blog no.2

Trip to Apostle Islands

2011-09-29T17:02:00.001-07:00

So, before school started Miriam and I went on a four day kayaking trip up to the Apostle Islands. We had some pretty rough seas one of the four days and barely missed being caught in a squall, but it was mostly great. Actually, even the bad weather was kind of fun. The water was surprisingly warm. There were bald eagles everywhere. We even saw a few little black bears on the last island we camped on. Miriam was a great sport and helped paddle maybe a third of the time. Her only moment of grumpiness was when she was asleep and a wave came over the bow and splashed her in the face. Anyway, here are some pictures.

These were really cool sea caves, but none of the pictures really came out. It's hard to get a sense of perspective from inside one kayak.

This was our campsite on day one, York island. There was a nice beach.

Rasberry Island on the way out to Rocky. There was a cool lighthouse. We got there just before a crazy squall with 30+mph winds. Then it was a long paddle (8 miles) out to Rocky island with 3-4 ft waves. Kind of crazy, but fun. I kind of love the folding kayak in that kind of weather. Appreciated it's stability and flexibility.

Campsite day 2, on Rocky Island. The south end of the island had a really cool bog. There was also a yacht anchored offshore. That would be fun too.

Sea caves on the north side of Oak Island. Kind of an accidental find, but very cool. There was a more extensive one a little further down we swam in, but no pictures.

Campsite at Oak Island. We did a death march (4 miles each way) across the island and swam on the other side. When we got back to our campsite on the far side we were starving and exhausted.

Had an incredible sunset. This is where we saw the bears. One was ambling down the beach at dusk. And the other was on the point above our campsite the next morning when I went on a hike and let Miriam sleep in.

Back past Rasberry Island on the way home. So tired. The kayak is kind of a beast to paddle by oneself. It was pretty hammered by the end too. The skin needs to be retired, or needs a lot of work.

National Popular Vote

2011-05-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else interested in this? Vermont just passed the National Popular vote law, which brings us 29% of the way to 270 votes needed to make it work. (Hawaii was also one of the first to pass it.) I found out about it from Hendrick Hertzberg's blog at the New Yorker, where he has a great discussion about it here. So then I had to go check out the website and see how it was coming along in the rest of the states. And be mad at the Governator, again, for vetoing it in California when it was passed by both houses. Any chance this will happen before 2012?

Beard, Jobs, etc.

2010-12-09T18:57:00.000-08:00

So here is what is happening in my life, in no particular order.

So, I didn't get the job in New Zealand. I was not that surprised at that point, since it had been so long, still, I was a little disappointed. (Right now, I kind of just want to move back to Hawaii and start some sort of business.)

I was growing a beard for a while, but it was way too itchy, and I kept waiting for it to stop itching, but it didn't, so I shaved it all off except the goatee. My hair is longer than it's been in a while, and I am not sure how long that is going to last. Maybe not until the weekend. The beard was kind of a response to the hair, so shaving one may affect the other. We'll see. I may post some beard pictures and let people vote for their favorite look. Maybe it is to make up for the fact that I don't wear a tie to work.

The Beard.

One more day of classes. I am kind of burnt out, so that is good. I am almost finished with my current list of job applications, although I am sure there will be more. Just finished one phone interview that went well, but I find I am not always the best judge.

Just went and got an Indiana drivers license since my California one expires on my birthday. Not sure how I feel about that.

We just found out yesterday we have mice. The girls opened up their advent calendar bags to find that someone had been helping themselves to their chocolate. Bekah responded by buying one of just about every kind of mouse trap, poison, bomb, projectile weaponry in the store.

Although, I can hardly blame them for coming inside. It's been snowy here, and this week dropped into the teens and twenties. More snow this weekend.

We're really forward to Christmas at Enoch and Amy's, although I have kind of a lot of work to do before the next semester starts.

New Zealand Trip

2010-10-24T17:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, so overall impressions of New Zealand. I hardly know where to begin. Everything was nicer than I expected. The city, the university, the houses (I saw), and beaches and hikes were all beautiful. All of the flowers were blooming everywhere. There were clear little streams running through the campus and the city. The campus was full of little paths along the rivers and through the ferns and blossoming foliage.

Everything is more expensive there. Milk was $7 nzd for 3 liters, so $5 US. Gas is a little bit more, about 1.89/l. I guess it would be like Hawaii, where you would be paying for more the lifestyle and only spend your money on the basics. (Houses, although more than Crawfordsville or Lewiston, are much cheaper than in Hawaii.)

The city has its own composting program and recyles everything. There are bike lanes everyone and lots of people using them. The public transportation is great. There are even nine members of the green party in parliament. As a liberal, I felt a little irrelevant. Especially in contrast to Crawfordsville, where I count my visible bike riding a minor public service. The lady running the restaurant at the hotel assured me that their conservatives were more liberal than President Obama. Who knows, maybe, in New Zealand, I would actually be conservative.

On the lifestyle, it seems pretty ideal. I found surfing, rockclimbing, hiking all within a half hour from the city.

There seems like a pretty incredible amount of adventures within three hours, and the entire south island within 7-8 hours. Alpine treks. Week-long kakaying tours through island or fjords. Hotsprings. A system of mountain huts were you can stay inexpensively in the back country, some with hotsprings. Seriously. Where do I sign? My only complaint, and, after living in Maine, I feel like a whiner even bringing it up, is that is was kind of cold. Like it would never really be warm enough to want to jump in the ocean without a wetsuit on. Like Santa Cruz (another pretty near ideally situated city). They feel like it’s cold too, but I think because it is colder than everywhere close by, like Australia or Oceania, they feel like it is colder than it really is. They aren’t comparing it to Maine.

Triathlon Training Update

2010-09-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

This is a kind of narcissistic post, but I thought since I announced that I would be trying this on my blog, I should at least provide some kind of periodic follow up. I have been training very inconsistently until we got here and now I have settled, more or less, into kind of a training schedule.
My basic problem is that I am not very good at pacing myself. I am agro for a while, but then I am really sore, so I back off, and then get lazy and miss workouts, and then try and pick things up again, and so on. Basically, I try and get up around 6:20, but sometimes it takes a while to get out of bed. We are on the far western edge of the eastern time zone, so it is still totally dark out. Sunrise is not until 7:30 or so.
So my basic schedule is run about 8 miles on Monday and Friday. Swim a mile or so on Tuesday and Thursday, and then play ultimate in the afternoon (if there's no faculty meeting). Bike ride or some other exercises on Wednesday, and a longer bike ride on Saturday. The last two weekends, it's been a fun 38 mile loop I found. It takes me a little over two hours.
Anyway, when I actually push myself, I am pretty much always sore. My swimming has been pretty slow, since I am working on my technique with a book I have, but I don't know how much progress I am making. Some laps feel much faster, then the next I will totally be floundering. My old stroke, though slower, was very consistent. Biking is weird. It doesn't feel very cardiovascular at this point, maybe because my leg muscles are weak, but it is kind of novel and I like getting out into Indiana. My most beautiful Indiana scenes, misty morning pastures, sunrises over cornfields, etc, have been while biking. It does get boring though, so last Saturday I downloaded a bunch of learn Portugeuse podcasts. That was distracting in a good way, although it was hard to listen with the wind and I didn't as much out of the scenery, and I was little bit slower. Also, I was worried I wouldn't hear the semi's coming up behind me, but I guess if one were to hit me, there wouldn't be a lot I could do anyway. (The podcasts will probably be key in the winter, when a lot of this will move indoors). I kind of hate running, although after the endorphins kick in at 20 minutes or so, it becomes pleasurable in a weird kind of way and doesn't hurt as bad. Still, it always takes some effort to go do it and always feels like an accomplishment when I get home.
Anyway, so what I need is a partner, who is about my level, but is really obsessive about the training aspect of it, how far to run, what kind of weight training or drills to sprinkle in, what to eat, so I can just show up and do it, and be more motivated and feel like I am moving forward. A personal trainer, I guess, but for free. I bought a couple of books, but they are all a bit much. I need to get a heart rate monitor for example. (Someone gave me one a while back, but I thought, Why would I ever need one of these?, and gave it away and am too cheap to buy another). Anyway, I keep telling myself I should just sit down and figure out a plan, but I have so many other things to do right now, I don't see it happening. Any suggestions, volunteers?

Ultimate faculty meeting

2010-09-25T18:12:00.000-07:00

So, one of the brighter spots of life in Indiana has been the bi weekly ultimate frisbee. A group of students and a few faculty play on the quad that is in the middle of the very cozy campus. So I'm out there 4:30 on Tuesday and I notice that Profs. Olofson and Freeze, the two other faculty regulars are not there. Hmmm.
Thirty minutes later, the entire faculty, dean, president, etc, come streaming out of the library.
There I am, sweaty, holding the disc, trying to look inconspicuous.
"Hey. Was there a faculty meeting today?"

White Mountains

2010-06-20T04:41:00.000-07:00

So before left Maine back in June, I went on a 3 day backpacking trip by myself in the White Mountains in New Hampshire (or New Hamster as Gwyn would say.) It was gorgeous. I got dropped of Tuesday night, and we hiked together up this little stream. Some of the boulders were white marble and there were lots of beautiful little cascades and some bigger falls.

Then Bekah and the kids went back to the car and I hiked up to a campsite. The trail was very steep and not in particularly good shape and we got a late start, so I got into camp just as it was getting dark. I slept pretty well, except that I could hear some critter trying to get my food and it gnawed a hole in my tent. The next morning I got up with the sun and started hiking very soon after. It didn't take long to get to the hut at the foot of Mt. Madison. Here's a picture.

Then I started my hike across the presidential range. Mt. Washington is in the middle and at 6,288 ft, is the highest peak in New England and also has the worst weather. The highest recorded wind speeds in the world were recorded there, 231 mph and it is regularly above gale force. Today was an exception though, the sky was crystal clear all day and the wind was hardly blowing, even at the summit.

I was pretty careful about my pack weight and my base weight was around 14 lbs. I think I can do better though. There were some last minute things I threw in, like a "Summer Sausage" I bought discounted at Mardens. I ate about 1/5 of it for a snack and it was pretty tasty, but then I kept tasting it and was wondering if it needed to be cooked, or if it mattered that it was six months past date. I also realized that the whole thing was 16 oz. I was carrying a whole pound of summer sausage, and I wasn't really looking forward to eating it again. So a few hours after lunch, I unwrapped it and jettisoned it off a cliff. It felt pretty good and probably made some raccoon's week.

The scenery was incredible. This is the hut at Lake of the Clouds, just past the summit, which was probably the best part.
Near the end of the day, other people who were hiking the whole thing in one day started to catch up with me. I met an older guy who teaches high risk kids in Maine high schools and we hiked together for a couple hours.
Then I found a tiny spot to pitch my tent right before Crawford Notch. During the night it started raining and rained on and off for the next day. I ended up hiking in my stretchy fleece tights and they were awesome. Although they got wet, they didn't feel wet and I felt warm. My patagonia houdini was less waterproof than I had hoped and I got pretty wet. Although I was at lower elevations for most of the day, I passed a few nice lakes and ponds and several waterfalls, as well as a couple more huts. Near the end of the day, I hit a few more shorter peaks, but it was rainy and cloudy so I didn't get to appreciate them that much. I also passed 3 or 4 through hikers headed north on the Appalachian Trail. Most had been out about 4 months at this point. I was pretty jealous. I almost made it to a shelter for the night, but decided to pitch my tent instead, because I figured it would be warmer and most of my stuff was wet.
The last day I got up early again and climbed up to Mt. Lafayette. Although not as high, this long ridge above Franconia Notch had that cool alpine feel with short shrubbery and rocky crags, like these.

Unfortunately, it was cloudy, so there weren't any views to speak of. I hiked down the Cascade trail and saw a bunch of waterfalls. Then I hung out in the campground for an hour waiting for Bekah and the girls. When then got there we hiked back up the cascade trail, since I lost my fleece somewhere. Here's us at the falls.

I think this sequence is pretty classic hiking with kids.

We camped in the state park that night and the next morning did a five mile hike up to a lake and down next to a stream with lots of waterfalls. We did hiking treats the whole way and it was probably Gwyn's longest hike ever. She did great.

Hiking treats. Miriam got to designing fun hiking treat place setting, like this floating one.

This is the last falls near the end. No swimming. (What is this, Japan?)

Happy Birthday Bekah

2010-05-14T11:47:00.001-07:00

So, Gwyn has been very excited about Bekah's birthday. She insisted we get balloons and decorate the house, and has been very involved in the planning. She woke me up early on Mother's Day to make breakfast, which was fun (crepes and waffles, since M & G couldn't decide), and she was intent on doing it again. So, this time, I tell her "Don't come bursting into my room, because you'll wake both of us up and mom wants to sleep in on her birthday. Just come in and don't say anything and shake me to wake me up."
So this morning she loudly flings open our door, flooding the room with light. Then she tiptoes over to me and gently shakes me.
Me, groggily, "Gywn, what time is it? What does the clock say?" (It's not visible from my side).
"Five, one, zewo."
"Um, I don't think we need to get up quite yet. Let's try sleep a little more."
So she climbs over me and into bed between us and snuggles up. Then, every five or ten minutes (just as I've drifted back to sleep), she asks, "Is it time to get up yet?"
But since Bekah is a lighter sleeper and not getting any much (any) sleep either, at "six, two, zewo," or so, I get out of bed to make breakfast. I ask Bekah, "Any requests?"
"Something that takes an hour to make?"
They didn't take quite an hour, but we had some wicked good, whole wheat aableskivers.
Happy Birthday Bekah. We love you.

