~

Been a long time since I've updated. My life hasn't changed so I won't really post about it, Except: I finished building my bike, I spent 2 weeks in Germany celebrating my Oma's (grandmother's) 80th birthday, and we've decided to move when our lease is up (Dec). We are currently looking for new housing.

So, I've been reading The Omnivore's Dilemma (finally). While I've been conscious of many of the huge problems in America's food industry for some time, (The primary reason of my vegetarianism is less of a bleeding-heart "meat is murder" sentiment than a firm belief that industrial meat poses a serious threat to the environment, food safety, and public health.) it has helped me think about some things in a more refined way.

For one thing, I am having a hard time reconciling the notion that eating locally and sustainably is only the domain of the hard-core-liberal and/or snobby elitists with some of the facts surrounding the very real plights of a local, "artisan" farmer. What I mean is, most small farmers are extremely "conservative", at least, economically. They have to be, because they are forced to navigate a government-run system of oversight and regulation that has been tailored to benefit large, industrial agriculture. It is almost entirely impossible for a small farmer to operate within those standards, so, of course, he is going to come down on the side of deregulation and smaller government. People who want to buy their meat directly from the farmer, instead of safeway, are going to have to fight for that right, because currently that right doesn't exist.

On the other hand, oversight is crucial. Setting aside the present impotence of the FDA, (its inability to force a company to issue a recall, or lack of funding and employees) no one wants rats or cow shit in their hamburgers, and without some sort of oversight and regulations, there would be (more). So we need the government to protect our health from large companies that would never clean or inspect their facilities, but we also need the government to stop blocking the way for the local farmer that is going to grass-feed his cows, and allow him to slaughter on the farm if he wants.

So, really, how on earth has this issue become so polarized in the national media? How have "sustainable" and even "local" become dangerous liberal buzzwords? I don't think anyone wants shit in their meat, and I think everyone would be taken aback to learn that a local farmer can't "process" his own cows. I have a hard time believing that anyone outside of a high-powered board room thinks that the most logical solution to shit in the meat is to douse it in radiation. Sure, the e. coli might be dead, but really, there is still shit in the meat.

I think it's absolutely incredible that the average American doesn't give a rat's ass about their food. It is the most important aspect of a person's health, and something they likely do at least three times a day. And no one thinks about it. Would they care if they knew how many rats' asses were in their burger?

I can't understand how this has become such a partisan issue.

Leaving Portland tomorrow for California. My oldest friend is getting married and I am the maid of honor. Eek!

This makes me feel old like nothing ever has before.

Bike project is coming along, though slowly. I don't exactly have a great workspace here, and there's been a fair amount of oh, crap, that's not going to work now is it?

But, I wanted a project and I got one. It's fun, too- at least, more fun than fruitless job searching. It keeps me distracted.

If it weren't for the whole "broke" thing I'd be dandy.

Miraculously, we recovered Joe's stolen bike. I've been watching craigslist, and a few days ago there was a post: "are you missing a white Kestrel 4000?" This guy had seen a large, toothless homeless woman with a bike that was obviously not purchased by her. He took it from her, perhaps not the best course of action, but all's well that ends well and all that. He took it home, and posted on CL in hopes of finding the rightful owner. And he did. The frame is totaled- somehow it got a big crack in the carbon and is unrideable.

I've given up hope of ever seeing my bike again. Yesterday I ordered a new frame, and some wheel rims. Today I bought hubs. I need some spokes and a few other odds and ends, and then I get to build the wheels and take all of the other components off Joe's broken frame and put them on my new frame. Then I will have a bike again. Should be a fun, educational project. Hopefully it wont end in tears.

Hey guys.

On Sunday I poured beer all day, and then learned I didn't get the job.

On Monday we discovered that, during the night, our bikes were stolen.

On Tuesday I went to the coast with the dog, we walked on the beach and went for a 5 mile hike. (awesome)

On Wednesday I went back to the coast because it was still a thousand degrees here.

Today, Thursday, it's a little cooler, though at 11am it's approaching 90. I plan on spending the majority of the day in the mall, which I'm not exactly looking forward to, but they have air conditioning and I need a dress for a certain upcoming wedding that has to be a certain color. Ahem.

