i love this time of summer. its not to hot and the daily thunderstorms have chilled out. there are a lot more bugs and butterflies now. most plants are mature or ripening-- many of them are starting to turn brown. the high pressure dome we've been under for the past week and a half or so ensures pale blue cloudless skies. the air smells different now. its not thick and sweet anymore with the smell of growing things. instead it has a hint of spice, a bite of tang, and a large pinch of dust and pollen. its a smell that will hold on until the cold dry winter air moves in. butterflies are finally out after spending the muggy part of the summer in a cocoon. I am the only person I know who slows down and swerves to avoid them on the roads. cicadas and bugs of that ilk play their music on tough weed stalks and in dusty trees. you can feel nature shifting gears from growing and maturing to preparation. its a really neat time of the year. Im glad im still around for it.
speaking of which, the countdown has begun. 16th and im gone. hopefully for 2 years 3ish months.
i finally got my rain barrel projects done. now i just need a bit of rain to fill them so my mom can use them for her last garden plants.
we moved monica back to college yesterday and benjie moved back to indy today. monica has a sweet apartment. a lot of her friends, and her boyfriend, are in the same building. as long as she avoids the usual roommate drama i think she'll have a swell time. i miss college. it was the only time of my life where I could just learn about stuff and have fun without having to stress out about other crap. oh well . . .
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
jet lag
Ive been home from canada for about 40 hours now and my head still feels fuzzy. i hate jet lag.
speaking of things i hate, i learned that i hate RVs. they are a symbol of whats wrong with western culture. allow me to contextualize. we drove up highway 93, called one of the most scenic highways in the world. the speed limit was 90 kph. we kept getting stuck behind RVs going 75-80. not only was this annoying, but the wide back end of an RV effectively blocks your view of the road ahead. that, and i got so tired of reading "tour canada!" and "1-800-RV RENT" Consequentially, I spent a good amount of my time passing RVs on a two lane mountain road. now, before you criticize me for speeding, I would like to point out that we followed this one slow RV for about 10 minutes before I passed him. about 3 minutes later, we were able to see a black bear cub before he got in the trees. the RV missed it.
the purpose of an RV, at least according to the advertisements plastered on many of them, is to allow someone to "travel in comfort." this is the height, so far, of western arrogance. since when is traveling comfortable? it has Never been comfortable, except for maybe royalty, and even they died on trips. the purpose of traveling, especially sightseeing, is not to be comfortable, but to see stuff. the traveling aspect is terrible at worst, bearable at best, and usually a pain in the butt. if you want to go on a vacation to be comfortable, or live in luxury, go to a freaking resort. if you cant stand leaving your house, then dont leave it. sightseeing, by definition, precludes your house.
RVs are vehicles the size of a bus that are used like a personal automobile. buses and trucks do not handle mountain roads, for example, very well, but they are usually driven by professionals who know how to operate their vehicles. semis often pulled over on the shoulder and let cars pass them. RVs? not so much. RVs also clog up popular tourist sites. We stopped at Lake Louise. the parking lots were RVs competed with cars for parking spots. i invite you to imagine the chaos.
RVs have crappy fuel economy. the best ones get around 20 mpg, most get between 7-14. the following scenario plays out constantly- RV owner drives his RV up a mountain, at the cost of 10 mpg, to see a glacier that is quickly receding due to global warming that is at least helped by greenhouse gases from internal combustion vehicles. i felt bad enough driving my rental car up there and it gets about 35-40 mpg. I cant imagine how a couple could drive their own personal bus to an environmentally sensitive site like that. thus, we have the phenomena of annoying and environmentally damaging vehicles being driven around because people feel they are entitled to embark on a traditionally challenging undertaking with all the comforts of home. it makes me sick.
speaking of things i hate, i learned that i hate RVs. they are a symbol of whats wrong with western culture. allow me to contextualize. we drove up highway 93, called one of the most scenic highways in the world. the speed limit was 90 kph. we kept getting stuck behind RVs going 75-80. not only was this annoying, but the wide back end of an RV effectively blocks your view of the road ahead. that, and i got so tired of reading "tour canada!" and "1-800-RV RENT" Consequentially, I spent a good amount of my time passing RVs on a two lane mountain road. now, before you criticize me for speeding, I would like to point out that we followed this one slow RV for about 10 minutes before I passed him. about 3 minutes later, we were able to see a black bear cub before he got in the trees. the RV missed it.
the purpose of an RV, at least according to the advertisements plastered on many of them, is to allow someone to "travel in comfort." this is the height, so far, of western arrogance. since when is traveling comfortable? it has Never been comfortable, except for maybe royalty, and even they died on trips. the purpose of traveling, especially sightseeing, is not to be comfortable, but to see stuff. the traveling aspect is terrible at worst, bearable at best, and usually a pain in the butt. if you want to go on a vacation to be comfortable, or live in luxury, go to a freaking resort. if you cant stand leaving your house, then dont leave it. sightseeing, by definition, precludes your house.
