A Day at the Bronx Zoo!

Aw heck, I wanna blog about something fun for a change.

As you can see, Jamie's new camera is really spectacular.  Most of these were taken through glass and from some distance away.  I take absolutely no credit for these fantastic shots.  

Apparently the Bronx Zoo has some kind of speaker system set up in the tigers' den.  We kept hearing these ominous growling sounds and finally realized they were coming from this guy yawning up a storm.  

Terrifying and so cute at the same time.  He got all clean and cozy before finally settling down for a nap.  Awwwww, kitty!

These are some kind of sparrow I think.  They were almost impossible to see within the branches as they're even smaller than your standard sparrow you'd find in the suburbs.  Jamie's camera, however, has visual powers that we mere humans know not.

After almost three years in New York City, I thought pigeons could get no fatter.  At least this one had some shiny blue feathers to his credit.

This giant toucan was huge.  HUGE.  I should have put my hand in the picture to give it some scale.  The shape of that sort of beak-hat and the white iris of his eyes distinguish him as a male.  There was a female in there, too; she had a more curvy shaped beak-hat thing (that's a technical term) and a red iris.  Pretty flippin' sweet.

I have to say, this photo is just stunning.  Toucan Sam, as we named him, was sitting in a thicket of branches at a very weird angle in relation to where we were standing and somehow Jamie managed to turn him into the prize photo of the day.  Well done, sir!

We were looking for a place to sit and have our packed lunch of prosciutto and mozzarella sandwiches with sea salt and vinegar chips, (oh the joys of dating a recreational chef!), when we realized the pond/river next to us was full of swans and mallards!  What a cool zoo.

Believe it or not, this awesome dude was easily 40 feet away from us.  No feces were harmed/thrown in the taking of this photograph.

Having been addicted to "Lost" for the last five years, I have not looked at polar bears in the same way.  This guy, however, was pretty entertaining.  He started out on a little island of snow in the middle of his pool, jumped over to this narrow edge, walked all the way from one side to the other with very nimble paws, stopped, posed, then turned and trotted back to the starting point.  

The Unending Malaise of the Job Hunt

Few things are more emotionally and mentally draining than true financial stress and unemployment.  As a (relatively) young working adult in America, words like "economic distress" and "recession" have only ever had meaning to me in an abstract way, even though I have lived during such periods before now.  This is the first time in my life that I have been directly affected, both personally and by the situations of people I love, by the failing economy in the nation, and it is scary.  Truly scary.  Like, this is the most frightened I have ever been in my life.  

But as my mother and grandmother taught me, the show must go on.  We are, I am, going to get through this.  We will make it, because, well, look at the alternative.  

My thoughts and love and what clinging hope I have are with all of you.  Always remember that we have each other.

Some slap & tickle for your senses

The humble beginnings of the carnage of SuperBowl XLIII at Andy's place last Sunday...

Aside from my candlestick antlers, a pretty sweet pic of me and Jamie...

Ice skating in Central Park last weekend.  I did a spin!  And didn't fall down!  Yay!

It may be overstating my verbal abilities, but I do like to use the phrase "slap & tickle" at least twice a week.  Quota:  filled.

Inspired by my cousin's recent relocation to Spain and her incomprehensible ability to maintain a weekly blog of her study abroad adventures in a foreign land, I've decided that I have no excuse not to do the same with my not-so-recent relocation to New York City and my slightly less entertaining adventures in what I still consider a different world.  My logic here is that if I have to report on my goings-on then maybe I'll start doing some stuff worth talking about.  Eh?

To that end, I'm proud to say that the last few weeks have played host to a few New York Firsts for me:  Ice skating in Central Park, true New York style pizza at Arturo's, (an institution when it comes to pizza in this city), and perhaps most exciting, I am now a member of the New York Road Runners!  Finishing the Disney Half Marathon really got our brains locked into running and Jamie and I managed to join NYRR in time to be eligible for guaranteed entry in the 2010 NYC Marathon.  It is most definitely on the calendar in pen.

And now I'm going to be REALLY ambitious and attempt to post some photos of our recent adventures around the city.  Our new camera, (by which I mean the super cool fancy camera that Jamie purchased and that I use freely and without permission), is amazing and we can't stop taking it everywhere we go.  

Until next time, cheers!