Who wants a baby shrimp in a month?

So...it's official. I have 2 females and 1 male ghost shrimp. I was hoping my other female would wait a little longer before she laid eggs, but apparently my shrimp are extremely happy in my tank. My other female just showed up with eggs (1 week after my other). Between the two, I expect little swimming shrimp larvae in about 3-5 weeks. I'm not shutting my pump off or removing my fish so there's a good chance most of them will die, which is good because I have a 6gal tank. I can't raise a ton of shrimp! It'll get too crowded. Sad, but the truth. I suppose I should wait to change my filters till after they hatch now....

Internships cont...

I've decided to not do the Aquarium internship. I just don't think it's a best fit and the internship description just isn't that interesting for me since it's surveying, working with partners about the Seafood Watch Program, etc. Sustainable Seafood is part of what I'm interested in, but it's definitely not something I want to focus on for an internship. It could be a nice step into the door at the Aquarium, but I'm just not jazzed about it and I don't think it's fair to send in an application, have my references and application people go through everything, and not be excited for it. It might also be nice to work with someone else since I already have the Aquarium on my resume for volunteering. :)

Funny enough, Dave Parker (the head of our Career Development Team) sent me the contact info of a former Bren student is an ocean policy research analyst at the Aquarium! I was tempted to e-mail him directly, but since I've already been in contact with the Manager of Volunteer Resources, I don't want to go behind her back on the internship. It'd especially look bad since I kind of bypassed the general route anyway and went directly to her. Plus, I think I'd end up having to go through her eventually anyway and it'd be kind of awkward. So...That's out.

I did email the Development and PR person for Oceana, which has an office in Monterey. We'll see what comes of that. I also e-mailed someone with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to see if she has a contact for me to contact at the Monterey office. I'm almost desperate enough to e-mail Adina back (she used to work with COMPASS) and ask if there are any opportunities at the Center for Ocean Solutions. I know she won't really mind, but it seems kind of "weird" to have e-mailed her about COMPASS (received contact info too), not given it any thought after knowing she's at the COS, and then a month later e-mail her again asking for an internship at the COS...Maybe I'll get desperate enough that it won't feel weird. LoL I am glad I started early on this internship thing...

I got an A- on my paper for 257, which I'm pretty proud of. I didn't do horrible on my econ midterm, but I didn't do fantastic either. It's a good point, though, and nothing to be really worried about. The final is take home, so that definitely makes it better. I did my 202 presentation today on ocean acidification and climate change with my group of 4 others. It's nice to have that over with! We're definitely getting down to the wire. In some ways it's getting more relaxed and in other ways it's just getting more tight. Oh, I also sent in a "I'm interested" to one of our profs about helping his post-doc student with modeling. It'd be only 5-7 hours a week, but any money inflow is better than nothing! Plus, it'd be interesting and be nice to add to the resume. Don't know if I'll get it and not sure when/if I'll hear about it. I might ask him tomorrow about it tomorrow since we have class with him.

With that...need to write my homework paper for 202...ugh. I am SO looking forward to next quarter when there's no enviro biogeochem! Stats, econ, marine processes, law, and group project -- excellent!

Ugh.

So I finally heard back from COMPASS. I e-mailed my contact again this morning and she responded this afternoon. It looks like they might be moving their office to the Bay Area, which would make my opportunities of interning with them not happen. (Moving to the Bay Area for the summer? No thanks.) That would be a bummer, especially since she informed me she has a budget for an intern! Gah...I hate to say it, but I hope she doesn't move her office to the Bay Area! She's going to get back to be on logistics, moving, etc mid- to late March. *fingers crossed*

I've still only heard about the Seafood Watch intern at the aquarium and I just don't think the Seafood Watch intern is the best fit for me. I really believe the CFFO would be much better for me. I'm thinking of applying just to apply (application is due next Monday -- eck!), but I'm not jazzed about it at all. Especially since I need 3 letters of recommendation, my transcripts, cover letter, and resume. The latter things are fine, but THREE letters of recommendation? *groans* I don't know any of my professors to go up to them and feel comfortable asking for a letter of recommendation. I know they do it all the time, but it's awkward. I could just be cheap and get 2 undergrad and 1 grad. I would at least get Judy, so now I just have to figure out who the other people would be. Also, I need to really get myself excited for the internship or my application is not going to get completed in time at all. Maybe I just won't apply...*sigh* I don't know what to do!

