Finished.

Tomorrow will be my last official day as a grad student at the University of Guelph. I'm handing in everything; every last library book, form, and key. My thesis will be microfilmed or some old-fashioned thing like that and I'll be unemployed and on the road.

I'm reading my thesis one last time. In a last attempt to find any hidden typos. I just made my way through the acknowledgements. I had written them too casually before, so I tightened them up.

Soon Doug and Paul will come in and we'll go to the grad lounge to celebrate our accomplishments and receive fancy mugs for successfully defending our theses. Tomorrow will be the last day I see Uta because she is leaving for her trip and won't return until after I've left for mine.

My throat is sore because I'm happy and sad. That's all I can say right now, though.

Causes and consequences of biodiversity.

This afternoon the PhD student I've worked with for the past 3 and a half years is defending his thesis. This is exciting because I've had a bit part in his field projects. My Masters project is related to his work and we've worked together ever since I started here. Basically for my entire career outside of my undergrad.

We've spent long days out in abandoned quarries and taken care of zillions of tiny little rare alvar plants. I have great memories of lunchtimes under the little birch tree at the edge of Water's Quarry and dipping our feet into the water off the boardwalk at Fletcher's Creek. Working on his projects I had the chance to visit many parts of the Niagara Escarpment I would never have had access to otherwise. We drove long hours and listened to good music. For the past year or so, we've both been writing away and preparing to present out work. He's spent a lot of time away from the lab, but he's always quick to answer e-mails and he has been tremendously helpful with my work. I know he'll make a great professor and teacher and will probably have a really cool research program too.

I'm excited to see his presentation and listen to the question period. We'll celebrate afterwards and I made a small present for him to say congratulations and thank you for everything. I'll post pictures once I've given it to him.

Everything is wrapping up in the Cliff Ecology Research Group. My thesis is finished and only needs a few changes before I can have my papers signed and set-up a defence date. I'm planning a big trip, moving, and I have about a million other things to do before all of that. I'm planning on posting all of my Halifax stuff here once I have a few free minutes. I kept a few notes while I was there and want to include that all here.

Here I go again.

I'm doing what I've done all too many times: abandoning a blog on the internet. I've been thinking about this place for awhile. I come up with interesting ideas for posts, plan them out, and then I don't post them.

This is ridiculous. When the mood strikes, I need to come here and type.

So, to get back on track, here's an easy-peasy post, with knitting and evolution.

Generally, I avoid conversations about evolution and associated topics unless there is some sort of scientific evidence or interesting historical information involved. However, from an historical perspective, this is a particularly exciting year to talk evolution. In a few short days, scientists around the world will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. On this particular 12 February, I will be heading to Ottawa for a bit of a roadtrip with my dear friend Emily. I'm sure that we will take a few moments to appreciate the work of naturalists that came before us. Perhaps Emily will bake another endangered hummingbird cake in honour of Darwin's own extravagant tastes.

Later this year, we will mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's most wellknown work. On the Origin of Species was released on 24 November 1859. This theory and collection of data has been one of the most formative works in shaping the way we understand evolution today. Most importantly to me, Darwin set an example for how to conduct good science in a time when the opinions of rich white religious men were really all that mattered.

This important year has started a lot of chatter around the web among many different groups of people. One of my favourite groups, Scientific Knitters, over on Ravelry have mentioned a bit of a knit-a-long (KAL) in honour of Darwin and his work. I really like this little guy: Evolving Punk by Anna Hrachovec.



So you might see my version in the near future....roadtrip knitting, perhaps?

Talk to you later, Cass