Beaches, Burns, and Birds

Hi all! I realize I haven't updated the blog very much lately, but I'm gonna try and catch up a little bit!

Saturday, Sept 3rd: Happy (real) International Vulture Day!

Sunday, Sept 4th: Today, one of the managers from The Seas came to talk to us about the Conservation Education position they have. I've decided I'm not going to apply for that because I don't think it's a step up from what I'm doing now, and I don't know enough about marine animals. Although I do have a heads up on most of the other current Ed. Presenters because I'm already scuba certified.

Monday, Sept 5th: After work (and a trip to eat fatty foods at McDonald's), Sonia, Steph, and I went shopping at Forever XXI. When we walked in, Steph said, "I don't know why, but I bet you're someone who likes plaid." HAHA. You have no idea. I ended up buying two dresses--one of which I have to give credit to Sonia for finding. :-)

Tuesday, Sept 6th: Sonia, Melissa Hartley, and I watched "White Chicks" after work, and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. I'd forgotten how much I loved that movie!! Also, big news--I applied for two Disney alumni internships...Conservation Education (Community and Group) and Research Administration. The first one would involve writing curriculum and teaching camps and fun stuff like that. The latter would be a lot of computer work, video editing, and possibly a bit of Photoshop stuff.

Wednesday, Sept 7th: Today was my day off, so Cassie and I went to the beach!! We drove part of the way with the top of her convertible down...yeah! When we got to St. Petersburg Beach, we couldn't find the actual beach--just a harbor. After asking for directions, we drove to a beach at Treasure Island. Yes, it was as awesome as the name suggests. The sand was beautiful, and there was barely anyone there. We jumped around in the waves for a bit, then fell asleep on our towels. Then we decided to look for the ice cream parlor that sold funnel cake sundaes, but that was an epic fail. Instead, we went to The Dairy Inn. I got honey barbeque wings, and then a chocolate raspberry truffle ice cream cone. YUM. After a fun afternoon, we headed home. On the car ride, my sun burn slowly started to show up. By the time we got home, I was BURNT TO A CRISP. Thank goodness I had a huge bottle of aloe waiting for me! That night, I took a nap just so I wouldn't have to deal with the painful sunburn. After a while, I decided I should stop being lazy, so Sonia and I watched "A Bug's Life."

Treasure Island Beach

Thursday, Sept 8th: Today was our Conservation Biology seminar with Dr. Anne Savage! She talked about Proyecto Titi, a program dedicated to the conservation of Cotton-Top Tamarins, along with sea turtle tracking, and other primate research. She then took us to the Wildlife Tracking Center at Conservation Station, where we got to learn a little bit about elephant communication.

Directly after the seminar, I drove to BTN. I finally got trained to clean the birds of prey cages and make their diets!! BEST DAY EVER. I was responsible for Cookie (Turkey Vulture), Great Horned Owl, Barred Owls, Winnie (Bald Eagle), Screech Owls, and Whizzer (Red-Tailed Hawk). It took forever to finish all of that, but it was fun! At the end of the day, Ariel, another intern, asked me to help her change the bandages on Tarot, a hawk who has bumblefoot. I ended up staying until almost 7:00, but it was so worth it!

Friday, Sept 9th: At work, I saw a ton of families with Steelers clothing! One couple had a stroller covered in Stiller logos, and a water bottle with their logo on it. The husband was also carrying a terrible towel. I LOVE seeing so many fans in the park!!

Saturday, Sept 10th: The best part of my day happened while I was at the Dino KDC. I said to a child, "Dinosaurs aren't around anymore, so how can we help the animals that we still have today?" He answered very enthusiastically, "WITH AN ASTEROID!" Bahahaha that was my favorite child ever.

Sunday, Sept 11th: First and foremost, today was the 10th anniversary of 9/11. God bless America and all those who lost their lives in New York, DC, and Pennsylvania on that horrible day.

