Inside of Outside--coming soon

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This blog will soon be moving to http://insideofoutside.blogspot.com.

See you there . . .

I love life.

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This is a picture of me at work. Looking at it, I steal the oft-spoken words of my co-worker: I love life.

Life is treating me well, and vice versa I hope :) I'm loving working here at Boundless, and I'm learning a ton as well. I've become a river rat. Paddling most days, whether for work or on my days off. Camping. Hiking. And the people I work with are amazing. And the work we do is great too. Helping people to belong and be strong. Whether they are high school students, people with acquired brain injuries, mental illnesses, or native youth. If you'd like to see more pictures of me 'working,' go here.

Boundless

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So this is actually old news, but, here it is anyways. In a few weeks, I'll be starting an intership with Boundless Adventures. It's a non-profit organization, that's based on experiential outdoor education. I'll be leading (or at least learning how to lead) groups of people through the wilderness, whilst teaching them things, whether it be canoeing, or conflict resolution. Ok, so, that's the basic gist. I'm not 100% sure exactly how it's all going to work, since I haven't done it yet, but I'm really looking forward to it. In fact, I can't wait.

I'm excited about it, because I'll get to work outdoors, and learn new skills that I want to learn anyways, plus, I'll get to work as part of a team, which I love, although sometimes I'm not very good at it. Plus, I'll get to help the environment in some small way by helping people realize what a great place it is, and teaching them how to treat it right.

Ok, so, all of this might be a little idealistic, but hey, a guy's got to hope. I think it will be a great experience. Wish me luck.

Frogger

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Remember Frogger? I found a place to play it online. I've unfortunately already wasted an hour or two playing, but it's fun!

Pandora's Box

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Music. When I was younger, I never listened to it. Not on the radio, not on a walkman, not anywhere, except in the car, where my older brothers would listen to 80s rock. I used to hate the question, "What kind of music do you like?" because I didn't know what kind of music I liked. I thought other kids would think I wasn't cool, because I wasn't up-to-date on the latest music or artist.

Anyways, those days are mostly over now. I've come to terms with my not musically up-to-dateness, and even the fact that I'm not a music junkie. I do enjoy listening to music though. World Music, Country, Christian, Easy Listening, and more. It has such power over my emotions. Which worries me sometimes. When I listen to music I wonder if my emotions are real, or if they are just being manipulated by Big Music. Then there's music that inspires me to do better, to be better, to enjoy life, and I'm pretty sure that's not a bad thing.

Anyways, just found a cool tool. Pandora Internet Radio, part of the Music Genome Project. It allows you to create customized radio stations. You can enter an artist or a song, or any combination of both, and it will play songs that have similar qualities. Every single track is analyzed by a professional analyst, using over 400 'genes.' Then, as the music is playing, you can give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down, and the station will learn what kind of music you want it to play. Way cool. Right now I have a country station, a station playing music similar to the Weepies (and the Weepies), and several others. You should check it out.

Ah, Glades

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Went snowboarding on Sunday. It's been so long I got leg cramps. It was good times :) I went with my brother and cousins. We did quite a bit of glades, which was nice. It wasn't Colorado glades, but it was fun. There was even a layer of powder from the night before. The view from the top of the 'mountain' was nice too. Georgian Bay partially covered with ice (third picture). Beautiful.

Wait a second . . .

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I use the DVORAK keyboard to type, and this is one of the reasons why. I kept waiting for him to mention it. I've often found myself saying almost the exact same words that goat is saying, to explain why I don't use QWERTY.

Gapminder World 2006

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Check out this way cool data visualization tool, created by Hans Rosling. It allows the user to compare population size, income per capita, and life expectancy, for just about any country in the world, with data since 1975. It was created to help make large mountains of data useable and more easily understandable. Try it out. You can compare countries to each other or continents to continents.

Hear Hans Rosling speak about it first hand, at TEDTalks.

[added 19Feb07, 12:56a] Wow! I just realized that there's tons more data available to play wit if you click on the colour tab. Things like telephones per capita, military budget, percentage of women in the workforce, carbon emissions and a bunch more. Crazy!

The Face of Tomorrow

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Fascinating and really cool--composite images of people from cities around the world.

The Face of Tomorrow

Found this on theta.ca

7 Things God Doesn't Know

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So in some of my spare time (of which I have rather more than I want at this point in time), I've been doing a little freelance graphic design work. Here's the cover of a book that I designed. And here's the site where you can order it--FaithWalk Web.

