A Collection of the Things I Just Cannot Understand

Since this is my blog and the First Amendment of my nation's Constitution protects me, I am going to say what I want to say about a few issues that surface quite frequently in my daily routine.

Speaking of the First Amendment, it really bothers me when fellow Americans accuse liberals of not following the Constitution, then in the next breath they are ranting about the removal of prayers in school or any other act that takes God out of our public life. Hello! Have you ever actually read the Bill of Rights? Praying in schools and placing the Ten Commandments in public is a clear violation of the First Amendment. I often hear arguments that go something like this,

"But God is on our money!! In the pledge, God is mentioned! Our founding fathers founded this nation on Christian principles!"

Have you ever read about our founding fathers or taken a history class? It actually was not until a century AFTER our country came to be that "In God We Trust" first appeared on coins. It was not until 1957 that the phrase appeared on paper currency.

If you conduct research on Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin, you will find that they were not interested in combining religion with the government. Go, I'll be here when you get back.

My second common qualm: Biblical literalism

Really? There are people that actually believe that the Bible is literally true and creationism? REALLY?!?!?!?! When I walk through campus to my office in the science building, I pass by a table covered by a white tent with a sign that reads, "Bible Study Group Sign-Up." It is always staffed with young adults ready to answer your questions and welcome you into the world of Jesus. I have thought about joining more than once. Not to discover that the Bible is true and the divine word of God, but to state my case using examples from the Bible that it is fact just a book of fiction, myth, and superstition that was written by primitive men over 2000 years ago. This should be obvious to anyone who actually reads the Bible. Slavery is cool in biblical society, so is the death penalty and rape, among other violent and abhorrent acts that were commonplace 2000 years ago. It is full of contradictions and absolute nonsense. We know that snakes cannot speak, men and women have the same number of ribs, childbirth in human females is especially painful due to a large head of the infant, people cannot live inside whales or fish or any other sea-dwelling creature. The website godisimaginary.com is fabulous for citing other examples of nonsense that occur in the Bible.

The most common rebuttal to my claims is that some of the Bible doesn't apply anymore. What? Hold the phone here, I thought that the Bible was the eternal word of God. But now you say that some of it doesn't apply? How are we supposed to know which parts do and do not apply? Since there is no way of knowing, we must assume that none of it is divine.

I could go on for days about all of the exchanges I experience with people who prefer magic, superstition and faith over reason, logic, and science. Oh, and they love to ignore that pesky stuff called evidence. But, it's always the same. Like Dr. House on TV says, "If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people."

I mentioned creationism earlier, which perhaps the biggest thorn in my side. Creationism is just silly. I said it and I don't really care who I offend. Just look at the evidence! Fossils anyone? How about vestigial structures present in organisms, the appendix or tail bone in humans for example, or comparative vertebrate anatomy? Go look at a photo of a chimpanzee or a gorilla. And, last but certainly not least, modern molecular biology and genetics. We can prove that us humans are related to most life on Earth, including bacteria, fungi, trees, diatoms, cats, rats, lizards, lichen, grass, bonobos, etc.

But, going beyond life on Earth, let's consider the Universe. Most people have looked up at the night sky and perhaps have witness the passing of a shooting star or a satellite, or have had the pleasure to glance through a telescope and peer at other planets. I am also assuming the most people are aware of the presence of the Sun. Now, as can be demonstrated by glancing towards the stars at night, we KNOW that the Earth is not the center of the Universe. In fact, it is a small rock orbiting one star out of billions that exist in the entire Universe.

Humans are just one species that reside on this planet. There are a vast number of organisms that call this little rock home and there have been many others that have lived and gone extinct (remember the aforementioned fossils) throughout the Earth's 4.5 billion year history. How can one species, who live in a blink of time on a tiny rock tucked away in one small solar system in an obscure corner of just one galaxy, be the most important part of the whole universe?

I personally just don't buy it. I don't claim to have all of the answers. I have no idea where the universe came from, where we are headed, what it truly means to be human, and the point of life. But a white-skinned male with a long beard playing puppet with the universe? I don't think so.

The New Chickadees

My favorite MN bird, the black-capped chickadee, is absent from TX. I love watching those little birds flutter around the trees, chirping, and sounding off with their famous "chick-a-dee" call. They are curious little things and will approach humans. It may sound odd, but the nature freak inside of me truly misses them.

My daily routine was disturbed greatly when I moved to TX (obviously). I have been trying to fall back into my old exercise regime, but the heat makes me want to lounge out by the pool or river and read. I started a daily walk around the neighborhood every evening before I cook dinner. As I was walking along the sidewalk, I heard a familiar sound.

"Chick-a-de-dee!"

It was more rapid than my MN birds, but it gave me a smile and a much needed familiarity. The Carolina chickadees reside here. They are very similar to the black-capped chickadee; in fact, where their ranges overlap, they hybridize. I have a new species to watch bob around the trees, such curious and intelligent little birds.

I met with my advisor yesterday (who is one of the coolest professors I have ever met) to discuss project ideas. He had told me in January that he would like to have me study grassland bird communities. Yesterday he told me that I could study the distribution and richness of wetland bird species in mitigated wetlands.

