Taking in the view

The view from the hotel room

Around this time every year I disappear off to the annual meeting of my discipline to go mix with a whole host of different people. Last year I made my way back from field work via this conference and it was a bit daunting, but a good way to hit the ground running on my dissertation upon my return.

This year it was necessary for me to be there to present work from the dissertation, but I find that being at these meetings is a roller coaster of ego boosts and bruises. What I mostly looked forward to was connecting with my colleagues who I hadn't seen since last year, and possibly drinking in some better weather (not quite literally, but I did enjoy a couple of cold ones at that little green gazebo thing which was conveniently between the convention center and the hotel).  After snow and leaving in freezing weather, Portland (where I made my flight connection) seemed balmy and basically anything that followed became tropical.

It was really quite lovely while we were in Florida and though I am usually a diligent attendee at these conferences, I did find one morning to sneak away...









We had a few perks from holding our meeting at the convention center, which included free trolley rides up and down the main stretch and discounted tickets to local spots. I took advantage of the reduced price of aquarium tickets. It was me and another colleague and about a million school groups, but it was lovely.

As seen in the exhibit hall

Cruise

Trolley to the aquarium

 

The obligatory duck photo for a UO duck

Can you spot the flamingo?

Not exactly sure what this guy was doing in a aquarium...

I love these guys because they always look like they're smiling

Swimming with the sharks

Flamingos again

It was pretty incredible to watch these flamingos take flight and swoop around the enclosure. We also were delighted by the scuba divers (above) swimming with the sharks. The gal in the tank had a microphone and was answering the questions from the kids on the other side of the glass, all the while sharks were swimming around.

Quite possibly my favorite to watch.

Lego surroundings

In case you missed it in the last photo.

Dory amongst the clown fish

total fail.

How I feel after being at the conference

No joke.

This was my first real winter with snow on the west coast (plenty of east coast winters). Last year by the time I returned home from the field (almost May) the tulips and daffodils had already put in their appearance.

04.01.2014 - 6:30am

As a result, I don't have an institutional memory for whether or not snow in April is usual. I was excited for snow having spent the last holiday in a hammock. But it has snowed every day for the past week and somehow, it unnerves me to see the first spring blooms bearing the weight of an inch or more of snow.

03.30.2014 - 4:30pm

Of course it does this overnight and in the early morning and my best guess is that today, per usual, the sun will come out --"fooled you"-- and it will all melt away before midday.

***Update***
3 inches later, I can't help but think to myself that this is a very elaborate joke...

04.01.2014 - 12:00pm

Does that translate?

Spring is here and you can see for sure in this video I took this morning.

It is technically spring break, although these things don't register with me much this year, given that my fellowship makes allows me to write everyday. I did take a week off though and we retreated to a much colder clime where we overloaded on seafood, walked on frozen lakes, and surveyed the local beer scene. I'm supremely grateful to have been able to take the time out and skip this coast for the other. And only slightly perturbed to come home to similar if not less humid temperatures.

Sunset over the frozen lake

twin lobsters

from the 'freeport' area

On our way out through 'Bahstan'

It's been awhile since I spent any length of time on the east coast and it took me some time to adjust again to the New England accent. In fact, more than once I was consumed by laughter. I managed to stifle such outbursts when servers explained what we could expect from hoppy beers...I told them we hailed from the pacific northwest...

bring it on.

The cats are trying to help

Pocket assists with my methodology chapter.

whilst searching for skis

All I wanted was to find a deal on ski/boot rentals.

I never knew Oregon was spelled that way...fail

In the new year...

In the past, I have not tended to look towards resolutions as the year draws to a close - a couple of years ago a group of friends set some intentions and I am proud to say that I was successful in my professional intent--in fact to think where I was two years ago in my degree and what I hoped to accomplish and to look now at what I have accomplished gives me a nice bit of perspective in a moment of professional struggle.

This year though, I am not so interested in myself as the clock ticks past midnight, but in the hope of alternatives, the strength of resistance, and the importance of struggle. Tonight is the twenty year anniversary of the movement and though my interaction and research and passion is but a tiny star in the great universe of this groups' work, I feel a sense of pride and joy at the celebration.

Caracol Oventik, JBG - 2010

¡Viva la Sexta!

