Well it looks like my softball season just ended…I was rounding the bases last night when I felt a POP in my right calf. Immediately I was limping and in extreme pain. Of course I kept running to 3rd but anyway. So, now I can barely walk. Not fun. I went to the doctors today because I was concerned about the pop I felt and the fact that was in so much pain. After explaining what happened and a quick muscle test he said….you tore you gastroc muscle between %75-100. The upside is that for normal day to day stuff I would be fine but if I want to play sports- snowboard, softball and the like, surgery would be my fix. So now I have an MRI scheduled for tonight to see the extent of the damage. SHIT! I do NOT need this drama right now. That’s for sure!
Yeah yeah so I’m a slacker. My updates have once again fallen off. :) I’m still alive however. I just found out that they released my final few classes for school. Hopefully by early July I’ll be able to schedule those. I have a brutal summer class starting soon which runs 2 nights a week. I am not going to see the light of day until October at this rate…..but come October, I should be done all my classes and then I get a nice break before I start my capstone project. Not too much longer now!
Gotta go shopping now….bbl.
So I applied for an award through the Johns Hopkins IT Honor Society a few weeks back. It was an essay based contest open to graduate level students at JHU. Well…I WON! :) How cool is that? The loved my essays. I won $1000 for the award which is always welcome. :0 But honestly, I did not do it for the money as I stated in my essay….it was much more for the peer recognition for my hard work and scholastic accomplishments. With that said I’m even donating some of the winnings to an entity that uses computers and computer based research (informatics) to help children with disabilities. So there it is. I’m the 2008 winner of the Vargas Advanced Technologies Group Award for Excellence in IT. I’ll be signing autographs later so just start a line to the left. Thank you. haha
I just received word that one of my ferrets, Fatty, had to have his leg amputated because of cancer today. *sigh*.
We noticed a large growth on his leg last Sunday night. M and I immediately raced him to the pet ER for xrays. I suspected a dislocated shoulder or broken leg because of the swelling. After a few hundred dollars of xrays they had no idea. They wanted up to $2600 to continue doing tests….yeah right. We took Fatty home and called my normal vet the next day. He saw Fatty on Tuesday and performed a biopsy of the ‘growth’. On Friday that results came back positive for cancer and he suggested IMMEDIATE surgery. Today, Monday, M took him to the vet for the surgery. By the time Dr. Gold looked at him this time the tumor was no longer a bump on Fatty’s leg but had totally engulfed his leg in cancer. He warned me via phone that this could be very bad for Fatty and that amputation might have to be an option so I should not be shocked if that happened….well it happened and now I have a 3 legged rat. Poor guy! I hope he gets back to his normal self soon! We pick him up tomorrow afternoon.
Wish me (him) luck!
So those slow pokes at Verizon FINALLY released word they they will put the Blackberry Curve on shelves in May! WOOHOO! OH Happy Happy Day! I have waited this long, I can certainly wait another month or so! Bout Damn Time VZW!
On a good note, I finished yet another class for my masters at Hopkins. horray! Got an A and worked my ass off for it too! :) 4 more classes to go (including the one I’m in now which is another ball buster). Yeah so that’s about all the good news I have unfortunately. I found out yesterday that one of the ferrets (fatty) has cancer and needs surgery ASAP or he’ll die….and he might not make it long after the surgery anyway. M is attached to the idea of the ferrets (rats) more than the animals themselves but she wants to give him at least one shot at getting through this….it’s just money right? Of course I would feel more differently if it were Max in this situation but oh well. Besides that, just more drama, drama, drama. Hopefully the drama will be over soon and I can put closure the stress in my life. Well I have a boat load of reading, research and a project for class oh and a team thing to do so I’m gonna start with that now. joy. :)
cya cya
….that we just fired misslles in Somalia killing 3 women and 3 children. Amazing. Years from now we are all going to look back at history and realize what a horrible mistake we made by electing Bush into office. If the world were to judge him I’m confident that he would suffer the same fate as Saddam. Bush has struck fear, pain and death in to hundreds of thousands of people, most of them innocent, throughout the world….and we RE elected this terrorist? Are you kidding me? Are we that ignorant as a society that we put a war mongering monster in power like this….twice? How do you people sleep at night, eh? How?
Well I only have two more weeks left in my class. Time is flying by but I’m learning more than I ever thought I would! After this class I only have 4 more…4 MORE! Then I have the ‘capstone’ course which is a very extensive project that I do in a group of people. I have heard horror stories about that project but you know what…after all these classes it’s just one of those things you have to hold you nose, tip your head back and swallow! haha My trick is to simply focus on each class as I have them and to not look forward because then it looks like an eternity! Well anywho, I have to put out some fires here so I’ll check in later….