Kayak trip

2010-05-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

Bekah posted about our kayaking trip, but I didn't really feel like she fully captured it's awesomeness, so here is the complete account, with more pictures.

So, it's been a little crazy around here. After I got back from all my trips, I had to give all my finals, then grade all of the papers and figure out my grades. So I worked through the weekend, so I could get it all done on Monday so we could go on our kayaking trip Tuesday. Monday I also sent out a few more job applications and talked someone at a small liberal arts college in Maine, who was interested in my application. So with everything in the air, we just decided to leave and let the chips fall where they may.

Tuesday, we drove the three hours out to Stonington, at the south end of Deer Isle. (Check it out on google maps if you want to see where we were.) We searched around for the a public boat launch, but couldn't find it, but we found some steps down to a granite ledge, which will do for us. Since I had just revarnished the kayak, I was suddenly worried that I hadn't packed all of the pieces. (But we'd seen a hardware store on the way out, so we could've figured something out.) Luckily, it was all there. So I put together the boat while Bekah brought the gear down. Packed it all up and set off. I paddled in the klepper with the two kids and Bekah used a kayak we borrowed from the Bates Outing Club.

So we paddled out and had lunch at Rock Island, a lovely little island with a nice beach and meadow and forest. A little bit of everything. We circumambulated the island. Then we paddled to Steve's island, where we were going to camp. It was tiny, but very picturesque. There were several tiny coves with beaches and lots of big granite boulders/slabs or islands, depending on the tide. We finally chose the biggest campsite on the leeward side of the island to be out of the wind, and the view was nice. Then set up the hammock and relaxed. The island was small enough, the kids could roam on their own.

So this is our camp.

Our boats, in the little bay just across the peninsula from our camp.

The girls on our big boulder in front of camp.
The next day, I was woken up by the lobster boats and their wakes making waves on our beach. The tide was at it highest around 5, so I went over to check out boats, but they were fine. By the time everyone got up and ate breakfast and got ready to leave it was around 8:30, and the tide was so far out we had to carry the boats all the way down the beach and over the slippery rocks to get out to the water.

Sunrise from camp.

We paddled further south to harbor island, which was lovely.

Miriam wanted to stop at every patch of sand and play at the "beach." They also wanted to go out and be on every rock in the water, so I carried them out when it was too deep. Bekah found her first sand dollar, then five minutes later, I found a bigger one. Sorry. Then we decided to go to Isle au Haut (pronounced ile o ho, high island, in French). Gwyn wanted to know why they didn't just use English. Turns out the landing spot here is kind a bit of a paddle past a lot of private wharfs. We thought we'd hike to the mountain and get the view. Gwyn wisely said no, but then we suggested there might be someplace to buy ice cream on the island, and she quickly changed her mind. So we weren't sure where to land, so we tried the beach in front of the store, but it turned out to be mud flats. So we spent about 40 minutes or so mucking around and carrying kids and kayaks, and Bekah almost losing my slippers 5 or 6 times and having to dig them out of the oily mud, Also, it was filled with mussel shells, which are kind of sharp. Then we realized that the wharf fifty feet further down was probably the public wharf, so we paddled down there and easily tied up our boats. Walked around to get the kids, who we'd left on the rocks and headed off to find the hike, and get ice cream. The store hours turned out to be MWF 2:30-5, so we still had a few hours. Instead, we stopped in the public library and chatted with the librarian, who gave us some banana bread and cookies and told us about the island. Then we found the trail and started hiking. The whole island was not very shady, so it was kind of feeling like a death march even before we started hiking, and the trail too was surprisingly unforested. I ended up just carrying Gwyn and Miriam wanted to know why I wouldn't carry her. Here is a picture of Gwyn on the top.

The views were okay, but could've been greatly improved with a chainsaw. Then back down, another stop at the library to check my e-mail. (And find out there will be no job interviews this week.) Then ice cream at the store. It is surprisingly not much more expensive than the mainland, so I bought the most expensive thing to compensate. The Harbor Bar, ice cream sandwiched by two chocolate chip cookies and then the whole thing dipped in chocolate. 500 calories. Yumm. Mine looked like it was left over from last summer, but no complaints here. Then we paddled back to Steve's island. It was kind of a long haul (for us, maybe 3 miles) and there was weather. In fact we had some very strong gusts where Bekah wasn't making much headway and we stared eyeing some random islands to bail to if necessary. But then it started drizzling and quieted down. We could see some rain further up in the bay, but most of it missed us.
The next day we broke camp and headed across the small channel to explore wreck island. It was a big island, but there weren't really any trails, except deer trails. Kids were whiny, but we did get to the top and had some nice views and then kind of found a trail back down.

There was lots of deep moss and granite slabs. Then we paddled over to round island and had lunch. It was a short hike to the top, but contrary to the guidebook, there were no views. There were some short cliffs on the west side and we got some nice views from there. We had lunch, and the seagulls nearby totally ignored us. Then we knew we weren't in California anymore. They were too busy dropping mussels on rocks. I had always wondered what seagulls ate besides McDonalds. Then we paddled over to Hell's Acre, which was a tiny little island, but great. We napped in the shade while the kids made fishing poles of sticks and seaweed and fished. After a leisurely stop, we paddled over to Russ Island where we stopped for the night. The campsite was wooded and a different feel from Steve's.

Gwyn testing the hammock.

Palmer scouts in action.
The island was a lot bigger, but we were the only people there. There were also paths to the top where there was a great view.

The was scattered evidence of the old quarry, like iron stakes pounded into the rocks, or piles of cut rock, now deeply covered in moss. This island is where the granite for the towers of the Brooklyn bridge came from.
The blocks that never made it to the Brooklyn bridge.
Although we were only a half mile from Stonington, the campsite was on the south side, so it looked out into the archipelago at half a dozen more tiny islands.
We pulled our boats way up onto a ledge that was all the way up the beach and then another four feet higher than that, but the night when the tide was high, they were just barely out of the water. (We also tied them up, but still.) I'm still surprised by the huge tidal differences. The differences between the high and lows are about 10 feet, so it can come up or drop a couple feet in an hour.
The whole south side of the island is one long beach or granite slab, so very easy walking. It was also very glassy so we skipped rocks.

Bekah made a new record of 7 skips. The next day we explored the island more thoroughly and picked up trash on the beach. There was kind of a lot, unfortunately and we couldn't take it all. Maine law also prohibits collecting any fishing material, which is unfortunate since lots of it was old lobster floats and pieces of traps.
Gwyn on the last morning eating breakfast.
Then we broke camp and paddled the short distance back to Stonington. Broke down the kayak and repacked the car. Our car was still where we left it. (I wasn't sure we were allowed to park there.) Bought a large pizza, half cheese and half everything, at the store and ate it outside by the statue of the quarry man. It was pretty cold, so after wasting some time and money at the local gift shop (you can put in a request for Maine postcards, and Miriam got a little lobster puppet for $5) we drove up to Ellsworth to spend the night with the Barrets.
Overall, it was an awesome trip. Usually, when I finish a camping trip, I am totally ready to be done. When we got back from this one, I seriously could've headed back out for a few more days. I think that means it was just about right for the kids. So if that wasn't enough, I am pretty sure we are going again in June, once school is out, so if you want to come, mark your calendars.
Thanks Bekah, for an awesome trip. She is a good camping mom.

St. Patrick's Day Resolutions

2010-03-18T18:03:00.000-07:00

So, for my Saint Patrick's Day resolution, I have decided that I am going to start training for and eventually compete in a full length triathlon. (Apparently the Ironman people are pretty touchy about the trademark infringement.) Anyway, so it's a 2.5 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, followed by a 26 mile run. I want to do it sometime before or during my 33rd year. So, this year or next. Basically, I have been running and swimming fairly regularly, but without any kind of goals, so it gets kind of boring. Also, my leg is still weak and I hate feeling like I am still not fully recovered. And, I'm getting older and don't like feeling like I am succumbing to decrepitude. I am hoping this will push back the tide a little bit. Finally, it seems like I will still not be anywhere I can surf regularly for the next year or more, and basically, running, swimming, and biking is the most exercise for the amount of time spent, and I don't really have a lot of time. So, this is not really to brag or anything, but just to put it out there to force myself to be a little bit more serious about the whole thing. Also, if anyone wants to join me in setting their own exercise goal, we can try to keep each other honest. I think I will try and post about how it's going fairly regularly. Anyone interested?

Job offer, etc.

2010-03-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

So, A few weeks ago, right after my funny/tragic dream, I actually got a job offer. So I contacted everyone I was waiting to hear back from and had varying degrees of response. Then, in the meantime I heard back from a few more schools closer by that they were interested in interviewing me. So, after thinking about it and praying about it, we decided not to take it. I am fairly confident we will get a better offer. The job was in Wisconsin, which seemed like a fun place to live, but pretty far from any family. The teaching load was not bad, mostly Japanese classes, but since it was a quarter system, classes went until June. So now we are back to waiting again. Bekah is pretty calm about the whole thing, which she says must be a sign we are doing the right thing.

Latest job interview.

2010-03-02T18:49:00.000-08:00

So I had this really good job interview this morning. It was for one of the history jobs and I thought I was able to make a really strong case about why I can teach East Asian history, even though I don't have a history degree. The interviewers were really nice and seemed interested in my work and we had a really good conversation. All in all, I was very hopeful about my prospects for the job.

And then I woke up, literally, and realized it was a dream.

I was wondering if anyone can interpret this dream for me. Maybe the job interview is a metaphor for something. I know this is way out there, but maybe I have some (very) subconscious anxiety about something that's going on right now. I can't think of what it might be though. Any suggestions?

How does an idiot like this get elected to the Senate?

2010-02-26T13:32:00.000-08:00

http://www.grist.org/article/2010-02-25-james-inhofe-senate-top-skeptic-explains-climate-hoax-theory/

Snow Bunnies

2010-02-14T17:35:00.001-08:00

So, on Wednesday I took the girls snowboarding. I'd taken Miriam for a practice run a few weeks earlier to the super short bunny hill and she had fun, but was done after an hour or so. Gwyn had never been. Gwyn wanted to go straight to the top and only after much cajoling was reluctantly willing to practice a bit on the bunny hill (which is really just a 20 foot section they have roped off for practicing. So after 20 minutes of that we head to the top. Then it took us about 40 minutes to get halfway done the mountain, after which Gwyn wanted to walk the rest of the way. That might not seem that long, but the mountain is only 400 ft. high. She actually did pretty well for a five year old who'd never been before. She really liked the chair lift and was mad because I made her hold onto the bar and sit all the way back. So Gwyn was done, but after we ate our dinner in the lodge, Miriam and I went back up and she did really well. She can't really turn yet, but she can go straight for a ways before she starts going too fast and falls on purpose. We worked on riding on both edges, although it wasn't steep enough that you really had to turn that much. Anyway, she had a lot of fun and wants to go again. No one cried and she thought it was funny when she fell into the ditch beside the trail (with Bekah, not me), at least she did when I talked to her forty minutes later. Anyway, babies and toddlers are cute, but I'm finding big kids are pretty fun too.

Settlers of Maine

2010-02-08T18:06:00.000-08:00

So Gwyn has been really into games lately, mostly Crazy Eights and Uno. So, on Friday night I decided to teach the girls how to play Settlers of Catan. It turns out, you actually don't need to know how to read to play. Gwyn has her own distinct strategy of buying lots of development cards, which has actually served her pretty well. The girls wanted to play again Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday we upgraded to Seafarers, since Miriam was complaining about too many sheep. Overall, we are very cooperative traders and pretty good neighbors on the island, except Gwyn who likes to cut people off. It's pretty exciting that we can have a full game with just our own little family (who needs friends, I guess). And it is great relief to think we might be permanently past the mind numbing, Chinese molasses drip torture of Candyland.

Where will we be next year?

2010-01-22T17:00:00.000-08:00

Not Maine, as I found out today. Any guesses? Suggestions?

Depressing thoughts

2010-01-20T19:38:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it has been a while, and now all I have is a bunch of loosely related, depressing thoughts. Maybe somebody can offer some hope here. The world hasn't ended, yet.

So the recent disaster in Haiti shows how easily the barely functional countries of the third world fall apart. Here, luckily, it was just one country, but if we are unable to do anything about global warming, we should have problems of a similar magnitude across the board. And the developed countries' capacities and willingness to help, lukewarm at the best of times, will be noticeably diminished.

The chance of the United States doing anything meaningful about global warming just shrunk measurably with the Massachussetts election of Scott Brown (who, btw, for any social conservatives who may be reading this blog, posed totally naked for cosmopolitan in 1982). Even more irritating and ironic is the suggestion, probably real, that Massachusetts voters were fed up with debate on healthcare, since Massachussetts gained, under the leadership of former governor Mitt Romney, a more liberal healthcare plan than either of those being considered in congress. But, of the existing states with near universal coverage, Massachusetts plan is most like the one Congress is trying to pass, and polls suggest they are generally ok with it (slightly more in favor than against). So basically, we've got ours, but no one else should? I don't get it. Does independent mean ideologically incoherent? Winston Churchill's remarks on democracy seem particularly apt.

