It rained in the morning today, and all the non-Californians complained about how cold and wet it was. When I was a kid in the Bay Area, I loved rain--it had such novelty value, it was never really that inconvenient, and thanks to rain the grass would grow green again and up in the Santa Cruz Mountains newts and banana slugs and all kinds of spectacular mushrooms would appear. Rain was renewal. But then I went and lived in real temperate climates for six years, and I came to regard rain as annoying. But it's not cold! It's never that cold out in the Bay Area, people!

The rain had abated by this evening, so as not to interfere with an outdoors but sparsely attended Graduate Assembly event in Anthony Hall, with free food and beer. As always, ESPM seems to be disproportionally represented at these events. Everybody seems very excited about Halloween here in Berkeley. I haven't done anything for Halloween since I was a freshman in high school, when my dad and I dressed up in white sheets, turned the lights off inside, and played Gregorian chants in the background to scare little kids. It would have been more fun if there had been more little kids in our neighborhood, but a few were pretty scared. Regardless, I don't have any white sheets anymore, and I am not sure what I am supposed to dress up as for Halloween parties. If I had thought of this earlier, I could have grown a beard again.

I've realized that I really don't know enough about phylogenetics. Hopefully that will change when I take a phylogenetics class next semester. I'm presenting research topic ideas to my lab on Friday, and I rather foolhardily signed up to present to Ecolunch in two week's time. Since signing up, I have realized that the only people who present at Ecolunch are advanced grad students and postdocs, that about 35 people attend every week, and no first years use it as a forum for testing research ideas. Maybe I should cancel, soon.

My sister Johanna has complained that she has not yet been in my blog. Just to satisfy her demands, I hereby state that she is the best thing since sliced bread.