Back in "The Land of Lincoln"

We are safely back in Lincoln's stomping ground now. We had a great time in Florida, which always seems to happen, despite my reservations. Below are several photos covering the highlights of our trip. They are presented in no particular order due to this site's inane embedding. Click for larger images.

Tigers vs. Braves at Joker Marchant Stadium

It was great to be outside in Florida watching baseball. We got to see Kenny Rogers pitch (no jokes here). He is now on the DL.

Gators jockey for food at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm

The last thing that we did before leaving St. Augustine was to check out the St. Augustine Alligator Farm. I had been there before, but K had not, and this is the only place in the US to see all 23 extant species of crocodilians, so I wasn't about to let her miss this chance. Here, a curator is feeding alligators in the large swamp area of the farm.

Holler Fountain at Stetson University

While driving from my home town to St. Augustine, I intentionally included DeLand so that I could show K my alma mater. Coincidentally, it was Homecoming Weekend. We missed all of the festivities, however, as we didn't get into town until Sunday afternoon.

Yo Ho, a pirate's life for Joe

Here I am helping to raise the Mainsail on a Schooner. We took a short cruise down the river in St. Augustine while we were there. I highly recommend it. We saw dolphins. Note: On closer inspection, I see that this photo highlights that I am losing my hair.

Cannon Face at Castillo De San Marcos in St. Augustine
We also hit up the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument while in St. Augustine. This is a photo of a face on a canon.

A seemingly content American Crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) at the S.A. Alligator Farm
A happy croc.

There were other highlights on our trip, like having dinner with our good friends Mike and Robin on quick swing through Gainesville. It was great to see them and spend some time catching up!

Overall, it was a very relaxing vacation.

Back to work!

Florida bound

Well, it's time for a pilgrimage to Polk County (tomorrow). K and I figured that we should get down there one last time before the baby comes so that we can visit family and relax a bit. This is our first trip since our honeymoon last June.

I always fear going home and seeing all of the changes. There are several Floridas, if you will. The urban Florida is the most familiar to people not from Florida. Midwesterners (and Europeans that I have met) think that Florida is all Miami Vice, all the time. Either that or Disney, which I will place in this category.

The next Florida is the retirement community. Places like Sun City and The Villages (the mention of which causes me to think of the M. Night Shyamalan film with a similar name) are just larger versions of the retirement trailer parks I grew up around. These places spring up because of Florida's poor decision to not charge income tax. Their increasing popularity highlights the decline of MY favorite Florida, which is:

Agricultural/Natural Florida: I put these two together because they are often contiguous. These Floridas are located in the middle of the State, where land prices are lower (as are education levels, income, public health, life expectancy, etc). I spent my happiest times in this Florida. I loved roaming the marshes, cypress swamps, lakes, scrub, pine uplands, and oak hammocks of wild Florida. Unfortunately, these areas are being destroyed at a stupefying rate. Farming in Florida has been a good thing for the environment in some cases (cattle ranching, for instance), and a very, very bad thing in others (South Florida Sugar, I am glaring directly at you on this point, jerks). Oranges are honestly on the "sugar" side, because the construction of groves destroys natural Florida, but they are not quite as bad. They are disappearing, though, and being replaced by houses, which is far worse than the groves.

It is this conflict between my love for natural Florida habitat and my inability to do anything about its destruction and poisoning that make it so easy for me to not live there any more. Also, it is this conflict that makes me cringe when I think about visiting Polk County and Orange County and Dade County and Palm Beach County and Pasco County and Volusia County and Hernando County and . . . etc.

Anyway... Less rant, more trip info. OK. Breathing deeply. Serenity now.

While in Florida, we will drive up to St. Augustine for a few days. K has never been there, and it's one of my favorite cities in Florida. On the way, we will pass through DeLand/Daytona, and then follow A1A all the way up the coast so that K can see some of what the beach looks like without huge hotels on it. Yet.

Anyway, as you can tell, I am always reluctant to go to Florida, for many reasons (I'm not even going to go into the politics and religion of the region, other than to say that our presence there will at least double or triple the number of Buddhist/agnostic scientists and Lutheran nonprofit fundraisers; the county's political "color" will shift to a slightly bluer shade of red for a bit, although two can only do so much), but I always enjoy my time there, seeing things and people that just can't be seen anywhere else. Better take it all in while it's still there.

I'll be sure to post pictures on my return.

Back from the maze

Having slain my Minotaur, I now return from the NIH's labyrinth, triumphant... for now. I won't hear anything back regarding the merit of my grant proposal for at least 3 months. In the mean time, it's best to just forget it and move on, I think. The same with the grant I wrote for my boss. It's out, and now we're playing the waiting game, which is way less fun than, say, Hungry Hungry Hippos.

My brain is not quite back to normal, yet, but it is getting there. I plan making blog posts more often now that my time will be more normally used (I didn't work either Saturday or Sunday this weekend! This is the first time in months that this statement can be made).