RVs are vehicles the size of a bus that are used like a personal automobile. buses and trucks do not handle mountain roads, for example, very well, but they are usually driven by professionals who know how to operate their vehicles. semis often pulled over on the shoulder and let cars pass them. RVs? not so much. RVs also clog up popular tourist sites. We stopped at Lake Louise. the parking lots were RVs competed with cars for parking spots. i invite you to imagine the chaos.
RVs have crappy fuel economy. the best ones get around 20 mpg, most get between 7-14. the following scenario plays out constantly- RV owner drives his RV up a mountain, at the cost of 10 mpg, to see a glacier that is quickly receding due to global warming that is at least helped by greenhouse gases from internal combustion vehicles. i felt bad enough driving my rental car up there and it gets about 35-40 mpg. I cant imagine how a couple could drive their own personal bus to an environmentally sensitive site like that. thus, we have the phenomena of annoying and environmentally damaging vehicles being driven around because people feel they are entitled to embark on a traditionally challenging undertaking with all the comforts of home. it makes me sick.
Monday, August 9, 2010
bears! oh my!
Today we drove up highway 93 towards Jasper. that stretch of highway has been called the most beautiful in the world and its easy to see why. you drive along the side of one mountain line and there are peaks and glaciers everywhere. I think we drove by something like 6 glaciers in a matter of minutes. then you drive up over mountains up back the Columbia icefield which is where we stopped.
on the way up we saw a black bear cub bounding into the trees above the road. then, on the way back, we saw a full grown black bear about the same place. he sniffed around on the bank above the road, then ambled across the road, looked at the cars and tourist bus stopped there because of him, and disappeared in the woods.
I had this one transcendent moment during the drive. we'd just gone past Crowfoot glacier, Bow lake (brilliant blue), and the lake's glaciers, some punk rock song was on sirius, and I was like "wow, this is absolutely amazing"
we only went as far up as the Athabasca glacier, which I remember visiting as a kid. the glacier was a Lot shorter than I remember though. it was a good 300 meters away from where I remembered it being. but we got to walk on it, and i drank some melt water running down the side. the amount of water spewing out from under the glacier was absolutely incredible. if you know what to look for, you can see where the glacier ground its way down the valley. like you can see bedrock with gouges ripped in it from the glacier going over it.
the Columbia ice field which feeds the Athabasca glacier and 7 other major glaciers, drains into three oceans- Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic. just looking at even the Athabasca, its hard to imagine how much ice is in it, but when you look at the path it gouged out of the mountainside, you cant help but be in awe of the whole process.
as awesome as the day was though, it depressed me too. My family went up to the Athabasca glacier, and further to Jasper I think, when I was about 9. I remember driving up 93. As I drove up there today, I could not believe how little snow there was on the mountains compared to when I was up there 19-20 years ago. All the glaciers were smaller. I could see where they had been. The Athabasca glacier still had the same profile, but it was much shorter, and somewhat smaller than I remember.
There is a picture of me at 9 years old standing by a sign that marked the glacier's location at 1982. You can see the glacier in the background. Not anymore. Now it is half a kilometer away, and behind a hill.
If I had any doubts about global warming before today, they are gone, rushing away with millions of tons of melted ice. Global warming is real. There is no denying it. Look at pictures of receding glaciers and I dare anyone to try. Do people play a role in it? I can not see how we do not. Our impact is debatable, but there IS an impact. the hundreds of RVs I passed today are evidence of that. It is humbling to stand beside a phenomenon that levels mountains, and it is sobering to realize that in another 20 years it may not be there for my kids to marvel at.
on the way up we saw a black bear cub bounding into the trees above the road. then, on the way back, we saw a full grown black bear about the same place. he sniffed around on the bank above the road, then ambled across the road, looked at the cars and tourist bus stopped there because of him, and disappeared in the woods.
