Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Monday, December 15, 2014
Boot Camp
I found a boot camp in San Diego that I L O V E.
They have so many different options of boot camp classes that really work with my work schedule. See all of them here. I have a million choices.
Remember a few weeks ago when I unknowingly walked into the hip hop/EDM dance class portion of this boot camp? I've never taken a dance class in my entire life and this one kicked my ass.
I'll be the first to say I'm a runner. I'm in shape, I run every day, I've done boot camps for years. This class made me sore for at least four days. And it was the kind of sore where you shuffle around and roll out of bed onto the floor because you can't bend your legs. I've been back several times for the ass kicking aspect.
Welllllll. They film the class! And yes, I'm in this video.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
C stands for...
1. CRICKET!
We knew there was a cricket inside our lab for a few months because we could hear it. And last week Nick finally found it. My first cricket!
I may or may not have fed him to our big pet work trout...
See my first post ever if you don't know about our big pet work trout.
2. CHRISTMAS!
I finally decorated for Christmas. I know, it's a pathetic amount of decorations, but when you move as much as we do a big fake Christmas tree is not on the list of things you want to pack around.
Two extra perks: Terry is going to visit for Christmas! Also, we decided as a family that instead of gifts, we are going to spend a late Christmas in Disneyland this year. Awesome!
3. CONNIE!
It's her birthday today!
4. CROWN
No exclamation point for this one. Last week I noticed a sharp pain in a molar when I drank cold water. Cue to me having no dentist in San Diego and no dental insurance card yet. I'd been paying for dental insurance through work since October and I had to spend some time locating a dental office near work that accepted our insurance, had an opening for an emergency appointment, and didn't look extremely sketchy.
On Monday I showed up for my appointment and was turned away because my insurance claimed that I did not exist in their system. What a bunch of jerks. I hadn't even used my new insurance and I already hated them.
I'm not kidding either.
There now exists a recording between the insurance representative and I where I state "I already hate you".
On Tuesday when I checked again, I magically appeared in their system.
Today I had the offending tooth checked out and I cracked it!! So now, I'm the new owner of my first temporary crown while they make my permanent one.
My teeth used to have symmetrical fillings...This is going to mess with my OCD.
5. CREDIT CARD
:(
Christmas crown.
We knew there was a cricket inside our lab for a few months because we could hear it. And last week Nick finally found it. My first cricket!
I may or may not have fed him to our big pet work trout...
See my first post ever if you don't know about our big pet work trout.
2. CHRISTMAS!
I finally decorated for Christmas. I know, it's a pathetic amount of decorations, but when you move as much as we do a big fake Christmas tree is not on the list of things you want to pack around.
Two extra perks: Terry is going to visit for Christmas! Also, we decided as a family that instead of gifts, we are going to spend a late Christmas in Disneyland this year. Awesome!
3. CONNIE!
It's her birthday today!
4. CROWN
No exclamation point for this one. Last week I noticed a sharp pain in a molar when I drank cold water. Cue to me having no dentist in San Diego and no dental insurance card yet. I'd been paying for dental insurance through work since October and I had to spend some time locating a dental office near work that accepted our insurance, had an opening for an emergency appointment, and didn't look extremely sketchy.
On Monday I showed up for my appointment and was turned away because my insurance claimed that I did not exist in their system. What a bunch of jerks. I hadn't even used my new insurance and I already hated them.
I'm not kidding either.
There now exists a recording between the insurance representative and I where I state "I already hate you".
On Tuesday when I checked again, I magically appeared in their system.
Today I had the offending tooth checked out and I cracked it!! So now, I'm the new owner of my first temporary crown while they make my permanent one.
My teeth used to have symmetrical fillings...This is going to mess with my OCD.
5. CREDIT CARD
:(
Christmas crown.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
This is Brian
He's been demanding a blog post about coworkers.
Here he is feeding fathead minnows today.
Picture creep level 10 success.
Here he is feeding fathead minnows today.
