Finally!!!

I finally upload all the photos from Emilee and Cody's wedding and reception onto my Picasa online photo album. My public galleries are here. Sorry for the extreme delay (but I think that most of you have probably already seen these photos).

First time shooting

When Patricia found out that I own guns, she started begging me to take her shooting. Finally we went shooting on Saturday. She loved shooting my Ruger 10-.22 because it had a scope. I suspected that we would be at the shooting range for few hours, but it turns out that we were there from 11:30am to 5:30pm! She did not want to stop shooting. I would shoot one 10-round clip, and she would shoot 3. By the end of the day she could shoot 10-round groups the size of a silver dollar at 25 yds. I did not think that that was too bad considering she just learned how to shoot. Also she wants to buy her own gun because she is tired of having to share my gun. By the end of the day Patricia was bouncing off the walls because she was so excited from shooting guns all day.

Now she wants to go hunting, especially for birds. She hates anything with feathers. Now that she is learning how to shoot, she says that she loves birds... loves to kill and eat them. When we go hiking, she takes my binoculars to look at birds. The first time she was looking at birds I thought that this was rather strange, considering her dislike of birds. Then I heard her softly making the sound "bang, bang, bang". She then asked me if she could put crosshairs on the binoculars, so she can act like she is shooting all the birds. I guess whatever it takes to get her to go birding.

Ted said that he would take her duck hunting. If she wants to go, she has to learn how to shoot a shotgun well if she wants to go. She was so disappointed when I told that she would have to use a shotgun (and not my .22) to hunt birds. She would like to use a rifle with a scope instead of the heavier shotgun. She asked me why she could not just shoot the ducks sitting on the lake. I told her that it was illegal and unsportsman-like. She didn't like these reasons. I guess that she likes the idea of shooting little ducks as they swim peacefully on the lake. She'll just come with my .22 and blast them all. Thank goodness that there are laws on which birds and how many you can kill because she would depopulate all of south Florida if she had the chance.

Her friends and family freaked out when they heard that she shot a real gun. In Brazil guns are only allowed with a license that is difficult to obtain, so seldom does anyone ever shoot a gun, let alone own one. Her mother was exasperated when she heard that Patricia actually shot a gun and now she wants to hunt and kill something. When she told everyone that she went shooting, they all asked the same thing, "You shot a real gun that shoots real bullets?" It seemed so normal for me to go shooting, but for them it was so strange.

The place in central Florida where I will conduct my research has wild pigs, and they are a nuisance. I have permission to hunt them with a bow. I can't wait till she shows to her family and friends in Brazil pictures of her with her first pig that she killed with a bow. They will go nuts. Her parents will really wonder what is happening to their little daughter here in the US.

Patricia's baptism

Last Sunday (9 December 2007) Patricia was baptized!!! We decided to have the baptismal service before church at noon, so that she could be confirmed on the same day. She leaves for Brazil on Saturday, so she wanted be baptized and confirmed before she left for the holidays. She was so excited to be baptized last week. I skipped my morning meetings, so that Patricia and I could go to church together. It turns out that I needed every bit of the morning to get ready. On my mission I was always nervous before baptisms but not like I was for this baptism. I wanted make sure that everything was ready. I called the missionaries several times to make sure that the font was filling properly. Meanwhile I was trying to finish everything including my talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I had already looked up some scriptures on the talk, but I had not yet prepared what I was going to say. The fact that it was Sunday morning and I had not finished my talk disturbed me along with the fact that I was bumbling everything else. I spilled something on my white shirt, which required washing. I did not have time to dry it, so I used the iron to dry it more quickly. Then I got my pants dirty. Then I made a mess of an ironing job that Patricia fixed. The entire time Patricia was calm and laughing at me for being so anxious. Finally we showed up at the church 15 minutes before the service started, which was just enough time to dress in our whites and start the meeting.

The missionaries and members had prepared everything. About 30-35 people were there, which is very good considering that it was an hour before church. The 2nd counselor in the Elder's Quorum presidency conducted. He was only a member for 5 months before he was called be part of the EQP 7 months ago. He was so excited to conduct. The talk on baptism was given by Jorge Oliveira, a fellow Brazilian and new member. He was quite emotional when talking about his baptism and the importance of the ordinance. I gave the talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I told them some experiences that Patricia had. For example, when she told me that she wanted to be baptized, I asked her why. She said that she had felt the Spirit of God too many times during this year to deny that God has actively guided her to the church. She then said that Spirit that she has felt at times, she wants to have with her always. I just thought that you could not get a better answer than that for why you should be baptized. Of course, I got emotional during my talk. After the baptism the Relief Society welcomed Patricia to the Relief Society and told her to get ready because she would receive a calling as soon as she returns from Brazil.

