Last Post of 2008! For Real This Time!!!

Lest you think that 2008 was totally in the toilet (see previous post), I thought I'd share a few more photos with you. I got a really great surprise today when I received a CD in the mail from Cecily (thanks, Cecily!!!), who compiled all the photos she took on our trip to the Chiricahuas over Thanksgiving. I'll probably try to upload them to a Picasa web album sometime, but here are just a few of the photos that I thought were particularly funny or had incredible scenery. So happy new year, for real this time!

Thanksgiving dinner at a truck stop - bad pizza and rootbeer floats!

So this is what I look like first thing in the morning? I'd just crawled out of the tent after our first night backpacking in the wilderness area; yes, that's ice in my hair.

One of the many spectacular views of the Chiricahua wilderness; this was just before we somehow managed to get ourselves off-trail. I wish I knew how to use the self-timer on *my* camera!

You can't see it in the photo (how clever...), but Cecily's ankle is totally jacked up! At this point, we were enjoying the views at the Chiricahua National Monument, which were accessible a short distance from the car.

Last Post of 2008!

Are you ready for this stupid year to be over? I am. So get the hell out of here, 2008; don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out. I actually can't believe that 2008 is gone - I remember being a kid and time seemed to goooo bbyyyyyyyy sssssoooooooooooo ssssllllllooooowwwwwwwlllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyy...and now (that I've probably gotten Alzheimer's as a result of extreme boredom; see previous blog) time sms to go bi 2 qwik. I can't fathom that I've been in Southern California for over four years now - what the hell??? So, for those of you who haven't been reading my blog (or who have just been reading about the good times), here's a little recap of my 2008 for you (in no particular order):

1. Teddy Bear is still alive. Slower, more insane, more needy, more apt to urinate on the carpet, and apparently immortal. I suspect that he is surviving by consuming my soul and happiness.
   
   
2. I spent vast quantities of money to keep Zoe going. She seems to be happy and active.
   
   
3. Related to the above, I pretty much broke even in my attempts to work down my debt. I haven't really decreased it, but haven't really added to it either.
   
   
4. I only noticed about half a dozen visits by the cops to my apartment complex. This 'hood is really cleaning itself up!
   
   
5. My ceiling collapsed zero times.
   
   
6. I failed (yet again) to procure an acceptable boyfriend, as all men in SoCal are either gay, taken, or total assholes.
   
   
7. I developed secret crushes on my cat's vet and one of the vet techs, at two different offices. Zoe has all the luck! However, there are complications which prevent me from pursuing either of these as potential relationships (see above point).
   
   
8. I watched my arch-nemesis perfect her rimming skills and be rewarded for it with a promotion and office upgrade.
   
   
9. I devised an airtight excuse to visit Las Vegas.
   
   
10. I managed to lose almost 15 lbs, which includes the mole I had removed from my face.
    
    
11. Although, in the past week I probably gained about five of those pounds back (but the mole is still gone, so I'm psyched about that).
    
    
12. I perfected the fine art of applying liquid liner to my upper eyelid, with the results not completely appearing as if I stayed up for three days smoking crack with Amy Winehouse (see new year's resolution discussion, below). Additionally, my hair finally realized that I mean business when it comes to straightening, armed with a split-end inducing arsenal of flat irons and straightening gels.
    
    
13. My brother spawned, so that alleviates the need for me to breed in order to make a genetic contribution to future generations. Ok, so I realize that it's my brother's kid which means that my genes will not be represented as much as if it was my kid, but I don't have to get pregnant and squeeze a small human out of my vag. So it's a fair trade-off, I think.
    
    
14. With minimal effort and a little bit of practical application, I vastly improved my nick-name generating and limerick-writing skills (just try me sometime...).

That's all I can think of for now. Actually, that's not completely true - I can think of a lot more. But I don't want to rehash ALL the super fun times I had; I'd like to keep many of those moments private, just for me to own. Anyone have any resolutions? I'm generally against those - "I resolve to lose weight, stop drinking, quell my road rage, kick the crack habit, etc." But this year I think I've come up with a good one - I'm going to stop eating factory farmed meat. I haven't really eaten red meat in over ten years (with the exception of critters that friends have hunted, or that was raised organic and free range - yeah, buffalo, I'm talking about you), but it will be difficult to cut out the chicken and turkey. I'll eat it occasionally if I can get the free range variety, and I'll still eat fish. But I just can't stomach (literally) anymore the thought of supporting those massive henhouses that cramp chickens in shoebox-sized cages for their entire lives. I think my decision was made when I saw the video of Sarah Palin at the turkey slaughterhouse, with turkeys getting killed right behind her, saying she was having a "great time". Blech.