Also, I am reading about East Asian societies that basically imploded while rival factions in government kept anyone from instituting the meaningful changes. Even without the perfect hindsight of history, there were contemporaries who knew what needed to be done, but were prevented from doing it by conservative faction who were unable to do offer any constructive solutions to these problems, but just criticized and stymied those attempting reform. Tens of millions of people died.

More Dissertation Fun

2009-11-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

So, I have been writing, editing, formatting, etc. my dissertation. So I downloaded the formats for the front matter, and started thinking about acknowledgments, writing an abstract, and I was curious how people I know who have written dissertations did theirs. So I downloaded a few, then I decided to get Mike(Palmer)'s as well. So I now have a pdf of Mike's dissertation, if anyone wants a copy. Probably too big an attachment for e-mail, so skype me. As I think I'd heard from mom, it is dedicated to his advisor, which is pretty classic. Perhaps, Pam's contribution's went without saying. Also, just randomly, I took a short break on Saturday, after working for 6 hours in the morning and we drove to Freeport to check out a coastal state park (I would say beach park, but there wasn't really any beach). It was pretty cool though. There were some tiny islands offshore with houses on them. Seriously, the islands were just big enough for a small house and maybe thirty trees. Then on the way home in Freeport we stopped inside the Northface and Patagonia stores and realized they were outlets. There were some pretty good deals, 60-70% off, but the kids were sort of at the end of their leash (they were tackling each other in the aisles), so we just got a few small things. Anyway, so there is another reason to come visit us in Maine, if that's what you're into.

Hawaii Rocks

2009-10-17T06:23:00.000-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/17/health/policy/17hawaii.html?ref=health

More evidence that providing everyone insurance lowers costs.

Open call for dissertation readers

2009-09-25T05:54:00.000-07:00

So, a number of people have expressed interest in reading my dissertation, and have complained that I have never sent them a copy. The main reason I haven't is that there is always some part of it I am working on, so it never feels done. I think "I'll just finish --- first, and then send it out." Anyway, I am getting to the point where most of that is finished, though not all, and I'm going to have to turn it in one way or another soon, so I might as well get as much feedback as possible. So, if you want a chance to read it before the general public (consider it a sneak peak at the much anticipated, by at least one person I can think of, work) then leave a comment for me with your preferred e-mail address, and I will send it to you sometime over the next couple weeks (I really need to polish up the introduction first). As an added bonus, if you give me lots of useful feedback, I will include your name in the acknowledgments section (a very heady thought, I know.) Think of it like a fun online drawing, for extra work, which everyone wins. Let the fun begin.

Chairs and bookshelves

2009-09-09T16:11:00.000-07:00

So we've been looking for chairs, and we finally found some groovy old chairs at an antique store. The chair Gwyn is sitting on folds into the one next to Gwyn. Perfect for our nomadic lifestyle.
That was on labor day, on our way home from the beach. Another post by Bekah perhaps. Anyway, so Saturday I made a bookshelf, which we've also been needing. It took about 2-3 hours to make, and 10 minutes to fill. So we need another one now I guess. I was kind of experimenting with building it without nails or glue or anything, so it comes apart as well (just in case.) I also started working on a kitchen stand, but I was trying something more involved, so I had to set it aside for now.

My two cents on health care reform

2009-09-09T16:04:00.000-07:00

So one of the many pluses of moving to Maine is that my senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are both moderate, independent Republicans who may have an influential role in creating an American health care system we can be proud of. So, I finally buckled down and put some of my basic feelings about health care reform on paper and sent it to them. Here they are. I would encourage you to do the same.

Dear Senator Snowe,
I recently moved to Maine for a job at Bates College and for the first time in our married life (8 years), we all have health care. I have been in graduate school the last seven years and during that entire time the only time my wife was insured was while we were living and studying in Japan and Taiwan. The care we received in both countries was affordable, accessible, and high quality. My youngest daughter was actually born in Taiwan. It baffles me that we have not yet been able to accomplish that here. It is also a shame that foreign countries take care of American citizens better than America does. We are the richest nation in the world, I think we should be able to afford health care for all of our citizens. Access to quality care should be a universal right, like we have decided education is. I also believe the universal coverage, greater access to preventive care and screening services, and better regulation will bring costs down for everyone. We are all paying the price for a system that no longer works for most of its participants.
Even though I was covered with an expensive college plan at a university with a reputation for medical research, every time I had to use my insurance I spent hours on the phone with insurance representatives trying to figure out why they were trying to bil me for the entire amount. I remember feeling sick when I got a bill for $57,000 after an ACL reconstruction surgery. I would talk to someone on the phone and they would tell me it was cleared up and then a few weeks later I would get another bill. I would call again and the process would be repeated. I can't remember how many times I had to do this before it was resolved. Later a friend told me he had the same surgery in Oregon and entire bill was under $5,000. I was shocked there was such a huge difference, but the system is such that I never heard a price, or even had the opportunity to ask. Even if I had, based on previous experiences, I doubt the doctor could have told me, since he doesn't know what insurance I have. This is in contrast to our experiences in Taiwan and Japan where were given choices and told the price of services upfront, including the total and what we would be responsible for. Since everyone knew what the health insurance covered and at what rates it was easy to make wise decisions based on the necessity of certain services. I never felt like I was compromising my families health in anyway, but we could reduce our expenses by sacrificing some small amenities. Again, this is in contrast with my experiences in America, where each visit is so fraught with uncertainty about costs, that even with quality health insurance, as a graduate student with a very limited budget, I would often delay or avoid going to the doctor because I never knew what it was going to end up costing me. I tried to study it out, but every year it changed and I had a very busy life. This is another external cost of our extremely complicated and inefficient system.
We finally have health insurance, but it is expensive for me and for the university. I'm grateful for it, but I sympathize with all of the people who don't have anything and stay up at night worrying about their kids. We are all paying the price for a system that doesn't work. When someone you love gets hurt, you shouldn't have to wonder if you can afford to take them to the doctor. Doing nothing means being stuck with a system under which almost everyone suffers in some way.
I understand that your vote is extremely important in this coming Senate process. Please vote to help bring about universal care for all Americans. Like universal education, I believe that this is a basic part of our right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. In some ways this is a complicated issue, in other ways it is very simple. Although there are many businesses that profit from the present model, most people don't care about the details, they just want to know that if something happens that they can't fix themselves, they can get the help they need. (Hopefully without having to declare bankruptcy or fight their insurance company every step of the way, if they're lucky enough to have one.) The current system is failing. No system is perfect, but I think we can do better than this. Sincerely, Jesse Palmer

Epic Swell

2009-08-02T19:17:00.000-07:00

So last weekend, there was a huge swell and I got the best surf I have ever had in California. I surfed Uppers Friday night. It was 3-5, occasional 6 ft. Hawaiian, and totally lining up. I caught a lot of smaller waves and a few really big outside sets. The biggest sets were breaking really far out and just rolling through washing everyone to the inside. When I came in I was so exhausted. Mostly I am out of shape, but also I paddled more that day than I do in several months of surfing Newport. The next day we checked a few other spots and even paddled out at Crystal Cove, but it was too big for the spot, with crazy exposed rocks on the inside. So we ended up back at Uppers again. At first, it wasn't quite lining up, but it got better as it got later and by the end I had a series of really nice waves. This picture is on the inside, so it was pretty small. Paddling over the shoulder is Dan, my hometeaching companion and surfing buddy.

Enjoying Socal

2009-07-12T16:36:00.000-07:00

(This is last Sunday's post that was waiting for picts.) So this week I have been trying more consciously to exercise and enjoy Southern California before head to the frozen north. Fortunately, the waves has also been cooperating and I had several good days of surf. Friday morning was actually well overhead with lots of huge backside closeout barrels. Also body surfed Crystal cove wednesday evening while M and G played in the shorebreak. Miriam is getting to be a pretty good boogie boarder although she won't go further than 10 feet or so from shore. We went to the beach Sat. morning as well. Smaller, but still fun. I spent another 3 hours fixing my kayak. I had the fan on the whole time, so I felt a lot less whacked from the chemicals. Bekah and I went on a date and got sushi and walked around Corona del Mar. I have also made some progress on the dissertation, although not as much as I would like. I am reading Foucault and Bourdieu and I have found a bit that will be useful, but I am not sure how much I need to read to really use their ideas. The kids got a huge box and after two days of playing in the packing peanuts, we made a house out of it. They just finished swimming lesson and Gwyn is pretty good.

Last Week

2009-07-05T12:38:00.000-07:00

So, a lot happened this last week, and the week before. The Waxman-Markey energy bill passed the House, the Senate is debating national health care, and Michael Jackson died (and Farrah Fawcett). Miriam's tooth, that has been loose for months, is on the verge of falling out. ("Can I see it?" I ask, "Seeing is not touching," she says as I reach for it. Different events have had different levels of significance for various members of our family. Meanwhile, I have been crazy busy with teaching Japanese, getting ready to teach in Maine, trying to keep the dissertation ball rolling. I get in usually by 7 or 7:30 and work till 5 or later, and then more at night. I haven't really figured out how to find time to exercise with the new schedule, so I need to work on that. Basically just frisbee once a week and surfing on the weekend, and I've been skating to school, which is good for my left leg. Miriam and Gwyn are getting really good at swimming and boogie boarding. It's been hot and summery.
On the fourth, we went to a pancake breakfast at church. Gwyn rode her bike in the parade, without training wheels, since I took them off the day before, and she is doing fine without them. Then we went sold our loft bed in the kids room, so I took it apart and helped the people who bought it reassemble it in their house. Then we went to the pool with our friends. Then in the afternoon we went to Chelsea's and hung out and ate and watched the fireworks at Huntington beach. It was very fun, although we didn't get back till pretty late, and then overslept, and were the latest I've ever been to church in a long time.

Super Reader

2009-06-27T21:52:00.000-07:00

So, Miriam has been reading continuously (not continually) since summer break started. Today she started the first Harry Potter book and is almost finished. Several times I had to forcefully pry her away; to go to the beach (she brought her book), to eat lunch, to finish eating lunch (one hour later, "I'm hungry") to go the pool, (she wanted to bring her book and I wouldn't let her), to write in her journal. In her journal she writes, "I am raeding Hurry Pottar. I Do not like Harry Pottey. It is a Boy Book."
"So why are you reading it?" I ask.
"Because" she says, glaring at me, "it's the only book mom got from the library that I haven't finished already."

Summer days

2009-06-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday was a pretty fun Saturday. Woke up at 7:30, everyone else was still asleep, so I went to school and worked for three hours on my dissertation. (Things are going pretty well, and I am starting to hope I will be able to wrap it up this summer. We'll see though.) Came back at 10:30 and took Gwyn and Miriam rock climbing at the climbing wall. Gwyn was just going to watch since she is too young, but the people behind the front desk said she could. They had a lot of fun, and did really well, and Gwyn got to the very top, 36 feet. They also liked climbing under the overhang, because when you fall you swing out away from the rock, but then they were falling on purpose... Then we came home and had a late lunch, and I went to play ultimate. Played a fun, low key game for an hour and a bit. Then went up to the Barretts to see them and the Williams, who are moving to Connecticut. Kids played outside. Martha is great with kids and has known Miriam since she was in her nursery class. Watched some soccer, America vs. Honduras, talked about Jeff's bonsai trees. Then I went night surfing at Trestles with my home teaching companion. (He'd already surfed for three hours that morning, but was game for more.) Anyway, there was a full moon, a 2-3 Hawaiian south swell, and I caught more good waves than I catch in several months at Newport. There were maybe 8 guys out at Sunset when we paddled out, then 4, then just the two of us taking turns. Anyway, I feel like my summer used to be like this. I don't have many days like this these days, but it's nice that they still happen occasionally.

a real job

2009-05-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

So now, I guess I finally have a real job. (And a pretty cool shirt, thanks kt.) I have been working pretty hard for a while now, so I don't think it will be all that different. Still, I feel a little ambivalent about the whole thing, for a lot of reasons. I found a great article in the NY Times that expresses some of how I feel.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html?ref=magazine

Basically, in the long academic tradition of skepticism, or self-doubt (call if what you will), I am not positive that what I am doing is what I REALLY want to do, or will be most beneficial to society. (I really want to do something that I feel is beneficial to soceity.) Or is even necessarily the best match for my talents, interests, proclivities. Of course, I think a healthy measure of skepticism about the value of academia is a good thing to have as an academic. You should be able to make a case for your relevance to society, and I can make that case in a dozen different ways, but that still doesn't really answer the other questions.

the Maine part of the trip

2009-05-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

Was also lovely. Saw Israel and Cailin on Monday morning. (Thanks for coming into the city to see me, btw.) Went to Muji for Bekah, but they didn't have what she wanted. And since I took my chances and waited until they opened at 11, I barely made my flight. On the subway, I met a guy from Hawaii in NY for a conference on global warming and indigenous peoples. Got into Maine at 2 or so, rented a car and saw a little state park on the coast. Lots of little islands offshore, vary calm water. Prepared for my presentation, took a walk around campus, and got to bed at a decent hour and then didn't fall asleep until 3:30 am. Still, everything went well. My jobtalk, teaching demonstration, interviews. I really like the college, my colleagues, the town. Here is a pictures are of the college.

