Getting to Texas and Starting Work

25 JAN 2012

I’m must gong to admit it. I started this journal upside-down and backwards. I sketched my new pelican case which I thought turned out well. I even did it in pen. The rounded edges were tricky to shade, but I like the result.

Packing has slowed. I have most of the stuff and I’m constantly thinking about things I might have forgotten to write down. I need a) a container for my clothes and b) to wash EVERYTHING I’m bringing. Therefore I need to stop wearing clothes I’m going to bring. It’s not like it’ll be a tight fit, but I kinda wanted to travel light in case I have to take off with somebody. Good idea, Novak.

I’m interested to meet my roommates. I am curious to see what their faces look like when I show up with two guitars, an amp, and a banjo. I’ll be quiet... Oh man. I wonder how I’m going to smoke. I guess I can roll a couple skinny joints..

The drive will be exciting. I’ve been looking forward to spending time in the car with music and audio books. Although 40 will be tedious. I don’t know what to expect with Cousin Charlie. No idea at all. Because I don’t know them. Oh boy, more people to explain bird jobs to.

29 JAN 2012

SF à Needles

Leisurely wake up/breakfast/final pack. Stopped by Levi’s and got stupid on some Candy Jack from Green Door. Totally missed the I-5 turnoff AGAIN. Listened to the Ricky Gervais Show, the “audiobook” collections on a certain topic and the actual radio shows. The shows are pretty boring.

A thought inspired by Karl Pilkington: We’ve figured out all the ways to cook stuff. Baking, cooking, frying, nuking, etc. There’s no more. I you want to invent a new way to cook your eggs, you’ll have to wait until they figure out antigrav cooking techniques…

Long drive. Back hurt. Lots of badlands. Denny’s was bomb.  Cool server, Daniel, knew what was up. Motel 6 wouldn’t let me illegally DL the Millennium trilogy or stream TV shows. So I watched Paul. Fitting. ABQ2M

30 JAN 2012

Needles à ABQ

Up and at’em. I was out on the road @ sunrise. I totally mistimed my Innout craving. Missed the one in Barstow the night before so the only other one on the way was Kington this morning. They’re not open at sunup. Trip went pretty well. Hit a jay along the way. Got stupid AGAIN. For instance, I was smoking as I was speeding and passing a cop. When I tried to ditch the evidence, it all blew back in the window. Luckily I was only like 5mph over so nothing happened. Shit.

Petrified Forest was neat. I did a quick loop and took lots of pics. It really is impressive. Can’t believe it, they still look like trees.

I fade between extreme anxiety and not so much that. It’s partly about being outside California. I feel defenseless. Especially concerning MJ. I guess I’m not too worried about work or my roommates.. but maybe I should be, I can’t fuck any of it up. Gotta be responsible…

Got Mexican @ Taqueria Mexico. Derish!

31 JAN 2012

ABQ à Amarillo

Wow. Slept in. Til like 930. Checked out UNM. Center of the universe my ass. Go Lobos..eh. go GAUCHOS. Got some metal banjo picks that I have no idea what to do with. The drive was easy. I opted for the bowl over the jay. No reason to get that stupid. Texas now.  Easy does it. Gran Torino over a Race 5. The movie was kind of funny actually. Meeting fam tomorrow. Let’s see how it goes.

1 FEB 2012

Amarillo à Ft. Worth

Woke up early and hit the road. Not too bad. Got some music in and a ton of the RGS. I’m starting to think in their voices. Got into Ft. Worth around 130. I kicked around at the water garden for a while. Neat water features. My favorite was the Active Pool. It was essentially a hole in the ground lined with waterfalls. It even had a series of bench-like steps that went all the way to the bottom. Pretty damn cool. The “Aerated” Pool was pretty much the Zelda puzzle where you walk on water jets.

Then I watched the cattle drive at the old Stockyards. 15 longhorns. Not a lot but boy those steers’ horns are impressive.

Arrived at Mila’s and Charlies at 5PM. Didn’t think Mila was a Filipina name. Oh well. LUMPIA AND BBQ for dinner! They’re really nice folks. Lotta church figurings around and great plants. They picked off a ton of chili peppers for me to bring to Copperas Cove. It’ll be nice to visit these guys while I’m here. Move in tomorrow. Computer will be there when I arrive yeaaaaaaa.

6 FEB 2012

Man, the drive to Copperas Cove was so foggy I had to go 40 in a 70.

June. That’s what I named my truck. Also known as FWL 16, or Whiskey 54, or a 1997 Mazda pickup. She’s even an automatic. Beautiful. I called June because when I opened the door to look inside, the floors were covered with juniper leaves and twigs and dust. I cant wait to take her for a spin on the base. It has all my gear in it and is ready to go!

Melanie moved in 3 days ago. She fits in nicely in the room. Spacious closet, room dominated by the bed and dresser. The roommates are cool too. Kelsey moved in first. Very nice, agreeable and enjoys music. Melissa moved in just before Melanie. Melissa is also nice but has a funny sense of humor. Good. Looks like if I can keep this up I’ll have a good relationship with my roommates.

