2016 in Review

Female cricket at my field site.

January started in the back lot of a Lutheran Church in Hilo, Hawaii. I recorded and captured crickets with my colleagues, counted invasive cane toads, and collapsed into bed sometime after midnight Hawaii time (hours after my friends in Europe and the continental US had finished celebrating). I spent as much time as possible on that trip snorkeling and reveling in the warm weather.

Grand Canyon is Grand

February was pretty quiet, but we saw the Wild play the Islanders in Saint Paul, and the Gopher men's gymnastics team take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Minneapolis. I caught Josh Ritter and Guster on tour. I tried not to freeze to death.

My life as a lab rat in the spring

In March, Jacob and I took a massive trip to Arizona. We visited his family in Phoenix, camped for three nights on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, and roadtripped to Canyon de Chelly, Walnut Canyon, and other places. We saw a lot of amazing Pueblo dwellings and a lot of pretty lizards.

Memorial to Prince outside First Ave the week after he died.

In April, I went to Madison, Wisconsin to spend time with my baby nephew. That turned out to be the weekend Prince died, and Minnesota went into mourning. I got back home just in time to see Courtney Barnett at First Ave, and see the massive memorial that fans had made at the star wall. That month, we also took in a Minnesota Roller Girls derby bout.

Male treefrog calling in my frog pond

May was for frog season preparations and research on bears and drones.

The bat bridge at dusk, in Austin.

In June, I dove headfirst into the frog season, as usual. We operated the lab 24 hours a day, and I collected a lot of data, but the frogs stopped mating early. I also got to travel to Austin to attend the Society for the Study of Evolution meeting. We watched the bats emerge from the famous bat bridge near downtown.

Sunset on the Gulf Coast

In July, I roadtripped the eleven hours home to be at the cabin for the 4th of July. I rolled into Eucha just ahead of a massive thunderstorm, and I stopped to take a picture of what home looks like...and another time, to say hello to a box turtle. It was a short-lived feeling. The cabin nextdoor had burned the week before, my parents had remodeled our place, and things seemed surreally different. You can only kind of go home again. I went to the Basilica Block Party, where I caught up with Cierra, an old friend from high school. I saw Craig Finn, Death Cab for Cutie and Ryan Adams. The latter show would kick off a months-long Ryan Adams kick. Then we hit the (metaphorical) road again, flying to meet my parents on the Gulf Coast.

Hunter and me, in the C-172

Jeff Tweedy and Pat Sansone of Wilco

Oklahoma sky before a storm.

To kick off August, I visited Columbia, Missouri for the Animal Behavior Society conference, where I presented some research and spent some time talking to my favorite colleagues. It was an interesting road-not-traveled moment, because I very nearly went to grad school in Columbia. I got some good feedback and had a bunch of fun. I spent the next week almost exclusively watching the Olympics. In August, I also resolved to do a better job keeping up my pilot certificate, and joined a flying club, getting my first checkout in the Cessna 172 the club owns. Joining has so far been a good decision. I saw Kurt Vile and the Violators open for Wilco at an outdoor show in the rain. Then Hunter came to visit, and we went flying on an incredibly windy day -- it was almost like being back in Oklahoma.

Passionflower photographed on the Mizzou campus

September brought another work trip to Hawaii. In addition to cricket research, I spent some time snorkeling, and some considerable time reading on a beach. I also went on an open-door helicopter tour of the Kilauea volcano, which was amazing. I got to see lava flowing into the ocean. When the research was done, I spent a few days in Honolulu, hanging out with my longtime friend, Hunter. I got to go out on his boat, meet his friends, visit his favorite haunts, and eat lots of delicious food. Upon my return, I took a quick (24 hours) trip to Madison, where I saw my elder nephew play a flag football game and score his first touchdown, went to a Mountain Goats concert with my sister-in-law, and just barely missed my younger nephew taking his first steps later that day. I got home from that trip, went to work, and then saw the Faint play at First Avenue that night. I was exhausted; it was sublime.

Lava flowing into the ocean from Kilauea, as seen from a helicopter

In October, I went to Japan for my best friend's wedding. I was able to finally meet his partner, and spend time with his family and a bunch of new friends. I saw and ate a lot of incredible, new things. I took a lot of photos. It was the trip of a lifetime, and I would love to go back. On the way back, I got stranded in Tokyo and slept in a smoky hotel room. I ended up missing the department party because I got back a day late, and missing a Felice Brothers show because I was too sick to go.

Japanese macaque overlooking Kyoto

Early November was kind of a rollercoaster. It was magical because I road-tripped to Omaha for a couple of shows, including one in which Phoebe Bridgers, Miwi La Lupa, and Conor played at my favorite bar the same night the Cubs won the World Series. It was unforgettable. Unfortunately, I was also on my way to Tulsa for a sad occasion, because my cousin was killed in a motorcycle the week before. His memorial was a very nice way to remember him, and it was good to see my extended family for the first time in several years. And then there was the election, which still makes me physically ill to think about. The very next night, I caught The Good Life, Jake Bellows, Oquoa, and Our Fox at the Turf Club in Saint Paul, and that was exactly the catharsis I needed. A couple of days later, I saw Band of Horses, and that was the first event I'd had since election night where no one mentioned it. It was a weird feeling. We did Thanksgiving with my family in Wisconsin. My little nephew was toddling up a storm, and it was fun to see everyone.

Sunset crossing into Nebraska

December kicked off with a Jim James show at the State Theatre. A week later, I flew to Los Angeles to hang out with a longtime friend, Sterling, and to see Conor Oberst do a two-night stand in the Cathedral Sanctuary at Immanuel Presbyterian with a bunch of more recent friends. The venue looks and sounds amazing, and December is a great time to leave Los Angeles. Phoebe Bridgers opened one night, and I couldn't stop listening to her single (produced by Ryan Adams) on repeat for like a week. Not that I tried very hard. On the plane home, I happened to be seated next to a fellow Saddle Creek nerd who had flown out for the show and was also a U of M grad student. It was fate or something -- I made a new friend. We came to Omaha for Christmas with Jacob's family. I caught Criteria with Little Brazil and Eric in Outer Space on 12/23. We saw Icky Blossoms with Closeness on 12/26, and The Faint with Plack Blague and Closeness last night, 12/30. I've paraded around to all my favorite businesses in Omaha and tomorrow, it's time to leave for another biology meeting in New Orleans.

Miwi and Conor at the Cathedral Sanctuary

2016 started in Hilo and ends in Omaha. There were a lot of wonderful things about this year, and some really terrible ones. If you're reading this, best wishes for 2017, whatever you're into and wherever you end up.