check out the various dead things I see on the way to work

so I work at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. My adviser is based here and I come in every now and then to work on my project. I count fruit set and try to identify my insects I collected. It is a cool place to work. They have the largest collection of dead things in the entire state of California I believe. Everything, plants, dinosaurs, fossils, insects, fungi, mosses, mammals, birds, fish, everything. They even have a huge rock collection. There is this room on the 6th floor that houses the mammal collection. I have only glimpsed inside but there is a huge stuffed grizzly bear inside with a ton of other things. I have to get in that room. What an exciting post that would be. Working in a museum is cool, you do not know what you are going to see...
So my friend Mo works on cataloguing the mammals and birds here. This is her tray of work for the day. I am not sure what she does with them but it looks cool. My favorite is the cute mammal in the upper left corner. He is from Africa. he looks like a large mole. Soft!


Oh and an update on the dinosaur bones left in the street the other week. They assembled this tyrannosaurus. The new dinosaur exhibit is going to open soon. Should be cool. It is big. There are all these large animals all over the bottom floor. Cool. I love working here...

check out my insect collection...

here are all the bugs that i collected this summer. Quite a variety. I have to label them and get a larger insect box. Cool. I do not know what many of them are but since I am taking emtomology this semester, I will figure them out. Should be a fun class. Lots of field trips.

yeah!!! my computer is back!!!

I got my computer back!!! I am back in the game. They fixed the hard drive, updated the os, fixed the cd burner and gave it a good polish! Man it looks sharp. I have to put my photos and data back on to it but that will be fun. I can start to work on my thesis now. Bummer.

Check out my trip to Marine world...

So I went to marine world yesterday with erica and lindsay. It was awesome. There were no people in the park and no lines. Once you got on a roller coaster you could keep on it for a few trips. You did not have to get off and run around to the entrance. It was awesome. The only drawback was the nausea that can result with all the loops and drops and all. Gosh it was fun!


Bumper cars are always fun. Medusa (the large green coaster) was one of my favorites. I loved the first drop. It was long and we went upside down tons. I haven't been to a theme park lately and these days they design coasters so that your feet dangle in the air. It is cool. Whoever came up with that idea was brilliant!



There are tons of animals here also. We saw dolphins, sharks, penguins, seals, birds, and a walrus. Neat! It was a good last day of freedom. I have to start school today. I am taking entomology this semester. It should be a fun class. We will have tons of field trips and that will be fun. This is going to be a busy semester though. I have to write my thesis and try to graduate this fall. December 15th. Gosh I hope I can do it. Well off to the races...

argggggg...

check out the State of Jefferson

In November 1941 southern Oregon and northern California succeeded from the union creating the State of Jefferson. Check out this map, it is a sizable area. Their beef... they wanted better roads to access timber and mining resources and were upset with taxes. So in 1941 they became the 49th state (51st today) and tried to succeed from the union. This lasted two months until the bombing of Pearl Harbor snapped them back to their senses and they came "back" to the union and helped in the war effort. They eventually got their roads to the timber and I guess decided that succession was not necessary.

I have spent some serious time in the State of Jefferson this summer working on my research project. NPR was my source of entertainment and the station based out of Ashland states they are broadcasting from the "mythical State of Jefferson" and I never knew what they were talking about. Now, with the help of the lovely Internet now I know. I guess people in this region are keeping the dream alive. I am not sure what their chances are but in 1941 they got close. Yreka was the capital and they even elected a governor. Cool story. I wonder if a civil war would break out if they tried again.

Sunday also marks the end of my field collection on Mt. Ashland. I am glad it is over. I have been working hard all summer on my Masters research. I have missed out on some serious activities this summer. Bummer. It is good to be back in SF for good. This semester is going to be busy, busy, busy, but hopefully in Dec. I will be a Master of Science.

check out my trip to scbb!

So some friends and I went to the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk. I had never been. It was $8 night with a pop can. What a great time. I was nervous. I haven't been on a roller coaster in a while and had some serious butterflies when we were standing in line. I love that feeling. Controlled fear. Part of your brain is telling you you're going to die and the other side is telling you this is going to be so much fun. The conflict is intense. Part of you wants to get out of line and then you realize that is crazy. When the butterflies fly away from your stomach (usually when the ride is over) my first impulse is to run back in line and do it again. I love it!!

I am sad that summer is soon over. School starts next week. This was the fastest summer ever! Uneventful for sure. I have the rest of the week to live it up. I better get going...

crazy bumper car action!
FIREBALL!! this was my favorite ride! But not the waiting in line... butterflies
more bumper car action
the worlds famous santa cruz corndog! man that was good!
Can you believe fried twinkee. so delicous! Fry anything and it tastes better!

Disappointment with science

So I am disappointed with science today. First off at work today right out front of my work at the academy of science in Sf and there was a big crate of dinosaur fossils in the middle of the road. How careless they are. I mean how are those little cones going to protect a huge chunk of a dinosaur if a car hits it or if crack heads pick it up and run away with it. Fossils are pricy on the black market these days.

And then astronomers voted today to take away planet status from Pluto. lame. Now we only have 8 planets to get behind. Space is so empty, vast, and lonely you would think we would want to keep our solar system as large as we can. I am sure astronomers had their reasons. There was probably complex mathematical formula that they used to determine if Pluto was a planet or not but I still think it is a bad idea. The universe just got a little smaller.

taking the day off

I have been working so much that I have decided to take the day off. I am excited. I have absolutly no plans for the day and I am loving it. my goal is to find some sort of sun and lay in it. I am excited. it is nice to have a day free of responsibilities!
My blog is not so pretty. I have to learn html. I have no idea how to program. I may have to hire a consultant!! Well at least ask my roommate.
Off to the beach for a nap or maybe a sesh!

relaxing weekend

Well this is my second post. I haven't had a chance to work on my blog because my computer is dying. Sucks. The hard drive in my ibook is going and it keeps freezing up after about 10 minutes or so. Kind of a bummer. Funny story, my computer started acting up when I was creating my blog site.... hopefully that is not a sign. I will have to wait to put photos and stuff on my site until I get it back. Kind of scary. I hope I did not loose anything.
Anyway this weekend was awesome. Relaxing. A bunch of us went surfing on Saturday at Linda Mar. Good times. there were lots of people trying for the first time and they had a good time. Bugs were planted this weekend... it was sooooo good to be back in the ocean! being land locked was hard.
Today was cool too. I went to dinner at my friend Erica's house and met a bunch of new people (and a few hotties) so that was good. Well off to the races...

what am I doing?

Well I have just been introduced into the wonderful world of blogging. I am not sure if I will have anything exciting to say but I will give it a shot. This will give me a chance to force my views on to the world. I have a forum to rant and rave about whatever I have going on in my life. This is going to be exciting!!!