All right guys.  I know that was a while.  But a whole lot went down since I last wrote last year.  That whole getting unengaged thing can be kind of a bummer.  So naturally I didn't really feel like writing and as a result, this place has been LAME.  Sorry about that.  Thankfully, lots of REALLY COOL EXCITING things have happened to me since then.  And I'm just going to have to catch you guys up on that as we go along.  So get ready. Here it comes.

First off, I graduated from BYU with Honors in Biology.  That was a long time comin, but I loved my time there and made some really great friends that will stick with me for a long time.

Secondly, this past summer I was hired as one of this year's Eco-Explorers at Utah's Hogle Zoo!  And I LOVED it!  There's something amazing about standing next to an adult African elephant or looking into the burning eyes of an Amur tiger that just gets your juices flowing.  As an Eco-Explorer, I had some amazing experiences with some of the coolest animals in the world.  And what was even cooler is that I got to share them with people and help them to see why these animals are important and what we can all do to help save them.  It was pretty awesome.  But since each of these experiences deserve their own post, they're gonna be coming interspersed with other posts from the other awesome life event that has happened since then - VET SCHOOL!

That's right.  I'm a first year veterinary student at the one and only Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.  It's incredible.  Now that I'm here, living the dream, I can tell you that all those classes I took at BYU to fulfill every prerequisite of every veterinary school in the United States have been well worth it - and that they have truly pointed me towards my calling in life.  I love animals.  I love medicine.  This place is perfect.

I also got into North Carolina State University, University of Wisconsin, and the University of Illinois.  But when I came here for my interview, I felt this is where I was supposed to go.  And now that I'm here, I can safely say that it pays to listen to the Spirit when He's prompting you!  God knows what He's doing and I'm grateful for my time here, what I've learned so far, and the friends that I've made.

So stay tuned.  It only gets better from here.

I love the seasons and I'll probably write about them every time they inspire me.  There is something so spectacular about the first changing leaves and the first real coat of snow.  Today as I looked out around me I couldn't help but be grateful for the beauty of the place I live.  It snowed a lot last night.  In one evening the world was transformed.

 The last leaves clinging to the trees are now covered in a world of white.  The trees themselves have taken new shape.  Some of them have broken with the weight of their new decoration reminding me that snow is a mixed blessing.  It nourishes, beautifies, and hydrates.  But it also freezes, breaks, and kills.

There is a real deadly beauty to the snow.  I suppose that's why we find it so beautiful.  The things in Nature that impress us most are always the ones that scare us a little.  That's why we call it majestic.  This wondrous dichotomy has impressed others before me.  I think Rg Gregory effectively captured the beauty and danger of snow when he wrote his Images of Snow:

Nature and its laws testify of God.  Muir was right.  Open your mind and feel what Nature offers you.

I just finished my first readings in Miracles and for quite a while I was a little bit upset at Lewis's assertions that God as a supernatural being was so outside of nature.  Nature and God go hand in hand for me.  I feel as the early conservationist John Muir did that Nature inspires and lifts us to nobler aspirations.  It is the very testimony that God lives.

Clearly this is not what Lewis was getting at though.  His argument was that people use nature as a means of discrediting God.  They believe that we are here by a chance that is so improbable the odds are simply astronomical.  They believe that some billions of years ago, a great explosion took place and randomly formed the precise elements in the precise combination at the precise distance from a sun of the precise age and size to form our lovely little planet that was hospitable to life.  Then they believe that evolution took its course and we are simply the by-products of a great deal of astronomical, physical, chemical, and biological chance.  Life and reason therefore is also a by-product and there is no real meaning.  And therefore that there is nothing outside of Nature.  Nature is the accumulation of all that chance throughout the entire universe.

I feel badly for those people.  I can't imagine going about my life thinking that my life is cosmologically insignificant.

Lewis does discuss that God made all the natural laws - that science and reason testify of Him.  It did take him some time to make the argument though.  The point of Miracles is that God does intervene in our lives. Lewis is trying to logically explain the Nature of Miracles and that they do exist. God's actions do obey His own Natural Laws.  What we have to realize is that they are His laws.  He is their creator and the only true master of them.  I love when Lewis talks about the subtler nature of poetic laws.  It is a perfect illustration of how to the lesser mind (which is all of humanity when compared to deity) a seeming violation of law is simply a misunderstanding of the subtler complexities of the very law we do not yet fully understand.

