Double Cello Firefly Theme Song

Totally not paleo-related at all, but this is my friend Marie and her friend Lauren performing a really fantastic cello arrangement they made of the theme from the show Firefly. Give it a listen with headphones! And if you haven't, go watch Firefly, it's a great show!

Once upon a time in the West...

Wow, looking back on this blog I started four years ago, it's really kinda funky to see where I was and where I've come.

Hi everyone, my name's Taormina (Tara) Lepore.  I'm 26 and after a lengthy soul-searching delay working as a chemistry lab technician at Wyeth/Pfizer, I have gone back to my true passion and applied to graduate school in paleontology.  I'll be starting my M.S. in Museum and Field Studies at CU-Boulder in a few weeks, and I'd like to use this blog to keep my friends and family up-to-date on my latest adventures.  My boyfriend Dave, the awesome guy that he is, moved out here with me from the Boston area where we both grew up.

Wow, in the time since my last post, I have met Dave, took the dreaded GRE, applied to grad schools two years in a row and learned a lot more about where I really wanted to be, worked hard in chemistry manufacturing and development labs for three years, I had eye surgery, my old kitty Cuddles passed away, my sister Katrina graduated high school, I sold my Jeep and bought a Toyota, friends have moved around the country and around the world, and so have I.

It's funny how life changes.  I've never been more excited to start on a new adventure, though, and Dave and I really love our new life in Colorado.  I've always loved the west, ever since I first set foot in Wyoming to conduct field work as a volunteer when I had just turned 17.  Now we're living out here, and everything from the mountains to the open plains to the summer thunderstorms and the way the prairie grass and sagebrush smells--it's awesome.

To keep busy during the summer before classes start (in two weeks!) I've been volunteering a couple of days a month at Birds of Prey, a local raptor rehabilitation center.  Mostly I clean mouse and rat cages, and then chop up dead mice, rats and quails for the birds to eat, but it's been a really neat experience helping these birds and meeting really nice new folks.

This fall I have been fortunate enough to receive two 25% assistantships, which means that my tuition will be paid for and I'll have a little more money in the bank every month.  I'm very grateful and excited to be working on fossil footprint collections with Martin Lockley and his crew at CU-Denver, as well as the museum collections at CU-Boulder with the lovely team there.

Next weekend I'm visiting my good friend Patty who is from Idaho, she and I are meeting up halfway in Evanston, Wyoming to explore...whatever the hell there is to do in Evanston :)  I hear it's a pretty nice town.  Looking forward to it, because it is going to be....the shiz.

So! Haven't reported in a while. After a wild week of job decisions I've been offered and accepted....da dada daaa! A job as Senior Process Technician II at Wyeth Biotech in Andover. Should be something to look forward to...it's something totally different, at least. Training starts the 22nd, as long as I pass my drug test. Heh heh. Of course I will. ..... .....

Thanks to a friend who won't be mentioned (:P) I watched Moulin Rouge yesterday. Man, it seems way better than the first time I watched it. I think that's because it's SO DAMN SAD. Jesus, movies shouldn't be that sad. But they should be that good.

Got handed a pink teddy bear in SD that was on a journey from a sixth grade class in Illinois and has made it to Nebraska, South Dakota, Massachusetts and now Fukui, Japan (thanks Lisa, if you're reading this!) I hope all of this makes those kids happy...and that that bear is heavily disinfected upon arrival, who KNOWS where it's been? No, really? Besides the travel itinerary?!

And besides the pictures?!

On the paleo front, I've relinquished my mammoth days for my old footprint shenanigans. I've sold my soul to the Ecotarium in Worcester for no pay. Well, I get paid in the satisfaction of helping to design an upcoming traveling exhibit on dinosaur footprints. Woohoo. More updates as they come.

I hope everyone's doing well ^_^

They just don't make 'em like they used to.

I love the old Max and Dave Fleischer cartoons, especially the gritty, trippy older ones like this. They invented the technique of rotoscoping, or animating on top of live actors, along with developing the first sound cartoons (four years prior to Disney's famous Steamboat Willy). The Fleischers' early sound efforts didn't get as much notice and success because most theatres weren't equipped with the speaker systems to support their earliest "talkie" or "talkartoon" efforts. But with characters like Betty Boop, Popeye and Superman, they enjoyed quite a bit of notoriety and success throughout the years.

And come on, who doesn't like Cab Calloway? Huh? No one, that's who. Even Danny Elfman is a fan of this cartoon.

All my bags are packed...I'm ready to go.

Farewell to Rapid City, just in time for the holidays. There's no place like home for the holidays.

And on that note...the "Shrine of Democracy". Finally got around to seeing it. On that note, I'm off to Denver, and then back east...time to get back to where I once belonged. Get back, Jo Jo.

Just trying to see how many stupid song quotes I can use in one post...^_^

Cheers everyone, I hope you've enjoyed my rantings on my time in South Dakota. More updates to come. Shine on.

I had a really nice day today, got to head on up to Hill City again and meet with Pete Larson. He gave me sort of the grand tour and I got to meet a lot of his crew. Very nice folks, and very nice fossils and replicas. These are from a subadult T. rex.


Dinosaur skin! From an edmontosaur.

Fun times. I also got me a rock hammer, yay.

These boots are made for walkin'.