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Defense Champagne BBQ

I defended my thesis on July 7, 2008.  So we all partied hard on July 12th to celebrate with a Champagne BBQ.  It was great to see everyone who'd been so supportive of me and listened to be gripe and moan this past year and mostly this past spring!  Thanks everyone for coming!  I'm so glad to be done!  I just have to tie up a few loose ends, get my thesis bound and that really expensive and hard earned piece of paper is headed my way!

Elena (co-worker), Kathy (Lee's wife) and Lee (my boss)

Mackenzie and Matt (Tanner)

I'm so glad you guys could make it!

My dad and I

My dorky friends Micheal and Justin

Julia with her parents Becky and Jason

We'll get your thesis done next Becky! Then will toast your day!

Ashley and Mike

Steve and Jeff

My dad doing an Eddy the fish impression

Becky and I doing a toast

Our thesis are very similar, Becky has been such a help to me throughout this whole ordeal, hope I can be there for her struggle this fall!

The cake with my motivational "Finish your fucking thesis" where my degree will eventually go

Steve and I with Becky and her family, what are you doing Loki?

Tanner tried on my glasses for kicks, he's so Chandler

Steve and I with Tanner and Mackenzie

The dork squad

Steve and I, Mike and Ashley, Michael and Justin

My mommy and I

Steve and Me, behind is Jeff, then Paul, Hydee and Lee with Brian and Ernie to the back and side

Phew. We all were pretty toasted by now

Ashley and I being weird after I ate my thesis motivator

I don't need it anymore! It's done!

A beetle Steve found was a welcome guest

I had to get a picture with him, what a cute beetle!

 

 

 

Environmental Health

I'm working as an environmental health specialist.  My specialty is vectors of disease or zoonoses.  That means plague, West Nile virus, rabies etc etc.  We do lots of field work, surveillance and then some microscope work.  Hmm...moved from midges in my thesis to mosquitoes.  I have to say they look so much more evil at 7x magnification!  I love my job and the people I work with and am looking forward to learning a lot of the epidemiology of these diseases.  Oh we also deal with people that create health hazards with trash or animal waste, but that's just a minor part of the job...and honestly visiting horse areas isn't too bad.  I've been on TV quite a few times (which my Grad school advisor was excited to see) and apparently next season Lee will throw me to the wolves since he wants me to get interview experience, plus he wants to be off TV a little less.  Now that winter is coming, we have massive "paperwork" to do and we'll be doing inspections of schools throughout the county.  Feels good protecting the health of this county.  We are the invisible profession!

Lee my supervisor

Elena my colleague

Michelle, another colleague

George, yet another colleague on the Vectors team

A vector Culex tarsalis!!!

Evil flea! He'll give you the plague!

My messy cubicle, yes that's myspace but it was my lunch break!

Elena at a site where we were surveying a Prairie dog colony

My office 50% of the time

Two thirds of "women in jeans", the other is taking the picture

The vermin...nah, they are cute it's just the fleas that can get nasty!

Cutness in a hole!

Me dipping for mosquitoes in my baggy jeans, they must have miss labeled the size the other ones I got fit fine!

Looking for mosquito larvae, doesn't that orange vest make me look so great? NOT!

I'm such a dork!

 

 

Commencement 2007

Commencement was May 5th.  I still have to finish up my thesis work but classes are done.  My brother and his wife with her family couldn't make it out, so I guess I'll have to get a Masters in something else sometime in the future, or heck maybe a PhD in Underwater Basket Weaving (gotta be challenged)!  It was a long ceremony and even longer because of the hard seats we had to sit on.  It was still fun so wear a hood and be a Master of something besides just my domain.  I am now Queen of the Castle of Biology!  Woo-hoo!

Tiaga and I as we were walking in the dark ceremony hall, Tiaga is also finishing up this summer

Marie came up to see me for graduation

Sorry this picture is really fuzzy but I just had to put a pic of us in....Steve didn't know how to work my camera as well

Dr. Herrmann, me and Dr. Vanden Heuvel, two professors I had several classes with

Tiaga and I again, he's a fun guy in the grad office

Statue of Liberty? Nah statue of dorkie Biologists is more like it!

My parents and Grandma were always supportive of me during this escapade

So was my love Steve. Always there for me and a very encouraging man, Love you Pookie!

My mom and I

My parents and I

Steve got me a belly dancer for my Morrocan graduation party

funny thing is I didn't even think about it being Cinco de Mayo!

Larry was just mezmerized by the dancer with her sword trick

My dad had a good time showing us the belly dance he just learned

Kerry took it up a notch with her rendition

My cake showing the family what I am doing my thesis on, I think they are still confused

 

 

 

I wonder how I look to the midges I'm dissecting?

I'll rip off their wings, and then their tiny little legs....hahahahah!!

 

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