Memphis Zoo Pt III

This'll be the last of the major zoo posts. I still have quite a few pictures, and I may throw one out there every now and again, when I can't think of anything to blog about. But for the most part, this is it.

Baby giraffe and its family

Flamingos

Tigers

Tigers, including a rare white one

This little bonobo ape was in an exhibit all by itself. It looked so sad.

African Rock penguin

Ya-Ya, a female giant panda--one of only 11 in the United States. We are lucky to have two of them in the Memphis Zoo.

Cinnamon Phase Black Bear

The polar bears are as curious as the people are.

Buck, I didn't get a good picture of the lion. He kept his back to me the whole time, and the female was back nearly out of sight.

I hope you've enjoyed this little trip down Memphis Zoo lane. We renewed our membership while we were there, so I hope to bring you more of these in the future.

Now, I'm off to price telephoto lenses...

Rank Test

Rank tests were held last Thursday. Promotions were given out tonight. Those receiving promotions were

Front row: Eric--yellow, Nick--green, Lawrence--didn't test, Patrick--blue/white

Second row: Brian--brown, LJ--yellow/white, Cody--didn't test, Dallas--yellow

Back row: Tim--blue, Brian--blue, Chad--brown/three stripes, Tom--brown/two stripes, John--blue

Unfortunately, the belts hadn't come in yet, so they didn't all get them.

I have that stomach thing that's been going around, and I didn't really want to go to class, but I wanted to be there for the promotions. So I drug (That's Southern for dragged; it has nothing to do with any sort of medication--legal or not) myself up to the dojo anyway.

More zoo pictures soon.

For The Spinners Among You

This is an antique spinning wheel at the Memphis Zoo. It was made around 1900. Just behind it, you can see a loom. I'm not sure how old the loom is.

If you peer carefully through the uprights of the loom, you can just see parts of a more modern wheel up on a shelf. It's neat, but it's this antique that fascinates me.

I believe, and someone with more knowledge can correct me on this, that this type of wheel is called a great wheel. This type does not have a treadle. The wool or cotton is spun by spinning the wheel with one hand and drafting the fiber with the other.

To complete the experience, I present to you, sweaters on the hoof:



I do sometimes spin on a drop spindle, but to me it is slow and frustrating. Spinning with this spindolyn looks to be much faster and easier. I gotta get one!

Memphis Zoo Pt 2--More Reptiles

One of the Komodo Dragons. This is one of the smaller ones. It's only about 6 feet long.

Some kind of gecko. Not the Geico gecko, but it's cute nonetheless.

Colorado River Toad. Or frog. I don't remember.

Azure poison dart frog. I just love this color.

I'm not sure what this is. I think it may be a monitor, but what species, I don't remember.

There is a gecko on that branch. Really, there is!

An alligator snapping turtle. This one's name is Gumbo. He's about 5 feet long from nose to tail. He can take your hand off. Trust me on this.

I think this is a prehensile tailed skink. I need to take a notebook and write these names down. Cody says that's how he knows I'm getting old. My memory is going.

Another type of skink. This one, I think, is native to Australia.

An iguana. I know this one.

Some cute little turtles having their dinner.


Next time: warm fuzzy things.

Memphis Zoo Pt I

Our plan to get an early start was delayed by a dense fog.

I hate driving in this stuff, so I decided we just weren't in that big of a hurry.

In the meantime, I whipped us up a rousing breakfast of biscuits and sausage gravy.

In time, the fog burned off revealing an absolutely glorious day beneath it. Clear, cloudless sky and perfect temperatures. Not too hot. Not too cold. A perfect day for spending out of doors. Even the drive up to Memphis was pleasant.

Once we got to the zoo, we naturally headed to our favorite place, the herpetarium.

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake--I've always found it ironic and amusing that his enclosure looks like a road.

Some kind of Asian Viper. Beautiful, but deadly.

Gaboon Viper--this species of snake has the longest fangs, up to 2 inches long. I've always wanted to knit a scarf in this pattern.

Southern Copperhead. I've seen plenty of these in the wild.

Water Moccasin. Also known as the Cottonmouth. I've seen these in the wild, too.

Pygmy Rattlesnake

Green Tree Python--they are different colors when they are born, but turn green as they mature.

Brazilian Rainbow Boa--I want one.

Appalachicola King Snake--this sub species of the Florida King snake was only discovered in 2003

Louisiana Pine Snake--one of, if not the rarest snake in North America. The Memphis Zoo is leading the conservation effort of these beautiful snakes.

Rita the Reticulated Python--she's 21+ feet long, and it takes 12 grown men to handle her.


Coming up next: Other reptiles and amphibians housed at the Memphis Zoo.

Saturday Sky

Taken at the Memphis Zoo Northwest Passage exhibit.

As you can see, I got my camera to download. The solution was so stupidly simple that I'm almost embarrassed to tell you about it. But I will. I plugged my cable into a different USB port.