My apartment is a disastrous mess. It has been too hot to care even the slightest.

I think I should update. I definitely update facebook more often but there's only so much that I can convey in a brief sentence.

We're almost entirely settled in the new place. Some lingering junk needs to find a place, but overall we're just about there. I like it. The size isn't as big an issue as we initially feared, and most of our stuff has magically found a spot. The TV is so close to the couch that it almost feels like we're at the movies. Since all we watch is movies that's okay. Nothing is really a problem.

Joe picked up another teaching gig, a 4-week summer physics lab at Portland Community College. That plus the other small summer gig from CGCC will hopefully be enough for us to make rent, because I have had some seriously rotten luck finding a job. I hope that he'll be able to make rent next month because paying it this month pretty much cleaned out my bank account. The job market here is very dismal. I've put in resumes at retail shops, a yogurt/smoothie shop, receptionist/office gigs, coffee shops, tutoring centers- and these were all places that were advertising an opening. I've had one nibble.

The job sounds great- geoscience technician. In reality there's not really a lot of science involved- it would be making thin sections of samples all day. Basically I'd take a rock, saw off one side, glue it to a glass slide, and grind it down until it's a mere 30 microns thick. It actually sounds like a pretty cool job, even if it's not something I exactly want to do for the rest of my life. After I sent them my resume, I was invited to a "group tour" of the facility. That was this afternoon. Myself and about 10 other candidates- they're hiring two people- checked out the shop and watched them make a thin section.

Of course, all 10 of us are basically overqualified. One guy even has a masters. The rest of us were recent B.S. graduates. They didn't say what the next step is, but as of right now I don't think they have much reason to choose any one of us above any of the others. I'm guessing I'll be contacted for an actual interview at some point, but who knows? Maybe they already made their decision. All I know is, I don't exactly like my odds.

So that's that. Things could be pretty tough for the next couple months, or at least until I find something.

Till next time, here's a link to some pictures of the apartment I put up on Facebook, before it had most of our stuff in it. I'll take some more soon.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=83389&id=806372402

hello friends,
It's been awhile, so here's what's new:
We left Maryland in early May and made it to CA in 5 days. While we were there we took my mom backpacking for her first time out in Yosemite. There was still a bit of snow on the ground, and there were a couple non-trivial stream fords, but all in all we had a great time. We drove up to Portland just after Memorial day, and spent about 10 days staying with Joe's cousin looking for a place to live. We were really keen on a particular basement apartment, but we didn't get it. On Saturday we moved in here, a fairly tiny 3rd floor walk-up. All day yesterday we collected furniture. It's a pretty cool apartment- size excepted I really like it. But, it is only about 400 square feet. My organizational skills will definitely be tested.

But, it does have location, charm, and character. The building is over 100 years old, we have hardwood floors, a clawfoot tub, and, on a clear day, a view of Mt. Hood. We're a 5 minute bike ride from downtown, and up the street from a shopping district. There's a coffee shop in the basement of the building, and a decent grocery store a block away. We could have done a lot worse. We're flying back to CA on Saturday to get all our stuff- we're probably going to have to get rid of a lot.

That's all for now- I just hope we don't kill each other in this tiny space.

After all of the bad news from last week, here's some good:

Joe got a job teaching at a community college outside of Portland, so even if he has to defer enrollment for a year, we will actually have a source of income. I still have to find something to supplement myself, but as I'm already resigned to anther term in retail, I'm not really worrying about that yet.

My car works again. It was expensive, to say the least, but it's done. I'm just hoping it'll get us back to CA.

I've started packing, and we have way too much stuff. It's absurd how much we collected living here.

My bike is just about back together. I just have to make some adjustments and it should be done. Given that I did it entirely by myself, though, I'm fairly certain that when I try and ride it it will come apart in a hilariously catastrophic manner.

We'll be leaving for CA on either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on how things go. I'm very excited to see everyone!

Hey readers,
ready for some bad news? I have a lot.

-Apparently PSU has no money. Like, at all. They can't offer Joe any funding, and furthermore, would actually have to charge him tuition. This really stinks. If he's lucky, he'll get a research position immediately, and will obtain funding that way. If he's unlucky, he'll defer enrollment for a year and do his best to find a job for the meantime.

