holy weekend!

So to save the blog from being bombarded with my photos, click "Read more" if you want to see whazzup whazzup wif me:

Monthly critical mass! SO MANY BIKES, just kept coming.

I am so totally following this blog still.

I just cant leave comments for some weird reason. But Sheena your pictures are beautiful and Todd: HERPS! Thanks for adding spice to my life. Actually life is pretty good for me right now...enjoying work, Athens, and friends. Watching butterflies have sex. Feeding hundreds of caterpillars. Attempting to feed myself. Searching for the perfect/cheap bike. So the story of my summer 2010 goes. Dude. The time is flying. But, so much to enjoy right now and to look forward to soon... Excuse that lame philosophical cliche.

Love to all,

Malavika

as far from the desert you can get and still be able to breathe

Hello avid followers! OH HA HA. 

Anyway. I spent three blissful days in Athens, catching up with everyone, including the most gorgeous girl in the world: 

Ignore the thing on the right

And then I flew to Chicago! I'm interning with Farr Associates, an architecture/urban design firm that basically championed the creation of the new LEED Neighborhood Development standard, which takes LEED beyond looking at single buildings. Instead, it tries to take into account the surrounding area with a more holistic approach. I say try because it has to be general enough to apply to developments worldwide, while providing enough site-specificity to each project's unique environment.

Monday I went into the office for their weekly office meeting to meet everybody. The working environment seems quite jovial. Apparently they always ask their new people to do an interpretive dance or sing a song. And then they ask if you can drive a forklift, and whether you've been in a building that burned down. I didn't have to embarrass myself, thankfully, and in case you're wondering, I answered 'no' to both questions. 

I was walking around taking photos when I realized I had been to this exact same spot three years ago with Castile, Rob, Allen, Kiah, J Wang, Kyle, and Ian. For the national academic team tournament, no less! 

I'm subleasing with Haley, Austin's sister, who goes to the Art Institute here. She has a swank apartment that she shares with two other girls:

I forgot how much I love being in big cities, and not have to drive. Though I guess we usually biked in Prescott too, but it was definitely not the norm. The roads are so flat here people bike everywhere, but the traffic is relentless! Even as a pedestrian. Watching people glide past makes me miss my bike, but I'm un peu terrified of the cars. 

I'm pretty excited about my work at Farr Associates. It's all LEED-ND related, and I'm putting together a Sustainable Urbanism exhibit which will  display somewhere downtown, possibly the Chicago Architecture Foundation. 

Yesterday I went to the beach with Haley and Kathy (one of Haley's roomies). We caught the sunset over Lake Michigan. 

GUY ON RIGHT = AARON MARSHBURN

I am convinced. It was SO EERIE (no lake pun intended)

His mannerisms, his body type, his face, his carefreeness, compounded with his trip to Germany the next day = younger Aaron. I couldn't get over it.

p.s. even though the day was swelteringly humid, the water was COLD

Volleyballersxinfinity

Seriously, so many of them.

AARON

After swimming and watching the sun set, I was ready to PIG OUT. So us three girls went to what is apparently a favorite late night diner, Pick Me Up. 

Cutest table decor. Each Sesame Street character was made of foods.

First entree: caramel apple pie, snickers cheesecake, key lime pie

second and third entrees: cheesy fries and kahlua pancakes

Best meal ever. 

On my way home after work today, it started POURING. Since I was wearing lace (i.e. porous) flats, it was easier to walk home barefoot in the torrential downpour. Then I found out we were under a tornado watch! The weather was so crazy. After it passed, the sky looked epic:

That's all for now! I be seein you fools lataaaah

<3

Hellloooooo? Anyone out there? Come on--it's not like you're doing research, traveling across the country, or studying in Panama...

In any case, an update from Coweeta. Maerz and his grad student (Kristen) weren't around when I got here, so I took the first three days to continue my sampling for Urspelerpes. If I haven't told you before, a large part of the research is determining the "detection rate" for the species at these locations. As of right now, 1 larva in 450 traps. Yeah, fascinating.

First, some scenery from the area. The sign I pass everyday on the way back to Coweeta (it's just a few miles north of GA):

...which has made me wonder: is texting while driving or photographing while driving more dangerous? I'm pretty sure that as long as I keep my eyes on the road--through the viewfinder--it's ok.

