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I've established this site so that my family and friends can know what's going on with me out here.  I'm going to try and update it as frequently as I can (weekly, monthly, as news occurs?).  Bookmark this site so you can check in.  When possible I'll include pictures and other media to help share my adventures.  Please email me and keep me up to date with the events in your lives too!

***Please sign comments so I know who's responding.***

It's been far too long since I last posted, I do apologize. Last semester was busy and I couldn't get to it. I'll start off here by listing my classes for the spring with their descriptions from the course catalog:

BIOL 403 EVOLUTION
S 3 cr. LEC 3
PREREQUISITE: BIOL 301.
-- For seniors in biology. Evolutionary theory is presented and takes two principle directions, the study of evolutionary history, and the study of natural selection.

LRES 430 NATURAL RESOURCE LAW
S alternate years, to be offered even years 3 cr. LEC 3
PREREQUISITE: Junior standing, WRIT 201 or WRIT 221, or consent of instructor.
-- Examines major natural resources laws, emphasizing the federal model. A modified case study approach is used to review legislation and related court cases governing natural resources, including water, minerals, timber, range, wildlife, recreation, and wilderness.

LRES 441 CAPSTONE 1-FIELD APPLICATIONS
S 1 cr. LEC 1
PREREQUISITE: LRES major; Junior standing or consent of instructor.
-- Senior capstone course, first of two required semesters. Provides disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge, experiences, and skills related to Land Resource and Environmental Sciences. Topic of course will be current land management issue in local area, and students will conduct laboratory analyses to provide information to local agencies. Course emphasizes writing and presentation skills, scientific methods, review of primary literature and planning a field campaign.

BCHM 340 GENERAL BIOCHEMISTRY
F,S,Su 5 cr. LEC 4 LAB 1
PREREQUISITE: BIOL 102, or BIOL 214, or BIOL 208; CHMY 323, or CHMY 333 or CHMY 211.
-- Carbohydrate, lipid, protein, and nucleic acid structure and function; enzyme kinetics; energetics; major metabolic pathways for carbohydrates, lipids, and amino acids; photosynthesis; regulation of gene function.

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I'm looking forward to this semester. I think each of these classes will be somewhat challenging, but interesting as well. The Capstone classes will set us up to do some field work at the very of the summer so we can generate a study and report. We will be looking at a problem for the Forest Service, examining different aspects of decommissioning logging roads.

I'm also back to work in the same lab I worked in last spring, this time doing my own project. I'll be studying how a microorganism from a hot spring in Yellowstone lives, and what sort of conditions it can exist in. It's an Archaea, which is one of the three large branches in the tree of life, along with bacteria, and multi-celled organisms (generally). Should be a lot of fun and made lead to things down the road of significance.

Rugby practices have started up again, and I've also played indoor soccer two nights this week. Trying to get fit and strong soon.

I've enjoyed being back in Bozeman. It wasn't until last night that we finally got some fresh snow here. I might go cross country skiing tomorrow. I'm enjoying having more tools available to me in the kitchen thanks to some great gifts I received (Thanks!), trying to get some healthy but fueling meals going.

That's all for now, I'll try and keep you all up to speed better!

Alright, here we go. I'm sitting in the SUB, keeping myself busy with various things and I figured I'd better get myself started here.

Part of the problem has been that we haven't gotten internet service set up at our house yet. Luke called a while ago, but they aren't able to make it to us until the 14th. Then keeping up with this and various other things will be easier.

So I'm at school, living off campus in a house with my friends Eric and Luke. We're pretty well set up and have furnished the place (apart from the walls) effectively. We each have our own rooms, we have a kitchen, dining room, and living room that are all within a large vaulted room that includes the front door. We've got a dishwasher and laundry equipment.

The biggest change, going from on campus to off, is having to feed oneself. While it requires much more effort than showing up in the dining hall did, it's nice to be able to eat food of my own choosing, available at whatever time I want. The dining halls close at 7 so that wasn't always convenient. Thus far I've done pretty well. A trip to costco helped, and last night I pulled a salmon burger and a pile of veggies out of the freezer and had that. Luke and I also got a 50 lbs bag of jasmine rice, which is huge, but should keep us fed! Breakfasts are currently yogurt and a costco muffin which sustains me pretty well.

