Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.
Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.
Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.
So obviously this challenge is easier for some. But don't hesitate to be creative! CK and MikeG have it easy. As CK notes this is a "photo on the walk back from lunch today. Don't hate us because we work here... (note this is one of our crappy beaches, so as not to make people up north or inland feel too bad)." Sounds like a challenge to me! But don't let this get you down! I happen to know MikeG's office is a broom closet with no windows. CK also dragged some friends to the beach for a picnic.
BarnOwl fulfilled this week's challenge in a creative way.
I managed to enjoy the ocean this week while stuck in semi-arid South Texas, by creating a jellyfish to hang from the ceiling in my lab. I crocheted it from yarn I made from plastic bags, mostly colorful newspaper wrappers in this case. The tentacles and oral arms were created using the hyperbolic crochet technique.You can read more about it on here wonderfully title blog Guadalupe Storm Petrel.
Environment
Comments
Hey, it may be a broom closet, but I have a very nice new bare light bulb that they let me turn on from 2-3 in the afternoon. On Wednesdays. And a full can of roach spray each week.
Posted by: MikeG | April 10, 2008 5:08 PM
I'm heading to the west coast in 10 days, and plan on sitting at the beach in Vancouver, which is a gorgeous view, and one i'm homesick for.
There's ocean waterfront here, but a fair amount of it smells of sewage due to outlet pipes and while they're actually ceasing that over the next while, it unfortunately bubbles up near the Visitor's information center in a noxious burp.
Posted by: Nico | April 11, 2008 12:54 AM
I think I could put up with a broom-closet office, if I had nice beaches to walk on right outside the building!
Posted by: Barn Owl | April 11, 2008 5:46 AM
That crocheted jelly reminds me of Czech artist Richterova's sculptures from PET bottles - like her Lion's Mane, Purple, and Moon Jellyfish (see the links to the right). Check her out - she's got quite a few nice undersea beasties...
Posted by: outeast | April 11, 2008 6:33 AM
The crafts blog Rockpool Candy also has some very cool jellyfish created from all sorts of recycled materials:
(http://rockpoolcandy.typepad.com)
They'll be on display with the crocheted hyperbolic coral reef and the rubbish vortex, at the World Financial Center in NYC. Wish I could go see them in person...I'll have to settle for photographs!
Posted by: Barn Owl | April 11, 2008 7:16 AM
The jellyfish is AWESOME--very nice job!
Posted by: CK | April 11, 2008 7:29 AM
I agree with the others on the jelly. Nice work, Barn Owl.
I think one of your comments led to my own hirsute crab.
(Jake doesn't know she's making me one, yet, but I shall have one!)
Posted by: MikeG | April 11, 2008 6:04 PM
Glad y'all like the jellyfish. I've been crocheting tote bags from newspaper wrappers and other plastic bags for almost a year now, and I was getting bored, so I decided to try making a jellyfish. I'll post the pattern on my blog soon-it's not difficult, as crochet projects go. The time-consuming part is making the yarn from the plastic bags.
I got my ideas for jellyfish design from a booklet I bought at Monterey Bay Aquarium years ago. I was at a FASEB meeting in Santa Cruz, and we drove over to tour the aquarium for a day.
Posted by: Barn Owl | April 11, 2008 8:02 PM
I think I have taken the challenge to Enjoy the Ocean: I am sitting on a beach on Vancouver Island and it is 75 degrees out and wonderful...I put a whale SuperPod video you would like on my site for you. cheers from ocean.
Posted by: islandrambles | April 13, 2008 11:29 PM