That was it. Like I said, stupidly simple. I still haven't solved the drive thing, but the camera thing was my top priority.

So, now you will be expecting a post full of lovely zoo pictures. It's coming, friend. Rather I should say they're coming. I took too many pictures to put them all into one post, so I'll split them up in to two or three posts. It may take a while since I took over 300 pictures yesterday.

In the meantime, here are a few new FOs. The washcloth I finished Friday night, and the headband I finished this morning.


That reminds me, I've got a stashalong update to do. Ack! So many posts, so little time!

I'd better get cracking!

Frustration

I'm having trouble getting my new camera to download to my computer. I'm sure it's my crappy computer that's at fault. It just hasn't been right since it's accident almost a year ago.

I blame Dell.


I recently re-installed Cody's OS on his computer. I went to the Hewlett-Packard website and ordered replacement discs, because Cody'd lost the ones that came with it. They sent the discs, we installed them, and now his computer runs like a brand new one.

I did the same thing with my Dell last year, and the discs they sent me didn't have all the drivers and such I needed. I was supposed to go online and download those. Well, having a nerd score of only 4, I didn't know which ones I needed. I probably downloaded a bunch I have no use for, and have missed a couple of critical ones.

Now, here lately, my CD-ROM drive isn't reading the discs I put into it. It'll say there's no disc in the drive. I've got to figure out what's causing that, too. It's the exact same thing my first Dell computer did when it reached three years of age. I think they program them that way so you'll have to buy another one.

So bear with me gentle reader, as I figure out the frustrating world of geekdom.

Zoo pictures coming soon...

You Only Thought It Was Over

Football season, that is. The season for game playing may be over, but there's still a lot going on in the NFL world.

Free agency began at midnight last night. This is the first year I've really kept up with much off season activity--other than the draft. I tell you something, this is almost as exciting as the game itself. Watching to see who releases who and who signs who. Teams trying to build up their weak spots. Cutting any players who just aren't what they need at the time. Picking up veterans released by other teams. All the while trying to stay under the salary cap, and still leave room for draftees.

Dallas gave Marion Barber the highest tender available. They also re-signed Flozell Adams, which brings a sigh of relief from every Cowboys fan, not to mention quarterback Tony Romo. Adams is the left tackle. He's the one who protects Tony's blind side. A Pro-Bowl left tackle is worth his weight in gold. Unless your quarterback is left handed, then it's the right tackle who is worth his weight in gold.

There are a lot of people who think pro football players are spoiled, over paid brats. But are they really? Let's look at this.

Now, as in any sport, you have your superstar players, who naturally are going to make more money. The 2007 salaries for professional quarterbacks range from Carson Palmer's $13 million, all the way down to DJ Shockley who draws a mere $224 thousand. For my purposes, I will just use the average player salary for the 2006-'07 season--the last complete season for all four sports.

Of the four most popular salaried sports (and by salaried, I mean you sign an contract and get paid a salary--not you win this event and earn this much money), NBA players drew the highest salaries, with an average of $5.215 million per player. That's almost twice as much as the next highest sport, baseball. MLB players earned an average $2.7 million in 2006. The next highest salaries went, not to the NFL, but the NHL. That's right, the National Hockey League, with an average salary of $1.46 million. Bringing up the rear, with a lowly $1.4 million average salary, are the "over paid, whining, demanding, steroid ridden freaks" of the NFL.

Gee, they make less than anybody. The question is, are they worth it? If you judge by popularity, they are. So how many Americans watched the 2006-2007 season championship series/games for these sports? Let's see:

The least watched championship for the four sports was the Stanley Cup finals, which drew only 2.3 million viewers. The NBA finals nearly quadrupled that amount of viewers, drawing 8.5 million of them. The next most popular championship was the World Series, with 10.1 million viewers.

And the Superbowl?

The Superbowl topped them all, drawing nearly twice as many viewers as the other three sports championships combined. That would be 41.6 million viewers, Gentle Reader.


Not a bad return on a middling $1.4 million investment.



Stats courtesy of Doc's Sports Service.

Happy Leap Day

Carrying It A Little Too Far

From the "You've Got To Be Kidding Me" department:

You mean there are people who actually worry about this stuff? What is worse, someone actually researched and gave a legitimate sounding answer.

I believe in being a good steward of the planet God created for us, but this is carrying it just a bit too far.

Speaking of, the sky really did look like this. I have not doctored this photo in the slightest.

Have I mentioned how much fun I'm having with my new camera?

Of Dishcloths and Socks

After feeling so rushed yesterday, today ended up being a pretty laid back day--after work, that is. I didn't really do much of anything. I started a dishcloth, but only got this far

when I decided I'd really rather be working on Cody's socks.


So that's what I did while I watched the movie Becoming Jane, the biography of Jane Austen. It was pretty good, though not exactly accurate, if the Wikipedia article is to be believed.