I had this one transcendent moment during the drive. we'd just gone past Crowfoot glacier, Bow lake (brilliant blue), and the lake's glaciers, some punk rock song was on sirius, and I was like "wow, this is absolutely amazing"
we only went as far up as the Athabasca glacier, which I remember visiting as a kid. the glacier was a Lot shorter than I remember though. it was a good 300 meters away from where I remembered it being. but we got to walk on it, and i drank some melt water running down the side. the amount of water spewing out from under the glacier was absolutely incredible. if you know what to look for, you can see where the glacier ground its way down the valley. like you can see bedrock with gouges ripped in it from the glacier going over it.
the Columbia ice field which feeds the Athabasca glacier and 7 other major glaciers, drains into three oceans- Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic. just looking at even the Athabasca, its hard to imagine how much ice is in it, but when you look at the path it gouged out of the mountainside, you cant help but be in awe of the whole process.
as awesome as the day was though, it depressed me too. My family went up to the Athabasca glacier, and further to Jasper I think, when I was about 9. I remember driving up 93. As I drove up there today, I could not believe how little snow there was on the mountains compared to when I was up there 19-20 years ago. All the glaciers were smaller. I could see where they had been. The Athabasca glacier still had the same profile, but it was much shorter, and somewhat smaller than I remember.
There is a picture of me at 9 years old standing by a sign that marked the glacier's location at 1982. You can see the glacier in the background. Not anymore. Now it is half a kilometer away, and behind a hill.
If I had any doubts about global warming before today, they are gone, rushing away with millions of tons of melted ice. Global warming is real. There is no denying it. Look at pictures of receding glaciers and I dare anyone to try. Do people play a role in it? I can not see how we do not. Our impact is debatable, but there IS an impact. the hundreds of RVs I passed today are evidence of that. It is humbling to stand beside a phenomenon that levels mountains, and it is sobering to realize that in another 20 years it may not be there for my kids to marvel at.
canada eh
Benjie just said that everything is slow in canada. specifically the internet.
we just got into banff tonight on our 2 day return trip to calgary. Im actually ready to get home. I have a bunch of PC stuff i need to get done and, although its been fun, this hasnt been the most relaxing of vacations. i guess that part of the problem is that i messed up my hamstring and havent been able to do to much. It tightened up on me on tuesday as i was walking back to our condo from a hike. i went on this early morning hike with monica and mom on wednesday-- that was bad.
but on thursday we went up into Kootaney (?) national park to see some stuff. we saw these mud pots that produced ochre, and we went on a 3k-ish hike through this burned out forest to this little canyon. there was a massive forest fire about 9 years ago so all the trees were dead, but there were flowers and lots of undergrowth so it was really neat to walk through.
we saw a bull moose and a family of mountain goats along the road. there were black tailed deer everywhere.
on the way back we soaked in these hot springs.
that was the last hiking i was able to do until today, when i scrambled up this scree slope along one of the highest waterfalls in canada
i was also able to hike along Lake Louise. google it and you'll recognize it immediately. photogenic spot.
going to Lake Louise really kind of pissed me off. the lake is fed by several glaciers, the lowest of which is almost gone, and some of the upper ones too. I had been to Lake Louise about 20 years ago and the vague memories I had of the place included a LOT more glaciers than what there are now. the far end of the lake, where the glacial streams come in, is turning into a delta because there isnt enough water anymore to carry away all the sediment. Maybe even in my lifetime, that brilliant sky blue lake will become a clay bog. Once the glaciers are gone, it will be a clay bog with a seasonal snow melt stream running through it over looked by a ritzy hotel.
In other words, I could see the effect of global warming right before my eyes. You can look at something 80+ years of photographs of that lake and see the same thing. and people still argue that global warming is some conspiracy/isnt true etc etc. the causes of global warming are debatable, but I find it interesting that the decline of Lake Louise has obviously begun since the industrial age. the simple fact of the matter is that denying global warming is asinine.
so are RVs, but I need to let that rant stew a little more
anyway, the canadian rockies are gorgeous. we drove up through the columbia river valley and thats pretty gorgeous too.
we just got into banff tonight on our 2 day return trip to calgary. Im actually ready to get home. I have a bunch of PC stuff i need to get done and, although its been fun, this hasnt been the most relaxing of vacations. i guess that part of the problem is that i messed up my hamstring and havent been able to do to much. It tightened up on me on tuesday as i was walking back to our condo from a hike. i went on this early morning hike with monica and mom on wednesday-- that was bad.
