Semester one of grad school

So I realize I haven’t written in a couple of months (thanks for reminding me, Uncle BJ!)… but here’s a new post finally!

I’m doing fabulously- I absolutely love my life! I work a lot but I feel like my work is meaningful- the fish that we have are thriving, and this project is looking really promising. Right now, we have 1 yellowfin, 2 bluefin, and 4 false albacore in the tank. The numbers have fluctuated a bit, but these fish are doing really really well. The yellowfin’s name is Yellowmon (you have to say it in a Jamaican accent), and the bluefin are Bullitt and Blind Willie. It’s really difficult to tell the false albacore apart, so they don’t really have names. These fish go crazy when they see us in the window of the tank- they’re like pets. They’ll eat out of our hands, and I really like them. I’ve never been so attached to a couple of fish in my entire life. Plus, I don’t really eat tuna like I used it. I don’t think I’ve had tuna since June.

So we haven’t gotten to use the aquapod this season, and today we’re actually going to try to roll it up the beach here at the bay campus with a lot of mechanical power. My professor and coworker are both on the boat, but I’m here feeding fish and taking it easy because I worked all weekend. We haven’t gotten to use the aquapod because we’ve gone on a much cooler trip.

Ever seen Shark Wranglers on the history channel? Well the boat that they take out on that show is the Ocearch. The Ocearch was docked up in New Bedford, MA, and wasn’t doing anything for a couple of days so we got to take it out tuna fishing. I stayed behind (somebody has to care for the fish we already have), and the boys went out for five days fishing on the 126’ boat. The strategy there was to use the ballast tanks to transport tuna rather than using the aquapod to tow behind the boat to hold the tuna. The trip was very successful (although many of the fish they caught were too big for our tank), and that’s where Yellowmon came from. There's a couple of pictures of the process of transporting the fish, as well as a picture of a yellowfin in the ballast tank. The crew was SO cool in person- we all went out for dinner in Newport with them and had a blast!! The picture of me, Molly (one of my friends) and the guy in the middle is one of the crewmembers from the Ocearch, named Juan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hurricane was pretty bad around here- part of the Narragansett seawall crumbled into the ocean, places in Matunick were destroyed, and sand was totally moved around. We lost power for 3 days I think, but the worst part was the flooding. The picture below is of my road underwater!!

Halloween was fun around here too- kind of interesting because that was the day that we had gotten power back from the hurricane. Billy came over and we watched Halloween movies, I made dinner, and we handed out candy to all the kids. My first Halloween to have a bunch of little kids trick or treating at my door!! Look at our awesome pumpkins- I carved the ghost one and he carved the bird one.

My roommates are wonderful- I wouldn’t trade them for anybody. We’re all so different but have yet to have any issues in the house. Everybody is really respectful, nice to everyone else’s guests, and willing to compromise. I love them!!

Billy is good too- he loved coming home and meeting a bunch of friends and family, so I’m sure he’ll be around during Christmastime as well. I love spending time with him. There’s a picture of us at a corn maze below.

School is going well- only two more weeks and I’m done with my first semester of classes of graduate school! The time sure does fly by.

That’s all for now, I promise I won’t wait 3 or 4 months to post again.

J

Added responsibility...

This past month things at work have gone from “well, this is exciting!” to “oh my god I can’t believe this is what I get to do for work!!!!!!!!!!” One of my main reasons for wanting to join this project for my master’s degree is that every day brings new things and I’ve absolutely come to expect that.

We’ve got multiple things going on in the lab right now. Donald and I successfully got most of the eggs to hatch, fed them tiny algae eating organisms (rotifers) until they grew a bit, switched them to artemia (sea monkeys, slightly larger than rotifers), and now they’re eating dry feed. It takes a LOT of work to get larval fish through their first few weeks of life. Now that caring for them is easy again, the mummichogs should lay more eggs. 

(see pictures of the eggs just days before they hatched!!!)

