Changes in Latitudes

It will take too long to update on everything, but here is a list of what has happened this month: 1) Marius and I had our wedding in Grand Rapids. We had a total of 75 guests, and it was too much fun! 2) After the wedding, we gave Tron, Rigmor and Knut a mini tour of the lower peninsula. We took them to Holland, Sleeping Bear Dunes, and Detroit. It really gave them a nice impression of Michigan, as opposed to what we see on TV in Norway about Detroit being really run down. The Norwegians were pleasantly surprised at how nice downtown was. 3) Marius ran an 18km race with me in Oslo that started up in the forest north of the city, and went along a river to downtown. I was sick, so it was the worst race ever for me, but he really enjoyed it. Pancho also ran the last 500 yards with us! 4) Pancho turned 1 year old today (May 24)!! The weather is really nice, so he'll get some salmon for dinner and a really nice hike. My last day at my current job is June 24th, and then on t...

Yesterday we had a beautiful sunny day here in Bergen. Today...it's snowing. I'm ready for some warmer weather! One week until Marius, Pancho and I drive over to Oslo. We'll fly out next Tuesday to Michigan, but Pancho will be staying with our breeder (including his mom, brother, and a new littler of puppies). He'll be in heaven! Marius and I have picked up our rings and this weekend he is having his bachelor party in Oslo. So it's just me and Pancho this weekend. I'm getting a little overwhelmed with wedding planning, coordinating the half marathon relay for my work, and training students in the facility before I begin my new job in late June. At least a daily hike with Pancho is keeping me sane. Beautiful weather last weekend when we picked up our wedding rings. Pancho and I took the train together a couple of weeks ago and he didn't do too bad.

I got a new job! My dream job! (At least my dream job for now). I accepted a permanent position at the Institute of Marine Research with the Pelagic research group. I did my Master's project with the Pelagic group and had a lot of fun on two summer research cruises. I'll be going out on surveys multiple times a year getting to work with a variety of species, and probably see some whales! Today I gave my notice to my boss. I was very nervous about it because he has been a fantastic boss. Super flexible, not overbearing and very nice to work for. So it was with a heavy heart that I went to his office today. Carol (the woman who started it all for me at the Sars Center) was also informed, and I was very grateful to both of them for giving me such an opportunity to build my resume. It will be sad, but this new job is exactly what I have been waiting for and I can't wait to put what I studied into practice. Additional news, there are only 50 more days until Marius and I get...

Work is going fine. My boss has given me some lab activities to keep me interested in my work, so I'm testing antibodies. The positive control turned out as expected, but it is such a pretty staining that I have to share the picture. This is an embryo of a starlet sea anemone ( Nematostella sp.) approximately 30 hours old. The green is actin (a protein in cell walls), the blue is nuclei, and the red/pink is clusters of DNA. There are some pretty examples of cell division in this embryo! Also, as of a couple weeks ago I'm officially a published scientist! ....well, the paper has been accepted for publication, so it will likely not be in the journal before next year. The journal is called ICES Journal of Marine Science. Furthermore, this weekend the mountains got a nice thick layer of snow, so I took Pancho up for his first time in a proper bit  of snow (not counting the icy leftovers that were on Jutenheimen this summer). He's now 6 months old and weighs bout 34...

[Happy birthday boy at a cool restaurant in town that had a big selection of beer] Marius turned 30 on Friday (the 30th). In August I sent out invitations for the surprise. He only knew that his sister and our friend Knut would be joining us for dinner. But from 5:30pm, more friends started to show up, even Martin who came from Oslo. I was glad he was surprised and I was able to keep the secret so long! Saturday morning we got up and took Pancho for a hike with Katrine in the rain, hail and wind. The hot cocoa pitstop made it way better. I had planned for us to carve pumpkins as well on Saturday, but had no luck after going to five grocery stores. We settled with watching Young Frankenstein and playing a game instead. We had candy in case of trick or treaters, but none showed (probably because we live in an apartment block). Without trick-or-treaters or pumpkins, I had to try to get a little more Halloween feeling. I found some inspiration online to have Pancho be a beanie baby....

Since the marathon I haven't gotten out for a run longer than 4 miles, but I have gone for lots of hikes on the ridge behind our place with Pancho. We have had relatively little rain this fall, so it will be weird to have a typical rainy week. The morning after the super/blood/eclipse moon, Lydia wandered out of the house and has not been seen since. She has been a part of our family since 1995 and things will feel so different without her. I hope that she found peace wherever she wandered off to for her last rest (if that is what she did). I will miss her dearly, and wish it wasn't the way she decided to leave us after being with us for 20 years. We love you, Lydy pity

Long story short, I missed my PR by 42 seconds. Darn!! But now I'll go back to the beginning. I had some great training weeks logging over 40 miles a week before we brought home Pancho. The last six weeks of training were average, but not stellar; at least not quite up to a standard for a PR as with my half-marathon training. And I think the problem was mainly that and that I didn't have as big of a breakfast as usual because I worried about feeling sick during the race. In addition, I read last night that poor core strength leads to poor posture later in the race thus setting off a chain of events that lead to muscle cramps in the legs. Friday before the race I worked a half day, and Marius and I loaded up the car and headed east to Oslo - an 8 hour drive from Bergen over the mountains. We gave Pancho a motion sickness pill, before we left only to realize too late that he should have taken the pill 90 minutes before we left. So he got sick in his cage, and then I had...