I miss my friends. Last Thursday I called Krista's during their weekly Survivor party and was sad that I wasn't there. Talking to some of my friends for about a minute just didn't cut it.

I had my phone interview with Dolphin Cove in Key Largo, FL yesterday. I think it went really well. I am stupid and didn't catch the name of the guy that was interviewing me. I remember the two females' names, but not the guys. The reason this is important is that Ian from Survivor is a dolphin trainer from Key Largo, FL that does dolphin-human therapy. I know that this facility only had 1 male trainer and this is the only place in Key Largo that does Dolphin-human therapy. So, next time I hear from them I'll have to ask what his name was because that would just be weird. But, I won't hear back for a couple of weeks. I'll keep you all posted.

I know. I know. It's been too long. Things have been pretty exciting here. First off, last Tuesday I had an interview with Brookfield Zoo for a temporary seasonal position. It would be from April to September. On the same day that I got a call for that interview, I got a call for another interview with a facility in Key Largo, FL called Dolphin Cove Research and Education center. It is a facility that does swim with dolphins programs and dolphin assisted therapy. That interview is this Tuesday over the phone. Ryan and I also completed our confined water SCUBA, meaning we passed all the SCUBA stuff in the classroom and in a pool. It was a lot of fun and a weird experience breathing underwater. A lot of the skills I was a little scared to do at first, but when I got there, I knew they had to get done and they were not bad at all. So, the next step is to do four open water dives to get certified. However, Brookfield could not even consider me if I didn't have the dates for those open water dives, so to help that situation, Ryan and I are flying to Miami Florida right when I'm done with my internship on March 20th for 5 days. Two of those days we will do the open water dives. We will get on a boat at 9:00 and they will bring us to the dive site where we will do the same skills we did in the pool and arrive back at 1:00 pm. Then we will be certified. Nothing like a last minute trip to Florida!

March 5th...mark your calendars. This is the date where I do my first full dolphin show where I get to do all the hand cues and everything. I also get to get in the water and do what is called waterwork, where I do different behaviors with them in the water. This will be the first time I get to do this, and I am super excited. My mom, brother, sister-in-law, Ryan, Ryan's family, etc. are coming and it should be great. So if you want to make a last minute trip, come on out to exciting Minnesota!

Yummy fish! This is Rio. If you are wondering what that bright orange thing is, it is a frisbee. When I do points during a show (meaning the trainers will point me dolphins to feed temporarily) I put the food in the frisbee and feed from that. That was the first thing my brother-in-law asked, so I figured I'd clarify. 

This is Rio. Cute girl! 

This is Rio, who is currently pregnant, with her calf, Spree, the two year old terror, but is so darn cute! 

This is Semo, the best dolphin in the world! 

kissy, kissy, kissy 

This is Ayla. She is the dolphin with scoliosis. That is why she is a little crooked. 

This is Semo and I. He is a 43 year year old dolphin. And I am a 23 year old crabby intern (or so it looks that way). I'm actually concentrating really hard! 

Ryan and I after graduation. 

Sara Groves was amazing. Ryan and I ended up buying ALL of her c.d's. We said that we can spend a little bit because Ryan got a job. And more spending occured at Target's "global bazzar" thing that they are having...awesome, awesome imported stuff. So yeah...Ryan got a job. He is long-term subbing in math in Columbia Heights, MN. He is taking over classes who haven't had a "real" teacher since early December, so it's been a bit rough. One class has close to 40 kids. So take that many kids plus the fact they are used to slacking for two months. That puts Ryan in a bad place, but he is handling it wonderfully. Teacher's have even commented that he is probably in the worst place a teacher could be in and that he is handling it very well. Yeah Ryan! So back to Sara Groves. There were a couple songs that completely touched me. Lately I haven't been in the best place with God. Since leaving school, my routine of spending time with God has been out the window. I work on Sunday so there is no church, there is no Bible study here, no fellowship...excuses, excuses. Anyway, I completely felt that God was singing to me through Sara and saying exactly what I needed to hear at that time. It brought me to tears. Things seem to be looking up, but I still need a lot of prayer.

Ryan, Greg and I went outside after that last big snowfall a couple weeks ago and built snow tunnels. I hadn't done that for years. Man, I'm out of shape. How did I do that for hours and hours when I was little? I even went through the tunnels, which is a huge fear of mine. It was a beautiful night. It was so quite and peaceful. I could've sat out there forever. I remember when I was little and we lived on Calumet Street. I would be playing outside and just lay in the snow at night and look up at the sky. That night had that same feeling.

The other day at work the vets were there doing exams on three dolphins. I had Ayla for a 45 min. session. For those that don't know, a normal session is about 15 minutes. This was the same amount of fish for 45 minutes. I can't do any behaviors with her except walk her around, do rub downs (have her swim past me as I rub along her body...that sounded to sensual), and play with toys with her. Ayla is one that can get bored easy so it was a challenge. I believe I suceeded. She only left me twice, but came right back and it was right at the end. Go me! This is also funny. The supervisor asked me if I ever saw blubber measurements at Brookfield. I had so she asked me to teach one of the trainers how to do it because the vets were coming in a few days to do it. So I had to teach a trainer how to do it. Then when the vet was in yesterday he didn't know where to do it so I had to teach him too. Funny stuff.

Ryan, myself, and our friend, Chad, went to a comedy club two weeks ago in downtown Minneapolis. We saw a guy who does the dodge ram commercials and he says "that thing gotta hemi?" Anyway, he was really funny. I never saw a stand up comedian before.