We have coworkers in our apt complex too. Very Zany. Simeon and Julie were the ones we met first. Simeon’s Minnesota accent is thick and I originally thought it was a southern accent. We brought over some beer and guac for a pregame to the Super Bowl. We watched the Bowl at a bar in town. We won at chickenshit bingo! Yea. That. Talked to some locals at the bar. They thought we were literally foreigners. Jeeze we stick out like sore thumbs. Oh well. They’re nice enough.

It’s cool we’re in a city, unlike Bloomfield, pop 1000. It’s 30K in the Cove alone. Base is boomin too. Lots of nice cars! Saw two hummers and 2 Zeniths right next to each other at the gate. Melanie says it’s because the soldiers get paid while they’re overseas and don’t really have an outlet to spend money since the Army takes care of most things.

Extracting tomorrow!

7 FEB 2012

First day in the field. Becky drove us out. Me, Melissa, Kelsey, Nathan, Jie, and later, Julie. Down the road to Manning Mountain. Holy shit! Bazooka ranges and Middle Eastern urban assault courses. It looked like Call of Duty. Offroaded to a pretty spot with feeders and nets. Caught Chipping Sparrows, Slate-colored Dark-eyed Juncos, American Goldfinches (tiny!) and a Field Sparrow, Brown Creeper, and Black-crested Titmouse! Watched Breaking Bad with Mel. Fuckin Freng! With the BOX CUTTERS! FTK(ill)!

8 FEB 2012

Today was a driving day. We split up into groups that felt like bigs and littles in fraternities.  I went out with Becky in my little June buggie. Becky drove for the first half of the day and showed me the ins and outs of the study site (Manning Mtn). She tested me a little on orienteering, but it wasn’t so bad. We pulled over for lunch and I found out she’s read of Steve Rothstein’s stuff (cowbirds). I got to drive for the second half of the day. HOOBODY! I got to go all around our study site. Just about every drivable trail. It was fun! Didn’t know I was going to be in a ro-de-o show (Simanek gets the reference)! West Spur is essentially a steep hill which Becky tested me on twice. I kicked assss. Passenger seat tomorrow and probably more walking trails.

Man I want to go up in a helicopter like the “bigs” get to. Spot me some hogs.

10 FEB 2012

HAROOROOROO! Did my driving/walking tour of Manning with Julie yesterday. It was good hanging out with Julie. We gabbed about politics, which was welcome in what is sure to be relative political isolation. Went out for okay Mexican and Big Beers at Mexicano Grille with Simeon, Julie, Melanie, and Melissa. Good fun but I cringe when the others talk so loosely and loudly about TX and Texans. It don’t want any trouble..

Today we did more mist netting. By now I know that all banders have their own style of extracting and banding, so I’m being a good boy and shutting up and listening. Nobody wants to hear what the rook thinks he knows. After work we went tot Wild Wasabi for Korean food and sushi. We had to split tables because they couldn’t accommodate all 8 of us at one table. That gave Melanie a chance to meet Jie, who was at our table. We came home and watched the Fox and the Hound. Sad. Cute. WEEKEND! But what to do? Baseball.. Goodwill..

Hi. I live in Texas now. I've been here for three months and I have one more left on my sentence. I'm currently working as a seasonal field biologist for the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne on Ft. Hood Army Base. A little confusing, but it's not like you have to get used to it. I'm working as part of an effort to monitor the breeding success of the federally endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler. After that I'm moving to Blythe, CA to work for the Southern Sierra Research Institute, again as a seasonal field biologist. The work there will be similar to what I'm doing here, but I'll be working with Yellow-billed Cuckoos. And it'll be in the desert. During the summer. Hm.

This is my journal. My journal journal. It includes all the things I do at work and after work. There is work and play, food and beer, field trips and hangovers. Only minor edits to keep me out of trouble, (and to be honest, with the power of the internet there's a lot in here to get me in trouble).  I have another journal that isn't my journal journal. I call it my field journal because it leaves out all the play and just focuses on the work and biology. I take parts of my day and add a few explanations and try to make it more.. er.. professional. Even though the template says otherwise. I call it Coulter's Field Journal because I am so original. But that is there and not here.

Here is what I've been doing these past three months.. (nexxxxxxt pooosssstt)

Is Anybody Else Hearing That Foghorn and Think That Their Cell Phone is Ringing on Vibrate?

Woah. The last time I posted in this, I had just interviewed at the Academy of Sciences. That was over a year ago. Other than a short stint in Indiana, which is on the other blog which I wish I never created) I've been rolling stanchions there and drinking beer with my coworkers at the local bar. It's been a good time in the pseudo-real-world. Pseudo, because I still live in my parents basement. In the meantime, blogger forgot I existed and deactivated Mhmm. I can't blame them. I promised myself I would write in here again after I got a keyboard with an "s" key (2 years and running, no "s" key). This is me posting from my parents old mac destop. They got a new one, so I've commandeered this one. It's right next to my laptop and the television, so I'm pretty decked out with screens. Each one has its limitations, so I find myself changing stations often. Like I said, right now I'm in front of the mac which has a full, functioning keyboard, so let's get this thing revved up again. We begin with our hero, alone in his Batcave, ill and not so busy..

