Just the Way You Are

Today was my first day at the zoo in 5 months, and it was just as great as my first day a year ago.  Did some hoofstock, got to pet the rhino again, weighed the rhino (4537 pounds), and did it in below freezing weather.  And the baby zebra is gigantic now, like a normal sized zebra, it's crazy.  I remember last February being there during its first day of life.  Then I got traded off to giraffe where I cleaned the heated barn, and chipped ice in the yard so they wouldn't slip....apparently giraffes have died from slipping on ice.  After that, we went to bird run, where it was totally different, but the funny cockatiels that talk were still there.  Then we finished the day off by getting some branches for one of the giraffes and hanging it up in their stall.  Overall, a successful first day back.

And, an Alamo Bowl trip just happened too.  San Antonio's a pretty cool city, it would be more fun on a non-POA trip though since pretty much everything on the riverwalk is a bar or club at night, so I want to go back there sometime soon.  We played a gig on a boat, a gig in a bar, and a gig at a giant alumni party from a balcony above the party.  And we had tons of free time to roam the streets of San Antonio, it was just a cool trip.  But the 14 hour drive there and 17 hour drive back were not enjoyable.  Definitely fly there from Tucson next time.

It's been an interesting couple of months here, but I'm definitely ready to start my last semester of school ever, and to move on to the real world.  And only 40 days until pitchers and catchers report haha.  Tucson getting the Padres AAA team may mean season tickets for me to buy, but I guess that depends on if a job happens or not sometime in the near future.  A lot of uncertainty out there I guess.

If perfect's what your searchin for than just stay the same

Bleeding Love

So, this weekend had the greatest September football game in the history of Arizona Stadium.  DOWN WITH THE HAWKEYES!!  Everything was great, the game, the drumline, the band in general....everything just went well.  It was a little stressful going into the game because one of the bass drummers wasn't there, but it all worked out in the end.

In other football news, the Bucs are 2-0!   A lot of people predicted that they would go 2-14 or worse, so this is another Padres situation for me, which is exciting, at least for now.

As for the Padres....ugh X a billion.  I almost can't watch Padre games anymore because it's just so stressful.  And Mat Latos on Friday....are you serious?  1.1 innings and 8 ER.....what happened?  Maybe this inning thing is real.  At least Chris Young is back and looking pretty good.  And Adrian is still clutch, but other than that, I'm just not sure at all.

In four weeks, I get to go to San Diego for a weekend for a lab credit, so I'm starting to get really excited about that.  Camping on the beach, boating, aquarium.  It should be incredible.  It's nice only having three classes this semester, especially after having six last semester....a lot of free time to just hang around and relax, which is awesome.

The next two weeks will be sweet, Pac-10 play starts, NL west coming down to the wire.  Should be exciting times here hopefully....

I don't care what they say, I'm in love with you

Boys of Summer

I haven't been on here all summer, and I'm not really sure why, so here's a quick recap.

The two muntjacs, the male rhino, and the old zebra mare all died this summer.  Easily four of my favorite animals at the zoo, so that was kind of rough.  The rhino may have been the worst though because I had to clean up after the destruction that happened to the yard after his passing.  I got to work with two new keepers, so hopefully that helps me out when I'm looking to get into the zoo business for real.  Otherwise, I just did pretty much the usual hoofstock stuff all summer at Reid Park.

I went to Florida for a week.  Two best days were the day we went to Animal Kingdom, and the day we went to Daytona for the NNS race.  Daytona International is just an incredible place to go, and on a race weekend, it was absolutely ridiculous.  A little disappointing still that Cup qualifying was rained out that day, but Junior winning the race in the Wrangler car definitely made up for it.

I got named drum captain of the drumline this year.  It feels good, but it was really stressful for a while, but now it's starting to be ok, and doing the little extra things is actually kind of nice because my class load is really light this semester.  I also became the marching percussion instructor at Desert View High School in Tucson.  That'll give me something else to do and will definitely fill up my Tuesday and Thursday nights.

And, last but certainly not least, the Padres still have the best record in the NL :) The Angels might be awful this year, but the Padres have made up for it.

So maybe I'll start doing this more, even though I'm not sure if I'll be at the zoo this semester, but drumline will probably be able to fill this up fairly easily, and baseball of course.

Nobody on the road, nobody on the beach.  I fell it in the air, summer's out of reach