Mount Dickerman

Three weeks ago we hiked Mt Dickerman- about 8 miles round trip and 4500' elevation gain. There were still plenty of mountain blueberries to pick and eat, and we saw a bear on the way down! I also shot a great picture of an unknown person enjoying a truly solitary moment on a nearby peak.

I love my work!

Since November 2007 I have been employed at the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, or SBRI. A quick (20 min or so) bus ride takes me downtown- I work on the best block in Seattle. Tesla Motors just put in a new dealership only seconds away! And the Jones Soda Co. headquarters (more on them later) is across the street.

My two favorite tasks at this job are salvary gland and midgut dissections. Every Thursday I dissect 100 mosquitoes from 10 cages to check for the overall percentage of malaria infection in their midguts (stomachs). The following Monday I dissect 150 mosquitoes from the same cages to check for how many sporozoites of malaria can be expected from each mosquito in subsequent feeds. I basically provide information that can only be obtained through delicate work under a microscope- the rest of the time I'm just a mosquito farmer. Here is my crop:

Hiking class!

I've been enjoying my hiking class this term. Every Saturday I crawl out of bed at 5am (ugh) to join 10 other people for a long but fun day. We have breakfast in a small-town diner, do a strenuous hike up some the most beautiful peaks in the Cascades, then finish up with burgers and a quiet ride home.

This past weekend was Granite Peak. Here are my fav photos. Enjoy :-)
p.s. be sure to spot the ranger tower at the peak, visible in the 5th photo.