I smile with glee!

I'm giddy. I've got lots of great things happening right now and I wanted to share the great news!

1. My advisor gave me back her comments on my Chapter 1. I'm geeked. After I revise the document I will get to claim all of those words, those lovely, lovely, coveted words to count towards my Dissertation Progress Challenge! That's easy 4,000-5000 words!

2. Urban Science Adventures! (c) was listed in Wikio's Top 100 Blogs in the Sciences category. I didn't even know this ranking existed and the blog is #67!

Wow! *cheesy music playing* I just want to thank my family, my friends and you ALL, my Fabuloso blog readers!

You all really rock! I'm in some really amazing company. Be sure to check out the Top 100, a great list of science blogs - life sciences, physical sciences, nature, space, and everything in-between.

3. Also, my such-a-terrestrial-biologist-self was able to submit a post to the Carnival of the Blue 21st Edition. This is a monthly blog carnival about all things marine and ocean-y. Miriam G (my blog BFF) wrote a poetic carnival. Yes, poems. She introduced every contributing post in rhyme and verse. The Carnival also includes some amazing posts about marine life and conservation by some of my newest science blog friends - The Sea-faring Shanties!

4. I got a big shipment of Children's Science Books to read for the Animal Behavior Society's Outstanding Children's Book Award. Exciting titles are in store - books about cute baby animals of every sort, the arctic and polar regions, bugs and invertebrates, novellas about animals, birds, mammals, and some ecosystem-related trade books about every biome. Good stuff is in store for the Monday Book Reviews.

5. The Symposium I was invited to participate in has been accepted by the Scientific Committee of the International Ethological Conference 2009 Meeting in Rennes, France. I will present part of my dissertation at the Symposium on Animal personality: promise and problems for the investigation of mechanisms and functions. It's all very exciting. Yes, I do traditional science research, not just outreach. But I may very well have to pass the electronic plate around in order to cover some of the costs of this great trip.6. And my day is absolutely topped off because Dr. Isis hearts me. Dr. Isis is a Physiologist (I love Physiology, it's one of my favorite sub-subjects in biology. I've taught Physiology lab more times than I can count. But I digress). So she studies the how the systems of the body work, interact with the environment, how our bodies maintain themselves. She blogs about the Life as a Scientist (the up, downs, joys, deadlines, etc) and balancing work and life with BIG feminist perspective. Her posts are great, but since I target young audiences, I must warn you of her use of swear words to get the point across.

My day is as sweet as these Sweet Chocolate Shoes - Dr. Isis' shoes actually. She was unable to attend the ScienceOnline09 Conference, she sent her calling card - a part of hot, cute high heeled-shoes.