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.

I love the holidays.  It seems they are so well positioned that the combined effect of Christmas and New Years can't help but bring out positivity and goal setting for the New Year.

As the year winds down, it's almost as if we wind down with it.  We get into old habits, work and school grind us down, and everything about life seems kind of drab.  Sure Halloween was fun, but as November comes to a close things seem a dull shade of gray.  But then Thanksgiving comes.

And with that holiday we begin to think a little differently.  We look at what we have and we're actually thankful for it.  And by the next day - whether you agree with the commercialization of Black Friday or not - our attitudes have switched from self pity to selflessness in less than 24 hours.  It's remarkable.

The spirit of Christmas is infectious.  It's beautiful.  It's spiritual.  People begin to really understand what this whole life is about.  For an entire month, we're concerned about others.  We're happy.  We give gifts.

When Christmas finally gets here, it's wonderful to just sit back and watch the joy that you worked to bring into the lives of those you love be revealed in each gift they open.

But Christmas is more than just gifts.  It's about the Savior.  We have this month of selflessness in celebration of Him.  And that changes people.  We get to thinking about what is important in this life.  We take a look at ourselves and analyze what could be done better - how could we be more like He wants us to be.

And then perfectly, just a few days later comes the New Year - a chance to start all over, to make new goals, and strive to achieve them.

Now I know we don't all keep every New Years Resolution we make, but hopefully this year some of them will stick.  You've still got a day so think about it.  2012 is your year!

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I just finished reading Mockingjay.  Wow.  These books are amazing.  Of course I started out just enjoying the great storytelling, powerful descriptions, and entertaining plot.  And for the first two books that pretty much what it was.  But the third book felt much more powerful than that to me.  The terrors and tragedies of war lay out before me in perfect clarity.  I watched as characters I knew and loved die.  I love these books.  They will make powerful movies.  If you haven't read them.  Do it.  And soon.  I promise you'll love it.

So today I was just hanging out with my brother Mark when I noticed I got a message on my phone.  It turned out to be a Facebook message from someone I've never met before.  But it reminded me just how small this world really is and how wonderful people can be.  You see if you search "Mike Veterinarian" on www.mormon.org, you are going to come up with two people: Mike Gamble and Me. 

Apparently Mike searched just that and took to reading my profile because I talk about returning from the Singapore Mission.  He had too.  One of his Mission Presidents was President Boone - my MTC President. He served as a Young Men's President to two of the Elders I served my mission with. And he has just graduated from Kansas State with his DVM. 

It can't get much smaller than that.

He sent me a nice message thanking me for my service as a missionary and for having my mormon.org profile up and encouraged me in my quest on becoming a veterinarian.  There are a lot of great people in this world and they deserve encouragement and thanks.

So who knows, the next stranger you meet may be more connected to you than you realize.  Treat them nicely, there's no telling what kind of a difference it will make.