Geeks at Last!

So I was hanging around with my traditional archery group and as it grew darker, one of my fellow archers reached into the back of his truck and pulled out a 6 D battery MagLite. He proudly declared "And this is my +10 wand of arrow finding." Next thing I knew, another fellow archer and I joined in about our Dungeons and Dragons adventures. Score! I finally found people who appreciate and still play Dungeons and Dragons! I also found out some other really cool stuff about my traditional shooting group:

-- Our fearless leader may be on the verge of discovering a new sea-lion virus. She was quite excited yesterday as she talked about the gels and other biochemical stuff that people do to identify viruses and their proteins. I'm definitely in good company!
-- Another archer showed quite a bit of enthusiasm about doing research on vertebrates with a focus on large mammals.
-- At least 1-2 other people in the gang work as biochemistry technicians of some sort.
-- Lots of references to Monty Python and Tolkien in the group.

I'm even more pumped up about this group than before now that I know that not only do we love traditional archery and nature, but also we're a really geeky bunch! I don't think I've seen a group of people this geeky since Caltech! People at school wonder why I'd rather hang out with archers of any sort, both traditional and compound. They're a whole lot more colorful and fun than the people who'd rather be drinking at a bar or sitting at some over-intellectual film without any combat scenes or the strange critters who think life revolves around TV!

As for the pictures, the arrows were shot from 30 yards on the Equalizer and the outlier was the result of me punching the trigger when I felt a mosquito trying to dig a well on the one spot I missed with the insect repellent. All in all, I scored 239/280 while shooting from the Hunter posts and 220/280 on the Field posts this morning. I think I did fairly well -- now that I've established a baseline, I'd like to see if I can break 250/280 consistently in those before the end of the semester =)

Field Training

There's few things as thrilling as doing archery. I got a major head-rush today when my coach and I went out to the range to do a practice hunter round (4 arrows from marked posts at various distances at 14 targets). Total number points possible: 280 with 5 for the inner-most circle, 4 for the next circle, and 3 for the outermost ring. I pulled a 218/280, which is pretty darned good for someone who's got very little experience with a compound, tends to snap-shoot, is vulnerable to target panic, and forgets that a compound isn't a longbow... and apparently good for someone with a fair amount of experience too! I've had a few critters tell me that I've got the makings of a championship archer... but I'm still a bit skeptical myself about this! Yes, a really great dial-up sight with a magnifier makes it a lot easier aim as well as the let-off on my bow and the high speed (223 feet per second!), but it still takes a lot of work, as I'm very quickly learning. I still have to actually keep my form up, and trust me, a 5 lb set-up is harder to hold up and making sure I have a clean release is a lot tougher than just finger shooting on my recurve.

Above are pictures from the practice range to make sure we're sighted in. I'm taking shots at 60 yards (doable but difficult shot for my Chek-Mate and almost impossible on the Little Hawk) and scoring on each shot. My arrows are the ones with the white and yellow fletch and my coach is shooting black and orange fletch. It's still quite mind-boggling to see what I can do with a bit of training and focus... and some impressive equipment to top it off!

Telcontar, Absolute First Draft

I have finally finished my absolute first non-embarassing draft of Telcontar Restored. There will be many more revisions, as always. This one was definitely a tough one to work on, but overall, I'm pleased with the results, aside from the numerous loose ends from something of this magnitude that always come up. I do have the next story starting to form, which I'm not sure how long it'll take to write. I really feel a strong connection to some of my characters in Telcontar, particularly the Geeksters (Vincent and Ivan) and Tarathorn. And no, there's no Killer Parakeet in this one, although he does get mentioned here and there.

Disclaimer about Telcontar: There may be some stark resemblance to real people that aren't coincidental. This is only in the case of the Caltech professors. The rest of the characters may have bits and pieces of quirks taken from other critters that I thought would be fun to incorporate. This is especially true for the Geeksters, who are inspired from my favorite bands and various people I've hung out with over the years.

A hearty thank-you to everyone who somehow contributed to this story from all the (mis)adventures we've shared, whether in person or from stories and tall-tales. Without all the fascinating and weird critters I've lived/live around or read/heard about, fun stories like Telcontar and Dunheasa would not be possible!

Reminder to self: keeping the same CD on repeat isn't always the brightest of ideas! I now have several Erasure songs stuck in my head!

And now, I've got to make my little journey to the second star to the right and go straight on 'til morning!

Recurring Theme...

I should've learned by now that more than 1-2 cans of Red Bull in a day does weird things to me, but every now and then, I get the urge to see what happens again. This time, I stopped at 3 and I've got insomnia that not even reading Supreme Court opinions could relieve... and my brain feels like it's trying to race with light in a vacuum.

The more I think about my research and all the directions it might go since Nature doesn't always cooperate, the more I realize this is really a life-long adventure and this thing called a PhD is just a brief chapter. And there's just so many ecosystems I want to learn more about -- boreal forests, tundra, steppe, pretty much everything besides urban!

Random picture of the day... Isn't it a beauty? :)

Brain Fluxes

In theory, I should be cranking out more materials for my PhD research proposal and/or cranking out more R code to run split-plot ANOVAs, both balanced and un-balanced designs. In practice, I'm letting a bit of pressure out of my brain so my skull doesn't explode. But on my mind: carbon and water fluxes.

The more I read up on various models for both evapotranspiration and carbon flux, the more I realize that there's a lot of stuff we don't know! The below-ground carbon pool, for example, is a huge mystery that everyone's still trying to figure out. For me, the real fun is in trying to bridge the various scales from individual tree/shrub to the regional (on the order of many square kilometers) and how to get a slick, parsimonious model that I can use across different pine forests. I wasn't too shocked when I found out that there's people all over the place doing what I want to do on different ecosystems, but it is a bit of a kick to the ego knowing that my brain actually falls within 2 or 3 standard deviations in some things!

Not too many people seem to be interested in carbon flux and evapotranspiration simultaneously from what I've seen in the literature, but from what I know, those two are pretty closely linked because of all the plant-soil-atmospheric-who knows what else interactions going on too. Doing a coupled ET-CO2 flux model is probably going to be tedious work because of all the unknowns and all, but I think that's somewhere I might be able to put in my little contributions... at least I hope so. And then there's all these cool new algorithms with artificial neural networks (which I'm still trying to wrap my brain around).

And then as if thoughts of coupled CO2-ET models with hyperspectral remote sensing and integrating plant phenology, LiDAR, and stable isotope analyses weren't enough, my brain's also swimming in daydreams of being one with the ecosystems I intend to study... and not just as a system of some sort, but with the plants, soil, and animals. Admittedly some of the daydreams also involve joining the ranks of various predators and hunting various critters, particularly invasives and anything that needs some help in population control. And then my brain is also tinkering with the idea of competing at some of the larger archery competitions and at least holding my own in them. Let's just hope that I can keep the Ranger in check long enough to make sure I can do what I set out to do!

Part 3... and then some!

As I clean up the second installment of what I've tentatively called the Telcontar series, I'm already starting to think of some stuff for a third installment of the story because I somehow created so many additional opportunities to explore not only the young heroes, but also the worlds they explore. I can't promise any time-frames to post Telcontar Restored because my #1 priority is school and my creative abilities do fluctuate fairly randomly even if there is a fairly strong correlation between creativity and stress levels. I also have a lot of catch-up time for honing in on my outdoors and shooting skills, especially now that I'm starting to integrate techniques from shooting compound into my instinctive traditional shooting. It's really weird how I have a hard time holding my shot on my trusty recurve after taking several shots on my compound, but at the same time, I'm getting to be a bit of a better snap-shooter because of it. I still like to hold my shots on a traditional bow for a count of 3-5, depending on the distance, but being able to shoot as soon as I hit my anchor and still maintain both my form and aim is a very useful skill too, especially if I ever have to do timed competitions or hunt something besides foam and plastic.

Oh and there's a link to an extremely cute video I found on YouTube when I had to take a breather from working on my prospectus and/or homework (especially ecological statistics and plant ecophysiology). There's just something oddly appealing about Erasure videos inspired by fairy tales, mythology, and/or random children's stories.

And now, time for me to continue working on my plans to conquer the world... er... curl up so I can wake up for my early morning experimental design class and endure a long day of seminars.

Effects of Stress...

List of severe stress symptoms that can be cured either with a good pretend-hunt or other solitary outdoor activity away from the general populace... or temporarily relieved with tasteless music videos, excessive use of computer games, destructive hobbies, and/or exercising to severe injury:
- Uncontrolled salivation at inappropriate things
- Visions of bulls-eyes on particularly annoying people like those annoying solicitors who don't understand the concept of "I'm running late to class/meeting/seminar" or those inconsiderate people who wear excessive product in poorly ventilated places... most of the bulls-eyes seem to be centered around lung/heart shots.
- Excessive shedding
- Cut-up tongue from refraining from swearing at the *.* person who almost runs me over when I have right-of-way or the annoying solicitor trying to recruit me into
- Sudden and increased cravings for medium-rare meat on the bone
- Loss of overall competetive edge in class
- General inability to sit still without having to stretch or walk

And now time to try to ignore the effecs of stress long enough to focus on making sure the curve is nice and broken in my favor and learning the material inside-out...