Also, apparently there is such thing as a Jesus flag. And it's interwoven with the Amuricahn flag.

About ten miles from Coweeta (and just past the grocery) is this stand for locally-grown produce. Now I can sleep better, knowing I'm not buying any more food from the Piggly-Wiggly.

I bought a bunch of good-looking food from here today, so maybe I'll pull a Sheena and take a picture of the meal I make ;)

What, now Ecology Clubbers are allowed to own gas stations?

In honor of Grover, here's a Stinkpot that crossed the road in front of me today. Lucky for him (unlike the 2 copperheads, 1 kingsnake, 2 ratsnakes, 2 racers, 1 box turtle, 1 bullfrog, and 1 rough greensnake that I've seen dead on the road in the last few days), he crossed in front of me, and not a local in his F-250.

A cute little Ringneck I uncovered while digging through leaves for those blasted Urspelerpes today.

I was about to flip here too...before I decided to pass up this leaf-pack. Can you see why?

He's cute, but I'd rather not have his fangs latched onto my finger.

Other than that, not too much to report. I've seen a ton of cool fungi, and I locked my keys in my car at one of my fieldsites (no worries; I pried open my sunroof and fished them out with a wire that a local--who, suspiciously, had a lot of tools for breaking into cars--gave me while driving by).

Much love,

Todd

To the mountains!

Last night, I took off for Coweeta. I didn't have to be here until the afternoon, so I told Theresa that I would meet her in northern Georgia to catch some bog turtles (she has an internship this summer with the Georgia DNR surveying for these guys). Well, I didn't really plan out my driving very well, so I ended up with like three hours of sleep. But that's herping, eh?

We poked around areas like this:

And checked traps for bog turtles. This is a super-interesting species that lives primarily in the northeastern United States (with its stronghold in WV and PA) and that has declined dramatically as their sphagnum bog habitats have been drained, plowed, and raped by cattle farmers.

After the first few dozen traps revealed only snapping turtles, one held this cute lil' bugger. Bog Turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergi):

While poking around a different bog (we checked five during the course of the morning), I flipped a clump of moss to reveal this Seepage Salamander (Desmognathus aeneus) guarding her eggs. She wasn't more than an inch long.

After parting ways with Theresa and the bogs, I drove a few more hours to Coweeta. Here's a scenic overlook near where I'm living for the next six weeks.

It should be a really fun time, but I can tell already that it'll be lonely without Club Ecology. I'm definitely going to be visiting Athens at some point. Yay.

you guys suck

since you guys won't stop bitching i just wanted to let you know that i just posted on my blog (rompalime.blogspot.com)

check it out for my experiences on:

• being surrounded by mating javelinas
• a tour of our director's sustainable home
• seeing a friend from georgia
• a friend's permaculture garden
• my last week in prescott

HAPPY NOW?!

i love you all, and want to see everybody who's in athens this week! i'm in town wed-sat bitchezzzz

Back in...

...suburbia. I can't stand this place.

On a positive note, I found my first Indianapolis area Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum)--a species that was once widespread but is now declining across the state due to...well, suburbia. I was pretty stoked to turn up this big fella about a mile from my house, surprisingly.

YOU GUYS

ALL NEED TO CHILL OUT

< /3

DAYUM

Sheena is making a book. or maybe 2.

Holy Shit Sheena, Your Posts Are Ridiculous

While I can't handle posting like Sheena, here's some quick updates from the IFP road. Ben and I have just crossed the Mississippi River, headed to Santa Fe in our 20ft box truck. Last week we cooked for our 30 students and staff on Sapelo Island. We've purchased probably half of our food locally from farmers, fishermen, roadside stands, or farmer's markets!

Chef Ben and our shrimp

Remember Daniel from Ecotones (early VP) and Sapelo Spring Break? He brought us some freshly caught friends.

Bycatch from shrimping. 9lbs to every lb of shrimp caught. I don't think I'll eat shrimp any more. This is seriously wild, y'all, what the hell.

A shark caught while shrimping - I threw him back, no worries.

