Column

April 10, 2007

With recent and exciting developments I've decided it's finally time to sit down and put to rest the many complaints of not having a monthly blog. So here we go,

Caleb and I got a beautiful hell-raising puppy! After many hard months of research and debate we finally decided that we were in fact ready for a dog and both agreed on the Airedale Terrier as our dog of choice. At first Caleb wanted a Basenji, a howling African dog which would never make it where we live (too cold). I initially wanted an Arctic dog like a Husky or an Akita, which would never make it in the warmer climates. We then began to evaluate breeds based upon a list of criteria (so Caleb) such as: temperament, skills (water dog, hunting, sporting, etc.), adaptability,trainability, personality, etc. The Airedale seemed to be just perfect ...a medium sized dog, intelligent, energetic, independent, hypoallergenic, no-to-very little shedding, water dog used for hunting and retrieving, and just looked so darn cute too! Whenever Caleb and I are ready to make the transition to being permanent boat residents this will be the perfect dog to accompany us. She's 9 1/2 weeks old, we got her on Saturday and we haven't slept since (just kidding). I'm loving it. Now that the weather is somewhat decent we get to take her on long hikes through the woods, parks, and the rec. trail in our back yard. We plan on going straight to obedience classes the minute she's 12 weeks old. She learns very quickly though, we've already been working on sit and the leash experience.

We decided to name her Dixie and hopefully you all will get to meet her soon. Here is a cute photo of Dixie taken yesterday on her first hike.

Click on Dixie to see more pics!!

NEW JOBS: I recently got a great new job for the summer, which has now become a semi-permanent position. During the summer I will be teaching week long classes/camps at the Cayuga Nature Center; it'll be about 40 hours per week and I don't have to work weekends. The classes are called "Nature Camp" and "Critter Camp". The basic idea is outdoor education, which is something I definitely have interest in pursuing more extensively in the future as a fall back career choice. So, I'm very happy about this opportunity, to teach kids a little about their world and the awesome creatures that live in it.

This position doesn't start until mid-June, but currently I have two other jobs at the Nature Center as well. I am the Animal Caretaker, which is sweet!! I feed and socialize/ provide enrichment to all the animals at the Nature Center. I am still training to properly handle the Red-tailed Hawks and the Fox, the Nature Center is very particular with these guys. I enjoy the Snakes and the Bearded Dragons a bunch, the Rats are cool, and the Chinchillas are the softest animals I've ever encountered. It's a great job and I am in my zone of bliss when I'm there. It's nice that I spend so much time with these critter's too because some of my classes will require a lot of handling, so it's best the animals know me and feel comfortable with me.

The other position is a year around part-time teaching position, which is perfect , because I'm in school full-time most of the year. Basically, I go to various elementary and middle schools with animals or planned outdoor activities to teach the children about nature and science. I've done three so far. Last time was the best, because I focused the entire day around birds (wooo!!!)...I brought cool feathers in from my collection, some different types of nests, bird flash cards, then we all went outside and tired to see if we could find any of the birds we learned about, while collecting ideas for nesting materials. We then brought the nesting materials into the class and made ornaments to be hung in the kids' yards as an experiment to see what the birds took for nesting. I am always looking for ideas for classroom activities if anyone has any let me know. Here's a link to The Cayuga Nature Center if you want to check it out.

I am still at Comics for Collectors, but am ready to leave I think. I love the discounts and an atmosphere that allows me to read, do my homework, and visit with friends, but it's becoming more of a burden to continue working there with my schedule. Also, I'm not benefiting in the long run by working there, so I believe this will be my last month, because in May...

I'm going to Costa Rica: From May15-30 I will be touring Costa Rica with 13 other awesome students for a short abroad program. We will be visiting the rain forest of course, mangroves, some of the cities and some of the small villages. Activities include: Zip-lining in the canopy, white water rafting, snorkeling, scuba diving, birding every morning, hot springs, waterfalls, canoe trip, and much more. I can hardly wait. I would really like to see the Sloth, the various bats and of course one of my favorite birds of all time...the Motmot.

College Stuff: College basically blows to say the least. I don't really like where I am and quite a few things have gone wrong along the way. Apparently I took some very bad advice from my advisor, go figure, which screwed me out of my guaranteed transfer to Cornell University. My Cornell Advisor is still working with me as a transfer student, but it still sucks. After considering my options and looking around at other schools, I'm not even sure if I want to go to Cornell anymore. The degree would be great, but I'd like to enjoy the last two years of college rather than slave even more and not even succeed comparatively to the rest of the "valedictorians" in my classes. At this moment I want to attend a small SUNY (State Universities of New York) college called ESF (Environmental Science And Forestry College). It's in Southern Syracuse which is the one down side to the college, other than that its ideal: small college, small classes, environmentally focused, more environmental degrees, environmental student body, cheap, and not as "jump over the extension bridge to kill yourself" competitive as Cornell is. We'll see how it goes.

Well if you've made it this far, I thank you for reading my first blog. There will be more.