Monday, Sept 12th: Wow, my updates are getting progressively shorter and shorter. Anyway, today, Nick and I worked together at Conservation Station. The whole time, we were singing "Eye of the Tiger" in Spanish ("El Ojo del Tigre"). We had a good time butchering the Spanish language.

Tuesday, Sept 13th: After work, the presenters had a behind-the-scenes tour of The Seas at Epcot!! It was a ton of fun! We went backstage to the food prep area, dolphin holding, main tank, and manatee tank. It reminded me of that episode of Full House when the whole family went on vacation in Disney World, and Joey and Jesse did their radio show in the main tank. Good 90s memories. Anyway, after the tour, we rode Test Track. That ride isn't nearly as scary as it was when I was 13 or 14! Still fun, though!

Wednesday, Sept 14th: As Sonia and I walked downstairs to leave the apartment that morning, Sonia said, "Damn, Alison, your calves are toned! Whenever you walk, the muscles are like 'BAM!'" Hahahahaha. I guess all the walking at work has paid off!! Haha that literally made my day. I'm glad my job has forced me to get back into shape!

Thursday, Sept 15th: Refuge day!! I was assigned the squirrels and Jasper (the goat). At the end of the day, Debbie asked me if I wanted to take Izzy, the 9-month-old opossum, on a walk. Ummm, YES! She's so adorable. Before I left for the day, I helped feed milk to a baby squirrel with a syringe, and I put fresh water in the baby room cages. I love that place so much!! It's hard work to take care of all our animals, but it's so rewarding.

Izzy the opossum!

Alright, now I'm at least a little bit caught up with the past few weeks. I've had a really crazy week, so I'm gonna head to bed. Next time, I'll tell you about my invertebrate tour, the Lightning hockey game, and Mickey's Not-So-Scary-Halloween Party!! Let's just say my costume was "for the birds"!

"Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land."--Aldo Leopold

Can You Take Our Picture? It's For A Scavenger Hunt.

Hey y'all! Sorry I haven't written a blog in a while, I've been crazy busy with work and the refuge. I've got a lot to talk about in this entry, but the good news is I have tons of pictures!

Wednesday, Aug 24th: Today was the epic scavenger hunt at Epcot for the Presenters' team-building activity! Sonia, Cassie, and I were a team (they let Cassie come because she loves scavenger hunts). We had to answer different questions and take pictures around the World Showcase. Every time we needed a group shot, Cassie would go up to someone and ask if they could take a picture. Then I always added in, "It's for a scavenger hunt." I figured they might find it weird that we wanted a picture in front of a random statue, or with a family all wearing the same shirt. So, that became the quote of the night and is the title of this entry. Anyway, back to the scavenger hunt--The three of us DOMINATED. Below are some pictures of us: in Mexico, in Norway, with a family all dressed the same, and with "Justin Beaver" in Canada.

Thursday, Aug 25th: I went back to the refuge (which I will now call BTN) today, and I was assigned to take care of the barnyard animals. I put Koko the Emu's food in her enclosure, and then cleaned Mocha (the deer) and Jennifer's (the goat) cage. Most of the day, the other interns and I washed dishes, but then we got to clean the bird cage with mockingbirds, doves, thrashers, and sparrows. We pulled the hose inside, so the door was left open a little bit. Somehow, the mockingbird escaped--luckily it was close to being released anyway, and we didn't get in trouble. Oops.

That evening, Sonia came home and told Cassie and I that we had won the scavenger hunt!! YEAH!! One of the questions we got wrong was "Name 4 famous Canadians." We had been in a hurry when we wrote the answers, and Cassie wrote down "Cindy Crosby." FAIL. Haha...oh well, we still won!

A bit later, Cassie and I went to grocery bingo at one of the CP apartments. I WON!! I got 2 reusable bags full of food, plus some toilet paper, laundry detergent, dryer sheets, and toothpaste. I've never won anything in my life, but tonight I won the scavenger hunt AND bingo!!

