davedot dot com

I find it interesting that in New York City, people have a tendancy of calling things the "New York --" with total disregard for the rest of the state. Granted, nearly half the state's population does live there, but they do seem blissfully unaware of the other 60% of us up here. That's not what I came to talk about today. I came to talk about sea animals.

Steve had a floor program on April Fools' Day to the New York Aquarium. As usual, he had extra spots and I tagged along. We walked around and looked at all the cool fishes (yes, that is the correct word) and sea mammals. The curved tank walls made me dizzy when I looked through. Makes me wonder how the fish feel about the situation.

I took a few pictures, mostly of an otter bathing itself. There was also Oopa, the fat slut walrus. She laid on a rock for the entire time we were there, flashing her cooter at us. A mere adolescent, she weighs in at over 1300 lbs. The only thing that motivated her to get off her rock was food. I don't mind that she's fat, that's what walruses do. The least she could do is close her legs or something.

If you want the single most gratifying volunteer experience in your life, rescuing dogs from euthanasia by transporting them to a no-kill shelter is probably not what you're looking for. However, if you have the inclination to do something nice, and you're not really looking for that warm feeling inside at the end of the day, and you can deal with the smell, and the noise, and the traffic, by all means don't let me scare you away. It's an important service.

Today I had my second lab practical for equine training. This one was about identification and conformation. Obviously one of the things we had to do was age horses by their teeth. This, on my part, involved opening the horse's mouth by kinda just sticking my finger in behind his teeth. Fine, horse saliva all over my hands, I don't mind. Actually, the texture of the inside of a horse's mouth is very pleasant. I don't know how to describe it. I suppose you'd have to try it.

After my lab practical I went down to visit amby's room, which I often do, for the procurement of strawberry little debbie thingers. They're like twinkies shaped like hohos with strawberry. So I consumed one of these happily. Having just had my wisdom teeth removed in December, I have those cool gaps behind my teeth (similar to horses, ironically enough). Some of the delectable faux-strawberry treat got stuck in that space, so naturally I reached in to get it out. It was at this very moment that I realized that I do not enjoy the flavor of horse saliva. Also, I realized that I had not washed my hands since my lab practical.