Creative Nonfiction was cancelled today. I worked on my seven-page essay that was due tonight, which I of course hadn't started despite the fact that I knew putting it off to the last day was a terrible idea. Actually, our prompt was "Seven pages of completed essays" with the decision of whether they were the same large essay or several small essays left up to us. Having bounced several ideas around earlier this week, I'd finally decided to simply write about my experience writing, from starting when I was seven years old to working my way up until now, and the decisions I have to make in my future.
Institute was my only class today. I didn't bail out. As an added bonus, I bumped into Quinton at the bus stop when I left. A few weeks ago, I'd been sitting on the bench at the TSC bus stop when Quinton walked past and said hello. After a brief pause, he doubled back and sat by me, and we talked for a few minutes. Then, spotting the Red bus pulling up across the street (its one virtue being that it's the fastest way to my apartment from the TSC), I bid him good-bye and hurried to catch it. Only after I sat down again did I glance out the window, see Quinton leave the bench to stand by himself, and realize I'd just ditched him while he was flirting with me. Oops. That probably gave off a signal that I didn't intend.
So today, I was determined to take my time and talk with him. I passed on taking the Orange bus, which takes the long route to my apartment. Quinton noticed this, smiled, and said he was about to start driving the Purple bus. So, I was able to hop on with him and talk some more, which was kind of nice.
I didn't have my Huntsman Marketing Association class today. We've divided into groups to work on the marketing for the Aggie Chocolate Factory. My group met up yesterday to touch base and determine what questions about the product we needed to get clarification on. Today, we didn't have a regular class, because all HMA students came down to Blue Square to interview the owners of the soon-to-be-opened Aggie Chocolate Factory one group at a time. Dr. Martini was excited to see me, saying that she recognized me from sitting at the front of her class all the time. Impressive, considering that was two years ago. Each group had about 12 minutes to interview her and Steve Shelton. Then, I invited my group to meet upstairs in my apartment. They stayed for almost two hours, and we bounced marketing ideas off each other and prepared some survey questions for our project. It's a big project, but we're off to a promising start.
So today, I was determined to take my time and talk with him. I passed on taking the Orange bus, which takes the long route to my apartment. Quinton noticed this, smiled, and said he was about to start driving the Purple bus. So, I was able to hop on with him and talk some more, which was kind of nice.
I didn't have my Huntsman Marketing Association class today. We've divided into groups to work on the marketing for the Aggie Chocolate Factory. My group met up yesterday to touch base and determine what questions about the product we needed to get clarification on. Today, we didn't have a regular class, because all HMA students came down to Blue Square to interview the owners of the soon-to-be-opened Aggie Chocolate Factory one group at a time. Dr. Martini was excited to see me, saying that she recognized me from sitting at the front of her class all the time. Impressive, considering that was two years ago. Each group had about 12 minutes to interview her and Steve Shelton. Then, I invited my group to meet upstairs in my apartment. They stayed for almost two hours, and we bounced marketing ideas off each other and prepared some survey questions for our project. It's a big project, but we're off to a promising start.
After everyone left, I worked on my essays some more. I was keeping a close eye on the clock, because a guest speaker was coming to the university today to talk about "The science of animal personalities," and I'd been excited about this for awhile, since that's my field of interest. Quinton was just starting his shift on the Evening bus when I got on, so I told him about the guest speaker. His name is John Shivik, and he's the author of a book called Mousy Cats and Sheepish Coyotes: The Science of Animal Personalities. When I took the bus home, Quinton was still driving. The Evening bus has the longest route, so I had a good twenty minutes to chat with him about my interests and possible career options, and things like that.
Also, I took a picture of the sunset as I was walking to the library where the lecture was held, because it was quite lovely:
I really enjoyed the lecture. Shivik discussed a research assignment he was once a part of where the researchers' goal was to keep coyotes away from hot dogs. They set up a machine that blared noise and flashed lights when the coyote approached, and graphed the reactions for the individual animals across the next 30 days. Some coyotes didn't care about the potential threat, while others were skittish for a few days, and some didn't approach at all. He also explained how variation in animal personalities is beneficial in nature. Bluebirds are territorial, but if the males are too aggressive, then they spend all their time fighting with other bluebirds, which forces their mate to leave the nest and feed herself. This in turn reduces the survival rate of the eggs. Passive bluebirds had greater reproductive success, but weren't able to maintain their territories. Having variation in personalities between individuals has allowed the species as a whole to survive. Up north where temperatures are colder, female spiders share webs and raise all their children together. Having one huge web spread over a large area allows them to catch more insects, and increases their offspring's chance of survival.
