What a whirlwind time I’ve had this past week with not only project days, getting ready for DaVinci days, but also just having a 4 day weekend with some work.  My week started off with Aurora still not being as social as Squirt was when he was in the tank, but she still was good during feedings and would come out every so often.  I’m also doing more aquarist work; I got to de-leech more rockfish and check out some awesome animals brought into the Visitor’s Center like huge sand shrimp that are really pale and much larger than anything the aquarists have seen before.    This week, I was also able to work on my wave tank more by putting out new Beach Erosion Challenge signs.  These new signs seem to help a lot and have definitely cut down on the bad behavior while increasing the good behavior and knowledge.  I also helped Nick with his tsunami structures for a bit which was definitely something different, but cool to learn about!

The main thing I loved about my work week was going to DaVinci Days in Corvallis, Oregon.  First, there was the mid-summer check-in where I got to see where everyone else are in their projects.  It was awesome, because everyone is doing something different and everyone’s excited about their projects/ what they’re doing.  I especially like hearing about the differences the people who are doing policy work and others who are in the field all day.  Then came the most awesome part of the week/ weekend…..dun dun dunnnnnnnnn…..DAVINCI DAYS!!!! Oh My Gosh, it was spectacular.  On  Saturday, I volunteered from 1-6pm at the Oregon Sea Grant booth where I talked to various people.  Yet, before that I explored the DaVinci Days park area and watch the parade with all the human powered kinetic structures.  During the morning/ afternoon hours of Saturday I made various clay objects, my own print by etching in plexi-glass my own design and placing ink on it, gel beads, UV bead bracelets, star charts and more.  I also got free Odwalla products such as shakes and energy bars.  I got pretty much every free thing available there as well as did as many free things as I could including clay making and printmaking.

This week is going to be long since i’m working 10 days in a row, but I’m excited for new challenges in the wave energy exhibit and things like POWER SURGES 20 min before closing.  Thus, we have to restart all of the monitors and computer devices in the whole visitor’s center for the 5 people that were left.  It was an interesting task since some of the computer CPU’s are underneath tables, cabinets and hidden away so visitor’s won’t play around with them.I’m definitely becoming even more technologically skilled through this job and I’m excited for more challenges to present themselves.  Bring it on world, let’s test my skills!