Friday, July 27, 2007

Grades

I haven't bored you to death with my grades at all this term, have I? Well we can't have that.

Government 2302
Exam 1 84%
Exam 2 88%
This is a bit dissapointing, because I had an A in 2301 with only a little reading. Of course I did the reading during class while Worthless Professor droned on about pie charts. Bleh. So maybe I should open the book.

Chemistry 1412/Lab
Exam 1 89% (79% + 10 pt makeup)
Exam 2 100% (98% + 2 pt makeup)
Exam 3 90%
We just took #3 today, which seemed as easy as #2. She already posted the grade. Of course I can get the 10 point makeup by re-working the problems I missed. With homework (but not Labs) factored in, I have a 95% overall. Wow. I got a B in 1411, so I'm glad for the improvement.

Oh Looky! Since several people are already done with Labs, its showing the class average as 90%. Thats a good sign. I'm almost done with the lab. Hopefully I can finish the Salt analysis early on Tuesday and that will be it. I love that its At Your Own Pace, so my afternoons will be free again until Fall.

Colorful

Rigel is such a colorful parrot. There's green, blue, red, maroon, grey, and a little tan. Oh, and then there's the orange bottom of his left foot. Apparently he really likes the yellow and red bell pepper pieces in his salad, and he is learning to use his foot to hold things up to his beak.

He's not alone in discoloring himself. I spilled a few drops of a silver reagent on my fingers yesterday, so now it looks like I don't know proper bathroom hygiene, if you know what I mean. I should probably be more careful about that. ;)

I just took an extended break to clean the birdcage and make a couple of toys. It really doesn't matter what I put together, its only the string he wants. *sigh*

I really don't like the sheet we're using as a cage cover, so I'm off to the internet for a real cover. Laters.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Laugh Until You Cry



Given all the colorful, jingly, fun looking, payed-for toys, he loves the ball of newspaper the best. The newspaper I picked up from the Free Classifieds stand at the grocery store. Go figure.


[More videos from tjnjones]

Would anyone care to guess the point where he realized he was being watched? Laughing --> Tears


[More videos from tjnjones]

I found the perfect bath vessel yesterday too. Very shallow plate with angular rim. He loved it, and I now understand the description "enthusiastic bather."

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Friday, July 20, 2007

Birthday Bath!

Rigel is 3 months old today, and to commemorate I took some pictures and video after his bath. Click for a larger view.

He went nuts splashing water from the cup, I assisted getting some water on his back and tailfeathers.

Soaked.

Still drying from his bath.
The shirt, I must chew the shirt! Gnawgnawgnaw...


You can see his wings were completely clipped when I got him. Once they grow out and need clipped again, I'm leaving the outer 2 flight feathers intact. They're such a pretty blue.

I love this pose, but it was blurry, so I went nuts with the "cartoonize" setting.
Some video of him calmly playing with a home made toy:

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Quackhead

Today Rigel made a fairly birdlike chirp, which is pretty unlike him.
"Who told you you were a bird!? You're not a birdie!"
*SquakSquackSquak!*
"No, you're not a bird! You're a puppy!"
Mumbles: *QuakQuakQuak"
"Okay, fine, I guess you are a bird. You're a duck!"
Mumbles: *QuakQuakQuak"

He's a Quackhead

Rambling About School

So most people can crack their knuckles, pop their back, etc. I can (inadvertently) pop my tailbone. It's not a good sensation by any means, but it never really bothered me until now. This summer, Lab lasts 3 hours, and standing all that time is making my tailbone hurt really badly. I've tried various stretches, even did a little yoga today. Yesterday I took a large dose of OTC pain reliever and an Icy Hot patch. It helped eventually, but nobody likes a "burning sensation" that low on their "back," if you know what I mean.

Speaking of Lab, I spent all day Thursday repeating the same reaction 6 times for no very good reason. That put me a day behind most of the rest of the class. I made up a little today, completing Group 3 in 1 day with time to spare. I used that spare time to finish the paperwork for Group 2 lab. May take a moment I say just how much I hate Redox? Because I HATE REDOX! Also, halfway through Lab today, I realized I was wearing sandals, so I spent the rest of the time carefully angling my feet out of view of others. Oops. I survived, despite being nearby during our daily broken-glass incident. It was just hot boiling water, but sometimes its acidic or very basic solutions.

