It's Official

It's official. Germany is in the "Halbfinale" (aka the semifinals) for the World Cup. We beat Argentina, who was the favorite for the World Cup... YAY!

I'm super excited. Now all the people around here are going crazy. Horns honking, cheering... it's really crazy (still). The other days I thought it was funny, but today I have a headache and I just want to quietly work on my computer and watch TV.

They're not helping.

I mean, I know it's great guys.. but please, could you just party a little quieter?

The Davinci Code: Fact vs Fiction

I'm sure that many of you have either read or seen The Davinci Code (Sakrileg auf Deutsch), and have at least in part been intrieged by the "facts" as they are presented in Dan Brown's work. As I have recently both attended a lecture held by someone who has a doctorate and researches the manuscripts of the Bible, have read another book relating to information, and have found some stuff online, I thought I would provide to you guys some of the information I have found as it relates to the book.

This information will be done in parts, focusing on specific things from the book and the world. Unfortunately my time is up and I have to be getting to the park, but I will be posting the first installment either later today or tomorrow, so keep an eye open!

Story Time

Story time! Gather round kids (aka adults), pull up a chair and listen!

"I want you to imagine that you are a member of the Caribean indian tribe Taino, just shortly before Colombus "discovered" America. You have tanned skin, with huge almond shaped eyes. Your society is quite succesful, and you couldn't be happier. Your society are great hunters, fishers, navigators, sailors and even have invented the hamock, which you use to sleep in on a regular basis.

Suddenly one day, there are large objects on the horizon, which you've never seen before. It doesn't belong to any of the other indian tribes which you have traded with or fought against, and it doesn't look anything like a canoe, which you usually use to travel and trade with other peoples. Eventually, they get to land, and you realize that they are boats full of people who don't speak your language, don't know your religion and look much different than you. Your scared, but you all agree to help set up the first outpost, which is left behind with between 30 and 40 men. After the rest of the new people leave your island, there is rumor that the new men have tried to take advantage of your women, and your an angry group of people. A part of the society goes and attacks the men, killing each of them. You hope its over, and your life can go back to normal again.

Some time later, however, the other men return and are angered at the Taino for killing their men. You feel it was justified, after all - the men came, invaded your land, and ravaged your women... what were you all supposed to do? The new men set up a new colony, and left more men behind. Then more came. These new men want you to start paying them a tribute, to worship their God, and to convert to their way of life. You are shocked and hurt and scared, because once again your little world which has been around for more than 2000 years is being messed up by these men who expect to have everything their way.

Before you know it, your friends and family are getting sick and dying, from diseases you've never seen before (diseases brought by those new men). The healthy are being forced to work for the new men, in horrible working conditions which are unbearable and often bring them to their deaths. Those who survive are in despair, and many take their lives or flee, just hoping to get away. The rest of the healthy people who are still there are angered, and attempt various different attacks on the new men, only to be beaten miserabley. Things are so bad, that soon there isn't any one left... and you seem to be one of the last of a dying race of people... "

This is a story, based on the facts of the Taino Indians, a tribe who lived from roughly 1000 BC to 1500 AD in the Caribean. The spanierds came to the islands in 1508 and set up colonies. By the early 1520s, the indians were all but non existant. In 1508 their society had roughly 60,000 members. Only a few decades later (I believee 1544) there were 60 people left. 60. The indians died from disease, mistreatment, suicide, and failed uprisings against the spanierds. Those who didn't die, left. Its a sad story really... imagine your life right now. Now imagine people suddenly coming and ripping it all away from you. That's what they (and many other native americans) went through when the Europeans founded the new world. No doubt, the spanierds thought they were doing what was best at the time - who knows, maybe I'd have done the same thing had I been in their shoes - but it's still a sad story...

Flashback: Paris

So, lately I've been seeing bloggers all over, who have been creating videos with (mostly, I think) they're digital cameras and then turning them into videos which they post on their blog. I think this is a wonderful idea, and this morning I very simply found a site to do it from, uploaded a video and decided to put it on my blog. So, here it is. Click on play. It isn't very long. It is video from us driving in the Arc de Triumph in Paris back when my dad and step-mom were here. It is a circle thing (popular in Germany and France, if not all of Europe) where 12 roads come into it. You drive around it and chose the road you want. Listen and you'll here me freaking out, and Bev laughing, and me trying to count the roads so that we take the right one. Enjoy! :)

P.S. I definitely think I might start taking more videos.

Create your own video at One True Media

Stuff

Hey everyone. Here's a couple of updates and things:

1. Germany won their round two game of the World Cup! 2-0 against Sweden! WOOO! On to round three! As the crazy German fans would sing: "Wir fahren nach Berlin! Wir fahren nach Berlin!" (translated: "We're going to Berlin! We're going to Berlin!" because the next games are in Berlin).