-I had to send my broken bike back to the factory to be fixed. That will cost me ~$200. It sucks but it's cheaper than a new frame.

-My car needs a new transmission. That's $2100. As it is it wont shift up past first. Unless I get it fixed, it's not leaving Maryland. Other options for getting us, our stuff, and the dog across the country cost just as much as getting the new transmission, so while I've long said that if something that cost more than $1000 to fix broke, then that would be it, I think that fixing it will ultimately be my cheapest option.

So basically, my car and bike are bankrupting me, and what we thought would be a source of income isn't.

In case you were wondering, it looks like we're going to Portland. The decision is still pending full confirmation, but it's about 95% certain.

Joe was accepted into Portland State U's physics program. I have not yet applied, and I probably won't until the fall/winter. It depends how meetings with potential advisors go. There's no rush. My program will be shorter by at least a year, so it's actually really good for Joe to get a head start. So it looks like we'll be here in Maryland for only another month. Our departure date is tentatively set for May 4th. And then we finally get to get a place to live!

The weather here is endlessly frustrating. While the winter almost killed me, at least it was somewhat predictable. This morning, it rained so hard the backyard had a small flood in it. Now, the sun is out and it's hot.

Update in brief:

-On Thursday Joe heads out to Wyoming to check it out. He'll be back Sunday, and I imagine that by this time next week we'll have made a reasonably firm decision whether we're going to Wyoming or Portland.

-I've started gunning for Portland. I communicated with a couple different professors at Portland State, and some of them have voiced a potential willingness to take me as a volunteer for a little while, and from there I could likely get into a masters program there. (They don't offer a PhD, I'd have to do that later if I wanted) I think I'd be happier, overall, in Portland, and without something to do in Wyoming I think I'd stagnate.

-I've signed up to take the GRE again, and I'm studying for real this time. I'm even forcing myself to read the really basic math stuff in the book I got, in case they offer insight on how the test is written. Last time it kinda felt like cheating, but if I can get an amazing score, that's the point, isn't it?

-My bike died yesterday. We were on a very pleasant ride when, as I attempted to shift gears, my derailleur exploded. The derailleur hanger completely broke off, which one bike shop owner assured me means my entire frame is trash. Joe has since found a $15 piece that supposedly circumvents that problem, so we'll give that a try. Keep your fingers crossed, because I can't exactly afford a new bike right now!

It's been awhile since I posted an update, so here's what's new:

Joe was accepted to the physics PhD program at University of Wyoming. He's flying out to interview and check out the place in a couple weeks. Me, I don't think I'm getting into the program I applied for. I'm not really surprised, because I applied for a program with one opening. I know that there are people better qualified that are a higher priority to them than me. I don't know how many there are. It could be there's only one, and it could be that that one person gets a better offer elsewhere. Or there could be 4 or 5 better qualified candidates, I have no idea. I also don't know if it's possible that it may be possible to be accepted into the department and find a project later. I don't know how the Geology department there does things. Either way, I'm not optimistic.

There is no solid plan as of right now. Joe will report back later this month about the school/town/surroundings and whether he thinks it would be a good place to spend 5+ years. And that could go either way. If he likes the town and his program, we'll probably go. I will spend a year doing whatever I can- I'm still looking for a "real" job, and I'd do whatever I could to get myself known in the Geology department. Stalk professors that are doing cool things, go to free lectures and try to schmooze, and if I'm really lucky get some lab-lackey work or a grading/TA job. Then I'll reapply next year.

If Joe doesn't like the place, we'll probably scrap the whole idea and head back to the west coast, likely to Portland. Who knows what we'd find there.

Meanwhile I'm just a lousy bum.

Hey everyone. I haven't posted because nothing has really happened. I'm still unemployed, and it's still cold. It did snow, though, which was fun. Wait, I lied, we did do some cool things. We went up to Gettysburg, which was cool, and Harrisburg, which had a good brewery. The next day we continued north to the Yuengling brewery, where we took a tour. Then on to Valley Forge, where there was a winter camp during the revolutionary war. Then into Philadelphia, where we didn't stay long because we couldn't find a place to stay under $100. (The hostel was booked) So all that was fun.