Also, we’re working on acquiring fish from fish traps owned by two different commercial fishermen off of the beaches up here and going tuna fishing ourselves (we haven’t had the best luck because for some reason this year offshore fishing just hasn’t been very good).  

Last Monday we built the absolute coolest thing I’ve ever worked on in my entire life. We constructed an “aquapod,” which is a 26 foot diameter geodesic sphere (sphere made up of triangles, one of the strongest structures around) used to transport fish. It’s essentially an enormous cage that took 10 of us about 10 hours to complete. The idea is to have a couple of boats offshore, fishing, who will work on filling the cage, and then to have a tugboat tow the cage (once filled with fish) back to shore where we will then move the fish into the tank on campus. With acquiring and constructing the aquapod, we certainly have run into some difficulties! People drove down from Maine, and two flew in from Puerto Rico and Peru to help us construct it. After they left, we determined that we still have some things to figure out, like what the towing bridle will look like, how to cut all of the bolts, what lift bags to use and how to attach them, etc.

(see pictures of the aquapod being constructed!)

What’s pretty cool about this project is that even though I’ve been working on it just over two months, I’m treated with the utmost respect and I can tell that I am both highly appreciated as well as trusted in my decision making. Dr. Bradley’s been in New Zealand, Taylor’s been in Tanzania, and Donald is leaving the project end of next week, so I’ve been “stepping up to the plate” according to Dr. Bradley. I LOVE the added responsibility- there’s a lot of pride in the work that I do because I’m seeing things from start to finish. I’ve also been working closely with Peter (the person that created this project), Chris the tug boat captain, and Roger and crew from Pointview Marina. 

Never a dull moment in this job- today Peter and I went to meet with makers of infinity pools- those pools that are only like 12’ long which generate a current to keep a swimmer swimming. We may have to look at getting something like that for tuna, as tuna need to keep swimming in order to breathe. 

Also, last week I went to Block Island with the folks and Josh for one night to get away from work stress and spend some time with the family. I absolutely loved it- Block Island is definitely one of my favorite places in the world because for just a few days, my world slows down and I can relax, in the company of the three people I love most in all the world. Hopefully we can get back out there for at least another night before the end of the summer. 

Also, I made a new friend! His name is Billy. (The picture is from a sunset swim down at Camp Cronin in Point Judith.) 

I’ll post more soon. 

Fish eggs and Flounder

First off, an apology to all my family for not posting these blogs more frequently. I guess not posting is good though, because it means I’m out and about and have less time to hang out in my room and make these posts. 

To be honest, I haven’t had a bad day since I moved here. Work is going great- Donald and I collected mummichogs (2-4 inch long fish that live along the entire Atlantic coast) and brought them back to the lab to get them to spawn. They didn’t like living in a tank at first, but now they’re more than happy (who wouldn’t be with a guaranteed supply of food and lack of predators). We went over to the E.P.A. (Environmental Protection Agency) and learned all about how they get them to breed in captivity. The E.P.A. uses them to assess water quality, especially in places like the Gulf of Mexico and highly contaminated sites like New Bedford Harbor (where companies dumped large quantities of PCBs during the better part of the 1900’s). We made spawning trays, which are a circular device that the lady fish rub their bellies up against to deposit eggs, and then the male swims over and fertilizes them. The first day we collected 17 eggs and the second day we collected 47, so I’m really hoping for some baby fish! You can see a picture of what the egg looks like under a microscope below. They’re only 0.078” across and relatively clear. 

In other news, I got to finally dive with Mom at Fort Wetherill in Jamestown. It was SO COOL to get to dive with her- I went into instructor mode and she was definitely getting better as the dive progressed. I even got to show her some baby winter flounder. I can’t wait to go again! 

