Science in the City

Today was a relatively ‘light’ task day since the thrust of the work now focuses on next week’s trip to Green Island for the collection of sea grass samples.  There’s little to do except to pack up supplies, prepare whatever personal effects will be transported and get as smart as possible as fast as possible about the species, context and applications of the work we will be doing.

To start, ‘Kor’ showed me around the lab’s storage room, and familiarized me with the tools that will be employed on site.  Many of the materials to be used at this point of the process make intuitive sense, including storage baggies, dessicant, bins, plant presses and the like.  They are roughly analogous to materials we’ve used before in a terrestrial context in my own class.  It gives some measure of comfort to know I’ve handled some of these things before, though surely there will be important ‘twists’ to learn along the way.  Besides from swapping land for a marine collection site, extra care will be needed in the documentation arena, since preparation for that component of the work appears to be pretty exacting.

After the lab materials were packed and my contribution to the rations were handed over, it was time for another lunchtime surprise c/o the JCU cafeteria.  Perhaps getting into a routine constitutes coming to expect canned spaghetti for our bi-weekly ‘hot’ breakfast.  However, the sheer novelty of what they come up has Scott and I collecting takeout menus in our trips off campus.  Making quick work of the meal, it was time to meet with the equipment manager for the dive team, who outfitted me with the wet suit needed to work in damp conditions for hours at a time up on the island.  I certainly won’t be giving Jacques Cousteau anything to worry about in the adventure program, but at least I’ll be dressed properly for my walk-on role in the marine sciences.

Later in my room, I was thrilled to discover that the highly-metered Internet tap was finally opened up, allowing me to access my own connection at last.  Just as everything seems to be falling into place, it’ll soon be time to leave off for my week-long expedition up to the collection site.  I ran my laundry, reviewed and annotated the provided readings, and started packing for the days to come.

One pleasant surprise was the connection of some of the work I will be doing to research underway at the New York Botanical Gardens.  It’s nice to have a name and a place I can readily visit near home to contact as a possible next move after the time here is up.  One line of work lead me here, and already I discover a thread leading homeward again.  Looking hard enough, one strand leads to the next…. everything everywhere is connected.  It just takes time and patience to see the link.