log. Entered data for NTN (Feb) fishes. Researched gill parasites. Found gill parasites on stained fish! (dactylogyrus?)

Here's a picture of the parasite I found (400x magnification. Specimen is ~290 micrometers in length)

I'll try and update my daily work....but you know just how good my word is about updating things.

Cheers!