Creatures Great and Small

I had a visit from my Dad this week, and we had many interesting animal experiences, from the sublime to the ridiculous.  

Six Legs

Shortly after moving to my new place, I discovered that Mollie and I have a great many six-legged roommates, none of whom have offered to pay rent.  So, I have thrown my tree-hugging principles to the wind and acquired quantities of toxic chemicals in all physical states - gas (foggers), liquid (sprays) and solid (bait).  After the initial massacre (the body count was impressive) I have noticed far fewer interlopers.  Either they are dead or have learned to be more discreet.

Four Legs

Mollie has made a full recovery from her tooth extraction, and is back to eating with great gusto.  She is doing well at her therapy dog training, and is now working on cute tricks like "catch the treat", "shake a paw" and if we're lucky, "speak".  Make em laugh!

Two Legs

Mockingbirds rule the neighbourhood. They love to tell me, Mollie, and all the local cats who's boss.  They flick their tails around and make whatever noises they think you'll find threatening. What a bunch of divas.  

Legs are for Landlubbers

Dad and I took in one of Atlanta's great attractions, the Georgia Aquarium.  While I take issue with some of their practices (like the scuba-diving with Whale Sharks, who keep dying in captivity) the aquarium is truly remarkable.  We were thrilled to see the Sea Dragons, who are among the world's most improbable creatures.  We noticed that one of them had eggs all over his tail, at which point a docent came up to say that it was indeed a pregnant male who is "due" in a couple of months.  You can watch their webcam here.

The other highlight was the antics of the Moray Eel.  Morays like to spend their time in holes in the rock, peeking out now and then to grab a snack.  We were therefore amazed to see one emerge and swim around the tank with great excitement.  As it turns out, he knew that it was feeding time, and lo, a long metal arm reached in and handed the Moray a nice fish.  Yum.  

 

Mollie's recuperation

Mollie is recovering quietly at home, and is doing her best to tolerate that woman's experimenting with the camera on her computer.

Animal Dentistry

Mollie has somehow managed to break a tooth, so she's going to the vet tomorrow to have it taken out.  When the vet examined it she said "Oh, Mollie.  You had to go ahead a break a complicated tooth with lots of roots."  Poor pooch.  Fortunately, the timing is such that this probably won't interfere with her therapy dog training schedule.  I feel like she's a celebrity athlete and I'm her manager/coach.  Wish her luck.

Norman's Niche

Last night I went to a screening of a Japanese movie called Death Note about a magical notebook that gives its owner the power to kill people. Spooky. After the film there was a "making of" documentary about the film, which included, as one might expect, interviews with the director, cinematographer, actors, etc. Included among the interviewees was a white guy named Norman who was identified as "Friend of the Director." It seems that Norman's role was basically to hang out on the set and not really do anything...apart from being the director's friend, I guess. He did mention that he has a brief appearance in the film as an FBI agent who dies of a heart attack. They showed the clip from the movie where he clutches his chest and falls to the ground, and then Norman said "Oh yeah, I have died in so many Japanese movies." This makes me wonder if he is friends with lots of Japanese directors - directors who want to watch him die. How strange that this is Norman's niche.

This makes me dream of one day appearing in a dvd extras documentary as "the director's white friend who is good at dying."

Clean and Jerk

Georgia Tech is hosting the Olympic weightlifting trials this weekend, so I thought I'd drop by for a cultural experience.  I watched a group of the women competitors and I was intrigued by the diversity of their weightlifting styles. To be honest, I had never thought of weightlifting as a sport where "style" had much relevance, but it was fascinating to see each competitor assume her competition persona, and go through her rituals before the lift.  One woman started with a bow, in a martial-arts kind of way, then paused for a moment of meditation.  Another would crouch down and shake the bar vigorously while tossing her huge curly blonde ponytail from side to side before raising 200lbs over her head.  Another would meticulously coat each of her fingers with chalk, pace back and forth across the platform, then let out a loud "Ha!"  One of the competitors set a new American record for her division.  This inspired me to go to the gym, where I did far less remarkable things.

Best comment ever

And the winner for best student comment on my teaching evaluations for this semester:

"You were weird and I enjoyed it."

Success is mine!

Animal-Assisted Therapy

Mollie has started the process of becoming a therapy dog, the plan being to take her to campus in an official capacity where she can provide everyone with therapy for their university-induced stress.  The certifying organization is called "Happy Tails", and I attended one of their orientation sessions last weekend.  Most of the discussion was about therapy dogs, but there were a couple of people at the meeting with cats who aspire to therapeutic status.   After explaining the assessment criteria for dogs (under handler's control, recovers well from loud noises and strange human behaviour, won't have a panic attack if separated from handler for a few minutes), she pointed out that the assessment is much simpler for cats.  The main question is "Will the cat agree to get out of the carrier?"  I imagine that for most cats, the answer is "No! What kind of question is that?"