Friday, Aug 26th: Today was my day off, so I cleaned up the apartment a bit and hung some more of my pictures on my bedroom wall. Also, I found out that Jazzie, who I studied abroad with, was coming to Orlando for the week!

Saturday, Aug 27th: Nothing much happened today, except it rained a lot because of Hurricane Irene! Luckily, she pretty much passed over us.

Sunday, Aug 28th: Pretty much the only exciting part about work was when one of the primate keepers came to tell us about the siamangs. They were relatively sure that the mother was pregnant (it's often hard to predict their pregnancies ahead of time)! She ended up having a baby a few days later! It looks like a naked mole rat or some sort of ugly alien. Hopefully she grows fur soon--that would make her much cuter.

That night, most of the Presenters went to T-Rex (a restaurant like Rainforest Cafe, only Dino-themed) for Karen's birthday. It was a ton of fun, and it was great to hang out with everyone outside of work. Unfortunately, there was a big fiasco with our checks, and it took a lot of work to separate our checks. Afterwards, we took a group picture outside. There were a bunch of rude people walking in front of the camera, so Karen yelled at them and then moved the queue rope so that they'd have to walk around. It was hilarious...until she moved it back on top of my foot. Thanks, Karen. :P

Monday, Aug 29th: In the morning, some of the Community Education managers came to talk to us about their internship that's available for next semester. Out of all the positions, this is the one I REALLY want. I would get to learn how to write curriculum, teach classes and camps, and make trips to hospitals to visit children. Basically perfect for me. After the managers left, my mentor group met with one of our leaders to talk about how to write resumes and cover letters.

Tuesday, Aug 30th: Today was kind of a bad day, until i saw Stitch (from "Lilo and Stitch") backstage. He patted me on the back and, all of a sudden, I felt a lot happier. I love when characters say hi to Cast Members. :-)

That night, I drove through a freaking hurricane to get to Magic Kingdom so I could meet up with Jazzie. I was literally the only person driving into the park, and I almost hydroplaned about 20 times. After going on a few rides, we saw the "Wishes" fireworks! That was the first time I had seen them, and they were pretty spectacular. I'm so happy I got to see Jazzie, even if was only for a few hours!

Jazzie and I at the Haunted Mansion cemetery!

Wednesday, Aug 31st: The Group Education team came to tell us about their internship, which I'm also applying for. For some reason, they brought a leaf from The Tree of Life, and we all got to touch it. It was like I was touching a piece of Disney history!

Thursday, Sept 1st: Today, Disney celebrated International Vulture Awareness Day. I had off, but it was my day at the refuge, so I couldn't go to DAK and do the fun vulture activities. :-(

At the refuge, I cleaned up Koko's cage and worked on organizing the produce. It was a bad day for me because there was some miscommunication and I messed a few things up. It's hard to remember everything I've learned when I'm only there once a week!

That evening, Sonia, Cassie, Melissa Hartley, and I went to the Disco-themed meet-and-greet. We met Mickey, who was wearing his spiffy, sparkly, blue suit! That Mouse has style.

Friday, Sept 2nd: Betsy, Steph, and I went to Magic Kingdom and we FINALLY got to ride Splash Mountain! I love how the lines for almost all of the rides are so short now. We stuck around for the "Dreams Come True" parade and it was AMAZING. I don't think any Disney parade could top it. After I did a bit of shopping, we headed to the Contemporary Resort on the monorail, and I bought a delicious Black Forest cupcake. 

I basically meet Disney characters for a living.

That night, the roomies and I watched Pocahontas and then made up interpretive dances to "Colors of the Wind" and "Just Around the Riverbend." That's one reason I love my roommates. We can just act like idiots with no shame whatsoever!

Ok, it's definitely time for bed. My weekend is officially over, and now it's time for another LONG six days straight of work. Peace out, everyone!

"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."--E.B. White