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...