Anyway, happy new year, y'all. Have a good one.

Thanksgiving in the Chiricahuas

Since I don't consider Thanksgiving to be one of my favorite holidays, I decided it would be a good time to get out of town for an outdoor mini-adventure. My friend Cecily, from grad school, flew into Phoenix where I drove to pick her up. We had the best Thanksgiving dinner ever - bad pizza and rootbeer floats at a truckstop outside of Tucson. Afterwards, we drove around FOREVER trying to find the Forest Service lands that we were told about so that we could camp for the night - finally, we found the turnoff for French Joe Canyon and set up for the night.

It turns out that our campsite was just next to Karchner Caverns State Park, which we explored the next day. It's a pretty cool state park - it's got a good museum and gift shop, although their coffee wasn't the best. We took a tour of the Rotunda and Throne Rooms, where we saw Kubla Kahn, the biggest column known in the state of Arizona. It was pretty spectacular, although I can't show you any pictures because there were no cameras allowed. Bummer for you!

After that, we drove east through Willcox, then took a forest service road through the Chiricahuas to the South Fork of the Cave Creek trail, just west of Portal. We hit the trailhead around 2:30, so it was a bit late; just before we got on the trail, a man approached us to tell us to be careful of all the illegal immigrants and drug smugglers coming through the area. Thanks, dude! After about a mile and a half, we turned off the Cave Creek trail and onto the Burro trail, which took us up and to the east. We didn't get terribly far that first day because we got a late start; also, we needed to take advantage of the first flat spot we found in order to set up a tent. By the way, I need to thank my friend Glen for loaning me a bunch of ultralight equipment which reduced 20 lbs off my pack load. So if you're in the market for a new pack or tent, go to his website, Gossamer Gear, to check out the goods!

Anyway, it was clear that others had used the same spot we found, since there were water bottles and toilet paper scattered around the perimeter of our site. I cooked up some yummy pad thai and Cecily started a fire to let all the smugglers know that we were there and not to bother us. It was a rather cold night - I didn't get a lot of sleep because 1) I was listening for drug smugglers emerging from their hiding spots to steal our food (which they didn't), 2) Cecily snores, and 3) it was freaking cold. We woke up to a sheet of ice on the inside of our tent, frost on our sleeping bags, and I even had frost in my hair! But a hot meal of oatmeal and peanuts and cranberries and tea warmed us up pretty good, at least while we waited for the sun to come out.

We continued on our way, up up and up the trail - and the views just kept getting more and more spectacular. We watched flocks of band-tailed pidgeons fly around below us. There were incredible rock outcrops all over the place. And the sun was out, which was in contrast from the days before. We hit Horseshoe Saddle at around noon, and there was lots of evidence that illegals had been coming through - water bottles, clothes, discarded packs, food containers, and even syringes. And unfortunately, because there was so much activity, a lot of social trails had been created, which were in fact more evident than the official trail we were trying to follow. So, at around 8000 feet, we ended up losing our trail and hiking down several fake-out trails that led us into a steep drainage.

We started bushwhacking our way down the drainage, which we knew would take us back to Cave Creek and the original trail that we were on. In my estimation, given the amount of shit in the drainage, there were approximately 359 bears in the vicinity, in addition to the drug smugglers which were surely hunkered down waiting for nightfall. Cecily and I scaled several bouldered drop-offs with few problems, but our luck didn't last forever; Cecily fell down a 15-foot rock face and sprained her ankle really badly. But she was hard-core and didn't cry or anything; we taped her ankle up, loaded her up with ibuprofin, and I gave her my hiking pole to hobble along on. We were only about halfway down the drainage at that point and it was starting to get dark and cold, and there was definitely no place to camp, so we decided to just try and get out that evening. I had to go ahead of Cecily and try to find the best way down the canyon drainage, which still had several rocky drops before we hit Cave Creek around dusk. But we were so happy to hear that running water!

We didn't find the trail right away and hiked up the opposite side of the creek until I decided we needed to go back down to the creek where we would definitely find the trail at some point. Which we did - Cecily ended up hiking about 3 miles on her bum ankle, but with head-lamps and hiking poles, we made it to the car and set up camp at the Sunny Flat forest service campground. Whew! It was a good thing that Cecily brought some Vicodin with her...

The next morning, we drove back over the mountains to the Chiricahua National Monument, where the medic/ranger wrapped Cecily's humongously swollen ankle up and provided her with ice packs and an airsplint. We drove through the monument and took in the amazing views at Massai Point. Finally, we drove back through Willcox and into Benson, where we ate a huge dinner at Apple Farm restaurant, one of the best meals I've ever had. The mashed potatoes were AWESOME!!! I felt like I was going to have a food baby.

