The day civilization was lost

So I've been living on this tiny island for 2 months, and I've been talking about the lack of civilization here the entire time.  Well imagine that there's less civilization than I've been telling you about this whole time... didn't think that was possible?? Yeah, well I didn't either.  But today proved me wrong.

It started off like any other day on the island.  Wake up, get breakfast, go to class, try to stay awake with coffee, leave class, lunch...  But then my day was halted. The power went out. And the internet. On the whole island.  The WHOLE ISLAND. Plus some of the mainland up to Point aux Pins, Mississippi.  Okay, so everyone will live without lights for a day, what's the big deal??  Well, let me tell you what the big deal is.  Do you know what all electricity blesses society with?
Computers: I have 6 lab reports to write and an exam to study for
Smack Talk: It's Tuesday, which means I NEED to upload Smack Talk. If you don't know what I'm talking about, please go watch this YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjqJI1u8v8CKcewkjNU6FnA. You will see my lack of shame and laugh. You're welcome for that.
Laundry machines: NEVER thought I'd be so dissappointed to not do laundry (Mom will be so proud!), but I need to clean and pack clothes for my trip to Mexico on Saturday.
Air Conditioning: Let's talk about my new appreciation for the sweet blessing that is AC.  Air Conditioning, my friends, is taken advantage of. If you are one who doesn't appreciate it's gift, please live on this island (aka pit of humidity) for a day and I promise your appreciation will grow. Now imagine this pit of humidity we call Dauphin Island without this blessing.... Yes, you are now imagining muggy death.

To make up for that terrible image I just gave you, please enjoy this picture of my view today:

Yes, that is a black square.

That is a quality picture right there, amiright?? Yes, I am.  Because we, islanders, always look a hot mess... you know, beach bum lifestyle and all.  But can you imagine when we're actually hot messes? Hopefully not because that would just be downright scary.  The black square is looking better now, isn't it?

Well this all happened because someone hit a transformer.  So I'm writing this to ask you all to not hit things- it's not nice. Especially because when you do dumb things, it will affect people.  A whole island of people.  So be considerate and don't blow up transformers.

Ecology takes PCB!

Overnight field trip to Panama City Beach!  Two days out in the field looking at pretty things- such an awesome trip! So here's the gist of my Thursday and Friday:

Day 1:  Port Saint Joe.
Our first mission: Count urchins in meter plots to find the population distribution in the seagrasses.
So I've been here before-- we went last year and it was just the coolest thing since sliced bread.  Actually, it was way cooler than sliced bread, by about a bajillion times (why is that even an expression? So many things are cooler than sliced bread. Just sayin.).  Anyways, I loved it because of all of the life in these sea grass beds. The variety of starfish, the conchs, hermit crabs, stone crabs, rays, sand dollars,and some smaller predatory fishes. Loved it.  It was my favorite snorkeling spot for the longest time because you are literally in the habitat when swimming because it's so shallow.  So obviously I was pumped to see again.
So we get there and it's low tide. I mean REALLY LOW tide. What used to be at least three feet was a couple inches. Obviously, there wasn't much marine life due to the shallowness.  And the seagrass was covered with algae, which is bad news for an ecosystem. Looking that this once beautiful location was now nearly empty was so sad! And no one wants this to happen permanently to their favorite snorkeling spot-- this is why conservation is important!  Rant time:  If we don't keep our oceans happy, they're going to turn ugly.  Fertilizers and runoff increase algal growth, which increases decay and decreases oxygen on the ocean floor, resulting in fewer fish because if there's no oxygen, fish can't breath and will die.  On top of that, overfishing removes large predatory fishes, which increases the number of small fish, removing a whole part of the food web and leaves too many small fish hunting for the same limited food source.  Fewer large fish means failing fisheries; failing fisheries means fewer jobs and fewer fish nights at your favorite restaurant; fewer jobs and fewer fish nights means a huge blow to our economy. But when these big fish are overfished and the small fish run out of oxygen, what's left?  Maybe some jellyfish, which are not the most useful animals we have. So overfishing and runoff leads to empty oceans and failed fisheries and failed tourism and failed economy: just don't do it people!  And don't get me started on pollution- like how FREAKING HARD is it to put your glass jars and plastic bottles in a recycling bin instead of a trash can??  The answer: not hard.  Glass doesn't degrade. At all.  But it is 100% reusable when recycled, unlike any other recyclable material, so why the heck would you waste the glass and room in a landfill on it?!  Make a teensy tiny effort to keep this Earth nice and functioning for the future generations, okay? Okay. (Yes, I did just make a Fault in Our Stars reference. Yes, it was a wonderful book.) Just treat the Earth well. It was not given to you by your parents. It was loaned to you by your children. And no one like an ugly ocean. End rant.
Back to our lab... We walked out far enough that it got a bit deeper and we could do our lab work and count urchins.  There was an average of 2.5 urchins in every meter, fun fact for ya! We also found a fish that we returned to the water quickly after figuring out that it was a scorpion fish and would stab us with its venom spines. This is the beauty of knowing what different kinds of fish are- you save your hand and your life! So stay in school, kids. Learning saves lives.

