Stick insect

Found this creature on my door.  If you can't tell from the pictures, he's about 6 inches long.  Scared the you know what outta me.  I'd never seen one before and didn't know what it was called, so I just Googled, "bug that looks like a stick," only to find out that it is actually called a "stick insect."  Anticlimactic to say the least.  The scientific name, "Phasmatodea," is slightly more exciting.

Fun facts:

1) Average litter size = 1000

2) Average life span = 1-2 years

3) Conservation status = threatened 

4) Reproductive method = parthenogenesis (In other words, unmated females produce eggs that become more females without the help of a male.  If a female does mate with a male, there is a 50% chance their offspring will be a male.  For some species of stick insects, scientists have been unable to find a male.) 

5) World record = longest insect (up to 14 inches)

6) Defense mechanism = regurgitation of a nasty substance that puts a bad taste in the predator's mouth; oozing a foul-smelling hemolymph from the joints in their body; shooting a chemical spray similar to tear gas at the predator

Genetic counselors take over San Diego

A profession that is 95% women and the bobble-head mascot is a dude...?!

Emily was quite disappointed to find out that the bobble-head mascot dude...

...was NOT a bobble-head.

We were missing 1/3 of our class...and we really missed them!

Cafe Chocolat + rosemary chicken and mozzarella crepes + pumpkin gelato = divine.

Fun.

Not so fun. But HUGE (not the 4x4 poster I had intended for it to be).

Check out the poster background. I'm a big fan.

She's gonna be famous one day.

Please notice the sunset more than the fact that I look like a frumpy over-sized bottle of mustard.

Ambry Genetics Lab throws one heck of a party! They're loaded.

Pitiful.

An over-priced Indian restaurant but some good naan.

And the highlight of the entire trip.

Man walking with devil kid and Sumo wrestler kid.

Emily gets a kick (no pun intended) out of Sumo wrestler kid and yells, "I love your costume!"

Without missing a beat, Sumo wrestler kid yells back, "He loves your number!"

Man starts whispering things to Sumo wrestler kid, and they keep walking.

Devil kid and Sumo wrestler kid turn around and start walking towards us.

Emily asks for a picture.

Sumo wrestler kid tries to charge us $1.00 for a picture.

Emily says no and forces him to pose for free.

Madison snaps picture.

Sumo wrestler kid says, "But seriously, can he have your guys' numbers? Please?!"

Emily's response, "We live on the other side of the country. It wouldn't work out."

And if you haven't noticed the desperate man in the background walking towards us, look again. Where's Waldo? 

That's Emily's California lover. 

I'm not a college kid anymore...

10-year-old boy in the parking lot at my apartment: (running up hill) (stop) Hey.
Me: Hey. What's up?
Boy: Nothing. (pause) Do you go to college?
Me: No. I already went to college.
Boy: Well, what do you do?
Me: I work at the hospital.
Boy: Oh. (pause) Good for you! (runs away)