The more I understand about Nature the more I understand about God.  Nature is His canvas and His laboratory.  Any belief that depreciates the magnificence of Nature is simply ingratitude.

I know I've been spectacularly awful at keeping this thing up to date.  Life happens sometimes.  And I also discovered it's significantly harder to write when I'm not being assigned to do it.  But I've been thinking about this post for a little bit and so I decided it's time to write it.


I love water.  I always have.  When I was born the doctors told my parents that those were football shoulders.  Yeah I tried that, but it was not for me.  Shoulders this big give you wings and that's exactly how I used them.  I tried all sorts of sports and I was decently good at some of them.  But what I really loved was swimming lessons.  When I found out that you could swim competitively, I was in heaven.  From that moment on it was hard to get me out of the pool.  And though I'm not on a team right now and only swim sporadically, it's hard to get the pool out of me.

The United State Olympic Swimming Trials were last week.  And they were on NBC.  Not NBC Sports.  NBC.  My favorite sport has been on regular TV a lot the last couple years.  We're getting more limelight than just at the Olympics.  I loved it.  People I had met were swimming in that meet and people I hadn't were too.  But no matter who they were, I was proud of them.  I cheered and screamed and laughed and cried and fist-pumped with all of them.  This is the pinnacle of our sport - the best swimmers in the world vying to make the best Olympic Team in the world.  It's incredible.


I'll be cheering my heart out come this July.  But while I am looking forward to the Olympics and I'm trying to get back into the sport via triathlons or masters swimming, my love of water goes even deeper.

My parents took me to SeaWorld when I was five.  Since then it has been one of my favorite places to go in this world.  I've been there just by myself taking in everything I could.

When I was twelve or so, my family went on a cruise in the Caribbean.  I swam with sting-rays and snorkeled with some of the most brightly colored fish I had ever seen.  My ability to hold my breath and swim underwater for long periods of time took me far beyond the boats making the captain and my parents nervous.  But there was so much to see and feel and experience.  It was beautiful under there.


My favorite Christmas present was a 45 gallon marine aquarium. I fell in love with it.  I got this big Marine Aquaria book and I must have read it like a hundred times.  I worked and loved that aquarium.  And it was pretty dang good.  As soon as I have the means to do it, I am resurrecting that tank.

When I got back from my mission, I was hired at BYU's Evolutionary Ecology Laboratory taking care of hundreds of freshwater fish.  I was given the opportunity to travel to Panama and Costa Rica and play in the beautiful streams of tropical rainforests bringing hundreds of small Poeciliids back to our lab.  I've worked on research projects and even have one of my own.


I took a Scuba Diving Class and reveled in the freedom from the surface it brought me.

I've volunteered at The Living Planet Aquarium and landed the most wonderful internship ever at Aquarium of the Pacific.  There my love of veterinary medicine met my love of the watery world we live in.

You may be thinking, who really cares?  What's so cool about water or the things that live in it anyway?  I'll tell you.


Water has a way of moving things.  Its power to carve canyons and tumble down cliffs is breathtaking.  But it is full of lessons as well.  When water moves it is full of life.  Raging rivers and roaring seas are some of the most abundant ecosystems on earth.  Life came from those waters.  But water also pools.  It fills and stagnates.  Oxygen depletes and life struggles to survive.

Our lives aren't much different.  At times we are tossed about in the rapids, fearing that one wrong move might send us overboard and land us in treacherous water we know we can't handle.  Other times our lives get comfortable.  We stagnate.  We stop growing.  Life chokes and almost dies.

I think that life is a delicate balance.  We need the cool tumbling waters full of life and choice and growth.  We seek those waters.  When we are in the rapids of our lives we pray we'll find the gentle flowing streams and scream thanksgiving when we reach them.  When we land in the eddies we long for a way out and do our best to paddle and struggle to our freedom and breathe a sigh of relief when again life flows along its way.

I love water.  And I don't think I'll ever stop loving it.  Swimming is still the only workout I absolutely love.  Whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, sharks, fish, and penguins are still my favorite animals.  Aquatic veterinary medicine is a growing and exciting field that I can't wait to get into.

Water is beautiful.  It's full of life and meaning. And I think that is exactly why the Savior taught that He and His Gospel are the living waters that bring us that life and meaning.  It's such a perfect symbol.  And as far as symbols go, I really love this one.

