Hi!

Time seems to have gotten away from me once again, but not without reason. I left my job at the end of October, so I have been dealing with that transition. I left for a number of reasons, but most importantly is that I plan to return to school. I will be taking classes at the University of Maryland this spring as I prepare for and take the GRE, apply to graduate programs, and otherwise prepare for grad school. That has been the good distraction. Unfortunately, at the beginning of October, someone very close to me was diagnosed with a massive brain tumor, so the vast majority of my attention has been focused on him. He had surgery on November 2nd to remove the tumor. Thankfully, he is recovering wonderfully.

Despite all of these goings-on, this blog and my favorite clade have still been on my mind. I will update soon with a featured genus/species, but I also have a few other new ideas for posts including guest posts and museum profiles with a focus on their representation of crurotarsans.

In the mean time, I will leave you with this. I've been cleaning out my office and came across some old things from high school, including a bunch of articles I had clipped from newspapers and magazines on all things paleontological. The one that really caught my eye was from the Fall 2004 issue of National Parks magazine about fossils in national parks and the Paleontological Resource Preservation Act. The article focused heavily on Petrified Forest NP, with these two great pictures to illustrate that the park has more than just a bunch of petrified trees.

"True to their prehistoric focus, Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park boasts a full Postosuchus skeleton mold."

"Finds like this crocodile-like Phytosaur offer keys to understanding Petrified Forest National Park's natural and cultural resources, and unraveling the mysterious landscape that once existed here."