:)

back from the arizonan backcountry and ALIVE

Helloooo civilization and showers and fresh fruit! Last week we spent four days at Cody Lundin's house, for what we thought were going to be spent learning aboriginal survival skills. It turned out that we were actually doing a design and construction project, with some survival skills sprinkled in. I was a little disappointed at first but in the end, extremely happy with our project which is more applicable to what Ecosa's about anyway.
But first! Our last meal in preparation for living off trail mix and peanut butter on bagels:

braised turkey with apricots, squash, and chickpeas mmmmmm

Here is Cody Lundin's house, built directly into the hill for optimal thermal mass to heat and cool his dwelling depending on the weather outside. For insight on Cody's personality, check out this clip: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/dual-survival/ He was hilarious and intense (an interesting mix), with tons of ridiculous metaphors...he did a lot of acid in the past. Super cool guy. 

For those of you who don't know Drew, he is SERIOUS about water. Before heading out on our trip, he sought every corner for the perfect water bottle, and here it is. A full half gallon capacity:

And yes, he did drink more than the half gallon per day

After arriving, Cody introduced himself and got to know each of us a little before showing us different sites we could work on while we were living with him. We decided to work on an outdoor kitchen for this area: 

Note the cistern which holds all the rainwater he harvests from the top of his carport

A minute sample of some of the materials we could work with

Checking out the view from the top of his house

Look at these stairs I made! Too bad we took them down the next day to accommodate our new plan

Kickass stairs Matt taught us to build. Again, Matt saved the day with his years of stonemason experience! The stairs are level and to code (height of 7 inches) BOOYAH

The above is what we accomplished at the end of one day, with design time in the morning. Cody then took us on a tour of his sweet abode. 

The entrance to his house:

Takin off shoes

Bandanas abound!

Through passive solar orientation and the thermal mass of the earth covering his house, the inside temperature of Cody's house is kept at a comfortable mid 70s temperature. Amazing for the intense hot and cold Arizonan weather.

The main atrium/kitchen

Skylight in his bedroom (YEAH I HIT THAT just kidding)

His studio with solar panels. His house is completely off the grid!

In the lofted 'guest room' in the studio

bison rug

lookit his house, all nestled in the earth

Exhausted and dusty, we trekked to base camp to set up for the night. Check out Christine's camp:

Our first primitive skill was cooking ashcakes from flour and water on a fire. Actually quite delicious, especially with some baked beans mmmmm (and I think the gas we all got and kept releasing surreptitiously through the rest of our days there was totally worth it OH so many poop jokes). 

Oh and I dug my first poop hole! To maintain sanitary conditions, we would dig a 1.5 ft deep hole with a post shovel, and whoever went last before it reached 6 in below ground level would have to dig the next hole. I felt like manning up and dug a hole even though the first hole could have easily held another one, two go's. HARDCORE. Ok enough about poop.

I caught Nancy looking like a surgeon to revive her sleeping mat/pool float

Embers left after our fire

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Then it was back to work at 9 am. We had a hearty breakfast of oatmeal with apples and raisins, and worked through the day. 

The swale we built to channel water to the herb garden (which comes up later)

Securing rebar to create an armature for the counter/grill

Our work music, supplied by Cody

The swale! You can kind of see where water will come down (upper right) and get directed into the channel

Continuation of the swale into the garden

Wiring up more rebar

Working diligently on the swale

Admiring our handywork

After setting up the skeleton of our structure, we had to create an 'oreo' (Cody loves Oreos) of parachute material sandwiched by chicken wire to hold the concrete up

End of day 2: (in addition to completed swale and foundation for herb garden)

Moving her tent to less rocky territory, and conquering the new land

You can't tell because I look so happy but I am filthy in this photo

Nancy's :D tan, a souvenir from our portfolio day

Sunset in the desert <3

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Day 3 - finishing up the parachuting and laying down the base coat of concrete!

To keep cool under the oppressive desert sun, we got creative

or fratty:

Completed parachuted rebar!

Then the fun part, playing with concrete! Which is highly corrosive to skin by the way. Now from these photos, I don't want you to think that we were just doing Cody a favor by adding to his house. He definitely put in his share of hard manual labor (often the most strenuous parts)and acknowledged that we were helping him out as much as he was by giving us the experience to actually work on someone's property (without any kind of professional license!) 

