Award + more great science blogs!

This afternoon, after a particularly frustrating drive back to PA from a weekend home (seriously, y'all have been doing road construction for the past year!), I checked my e-mail to see that I'd been nominated for the Kreativ Blogger award by fellow science writer Sarah Jane Alger ("Miss Behavior") over at The Scorpion and the Frog.

It's been so exciting to see my blog grow and develop since last summer, so to be recognized by a fellow science blogger is very meaningful for me. Thanks Sarah Jane!

The award works in a pay-it-forward fashion. I'm now to 1.) Thank the giver and link their blog (check!), 2.) List seven things that my readers may not know about me, and 3.) Award it to seven other blogs.


Without further ado, here are some (fun) facts about me:

• I actually really love "fun facts," and my friends recognize and often comment upon my strange knowledge and memory for such things.

Patrick!

• My family's 12-year-old greyhound Patrick is my best friend! My boyfriend of 3 years knows that he is merely one of two important men in my life. Not sure if he has completely accepted that yet!

• I really like Internet memes. Like—really, really like them—to the point where I sometimes think in meme. Current favorite is probably "Bad Luck Brian," but it's going to take a lot to beat my all-time favorite of "Ridiculously Photogenic Guy."

• My exercise of choice is indoor rowing! I've rowed a marathon and four half-marathons (most recent half-marathon was a few weeks ago) and will log my first million meters in a month or two. I haven't quite parsed out why I like it so much—it's pretty boring and repetitive. But it's so easy to get stronger on it and fun to beat previous times.

• I'm 5'10" but also related to the shortest U.S. president in history—James Madison, who stood a towering 5'4".

• I've read the first Harry Potter book at least 25 times. I've read the others an obscene number of times as well.

• I know the lyrics to every Beatles song, have read every Beatles biography I can get my hands on, and have seen Paul McCartney in concert twice. (Oh, and a few very good cover bands, too!)

And now for some of my favorite science blogs that you should check out, too!

• I'm a big fan of Cynthia's blog Notes of Ranvier. She always chooses very interesting topics and explains them so that truly anybody can understand any concept.

• LaUra just recently became a fellow LabSpaces blogger, and I nominate her new blog Taking Lessons from the Birds. I've read some of her past material, and I know her new environmental blog will be great!

• I'm obsessed with Kristin's Try Nerdy blog. Her clear writing style coupled with a humorous tone always makes for a fun read. She's got a knack for picking out great new scientific breakthroughs to put in laymen's terms.

• Literally Psyched by Maria Konnikova is my favorite blog on the Scientific American network, in which she intricately weaves psychology with literature. It's a fantastic read.

• Christie Wilcox was my biggest inspiration for becoming a young woman science blogger while also juggling a Ph.D. program, and I always get very excited when she makes new posts on her blog Science Sushi. She is also a huge proponent for science in social media, with which I agree 110%.

• Andrew Watt over at A Hippo on Campus is a fellow Ph.D. student (albeit halfway around the world) who blogs about the quirky and curious world of the brain. You can see why I'm a fan of it!

• And last but certainly not least, Sam McNerney's Why We Reason is an intersection of psychology, the real world, and why we do what we do. A great read and my vote for "best blog logo"!

And there you have it—seven random facts, seven awesome blogs, and it's seven o'clock. Perhaps I'll get an hour of studying for my candidacy exam in before my The Bachelorette (oh, I didn't mention I watch stupid shows to make me feel smarter, did I?!)