Ugh.

Let's start the panic of grades...

This quarter has 3 weeks left until finals week. Somehow my grades are going from good to not so good. I think there's also the added pressure that you only pass a class in grad school with a B or higher. No B-'s! I'm maintaining at least a B in all my classes right now, but I have one class that definitely has me worried and if I don't continue to do well on the hw assignments and get at least a C on my final, I could be in a "might not pass" area. So I'm worried about that. My midterm was definitely not as high as I'd have liked it to be. Luckily the class average was only a high C or I'd be really worried (class will be curved at the end -- phew!). I still have yet to hear back about my other midterm, which I'm hoping I did better in. Also, that class has a take home final so I feel better about that, whereas the class I'm worried about has another in-class test for the final.

My 257 class has only 2 assignments -- 2 papers each worth 50% of our grade. I'm a little worried about our first paper that's due tomorrow. If I tank it, there's no way I can salvage my grade. I don't think I'll tank it (I'm thinking I might get a B if he wanted it to be more technical on the analysis, if not...I thinking a low A), but it's just an added worry.

Anyway, this week I have 2 hw assignments due at the end of the week and 1 due March 1st. I have two papers due on March 12th and then it's finals week! As long as I do well on my next 204 assignment, I'll only have one more hw assignment outside of what's already due. 202 has a 4th assignment we'll get after this one is due on Friday. So...I can see the end of the tunnel! We also only have 2 weeks left of 241 lectures so I'll only have 3 classes to attend on the last week of lectures before finals. Of course, we don't attend classes on finals week either. Like I said...end of the tunnel! I just wish those stupid papers won't sitting at the end of the week.

I have decided to do my policy paper (for 241) on whether the new California water package will eventually get agriculture to use less water (in my opinion -- ag will never be asked to reduce water consumption). It's a predictive question I'll be answering, but I found the predictive questions more interesting than the explanatory topics. Of course the predictive topics are harder to write to our professor's satisfaction (as she stated), but maybe I'll get brownie points for trying? I just figure I'd be more inclined to do a better job with a topic I like than a topic I feel "so-so" about.

The so-so question (explanatory topic): Why did the 2007 reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act expand the role of market-based instruments, even while other "cap-and-trade" policies have proven to be politically difficult?

The interesting question (predictive topic): Will the recent water legislation passed by California lead to further legislation to reduce the consumption of water by the agricultural sector? Why or why not?

It's kind of funny because considering my love of the ocean, the Magnuson-Stevens Act would be the "typical" topic I'd pick, but I'm finding the whole water issue in California really interesting of late. It's a classic "man vs nature" problem and it's not like any side can be swept underneath the mat. Magnuson-Stevens Act would be more economics which I also like, but who can resist the gritty topic of "man vs nature"?!  Plus, cap-and-trade just doesn't interest me all that much. I get the concept; I know how the market will function with it; and I've heard the bad sides to it. With all that, it just doesn't make me go "wow, let me write a paper about it and how the Magnuson-Stevens Act is so different!" I might also still be scarred from my 200 paper at CSUMB too. I don't remember how long the paper was, but it was ridiculously long and the Magnuson-Stevens Act made an appearance in it and I've never enjoyed the Act since. I should go back and look at it, though. I know so much more about the workings of politics, regulations, etc that I'd probably actually understand it now. Oh well.

Well, with that, I should hit the sack and try and look over our required reading for tomorrow's enviro politics class (our prof gets upset with us since we don't participate enough and assumes we haven't done the reading, which is probably the case for half of us). That class is quickly becoming my least favorite and most interesting class at the same time...Yay 241?

Pregnant Shrimp

My ghost shrimp is pregnant with eggs! I'm not sure if I've mentioned my fish tank or not, but I have a 6gal fish tank in my room and I have 3 glolite tetras, 3 ghost shrimp, and 1 suckerfish. You can see photos here.

Anyway, my shrimps have been hanging out in the corners a lot lately and I knew one of my shrimp was a female, but today I noticed she had something gray-greenish underneath her tail area. I looked closely and realized it was eggs!

