The Sand Lizards

The 1999 and 2000 Rand and Zweifel summer researchers played in the Carleton summer intramural volleyball tournament as the Sand Lizards. In 1999, we were undefeated in the regular season and placed second in the finals.

Team picture of the Sand Lizards. Front row, L to R: Stephan Zweifel, Zach Handler, Matt Rand, Chandler Hill. Back row, L to R: Heather, Jean Bower, Katherine Doherty, and Vanessa Francois-Bongarcon.	Matt and Zach entertain Vanessa by misusing the official Sand Lizard pom-poms as hairpieces.

Left: Matt and Vanessa playing in the first round of our finals tournament. Right: The Sand Lizards playing in the dappled sunlight on Carleton's sand volleyball court.

L to R: Chandler, Matt, Jean, and Zach exhibit perfect sand volleyball form during a tournament game.	Team pyramid! From the top: Vanessa, Katherine, Jean, Heather, Zach, Chandler, Matt, and Stephan.

Tea at Three

Tea time isn't "after hours," but it was a weekly social event started by the Rand Lab in 1999 and continued in the summer of 2000. In 1999 there was a special Birthday Tea to celebrate our recently hatched Cnemis and Russian tortoises.

Left: Some of the treats from the Birthday Tea. Right: The birthday cake celebrating the hatching of the Cnemis and the tortoises.

The Lab At the Como Zoo and Conservatory

The lab took a trip to the Como Zoo and Conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota, towards the end of the summer. We visited the zoo and the conservatory, stopped for coffee (of course...), went furniture shopping, and visited Twin Cities Reptiles (an exotic pet store) to see a blue-tongued skink.

Left: Vanessa and Kristen posing in the Japanese Garden at the Conservatory, on a bridge going across a pool with... Below: ...koi. The foot-long goldfish were definitely a highlight of the trip.

Above, L-R: Kristen, Vanessa, and Zach brave the "hot" turtle statue (notice the red warning on the cement in front of us). Left: Matt points out a "regular" tree to Zach in the Conservatory.

Left: Zach offers his assistance to a young woman who was in danger of slipping in the fountain.