Visit the kelpforest....

(posted @ Tumblr, copied here)

So, somewhere on one of these silly sites, probably FB, I commented as a part of contest entry a month or two ago. I think I signed up for a book reviews newsletter. And then I promptly forgot about it.

Last week I got an email saying I'd won and asking for my address; a shiny new copy of Neil Gaiman's Ocean at the End of the Lane. Which was a bright spot in an otherwise sucky day; something I'd been sort expecting to happen, happened, although expecting it hadn't made it any more pleasant.

I'd wanted to go to one of his signings but alas, couldn't afford tickets at the time, so this was a very happy alternative. When I got home from work last night, oldest fry burst out the front door calling, "You've got a package!" and handed me a bubble-wrap envelope. After taking it inside and setting my things down, I peeled it open and pulled out the contents.

It was The Book. And not only the book, it was Signed!

Wow. I wasn't expecting that. In green ink on the frontspiece. Actually touched by neilhimself.

I'm not usually given to overt fangirling, but I may have rubbed my hands together a little and performed a little Sheldon Cooper-like "eheheh, there are probably some skin cells still on the paper, I could make a clone!" to the chagrin of my offspring, who immediately chatised me. Ah well, I may be a biologist, but not with anywhere near that kind of expertise. ;p

The graveyard-working spouse requsted an extra few minutes of sleep after his wakeup call, so I read a bit while waiting. Dammit, Neil, you made me mist up in the second chapter. Something very similar happened to me at about the same age. Though a lot of things that happened then are foggy, that memory is very sharp and It still aches badly.

Then I had to rewake spouse, cobble together some dinner and try to watch promised Dr. Who on Netflix with middle fry, but couldn't get the Nook to work. Dug through my change to provide oldest fry with enough lunch money for a field trip to the Science Center to see Endeavor today. Forget to give him the little camera. Dammit.

I keep coming across his "make good art" speech, and I keep thinking I should try to do more of that. More doodle than art and not so much good, but I do enjoy it when I do it. My kids are always working on something, and I seem to be forgetting how to do that. I always carry around a notebook and pencils - I need to start pulling them out more often. Things are going to be tougher soon, and it's probably a better way of responding than I have been.

Thanks, for writers, whether of books or of fanfics or screenplays, makers of funny, and artists serious and fannish, and composers of music and all the creative people here and elsewhere for sharing yourselves. It makes it a little bit easier for all of us to get through some tough times.

runsamuck went and picked up my new reading glasses from the optometrist the other day. I've finally gotten to that age - a few years later than average, luckily - where I need different lenses for distance and close-up; I've started to have to hold my phone (which I keep on fairly small type in the hopes that it'll discourage others from reading over my shoulder) farther and farther away. Dr. Hiro and I talked about whether I really needed bifocals, which I understand are pain to get used to, and maybe more trouble than they're worth, or just a pair of reading glasses. runsamuck likes his bifocals, but I decided on the latter.

And yes they're very nice for reading - letters nice and sharp and black, with very crisp edges. Now that I'm here at work looking at my monitor, I'm not so sure though. It's a little farther away than a book, and if I lean back in my chair at all things start getting blurry.

On a little switching back and forth with both pairs, it seems the new ones are definitely better for books, but maybe not so much for the computer screen. And I find I'm not thrilled with having to change them every time I get up, so more than four feet away from me isn't out of focus. Maybe I should have gone with the bifocals. Ah well, they're all ready paid for, so I guess I'll be ok with them until next year.


_________
* No, not The Piña Colada Song. It's Nearsighted, off the same album. Kind of corny, but I always liked it.

Roomie's Teacher@Sea log: http://teacheratsea.noaa.gov/2007/eubanks/pdf/eubanks_log5.pdf

After steaming all night (I could tell by the motion of the ship while in my bunk) we arrived this morning at Tanner Bank, about 60 miles southwest of Catalina Island. Up early and this time I got to snap the gangions with their baited hooks onto the line as it went out. When pulled it had the most sharks yet; mostly blues, although some were huge, more than 2 meters. It was pretty cloudy in the morning and I was thinking it wouldn't clear, but it finally did. Chilly and windy, and good-sized swell running.