----

Anna came over for a bit today. It's the first time I've seen her, or really even talked to her much since the last time I saw her.. in October? September? She had come over the night before, and as usual we shot the shit into near infinity. There's always a lot to say. Today we played some guitar through my new ministudio setup, the mac and my iphone. We had been planning a walk down to the beach, but our shit shooting took too long. Instead we walked to her bus, the 23, out on Sloat. I had just been sitting in the cave all day, setting up the computer, playing around with it, figuring it out, and honestly not much else.

It was a nice walk, but I dressed for the extreme cold that is this witchtit winter in San Francisco. For some reason, though, the fog had rolled in and kept the temperature up. I managed the hot walk out, whatever. At least I wasn't freezing, which is what I've been complaining about for the last month and a half. After we arrived at the bus stop I took the opportunity to take off the pjs and thermal I had layered my person with. I was still warm, but feeling much better.

After Anna's bus came, I trekked back to my house along 34th Avenue. I noticed a few things that caught my attention enough to make me stop for a photo. I found LShap's name etched in the sidewalk, so I snapped that and sent it to her as an appeasement for not getting back to her inquiry about how my life is going. On the same block, I found a weird tree pruned from the bottom to the halfway point as a egg/agave-plant-looking-thing, and was capped with a mushroom top. On Taraval I found that the old timey barbershop that dad used to go to (you know, when he actually cut his hair) had been replaced with a church or whatever. I guess it was a church. There was a person in there at 745pm apparently talking to a group of people. That's churchy, right? He was wearing an SF 49ers scarf on, so he probably wasn't a priest.. The sign outside said "Livingwaters somethingsomething" against a background of a church, an actual church, on a hill in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge dwarfed the church on the hill, and I wondered if anybody would take any exception to that. "The fact that you made the symbol of man's progress larger than the House of God is offensive!" People do get upset about stuff like that. I figure the sign maker would defend himself by saying a giant church on the background of a tiny bridge would just look silly and invite criticism from passing haters.

On the corner of Taraval there was an office with a partially shaded window. The light was on and a woman was inside working on a computer. I felt like banging on the window and telling her to enjoy her night, but I've learned that people don't enjoy when I bang on their windows. She'll just have to finish her work tonight. Around the same corner, I saw a house that I felt was clearly winning the Sunset's "Best Christmas Lights" award. I enjoyed how they topped the display with a red-nosed Rudolph. The cherry on top. Oh, and there was music. Cheesy. When I started again toward home, I smelled a rivalry. On the same block just down the way was an arguably better display, music and all, with TIMED LIGHTS. That, the lights flahsed on and off in time with the music. How's that for a one up? But THEN, when I finished walking the block, I took a look down the avenues to find a corner house done up to a similar extent, but having a larger space to exhibit their Christmas spirit, were clearly the winners of my imaginary (probably) contest.

When I neared home, I took a look at the church they are constructing on 31st and Noriega. New churches kinda scare me, and I don't really want to get into that, but I will say that it's been fun and a little intimidating to watch the church get built. The space there used to be a bank and was being used by the congregation as a church, but I guess now they have the funds to build a huge house of God. It really is humongous for a congregation of what I thought was around 50 people. I wonder if they are expecting more worshippers or simply have more rooms for.. activities. Haha, I imagine them all listening to those guys from Agape in high school playing on their acoustic guitars, God's chosen instrument. Cynical me was surprised and amused to find the liquor store sign poking directly adjacent to the building! GOD! LIQUOR! It's like you cropped a Catholic church on a Mac and it automatically reformulated as the two most relevant entities. I have a feeling like "serves them right" but that's probably not justified. I'm a jerk, what can I say.

I'm home now. I feel like I've gotten some minor exercise. I haven't been exercising much since I hurt my foot running the Turkey Trot. That's not excuse for not working out, but I've let myself slide. My foot feels better, so I'll be getting back into that soon I hope. I like being slim. I'm glad I took the time to mentally record my walk. I've had an idea that I want to run or bike or walk up and down every street in the Sunset - officially. I've probably done it, but maybe I've missed one or two. I want to be s-u-r-e I've him them all. Another day. Other days..

pics to follow

Miss Itttttt...

I should probably go do something today. But i don't know what. I just had a crapton of coffee so im going to nix running for at least the next 2 hours. Man, i gotta call back the academy of sciences because it's been over a week since my interview. nervous..

here's something that i did in class while i was in Costa Rica. cuajiniquil is a small fishing village that we visited and that some people got to do their homestay in. i want to go back already..

FISHY

Oh Gross

i just spent 2 hours on microsoft paint because i left my book in sacramento. here is the fruit of my labor. i picked the picture at random on 4chan. I know some of you, more than others, will get a get a kick out of it.

BEFORE:



AFTER:


I'll post some other things later. Too tired now. Tell me something to make on paint. I'll do it. (not too hard..)