We then drove back to French Joe Canyon and camped at the same spot as our first night - but this time we started a fire (with a little help from a bit of denatured alcohol, thanks) and had smores. Yummy! The following morning, we went back to our Thanksgiving day truckstop and paid $5 each for a shower. This was the first time I've ever had a truckstop shower, and it's not nearly as dirty as it sounds. It was actually quite refreshing - I even managed to comb the emergent dread-locks out of my hair that had started to form during the past few days. Then, it was back to Phoenix to drop Cecily off at the airport, and then back to San Diego.

It was really a fun trip, all minor injuries aside. It was great being outside and getting my mind completely off of work for a few days, although I wish the trip could have been a little longer. I have more pictures that you can view through the slideshow link on the right side of my blog, and Cecily will be sending me her pictures as well, so there will probably be even more photos soon. It was a good Thanksgiving - even if there wasn't any cranberry sauce involved!

Guess How Many Green Sea Turtles I Saw?

Today was a good day, one of those warm sunny autumn days that people actually come to visit southern California for. My friend Nicole and I headed down to the marina at Chula Vista to join up with a group of sea turtle enthusiasts (which also included my friends Tamara and Kari) and kayak out into the bay in hopes of getting a glimpse at one of the elusive marine reptiles. The San Diego Natural History Museum sponsored the program, so we got to hear a local sea turtle biologist talk about the different local species of turtles and ask a few questions. And lucky for you, I took the risk of bringing my camera along with me in the kayak so that I could snap a few pictures of the turtles we would surely see.

We paddled out of the marina and headed south towards the power plant where the green turtles hang out because they like the warmer effluent water. It was just a little breezy - enough for us to keep cool but not strong enough to make paddling difficult. It was soooo relaxing bobbing around in the waves; I saw an osprey and several flocks of Brandt's geese, along with lots of other diving sea birds and jumping fish, which I think were mullet.

So while I didn't see any sea turtles, I still had a good time, except for getting two blisters on my hands where I was holding the paddle. But I didn't lose my camera, or tip my kayak, or accidentally cause anyone to bail out of their boat. So all in all, I can probably call the morning a success! Here are a few pictures to enjoy - you can see more through the slideshow link to the right.

New Study Links Early Onset Alzheimer's to Extreme Boredom

A new study, conducted by the National Senility Institute, has revealed shocking new evidence that extreme boredom may lead to the early onset of Alzheimer's disease. Under the most severe conditions, symptoms can start to show as early as age thirty in some patients. While only preliminary studies have been completed, the groundwork is set for more in-depth investigations as to the reasons why boredom can cause senility, progressing eventually to Alzheimer's disease. Brain atrophy, a common result of chronic boredom, is thought to be the primary mechanism for advances in memory loss and dementia.

Marci Karski, NSI's only study subject in the pilot studies to date, has exhibited startling signs of memory loss, a recent lack of creativity, an inability to utilize any kind of vocabulary other than rudimentary sentence formations, and a tendency to drool. "I started to worry, you know, because, like, I can't think good anymore. I used to be kinda smart and stuff," Karski lamented. Upon urging from colleagues and family, Karski decided to contact NSI for an evaluation.

Fortunately, NSI had been studying the effects of boredom on the human brain for quite some time. Preliminary investigations have revealed that extreme boredom (defined, in part, as sitting on one's ass for up to 8 hours per day in front of a desk while performing tasks that don't feel useful or fulfilling) can account for up to 75 percent of the variability exhibited by early onset dementia symptoms. Other contributing lifestyle factors may include excessive exposure to reality television, constantly whining geriatric dogs, and "not getting any". Unfortunately, Karski faces all of these risks on a daily basis, so it is difficult to isolate which of these confounding factors may be primary causes for dementia, as opposed to just a minor pain in the ass.

"I'm hopeful that the NSI will find a cure for my disease," Karski stated. "Maybe some day I'll be able to think good again, and like, do stuff. Wait - who are you again? Where am I? What the hell are you talking about?"

For further information regarding this study, or to participate in future investigations pertaining to senility and boredom, contact the NSI and use trial code "I don't want to end up like Karski" for the study reference.

And we set off two ground sensors, too!

I was fortunate enough to be able to leave the confines of my windowless cube-shaped office on Friday and escape into the Otay Mountain wilderness, just north of the US-Mexico border. A couple of us went on a tecate cypress reconnaissance mission for a monitoring program we're developing for the Thorne's hairstreak, a rare butterfly that lives in tecate cypress stands. It was a super nice day, and trekking through very dense prickly stabby vegetation left me sweaty, covered in charcoal (some of the stands we visited had burned recently), scratched, and minorly impaled. Needless to say, I was happy - I really do like being out in areas where I'm more likely to be speared by some sort of yucca plant than shot by a stray bullet (as is the case at home) or succumb to a severe case of carpel tunnel syndrome (as is the case at work).