Uncle Greg

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Well, this news is a few days old, by now, but Alejandra has joined the family. See more at the official baby Blog. I held her for the first time, on Saturday. I'm an uncle. Crazy, huh?

procu(red)

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Check out (PRODUCT) red, for life giving gift ideas.

so long, and thanks for all the fish

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Well, I've been in Washington for almost three months now, and I'm on my way out. During that time, I think I've spent about four weekends in Naches, where I live. The rest of the time, I've been driving around to visit people. It's been fun times. Seeing old friends and making new ones. Thanks guys!

In no particular order:


Carving pumpkins with David, Kristen, and Damie























































Athena, walking by the docks



















Angela and Darcy sitting on the docks















Creating a collaborative work of art with Angela, Darcy, and Athena














Hiking through a burn with Wendy and Terri



















Playing Bocce, with David, Tyler, Missy, and Alicia (hope I spelled that last one right)

















Hiking with David, Tyler, and Alicia




















Taking a break on the way to the beach, with Angela, Darcy, Athena, and Kiefer
















Athena, being a kid

Love and Hate, part III

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I love cheese. Ricotta, Asiago, Parmesan Reggiano, Havarti, Bleu, Pepper Jack, Mozarella, Strong aged Cheddar, Cottage, Feta, Goat, Provolone, Cream, and oh so many other kinds still left to try. Cheese is so versatile. It's delicious: coating a pizza, stuffed in ravioli, melted in a grilled cheese sandwich, spread on a toasted bagel, sprinkled over pasta, layered in a burger, draped over baked potatoes, suspended in a salad dressing, or simply with a baguette and a pear, or even by itself. Mmmm. I might be a vegan, if not for cheese.

I hate killing things. I don't like mouse traps, and I don't like fly swatters. I don't like stomping on spiders or squelching centipedes. I don't kill mosquitos when they bite me, and I think killing snakes is unnecessary. If I find a bug in my room, I leave it where it is, or I take it outside. I wouldn't ever want to hunt. I'm not saying these things are wrong or that you shouldn't. Just that I don't like to, and if I'm around, I'll try to convince you to let the critters live.

TED

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From the TEDtalks website:

Each year, TED hosts some of the world's most fascinating people: Trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses. The talks they deliver have had had such a great impact, we thought they deserved a wider audience.

Check them out here. They're great.

Love and Hate, part II

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I love to go out early in the morning, and look up at the sky and see millions of stars, undiluted by the lights of civilization. To just sit there alone or with friends, and marvel at the enormity and magnificence of the universe. To see the Pleiades shining or Polaris. Or stay up late at night, and lay in my sleeping bag and watch for shooting stars, or peer into the blackness between the stars and wonder how far you could go into that space.

I hate it when people tell me I'm grumpy. I usually don't think of myself as a grumpy person, so when people tell me that I'm grumpy, well, it makes me grumpy. And I hate being grumpy. I like to be happy and cheerful and positive and optimistic. Usually I am. At least in my own mind. Until someone tells me that I'm not, and then I wonder if maybe I'm always grumpy and just think I'm happy, and that makes me grumpy too.

Me, Moi, Yo, Je, Watashi, Ich

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If you would like to see a very creative and cool video, check out Me.

3 Riders

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Driving down Highway 82 yesterday, on my way to visit Angela and Darcy Force and Athena Meraña, I passed three bicyclists. They had their sleeping pads and other gear strapped onto the back of their bikes, and were riding up a long, energy-sapping hill. For some reason, I thought it would be nifty to leave them a note of encouragement. So I stopped by the side of the road, and taped a message and two energy bars to the safety rail.



It makes me laugh to think of their reaction. I wasn't going to put my name on the note, but then I thought, Hey, why not? Maybe they'll look me up and send me a note telling me that I'm a little weird. Or maybe one day, I'll meet one of them, and they'll start telling me a story about how they were on a cross-country bike trip, and some odd person left them a couple of energy bars taped to a safety rail . . .

out in the woods

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Here's a few snapshots of things I've seen since coming to Washington.


Some mushrooms, growing on a log.














Mushrooms scattered amongst the foliage in the Olympic National Forest.














A praying mantis hiding in the grass.














A chipmunk that was stealing food from the bird feeders outside of our house.














Some cool grass plant thing that I can't identify.




















A kelp plant lying stranded on the beach.














A misty evening by the Pacific Ocean.

The Nutcracker Sweet

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So, I'm in Washington State. It's beautiful here. There are mountains here which I love, and the ocean is not all that far either. In fact, just this past weekend I went to the beach--I had forgotten how huge the ocean is. It stretched for as far as I could see in three directions. And the waves were huge. Wow. I was amazed. But . . . . I don't spend most of my time near the ocean. I spend most of it in the mountains and hills just east of Mount Ranier. In the Yakima Valley if you're more familiar with the area. I'm working with the United States Forest Service, on a project involving Clark's Nutcrackers. Much of what I do involves walking or driving around with a little black box--attached to a large piece of metal--that emits a noise very similar to the sound of static on a bad radio station, hoping to hear a beep (see below). If I hear a beep, that means a bird is near (earlier, radio tags were placed on the birds), and then it's a matter of trying to figure out exactly where the bird is. Ok, so that's simplified a little, but that's the basic gist of what I do.



