exploring

Today I went to look for the Poulsbo Marine Science Center. I met the aquarium director on Monday at the library program I was writing about, PMSC sponsored the touch-tank! When I finally found it I walked in and saw a way cooler, way bigger touch-tank that was filled with a bunch of different kinds of starfish. I couldn't believe that I was allowed to just pick them up, but I wasted no time rolling up my sleeves and sticking my hands in the freezing water! I was probably the oldest person at the touch-tank though, ha ha, there were lots of kids. After my starfish fix I walked around the rest of the building and watched a giant pacific octopus take a nap. He was really pretty too, it was the first time I'd seen an octopus! I liked it so much that I left with a volunteer application, so that I can hopefully play with the starfish on a regular basis. After the animals, I went to the waterfront park that I visited on my first day of work. This time I found a cool boat dock and hung out there for a while. I had fun looking at the water and the mountains at the same time, and the sun made it even better! I've been hanging at the house for a little while now. My aunt Lora called me earlier to say hi and it was fun to talk with her for a while. She told me how much she likes the blog and that she and my uncle read it every night.

photo-less friday

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures to document my day, but it was still a good one! I interviewed Miss Alaska, Abby Hancock. She is originally from Kitsap County and will be competing for Miss America in January! We talked for more than an hour and she answered all the questions on my long list. She was so enthusiastic about the Miss America program and her personal platform, which focuses on being global learners. After spending the day talking to her and reading about her and the organization online, I finished the article and it will run this Sunday. I came home and updated the daily log I'm required to keep and submitted it to my professor. Week 2 is officially done!

funny thing

This morning I got an out of the blue assignment to write the preview article for the Fathoms O' Fun festival, an annual summer festival that happens in Port Orchard. I knew absolutely nothing about it and I think I called the director 9 or 10 times today asking a million different questions, but he thankfully didn't mind. The festival has events that start tomorrow and lead up to what is supposed to be a great fireworks show for 4th of July. I had a lot of fun writing the article and learning about the festival, so I might check out some of the events this weekend. After I left for the day I stopped at Walgreens on my way home and was surprised to see my article on the newsstand. I'd seen it this morning, but seeing it outside of the office surprised me for some reason. When I came home the family was out running errands and the "other intern" as I like to think of her, even though she's actually doing an 8-week clinical rotation, asked if I wanted to have dinner with her. She's only a few years older than me and we had a good time hanging out.

festival article
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/jun/24/fathoms-parade-weekend-a-warm-up-to-fourth-of/

llamas and roblox

I spent all day focused on llamas, unfortunately I didn't get to play with them like I did yesterday. Today I made lots and lots of edits to my llama story and was a little frustrated when asked to include outside information that didn't seem so relevant to the story. In the end, all of that information got cut anyways and I was happy with the final product. Aside from the article, I got to put together my first video today which was very cool. There are a lot of different components to it and I definitely need to learn the ins and outs of final cut pro. When I came home I read for a while and the boys told me all about the Roblox account they made me and wrote down my username and password so I won't forget it. I've never played Roblox but all 3 of them are pros. They were so funny today, asking me what time I woke up, and if they could wake me up at 6 a.m. so that I could play Roblox before I have to go to work, unless I have the day off. Ha ha, I asked them to please not wake me up that early, and promised that since I definitely don't have the day off, that they can teach me all about the game when I get home tomorrow.


llama article!
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/jun/23/llamas-a-labor-of-love-for-seabeck-woman/

llamas

Today was another fun assignment! I went to a llama sanctuary in Seabeck with the photographer. I interviewed the founder about her 32 llamas, all the care they require, how she's got more animals than she was planning on and why she loves llamas so much. She was so nice and showed me around the land. She let me pet some of them and meet the newest baby to be born. I also took some video that should be posted online on Thursday after I "edit it to hell," as one of my advisors says. When I got back to the office I wrote up the article and started researching my next assignment. Every assignment gets more and more interesting! Anyways, while all of this is going on in Washington, there's another paper that required some attention in Texas! The Island Waves sent the second issue of the summer to press today, thanks to the wonderful editorial staff I left behind, especially Rob! I got to look at PDFs of all the pages and give things a final look before poor Rob sent the paper to press a little before 10 p.m.

perfect assignment

Today while working on an assignment my supervisor asked if I wanted to go with the photographer and the new photography intern to a water exhibit that kicked off a summer reading program. I said yes and we were on our way. When we got there there were a bunch of tables with different things for kids. Some stations were about boat safety, others were about the journey of a water molecule, but my favorite was the touch-tank! It had a bunch of different kinds of starfish, crabs and a sea cucumber! The man in charge of it had no problem letting me touch the starfish and even let me hold a few. I was so, so excited! Starfish are probably my favorite sea creature and these ones were so different from the ones in Corpus! On the ride back to the office I got to talk with the new intern and I was so excited to have finally met someone around my age! It'll be nice to have another intern around the office for the summer. When I got home from work my article was already online, so take a peek! For the rest of the day I hung around the house again, ate some enchiladas and did the dishes. I also sent my brother and sister some lovely pictures of myself and they quickly returned with some great pictures. James also sent me a funny picture this morning and said I should post it on my blog, so it's here too. I am definitely missing both of them, so much.

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/jun/21/summer-library-program-aims-to-keep-up-kids-for/

father's day

Today is the first Father's Day I've spent without my dad. I missed him a lot today and was a little bummed I didn't get to talk to him. He's recovering from a horrible sunburn so he was asleep the couple times I called. The picture of us I'm posting was taken last Saturday on the ferry to Seattle. He was so excited to be up here and I was so grateful to have a dad who could drop his entire life for almost a week and drive 2,200 miles to drop me off in Washington. My dad always has the perfect advice and the best hugs and has continuously reminded me to take advantage of all the opportunities I'm presented with. He is truly an amazing dad and I'll keep missing him every single day of the next 9 weeks. So since I was without my dad today, I hung around the house, ran some errands and did my laundry. I finally found Target and went to Barnes & Noble, again. I wouldn't let myself buy anymore books though, until I finish the others that I bought last week. Since it's Sunday, I was reminded of Post Secret and went to look at the books. I found one with a secret inside, which was very cool, but the secret was a little sad.