Zoo for Free

On Monday, possibly in honor of Columbus day, the local zoo was allowing visitors to enter free of charge. A fellow graduate student and I decided to brave the throngs of children and walked over after work to take a look around. I'm never quite sure how to feel about the zoo. It exposes people to animals that they might never see and hopefully, prompts some of those people to take action and help preserve wildlife and/or habitats. On the other hand, these animals are living in cages or caged in areas and it is hard for me to imagine that this enjoyable.
The giraffes were in a particularly interesting area. Instead of fences along all three sides, there was just a ditch. When the giraffes walked up to the edge of their enclosure, not only did you get a really good sense of how freaking large they were, but it seemed as if they were going to walk right over you. These giraffes were probably only 15 feet from me.
We also went through the monkey area. I couldn't get pictures of most of them because it was turn your back on the visitors day. However, I was able to get a couple. This male orangutan was so cute, but I felt kind of bad for him because he was all by himself. All the other monkeys were in "group living" quarters. I study microbes, so the living habits of non-human primates is not exactly my area of expertise. I am hoping that either (a) this is normal for these primates or (b) the zoo is on the verge of finding him a friend. I will say, he certainly knew how to strike a pose. On our way to the zoo exit, the cheetahs were out and about. As a cat lover and owner, I had to take a few pictures of them as well and I would be remiss if I did not include them in the blog post. It was fun to watch them play with each other. It reminded me of watching my bengals play together. All in all, it was a fun trip to the zoo, made better by the fact that I got to use my iPhone. ;)
I also used my iPhone today, but it was not so satisfying. I went to check out my wedding dress, per the request of the lady at the store. They needed me to verify that is was the correct one. No problem. I was not, I repeat, WAS NOT, prepared to put that thing on. At first I refused, but my wedding shield was not up (because I wasn't aware that I would need it) and I gave in to the shocked and sad looks that all the women in the store gave me when I said no. They didn't know that I am post-dissertation. That up until two weeks ago, I had sat on my ass at a computer for almost three weeks strait, stress eating and typing like a mad woman. I purchased the dress pre-dissertation when I was doing experiments in the lab like a mad woman far, far away from food. I don't have the typical flat, white girl butt (thank god) and my family is prone to the weight gain phenomenon referred to as saddle bags, so I was not surprised when the dress was tight as a hell in the ass area. I am sooooo glad that I signed up for boot camp in the park. I would post those photos too, but my fiance reads my blog sometimes and I don't want him to see the dress.