2. During my preliminary research at the zoo, Quenta (female) mated with Pesco (silver back). Yesterday (in my second week) Ruya (other female) mated with Pesco. It's just a matin' community. geez. Actually, it's exciting. It'd be great for the zoo and gorillas in general if one (or both) of the girls got pregnant.

3. I found librarything.com and have added a blurb on my side bar about my random books. For those of you who don't know librarything.com, it is a sight (free) for people who love to read. You type in a book you've read or are reading, and it gets added to a virtual library, where you can rate it, recommend it, review it, and find other people who've also read it. It seems like a great sight, and they have pretty much any book you could thing of. Not only can you keep your library, but they'll also give you suggestions for other books you may like. A top sight. Go check it out.

4. We got our tickets for Mallorca (a spanish island where Fabian's grandma lives). We will be there from July 21st until August 7th of this year! WOOOOOOOOO! I can't wait. :)

Frustration

So, I'm frustrated. You see, Mindy made the mistake of procrastinating on her Senior Project (the Gorilla thing) and she is now paying for it. Mindy came up with the Gorilla idea quite a while ago (at least a couple months) and e-mailed three different people at NDSU to check with them to make sure that her topic is international enough, since it is for the International Studies Major. The project has to have both an international focus, and be scientific for my zoology major: tough. So, I wasn't receiving any reply from anyone, and by this time had already completed my backround research on the topic. I had to make a decision: I didn't have a choice. So, I went ahead with my research, hoping it was international enough.

Well, today I finally got an e-mail from someone at NDSU back. Finally. And do you know what he said? My project ISN'T INTERNATIONAL ENOUGH! grr.. okay, well I was afraid that would happen. And I'm not mad at him or at anyone. My problem is now that I have to someone put more of an international spin on it. So, I asked him if I could do the same study at a zoo in the states, and then compare my results - if that would be international enough. So, we'll see what he says. I hope so, cause that would be okay. It would be just kind of sad though, because I was so happy to know that I'd be done researching in 3 weeks (more like 2.5 weeks) and then could just relax, and when I get home at NDSU get the paper written up and completed next fall/spring. I was so happy to have plenty of time to just slowly get it down and not get all stressed out about it. But... if I have to do the same study at another zoo in the states, that means I will have to wait until next summer at the same time of year to do the study more than likely (otherwise time of year will screw up the results since gorillas could behave differently in winter say than they do in summer), which means I would have to wait to write the majority of the paper, which would be frustrating. Either that or I have to come up with another way to put an international spin on it, which I don't know as of yet.

And, due to the time I have left in Germany, I don't have time to come up with a whole new project, plan it, and research it all before I go to Mallorca. And I am going to Mallorca, no matter what.

So, I'm not mad, just a little frustrated. And it's no ones fault but my own, really. I should have had the research down months ago.

So... It's been a while

Hey guys. Sorry it's been so long since my last update, things here have been busy busy busy... and the blog just gets lost in the mess of busyness...

This past week has been good. I started my research at the zoo, today will be my fourth research day of the week. After today, week 1 of research is completed; it's a good feeling. The research is going good overall. Not too much to report yet.

We've found some cheap tickets to Mallorca (spanish island) where we will be spending 18 wonderful days after the semester is over. In a way, I can't wait. Right now I'm so busy. If I'm not doing homework or researching, I'm procrastinating doing homework I know I should be doing. In the last week of the Uni I will have 5 tests to take, so yeah. It's a decent amount of things to do. So, when it's all over and we go to Mallorca, I will really get some time to just relax, without research or homework looming over my head. Of course, by that time I'll be going to the States again in 3 weeks, so leaving Germany and especially Fabian will be looming over my head instead... so yeah.. it's mixed feelings... excited to go to the island, be relaxed, and meet Fabian's Grandma... and dreading it because it means that I'm going home soon.

So, that's all from me for now. :) Happy Father's Day Everyone! (specifically Daddy and Jim and Grandpa!)

WM

WM= Welt Mesiterschaft = World Cup of Soccer... and it's here in Germany this year.

Now, to give you all a little background on the popularity of this event, let's just say that for the past 6 months (or more) EVERY COMMERCIAL has had SOMETHING to do with soccer. Even for products that you wouldn't think would be possible to get a soccer spin on it.

Well today, Germany played it's first game against Costa Rica and won (!!!) 4 to 2. This is great! :) Now, the funny thing is that I can here all these cars honking in joy, and people down on the street screaming, chanting "Deutschland! Deutschland!" (Germany! Germany!) together and all in all just acting loud and crazy.

I can only imagine what will happen if Germany wins the World Cup.