Our second mission: Trawling in the sand and seagrass to find what types of fish are where!
We started in the sand and found urchins. urchins. more urchins. andddd a tunicate. Yup. Not the most thrilling trawl ever, but the spot we were in was not the liveliest. 
Then we moved to the seagrasses and my faith was restored in ocean humanity (just a little bit). We found lots of cool things this time! Scrawled cowfish, flounder, seahorses, a billion pinfish, seahorses, a few burrfish (type of pufferfish).  That was some fun stuff!

Enjoy this photo of my first pufferfish (that I was afraid of) and me now with a pufferfish.  I've changed for the better.

Day 2: Saint Andrews.
Time for snorkeling!  And this part was flipping awesome!  Actually it was my favorite part of the trip.  It was super clear water and the temperature was just right- not bath water or too chilly- and there was just SO MUCH to see, which definitely made up for my slight disappointment from the first snorkeling spot.  Just to name a few things we saw: drum, juvenile cocoa damselfish (ROAR LIONS! They're purple and gold), spadefish (DISL's mascot), lookdown (you're standing in your grave...Les Miserables allusion if ya didn't catch it), yellowfin grouper, a HUGE southern ray, blue angelfish, yellow jack, feather blenny, tessellated Blenny (so cute hiding in the rocks), sea cucumber (which is not slimy and gross like I expected).  There were also about a bajillion juvenile jellyfish that were constantly stinging us- it was itchy and stingy and obnoxious, but I didn't notice it for the longest time because I was so distracted by all the other pretty things around me!  Literally everywhere you looked there was more marine life: in the algae covered rocks, under the rocks, in between the rocks, open ocean, in the sediment, on the sediment, and everywhere in between.  New favorite snorkeling spot, guys. But I know there's still so much to explore, and I can't wait to see more places!

Saving the world, one stench at a time!

WARNING: Don't read this post if you get queasy easily.
IF YOU'RE STILL READING: Are you okay thinking about dead animals? If so, read on.
IF YOU WILL BE READING THIS POST: Yay you! Don't say I didn't give enough warning.

