Please tell me it is Friday
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Work
I am so excited. Our Outreach Coordinator has become the national coordinator for Seamoor Safety. A remote controlled purple sea monster that rides on the back of a jetski. (see picture below) He is awesome. With the controller you can move him around and when you talk through the headset your voice gets distorted into a child like voice and his mouth moves and eyes blink. We have come up with a program where a ranger and Seamoor interact and talk about how kids can stay safe in and around water. We will be doing our first trial run at a school next week. I will be the voice of seamoor. So excited. We took him out today to play with him and get the feel for running him and talking through him. It was funny to see people's reaction to him. There is a small microphone on his jetski that I can hear what people say to him and I can respond. Very cute!!!

The Great Fish Rescue
Mood:  happy
Topic: Work
Today was a fun day. USGS needed us to shut the gates on the dam so they could drain the river to run a few tests. My job along with two other co-workers were to rescue fish in the river who got stranded when the water receded. This time of year the larger fish are down in deep pools trying to keep warm so I wasn't expecting to see a lot. We rescued several small catfish, two eels, about 5 crayfish, 1 small carp, and a bunch of little minnows. It is amazing what you see when the water is all gone. Very neat.

It is days like today that I love my job. Tomorrow I get to attend a bird and plant ID workshop. So excited.

I'M BACK!
Topic: Work
Well the trip to Huntsville was actually pretty good. I learned a lot and made many new business contacts. The weather there was COLD but we didn't have to go outside much.

The plane ride from Charlotte to Huntsville was a little harrowing. They put us on this little baby planelette. You know the kind with two propellers. Well we got out on to the runway and the pilot called the flight attendant on the phone. Which was odd because he could have just opened the door and yelled at him. But anyway apparently there were 3 seats empty at the back of the plane and the pilot needed us to fill in those seats or the plane would not get off the ground. WHAT? At this point I wasn't sure I wanted to be on he plane. I went to volunteer to move and the guy beside me grabbed my hand and told me that God had chosen me to be in this seat for some reason. Okay...nut job. We got to Huntsville and entered a nasty storm. The plane at one point dropped several feet scaring the crap out of me. I was so glad when we finally landed.

On the flight back to Raleigh some guy got in trouble for using his cell phone while we were in the air. Come on people. The flight is only 30 minutes. Who do you have to talk to that bad that they can't wait till you land.

I am glad to be home and trying hard to catch up on work.

The Government is watching you...
Topic: Work
It amazes me what people will do when they don't know they are being watched.

About a year ago we installed a security camera and every so often I will go to the monitor just to see what is going on outside. Well today as I was turning the camera around I noticed something that looked a little odd on the dam. I zoomed in and noticed two men in their 50's flying a kite. That's right...a kite. I watched them for awhile in amazement and then watched as one guy looked around...not seeing anyone he walked over to the cement wall...unzipped and proceeded to urinate on the wall...right out there in the open in broad daylight. I decided to sound the alarm to scare him off and from his reaction I think he peed all over his jeans. whoops. LOL

Adds comedy to my life.