I'm currently working as a Software Application Developer (soon to be Software Engineer?) at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). MBARI is located in a little town called Moss Landing in the middle of the Monterey Bay. I live in Santa Cruz, about 25 miles to the north of Moss Landing.
Andrew C. Chase
Velella velella
One of the greatest things about my job is the proximity of our office to the ocean, it's literally right outside of our building. Having never lived near the ocean before I've been seeing all sorts of new and interesting things occuring in, and coming out of the ocean. Recently a little jellyfish called By-the-Wind-Sailor (scientific name Velella velella) has washed up on our shores in large numbers. I've seen Velellas before on a cruise between Hawaii and San Diego, we went through a huge patch of them out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The sheer number of creatures was amazing to see floating on the open ocean, I tried to take some pictures of them, but it was hard to do from the ship deck. You can find more information on the Velella by googling for it. The first couple of links google gives all looked cool to me.
So, these By-the-Wind-Sailors get around exactly as their name implies. They have a little sail sticking up from their bodies that catches the wind and provides locomotion. So when the winds take the jellies to shore, that is where they go. I snapped some photos yesterday (20040621) of the Velellas here in Moss Landing that have recently washed ashore.
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(not so)Recent Activities
October, 2003 -- Moved to Santa Cruz and began work at MBARI.
July, 2003 -- Pased the "probationary period" of employment at SDSC.
December, 2002 -- Gave talk at AGU(American Geophysical Union) annual conference which I later recieved an award for-- "Outstanding Student Paper".
June 6, 2002 -- Gave honors presentation to faculty and classmates.
June 10, 2002 -- Received Excellence award for work as an IA in Cognitive Science.
June 17, 2002 -- Graduated from UCSD with a B.S. in Cognitive Science with emphasis on Computation.
Andrew C. Chase
San Diego, CA 92122 achase at sdsc dot edu
San Diego, CA 92122 achase at sdsc dot edu