Odds and Ends

Just a few little thingies to post because I feel like it and am trying to let my brain re-set enough to continue on a presentation...

Telcontar: I've finished the first private draft, which means it's going to be getting worked on a whole lot more before I let ANYONE else look at it. All I can say about this one without giving too much away at this point is that the violence content is unusually low. I don't know how long this one will be given that I'm trying to also wrap up a manuscript, get my research proposal written, and generally stay nice and competetive academically. Oh and make sure that I don't accidentally engulf my bike seat with my butt.

FGSO Treasurer

I got appointed as the treasurer of the forestry graduate student organization in a very interesting race against 2 other candidates. Hey, free food is a VERY strong motivator to get things done... well, and the opportunity to check out other research that's going on in the department that I otherwise wouldn't hear about. Downside? The president seems to really love going to bars and other places where it gets a bit too stuffy for someone who'd rather be outdoors.

Power Wheels?
Well, I had the courage to bike to the local pro-shop to do my last round of test-shooting. Right now, I'm down to 3 models that really fit me really well, although none of them come close to beating out my trusty Chek-Mate recurve. The 3 finalists in my quest for a good compound bow are:

#1 -- Fred Bear Odyssey. Pros: Price (<$300 for a fully set-up kit), minimal hand-shock, can be easily adjusted without a bow-press, smooth draw, extremely comfortable grip, weighs less than 3.5 lbs completely set up, fits in on the back of my bike safely, zero finger-pinch, comes almost-ready-to-shoot, wide draw weight range (35-50 lbs). Cons: Slow compared to several of the other models, needs some work with timing and tuning, a bit unstable, a bit of that "children's bow" stigma, 2 year full warranty.

#2 -- Browning Micro-Adrenaline. Pros: Price (<$300 for a fully set-up kit), low hand-shock, doesn't need a bowpress, smoothest draw of the top 3, reasonably fast, weighs less than 3.5 lbs completely set up, stable, fits safely on bike, comes almost-ready-to-shoot, easy-to-change limbs. Cons: Some finger pinch, handle felt a bit small, smaller weight range (40-50 lbs), a bit noisy, minor tuning/timing issues, a bit of that "children's bow" stigma, 5 year full warranty

#3 -- Bowtech Equalizer. Pros: Extremely fast, very stable, flattest trajectory, adjustable let-off, very quiet, very stable, most forgiving, fewest worries about timing issues in the top 3, fits safely on a bike, very little hand-shock, reasonable weight (4 lbs with everything), life-time full warranty. Cons: Price ($650 by itself), substantial finger pinch, smaller weight range (40-50 lbs), needs modules and bowpress to adjust.

The winner? Who knows. All I know right now is that there's muscles in my back and chest that I didn't realize I had.

Great Laughs

This entry is linked to a website I'm really enjoying lately. It's still a poor substitute for roaming around in the wilds with my trusty little Chek-Mate, but at least it's keeping me from doing too much damage to my walls.

I usually hate rap and hip-hop, but MrSafety Professional Idiot is a lot more palatable than most of the other stuff I get exposed to. His songs and stunts defy description -- you've just got to watch it to see why I enjoy his videos so much. I think the more tasteless and annoying the music is, the more likely I am to gravitate towards it. Consider... my favorite bands are Depeche Mode, Moenia, Erasure, O-Zone, and ABBA ... and I have a real weakness for bagpipes. I also have a particular fondness for Beavis & Butthead and South Park along with the adventure epics involving archery, nature, swords, and sorcery.

And what's wrong with appreciating toilet humor, a good hunting story, or even a good technical discussion? For some reason, there's some kind of really annoying social stigma against someone who appreciates the crude and violent... at least if you're female and Asian. And why is there so much social stigma about necessary digestive functions?

Dental Floss and Super-Glue

I just felt like posting something about some of the greatest inventions: dental floss and super-glue.

Dental floss, besides keeping my teeth in pretty decent shape (but alas, it didn't save me from the cosmetic torture of braces), has a wide array of other uses. I've used dental floss to hold my glasses together long enough for me to get a set of screws for them. It's served as a fairly reliable emergency nocking-point on my bowstring when my brass nocking-point fell off. It's also done a very good job of holding my cat-whisker silencers in place, in fact, it's done a better job than the strand of Dynaflight 97 or B-50 Dacron recommended by most other archers. I've even used dental floss to secure my writing instruments to me and to even measure my draw length when I didn't have a meter stick or tape measure on me at that moment. Dental floss is also great for improvised tea bags when I have loose leaf tea and bags but no way to secure the bags to keep all the leaves from coming out.

And then there's super-glue. Besides the obvious thing of sticking things together, it also serves as a very nice sealant. On a few occasions, I've used super-glue to fill in gaps between various parts of my arrows to keep things secure. I've yet to have any fletching fall off my arrows (scraped off is a whole different boat) and I've broken many nocks but never had one fall off an arrow where I sealed that gap between the shaft and the nock. Most of the nocks I've lost were on my Carbon Express arrows (which I leave un-glued at the nocks so I can fine-tune the arrow and experiment with the orientation of the fletching) or not secured with a nice, thin film of super-glue in that little gap.

Where would the world be without dental floss and super-glue?

I Think I See a Pattern...

Seminar today went well. Informal but it was a real blast being able to talk for almost an hour about evapotranspiration modelling and the use of the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith. I think I could get used to doing longer performances, except I'm not going to drink an espresso right before!

Compound Bow Names

I'm starting to notice some patterns in how compound bow models get named or categorized... some of which include:

1) If it's an insanely fast bow that's marketed as "the fastest on the market", it has the word "Black" in it. Case in point being Mathews' Black Max, Bowtech's Black Knight (no longer in production), and APA Innovation's Black Mamba Extreme. The word "Extreme" and the letter "X" also show up a lot.

2) If it's for draws under about 26" or 27", there's 4 terms that seem to get used a lot... along with a humorous description (to be taken with a few salt shakers of salt) of what they really mean:
a) Micro-bow: the generic term for a bow designed for shorter draw lengths, typically reserved for (b) or (c). For some reason, a lot of guys I know cringe at the thought of even handling a "micro-bow". I don't like this term either... it's annoying enough having short arms and small hands!
b) Youth bow: "Small and usually cute compound bow for a growing kid and usually has the word `Lite' or `Micro' in it (eg. Rapture Lite or Micro-Adrenaline)" or a fairly "neutral"-sounding name like Odyssey or Badge... typically shot by dabblers and kids and they actually tend to be decent bows in terms of neat features like not requiring a bow-press or not having a specific draw length... also tend to be fairly easy to adjust.
c) Ladies' bow: "Small, usually gaudy, compound bow that usually doesn't go past 50 lbs draw weight and doesn't hunt very well but usually makes for a good target bow". These tend to have either girly names (eg. Tigress or Banshee) or annoying names (eg. Selena... sounds too much like some talentless celebrity with the wits of a fermented radish).
d) Short-draw bow: "Smaller high-performance compound bow that guys don't want to be referred to as any of the above in fear of looking wimpy... and can go to 60 or 70 lbs" Names on these bows go all over the place -- anything from APA Innovation's Suphan to BowTech's Equalizer, but they tend to err on something that still sounds as tough as their longer-draw cohorts.

3) The more appealing-looking models tend to be named after predators, especially great cats (eg., Cougar, Jaguar, Panther), poisonous snakes (Viper, Mamba, Cobra), some word that's connected to killing (Slayer, Fatal Impact, Terminator), or rough weather conditions (Typhoon, Thunder, Storm).

4) Less appealing bows tend to be named after non-predatory animals (eg. Mustang, Caribou) or something that sounds like it could come straight from Star Trek (eg., RinTec, ProTec, Trykon).

I know being prejudiced by a model (or even a company's) name is not the best of things, but there are just some names I just wouldn't want to be associated with. I don't know if it's a bias towards traditional bows anyway, but I do like the traditional bow names a lot more -- typically revolving around nature instead of fads. So far, here's a list of some things I'm observing all across the board... without any regard for what the actual bow (traditional or compound) really looks or feels like.

Best Model Names: Falcon, Desert Fox, Vazul
Worst Model Names: Non-Typical, Prestige
Most Common Words: Hunter, Cobra, Viper, Mamba, Hawk, Eagle, Wolf, Ranger
Most Unusual Names: Non-Typical, King's Pawn, Stick

Pieces of a TIN Model

Just feeling like scribbling a few random things down in one long post instead of several short bursts. I'm definitely caught in a nice Triangular Irregular Network full of stochastic processes... but as one of my favorite characters once said, "To live is an awfully big adventure".

Relaxation

Besides shooting them, I also really enjoy making arrows. There's just something about turning shafts of wood, glue, feathers, and pieces of plastic and metal into something powerful, beautiful, and ultimately, deadly, in the right hands. I'm split between wood and carbon -- I enjoy the wood arrows because there's a lot more I can do with them and there's a sense of "bonding" with the arrows that doesn't involving glue, but I also enjoy the carbon arrows bebcause they're almost indestructible and are a lot more precise. I can't wait to start my next batch of wooden arrows, which will be cedar (like ones I've made before) but also stained, sealed, and spined to the proper stiffness to turn them into real killers.