Here is one of of the falls and the mill, one of which is no longer running. While I was still in Utah, on my way home, I found out they were offering me the job. Everything so far has met or exceeded my expectations, and so I am pretty excited about the whole thing.

family house tour

2009-05-27T21:32:00.000-07:00

So last week, I visited New York and had a fabulous time hanging out with enoch and amy. I was there on Sunday, so we went to church, went on a walk through the woods. Here's a picture of their house from across the pond.

We also went by the house they put an offer on. Here are a few pictures of it. It seems like it is in a really nice location, and is well laid out.

Then on the way home, I missed my flight, had to spend another 10 hours in the Maine airport. Then I made it to Utah and had to spend the night, but got to see Tony and Sienna. Sienna and I went hiking to Stewart Falls. She drove me by some houses they were looking at close by. It was fun to visit everyone in their new environments and hear about new plans.

Maine

2009-05-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

So I am going to Maine on Tuesday to interview for another job. Everything I have heard about Maine makes me think I am really going to like it. The job and department seem ideal. I'll let you know how it goes. Btw, Bekah's birthday is tomorrow. Maybe I'll put up a birthday post tomorrow.

Kayaking Trip

2009-04-19T14:47:00.000-07:00

So we finally made it on our camping trip. Adam came out. We did a test run Thursday morning from Crystal cove to a beach in Laguna. We saw three pods of dolphins, plus the seal lions at seal rock we very active, jumping on and off the rock, out of the water. Several raced under our boat.
Saturday morning we drove out to the Black Canyon. We got there around 12, an hour after I planned on meeting the rental guy. Eventually, I got in touch with their shop and realized he'd already left, but she called him and he came back. We set up our boat and packed everything into it. About 2, we started paddling. We stopped in a few canyons on the way, did a little exploring, but we wanted to camp at Arizona Beach, where the hot springs were. So we got there about 7.

We did go up one little canyon that had hot springs, but it wasn’t dammed anywhere and there wasn’t even really enough water. The campsite at Arizona beach was a little crowded, so we camped kind of near the water. The stove I brought was out of gas, but it was enough to cook the food that first night. The hotsprings were awesome. The water is crystal clear and not at all sulfury. They are in a narrow slot canyon.
So there are three or four pools of increasing warmth and various depths. There were a few other people there. Adam and I went back for a midnight soak after putting the kids to bed. The next morning, Sunday, we slept in. I was originally planning just to hang out close by and maybe hike up the canyon, but we decided to paddle upstream. We went just a mile and half up or so, but since there was a lot of water being let out of the dam it was pretty tiring. We explored Boy Scout canyon.

There were a couple nice hot spring pools and several nice little waterfalls. With the kids and taking pictures and lunch, we were up there a while and so we just decided to call it a day rather than go all the way up. Came back and hung out near camp. We moved our campsite to the little cove right next to the river. There was a boy scout troop near by and all of the leaders came by, one by one, to tell us that last year when they’d done this, it was flooded. Since it hadn’t flooded the previous nights, we figured we were okay and we were. We went back up to the hot springs. Our new spot had a fire ring, so we built a little fire and made the bean burritos and quesadillas for the kids. Also we had an Easter egg hunt with the eggs we brought to celebrate Easter. Monday, we got up early and decided to paddle all the way to the top. Since the flow was still pretty mellow, we made really good progress until we could see the new bridge above the dam. Then we took a break to look for the sauna cave and Adam checked his e-mail. While we were resting the water came up about a foot and was flowing a lot stronger. After forty minutes or so, we started again, checking various caves that looked like they might be the sauna cave. All looked promising, but none panned out. Also, since the flow was a lot stronger, it was pretty tough going now. Then after getting turned around, we were trying to hug really close the shore to catch eddies and I broke my paddle on a rock, so I didn’t really think that we were going to be able to paddle up the rapids. But it looked like it must be just around the corner, so Adam and I climbed up around the rocks to see what we could find. I didn’t see the sauna cave, but I did see a really nice, warm stream, which didn’t make a lot of sense, since it wasn’t on the map. Anyways, it took a while to climb all the way up to it, so I swam back, which was a lot faster, but freezing and kind of scary with the currents. Adam’s idea was just to take turns and paddle all the way up the rapids. My idea was to climb up with the rope and pull the kayaks up river. Anyway, we tried my idea and it was a fiasco. The first mistake was to fasten the two boats together and do them at once. After about ten feet, the nose of Adam’s boat which was in front got swept out, but the back was still attached to the other boat, so he was perpendicular to the current. So I pulled on the rope to pull him back around and the edge caught and the kayak flipped, spilling his camera gear, and Miriam into the river. Miriam kept her head, and had a life jacket, so she with a little coaching, after being swept fifty feet downstream, she doggy paddled to the side. The camera gear was all in waterproof housing or Adam’s bag, and luckily it all stayed with the bag. Still, it was pretty scary, and I felt like an idiot. So we decided to turn around. On the way down, we looked for goldstrike canyon, the other main hot spring canyon to explore. We found another tiny canyon with a hidden entrance and hot water, but no pools. We had lunch there and on the way out, met someone who said that goldstrike was upstream, right above where we’d turned around. I’d hiked up to it, but not known what it was. Our map, which we downloaded from online, was totally wrong and had goldstrike and the sauna caves in the completely wrong places. But we weren’t really up for paddling back upstream for them, especially with one paddle on our boat. We did stop by the one palm hot springs, which is right above a little waterfall overlooking the river and was very cool. If you didn’t know about it, it’d be hard to find. Then we headed back to camp. We were pretty hot springed out, but the kids wanted to go up to the one by camp, so we did. They were pretty fearless. To get to the pools at Arizona beach, you had to climb up a 20 ft metal ladder and they were doing that on their own on the first day. At Boy Scout canyon, the group from UCLA had actually skipped it, since the ropes were too hard they thought. But Miriam actually climbed up all of them on her own, except the last. Gwyn got most of the way up one, but Bekah made her come down, since it was pretty sketchy. So the final day we just packed up and headed out. A few hours in, the wind became crazy strong blowing upstream, so our leisurely coast home became a battle against strong wind and waves. Plus, we’d put a hole in the boat at some point, and so only constant bailing kept the water level inside the kayak level. Bekah went with Adam and Miriam was a pretty good sport about bailing. Oh, both seat backs on the kayak broke as well. They weren’t very comfortable, and I’ve thought of a better way to rig them, but it does kind of affect the resale value of the boat. So we finally made it back, stopping only to bail water and take some short breaks. Disassembled the boat, repacked the car, and came home. The wind was still super gusty and kind of crazy. We stopped and ate in Boulder City at a local burger joint that gives ginormous fries portions, even with the kid meals. But we polished them all off.

Chicago

2009-04-04T22:24:00.000-07:00

So, last weekend I went to Chicago and got to hang out with Zach, Annie, and baby Sloan. It was awesome to see them after, what is it, four or five years. Everyone looks good, the same, except for baby Sloan, who is new. Chicago was cool, except when I got on the wrong train and got off in a bad neighborhood. It wasn't too far from the U of Chicago, but it was 10 pm. I asked directions from a cop at a gas station and ended up getting a ride to their neighborhood in the back of their paddy wagon. We went by the Obama's house, walked around the university, saw the Oriental Studies museum, etc. Spent hours and hours just talking. It was just fun to reconnect. I am kind of jealous that Zach's degree requires time lots of time in the mountains. The pictures of his dig sites in Peruvian highlands were very cool. They might be there next year, so maybe if I am unemployed . . . Also, there was an the Assoc. of Asian Studies meeting where I presented a paper on Buddhist chanting and tried to meet people.

Ouch!!

2009-04-02T22:38:00.000-07:00

When I came home Miriam was crying, holding her tooth.
"What happened?"
Eventually, I figure out she was outside, playing on this bench I made, and throwing wood onto the arbor, and she thought it might fall on her, and turned away, and hit her teeth on the bench somehow? I have no idea.
Anyway, this is one of the teeth that just grew back from when she whacked them a couple months ago. They were purple for a few weeks.
(We just found the teeth marks on the top rung of the bunk bed ladder. A perfect half circle.)
"Can I take a picture."
"You're not going to put them on the blog are you."
Man, this kid has us figured out.
At least I wasn't laughing at her, like some people.

palmer asian art gallery

2009-04-02T22:17:00.000-07:00

So, a few weeks ago, we finally hung up a bunch of things we got in Japan. Here are some picts.
The calligraphy scroll is like 8 feet tall. I have no idea what it says. Any suggestions?

Spring Break

2009-03-15T09:02:00.000-07:00

So technically, this next week is finals week, and then Spring break, and then the next quarter starts. But, we've decided to postpone our kayak plans until mid April, the weekend of the 11-12, because now that I am not teaching next quarter, it is all the same for me. So instead we're going on Miriam's spring break. And Adam's coming. So I am just working now, to play later. Still, with daylight savings we've finally been to the beach after school on a weekday. Saturday, went hiking with the Elder's quorum, went to a service project, and then, since there was a tiny swell, surfed for the first time in a few weeks. Oh, by the way, I've also finished a rough draft of my last chapter of my dissertation, so now it's just about rewriting, and formatting, and editing. If anyone wants to volunteer to read a chapter and give me some feedback, let me know.

More time to write my dissertation

2009-03-03T10:26:00.000-08:00

So, I just heard back from the second of the two schools where I had campus visits, that I did not get the job. So, it looks like we will be in Socal until Dec. at earliest and maybe longer. Then we will be looking for some other kind of gainful employment. I would love to move back to Hawaii for a bit, but we'll see. I might also be able to pick up some classes here and move off campus. At any rate, I will have some more time to write my dissertation, which is a good thing, although I am pretty ready to be finished.

Malibu Getty

2009-01-22T22:04:00.000-08:00

So we've been wanting to check it out for a while. Our friends were planning a museum day so we suggested this and all went.

Miriam was not sure what to make of all the nudity at first, but she bored by it all pretty quick.

Here's a nice shot Gwyn took, when she wasn't running around.

Overall, it was a nice mix of museum and architecture, so the kids could run around a little, enjoy the fountains and courtyards in between the museum. Finally, we stopped at the beach on the way home and I wished I'd brought my surfboard.

Campus visits and job talk

2009-01-20T21:34:00.000-08:00

So, I just heard back from a second school inviting me out to for a campus visit, Denison U. in Ohio. It is a small, liberal arts college in a tiny south eastern Ohio town. I am very excited, although this means that I will have to finish up my job talk a week earlier than I expected. It was already going to be tight, so this means the next few weeks will be busy. My other campus visit is at SUNY Binghamton on Feb. 9.

nickles and cents

2008-11-24T20:49:00.001-08:00

So Miriam got a note from school that her monetary counting skills are not up to turtle rock elementary school's high standards. The circled portion read "below average (needs to learn the identity and amount each coin is worth . . . and to learn how to count coins from the beginning)- daily (underlined 3x) practice is needed." I was sort of proud of her cluelessness about money, (except when she was giving it away to her friend who knew what it was worth) but I guess those days are over. So we spent some time counting coins and she paid me 23 cents for dinner.

On a related note, for the activity portion of FHE we played "Who's got the quarter?" or whatever you call it and it's funny to play with two kids, one of whom is totally without guile and the other who is not so much. Once when they raise their hands, Miriam forgets to close her hands and the quarter is in plain view. Bekah asks, "Gwyn, do you have the quarter?" She smiles like she can't keep a secret and nods her head. (She doesn't have it.)

bottom of the list

2008-11-22T22:03:00.000-08:00

So, I was an advocate of the blogs listed by order of recent updates on the Palmer blog, since it seemed very user friendly. Now I realize, that when you are at the bottom of the list, it means you are the biggest blogslacker on there. My main excuse is no pictures. Let me think of some blogworthy news.

We are going to Hawaii for 10 days, from the 6th to 16th. I am very excited. I am going to try an help mom get her energy bill down. Should be a fun project. It would be nice to expand the solar water heater if possible, maybe swap some appliances for more efficient models, making sure all of the shower heads and lights low flow and fluorescent, respectively. I've thought installing rainbarrels would be good too. Her energy bill is insanely high, so stuff that wouldn't be cost effective for many people probably would for her. (Lots of people and Hawaii energy prices.) Any suggestions.

I am almost finished applying for jobs and actually kind of stoked to get working on my dissertation again. I mean, if I get a job, I'm going to need to have it finished this year, which seems doable, but I will be busy. I had my first phone interview. It went well, I thought.

We went kayaking again. We need to figure out some kid games, because they get pretty bored and don't like it anymore. I think we just need to give ourselves more time so we can stop, check out beaches, etc. We did see paddle out to a rock that we always seem from the beach, and realized that the back side is home to about 20 sea lions. They were all at home too. It was very cool.

We are going to Norcal for Thanksgiving to see Chris and Da, Sienna and Tony, Noel and Austin, and everyone else who I haven't seen in a long, long time. We are very excited. And, there is a BIG north swell due that weekend. Hopefully we will have picts to post soon. (We took some kayaking, but the are all out of focus for some reason.)

Not much happening

2008-10-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

Or too much happening to blog about. So to keep up on some random threads I've started in case we haven't actually talked.