Actually, it was kind of sketchy - we came across numerous signs of illegal immigrants who cross the border and travel through the mountains (sneaker-not boot-tracks, empty waterbottles), and the brush is so dense that you'd practically be on top of someone before you knew they were there. Luckily, we didn't run into any trouble, but we did set off at least two of the Border Patrol's ground sensors, who deployed a helicopter to investigate us on two separate occasions. And holy balls - we saw a lot of BP agents, all driving brand-new trucks. Our government spends a lot of money trying to keep people from crossing the border, but I can't see how it's really worth it. We went to take a look at the border fence - we went all the way to the end of it - and people cut through it and tunnel under it, and the feds just patch the fence and wait for them to do it again. It's just a cat and mouse game, and we keep spending the money to play. Pointless - we could be doing so much more with those dollars! Sigh...

Oh well - enjoy some pictures I took...

I spotted this burrowing owl from the road - the first one I've ever seen in the wild!

Moon setting over a ridge...

Looking southeast into Mexico...

The end of the border fence. Guess which side is Mexico!

Holy "NO MORE" Moley!

Yup, that's right, I finally got rid of THE mole. You know, the one on the bridge of my nose between my eyes. The one that was growing its own personality. The one that was going to start talking out loud any day. It has been a long time coming, let me tell you - people kept asking me, "when are you going to get rid of that thing?" And I kept putting it off - it's a part of me, of my face. I didn't even really notice it on a daily basis, looking in the mirror. BUT, when I saw photographs of myself, my eye would be immediately drawn to IT...so I knew it was time for me and my mole to part ways.

It was pretty easy, really - it didn't hurt at all, and the wound isn't *that* noticeable (or at least, not as noticeable as an organism the approximate size of an eight-week-old fetus nestled between my eyes would be). And the wound is temporary...AND, my coworkers have been kind enough not to say anything about it.

Whatever...I'm just saying.

Here are pictures of me and Nicole at the Wild Animal Park at Lorikeet Landing last weekend (pre-mole-D-Day). By the way - not too many single guys will attend "A Taste of CRES", so you can cross that off your list of ways to meet eligible single guys. Again, I'm just saying.

See that mole??? It's no longer there!!!

Look at how cute Nicole is...

Need...A...Vacation...

I've decided that I need to get away and have a little change of scenery, and take a real vacation. Not a vacation where I need to move anyone, take care of any animals, or worry about family obligations. It appears that, when I take these factors into consideration, I haven't had a real vacation since I went on a cruise to Mexico back in January 2007. Yes, 2000 and SEVEN. So I'm thinking that I'd like to do a little backpacking/camping, since it has been tooooo long since I've been outside for any length of time. And, I'm thinking that I'd like to take this trip maybe late October or early November. Which leads me to a couple of limitations I have - first, money. I need to go on the cheap. While I may have some annual leave hours in my account, I don't have a lot of money (Zoe has not been very helpful in this department lately, as my below post might have hinted at). So, camping/backpacking seems to be a good way to go, for the most part. Which leads to weather - I'm more inclined to do a desert trip, since the desert will be warmer during the day and good for trekking. And then there is the issue of me going alone - which I would love to do - but I'm not sure it's the safest option. I'm not worried about people, really, but more about car trouble, being bitten by a snake, or breaking a leg or something like that. But, I really do want to get away from any crowds and be away from people for a while.

So, I've posted a little poll for you to weigh in on what you think I should do. You can even choose more than one option! Or, if none of those options sound good and you have a better idea of what I should do, feel free to leave me a comment in response to this post. Anything to get me out of my little box, sitting in front of my little box, driving in my little box, back and forth between little boxes. I need to feel like a human being again! :oP

By the way - Zoe is doing much better, after a month of recovering from a combination of transient (hopefully) diabetes and kidney failure. These issues seemed to have stemmed from her steroids which apparently caused her to block insulin production, which ultimately resulted in her spending three nights in the kitty hospital and me delaying my hopes of paying off my credit cards for at least another few months. But I'm glad she's all better now, and hopefully will be for some time to come.

A great start to a fabulous Labor Day weekend...

