What’s this blog about, you ask?

I used to blog quite a bit about science, evolution, and the controversies therein, but I lost the stomach for dealing with idiots and stopped posting for a year and half. After this hiatus, I decided to take down many of these posts, though some of the old material has been left in place. This blog is now a place to share pictures and stories of my travels with family and friends. The occasional random thought on other subjects may be posted too.

I’ve been a avid birder since age 12 and still love birding. I get outside as much as I can and have been known to occasionally chase rare birds. I find birds fascinating because they never get old. There’s always more to learn about where birds normally occur and how to separate similar species.

The son of a software developer, I’m also interested in technology. It’s more like a drug addiction really, where that next version of [insert software name here] will be the “fix” that makes everything good. But when things work, one sure can do some cool things with computers these days. I may comment on technology and software briefly, if only to share links to software I find helpful.

I’m also an amateur photographer, a hobby now days that goes hand in hand with computers. I often wonder how people, amateurs in particular, ever enjoyed photography when one had to pay for film and developing. I regularly post pictures in the photo gallery on this site.

I’m currently a graduate student in pursuit of a master’s degree in biology. My area of interest is the evolution and ecology of birds. My thesis involves community ecology of birds in the Davis Mountains. You can read all about it if you’re really curious.

I’ve recently become interested in using molecular and genetic techniques to answer the questions I’m interested in. To this end, after my master’s I plan on pursuing a doctorate.