Side note, a comment I left at Shakesville:
Please consider placing a decorative sticker or ornament on your window to keep the birds from crashing into it.
The biology/chemistry building I have classes in this summer has large plate windows on the 2nd floor. You can see bird carcases in various states on the ledge below the window, a large crack in the glass, and impact “smudges” on the glass. Last week we actually saw it happen and the poor bird was still alive enough to crawl to the ledge and fall to the ground. It was very sad for me to watch. I find it kind of twisted that the biology department wouldn’t take steps to prevent it.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Crazy Critter

Rigel spends most of his cage time running up and down the bars, then back and forth. Its also really funny he climbs up and then with one foot clinging to the cage he turns his back and slides down. I hope this means he's having a great time, but I'm a little afraid it means he's bored. I've given him foot toys and things to chew on but he is decidedly uninterested in these. He loves his mirror and sometimes plays with the little stars-and-spheres toy hung from the top.

He loves to chew but not on the things I give him, just on the edges of my shirt or on newspaper I lay down under his tabletop perch. I was giving him twisted newspaper in his cage to shred, but then someone said okay unless they eat it, and if he chews it then he's eating it so that makes no sense.

Then tonight, I was getting something out of his cage after his bedtime, and I found that he is sleeping in the metal basket where his food bowl goes during the day. Before I decided to cover him at nights, he would sleep on the bottom or high in the back of the cage. So I guess I'm going to get him a Happy Hut or something more cozy to sleep in. I'm just afraid he'll chew the heck out of it and eat the stuffing during the night.

I posted this on a couple groups and got reassurance that he sounds just like their happy Green-Cheeks. I also got a couple of good links for fun toys and a picture of one woman's GCC sleeping with his head in a bucket. Too Cute.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Shop.cfm?N=2003
http://www.greyfeathertoys.com/index.html

Sunday, July 15, 2007

The sky isn’t evil. Try looking up.

For the love of humanity, read the entire post on Whedonesque from Joss Whedon. Yeah, you think he's just a tv guy. Just read it.

Here's a blurb:

"I have yet to find a culture that doesn’t buy into it. Women’s inferiority – in fact, their malevolence -- is as ingrained in American popular culture as it is anywhere they’re sporting burkhas. I find it in movies, I hear it in the jokes of colleagues, I see it plastered on billboards, and not just the ones for horror movies. Women are weak. Women are manipulative. Women are somehow morally unfinished. (Objectification: another tangential rant avoided.) And the logical extension of this line of thinking is that women are, at the very least, expendable."

Saving the Environment

This is a summary-comment list I put together from a Time.com article called 51 Ways to Save the Environment. I left out a few that were primarily government or corporate initiatives. Most were about power plants and ways of regulating emissions. I really think they should have separated the two ideas, and most were about regulating power plant emissions and carbon-taxes. They were also redundant. Anyway, my comments follow a short blurb from each entry.
2. Get Blueprints For a Green House If you begin thinking green at the blueprint stage, low-tech, pragmatic techniques will maximize your new home's efficiency.
If I'm ever a homeowner, I probably won't build my own, I would renovate an existing structure.

3. Change Your Lightbulbs - CFLs cost three to five times as much as conventional incandescent bulbs yet use one-quarter the electricity and last several years longer.
I replaced all the burnt-out bulbs in the apartment with CFL's, but I'm waiting for the rest to burn out before replacing them, otherwise its just another form of waste IMHO.

6. Ditch the Mansion - A typical new single-family home in the U.S. is nearly 2,500 square feet today, up from about 1,000 square feet in 1950, even as the average household has shrunk from 3.4 to 2.6 people.
This is one I feel pretty strongly about. STOP BUILDING OR MOVING TO HUGE HOUSES YOU GREEDY OVERPAID BASTARDS!