More recently, I’ve been spending time with both roommates that are already moved in- Shannon and Natasha. Shannon is 19 and is a waitress at night at Catarina’s Italian Restaurant and a URI undergraduate. Natasha is 26 and works at Butler hospital and is starting in the pharmacy program at URI in the fall. Shannon just made us a strawberry rhubarb pie so I’m pretty excited about that- the house smells amazing! Natasha is still moving stuff in, though she does stay here sometimes. The other night I stayed up until 3:30 am talking to her! I love that my house is feeling more like a new home. I can’t wait to meet the other two that will be moving into the house in September!! I’m SO glad I opted to live in a house with other girls, I’d be lonely if they weren’t around all the time! 

I’m living an awesome life- studying the things I love, making new friends, feeling more and more like an adult. These past couple of weekends have been the true heart of summer- spending time on the boat for the fireworks the weekend after the fourth of July and then this past weekend was a fluke tournament that both of our boats competed in. I went on the big boat with Mom, Dad, Ronnie and Sharon. Unfortunately, our boat wasn’t able to produce the big one for the couple of hundred dollar prize. Josh went out on the 18’ boat with Derek, Frank and Kyle and caught more and bigger fish than the Marlintini. It’s pretty funny to watch Josh show up Dad! I love spending quality time with family and friends that might as well be family. 

Post from last week

Things have been going great! Partly the reason for the delay in this post! I finally feel settled in, comfortable at work, and continue to learn new things every day. 

Two weekends ago, my friend Alex Wood from UConn came out and we checked out a couple of state parks- including Fort Wetherill and Beavertail. Beavertail is by far the prettiest state park I’ve ever been to- it’s the southern tip of Jamestown island, so it’s like jagged rocks that everybody picnics on and you can watch huge shipping barges go by, take a free tour of the lighthouse, and spend the day soaking in some sun. I also took him over to the Point Judith lighthouse- in the future I’d love to fish off the beach there because it looks like it would be a productive spot. 

Last weekend, Danielle came down from Vermont. She lives up there with her boyfriend, and she came down to Connecticut to spend some time with her family and drove over to visit me as well. Saturday we went over to the Narragansett town beach after scoring some free parking (man I need to practice parallel parking!). Boogie boarding up to the beach on huge waves for hours was definitely one of the most fun things I’ve done out here- I can’t believe such an amazing beach is about a ten minute drive away! The waves were absolutely huge- there were surfers just a little ways down the beach and very attentive lifeguards. Overall it was awesome! We got cleaned up and headed over to Crazy Burger, which is within walking distance from the beach. Crazy Burger always has a wait, no matter the meal time, because the food there is absolutely amazing. We ordered the same thing (although Danielle got the gluten free options for hers) which was essentially just a cheeseburger. But let me tell you- this cheeseburger wasn’t like anything I’ve ever had before. So we got the Whassupy Burgers. The beef is mixed with horseradish, garlic, and worchestershire sauce so it’s super flavorful. Then, it’s topped with brie cheese, onion rings, (we had them add avocado), served on a delicious wheaty bun and with a side of wasabi-chipotle mayonnaise. I got it with sweet potato fries. SO GOOD! We tried some locally made ice cream on the way home and she taught me how to make greeting cards with a die cutter and all this cool stationary and stamping stuff that night. I love Danielle! 

This week I got to go tuna fishing for the first time with Dr. Bradley (my advisor), Peter (the financial backing for the tuna project and captain of the boat), and Taylor (a student I work with). We went out Tuesday at 4 am and trolled all day. It wasn’t until 4:30 pm that we hooked up. We caught a bluefin tuna (which is what we’re trying to get to spawn in the tank) and got him to the boat, into the tuna sling, and into the tank on the boat (which takes up most of the cockpit which increases the difficulty to fish), but then he died because he was just a bit too big and couldn’t swim properly around the circular tank. I was SO impressed by how well everything was executed- I jumped right in and was helping pull the fish in with the tuna sling and get the oxygen hooked up and everything. It’s so different fishing with barbless hooks with the intention of bringing fish back alive- everything is focused around the health of the fish. 

Seeing the process of having fish in the tank (when we had mahi mahi) and then seeing how they’re caught is truly incredible. I’m so happy to be a part of this project!