I went through "no, no, no! I can't have a pregnant shrimp! What am I going to do?!" Then reality sunk in because, let's face it, the babies are going to a) die, b) get eaten by my fish, or c) get sucked into the filter and die. I also found out after furiously checking websites after I figured out my shrimp had eggs was that the food the babies would need to survive is basically particulate matter and my tank just won't have small enough food for them to eat. So...once they hatch they'll hang out on the mom and die over time. So...after reality sunk in, I'm going through the "show off" phase now. It'd be nice to try and raise a few and give them to the pet store, but it's just going to be impossible. I might ask anyway. I have no clue how long the gestation period is, though. Nor do I even know exactly when the eggs were produced (I don't think I remember seeing them yesterday?). She's massive, though. I am hoping I only have 1 female and that the other "larger" one isn't a female too. We'll see, though. There's an obvious size difference between the three. Anyway, here are photos of my pregnant shrimp.

It's been fun watching her aerate the eggs. Well, I guess it's more like water circulation than air. It's also funny to watch her try and swim. I'm amazed she can get onto the plants because the eggs are on her "swimmers" (paddle like appendages underneath the tail to allow them to swim) so it's pretty hard for her. I've been enjoying my tank a lot (nice thing to zone out on), but this brings it all to a new height!

Olympics, Movies, and TV

(For my 3rd attempt at writing this post without accidentally posting it before it has anything written...)

I've been really into the Olympics and I'm not normally. I've always been interested in the medal count, but I've been watching the Olympics almost every night. Unfortunately, the Olympics has to go till midnight. WHY?! I missed the Chinese pairs' free skate because it was like the last thing they were showing and I couldn't justify staying up that late when I was tired. I did force myself to stay up to watch the last American in the men's singles short program (really good!). Luckily tomorrow is a 9:30am class start (unlike my 8:30 and 8 the other days) so I stayed up to watch Shaun White's halfpipe which was AMAZING! Especially since he had already won the Gold before going into his 2nd run and he ended up improving on his 2nd run. Amazing.

Anyway, to movies!  For your consideration…

 

Inglorious Basterds – What to say…Other than having humor and vast amounts of blood, there’s not a whole lot to say. It’s basically about the Inglorious Basterds and their exploits. I did fall asleep through Chapters 3-4, though. The rest of it was okay.

 

A Serious Man – I honestly have no clue what to say about this and just go “what a typical Oscar nomination.” I’m still not sure what the movie is supposed to say or, actually, whether it even has a point at all. The beginning was odd and I thought it served a purpose to the rest of the story, but I have yet to figure out if there was even supposed to be a connection. The Jewish theme was interesting, but in a “he happened to be Jewish and live in a Jewish neighborhood” type of way. I don’t know. I feel like I need to find the Cliff's Notes version of the movie. It was basically like the worst two weeks a man can live through and it never really resolved at the end, that I could interpret at least. This movie honestly baffles me.

 

The Hurt Locker – I liked it. It was an interesting documentary style film, but not a documentary. There were two quick appearances by actors that were interesting and the life of the bomb squad in Iraq is not a job I want. The movie definitely let you feel the tension of going in on a potential bomb location, the adrenaline rush, the danger, and everything else. It’s definitely more of a tension movie than it is really an “action” film. Definitely more in the realms of a drama by following the team and you getting to know them and understand their job. B/B+

 

Time Traveler’s Wife – I knew it was going to be sad, but I still liked it. Makes me want to read the book now which I wanted to do before the movie came out, but once the movie came out I didn’t want to read it anymore. It’s probably a better chick flick type of movie and it had some interesting time things and showed the difficulties of being the time traveler’s wife. I’d give it a B. Pretty average in the ways of films. Nothing spectacular, but not shabby either.

