A Day in the Life 3 (not as cool as D3)

While my day is not nearly as interesting as that of Caps or Dan, I'm going to throw my hat into the ring and let you all know just how thrilling it is to be me: suprise write-in candidate Dave Ryan!

My day also starts when I get out of my bed - my bed is decidedly not as cool as Dan or Caps', but a girl (not pictured) does sleep with me in it, so it's got that going for it.


Before I shower, I usually look very sad. So sad I can barely lift my phone to take my daily picture of myself.


After cleaning up, I opt for the a-ok sign (as opposed to the thumbs up, which is favored by zoo keepers). This gets me psyched up, and reminds me that things are a'ight.


After an hour or so on the train, I arrive at work. These are my monitors, and on the left one you can see this blog on Dan's computer on the blog on Caps' computer on the blog on your computer, which is showing this blog right now! Woah! Also, while you're looking at things, note my very impressive and complicated graphs. Also notice the small white things behind my keyboard - those are zombies. They are always lurching towards me very slowly, threatening to eat my brain if I ever fall asleep on my desk.


Alright, this is getting a little boring. Time for an ACTION SHOT! Sometimes in the afternoon I go downstairs and buy a soda. Then when I come back up I jab aggressively at the button for the 30th floor like so!


You may remember that elevator from the time it tried to eat me. What? You've never seen the video of that event? Well, then it's time for an ACTION VIDEO!



Probably the neatest part of my office is the view. This is the bean, as seen from my window.


This is the Art Museum, as seen from the window by the elevator (remember the elevator?). I think I've posted these views before, but whatever.


After work, it's time for another hour or so on the train. That's really boring, so it's time for another ACTION SHOT! This is a green line train hurtling into the station to pick up some people! Stand back!!


After all that excitment, I return home to hang out with Maria. Here we are wondering how you got so tiny and into our house (I suppose it's easier to sneak in when you're so small).


We do most of our hanging out in our lovely den. Here it is. Notice the guy's butt on the TV and the box of food on the table. What you cannot see in this photo is that the floor may or may not be vibrating thanks to our neighbor's television.



That's about it! I hope you enjoyed it. The torch is hereby passed to some other 208'er. Also, the great 208 reunion is about to happen in just two days! Everyone with their picture up on top except for Glen will be reuniting for a weekend in Madison. Look forward to some possible group blogging.

A Most Egregious Evil Genius Move

This morning, at 6:22am, my phone started making a noise I had never heard before. It was beeping and bopping and generally making me suddenly awake and confused. It stopped, however, and I went back to sleep. At 7 am, I woke up and checked what the heck all the racket was about. It turns out that someone sent me a picture message. Now, I've never received a picture message before, and thus I never setup my phone to automatically download and display pictures.

Thank GOD. Thank the stars and the heavens and the galaxies and the forests that I never setup my phone to automatically download and display pictures messages.

The message gave me a url I could visit to display the picture, which is free, so I decided to do that to find out what it was. I showered, dressed, woke up, and went online to find that FORMER ROOMMATE AND CURRENT EVIL GENIUS CAPS LOCKE had sent me a picture. What picture was it, you ask? Why, only the picture which once pierced directly into my fragile soul and ripped it a sunder, ruining me for weeks and killing a piece of me that I live without to this day.

Caps sent me the face.

If you don't know what face I'm talking about, you weren't around when we all gathered about the TV in our brand new house that fateful night three years ago in Madison and watched The Ring. I've never before, nor since, actually screamed in horror at a movie, and I have to say that the face is still pretty damn disturbing even when it's static, low-quality and small. Even in the brightly lit comfort of my kitchen I almost threw up and I had to hide under the desk for a few minutes before I could come out.

Had I seen that picture at 7am, two seconds after turning off my alarm, I may have suffered five concurrent heart attacks and died right there. I can't even image what that would have done to me. Seriously. I'm pretty sure at the very least my phone would be smashed, lying in pieces on my bedroom floor right now had I seen it.