This blog started out as the Nature Journal for my Environmental Humanities class, and while it has expanded to encompass the other aspects of my life, that is always going to be an important part of what I write about here.  I know I haven't written in a while, but a lot has happened.  I've had a lot of time to think about how wonderful this planet is, how blessed we are to be here, and how important it is to be connected to it.

I had the opportunity to visit a turkey processing plant for my Animal Husbandry class and it was an eye-opening experience.  All too often we remove ourselves from what we are eating.  We use words like pork or beef to avoid using the name of the animal that gave its life for our use.  In a way it was kind of a spiritual experience for me.  I've found myself much more grateful for what I'm eating since then.

But we often remove ourselves from other aspects of our use of the planet.  The Lord has decreed that this planet was created for us, that it was for our use.  It's important that we take care of it though.  Now I'm not an advocate of extreme environmentalism.  I think it's as dangerous and disconnected from reality as is the extreme abuse of the land - but I think it's important that we find ways to use what's been given us in a healthy and sustainable manner.

And we're doing well!  It makes me proud that 80% of Fortune 500 Companies have sustainability departments.  Because in all honesty - they are the ones that are going to make the difference.  They are the keystone species for this planet.  These companies and groups like The Nature Conservancy are working together to find solutions that not only meet the companies needs but protect wildlife, limit pollution, and provide access to something as simple as fresh water to the residents of dozens of nations.

People all over are embracing the green movement and it's making a difference.  So keep it up.  There's still so much you can do.  Plant something!  Take a hike!  Participate in a cleanup!  Or just go see Chimpanzee!  Something as simple as watching a movie this week can make a difference in the world.  Find what works for you and do it.

'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

You know...I love Biology. So much. I spent today in the streams, gulfs, and coasts of Costa Rica. I was with two of the most knowledgeable men I know - Dr Jerry Johnson and his PhD student Spencer Ingley. We collected a variety of fish, talked about the trees, about the intricacies of ecology and evolution, and even did a little bird watching. I love Biology because every bit of information you glean changes your life. You walk outside and appreciate the call of a bird, the colors of a fish, or the behavior of a reptile. Trees and flowers burst into life for you. Everything is exciting.  That's how God has got to see this world and it's got to be great. Today I got to see a Magnificent Frigatebird in the wild and I just about lost it. So next time you step out your door, open your eyes and let in the beauties of the world. There's no telling just what you might see.

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You know, this semester has been a rough one.  Not so much because of the number of classes I'm taking - I do that to myself every time - but more because the layout of my days.  No one should have to be on campus that much. 

But as busy and stressed out as I sometimes get, there's always something wonderful to be noticed about the world.  In my classes I've been learning about the development of new life, of the intricacies of the body and its systems, and of all sorts of fascinating creatures.  It's beautiful.

The world around me seems to agree.  I walk outside in the cool, crisp autumn air and take the splendor of this world into my lungs.  My eyes watch the leaves change color and flutter to the ground with the passing wind then watch my breath as it clouds and disappears.  Life is good.  It's beautiful and simple.

So if you find yourself stressed with too much to do, take a walk.  Notice the little things.  Because it is our missing them that sets us off kilter. 

So in June, I got to spend 10 days in the beautiful country of Panama to collect fish for work!  We (meaning me, Ph.D. student Spencer Ingley, and M.S. student Preston Johnson) went down there to collect these little guys:

Brachyrhaphis episcopi

Brachyrhaphis roseni

Brachyrhaphis terrabensis

Now I realize you might not really care, but I'm going to tell you why anyway.  These fish live in the small streams of Panama and Costa Rica with some populations up high in the mountain streams away from predators and others down near the larger rivers that are full of predators like this:

Cichlid

As a result, the two populations have evolved quite differently.  It is suspected that B. terrabensis (low predation) and B. roseni (high predation) were once the same species, but separated due to the different evolutionary pressures they faced.  It also seems that B. episcopi is going through the same thing right now as the montane and lowland populations are going through similar changes.  So we went down to collect several killed populations for genetic and life history analysis and a few live populations for behavioral studies.

So in my head, I pictured us going through lots of beautiful jungle, but totally expected the place to be all gross and dingy, so you can imagine my surprise when this was the city I landed in.

Panama City

Every morning we got up, and drove into the jungle to look for small streams.  Our first day we found this beautiful resort with some amazing waterfalls, great hikings areas, and even a rope swing.  We had a great time, but unfortunately the awesomeness of the waterfalls made it impossible for the little fishies to swim up the streams.  So after some great pics, fun on the rope swing, and a few videos we had to move on.