Saturday:
6:07 am - wake up call from Zoe meowing and demanding food
9:30 am - phone call with friend Brenda in Minnesota, learned the meaning of the word "gitchy"
10:42 am - drive Zoe to Acacia for her monthly catupuncture session
12:24 pm - finally leave Acacia after learning that Zoe has lost 3/4 lb. (down to 5.4 lbs) and opting for a full panel blood test
1:09 pm - arrive at Joanne's to figure out what to sew for class; pick out easy pattern for a closet organizer and black fabric featuring skulls and roses
1:54 pm - scarf down a chicken pita pocket prior to sewing class
2:00 pm - sewing class starts
3:14 pm - realize that I fucked up and cut large strips of fabric only half the width they were supposed to be
3:16 pm - realize that I knew I was going to fuck up and breathe a sigh of relief that I had purchased lots of extra matching fabric
4:42 pm - leave sewing class a little early
5:00 pm - walk into apartment as vet calls, telling me that Zoe's blood sugar is extremely high and that she's definitely diabetic and that she needs to get to California Vet Specialists asap for insulin
5:42 pm - arrive at CVS with Mom and a very pissed off Zoe
8:17 pm - finally leave CVS with Mom and even more pissed off Zoe, who has had an insulin shot and been taken off her cancer meds, along with instructions to come back Sunday morning for another blood glucose check
9:08 pm - give up on finding anything good on tv, read in bed, sleep

Sunday:
7:02 am - wake up call from Zoe, feed her food she doesn't want to eat
8:17 am - take Zoe back to CVS
10:30 am - retrieve Zoe from CVS, who has been given fluids and instructions to come back again on Monday for another recheck
Current time - blog blog blog, realizing that I spent almost $600 on Zoe's medical needs in the past 24 hours

Stay tuned for more excitement!

My Pacific Northwest "Vacation"

So last week I used 40 of my hard-earned annual leave hours to fly up to Portland. I had originally planned on simply visiting my mom and brother (it was his birthday on the 19th - happy birthday, Paul!), his wife, and new daughter Adelaide. However, additional vacation duties also included helping my mom pack up her house, clean it, and drive back down to Escondido for her move back down to SoCal. I still had a good time though, even though Mom's cat, Leo, had to be put down the morning I arrived in Oregon. Leo will definitely be missed, although I don't think we could have fit him into the car for the long trip south considering that the parrot and dog took up the majority of the available space.

Other activities involved visiting two (!) REI stores, walking around Lacamas Park in Camas, initiating a corruptive influence on my beautiful and awesome niece (I bought that ABCD onsie for her when she was only a fetus!), celebrating Paul's 33rd birthday at Deschutes Brewery in downtown Portland, and spending the better portion of a day walking around the Pearl district.

Lacamas Park in Camas

Corruption Phase 1 Initiated

Packing for the trip home...

The drive back down to Escondido was fairly uneventful, and let me tell you that the landscape only gets MORE BEAUTIFUL as you travel south, leaving the lush green fresh scenery of Washington and Oregon for the shriveled brown smog-laiden traffic-scape of our urban coastal community. Sigh. And, to make things even better, Michael (Mom's parrot, severe macaw, actually) took the opportunity to fly away the evening of our arrival home. She went missing for two days, but Mom miraculously recovered her after plying her with wheat thins, peanuts, and a squeaky ball. I'm thinking that with this experience, Mom now has the know-how for earning supplemental income recovering rogue feathered pets.

Then it was back to work on Monday...it will only take another five months of work to gain those 40 hours of annual leave back, so I'd better get on that I guess.

In the Presence of Greatness at Comic-Con!

Oh my god, Comic-Con was so much fun. I was a little anxious about going, since I don't like crowds much and dealing with parking, but the whole day went off without a hitch. Nik and I were fortunate enough to purchase tickets over a month ago, and it's a good thing because the event was sold out weeks ago. My main objective was to see Lynda Barry, my all-time favorite cartoonist, and to meet Ray Bradbury, a long-time friend of Nik's. And the day was a success! I could go on and on in detail about the whole thing, but I'm sure you'd rather see the pictures than read a long ramble about all the crazy storm-trooper wannabes, the hordes of comic-crazy people, and Erik Estrada trying to dodge crowds by putting on a silver Mardi-Gras style mask. Well, too bad - I'm going to ramble about the day's events anyway.

Actually, we parked only about four blocks away, and didn't have to wait in line at all for our badges at registration. I wanted to go see Matt Groening and Katey Sagal, who were speaking in the Futurama panel first thing, and that was when we got our first experience of the long lines at Comic-Con. Amazingly, even though our line extended almost back to La Jolla, we got into the ballroom which was only about half-full. Wow! After we watched the panel discussion for a while, we headed up to Forry Ackerman's conference room (Nik used to work for him), but he wasn't there...I guess he had spoken earlier and we missed it.