Way Behind

I'm running way behind on blogging and everything else. In black belt class last night, we did more finding self defense moves in kata. This time, though, we partnered up and actually did drills with a partner. I was partnered with Josh at first, and we got some good, constructive work done. Then we switched partners and I was with the 13 year old ik-kyu. At that point, I switched into teacher mode, which meant I wasn't really getting much out of the drill.

Tonight's class was a learning class. Most of the kyu ranks will be testing Thursday, so we had an open work out for them. I spent most of the class working with two people on tokumine no kun bo kata.

After class, I stayed and went through all of my kata--well, the ones I hadn't done before class, that is. All told, I did all 12 of my kata: 8 empty hand and 4 weapons.

In knitting news, I worked a bit more on Cody's sock. The leg is up to 4" long. He wants them about 8", so I'm halfway there.

Just so this post isn't a total waste of your time, here is another picture taken with the new camera:

Ack! I hate getting behind! I feel so rushed! I'll answer comments tomorrow, so don't think I've forgotten you.

Sorry, No Pictures

As you may have surmised due to the lack of lovely pictures in this post, I did not go to the lake yesterday. The weather simply did not cooperate. It was drizzly and cloudy all day. Instead, I stayed in, watched DVDs and knit. I used up the last little bit of the yarn I bought last month and made this:

It's meant to be a headband, but it could also work as a neck gaiter. I think that's what they're called. Pattern: K2 P2 rib, knit until you run out of yarn. Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver Gray Heather. Needles: US9 DPNs

Also, a picture of the charity scarf I started:

It is simply a garter stitch scarf made with Moda Dea TuTu in Pear Green.

I haven't been sleeping too well, so I think I'm going to follow Rylea's example:

and head for dreamland. It looks like half of my brain is asleep already.

was



h/t: Buck

Sports Car

I'm a Mazda Miata!

You like to soak up the sun, but your tastes are down to earth. Everyone thinks you're cute. Life is a winding road, and you like to take the curves in stride. Let other people compete in the rat race - you're just here to enjoy the ride.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Oscar Night

In honor of the Oscars tonight, which I will not be watching, I present the following movie meme:

A list of the Top 100 Films of all time. Bold the ones you've seen!

1. Citizen Kane (1941)
2. The Godfather
3. Casablanca (1942)
4. Raging Bull (1980)
5. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
6. Gone with the Wind (1939)
7. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8. Schindler’s List (1993)
9. Vertigo (1958)
10. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
11. City Lights (1931)
12. The Searchers (1956)
13. Star Wars (1977)
14. Psycho (1960)
15. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
16. 2001 : A Space Odyssey (1968)
17. The Graduate (1967)
18. The General (1927)
19. On the Waterfront (1954)
20. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
21. Chinatown (1974)
22. Some Like It Hot (1959)
23. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
24. E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982)
25. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
27. High Noon (1952)
28. All About Eve (1950)
29. Double Indemnity (1944)
30. Apocalypse Now (1979)
31. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
32. The Godfather Part II (1974)
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
35. Annie Hall (1977)
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
37. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
39. Dr. Strangelove (1964)--I fell asleep halfway through
40. The Sound of Music (1965)
41. King Kong (1933)*
42. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
43. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
44. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
45. Shane (1953)
46. It Happened One Night (1934)
47. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
48. Rear Window (1954)
49. Intolerance (1916)
50. Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
51. West Side Story (1961)
52. Taxi Driver (1976)
53. Deer Hunter, The (1978)
54. M*A*S*H (1970)
55. North by Northwest (1959)
56. Jaws (1975)
57. Rocky (1976)
58. The Gold Rush (1925)
59. Nashville (1975)
60. Duck Soup (1933)
61. Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
62. American Graffiti (1973)
63. Cabaret (1972)
64. Network (1976)
65. The African Queen (1951)
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
67. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
68. Unforgiven (1992)
69. Tootsie (1982)
70. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
71. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
72. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
74. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
75. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
76. Forrest Gump (1994)
77. All the President’s Men (1976)
78. Modern Times (1936)
79. The Wild Bunch (1969)
80. The Apartment (1960)
81. Spartacus (1960)
82. Sunrise (1927)
83. Titanic (1997)
84. Easy Rider (1969)
85. A Night at the Opera (1935)
86. Platoon (1986)
87. 12 Angry Men (1957)
88. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
89. The Sixth Sense (1999)
90. Swing Time (1936)
91. Sophie’s Choice (1982)
92. Goodfellas (1990)
93. The French Connection (1971)
94. Pulp Fiction (1994)
95. The Last Picture Show (1971)
96. Do the Right Thing (1989)
97. Blade Runner (1982)
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
99. Toy Story(1995)
100. Ben-Hur (1959)

Looks like my list is a bit thin. Netflix to the rescue!

h/t: Crafty Carole