Finally, he told us about "The Super-Chicken Experiment." Some researchers once thought it would be a brilliant idea to take all the chickens that laid the most eggs and put them in the same flock, so they would churn out tons of eggs and become a flock of "super-chickens." The control group ended up laying more eggs, because the "super-chickens" were also super aggressive and just killed each other off. I was proud of myself for predicting the outcome to this story before the guy revealed it, since the only other person to raise her hand when he asked us why we thought the control group did better was his own daughter, who presumably knew the answer from him telling her beforehand.
Shivik was engaging and friendly, and definitely had a sense of humor. His wife sat near me with their two daughters, and I heard her whispering to a friend before the lecture started that every time he does a lecture, his girls give him several random words that he's supposed to incorporate somehow while still sounding natural. Some words in the past have been "unibrow" and "bubbles." Judging from the muffled giggles of his family members during his speech, the words on the agenda today were "Tra la la," "Permanent marker," and "Glitter." I have to say, he did an impressive job weaving them in.
Because animal behavior is my field of interest, I took notes throughout the lecture and stayed for several minutes after to network with the speaker and gain advice on my potential career path. I received some good advice about not being afraid to read lots of research papers, and encouragement to reach out to the authors of those papers and ask them if they had any research positions available that I could fill. Definitely something I'll have to keep in mind over the next few years as I graduate from college and begin to search for a job.
Also, I took a picture of the sunset as I was walking to the library where the lecture was held, because it was quite lovely:
I really enjoyed the lecture. Shivik discussed a research assignment he was once a part of where the researchers' goal was to keep coyotes away from hot dogs. They set up a machine that blared noise and flashed lights when the coyote approached, and graphed the reactions for the individual animals across the next 30 days. Some coyotes didn't care about the potential threat, while others were skittish for a few days, and some didn't approach at all. He also explained how variation in animal personalities is beneficial in nature. Bluebirds are territorial, but if the males are too aggressive, then they spend all their time fighting with other bluebirds, which forces their mate to leave the nest and feed herself. This in turn reduces the survival rate of the eggs. Passive bluebirds had greater reproductive success, but weren't able to maintain their territories. Having variation in personalities between individuals has allowed the species as a whole to survive. Up north where temperatures are colder, female spiders share webs and raise all their children together. Having one huge web spread over a large area allows them to catch more insects, and increases their offspring's chance of survival.
Finally, he told us about "The Super-Chicken Experiment." Some researchers once thought it would be a brilliant idea to take all the chickens that laid the most eggs and put them in the same flock, so they would churn out tons of eggs and become a flock of "super-chickens." The control group ended up laying more eggs, because the "super-chickens" were also super aggressive and just killed each other off. I was proud of myself for predicting the outcome to this story before the guy revealed it, since the only other person to raise her hand when he asked us why we thought the control group did better was his own daughter, who presumably knew the answer from him telling her beforehand.
Shivik was engaging and friendly, and definitely had a sense of humor. His wife sat near me with their two daughters, and I heard her whispering to a friend before the lecture started that every time he does a lecture, his girls give him several random words that he's supposed to incorporate somehow while still sounding natural. Some words in the past have been "unibrow" and "bubbles." Judging from the muffled giggles of his family members during his speech, the words on the agenda today were "Tra la la," "Permanent marker," and "Glitter." I have to say, he did an impressive job weaving them in.
Because animal behavior is my field of interest, I took notes throughout the lecture and stayed for several minutes after to network with the speaker and gain advice on my potential career path. I received some good advice about not being afraid to read lots of research papers, and encouragement to reach out to the authors of those papers and ask them if they had any research positions available that I could fill. Definitely something I'll have to keep in mind over the next few years as I graduate from college and begin to search for a job.
