float like a butterfly, sting like a broken driveshaft...

howdy fellow bloggers! lots has happened since i've figured out how to add images. the weather has been so beautiful in santa cruz these past few weekends, that we couldn't resist a trip to natural bridges to go for a walk and see the monarch butterflies. then for thanksgiving, amanda and i went to the desert to go jeeping and play killer bunnies. caleb with his awesome hand of bunnies! some beautiful sunset/sunrise pictures from the desert.

it's alive i tell you!!

you would think that I among other people would be able to figure out how to stick some images in a blog. i like to think i know a little bit about computers... Well, it only took me 2 years to figure it out. now, i will plague the internet with pictures... muhahaha.
right, to catch up:

our neighbors present to amanda on her birthday. they will pay....

our fierce guard dog protecting us.

caleb and sharla testing the structural integrity of the cake.

caleb and me at the rehearsal dinner

toward the end of the night. how did i get to my room again?

greg and cindy of the jeeping crew showing what alcohol, butter knives, and pumpkin centerpieces can lead to.


amanda and me at caleb and sharla's wedding rehearsal dinner

first, pirate pics

first, pictures from last weeks 3rd annual jones' halloween party..

the sassy pirate and his mermaid... arghhh. they be a fine looking couple methinks.

rob, katharine, and i at the bitter end. rob is leaving for harvard this week. katharine is leaving for rutgers. we'll miss you two!

rob and me right before our excursion to find cigarettes in at 2 AM

steve losing rock-paper-scissors. sorry you had to be the desicated driver steve...

and the winner is... dennis and jessica! best pirates yet again. thanks again for coming down to chez jones

caught...

so, it's been so long since i've posted, i forgot both the username and password for this blog. how sad.... so, what's new you're saying? well, amanda and i had the 3rd annual jones halloween spectacular party. this year's theme was "pirates- argghh". it was awesome. we didn't have quantity, but we definitely had quality! the del bene/stefanovich clan came up and helped up get set up. d-ma and jessica made the trek from SF to claim for the second year "most fabulous pirates". thanks for coming down! when dennis isn't dressed as a pirate, he travels the world. really- see for yourself (note: his blog should not be viewed by anything less than a T1!). rob and katherine were able to tear themselves away from packing their pod to join us for excess beverages (rum punch with white rum, brown rum, sherbert, and an extra splash of rum for the "treasure map"). rob and i wandered the streets of w-ville at 2 AM to find cigarettes. even caesar's club on main was closed. sorry rob. dianne and steve came to the party and had a statistically significant rock-paper-scissor game (you really had to be there). thanks again to everyone who made the trip out. it was great to have you over :) we'll do it again soon (364 days and counting...)

where have you been?

logical question. i've been on a ship for the past two weeks (http://www.mbari.org/expeditions/vance/). To summarize, it was a great cruise! Lots of good biology and cool rocks. The weather was not ideal on the way up: 30+ knot winds, lots of sick people...
However, all was good in the end. I'll add some pictures this weekend.

oops..pictures

some pics of the new car:



whose butt is cuter?

road trip to Rincon

saturday, we went to pick up amanda's new car and decided to take it on a road trip. with only 11 miles on the odometer, we put in in D and headed to Rincon to see Dylan and his family. we got to Rincon around 4pm and hung out with his family. his dad was working on a wood enclosure (with a 1/4 circle front for aerodynamics) for the trailer that dylan is going to use to transport his earthly belongings to norman, oklahoma. amanda and i learned a lot about oklahoma and are excited about the prospects of taking the 40' death star RV out to oklahoma to visit in the near future. (this is where dylan is reading this blog and is thinking otherwise). though it was foggy and cold at Rincon, a few brave souls (dylan and myself among the few) went for a swim. i didn't realize how cold it was until i got out and couldn't feel my arms as i was drying off. good to know that if i ever fall overboard, that i can tread water and not get hypothermia before a rescue ship can get to me.
and of course world cup soccer is going on this past weekend. who will prevail?

a breath of fresh air

now that the four people in the world who follow this blog have all commented, i can breath a sigh of relief. i know, i know. some people may occasionally pass this way on the internet highway but don't feel inclined to sign the comments. that's ok. really. no guilt trip here!
a bit of a preview: amanda decided to get a 2007 honda fit. sport model, red with black interior. want to bet on the first speeding ticket we get? the upside is it gets 38-44 mpg on the highway. not bad for a non-hybrid (fyi, we looked at hybrids but couldn't fit the extra $6k in our budget). amanda is designing camps for the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District (www.mprpd.com). i'm slugging away at some papers on deep-sea crabs and dead whales. these manuscripts should be submitted soon. not much else is going on. i have a conference in seattle end of this month to learn some more methods/statistics for estimating genetic trees (i.e., a scam so i can go to pike's fish market to watch the flying fish!)
i also had a chance to watch the colbert speech last week thanks to the wifi now eminating from our neighbors house. i recommend it if you are of the 68% persuasion who disapproves of the president.

done with friendster blog

wow- after a painful period with the friendster blog and having them change a bunch of things, i've decided to created a new blog with google: The Jones. like our friends, our lives are a bit chaotic being marine scientists and all. now that we have wifi too, we will do better about posting. stay tuned for this weeks post: amanda's new car!