Good Ol' Geography Jokes

Love Savage Chickens.... definitely a comic strip worth checking out!

Teaching

I'm into my second week of teaching. I have to say I never realized the amount of additional work it takes to take your own knowledge and convey it into an organized and understandable format for others. So far I have the "new teacher syndrome": I talk way too fast and I don't give the students enough time to write down what I say.

So far some more experienced teachers have let me know that rambling is normal for a new teacher. They suggested that I make myself write down everything I say to slow myself down, some recommended that I count to ten after each statement to allow for the students to take notes.

Right now I'm all about the powerpoints for cool diagrams and charts, and I'm using chalk! For someone who has been a student for so long (24 years of my life), sometimes I just find myself in amazement that I'm the one in front of the class spouting ideas for others to learn.

Amazed....

Blindsided

I just found out last Wednesday that one of our professors isn't coming back this fall and that I've been tapped to teach one of his classes - Remote Sensing of the Environment. The course is an undergraduate/graduate level mixed course, and I have had 5 days to prepare.

Wow.

I have never taught a university level course, nor have I ever been a TA or graded papers or the like, but I do use Remote Sensing on an almost daily basis in my research. So at least I have that.

And, some of the professors who had previously taught the course were nice enough to provide me with their course materials so I can use their notes and powerpoint presentations to craft my own.

When I was asked to help bail out the dept., my boss said "You look like a deer caught in the headlights"

Well, I did feel like a deer caught in the headlights... but I'm better now.

There's nothing like sailing into unknown waters to bring out the exhilaration that is life.

Class starts in a half hour... here I go...

ArcGIS Server up and running

fter slogging along with ArcGIS Server, I finally have it installed and running a web service.

I went ahead and took an Agricultural NonPoint Source Pollution study (AGNPS) I did on the Rock Creek watershed in Seneca County Ohio and published it in our new ArcGIS server.

Like a Led Zeppelin

Yeah... so that was a fun experiment in the new customizable blogger.

To the point: 'customizable' is not the word I would use to describe updating from steaming pile alpha to steaming pile beta.

So, here I am back to the old version. But I will play with the look some bit.

New Look

I've finally decided to go ahead and let the new Blogger futz around with my oh-so-carefully-bodged-together template file. So now that blogger has a GUI-enhanced template generator, I can go ahead and get the generic layout all fixed, then go into the template file and muss it up some more. Hooray!!! (I mean, c'mon... what is the idea of not giving me a target="_blank" option on my links list?!). Then there's the whole can't set your background image to something else deal, etc. etc..... sheesh!

To Heck with John McCain

...I'm the Maverick!

Walking the path

Here's an excerpt from Stephen Batchelor's "Living with the Devil"

" Yet the well-intentioned urge to preserve a religion runs the risk of mummifying it. Although you might succeed in preserving its institutions and dogmas for a while, you cannot preserve a path any more than you can preserve the current of a river or the whistling of a wind. Insidiously Mara (the devil) attempts to secure what by nature is open and fluid. The survival of a path is achieved not by preserving it but by walking it-- even when you have no clear idea where it will lead.
As religions grow from humble beginnings into churches and orthodoxies, the narrow path turns into a brightly lit highway. The risk of embarking on a journey into the unknown is replaced by the confidence of setting off on a well-planned excursion. Homelessness starts to feel like home again. The freedom of the open road is replaced by the drudgery of repeating a cycle of routines. As we proceed along the well-trodden paths of Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, we may begin to weary of their certainties. Perilous trails that branch off the main track and peter out in the anarchy of wilderness catch our attention. We realize that the path we are taking might too disappear into a pathless land."

So much to absorb, but the passage in a way describes where I am right now.

I can sense the dessication of the preserved religions, their dogmas, institutions.
The drudgery of routines and cycles leaves me uninspired to continue down the highway.
The journey is no longer into the unknown but is one of confident certainties.
I am wearied of their certainties, their misplaced confidence.
I see the narrow path, perilous, as it branches out into the anarchy of the wild.
I long for the unknown, for the journey, for the freedom, for the uncertainty.
I seek the narrow path, one preserved only by my walking it.

A 'Berry' Good Day

Last evening Kelly & I rode our bikes down to a nearby raspberry farm, Pullins Raspberries.



We've been driving by the farm on our way to work since last winter, and for the past month we've been waiting for the sign to change from 'closed' to 'open'. So last night after work we got out our bicycles, made space in the trunk pack I have attached to mine, and rode off to get some fresh fruit.

Soon enough we made it there and pulled into their gravel driveway, heading around back to register pavillion. We met the owner and he handed us some paper cartons. Then he took us out to the field to show us where the best berries could be picked. We started with the black raspberries.

Now I have picked black raspberries in the wild but they never were as big as the ones on the farm. We didn't have to go very far to find the good ones here.



