The zoo is still going good. I am almost all done learning Semo's behaviors. I've also been learning Spree's behaviors. Yesterday I was getting trained on Chinook, who I was surprised to learn. They told me my first day I wouldn't learn behaviors on him. Oh well. I'm not complaining! I have learned how to do observations, which is fun since we couldn't do them as interns. We had a pregnancy scare last weekend. Rio was acting like she was going to have the calf anytime. She was showing all the signs of early labor. So we all got calls to give us the head's up, then she started acting completely normal again. We know the calf was breech, so we were thinking when Rio was acting strange, the baby was flipping around. They are doing an ultrasound today, so I guess we'll find out. Now I am full time at the zoo since we are on the 24 hour observation schedule.

Josh, as to that comment from that guy...I have no clue.

Ryan and I have been trying to attend some of the events at the high school that he is subbing at. Last week we went to a play called "the lady pirates of captain bree" or something like that. Very enjoyable. Tonight we went to a talent show with singing, dancing, poetry, etc. There was a lot of booty shaking. I don't think that stuff would have flew in my high school. And teachers saying "damn" and that they got lucky on their prom night. It's like a completely different world then how I grew up. Besides the initial shock, it was very entertaining.

Tomorrow Ryan, Matthew, and I head to a Twin's game. I have become quite the baseball fan, which for those that know me, that should be a shocker since I usually hate sports. Once I get my pink Twins t-shirt, I will be all set!

If you are reading this and do not have my new cell phone number, either e-mail me or reply to this post so I can e-mail it to me. I may be blonde, but I'm not dumb enough to post it on here. What do you call eternity? 4 blondes at a 4 way stop. Tee hee hee.

This past weekend I got to go to the Brookfield Zoo to the IMATA conference. It was good to see the trainers and animals again. And I learned some stuff at the conference. It was a quick trip, but it was good.

I started working at the zoo on Monday. I was getting trained on all of Semo’s behaviors…cues, what the criteria are, etc. I got to dive with the three females to clean the pool. It was a crazy experience. You can’t make eye contact with them and can’t interact in any way. When I was cleaning around the edges, they left me alone, but once I started swimming across the bottom, Spree was showing a lot of interest in me. I was once bumped by someone’s rostrum, but I don’t know who the culprit was. Rio also had a hissy fit during the dive, but Lynne, the other diver, was watching to make sure I was safe. Later that day this metal speaker cover rusted and fell off in the pool so Lynne and I had to dive again to put a new one back on. This was about 5:00 pm, and the lights are almost out in the stadium and it’s getting darker outside. We had to put these nuts and bolts on this ring. Since it was hard to see, Lynne used the Jedi force and closed her eyes to help her feel her way to putting the nuts in. It was pretty silly. On Tuesday I went over more behaviors and also went over observation stuff for when the calf is born. I also got to sit in on a staff meeting for once. I also got to do a show. Diane stayed by me and bridged my behaviors (blew the whistle when Semo did the correct behavior). I think it went really well. The girls are in the back pools so it is just the Semo and Chinook show.

Today at Vanity was my first day opening by myself. No problems. Tomorrow I close by myself for the first time. Fun stuff.

I ended up getting job offers from both Bath and Body and from Vanity. I chose Vanity because of more steady hours and it is a guaranteed job past June. Plus at Vanity I am part-time management, so that is always fun. I am considered a team lead, which is the position I had when I worked at Vanity before. I will be in charge of openning and closing, as well as the normal duties. I went into work on Saturday to do paperwork and today is my first 8 hour day. I also will work 8 hours tomorrow and Wednesday. On Thursday I am heading down to Chicago for an IMATA (international marine animal trainer association) conference at Brookfield Zoo, where I did my first internship. I will be staying at my mentor's house. I am really excited to see everyone again. The girl, Becky, who interned with me will also be there so it'll be fun to be with her. At least there will be two new trainers there. I get back from that on Saturday. I have training at the zoo on Monday and Tuesday. I will be working there one day a week until the calf is born, then I'll work 40 hours/week there. I am really excited to see what I get to do. Robyn said I will be doing shows, which now we have 4 shows a day. Fun fun! Gotta get ready for work.

