I must apologize for the quality of the pictures, as the lighting was crappy. I didn't manage to get too many really good shots.

The little guy got his name when instead of running around in his Hamster ball, he ended up spending an awful long time cleaning himself. So…he was named Monk. The OCD Hamster (after character on the TV show of the same name).

He did do a bit of running around though, previous to his  cleaning obsession. I've never had a hamster as a pet before so I didn't realize exactly how cute they are. 

It also amazes me that all hamsters seem to instinctively know what a hamster wheel is for. He discovered that last night just before we all went to bed. He had a cute habit of running for a bit and then looking out as if to see if he actually got anywhere yet. 

I also shot a little video of him running around in the ball which was probably the best shot I actually got of him, unfortunately. I'll see if I can get a better up close and personal type picture today

Oh yes…and PITA didn't quite know what to make of this situation:

What's that over there on the right? It's a Penguin! Which means that this weekend was the annual Penguin Pilgrimage out to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse. There have been previous penguin pilgrimages but I had always forgotten my good camera. But this time, I remembered and got some neat penguin shots along with some other animals. There's more pictures up on my flickr account.

Plans changed slightly as my friend Jay had slept badly and was feeling kinda blargh, so he decided to stay home and get some sleep while Wassy and I went out to the zoo. We had intended on going when it was cooler out, with the supposition that the penguins would be more active and the zoo would be less crowded.

Well…we had one out of two correct. The zoo was much less crowded since it was around 50F out. But the darn penguins were hanging out indoors mostly! And they weren't really swimming exactly. Boo!

There were a couple of them that were out and about and sunning (like the penguin on the left there), but most of them were hanging out indoors. Jerks! They're supposed to be cold weather animals! You're not supposed to huddle inside…

But as much as that part of the idea turned out to be a flop, it was made up for by the rest of the trip. Fall is definitely the best time to go to the zoo, just because it was much less crowded. A lot of the animals were more active too, which is probably because it was much cooler out.

We saw them feeding the elephants, one of which was a greedy bastard who took all of the food for himself. Pushed it all over into a little pile and wouldn't let the other two elephants get anything but a couple scraps here and there.

The biggest surprise was seeing that the red panda was up and about. (That picture is a lot better if you check the full size). The thing is usually sleeping in a little hole and you can never see it, but it was out and walking around very close to the fence area so i was about to get some good pictures.

It was excellent weather for just wandering around outside. Probably one of the last really good weekends before it starts getting too cold out to wander around comfortably for a while.

After we took in the outdoor sights, we headed inside to check out the various monkeys and birds and things. They added an exhibit of Sand Cats since we last went. They're basically cats that are adapted to living in the desert. They were the first domesticated variety of cats and I can see the resemblance to the modern day house cat. One of them was spazzing out and doing continual figure eight patterns around the exhibit while the other cat was staring at it like it was crazy

After we went to the zoo, we went around shopping as Wassy needed to pick up some art supplies and then headed back to their place to hang out for a bit. Jay was more awake. We ended up hanging around watching TV. She showed me how to do her version of Chicken Scampi which was excellent…adding another dish to my inventory. Then we watched the first Futurama movie which is something I really need to get the DVDs of. I missed the show when it was first on and it's totally awesome.

Sunday was just a very lazy sort of day. I played some Rock Band 2, did my laundry and a little cleaning…but mostly it was just kinda lounging around and relaxing. This week is going to be short and long. I'm taking Thursday and Friday off but this weekend We're planning a get together with my friends. And old school halloween type sleepover deal. Scary movies, visit to a haunted house, interspersed with various games and lots of rock band (I'm bringing my 360 over with me). I can't wait until friday!

I'll leave you with a final zoo picture, of a Meerkat and his lounging buddy.