Mitigated wetlands are made when a developer destroys a wetland. It is federal law that the developer must create a new, or mitigated, wetland for the occupants to go.

I am so excited that I cannot properly express my feelings on this blog. I was meant to be a scientist.

If you, dear readers, would like to see some of mine and Blake's best photography, check out my album "A Trip to the Zoo" on facebook.

Budweiser on the porch, poached eggs, a winery, pale ale, and bats

The title of this post summarizes my weekend. I spent Friday evening with Katherine drinking Budweiser from cans on her porch. I live in Texas, after all. Saturday morning Katherine invited me over for a late breakfast which consisted of a potato pancake and two poached eggs with fresh cilantro and cheese on top. When her boyfriend, Joe, came home from Austin, he suggested we go check out Driftwood Winery in Wimberely, TX. Off we went to sample wine on a lovely July afternoon. I sampled six different wines made from local grapes and the three of us enjoyed a bottle of red wine outside, overlooking the hills.

By the time we left the winery, it was close to 5 PM. I hadn't eaten since my late breakfast at noon and had only consumed wine since. We stopped at a bar near the Blanco River where I had a large pale ale. After that, we stopped by a professor's house where I consumed more pale ale. Still no food or water. Just wine and beer. We returned to San Marcos around 8, where Blake met us at a bar in town. I had yet more pale ale and finally consumed a veggie burger.

Fast forward to 3 AM. I woke up with a TERRIBLE headache. I searched frantically for the advil and gulped down three glasses of water. About two minutes later, I was kneeling over the toilet expelling the contents of my stomach. Nine hours of drinking without food or water is something I don't think I will dabble into again.

My headache was gone by Sunday morning and Blake and I decided (after hours of boredom) to find something inexpensive to do. Thank science for google! We came across a wonderful online guide to Austin and learned about the largest urban bat colony in North America that is located in downtown Austin. Every night at dusk from April to November, 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats emerge from the Congress Ave Bridge to feed. Blake and I headed up to Austin, camera in hand, to witness this unique sight. After waiting for two hours, the bats emerged! There was a lot of fluttering and clicking. You are toast, insects! During the wait for nightfall, we witnessed many birds flying over (including a green heron), the gorgeous sunset, a turtle, the moon rising and a water moccasin swimming down below.

I consider the weekend a success, except for the vomiting.

Gulf Weather

Blake and I moved to TX over two weeks ago. School starts in a month and I am incredibly excited! I have been spending a lot of time without other humans, just the cats and the rats. I should enjoy all the free time because once school starts, I will not have very much.

Sometimes it all feels like a dream. I often think, "I live in Texas??!!??!!?!" It feels surreal, exciting, scary, and magical simultaneously. I love the sticky, heavy air, the sight of live oaks and cacti, and the sounds of the Southern birds. Blake and I spotted a Carolina anole outside the science building earlier this week. It was communicating by flashing it's throat dewlap!

The native Texans just love my "accent". The smirk and giggle at the looooong o's. Blake and I were dining at a local restaurant last weekend and this is what followed:

Waitress: "What would y'all like to drink?"

Blake: "A mountain dew, please,"

Waitress with a smile: "Mountain deeeeew?"

I am required by the government to renew my vehicle registration in August. I am going to register my vehicle to the state of Texas and get a TX driver's license. Next up, I'll be saying "y'all".

Tropical Storm Bonnie is moving into the Gulf, so rain here over the next few days.

I wish I had a more interesting tales to tell, but it has been a little boring so far. Once I start school, I will have many interesting adventures to narrate.

Until then.

Hot Texas Nights

As the days float by, the temperature rises. I hear that August is the hottest month and that this summer has been a "cool" summer. For the first time in my life, I will experience a heat index near 115 F. Yeehaw!

My new friend Katherine invited me over last night for food and beer with a number of her and her boyfriend's friends. What a fabulous Texas night. Everyone is sweating in the heavy heat. The five cats that reside with Katherine and Joe were patrolling the yard. Tiny deer roam through the neighborhood. The night was filled with stimulating conversations, beer, and amazing grilled sandwiches.

I was so very excited. I had to remind myself not to talk too much.

I absolutely love it here. Sure, these next few weeks will be filled with boredom but once school starts in six weeks I will be as busy as a bee. When I was in Hawai'i, I was terribly lonely. I was only 19, and just in my second year of college. I was not quite ready for that experience. I longed for my parents, my brothers, Blake, and the Minnesota autumn.

Now, I miss all of the same things, BUT, it isn't painful like it was in Hawai'i. I am happy to be here. I can barely contain my excitement. I love living here in Texas with Blake. This is the best time of my life.

The tale of two Minnesotans in Texas

I was born in Burnsville, MN and raised nestled in Midwestern-suburbia. I moved to Minneapolis when I went to college and throughout my undergraduate career, I lived in Honolulu and St. Paul. I absolutely loved living in St. Paul. Sure, my apartment was small and overpriced. We had an insane neighbor and terrible management. And we were the definition of broke early twenties-somethings. But, it was centrally located in the Twin Cities and our friends came over nearly every night.