Afternoon Adventure- Dutch Island Lighthouse

So yesterday and today the heat is literally unbearable. The conference room that we sit in to do work does not have air conditioning. You’d think that by being right on Narragansett Bay it’d be pretty cool but NO. It’s a million degrees. So, today turned into “bring your fan to work day,” and I’m much happier. For some reason my ability to tolerate heat just isn’t there- I think like my dad. 

So yesterday I did something adventurous and crazy- something that was definitely on my list of things to do before I leave Rhode Island. 

There’s a little lighthouse on Dutch Point, an island between here and Jamestown. I look out my window at it every single day. My friend Jess heard one of the professors talk about how him and one of his students swum out to the lighthouse for exercise. Yesterday, Chris (my old roommate) was here, and we decided to go swimming at the little beach here after work. I jokingly told him about the swim out to the lighthouse, and he’s like “let’s do it!” Keep in mind- Chris is a lifeguard and a really good swimmer. I’m a decent enough swimmer with a really determined attitude- when I want to do something there’s no stopping me until I do it. 

So, regardless of the fact that the water was pretty chilly, it felt great after being hot ALL day. We were probably also dehydrated when we started from the heat. So, we started swimming out. It’s REALLY far. It’s really hard to judge distance on the surface of the water. 

It started out calm, in the shallows of the beach, but as we made our way out into the deeper water there was more wind, waves, and boat traffic (of which we were very aware, very cautious, and even if a boat was hundreds of yards away we made our way towards lobster pot buoys so we would be extra noticeable). Also, the further into the channel, the stronger the current. I looked up the tides before we went out- flood tide, which would mean we’d end up swept upriver and not out to sea. Plus, at the beginning you couldn’t feel any sort of current at all. It took us probably about an hour to get out there- nice leisurely swim, lots of laughs, etc. About a hundred feet from the shore of the lighthouse, my right calf muscle cramped- I’m talking really bad spasm, to the point where your muscle goes from concave (pointing outwards) to convex (pointing inwards). At this point though, we really couldn’t stop, so I pushed through the pain! We touched the rocks by the lighthouse (which are barnacle covered and not super fun to climb up) and then turned around. At this point, we’re swimming against the current (due to the angle at which we had to swim back), so I definitely swallowed some salt water. My left leg cramps- but again, we have to make it back, so I stop for a second but then just keep swimming. It was funny because my legs were bothering me and Chris’ armpit hair was chafing his armpits- we definitely had a few laughs!! Combined we made up one full able-bodied swimmer. 

So we’re swimming back, getting colder, more tired, and the sun is setting…  As a result of the current, we ended up way further upriver than we intended, hauled ourselves out of the water on somebody’s beachfront property (albeit at this time I could barely walk), and walked up their driveway. I stopped a really nice lady to ask her for directions back via the road, but she offered to drive us. If she hadn’t, it would have been probably about 2 miles walk back, at 8:30 at night, in our bathing suits, without shoes. 

Needless to say, it was awesome and there’s nobody I would have rather done it with. I’d never do it again- I realize that it was pretty dangerous and could have turned into a really bad situation. What's that expression? All's well that ends well! Next time maybe on a kayak….

Altogether it was just over 2 miles swimming if I mapped it correctly, which took us three hours, because most of it was against the current on the way back. 

(you can click on the pictures to see them bigger- and the picture of the lighthouse is from a website, I didn't have my camera with me. And the picture off the end of a dock is what my view of the lighthouse looks like from the lab window)

... from fish to food

Things are going well! I’ve learned to accept the fact that everything I try to do will take about six times longer than I expect it to, and I’m okay with it. Last week and this week are a bit slower, more time for researching parts to a new filter we’re ordering, taking the time to get the boat from North Carolina back up here (I guess the tuna are biting up here nowadays!), and making sure the system is as-perfect-as-we-can-make-it before we get fish again. I’m still putting in way more hours than I actually get paid for, but the work is fun and I like the project and the people I’m with.

