(no subject)
Yes, I still live!
Really not much going on. Work, sleep, work, sleep, work, sleep. I need to go grocery shopping today. Glamorous, no?
Celebrate a Dream Come True 2.0 debuted a week or so ago... better than the first version, but it's still pretty shoddy. We just need to junk it altogether and start over. :P Stitch's Supersonic Celebration is now open in Tomorrowland. It doesn't sound spectacular, but I may head for MK tomorrow to check it out, maybe make a photography day out of it. Oh, and now that Space Mountain is closed until November, morning Extra Magic Hours at in Frontierland. Opening Splash at 6:30 am once a week? ICK. In any case, I just applied for a Conservation Education position at DAK... so fingers crossed!
I did do some birding in the last couple of weeks! As always, lifers are marked with an '*' and non-avian species are italicized.
Split Oak Mitigation Forest is fairly close by, and a very nice park! Not much in the way of shorter trails, though. I did a 4-mile loop... alas, it was DEEP sand so it felt like walking in mud. That was exhausting. I got some great photo ops, though! Pictures are all up here.
Brown-Headed Nuthatch
Black Vulture
Northern Mockingbird
Great Egret
Mourning Dove
Eastern Towhee
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
Tufted Titmouse
White Ibis
White-Tailed Deer
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Northern Cardinal
*Common Nighthawk
*Great Crested Flycatcher
*Northern Parula
Bachman's Sparrow
Carolina Wren
Pine Warbler
Cattle Egret
Tosohatchee is HUGE. I spent most of the time birding from my car on the main road, and stopping every so often. I think the best moment, though, was hearing a commotion in the water nearby. Naturally I go look, and what do I find? A dozen baby alligators swimming around. Woo! Very cool... although I was wondering if I might stumble across mommy the hard way! Got more photos from that trip here! I'm also trying to ID plants, insects, etc. So if anyone can fill in blanks, let me know!
*Northern Bobwhite
*Eastern Cottontail
Northern Mockingbird
Great Crested Flycatcher
Swallow-tailed Kite
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Common Grackle
American Alligator
Osprey
American Crow
Northern Cardinal
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Great Egret
Red-Shouldered Hawk
Great Blue Heron
*Florida Red-Bellied Turtle
Little Blue Heron
Red-Winged Blackbird
Snowy Egret
Boat-Tailed Grackle
White Ibis
Common Moorhen
*Eastern Kingbird
Anhinga
Cattle Egret
Wild Turkey
Roseate Spoonbill
Tufted Titmouse
*Brown Thrasher
Mourning Dove
Eastern Bluebird
I also started using Global Twitcher to keep track of all my lifelists! I've got my bird and mammal ones handy, but now I'm trying to think of everything else I've seen over time. :P Anyways, if anyone's interested, here's my profile link there. Not sure if you can see that without registering, though. I'm still finding quite a few species missing, but they're being added all the time. Oh, and saw the most adorable thing EVAR this past week on the way to work: baby sandhill crane. SO CUTE AND FLUFFY. I'm also going back and looking at pictures to try to learn plants. I really need to learn to identify those anyways. (miwasatoshi! And help is greatly appreciated!)
And some guest!fail for you:
(woman walks up and starts to duck under the ropes in the queue rather than going around to the actual entrance)
Me: Ma'am, the entrance is actually up that way.
Her: (nonchalantly) No, I don't feel like walking an extra quarter mile today. (continues under rope)
Me: ... no, really, the entrance is up there. You need to go around.
Her: (in my face) You're gonna make me walk all the way up there?!
(my note: it's maybe 30 yards)
Me: Yes, ma'am, just like everyone else has to. The ropes are there for a reason
(woman storms off toward the entrance)
(she comes back around and gets in my face again)
Her: There. You happy? (scrutinizes my name tag) Let's see... what's your name?
Me: (pushing my nametag forward) Kirsten.
Her: Okay, I'll remember that.
Me: Okay.
(she leaves)
(And I really wanted to tell her, "ma'am, you look like you could use the extra walk anyways." Alas, I value my job.)
But on the flip side, we have guest!win!
-Overheard on the parade route, from one guest to another - "You smell like you just douched or something."
-The Make A Wish family that came to Photocells last week. Mom didn't want to ride, so she waited outside while I chatted with her. Cheerful, chatty, and a great conversation. Their whole family was so awesome that as they came back out I asked if they wanted to ride again, and then sent them right back on, no wait. Awesome like that deserves reward. :D
Aaaand, I have April books!
4/29/09
The Yearling - Marjorie Rawlings
One of the best books I've read in awhile! The book immerses you in the feel of old Florida, right down to the dialect. It's interesting to see how Florida's nature at the turn of the century compares to now! It makes me want to take a weekend to head up to the Ocala National Forest just to see what it all looks like. Touching and heartbreaking at once. It's easy to see why this is a treasured classic!
4/02/09
Hunted - David Fletcher
The story is fascinating, I will give the author that! But never having climbed, the constant use of mountaineering terms came across as very unreadable. The glossary at the back helped, but trying to keep the terms straight in my head was very tiresome. If you're a climber, though, you might find it considerably more interesting! Also, I felt like the author got into the bear's head a little too much. I do tend to anthropomorphize, but this one took it a bit too far even for me.
