This is not what coastal NC looks like right now (at all…). I prefer the beach anyway. Image from here.

Somehow it’s that time of the year – the leaves have fallen/changed/are still holding strong (depending on where in the Northern Hemisphere you are), the nights are getting longer, and the weather is turning cooler (again, dependent on where you live…). Regardless of the weather, it’s almost Thanksgiving which means lots of food, friends, family, time off from school/work, and (maybe, most importantly) a time to think about what we’re all most thankful for (to read a great article on the health benefits of being grateful, see here). And with this in mind, I decided to write a little post about the things we grad students here at UNdertheC blog are most thankful for!

10. COFFEE (or tea)! For keeping grad students (semi-)functional since the dawn of time. (complete credit to Rob Lampe, Shelby Ziegler, and Kathleen Onorevole).

9. This time of the year, we’re also super thankful for a break (yay! Thanksgiving and winter holiday break!!!!). (And thanks to Justin Baumann for that one).

8. Kathleen Onorevole is thankful for the office fish (especially when they do neat totem pole tricks), aka: we’re thankful for small, nerdy distractions (in my case, plants) that we can stare at when our brain needs a moment…

I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW FISH DID THAT! Photo cred. to Kathleen Onorevole

7. Electrical tape and zip ties. You can fix anything with electrical tape and zip ties. ANYTHING.

This tower was literally held together by zip ties and electrical tape. For real. Also, pelicans are the worst (especially when they sit on your instruments).

6. Pandora (or whatever other music website/collection I’m currently listening to). It helps stave off loneliness in an empty lab, drown out the insanely annoying cricket-like chirping on that machine I use, and is the right amount of distraction I need to get into ‘the writing zone’.

5. Diatoms for being awesome to study and producing so much oxygen for us to breathe (courtesy of Rob Lampe)*

*Very important editors note: I’d like to first-and-foremost add cyanobacteria to this list. Not only are they neon green (making them awesome to study and look at), but they were also the first organisms to produce oxygen IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD. So, you know, you can thank cyanobacteria for being able to breathe in the first place. But diatoms are cool too (just not as cool as cyanobacteria…IMHO, sorry Rob).

Cyanobacteria. Ruling the world since the dawn of time (well, since the dawn of life).

4. FUNDING. No explanation needed (wait, you mean you’re going to PAY me to do science? Sweet.)

3. Having the opportunity to be a scientist. I mean really, how cool is that?!? I get to mix things in beakers, play with fancy instruments, go out on boats, and wear lab coats ALL. DAY. LONG.

Look! I can make pretty colors with science!

2. The students, faculty, staff, lab-mates, post-docs, undergraduates, parents, friends, mentors, fur-babies, etc., etc., that have helped us get to the place we are today. Science is a team effort and without the guidance and support of those who have gone before us, we would never have made it this far.  (credit for this one from fellow bloggers Rob Lampe, Evan Amber, Shelby Ziegler, and Kathleen Onorevole, and pretty much every grad student to ever have lived on the face of this earth).

AND 1. YOU, our readers!  Thanks for taking the time of visit us here at UNdertheC blog. You guys make it all worth it!

I’d also like to thank the SUPER AWESOME UNdertheC blog team for their contributions and for being all around supportive, encouraging, and just wonderful.  Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

For even more Science Thankfulness check out this hilarious post.