The other significant difference is in fact being OFF campus, and thus having to commute to get to school. I've been driving, which is easiest but not the most ideal. It takes 5-10 minutes to drive depending on lights, but once I park I've still got a 5-10 minute walk as well. The bus service in Bozeman is free and would be easy to take, but would require that I leave the house ~40 minutes before I do when I drive. I ALMOST did it this morning, but rugby practice last night had me tired enough that I couldn't quite rouse myself at that time. Perhaps tomorrow though. I didn't get to bring my bike out to school yet, and that would probably be the easiest way to get to classes because I can roll right up to the buildings.

I've been to rugby practice this week and last and am having to work hard to get into 5000' elevation shape, but it's plenty of fun. We have a game against Billings this weekend, probably Sunday since the university won't let us use a field on Saturday due to the football game.

Both jazz band and orchestra are going to be very good this year. In orchestra we'll be playing Brahms Symphony No. 1, Shostakovich No. 5, The Star Wars Suite, and a few others. All good literature. For jazz band we don't have some of the very experienced players we've had before, but every member of the band is solid and the trombone section in particular is rather deep, already getting a good sound.

The actual classes that I'm taking this semester are going to be interesting and challenging, in a healthy balance.

Arabic 101 is a class I'm taking because I need a year of a language to get an honors degree. Other more standard languages haven't really interested me, but I've been enjoying Arabic. New sounds, letters, and everything. Quite fun.

Freshwater Ecology and the accompanying lab will look at various elements of stream, lake, and riparian habitats, and just how they function. Yesterday I was wading about in Bozeman Creek, taking measurements of discharge (flow), stream bottom materials, and water chemistry.

Landscape Pedology is really a continuation of the soils class I took last fall. As well as looking at how soils from, with emphasis on the parent material (bedrock, river sediment, volcanic ash, etc), but also how they occur and fit within the landscape.

That's a pretty good summary of things to date. Oh, my car is sweet. It's been comfortable and consistent, and did a fantastic job of getting me and my stuff out here.

Here's some pictures of my house, as taken on my phone. They're a little yellow, but for reference, the walls are white!

My bed, equipped with my awesome wool blanket.


My closet.


My desk, which I'm moving into and organizing more each day.


Kitchen and dining room and Luke.


Living room with the big sectional couch. This was taken from the same spot as the previous shot.

The evening is coming to an end here in Bangkok. I figured I'm overdue for an update, so here we are.

Today we went to Wat Pho, the temple of the reclining Buddha, where we did in fact see the reclining Buddha, as well as the Emerald (Jade) Buddha. All the buildings there were lavishly decorated, and it was rather opulent.

Upon returning tonight, a bunch of us went to the Olympic size pool here at Assumption University. We had fun using the various diving platforms. I didn't venture higher than the 5 meter platform, but watched as others plummeted from on high. The 5 meter was new for me, so that was a good step.

After swimming, I came back to our building and quickly ate dinner. This was so I could get changed and back down to the courtyard, where I got into the futsal games going on. Futsal is like soccer, but played on a basketball court, 6 v 6, with a smaller size ball. Lots of fun, and I think I held my own.

Yesterday we had our concert here, which went quite well. We played our brass choir piece, which went decently. For that we were positioned in the balcony at the back of the cathedral, which was a cool effect. The rest of the pieces came off well, and the audience rather enjoyed it. I could tell Komiyama was proud, and maybe even a little emotional. The concert was followed by a rather fancy dinner, for which we remained in our formal concert attire. Made for a long afternoon/evening in a tux, but I survived. Later a few of us went out into the nearby field to play frisbee. It had rained hard during our concert and dinner, so it was rather soggy, but myself and another guy had swim trunks on and were able to make sliding catches that carried us 10+ yards on the grass.

Tomorrow we head into Bangkok for more exploring/shopping/massage?. Friday we depart for Phuket. I'm having a grand time, but miss you all at home as well!

I attempted to upload pictures, but it doesn't want to do it from this computer... I apologize!

I'm about to head up to bed here on Wednesday night. Today we went to the Vietnam National Academy of Music for a rehearsal in the morning and then a midday concert in which their youth orchestra also played. The performance went well and it was really good to get back to our instruments after a few days off. They cheered for two encores so we kept playing. It was a bit challenging to adjust to this climate. Both the instruments, and for the brass at least, the embouchure is affected by the heat and humidity. I locked in my intonation during the performance though, which was great. Something about that extra focus from being on stage helped.

This evening we went to a water puppet show which was good fun. A little more wandering the streets and shopping. I went with some friends as they picked up or checked on suits they've had made. ~$130 for a tailored suit made from fabric of their choice.