but on thursday we went up into Kootaney (?) national park to see some stuff. we saw these mud pots that produced ochre, and we went on a 3k-ish hike through this burned out forest to this little canyon. there was a massive forest fire about 9 years ago so all the trees were dead, but there were flowers and lots of undergrowth so it was really neat to walk through.
we saw a bull moose and a family of mountain goats along the road. there were black tailed deer everywhere.
on the way back we soaked in these hot springs.
that was the last hiking i was able to do until today, when i scrambled up this scree slope along one of the highest waterfalls in canada
i was also able to hike along Lake Louise. google it and you'll recognize it immediately. photogenic spot.
going to Lake Louise really kind of pissed me off. the lake is fed by several glaciers, the lowest of which is almost gone, and some of the upper ones too. I had been to Lake Louise about 20 years ago and the vague memories I had of the place included a LOT more glaciers than what there are now. the far end of the lake, where the glacial streams come in, is turning into a delta because there isnt enough water anymore to carry away all the sediment. Maybe even in my lifetime, that brilliant sky blue lake will become a clay bog. Once the glaciers are gone, it will be a clay bog with a seasonal snow melt stream running through it over looked by a ritzy hotel.
In other words, I could see the effect of global warming right before my eyes. You can look at something 80+ years of photographs of that lake and see the same thing. and people still argue that global warming is some conspiracy/isnt true etc etc. the causes of global warming are debatable, but I find it interesting that the decline of Lake Louise has obviously begun since the industrial age. the simple fact of the matter is that denying global warming is asinine.
so are RVs, but I need to let that rant stew a little more
anyway, the canadian rockies are gorgeous. we drove up through the columbia river valley and thats pretty gorgeous too.
Monday, August 2, 2010
mountains and kilometers
I am sitting here on my balcony at this resort village in BC, Canada. I can turn my head 90 degrees and see at least 6 mountains, although Im not really sure what the difference is between a "mountain" and a "peak."
I got here yesterday evening with my parents, ben, monica, and annabelle. we left our house at like 5:30am and got to Calgary at about 1 pm our time. Delta sucks. dont fly delta. I mean AirTran has shitty service and over stuffed planes, but at least their flights are on time and they dont lose luggage. the only typical air travel problems I have ever had have been with Delta. this time around they lost Ben and my parents' bags. I dont know what kind of idiots Delta hires to handle their luggage, but I am pretty sure that Calgary is Not Salt Lake City nor Seattle.
anyway, on the bright side, I managed to upgrade my basic compact rental car to a nice Ford Fusion. On the weird side, driving at 120 kph is pretty weird.
The plains between Calgary and the mountains are cool. Monica and Annabelle rode with me, and we stopped for some photo ops, and at a gas station on this Reserve. I would call it ghetto but it wasnt in a city.
Today monica, mom and I went on a 10ish? kilometer hike up the creek valley. i saw bear crap, but no bears. the last grizzly sighting on that trail was apparently on July 18th at 9 am. this girl I talked to at breakfast this morning said that the bear have moved up in the mountains for the summer.
our condo is in this "ski resort village?" that is about 20 k up from the nearest town. it has restaurants, a liquor store, and is staffed by lots of brits and australians. we are higher up than the nearest town, but the nearest mountains to me are easily a couple thousand feet higher. there are a couple peaks in front of me, off in the distance, that are higher than that. the one still has snow on it.
in other news, i see that Lady Gaga said that abstinence from sex is essential to her creativity. I guess she's not very abstinent.
the only down side to this trip is that its put off my visa application for PC because I didnt have time to get it out before I left. hopefully I'll have time to do it when i get back.
i am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I am going to be leaving for Togo in a little over a month.
I got here yesterday evening with my parents, ben, monica, and annabelle. we left our house at like 5:30am and got to Calgary at about 1 pm our time. Delta sucks. dont fly delta. I mean AirTran has shitty service and over stuffed planes, but at least their flights are on time and they dont lose luggage. the only typical air travel problems I have ever had have been with Delta. this time around they lost Ben and my parents' bags. I dont know what kind of idiots Delta hires to handle their luggage, but I am pretty sure that Calgary is Not Salt Lake City nor Seattle.
anyway, on the bright side, I managed to upgrade my basic compact rental car to a nice Ford Fusion. On the weird side, driving at 120 kph is pretty weird.