After I graduated from college, Blake and I found ourselves at my aunt and uncle's house in Cambridge, MN. At first, I hated living there. I worked at the nursing home in town and I hated that, too. I was miserable. I had no idea what I was going to do next. I panicked constantly and had frequent melt-downs. I felt as if everything was going up in smoke. The night before Thanksgiving, I was hit from behind on 35W S at 55 mph. I subsequently hit the Honda Civic ahead of me. My airbags went off and I spun off into the ditch. It was terrifying. I spent my Thanksgiving in the hospital in a foam collar high on morphine.

Time for a mood lightener!

I actually went to work on Thanksgiving, even though I could barely move my neck. Ha ha ha. That reminds me of a time during my freshman year of college when I was so drunk my words were slurred and I tried to study biology because I suddenly worried about the exam I had two weeks from then... (Brittany, remember that?)
I walked into work at 6:30 AM and everyone looked at me like I was Martian.

"Erin, are you alright? You don't look like normal," my coworkers inquired.

"Not really, I was totaled my car last night. My air bags went off and now I can barely move my neck," I responded.

"What the hell are doing here?!?"

"Well, I didn't want to call the on-call on Thanksgiving."

I made it through an hour, then I burst into tears. My coworker Natasha gave me a hug and called the on-call.

Anyway, to sum things up: I was ten pounds overweight, depressed, and broke. I was miserable. So I started to exercise. And I started eating better and more consistently. I made some big changes in the way I relate to people and how I react to stressful situations. I was accepted to graduate school. Blake became a Master Certified Automotive Technician. Work became incredibly fun. I fell in love with my coworkers, who I miss dearly. I consider many of them true friends. Dare I say it but I am actually happy.

Back to the present, Texas is hot. Katherine and Suzanne, Joe's (my advisor) other grad students, are awesome. Blake and I had some drinks with them last weekend and it was fun. They loved our MN accents and our loooooong vowels. I feel like people look at me like I am a Martian. The air is hot and heavy. And I am white as a ghost. While walking to campus yesterday, I was sweating so much that my tank top was drenched in the back.

Blake started his job and it did not go well. The shop is not air-conditioned. He also worked 12 hours, another thing he is not used to.

What an adventure we have started.

A collection of random thoughts floating in my head

On this beautiful summer day, Blake and I ventured down to the San Marcos River. The river is incredibly clean and contains plants found only in this particular river. It has a fairly rapid current, so tubing is an activity that many locals enjoy. The parks are absolutely gorgeous. The streets and parks are clean with the exception of one or two stray pieces of trash. I adore the plants and the other living organisms because they seem so exotic to me. I love looking at the street-side cacti and the variety of palm tree species that grow here. The great-tailed grackles are as common as pigeons or seagulls in Minnesota parking lots. The sound of the diverse repertoires of the mocking birds and the sight of them perched on street signs instantly puts a smile on my face. The air is hot and heavy but it feels fantastic. I have never experienced a climate quite like this. On Thursday we drove to Dallas and the weather was horrible. It was raining, but it was a different type of rain than what happens in a typical Minnesota summer. The weather was influenced by a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico; weather I have definitely not experienced before.

The cats have adjusted to their new home, it seems. The rats are still a little scared, but I think they will adjust soon. Gerty hides behind the blinds in the window sill and under the bed. Gus likes to be under the bed or anywhere that I am. Gerty howls at night when she wants a drink of water from the sink. Where do the cats learn these habits?

Blake and I have a long list of the things we would like for the apartment over the next two months. It includes a coffee table, computer desks, end tables, a book shelf, and many other house ware items.

"I would really like a food processor for Christmas, Blake. The color scheme is oranges, reds, and yellows, maybe Ikea has throw pillows? Let's go there next week," I found myself saying today. When did I become so domestic?

I am not sure why, but lately I have been thinking that I really want one or maybe two offspring someday. That's right, I said it. For the last month or so, my biological clock has been ticking. I almost melted when I passed by the infant clothing section at Target. What is happening to me?

For the first time in my life, I feel totally ready to start something COMPLETELY different. Blake and I have not fought since we settled in, the move was VERY stressful, and I feel lucky to be here. As Blake and I were walking along the river today, he looked down at the rocks lining the river and said, "Look erosion!".

"I think I just fell in love with you all over again," I thought to myself as I smiled at him.

What an adventure we have started. I do not to wish to speak so soon, but I think this is a fresh start. The bad things are all gone now.

I am so grateful to have my parents. My mother drove down here with me and stayed for four days. She bought me all sorts of things for my apartment, she bought me groceries, and she bought me clothes at the outlet mall. My dad flew down Tuesday night and left Wednesday afternoon in his truck. I wish he could have stayed longer. He bought me a dining table and chairs, a router, storage containers, a microwave, and a futon. I am so lucky to have been born to them. I miss them, but it is not painful. It is different from my past travels. I was too immature to be in Hawai'i in 2006. I know that my parents are proud of me and they are happy I am here, even if they miss me (I know they do).

How did I get so lucky?