Recently I have been applying to part-time jobs so I will have work before and after my zoo job. I would also work while working at the zoo. Last week I had an interview with Bath and Body Works. Tomorrow I have an interview with Vanity. Wednesday I have an interview with Maurices. Is this God's way of telling me I should work retail for the rest of my life and skip the animal thing? I sure hope not!

I have picked up a new hobby...card making. It started when I went to a stamping party. (Which Rachel and I are actually hosting tomorrow.) I don't have any stamps yet, but I have this shape punch thingy and I have made 11 cards already with just that. I must say, they look pretty darn good.

I got a job! One that actually pays! I was hired today at the Minnesota Zoo as an "emergency employee". It'll be this summer when I start. Probably the second or third week of May. I will work for only 45 days (not consecutive) and then my time is up. My supervisor says it will be 40 hours a week. Rio is expecting her calf mid-June or before so they want me starting before then to get into the swing of things. I'll probably only work 1 or 2 days a week before the calf is born, so I don't use up too many days. I'm excited!

I am currently visiting my family in the U.P. Since I'm currently unemployed, I figured I'd go home to visit for a week. I came up on Tuesday. Tuesday night Josh, Amy, Courtney, and I went to InterVarsity at MTU. We then went out to coffee with one of the staff workers, who I actually knew from 5 years ago. After that Court and I talked till about 1 am. Yesterday mom and I finished painting the computer room. We sponge painted it and it looks really nice. We also went out and bought some curtains. Then I took a trip down memory lane by going through my box of old school stuff..awards, newspaper clippings, papers, etc. Last night Courtney and I went to Nutini's to see Josh's (my ex-boyfriend) band play. It was kinda strange seeing Josh since I hadn't seen him for about 4 years, but nice at the same time. He is still his goofy self. Court and I were there until about 2 and I got to bed around 3:00. Late nights for me! Today I am heading to my dad's house for the day. I'm really glad he was in town this week.

I've had a busy, yet exciting couple of days...

Thursday…Saw Sin City with Rachel and Matthew. It was very interesting and I actually enjoyed it. Normally I wouldn’t like such a violent movie, but since it was the first of it’s kind, it was interesting to me. And the blood didn’t really look like blood. Since it was in black and white, most of the blood looked like bird poop.

Friday…We were planning to go to the Twin’s game, but it was sold out. So instead, Ryan, myself, and Sarah (Chad’s girlfriend) went to Chad’s where we grilled burgers and brats. We just watched the game on tv, wishing we were there.

Saturday…Woke up and did a lot of painting. Then me, Ryan, Rachel, Matthew, Chad, and Sarah went to a Twin’s game. They lost to the White Sox, but it was very enjoyable. After the game we went to Applebee’s to get some appetizers. So much food! Then we went to Rachel and Matthew’s to play with the puppies and watch Matthew play some video game on the old Nintendo.

Sunday...Woke up and helped Gayle with more painting. We finished the downstairs’ bathroom and started on the upstairs’ one. Took a break and ate grilled steak for lunch. Yummy. Then we went to the driving range. I was actually hitting pretty good. Then we went to Menard’s to get more tape to tape off the bathroom. Then it was off to Cold Stone Creamery for some delectable ice cream. (cake batter flavor with cookie dough) While there I got a message that I did not get the Brookfield job. That was my guess, but it still sucks. Then Ryan and I headed to Chad’s. We had dinner and then we headed off to church. We went to a contemporary service called the “upper room”. Ryan and I really liked it. It’s just so far away to drive each week.

I am no longer missing a tooth. After an almost 2 year process (not to mention the numerous surgeries since 6th grade), I have a tooth. It looks amazing and you can't even tell that is is fake. When you see me next, I even bet you money you can't tell which one is the fake one. I was supposed to get it done on Tuesday, but I got there and got all numbed up, and apparently the screw they got from the lab was stripped so I had the joy of going back again today. I was not happy on Tuesday, but today I'm super happy with the results.