Besides doing calculus problems so I don't forget everything, the most productive thing I did was finally get a "best of" gallery together for the summer trip. All 3000 pictures have been condensed into 211 captioned pictures. About time! If you never looked at any of the pictures, and you'd like to, the gallery is up on My photo site

I culled it to pictures that were either really representative of where we were, the best pictures of us (there aren't many), exciting wildlife, or blatant immature hilarity (Butt road and Hymen terrace).

It looks like we'll be staying in the DC area until at least April.
Joe got a job teaching physics lab in DC at American University.
The bad news? The low tonight is six degrees (Fahrenheit). Six! And it doesn't even really snow here!

I don't know if I'm gonna make it.

As for me I'm still unemployed. I finished my application for UWyo but I'm doing my best not to think about it and still focus on getting a job. I just need a reason to get out of bed in the morning, because the weather isn't giving me one.

Lately we haven't been up to much. I've been going to the gym a lot, and applying to a lot of jobs, and we've done a few fun things like go to the national zoo.

New Years was a lot of fun, and now that it's 2009 we've been doing a lot of serious discussing exactly what we're doing next. We were kinda hoping that somewhere in the last month something would just fall out of the sky, but since that has not happened we are trying to take a decidedly more pro-active approach.

Unfortunately, we haven't come up with much:

Option 1: Move to Portland (Or anywhere else really, this isn't decided). Quickly find jobs doing anything (retail, etc) so that at least we stop losing money. Make finding a "real" job #1 priority. Live.

Option 2: Well. Um, there kinda is no option two. We're trying really hard to make an option two, but it's just not happening. There are no jobs.

So. About 2 weeks ago Joe says he's looked into a graduate program at the University of Wyoming that he things is really cool. So today I look into University of Wyoming's Earth Science department, and guess what? It's everything I want in a grad school. There's one professor who is Planetary. He studies Io, and he has just received word that he is receiving funding for a new PhD student, starting this fall, working on the Io project.

So, I am applying to grad school. It's a fun hypothetical situation to think about.

PS. Wyoming? I know, right? But I actually think living there for a few years would be kinda cool. I like being, you know, outside with mountains. And that's something I can't get in Maryland.

Over the last few days I've finally uploaded all of our pictures from this year. There are literally thousands of pictures from the Alaska trip, so they've been divided into 17 separate galleries. The Haiti/DR trip is only one.

They can be found here: maio.smugmug.com

Soon I hope to have a separate "best of" gallery of the Alaska trip, because I certainly hope there isn't anyone out there with so little to do that they want to slog through even one of those tedious galleries. If I narrow it down some there may even be some eventual hope of captions. Call me a dreamer.

I'll save you a little trouble and put a few here:

( Alaska )

and now, for something completely different:

( Haiti )
That's all for now. My birthday came and went without mishap, and I still have cake. We're trying to seriously work on finding jobs, but it's proving to be pretty damn difficult in today's economy.

We've been back from Haiti for a little over a week. I meant to post sooner but a lot of loafing around got in the way.

Volunteering was a really great experience. We spent most days on mud jobs, which was about as exciting as it sounds. A lot of shoveling mud into wheelbarrows and then dumping it out into the street, with the (potentially incorrect) assumption that eventually the government will get some bulldozers down the street and haul it away. Bulldozers and dumptrucks were working the whole time we were there, but some of the smaller streets might not see the mud cleared out for months. A UN estimate of how long it would take to clear it out was something like 400 truckloads per day for a year. So progress is slow, but at least families can move off their roofs and back into their homes. We worked side by side with 17 local Haitians, which were really fun to get to know and were an exceedingly helpful link to the community.

The worst job sites in the hardest hit areas were completely inaccessible, except by foot, and forget about getting a wheelbarrow to them. The only way to clear out the mud in those sites was via an exhausting and slow bucket brigade process, where a team of 10 or so people would pass 40+ lb buckets of mud down a line to dump in the street. One of these sites took something like 12 days of work to finish. By contrast, an average wheelbarrow site took about 2, maybe 3 days and occasionally could be completed in one day.