Frodo Baggins Syndrome

So I was at an ecology group meeting today and while I was scouting out for potential brains to start picking at, I noticed that everyone was signing up for a time to do some kind of presenation. Only thing was, nobody wanted to present next week, not even the really outgoing young professor from the wildlife department. After the paper went around for a while, the professors in charge were looking for someone to present and I had asked one of them about something else. I don't know what hit me next, but I suddenly said "I'll take it!" I felt like I was at the Council of Elrond and I had just played the role of Frodo Baggins. And now I'm going to have to cough up a presentation... and a manuscript!

More Kills!

I have now added another lizard to my kills -- they need to really stop taking naps between the cardboard target face and the foam or cardboard backing. I also have 2 more giant roach-like bugs in my list of kills. One of them was actually something I aimed at from 10 meters, but the other also made the mistake of hiding in that little space and I managed to nail it from about 25 meters back. As usual, it was with my Chek-Mate recurve, which is getting easier to get accurate shots with now even though my practice time has been severely cut. I've been limiting myself to the practice range because I don't have as much time to dedicate to my shooting, so I've only been doing accuracy and precision drills. The precision drills are a lot easier for me, but in a real tournament or hunting situation, I also need accuracy at a wide range of distances. Coming to think of it, I really feel like shooting!

Nightmare From Hell

In an attempt to be fully alert in my classes (darned early mornings combined with afternoon seminars... and taking the bus to save on ulcers and funding), I tried to go to sleep at a dismally early 21.00 hrs so I can get up early enough. Only problem is I had a serious nightmare, one bad enough where I'm still severely rattled and no amount of "quick laughter" or weight-lifting or shooting at the 3-D target I swiped can relieve so far.

Without going into gratuitous details, let's just say the nightmare involved being forced to live a lifestyle completely incompatible with someone who's having daydreams of being a leader in plant ecophysiology, an archer (both as a hunter and a tournament archer), and generally being able to enjoy solitude in the natural world without any cumbersome entities. It was about par with removing the flight feathers from an eagle and then stuffing it into a parakeet cage and putting the cage in a room full of malicious toddlers and infants and being forced to watch soap operas.

Besides hastily scribbling thoughts here I've also been watching (out from the corner of my eyes) some rather amusing music clips... in a strange way, some of them are actually soothing even if they are very up-beat. I don't know what it is, but just as a sample, I've put a link to one of these clips... Youtube is a great way to lose sleep... or to calm down after a REALLY bad nightmare. I'm not sure what it is... I'm just glad that it's calming me down enough to attempt to sleep.

Week 1 in the Forestry Department...

For a first week of school, things went pretty darned smoothly. I only got lost once in the forestry/wildlife building and only once in the monster buildings collectively called "McCarty Hall". I like all 3 of my classes, especially my botany class, which focuses on plant ecophysiology. Of course, I am a plant ecophysiologist with a particular liking for forests and ecosystem processes.

The only down-side to the week? The beginnings of a cold that's made me decide to stay home tonight instead of checking out the athletic facilities ... and a capoiera/breakdance group on campus that meets on Friday nights. I think I picked up the bug from one of my office-mates, a fellow ecologist who's also based in the forestry department who's been sick all week. Given the nature of the bug, I think I'm also going to be stuck at home this weekend, which is going to really hurt because I haven't gone shooting for almost 3 days... and not shooting for more than a few days has been known to have strange effects on me. Maybe I should swipe that discarded 3-D target or invest in one of those cheap bag targets, mount it on a chair, and start shooting at that when I can't go to the range for whatever reason.

I can't wait to start on a project. Right now I've got lots of ideas, mostly along the line of multi-scale studies on different types of ecosystems. Based on talking to some of the professors, I'm starting to think about looking at the different types of coniferous forests ranging from the predominantly longleaf/slash pines in Florida to the boreal forests out in Alaska and trying to develop a mechanistic model of evapotranspiration and carbon fluxes. I think I even have some strong candidates for my PhD committee... including a professor I mistook for a fellow grad student. Put it this way... a rugby player who runs the flux towers that the forestry (and botany) departments utilize and has worked with many of the people I collaborated with while I was at Cal State LA while he was in Barrow, Alaska.

Time to curl up and let my immune system do its thing so I can be at full juice on Monday... almost...

There's a really nifty video clip on http://www.martinarchery.com Just follow the link on the sneak peek for the 2007 Bengal and there's a little link to a video. Something about it was just rather... intriguing. While most people would rather admire tasteless fashion crap, I prefer the beauty of a well-shot arrow and a clean form. My bias is still much more towards the traditional bows, but there's still a different beauty in a compound bow. Just make sure it's not one of those scary-looking, gaudy target bows.

SFRC Orientation and Telcontar

Telcontar: I usually don't put links to videos, but these two pretty much helped inspire me to write the story...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xCXzpTWMenc
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-gkiRE-DhMc

I'm not going to say too much else besides letting you guess how on earth two of my favorite singers influenced this story.

As far as the SFRC (School of Forestry Resources & Conservation) went, it was pretty darned good for an all-day orientation event. It was at the Austin Carey Memorial Forest, which is a nice short drive away from home, not far from the airport. It was a blast being able to meet fellow forestry people and realizing that they're not only very engaging and knowledgeable, but also quirky, although no group will ever come close to Caltech students in terms of being fun and quirky. Of all the orientations I've had to sit through, this was by far my favorite, not only because they actually fed us something besides junk food, but also because I was able to talk about my research without drawing blank looks and listen to my peers talk about their research and catching my attention.

The Austin Carey Forest is actually a fairly "typical" forest in this part of Florida with the upper canopy of mixed pines (mostly long-leaf but also slash) and a lower canopy that's either grasses or saw palmettos, depending on when the last fire was. It's also an AmeriFlux site and I'd love to see if I can get it added to SpecNet :) I have a distinct feeling that my research will ultimately be tied to fire and drought effects, at least based on what the professors told me about the site. I'm looking forward to doing field work here, at least if I do take on this site... but I'm still hoping to see if I can get some work in the Boreal forest and other SpecNet sites so I can really make use of the Spectral Network!

Tomorrow is the first day of school, which means I start studying again! I'm just hoping that my hunting instincts won't kick in too hard!

Stereotypes?

Q: What do you call a short person with glasses, a hat, a T-shirt, shorts, and something interesting to read?

A: A scientist!

Apparently there's something about that appearance that screams "scientist" to a lot of people. I went to get some take-out food, having decided that I've had enough spinach and bell pepper salad, and after I placed my order for something filling, the person at the counter looks at me and just says "Hey, you're a scientist, aren't you?" I was tempted to ask what science, but I decided against it because I just wanted my food, having been hungry for quite some time. The real fun, though was when I had to set my reading material down next to me so I could sign the receipt and the cashier looked horrified when she saw what I was going to read while waiting. I had an issue of Traditional Bowhunter with the page turned to a review of a really cool high-powered compact longbow, complete with broadhead-tipped arrows and a picture of a hunter with an animal they just shot. Is it me, or is it just that nobody seems to expect a 5'2" Asian female scientist in training to be interested in bow-hunting or to be able to draw more than about 30 lbs?

Dunheasa / Telcontar Update

I'm hoping I can finish the sequel to Journey to Dunheasa before school really kicks in. The sequel is still tentatively titled to Telcontar Restored but that's always prone to change. As of now, I'm standing in Dunheasa with the Eternal Huntress, wondering about the source of that unearthliy beautiful baritone voice that broke her concentration while hunting.

At this point, all I can say about Telcontar is that it's a much more challenging story to fully flesh out and write than the much more linear and focused Dunheasa. Telcontar is nonetheless a fun story to write, especially with one of the heroes who is a mixture of two of my all-time favorite singers (Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode and Alfonso Pichardo of Moenia) and several of my peers throughout my academic career.

Oh and here's another gratuitous picture what my "best round" at the range this morning with my trusty Chek-Mate. This time I used a set of practice arrows with reflective white cresting and semi-reflective shield-cut white fletching after losing far too many of my good carbon arrows... and the results weren't too shabby at 20 yards, but my form still needs a lot of work, as the large spread and two outliers indicate!

Some More Murphy's Laws...

#1 -- Any exceptionally well-made and expensive arrow, especially in a relatively fresh batch, will be shot into one or more of the following within a few days of creation: an active bee/hornet/wasp nest, large patch of poison oak/ivy/sumac, network of active black widow or brown recluse spider webs, and/or be buried under about 2-3 inches of vegetable litter with fire ant outposts everywhere. Or if it doesn't land in a bad spot, then it gets Robin-Hooded beyond repair. Conversely, the easiest arrows to retrieve from a miss due to tension, poor technique, or bad distance judgement are typically the older, not-so-well-made arrows that need to be repaired or replaced.

#2 -- The one time I decide to wear something appropriate for the temperature and humidity is the one time I also miss a lot of targets and need to go into dense underbrush to find arrows. If I'm wearing full desert camouflage treated with insect repellent and guarded against anyone trying to get a space on the walking bug buffet, I always hit the target.

