I wonder how much of my disinterest in the zombie trend and its associated media and phenomena stems from having substantially more contact with dead things than most modern urbanites and suburbanites?

You want a lasting visceral reaction, spend some time working with a sea lion carcass so foul and decayed that seagulls won't eat it anymoreThat'll ( Read more... )

In 1989, when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit, I was in the United States Coast Guard, stationed at Coast Guard Group Monterey. Group Monterey (or Station Monterey, as it's called these days) is at Breakwater Cove, more or less at the other end of Cannery Row from the Monterey Bay Aquarium ( Read more... )

I don't do a lot of this, but I'm feeling introspective today:

I've found far too many jobs that require a Master's degree; now I really wish I'd stuck around Monterey Bay and gone to Moss Landing Marine Labs to get it.

People look at my capstone paper on Elkhorn Slough, and express surprise that it's not a Master's Thesis; sitting right there ( Read more... )

It doesn't matter if you call it Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, or Veteran's Day ( Read more... )

The Three Things Meme

Snagged from A Whole Lot O' Folks

1. Post 3 things you've done in your lifetime that you don't think anybody else on your friends list has done.
   
2. See if anybody else responds with "I've done that." If they have, you need to add another!(2.b., 2.c., etc...)
   
3. Have your friends cut & paste this into their journal to see what ( Read more... )

thebitterguy asked his readers, "Tell me a story that involves dropping a celebrity's name.  Even a minor one; like, award winning fanfic writer counts."

( Here's mine. )