Saving Lives and Upcoming Adventures

Greetings dearest familia!

First off I just have to extend my belated condolences to Anna about your grandma. I only have my one grandma left and she's one of my favorite people in the world so I can imagine how hard it must be on you and your family. I realized that my last post was both before I started working and also before Irene came to visit, but since she already hit the highlights of that part, I'll just share the exciting news on the former!

This picture's a little old but this is where I spend the majority of my time these days! The two pools farthest to the right aren't there anymore, instead there's a big three story building with a bar and grill on the bottom, casino in the middle, and VIP cabanas on the top. There's also a "toptional" pool that would be on the very right hand side of the picture behind the beach, but its sealed off from both under 21 guests and under 21 lifeguards like myself, much to Irene's disappointment I can assure you. Its definitely a lot more lively than my past lifeguarding jobs, particularly among the guests who start imbibing around noon and basically go nonstop until we close at 7. I tell you, the amount of alcohol consumed here on a daily basis puts even the most raucous of TAPs to shame. The other highlight(?) would have to be the quality and variety of tattoos that I see on our lovely guests. Just the other day there was a somewhat portly gent who had a spiderweb tattoo on his belly whose center just happened to be his belly button. Class is obviously the name of the game here. Other than that lifeguarding at Mandalay comes with all the excitement of picking up used towels and telling the guests for the twentieth time that yes you can have your beer in the pool, it just has to have a lid. In all seriousness though, we actually had a full on spinal (head or neck injury) this past week when a 14 year old guy dove into 3 feet of water, which I didn't see nor take part in but is by far the most serious injury I've ever even heard of in five summers of lifeguarding.

In other less serious news, I'm getting super pumped for my trip to Chi-town in a couple weeks, home to Da Bears, my boy Kanye and of course Irene Hickey. On my very first day there we're supposed to be seeing a Cubs game which will shockingly (and depressingly) be my first professional sports outing. Crazy I know, I can hardly believe it myself, but the sad truth nonetheless. I'm also gearing up for my international travels which are officially less than a month away! Classes are all set, and my visa's ready to go, which really only leaves me to start working on my dance moves so I'm ready to hit it big in Bollywood. I've also been struggling to come up with an appropriate house-warming gift for my host-family, the program suggests bringing something from your home town, but seeing as how the feasibility and acceptance of trying to carry on a hooker and/or a craps table are both exceedingly low I'm left with few ideas about something that's homey but not too touristy. Suggestions are obviously not only welcome, but encouraged.

Before I leave you to start the brainstorming process though, I wanted to highly recommend a book I finished last week called The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. It was extremely interesting and informative, and I have no doubt that all my fellow science geeks out there would really enjoy it. And to those of you less inclined to scientific seduction the book even comes recommended by the venerable Austin D. Sarat (via the Amherst Magazine). I'm currently reading a book on our finest president, a Mr. Ronald Reagan, mostly out of personal interest but also so that I have at least one conversation starter during my stay with Rog (aka Mr. Hickey).

Looking forward to those suggestions!

Eric

Big excitement!

FAMILY!
Remember the tree outside of Stearns that has eluded me the last two years? When I reluctantly dismissed it as a simple spruce but in a drunken state was convinced it was a magnificent and noble Douglas fir? Well score one for pseudotsuga manziesii (and drunk me)! As I walked by it this morning I noticed the tell tail (pun intended) sign of a Douglas fir cone. I inspected a cone from a spruce tree just to make sure and I am convinced now that the tree is in fact a Douglas fir. I am sure many of you are aware of the story of the mouse and the Douglas fir cone so I will not recount it here (notice how there is the hind legs and tail sticking out from beneath each scale).


So yeah... pretty exciting.
In other news, last week was awesomeness. My experiments were working really well and we went to see Harry Potter at midnight! It was epic. Over the weekend Matt visited and we mostly napped outside and ate lots of good food and ice cream and explored Northampton. This week my experiments have not been quite as exciting. One thing I have learned for sure this summer is that science doesn't work a lot of the time. But it's super fun and I am really enjoying it.

I haven't written in a while, but the holiday weekend way back when was very eventful. I got to see all the Cifonellis and learn about my Italian heritage in Utica, NY. Though it was a sad event, it was nice to see the whole family together. I also had one hell of a travel day, all I am going to say is that is took me 12 hours and 4 different airports to go 180 miles (a two and a half hour drive from Amherst to Albany). Luckily, my parents and I drove back to Amherst afterwards so I avoided a second mess. The parents were in rare form being out east, as our small town folksiness met the east coast attitude. They made a big impression on the bus boy at the Lone Wolf with phrases such as "we're not from around here, we like water" and "don't be a stranger" in response to his offering refills on water and coffee. We then headed to Boston so my parents could catch their flights and meet Matt. During our outing in the big city, my mother would frequently use "we're not from around here," as an excuse for acting silly. My dad was really out of his element, but proved to handle the pressure well. I even managed to get him on the subway which was an adventure. And he didn't scare Matt too much I don't think. And I got to see the lovely Boston fireworks and hang with the McClellans.


And that's about it. Not too much excitement recently (minus the tree thing). Time for a run!

Remember, only you can prevent forest fires.

~Anna