7. Hang Up a Clothes Line - [also] wash your clothes in warm water instead of hot, and save up to launder a few big loads instead of many smaller ones.
The clothes line option is out, as we live in an apartment. I do all my washing in cold water. I don't sort, so I can have a full load per week. Also, you (and I) should switch to powder detergents from liquid (oil product). I will once I've used up the giant 9 Liter I got on sale. Maybe in 2010 then.

8. Give New Life to Your Old Fleece - [They] melt [it] and make into new fabric and clothes. Some of that fleece is especially virtuous, starting out as fabric made from recycled plastic.
I had no idea what fleece was made of. Wow. Also, I don't own any, so moot point.

9. Build a Skyscraper - Bank of America...When it's finished next year, the tower will be the second highest in the city, but it stands alone as the greenest building in New York.
See #15
10. Turn Up the Geothermal Heat - This geothermal system taps into water that is a relatively stable 55 degrees F and transfers that heat to warm the building in the winter and cool it in the summer. The building's roof is covered in easy-to-maintain plants and grasses, and has two heliostat mirrors, which track the sun and direct its rays into the building, reducing the use of artificial lights during the day.
The first part is just pretty cool. The second part includes things I suppose a upper-middle class person could do with their house.

11. Take Another Look at Vintage Clothes - Buying a shirt the second time around means you avoid consuming all the energy used in producing and shipping a new one and, therefore, the carbon emissions associated with it. Every item of clothing you own has an impact on the environment.
Sadly, the second-hand shops here don't carry much that's worth the drive to downtown. I pretty much grew up on thrift store clothes though, so maybe I get a pass on this one for awhile.

12. Capture the Carbon - What if coal-fired plants stopped spewing their carbon dioxide fumes into the air and instead sequestered them—pumped them deep into the ground for storage?
Makes me think of those tires they "recycled" for use as coral-reef builders, that actually created an ecological disaster by destroying coral. Hopefully long-term consequences are in the forefront here.

13. Let Employees Work Close to Home - a program that helps firms slash the time employees spend driving by matching them with work closer to home.
Better yet, work from home, depending on the type of work you do. I think its pretty nuts to commute more than 20 minutes to work, hopefully I never will have to.

14. Ride the Bus - Public transit saves an estimated 1.4 billion gal. of gas annually, which translates into about 14 million tons of CO2.
I don't think I've seen a public bus in San Angelo. There are these tourist trolleys, like in St. Joe. I rode the city bus throughout High School, it was a pretty miserable experience taking 2 hours to go 15 minutes across town.

15. Move to a High-Rise - The Big Apple is home to the greenest citizens in the U.S. Relatively few New Yorkers own cars. Eight million New Yorkers are squeezed into 301 sq. mi.—less than a fortieth of an acre per person.
I would hate living in such a major city as they are now, but I am really optimistic about http://nymag.com/news/features/30020/ and also about making a whole city within one huge skyscraper. Yeah yeah yeah, you think I'm crazy.

16. Pay Your Bills Online - [and] direct-deposit your paycheck.
I do both, and all my bills are automatically paid. Learned to do that the hard way. The only bill that isn't online now is the rent/water, and I walk 20 feet or so to pay it.

17. Open a Window - Open a window instead of running the AC. Adjust the thermostat a couple of degrees higher in the summer and lower in the winter. Caulk and weatherstrip all your doors and windows. Insulate your walls and ceilings. Use the dishwasher only when it's full. Install low-flow showerheads. Wash your clothes in warm or cold water. Turn down the thermostat on the water heater.
I love open windows in the spring, but Michael complains. Now that it's summer, our thermostat is set at around 79 degrees, and you'd think I was locking him in a sauna. Buying the bird pretty much set things now, because he needs a temp of around 79-82 (i think, can't find a reference). We should get low-flow showerheads, and the front door really needs to be sealed better from drafts.

18. Ask the Experts For An Energy Audit of Your Home - A home energy audit, which most utility providers will do free of charge, will tell you the amount of power your household consumes and what you can do to reduce it.
Interesting, but I doubt they would do it for free. I guess I'm cynical like that.

