Starting a new thread to document the delightful things I am finding out about joining the tech team at Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Adrianna Tan

@sbourne yayyy

Adrianna Tan

41. I posted my first question in the ‘All Staff Q&A’.

(Picture of fish)

‘What is the scientific name of this fish?’

Got a response in 1 minute (Zaniolepis latipinnis.)

Adrianna Tan

42. At a meeting this morning

I asked my coworker ‘do you think people hear what we talk about, and have the same ?? Face I did when I heard people talking about gelatinous zooplankton?’

She thought probably but we both agreed gelatinous zooplankton is cooler than databases

isol

@skinnylatte

Wait, you have gelatinous
*databases* ? 🤯

Your new job is unbearably enviable!

Adrianna Tan

@isol don’t be jelly!!

Adrianna Tan

43. I had lunch with the ‘Director of Puns’ today. She looked forward to working closely with me. I said I hope it all goes swimmingly

Adrianna Tan

44. I learned that cool videos like these are shot in the office next to mine

Adrianna Tan

45. Saw someone write ‘oysters are an embodiment of queerness’ and I truly feel like I’ve found my people

funnymonkey

@skinnylatte The awesomeness of your posts about your new gig is wonderful.

Thank you.

your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦

@funnymonkey @skinnylatte it's a balm for weary souls.

Adrianna Tan

46. I’ve been fascinated by ‘whale fall’ since I first learned about it here.

Here’s an incredible video of a whale fall exploration dive in the deep sea just off Monterey Bay.

What is a whale fall?

The oceans' depths are supplied by nutrients falling down from the surface waters. When whales die and sink, the whale carcasses, or whale falls, provide a sudden, concentrated food source and a bonanza for organisms in the deep sea. Different stages in the decomposition of the whale carcass support a succession of marine biological communities. Scavengers consume the soft tissue in a matter of months. Organic fragments, or detritus, enrich the sediments nearby for over a year. Importantly, the skeleton supports rich communities for years to decades, both as a hard substrate, or the base, for invertebrate colonization and as a source of sulfides from the decay of organic compounds of whalebones. Microbes live off of the energy released from these chemical reactions, particularly and form the basis of ecosystems for as long as the food source lasts. At deep sea levels this forms a new food web and provides energy to support single- and multi-cell organisms and sponges, thus adding to the oceans food chain.

(oceanservice.noaa.gov)

Adrianna Tan

@blogdiva @funnymonkey heheh

Adrianna Tan

47. I talked to real people about animal poop 5 different times today (I counted). Different animals too

Adrianna Tan

48. I found the internal form for ‘booking an animal encounter’. My coworker said ‘usually it’s for team building or bringing your family on behind the scenes visits BUT if you want to hang out with the octopus or otters on your lunch break by yourself, I don’t see why not?’

Adrianna Tan

49. She then said when she went to hang out with the octopus she got octopus hickies all over her arms and they didn’t go away for a long time.

Joan Combs Durso

@skinnylatte It’s so much fun reading your posts about how much fun you are having in your new job!

Adrianna Tan

@econoprof thank you! It’s giving me life and joy

Adrianna Tan

50. Today I got stopped in the hallways. Someone I didn’t really know said, ‘hey are you the one who posted the pic of the Townsend’s warbler? I saw the same bird but didn’t have my camera so thanks for taking the cool pic’ (when I worked at a database company, all they talked about was emacs vs vim)

We then agreed to go on a lunch bird walk

Granny Art (Shrimp) (Joni)

@skinnylatte Ok, this sounds like a dream job. I am so happy for you!! (Also, do I get to call you a friend, or are you just "someone I know on the internet"?)

Adrianna Tan

@artcollisions friend! Also happy to do a online video or audio chat if you’re ever up for that!