Well, so the ideal of writing every day has not happened. Obviously. Ah well, perhaps I'll write when I can and gradually make it a habit. It's been an interesting week, I had one day where I almost blew two days worth of experiments, and had one experiment fail. However, yesterday I went mushrooming in the mountains and made some really good finds despite it being really dry. The best find was a small collection of Lactarius indigo!! It's such a beautiful mushroom with a baby powder blue cap, cerulean gills, and when the gills are broken it exudes a beautiful, rich, french blue latex, or milk. It was a great find and everyone back at the labs was excited to see it. I took pictures of it and hope to put them up on the blog soon. Got a few other interesting ones; Suillis americanus, Xerula, an Armillaria I think, some Russula, and a puffball. Speaking of puffballs someone brought in a giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea) to the lab this past weekend. It was huge! Think of a medium size watermelon, and it was that size. Nope, a little bigger... yeah that size. It weighed ten pounds fresh. That's just huge.

Now for a different note. So they just passed the bail out bill today. I was listening to Rush Limbaugh when the news came over and he announced it on the show. I was extremely angry that it went through and passed everything in just a few hours when the majority of the public was against it. Now I realize that this is a republic, and not a democracy, and that the government is set up for those in authority to make better judgment over the ignorant masses. However, it seems to me, if they wanted to make things "fair" and "equal" and "just" they should take the CEOs and CFOs of these companies that were working the numbers to make their businesses look good on the books, take their salaries, their savings, and their properties that they purchased with the gains of preying on people who couldn't afford the mortgages they were given, and use those assets to bail the companies out instead of taking from the general citizens of our country. Grrr. Stupidity. It's putting a band-aid on a stab wound. It's a political move in an election year, and it will only cause us further problems later on. What sense does in make for a country that is already in a multi-trillion dollar debt to take on eight billion more?!? A rhetorical question of course.

Even though she's teased me about it, I'm going to talk about my dear wife for a minute. She totally impressed me yesterday. I know, and am constantly reminded that she is an amazing woman and I am privileged to know her, much less be married to her. We drove around the Smokies yesterday, and drove out US129 (the famous Dragon's Tail) to Fontana Dam. There are 318 curves within 11 miles, which make this road a favorite for sport car enthusiasts and motorcyclists. However those curves also have the downside of making you carsick. I got a little queasy on the way there, but had no problem on the way back. However Emily got sick on the way back, poor thing. So sick she was in cold sweats and was a sickly shade of green under her amazing complexion. She didn't tell me until it was really bad, so we found one of the little gravel pull offs and waited for a few minutes. She's such a tough gal, and it was really impressive, though I felt really bad she was that sick. "There wasn't really any point in telling you because there wasn't anything that could be done about it" was what she said. Amazing. Beautiful and a strong constitution too! What a woman! =) I love you darling. (serious face!)

It is interesting, now that I'm graduated, I'm trying to think through what to do next with jobs and education. I know that the lab tech job I have now isn't permanent, and I'm having a blast doing all these studies in the Fifth Kingdom of Fungi. It kind of puts me in a dilemma, because I'm not really sure what to do with it. They tell me I'm really good at taxonomy, and doing this kind of work, but what does one do with a degree in fungal systematics?? I know there are some that are working for the US Forestry service, and I definitely wouldn't mind that. But other than that, I'm not sure except as a teaching position. While I love to educate people, I'm not sure that's what I want to do with my life. Back when I was really struggling with what to do with my career in high school, God distinctly told me music and trumpet. So how does this fungal stuff fit in? What do I do now? I realize that I can always pursue it on an amateur level. Fungal studies is one of the few sciences that it is possible to pursue on an amateur level and become quite proficient and well regarded within the community. I know that Brandon would be open and frank with me about my options to study under him, and what all I might have to do to take a masters or doctorate under his supervision. But is that what I want to do? What about my dreams of owning or running a music retail and repair shop? What about that MBA I wanted? The problem with being a renaissance man, as I have been so often called by professors, is paring down and deciding on a specialty. I really enjoy fungal taxonomy, but if I do pursue that, what becomes of what God told me to do? Is this just a stepping stone on the way there, or the opposite direction? Does it negate my music bachelors, or just confirm that with a BA one can do almost anything? Does it throw out all I've done so far, or fulfill it? I would be perfectly happy to become a park ranger with a fungal/forestry degree. I wanted to be a park ranger at an early age, and to be outside in the parks as a job would be fabulous. I would love that. But there is also the Epic story to be followed. My purpose to be filled. Is fungal taxonomy part of my Epic story? Does my story contain this plot line, or is it just a fleeting paragraph in the life story of Aaron? Right now I don't know... and to an extent that bugs me.

Well, that's enough contemplation for one night.