Xtracycle is temporarily out of commission since I almost got a ticket. A police guy pulled me over and lectured me on bike safety with ticket book in hand. Finally let me go so I could take M to school, which was great since we don't have that kind of money. M was a little traumatized; didn't want to be late. But luckily, we'd left early. Stuff like that encourages my libertarian leanings. Fortunately, the double bike seat I'm making just got it's third coat of varnish, and I just need to buy some webbing and screws to finish it.

I have biked to the beach twice and driven once or twice. Surf has still been pretty good, but I am getting a little tired of closeout barrels. But its been epic for here and I know it.

The Klepper has been great, but it is kind of a lot of work. We've gone on three trips, back bay, Corona Del Mar to Crystal cove, and Newport Harbor. Set up is 20 min and a bit, more if I put something in wrong and have to take it all apart and start over. (In German. Vorne = front, Hinter= back). If you waterlog the boat, the pieces take a while to dry. Everything needs to be dry before it can be packed away, so it all get strewn about the living room for a while. Luckily it is all wood and pretty. Hull needs some of the reinforcing strips glued down. Wood frame needs to be re-varnished at some point soon. Maybe Christmas break. But it is super fun. I love being out on the water with everyone. Especially in the evening, when the water is all golden. The kids are good sports, although they have been cold. I think the solution is not to get wet before we start. We are thinking of christening it the "blue seaweed princess" or something like that. We'll let you know when we finish the flag.

I am applying to jobs. I am actually really excited about some of them. There's a handful on the West coast that would be great. Some further East I am pretty excited about as well. It is a lot of work and kind of stressful and it's hard to imagine being someplace new longterm. Some of these places we could actually afford a house on a teacher's salary. Anyway, if you want to hear more about this, let's talk.

Xtracyle fun

2008-10-07T21:20:00.001-07:00

It's now okay if we get rid of the car. Today I woke up at 6:30 and decided--I've been thinking about it for a bit--to ride to the beach to go surf on my bike. It was AWESOME. My estimate was that it would take me 45 minutes, being out of shape and all, but I got there in 40. It takes 20 to drive and 5-10 to find a parking space, so it only cost 30 minutes of surfing, but I got a free 20 mile bike ride (which I need, since my knee still needs help). I can just wake up 30 minutes earlier, right. Better yet, over half of it was along back bay drive, a small road/bike path that runs along a beautiful estuary with glistening purple and gold water, mist, and lots of birds. Here's a picture.
It actually looks like this. Way nicer than the freeway. Coming home took a little while longer, since our house is probably several hundred feet above sea level. Also, the xtracycle is pretty slow, so what I really need is a road bike with a surfboard rack, or better yet, salvage an old mountain bike and throw on some road tires. I may never drive to the beach again. The waves were pretty good too.

Why I need an epoxy board.

2008-10-05T11:19:00.001-07:00

Happened Saturday morning at Newport Beach. Randomly, the guy who sold me the board (who lives in San Clemente) was on the beach watching, recognized his board, and came over to talk to me as I walked up the beach with the two halves.

Danke schon Herr Klepper

2008-10-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

Or the saga of the tent kayak. (It's pretty long, but bear with me.)
So some of you may have heard some of this, but I just have to share the whole story, since I am pretty dang stoked about this right now.

So, I have been wanting a kayak for a while. It would be the perfect ocean sport for when the surf is flat and if I got a big double we could go as a family. Plus, there are a lot of places to go around here, back bay estuary, Crystal cove, laguna beach, and I have really wanted to do a kayak trip out on Catalina. We moved out here seven years ago and have never been. Plus, Big Sur is not too far and a kayak would be the perfect way to explore those inaccessible coves.

But, I kept trying garage sales or craigslist and I could never get one in our price range, which over time began to steadily creep up, as you will see. (There were even a few free ones that slipped by, or a $25 garage sale kayak we missed.) The other big problem, as Bekah was quick to point out, we don't really have any place to put one.

Then while in Japan I discovered folding kayaks, which are basically aluminum or wooden frames with a skin, like an eskimo kayak. I was immediately sold. That solved the storage problem easily. You could fit in the back of the car for long trips. You could even check it on a plane for neighbor island trips to Molokai, Hana, North Kohala, Na Pali, etc. (Our super fun trip with Enoch and Amy last summer made me want a kayak even more.) Plus they are very durable and can last for 20-30 years or more if properly cared for.

The only problem was that they are super expensive. Although there were cheaper singles, doubles ranged from $2,600 for the Folbots to over $6,000 for a Feathercraft. Since there are a lot of details, I will make a list to keep this straight.

1. Before I get back I find a used Folbot Kodiak on ebay in Auburn CA, pickup only, which means it will probably be cheaper. Yesenia agrees to go and get it for me. I put in a snipe, but cancel it at the last minute, because I think what I really want is a double. I might have won, since it sells for only 600. I decide I want a Greenland II, the Folbot double.

2. I see one for sale on craigslist, almost new, for only 1000. Turns out to be a total scam. He wants me to Western Union him the money. I google his e-mail address and find out he has scammed others and has all kinds of fake stuff on craigslist in widely different places. But it makes me want one more.

3. Folbots go on sale, for %15 off through Sept. So now it's ONLY 2,200, instead of 2,600. Plus free shipping.

4. I drive to San Clemente to try and get a cobra double for $200. Already sold. It was the first thing to go. They have a nice fiberglass single that would be perfect if I lived near the beach. But I hit a bunch of other garage sales and get some other cool stuff, a snowboard bag for $2, computer speakers, planters, wood from a dumpster by a house being remodeled.

5. Last day of the Folbot sale and I buy one. 2,300 with some extras. (More than our car.) Then I check on ebay and there are two used ones for sale. But I have been reading a lot on the forums and some of the older models had issues, which have since been fixed in the newer models, but I am not sure which years. I decide I really can't afford a new one and send an e-mail and cancel my purchase. Folbot has great customer service, plus there is a 30 return period, so it's okay.

This whole time I am obsessing about this, keep talking it up to Bekah, who is not sold on the idea, and basically talking about it to anyone who will listen. John, whose shopping motto is "What would Jesse buy?" is a little disillusioned. Adam calls it the tent kayak and just thinks I should get a plastic one. Christian notes that you never use these things as much as you think you will. True, but I still really want to do all of these trips. And we could have it for a long time. And I know I want one eventually, so the sooner we get it, the longer we can enjoy it.

6. So the next day, instead of writing my dissertation I start checking craigslists. In SF there is a 10 yr old Greenland II for 1,200. There are some older Folbots, non-folding, in Long beach and Oceanside. Then in the San Diego craiglist I discover a used Klepper double for $800.
Klepper is a German company and one of the oldest folding kayak makers in the business. People have paddled their boats across the Atlantic, to Antartica, from Germany to India. They generally acknowledged to be better quality than the Folbots, though more expensive, and they can last for a long time. Some people are still using boats 20-30 years old and they keep their value very well. A quick online search confirmed this was a very good price. It seems like the going price for a upper end, used plastic double was about 600 anyway.

Anyway, so I called the guy up, we drove down there this morning to check it out. The guy has taken this boat on a 10 week trip in Baja, to Alaska, etc. He was a super cool old dude who used to have a bunch of different folding kayaks, but was finally selling his last ones. (On the online forums, most of these guys have at least three.) Anyway, so what you see in those two bags is a 17 foot, double kayak. In his little yard, we took it apart, put it back together and took it apart again in less than and hour and half. With a little practice, I think it will come together in less than 20 minutes. Kayaking anyone?

Surfing with G

2008-09-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

So now we are back in California, I really want to teach the girls to surf. Gwyn really wants to and Miriam is not so sure. Actually, although I guess the summer was not that great, it has been a pretty awesome September. Not awesome by Hawaii standards, but awesome for here (and Japan). We've had pretty fun, head high, if a little inconsistent waves most days ever since I've been here. Unfortunately, I've been pretty busy so I can only make it out a few times a week. Here is G and I on a little wave at campus point in Santa Barbara. Miriam didn't want to go, until after Gwyn had, then she wimped out before we got into the water. This is on the tiny kids longboard, so there's not really enough room for both of us.

Boulder, Colorado

2008-09-21T08:18:00.000-07:00

So, last weekend I went to the Western Conference of the Association of Asian Studies in Boulder, Colorado. The conference was fun, but it was much more fun to hang out with everyone there, like Bekah's dad Merv, who lives in Denver, and Lance Crisler, and Joe and Leslie Marler. I stayed with Merv and rented a car to go drive to and from Boulder. Merv runs the International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management and so he know a lot about sustainable development, indigenous responses to modernity, climate change, and so it was a lot of fun to discuss all of this with him. Lance is studying Chinese literature at University of Colorado at Boulder, so it was really fun to have a friend who I could also talk about East Asian literature with. He knows a lot about the various professors and where they are and what they are doing, so it was good to get updated on that, since I am pretty oblivious to that aspect of the job. Finally, the Marlers are good friends with very cute kids. It was very fun to see so many old friends. Boulder is a cool little town and very beautiful in the summer. We drove into the mountains behind the town on Sunday and it was gorgeous, although I couldn't help but wonder what it looked like in the winter.

Nikko

2008-09-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

So here's some picts and a synopsis from my final trip before I left Japan. It was nice to be reminded how beautiful Japan can be.
Day one. Took the train out. Hiked to Kirifuri Falls, which everyone sees, and about four more down in the valley, which no ones sees. Then hiked up to the top of the mountain and stealth camped in a clearing on a ridge. No danger of being discovered as there was a light rain all day and I only met one other hiker in the lower section.
Day two. Traversed the long ridge over four or five peaks. Started at six and hiked till five or so, although the last hour and a bit was on roads. Despite expensive rain gear, I was totally soaked a few hours in and stayed cold and wet all day. Since it was cloudy, there were no real views, but the ridge itself was reminiscent of the Koolau summit, except there was a trail and the mud was usually only 2-4 inches or so, instead of the summit 8-12. And there were pine trees. After all those hours my knees were killing me. The bad one because its weak, and the good one because it had to do twice as much work. Plus they don't believe in grading trails, so for a 800 meter vertical descent, the trail is maybe 900 meters long. Ouch. Luckily the day ended in Yumoto, which is full of natural hotsprings.
Day three. Hiked down through the main valley, around several lakes and along a stream, and through a wetlands, and past some waterfalls, ending at Kegon falls with lots of tourists again. Caught the train home again.

Ichinomiya, Ohara

2008-08-18T04:10:00.000-07:00

So Friday night I am sitting around thinking, "I should really probably work tomorrow, since I can't really think of anything else to do and I have a lot to do before I go, but I don't really feel like it" when Bryan calls to invite me surfing. Well, that simplifies things considerably.

The wave of the day

2008-08-18T04:05:00.000-07:00

So after I went in because I was cold, some really good sets start to come through. Bryan catches the wave of the day, except Dave is right in front of him. It's one thing to blow your friend's wave, but another to have it immortalized on film. Here's the sequence. (Bryan bails right after this.)

Dave's defense

2008-08-18T04:01:00.000-07:00

Here is how Dave says that Bryan tells the story.

When I'm 4

2008-08-10T19:53:00.000-07:00

Gwyn knows that she will be four sometime in the future and for her it has become the time when she will do all sorts of things she doesn't want to do now. For example, she has told me, at various times that when she's four she will,
eat all of her breakfast
walk instead of be carried or ride in the stroller
stay in her bed
be a big girl
wipe her own bum
touch the sky when she jumps
Although I appreciate how G is now, I am looking forward to her doing all of these things. This last one was overheard when she was having some conversation with her mom that involved breasts. I think it started about why she shouldn't climb, or jump on, or otherwise abuse her mom.
Gwyn, "When I'm four, I'm going to get some big ones."
I think I can wait on this one.

. . . these are all my fears.

2008-08-02T22:04:00.000-07:00

When I was little, my teachers used to complain to my mom that I didn't say anything in school. My mom's response was something along the lines of, "How do you do it?" Miriam, I think, is kind of the same way. As shy as she is in school and with strangers, she's pretty loud at home. She also really likes to sing at the top of her lungs, at home, in the car, while she is supposed to be going to sleep. Lately, her favorites have been the Sandra Boynton CD, and lots of primary songs. Although her rendition of Snuggle Puppy is very cute, the primary songs are even better, especially for a couple where she sings them a little bit different.
For example, from the girl who is so sweet that she gets teased by her three year old sister, "If the Savior stood besides me, would you do the things you do?"
Or my favorite, from a Child's Prayer, "I see my mother kneeling, with our family each day. I hear the words she whispers, as she bows her head to pray, her prayers to the Father, these are all my fears" and then straight to the refrain, "I am thankful, love is spoken here." Yeah, me too.
Here's a random picture from our trip. Bus ride home.

More BSA in Japan, kayaking

2008-07-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

So I planned this hike last weekend to some waterfalls I have been wanting to check out forever. It is finally so intensely hot and humid that life without waterfalls is unbearable. But, being from Laie, I unthinkingly chose the Saturday of the first three day weekend after school got out. It should have taken us maybe an hour and half to get there. Instead, after three and a half hours we were stuck in traffic halfway there and it was not going to get any better. So rather than take six hours to get there, we bailed and drove to the military base and rented kayaks and kayaked in the bay. I could portray it in one of two ways.
Here is the gritty industrial side.

