a fishy conference in Oregon

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Wow...I can't believe that it is already the 7th of August. I know my entries have been lacking, my pictures not being uploaded fast enough, and I have been neglecting a LOT of things lately, but it has all been for good reason. Well...most of it has been for a few good reasons -- one being that I leave in 6 days (more like 5.5 now) for Norway. That...is...scary...okay, not just scary but also exciting, exhilarating, somewhat saddening, and just crazy.

Although most of my thoughts have been preoccupied by the future, I have to update a little on my past. I got to go to Oregon. Why is that so cool? Well that is where I was when I decided to become a marine biologist. I was standing on the Newport Pier with my fellow Advanced Bio people junior year of high school when inspiration hit and I was hooked. Who would have guessed that five years later, I would return to that area only days before I gave a talk on color change behavior in Coastrange sculpin. My talk was actually in Portland, Oregon at the ASIH conference (American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpotologists) and it was quite amazing.

Since my talk wasn't until the last day of the conference, this young fish geek spent four days going to shark talks and smiling from ear to ear as I saw more shark pictures than I'd ever seen before. I heard all of these passionate Ich people talk about shark behavior, morphology, reproduction, life history, jaw evolution, and even a little natal homing (pretty sweet). Meanwhile, my mother (who drove over from Idaho), found ways to entertain herself and we rendezvoused later in the days to go shop, eat, explore Portland (including a trip to the zoo where neither of us had our camera), and go to a small amusement park (again...no camera). It was all pretty sweet.

On the Saturday of the conference, we headed down the coastline and met up with my stepsister to spend the night on the beach and go explore. Unfortunately, we got stuck in heavy traffic and it took us 4 hours to go 78 miles so our beach time was cut short, but we still got to see the Oregon Coast Aquarium, two awesome beaches, an amazing spouting geyser, some sweet scenery, and even visit with my stepsister Robin. Unfortunately, Sunday night approached way too quickly and we headed back over to Portland for my talk the following day (of course, that was also the day I gave my speech at the aquarium parking lot with a bunch of oblivious people around who had no idea what I was doing).

Overall, it was a really nice trip and pretty amazing to get to see all of Oregon again. It pretty special. I even felt a little happier to return to my home and I felt a little more rejuvenated after being able to visit the beach for a bit. As always though, I was excited to see my little rainy home again and all of the people here and to also give them their presents, but Oregon will always be a special place for me.

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