This bird cracks me up. So now whenever I put him on my shoulder I say “turn around” and move my hand to touch his tail (which he HATES) so that he turns around. He can’t keep his balance on my shoulder very well otherwise. So I was sitting at my computer the other day with Max on one of his open stands behind me when I hear….”Turn Around!”…I look around and see Max staring at me and then he laughs…now he loves to tell ME to turn around. :) Such a clown. OH yeah, and sneezing…omg this bird loves to fake sneeze. M started doing this SUPER fake sneeze to mock Max and now that’s all I hear all day…A-CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL! Over and over and over and over…then every once and a while, “bless you” in a very cute, tiny voice. haha
www.youtube.com/mrinfosys
I need to get more videos of Max…he’s doing so many more things now!
My class right now is called Competitive Intelligence…Very cool class. More on that later.
It amazes me how fast your life can change. My life has been quite interesting lately and I have been forced to re-evaluate those basic things I took for granted. Friends, family….they can all change over night. NEVER take your life for granted. Never. I have learned that the only person you can ever care about is yourself. Everything else can come and go in a heart beat but the only constant is YOU.
In other news, school starts this week. I have 5 more classes to go which I plan on squeezing into 2008 so I can schedule my capstone (final project/class) at the beginning of 2009. From there, who knows. PhD? Still looking into my options. How funny would that be…ME with a PhD. haha Doc. Doc Chris. Doc Blowfish. haha I love it! We’ll see. haha
SO I bought my books online for class this term. $300+ for books…omg! One of my books came on Friday. It was shipped from a person via www.half.com. This person lived like 10 minutes away from me so it came very fast. When the packaged arrived via the US postal service, the envelope was ripped open and the book was gone…..GONE. Shit! I called the post office and they can’t find it anywhere. How do you loose a book in a 10 mile delivery! OMG! No wonder we have to pay so much for stamps…the post office can’t even deliver a package 10 miles away…..nooobs.
I started playing Lord of the Rings Online. Very cool! Graphics put WoW to shame, the game play mechanics are similar but more simple than WoW and the general attitude of players is SO much better than Warcraft.
Okay I’m gonna to back to sleep now. Gotta love holidays!….oh wait, I’m working today. :)
I know I know I haven’t updated in months. I’m horrible about logging and and doing this. Well happy new year and stuff to everyone! :) I’ll jump on and write more when I have a few minutes.
cya cya
Artwork by Michael Pearce
I just finished yet another class on the road to my Masters. Great class too!
OH yeah baby….
Check out my MySpace page for pics. Just got it totally tinted pimp style and I’m having the XM installed on Thursday. niiiice
32 YEARS OLD!!??
How much stress and pressure can one person take before they crack? I’m coming close. In other news, the car dealship Fing F’d me on my trade in for the Z…it’s worth over 10k on kbb.com but they offered me 3k….BAH! FU dudes! Fortunately I found someone to buy it for a lot more. Now I have figure out which model I want…omg I’m gonna be so stoked when I get this….what you ask? haha wait and see.
So, I’ve got this birthday thing coming up on Monday. Holy hell I’m gonna be 32. I never saw myself in my 30’s so it hard to accept the fact that I’m now moving through them….hmmm. Please send gifts and monitary contributions asap. ;) haha I’m going to have a dinner at Fogo de Chao on Saturday with friends. I really hope they can all make it. That place is so much better with a group! :) SO COME! haha
And then there’s school. WEeeeeee As much as I love school, I love the thought of being done even more. I’m learning more than I ever thought I would and having fun doing it. There is a lot of pressure in my own head to do well but the actual stress in class is not really there which is nice. I can push myself internally and not have to worry about making everyone around me suffer to succeed but at the same time still get as much as possible out of the experience. (i’m 5 deep into my corona cooler right now by the way…:) ) Have you guys ever seen the Cororna virus up close? omfg! RUN! As me for details. Pretty funny story.
Night.
So I just read that Alex from the AlexFoundation.com DIED today! He was a 31 year old Congo African Grey parrot that was being studied, taught and loved by Dr. Pepperberg. Here is the obituary from his website.
Alex the African Grey parrot and subject of landmark studies of bird intelligence dies at 31
WALTHAM,
MA (SEPTEMBER 10, 2007)—Alex, the world renowned African Grey parrot
made famous by the ground-breaking cognition and communication research
conducted by Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D., died at the age of 31 on
September 6, 2007. Dr. Pepperberg’s pioneering research resulted in
Alex learning elements of English speech to identify 50 different
objects, 7 colors, 5 shapes, quantities up to and including 6 and a
zero-like concept. He used phrases such as “I want X” and “Wanna go Y”,
where X and Y were appropriate object and location labels. He acquired
concepts of categories, bigger and smaller, same-different, and
absence. Alex combined his labels to identify, request, refuse, and
categorize more than 100 different items demonstrating a level and
scope of cognitive abilities never expected in an avian species.
Pepperberg says that Alex showed the emotional equivalent of a 2
year-old child and intellectual equivalent of a 5 year-old. Her
research with Alex shattered the generally held notion that parrots are
only capable of mindless vocal mimicry.
In
1973, Dr. Pepperberg was working on her doctoral thesis in theoretical
chemistry at Harvard University when she watched Nova programs on
signing chimps, dolphin communication and, most notably, on why birds
sing. She realized that the fields of avian cognition and communication
were not only of personal interest to her but relatively uncharted
territory. When she finished her thesis, she left the field of
chemistry to pursue a new direction—to explore the depths of the avian
mind. She decided to conduct her research with an African Grey parrot.