#3 -- If I'm going to get munched on or stung, it will be right when I'm trying to retrieve said masterpiece from #1 and while wearing something that won't make me overheat.

#4 -- The one place I can set down my trusty bow away from the local fire ants and spiders will usually be right underneath a popular P-mail site for birds.

#5 -- My arrows tend to get driven further into the target (or wooden frame or tree) than the arrow that came from a 60 lb bow from the same distance. Hmm... maybe that 125 grain field point on an arrow designed for hunting could be the reason... most other target shooters use those insanely light arrows that just poke the target, not try to go through flesh, lungs, and other organs and tear them up along the way...

#6 -- The most likely location for a sting is somewhere that makes it almost impossible to concentrate... like the eyelid or hand. The most likely spot for a bite is that one spot that can't be reached and was covered in clothing with no obvious entrances there.

Even with all these little Murphy's laws, I still love outdoors traditional archery in the Florida wilderness. I'd rather have the occasional bite or sting than just sit indoors like some kind of potato, there's just too much to enjoy outdoors. I think I just need to bathe in a mixture of Deet, Bidrin, DDVP, and Naled... or go back to using soaps like Dial. Oh and I also need to treat my clothing with something to repel the local insect and arachnid life too. I like bugs, but I don't exactly appreciate them munching on me or attacking me when I try to retrieve an arrow because my form and/or aim were off.

I've also picked the classes I'll be taking this fall with a bit of help from my new adviser. It's hard when I'm limited to 9 (was originally 12, but the fellowship got turned into an assistantship) credits but at the same time, maybe I can finally have a report card that doesn't have 3 really solid grades and 1 horrible grade and really get the material in :) I'm definitely moving up in this world -- I now have my office space and a key into my new extended territory.

Time for me to do what I set out to do... with the understanding that there's always room for outdoors and exercise!

Where's the Nerds and/or Fellow Outdoors Types?

My natural early-morning activity: archery or hiking... or sleeping, depending on what I did the night before. Sitting through an orientation session with almost 1200 other graduate students while listening to a lot of talk about how great the football and basketball teams are.

Oh and another shocker for me -- many of the students I ran into didn't even have a research component to their program and were in some pretty strange fields like business and journalism. The closest thing to comfort for me was a small group of somewhat disoriented Chinese math and physics PhD students who were looking for "comforting" person. I probably provided about 30 seconds of reassurance when they saw my Caltech hat during the mandatory "say hi to your neighbors, tell your major, undergrad institution, and a hobby or two" bit, but I think I scared pretty badly when I indicated that I'm an ecologist with a focus in forestry and that I really fond of traditional archery and that I'm a member of Traditional Bowhunters of Florida. There's nothing scary about being someone who wants to bow-hunt species that are overpopulating the region because humans idiotically removed all the natural predators, is there?

After the mandatory sit-on-my-butt-for-too-long orientation, I had to deal with paperwork and clearing holds on enrollment. Not exactly fun, but I have to do it to start the real adventure (the PhD, not the bow-hunting) and I didn't really get to interact much more with my fellow graduate students. I'm guessing that I'll be much once I go to orientations in forestry and the School of Natural Resources and Environment when I can actually meet people who are at least semi- in my field.

I'm really itching for a bit of shooting actually, but not having anything really good to shoot at indoors, I think I'm just going to drool at some more classes to take the next few semesters.

TBOF 2006 Florida Fall Rendezvous

So... after being a bit miffed about having to miss out on some fun on Wednesday, I found out on Friday morning that there's another shoot I can go to and really have some fun. This shoot was in Ocala National Forest, which is a bit of a drive, but it was worth all the time, money, lost arrows, and insect bites.

Friday: Coon Shoot
This was a real fun event if I didn't score at all. It was a nice 10-shot shoot in the dark with a flashlight inside a jug to highlight the critter being shot at, which was almost always some small nocturnal mammal. This was the first fully dark shoot I had ever been to and let's just say I kept aiming at the jug with the light! I came pretty darned close to hitting this one darned albino squirrel, but I overestimated the height and managed to break a nearby tree limb instead. All in all, it was a real blast even if I lost 1 arrow... next time I get arrows, I'm putting on those reflective crests and/or glowing nocks!

Saturday: Fred Bear and Howard Hill
This was a series of 2 20-target ranges. The first one was Fred Bear, which involved lots of going through dense vegetation (thank goodness for Off! bug repellent). I had major target anxiety and only scored 55/200 on the Fred Bear, which someone later told me was "pretty damned good for a first-time foreigner" and that it was normal for people to lose about 2-3 arrows at this course. I lost 3 arrows, although one of them did come back to me. The Howard Hill course was also a very challenging range and was a lot more nerve-wracking because several of the targets are right against the lake, so if I miss, that arrow goes swimming with the fishies. Let's just say just about everyone loses at least 2-3 arrows at this range too the first time they shoot at it. I did a lot better on it, mostly because I had some really lucky shots, giving me 85/200 on the Howard Hill. The most amusing shot by far that day was this one large turkey that had its back on the archer. Let's just say this one was also very anatomically correct and I got it somewhere that caused lots of laughter. All in all, 140/400, although if breaking tree limbs and getting them embedded really hard with a light-draw bow were worth points, I would've gotten close to 300 points for all the damage I did to the trees. The Howard Hill took 3 of my arrows, including one that went into the water as a sacrifice to the water spirits. Not too bad for the combination of target anxiety, trying to adjust to the sauna, and not having much experience in real forest surroundings.

Sunday: Final Round @ Howard Hill
I didn't do too well, but it was still a blast. I got placed with other women who shot either recurves or longbows with non-wooden arrows who apparently also felt a bit self-conscious about their scores. I think my fear of the water and losing yet more arrows really hurt me on this one, but every time I remembered to focus on a tiny spot on the target, I had a pretty solid shot. There were a few arrows that I really drove in good, including this one where I shot pretty far into a cypress stump. We couldn't quite pull it out until I decided to put all my weight into the effort and I literally fell flat onto my butt like in the cartoons when someone tries to pull something out. My arrow survived! I also earned the nickname "Pooper Shooter" because I hit several targets either in or very close to the business end, especially that one turkey and this one raccoon where I thought I missed, but turned out that I hit it right under the tail. All in all, I scored 55/200 on this one, which wasn't all that bad for an early morning shoot! Overall I came out with 195/600, which looked pretty embarassing compared to all these people who were getting much higher scores, although the top scores were still in the 400s except for one or two insanely good people, but I still had way too much fun and now I've got a nice base-line to work on :) I also learned a few more tricks of the trade that'll (hopefully) turn me into an archer deadly enough to hunt safely!

Laughter Cures and Macho Syndrome

Somehow, my stomach has been rather... unhappy... at something I ate today (I blame the seasoning packet that came with the bowl of instant noodles -- most mushrooms, especially Asian ones, even in small amounts, will give me quite memorable stomach woes) and leading to the cancellation of some wonderful plans I had revolving around shooting defenseless targets with my trusty Chek-Mate Hunter I. Needless to say, I wasn't exactly happy about having to sit at home and grab my stomach and do all the usual stuff for major indigestion. Anyway, I decided to do anything to make me forget the pain in my digestive system. And no, it's not lethal or anything, but extremely annoying and is a real damper on anything fun (ie, going outdoors).

Part 1: Hilarious Web-Sites

So... I just poked my head into a couple of sites a friend of mine sent me. Note that some of them are quite crude/vulgar to the easily offended, so reader beware! Here's a list of the ones that made me laugh until something else started hurting:

http://www.tuckermax.com (funniest by a long-shot but also may be offensive)
http://maddox.xmission.com (also has a great book)
http://www.homestarrunner.com (non-offensive material)

I pretty much felt better instantly after reading/watching the material!

Part 2: The Moth Returns to the Flame

I have a scar on my left arm from a botched attempt to shoot a high-powered compound bow by BowTech (Equalizer if you want to know the exact model). It was still a safe fire, but that was before I had the strength to draw back 40+ lbs or the understanding of how a compound bow works. I have long since been mildly afraid to handle compound bows until a few days ago. A minor spike in whatever chemicals that induce macho behavior inspired me to start trying out different compound bows. Here's a list of compounds that I've tried and what I thought of them.

Hoyt Selena -- I shot it at about 47 and then 43 lbs at 24" draw. It was ok, but for some reason I still have a weird grudge against Hoyt, probably because my retinas are still scarred from looking at some of their target bows. I probably won't be able to give this bow a very fair assessment because I also got a pretty nice bruise that hurts when I touch it from this one at the 43 lbs draw weight. It also gave me some handshock when I fired it and there was just something about the grip that made me think "excessively girly". Also, after I shot this one, I deliberately had the draw weight set significantly below what I was comfortable with because I didn't want to have another accident where I forgot that I had to draw it back to the let-off point.

PSE Deer Hunter -- I shot this puppy at 37 lbs at 24" draw. Unlike any of the others I shot, this had a single cam (more like a wheel). I didn't really like the feel of this one, although it didn't have any glaringly bad features. It did give me quite a bit of hand-shock and it was a fairly slow bow. I think my Chek-Mate is faster than this one pound for pound!