I dove on Saturday with my friend Mike at Fort Wetherill again-Jamestown is so beautiful. I saw a keeper sized fluke (which is fuelling my desire to learn how to spearfish), a couple keeper sized blue crabs, and four clams! Shhh the clams are currently in the freezer. I’m trying to decide if it’s worth it to get a resident clamming license. I also got to teach Mike’s friend Rich, as this was his first time diving in the ocean. Mike is an instructor, and I’m working towards getting my divemaster, so I led the dive and worked on skills with Rich. Rich told me I make a great instructor! I was looking at my logbook- I’ve dove over 65 times in just about two years! (look for a few dive pictures below)

Saturday night I babysat for five of the greatest kids ever-relatives on my dad’s side (my dad’s cousins’s kids). We painted toenails and played with some sort of a pet lizard, colored, and watched a movie, among other things. What a great way to get away from work stress, make a little extra cash, and get to watch them all grow up. I absolutely LOVE babysitting.

Sunday I went with mom to Stop and Shop in Colchester- apparently they were reopening the store so I walked out with a couple reusable bags, free chips, a balloon and a $10 gift card. Probably the best shopping experience ever, glad to spend it with my mom. Oh and we got lobsters for my dad for father’s day. (Last night and tonight I had leftover lobster alfredo for dinner- SO yummy!)

I decided I want to become a fisherman and a gardener. I want to be a fisherman because living in “the ocean state,” there’s awesome seafood just off the beach. If I can catch my own fish, gather my own clams, etc. I can enjoy a lot of nice dinners and feel good about harvesting it myself. So on father’s day afternoon, Dad sorted out some old surf casting gear for me and talked me through a couple of knots. Pretty cool to learn about fishing from the best fisherman I know.

Last week I went fishing with my friend Donald, he caught a keeper porgie but my fish was only about two inches long- pretty impressive that I caught him on a normal sized hook (see picture below).

Along the same lines of fishing, I’ve decided to grow some of my own veggies. I got a cherry tomato plant from a local nursery, which has already given me 6 tomatoes in the week that I’ve had it. I also planted a bunch of cucumber seeds in a planter with mom- it’ll be awhile before they come up.

Tank striping

Updates on my life…

I’ve settled in nicely to my new home! My room is perfectly comfortable, I love the people I work with, the project we’re working on, and how every day is something new. Because some of the lab is fishing in North Carolina tomorrow (Monday), we had A TON of work to do last week. I love this job because there’s absolutely no “typical” day.

Some of the people from my lab went down to North Carolina to go tuna fishing, to hopefully transport some up the coast to fill the tank. I’m not in North Carolina this week because I haven’t learned to drive standard yet, I’m the newest student in the lab, and there’s still a lot to do up here to get ready if they bring fish back from North Carolina.

So before they come back, we had to essentially redo a 20,000 gallon tank. That required draining it (Wednesday), scrubbing it and scraping vertical strips off the walls (Thursday), sanding down and taping around where wanted to repaint the new vertical stripes (Friday), and then figuring out what to do when we were unable to use paint. We decided to use boat lettering, as that’s waterproof and should last quite a while. So after wiping away all the dust from the sanding that I did by hand on Friday, the boat lettering strips arrived at about 8:00 on Friday night. Because we had to get things done, we started applying them right then. To stick them on, you first have to wipe the fiberglass with rubbing alcohol, and then stick the strip to the wall, scrape out any air bubbles, use a heat gun to get it to adhere to the wall better, and then peel off the backing. It took SO long to do. The purpose of these vertical stripes is so that the fish doesn’t run into the walls of the tank. If there are markings on the walls then they realize there’s a boundary there and they won’t hit it.

Also on Friday, I was drilling, siliconing, installing tubing, transporting tanks between the lab and the box truck…. I absolutely love what I’m doing because I’m constantly working with my hands, problem solving when something we build isn’t quite right, and it challenges me. I don’t think I could ever be bored.

