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