Really not much going on. Work, sleep, work, sleep, work, sleep. I need to go grocery shopping today. Glamorous, no?
Celebrate a Dream Come True 2.0 debuted a week or so ago... better than the first version, but it's still pretty shoddy. We just need to junk it altogether and start over. :P Stitch's Supersonic Celebration is now open in Tomorrowland. It doesn't sound spectacular, but I may head for MK tomorrow to check it out, maybe make a photography day out of it. Oh, and now that Space Mountain is closed until November, morning Extra Magic Hours at in Frontierland. Opening Splash at 6:30 am once a week? ICK. In any case, I just applied for a Conservation Education position at DAK... so fingers crossed!
I did do some birding in the last couple of weeks! As always, lifers are marked with an '*' and non-avian species are italicized.
Split Oak Mitigation Forest is fairly close by, and a very nice park! Not much in the way of shorter trails, though. I did a 4-mile loop... alas, it was DEEP sand so it felt like walking in mud. That was exhausting. I got some great photo ops, though! Pictures are all up here.
Brown-Headed Nuthatch
Black Vulture
Northern Mockingbird
Great Egret
Mourning Dove
Eastern Towhee
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
Tufted Titmouse
White Ibis
White-Tailed Deer
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Northern Cardinal
*Common Nighthawk
*Great Crested Flycatcher
*Northern Parula
Bachman's Sparrow
Carolina Wren
Pine Warbler
Cattle Egret
Tosohatchee is HUGE. I spent most of the time birding from my car on the main road, and stopping every so often. I think the best moment, though, was hearing a commotion in the water nearby. Naturally I go look, and what do I find? A dozen baby alligators swimming around. Woo! Very cool... although I was wondering if I might stumble across mommy the hard way! Got more photos from that trip here! I'm also trying to ID plants, insects, etc. So if anyone can fill in blanks, let me know!
*Northern Bobwhite
*Eastern Cottontail
Northern Mockingbird
Great Crested Flycatcher
Swallow-tailed Kite
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Common Grackle
American Alligator
Osprey
American Crow
Northern Cardinal
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Great Egret
Red-Shouldered Hawk
Great Blue Heron
*Florida Red-Bellied Turtle
Little Blue Heron
Red-Winged Blackbird
Snowy Egret
Boat-Tailed Grackle
White Ibis
Common Moorhen
*Eastern Kingbird
Anhinga
Cattle Egret
Wild Turkey
Roseate Spoonbill
Tufted Titmouse
*Brown Thrasher
Mourning Dove
Eastern Bluebird
I also started using Global Twitcher to keep track of all my lifelists! I've got my bird and mammal ones handy, but now I'm trying to think of everything else I've seen over time. :P Anyways, if anyone's interested, here's my profile link there. Not sure if you can see that without registering, though. I'm still finding quite a few species missing, but they're being added all the time. Oh, and saw the most adorable thing EVAR this past week on the way to work: baby sandhill crane. SO CUTE AND FLUFFY. I'm also going back and looking at pictures to try to learn plants. I really need to learn to identify those anyways. (miwasatoshi! And help is greatly appreciated!)
And some guest!fail for you:
(woman walks up and starts to duck under the ropes in the queue rather than going around to the actual entrance)
Me: Ma'am, the entrance is actually up that way.
Her: (nonchalantly) No, I don't feel like walking an extra quarter mile today. (continues under rope)
Me: ... no, really, the entrance is up there. You need to go around.
Her: (in my face) You're gonna make me walk all the way up there?!
(my note: it's maybe 30 yards)
Me: Yes, ma'am, just like everyone else has to. The ropes are there for a reason
(woman storms off toward the entrance)
(she comes back around and gets in my face again)
Her: There. You happy? (scrutinizes my name tag) Let's see... what's your name?
Me: (pushing my nametag forward) Kirsten.
Her: Okay, I'll remember that.
Me: Okay.
(she leaves)
(And I really wanted to tell her, "ma'am, you look like you could use the extra walk anyways." Alas, I value my job.)
But on the flip side, we have guest!win!
-Overheard on the parade route, from one guest to another - "You smell like you just douched or something."
-The Make A Wish family that came to Photocells last week. Mom didn't want to ride, so she waited outside while I chatted with her. Cheerful, chatty, and a great conversation. Their whole family was so awesome that as they came back out I asked if they wanted to ride again, and then sent them right back on, no wait. Awesome like that deserves reward. :D
Aaaand, I have April books!
4/29/09
The Yearling - Marjorie Rawlings
One of the best books I've read in awhile! The book immerses you in the feel of old Florida, right down to the dialect. It's interesting to see how Florida's nature at the turn of the century compares to now! It makes me want to take a weekend to head up to the Ocala National Forest just to see what it all looks like. Touching and heartbreaking at once. It's easy to see why this is a treasured classic!
4/02/09
Hunted - David Fletcher
The story is fascinating, I will give the author that! But never having climbed, the constant use of mountaineering terms came across as very unreadable. The glossary at the back helped, but trying to keep the terms straight in my head was very tiresome. If you're a climber, though, you might find it considerably more interesting! Also, I felt like the author got into the bear's head a little too much. I do tend to anthropomorphize, but this one took it a bit too far even for me.