In order to assure she was working with a bird representative of its
species, she asked the shop owner to randomly choose any African Grey
from his collection. It was Alex. And so the 1-year old Alex, his name
an acronym for the research project, Avian Learning EXperiment, became
an integral part of Pepperberg’s life and the pioneering studies she
was about to embark upon.
Over
the course of 30 years of research, Dr. Pepperberg and Alex
revolutionized the notions of how birds think and communicate. What
Alex taught Dr. Pepperberg about cognition and communication has been
applied to therapies to help children with learning disabilities.
Alex’s learning process is based on the rival-model technique in which
two humans demonstrate to the bird what is to be learned. Alex and Dr.
Pepperberg have been affiliated with Purdue University, Northwestern
University, the University of Arizona, the MIT Media Lab, the Radcliffe
Institute, and most recently, Harvard University and Brandeis
University.
Alex has been featured worldwide on numerous science
programs including the BBC, NHK, Discovery and PBS. He is well known
for his interactions with Alan Alda in an episode of Scientific
American Frontiers on PBS and from an episode of the famed PBS Nature
series called “Look Who’s Talking.” Reports on Alex’s accomplishments
have appeared in the popular press and international news from USA
Today to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. The Science
Times section of the New York Times featured Alex in a front-page story
in 1999. That same year, Dr. Pepperberg published The Alex Studies, a
comprehensive review of her decades of learning about learning from
Alex. Many other television appearances and newspaper articles
followed.
Alex
was found to be in good health at his most recent annual physical about
two weeks ago. According to the vet who conducted the necropsy, there
was no obvious cause of death. Dr. Pepperberg will continue her
innovative research program at Harvard and Brandeis University with
Griffin and Arthur, two other young African Grey parrots who have been
a part of the ongoing research program.
Alex
has left a significant legacy—not only have he and Dr. Pepperberg and
their landmark experiments in modern comparative psychology changed our
views of the capabilities of avian minds, but they have forever changed
our perception of the term “bird brains.”
For press contacts:
The Alex Foundation and Dr. Pepperberg can be reached by e-mail at the alex@alexfoundation.org or by phone at 781-736-2195.
If
you choose to help support this research, please consider making a
donation in Alex’s memory to The Alex Foundation, c/o Dr. Irene
Pepperberg, Department of Psychology/MS-062, 415 South Street, Brandeis
University, Waltham, MA 02454.
Geesh…where do I begin! I’m not really sure at this point? haha I had so many things going on in the past month and just no time to sit down and tell you about it! Let’s see…..a few weekends ago M and I went to Indy and had the most fun weekend we have ever had! We spent the time drinking and drinking and…drinking… We were invited to spend the weekend with friends we met in Cabo over turkey day last year and wow! What an amazing time we had! We spent Saturday on a lake jumping from boat to boat, floating in the water and absorbing as much alcohol as humanly possible!! haha I wish I could do that every weekend!
So…I bought tix to see the Colts get schooled by the Ravens! Our friend Lenny (from Indy) is going to come into down to watch the game with us. I feel bad that he’s gonna drive all the way out here to see his team and crushed! Oh well. :)
School is back in swing as well. I’m taking a class on Project Management. Very important for any manager to understand but the content is kinda dry to be honest. I have to get as much out of this class as possible but I am having problems getting excited about it….I’ll do fine I’m sure but I just have so many things occupying my thoughts right now that I’m having concentration problems.
My car is dying…BOOO. I’ll update this later though….muhaha
Oh yeah, check out Max saying “I gotta go to work, okay???” www.youtube.com/mrinfosys
I also have pictures of Indy on MySpace…Look me up!
I got back from NY late last night. I’ll update later.
So I’m driving to lunch with one of my friends from work. We are sitting at a light in Fells Point when we see this older guy get tossed into oncoming traffic and into a car! He bounced off the car and slammed into a parked truck. Then we see 3 teens run across the street and begin to violently beat this man by punching and kicking him to the face and body. At one point they threw him to the ground and began kicking him to the face and chest. Then one of the boys went into the median and grabbed a wood post. He stared to beat the old man with the wood post in the face while he was curled up on the ground. At this point I jumped out of my friend car and ran into the mayhem. I was not about to see this guy get his ass beat right in front of me. As soon as they saw me running toward them they ran…two of them away and the third to the corner to see what I would actually do. I helped the guy to his feet and called 911 (they were freaking out that I got out of the car in the first place. hahah) I saw the last kid walking back to us and the guy started to flip out….I made it abundantly clear that coming back would be a VERY bad mistake and when the sirens could be heard the kid took off. So long story short, the cops show up and make NO fucking attempt to catch the kids which if they just ran around the corner they would have had them in custody. Baltimore’s finest at work!….worthless bitches in my opinion.
I hope that man is doing okay now. He was a bloody pulp by the time I got there. Nice city.