Just sitting

This morning we had harvest for 30 pigs here on campus. While this overlapped with my 11 am class that I would've been occupied by otherwise, it also took up a lot of my morning considering that we started at 6.00 am this morning. I like getting up early in the morning and my time working odd hours with Marcus was amazing. But what you have to do in that case is find a time for a warm afternoon catnap. What I don't like is the long day without any kind of rest. My new plan for this afternoon was to take a nap, but my position as a TA in a 2.30 recitation won out and I will be headed to the class shortly. If any of you expect to find me this evening, you will find me back here at Animal Sciences helping host the Fayette County 4-H group as they come in for a carcass show regarding the animals they had us harvest on Tuesday.

Speaking of 2 harvests in the same week I am sharply reminded of something my dad said a couple of years ago. I often have these sudden and short-lived urges to work out and build up my muscles. Exercise in the form of walking, running, basketball and biking are things that I have no trouble picking up at any time or getting into the habit of doing. However, in the case of actual muscle building, I usually don't last a week. Well, a couple of years ago Dad made the comment that some of the strongest people arre those that work in a slaughter facility or as butchers. He claimed this was because of the workload and how it was also built around a week so that different muscle exercise was performed each day.

Now that I am aching all over from the second harvest in a week, I am realizing just how right he was. The work that we do, even when I'm only moving carcasses down the rail (pushing or pulling weight) is very taxing and I am not in the kind of shape that I should be in to do this twice in a week. Tuesday was difficult, but the repeat on Thursday has pushed my muscles to a point where they complain to me when I try to drink a bottle of water. This is hard work, and good work. When I was asked today by one of the grad students today if this was what I thought I'd be doing in my Masters program, I said "Yes." I am learning new things every day and starting to fit into the work so that I don't feel uncomfortably out of place every day now. It's good to be challenged again, both physically and mentally.

Although my commentary on the following links will be limited, they are totally worth the viewing. Check them out and have a great day!

First off, if you know anything about Google maps, you've probably tried creeping on your house and seeing what you were doing when they took the image for their website. If you haven't, just take my word for it that they are real photos and I can even tell when they update them because the model or position of cars will change at our house. Well, apparently in Brazil, the images were banned after this happened.


Hungary continues to pollute the earth, even as we're still trying to sort out who we really are going to get away with scapegoating for the BP spill.

Finally, in case you haven't heard it often enough in recent news, here's the Daily Show's take on the non-witch GOP candidate.

I love Pandora radio and my ACDC channel has been one of the best choices I've made regarding my homework and project productivity.

News update

Just to make sure that you've gotten all of the headlines from today, I'll start off with a really classy entry. I'm not trying to make light of a serious situation here, but when people talk about being burned by the mud flowing through their house, wouldn't you figure they'd wonder why they lived there? I'm just shocked by the chemical spill in Hungary and the chain of command isn't expected to take any of the blame for it. Apparently they aren't as lawsuit-crazy there as we are, otherwise they'd be blaming someone for it already.



Next, I can't imagine why you would want to admit that your government trained Pashmir militants, but apparently that's what Der Spiegel was told. Another interesting topic addressed in the interview was former Pakastani president Musharraf's use of facebook and his effort to raise money for his people after the flood. Interesting interview.

On a lighter note, an author's glasses were stolen and then a helicopter used to chase down the suspect who held such glasses ransom for 100.000 pounds. Isn't that a ridiculously high price for the glasses? I would've just made the guy look like a fool by buying a new pair. Just me, though.