Parachuting Beaver Science Educator

Great 2.5 minute video on Oak Ridge Cemetery. One of the amazing things about traveling with a family clan is that everyone does research on what to do and some times the add-on's / side trips are the best finds. Jen was driving us to our first National Park of the day and she just made a turn into Oak Ridge Cemetery. Why you ask??? Because she saw a cute stature of a little girl in this cemetery and wanted to find it. What we found instead was a historically significant,

USA and the World Cup meet at last! My sisters and my nieces came to pick me up in Atlanta after my conference. In the photo from left to right: Helena Grace, Monica, Jennifer and Isabella. I insisted that we all take a photo in front of the FIFA World Cup Trophy, even though I was not able to see one of the games in Atlanta. I am lucky to have such great sisters because I would never have thought to go to the Coka-Cola museum. Of course I'll never say no to an adventure

Rise and Shine GCEE members! We have a jam packed day of economics to get through. One of the things that we absolutely could not forget today was our ID because we're going to the federal reserve. One of the questions that I asked while I was there was, if people who are from certain nations are not allowed to visit because of national security risks. But it's not like the national laboratories everybody's welcome. There are twelve federal reserves units around the Unit

People often say that the North and the South have so many differences. There's the accent, the politics, the weather and the food. In the food category, there's a little, tiny place called Waffle House. Now of course, I've seen many a waffle house. They're on the side of highways, in small and large towns/cities but I had no idea that people in Gorgia had a serious dedication to this restaurant. As a northerner, and a non-Georgian, I knew nothing about this franchise. Ye

Just in case you're curious where I am, I'm at the Georgia Council on Economic Education (GCEE) conference in Atlanta Georgia. I arrived on Monday and I'm incredibly lucky because they gave me a full scholarship which flew me down, houses me and feeds me. FYI that's not the important part!!! They're also doing the most amazing economics lessons. I'm sure a few of you are saying to yourself: "Why the heck would you be there? You teach environmental science!" I do indeed, bu

My brain is full of adages from childhood that makes me make me think of home. Mike and I have tried to take this extra time and say when life gives you lemons or bombs make lemonade or napalm? Okay, the second one doesn't work so well, but then again, I'm not a superpower with the biggest military in the world. I want you to look at the amazing scene that nature made above. As Mike and I watched and enjoyed this incredible show of force, we watched a different show of force

That's okay, we never asked ourselves that question either, but now it's going to be indelibly burned into my brain that it is about 525 miles from Cabo Rojo PR to Caracas Venezuela, as the bomber flies. If my vision serves me right, this is a Lockheed C-130 Hercules, military transport plane. We saw this the evening before the US bombed Caracas. For those of you who are not familiar with this plane, let me give you a few stats that let you know why we were concerned, but di

Feliz Año Nuevo! The first day of the year has never been one of my favorite holidays. Mostly because people generally get together, say up too late and drink too much. I will say this is going to go down in my memory as one of the best ever. Mike and I spent it on the beach watching the Puerto Ricans shoot off fireworks. My goodness, do they like their fireworks!!! I've seen lots of fireworks and lots of places, but I have to say seeing them on the beach through a palm t

I know I've been slacking a little bit on the blogging, but I hope that you all have had the happiest Christmas. This is Mike's and my first a Christmas away. We always love to be home with the family, but I have to say this has been a really nice getaway. When we woke up on the day before Christmas, there was a rainbow in the sky. I wish that I could show it to you here as we saw it, but my camera's not good enough. I swear we could see infrared and ultraviolet hues. It wa

I've never sought out bioluminescent organisms on purpose, but I have to say, through the gift of our neighbors, we did it, and it was amazing. Both mike and I have run into them either fishing or scuba diving.But I have to say there's something about doing it on purpose that makes the experience even more special. The magic of bioluminescence is that you get to be in the water with 4 to 5 million organisms per square foot. Please don't let that freak you out. They are amazin