19. Buy Green Power, At Home or Away - More than 600 utilities in 37 states offer green energy, but unless you read the fine print on your bill, you may not know if your power company is one of them.
I know we researched power companies for this when we moved here, but then I think we switched companies later and didn't check. I know this company indicates clearly on our bill what percent comes from what source. I admit to not checking it in a very long time. (hey, its automated online billing, I don't look at my bills anymore)

20. Check the Label - Energy Star, a rating system by the Environmental Protection Agency. Approved products can be pricier, but they cost less to power.
Our old fridge was Energy Star, and the washer, dryer and microwave are too.

21. Cozy Up to Your Water Heater - Wrapping your heater in an insulated blanket—one costs about $10 to $20 at home centers—could save your household about 250 lbs. in CO2 emissions annually. If the surface feels warm to the touch, get your heater an extra blankie.
Mine's not hot to touch, and I would have to get maintenance to adjust the temp because there is no simple knob on this one. The water is a bit warmer than necessary in the morning.

22. Skip the Steak - Which is responsible for more global warming: your BMW or your Big Mac? Believe it or not, it's the burger. Cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, etc.
We had burgers just tonight. I am trying to cut down, but its hard to decide what to eat when really everything has a different kind of ecological impact. Shrimp are out forever because they can only be caught by bottom-trawling which is super-bad. Other forms of fish are being caught to extinction. Vegetarians don't get "complete" proteins...what to do? Bender says "Kill all humans..."

24. Just Say No to Plastic Bags - Reducing your contribution to plastic-bag pollution is as simple as using a cloth bag.
I have two large and three small cloth bags. I forget them almost every time I go to the store. Bad TJ! Seriously, many places are starting to outlaw/discourage plastic bags also because they are made from oil and the cost is becoming prohibitive for stores. Its an all-around good thing to do anyway.

25. Support your local farmer - How do you find them? Search localharvest.org by ZIP code for farmers' markets, greengrocers and food co-ops in your area.
Here in a West Texass town, we have all of one listed on that site. They aren't even a real farmer's market, just some people who park on a street corner to sell watermelons. I find this both odd and annoying.

26. Plant a bamboo fence - Bamboo makes a beautiful fence, and because it grows so quickly (as much as 1 ft. a day or more, depending on the species), it absorbs more CO2 than, say, a rosebush.
No house, no yard, no bamboo fence. I do have a small bamboo plant inside though. I should water it sometime this month.

28. Have a green wedding - For example, if your guests are traveling long distances, offset the carbon emissions from their trips with a donation to renewable—energy projects.
Isn't that nice? Not sure why this is a separate item, since carbon-offsets are already addressed.

29. Remove the tie - If U.S. businesses eased off on their arctic-level air-conditioning, the gains could be significant. Time to make every summer day casual Friday?
Women in the office would appreciate that as well, as they wear those hideous dresses and open-toed shoes and maybe have poor circulation to their hands. But then, nobody cares about women who work.

30. Shut off your computer - A screen saver is not an energy saver.
I usually shut my laptop off, but if I forget its okay. I participate in SETI@home, currently residing at http://boinc.berkeley.edu/ which also lets you help with various projects for universities, corporations, or individuals.

31. Wear green eye shadow - Cargo Cosmetics launched PlantLove, a botanical lipstick packaged in a 100% biodegradable tube made of...a corn-based renewable resource. When the tube is empty, plant it in the ground, and it sprouts flowers.
First, that's neat. Second, no amount of neat will get me to wear makeup.

32. Kill the Lights At Quitting Time - could cut carbon emissions by reducing electricity use, not to mention extending equipment life and lowering maintenance costs.
I used to do this at work, but now I don't work so nanananana! *ahem*

34. Rake in the Fall Colors - using that motorized hurricane for just an hour still sucks down 1 pt. of gas and oil. With more than 30 million acres of lawn in the U.S., it's a high price to pay for a job that can be done almost as well, if somewhat more slowly, with a rake.
The apartment maintenance uses these damn things for clearing the walkways, presumably. To me they just make noise when I want to sleep in and blow debris onto my car window.

35. End the Paper Chase - It [recycled paper] uses 60% less energy than virgin paper. Each ton purchased saves 4,000 kW-h of energy, 7,000 gal. of water and 17 trees, and a tree has the capacity to filter up to 60 lbs. of pollutants from the air.
I use lots of paper because I'm a student and I screw up lots of print jobs and take lots of notes. I don't recycle paper. I know, I know...