My branch president (President Beck) welcomed her to the branch. He, too, was rather emotional, which was unexpected because he is not a real emotional person. He gave a really special message. He first had her stand next to him and asked all the members who were converts to raise their hand. About 50% of the audience raised their hands. He then told her that she was not alone and 50% of the church entered the church like she did. He told that in the church we take little children and teach them how to feel and recognize the Spirit. We take youth and help them recognize and obey the promptings of the Spirit. We help those who felt the Spirit once but due to sin and neglect do not feel it anymore and help them feel it again. We take those that have never felt the Spirit, help them feel it in their lives. He said that that was the purpose of the church. I thought that was a succinct example of what we do in the church. Without the Spirit everything we work for in the church is in vain. He then said that he was so happy at this baptism because she was dating me. The branch president and I have worked closely together because I am the clerk for the past 2 years. He told Patricia that I was very special to him and had a great help to him as branch president. He said that he was so happy that she was in my life. I was quite touched.

Instead of a closing hymn, we had a special number. I was not aware that the program had changed to add a special musical number. Several branch members and 2 nonmember brothers of a member sang a hymn in Portuguese. They did an excellent job, especially the two nonmembers. I later found out that the two nonmembers were Brazilian musicians. They saw the music for the first time a few minutes before singing it. It was a very special baptism.

Immediately afterwards in sacrament meeting I confirmed her. Then President Beck asked her to bear her testimony. She did an excellent job, and afterward she told that she felt so much peace that she was not even nervous. I was shocked that she accepted. She had asked me several times during the week if she was going to have to speak. She was scared to death that she would have to speak during the service. I told her that it was not necessary, but she could if she wanted to. She also asked me if she would have to pray in church, and I said that most definitely she would be asked to pray at some point. In Relief Society they asked her to pray. After church she remarked that she did not expect that she would be asked to speak and pray so quickly. Well welcome to the church.

In the end every man that had a part in the program was emotional, and none of the women were. That was rather strange.

After church we had a Christmas dinner and then a musical presentation of the Living Christ document. The branch did a really good job. They were not the best singers in the world, but you could feel their testimony in what they sang. People sang in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, and Korean. Then the two nonmember Brazilian brothers got up and one sang while the other played the piano. They preformed "I heard him come" by Afterglow. They practiced it for the first time 1 hour before. The brother who sang knows some English, but the other brother does not. They had never heard how the song was usually sung, so they performed it like they wanted to. I turned out really nice. I do not understand how they could practice a brand new song in a foreign language for little over an hour and perform so well. Also they arrived from Brazil Saturday night at 11pm and stay up talking to their sister all night. I guess that is the definition of talent. It was such a good day that they are now very interested in the church.

Everyone is so friendly to Patricia, and she already has several friends including a good friend name Patricia!

Life just gets better and better

Well I must say that life has been good to me these last few months.

I have some extremely good news to share. Patricia is getting baptized!! She decided to get baptized during Thanksgiving, and she is receiving the last discussion today. She is so solid. It has been so exciting to see her grow in the gospel and see the experiences that she is having. She understands the whole plan of salvation. For example, she is already so excited about the temple from work for the dead and temple marriage to having a place to worship away from the world.

The branch loves her. That is one thing that my branch is good at is making people feel welcome.
She decided to take the discussions with the missionaries alone. She wants to have no other influences because the decision to get baptized is her own and of no one else. I have to wait outside the door, while they teach her. She does not let them get a way with any vague explanations that are not scripturally backed. Last night they had the 3rd discussion on the plan of salvation. She asked a several questions that they did not know how to answer. Then after explaining many different things to her, they decided not to read a bunch of scriptures on the subject because of the time. She told them that she was not interested in their explanations unless they are accompanied by scriptures. After a question and answer period that was supposed to be a discussion, she gave them a lesson on how to teach more effectively. She told them to give a short overview/objectives of the discussion, so that the investigators would know where the discussion was headed and understand why they were talking about certain principles. Also she told them to ask open-ended questions to the investigators to find out what they know and understand. Then she told them that their principal purpose in teaching investigators was to teach true principles from the scriptures then their resolve concerns. Later after the discussion she asked me why they did not teach missionaries how to teach. Well, I thought that they did. However, she really likes her missionaries, and they provide a comfortable/spiritual atmosphere in the discussions.