They were plentiful and in no time Kelly & I had a carton each filled.



We resisted our temptation to eat them right there (okay - one just for a taste!) and brought them back to the register. Next were the red raspberries.

Now I had never picked red ones, nor seen them growing in the wild, but the owner took us out and showed us what to look for... or better still, what to feel for. Since the berries are already red, he said, you have to feel them. They should be soft and should pull off the stem with little resistance. It is still a little early for the reds, so the going was slow. Kelly & I scoured and eventually filled up a single carton until it was overflowing.

The owner rang us up, and for 3 cartons of berries the grand total was $5.35... not bad compared to buying store-bought, and no contest when compared to freshness.

I wrapped the containers in plastic bags, placed them in my bike trunk, and we rode back home.

That night we made pancakes, and by this morning all the red raspberries were gone.

Guess we'll just have to go back in a few days once the reds are riper.

Pullins is open for a few more weeks. If you'd like a chance to get out, enjoy the fresh air, and pick some good raspberries, here is their contact info:

20780 Liberty Hi Road, Bowling Green, Ohio 43402.
Phone: (419)823-3024.
Open: Mon-Sat 8am-8pm; Sun 12-6pm.
Picking starts Sun 6/24/07.
Black Raspberries and Red Raspberries.

Hangin' in the Bunny Garden

With the pleasant weather last weekend, I had the opportunity to bust out the grill and cook Kelly & I some veggies (and meat for me... I can't quite go all veg like Kelly). The grill is a little 10,000 BTU tabletop grill, not much but plenty big enough to cook dinner for two. We grilled up some freshly picked radishes, some onions, potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, and burgers.

We've finally got the backyard set up how we like it... a screened in pavillion tent, chaise lounge for two, wind chimes, and prayer flags. Ditzy has a new cat harness and I've attached a long leash to the clothesline to make a cat-run. So while we were waiting for the food to cook we relaxed and wathced Ditzy 'stalk' the bunnies running in and out of the cornfields. It was also a good opportunity to read. I am just starting to read one of Kelly's condensed versions of the Dhammapada.. a very enlightening read (pun intended). Only the occasional drone of farm machinery lurching down the country lane disturbed the serenity of our bunny garden. (Kelly & I affectionately call our backyard the Bunny Garden, though we have yet to see any bunnies actually help themselves to the contents of our garden.)

And our garden has really grown. We found our first green tomatoes this weekend. And we learned a lesson about planting our veggies too close together for next year... it looked like they would have so much space when we first planted them!

Dinner turned out great, though the cooking took longer than expected due to my overenjoyment of a quiet Sunday evening. I had to change to spent propane canister that I thought was still cooking our dinner. Wow those things go fast!

Speaking of going fast, soon we found our day had come to an end. Long shadows cast across the bunny garden and into the farm fields. Eventually only the faraway barn had any sunlight to share, and then even that was gone. 

We we took a moment to watch the sun set behind the clouds. Then we tidied up our mess and headed inside to prepare for the looming work week. With us both working full-time, it is nice to have a little place like the bunny garden to sit and unwind for a spell.

May you all have your own bunny gardens!

Evening Bike Rides

Kelly just bought a bike a few weeks ago, a cute little Trek 7100 WSD.

It's a perfect match to my own Trek 7100 that I purchased two years ago when I first started this blog.


So anyways we have matching bicycles!

We've been making it a habit to get out and ride 3-4 days each week in the evening when the weather starts to cool. Kelly hasn't biked for a while, but with every bike ride we go further and further as she builds her endurance back up. The land is rather flat out here so hills aren't a problem.


For the past several days it has been grotesquely hot... in the 90s w/ a heat index of 100°, but last night it cooled back down into the 70s. Wonderful weather for a bike ride.

To the south were a bunch of swirling cirrostratus clouds. They were catching the light from the setting sun, changing colors from orange to pink to purple.



We stopped once we reached Cross Creek & Tontogany Rd. to watch the sunset.


Camera phones can be very convenient sometimes, especially when treated with such a lovely evening. I had to stop on our ride back home to capture the moment.

Between the red & purple clouds, blue sky, green corn & trees, yellow wheat fields, and orange sunset and riding along with my Kelly I really felt peaceful and wonderfully grateful for being able to live out in the country.


I'm hoping that everyone else is able to enjoy moments like this. I am so lucky.

Eating from the Garden

Kelly & I have a little garden going this year.... my 1st attempt at gardening. We planted in early May thinking that we were late in getting it started, only to find out from other gardening friends that we planted way early!

But, luckily the weather was somewhat warm in May, with only 1 frost warning. The plants languished in the cool weather but survived.


We left them to the elements without our amateur interventions as we went on vacation over the end of May. When we returned the plants had experienced a growth spurt.

