I love it whenever I catch a praying mantis. They’re tough cookies, but have an elegance about them in the way they move. Once, I kept one indoors for so long that its eyes went black. It literally went blind on me. I’d put my finger up to its face and get no reaction. I felt horrible, so I took it outside into the grassy area and watched it wander around for awhile. Somehow, miraculously, its eyes recovered and it flinched when I tried to get too near. Soon enough, it scampered away to its natural habitat. Ever since then, I’ve been careful to only play with them for a few minutes before releasing them. They’re surprisingly interested in people and I’ve had more than a few come to me. It’s pretty cool to get that sort of interaction with an insect. I’ve always enjoyed playing with them, so that’s great for me!
SEO Surprise
I’m totally geeking out after finding out that one of my pictures is showing up on the Google Image search for “UCLA” at a pretty good position! You may not find it above the fold like I do, but more than likely you’ll find it’s the very first image that isn’t one of Royce Hall, campus, or the various UCLA logos. It’s totally random since it’s the picture of Panda proposing to me at UCLA… where you don’t really see much of the campus at all. Then it links out to my blog posts that are tagged “UCLA” so you don’t even see this picture without a ton of scrolling. However it managed to make its way up the image searches is a mystery to me, but I love it!
Here’s how it went down: my manager and I were sitting talking when the conversation led to the architecture at UCLA. He decided to search for images of UCLA and as he was scrolling through them, I was shocked to find something so familiar – that picture of our proposal! I could hardly believe my eyes and I had to go check another coworker’s computer to ensure it wasn’t just showing up because Google tracks your searches. Amazing how I didn’t do a thing and it managed to creep up to that spot. Who knows what other photos are out there in those searches!
It’s the little wins in life that bring joy to your everyday. 🙂