37. Think Outside the Packaging - You can reduce the amount of packaging with a little consumer vigilance. Give back the extra napkins or unwanted sugar packets; carry that gallon of milk by its handle
I feel like I throw away so much excessive crap even when I buy from the grocery store. But then I bought Steak Express meals the other day and I swear 3/4 of it was packaging for the food and condiments and it was sooo incredibly wasteful. Never ordering there again.

39. Make Your Garden Grow - Use non-fossil-fuel-derived fertilizers in home gardens.
No yard, no garden. I'm not very good at growing things anyway.

41. Fill'er Up With Passengers - carpool, ride the bus, walk or bike to work, or work a compressed workweek.
Not exactly practical for me. Have I ever mentioned how I tried riding a bike to work. 1 mile, and I couldn't sit right for a week. Also, I have no friends to ride to school with, and I have a problem trusting people to carpool with. So I'm hoping to buy a smaller, more efficient car someday.

42. Pay For Your Carbon Sins - Unlike mandatory allowances, offsets allow consumers to pay voluntarily to reduce carbon emissions by a quantity equal to their estimated contribution.
Its iffy on whether these offsets actually go to a good cause, and it just shifts the problem without solving it.

43. Move to London's New Green Zone
Inviting, but impossible at this time.

44. Check Your Tires - Just giving your engine a tune-up can improve gas mileage 4% and often much more.
My car is serviced on a regular basis. However, I don't check my own tires' air pressure. I'm never sure if I'm doing it right, and it doesn't seem worth the hassle, despite the fact that all my uncles have been mechanics at some point.

45. Make One Right Turn After Another - The time spent idling while waiting to turn against oncoming traffic burns fuel and costs millions each year. A software program maps a customized route for every (UPS) driver to minimize lefts.
Doing this would require that I drive even more, and I don't drive much. My daily route has me waiting for a left turn once each way.

46. Plant a Tree in the Tropics - Recent studies have shown that trees in temperate latitudes...actually have a net warming effect on the climate. The heat that dark leaves absorb outweighs the carbon they soak up.
Well that's more of a negative than helpful advice. I guess they mean give to charities that plant trees in the tropics, because otherwise we would dump CO2 in the air by flying down there to do it ourselves.

48. Drive Green on the Scenic Route - rent hybrids and bio-fuel cars when on vacation
Only really available in major major cities like London and LA. I've never been there but it sounds good for frequent travellers. I've gone on vacation once in my adult life, so...
50. Be aggressive about passive - Extra insulation and state-of-the-art ventilation recycle the energy from passive sources such as body heat, the sun and household appliances to warm the air.
The day I have the money to build my own home. Besides, didn't they say we're all supposed to live in New York high-rises?

Thursday, July 12, 2007

What a Rotten Day, Listed

- Last night I was up until after midnight trying to figure out my homework. I should have started before 9pm, because I was so confused about a pretty simple concept.
-Today:
1. I spilled half a cup of coffee on myself, and the couch.
2. So I had to change into the "petite" size pants, which are too short and I look goofy in anything but sandals. This being a lab day, I had to wear solid shoes.
3. I couldn't find a spot to park in B section (commuting students) so I had to park in A (faculty).
4. So then I walk out of class to find a parking ticket, of course.
5. Lab. About the 3rd time repeating the same 2 steps (if x, then repeat) my brain aspoloded. It took 3 hours to repeat 4 times, and I still had to cork it for the weekend.
6. Review for class until 5pm. My feet hurt, and my brain is overloaded, and I still have to study. Maybe I should just type up my notes and a formula sheet. Yup, that'll be it because sleep is definitely the priority tonight.

Bright notes:
I made a nummy Mango-Banana smoothie for lunch.
Rigel is learning very quickly to move from perch to finger to perch on command. Just two ten-minute sessions of Up, Good Boy! Up, Good Boy! Up, Good Boy! and he now does it about half the time. He really likes those cherries and dried pineapple.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

I Scream

Death to the Ice Cream Truck Driver.