Then, the highlight of my day - I trekked down to the Exhibition Hall to find Lynda Barry. Now let me tell you something. This was like finding a needle in a haystack. First, you can't see one end of the hall to the other. It is HUGE!!! And there are TONS of people there - the event was sold out at 125,000. So, it was me against 124,999 other people trying to find Lynda. The day before I had assembled my velcro-t-shirt message to say "HELP ME FIND LYNDA BARRY" but it wasn't working so great. However, after only about 30 minutes of wandering around in a sensory-overload stupor, I found myself in front of the Drawn and Quarterly booth, who published Lynda's last book. I asked the girl behind the table, "can you please tell me where Lynda Barry might be?" and she pointed over her shoulder and lo, there she was. Just sitting there! Talking with people! I finally got to approach her and gave her a copy of the 'zine that I wrote about my favorite women cartoonists (featuring Lynda, of course), and she was so happy and warm and amazing. We had a nice conversation - I can't quite remember about what, but I'm fairly sure that I just gushed about how amazing she is and what an inspiration she has been to me for nearly my entire life, and how she wrote me back when I wrote to her and I started to draw cartoons and eventually was published in a weekly paper but now I'm a biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service, so go figure. And she said that biology was where it is at, and we chatted about marine snow and cephalopods. Awesome. See - pictures! That's Lynda worshipping me, and me pretending to be bored (that was Lynda's idea, by the way).

Well, I was happy. I didn't really care what happened the rest of the day. We scarfed down a quick lunch, then made our way towards the room where there was to be a panel discussion featuring the writers of "The Office", including Rainn Wilson, who plays Dwight Schrute. The line wasn't long, so I was sure we'd get in. Psyche! The line was CRAZY long - it went down the hall, out the door, wrapped around the back open area, down a staircase towards the bay, then down another staircase, then up a staircase, then out to Escondido. I changed the message on my shirt to read "Mrs. Schrute" in hopes of increasing my chances of getting in, but alas, about halfway towards the shuffle to the room, we were informed that the panel room was at capacity and there was no way we'd get in. Oh well! So, we dashed through the autograph area where I saw Erik Estrada donning his mask and got Katey Sagal's autograph. Then Nik and I wandered around the Exhibition Hall again, which had gotten even more crowded, and I purchased a Dwight Schrute bobblehead and a "Science Bitch" t-shirt, and lost one of my tree of life earrings which I'd been wearing every day for about the last six years.

Me and Nik waiting in line for "The Office" panel, somewhere near Mira Mesa.

Me and my new boyfriend (the one in red. The guy on the left was a dork.).

This guy's sign read "Free High Fives!", which I cashed in on. However, I did not redeem the sad-looking "Free Hugs" guy's offer.

It was then time to try to find Ray Bradbury. Nik had Santiago's cell phone number (who was responsible for moving Ray around in his chair), but we weren't able to cross paths prior to Ray's speaking engagement. But, we got good seats in his spotlight lecture, and afterwards went over to say hi. Ray immediately saw Nik and gave him a warm hug hello; we then followed him with his entourage and adoring fans to the autograph area for an impromptu signing. After that, we escorted Ray through the Exhibition Hall ("step aside, Ray Bradbury coming through, move out of the way please!"), out the back through the loading dock area, to his limo. We were invited to join him for dinner, so after saying another hello to Lynda, we walked back to the car and drove over to San Fillipos' Italian restaurant near the Hillcrest area. So, it was me, Nik, Ray, Santiago, the limo driver, a bookstore owner guy and another guy eating spaghetti and chatting about books and film and Ray's influence on pop culture in general. Did you know that Ray was there at the very first Comic-con? And, he insisted that the Academy watch Schwartzenegger's first film Pumping Iron, launching him on his trajectory towards governatorship? And, he's the one who said that Rocky should end sad but, in losing the fight and winning love, it would really end happily? And the biggest message of all - it's all about love? Do what you love, do what you love. I didn't say very much because how could I? What do you say in the presence of a genius? I sometimes live by the saying that goes something like "better to stay quiet and think that you're an idiot than to open your mouth and let everyone else know it." Suffice it to say, I was just honored to be included in the group and take everything in.

Ray Bradbury and Nik, just prior to leaving in the limo for dinner.

Anyway, that's the rundown - I'll put all of my pictures online in a Picasa album that you can get to by clicking here. I hope you enjoy it! I know I did.

