Yea yea..i know I stink at remembering but ya know its' not so bad when you consider the alternative

Man, I really suck at updating this thing, but have no fear when I leave for Aussieland there will be a sister blog to this one. For those of you who don't know I am Australia bound more specifically to Sydney come Feb. 11th 2010. Am I excited? Heck Yes...though a bit nervous too. Some people in my family believe that I ran from home to go to undergrad in upstate NY, but the truth is I totally went for the escape to a new life-experience--I wanted to go to a place no one knew me/judged me; let me tell you so far the decision has paid off. I met tons of new people and had a chance to experience a lot of new and exciting things...like garbage plates eww..ok not the best example, but you get the point. If you are one of those kids out there trying to figure out where to go to school, then my best advice is to go where you feel like you can make a difference. Even if its' only a small impact, for instance joining a co-ed honor fraternity or even an obnoxious, yet awesomely exciting group of hockey fans. Do college for yourself not your parents; what you do with your life should always start with you first and foremost...don't let anyone pressure into anything. My only regret is that I didn't take a year off to travel, but I guess that's what life post grad is for, the plan you may be wondering is this: get my Masters in Applied Science and Microscopy then apply for my Doctorate, also at USYD!!
The dream may seem lofty to you, but that is where I have decided to set my bar for now, but knowing me I may raise it to the stars or even shoot for the moon. I started out a little differently than I had intended that to go, but its all good for now. Work, you say? Work is awesome-I'm not kidding I am having the time of my life; yes it can be frustrating at times. But if life was as smooth as a summer breeze--would I really be learning anything? I mean seriously I learn something new every single day...its like being back at college except I don't have any homework or exams--except for the practical applications of the job whether it be photography related or not. Ya, know I wonder if somewhere out in that big black nothing if a bunch a men and women are playing some big game of chess, and we are all assigned as the pawns, rooks, knights, bishops, etc. No, I haven't lost my mind and yes, I know its' strange, but that thought is always in the back of my mind. Back to work--what have I been doing...well, the computer that's connected to the Zeiss scope I work on died in a fire, not really but the RAID failed and corrupted the comp. making everything just a big pile o' poo. One of the IT guys here at SI, rebuilt the comp from scratch[he's my hero...shh...don't tell anyone!], now its' back to ground zero recalibrating the scope and reloading all of the software. Whilst the whole cataclysmic event happened I researched a back up Dell laptop via Q-imaging and our Dell rep. After 2 weeks, I had compiled a sufficient spec for a back-up system if this were to ever occur again. [I really hope it doesn't!] I have also been working on shots for the Peer Awards 2009 and of course editing diatoms/algae, and of lately scanning 'chromes for Dr. Laughlin.
What's been going on most recently? Like this past weekend I attended a beautiful tribute service to the epic Jessie Cohen, a photographer for the National Zoo, whom passed away this past October from a relapse in Breast Cancer. Mehgan Murphy helped organize the who tribute is was truly remarkable and I would even say uplifting. It gave everyone a chance to remember all the good memories we had with Jessie. She was truly a remarkable woman!! G-d Bless her soul, she will be deeply missed. I am now the proud new owner of two of her pictures, one of a red panda and the other of an orange frog on a white background. I can't wait to hang them up in my apt!! Saturday night was Barb's 50th birthday party and it was supposed to be a surprise, but that was a no-go oops! So, awesome food with Peruvian potatoes, yummy venison/cheese/floury goodness made by Barrett--oh and the cake...delicious. My fav would have to be the yummy pineapple and the sweet strawberries that Judith brought; oh yeah Judith is back in the country but she is mighty jet-lagged. See what I have to look forward to....22 hrs to Sydney via LAX woot! Sunday, I was lazy, but I did clean the apt/wash dishes etc.
I go home tomorrow night woot woot!! Plans for tonight = shower [ok, tmi, sry], din-din, New Moon with Scotty Boy (best cuz ever), packing then sleepage, shootage/workage then FL till the 30th!! Whose excited, you know it! Oh I almost forgot M.&M. passed away on Nov. 4th so this post is dedicated to his loyalness [14 yrs in fact, he was and will always be my best friend and first puppy] We've got JD now, but I will save his tale for a future post. I gotta jet, tootles my friends. I thought I'd try something new, last words:
I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life. ---Who said It?
<3>

So, as I am sitting here waiting for the sputtercoater to rev up; it occured to me that I need to still pick up those full tanks from the East Loading Dock. [I bet I can't write another song with that in it..."sitting on the east loading dock, sitting till it's 8 o'clock, watchin' the trucks drive away"] Who knows, it could work? Granted I had anytime to work out the rhymes--oooo---speaking of rhymes, on the metro yesterday I could not get Dr. Seuss's, Oh the Places You'll go out of my head.

Seriously, I thought the guy standing next to me was going to cut my larynx out. Granted I was bobbing my head back and forth and dancing to Troublemaker by Akon, but for all he knew I was reciting aloud various clips and phrases from that poem. Oh yes, it was quite a sight, but this really cute guy was like "you made my day!" as he was leaving the car at White Flint. Anyways, I have just began the cycle on the sputtercoater, so in like 15-20 minutes the samples will be coated and then I can return to the main lab and finish editing today's quota of diatoms!

I totally forgot my harddrive yesterday, so I ended up finishing the imaging for Erin, one of Doug Owsley's post doc's. It is really interesting that its' my job to take pictures documenting the crystals [which the researcher's think is brushite] found on bone fragments from a vault in Congressional Cemetary. Once I had finished with the R. ulna, I proceeded with the other crystal samples--then edited and burned a cd. Today, I signed up to use the Phillips environmental SEM for tomorrow afternoon to further examine the crystalline structures.

My samples are almost done coating and one of our student researchers' just told me something a bit disturbing, so off I go to finish up down here in the lab. I should probably clean up the counter a bit because Scott gets back tomorrow--yeah!! I have the coolest boss ever, ya know ya'll are jealous. I'll try to write soon!
~Ciao,
J

I'm Back!!!!!!!

So a lot has changed since the last time that I have posted, for instance I graduated college in May with a BS in Biomedical Photographic Communications with a minor in Archaeology. I am currently living in Rockville, Maryland and working at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History as a contract photographer for the Department of Botany and Smithsonian Photographic Services.

I found out not too long ago that I received an offer from University of Sydney in Australia to go there for graduate school. Classes start March 1st, 2010. I am super excited; I will be studying for a Masters in Applied Science and Microscopy. The program is 11 months long; so all you viewers will have to keep in touch. I really hope that after I complete my Masters, that I will be granted a chance to get my Doctorate.

At work, I am still post-processing the type diatoms and soon will begin digitizing the algal collections. As of right now, I am working on a project for a post-doc of Owsley's--photographing brushite & bones with an Olympus SZX12 set-up.

POETS!?! tonite, wahoo--then steak/salad and scanning old negatives

Until next time,

~JJ