Recent content by desertreefer

Dr. Ron, I was finally able to catch up on my reading and lecture notes. The animal that I plan to send you (I sent pictures to you last week), as soon as I get home from California, certainly fits the description of an entoproct. It very closely resembles the photograph in R&B and displays...

Andrew, Not really much of a secret. I have a National model 138 compound microscope and a National model 416 stereo microscope. Of course, I do have an Olympus E-10 digital camera (it's pretty awesome!). I just put the camera on a tripod, aim it into the microscope lens and shoot. I did...

Andrew, I finally got those microscope photos I was talking about put on my website. If you are interested in seeing them the address is: www.desertreef.ws Sandy

Dr. Ron, These guys should consider smaller particles. They must have resembled snakes swallowing eggs trying to get these down. The worm with the three large chunks in his gut was having difficulty moving!

Dr. Ron, You remember the old educational toy the "visible man"? Well, I just got to study the polychaete worm equivalent. I found a cool little polychaete living in a patch of hair algae in my sump. The body of the beast was so transparent I could clearly see the black "jaws". The really...

Dr. Ron, I examined three small bristle worms under my steromicroscope recently and I am a bit puzzled. Two of the worms appeared to have rather large sand grain in the posterior end of their bodies. One of the worms had three large chunks (large compared to the worm) that looked like they...

Wednesday evening works fine for me. I only miss the chat if I have to be out of town for work. I'm not able to attend Sunday's chat because of skating practice.

Whew, that was close! I'm glad they are in your TANK. Lottsa fun looking at them through the microscope, huh? I just wish they wouldn't thrash around so much. Makes them more difficult to study.

Dr. Ron, One thing that came up in the Wednesday chat (which you were sadly unable to attend, but, fear not, Chucker was sporting his "Dr. Ron suit") was a question I had about smooth muscle and striated muscle. My biology dictionary defines smooth muscle as involuntary and striated as...

As with everyone else, keeping up with the reading is a challenge. The lab experiments have been oodles of fun! I had to drag my microscope with me to Sacramento and get an aptasia from a local LFS to do the last assignments. (My dad had hip replacement surgery and I stayed with my parents...

Dr. Ron, I was planning to ask this question in group discussion last night, but apparently we had some kind of network problem and everyone disappeared from the chat room. I gave up after fifteen minutes of trying to reconnect. Anyway.... Referring to the picture in the R&B text of the...

Andrew, Regionals went well. I won my figure event and get to go to Nationals the first week of August. I was actually thinking of doing some more work on my course-long project. There is precious little about Catalaphyllia jardinei that I could find. I thought I'd put in some more...

Eric, I just read the log for Sunday's chat. I regret not being able to attend. I would like some suggestions on where interested students could go from here? For example, I would like to get some reading material, however, the reference list in your book is OVERWHELMING. (Plus, I read some...

I agree with Andrew on many of his points. The material presented was EXCELLENT. Some of the wording on questions on quizzes and the final left much room for interpretation, and therefore, misunderstanding. The technical difficulties, while frustrating for both students and...

Andrew, We're talking ROLLER skating nationals here! Thanks, I'll need all the luck I can get!