 

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief – This movie had high expectations from me because I love the book series (it’s a fantastic series and I’d recommend to anyone) and Chris Columbus directed the first two Harry Potter films. Percy Jackson is a series that Harry Potter fans will like so it seemed almost fitting Columbus would direct it. The books are infinitely better than the movie because of some things they “sped-up” for the movie (characters in love/hate relationships get out of hate much quicker, missing the whole prophecy thing, and the “villain” gets named too quickly compared to the books IMO) and they changed minor plot points I thought were important to setting up some of the situations later on, but it was a good movie adaptation overall. I do feel like the characters weren't developed well in the film (part of the "rush" feeling) or the "world." It just leaves me with a slight "wanting" feeling, but I still like it. I'd give it a B. 

Future hopeful: The Last Airbender. I'm loving the Last Airbender trailer that came out for the Superbowl. I just hope the humor that is in the TV show and makes it so endearing, charming, and fun is still in the movie. I also found out the movie is based only on the first "book" of the TV series (makes sense). So hopefully this one will be good and the other 2 will be made. 

TV Shows:

1) Lost -- Gah. That show is like one mind boggling "what in the world?" show! I won't say anything more in case I'll spoil anyone, but it's addicting! Kind of sad it's ending, but also kind of glad it is too. 

2) Caprica -- Makes me want to go back and watch Battlestar Galactica. I'm enjoying the "50+ year prequel" on a world we already know about. I find it just as good quality as BSG, but it is completely different than BSG. 

3) Project Runway -- SOOOO glad it's back in NYC! It did NOT feel right being in LA and having the judges there and gone a lot. It's an interesting group so far. Haven't picked out any favorites, yet.

4) Numb3rs -- It may be coming to an end quite soon. I think it has two episodes left and it's the end of the season. :( I'm going to miss the show, but what are you going to do?

*fingers crossed*

I heard back from the Aquarium about interning with the CFFO. My e-mail has been forwarded to see if they want to fill the position this summer. Let's hope they say "yes." I know one of the group projects this year was with the Seafood Watch Program (falls underneath CFFO now) at the Aquarium so they've had some experience with Bren this past year and the SWP has had a summer intern before and I'm a home grown volunteer too. Also, I did interview the Director of CFFO 3 years ago and sent a thank you card (maybe my name will ring a bell? LoL) So...I'm hoping they'll say yes! If they do, that's a nice weight off my shoulders. I'm still going to see if COMPASS will let me intern with them because there's a SB COMPASS person and I think they might be based at the marine lab here at UCSB. So if I can intern with them this summer, I might be able to still work with them the next school year too. Least, that's what I'm hoping for. Course, I could still try working with them next fall regardless of the summer internship, but it would help. :)

This week has been better than last week, but at the same time just as stressful since I have to study for my midterm tomorrow and next Tuesday. Still have my paper to write that's due in 1.5 weeks. I have 3/5 pages written, but I need to change some things and put in more analysis and condense 25 federal/state agencies into 1-2 paragraphs. *groans* I may just overshoot and take things out from there. I just have to remember this paper is an analysis more than a research paper. I feel like once next Tuesday it'll be better (midterm and last 206A hw assignment will be finished), but then I have a presentation the following week and, of course, my paper due. So then I think once the 25th roles around, I'll be FREE! Not the case...2.5 weeks later I have another paper due and 2 days after that ANOTHER paper due. The week after those papers are due are finals! Free time? Not till Spring Break...

Right now I do have the crazy idea in my head I might take 18 units next quarter. I have a friend who is planning to do the same thing and, in fact, will be taking the same classes as myself. It's tempting, but also nutty to think about. Technically it'd only be 14 units for most of the quarter except for 10-straight days when we have 207 (yes, including weekends - 2 Saturdays and 1 Sunday). Plus, 206B finishes the 7th week of the quarter. So...it's tempting. I may just attend the classes for the first week and then drop them later. Actually, I can drop a class anytime I want in a quarter. So, for now, I'm going to do 18 units and maybe after the quarter starts drop one of them. I am looking forward to next quarter for the simple fact I won't have any 8am classes!!!! I'm SO sick of waking up at 7am to get to get to my 8am class M/W and my 8:30 class on Tues. Next quarter my earliest class is at 9:30 :) If I drop that class (the one I would drop to get to 14 units), my earliest would be 11am!

Anyway, with that, I need to study for my 202 midterm, finish my 206A hw, maybe (90% I won't) write some more of my paper, and go to bed at a decent time. I've decided to ditch the early evening nap for going to bed early. :)

It's always good when a bad week ends...