Now she is a little missionary. She has already spoke to several people here, and is preparing a little crusade in Brazil with her friends and family over the holidays. She now feels the pull to help her family learn about the church. They are supportive of her decision, but she wants them to know what she now knows.

Next time I write, she'll be a member!! It is so exciting!!

The unexpected

Well life goes on. I have quite busy with life and work and church responsibilities.

I am starting to feel more and more the pressure of work and the need to get everything done. I am finishing my proposal presentation right now, which I will give the first week of school next semester. I then will start gearing up for my field season. I am also looking for more funding for my current research projects. I have proposed to conduct some expensive research, which requires a $190,000 grant over 3 years. I submitted a NSF grant this summer for $325,000 over the next 3 years. I hope and pray that it gets funded. If not, I have to move on to the next funding opportunity. I think that the worse part of research is the constant scrambling for research money. While in graduate school it is especially stressful because time is short.

Church is great but busy. Tithing settlement time is always a busy time for clerks (I am the only clerk), and it started last week. This Sunday we will start setting up appointments. Luckily it is easier to do this in a small singles branch.

I have taken a few pictures, but I have been so busy that I have not been able to put the pictures up. Here is a photo of a beautiful sunset of the Everglades and 2 pics the sunrise over the ocean.

Life has been a quite a bit more busy this last few 2 months than before. For those who feel that I am well on my way to being the old bachelor, it may come as a shock that I am dating someone. For those of you who thought that the last sentence had to have been a typo, I'll repeat it. I am dating someone. I know that this is all strange, considering that most of you have never seen me with a girlfriend. Well, it gets even stranger, her name is Patrícia.

Let me tell you all a little of her story.

She is a first-year PhD student, working in plant physiology surrounding the isotopic fractionation of oxygen in the synthesis of cellulose. She is from São Paulo, Brazil. The evolution of our relationship has been interesting. She came to the lab last year for a month. At the time I thought that she was a little sissy brat. She thought that I was mean and was actually afraid of me (I really do not why, but oh well). When she arrived here this year, we saw each other one day before I left for Colorado for reunions and research. I told our colleague later that day that I did not think that I could handle having a little "princess" in the lab for the next several years. After I left to Colorado, she told the same colleague that she did not want to talk to me because she was afraid of me and thought that we would always be at odds. I guess that we resolved our concerns. It was soon afterwards that we started dating.

Now this let's go back to the beginning of the year. In January, she met someone who was a devout evangelical Christian. He taught her about the gospel. Though she was Catholic, she knew very little about God and nearly nothing about the scriptures. As she learned about the gospel, she found new meaning to life. She was not looking for anything at the time or felt any need to change, but once she learned about the gospel she committed herself to it. I did not know anything about this experience, but once she arrived this year in July I quickly felt that there was something very different about her.

She knew that I was Christian because she asked me what I believe last year. She asked me about the gospel again this September. I was shocked at how much she knew and how she felt about the gospel. She was so interested in learning more. We really liked to talk and study the scriptures together. She even watched both Saturday sessions of conference with me. Well in the end we also realized that we had more than just a mutual interest in the gospel.

She comes to church with me, and everybody at church loves her. She is very intelligent and wants to know the answer more than the superficial Primary answers to gospel questions. She'll ask me a question and I'll tell her what I think, then she'll say, "Ok, now what do the scriptures say?" I have had to study many questions because I did not have the answer (from the scriptures) offhand. She is so special, and it is exciting to see her grow in the gospel continually as God works with her.

This last little while has been quite wonderful. I can't complain at all. I found an absolutely gorgeous, extremely smart, nature-loving biologist who loves the gospel. All I can say is that life is good, real good.

After a long silence

It has been so long since I last wrote. Before I had nothing important to write about, but I faithfully wrote every week. Now so much has happened since I last wrote on 3 Sep, I have not written a single thing. How ironic!

In short, I must say that life is good, real good.