Picture creep level 10 success.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
USS MIDWAY
My dad was able to visit again right before Thanksgiving and was in town for only one day. I gave him the choice to go to the King Tut exhibit or the USS Midway Museum. He chose the Midway!
The link above has a lot of information on the aircraft carrier turned museum. It was the largest ship in the world until 1955, and let me tell you - it is MASSIVE. We wandered down a few levels and without the arrows showing us where to go, we would have been lost. It would be so easy to wander around for hours down there and not know where you were or how to get out.
We also concluded that the Navy is not the place for tall folk. While I was fine in the lower levels, my dad had to hunch over most of the time to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling, bulkheads, pipes, doorways, etc.
After the museum we headed over to La Jolla for sushi. We were able to catch the sunset and found a small beach where a bunch of fat seals haul out for the night.
The link above has a lot of information on the aircraft carrier turned museum. It was the largest ship in the world until 1955, and let me tell you - it is MASSIVE. We wandered down a few levels and without the arrows showing us where to go, we would have been lost. It would be so easy to wander around for hours down there and not know where you were or how to get out.
We also concluded that the Navy is not the place for tall folk. While I was fine in the lower levels, my dad had to hunch over most of the time to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling, bulkheads, pipes, doorways, etc.
After the museum we headed over to La Jolla for sushi. We were able to catch the sunset and found a small beach where a bunch of fat seals haul out for the night.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
It's hot in the Mojave Desert
I know, that's a duh statement. But I've never been to the Mojave Desert so when my mom and I planned a trip to Joshua Tree National Park we didn't know exactly what to expect.
It's hot.
As in, 90+ degrees in November. I don't know what would possess any person to visit there in the summer. Yeesh. After spending two days there, I amended my mental list of the top 5 worst ways to die to include "being lost in the desert".
On a happier note, we loved our trip! Two days was perfect for this park. Our first hike included the Lost Horse Mine for a few reasons:
1. We had never seen a mine - abandoned or otherwise.
2. This was a longer trail that would give us a thorough introduction to hiking in the desert.
3. The possibility of seeing desert animals. New wildlife!
Well, we learned several things. October and November are high season for tarantulas - WHAT THE HELL? I didn't even know tarantulas lived there.
Also, we took for granted the accurate trail markings and map routes from our other national park experiences. The Joshua Tree map is complete crap. It's like a "generally you can find the trail in this area" sort of deal, with no landmarks and a few dotted lines. So we squinted at it occasionally and followed other footsteps in the sand. Because the entire desert looks the same.
Once we found the Lost Horse Mine, it was pretty cool. There is still a fence around it because the main mine shaft hasn't been covered, but it functioned in the 1900s as a gold mine. One of the main real life questions I had while hiking to the site was, how do people locate these areas to mine? How do they determine where to set up shop? This was literally in the middle of nowhere.
Next on the list was Hall of Horrors. This wasn't on the map (because nothing is on the map), but we passed it on our way to the mine trail. With a name like that, we felt obligated to go. This is around the time when I had gone through about half of my water and was envisioning how bad it would be to be lost in the desert. I was still thirsty after a liter of water, but had to ration it so I didn't die of dehydration by 1 pm. Hall of Horrors was great! There were so many climbing opportunities!
"I think my ass is stuck":
On a whim we stopped at the Barker Dam trail. It's weird how luck and timing can sometimes create the coolest experiences of the day. As we walked along, a woman in front of us started yelling to her group to come and see "the deer". Yeah ok, I'll go see the deer too. Are there deer in the desert? I thought as I walked faster. Then she added "You're going to miss the big horned deer!".
Wildlife recognition fail.
She meant: BIG HORNED SHEEP! They were staring at us from the nearby rocks. This was one of my most sought after animals at every park we've ever been to and they were just standing there. Cool!!
Day 2:
We had thoroughly explored the northern portion of the park so we went south for Day 2. I brought more water. The map highlighted a stop at the Chollas Cactus Garden on the way down so we decided to stop and check it out.
