She emerges from the sea, windburned and pudgier than before...

It seems like I can't leave anything to Joe.

Can he post once in the month I was gone?

Nooo. He is too involved with "healing" and shit.

Whatever man.

Anyway, I'm on land! Of course, this morning I swear my luxury king sized bed was moving up and down. In fact I am pretty sure I might be swaying still. No, I KNOW I am still swaying. The big question is whether or not I am swaying so obviously that people think I am crazy.

So now we summarize the month in bullet points:

1. The herp is gone! And I am pretty sure I didn't infect anyone.


2. Being the only girl was actually barely noticeable. And I am pretty amazed that the bathrooms stayed as clean as they did. Because seriously, moving target!


3. And unlike when I spent all day working with only men in my two jobs before grad school, I didn't have to spend the day being hit on and/or listening to stories about visits to the strip club.


4. Unfortunately, I did not get my own room but instead shared with the other postdoc (who may or may not have been a boy with a cute accent). But we were on opposite 12 hour watches, so we actually barely saw each other.


5. We saw (in no particular order): orcas, humpbacks, gray whales, seals, sea lions, sea otters, and dolphins. Orcas kinda are the assholes of the ocean world though (as we all know from watching the Planet Earth series on PBS). About a mile away from us a pod took down a baby gray whale while its mom stood by helpless. And apparently they just eat the tongue.


6. My favorite part was running one of the instruments off the back of the boat because half the time seals or sea lions would hang out flipping around and just generally being cute. To all the jaded west coasters they were like "Argh! They'll bite the line!" To me, I just think "Aw, cutest menace to science EVAR!"


7. My least favorite part was running one of the instruments off the back of the boat because half the time it was at night and the swell was huge and I swore there would be a headline "Iowa girl falls overboard chasing science."


8. There was bacon EVERY SINGLE DAY. I'm only human. Oh and homemade desserts. And candy bars. My willpower was not sufficient.


9. Except for fried food - I skipped many a lunch because I couldn't even go near the galley. It would be useful if this disgust of fried food would stay on now that I am on land, but I am pretty sure that won't happen.


10. There was no exercise the entire time. The boat was too small for running.


11. On the plus side, it probably means my calf has atrophied healed!

Okay, now I have three months to run my way back into shape for the Wild West Relay!

Dear DC, I owe you an aplogy.

Dear DC,

I know last time we spoke, I may have maligned you and suggested that I might have possibly gotten the herp from having to drink water from the same jugs as 8000 other runners, without cups.

But apparently, *I* am the one who brought the herp to DC.

Yes sir.

I have am having a bout of herpes zoster.

Or as known to most of the world: Shingles.

I was just getting the beginnings of an itchy spot on my back right before I went to DC.

The good news is that Shingles isn't contagious, so you don't have to worry too much.

Unless you haven't had chicken pox yet, in which case, I am sorry.

I'm blaming the Scottish dude since stress can wake up one's dormant chicken pox virus.

On the plus side, since it has now been confirmed that I will be the only girl on this boat, there will be no pregnant women around for me to infect in especially bad ways.

Anyway DC, I'm sorry for implying that you might possibly be a dirty ho, when really that ho is me.

From Iowa with love (and herpes),
Danielle