*Update: Nice summary of 20 years accomplishments in the 500-year struggle: Ya Basta 
...and in headline news, photos and stories from the area where I work: Struggling on  

Out and about

I finally did some non-work related traveling. Unbeknownst to us, we picked the week of record breaking cold and a couple feet of snow. So while everyone else at home was experiencing temperatures in the negatives, we hung out in a sunny and brisk locale.

Sunny AZ

 
So we missed the deluge, but played in it afterwards....some snowshoeing to enjoy the holiday by.

View from Tumalo Mountain

Bachelor, from Tumalo Mountain

Dusting

Waking up to flurries...

...so it begins.

Words.

I know that as of late I haven't written many words here. I also note that since this is now a new non-traditional format for communication that nobody has likely noticed or felt the absence more than I have.

That said, the reason that there are fewer words here is because, as of today, I have written 25,007 words of my dissertation.

So there.

from above...

I think I've traveled by plane more in the past 12 months than I have in the past 12 years. I'm not a huge fan of flying, but I did start to get into a sort of groove with it and even enjoy it some. There are a whole host of things that spring to mind to share--things I liked less: self-important/ angry travelers, the strangeness of airports, the culture of fear security; and things I liked more: the airlines that still give complimentary drinks, my high levels of productivity when stuck in an airport, and the view.

Mostly the view.

Grass removal plan--step 2

Before I took off for my international traveling circus we took the time to go hiking and do some 'homework.' I think I may have mentioned that the previous owner of our home had a fondness for velvety green grass, so much so that it was watered twice a day. I don't think it even had time to absorb all the water between watering some days. So we turned off the water and have been watching the grass languish all year (sick pleasure). We knew that we didn't want to keep up the watering and maintenance regime--we still don't own a lawnmower. So our first step was to add to the yard some things that we wanted: fruit trees and a fire pit. Then we started to plot about the front yard.

Xeriscaping seems to be the best option for the high desert--although you wouldn't guess it from a glance at our street, which is one row of green interspersed with driveways. Most of the folks on our streets have dogs or kids though, so it makes total sense to have a grassy area for play. We have neither, just a big eyesore of a dead lawn. So we rented a sod cutter (it actually ended up being 3, not the best maintained machines...) and had 4 yards of bark and 4 yards of gravel delivered. I posted online that we had free sod for pick-up that was only in need of watering, and over two days 4 or 5 different groups of people showed up to take away our rolls of half-dead grass and put it down for their dogs. It made me very very happy. For a couple of reasons, first, people were excited to take it away and create a non-dirt space and, second, it meant that at the end of the weekend I only had bits and pieces of grass that I had to pay to get rid of at the transfer station.

So we started with this:

Before.

Sod removal.

4 yards bark, 4 yards gravel

The set-up

Last year we responded to a post that listed free lava rock. We were not entirely sure what we would do with it, but we filled our truck with as much rock as we could and now almost a year later we are putting it to use. Joe also brought home some recycled 'super sacks' from work--one at least had some un-malted barley in it that has sprouted. I thought it was zombie grass (die! die!) until I pulled it out of the bark and a barley seed came up with it. Joe also brought home some nice pallets and we spent a good few hours the evening before the sod cutting taking them apart and staining the pieces.

So, free rock and pallet border, free grass removal--thank you fellow residents (even our sod-cutting rental ended up being free because of all the machinery problems).

And what we now have is this:

After.

 

Someone who worked for the city 'happened to be driving by' and knocked on the door the Monday after our epic work weekend and asked when we'd be clearing the mess. With as much politeness as I could muster I explained that we'd already cleared quite a bit and planned on getting the last of the sod and gravel off the street during the week....which is actually true, but all the same.

So, Joe moved all the gravel into the backyard (which we cookie-cutter removed sod from as well) and I loaded the sod and took it to the transfer station recycling/yard debris side, where I was met with this somewhat shocking sight:

Mountain of unwanted sod

Our offering...

I am really proud that of all of the grass that we removed all that was left fit into our little pick-up truck. It cost $4 to get rid of.

We're not total grass-haters though--I really do hope that some of our neighbors derive amusement at the new plants we got to spruce up the front-most part of the front yard:

Clumping grass

Deer-resistant!

We have other plans for the backyard, which will come as another installment, right now it's just a hodge-podge of gravel, leftover grassy space and dirt. But we received notice of a neighborhood meeting to discuss the plans for building 14 new houses across the street from our backyard, so the impetus to get to work again just got stronger.

...maintenance free?