Dead Dolphins. Yes, I know it's sad. But death is not what I'll be discussing today; instead I'll be talking about the stench of it.  Death stinks. REAL bad.  Definitely the worst smell on the face of the planet. You do NOT what these aromatic compounds getting anywhere close to your nose. This smell is so hopeless that Febreze wouldn't help a lick (and that's saying something because that stuff does miracles-- have you seen those commercials? If not, go here: http://youtu.be/Btb2z7PXK00).  And then even after a long, hot, soapy shower, or two or three, plus febrezing anything and everything you pass, a couple days later you smell the smelly smell again. Bum bum bummmm! In a panic you try to figure out where it came from. You attempt to logically convince yourself that you must have imagined the smell again,  but you know that you smelled it. The smell is back and following you. It's out to get you and will never ever leave. The smell of rotting dolphin flesh is nothing to mess with, my friends. And multiply that by 3 because that's what I was dealing with... 3 dolphin heads. Imagine rotting flesh here. Actually don't do that. You will regret it.  You will NEVER forget the smell and your brain will remind you of the smell at the most inopportune times, such as when you're done cleaning the house and you have guests arriving in five minutes or you just tried a new recipe that involved you slaying over the stove all day long.  Smelling rotting flesh during these instances (or really any instance at all) may lead you to break down crying or feel the need to burn your house/kitchen/environment to ashes hoping the smell will go away or doing both simultaneously. Any of these three choices are equally as plausible and are all quite terrible, so just don't image smelling dead things, okay? It'll save you in the end, I promise. That's something I can never unsmell though.  This stench is a new ghost that will follow me for the rest of my days.

I know what you're thinking... If it's so dreadful, why would you put yourself in this situation, Hailey?! Answer.... Because it's marine biology aka awesomeness, duh!  And perhaps the reason more people would understand: I'm a volunteer with the Alabama Marine Mammal Stranding Network (ALMMSN).  We go out on calls when there is a dolphin/turtle/manatee that is stranded or beached and help it back into the water, or if it's deceased we'll see how it died by giving an autopsy.  And everything we do with ALMMSN is for research for these wonderful marine mammals.  So this call was studying a collection of dolphin heads from past strandings.  My job: Remove the jaw from the skull. (Fun fact: Dolphin teeth have rings that form each year, so you can age a dolphin with one tooth!) You'd think this job would be a sinch, but you'd be incorrect.  These dolphin heads were frozen when first collected from the field and then thawed out all day so that we could cut off the flesh. So dead dolphins smell bad, but dead dolphins frozen and thawed again do tend to have a riper scent, which turns out to be a smidgen distracting. So I dig in to this head for a while, cutting off all the stinky meat I can and finally have my jaw out- woot woot! AND not a drop of dolphin guts on my outfit or hands (thank you gloves)- but the smell: EVERYWHERE. But I'm tough and can take it.  That smelly smell that smells smelly... yeah. That's my life and it's awesome.  I am totally okay with it so long as it means I'm saving the world, one stench at a time!

And really, who can say they've cut up a dolphin head before?  Pretty much no one.  So clearly I'm the coolest person ever now.  And now that I've written this post about smelly dolphins, I feel I need another shower. That rotting-flesh-stench ghost has found me again.

Coloring+Candy+Playing in Mud=Science!

Ecology is definitely growing on me, which is great!  The graphs and math that were semi-frustrating to me the first week make all kinds of sense to me now! I feel SO much better about life because of it.  And we're getting into field trips, which is always my favorite part!  We spent half of this week out in the field.  To top that, Kelly (my professor) is awesome! She's sweet, super helpful when we don't understand things, and very encouraging.  She also made some of our lectures this week awesome by letting us color and giving us candy (yes, I am 5 and still appreciate such things!)... but really, who doesn't love coloring?!

So here's my week in a nut-shell (if bogs can be considered nut-shells):
Last weekend: We went to civilization and it was glorious!! :D  Craft shopping and going to Starbucks and the mall and IHop for dinner.  It really was just lovely to see things outside of our normal 7 miles!  And we made this quality video too... If you give a girl a pinwheel, what else do you expect her to do?!

Wee! We! We! Weeeee!