Garden may not be the right word.
The trailheads at the southern end of the park culminate in one spot, and it's like a "choose your own direction and fate" book. Because of the severe lack of trail markings we avoided the 8+ mile Lost Palms Oasis trail. It sounded like an invitation for a helicopter rescue. We went with the Mastadon Peak trail as an alternate. Also, there was supposed to be another abandoned mine out there.
After about a mile or more of hiking in, here is the sign for where to find the beginning of the loop trail. I am so confused. There is no visible trail in that direction.
We just ended up following other people's footprints again. Who knows how old they were. EVERYTHING LOOKS THE SAME.
The top of Mastadon Peak!
We searched and searched for the Mastadon Mine, but after an hour we couldn't find it. On our way down, my mom saw some timbers out of the corner of her eye and it ended up being the mine - tucked around a corner and not visible from the trail. But really, who knew if we were even on the trail.
Our final suggestions:
*Visit Joshua Tree National Park!
*Bring water! A lot of water. My big blue hiking bag was full of water and food.
*Include a compass and a flashlight. Trail markings are not great and the sun sets at 4:30 pm. At one point, when we were hiking down from the peak, we were following footprints and found cattails in the low desert. This was not right. We would have remembered cattails on the way up so we were in a different location and had to hike back to elevation to find out where we were. Paying attention to our surroundings and local landmarks kept us from getting lost.
*Climb on some rocks. It's good for you.
It's hot.
As in, 90+ degrees in November. I don't know what would possess any person to visit there in the summer. Yeesh. After spending two days there, I amended my mental list of the top 5 worst ways to die to include "being lost in the desert".
On a happier note, we loved our trip! Two days was perfect for this park. Our first hike included the Lost Horse Mine for a few reasons:
1. We had never seen a mine - abandoned or otherwise.
2. This was a longer trail that would give us a thorough introduction to hiking in the desert.
3. The possibility of seeing desert animals. New wildlife!
Well, we learned several things. October and November are high season for tarantulas - WHAT THE HELL? I didn't even know tarantulas lived there.
Also, we took for granted the accurate trail markings and map routes from our other national park experiences. The Joshua Tree map is complete crap. It's like a "generally you can find the trail in this area" sort of deal, with no landmarks and a few dotted lines. So we squinted at it occasionally and followed other footsteps in the sand. Because the entire desert looks the same.
Once we found the Lost Horse Mine, it was pretty cool. There is still a fence around it because the main mine shaft hasn't been covered, but it functioned in the 1900s as a gold mine. One of the main real life questions I had while hiking to the site was, how do people locate these areas to mine? How do they determine where to set up shop? This was literally in the middle of nowhere.
Next on the list was Hall of Horrors. This wasn't on the map (because nothing is on the map), but we passed it on our way to the mine trail. With a name like that, we felt obligated to go. This is around the time when I had gone through about half of my water and was envisioning how bad it would be to be lost in the desert. I was still thirsty after a liter of water, but had to ration it so I didn't die of dehydration by 1 pm. Hall of Horrors was great! There were so many climbing opportunities!
"I think my ass is stuck":
On a whim we stopped at the Barker Dam trail. It's weird how luck and timing can sometimes create the coolest experiences of the day. As we walked along, a woman in front of us started yelling to her group to come and see "the deer". Yeah ok, I'll go see the deer too. Are there deer in the desert? I thought as I walked faster. Then she added "You're going to miss the big horned deer!".
Wildlife recognition fail.
She meant: BIG HORNED SHEEP! They were staring at us from the nearby rocks. This was one of my most sought after animals at every park we've ever been to and they were just standing there. Cool!!
Day 2:
We had thoroughly explored the northern portion of the park so we went south for Day 2. I brought more water. The map highlighted a stop at the Chollas Cactus Garden on the way down so we decided to stop and check it out.
