Don’t get me wrong, I love all sloths and I’m so happy we had three taxa in this season of Prehistoric Planet, but Eremotherium scares the shit out of me. It is just too big, too weird, too awkward. It was slightly uncomfortable to watch. (And yes, I had the same reaction when I saw one in a museum)

Bucket list sloth butt selfie!! This beautiful specimen is from Anza Borrego and it has THOUSANDS of in situ osteoderms. There are only two specimens with in situ osteoderms (that I know of) in North America and I’m spending the day with this one.

I just got home from a screening of Prehistoric Planet Ice Age and it was AMAZING! I could barely contain my emotions during the sloth scenes. It felt like I stepped into a time machine and spent the day with a family of Megalonyx. I can’t wait to watch the rest of the episodes next week!!!

Hey people! I have one unclaimed guest list ticket if anyone is free for Nerd Nite in Burbank tonight! Who wants it?

Happy National Fossil Day to me! And the ~30 other sloth researchers. This baby Megalonyx from Prehistoric Planet is too damn cute and I am watching this on repeat for the next 42 days until the new season comes out! m.youtube.com/watch?v=9i0R...

On this research trip, I have: -left my laptop charger at home -bought a replacement charger that isn’t powerful enough for my laptop -realized that the years of data that’s supposed to be on this hard drive is possibly lost forever But I did help dissect a baby camel, so there’s that.

I know everything is shit right now, but I still need to share good news when it happens. 3 years after my first attempt and after ungodly amounts of studying, I have finally passed the GISP exam and I get to add some letters after my name!

In case anyone else desperately needs some eye bleach after doomscrolling all day, I just accidentally took the most epic glamour shot of the boys and it 100% needs to be their wedding announcement photo.

Because we all need good news when we can get it these days: my stepson just got accepted into a PhD program! Since he got his master’s a few years ago, he’s been a professor and addiction counselor, and still finds time to volunteer with the local high school band. I’m so fucking proud of him!

Hi, it’s me. The world’s worst mother (according to this little jerk who is very upset that he has to be in the torture chamber for an hour as we move to our new home).

The museum in the Indiana Jones game is pretty rad! They even have a giant ground sloth perched on top of a cabinet of fossil skulls from around the world. Not super happy with the security though. Someone smashed up cabinets and left broken fossils on the floor.

Is it my imagination or is there a baby mammoth frolicking in the river in the mural outside of my new apartment?

My very first journal article is finally here! And I’m so happy I got to be part of it with a mentor and my grad school advisor, especially since I consider them my friends. 🧪

Can I take a short break from being a human and just be a musk ox with a giant beach ball? Just for a few minutes?

The sautéed green beans from Fresh Kabobs. I would eat them like fries, dipped in garlic sauce. And their strawberry goat cheese salad with mint dressing. The lamb kabobs were good, but the sides were unforgettable. I miss that restaurant so much!

A bar in my neighborhood has been promoting a right-wing comedy event. The local subreddit found out and planned protests, posted bad yelp reviews, boycotted, etc. It worked!! I just drove past. The bar is closed and the parking lot is empty. On a Saturday night. Fuck yes!

Diving into the evolutionary of the avocado while waiting in the Subaru dealership, as one does, and internally screaming at the number of papers that cite a musing with no actual scientific evidence and treat it like a proven fact. 😵‍💫🫠

Sorry, but the only de-extinction I want to see is when the Pleistocene megafauna on my coffee mug get fleshy because I forgot to drink my coffee while it was still hot.

Fun (?) fact I’ve learned about myself today: I can find any location in the LA area on a digital topo map in about a minute, but I still can’t drive here without navigation 🤷🏻‍♀️

I expected the worst before traveling to Tennessee. What I found instead was a thriving queer and trans community, excellent drag, wonderful people, and restaurants that take celiac disease seriously. And the AMMP conference was amazing too.

In case nobody told you today

Anything by Smashing Pumpkins. It’s his voice. It’s like nails on a chalkboard and whiny and nasally and uggghhhh… Although I can handle covers of their songs. 🤷🏻‍♀️

We are way beyond the statutes of limitation, so I am happy to announce that today is the 15 year anniversary of the heist where I, along with unnamed co-conspirators, stole this rock. But is it really theft if it was mine to begin with? We liberated this rock. It’s a good rock.