Bear Odyssey -- I shot this one at about 38 lbs at 24" draw. This one was a pretty nice one with a nice grip that actually felt substantial and for a cheap introductory bow, it felt really good firing it. It had a nice smooth draw and I got very little shock when I fired it. It's also a very small bow and very light (about 32" axle-to-axle and a bit under 3 lbs). For a non-competetive bow (this one can go from 35-50 lbs draw weight) or hunting small critters (rodents and lagomorphs), I think this one would be pretty good especially since the weight range goes from 35-50 lbs instead of the typical 30-40 or 40-50 lbs. Another bonus: this bow is actually easy on the eyes too! If I had to get a compound, this one would be a VERY strong contender, especially since the price tag (about $200 for the bow + accessories) is pretty sweet.

Browning Micro-Adrenaline -- I shot this one at about 37 lbs at 23.5" draw. This was a pretty nice bow with a nice grip, not quite as nice as the Odyssey, but it had a nice punch to it. It had a bit more gradual draw, which I appreciated and fired fairly nicely. Overall, it's a bit more high-performance than the Odyssey and it's another strong contender. My only complaint about this one is that the balance didn't quite feel as good as the Odyssey.

Bowtech Equalizer -- I shot this one twice: once at 43 lbs @ 25" (that's when I got my scar) and once at about 39 lbs at 23.5" draw. By far this is the fastest thing I've ever shot. As far as the grip goes, this one was the only one that I liked more than the Odyssey. The other cool part is that pound for pound, this is probably the fastest short-draw bow (or any compound) on the market. Oh, and it's the only compound that has a grip that I like better than the Odyssey. A lot more. The down-side to this one? The nearly $700 price tag and possibly having to get a release aid to shoot this one comfortably because it did give me some finger pinch. But if I really want to start competing seriously and/or hunt anything larger than rodents and lagomorphs, then this is pretty much as top-of-the-line as it gets for a short-draw compound.

Conclusion:
I think I'm just going to stay with pure traditional for a while more even if there are some models of compounds I really enjoy... at least until I can put some more muscles in my upper body and build up some confidence in my ability to draw all 45+ lbs without letting go or hurting anything!

First Two Kills!

So today I now have two kills in my name. Both of these were just so darned unlikely that I couldn't believe it until I saw the stuff on my arrow and the impaled critter on the cardboard target face. If I had been prepared, I would've had my digital camera to take the pictures, but this time, you'll just have to take my word for it and given the nature of these shots, I don't think I could repeat those!

Kill #1: A huge dragonfly. Apparently it wasn't doing so well, as it didn't quite move in time to escape being hit by my nice self-fletched Carbon Express Heritage 150. It had a pretty nice "squish" effect since it was big enough to get hit by the arrow but was still smaller than my nice 125 grain field point. Bug stuff isn't so bad and I easily wiped it off when I got home.

Kill #2: A lizard. Yes, you may be asking me how the heck I pulled this one off, given that I'm in a hot, humid climate and lizards are pretty active. So basically this lizard decided that the small space between the cardboard target face and the foam backstop was a good place to take a nap. This makes sense because it's still fairly warm and it's inaccessible to any raptors that might be looking for an easy lunch. There's also plenty of bugs, so the lizard has a nice little hideaway. So what happens is I'm practicing and then I do my usual thing and as I'm pulling arrows, one arrow is covered in what looks like red fluid and some random other gunk. Ok, rotting plant material. Then I pull the arrow further out and my nice Heritage 150 and the 125 grain tip is covered in red stuff and when it fully comes out, a lizard drops out. It's got a pretty good size hole in it that matches my field point. I put 1 and 1 together and realize that I actually hit the lizard. Reluctantly in an attempt to show it some respect, I pick up the punctured body (and it was a nice chest shot too!) and place it away from the trail and bury it under some dead leaves. After that target, I made it a point to check for lizards.

Now, for those of you who know me, I actually do have a bit of a liking for reptiles, especially snakes and turtles, but I also do have a soft spot for small lizards because they're just so darned cute. To be honest, I have far more qualms about killing or hurting a rattlesnake than a rabbit. One of the coolest things to watch I think is just seeing how a snake or a hawk or any other predator catches a rabbit and eats it.

Two kills... and I wasn't even hunting for them. I guess that's Nature's way of taking out the "lazy" population!

My Masterpiece

So one of the things I discovered about going from an arid to a humid climate is that some items don't quite transport very well. Point in case being my wooden arrows, which are still usable, but I wouldn't rely on them in a tournament. They're perfectly good for me just to take it easy on the range with my Little Hawk or even my X-200 (although they're a bit stiff and heavy for the 30 lb bow). The fletching on my experimental carbon arrows kinda came off during transport as well (made a bad choice in adhesive apparently!), so I decided to re-fletch my carbon arrows and add some cresting just so they stand out a bit more. Fletching is very relaxing activity for me, although I do have to keep the windows open to make sure I don't accidentally get high from working with Fletch-Tite, which is a methyl-ethyl-ketone based adhesive. Here's the results of my re-fletching work as well as my trusty Hunter I fully equipped.

I can't wait to start shooting again! I've already taken a couple of trips just to get familiar with the Gator Bowmen range and have made my "required" sacrifice of 3 good arrows to any unfamiliar range, including one shatter and two in a nice bed of poison ivy. As far as these re-fletched arrows go, these are the best I've ever fletched myself and I would even venture to say they're even better than a lot of store-made ones I've encountered!

Hey, I Just Cracked my Book Open...

So in the last 2 days, I have accomplished the following:
1) Get my Florida Driver's license. The entire process from start to finish (leave home, do my thing at the DMV and then come back home) was about 2 hours. About 35-40 minutes was dedicated to driving and finding a parking space. I was shocked at how quickly things moved with an appointment and even more shocked that I got to watch the printing process. While I was at it, I also registered to vote in Florida. How hard could it be to cast a proper vote in Florida?

2) Get Florida law-approved car insurance so I could get the Florida license plate and take care of all that good stuff so I can get Florida residency. Suffice to say, as soon as I plop my butt down on the chair in the waiting area, the agent is already eager to go over the materials with me.

3) Get my Florida license plate and registration. I got referred to the local TAG agency and again, as soon as my butt touches the chair, I get called up and all the paperwork gets taken care of. This process was also insanely fast, with most of the time revolving around me running back home to bring back a piece of paperwork I forgot to bring and finding an appropriate tool to replace my CA license plate with my new shiny FL license plate.

And all through the process, everyone was professional, curteous, but they were also good-humored and extremely friendly. Gainesville is really growing on me!

Gainesville at Last!

I've officially made my move from southern California to Gainesville, Florida. Let's just say even though I'm now away from the people I've grown up with at Caltech and Cal State LA and already missing them, I'm still happy to be here. So far, it's been hot and humid, but I'm used to the hot part, having done field work in chaparral and gone to summer-time archery tournaments.

Today I decided to take a semi-random trip south to Marion and Levy counties because someone once told me that it was a beautiful drive through the country-side and there were some nifty state parks to check out, including Rainbow Springs (which I had poked my head into) and Goethe State Park, which is a beautiful forested area. I managed to miss a turn because someone managed to cut me off, but being a bit of an adventurer with a map and a full tank of gas, I decided to explore the area. Let's just say... I wouldn't mind living for a while somewhere as open and undeveloped! I'm already visualizing all of the time I'd spend outside mastering my skills as an archer!

I was hoping to get more work done on the Dunheasa/Telcontar series, but between family and general chaos of setting up, I haven't really done anything, but I think that little jaunt today gave me more inspiration... Stay tuned!

Random Picture of the Week

What else can I say about this wonderful recurve bow? I wish I could spend a bit more time with this bow... and maybe add 6-8 lbs draw weight on it!

Some Unspoken Rules...

1) If you're really waiting for a call, it will come under one of the following conditions: your phone loses reception, you desperately need to use the bathroom, someone else is bugging you, or you have to go into class or take an exam.

2) If you're waiting to talk to someone about something important, they will always show up right when you have to go to class, take an exam, use the bathroom, or are about to pass out from hunger. If the person is allergic or offended by a particular food, s/he will come right when you're eating exactly what they can't be around.

3) The expensive carbon arrow with a fancy light-up nock, 5" shield-cut barred fletching, and glue-in points will be destroyed by being Robin-Hooded by a home-made cheap arrow that's on its last legs.

4) Most hits on a 3-D target will either be hit by another arrow (see #3) or fall off when someone else hits the target. Misses will either land in the brush or in the one patch of poison oak.

5) The more antisocial you need to be, the more people like to crowd around you and harass you.

6) If there's a textbook you desperately need, it will cost about three times as much as normal. If you don't need a textbook, prices will drop to about one third of the normal price.

7) The more disgusting a bird's diet is, the more likely you have to park under its nest.

8) The rock you sit on while hiking on a trail is most likely a "p-mail" spot for dogs.

9) The taller the building and the slower the elevator, the more likely it is that you'll be trapped in the elevator with the flatulent person who ate bean burritos and sulfur-rich foods for breakfast/lunch/dinner... or the person who's wearing perfume/cologne that could kill anything with a sense of smell.

10) The probability of encountering bratty, screaming, outright disgusting children with retarded parents increases exponentially when carrying a strung bow.

