You ever start reading a book and before you know it you're halfway done because it's so engrossing? That's a nice feeling. :)

Kiwi has been saying more words lately. He's picked up "mister WEE!", or at least the rhythm and emphasis of the phrase. I don't think he'll be able to pronounce words with M, but he'll certainly try!


Here he is trying to wake up the bf. (Good thing he doesn't bite hard!)



And here he is in his stainless steel cup that we use for fresh fruits, veggies, and other perishable stuff. He must see his reflection in the cup and think it's another bird, because he's always trying to feed the cup. He spends lots of time in it too, as you can see. ^_^

Too much fandom angst, let's have a Kiwi pic!



This shot was snapped just after Kiwi flew to the Triscuit box and somehow landed on the side flap like that. What a precarious perch. He LOVES Triscuits. We limit his intake, because they have too much salt for such a little bird.

There are more Kiwi shots in our new SmugMug subfolder here: http://rjphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/4233828#248801712

:)

Hmm...LJ go BOOM the last couple of days. Such a loud boom it was even a featured article on slashdot. Yikes.

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what happened. I think the oddest thing is that LJ has taken a hands-off policy with users and coms in the past, claiming that they don't get involved unless and illegal act has occurred. And now this new group (if it is indeed a group and not a couple of individuals. Or Rupert Murdoch. ;)) comes in and somehow scares LJ enough that they suspend all sorts of users and coms, a good chunk of them apparently unwarranted. So what's different about this WFI group? Why did LJ change its policy for this event, since writing and reading fanfic, no matter how sexually deviant, is not an illegal crime? And why did LJ kowtow to them? I have a hard time picturing WFI as a legit, intelligent group when they have rebutted any attempt at discussion on this topic with "if you don't like it, you're really a pedo." Charming.


In other news I took Kiwi to the vet today because he has a dark area between his beak and his nostrils. I was worried about mites or another infestation, but the vet thought it was a bruise. He did whack himself last weekend, so maybe that was it. Kiwi weighed in at 30 grams, which the vet thought was a bit light. The recommendation was to feed him more carbs, like whole grain pasta and rice. He also needs to get more protein, so I'm going to feed him more beans and start feeding him hard boiled egg. There's something...weird about feeding a bird scrambled eggs. They also recommend feeding him chicken! O_O

And in fandom news, it's official. The fourth season of BSG will be its last, starting with the 2 ep-worth Pegasus movie in the fall and concluding with a full 20 episode season. Rumblings are that the season will be split up, with the first half airing starting in January and the second half airing toward the end of 2008. I figured this would be the case after EJO made those comments at the Saturn Awards and Eick posted a half-assed response. It will be sad to see the show go, but now TPTB know exactly what they're dealing with and can (hopefully) write one hell of a final season and series ender.

OMG, the bird has learned how to mimic sneezing. Now whenever I sneeze I hear a birdy "Ker-CHEW!!" coming from the cage. Hee hee! He also mimics the "PUCK-uck" sound of an ipod button.

Sent off the chocolates. We'll see if they end up a liquidy mass. I enclosed a pic of the intact chocolates so my fam can admire the pretty in case the heat destroys my work.

My experiments are still not working. :( I told my boss that I was THISCLOSE to quitting grad school today and I think I freaked him out. I'm not completely serious (dumping 7 years of PhD work when you have several months to go is dumb), but today was an exceptionally sucky day. I'm feeling better now though, sigh.

I acquired "Life on Mars" after some confusion over what the hell a "series" is. Series 1? Series 2? All good now. ;)

I really need to update my layout...

Ah, it's in the 60s today. Cracked open the windows for the first time this year to let the place air out. Nice!

Two pics from my nature explorations last weekend. It was cloudy and cold and muddy, but at the very end I saw a red-tailed hawk in a new suburb under construction. I managed to get a few shots before he went out of range.





The second photo was a real beast to process because it was backlit and the bird was way too dark. Photoshop "shadow/highlights" tool to the rescue! I really prefer GIMP for processing my pics (it doesn't overwhelm me with filters and tools), but it doesn't have a duplicate of the s/h tool so I have to turn to PS.

Also, a picture of Kiwi peeking down at me from the shower rod:



Hee.

Hee, Kiwi has a new toy. It's the cut off top of a cardboard raisin container:







The bf and I like the last one the best - it looks like he's puttering around in his own little tank. :)

Thesis update:

Introduction: Finished barring final review by mentor.

Chapter 2 (Manuscript 1): Finished.

Chapter 3 (Manuscript 2): Performing final experiments, finalizing rough draft

Discussion: Initial draft sent to mentor.

Appendix 1 (Manuscript 3): Summary finished barring final review, performing final experiments for manuscript.

Appendix 2 (Manuscript 4): Summary finished barring final review, manuscript finished.


And a gratuitous pic of Kiwi:

Kiwi likes to hang out on the computer monitor when he's not busy chewing on the mouse or trying to rip the keys off the keyboard. In this picture you can see that he has stuck his wings out a little, showing the blue beneath. He does that when he's really happy/excited, often accompanied by shaking and chirping.



It's been really warm and sunny recently, no snow in sight. Only a matter of time before it gets cloudy and damn cold again though. I can't wait to go home to AZ.

Random Kiwi pic (on sleeping bf, heh):


Gateworld is quite amusing. First there was a "Stop blaming SciFi" thread and now there's a "Stop telling us to stop blaming SciFi" thread. Not to mention the "Is it true SciFiChannel causes cancer and slaps strangers' children for no reason?" thread. Heh. Far more entertaining than the Weir fans vs. anyone that dislikes Weir bitchfest that has surfaced yet again, dragging the shipwar mess into the fray YET AGAIN. Sheesh.

My personal statement is done! Hurrah! :)

Heh.

Kiwi vs. the broccoli

That bird has no fear. Or patience either - I was in the process of cutting off smaller chunks of broccoli for him and he decided to take matters into his own hands. Feet. Wings. Whatever. :P

In other news, the 300 mm lens came in the mail last week. Yeah...it's huge...

(From left to right: 300 mm lens on camera, 70-200 mm lens, 24-105 mm lens, 18-55 mm lens.)

Shots so far have been spectacularly sharp, though it's most definitely a poor indoor lens without a tripod. And this weekend the weather is in the high 90s plus humidity, so we haven't had the chance to take it outside yet.

My parents are flying up to Wisconsin next week, and I'm going to take next weekend off to go see them. Hurray! :)