Before the afternoon set, the crew took some time to catch rockfish - someone at the SWFSC is doing a rockfish genetic study. Apparently, they believe they've found a new species of vermilion rockfish; it looks almost identical to the coastal vermilion that lives in kelpbeds, however, this one is located offshore in much deeper water. They're tentatively calling it a "sunset rockfish" because its coloring is slightly more red-orange-yellow. While the second longline set for the day was being made, I helped measure all the fish before DNA samples were taken and then they were frozen.







I unsnapped for the second set, which again beat the record for the most sharks caught. Most of these were little baby blues; they looked like they had just been pupped.


Measuring and tagging a small blue shark.

The news has been full of ComiCon, opening today - I never realized it's such a big deal to the city of San Diego. VT emailed that she's indoctrinating her 1-year-old early - she and her husband are going Friday, and my boss told me awhile ago he was taking his son. Several people asked if I'd been yet - but no, I'd like to, but something always seems to come up. There's also some major youth soccer tournament with attendees from all over the world, and horse racing is happening at Del Mar, so traffic downtown is apparently horrible, and there isn't a hotel room to be had - I heard someone mention people were staying as far away as Riverside and commuting. Oh, and American Idol's only West Coast auditions are being held here this weekend, too. Locals are apparently not happy.


Chief Scientist enters data after dinner...

After dinner, I was reading Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell on the mess deck while simultaneously getting sucked into Gray's Anatomy (the Jordan has Dish Network), which I didn't plan to watch but it sucked me in. I don't usually watch it, but the main character was having some sort of near death/afterlife experience, which always fascinates me. Apparently, everyone else went to the crew lounge and watched Borat, but I guess I'll catch it later. I also must have been tireder than I thought, because before Gray's came on, I thought I was reading, but then I would open my eyes and find my nose about an inch from the book. I hope I wasn't snoring.

As for the book, I swore I would finish it before reading Harry Potter - it's been a little slow-moving and the author writes in the style of the time that the story takes place in - early 19th century. It takes a bit of getting used to, especially if putting it down and reading something else for awhile. This last volume of it is speeding up a bit, so maybe it'll be exciting yet. It turns out I wasn't the only one who brought HP, though. One of the NMFS biologists did as well; finished it within the first couple of days and loaned it to the biologist from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They're both saying they both like it the best so far out of all seven. No, must be good and finish the other first, since it's my book groups pick for after I get back. Interestingly enough, I've had a couple of people inquire as to how it was, and they had been thinking of reading it too. I hadn't heard of it until my book group picked it, but I guess it was on the NYT bestseller list for awhile.

Finally gave up and went to sleep; oh, whatever possessed me to pick the top bunk? It's fine while I'm in bed, but getting in and out, I feel rather creaky. Especially when I wake up and have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night...

	DFG Block	Lat:	Long:	Mako	Blue	Pelagic Stingray
Morning set *:	872	32.782°N	119.263°W	2	8	0
Afternoon set :	871	32.707°N	119.04°W	1	13	0

*Blue and Mako satellite tagged

One of the things that excited me about my iPod was the fact that I could put text files on it, and I thought I could use it to read things on the bus. I was very disappointed to find that yes, I can put all the text files I want on it; however, if you try to read them, it truncates after about a page and a half. The cut-off was about 4-5K. I actually took a file and divided it up into 5K bits - which worked, but it was a pain in the ass to do, and to have to change files so often when reading. So I gave that up as a bust.

Then a few months ago, I was looking for a recording device I could keep with me and pull out to record some of my dad's crazy stories when he starts them. And I found this thingy at Fry's, among the small mp3 players. It's a bit thicker than a Nano but not as tall, with the same amount of memory. And I was pleasantly surprised to see that this little gadget does more stuff than the 'pod. Plays music, records, FM radio (WHY does iPOD not have this?!), plays back recordings, photos, and video! Granted, the screen is tiny and and the resolution is not great, but whaddya expect for something less than a third of the price. Also the MP4 on the front is misleading - it's part of the brand name. It does not play mp4s directly; you have to convert them to .avi format with the included software, and because the screen is square instead of rectangular, photos and video get trimmed a bit on the sides. But I didn't buy it for that, so that doesn't bother me so much. The buttons are not all that intuitive and sometimes do unexpected things. However, I was thrilled to find that text files are not truncated on this thing - or at least it'll accept a much larger text file before doing so. I found the cut-off is about 64kb - enough for a good sized chunk of text. I downloaded a fanfic to read on my commute and found that I only had to divide up a few, very long, chapters, and then only into two chunks. The screen does divide up words in odd places, but I've gotten used to it pretty easily.