It’s Science Fair Day!!! Judging the science fair today has restored a bit of my faith in the future. If we can try hold this all together until these kids have a chance to grow up and implement their ideas in the real world, we might just be ok. These kids are awesome!

Yes! I even paint my nails before fieldwork. It’s my weekly self-care stress relief.

Happy Megalonyx Day to all who celebrate!

That was a nice little rumble. I thought it was exciting. Loki briefly woke up. Shrimp is NOT a fan of earthquakes.

Date night (aka an all trans table reading of A Streetcar Named Desire) was exactly what I needed to escape from all of the hatred and insanity of this year. Just a room of gorgeous, diverse, friendly people enjoying talented actors do their thing.

You know what’s fucking ironic? 2024 destroyed my will to live. I finally got out of a toxic environment, found some happiness again, and now…. This fucking year. *don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. We’re gonna fight our way out of this together. Or form a commune together. Or something.

I saw the picture before I read the text and thought they were little armadillos. So now I want a herd of pride-odillos. Like now.

I got divorced at the same time I disowned my parents. Keeping my ex’s last name seemed like the best choice at the time. It’s been 26 years and I have never regretted my choice. Until now.

I decided to stop at the Wildlife Learning Center on my way home from Vasquez Rocks to spend some time with their sloth, Sid. Unfortunately, in true LA fashion, he left for a film shoot about an hour before I got there.

It’s been a while since I’ve escaped civilization to go on a rage hike, but it was necessary this month. I should do this more often.

Even with all the bullshit going on in the world, it’s nice to know that I made the right decision to leave a toxic work environment and move somewhere where I feel appreciated and have room to grow. I can’t imagine dealing with all of this AND hating my job.

Things that make me proud of living in Long Beach. 🤣🤣

What in the actual fuck is this creepy ass sloth Coors Light commercial?!?!

@pinuppaleontology.bsky.social you should dye your hair gorgon histo slide! LOOK AT THESE COLORS!! 😍😍

Once I’ve recovered from the birthday Covid, I’m taking a cue from the new Star Trek Section 31 movie and spending the last half of my 40s in my goth space villain era*. I need Michelle Yeoh’s entire wardrobe. *Villain aesthetic only. We have enough actual villains destroying the world right now.

In case you need a break from the doomscrolling as much as I do, please take a moment to enjoy the cutest boyfriends sharing a cuddle session in their coffin bed

Jorts coming through with the best advice, as usual. So here’s a piece of fossiliferous silver-bearing sandstone I picked up from a silver mine in my hometown.

I don’t want to sound paranoid, but nothing else government-related is working and it’s all gone to shit. The national geologic map database viewer isn’t working and I’m freaking out because I use this daily for work. Is anyone else having issues?

This is exactly the image in my head when a new study “sheds light” on an issue.

I am a god damn GIS analyst. I’ve made thousands of maps over my career. I also mix up east and west like 20 times a day. 🤷🏻‍♀️

It’s been a rough week in LA. So if anyone needs some eye and ear bleach, please turn up the volume and listen to the peaceful sounds of Shrimp snoring like he works two jobs to pay the rent.

Without downloading anything, show me what energy you’re bringing to 2025.

Ok, geologists. While I greatly appreciate when you don’t just lump all of the holocene and Pleistocene into a single map unit, this is… holy shit this is the most overkill map I’ve ever seen. 93 separate map units, not including volcanics or bedrock. Like seriously, what the fuck?! Lump that shit!

I protect the dead animals from the people who want to dig up their graves.

I’ve had this idea to create a geologic map of Oz for years. It might be time to actually do it.

Can I get this as a set of posters so I can have this big ass sloth on the wall at home? It’s the gift-giving season. Someone make this happen!

Four days into my new job and “here are 26 new projects. They all need multiple maps and the client didn’t provide shapefiles, so you’ll need to georeference the plans and draw them yourself.” 3 days and 78 maps later… 🫠