May she choke on a popsicle stick, become suddenly lactose intolerant, run over by a train...whatever. As long as I don't have to listen to that ditty for 30 minutes every day, parked in the road outside my window because they aren't allowed in the parking lots.

As a kid, Mom was told the Ice Cream Man was called the Ding-Dong Man because he was a pervert, not because of the song. Kept the kids away from the overpriced goods, kept the music out of the neighborhood. Sounds good to me.

Monday, July 9, 2007

Actual Pictures of Rigel

So I finally found my camera cable, and you can finally enjoy some pictures of my little friend. Here he is in his cage, showing off his colors, but being very wary of his new home.

He eventually took the leap, and even let me hold him in my hand. I do this all the time now, and he loves it when i pet him. He only poops on me every 10 minutes.


Of course his favorite spot to perch is on my shoulders, or the back of my neck. I won't let him do that now, but I didn't know better at first. You should never let a nipper have access to you in a place you can't see him. Plus it tickles when he plays with my hair.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

John Mayer's O-Face


Rigel and I are sitting here watching Live Earth together. I was going to bring him out of his cage, but he squawked at me. I know I need to bring him out anyway, but I'm just not there yet.

I love John Mayer's music, and its pretty fitting for the concert. He also makes the oddest faces when he plays.

Can I just say that I never had any idea who Shakira was. And I still don't care, because this is a whole lotta shit. The emphasis she puts on things makes it impossible to know what she's saying, even though I'm fairly certain its english. So basically the song boils down to "look at how I can move in these high-heeled boots." But she looks incredibly awkward and uncomfortable, as if its me dancing, and that's never good. Eh. Gag.

Hair. In. Face. Must. Kill.

Melissa Etheridge, I think you're great. So please understand, this is not a song. Please sing. That was quite a rant. I mean I agree, but still. Singing is your creative outlet, so sing, and leave the speeches to...

Hi Al Gore (wow he seems excited)

Okay, I don't know Alecia Keys either, but I like the opening instrumental. Playing some oldies? I didn't expect her to play her own piano either. Off to iTunes to see if I like any of her regular songs.

Someone tell me what Dave Matthews Meant when he said "Its a great honor to follow Jane Goodall." Maybe a little dig at Madonna? Anyway, I <3 Dave Matthews Band. Note to drummer: The stick-in-a-drum sound was neat, until you overdid it. At which point we become aware that we make the exact same sound with a straw and plastic lid. OH! Maybe that's part of the message, the sound of disposable goods.

Somehow my spaces don't show up until I type the next character. You have no idea what I mean, but I promise its pretty annoying.

He's a Parrot :)

Hi All! Last week I finally brought a feathered friend into our home. Rigel is a Green-Cheeked Conure, born April 20th. He loves Nora Jones, bells, and biting.

I keep reading that they like food hung in the cage so they can play with it and get exercise. I'm not sure what to use to hang them. I feel like string would be a bad idea, I'm afraid he'd get tangled in it. I've heard wood skewers are good so I'll be buying some soon. I have a bag of fresh red cherries on stems. Would it be okay to give them to him whole, or are the stem and pit choking hazards? I offered one by hand cut in half with the pit removed, and he was extremely disinterested.

Also, he does a few things contrary to what I've read about green-cheeks:

- He does not like baths. I provided a wide shallow bowl of fresh water, and he wouldn't go near it. The next day I bought a spray bottle with a fine mist, and misted him gently from above. He ran for cover like the sky was falling. Should we be doing this at a different time of day or in a certain spot?

- Loves climbing the walls of his cage, but won't go near the perches or the ladder. It came with a large dowel, but it seemed to wide for his little feet. So I bought a thinner natural wood perch, and a smaller cement perch, plus a ladder. He only climbs the ladder if I put something tasty (millet) at the top.

- Spends most of his time wandering the bottom of the cage. The cement perch is now connected to the bottom of the cage, since he spends most of his time there I'm hoping he will use it to file his beak.