Yes, I suppose I could have gotten a different gadget specifically for reading, but it would probably be bigger and a lot more expensive. I just hope I don't wear out the scroll button too fast.

(The following bit of fluffy insanity was written several months ago after an Inuyasha movie marathon and waaay too much coffee.  Forgive me.) 


Indulge me if I go off on some Inuyasha musings. Inuyasha, being an anime series about a modern-day girl who falls down a well to find herself in feudal Japan and the companion of a long-haired boy who, strangely enough, has dog ears (go here, for the unfamiliar curious). This post is not about the girl.

Yeah, I know, I keep hearing it's a tired series, it's gone on too long, it's repeating itself, the ending of the anime is frustrating (the story is supposed to continue in the manga).  I actually missed quite a few of the last airings because I never remembered when it was on, and frankly one fight with an evil demon is much the same as another (and does anyone else besides me feel faintly embarassed that every anime character has to scream out really silly attack names during a fight?).  However, it generates some wonderful fanart, and just recently a couple of wonderfully written stories by a fanfiction author who calls herself "Resmiranda" have made it difficult for me to get "stupid, stupid, pretty hair" out of my head recently (although perhaps that's a topic for another post).  The airing of the third movie on CN didn't help much either.  Entirely too little of their father in it, dammit.

 Anyhow...

( Pondering # 1: Demon toughness... )

( Pondering #2: Dogs...all-powerful? )

( Pondering #3: Does Sesshomaru smell doggy? )

( Pondering #4: The color of his stripes...or placement, rather... )

( Pondering #5: Hybrid vigor...or not... )

0__o

;)

XD

Cripes. I've read more in the last few months than in the previous year. Books recently for the list:

(these are mostly science fiction and fantasy, so if that's not your speed, just skip....)

( The Amber Spyglass )

( Holes )

( American Gods )

( The Other Wind )

( The Eyre Affair )

( Wicked )

( The Rover )

( Idoru )

( K-PAX )

In progress:

( Angelica )

( Exile's Honor )

I must have started this two months ago, and kept finishing the books before I finished the stupid post.

I've never actually kept track of this, but now that I've started taking the bus I have a bit more time for reading, and I'd like to get an idea of how many I read in a year. Possibly I can get caught up on Mount TBR (doubtful, as one or two new additions appear before I'm done with one, but hey, we can hope)! I'm going to try and get caught up on some of my book group's books that I missed, as well as the current one. This should be good for both the used bookstore and BookCrossing.com. :D I'll just refer back and continue to update this...

1. Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince - J.K. Rowling. Technically 2005 since I read it while I was off after Christmas, but since it's in my current spate of reading I'll include it here. ( review... )

2. Blind Lake - Robert Charles Wilson. Loaned to me by Deb, our book group's fearless leader. ( review... )

3. Red Thunder - John Varley Book group selection for September, which I only just now got to. ( review... )

4. The Amber Spyglass - Phillip Pullman. Final book of the His Dark Materials trilogy. In progress. I think when I finish this one I may have to update what I wrote about this triology concerning angels awhile ago.

If you're a member of Pharyngula, you can just scroll on past this entry.

For those who aren't, this is an absolutely lovely bit of science writing, on par with Rachel Carson or the Carls (Sagan or Safina), in my humble opinion.

Oh, and an ode to sea hares. I love sea hares. Look, they're in my interest list No, they're not - nudibranchs, but not opisthobranchs....how'd I miss that?

A few weeks ago, DP found a juvenile squid in a load of Loligo, and managed to get it to someone at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History who specializes in squid. She finally heard back from him today (after some prodding), with an ID: it was a juvenile Moroteuthis robusta, a robust clubhook squid, and especially interesting because there were none in their collection that were that small - the mantle of this one was only about three inches long, and these guys have been found washed up on the shore up to 9 feet long. If I could only find my pictures from when I was a foreign fisheries observer - I think this must be the three foot squid we used to get in hake trawls, as one of the descriptions says something about longitudinal ridges on the mantle.

I was trying to find some pictures of a live one, by Googling the scientific name, and imagine my suprise when this little story popped up.

boys! grow giant squid in your bathtubs!

megthelegend,you should recognize the site as you pointed me there first. I spent a few happy hours there when LJ broke down completely a couple of months ago. I have no idea what Bruno and Boots is, but a delightful, slightly slashy story nonetheless.