And here is the beautiful natural side.

Why we love G.

2008-07-19T22:50:00.000-07:00

As Mariko pointed out, Gwyn is a good explainer. The other morning when her oatmeal overflowed in the microwave she said,
"I hate when this happens. This is why we have to move."

M the Mermaid

2008-07-19T04:55:00.000-07:00

So, on Miriam's penultimate day of school, they had a little water safety drill that involved getting into the pool wearing all of your clothes. The pool is not that deep, so I think it was about not panicking. But with Miriam, they needn't have worried.
She came home, we were talking about her day and Bekah, trying to have a teaching moment, asks, "So if you fell in deep water with all of your clothes, what would you do?"
"Well, first I would look down at my feet and see if I was a mermaid. If I was, then I would just swim down deep to where the mermaids are."

Valleys, Islands

2008-07-14T01:42:00.000-07:00

This is a post from Dec. I never posted, since I think I wanted to find a picture. But I totally forgot about it, so here it is before I forget about it again.

So we finally were able to go out to pay back our friends for babysitting earlier for us. They live in Takao, which is at the far western edge of the Kanto basin, up against some smaller mountains. Anyway, they have three boys, 4, 7, and 9. They can be pretty wild, but they are good kids and were good for us. I took them hiking yesterday up to Jinba san, which is the tallest mountain nearby.
Although we didn't end up hiking as much as I'd liked, since we got kind lost at the beginning, it was very cool just to drive around the mountains. I really love these little houses and farms nestled in the valleys. There were lots of older, traditionally built houses, even a few with thatched roofs. Also, rock walls, stone stairs, terraced gardens. The persimmon trees were all loaded with fruit, but no leaves.
I think what I like about these valleys is similar to how I feel about islands. The natural constraints on space create a more intimate scale of interaction. Walking or bike rather than driving. Wendell Berry talks about how smaller scale, local farming and communities are essential because there is a natural limit to how much we can really care for, truly understand, work for, etc. Valleys and islands are nice because they force you to interact with the land on a more intimate scale. Driving around Oahu is obviously much more pointless than in California, or even Japan. You run out of places to go. But when you get out and walk you realize there is way more than you could ever experience on that scale. Even very close by.
It's like Laie falls. It isn't a spectacular hike, but I've been there so many times I realize how different it can be each time. I've been there before 7 in the morning, at 10, at 3, 5, right before it gets dark. I've even slept there. On bright clear days, drizzly, pouring rain, on cloudy still days when there was mist in the valley and over the pool. And it's always different. And so you realize that every place you've only been to once, to check off your list, you don't really know at all. But if you didn't know one place really well, you might never realize that.
Not that long ago, almost everyone had this kind of close relationship to a place. Now, many people don't and don't even realize what they've lost.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

2008-07-12T22:30:00.001-07:00

Okay, I know this is lame. But I actually had a really long post about this, that I was halfway through with and I somehow lost. I may rewrite it as another post, but the gist of it is this. Very few of us actually choose what we want to do. To some extent, this is impossible, because to make a real choice you'd have to know about all the options and we just don't have that kind of time. If anything, there is too much freedom. So although I am mostly happy about my life so far, I wonder about some other possibilities, some roads not taken, or even seriously explored. As a kid I imagined myself doing something more active, outdoors, engaged. Although being a professor is not just desk work, research is. Although I have been much more successful lately, staying happily engaged by yourself for all day every day for weeks on end is a bit of a challenge. I am much more productive with more human interaction than I have been getting lately. Also, I want to be more directly engaged in current problems of the world. I firmly believe in the importance of literature and history, or understanding the past and other cultures. But I am not sure that I have to be the one laboriously searching out this esoteric knowledge. The main thing that has changed since I started graduate school is my concern for the environment has become much more concrete and urgent, since I have learned more about global warming and the crucial moment we are at now as a planet and civilization. So lately, my list of possibilities have been, not in any particular order, environmental architect, or designer, or builder, remodeler, environmental lifestyle consultant (like a cross between a general contractor and personal trainer), or some sort of environmental business, maybe even a bed and breakfast in a tropical location, environmental lawyer, or even if I were teaching I would almost want to be teaching a general education class which doesn't exist at most schools, like Applied Environmentalism 101, or something like that. I have also thought about being a politician, except ever since I lost the election for class treasurer in 3rd grade, that I thought I had in the bag, I have wondered about my electability. A lot of jobs that seem perfect are more science jobs, like Ephraim's or Christian's possible future job, but as much as the ideas of science interest me, I always enjoyed my humanities courses a lot more. Besides, I can't really see myself back in undergraduate science courses. So any suggestions? I am also very interested in hearing everyones thoughts. So if you read this, please post a response.

Yet another advantage of bikes

2008-07-05T01:03:00.000-07:00

So, my bike has been making funny noises when I pedal for the last few months. At first, it was only when I went up really big hills, but then it got more and more common. So I checked Sheldon Brown's website and it looked like something might be loose. So, three weeks ago, I went to Shibuya and bought some tools and tightened everything down by the pedals, but it didn't help. So finally, I tried again with the bike in the living room, online looking at Sheldon Brown's site and checking up all the terms I didn't know. So it turns out it is probably the bottom bracket and I need yet a bunch more tools I don't have and maybe to replace something. So I decide just to take it to a shop. There is one kind of close by. Even though I am only going to be here two more months, I would feel bad selling a bike I knew had a problem. So I finally make it over there as they're closing. Anyway, long story short. He has to replace the bottom bracket and it cost $60. At first, I was thinking this was a lot. Then I thought about it in relation to a car. It costs $60 just to have them open the hood. If they pick up a screw driver, then add $20. I mean the bike only cost $400. Eventually, I plan on having all these tools and knowing how to do this, but for now, this is fine. And long term, I feel much more confident about the possibility of becoming a competent bike mechanic than ever knowing enough about cars. Especially since cars keep getting more complicated and the internal combustion engine will soon be obsolete. I hope.

Our Local Library

2008-06-28T22:29:00.001-07:00

One way that Tokyo is different from Taiwan is the plentiful English language reading material. Initially, I bought books from Amazon or the occasional bookstore here and there, but then 4-5 months ago a Book Off opened down the street. They are a Japanese used book chain, but since our neighborhood is full of foreigners, it wasn't long before they had a sizeable English language section. Not as big as the English only bookstores, but generally newer books, more turnover, and much cheaper. Especially, for some reason, the English books, which I think the staff is not quite sure what to do with. Also, we soon discovered that one weekend a month the English books are half-off, (although the signs that advertise this are all in Japanese), which means that a lot of the paperbacks and kids books are only a dollar. So, for the first time, I started buying books as a consumption item. Anything you want to do in Tokyo costs. With transportation, food, admission fees, you're lucky if you can leave the house as a family for less than $30-$50. Movies cost $2o per person, or so I hear. Even hiking or going to the beach, usually considered free, will put you out $30 just getting there and back. So books seem like a great deal in comparison. Even if you are only going to read them once and then sell them back. It sort of feels like a pay library. Once I got a whole stack of kids books, so Miriam would have something to practice with. Although I have been the one who gets most of the practice. This is also how we have kept up with books to read Miriam at night. After all, we finish something every week or so, and so I have probably already read her 15-20 books. Anyway, so I went yesterday and here is my haul. The first four Harry Potter books, The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, and By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I also go Tipping Point and Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, who writes for the New Yorker, which look interesting. All for $14. Last time I got Flow by Mihaly Czisentmihalyi, which I am now reading and enjoying. Other previous finds include Hiking and Hot Springs in the Pacific Northwest, Surfing Indonesia, and Fundamentals of Kayak Navigation for future adventures.

The Hobbit

2008-06-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

I wasn't planning on reading it to her for a while, but then we read everything else. So I let her choose if she wanted to read The Hobbit or something else, and she chose The Hobbit. Although some of it is scary, like the Gollum part, and the Warg part we are coming up to, but she will love Beorn and his ponies. And for some one who has read it often as I have, I read all four books once a year or so from the end of elementary school through middle school, or so, I am really enjoying it. I am finding I am getting some stuff I probably missed, like the inter-personal dynamics and more subtle characterization. I am already several chapters ahead of Miriam, but have forced myself to stop, so we can enjoy it together.

Book of Mormon Survey

2008-06-18T18:25:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine sent me this survey about attitudes towards the Book of Mormon. Always good to encourage scholarship about Mormonism. It is pretty interesting and only takes maybe 15 minutes.

http://nelsonseawright.bookofmormon.sgizmo.com/

You can test your knowledge of scriptures at the end, identify which standard work a passage comes from, or who the speaker of a certain passage is. Harder than you'd think.

Boy Scouts of America in Japan

2008-06-07T18:23:00.000-07:00

So, I am 2nd counselor in the young men's presidency and one of four assistant scoutmasters for our stake wide troop. It is the exact same calling I had in California and I like it a lot. But there are some unique Japan challenges. They just sort of assume that you have things like a lake at your disposal. The swimming requirements assume you have things that I have yet to see in Tokyo, or anywhere nearby. A deep, uncrowded pool/lake to do lifesaving exercises. Someplace where you can demonstrate safe use of an axe. There are campsites in Japan, but usually they don't allow axes or open fires. And who has an axe or camp saw? Yesterday we went swimming to pass of some stuff for their second class rank so we could have our steak and cake party. First hassle was finding enough swim caps for everyone. We got two and just decided to share. (Our young men's president had a long discussion with the lifeguard about why the people not swimming would also need swim caps.) It's fun though. I am looking forward to summer and doing some more hiking and backpacking.

Tokyo University Library

2008-05-31T17:27:00.000-07:00

Although I have been griping about the library here to many individuals, I thought I would vent my frustration in a more systematic way. Tokyo University is supposedly the top ranked university in Japan, but its library is totally medieval. By way of comparison, the labrynthine library in Name of the Rose is more rationally organized and accessible. Although the books are no longer actually chained to the desk, they might as well be. At UC Irvine, I can check out an unlimited number of books for an essentially unlimited amount of time. There are due dates, but I can renew all my books online with one click, until someone else needs a books and recalls it online. The main problem with the Tokyo University library is that it is so decentralized. Each library has its own esoteric organizational system, rules, location, etc. Let me go over the ones I use most.

The Main Library.
As with all libraries here, you need a card to get in, to keep the riffraff out. The books are on the third and fourth floor and the copy machines on the first. No free reshelving service here. If you want to copy a book, you have to go up and find it, take it down to the first floor, copy it and then take it back up yourself. Needless to say, a lot of the books are miss-shelved. They also have a plaster cast of Chopin's hand in a glass case. Creepy. I still haven't totally figured out the call numbers. Some books have two call numbers on the spine and are arranged according to both? Not sure. You can keep five books out for two weeks? If the book you are looking for starts with a letter instead of just numerals, it isn't on the third or fourth floor, it is in the closed stacks.

The Closed Stacks.
Back on the first floor, around the stairs, is the secret entrance to the closed stacks. You have to get your ID entered into the computer again. You also have to put all your stuff into a coin locker since you can only take a few papers and a pencil in the the Closed Stacks. These are not particularly valuable books, just anything older than maybe 10 years, bound periodicals, etc. If you want to copy anything you have to fill out a copy request form and put it in a box, and then copy your books. I was a bit amazed at this and tried to ask another student why and he seemed to think it was normal. I mean, since no one sees the copy request form until after you copy the books, what is the point? He said because you aren't supposed to copy entire journals or something due to copyright, but if you were doing something illegal, why would you write that down? The closed stacks have low ceiling and metal stairs. I think there are six floors to the libraries four. The basement seriously feels like the 7 and 1/2 floor in "Being John Malkovich," there are long sections where I can't walk upright. You can check out three books. So I can't get the entire four volume annotated edition of Ennin's Diary.

The Indian Philosophy Department
This is basically a graduate school department, with floor to ceiling bookshelves that have call numbers. The books are in the main office and one of the seminar rooms. It's almost like having the East Asian section of the library in your office and if someone needed something they had to come and get it from you. Hassle for you and them. To check something out you fill out a piece of paper with your information and ID no. It's just as well that it isn't computerized since I had one of their books out for several months past the due date. What happened was that I checked it out right before the semester ended and then everyone left on vacation without my realizing it. I tried to return the book five times, but no one was there for the next month and a half. Sometimes they are gone at lunch time too, or you can't get into one room or the other since they are having a seminar in there. Sometimes the rooms are open and anyone could just walk off with whatever they wanted. You can check books out for two weeks or a month depending on the configuration of the stars at the time you check out the book.

Religious Studies Department.
This is down the hall from the Indian Philosophy Dept. Basically the same set up, but there is a secretary who finds the books for you.

The Japanese Literature Department.
On the same floor as the above, but seems to mostly have bound periodicals. Of course, you aren't allowed to check them out, but you leave your ID there and go down to the basement and search for the copy room. It's all the way past the bins of rocks and skulls outside the archeology department. There you can copy the articles and bring them back and get your ID. Of course, every copy room requires a different copy card, so I now have at least four different copy cards.