The plains between Calgary and the mountains are cool. Monica and Annabelle rode with me, and we stopped for some photo ops, and at a gas station on this Reserve. I would call it ghetto but it wasnt in a city.
Today monica, mom and I went on a 10ish? kilometer hike up the creek valley. i saw bear crap, but no bears. the last grizzly sighting on that trail was apparently on July 18th at 9 am. this girl I talked to at breakfast this morning said that the bear have moved up in the mountains for the summer.
our condo is in this "ski resort village?" that is about 20 k up from the nearest town. it has restaurants, a liquor store, and is staffed by lots of brits and australians. we are higher up than the nearest town, but the nearest mountains to me are easily a couple thousand feet higher. there are a couple peaks in front of me, off in the distance, that are higher than that. the one still has snow on it.
in other news, i see that Lady Gaga said that abstinence from sex is essential to her creativity. I guess she's not very abstinent.
the only down side to this trip is that its put off my visa application for PC because I didnt have time to get it out before I left. hopefully I'll have time to do it when i get back.
i am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I am going to be leaving for Togo in a little over a month.
Friday, July 30, 2010
butterflies
so I was at walmart again tonight. standing in line. out of 28 checkouts, there were 4 open. 4 out of 28. I dont think that walmart pays their employees so much that opening say, half, the checkout counters is going to make a big in the quarterly profit.
its the time of the year when all of those little yellow butterflies are out in force. I usually see them clustered around mud puddles in our driveway or along the side of the road. This seems like a bad move from a survival of the species standpoint, but Im not a little yellow butterfly. Anyway, they are really pretty when you drive near them and they all take off. I was coming back from town and went around this curve that had a puddle along it. I looked in my mirror as i drove by and I saw a cloud of little yellow butterflies like a cyclone. It was just for a split second but I cant get it out of my head.
speaking of butterflies, I wish the ones that have been living in my stomach for the past two days would go away. enough already. I get it.
And I need to re-learn what little french I knew. I should have paid more attention in french class 5? years ago. Damn that seems like such a long time . . .
I was talking with my friend Lynette tonight and I remembered? re-realized? how comfortable academia is and how scary it is to leave it. I dont mean that academia is easy at all, but its very comfortable. Once you learn how things work, and how people in it are, you're set. There is comfort in the fact that knowledge never changes, there is just more of it. There is comfort in the schedule, or lack thereof. There is even comfort, albeit the comfort of a familiar yoke, in the omnipresent cloud of work that hangs over every grad student's life. Academia is an insular world that promotes comfort because comfort is essential to information acquisition. This insular nature of academia is another post for another time though.
I ran 3.7 miles tonight
The annual Ladoga Lion's Club Fish Fry started tonight. Good fish sandwhiches. My sister and I successfully got food and left.
its the time of the year when all of those little yellow butterflies are out in force. I usually see them clustered around mud puddles in our driveway or along the side of the road. This seems like a bad move from a survival of the species standpoint, but Im not a little yellow butterfly. Anyway, they are really pretty when you drive near them and they all take off. I was coming back from town and went around this curve that had a puddle along it. I looked in my mirror as i drove by and I saw a cloud of little yellow butterflies like a cyclone. It was just for a split second but I cant get it out of my head.
speaking of butterflies, I wish the ones that have been living in my stomach for the past two days would go away. enough already. I get it.
And I need to re-learn what little french I knew. I should have paid more attention in french class 5? years ago. Damn that seems like such a long time . . .
I was talking with my friend Lynette tonight and I remembered? re-realized? how comfortable academia is and how scary it is to leave it. I dont mean that academia is easy at all, but its very comfortable. Once you learn how things work, and how people in it are, you're set. There is comfort in the fact that knowledge never changes, there is just more of it. There is comfort in the schedule, or lack thereof. There is even comfort, albeit the comfort of a familiar yoke, in the omnipresent cloud of work that hangs over every grad student's life. Academia is an insular world that promotes comfort because comfort is essential to information acquisition. This insular nature of academia is another post for another time though.
I ran 3.7 miles tonight
The annual Ladoga Lion's Club Fish Fry started tonight. Good fish sandwhiches. My sister and I successfully got food and left.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
walmart
I was at walmart yesterday standing in line at a "express" checkout. I was in line with about 4 other people. I stood there and took a quick count. Of 28 checkout lines, 6 were open. These each had something like 2-4 people in line. what the hell is the point of having 28 checkouts if less than 1/4 of them are going to be used? I hate walmart enough as it is without spending half my life standing in line there
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