MMMmmm It might be too late for this bag of cherries, I've almost polished them off myself. Thanks for reading my long-winded post.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

New Reason To Not Study

Please welcome Rigel, a green-cheeked conure. If I had thought to charge my camera sometime since my vacation in May, you could see a picture of him. As it is, here is a picture that closely resembles him.

I say "he" and "him" even though we have no easy way to tell gender, and because it looked more he than she. We went through feminine names first though, because that's what I would prefer to think. We went through Firefly, Stargate, Battlestar, even Farscape names. Somehow Rygel actually stood out as a good fit. Michael disagrees, because the bird is clearly not a Hynerian Dominar.

I kept thinking, and decided to go with a star or constellation name, and Rigel still stood out as a good fit. So there you go.

He is very calm, although he has already bitten me a few times, just out of curiosity I think. He was eating out of my hand also, so I got nibbled then. He calmly stayed in the cage while for awhile, then ventured out and made his way to me. He tried to climb my shirt and accidentally hooked one of his nails into my skin on my chest, which hurt a great deal also. He tried to climb my shirt on the side and it tickled. I've been pooped on already. I also have little pin marks in my had where he was perched. The nails will be clipped as soon as I make an appointment at the vet. I found out that there is a bird vet in town, yay! I wasn't looking forward to driving to Abilene an hour away.

Its been an eventful first hour at home.

He is currently exploring his cage, nibbling at the wall behind the cage. Michael says he's trying to dig out, Shawshank style. I'm going to move him now...

Okay, well I neglected to get a few things at the pet store, it was kinda hectic since I thought someone else was going to get to the manager first and steal my baby away.

Cuttlebone
smaller perches
small cement perch for nails
smaller toy (with mirror?)
bowl for bathing

Cherry-O!

Finals. Are. Over. Man that was stressful, mostly because my grade on Exam 4 was 74% and that was quite a shock. The previous tests seemed harder but I got better grades, and on that one I thought it was a bit easy and I studied harder for it. So I'm torn now, because the final was the same way. I studied hard and it didn't seem as difficult as I expected, and I should feel confident. Not so much. The grades won't be up until Thursday.

I didn't study for government, the questions were all about opinions, I did a lot of guessing. It wasn't comprehensive. Grades should be up for it in an hour or so.

We bought a huge bag of cherries yesterday, so my fingertips are now purple. Sweet yumminess.

Monday, July 2, 2007

Something else that is wrong.

What I Think of My Government Professor:
His lectures have no structure, he just babbles on about his own life and opinions. Its the last day before Finals, and ALL he talked about was the 2 times he was a delegate to the Democratic Convention in 1984. He said (proudly) that he called the First Lady of KS a "Fat Bitch, because that's all she is." That same day he apparently bragged about being in the Birmingham march with MLK and bit by a dog, so another "bitch" (at the convention) would stop yapping at him. So I walked out.

i just don't think that's right...

I was just now reviewing my lab quizzes for the final tomorrow. Labs were Co-taught/graded by our lecture professor, and another professor. This other guy is so nit-picky about things, he grades very harshly. Whatever, we got used to it. Then I just noticed that he went through and dotted my i's on one of my quizzes. It is a basic training control-thing, where they made us write without "punctuation" to include dotting the letters i and j. Stupid, yes. However I still do it out of habit, an odd little habit I retain from that time. It makes taking notes in class a little quicker.

Anyway, it just threw me that he'd be so picky as to dot my i's on a chemistry quiz. He didn't count off points though. I guess it could be worse...

In other news:
Its storming a bit here. Just started raining.
There is a bee/wasp/hornet thing in the house. (from before I opened the windows, tyvm)
My library books are now 1 month overdue. This is why I don't go to the library unless I can walk there from my house. Oh the good ol' days...
The kitchen is a mess.
We're out of anything to drink and I don't feel like cleaning something to make tea.
I'm going to keep adding things to this list until I remember the actual thing I was going to put here.
That helped.
The new Firefox is pretty nice, IMHO. Less-bubbly icons, X's on the individual tabs, spell-check as I type anywhere. I also appreciate the little things that set it apart, like not messing up my Home and making it yahoo and adding the yahoo search bar every time it updates. Frakkin IE.!

Thanks to pizza, the heartburn is coming back again. Blah.