I got the job at the zoo!!! It isn't working with animals or anything like that - but it will still allow me to get some type of experience working at the zoo. A guy at my church named Don works at the zoo currently and said you have to do the start in the mailroom type of stuff to get experience.
I just gave notice to my current boss this morning. He seemed pretty indifferent about it. Which, yet again, shows that he doesn't appreciate any of the stuff I do at my current job. Oh well. Doesn't matter now because I'm moving on. Yay for me.
Yesterday we went on a field trip. I haven't been on a field trip in years. It was for the Geography of Great Lake Eerie class that Andy and I are taking together over intercession (the time between spring and fall semester). It is a three day class and each day we go to different parts of Lake Eerie.
The first day was pretty good. We went to the Inland Seas Maritime Museum in Vermillion, OH. They weren't ready for us when we got there so we went down to the shore and had a little lecture about the shorelines. While on the banks of Lake Eerie we saw a few dead fish and a dead Sea Gull. Kind of sad, but it does happen. We also saw some Zebra Mussels which are a non-native invasive species to the Great Lakes.
When they were ready for us we went to the museum. It was interesting enough. Our tour guide, the museum's director, was a bit long-winded and we ended up running over our time and had to cut our lunch break short. While we were there we learned about ship building, ship wrecks and battles on the Great Lakes - of course, focusing on Lake Eerie. And Andy got to ring a huge bell which made him very happy.
After the maritime museum we went to the town of Huron to have lunch. Our choices were limited since the only things there were McDonalds, Subway, some local deli, or Burger King. We went to Burger King because it is the most vegetarian friendly of all of the choices listed. (Yes, you can get a veggie sub at Subway, but neither of us enjoy a sub made with just lettuce, peppers and some tomatoes.) Burger King has a veggie burger and a bunch of sides that are vegetarian - none of which are very healthy, of course. We're definitely brown bagging it next time.
Our next stop was the Old Woman Creek National Estuarial Nature Reserve. Here we went on a little hike to see the different plant life growing along the trail and to talk about the estuary (which is the part of a river that meets the sea and the waters mix together - sea does not have to be salt water). There are two nesting Bald Eagles that live there, but we didn't get to see them. Bummer. When we went back to the main building we had a little presentation on estuaries and how to save them. After the presentation they set out some free stuff for us to take. I took a little rubber bracelet that says "wild ohio" on it, some temporary tattoos of local birds and fish, the entire set (24) of Ohio fish trading cards(!!!), and some booklets that told about Ohio's fish, butterflies/moths, amphibians and reptiles. Very nice collection of free stuff.
I also saw on their calendar that they are having a thing next Saturday where they will be hiking 2 miles to find salamanders to tag! If next weekend wasn't so busy (parents visiting and dog adoption fair for Rose's Rescue) then I would so be there. I would also have Amy go with me because we would have fun and I know she would love it too. Maybe next year?
The next stop on our trip was the Sandusky Fish Research Unit - Division of Wildlife. It is a place where they study the local fish and keep track of them. They do things like radio transmitters on fish and they do some catch (but no release) to study how the fish are doing and what they are eating. Through their research they set limits on what type and how many fish a person or business can catch. It was pretty interesting really.
After that we packed up and headed home. Pretty good day.
I have an interview at the zoo! They called at the end of last week to set it up for this Tuesday (tomorrow). I'm really excited about it. I have been planning a career working in a zoo for years. A guy at my church, Don, currently works at the zoo. He put in a good word for me. He also told me that you have to start at the bottom and work your way up if you want to work with the animals. Not only do they want someone with a degree (which I'm slowly but surely working on) but they also want someone with experience. So, I'm interviewing for a job in the gift shop. I have a lof ot experience in retail and it should be a good fit for me. It is only for the summer, which for the zoo runs until the end of September. Of course, this will mean lots of days with a bunch of kids on field trips, but that is alright. If it helps me in any way to get some experience I'm all for it. And, if I do well, I will have a better chance of working there next summer as well.
Andy has said that in the fall I could possibly not have to work and just go to school. I haven't done that since high school! Right now I'm only taking two classes per semester because that is all I can really do with working 40hrs a week as well. I will be the first to say that people who work full time and go to school full time are awesome. I just know that I, personally, could not do well enough in school if I were going to school full time and working full time. Even though I may not have to work at all I may look into getting a job 2 or 3 days a week on campus or something like that. Or, if our financial situation will really allow it (we think it will) then I might try to do an internship at the zoo which would definitely give me more experience and focus more on the animals and the behind-the-scenes stuff.