Cross your fingers that they catch some fish this week!

Saturday my friend Mike came up from Groton to go diving. We went diving out at Fort Wetherill, a state park in Jamestown. It used to take about an hour to get to, but it only took me about ten minutes. Even though the visibility was bad (only about 6 feet), the dives were good! I got tangled up in some fishing line on the second dive but Mike cut the line and I untangled myself. I was trying to pick it up so that divers wouldn’t get caught up in it, because it’s a really popular dive spot. I even saw another Mike from Seaview Scuba teaching a class there. At night we tried Gregg’s Place, an awesome restaurant with both good food and amazing desserts (there’s a separate bakery at the front of the store). I’m really liking figuring out some of these local places!

Onto the start of another week…

A New Chapter

So a lot’s happened since I posted last. I’ll just skip to this past weekend for the sake of time.

Friday, June 1^st I handed in my honors thesis, a really important paper that was the key to graduating with honors. It’s a paper based on a whole bunch of research that a student does on the topic of their choosing. Mine was on “Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas across a Latitudinal Gradient,” which means how closed areas of the ocean (like areas where activities are limited like you can’t fish, dredge for shellfish, or even drive through) actually affect the animals that live there. My finished copy was 57 pages long with tables and everything, but the actual written part was 14 pages! I rewrote it countless times (one draft was 30 pages of writing!) and owe a big THANK YOU to my advisor, Dr. Auster. He’s the single biggest influence on my undergraduate career and someone I have a ton of respect for and really look up to. Friday night I babysat for one of our neighbors. I’ve watched these kids for like seven years now and love spending time with them. It was the Mom’s surprise birthday party, so I ended up watching four kids (which was SO much fun!!) and snacked on prime rib and shrimp cocktail. Talk about a good job! Saturday I spent all day packing.

Sunday, me, Mom, Dad, Josh, and Uncle Steven all headed east with a huge trailer full of my stuff. My room is absolutely perfect- it’s so comfortable and cozy and I absolutely love it. We ended up at Monahan’s, tried some fried clams, and then headed over to Iggy’s for doughboys! Doughboys are like small fried doughs that are absolutely incredible. They were amazing- one of the reasons I know my family will have to come out this way to visit me!

I started work in the lab Monday morning. I work with two other students, Donald and Taylor. Donald was showing me around this week because Taylor is stuck in New Jersey with car trouble. Yesterday was really slow and I was kinda bored, but today was crazy because I might be flying down to North Carolina to go fishing as early as next Monday!! We have a ton to do before then, like figure out what new filter to buy, repaint part of our huge tank, I have to learn to drive standard…..

I even got to see Shelby, Monday night, because she goes to URI. I had dinner with her and her friend Meg at Rhody Joe’s. It was decent, albeit the raw insides of the clam fritters. Yes, we sent them back and managed to get free desert out of the manager.

Also, does anybody know where I can find 4-5 of those blue plastic 55 gallon barrels? I need some ASAP for a project.

So in the midst of all of this, a great wave of calmness and peace has washed over me. It’s hard to explain but I’m feeling more adult- I actually live on my own in the next state over, I have a real job, I rent my own place (without the help of UConn), and I’m trying to meet new people. I’m completely at peace because all of the craziness has left- in that currently, working in the lab is my only responsibility. While I might put in long hours, I don’t have to race from there to class (I won’t start class until the fall), to a job, to volunteer, to babysit, etc. My job in the lab is something I’m super interested in, so why wouldn’t I want to spend a lot of time there?

Also, I’m really happy for my parents. They ended up with two awesome kids that are both doing amazing things with their lives, wanting more, and actually going after it. I’m super happy that I chose a grad school so close to home because for some reason I can’t get enough of my family.

So here I sit, typing this blog, unbelievably relaxed, sipping some strawberry wine and mentally patting myself on the back for being brave and starting a new chapter in life.