Garden may not be the right word.
The trailheads at the southern end of the park culminate in one spot, and it's like a "choose your own direction and fate" book. Because of the severe lack of trail markings we avoided the 8+ mile Lost Palms Oasis trail. It sounded like an invitation for a helicopter rescue. We went with the Mastadon Peak trail as an alternate. Also, there was supposed to be another abandoned mine out there.
After about a mile or more of hiking in, here is the sign for where to find the beginning of the loop trail. I am so confused. There is no visible trail in that direction.
We just ended up following other people's footprints again. Who knows how old they were. EVERYTHING LOOKS THE SAME.
We searched and searched for the Mastadon Mine, but after an hour we couldn't find it. On our way down, my mom saw some timbers out of the corner of her eye and it ended up being the mine - tucked around a corner and not visible from the trail. But really, who knew if we were even on the trail.
Our final suggestions:
*Visit Joshua Tree National Park!
*Bring water! A lot of water. My big blue hiking bag was full of water and food.
*Include a compass and a flashlight. Trail markings are not great and the sun sets at 4:30 pm. At one point, when we were hiking down from the peak, we were following footprints and found cattails in the low desert. This was not right. We would have remembered cattails on the way up so we were in a different location and had to hike back to elevation to find out where we were. Paying attention to our surroundings and local landmarks kept us from getting lost.
*Climb on some rocks. It's good for you.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
The many colors of storm water season
Hey where ya been?
It's a good question. I've been spending all of my time in the lab. ALL OF IT.
On Halloween night, San Diego got it's first rain of the fall season, which means...the start of storm water sampling. We had been warned that storm water season resulted in lots of tests, lots of data, and lots of hours in the lab. It can be (and is) exhausting. On Saturday and Sunday over a span of 48 hours, we set up 100 additional tests with all of the water samples that were collected and sent to us. It's a great way to accumulate over 40 hours of work by the end of Wednesday. And I'm learning a lot by working with different animals, test types, and clients.
Beer flight? No! Storm water.
It's a good question. I've been spending all of my time in the lab. ALL OF IT.
On Halloween night, San Diego got it's first rain of the fall season, which means...the start of storm water sampling. We had been warned that storm water season resulted in lots of tests, lots of data, and lots of hours in the lab. It can be (and is) exhausting. On Saturday and Sunday over a span of 48 hours, we set up 100 additional tests with all of the water samples that were collected and sent to us. It's a great way to accumulate over 40 hours of work by the end of Wednesday. And I'm learning a lot by working with different animals, test types, and clients.
Beer flight? No! Storm water.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Happy Halloween!
While the Jamaican bobsled team were taking promotional photos, I played a game of Where's Waldo?
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Hyalella!
Latin name: Hyalella azteca
About this ugly creature: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyalella_azteca
Yep. Ugly. And...crawly. I spent my first day counting these little guys for an experiment and it started out shaky. I normally use a light box to count most of the small animals in our possession because they are easier to see. It turns out, Hyalella do not like light boxes. They were practically leaping out of the water container to get away from the bright lights. The behavior was so abnormal that we had to re-test the pH, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen of the water. When everything turned out normal, we turned off the light box and...poof...normal behavior. So, there's an aversion to light there.
Their jumpiness grossed me out. It reminded me of the scene in World War Z where the zombies made a 100 story stacked human staircase to climb into a city. Hyalella were using the same strategy to get out of the bowl. EW. Once the lights were turned off they finally calmed down, but I held a grudge. I like using those lights.
One part of the experiment requires us to take dry weights of several individuals to get an idea of how much they grow over the course of the study. Dry weights. As in, cooked in the oven. I trapped those little suckers in beads of water and popped them right in the oven. No regrets.