Mixing concrete by hand, because he's a badass

End of day 3: base coat of concrete laid down! Note how my wall has been replaced by our counter. Haha, oh well

This is what concrete does to your hand if you don't wear gloves

After chowing down on some dinner after a long day of hard work, we learned how to make cordage out of dogbane, or any fibrous woody grass. Friday nights are traditionally movie nights at casa de Cody Lundin, so we spent the night plopped down in the studio and watched a great cinematic masterpiece, starring Chuck Norris.

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On our fourth and last day, we put the finishing touches on our mangrove countertop. I don't have many photos of the actual process because it's difficult to take pictures when your hands are concretey and the sun is hot and concrete is rapidly drying. But it was a ton of fun, especially flinging concrete onto barely adhesive spots. 

The last day was also the hottest, getting into the mid 90's. We drank a ton of water and doused our work shirts in water every hour or so to keep cool. The shirts were actually sent to Cody the day before we arrived from a fan who apparently inherited the shirts and had no need for them. Definitely came in handy!

We broke some granite and Christine made a sweet sunrise backsplash for the sink

Nancy and I sculpted the lizard to frame the grill. While working behind the lizard, Christine got stung by a scorpion twice in a row (she was fine though). We joked the lizard serves as a call to bring more lizards, with new habitat in the shade created by the counter, to eat those vengeful scorpions.

Christine's work, from top to bottom: planted shrubs, painted stepping stones, and broccoli pipe

Dawnielle and Drew's magnrove corner

Awesome sweat pattern on Matt's back

Granite mosaic/cutting board

Christine's tree, with a gorgeous green granite counter top on the right

Completed bench over the swale!

Nancy's tree and Monica's transition into the stiars

My corner mangrove

The kitchen! We left room for other 'tribes' to embellish, knowing our limitations with how much time and resources we had

Basically praising us for our hard work :]

Group photooooo

Cody took a bunch of photos of us with his camera. He was a big fan of the "power shot", and rolled around on the ground getting an angle from below and telling us to look stoic or jovial. So odd coming from him, but funny. He also does a SPOT ON impression of Tony, sheepish British accent and all.

Cody was especially impressed with how we integrated our project with the existing structure

Javelina skull! Just for kicks

Then Megan, the Ecosa program coordinator finally made it to pick us up (after getting a new tire for the Ecosa bus, which broke down last year getting to Cody's as well), but not before we learned how to make fire from a bow-drill set. Well, Nancy and I were the only ones to actually do it, since everybody else was really pooped, and we only made smoke. Oh and I burned both of Cody's hands by accident...oops. He was able to make fire within a minute though! Incredible.

Odd to have this be the last photo I took on Cody's property

Jokes on the bus ride home. Christine's probably fantasizing about being able to shower. We were DISGUSTING, with dirt and dust and limestone deep in our pores.

Although we weren't as strapped to survive as we expected, the trip was still very intense, with lots of manual labor from 9am-5pm each day. We were surprised at the amount of work we got done, which was due to our great team dynamic, and our sense of accomplishment was topped off with an excited and satisfied client who happens to have a show on Discovery. No big. 

Part of the experience focused on realizing that every line we draw as designers is someone's sweat equity to make that line happen in the real world. We definitely got a sense of that, as we toiled and dug and planted and moved and concreted under the intense sun. 

Another part of the experience was getting a sense of baseline sustainability, with no frills. No running water, no air control, just us and our bodies and the environment. When you don't have a waste basket or pipe channeling your water out of sight, you really become aware of all the resources you use on a daily basis. It gets to the whole idea of needing feedback loops instead of thinking we're in a linear system, where we use resources and then channel them away to some unknown location and once they're out of sight, they're out of mind. Being back in our apartment and using the sink seems so wasteful to me now, as the water just gushes out and away, instead of being meticulously controlled by my hand for exactly what I need it for. And that's just one example, and we weren't even living in true aboriginal style. Lots to think about. 

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Today I didn't take enough photos to upload, but we had a book discussion on Ecological Ethics, I did a presentation on Le Corbusier's Ville Contemporaine (which sucked to have to do right after a week without internet or computer, but it got done and I was pleased with how it turned out), we watched the first hour to the film Mindwalk, which was about systems thinking and SUPER intense on my brain, then more drawing practice with Gary. A pretty relaxing day once my presentation was done, though now I'm  absolutely exhausted since I woke up at 5 am to finish it before class. So, off to bed research Prescott building history I go! 

end of massive blogpost.

x-posted rompalime.blogspot.com