And since then, we've been trimming and picking veggies for our meals.

The current list of planted goodies includes:
3 varieties of tomatoes,
Zucchini
Yellow squash
Red bell pepper
Cucumbers
Green Onions
Spinach
Radishes
Swiss Chard
(and now for our potted herbs)
Basil
Cilantro
Parsley
Peppermint
Sage
Chives


Last weekend we picked some of the radishes and spinach (only 40 days and they're ready to eat... wow that is fast!). Last night Kelly cooked up the spinach to make Spinach Catalan. She found the recipe over at the Gutsy Gourmet

Here is the recipe:
•1/2 cup golden or regular raisins
•Salt & pepper to taste
•1/3 cup olive oil
•5 garlic cloves, crushed
•3 large spinach bunches (about 30 ounces), trimmed, rinsed, well drained
•1/3 cup pine nuts (Roasted in pan previously)

PREPARATION:
•Place raisins in bowl. Cover with hot water and let soak 10 minutes. Drain.

•Heat olive oil in heavy large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until golden, about 4 minutes. Discard garlic. Increase heat to high and add spinach. Cover and cook until wilted, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Uncover, add raisins and pine nuts and stir until cooking liquid evaporates, about 4 minutes. Season spinach to taste with salt and pepper. Serve spinach immediately.

Hippie Trifecta

Today I scored 3/3 on the Hippie must-see tour.

First, there was North Beach SF, origin of the beatnicks:




Next was Haight-Asbury SF, home of the West Coast Hippies




And today, Woodstock NY...



God help me.... I've gone native!

Not too bad of a coffee addict

I am 73% Addicted to Coffee

Mingle² - Free Online Dating

Though I'm sure my friend Matt will score a 99%!
(the challenge has been issued!) -:)

Hangin' in the CatsKills

Stopped by Ithaca NY on the way. Here's a bit of the Taughannock Falls...


Here's a taste of the Catskill mountains.


















And a rocky creek...



Even found a nearby Episcopal Church - St. James.




Loving it out here....


















:)

Off to the Catskills

"Road Trip!"





Kelly & I will be taking a weeks vacation together next week to go see the Catskills. Meanwhile, my parents have offered to catsit Ditzy. I'm looking forward to seeing the land of Irving's Rip Van Winkle. Interestingly enough, my favorite author, HP Lovecraft, set two of his stories: "The Lurking Fear" and "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" in the Catskills.



I've been practicing how to drive a stickshift since my Kelly's AWD is a manual and we'll be taking turns driving. We'll do some camping and stay in some B&Bs later when we're tired of tents.

In my research of things to do for next week, I found some great resources.

Google Earth, of course, is great at viewing the maps of the region, but the 3D feature just adds oh so much to the visualizations. Also, check out the Panoramio buttons on the map. Each one is a picture taken at that particular spot. The catskills are loaded with snapshots... so much to see, so little time.

Wikipedia has a really good entry on the Catskills. What I found most interesting, spatial scientist that I am, was the geologic history of the region. Turns out it's the easternmost portion of the Allegheny Plateau. I grew up in the westernmost portion of the Alleghenies, so I'm sure I'll feel right at home nestled up amongst the eroded mountain peaks. NW Ohio is too flat. Sometimes my thirst for hills drives me crazy out here in the flatland.

Also, the Catskills are a place for fossils! We're be staying for a few days around Gilboa, where they found fossilized tree stumps... the oldest discovered forest known on Earth! I'm planning on seeing them and I'm going to take along some fossil hunting equipment - hammer, brush, etc.. I hope I can find a place where I'm permitted to dig in the rocks.

Now to start the arduous process of making the final preparations.

An Indiana Easter

This Easter Kelly and I took some time off and headed down to southern Indiana to spend the weekend.

We were originally going to head north up to Frankfort, MI and stay on the shores of Lake Michigan, but a late winter storm had us making last minute preparations for somewhere south.

We were lucky to find a nice place to stay at the Patoka Lake 4 Seasons... there were a few cabins still available and we were able to find one with a jacuzzi and fireplace.

After a long 6-hour drive from NW Ohio through Cincinnati and Louisville, KY, we finally headed west on I-64 into southern Indiana.

These pictures from their site are from the very cabin we rented for the weekend. It really looks that nice in person...

I have to say that the staff was great, the cabins were well kept and overall we had a nice experience. I'd definitely go back.

Kelly and I had never ventured into southern Indiana, and what struck us the most was how this area has been skipped over my commercialization. There is very little in the way of chain restaurants, grocery stores, or chain store shopping. The geography of the area - a mostly rural, sparsely populated, hilly country, part of the Hoosier National Forest, and economically depressed, have somehow protected these hills from becoming an Anytown, USA and have left their original character in tact. We drove through little towns like Birdseye, Eckerty, Mifflin, Taswell... places that at best had a little general store on the corner covered with hand-painted advertisements. At worst the town was a collection of dilapidated houses clustered around an intersection.

