9-11-13 In which I show you what I get to do at my Internship, Talk about what Herman Hesse and John Green have in common, and talk about Vi Hart

Hello Everyone!

So a lot has been happening in August and September since we returned from our Europe trip.

I got my own apartment! It's really nice and I get to have my own space! I just completely love it!
I was also able to get a kitten, as my new apartment now allows cats.

Such a sweet baby, and a trouble maker at that.

Other than enjoying my new apartment my internship at CCFRP turned into about 80% field work. Woohoo!

Basically the idea is that we go out on a rented fishing boat with 6-12 volunteer anglers. Then, as the fisherman hook fish we record their length, species ID, then tag them (with a small tag number and the MLML's phone number so that if the fish gets caught again they can call us back with its' GPS location, length, etc.), and release them, hopefully with a maximum deck time of 5 minutes, usually around 40 seconds.

 It's a very fast paced environment with 12 hour days (Starting at 4:15 AM) and so many things that can poke you. (Rockfish have ~15 dorsal spines that each have a sharp venomous spine that feels something akin to a bee sting.) I spent my first few trips getting spined repeatedly until I mastered the art of how to catch a fish in a bucket by hand and how to hold them so they can't slap you with an armful of spines - a tricky, dangerous game.

Despite the long and early hours, the pain, and far too much Dramamine consumption; I totally love this job. I get to spend my entire day out on the ocean with really interesting people, all the while contributing scientifically to Overfishing Prevention and Conservation of the Central Coast Ocean. It's a wonderful life.

Got to take my turn at ocean fishing - decidedly less boring than freshwater fishing.

Kissing the Cabezon, a tradition on the team. 

Looking on as my boss and the boat's deckhand wrangle a Lingcod to stay still on the tagging board. You can see the CCFRP tag sticking out of it's back, thin and yellow.

Sea Star!

The Science Crew from MLML - Me, Ryan, Cheryl (lead Scientist), Jen (my boss and volunteer coordinator), and Corina. 

The entire crew on the Huli Cat, a famous boat in Half Moon Bay. (You may recognize it from Chasing Mavericks).

Watching the Sunrise leaving Monterey.

Holding up a Gopher Rockfish with the Volunteer Angler who caught it.

Not a bad view at Work. :) This is near Point Lobos (In between Monterey and Big Sur).

Going under the Golden Gate Bridge at 5:30 AM.

We're headed for the Farallons, a set of uninhabited islands a 2 1/2 hour boat ride from San Francisco Bay.

Huge Bocaccio with the Volunteer Angler who caught it. 

One of the Farallon Islands, surreal.

Just a super amazing experience!

My best friend, Miki, transferred from Cuesta College to CSU Monterey Bay - just 45 min away and only 15 minutes past my job at MLML! It's been awesome having her so close by. Here's a few pictures of us going Kayaking in Santa Cruz.




 

I upgraded to a new phone - the Galaxy S4 Active, a waterproof smartphone (very handy). I just had to stick it in the water to get few pictures of the kelp forest...







Okay so some cool stuff:


1.) 

Because of my new apartment, I've been able to spend a lot of time reading and writing a story that will hopefully come to resemble Herman Hesse's book Journey to the East.

“For our goal was not only the East, or rather the East was not only a country and something geographical, but it was the home and youth of the soul, it was everywhere and nowhere, it was the union of all times.” 
― Hermann Hesse, The Journey to the East

Here Hesse is saying that the quest that he and his friends have set out upon isn't just a physical moving of bodies across a continent. They are changing themselves with the changing land and have romanticized the move so much that they they have come to idealize its hospitality and ability to rectify their past and their life. It goes very well with John Green's quote, "Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia." There are implications that nostalgia can be bad and harm the present. Because the future is made up of present moments, Green is really saying don't romanticize and dream too much abut the future as you will end up squandering your ability to get there. Hesse is clearly making that mistake and may eventually not be able to find 'the East' - I won't ruin the ending for you.

2.) If you haven't heard of Vi Hart, I suggest you check her out. She's an awesome woman who is just a genius in the field of mathematics and music. She comes up with math-based doodle videos and math-based music to come up with really fascinating concepts like:
-Fun doodle ideas.
-How does 12 tone music challenge our preconceptions about everything and are we actually just random?
-How does sound work?
-I want to doodle squiggles more efficiently...


I shall those of you who are going to Marc and Destiny's birthday party next weekend!