I didn't get lost today! (Or why Mapquest doesn't work)
Today, day 3 of my project, was the first day I didn't take an unintentional detour on my way to or from my project location. I was never lost per se (I always had a vague directional sense of where I was), but there were some accidental extensions of my commute. To start, Mapquest, doesn't know how to navigate the SW Waterfront (I can't exactly blame it, the roads don't make any logical sense over there). Last Friday Mapquest told me my project was located left off of Naito Blvd. at Columbia which, one, is a no turn road when traveling south, and two, would be in the river (the building was to the right). I ended up driving too far down Naito, past the point where I could turn around, I somehow ended up on Barbur, and then there were cement islands in the middle of the road and I had to drive part way to what I think would be Hillsdale (?) before there was a place to turn around. I made it though, and wasn't even that late all things considered. My second unintentional detour was yesterday on my way back home. I had a great idea for a shortcut that somehow didn't work out and became a very long route back home. I'm still not sure why it didn't work, but the good news is that today I have officially figured out how to get to and from my senior project without taking a detour!!!
As far as my actual project, I'm learning about really cool animals that are federally listed as endangered or threatened and entering them into a matrix for later sorting. I'm glad that I was forced to learn how to use the basic features of Excel in my science classes this year. It is making the project much easier and less frustrating. My favorite animals today include the Piping Plover, the Fat Pocketbook (which is an endangered type of mussel), the Swallow-Tailed Kite, and Bachman's Sparrow.
Piping Plover
image credit: http://mri.usd.edu/watertrail/FieldGuide/birds.html
Fat Pocketbook
image credit: http://www.darbycreeks.org/Musselphotos.htm
Swallow-Tailed Kite
image credit: http://www.cvm.umn.edu/raptor/learn/info/amswallow-tailedkite/home.html
Bachman's Sparrow
image credit: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/photos/0809Florida/BachmansSparrow_Banfield09.jpg/view
Comments
The Fat Pocketbooks are really pretty :)
Those animals are so cool! It's reassuring to hear that my own struggles with excel might someday have payed off. I was wondering what kinds of things the organization or company you are working at does with the endangered or threatened animals. Can't wait to read more of your blog!
-Lauren
Someday
we can swap old war stories about how lost you can get trying to get to the South Waterfront if you don't know exactly what you're doing. I almost had fainted from heat exhaustion when I had to sprint down toward and find the way under the highway only to double back to the South Waterfront while trying to avoid being so late for the meeting that Portland's most important developer wouldn't have ditched the whole thing.
"The Fat Pocketbook"--who knew?
Never trust Mapquest, duh!
Christine, don't you know that Google Maps is best? Haven't you heard the "Chronicles of Narnia" rap? You have a lot to learn about the real world, my dear . . .
I love the photos! I'm sorry your body aches a bit from all the typing and driving, but you are clearly working on some cool stuff.
I must say the Piping Plover is my favorite so far, both for its name and its super cute face!
We miss you,
Nichole