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#2015MMM: Additional entries

And here are the entries for Danaan and Eric.

20150309_180649-Danaan

Danaan’s entry: Sumatran rhino takes it all!

20150310_155347-Eric

The bracket for Eric and family: Rougarou FTW!

We’ve got a good mix of final predicted winners in the lab.  Jessica, Sarah, and Kaitlin all predict Amphicyonidae to win (hmmm…coincidence that the most senior folks have the same final prediction? I think not- surely it’s the wisdom of age), Eric predicts the Rougarou, Danaan the rhino, and Chris is holding out for the Cath Palug.

#2015MMM

The Blois lab is gearing up for the 2015 edition of Mammal March Madness!  We are so excited about this years competition.  Last year, we participated as a lab group.  This year, we’re ramping up the intra-lab competition and each filling out our own brackets.  Entries so far are pretty consistent: Jessica, Kaitlin, and Sarah are all predicting that Amphicyonidae will be the champ, but Chris predicts that Cath Palug will win it all. I’m throwing in a TBD prize for the lab winner(s).

The competition starts tonight. Err…I bet they’re already live-tweeting…I got delayed writing this post.

Totally random note: don’t forget the other geeky science event happening soon. This Saturday is Pi Day, so the Blois lab will have pie during our lab meeting on Thursday.

 

BloisLab-MMM2015

1st annual lab retreat!

  Yosemite Creek, right before it falls over the rimSnow! A nice view of the Sierra high country
The Blois lab and friends went up to the Yosemite Field Station last weekend for the first annual lab retreat!  We spent two nights up there, eating good food, playing games, and hiking around Yosemite.
The first night, we got to test out the new game Go Extinct!  The whole lab loved it! This game was developed by Ariel Marcy, a former field assistant extraordinaire and fantastic undergrad at Stanford, now on a Fullbright Fellowship in Australia.  The game itself is very clever and also beautifully designed.  (FYI, you can get one for yourself here: http://www.steamgalaxy.com/).  I can’t remember who won the game- definitely not me.  We ended the evening with a long game of Monopoly (is it ever short?), which Kaitlin resoundingly won.
The lab testing out (and loving) the new game Go Extinct!

The lab testing out (and loving) the new game Go Extinct!

Kaitlin, hoarding her $500s.

Kaitlin, hoarding her $500s.

The next day a subset of us hiked up Yosemite Falls to the upper falls overlook.  We lucked out with beautiful hiking weather.  It was warm, but not hot, and clear so the trail rocks weren’t slick.  One of those beautiful days that reminded us of how lucky we are to live so close to such a beautiful place.

Danaan, Kaitlin, and Jessica in front of Upper Yosemite Falls

One of the best lunch spots in the world!

Upper Yosemite Falls