...and the warrior passes the trial of fire...

In the last few days, I have...
1) Defended my thesis (e-mail me for a copy) before my thesis committee
2) Made revisions to my thesis and turned in the final copy
3) Finished the last revisions to my submission to Remote Sensing of Environment for the SpecNet special issue.

The thesis defense didn't feel so much like an actual presentation, given the large number of interruptions I got from my committee, but rather an exam to see if I understood what I did. To those of you who will have to do a thesis defense presentation/Q&A session, I have a few words of wisdom:

1) Coffee is your friend, but only in moderation. Same goes for Mountain Dew or Red Bull.
2) Eat a bit before going into the defense. Something like a piece of fruit or something else that's easy to digest is really good.
3) Reheasrse the day before and then relax the day of unless you're someone who can really improvise and/or know the material better than the back of your hand.
4) Committee members can ask some of the most random of questions. Prepare accordingly.
5) Tae Kwon Do forms, especially the Taeguk ones, can be comforting in times of stress, but don't get caught doing one right before the presentation.

A Few More Random Top n

So I'm on a brain break from prepping for my defense... and I suddenly felt the urge to add a few more random Top n lists.

Top 10 Bows I've Shot Personally, * indicates more than 10 shots on it, c indicates custom-made
1) c* Chek-Mate Hunter I (take-down recurve, my absolute favorite by a long-shot!)
2) (tied) c Chek-Mate King's Pawn (recurve) and c Chek-Mate Crusader (longbow)
4) * Martin Mamba (recurve)
5) * Martin Vision (longbow)
6) * Ragim Little Hawk (longbow, only complaint is I always hit my ceiling with it)
7) Bear Montana (longbow)
8) * Internature Viper (longbow)
9) Bear Super Magnum 48 (compact recurve)
10) c* Black Widow PSA (take-down recurve)

Top 5 Bows I Want to Try
1) Chek-Mate Longhorn (Turkish-style flatbow)
2) Saxon Hawk Signature (Turkish-style longbow)
3) Chek-Mate Raven (compact recurve)
4) Martin Serengeti (recurve)
5) Magyar Sport Vazul (Hungarian-style horsebow)

5 Least Favorite Bows I've Shot
1) Mathews Genesis (very light-draw compound in horrible colors)
2) Hoyt Gold Medalist (Olympic-style recurve in horribly bright colors that wake the dead)
3) Hoyt Aerotec (see #2)
4) Samick Mizar (see #2)
5) PSE Spyder (compound)

Random Top n

For some reason I just feel like posting a random set of Top n lists now that I've got a bit of a break from my thesis while waiting for my committee to give me more comments... so here goes.

Top 10 Warriors
1) Drizzt Do'Urden (R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Series) -- Dual scimitars, renegade dark elf, ranger... all-around favorite!
2) Catti-Brie (R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Series) -- Awesome archer with a really cool bow and sword, human girl raised among dwarves, lots of brains and personality... need I add much more?
3) San (Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke -- Warrior-princess raised among wolves, she's definitely not your dull princess who just looks pretty! Best moments: when she first shows up leading a raid against the human settlement with the wolves and when she's covered in blood.
4) Nausicaa (Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind -- Pacifist warrior-princess but there's a really cool scene where she goes beserk and kills a whole bunch of Torumekian soldiers. Oh and she's also a scientist too, both in the movie and the manga :)
5) Artemis Entreri (R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Series) -- Dual-weapon assassin with a darkly fascinating style... quiet, efficient, deadly.
6) Aragorn (J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings -- Quite a sight in combat... and quite the survivalist!
7) Eowyn (J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings) -- Not much of her fighting, but I love how she just takes out the Nazgul in the Return of the King
8) Prince Ashitaka (Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke -- Pacifist warrior prince under a curse. Most spectacular moments are when he decapitates samurai with his arrows!
9) Legolas (J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings -- Inhumanly awesome archer and can hold his own in hand-to-hand.
10) Wulfgar (R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Series -- Barbarian with that nifty war hammer that he can throw or swing at enemies.

Top 5 Mages
1) Raistlin Majere (Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance Chronicles and Dragonlance Legends Series -- Creepy, intriguing mage who could've been a god.
2) Ged Sparrowhawk (Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea series) -- Harry Potter's precursor with much more personality and character.
3) Jilseponie Ault (R.A. Salvatore's Corona books -- Warrior/sorceress who can handle just about anything from fierce combat situations to diplomatic leadership to wilderness survival.
4) Howl (Dianne Wynn Jones' Howl's Moving Castle) -- Actually I prefer the one from Miyazaki's film of the same title. Who wouldn't envy a wizard who has a moving castle with multiple portal doors, infinite hot water, and the ability to turn into a scary bird-like creature?
5) Fizban (Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance Chronicles and Dragonlance Legends Series -- Eccentric wizard who just can't seem to remember anything yet holds insane powers...

Oh and the picture posted on top is of my trusty Hunter I from Chek-Mate.

P(Darwin) = F(Thesis Progress, Stress)

The events portrayed in this entry are not to be attempted at home, not even by trained professionals. You have been warned.

So when pressure gets heavy and time becomes precious, especially with an upcoming defense and thesis submission deadline, mundane chores such as washing dishes tend to go undone for a few days at a time. Anyway, this time things got a bit worse than usual, as I found out when I found that my kitchen was now home to a flock of Drosophila melanogaster, or fruit flies, if you will. There's only one animal I despise more than Drosophila and that's the overrated, insanely fast reproducing coprophagous mammal in order Lagomorpha, family Leporidae -- namely rabbits. At least with those darned coprophages, killing them yields useful products such as meat and pelts, which can be used for nifty things like bowstring silencers and ornaments for my quiver, but killing Drosophila yields nothing beyond a split second of glee. But I digress. I also tend to keep a bit of ethanol under the sink for cleaning jobs where plain soap and hot water and good scrubbing doesn't cut it and I don't want to deal with really stinky or toxic stuff. Ethanol is a good cleaning agent and it also makes a good fruit fly killing agent too. So I was spraying the little buggers with a bit of ethanol (by the way, lab grade is best but in a pinch, according to a friend, cheap vodka or everclear does the trick too) and they're dying nicely. Actually if I still had my nice little Drosera capensis (sundew), it would've been a lot more entertaining way of killing the darned flies. But I've sprayed all their possible hideouts and the air so there's some ethanol vapors around. I was also getting hungry and I was about to cook something on the stove, which uses a flame, and I quickly decided against it because I didn't want to risk getting flambeed and ending up with a Darwin Award. So I just fixed myself a peanut butter sandwich and some fruit.

The score now is:
Me -- 1, Drosophila: 0

Thesis Revisions!

I just finished revising my thesis and really bulked up on actual content instead of tables :) Darn, this blog is turning into a real variable resolution TIN model -- too many mental processes in a short time!

And now off to relax briefly before I pedal to the metal again (and no, I'm not referring to my car or bike...)

Oh and I have a tentative title for the Dunheasa sequel: Telcontar Restored. I won't say much more about it yet until I write a few more pages.

Dunheasa FAQ Part 2 and a Few Alumni Pics

I've been getting a lot more questions about Dunheasa, so here are some of the most common ones.

Q: Is Moenia a real group and is that snippet of "Manto Estelar" an actual song or one that you made up? And why did you pick Moenia's songs of all things? What do they sound like -- any "mainstream" bands to compare them to?
A: Moenia is indeed a real group and "Manto Estelar" is one of their songs. I just really like their songs and I just happened to be listening to a lot of Moenia lately. The best comparison would be Depeche Mode (another band I really enjoy listening to), although a lot of their really early songs also remind me of Erasure. (Is my taste in music THAT far from mainstream to have almost everyone ask?)

Q: Did anything really happen between Joanne and Thomas? And is anyone attached to Captain Greywolf? If so, is it Brik-Roc or Moreth?
A: I'll let you (my readers) decide.

Q: Where do you get the inspiration for some of those names? What language(s) are they from and what do they mean?
A: A lot of Tolkien, some Gaelic and other random European languages I've been exposed to. Here's a break-down by characters I've been asked about most:
Cylithera -- I heard that name once somewhere, not sure where but I really like the name. In the world/languages of my writing, it roughly comes out to "Keeper of the Sacred Moonlight"
Iliiryana -- Inspired by a mishmash of Russian names as well as a bit of Gaelic and another character in my writing, Ilithara (see "Idiocy and Innocence" on my webpage). Again, in the world of my writing, her name comes out to roughly "Huntress of the Shadow", while "Ilithara" is "Dancer of the Shadow".
Soronthrel Cuthalion -- Almost straight from Tolkien, her name roughly comes out to either "Eagle-friend of the mighty bow" or "Eagle-maiden of the mighty bow".
Firianna Celethorn -- Inspired by a mixture of Gaelic and Tolkien's languages. Her name roughly comes out to "Little Hawk of the Silver River".
Telcontar -- Straight from Tolkien and it comes out to "Strider" or "Wanderer".

Come on people, you can also comment too, although I do enjoy the e-mails too!