Stress stress stress

I know I haven't written in a while, and I'm sorry to say that I don't have anything particularly interesting to report. No pictures, either. But I've been busy, alright??? Work has been particularly chaotic - I've had to make some BIG decisions concerning my job, but I finally got my promotion so money will not be an issue. Basically, I was offered a position as the Recovery Branch Chief, and I went back and forth for a couple of weeks trying to decide whether or not to take it. In the end I decided to decline the offer; mostly, I feel like I still need to spend some time in the trenches, and one of the things I like most about my job is seeing the results of my work fairly quickly and concretely. For example, there are projects that I've worked on that have ended up having more habitat conserved partly as a result of my efforts. And I like that. So, that's pretty much what it came down to, among a few other factors.

I've also been looking for a new place to live. I want to move to Carlsbad or Oceanside to be closer to work and friends, and to get away from the heat of Infernodido. Rent is a little higher on the coast, but with the way gas prices are going, I'll probably spend less money just having a shorter commute. But, looking for apartments is one of my VERY LEAST FAVORITE things to do, and I have very limited tolerance for trying to get in touch with potential landlords and viewing crapholes. So, if anyone knows of a really great place that takes dogs and cats and is big and cheap and requires no security deposit and has a great view of the ocean and a complimentary on-call masseur, please let me know.

Sound good? Hope you're all doing great and are having a fantastic summer!

Babies Babies Everywhere Babies

Wow, you people are reproducing machines! It seems like all of my friends and relatives are having first-time babies in the past few months. I feel like a reproductive failure in comparison! But not really - I'm glad that someone else is doing all that pushing and Lamazing and C-sectioning, rather than me. Here's the short list of the latest batch of critters that are new to the world:

- Autumn Laura Monroe, born January 10 to my friends Jeremy and Dana
- Rhoan Morgan Alexander, born January 15 to my friends Ben and Jen
- Raimi Anne Juncal, born April 28 to my cousin Beth and her husband OB
- Adelaide Helen Koski, born May 22 to my brother Paul and his wife Anne
- Lucas William Craig, also born May 22 to my friends Kristi and Adam

So congratulations, all! Just remember, you only need to have one more in order to replace yourselves in the next generation. I know the babies are cute and everything (especially my new niece), but let's not get crazy!

It's the story...of a girl named Marci...

I can't believe that I'm 34 years old and I have never met a celebrity...before today. Yup, that's right, I spent the afternoon hob-nobbing with the celebs when I went to Agua Hedionda Lagoon's First Annual Celebrity Fishing Tournament! The main reason I went was to support the cause of protecting the lagoon, of course, but the other main reason I went was to meet Christopher Knight, a.k.a. Peter Brady. He was so nice! And he even remembered my name after a couple of hours of meeting other weirdos like me...actually, all the celebrities there were pretty nice. Hmmm...let's see...who else did I meet? Adrianne Curry was there (who is married to Chris Knight and won the first season of America's Next Top Model), but I won't be posting the photo that was taken of me and her together because me standing next to a supermodel is hard for me to look at. Also attending was Brett Cullen (who plays Goodwin on Lost), Christopher Atkins (who was the boy/man in The Blue Lagoon), and Marc McClure (who played Jimmy Olson in all of the Superman movies). There were other people there too - soap stars, mostly, that I didn't recognize. Anyway, it was pretty fun and I'm glad that I finally got to meet one of the stars of my all-time favorite TV shows. He even signed my program! Woo hoo!!!

Happy Birthday, Teddy Bear!

May 12, 2008 marks Teddy Bear's birthday, and he'll be 15 years old. At this rate, I think he's planning on living at least another 15 years, just to torture me. Happy birthday, my geriatric puppy!

It's not all about birds and butterflies...

It's also brodiaea season! Brodiaea filifolia, or thread-leaved brodiaea, is one of the several endangered species that I work with in my turf. It was a nice rainy winter, so the brodiaea is up and blooming. Some years it doesn't bloom at all, so it's always cool when the purple flowers open up and you can see where the populations are. These pictures were taken Monday, when I went to see one of the largest populations left in Carlsbad, on the La Costa Greens preserve. Enjoy!

We also saw tons of ground spiders. They usually hide down in the hole when they see you coming, but this bad-ass came up to see what I was doing as I snapped a few pictures of him.

Also, a couple of days ago I finally got my first view of El Salto Falls, on Buena Vista Creek in Carlsbad. It's a wonderful waterfall (very rare in the area) that has about a 40-foot drop. Native Americans have been visiting the falls for about 9000 years, and it's on their list of sacred places; you can't access the falls, but if you park at the northwestern corner of the Kohl's parking lot off of Marron Road, peek over the fence and you'll have a great view. Very cool!

A Rare Peek at Me in My Service Uniform!

