Love the Ocean - Ocearch.org and Hertz 52 Whale Kickstarter

Here we are, well into Lent, and I am finally doing my first Org post. And this is way off track of my normal ones, but interesting all the same especially if you love all things ocean like I do.

Yesterday AM Nim and I spent some quality time in SVS (pet emergency) before I even got to work. He kept his little eyes closed like this unless it behooved him to see what was going on. He has a superficial cornea ulcer in one eye and apparently sympathy pain in the other? I don't know. All I know is that for something that shows no outward injury this has been one of the more frustrating dog injuries I have dealt with.

Today's Org post is a different one! One site isn't even a charitable organization, but I am so intrigued by the potential research, I figured why not mention it.

"52 Hertz" Whale Kickstarter
This is probably the first Kickstarter I have paid considerable attention to. While I am not a huge fan of the "Loneliest Whale" PR angle (not to mention humans have proven we are not particularly good at being friends to whales), I am however interested in any research that might come out of this project that might serve to further understand human impact and protect whales. Not only that...what if it is not even a whale?! This story has been all over the news this week which is the first time I heard of the "52 Hertz" whale, but he has been studied for awhile.

Ocearch.org
I can spend hours on this site and I have. I love the photos, migration stories, and the descriptions. I wish we didn't have to tag animals, but I clearly benefit from and enjoy the education this organization provides. It is sad when they go to recover a tag from a shark that has been hunted, but they also seemed to handle it respectfully and use the information as part of the larger picture for great white shark conservation.

Oceach.org describes themselves as "the leader is open source research" and I truly admire them for successfully presenting to the non-scientist such as myself, while also supporting grade school level education and PhD level research. They had really embraced social media and they keep their content current, complete, and available.

You will spend hours on the site...you have been warned. 

Enjoy!

Stove

Someone is getting their way and it is not Leela. Almost Friday!

Ash Wednesday

Peace

Fat Tuesday

It is Fat Tuesday! Lent is upon us.

Eat pancakes!

Emile was slightly horrified.

He waited for Nim to eat those pancakes up so he could get his little orange head in there for the good stuff. Cats.

Have a great Fat Tuesday.

Friday the 13th - in which I turn 42 - Duh! Duh!

I love when my birthday falls on Friday the 13th. It is such a loaded day of superstition...what could go wrong right?

Nim and I are planning to teach a class on how to take a selfie. I think we have it down.

Thursday morning I woke up and realized that I really REALLY needed to take a vacation day for my birthday so I put in for vacation for today. I will working my tax job tonight, but not my other accounting job. I could hardly sleep I was so excited to get out and hike today.

I wanted a bit of sun so I wanted until 6:30am (sadly I was up at 5am) to hit the trail. We are in this freakish warm winter. The local ski area has completely given up even trying to have runs open it is so warm. This weather is perfect for a 42 year old hiking starved girl and her dog.

Nim talked about his feelings for about the first 30 minutes of the trail. He wanted all the birds to know that he was back. 

Every year or so I think taking a selfie is a good idea (taken with my dog of course because I am not selfie material). Since it is my birthday, I leave you with a series of selfie attempts. Let's face it, the best one is at the start of this blog.

(Actually one of the best selfies I have ever seen was my sister's friend and her Frenchie. I will have to see if I can get that one on the blog. It was a classic.)

Without further ado, on this beautiful Friday the 13th, selfies courtesy of Nim:

At least his tongue is relatively back in his mouth.

He thinks he hears a bird.

OK, he agrees to look at the camera. :)

Broken Cars, Job Changes, and Valentines

Happy Tuesday! I am happy because it is one day closer to Thursday actually.

My Jeep is still in the shop. It ran for 20 fabulous minutes last Friday before I had to have it towed again. As luck would have it that was also the first day of my seasonal tax work job, which I was then late for.

Thanks to my sister and my parents we sent the Jeep packing on the tow truck and Nim and I were back in my parent's spare truck.

My morning commute look like this now:

Notice he has the entire darn bench seat and yet he pulls this melodrama right in the middle. It suits his people watching and he can lean on my body for leverage.

I am in the process of changing the full-time job arrangement to part-time so these commutes will be ending. I am ramping up a full-time tax job at the same time. We are pooped.

I can tell my coping skills are low. I had a very tense conversation with a doctor's assistant today that wondered how I could have three jobs and no health insurance (ends this month until I can figure something else out).

Sunday I busted out the Valentine's Day dog bandana. You can tell Nim is thrilled about it. :)

February is Here!

I am kind of glad to be leaving January. It wasn't one of my better Januarys. Maybe now the new year with new things can actually happen as we are into February.

Although for my first day of February, the car "died." Darn that thing. I swear that car has a 6th sense for every time I really need it to rally, like when I think I am going to be adding a bunch of seasonal tax work.

This time it was the radiator, hoses, and thermostat. Not only did it die on a Sunday, but it died on a Superbowl Sunday. Even Firestone (my own Sunday option as I limped off the freeway overheating was closing early for the game).

While my car is being work on, Nim has to settle with riding in my parent's truck which is always much melodrama as he doesn't have his system for where his head and behind goes.

In other news, Lent is coming! Regular readers know I love Lent and Easter. Even if apparently I cannot give up things like chocolate and peanut butter. I hope this year to feature charities again. I love doing that. Especially when I find someone new.

Have a great evening.