Sharking!!!

So as I promised...my sharking adventure!

Last year I was able to volunteer to go out and help a shark researcher. Basically lay out nets and bait, wait on a houseboat for the net to go under. Well, last year we did not catch any sharks....BUT we did catch a sawfish which I was SUPER excited about. They are my favorite marine animal here! Well anyway, the opportunity came about again and so Erin, Nate, and I volunteered! So we get on a houseboat which is owned by Rookery Bay Research and we head out this long canal into a bay. I included some pics of the trip out there. Well, it took a little bit and we caught our first shark. We actually caught 2 that night but it was dark and late and I was getting tackled by mosquitos, so I only took a pic of the one. When we catch the shark we get it out of the net and put it in a little pool. We then measure, weigh, figure out the sex and age, then tag it and release it. There was also a manatee that was hanging out with us but it's hard to get a pic of a manatee. Especially in this brownish water. It was alot of fun and totally worth staying out till midnight in the middle of a bay getting eatten by mosquitos!!

The Crew

Erin
ME
Nate
The boat.The Shark. (Black Tip shark, female about a month old.)
Measuring.TADA!!! I got to hold a shark!!!

Reasons to go to work NAKED!!

Besides the high today in Florida is 92 with 100% humidity, which I think is a good enough reason to go to work naked, here's some other reasons if you are not in Florida right now.

(My roomie and I got this sign last year for our boss, we had a few cocktails/bottles of wine at the hotel in Key West at the time. Oh yeah, and we really did give it to her and it's hanging up in her office.)


REASONS TO GO TO WORK NAKED!!

1. Your boss is always yelling "I wanna see you butt in here by 8:00!!"
2. "I'd love to chip in, but I left my wallet in my pants."
3. You want to see if it's like the dream.
4. People stop stealing your pens...after they've seen where you keep them.
5. Diverts attention from the fact that you also came to work drunk.
6. Gives "bad hair day" a whole new meaning.
7. No one steals your chair.

oh YEAH! I went there!!

I don't think I need to elaborate to much on this. Besides I went there. I bought a t-shirt. AND then I took this picture. It's a little bait shop about an hour and 15 minutes north of me. It's something that just needed to be done.

Stay tuned. Tomorrow I am going sharking. As in sitting out on a house boat waiting for sharks to swim in to a net while getting eattin' alive by mosquitoes! I'M SO EXCITED!!! Maybe I will catch another sawfish this year like I did last year.

Fourth of July!!

Wow! How the summer has gone by! Already July! Well, for the 4th, Erin, Gail and I went to Marco Beach to watch the fireworks! First we got some pizza and then made sure we got to the beach early enough to get a good parking spot and a good beach spot! We were there super early so it gave us time to go shelling and play some frisbee with my GIANT frisbee! It was so much fun! They lit the fireworks off of a barge that was parked in the Gulf of Mexico. There were alot of boats parked out in the water too, but I have to say the beach was beautiful. Where ever you folks celebrated the 4th, I'm sure it was awesome but I'd have to say this was the best! Well, maybe tied with my friend Mike that called me from Telluride, CO at 10,000 feet surround by moutains enjoying his beer waiting for the fireworks. Close call for that one!!

Happy Birthday Erin!

It was Erin's Birthday yesterday! June 30th!! She turned 26 years old! So since it was on a Monday we went out on Saturday to Leebo's! Our usually friends were not there because for some odd reason everyone took vacation at the same time. But we made the best of it and made some more friends.

For Erin's actual birthday we went to Naples and went out for sushi. We decided to get dressed up. I mean, really dressed up. We wore our black cocktail dresses. Definately overdressed for what we did but it was fun! Afterwards we went to Miller's Ale house to have a few cocktails. It's a sports bar...but it has good drinks. Erin was concerned that she was going to fall out of her heels and get hurt, but I was the one to get hurt. I dislocated my thumb (which makes it hard to space when I am typing because i use my left thumb.) So this is how I hurt my thumb. Some drunk guy came up to Erin and was hitting on her and when she told him to go away he got really mad and starting calling her bad names. I told him to go away and leave us and he started to yell at me. I jumped off the bar stool and punched him in the face and dislocated my thumb.

Okay so that didn't happen but it sounds a lot better than the actual story. When we got to the bar I grabbed the bar stool and pulled it out and my thumb popped to my wrist then poppedback . It hurt so bad I was laughing and Erin thought it was a joke. But it hurts...real bad. So that is the lame truth.

As for dogsitting Hominy, it's been a wonderful week. She's such a good dog and her mother will be back tonight to get her! I know they both miss each other much! But she definately needs a bath...she's a smelly dog from rollin' around in the puddles and mangroves!