Wow, I almost forgot to post about this - I guess that goes to show how far down blogging has been on my list lately! But I thought you'd enjoy a quick look at me in my VERY UNFLATTERING Fish and Wildlife Service official uniform. I ordered the cargo-style pants, thinking that they'd at least be more stylish than the women's regular pants that tend to gather up near my boobs and taper towards the ankle. However, I did not realize that the cargo pants are actually made of cardboard. And I checked the label on my shirt - 10% polyester, 90% potato sack burlap. So I was itchy and scratchy and very hot the entire day!

Oh yeah - where was I??? A couple of weeks ago I volunteered to help out with the Junior Duck Stamp contest at the San Diego Zoo. Which was cool, because this is the first year in the 20-some year history that the contest was held outside of Washington D.C. It's like the regular duck stamp contest, but school kids (hence the Junior designation) submit paintings for the stamp. And I must say, many of the entries (one from each state) were AMAZING. I couldn't believe that these were done by kids - it almost made me want to paint again! You can read more about the contest and see the winning painting here; the money from purchasing a duck stamp goes to conservation, so pony up, people.

During the contest I got to be a Vanna - that is, I paraded one of the top five finalists in front of the audience and judges. I believe the painting I was holding came in 2nd (probably because of my excellent presentation). But enough talk - we all know that a picture is worth a thousand words!

The judges, reviewing the top 10 entries.

Go Vanna, Go!

These are actual ducks, not a painting, that were clamouring around the polar bear exhibit.

The Aftermath

Ok, so I just added several blog entries about my dad and stepmom's visit to see me in San Diego. But they are listed in reverse order, so you have to scroll down a few entries and read up. If you haven't read them already, do so now.

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Are you done? Good. So the results were: 1) I had a great time while the folks were here, and really enjoyed seeing them and most of San Diego county; and 2) I got dreadfully sick with an evil virus the day after they left. I wasn't feeling too good before they arrived, but Thursday night I had a fever, and I left work early on Friday. I spent all of Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday on the couch watching daytime TV. I didn't think I could get sick of that, but did I ever. The quality of daytime programming has really gone downhill - too much Tyra, not enough CHiPs. But to be fair, can there ever be enough 1970's Eric Estrada in highway patrol uniform garb? Maybe so. But I digress. I'm feeling better today, but decided to stay home to recoup a little more and get some real rest (and blog). Pictured below are my new best friends from the past few days:

Oh, and if you're sick and haven't tried them - Puffs Plus with Vicks is the best. Kleenex with lotion and menthol scent? Woo hoo!!!

Three and a half days of sick leave: 14 weeks of work to make up for it (for real, since I earn four hours of sick leave for every two weeks worked).
Getting reimbursed for my doctor's visit copay and all the medicine I bought with my Flexible Spending Account: Priceless (actually, it sums to $50.50, but who's counting?).

Dad and Mom's Visit to San Diego, Days 4-5

Like I said previously, my dad and stepmom timed their trip to San Diego perfectly. Just after the rainy season and before the heat, that is! It's a perfect time to head out to the desert, so that's what we did. We even took Teddy Bear, who loves the desert, but who does not like riding in cars because it makes him nervous (where are we going? the vet? the groomer? oh no...whine whine whine...). We made a big loop going north and east on 76 out to Anza Borrego Desert State Park, where we toured the visitor's center and had lunch at Borrego Springs' only Western BBQ / Chinese restaurant. I had sesame chicken, and the folks had burgers (I think). After that, we drove out to see the wildflowers, which were spectacular, north of town and then south in Little Surprise Canyon. Click HERE to see all of my desert pictures. We had to go back to town to pick up some guide books that I put down on a bench and forgot, but I was lucky that they were still there when I remembered about them. Either the people in Borrego Springs are nice honest people, or they have no interest in San Diego native plants and southwestern dragonflies. I think it's probably the former. Anyway, we drove back through Julian on 78, stopping by the Julian Apple Pie Company for warm apple pie and ice cream. Yum!

To make things easy, I ordered a pizza for dinner, and we spent the evening chowing our pie and watching Aliens in a pooped-out daze. The next day, I had to take the parents to the airport, but we drove to Old Town San Diego (near the Presidio) for brunch at a really nice little Mexican place, El Fandango. I ordered the huevos rancheros, but I think Dad won with the chorizo. Fresh tortillas! Home-made salsa! Champagne! Dad asked for mimosas, but I don't think the waiter understood, so he brought us a separate glass of fresh-squeezed oj, which mostly ended up spilled all over the table. Honestly, I can't take these guys anywhere!

But really, I had a very good time and was so happy that Dad and Mom came to visit me. It was nice to spend one-on-one time with them, and I hope that we got to know each other a little more. I think they enjoyed their visit too, and returning home to flooding in St. Louis probably was not too fun, compared to the warm sunshine of SoCal. Man, I really am getting spoiled here, I guess.