Later that night, we found a site with tons of B. episcopi in the mountains and the roads were crazy but it was super pretty.

The next day we met up with Dr. Johnson and one of his former students and checked out the western part of Panama (B. terrabensis & B. roseni territory).  We found some pretty mountain streams and found lots of terrabensis.



That evening we stayed in this little town in the very tops of the mountains near the Costa Rican border.  Dr. Johnson had been commenting on the quality of the roads in Panama when all the sudden we turned onto this super rough, bumpy road he said, "Now this is like the roads in Costa Rica".  We found this little shop and it turned out we were in Costa Rica!  No passport stamp though...


The next morning we went down this super steep hill.  We thought we might tumble down the mountain but we made it.  It's crazy to think that there were motorbikes going up this thing!


At the bottom we crossed the first of many iffy-looking bridges, and found this beautiful stream with a decent amount of B. roseni.  It was definitely one of the most beautiful places we found roseni.  A lot of the other places were streams running through neighborhoods that were either super muddy or super trashy.


After this we split, cause Jerry and his friend had to catch their plane back.  At this point we had both finding the proper stream sites and the seining down so we were pretty much pros.  We spent the remainder of the day catching roseni and experienced our first Panama rain.  We were SOAKED.  And we were tired.  Our past nights of sleeping consisted of poor air conditioning, hard beds, and rooms like this:


So that night, we went for this.  It was much nicer :)

Gran Hotel Nacional

We spent the next several days getting a whole ton of fish.  And getting wet.  And the wetter we got, the more stinky our car got.  It was bad.  Rrrrrreal bad.  And the more streams we waded through, the more destroyed my shoes got.  But eventually we had enough dead fish and we started on our live fish collection.  The roseni site had tons of them, but we had to spend a long time finding a good stream that fed the same river up in the mountains to find a matching terrabensis site.  Finally we found one.  We got a lot of fish, and most importantly, we found Big Bertha.  This picture has two Brachyrhaphis terrabensis, one of them is normal size and the other one is Bertha.  She's great.

Big Bertha and Friend

By this time we were tired, wet, smelly, and now we had an eight hour drive ahead of us back to Panama City with 200 live fish in the back to worry about.  Needless to say it wasn't our happiest moment.  That drive lasted FOREVER.  But as we neared our destination, our handy GPS told us we were near the Ocean.  So we took what would be the BEST DETOUR EVER because we found this beautiful beach.  Feel jealous. Cause no one else was there.  We had the whole beach just to ourselves!






We got back to Panama City and headed to STRI (the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute - yes, we really are that cool) where we got our fishies comfortably situated.  We checked out the research areas too, and I have to say, this would not be a bad office view!




We met up with one of the scientists there and headed out to a national park to collect some episcopi. It was really pretty.  This was just the road to get to the collection sites!


But it wasn't all work.  We did get to see some pretty cool things.  And I would hate it if Aunt Diane didn't get to see some pictures of the Panama Canal.  We drove over it a couple times and there were some sweet bridges.  We were on the Pacific side of the canal, so we didn't see the locks but I found a picture of them anyway!

Gatun Locks

Our last day in Panama we spent getting stuff ready to leave, and then we went to the Temple.  It was beautiful.  The session was in Spanish so I had to wear one of the headsets, but it was great.  It was packed and I was happy to see so many in attendance on a Wednesday evening.  We had met the Temple President and some other people at church earlier and it was fun to see some of them again.





We stayed at the Temple Hotel.  It was super nice and only $5 a night.  The only requirement was to attend the temple each day.  Sounds like a great deal to me. 






The next morning we took care of all our stuff, got it ready to ship home, and got someone at STRI to take care of our fish until we get the permits to export everything.  It was a really fun trip.  But ten days hiking through streams really killed my shoes...


Spencer had a couple problems speeding...

Talked his way out...

...bribed his way out with this one.

And by the end we were all looking like mountain men.

Preston

(Me)

Spencer

But these two guys are great.  We had a lot of fun together.  And we got to see some great things.  Like this.  Why don't we have signs like this?!





Or Jesus Buses?




Or fearsome dragon horses?





We may never have the answers to those questions, but Panama is a great place.  It was fun to see the beautiful places the fish in my lab come from, and to learn a ton.  And hopefully soon, I'll get to go another great collecting trip!