(sorry it's sideways- technology doesn't like me)

Monday! Field trip to Point aux Pins to get ALL the blue crabs! Woo!
For those of you who haven't handled a blue crab before, it's important to note something:  Blue crabs are nasty little boogers that will pinch the snot out of you. Really.  They are fast and vicious. And each group was to collect and measure 100 of them. Oh, and the waters we were walking in are infested with sting rays.  So we're just looking for things to attack us at this point (Don't freak out, Mom, I'm halfway kidding!). Well after a hot few hours in the sun we accomplished a lot: Morgan and I dragged a seine that tangled on itself resulting in zero crabs, but it was a QUALITY work out; a classmate thought it was a good idea to walk barefoot in stingray infested waters and was told in a motherly tone to "Shuffle himself back here!" (Go Kelly!); and my group still managed to seine well over 100 crabs! And we measured all of those bad boys (and girls, mostly girl crabs actually) without one pinching catastrophe!  (It helps that we only had two huge crabs and the rest were babies.)

Tuesday! I met with Dr. Drymond (the super cool shark guy from a couple weeks back) and we talked about Graduate school.  He was very helpful, but I left less decisive than I came. There are just SO many options!! I mean, I could always join the Peace Corps too.

Wednesday!  Not super exciting- we mostly attempted to study for our first Ecology Exam on Thursday.  Kelly had a review session for us and then we "studied" for a few more hours.

Thursday!  This was the longest day of my life!  Not it a bad way, but it definitely had enough packed into it to be a week of activities.  We had our first exam in the morning, followed by a lecture, quick lunch break, then field work, field work, and more field work, and then I had clean up duty. But even though it was exhausting, it was a great day!   
The test: ended up with an A on it, which was a miracle.  Most of the class did not do as well as they were hoping, but now we know how tests are in this class and we won't need to give ourselves heart attacks next time.   
The lecture: The best lecture OF ALL TIME!  We learned foraging techniques by running after candy that Kelly strategically placed on a bunch of picnic tables.  We had a minute to collect as many piles of candy as possible.  Snickers were 10 points, Starburst were 4 and Skittles were 1 point each.  Clearly, I went for the chocolate every time- it's delicious and "nutritious" (according to our game).  So next Snickers you eat, 10 points to you for being awesome- calories shmalories!
The field work: We went to Ferry marsh to do two experiments.  One studying oyster clusters as homes for crabs and one studying predation.  What we learned about oyster clusters: They're sharp and will cut you (like Bon Qui Qui).

I'm also pretty sure we found the largest oyster cluster in the marsh- it displaced about 1.5 Liters.  Just another reason my lab group rocks!
The predation experiment is a few day long experiment.  We started Thursday and set everything up, but we also check it on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  We tied hermit and mud crabs to fishing line (like leashes or nooses- however you'd like to think about it), and we check each day to see if they're eaten.  If they are, we replace them with another crab.  Half of the crabs are in fake seagrass and the other half is in open water.  This might be the first Ecology experiment that actually goes our way without hiccups... we shall see!  But I'm excited about it!

Friday! MURRICA!  Happy birthday, America!!  Yayyyyy Freedom! We had class, but after that I watched White House Down.  Quality movie!  Channing Tatum, guns blazing, and Murrica... what's not to love?!  And of course, we go to the beach for fireworks! We also went to listen and dance to country music because there's nothing more American than that.  It was a lovely evening! I'm so glad we have a day to celebrate living in the land of the free because of the Brave!  We are truly blessed to live in a country with the freedom to live how we choose.

Saturday: My sister's 24th birthday!!!!! Woot! Woot! Have the best day ever! 14 days until Mexico :D

What's coming up:
Over night trip to Panama City!! And some lecture and lab and such too, but WE'RE GOING TO PBC!  This is thrilling, and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Not until I have "Dr." in front of my name

What do I do in my free time?? Research graduate schools! Woo! SUCH FUN!  (I know you're jealous; feel free to join me anytime-- seriously. Misery loves company.)  This Grad school application thing is tricky for us science people- I really wish I had someone who knew how to do all of this, but it seems that everyone is lost.  Applying for grad schools is like learning a foreign language and everyone wants a different accent from you.

