Bored and Busy

This ankle/foot injury is causing incredible boredom...I cannot run or even swim but I have been going to the gym and I even started lifting weights again.  Lifting weights is surprisingly therapeutic and a great outlet for any frustrations or boredom.  I'm finally going to have to give in and get checked out by a doctor because the pain is not going away and is extremely irritating.  The swelling has been gone for a while but the shooting and throbbing pain is there pretty much each day.  Icing doesn't seem to be working anymore and I need to cut down on the Aspirin and Tylenol so I don't put a hole in my stomach.  I cannot stay off my foot because of my job so I try my best to stay seated on my days off.  Of course after the Patriots won I went on a jumping spree around the apartment.  I'll hopefully be able to make an appointment for this Friday but if not I guess it'll have to wait until next week.  Either way I'll keep you updated.

This weekend we are headed up to Palo Alto because Megan has to work and I'm tagging along for the free hotel stay and for a chance to catch up with one of my Relay friends I met in Anaheim.  AND Philz Coffee (http://www.philzcoffee.com/), where we met up last time and will again this time, is simply AMAZING!  I'm not a coffee snob or anything but I'm at a point where I have my own taste for good coffee; Starbucks = crap, Peet's = Pretty Good but Philz = incredible!  There's a zillion choices to choose from and the customer service is top notch.  If you ever have the chance I highly recommend poking your head in.

Works been busy lately with the inspection last week (which went exceptionally well), new gallery assignments, and new responsibilities.  I got to help with the mola (ocean sunfish) check up this morning and go to get in the water and guide the fish over to the stretcher.  The animal was then lifted out of the water and examined to see if it is fit for release yet.  It still needs to heal up a bit so it probably won't get released for another month or so but it will have to be moved to our offsite holding facility until it is all better.  I went straight from diving in that tank to diving in a much colder tank, the Kelp Forest which is 52 degrees right now.  It was a basic maintenance dive and I just scrubbed and vacuumed but it was nice to get into a tank I haven't been in in almost a year.

I'm also in charge of two new octopi, Wonderpus photogenicus and right now they are being held for research and development for our Cephalopod 2014 temporary exhibit.  We are going to be one of the few aquariums, if not the only to have an entire exhibit based solely on cephalopods.  Right now mom is asking, what the heck is a cephalopod???  Cephalopods are the group of octopus, squid, cuttlefish and nautilus.  They are basically some of the coolest animals on the planet and I'm involved in this project from the very beginning!