Oh, and by the way, from top to bottom on the photographs: Elisa shooting my 30 lb Martin X-200, Yvette shooting my 40 lb Ragim Little Hawk (my personal favorite for now!), and me shooting my 40 lb Samick Woodsman. I took them out to do a bit of archery during alumni weekend. It was a real blast hanging out with them and sharing the joys of archery!

Dunheasa FAQ

I've been getting quite a few questions about Dunheasa so here's a list of the most commonly asked questions.

Q: How do you promise Dunheasa?
A: doon-che-a-sa (note that the "oo" is like "loon" or "moon" and the "ch" is the German "ach" or the Scottish "loch" not the "ch" like "chair"). Alternatively it can be pronounced as doon-hee-a-sa. Also, note that the "ee" isn't as long as the "ee" in "cheese" but it's somewhat shorter, a cross between "ee" and the short "e" in words like "bet" or "get".

Q: What language did Dunheasa come from? And what does it mean?
A: It was inspired by Scots and Irish Gaelic. In the actual languages, it has something to do with shadow and darkness, but in the mythology of my writings, it's more like "shadow-land".

Q: Are any of the characters based on real people?
A: Yes! A few are actually the people themselves, albeit in the future. Most of the characters are composites of several people I know. I even make a bit of a showing in both versions of the story.

Q: Are Cylithera Eaglestrike and the Eternal Huntress the same entity?
A: Yes. In the mythology of my stories, there's a deity known as the Eternal Huntress who has taken on many incarnations as the pantheon shifts around thanks to great heroes and villains. The current incarnation is Cylithera Eaglestrike (and no, that's NOT the same one as me!). Speaking of which, I picked my pen-name as Cylithera Eaglestrike after this character.

Dunheasa Revision and Other Stuff

I've done a bit of a revision to Dunheasa, mostly in the Prologue and with Captain Greywolf. As always, comments are always welcome. Out of curiosity, which version works better? I'm a bit torn about dealing with Captain Greywolf -- any takes?

Also in the works, not sure when I'll finish & post them:
-- A quasi-sequel to Dunheasa revolving around the three "kids" in the final chapter. I won't say too much yet because it's still very early, but I can promise any linear combination of the following elements: random parodies of some of my favorite pop culture icons, deeds of derring-do, bizarre transformations and/or sheer nerdiness.
-- A full-blown Killer Parakeet story where he's the shining star. 'nuff said.

And now back to the regularly scheduled thesis work!

Small May Update

Just thought I'd put a little blurb. It's really feeling like a TIN model where the resolution (or frequency of posts) varies with how much stuff is floating around in what's left of my brain.

First... Keeping the Ranger in check has been helping a lot with my work, but it's also taking its toll on me in the form of greatly increased caffeine intake.

Second... Depending on how fidgety I get as I keep working on my thesis, I may be posting a revised version of Dunheasa. Thanks to all of you who've given me input!

Third... I've got another Do Not Attempt At Home story. So what happened was I decided to take advantage of some insomnia I got hit with and was working on trying to develop a method of differentiating soil from vegetation pixels for the tram data. Only thing was, I didn't realize that the insomnia would be very much like a binary system. I put on a bit of music, only had 4 songs in my queue for whatever reason -- Whap-Pa and Dulce by Radu Sirbu, and Nu Ma Las De Limba Noastra and Noapte Fara Somn by O-Zone. Anyway, I fell asleep while working up the data and I got called really early in the morning. Let's just say whoever was on the other end was very confused and it wasn't until after the other person hung up and just sent me an e-mail indicating that I was singing "in some really strange language" when I picked up the phone... along with some random stuff he wanted to tell me about river ecology. Moral of the story: Don't fall asleep while listening to something THAT catchy!

Journey to Dunheasa: First Draft

And now here is my very first draft of Journey to Dunheasa. This was pretty much inspired by a lot of stuff that's happened in the last few years, including my own research experience, (mis)adventures, and most of all, the fascinating cast of characters I've met over the years.

Feel free to either e-mail or leave comments, I can always use a bit of input!

Orthogonal Thought-Chains

Thought #1 is another "Do Not Attempt At Home"
Basically I got really stressed yesterday and decided to make some comfort food in the form of some Indian-style curry. I had 2 bottles of curry sauce from Trader Joe's and tons of frozen meat and veggies. Being hungry, tired, and aching from jogging about 3 miles on a treadmill, I decided that the best way to make something yummy was to boil the chicken strips first and then add the sauce and then the veggies. Only problem was I was really impatient and didn't wait for the chicken to thaw out properly so I could separate the pieces. So I have this huge chunk of chicken that's taking forever to cook, so I'm thinking "I'll add more water and by the time I drive the water out, it'll be thoroughly cooked". Not quite, especially since when I tasted the result, it was kinda bland so I added some cayenne pepper to the mix. About an hour and a half (and about half a pound of salad) later, I had curry. Now keep in mind, I added A LOT of cayenne pepper to this mixture, so it was hot. But it's still good, just that I need to have rice and a lot of water (or other appropriate drink) with it. And that reminds me of a saying I once heard in my lab: Spicy food is hot twice, going in and coming out...

Thought #2 is a more introspective one...
One thing I'm learning these days is that there are some things that just won't go away... especially the part of me known as the Ranger. Now that I've gotten hooked on archery, martial arts, and all things that involve making myself physically tougher, it's getting pretty darned hard to concentrate. Even with me doing the last bits of Journey to Dunheasa and getting a lot of the Ranger out of my system, there's that bit that just won't let go. Speaking of Dunheasa, it might be a bit longer than I thought before I post that one. It's really frustrating when I'm trying to read up on latent heat models or when I'm trying to do intelligent models based on both vegetation indices and micro-met data and I just feel the outdoors calling out to me. What have I done to myself by rediscovering my old strength by picking up the bow again and learning tae kwon do?!

Thought #3 is are pet peeves I've got that have been making me swear excessively...
1) Applying excessive cosmetics in the locker room or anywhere (semi)public. Hey, as much as people like to think otherwise, gas molecules DO travel and when there's a lot of perfumes, lotions, etc being applied, some of us start having trouble breathing! And how the hell could someone pay so much attention to their appearance, especially as a student?!
2) Skimpy clothing in/near a chemistry or machining lab. Can we say, safety hazards?
3) Gym classes getting pre-empted by non-essential stuff like various business fairs on campus. Enough said. Can't they find somewhere else to go and NOT interfere with our few opportunities to actually try to keep ourselves healthy?!

Creativity = F(stress, deadlines)

For some really weird reason, the urge for me to write non-technical stuff is strongest when I'm under serious deadlines and when I really need to work on more important stuff like my research. So I've been having trouble concentrating on my thesis and instead I keep visualizing acts of derring-do and brave archers in the wilderness. Not good when I need to finish and defend soon! Maybe I should start modelling my random thoughts instead of evapotranspiration... although for some reason, I don't think that'll quite cut it for my thesis (aka my ticket to freedom from CSULA)

And got a few words of wisdom...
-- Elbows are great until they don't want to turn outwards while doing archery Olympic-style with my non-dominant hand (standing straight with a recurve and holding the bow straight... ouch!).
-- Shooting at very short-distances on a target with lots of hard spots is really scary
-- It's a lot of fun cranking up music in the lab late at night when there's nobody else around, but when there's a class very close by and the walls are paper-thin, someone will be pissed. For some reason, people don't seem to quite appreciate Etno (Romanian/Moldovan folk music) or bagpipes very much...

SpecNet and Random Brain Fart

I recently found out that the paper I had accepted into the SpecNet special issue of Remote Sensing of Environment is finally getting published after things moving slower than Cal State LA bureaucracy. I'm waiting eagerly for the proofs to show up so I can see what my paper will look like in all its glory... and I'm even more eager for when the publication actually comes out with all of the papers that have been accepted! I can't wait to see what other efforts have gone into SpecNet.

And then there's also hope for Project Argonium (which I've temporarily removed from my webpage until I can find a more "permanent" home for the musical side of Project Argonium) moving somewhere besides in circles. So for the last several weeks I've been writing bits and pieces as time and stress levels allow me. I've tentatively titled this current work Journey to Dunheasa. I won't say much more about it just yet just to keep my readers in suspense. I might also write another story about Killer Parakeet -- it's been far too long since my last Killer Parakeet story! Stay tuned for more...

Thesis and Research Thoughts

I have no idea why but the topics for today: my research and thesis. I don't know what it is about doing a thesis but whenever I mention it, people seem to look at me as if I had just told them that I was some mad scientist. What's up with people thinking that doing research is something scary and intimidating? Granted, I've been doing it for the last 3 years and it did take some getting used to, but I still have trouble understanding what is there to fear.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm doing research on exploring the utility of remote sensing in modelling evapotranspiration. To be more specific, I am looking at various reflectance features in the visible and near-infrared range to see how they tie in with plant ecophysiology. My current (and soon to be wrapped-up) project (aka my thesis) is to develop a simple remote-sensing driven model that also incorporates micrometeorology data to model evapotranspiration in chaparral. Why? Basically I wanted something that's simple to implement along the lines of straight linear regression-based models but still captures the dynamics and mechanics of the ecosystem along the lines of popular models like SEBAL or SiB2. In other words, a model that explores more of the nuts-n-bolts than an empirical remote sensing model but doesn't have hassle of dozens of variables that have to be modelled themselves.