I have lived through the ultimate amount of "humps" you can experience all at once: middle of the school year, middle of the quarter, worst middle of the week to date. Thank goodness I can't say midlife crisis or, honestly, I may have thrown my hands up and said "forget it!" I already knew it was going to be a bad week last weekend, but I didn't realize HOW bad of a week it was going to be. I'm just stressed out of my mind so even the little things I try to shove in the back of my mind (e.g., loans piling up) surfaced. When you have troubles going to bed because you feel guilty about it because you have so much work to do, you know your life is really messed up too.

So, my week, I had 3 extra hours of class because 206A's last week was this week and 241 was starting this week. So Mon and Wed I had to attend class during the normal "lunch" 1:15 hours we get. Monday isn't so bad because I only have 2 classes with 4.5 hours in between them, but Wednesday was really bad. I had 7.5 hours of class straight that day from 8am to 3:20pm (I was in 4 different rooms too). On top of it, I was seeing Neil Gaiman speak at 8pm. I also had two homework assignments due this week that were tough and took me the entire week to complete (turned one in late last night and one this morning). I was hitting office hours to complete them. Then there's the stress of next week is midterms and I have a 10-page paper due in 2 weeks for another class. Also, it occurred to me that I have a presentation the same week my 10-page paper is due. Then I had to think about getting my program of study approved, signed, and turned in by next Monday and I spent a week trying to set-up an appointment with my advisor (finally happened yesterday). I also have taxes and FAFSA to deal with (FAFSA is due March 2nd if I want any school help consideration). I'm also starting to "e-mail nag" potential internship people because they didn't respond the first time and summer isn't getting farther away! I also had some Leaky work hovering over my head. My housing application opened this week so I had to turn that in and Jane is thinking of maybe not doing San Clemente next year so now I'm trying to not think about getting a new roommate and hoping if I do that it's a good rommate. Plus, rent fees are going up next year, which puts me at around $900/month for rent next year and that's high enough that I could move off campus and still pay that amount in rent or possibly even less. I keep telling myself that I'd have to move my furniture down for less than a year, but it's tempting. I have a friend whose roommates are moving out too...more tempting...I constantly worry about money too, spending too much, and having no inflow of cash. Though, I'm glad I didn't get the TA for this quarter. I don't think I could have handled the oceanography class with my class load. I do still wish I could have gotten the RA (research assistant, not residential advisor :P) position, but oh well. And now I'm watching my loans pile up, especially with fee increases, and I try not to worry about it, but it worries me. Having never had a loan before it's intimidating knowing it's there. *sigh* It just doesn't end!

Next week is better because I don't have 3 extra hours of class. Instead, I actually have 1 hour less than normal, but it also means I start having class at 8:30am on Tues (so, basically, I have a schedule change mid-quarter -- no class from 10:30-12:20 on W and class at 8:30-9:20 on Tues). I also only have one midterm next week because one other class moved it to the following Tuesday, but that means it prolongs the agony of waiting to take the midterm/stress of the need to study and I have a hw assignment due that same day.

Anyway, it just keeps going. I don't understand why people gave us 1st years the impression that the 1st quarter was the hardest because this 2nd quarter is just the pits. We have infinitely more hw to do than last quarter and at least we had some classes last quarter where we felt like they didn't take a great deal of brain power. This quarter...not the case! I guess my elective is kind of brainless, but it's also interesting for me so I sit there paying attention, which is brain power. This is one of those quarters where I have to constantly think about why I'm here and the end goal because, honestly, if it weren't for the fact it'd look bad for dropping out of grad school 1.5 quarters in, I'd do it this minute. LoL

Oh, yeah, I went and saw a group project (GP) presentation today. Today was the start of the defenses so I trucked through the blowing rain (wet feet once again...My pants were soaked too. Someone needs to invent an umbrella that doesn't let your thighs get wet...) to go see the presentation of a second year friend. I almost didn't go, but I'm glad I went. It was good to see what a presentation looks like. Bren has this rule that when you do your GP presentations you have to dress in formal business attire (guys in button-up shirts with a tie, girls in dress slacks/skirt with nice shirt) so that was interesting to see too! The presentation I saw was REALLY professional. Honestly, I can only dream of creating a presentation that nice (if that was ppt, there are some very obvious tricks I don't know how to do). It was interesting to see the work that goes into the project though. This group created their own program to help cities look at greenhouse gas emissions and if they can reach the Federal and/or California GHG goals. I guess that's one thing I have to "look forward" to -- GP. We start them next quarter and work on them for a year.

