…listen
…about the music
I haven’t composed any research vessel music yet, so try this.

The past couple of weeks, I think I’ve spent more time on water than on solid ground. Between sailing with friends on open water and lakes, ferry rides between various islands in the U.S. and Canada, and kayaking, I could not be a whole lot happier than I am, living in a place where a connection with the water is essential. Of all the floating around I’ve been doing in between ongoing professional note alignment duties and ongoing amateur home improvement projects (this triumvirate of constant busy-ness is my excuse for not blogging this past week), so far my biggest aquatic thrill occurred last Friday, when I was invited to go along on a scientific outing on Friday Harbor Labs’ research vessel Centennial.

I’ve mentioned it before on these pages and it’s worth repeating: most readers of this little bloglet know I’m a wannabe marine biologist at heart. But when I chose to make the San Juan Islands my new home, I actually had no idea that one of the world’s leading marine science research facilities was right here in Friday Harbor, just two miles from my house. Proof that the universe does some pretty cool things, it turned out that one of the most welcoming neighbors diagonally across the street from our new address sits on the Lab board, and immediately invited me to participate in its activities.

In short order I’ve had the chance to visit the campus several times, meet some of the terrific people at the core of its programs, and most recently, spend an afternoon getting my hands wonderfully muck-filled with professional scientists as we examined various sea creatures dredged up from the ocean floor. I sent a thank you card to the guys who organized the trip in the form of a few photos from the outing, and although some of the comments are only relevant to the people there that day, I share it with you here if you’re curious to see what makes a geeky, salt-water drenched composer very, very happy.