The Japanese Literature and Culture Library
Sounds exactly like the other one right, and it is in the same building. But to get there you have to go out on the first floor, come in a different entrance and walk up the fourth floor. I am not sure how I found it in the first place. I have been there twice, but both times it turns out the books I needed were actually somewhere else. Needless to say, it has taken a lot of wandering around to find all of these places.

The East-West Research Center Library
This has a lot of the English books on East Asian studies which I need to look at, but unfortunately it has been under earthquake renovation since I came and the books are all in boxes. I walked over there once and there were workmen coming in and out.

Building No. 3 Library
This building is conveniently hidden, like many essential services at the University of Tokyo, underground. The entrance is across the courtyard from the main library. It is essentially an overflow library for some of the other libraries listed above. So each library has a few rows of shelves, each with their own call number system, plus some other random categories. You also have to put your bag in a locker and get in with your library card, but at least you can check things out for a month.

Historiographical Institute Library
Five stories of books, plus some cool old manuscripts, picture collections, scrolls, etc. Although I haven't had to use any of this, it is cool that they have it. This is in the same building as my office and I am affiliated, so I can have books out forever, or until they have to close the library for earthquake renovations and we get kicked out of our office, which is happening in any time now. Also, although I never had to return them, I couldn't really go anywhere with them either, since you aren't allowed to take them out of the building. So I had to read them there. Since I am only on campus once or twice a week, that is kind of a hassle.

Komaba General Education Campus Library
This library has a pretty good collection of English books and is a nice, new building. The only problem is that it is on a satellite campus that is on the other side of Tokyo. I have had to go there a few times and have a list of books I need to get from there now. Our friends actually live right behind the campus, but we are usually only there on a Sunday or holiday.

Finally, in all of the libraries except the main one, there is a system where when you take a book off the shelf, you put a little plastic book shaped marker as a place holder. In the spine, there is a place to put a special slip of paper where you write the title and call number and your name. In the age of computers, I have no idea why this is necessary. But it makes a lot of sense in the medieval ages. (At UCI, they plan on having some percentage of the books in circulation at any given time so that they have room for them all.) I am always forgetting to put them in and then on your way out the librarians ask, "Did you put the fake book thing in?" and then I have to go back and find the spot again, and fill out the paper, etc. Stupid foreigner.

There are many other libraries I haven't been too yet, like the History Dept., the Law Dept., which is notorious for their disdain for outside users, the Economics, etc, etc. You get the picture. Although I am pretty much a daytime user and this doesn't bother me, I also hear that the hours are really limited, more like the bank or post office than a library.
One of the reasons that Harvard is the best university in the US, is that they have the best library. They take that as a matter of course. In Japan, where they care more about Harvard than we do, you would expect there would be some similar form of accountability. I hear that at Waseda (the second best college in Japan), the library is easy to use. At least all the books are in one place. Hmmm.

Date with G.

2008-05-25T01:38:00.000-07:00

So, Miriam has been needing one on one time with her mom, so I spent Saturday with my favorite littlest daughter, G. Although she was crying and screaming when Bekah and M left, (this is the girl whose whole point in life is not to be left out) and I even had to hold her in so she didn't rush out after them. Eventually, she did, but they heard her coming and took the stairs. Anyway, we went to the other salvation army we hadn't been too. Not as much stuff, but lots of clothes, kimonos, furoshiki, etc. I couldn't really size the kimonos without a real person, so although I spent a bunch of time looking through them, I just bought a bunch of furoshiki and some scraps of cool printed fabric. And a international adapter set for a mac laptop. On the way home we stopped at the park, which is G's favorite thing to do. She was literally jumping for joy as she ran between the slide, which was about twenty feet high and shaped like a rocket, and the swings, and climbing structures. When we got home, she admitted she had had a fun time. Here's some picts of the furoshiki. (If anyone wants a kimono, let me know, we could find you something pretty cool for under $50. I am not sure what the measurements are, but I could figure it out.)

Inamuragasaki 2

2008-05-20T23:51:00.000-07:00

So I have been jonesing to surf, but my surf buddies are all busy for the next little bit. There was a little storm swell this week, so I decided to try taking the train out to Kamakura. I was checking the surf report all week and trying to figure out if the wind and swell direction were both going to be working anytime. I finally rediscovered the surf forecast site magic seaweed, which I highly recommend, especially for Japan, which is pretty tricky. The wind is often coming from either the north or south and the coast curves in and out and so different places will be onshore, or offshore, depending on which way they're facing. Anyway, it looked like the wind was going to be okay, but only till 9 or so. So I went to bed around 11, but didn't fall asleep until 12-1 sometime. Since I surf so seldom, I get all excited about going and can't sleep. Nowadays, the problem just feeds off itself and I stay up worrying about whether or not I am going to be able to fall asleep. I set the alarm for 4:50, but got up at 4:20. I couldn't go back to sleep so I just got up, check if there was an earlier train and left. I figure you're going to get one or two REM cycles and the rest it doesn't really matter if you're actually asleep. It was totally light outside and there were actually quite a few people out and about as I walked to the station. I got to the spot at 6:10 and saw some surfers heading home. Japanese surfers take advantage of the fact that there is no daylight savings. I overheard some saying that it was best at about 4:30. It was waist to chest high, and kind of a long time between sets, and weak. The fish is kind of good board for these conditions. A long board would be even better, but I couldn't have taken in on the train. It was a beautiful clear day. There were lots of hawks. The water and air were mid 60's. I surfed for a 2 hours and some. When the outside got unbearably inconsistent and small, I paddled over and surfed some shore break, which was fun. By the time I came in the waves were mostly gone and the onshore wind was just starting to pick up. I walked around the town a little bit afterwards, checked out a small temple from the 13th c. and got home by 11:15. Fun day.

Okutama

2008-05-18T04:53:00.000-07:00

So I went camping with the boy scouts. We went back out to the area where Mt. Mitake is. We did a long hike along the river, but it was mostly high above the river and not really right next to it like I have hoped. On the way home, we stopped at an onsen on the way home, and drove up to check out some waterfalls. I wasn't expecting too much, but each one was totally neat and different. I forgot my camera, but someone had a cell phone and I will post the picts as soons as he sends them to me. Since we'd had some heavy rain earlier in the week, the waterfalls were gushing. If it hadn't been raining and cold, I would have gotten in. No one else had been there before, so everyone was pretty stoked to find something so cool so close to Tokyo.

Golden Week at Tanzawa, Choshi

2008-05-04T02:11:00.000-07:00

So here is my version of this hike we went on. On Monday evening we all went out to Takao and spent the night. Early the next morning, we left and took a train and then a bus to the trailhead. The whole first day was uphill through sugi (japanese cedar?) but dry grass and leafless trees when we got higher. I was hoping it would be greener, but the snow had just melted a few weeks before and so it still looked like winter. The first summit, To no dake, was packed with people. Here is a picture of the hut.Then we kept hiking up and down to Mt. Tanzawa, where we spent the night. We got there at about three. It was also crowded, the most annoying group being a bunch of old guys smoking and drinking. The average age of hikers here is well over fifty, including a bunch of older women. Since you can stay in huts, and get meals, it makes it all way more accessible for old people and they have the most time. We hung out and read some mountaineering books by this guy who started doing it when climbing gear meant a rope and pocketful of rocks and string. Made our whole expedition seem a little wimpy. Dinner was surprisingly good, and it was lights out at 8:30, but I still didn't get a lot of sleep because of the snoring. Then we were up at four because of the bento making. So by five we just decided to start hiking and have breakfast on the trail. About and hour later found a little wood platform with a fantastic view of Fuji and ate breakfast there. This early morning was pretty magical, since there was no one else on the trail really, and it was cool and clear, and the views were great. Below are two pictures from the morning.

After the second peak, there was a long, gradual descent down a ridge. We reached the next little town, which was way less charming than I had hoped, but did have ice cream and a 700 year old sugi at the shrine. Officially designated as one of the hundred famous trees of Kanagawa prefecture. Kind of like the hundred famous trees of Oahu, or Orange County.

Walked down the river and took a look. I was very tempted to get in, except that the sign says "Dangerous, Do Not Enter" in characters about five feet high. Could it be because it was right below a dam? Still, the dam wasn't that big and they had a siren for when they were letting excess water through. (The dam looked like it had a couple really nice places to jump from as well, once you'd found a way past the barbed wire fence.)
Had to wait an hour for the bus, which we rode for five miles to another tiny village, and then wait another fifty minutes there for the next bus and then take a train back to Takao. Took about three hours for a 30 miles trip. Bus to go get the kids, get on the train back to Tokyo. All of these multiple transfers on public transportation add up and it's kind of a hassle, but mostly its pretty easy being carless in Tokyo. I did talk to another hiker and get some beta about some streams with multiple waterfalls and places to swim. It isn't really accessible by train, so I just need to convince some friends with cars to come with.
Then on Saturday morning we went surfing in Chiba. I found a glass ball on the beach. Just sitting there in a pile of seaweed on a pretty crowded beach. Mostly they were down farther, but they had all driven by. Everyone just drives and parks on the beach there. We drove by it and I saw it and had them stop the car and ran out and got it.
The waves were maybe head high to a few feet overhead on the sets. The wind died down a little and the tide came up, so by the time we had to leave it was a lot better. Mostly they closed out pretty quick but I caught a few that I was able to stay ahead for a while and one really nice one that I actually made it out the other end. So it's been a pretty fun golden week so far. Monday we have a barbecue at some ward members house. Tuesday there is straw crafts and taiko at the traditional house museum with a bunch of friends.

Kamakura, Ikego

2008-04-20T02:34:00.000-07:00

So two week ends ago we went to Kamakura. A girl from the ward babysat for personal progress and so we were kid free. We got off at the north Kamakura station and wandered around. We found a couple little temples and a tunnel. The area is very hilly, but the rock is soft, so there were lots of cliffs and caves and tunnels. We found someone with a map and got some advice. The temple in the picture is Engaku-ji, which is a large temple complex with a bunch of temples, some really old and some new ones. Saw a few more temples, which were smaller but had nice graveyards/gardens in the back. Including the God of Happiness in a cave. You "walk this way" through the tunnel in the picture to another cave where you find the very happy guy pointing at you. The we hiked over to the big Buddha and took a detour to the money washing shrine on the way. To get in you go through a tunnel into a little valley. In the valley is a spring in a cave where you can wash money to make it double. Most people were washing change, but we tried a hundred, just in case. We met some girls from Hawaii. They are in med school at UH and knew Matt Taylor from Laie. Saw the great Buddha, wandered through some antique stores. Went to the beach and watched surfers on ankle high waves. Then we had dinner at a California/surf themed restaurant. The decor was like random garage sale mix. Old license plates, a wooden sled, and a huge smurfette doll in the bathroom. The main appeal was a great view of the water. The food was also pretty good, but the girls at the table near us were smoking.
This weekend I went to a camporee at camp Ikego, on the US navy base near Kamakura. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the campsite was in a little valley, so you couldn't see anything but trees. It was pouring all morning, but by the time we left that night, it was just drizzling. Brother Mason made peach cobbler in a big dutch oven for dessert. The next day I helped run the frisbee toss and then went over to archery and translated and helped teach it. It was BSA, Japan Scouts camporee, so each patrol was made up of half American and half Japanese scouts. At night we had a potluck with one of the Japanese patrols. We had a pot of gyozas and fried rice and dessert, but they had two long table filled with food, plus a a huge pot of udon. We stayed for the camp fire and elaborate order of the arrow ceremony, and sang the special closing song. (So many scout traditions and ceremonies that I had no idea existed.) When I finally got dropped off at home it was almost 11.

Not much happening

2008-04-06T05:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I missed posting last week, and can't think of anything to post this week. We had youth conference last week. This weekend we went to the Tokyo National Museum at Ueno park. The park was packed with people there to see the cherry blossoms, but the museum was not too crowded. The most surprising thing about the museum was the trash cans outside and the benches everywhere. It felt like they were making an extra effort for the foreign visitors. The stuff inside was cool too. My favorite was probably the early Chinese stuff bronzes, and the Thai bronze age drums. Did you know that Thailand had a bronze age culture that no one knows a lot about? The samurai armor and weapons were pretty cool too. Miriam liked the exquisite traditional doll set, with lots of tiny lacquered boxes, a minuscule tea set and writing box, furniture, picture books, etc, and the kimonos.
The architecture throughout was very nice. Dissertation is coming along, but I am so easily distracted. I am feeling pretty uninspired and its not like I can just put in hours and it will get done. I have to actually engage and think and process or its pretty meaningless. I kind of wish I had something else to do that was less taxing to balance it out, but I don't really. But since I do want it all to be over at some point I had better get a bit more motivated soon.

Storm surfing

2008-03-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

So I finally went surfing, for the first time in four months or so. We went to Chiba. It was stormy with rain and 30 mph winds, but we drove all the way down to Onjuku, where it was offshore and actually pretty hollow and nice. The waves were still kind of all over place, since it was sandbar, and there was a current, so it was hard to line up and catch anything. After an hour or so, my hands were so numb that I could barely duckdive. Mostly I just caught close out waves with a few close out barrels. Still it was really fun to go surfing. Hopefully, it won't be four more months before our next session. Btw, Christian, the 4/3 and booties are plenty warm. I didn't even use the hood.

