Toxoplasma Gondii - Real Life Zombie Parasite

Did you know that up to 80% of humans may be infected with toxoplasma gondii, a parasite? This particular parasite is known to enter the bodies of rats and control their brains in order to lead them to cats and finish their life cycles in the stomach of a feline. It has a known connection to schizophrenia and is the reason that pregnant women are warned to keep away from cat litter. In humans it also causes a significant personality change - men become more introverted, women become more extroverted. It is the zombie parasite of the rat world. Enjoy your day :)

Moment with a ruby-throated hummingbird

I just had a moment with a hummingbird. I was standing on my front porch on the phone, and I saw some small insect-like thing out of the corner of my eye sort of floating in midair close to my head, watching me. I'm about to swat it out of the way because I think it's a bug, but decide to look at it first because it's a little large for anything I know. Just as I turn to it and recognize it as a hummingbird no more than 2.5/3 inches tall, it moves directly in front of my face about a foot away from me, cocks its head at me as if to say "you're not a flower," and zooms away.

When I googled what type of hummingbird it may be, I discovered that it was a male ruby-throated hummingbird. Absolutely beautiful. I wish I had a photo illustrating the perfection of the moment, but there was no way. Make a point this summer to go outside and check out the nature. You never know what you may find.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Anyone else as excited about this coming winter as I am? My favorite part is the snow. Snowboarding, snow tubing, sledding, it all makes me so happy :) Ski Liberty in PA is opening soon, I've been following them on Twitter (@skilibertymtn). The only problem is the weather we've been having. It's too warm for them to start blowing snow; it would all just melt. Do some snow dances with me in hopes that a cold front will come over the next few days! What is your favorite part of Winter? What traditional things do you know of that people do to encourage Mother Nature to send down snow? Comment and let me know you were here!

NaNoWriMo 2011

Hey guys. So I don't know if any of you have heard of NaNoWriMo, but it's basically a program the encourages participants to write a novel (50,000 words) in the month of November. Hundreds of thousands of people participate annually, and many win. Well, this year I decided to participate. I knew it would be difficult, but I wanted to be able to say I've writted a book. Guess what? I won. Three days early, too! From the beginning I knew I would push myself, whatever it took, so that I would get that 50k. I worried about it the entire week coming up to November, planning and outlining and creating character after character. Well, it all came together in the end :) Everyone that reads this should participate next year, and invite others! Let's see how many people we can get!

Yellowstone pics 2

I love Yellowstone. It's beautiful, it's fun, and the animals there are crazy. What's not great about that? I met this ground squirrel in a parking lot, and it modeled for me for a while, until it got spooked. How cute is it?!?

The bear we met at the Petrified Tree. Doesn't it look like a cute little bear cub?

Yellowstone pics