Tonight we are going to see "Sin City". It should be interesting.

Spring is my friend. The past few days were absolutely gorgeous. It even got up to 71 degrees! Ryan and I took a nice stroll through the neighborhood. I had no dogs to walk or anything when everyone was at work, I took that cats out by just holding them. That was a bad idea, considering all they wanted to do was jump out of arms and frolic around.

Today I took a nice snooze in the sunroom with both kitties on my lap. Ah, how nice. Once we move out, it is mandatory that we get a kitty.

Still no word from Brookfield. It is getting really frustrating considering I called once and e-mailed once and still no word. GRRRRR!!!! I am trying to be patient, but come on! It's been over a month.

Like I mentioned in my last blog, I was able to SCUBA dive the past two days. Today will be going on the third. Unfortunately Ayla has been sick at the zoo. Each day (today will be the 7th I think) about 12 divers get in with a big net. Four divers hold it against the side and the others swim down to the bottom and hold it there and slowly swim forward, causing Ayla to go into the medical pool. Yesterday they needed more divers so Ryan went and dove also. It was a strange experience. You could see Ayla swimming on the other side, completely uninterested in us. You could hear her whistling. It has been a great experience for me, being able to do this. I am broken though. I some how pulled my muscles down my right side. The back of my head kills because the tank smacked it so many times. AND my knuckles are all scrapped up from the net. Fun times.

Ryan and I got back from Miami yesterday. We left on Sunday, but our plane from Minneapolis was delayed 2 hours because of the weather in Newark, NJ, where we were going to land. This caused us to miss our connecting flight in Newark, so we got to spend the night in the airport. That was a fun experience. We were able to get on a plane on Monday morning and be in Miami by 10:00 am. On Monday we went to the SCUBA dive shop that we were going to get certified through. We got fitted for wetsuits and all that jazz. Then we went to a beach in north Miami. It was a nice calm beach, with families and such. Then we decided to take a stroll down the beach before we headed out. As we were walking along the water, Ryan points out a guy wearing a pink thong. My first thought was that we were at a gay beach. (I’ve been to one in FL when I had my marine biology class…it was the prof’s doing, not mine). Anyway, I looked past him and saw a large naked old guy. I told Ryan that we were on a nude beach and we needed to turn around. In the process of doing that, I spotted another nude old guy about 20 feet from me. Yuck! We got out of there fast. As we were walking back to the original beach we saw a sign that said, “clothes must be worn past this point”. We wish we would’ve seen the sign warning us that clothing was optional. It was a tiny sign way up on the beach. That night we went down to South Beach and ate at Senor Frogs. Food isn’t that great there and costs way too much. Never again.

On Tuesday we had our first dives. The first site was about 22 feet and the second site about 18 feet. On this day we did all of our skills so the second day we could just dive and not have to do any skills for the certification. We saw a ton of fish, which I can’t tell you what they are. So much for learning anything in my marine biology class. J We say two brilliantly colored lobsters. They were white and blue. Very cool. Ryan saw a shark when we were doing our compass skills. I was behind him and I am really thankful I didn’t see it because I probably would’ve freaked out. Poor Ryan got sick on his second dive. It was probably a combo of seasickness/swallowing too much salt water/dehydration/swimming in surge. So the big question is, was I scared? Heck yeah! On the first dive when we rolled out of the boat and swam to the anchor line, I felt like I didn’t have any breath and that my regulator wasn’t giving me enough air. One I got down I was fine. It is just freaking bobbing up and down on 3 foot waves in the ocean, about to go under for 30 minutes and breathe out of a tank.

On Wednesday our first dive was at 60 feet. Down there we saw a ton of fish and a brittle star. I was starting to get a hang of everything by that dive. For the second dive we were at a place that was about 20 feet deep. Here we saw puffer fish!!! My favorite! We say two smaller ones that were puffed out, and then one HUGE one, about 2-2.5 feet long. He was huge! Poor Ryan got sick again and I was miserable because I had to go to the bathroom so bad and I couldn’t make myself go in the water. (Aren’t you all glad I’m sharing this) Finally I did and was able to enjoy the rest of the dive. There was a lot of live coral on the bottom so I’m glad that dive was last. By that time I was able to keep myself very controlled and not accidentally hit the bottom. We passed with flying colors and are now SCUBA certified!