On Saturday we decided to head south towards the Ohio River. On the way we stopped by St. Meinrad, one of only 2 archabbeys in the United States.

It was the day before Easter, so none of the 150+ monks in residence were anywhere in sight. We checked out the book store, saw a pickup truck driving around with a lamb in a cage in the back, and then took a peek into the church.

Despite the church being fairly old, the interior is rather contemporary. The pews have been removed and replaced with chairs. What also struck Kelly & I was how plain the nave was. Then again, it was during Easter vigil, so odds are they had stripped the nave as per the Good Friday ritual.

We didn't spend too long at the church. Soon we were back on the road winding through the Hoosier National forest and headed for another quirky place hidden in southern Indiana: Santa Claus!


Santa Claus, Indiana. With landmarks like Frosty's Place, Santa's Candy Castle, and Christmas Lake, this town definitely lives up to its name. Here's Kelly standing in front of the Santa Claus Post Office. Statues of Santa like this one can be found all over town. And a big one sits on top of the tallest hill in town.

This statue, at the bottom reads "Dedicated to the children of the world in memory of an undying love." When it was erected it was said to be made of granite, but now that it is aged it is obvious that the statue is made of concrete.

Just down the lane from the statue site Santa's Candy Castle. The castle was originally ran by the same people that made the Baby Ruth candy bar. It has sat in disrepair for decades. But just recently, a developer bought the property and started restoring it. The candy castle just opened last year. In its heyday, Santa's Candy Castle included a toy workshop and even Santa's shooting range. The inside of Santa's candy castle includes many archival photos and artifacts from its earlier days. And on the day we visited, the Easter Bunny had made an appearance. Several families had brought their children to come do some Easter activites (Egg Hunt, coloring contest, dyeing eggs, etc.) and they all seemed to be having a great time. We ordered some fudge to snack on and sent out some postcards to our friends and family from the land of Santa Claus.

After getting turned around a few times, we were back on our way towards the Ohio River when this little roadside decoration caught my eye: The Bunny express

There it was, within 10 feet of the road out on the side of a cornfield. Cute, and well built for just a decoration. The folks in Santa Claus sure love their holidays. In fact, they have an amusement park in town named Holiday World, where the rides are themed to major American Holidays like Christmas, Halloween, Independence Day, and Thanksgiving.


We finally made it to the Ohio River, and drove alongside it for a ways. We reached Troy, IN, and headed back north. On one of our maps a covered bridge was marked and we wanted to check it out. Eventually, we found it. The entrance above the bridge says "Huffman Mill Bridge - Built in 1863 - Cost: $5,700". We took a walk across the bridge. The timbers making up the floor creaked as we walked out to the middle. This bridge is definitely old and I'm sure has seen better days. About this time we were getting hungry. There isn't much in the way of restaurants down in this section of Indiana, but we had brought plenty of groceries with us, so we headed back to the cabin to prepare supper and then just kick back, relax, and enjoy our weekend.


And what a relaxing weekend it was! If you want a weekend away from it all, southern Indiana is a pretty remote place!

Kurt Vonnegut, Dead

America has just lost a national treasure....

I just read that Kurt Vonnegut, an author I love and respect, just passed away.

Vonnegut's writings were always relevant to me, addressing the big issues we face today. With a wry humor akin of HL Mencken and Mark Twain, he commented on the absurdities of our society, its great triumphs, and its deplorable vices.

He was a humanist, honorary president of the American Humanists Association (AHA), succeeding Isaac Asimov for the title. vonnegut once said of the humanist

"being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead."

When Vonnegut spoke to the AHA after Asimov's death, Vonnegut recollected in his book "A Man without a country"

We had a memorial service for Isaac a few years back, and I spoke and said at one point, "Isaac is up in heaven now." It was the funniest thing I could have said to an audience of humanists. I rolled them in the aisles. It was several minutes before order could be restored. And if I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say, "Kurt is up in heaven now." That's my favorite joke.


So, please join me and take a moment to say, "Kurt is up in heaven now."

Wikipedia - more on Kurt Vonnegut

my previous blogs on Kurt Vonnegut...
Vonnegut tells it like it is
More from Kurt Vonnegut
See the cat? See the cradle?

Jumping on the Bandwagon

I saw this over at my friend's blog site....

It's a cute quiz. You should give it a try.

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Artistic Nerd   Whether it's painting, sewing, drawing, arts and crafts; or just splashing paint onto a canvas and calling it art; you mostly fit this description. Lots of people envy the artists, but be humble and keep working on it. There is a shortage of true artists today who actually contribute anything to society.
Literature Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Musician
Social Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Drama Nerd
Anime Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace