LC/ MS: Losing Control (of) My Sanity :)

I spent the entire day yesterday lost, but in a good way. By the end of my undergraduate career I will owe a lot of my success to a lot of other people. Dr. John Barry at BBC is letting us use his HPLC, LCMS, and Elisa machines at will as long as we provide standards for our samples. I won't lie, it's fun. I don't know why, but it is. Maybe because it allows the perfectionist in me to come out and play without being criticized. I'm so excited, I almost can't believe its all happening. I literally stood in front of the machine yesterday that will define the next year of my life. I got a taste. I will spend countless hours at monkey jungle and countless hours at the lab over the next year, countless weekends and nights - and I'm excited. I am a ballsy undergraduate, and I will make an even ballsier graduate student.

I can't wait to run my first urine sample. I just might cry from joy! :) Seriously.

All in all, the festival during the weekend was fantastic. It was a nice turnout, and the talk by Angela Maldonado was inspiring. There was Amazonian fruit, Brazilian dancers, and lots of talk about what else? Primates. It was a really nice afternoon.

Dr. Angela Maldonado & Thomas from Entropika.

With Jay & Bruce, the team I worked with on social anointing.

The lungs of the world. 

More urine collections and observations, my hypothesis is finally coming together. I think I've decided on something I'll stick with, and it means only a slight adjustment to my methods. The only thing I want at the moment is to watch the antics of Wookie & Austin, I think I will make time for them tonight. (: 

A Bittersweet Symphony ♪

Like humans, who are sometimes incompatibile together as a unit. I find that owl monkeys can also be incompatibile as a unit. The latest pairing will most likely be separated next week. Spruce is most likely going back in with Connie, and Gustavo is most likely going to pair with Lilac. Everyone is too stressed as is. I doubt Connie & Spruce will ever breed, but he won't breed with Lilac either if he is so "unhappy."

Lilac & Spruce, a few days after pairing, before sunset.
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Urine collection was unsuccessful this week. No one wanted to pee. It's like they went on strike. Almost as if saying: "No! Just because I'm a monkey and your holding a marshmallow DOES NOT mean you can manipulate me into peeing in a bowl for you!" Me:  -__-

Yesterday I think Violet deliberately urinated outside her enclosure just to spite me. How she managed that one, is over my head. Whoever says animals don't have a mind of their own, has very obviously never met a primate.

The festival is this Saturday! Get excited! FIU has also taken an interest in the research at the Conservancy, which is fantastic. I say the more exposure for our partnership, the better. We do fantastic things, and I'm pleased the university I've spent the last 5 years of my life at agrees. On that note, my thanks go out to Dr. Furton and Dr.Makemson who seem to both have forwarded & gotten my e-mails into the right hands & Evelyn Perez for a fantastic article. It's my deep hope that the link between FIU and the Conservancy will only grow stronger as the years progress.

http://news.fiu.edu/2012/02/research-with-monkeys-may-yield-solutions-to-conservation-issues/35523

A bittersweet week indeed, but here's to the future and to looking forwards and never behind.