Oh, Neil Gaiman. I should mention the highlight of my week, month, quarter, etc. It chopped out 4 hours of my life on Wednesday on a day that already had me in class by 8am, back at 4pm, and I left again at 7:20 and didn't get back again till 11:30pm. Did I want to kill myself by 2am when I finally got to go to bed? Probably, but I still don't regret seeing Neil Gaiman and spending the money to see him. (If I didn't pay money to see him, I would have skipped it.) He was everything you'd like to see in an author: charismatic, witty, friendly, etc. I've met and seen a lot of authors speak in the last few years and he ranks pretty high up there for me. He's English so it was nice hearing his accent, though he does live in the U.S. now. He read us two stories that have not been published and they were fantastic. He likes to read his own works for audiobooks so he's an amazing reader.

One was more of a poem-prose scary story. It wasn't really prose, but it wasn't really a poem so he said it was like a conversation with some "poem-y" tendencies (he made a joke about his technical term usage). The second thing he read, which took about 45 minutes to read, was a short story (it's been submitted for a short story collection George R. R. Martin and either someone else or it was a publisher (didn't catch it).

The poem-prose took place at a small English village along the shoreline and is meant to be a "scary story." It was written from the perspective of a tenant of a B&B who had been there for some time looking for a place of his own. The tenant talked about the landlady and how it was to live there. The landlady would be like "you can't stare out the window at the ocean you have to go outside. You stare at the ocean if you want to get away from your past -- like killing a banker or your wife, etc" (summarizing). Anyway, it goes on about the tenant and has a twist ending at the end.

The short story is called "The Thing About Cassandra." That story was amazing. It took him about 45 minutes to read and he said it was the first time he's ever read it out loud (other than to his fiancee). So he made some jokes about if he suddenly had to stop and scribble down something new or a change. It was funny, touched on identity and growing up, and had a really interesting twist/flop at the end of it. When it occurred to me the story got turned upside down I almost bugged out. LoL It was SUCH a smooth transaction and really cool that I'm reading it in print when it comes out because I need to reread it after knowing the end.

Other than him being an amazing reader, he told stories in such a way that always got you to laugh. And he would answer questions that always ended with a witty answer to get us to laugh. In fact, one answer was a simple "yes." He paused after it and said, "I can't think up a witty follow-up to that." We all laughed. It was just great.

He made this really funny point about The Graveyard Book (his Newbery Award book) and he told a funny story about how he got the call for winning, but someone asked the question did the book get criticized for (minor, minor spoiler that happens in the first 2 pages of the book LoL) opening with a murder scene because one of the past Newbery Award winners got criticized for saying "scrotum" in the first page. He said he didn't and it's because a murder didn't happen in the book at all. The book takes place right after it happens. He says the knife is "wet" and says where the bodies are lying, but he never says "murder," "blood," etc anywhere in the book at all. (That really surprised me because it's totally true thinking about it.) Then, at the end, he says, "So if a murder happened -- you did it!" That got us all to laugh because it's true!

I did get my copy of The Graveyard Book signed. It took me almost 1.5 hours in line to get it signed and he still had at least 1.5 more hours to go before he was finished. It was a cool signing because he drew pictures when he signed your book! Unless you had two, he had a certain thing he'd draw for each kind of book. I had The Graveyard Book so he drew a tombstone with your name, a crescent moon, some grass on the side of the tombstone and signed it below. I couldn't tell what Coraline was, but it looked like a baby that was swaddled up. Never saw what he did in Sandman or some of the others. That's probably one reason why it took him so long, but it was a nice gesture and made the signing more fun.

Well...with that...I either need to go to bed or study some more. I'll probably hit the bed early (for once!) and pleasure read a little (I haven't done that in ages...) to relax. I am very thankful the week is over and if I have been a grouch to you, I am sorry. :)