We ate at some other places that week: Bennegin’s, Outback Steakhouse, some 70’s dinner across from the beach called Jonny Rocket’s, and a great bar called Wet Willie’s.

On the last day we went to the Miami Seaquarium. We got in free since I’m hooked up with the MN Zoo. Then the admissions dude had a trainer give us a tour. On that we saw some exhibits and then behind the scenes for a few minutes of a tank with the juvenile dolphins, who were all playing with various toys. Listen to this. We even got to feed and touch a manatee! We got to go right over the tank and put these protein pebbles in their mouths. Their whiskers would tickle your fingers. They are amazing animals. I had never seen one before and now I got to feed one! I am very thankful for everything I get to experience. Ryan got to feed also, which was super cool. We then saw the dolphin show and the sea lion show. After the sea lion show we got to stay after to get our picture taken with a sea lion. Then we saw the killer whale/pacific white-sided dolphin show. Why they have that combo, you got me. After that we headed to the beach in south beach. Not my cup of tea. Too many spring breakers. At least we only saw one topless sunbather. I like the calm family beaches. Not the beaches where everyone is super close to you. We didn’t stay too long. So Miami was fun, but I don’t know if I’d choose to go back again.

So I am technically done with my internship. I am heading into work today though. I first was going to help out with another intern’s waterwork. I called work yesterday and Ayla is sick, so they have to net her to feed her. If there is enough gear, they asked if I wanted to SCUBA dive with them to net her. I’ll let you know if I get to do it or not. The other intern can’t do her waterwork today because of this sickness and the pregnant dolphin, Rio, is acting really crabby.

This is Semo giving me a dorsal tow.  

This is hard to see, but it is Semo and I doing a waltz. 

This is Rio and myself, doing what is known as a peek. She is pregnant, hence the big belly. 

It has been an exciting couple of days. On Friday my mom, Josh, and Amy came from Michigan because Saturday was my “big day” at the zoo. On Saturday the 12:00 show was pretty normal. I did points with Rio and Chinook. Well points with Chinook during a show was a first. For some reason they don’t let us feed him, and nobody quite understands. Anyway, then after the show Josh and Amy got to meet Semo, while Gayle and Rachel (Ryan’s mom and sister) got to meet Chinook. They all got to do rubdowns, feed them, and do some behaviors. Then we all went and ate at Chipotle, but I was too anxious/excited/nervous I didn’t even eat. And for those of you who know me, that is a huge thing for me to pass down food at a restaurant. Anyway, I got to do the 2:00 show, where I did all the behaviors with Semo. One thing I did was his “ball toss to crowd” where I go on the public side and throw a ball in the water. He grabs it and has his famous 10 second wind-up, then throws it in the crowd. The cutest thing you’ll ever see. The show went pretty flawless. Then I got to do waterwork, which is where I get in the water and do behaviors with the dolphins. I did a hula, water squirt, waltz (the dolphin pops up in front of you, you grab the pecs, and he spins you around), dorsal tow (grab on the dorsal fin and hang on for life as he pulls you across the pool), layouts, and peaks over the acrylics. It was an amazing experience and I’m so grateful that I got to experience it. I am also very grateful that my family was able to come and also a lot of Ryan’s family came. I have some pictures, so once I get them on this computer, I can post them on here.

What else? Oh, I did not get the job in Florida. Such is life. It seems to be a pattern with me that facilities think they call me to tell me I don’t get the position, but they don’t really call me, so I call them to find out the bad news. Dumb. I also got my hair highlighted yesterday. I am once again a blonde. Yipee! I only have 7 more days left at the zoo. Crazy!

I just wrote a huge blog about my waterwork with the dolphins this weekend and of course it didn't go through. When I have more time today or tomorrow I will re-write it.

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.