That's not to say that all we did was mud. A few other projects were there to distract us. Occasionally we'd worth with OXFAM or the UN doing a distribution of supplies to the community. One of the longest ongoing projects is at a site we called "Sisters". It's one of only two free schools in the city (all others are private) run by four Indian nuns. By the time Joe and I got there they'd finished mudding it out, and I spent 3 days there painting classrooms. By the time we left, classes had resumed in the 9 classrooms we helped paint, allowing something like 600 kids to return to school.

One of the most fun and rewarding things I did was spend an afternoon at a tent refugee camp outside the city. Something like 100+ families' homes are still flooded. Saturday afternoons HODR heads out there and we spend a few hours playing games with the kids- nothing too extravagant, just things like wheelbarrow races and Simon Says. But it's some of the only stimulation the kids are getting right now, and the games seem a welcome relief.

I'll be getting some pictures up soon. I keep forgetting.

( Thoughts on being a white person in Haiti )

Anyway I'm sure there was more I wanted to say but I'm going to have to talk about it later.

PS

Don't worry! Because though I'm bummed we'll be out of town on election day, really it only means I won't be able to sit in front of the TV watching news all night with either a celebratory six-pack or consoling myself with a bottle of whiskey. We sent in our vote-by-mail ballots yesterday.

Drawing in the Obama vote was very gratifying.

Hello!

Earlier this month Joe and I loaded up my car again- it's still running!- and headed across the country. We went south on CA 99 and picked up 40 in Barstow. 40 took us all the way across Tennessee, and in Fort Knox we headed northeast to Maryland. We've been here for about 2 weeks.

Thursday, at some ridiculous early hour, we're off to the airport. We're going to Gonaives, Haiti. The island of Hispaniola was hit by storms Faye, Gustav, Hannah, and Ike and the entire community of Gonaives is under about 3 feet of mud. So we're going to go help dig it out. We'll be volunteering with Hands on Disaster Response for 2 and a half weeks, after which we'll take a bus across the island to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, where we'll have 3 days to lie on the beach and relax. Then we'll come back here to Maryland for the holidays.

I don't know if I'll be able to make any entries from the island- Right now Gonaives doesn't even have electricity- but I'll post about it when we get back.

Cheers

Sooner than expected, we're home.
By home, I mean my mom's house near Santa Cruz, because we don't exactly have a residence.

12 weeks to the day...
...is a long time to live out of a car
...is a long time to have only one person to interact with
...is 1/4 of a year

There are a few reasons we're home 2 weeks before our projected return date of the first, not the least of which was the fact that our tent self-destructed in three non-lethal but very distressing ways. Rain weariness drove us to drier climes, cold weariness drove us to drier climes, and after briefly trying to find good beer in Utah we pretty much decided to pack it in. Thought about hanging out in Yosemite for a little while but when we got there yesterday there were still so many people, and it was hotter than we'd experienced in 3 months, so after a swim in the Merced River we just drove home.

Expect several entries over the next few days as pictures get edited, good stories are remembered, and I begin to lose the shell-shocked feeling that's accompanied the sudden return to the land of television, internet, and couches.

(phone calls to those I miss severely will also come soon)

Hi everyone, sorry for that prolonged silence.

We returned to the lower 48 about a week ago, after spending about a week in Kelowna, BC, where among other things we helped a friend move her little bro into the dorms of the university there.

After leaving Kelowna, we made straight for the U.S border, having had enough of the depressing 1:1 exchange rate in Canada, where everything cost ~20% more. We went more or less straight to Glacier N.P, where we spent the better part of a week. Feats accomplished included a 20-mile day hike, and we saw enough mountain goats and bighorn sheep to last a lifetime.

Sunday we left Glacier, and spent a couple days heading south along the eastern front of the rockies, through the high plains. Yesterday we stopped briefly outside of Yellowstone for a short hike to where some trees had been petrified in an ancient pyroclastic flow. After that we entered the park proper and checked out the Mammoth Hot Springs, before exiting again to camp (for free) in the adjoining National Forest (we are definitely stoked to have national forest all around!)

That's all for now- we'll spend a few days here in Yellowstone and then continue south; Joe is very excited to be in Wyoming, he apparently has several chest-hair-inducing bike rides planned.