Here's a quick low-down science major's grad school before even thinking about filling out an application:
I have to get a professor to like me enough to choose me to study under him/her. To do that, I must research schools with a good program, find the faculty for the projects I'm interested in, educate myself on each professor's research, email each professor explaining my interest in his/her research and how it relates to me and why I'm interested and my life story and such, and then hope and pray that the 2 hours I just spent researching and emailing them wasn't a waste and they email me back. 
And after all of that, the email hopefully says something encouraging like.... "I'm not taking any grad students, but thanks for your interest" rather than...."Why would you waste your time when you are clearly not experienced enough in this field? Perhaps you'd do better off looking into job applications with your current degree."  Because while neither answer gets you anywhere closer to attending grad school, at least your hopes and dreams weren't crushed by the first reply. 

So needless to say, Grad school tries to defeat people even before their in, but that's okay.  Grad school will chew me up and spit me out eventually, but not until I have "Dr." in front of my name.  Until then, I'm super excited for all of the "No"s because I only need one "Yes" for my dream to become a reality.

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P.S. For those of you who are concerned, I have gotten a couple "No"s from professors, but nothing worse (yet).  The other quote does happen though- that was a friend's experience.  So be strong, grad-school-applying friends, words don't hut you.  You can hear all the negativity in the world, but hearing one "Yes" is all you need.  (And the more No's you get--statistically speaking-- the closer you are to hearing a Yes!)

First week of my last class ever

 Ecology [ih-kol-uh-jee] - the study of relationships and interactions between organisms and their environment, including both abiotic and biotic factors
This is my second class for this summer and my last class EVER at the Sea Lab.  Let us pause for a moment of silence....

Mourning: Over.  This is my last month on this island (maybe ever in my life), so I'm going to enjoy it all the way through! Are you with me?! Of course you are! Let the last-days-on-the-island-kind-of-partying commence:  fish and biology and beaches all around!!

Monday: First Day of Class! Woo!  Well it's a rainy day, so we lecture all day. No field trip to the marsh, as planned=bummer.  Then Tuesday, more lecture, AND it was a bunch of math=bummer.   Then Thursday lecture is graphs that I don't understand=bummer. (The last time I didn't understand what I was learning was Organic Chemistry 2 years ago and before then, Long-Division in 2nd grade... It doesn't happen very often and I don't like it.)  What is this class?? I mean, I know it's awesome because it's related to the ocean, but it's hard to appreciate its awesomeness when it's covered by me reading and analyzing an average of 17.667 pages every night for homework and learning differential equations. I mean, I know this is crazy, but I expected to learn about fishies and fun things like that.  Nonetheless, I will love this class- I'm pretty determined to do so. In fact, I'm super looking forward to our field trips coming up, which include an overnight trip in Panama City and a night trawl. (SO COOL!) 

We already had Marsh field trips yesterday and today. And I have so much experience with the deathly juncus that I feel so much more prepared than practically everyone in the world when it comes to marshes.  Marsh days don't even phase me-- they're just another day on Nature's elliptical.  As in, when you take a step, the muddy sediment pulls you into the Earth halfway up your thigh only for you to take another step and have to repeat the process hoping that this next step won't take your whole body into its muddy depths.  

^^So you can see what a good time marshes can be!

I've learned two things this week:
1) I don't want to be an ecologist.
2) I don't want to work in marshes my whole life.
Scratch that. I knew about #2.  I learned one thing this week and was reassured of one thing this week.

Ecology [ih-kol-uh-jee]: I'm not a fan, but I love it. No, I won't spend my whole life in it, but it's definitely important to learn.  And I enjoy learning, so it's been a good week and will be a great month.  
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What's coming up:
Tomorrow I'm going to visit civilization (aka Mobile), and I'm pretty pumped.  We're just going to go walking around and breath in the fresh civilized air, shop a bit, and waste the weekend away. It's going to be great!

