I decided that my blog isn't very popular because it doesn't have a genre. There are religious blogs, political blogs, blogs for moms, Christians, fashion, computers, families, photography, etc.
So, I am going to give my blog a weekly genre. On Wednesdays I have to present one of the mammals we are supposed to learn about that day to my mammalogy class. I thought it would be fun to show all of you my mammals as well.
INSECTIVORES:
This last week I signed up for the Pangolin (Manis spp.) because I had never heard of it before.
So I present to you the pangolin:
The Pangolin is cool because...
1. Its tongue muscles begin at the lowest rib and it can extend its tongue out 25 cm (it is an ant and termite eater).
2. It has scales made from agglutinated hair (the hair is glued together).
3. The scales on its tail are super spikey and it can use them to swipe at predators.
4. It has super tough claws that can break open a termite home (a termite home is like the hardest cement on earth).
5. It can close up its nostrils and ears so that ants and termites don't get in.
Since that was my animal for last week you guys are going to get TWO-FOR-ONE this week!!
BATS:
My mammal this week is the Western Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus hesperus) (I totally picked it because of its name):
1. The Western Pipistrelle is not as cool as the Pangolin, sorry Pipi.
2. I think Pipi looks pretty cool with his Black leathery face, ears and patagium (that's the leathery wings specific to bats) paired with a brownish gray furry coat.
3. This bat mates in the fall and hibernates in the winter. Because of this the females can carry the spem inside her through her hibernation before becoming fertilized in the spring. Also if she rouses from her hibernation (which causes her to become fertilized)
in the middle of winter she will remove the sperm, so that she doesn't become pregnant before the hibernation period is over.
4. Newborns only take one month after birth before they look just like adults.
5. Newborns are taken care of by a maternal colony because the bat is short-lived (the mom might die before the young is weaned).
I get to walk home from school most days and while I was walking home today I was thinking of all of the reasons why I love walking home so much. I thought I would compile a list of reasons why I enjoy my 30-minute walk home so much.
1. I have a soundtrack to my life for each time I walk home. Matt gave me an ipod shuffle for our 6 monthiversary in February and I love walking home with it. One of the things I like so much is the variety of songs you can listen to. Today as I bounded down the stairs south of campus I enjoyed the robust voice of a big Italian man accompanied by a mandolin (I totally felt like I was in a movie). After that song it was Dashboard Confessional, Jewel, and several other genres of music.
2. I really like walking home (when dressed appropriately) when the snow or rain is really coming down. It's fun, and someday I'll be able to tell my kids that I walked to school in the snow, uphill both ways.
3. Right now I get to walk by houses with gardens full of pumpkins squash and zuccinis (I wrote about that already).
4. If I walk fast enough I feel like I'm getting a work out in.
5. After spending all day in class or working it's really nice to get outside, walk, look around and think through things on my mind.
6. I like looking at all the old homes in neighborhoods I pass through. I really want to live in an old house someday, they have a lot of character and history behind them, sometimes they seem more homey than newer ones. On Jordan's blog "Oh Happy Day" she does an affordable house of the week every week and they are always cute old homes that may need some fixing up. That sounds like a lot of fun to me.
Anyway, I just thought I'd share the joy of walking home. Maybe you all should try it sometime.
So I work "behind the scenes" at the law library on campus. It's called technical services, which is funny because even though we work with computers to organize the library, no one in there is really technically savvy or anything like that. I mean it's not like they're/we're all a bunch of computer nerds, cause we're not. Anyway, I like working there mostly.
