Aquarium of the Pacific

During my vacation to California for gymnastics, we did many things. One of which was visiting the Aquarium of the Pacific, which is located in Long Beach. This Aquarium is home to more than 12,500 ocean animals, and it represents nearly 500 species. Since there was so much to see and do down there, the main gallery we focused on was the Southern California/Baja Gallery.
The Southern California/Baja Gallery represents the diverse marine environments which are mainly found within the California and Baja California waters. Part of this gallery features a large bed of giant swaying Kelp, some colorful garibaldi (which is actually California’s state fish), giant spined sea stars, California Scorpionfish, and many other examples of local Southern California Ocean life. Examining this was really cool because of the diversity, and numbers of all the ocean creatures. There was a ton of fish! Also in this gallery is where we found the Seal and Sea Lion Habitat. This was one of my favorite parts of our adventure through the aquarium. The Seals and sea lions were really interesting to watch move around and swim. It was really cool to see how they could adapt from water to land and from land to water. We also got to visit the touch pool area in this gallery. They had many things available for us to feel, but the most common was the sting ray. They had sting rays ranging from very small to GIGANTIC. They were literally huge. Feeling them was really cool because of the texture of their smooth, almost slimy feeling skin. It grossed me out, I have to admit, but it was worth it to be able to examine them up close.
All in all, this trip was really fun and I definitely learned a lot about ocean life. I learned how many different kinds of fish there are, and that there’s still a ton more out there for us to discover. I learned that there are so many different types of one creature or fish, and that none of them are alike. Each type has their own characteristics that make them unique and interesting to learn about.

Internet Connection

Do you know somebody who just thinks that they can do anything? No matter how hard the task? Well, I do...he's my older brother. He once took apart one of our old TV sets just to see if he could put it back together. I don't think its worked properly ever since. My brother's just one of those kids who is up for any challenge, no matter what it is, even if it's not for him. And if he doesn't get it right the first time, he'll keep at it until it works, or until it's impossible to fix anymore. (Like the TV set). Well, for the past week my internet connection has been all messed up, and normally I don't really mind because most of the time it gets fixed within the same day. Not this time. It's been a while since i've been able to do anything on the internet at home. (This is why i'm having to make up the last two blogs before this weeks). And it's all be cause of a 18 year old's passion for video games. My brother has this game that he likes to play online. Him and his friends are so into it that when they come over to hang out with him, that's all they do. They all huddle around the computer area to play. I don't understand how they could be entertained by a game for that long, I mean is it really that fun? But I guess I have no say in what I think about it until I've actually played the game for myself. But still? Anyway. This game of his. For some reason or another, to play the game with all of it's special features you have to connect it to something to make it work. (This would be a lot easier to explain if I knew all the technical terms, but I don't...sorry). It has to do with the internet connection, I know that much. Well, when he found out he had to connect it to whatever it is he had to connect it to, he decided he'd do it himself. Because that's the kind of kid he is, he likes to do things himself. So he went downstairs to the "connection box" (I wish I knew the name for it, but that's what we'll call it) to try to switch it so that his game would work. But he found that he needed a password. So without my parents permission, he secretly logged onto their computer and searched until he found what he needed. Once he got the password, he went back downstairs and started fittling around with things until he thought it worked. Once he realized that he had done something wrong he just decided to go put everything back where it was before. Well, when he switched everything the first time, he had messed up the internet connection somehow. When he tried to put everything back in order, he couldn't figure out how to get the internet working again. So he tried, and tried, and tried some more. It never worked, he was stumped. So when it was sunday afternoon, my time on the computer to get all my homework done -- the internet wasn't working. So I told my mom, and she told me she'd fix it in a minute. Well, she was preoccupied but when she finally went and fixed it later that night. We all realized something was wrong. We ended up somehow blaming my brother for it, and that's when he confessed. "I couldn't get it to work again, I was just trying to play my game." he said. This made my parents mad, especially when they found out he went searching on their computer for the password. Boy, was he is in trouble. I was mad at him because none of my homework got done that day, but i'm over it now. It's back and I'm liking it. So, my moral of this story is don't do things that you think you can do, it doesn't always work out in the end. Ü

Dinosaur Park

On April 11th, a couple of my friends and I decided to go visit the Dinosaur Park down in Ogden as part of our term project. We were able to see many dinosaur findings, some of which are the most recent found in Utah and all around the world. We were able to examine the bones and such of full-sized dinosaurs, watch robotic dinosaurs in their habitat, and actually dig up some dinosaur fossils of our own.
While we were at the museum, we saw so many bones and fossils. It was crazy. They had things such as a dinosaur tooth and a footprint, to a full size built together model of the creature. It was really cool to be able to see what happened such a long time ago. It was also really cool to see everything up close. Some of the things they would actually let us touch and feel. It was interesting to feel the bones that were on display. They felt just like ‘bone’ but it was weird to think that it came from a creature from so long ago. It just felt a little weird. We were also able to observe as real dinosaur bones and teeth were being prepared to put on display. We were able to see the process that they put the fossils though before they are ready for our eyes out in the museum. Another really cool thing about the museum was the robotic dinosaurs, they honestly almost looked real. It was cool to see how scientists can display for us what they have discovered and researched. The robotic dinosaurs helped us see what kind environment they lived in, and especially how they moved about and sounded. It helped to put a picture in my head of how things could have really been back when dinosaurs did rome the earth.
I really learned a lot from this visit from observing fossils to uncovering some of my own. I was able to see how scientist work, and what they actually do. It was a cool experience to how life was a way, way long time ago!