Hailey: Master of Marine Vertebrates

I'm officially done with my Marine Vertebrates class, and I have to say that I'm really going to miss it.  I know it's a "marine" class and I will therefore love it, but this class has been just fabulous.  It's definitely been my favorite so far on the island.  My professor, Jim, was awesome.  This guy is hilarious and awkward and so incredibly entertaining- lecture was fun (almost) all the time.  And I only say "almost" because no one, and I do mean no one, can make 3+ straight hours of lecture entertaining the whole time.  But Jim got pretty close.  He made fun of manatees and their lack of quality high-fives (due to their unfortunately tiny brain) and shared his fear of gulls attacking him to make him throw up (it's a kleptoparasitism thing...and not an irrational fear. I'll explain in the next paragraph).  He just said lots of really lame puns and nerdy jokes, and it made learning fun and easy. I love science humor: intellect and wit= two of my favorite things!

Rabbit Trail: (These always come in handy)
So this kleptoparasitism thing... Gulls, a type of seabird, do this thing to eat where they attack another bird that just ate and makes them "throw up" their food.  It's not the gross throw up you're thinking about.  Birds store their food in a "crop" in their throat before they eat it.  So a klepto-gull will make them spit it out.  The klepto-gull gets to be lazy and eat throw up... WIN-WIN! Am I right?! Anyways, Jim fearing that one will attack him and make him throw up isn't really irrational.  In fact, let's all fear the birds that work like Ipecac! Run awayyyyyyy!  Bet you didn't know birds were so scary- makes those sharks look pretty cuddly now, huh??

Back to the strait and narrow:
My fabulous class. We were constantly told to think like a fish. Be the fish.  Be one with the fish.

"Put yourself in the fins of a fish"

Well seeing as I'm a mermaid (shh!  It's a secret!), this was not too difficult.  But it did train me to have a new perspective.  I wasn't just studying and memorizing facts about these animals-- I was understanding them: how they work with their body type and environment, how they've evolved, why they work the way they do.  These gulls don't just practice kleptoparasitism for the heck of it- they do it because it's energetically favorable.  Gulls are very intelligent birds, but flying takes a lot of energy, and if you need food and can't find any except in another's throat- you're going to eat it.  It's called survival, and it's the #1 goal of all animals (See, I told you Rabbit Trails come in handy).

I definitely see myself going into this subject again soon.  It fed my my shark obsession, and now I want more. Ya know, if you give a mouse a cookie.... Well I'm the mouse and the sharks were my cookie.  In the words of Oliver, "I want MORE!"

I should also mention that I'm pretty good at Marine Vertebrates too... got a 100% on my Lab Practical, which was 50 questions of scientific Latin names and fish anatomy that needed to be spelled correctly, and I aced my Final this morning.  Didn't get the percentage back yet, but I have an A in the class! Yay! I've done well with everything in this class because it's so very interesting and I want to LEARN ALL THE THINGS! Really, I do! Another sign that I've chosen the right major.  I just can't wait to see where it leads me!

"There are as many beautiful stories as there are drops in the ocean. How will you write yours?"

I don't know exactly how I'll write mine yet.  But whatever happens, I know I'm going to love it!  I mean, it's a drop in the ocean and I love the ocean, so my story's bound to be a great one.  

What's coming up:

My next class starts on Monday: Marine Ecology.  I have no idea what I'll be learning or doing, but I will find out soon, and I'll let you all know as soon as I can!

This weekend:  

FREEDOM and NO STUDYING... Translation: BEACH. And more importantly, my best friend Hannah is coming to visit me!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Like she'll be here in 15 minutes.  AND I CAN'T FREAKIN WAIT! I have missed her so much, and I'm super happy we'll get to enjoy some time on the beach together!  My bestie and the beach.... that's a quality combination right there!  Oh, and this was decided last night when I was procrastinating on studying for my Final... Spontaneity strikes again! Gosh, don't cha love it?!  I know I do!

Also, Shout out to Rebecca because I wish you were coming too, but we'll just have to use this as another excuse to go to the beach in the future!  42 days until I get to see your face!