In other news, we had an eventful weekend:
On Saturday we kind of went on a spending spree because Andy got a reimbursment check from going to San Francisco. We needed quite a few things since we've been holding off until some money came. We needed dog food, cat food, bird food, all kinds of light bulbs (got the energy efficient kind that last for 7 years), a weed eater (ours is broken and our landlord said we could buy one and he would take the price off of our rent), and gas for the lawn mower and weed eater.
Saturday night we went to the drive-in. It was our last weekend borrowing the van from the family at church, so we decided to take out all of the seats, put in coach cushions, a blanket and pillows and camp out to watch the movies. We also took Charley who loves to go and hang out at the drive-in (at least he seems to!). At the local drive-in it is $16.00 per car (which is still cheaper than the two of us going to the local regular theatre) which includes two movies. We saw Spiderman 3 and the first 45 minutes of Ghost Rider. Spiderman 3 was good but not as good as the others. They, of course, left it open to yet another sequel. I really gave Ghost Rider a chance but it was a poorly done movie with some really bad acting. Good luck another time Nicholas Cage.
On Sunday we woke up to a room full of eaten electric cords. Luckily none of them were plugged in when Kody, our newest addition, decided to teethe (sp?) on them. He killed our TV by chewing off the end of the power cord and also chewed up some connectors. It really isn't all his fault though. He is a 6 month old puppy in a room with no toys to chew on. While he should know better, I can't stay too mad at him for it. He was just being a puppy and puppies can be evil little beings.
Later Sunday afternoon we decided to take Charley and Kody to go swimming or wading. Charley loves to swim and Kody, as far as we know, has never been in water except for a bath tub. A lady I talked to at the dog park last week told us about a little park close by that isn't usually busy and has a little lake where she takes her dog swimming. We couldn't decide to go there or to our regular place (which is a little creek in a local park). We decided to go to the local one we knew. Unfortunately all the parking spots next to the creek had been taken and we couldn't find anywhere else even remotely close to park. So, we decided to try and find the park the lady had told us about.
We finally, due to Andy's great navigation skills, found the little park. When we got to the lake, which was nice and far from the road, we discovered that there was a little league game going on. Charley was too interested in the people across the little lake so we decided not to let him off the leash there for fear he might swim across and try to play fetch with the game ball. So we decided to try the local creek again, where we found one open parking space. I slipped on my aqua socks (which Andy reminded me were only cool in the early to mid 90s but I think are very practical for wading) and we took the dogs for their first swim of the season. Kody wasn't sure about the water at first. It wasn't until after Andy through him in that he decided he liked it. Charley got to go off leash (since it is away from the road and hiking trails) while Kody had to stay on the extended 16ft leash because we can't trust him yet. They both were soaked, gritty with sediment, tired and very very happy when we left. We took some pictures. I'll post them later.
Other than that I really don't have anything going on. Things are really slow at work and this week is finals week. Of course, that doesn't matter too much because I am taking classes over the summer too.
It has been a long time since I have updated my blog. Not that anyone reads it anyways, so I'm sure no one will mind.
What has happened in the past 6 weeks?
Well, we did end up getting all the cars fixed, a nice little dryer off of ebay, and we got a great new vacuum. The garbage disposal is still broken, but we'll deal with that soon enough. At least things are generally working in our house and that is comforting.
The biggest thing is that Andy and I went to San Francisco a couple of weeks ago by train. We went because Andy had an AAG (Association of American Geographers) conference and because we just wanted an excuse to go to SF. You can read our travel blog and see pictures of the trip at twotravellers.theshears.com . I must warn anyone who reads it that the blog is really long. No, really, it is ridiculously long. Andy wrote most of it, and I must say that, he did a great job at logging all of the goings-on.
The other big thing is that we adopted another dog. Yes, we officially have four dogs. I know that we're insane, and a little scary to say/type out loud, but that is okay. I think people that have four or more children have to be a little nuts - so, yeah.... Our newest addition, Kody, is a 6 month old Boxer/Terrier Mix (like his big brother Charley). He is amazingly smart (and cute) and already knows our routine and many commands including sit, stay, speak, shake, down and drop-it. He is also almost completely house trained. He is going to be a smart little guy like Charley. He gets along famously with the other three and brings out the puppy in all of them.
Other than that we have mostly been working and going to school. Andy is finishing up his last semester of classes. I am just taking whatever I'm able to, which amounts to two classes per semester, which is better than nothing. After this semester Andy will be teaching a class over the summer and taking two (one of which we're taking together). Then, in the fall he will be teaching one class and then working solely on his dissertation and other original research. If everything goes according to plan he will have his PhD by next summer. I'm so proud of him! I can't imagine getting my PhD. He makes it look so easy (when I know, for a fact, that is an amazing amount of work) because he is so blessed academically. Things just seem to come easily to him and he can remember the smallest details and facts. Crazy boy!