I have my own office at work which is really neat because none of the other student employees have an office, they're all in pitily little cubicles, ha! Okay, so I say it's my own office, but really it's kind of open to the whole library, well everyone that works at the library. My office has all of these nifty supplies in it, so other librarians are going in and out of my office all the time. There's a laminator, two drills (which I have yet to see anyone drilling any holes in anything), a velo-binding machine (I think I'm the only one that uses that, people just drop off stuff in my office for me to velo-bind), a paper cutter, a sink, three cabinets full of all kinds of library goodies, so on and so forth. I think the sink is what gives my office the most attention. If you're working with old books your hands will get dirty, you will come into my office and wash your hands. If you want to eat an apple at work you will come into my office to cut up your apple, eat it while talking to me, throw away the core in my trash, and then wash your hands; then you will come back a few minutes later to brush your teeth in my office (Yes, there is a full-time employee who does this every day, brushes his teeth... in my office).
I actually usually really like it when people stop in my office. Sometimes it adds up to several minutes of getting payed to chat with a co-worker.
What kind of environment do you work in? Do you have any funny/awkard/interesting work-related stories?
As I wrote about in my last post I'm taking a choir class this semester. Our one and only concert for the class is in December so starting with the first day of class all we ever sing are Christmas songs. It's fun getting ready for Christmas in September, it also makes me really anxious for the end of the semester though.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE Christmas time, but I am really enjoying the beginnings of fall right now. I really love the weather. I love walking home and seeing pumpkins, squash and scarecrows in people' s gardens. I love the smell of fall and the feel of fall. I can't wait for October, so I can feel justified in decorating my house with fall colors and a few Halloween favorites including my Jack-o-lantern doormat.
I am really excited about this semester. It makes it really easy to go back to school knowing this will be my last semester of college.
I'm taking a univeristy choir class so that I will have enough credits to work on campus. That was the only class I had today, and it was really fun. I've never been in a real choir* before (just orchestra), so it was neat to see how things run, and I'm glad I get to do it before I graduate. I sat down with the 2nd sopranos and a young, fresh-faced girl sat next to me. I quickly found out she was a freshman, and told her this is my last semester of college, to which she replied, "oh that must be nice." Yes, yes it is.
I have a lot to do this semester. I'm not worried about school at all; I'm more worried about what happens after it's all over. I would really like to find a nice biology related job, that's close to where Matt works and pays well. I don't know if I'll get that lucky though. Oh well, I know I'll just be so happy I don't have to do schoolwork anymore.
What's one class you wish you could/ would have take(n) before you graduate(d)?
*Ward choir doesn't count, even if I was the director.
I got my hair colored on Wednesday, and I figured all the girls who read my blog might like to see the results. I decided to go brown. I think it's darker than when I did it my freshman year, but I don't have any pictures to reference it with.
I like it, and Matt likes it. I decided I'm going to keep it long for a while because I put so much effort into growing it out. Before I got it colored it was a little over half-way down my back, and I just got three inches cut off of it. I think after Christmas I will go short. It is easier to do when it is short and I think it will be better for winter time, since I probably won't wear it wet as often.
Okay, since all the guys who read my blog are probably not interested in the color and/or length of my hair I will now tell a good story.
We are having a big BBQ tomorrow because we have lots of old friends in town and thought it would be a fun way to get everyone back together. We decided on ribs because they are much easier than burgers and much tastier. Matt and I are in charge of the ribs and everyone else is bringing the extras. We have a great way of doing ribs to get 'em nice and tender and delicious. We boil them for a few hours the day before, then let them marinade in BBQ sauce over night before grilling them while basting with BBQ sauce. They always turn out great. We had a lot going on today though so we tried to get in the boiling part while we were out of the house, well we ended up staying out of the house a little too long. When Matt opened the door to our apartment when we came home smoke came billowing out of the apartment sending us both into panic mode. Matt ran over to the stove and turned it all off and then tried to bring the smoking pot out of the house. Then the smoke alarm started going off, and our house smelled bad! We opened the windows, and turned some fans on, but there wasn't much else we could do because we had to leave the house shortly after that. Right now it still stinks, but we put bowls of vinegar in every room, have two fans and the ac going, and we spray febreze on anything fabric throughout our house every thrity minutes or so. It's been super fun. The BBQ is still on though, we had to get new ribs and start over, but they should turn out good still.