About this ugly creature: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyalella_azteca
Yep. Ugly. And...crawly. I spent my first day counting these little guys for an experiment and it started out shaky. I normally use a light box to count most of the small animals in our possession because they are easier to see. It turns out, Hyalella do not like light boxes. They were practically leaping out of the water container to get away from the bright lights. The behavior was so abnormal that we had to re-test the pH, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen of the water. When everything turned out normal, we turned off the light box and...poof...normal behavior. So, there's an aversion to light there.
Their jumpiness grossed me out. It reminded me of the scene in World War Z where the zombies made a 100 story stacked human staircase to climb into a city. Hyalella were using the same strategy to get out of the bowl. EW. Once the lights were turned off they finally calmed down, but I held a grudge. I like using those lights.
One part of the experiment requires us to take dry weights of several individuals to get an idea of how much they grow over the course of the study. Dry weights. As in, cooked in the oven. I trapped those little suckers in beads of water and popped them right in the oven. No regrets.
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Sand Dollars
I had a "Today I Learned" moment at work on Friday. We got a shipment of live sand dollars in and I didn't take a look at them until several hours later.
Let's review: marine biology bachelor of science degree here, and an environmental science master's degree. I have only ever seen live whole sand dollars. Round. All the way round. I've seen plenty of chipped ones that are dead. I could not stop staring at the batch of sand dollars that were collected for us. They were all chipped and broken to some degree and...alive.
For all my years beach combing, collecting cool objects, and studying marine life, I had absolutely no idea this was possible. I was impressed by their hardiness - some look like chew toys. How much can they lose before their...missing parts...become an issue? Hmmmm.
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Nautilus
I moved to San Diego for a reason! It was to begin working for a really great environmental consulting firm called Nautilus Environmental.
In 2011 it was named one of the fastest growing private companies in San Diego (http://www.examiner.com/article/nautilus-environmental-honored-among-fastest-growing-san-diego-private-companies) and we focus on well, a lot of things.
Marilyn says it best: http://www.savorthesuccess.com/member/marilyn-o-neill
And if you still want to know more, here is our company website: http://www.nautilusenvironmental.com/
In 2011 it was named one of the fastest growing private companies in San Diego (http://www.examiner.com/article/nautilus-environmental-honored-among-fastest-growing-san-diego-private-companies) and we focus on well, a lot of things.
Marilyn says it best: http://www.savorthesuccess.com/member/marilyn-o-neill
And if you still want to know more, here is our company website: http://www.nautilusenvironmental.com/
I'm still learning a lot of new things/techniques/regulations etc. and it's exactly what I was looking for when I started job hunting. We work really long weeks, but we also get to listen to music during the day and I usually listen to books on my ipod. Everything goes so much faster.
Our entrance: (There's that fat plant wall I posted about a while ago on the left!)
A small portion of the lab:
Washing out a board that holds water fleas. We study the effects and toxicity of stormwater on those little guys.
The urchins are out to study urchin development:
The Green Room:
One of the clients we work with is Chevron. We do hours and hours and hours of work for them. I like learning about the project and how the work we're doing helps them improve their environmental footprint. Everyone else has been working with them for waaaaaay longer than I have and they are a little...jaded. Partly as a joke, and partly because I've always liked the chevron pattern, I just bought this necklace to wear to work on our heavy Chevron days :)
And then I found this lamp and now I want it too...
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Dad Visits!
My dad came to visit this weekend on his way to Yuma for work. He's been in San Diego plenty of times before, but not since I moved, so we went to a lot of new places!
First, we rode the trolley to Old Town where we explored the candy store, museums, garden center, tile shop, and several smaller historical houses.
Candy:
First, we rode the trolley to Old Town where we explored the candy store, museums, garden center, tile shop, and several smaller historical houses.
Candy:
I want this plant.
Checking out the Wells Fargo wagon mail routes.
After Old Town, it was too early for dinner so we hopped on the trolley and took it downtown to Petco Park and went next door to Mission Brewery. This one is in a sketch part of town, but it's really good and there are always a lot of people there.
Our last stop was dinner in Little Italy. This is probably my favorite part of San Diego.
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