There aren't enough..

There aren't enough hours in my day. seriously. there should be more hours in the day. apparantly i stopped capatalizing any words... so, yeah. i'm really tired cause Fabian's friends came over last night and we were all up until 2 in the morning, and now I have class at 8:45, and NDSU finally sent me my journal articles that I needed, and I need to read them, and research and do all sorts of things....

i just wish there were more hours in the day to do it all in. oh well. :)

P.S. In case your wondering, no I'm not stressed actually. Just tired, a little loopy and accepting the knowledge that during my research for the next 3-5 weeks (depending on how long I research) I will have very little free time, and what free time I do have will be spent doing homework for my classes. FUN FUN!

Preliminary Observation, Day 1

well, today I started my preliminary observations, which I am planning to last a week. During this time, I will be observing both zoo visitors and the gorillas in order to narrow down my research topic, define specific visitor/animal behaviors, start setting up a control behavior definition (so that I have something to compare to) and just other general things like that...

Today went pretty well, for a first day. I was able to write out a whole list of behaviors from the gorillas, and several from several guests as well. I was also able to get an idea for how the gorillas behave when only I am around, as compared to when guests are around. I've learned too, that observing 3 Gorillas, and the guests that are at the exhibit all at the same time is difficult, and will be working on a way to remedy that problem. Unfortunately, the zoo isn't big enough/popular enough to make it 100% possible for me to do scan sampling. Scan sampling is when the observer scans the behavior of all animals/guests every say, 5 minutes. This helps the observer get more random data, as compared to just writing everything down or the interesting things down. It also helps the observer focus a bit, as constant observing/writing is difficult. Anyways, I still have some kinks to work out, which is what I'll be doing over this next week at the zoo. Here's my reseach time period plan for this week:

Monday: 9-11:30
Tuesday: at home research
Wednesday: 11-2 or 3:00
Thursday: at home research
Friday: At Bird Park
Saturday: 12/1 - 6
Sunday: 12/1 - 6

Sat. and Sun. times will probably be shortened... while researching is fun, I don't think I'll last 6 hours. But we'll see where I am as those days get closer. Sat. and Sun. however are the most important days, as those are the days when the most people will be around. Overall I may not stick to so many hours as I have written down here each week, but since this is "working-out-the-kinks" week, I need lots of hours to work out my kinks. Anyways, just thought I'd let everyone know what the deal was. Oh! And I found out that I may only have to do this one research project for my Diploma, as compared to two like I thought. I'm not sure though at all... so we'll see. But if I only had to do this one, that'd be great. But if not, then that's okay too.

I have a website

Hey everyone. Yesterday morning, I was trying to share my pictures of what my scrapbook that I'm creating for the year looks like, but I kept having troubles, so I just made a website for it. The website is really simple, but it's something and this way I can share my scrapbook (which I'm proud of so far). For those of you who are interested, click here and check it out. There's the front page, a photo center, a forum, another online journal, and a guestbook. Check back occasionally, because it will be updated from time to time to show what's new. :)

Enjoy!

can... no longer... think... have spent... last three... hours... researching... all words... just... start to... run together... in... my head...gorillas... visitors.. behavior... analysis methods... sampling methods.. time of day..ethogram...must... must....do..something...else... someone.. please... save me...

can... no longer... think... have spent... last three... hours... researching... all words... just... start to... run together... in... my head...gorillas... visitors.. behavior... analysis methods... sampling methods.. time of day..ethogram...must... must....do..something...

ELSE!

So... This is Boring

During my freshman year of college** I got a work-study job as a "researcher" in a lab on campus. My job was to come in, and spend my work hours on a computer searching for and requesting scholarly journal articles for their research work in the lab. Half way through the year I quite because I was bored out of my mind, had no set hours to work and therefore hardly worked. Then I worked at Sears, which while still very boring at times, at least had specific work hours.

So how does this apply to today? Today I have been searching for scholarly journal articles and requesting them as well for my research project. I had forgotten HOW BORING it is to do. It's particularly boring, when you look through a list of articles from another source, then go searching for them to see if you can get them online, only to learn that you can't, and then have to go to your school's specific page to request it in print.... and this process just keeps getting repeated over and over and over. I had forgotten how much I hated this process.

On the bright side, this morning I got several pages of my scrap book for the year done. yay! :)

Now if only I could work on my scrap book instead of doing this. bah.

p.s. for those who are intrested, my preliminary research at the zoo will be starting up this next week. That means Monday mornings/wednesday middays/sat and/or sun evenings at the zoo. :)

** hee hee.. the fact that I can say, "during my freshman year of college" is cool. Did you guys know, that I'm going to graduate college one day (dec. 2007)?