Anyway, enough spewing about my research for now... and is it me, or is there some kind of social stigma attached to doing ecological research, especially when it involves ecosystem process modelling?

My brain's starting to groan at me again, but it's a bit too late at night and the weather's not quite up for my natural stress relief. I really need to spend more time shooting -- my hunting instincts are driving me absolutely batty and I miss the caress and eagle-like authority of my trusty bow...

March Madness

Things have been extremely hectic these days so I haven't quite been keeping up with this and I didn't even get to do my usual finals-mania ranting! I don't think I'll be doing too much work here for a while because I am under super time pressure to do my thesis, but I thought I'd put something up for whatever reason I'm feeling like doing so. I have officially committed to the PhD program in Interdisciplinary Ecology at the School of Natural resources at University of Florida.

I had something in mind but I completely forgot after repeated phone calls from random criters. I'll probably post it when I'm absolutely sick of working on my thesis, which I'm not somewhat behind in...

... And now time to keep the ranger in me in check long enough to actually finish my thesis!

Second Nibble

Two major things have happened since the last post...

1) I got my car stolen from my apartment parking space. Whoever did it, I have to admit, did a very good job since they left the parking space nice and clean without any broken glass or any other crud. But still... having to rent a car and file all that paperwork is just a real nightmare, especially to someone who's desperately trying to pass all her classes and make progress on both her thesis!

2) I got my second acceptance notice from North Carolina State University! Now I have 2 choices, although I'm still waiting for a few more responses. At this point, University of Florida is in first place in my book, but that may shift after I visit or it may just completely blow all the other schools out of the water. I won't have my verdict until I visit. But let's just say my chances of going to UF for my PhD are looking pretty darn good.

Anyways... I should be working on my genetics lab reports and my sociology term paper, but I'm just feeling too darned excited and antsy about visiting University of Florida as well as just wanting to go do some serious archery since it's been a week since I last went shooting. The "Ranger" in me is almost overwhelming, as are my fighter instincts!

First Nibble

Got my first real nibble as far as my quest for getting into graduate school goes! I found out that I got into University of Florida, courtesy of one of my potential advisers there. I was so excited when I got the e-mail that I literally inhaled lunch and started choking from the excitement. I also could barely sit still or concentrate during my genetics quiz as well! I feel much better now that I know that I have at least ONE choice... and to be honest, University of Florida is one of my top choices, making me all the happier! I'm still jumping around knowing that my three years of "penance" at Cal State LA are finally paying off!

Let's see how my other choices, especially Stanford and Oregon State University, pan out :) I can't wait to find out where I will be spending the next 5-8 years of my life and finally leave Pasadena/Los Angeles, and hopefully, big cities as well...

January Update

Basically, I'm still plugging away at my usual academic business (thesis, grad apps, classes, etc) and trying to get in everything else as much as I can. Done with all but one application for grad school which is within sending range once I'm happy with the last bit of punctuation and phrasing but now I've got all the financial aid and grant stuff to worry about.

Still moving very slowly, if at all on side-Project Argonium, which has now shifted to include my writing. My ideas in general have changed for Side-Project Argonium. Just for the hell of it, I feel like writing a bit of an overarching statement of purpose for Side-Project Argonium: I seek to sweep my readers and listeners away from the daily grind of reality into a world of fantasy and to immerse the surroundings with the power and beauty of the three musics. Whether Argonium is engaged in song or story, I hope to invoke engaging images and thoughts. I'll have to ponder over this a lot more, but hey, it's a start. I'm hoping to get some writing out soon now that I'm down to the classes I've been trying to avoid in the vain hope that they'll no longer be required by the time the time arrives for me to take them. I've got some geek-tales and light-hearted adventures in my mind right now, but let's see what really comes out.

As for my archery, I haven't been shooting anywhere as much as I'd like, but then again, I don't think I could shoot enough until my arms are hurting and I can't draw my bow anymore. As much of an academic geek as I am, I don't think I could ever just be indoors all the time... I already miss being at the range, being in the forest, and most of all, the coastal redwood forests near those rocky beaches that always remind me of how powerful and beautiful nature is.

Enough rambling. Time for me to go back to my awful genetics lab assignments.

Spur of the Moment Craziness

It's been a while since I've last spewed anything out -- Finals really left me dead and grad school applications didn't help me any.

So a friend and I decided that it would be fun to see if we could get any contact information for Dan Balan. For those of you who aren't familiar with popuclture, there used to exist a Moldovan band called "O-Zone". The three members were Dan Balan, Arsenie Toderas, and Radu Sarbu. Anyway, my friend, Elena, who was lucky enough to see them live in concert while she was in Moldova and even luckier to have met Arsenie in person, decided to try to do a search for an address or a phone number. We heard rumors that Dan Balan was somewhere in the LA area, so we started searching. No real luck and I didn't quite have the guts (or the funding) to invest in a real search to confirm/deny any possible hits we found. It would be fun if we could get into contact with a celebrity like any of the members of the now-dead band, O-Zone. Who knows, maybe we'll have some luck...

And who says that aspiring professors have to be mature?

Edition 2 of Finals Rant, Part 2 of n

Actually this has been a fairly quiet finals week, cold symptoms aside.

I just want to get them over and for some reason all I've been wanting to do is archery, but unfortunately, I also need to think about my academic future. Plus it's been a bit cold, and although I'm almost impervious to what people in LA call cold, being sick and sleep-stressed does make things a lot more difficult.

Anyways... here's what I really felt like posting:
Let x1= # species on Island 1
x2= # species on Island 2
M= immigration rate from mainland
E= extinction rate
c= rate of exchange between islands
x1=x1(M-Ex1+cx2); x2=x2(cx1-Ex2)
Find and classify fixed points
∂x1/∂x1 ∂x1/∂x2
A=
∂x2/∂x1 ∂x2/∂x2

This was the fake introductory slide I used for a biogeography final presentation as a joke :)

Edition 2 of Finals Rant, Part 1 of n

It's finals again! This time it shouldn't be as bad as the last round, but who knows...

First a few words of wisdom:
1) Cold medicine + too much chocolate + too much coffee + too little sleep = hallucinations and spazz fits. Trust me. Don't attempt this!

2) Adding lime juice to a latte = BAD idea

I just can't wait to get finals overwith, preferably with decent grades this time and getting my grad school applications done well. And hopefully I can "earn" a shot at an upcoming local archery tournament a week from tomorrow... :)

My brain is letting out lots of steam, almost done with my application to Stanford and my final project for remote sensing seminar. More on finals later. I just felt like goofing off a bit.

Ouch ouch ouch -- Do Not Attempt This Stunt!

A few random words of wisdom that hit even closer to home than before...

1) Stretch thoroughly before attempting anything strenuous or extensive flexibility
2) Bone is hard... and being hit by something hard hurts!
3) Shins are very vulnerable to ouchies and are not the best shields against a nice solid foot or another shin!

So basically... I learned these lessons from Tae Kwon Do earlier tonight. I did some pretty aggressive sparring and managed to take a lot of blows to the shins, mostly from bumping shins with fellow white belts who are just as clueless and/or klutzy as I am! And then there was the whole not-quite-stretching enough before class. I think I pulled something in my left leg and I'm now hobbling about... I just knew something wasn't quite right when I was about to deliver a nice solid hook kick to my opponent and then I suddenly felt everything in my left leg tense up... and then I just kinda curled up in pain. At first it wasn't too bad since I did try to take care of it in the locker room after class since it did occur towards the end of class, but as if that weren't enough, I ended up practicing that same kick at home, thinking I was still pre-stretched... and then in another flash of luck and brilliance, I bumped my leg in the shower -- the same one that's already kinda sore... OUCH!!! So my poor left leg is now all tenderized and bumpy. And I still have a bump and several bruises on my right leg from using it as a shield...

Thank goodness for my hiking pole or I'd have to look even more foolish with a cane or worse! And thank goodness for all my experience with ouchies like this to know when it's just ugly as all hell and just a minor inconvenience to be treated with a bit of TLC and some hot towels and a massage... or if it's something I need to haul my tail to the doctor for.

Anyway, enough ranting here and back to work...

GRE Biology Exam

So this past weekend, along with many other aspiring graduate students, I took the GRE subject exam in biology. The overall comment, as my friends would say, was SN-2. For those of you who don't know organic chemistry, it's basically a reaction mechanism also known as "back-side attack". In other words, one molecule rams another one from behind and at the same time knocks off the leaving group and the effect looks a lot like an umbrella being turned inside-out. It was a pretty tough exam, especially for someone who doesn't generally memorize things very well. But I have to admit, the experimental/data interpretation questions were a lot of fun just trying to deduce answers on techniques I had no clue on. I don't know how I did, just that I'm glad that it's over and I pretty much did all I could to survive it! I still have tons of stuff to do for the rest of my grad school application stuff, but at least the tests are over!

And to be really honest... I'd much rather be out at the range with my trusty 30lb Martin X-200 recurve or working on Project Argonium than being cooped up on campus, but I've got to do what I've got to do to get into a really nice graduate project.