The point is, we're trying to learn about the home range and habitat use of these birds, especially as it impacts on the conservation and restoration of white bark pine, a species in decline for a number of reasons. The birds and the pine have a mutualistic relationship: the birds eat the seeds, and cache some for later, and those that they don't retrieve germinate and grow into new trees. The tree actually has no other way to spread its seeds.

So, that's what I'll be doing until November at least. It's great: lots of hiking and mountains. And I do get to do other things too, like transects, and cone counts, and cone harvests, and maintaining feeding stations and other related activities. I'm learning a lot, that's for sure. It's a pretty sweet deal.

Love and Hate, part I

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I hate moving very quickly. I hate being rushed to get somewhere. I hate not having time to take my time. And I hate power-walking through the woods. I would much rather meander slowly and listen to the sound of running water. Or sit and watch the moss grow. Or just stand there and admire the trees all around me. Or get up on a hill and feel the wind blowing in my face.

I love eating fresh fruit. Some more than others of course. I love biting into a sweet juicy white peach and trying not to let the juice drip down my chin. I love gobbling handfuls of currants picked fresh from the bush. Or peeling away that nasty white stuff on a grapefruit and downing the pulp in a single swallow. Or slicing up a bright orange mango and getting stringies all stuck in my teeth. Ah, the list could go on--oranges, avocados, grapes, pears, apricots, cherries, kiwis, plums and on and on. My absolute favorites, though, are the berries. Blue, black, wine, rasp, straw, huckle, cran, mul, lingon, goose, and I could go on and on again. Mmmm, I think I'm going to go buy some fruit.

summer snapshots

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I spent this summer at Indian Creek Camp in TN. Here's a few highlights, although by no means all of them. In no particular order:


Me, Ryan, and Chris being cows at the Rodeo.















Andi and Gertle the Turtle





















Daniel and Keri enjoying some Lipton's at Fall Creek Falls State Park















James, Rodeo Clown, the least of his talents















Community Impact--appreciating daycares everywhere















Community Impact--a Free carwash, all tips refused















Caution: Gas Leak Below





















Mmmmm . . .















Wow















Playing with fire
















The culmination of five years of craving















Fall Creek Falls, round two















Freezer Burned















Fun times in Smithville

Old Dreams, New Dreams

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I recently bought a new laptop. Actually, it's not new, it's refurbished. That means used, but certified. It's an Apple MacBook Pro. His name is Tempus. At least for now.

So, I was transferring my files from my old mac to Tempus, and I came upon a bunch of dreams (I used to write down my dreams just for fun). They made me laugh so hard because of their randomness. In fact, I thought they were so funny, that I started writing down some of them again. Here's one old dream and one new dream.

August 27, 2006

I was swimming in some ice cold water. No, I was walking near some ice cold water, and then I fell in. And I mean, there were miniature icebergs floating in the water. Justin was there, and I told him not to worry, because for some reason the water didn't feel cold. Then there was some kind of search, like an easter egg hunt, except we were looking for cantaloupes. I found three of them and carried them somewhere. Then I was in an office, and someone called Mrs. Abbey "Mrs. Busy," because that was her name in the dream, and she said, "Please call me Mrs. B., not Mrs. Busy."

September 1, 2001

We were going on a winter camping trip. Camille was there. Mr. Horniachek was planning the trip. There was a flying red bicycle. Actually, I think it was a tricycle. It reminded me of the red tricycle that we used to have when we were little. It had some kind of weird propeller system and you had to pedal to keep it in the air. I was on it and weaving all around in front of our house. Two of the little kids tried to jump on once. There were these big eight wheeled, treaded snow vehicles that we were going to take. There was also a packing list and a hot air balloon. Vaughn and Katie were there. Apparently there was some kind of basketball game as well.

To the hills!

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Ah, snowboarding. It had been almost two years since I'd been snowboarding on a real mountain. I'd forgotten how much fun it was. Ah, well, I won't waste much time with words. The pictures tell most of it (although not all the fun little details, you'll have to ask about those).

On the lift















On the mountain















Just resting . . . really


















The ninja

















Lunch!















Supper!



















Stranger things have happened















Waiting for the girls














Warming of the toes



















Top of the world















Last day














The one that made it all possible: tribute to Farlonika