In My Eyes We are More Than Just Friends...

- Hours Seem to pass as seconds.

Talking seems to connect us more

than we could have expected

- Friendship is too weak of a word to

describe these feelings between us.

-An unspoken bond unites us like a

vine intertwined with a tree.

As we stare into each others eyes

there is an undeniable union of hearts.

-In my eyes, as I hope in yours too,

we are more than just friends,

we are a union of craft.

We aretwo hearts choosing to

beat as One!

Portland, Oregon Here I Come!

I have always felt like a traveler but was too hesitant to leave everything behind. Since I can remember I was always traveling with my parents. I was raised in a migrant family working out in the fields, never in my wildest dreams that I imagined I would turn out to be a scientist. Biology has always interested me but I never knew that I could actually pursue a career of my own. In the last year, after being accepted into the REU program( which I LOVE), I have found my sense of adventure and travel that I have been longing for. I have traveled around the valley and up into West Texas and now to Portland, Oregon. I aspire to one day travel the world and experience Science as Darwin did. My one true Love i would have to say would be to travel South America and wrap myself in culture, beauty, and Nature, Oh how I love Nature. Portland better be ready for me cause I'm ready for Portland! :)

No Need For Titles (just nature lovers)

Some people call us tree huggers, nature freaks but i refer to myself with no title. I am just a person who loves and appreciates nature, maybe a bit more than the next person but still there is no need for labels. If the civilized world actually stopped everything and listened not only with their ears but with their hearts to nature the world would be in a much better place. Just to think that the air we breath to survive is provided to us by plants, food we all love food, no matter if your herbivorous, carnivorous or omnivorous our food comes from the earth. Everyday is a day to be thankful for all the wonders we see everyday from the butterflies flying in the breeze to the Birds in the air and the creepy crawlies that i love (reptiles), all in the ground LIVING. Nature is a love that should be shared now and for generations to come. We have to conserve and preserve this earth so our future generations can experience nature as it should be and not be a thing of the past. Call me what you will, nature freak, tree hugger, whatever you like but to me, I'm just a person who loves nature and all its beauties!

Lizard Treadmill

Never have I felt as tired and frustrated as I have this week. The cause of this is building a treadmill for lizards and having it function correctly. Yesterday I felt like just laying down and going to sleep. I came in around 7 in the morning to finish working on the treadmill. What followed was one complication after another. One good thing that came out of it though was that it was already a manufactured treadmill for humans but the difficult part was actually motorizing it and making a few adjustments running the belt from the motor to the actual running belt. I can't imagine building one out of scratch. Just thinking of the idea of building out of scratch makes my body ache. Its all for the sake of science! I guess we all have to go through some pain before the good, whether it be mentally or physically. Even though it caused me so much pain and exhaustion I still enjoy it because I can say that i put my heart and sweat into building that machine, without it I wouldn't have a project.

Model Scientist (Jeff Corwin)!

Words could not be found to describe what happened yesterday and for last week. Last week's meeting with Dr. Francois Therrien, an amazing man that is full of energy,is very funny and very intelligent. Talking to him and being able to relate with him in issues of research and the organisms that we study, carrying conversations of the paleoecology work he is involved in. The icing on the cake was when I got to meet with one of the most influential persons in my life, Jeff Corwin. Yesterday felt so surreal as though I was having an out of body experience. These emotions don't arise from the fact that he is a celebrity of the Discovery Channel but from the work he does in conservation and being an advocate for those who can't speak for themselves(organisms for instance the golden frog that I talk about in a previous blog)and also for representing the Science community. I was allowed to have dinner with him at his table and was able to engage him in conversation dealing with the recent issues found here(BORDER WALL)and talking in a much lighter note about his travels and about the research we are both conducting. Jeff Corwin had made a major impact not only last night but through his show The Jeff Corwin Experience during which I was at a point in life where I did not know what career path I was going to follow. I was classified as a Pre-Med Bio major but taking Herpetology(the study of Reptiles and Amphibians) and viewing Jeff Corwin and how he was able to work live organisms made me take a 180 degree turn and start in research biologybeing Ecological and physiological. In a sense, as corny as it may sound, they changed my life. The most memorable moment that occured yesterday with Jeff Corwin was when a child asked him about pursuing a career in biology and he responded "You can do anything you want, finish high school and even attend college, here at the university, and do research on lizards, in fact there is a student here who does study lizards..." and he pointed me out in the crowd. To me that just made me realize that I am pursuing my dream and that he is the greatest example of who I want to become and who I want to relate to.

Dinosaurs in Journal Club

This week we will be discussing about dinosaurs in Journal Club. For those of you who have not been to Journal Club, it is an experience that you should take. Not only do we get to chat with professors and part take in discussions but we get to talk about really awesome journal articles such as this week article about dinosaurs. We will be discussing the reproductive traits of Maniraptoran Theropods and egg taxonomy. Reading articles weekly and discussing them, I believe help me better understand articles and how to asses good and bad writing. Journal club opens your mind to different styles of writing in a scientific article while allowing input of others to better understand the information. Some say practice makes perfect, well at least a bit close to it, so by being able to read articles in journal club you'll get the practice of reading scientific articles and improve your writing skills. If you are interested in coming to Journal Club the article is posted on the biology web page in the link News and events, Journal club, and we meet on Fridays from 3:30-4:30 in room 2.288. Oh and did I mention FREE FOOD! Below I posted the website for Journal Club.

http://www.utpa.edu/dept/biology/journal.html

The Unknown

Lately there have been very significant finds in the animal world. I just read a news article describing the find of a rare species of tree frog, thought to have been extinct, in Costa Rica. The significance of this frog is not only that it is rare but that it has been able to survive in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve. The first sited specimen of this frog was a male and when the female was found gave hope to researchers that the species might be reproducing successfully as the female was with eggs. The find of this female is very rare because they are hard to locate not only because the lack of call but because it spends most of its time in the upper branches of the trees. Preservation of these frogs would allow researchers to learn more about their ecology and their physiology and answer the question of survival against all odds. This rare find goes to show that their is still yet a whole world of exploration. From the finding of this rare tree frog to rarely seen African Okapi.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7609590.stm