After that we made a return to the jazz club we found last night. I think it's the only place in Vietnam to hear jazz? The music is actually quite good though, and it's likely that myself and a few others will go a third and fourth time if possible.

Tomorrow we have rehearsal in the morning and a performance in the evening. Friday is our boat trip in Halong Bay. Lots of fun is being had, and the orchestra is getting to know each other much more thoroughly, out of some necessity here in a foreign land. I hope all is well at home with Bakers, Bentleys, and friends!

We're now in Hanoi. I just had a fantastic breakfast on the top floor of our hotel, which included cream puffs, a little crepe, and a white fruit that had the texture and appearance of a kiwi. This hotel is not where or what we would typically think of when imagining an upscale lodging. It's tucked in between other buildings in what seems to be an average neighborhood. It's very narrow and stairs wind up the middle to take us to rooms at the front or back of the place. I lucked out and have a room on the 7th floor, so we can see out over the surrounding rooftops.

Today we have some free time to wander the streets. Later there is a rehearsal and other preparations for a concert we're playing tomorrow.

We're spread out between three hotels, so before I depart for the day I'll have to track down my friends...

Hopefully I can throw a few pictures up soon?

Here I am in Bangkok! We just had dinner and now have the rest of the evening free. My stomach is a little bit grumbly right now... but thus far that's been fine.

It was a long process to get here. 12 hours or so on the bus from Bozeman to Seattle, 12 hours to Taipei, and 3 1/2 to Bangkok, with waits in between. When we got here, our hosts met us at the airport and we loaded on to double decker buses of a sort.

When we arrived we were fed and checked in to our rooms. We spent the afternoon wandering around the grounds, in the heavy heat, avoiding swans by the ponds, and trying to figure out where to bother to take a picture... seems we could take one everywhere we look here.

Tomorrow we leave for Vietnam, which will require paring down the items packed, and loading up for the seemingly brief flight back over to that side of the land mass. Hope all is well at home!

One week from today, I'll be home.

In other news, finals are upcoming. Organic chemistry and ecology on Monday, Native American Studies on Tuesday, soil chem on Wednesday. Last weekend was the state rugby championships, which Bozeman won.

See article:
http://rugbyrugby.com/news/story_28409233250.php

This coming weekend is Maggotfest, a big rugby tournament in Missoula.

Last weekend also featured a very successful jazz concert on Sunday night. I played in the combo, as well as the big band, and both went well. We were playing in the newly refurbished Ellen Theater, on Main Street, which was gorgeous, and had really good acoustics on stage.

7 more days of effort here, then home to family and friends, including Bakers-Australia!

Just took a big organic chemistry test. I studied some Sunday, last night, and this morning, and think I might have come out of it alright. I feel pretty good about it. More on that when I find out.

It's snowing here. The weekend was really quite nice, but... back to the white.

Rugby beat Butte on Saturday, 31-17, but we should have put up more points than that, we just made lots of silly mistakes. This week we play in Billings, assuming the field is clear. I'll only be able to go if I can get out our orchestra dress rehearsal, which I'll only be playing Candide for. Been there done that... getting orchestra shirts soon actually!

Sounds like everyone at home had a lovely Easter weekend! I would have loved to be there and attend the family events. So it goes. This is our third to last week of classes. I'll be home in ~24 days?

This weekend was a good one. We went to Spokane for a rugby tournament. Luke, Eric, and I drove in Eric's car, leaving Friday afternoon. We spent both nights at Luke's place, outside Cheney, which was close, convenient, and lots of fun.

Rugby was a smashing success. Bozeman went 3-0 on the day, with a total score of ~130-12. We did really well to say the least. I scored two tries, which was loads of fun, but missed a good handful of kicks. To my credit, they were long kicks from bad angles, but I should have gotten a few of them!

Mom and Dad, Kelsey, her roommate Sarah, her friend Chris, and my former neighbor Jason all came to the fields from various distances to watch. It was lovely to have them all, and luckily the weather cooperated this year, to make for good rugby and good spectating.

Saturday night, Eric, Luke, and I were back at Luke's place, and had a project at hand. Luke's family had a giant slash pile created from debris from some selective logging in a canyon on their ranch. It had been there for three years, so it was dry, and therefore could burn on it's own, so it needed to be burned now, during the wet season. And so we burned it. The flames were 25-30' high, it was an epic fire. Luke's dad is a volunteer fire fighter, so we were being responsible of course.

A little rugby....


After dinner at the Rusty Moose...


The fire....