James Bond has my cell phone.

No really, it's true. The product placement people in charge of Casino Royale made sure that everyone knew James Bond uses a slick and sleek Sony Ericsson.

So does that mean I am as cool as James Bond? Of course not, but the whole point of product placement is to make people think so. So How do I feel about that? Meh, who cares. Moving on.

I've started watching season 4 of The X-files. It's the only season that Courtney owns. Such a brilliant show. Anyway, heres a quote that both made me laugh and made me think.

"Mulder, if you have to do without a cell phone for two minutes, you'd lapse into catatonic schizophrenia."

A few semesters ago I took an english class that explored mans relationship with technology and how technology changes how we percieve reality. It was an amazing class. And as lame as it was, when I heard this quote thats where my thoughts traveled. How dependant we've become on our cell phones let alone in 1996 when this episode aired. There are few people in the world who do not own a cell phone (one the only ones I know personally is Dad). And even fewer are those that do own cell phones that do not keep them within 3 feet at all times. They are mans source for immediate communication and more lately information. Witha cell phone, who needs to ever talk face to face with anyone ever again! Just kidding. We haven't gotten that extreme yet. And since phones have been around for many years I mostly blame the internet for peoples decrease in various forms of communication (ie-letter writing, personal visits and even phone calls. Who needs to call when you can e-mail?). But the truth remains that I really do feel cut off from a lot of the world when I don't have a cell phone. And I know that most cell phone owners feel this in varying degrees of intensity.

For the sake of you time, I will not go much deeper into the topic. Though it is a great one to discuss. Even better is the internet with emphasis on facebook, myspace and blogging...

So life. How was my 5th week in the smallest state you may wonder? Well, I'm trying to remember...

Tuesday. Ah yes. The day to Tues. On this day I came to the visitor center and prepped for the group of 30 kids I was expecting at 10:00. When 10:45 showed up and there were no kids present, I decided to assume that they weren't coming. So I mentally went off gaurd. I let a sigh of relief for this was supposed to be my first day working witha group all by myself as Janis was off on vacation. 11:00 on the dot, the front desk volunteer comes to get me saying that my group has arrived. A little annoyed that they are late, I go to greet them. I find that it is not a group of 30 children, but a group of about 18 "special needs" individuals with about 7-8 caretakers. Even better is the fact that the head guy had no idea they were coming to a visitor center for a refuge. He thought they were coming to a park. Great. So he has no idea what to expect and I have no idea what would be best to do with these individuals. I am already thrown off gaurd by their lateness. Add the fact that they all have varying degrees of mental and physical handicap...it was a little nerve racking at first. To make a long story short I am glad that I prayed that morning for help in knowing how to hadel whatever group came my way. I managed okay. I took a small bundel of the to the pool where most of them watched as me and two of the more daring girls tried to net things out of the water. One of the girls was named Nikko...or Niko...or Nico. Whatever. But she was quite charming and chatty and we had a lot of fun talking about random things and trying to catch frogs. She was my shadow for much of the day. Called me Ma'am because she couldn't remember my name. They were all so amazed by everything and it was an awesome experiance working with them. It was the chaperones that seemed completly disinterested in what was going on.

Wednesday I don't want to spend a whole lot of time on. I worked at Ninigret Reguge fixing trail signs and cutting back overhaning branches. A lot of trail maintenence. The beginning of the day was a little stressful because I got lost and kept losing the maintenance intern Ben and didnt have his cell phone number. See? See how dependant we've all become?

Thursday, I went to Sachuest Point refuge to work with the weeders Corey and Erin. We did a lot of trail walking. And I have to say that so far, Sachuest is my favorite. Pictures will be posted later. The best I can describe it is to say that I love golden beached oceans when I'm in the mood but even more I love to see the rocky shores and restless seas of the ocean by the cliffs. It was amazing. The weeding, not so much. There is just a ton out there. It's to the point where most of it is ignored for now because it's too much to take care of with just manual pulling. So we just do the tiny patches. We did this until 11:00. I came home, showered, ate and headed for the 1-4 shift at the front desk of the visitor center. BORING.

Friday...I will be brief. For it was a little bit of a lonely day. I worked at the front desk from 9:30 to 4:30. I was surprised at how many people decided to spend part of their holiday at a Refuge vititor center. By the end of the day my brain was dead and I have the beginnings of a headache. I went home, rested a little. I made my lonely but delicious dinner of rasberry chicken, garlice mashed potatos, green beans, watermelon, cornbread muffins and lemonaid. Full of yummy food I was finally convinvced that I needed to go to Wakefield and soo the fireworks. Easier said than done. I managed to find the place where they were to take place. But I got there at around 8:45 so there was no parking. Because of my directionaly challanged mind, I managed to get lost and at 9:15 found a place where a lot of people were parked. I hoped that it was to watch fireworks. 5 minutes later I got my affirmative answer. There were fireworks to be seen here. But, there were also som going on off a ways in the other direction completly obscured by trees. So I have no idea if I was watching the fireworks I meant to see or not. It doesn't matter. They were good. Fire in the Sky quality. And thank you Juli for talking to me through them. It really made my night. I found my way home with surprisingly little issue, watched Casino Royale and went to bed.

SAT-consisted of Wal-Mart and other various errands as well as x-files season 4 and the Lemony Snickett movie. Oh! There was a blissful 2 hour nap in there as well as the release of an egg laden frog back into her native pond. A pretty relaxing day.

If anyone feels the need to go into an intelectual discussion concerning technology and man and reality and cell phones etc. Let me know. I love talking about it almost as much as I love debating the amazingness of A.I. and The Village.

Well, the end of another week. I can't wait to see what the next one holds. And by the end of this coming week, I will be officially half way through this internship.

Well, folks. I leave in peace to eat my dinner of tuna helper. Bye Bye.