Bravo, Caps; you've won this round. But you watch out, because who knows what devious devices I've come up with to horrify you with. (I do - none. Rats.)

A Day in the Life 2 (not as cool as the Transporter 2)

The request was made for me to prepare a similar "A Day in the Life" post, so here it is. Please note that I am limited as to what I can take/post pictures of while at work. I can only show you things a normal guest can see.

All right, my day starts off with me waking up. My bed is obviously not as awesome as Dan's (who's is?)

This is what I look like when I wake up (I put on a shirt and some pants since this is generally a family-friendly blog).

This is what I look like after I get ready.

I go out to my car. I wouldn't have included this, but we have been having a cold spell in Florida. Notice the frost on the top of my car!

I drive about 15 minutes to work where I enter "backstage" to the park. I get to go through these high security gates that were put in after 9-11.

My coworkers and I meet in our office and then head out to conquer the day. We work with the animals located around the Tree of Life, so we are in the park, faced with guests all day long. There are usually 4-6 people working and we each are responsible for different groups of animals. This week I am working with the lemurs (3, two collared lemurs and one ring-tiled lemur), cotton-top tamarins (3), white storks (2), and abdim storks (2).

Me carrying some animal diets, with the Tree of Life

The day starts by checking on all my animals to see that they are all still alive, ok, etc.

I go out into the tamarin exhibit to collect fecal samples from them, feed them, give them new water, and check to make sure their nest box is at an appropriate temperature/still working. They are fed four times throughout the day.

Next I tend to the lemurs. They are usually locked into the lemur building at night so that we know they are safe and secure. If they are locked inside, I will go out into their exhibit and collect the prior day's enrichment, put out new enrichment, food, and clean up any poop the wild ducks didn't eat (yes you read that correctly; we affectionately call them Hoover, Bissell, Dyson, Oryk, etc). I will also collect anything guests may have dropped into the moat that surrounds the lemur exhibit. The most common things I find are coins, chewed gum, and batteries.

Lemur holding

Ring-tailed lemur on exhibit

When the outdoor lemur exhibit is clean and ready, I let the lemurs out and clean their indoor holding. This entails lots of hosing, scrubbing, and me spraying myself with the hose.

My team meets together again mid-morning to discuss how the day is going and to bring up any questions or issues of concern.

The animals are fed again and then we usually take lunch.

After lunch we feed the animals again and prepare for the animals to come in for the evening. For the lemurs, this involves preparing their evening meal, putting fun things to play with in their night holding, and getting bedding and water set out for them.

When it is time for the animals to come it, usually about an hour before sundown, I set the lemur's food around their indoor holding and let them in. Usually they are hungry so the come in right away, but sometimes this takes awhile or they don't come in at all.

At the end of the day I feed the storks. They eat a variety of meats: fish, ground horse-meat, and baby mice. This can be a daunting task due to the wildlife. There are only 4 storks being fed, but on any day anywhere from 20-40 wild birds will show up wanting to be fed. Lately we have been feeding at different times during the day to prevent this, but it doesn't always fix the situation. Why don't we do something about the wild birds you ask? Well for one thing it is against federal law to touch them, so we have to make due with better aim while throwing the food.

One white stork, 5 wild birds (Ibis)

After my animals are secure for the night, I head toward my team's main animal holding area to see if anybody needs help with their animals or anything else. Then it is time to leave.

Tree of Life main holding

When I get home I take a shower, check e-mail, and cook some dinner. Usually dinner will be pizza, hot dogs, or soup.

In this picture you can see LA208 on a computer, on a computer, on your computer!

I prepare my lunch for the next day in the evening so I can hit the snooze button an extra time the next morning.

My day usually ends with me watching TV, watching a movie, or reading a book. I go to sleepby 10, so I can start it all again the next day.!

Sunday I start working with axis deer, kangaroos, lappet-faced vultures, and Galapagos tortoises!

In other news, in the next 9 days I should be going to 6 different Less Than Jake shows! They are playing smaller venues and a different album, all the way through, each night. I am really excited.