Hippo Update
Hippo is going well. We’re effectively done with the skull, though there will likely be a need for another partial day in the collections before leaving, once I’ve had a chance to clean up the description and find the holes.
So Wednesday we started dissecting. Thursday, our second day of dissection, was borderline nonexistent because the heat was off in the lab. Which was made even more of a problem because the hippo is also kept in the fridge overnight. So after playing around with meat at about 40 degrees, I have to try to warm up my hands in air that’s 45 degrees. Not worth it, and we packed up and went home.
Today we made up for lost time, and made a significant amount of progress. Historically, I’ve deferred to her, letting her lead in the dissections because she’s got more knowledge and experience, plus it’s really her project that I’m participating in, so I’m the guest. I’ve hung out in the office, reading or writing or something, until she was ready to start dissecting. Not anymore. I’m done wasting time. As soon as we get there and settled, I’m going in and getting the hippo out, and I’m being aggressive about cutting into things and lopping things off.
A couple of amusing exchanges from this week:
Hippo hacker: “Weekends always seem too short.”
Me: “It’s Wednesday.”
Lindsay: “You are way too taciturn to be an effective editorial commenter.”
Me: “Whatever.”
In other news, Lindsay and I got a big book haul from my parents for Giftmas. The really cool ones are Language Older than Words and Culture of Make Believe by Derrick Jensen, Peak Everything by Richard Heinberg (which I’m already halfway through), My Name is Chellis and I’m in Recovery from Western Civilization by Chellis Glendinning, and In the Absence of the Sacred by Jerry Mander (and it's really pathetic how few people get the joke inherent in his name).
We saw Sweeney Todd, which was really good, and I recommend it to anybody who likes Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, or Steven Sondheim. Which should include just about everyone.
So Wednesday we started dissecting. Thursday, our second day of dissection, was borderline nonexistent because the heat was off in the lab. Which was made even more of a problem because the hippo is also kept in the fridge overnight. So after playing around with meat at about 40 degrees, I have to try to warm up my hands in air that’s 45 degrees. Not worth it, and we packed up and went home.
Today we made up for lost time, and made a significant amount of progress. Historically, I’ve deferred to her, letting her lead in the dissections because she’s got more knowledge and experience, plus it’s really her project that I’m participating in, so I’m the guest. I’ve hung out in the office, reading or writing or something, until she was ready to start dissecting. Not anymore. I’m done wasting time. As soon as we get there and settled, I’m going in and getting the hippo out, and I’m being aggressive about cutting into things and lopping things off.
A couple of amusing exchanges from this week:
Hippo hacker: “Weekends always seem too short.”
Me: “It’s Wednesday.”
Lindsay: “You are way too taciturn to be an effective editorial commenter.”
Me: “Whatever.”
In other news, Lindsay and I got a big book haul from my parents for Giftmas. The really cool ones are Language Older than Words and Culture of Make Believe by Derrick Jensen, Peak Everything by Richard Heinberg (which I’m already halfway through), My Name is Chellis and I’m in Recovery from Western Civilization by Chellis Glendinning, and In the Absence of the Sacred by Jerry Mander (and it's really pathetic how few people get the joke inherent in his name).
We saw Sweeney Todd, which was really good, and I recommend it to anybody who likes Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, or Steven Sondheim. Which should include just about everyone.