First I have finally finished some minor editing of the wedding photos, and I'll send Emilee and Dad DVD's of the photos. Also I'll post the reception photos on Picasa webalbum.

At the end of last month I took my qualifying examinations (8 hour written test and 3 hour oral defense of my answers). The orals only took 1 hr 45 min. It pays to know your stuff. Interestingly the most difficult questions were where one committee member asked a question about someone else's subject. The mycorrhiza professor asked me to explain to him what the Global Meteroic Water Line was. It is so easy to understand, but I had never had to explain what it was before. It was not as easy to explain as I had expected. Then the genetics professor asked me what linkage disequilibrium was and I could not remember for anything. Of course, that was my fault. I said that linkage disequilibrium could explain what 2 species that share the same area do not successfully form large hybrid zones. Right when I said it I realized my mistake. I should not have invoked a term that I could not explain. In the end I still passed with flying colors.

I lost a committee member and asked another new professor to take his place. The new professor first told me, no. Then later said yes but was quite brusk. I was not at all impressed and did not want her on my committee. I tried to find someone else, but to no avail. I did not talk to her for several month because she was quite unapproachable. After several months she started working with stable isotopes. Now she comes to the lab quite often. She is so nice now. She emailed me before I went to Puerto Rico to wish me luck. I am very glad we are much more friendly as she is on my committee.

Before going to Puerto Rico I gave a talk in front of the biology department at UMiami. A row of 7 professors were seated on the back row. As soon as I showed some my first graph, one professor asked a question. After that the questions did not stop. I received at least 50 questions during the talk. The more they asked questions the more questions and excited they got. At the end it was a feeding frenzy. I basically just fielded questions for the rest of the time meanwhile trying to finish my talk. Most of the questions were sincere, but some were purposefully designed to trip me up and find holes in my research. I not only had to defend my data but also my future research as some of the professors knew what I planned to do. They asked questions about what I would do under specific conditions or if certain things happened. Gladly I can say that both my research and I held up under the scrutiny. Afterwards several grad students came up to me with a look of horror and admiration. Horror because such a spectacle had never happened before in the department and they were very glad that they were not in my place. Admiration because I did not buckle. It was more tense in many ways than more qualifying examination.

I must say that none of the professors had it out for in a vicious way. They all congratulated me for not falling apart and a few of them offered their help in my future research if I needed it. In the end it was a good experience, but not one that I want to repeat anytime soon.

Of course that brings up another point. I went to Puerto Rico to give a presentation, visit research sites, and set up collaborations with the plant physiological ecology lab at the University of Puerto Rico. I was invited to talk there on my root function research. The professor, Elvira Cuervas, that paid my way was really a neat person and we had so much fun. We saw Guanica Forest and the Robos mangrove and dry tropical forest. I stayed in San Juan, the capital. It is such a crazy city, much like Miami. After giving my presentation, Elvira invited me to give a mini course at the University of Puerto Rico on DNA fingerprinting. It should be very exciting. I'll teach a course for 2 weeks in Puerto Rico. Afterward I'll take a select group of students to the field to collect some data and then take them to Miami to develop the DNA fingerprinting technique.

Puerto Rico is a very beautiful island. I'll put photos up later. I have not had time to do anything with the photos yet.

Probably none of you watched the Breeders Cup, so I'll give a little important info. Corinthian won the Breeders Cup Dirt Mile! Corinthian was bred by Aunt Sandra. He annihilated the field by 7 lengths. Now he'll be retired to Gainesway Farm and will command an impressive stud fee of $40,000. Here you can watch a replay of the race.

I will later update my website with more photos and I'll put links in my next entry of the pages I updated.

On Saturday I went to Key Biscayne to look for mangrove propagules for my hydrogen fractionation research. I decided to go look for a brown basilisk lizard while I was out there. I was rewarded with a nice look at 2 different males. They are a rather interesting lizard with large scales on the back of their head like the dinosaurs: hadrosaurids. The lizards are best known for their ability to run on water. The tap the water so fast that upwelling that occurs keeps them on top of the water. I saw seen them run on water twice. I got a picture of it, but the picture quality is very poor.

Corinthian and Vitruvius ran on Saturday. I talk about the races on my horse news page.

I am looking forward to seeing the family and Arizona in a few days! I cannot believe that I'll be in Arizona in 3 days. Unfortunately the stay will not be long, only 4 days.