Do Not Mail Campaign

2008-03-20T05:45:00.000-07:00

I don't believe in forwarding e-mails to friends, but I think you all should sign this campaign, so I'm putting it here, since this is voluntary. It is to create a Do Not Mail registry like the Do Not Call registry, enabling you to eliminate all your junk mail once and for all. Here is the url. http://donotmail.org.
There are some pretty appalling statistics. US junk mail accounts for 1/3 of all mail sent in the world. Ouch. You can also fill out a form that they will use to help you reduce your junk mail now. There have been other articles about this, but they actually send the letters for you, so it is extra simple.

zotero

2008-03-06T18:59:00.000-08:00

I have been working on putting in footnotes for these chapters and have finally gotten around to actually using this program I downloaded a while ago. It is basically a free firefox extension that enables you to get bibliographic information of the web very easily. Most library sites, amazon, jstor, projectmuse, etc, are all supported. It also organizes your bibliographies and you can attach files and notes. Anyway, if you need this kind of a tool, it is very, very nice. Download at http://www.zotero.org/ and enjoy.

Sport Utility Bicycle, aka. Extracycle

2008-03-05T04:45:00.000-08:00

I found out about this while wasting time on grist, a new favorite way to waste time and not feel like it is a complete waste of time, because I find cool stuff. Anyway, I was so stoked about it, it is generating a mid week post. I know that these are a little pricey, but think of it in comparison to a car. Plus, you'd probably make it all back in saved gas over a couple years. This pict is not impressive, but you can haul surfboards, kayaks, camping gear, groceries, two kids, and more comfortably. Check out their website. Based in North San Juan (by Roger and Yakshi).

Dissertation

2008-03-02T02:49:00.000-08:00

Sometimes people ask how work is going. . . So, do you want the long answer or the short answer. The short answer is, "fine." The long answer is maybe fifty pages, single-spaced, plus lots of notes. If you want that, let me know, since I'm always looking for comments. But to fill out the short answer a little, it's a bit hard to stay focused and I get sidetracked on all this stuff I really need to know, but really isn't going to make it in the dissertation. Already, the two chapters I have written have spawned another chapter each. Or rather, after writing half what I had planned, it was already too long, and I could see how the remaining half could be it's own chapter. Which is fine, except that my current time schedule doesn't really allow for a five hundred page monster. Anyway, these kind of meaningless logistical problems aside, is anyone beside me interested in Ennin's Record of Pilgrimage to the Tang in Search of the Law? Or its place in the journal tradition of East Asi? How it speaks to the question of the Japanese appropriation of Tang culture in the early Heian period? It seems like I already have a vision of the whole thing, and although that shifts slightly as I fill in the details, the actual dissertation writing is much more the sometimes interesting, sometimes tedious job of filling in all of the details. But there are so many details I don't have time to go after, so many questions I can't answer, so many things I should look up, but don't seem to have time to. Even if I do, I can hardly keep them straight in my mind. Anyway, let me know if you are interested in any more than this, and like I said, I can e-mail it to you.

Takao

2008-03-02T02:40:00.000-08:00

So we went and watched the Cannell's three boys for the weekend again. They are great kids and get along with our kids well, so it was fun for all. I went on a short run and appreciated their scenery, which is way nicer than ours. There is a neat park in walking distance and we had some really fun games of never ending freeze tag, or kori oni (freeze demon). Never ending because Miriam didn't want to be able to be frozen, just unfreeze people. Got home Sunday morning and it is always nice to be home too. Now we get a weekend of babysitting sometime soon. Any suggestions. Other than freezing death march (uphill through ice and snow, both ways) in some wilderness, since I think have that one figured out, plus we already did one not that long ago.

Salvation Army Bazaar

2008-02-24T02:20:00.000-08:00

We had a fun, low key Saturday. We watched Mia and Emi, so their parents could go to the temple. Then we went to the Salvation Army Bazaar. There is no regular shop, but it is open on Saturday from 9-2. We got there at 11 and I had to be somewhere else at 2, so we didn't get to see everything, but we got some cool stuff. The main mission, clothes for M, was successful. She got a dress and a few skirts and shirts. I got a few neat Japanese styles coats, and a hanging scroll. But I was most stoked about an old book I found. I had been looking for it online and there hadn't been any for sale, but here it was for $3. When I got home, I checked and in the interim, some had been listed on Amazon, but still they were $50, so I was pretty stoked. We had noodles and ice cream at the hospital cafeteria next door and then I realized I was going to be late for my conference, so we ran to the station. We didn't have time to see everything, so we're going to have to go back. I will add some pictures of our finds soon.

save the planet!

2008-02-16T18:09:00.000-08:00

So, as some of you know, I have been on another environmental thing lately. I do these fairly regularly, usually when I am reading or have just finished a book about the environment, but since I since I try not to foist my views on too many people, you may not know that (although part of me wants to change that, since I think it is important that people begin having conversations about these things). The nice part about a blog is that if you are reading this, I assume it is voluntary.
Anyway, so I have been researching ways to make a home more energy efficient and found some great resources. Basically, to summarize the findings, heating and cooling are you home's biggest energy users, first air conditioners and heaters and then hot water heaters and refrigerators, all of which can be more efficient. Also, most large appliances use much more energy over their lifetimes than they cost to make, so it is usually better for the environment and cheaper to get a more efficient model, even though it might be more expensive initially. Some of the easiest changes are changing your light bulbs to CFL, if you haven't already, and washing your clothes in cold water (heating the water uses 95% of the electricity of a washer). There is some pretty easy math that you can do to figure all of this out, and the best site is here http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/. . This site actually explains in detail everything I might want to say on the subject and he has some other cool guides as well about bike safety, buying a house, finding cheap airline tickets, vegetarianism, etc. I would definitely check it out. Especially if you live in Hawaii where electricity is twice as much as everywhere else., and so all of these changes will be that much more worth it financially.
Also, although the electricity use of a given appliance is listed on the appliance, that is the maximum amount that appliance would ever draw, so while it can be nice for comparative purposes, it won't tell you how much electricity you are actually using. There are several ways to do that, but the easiest is get an electric meter that you plug into the wall and then plug your appliance into, which you can buy here. There is one for $16, plus $5 shipping. I bought one and had it sent to my mom's house so you can play with it there, do the math, see if it is worth it upgrade your appliances.
There is a lot more I could say about this, but just go read check out the website. Also, possibly more than any of these changes would be to get a good bike and ride it instead of driving whenever possible. Oh, and I am thinking about becoming vegetarian. (The only hard thing about doing it here is that you can't get complex carbohydrates like brown rice or whole wheat.)

more snow

2008-02-10T00:47:00.000-08:00

Anyway, we made a long weekend and went up and stayed at a cabin in the mountains. The first day we went to Nikko and saw a bunch of very cool temples and shrines. Then we went out to the cabins that night. Our friends came out that night, the Porters, Mylroies, and Otsujis. The next day the guys went snowboarding. I didn't injure myself, except financially, although I also didn't go off any jumps or go into the half pipe, although I was very, very tempted to. (It was a little hard to shell out to rent when I have three of everything at home.) The kids played in the snow. We went to a sledding park the next day. Gwyn went down the tubing chute by herself. She is fearless. Miriam went down with me and they were both very cute bundled up in borrowed snow gear. Anyway, we had a great weekend.

Natural Capitalism

2008-02-02T03:39:00.000-08:00

I first heard of the book in a review in the New Yorker bio of Amory Lovins, one of the authors. I was interested, but figured that since I already agreed with everything he had to say, I didn't need to read it. But here in the land of few English reading materials, with a lapsed subscription to the New Yorker, and needing to something to unwind with after a day of Japanese, I decided to read it. And now I think everyone I know should as well. It is completely fascinating, an environmental book you can safely recommend to your libertarian friends and everyone in between (which I highly recommend, once you've finished reading it yourself). It bears the unlikely classification of "Business/Environment." Although I already agreed with the general gist of what he had to say, the greatest parts of the book are in the details. As it turns out, and we know in a sort of absolute way, that the whole dichotomy between business and environment is a false one. No one is going to be in business when we run out of usable natural resources. Our society is so much more wasteful than I had ever imagined. But the question is how do we get from here to there, how do we reconcile things current price with their actual cost to the planet, humanity, etc. ? And he has lots and lots of rational suggestions. Sometimes it seems more directed to CEO's or politicians, but I think there is something in there for everyone. A lot of his ideas, like how taxes should be set up, were totally novel to me, but make so much sense. If you have ever wondered what we need to do to get out of the mess we are in, and how you can be a part of it, you will be totally fascinated by this book. So buy the book (you can get it used on Amazon), read it, pass it on, those of you with students can find some pretense for making them read it, and so on. For those of you that live close to Palmer HQ in Laie, I already bought a copy and had it sent there. Then let me know what you think.

Snow Camping

2008-01-26T16:16:00.001-08:00

So the scouts went snow camping. Needless to say, I had never done this before. We slept in tents on a couple feet of snow. At the last minute, I brought an extra blanket to sleep on. It was Miriam's and she was pretty mad. If it was between having her old blanket one night or her dad freezing, she wanted her blanket. It is not a special blanket, just something I salvaged from the trash. Anyway, with a sleeping pad and quilt underneath me and both summer-weight down bags, I was very warm all night, although it got down to -15 C, or about 5 F. All day though my toes and fingers alternated being frozen. So we got there late Friday, played in the snow all day, and came home Saturday afternoon. It's funny how relaxed the other scout leaders were. The flag ceremony ended up coinciding with breakfast, and no one even budged. While the other troops were doing the activities, ours was having smack down in the snow and throwing snowballs. We did enter the snow sculpture contest and won, I think, although we didn't stick around for the judging. The snow was too powdery for building anything so we made a tall mountain, with a shrine gate on top, with steps leading up, and twig trees lining the path. Someone suggested leaving early to go an onsen and maybe yakiniku, and everyone immediately agreed. We did leave early, but somehow the onsen plan dissipated. The camp was by Fuji so we had nice views of the mountain through the trees.

Better Gas Mileage

2008-01-12T05:14:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you had seen this, but I just saw found this car online and thought it was very cool. Check it out at www.aptera.com. It gets 300 mpg. Here is an interesting review about it. This seems exactly the direction things need to go. Its not so much about the power source, gasoline or electricity, since if you live in an area where your power comes from coal plants, a plug in car might be just as bad for the environment, but using way less power to get from point A to B, since most of the electricity just goes to moving the car, not the people in it. The whole concept of car needs to be rethought, and this seems to be the right direction. Now, if I just had $30,000 and the car had a few more seats, I think I'm sold. Here's another cool website about how to get better gas mileage out of your car. Here. I think we've all heard of the basics, although we may not practice use them all, all of the time, but these guys are pretty intense. Or just google "hypermiling." When people complain about only getting 55mpg in their Prius, they'd be getting even worse mileage in whatever they were driving.

Utopias, Computers, and Dolphins

2007-12-18T03:33:00.000-08:00

This is another good book I am reading by Mary Midgley, a British moral philosopher. Anyway, she is really good at giving the big picture of issues. She makes a compelling case for the value of philosophy and academia in general, defending it against those, including its practitioners, who find it irrelevant. She basically argues that much of how we view the world, the common sense approach, originated from academic, philosophical discussion. She shows how some of these ideas are so entrenched, like the idea of the autonomous, free individual, that we need other philosophical ideas, like community and human interdependence which haven't really be worked out as fully, to balance them out. Anyway, I have been pretty skeptical about the value of what I am doing lately and so this provided some nice context and justification. After all, society doesn't pay for that many people to do what I do. Both the value of history and learned about other cultures provides us new ways of thinking through these issues. Also, it is just an interesting exercise to think about how we move back and forth between micro and macro level concepts as we navigate through our lives. Although it is important to occasionally pull back and try to rethink things from a macro level, if you're doing it all the time, it can be kind of debilitating (which I find myself doing.) Lately I wonder why on an existential level I am Tokyo now, as opposed to say, Samoa, mainly just because its cold and I haven't been getting enough nature. But in several more immediate contexts, it makes a lot of sense to be here now and its actually a lot of fun. The pictures are from Ikeda park, from a walk we took Sunday morning.

Little House in the Big Woods

2007-12-18T03:24:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I had never read these as a kid. Very cool stories about what it was like to live a long time ago. It makes you appreciate how easy we have it, but their life seems like a lot of fun too. Also, not sure what to do about the songs about "Old Darkey" or the Injun bread, since I'd rather not have to explain the history of race relations in this country to my six year old. Also the scary panthers, now totally extinct in Wisconsin and probably all of the Eastern US, except for a very endangered population in Florida. It does give some perspective on the whole environmental movement (kind of, although there's still no excuses for anyone under 95.)

Winnie the Pooh

2007-11-27T18:20:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have not recently reread these immortal classic by A.A. Milne, they are hilarious, totally worthy of the critical attention given them in the Pooh Perplex, and Postmodern Pooh. As part of the ongoing struggle to get Miriam to sleep, I have been reading to her at bedtime and since we have so few books here, a chapter book which lasts a couple of weeks makes more sense than a picture book where you can read three or four in one sitting. (Gwyn is totally uninterested and has to be put to bed in the other room.) The Pooh books are fun because they work on so many different levels. Miriam usually gets what Pooh can't figure out and thinks it's funny (dramatic irony). I love the dialogue, particularly with Rabbit and Eyore, which is classic social satire. Its hard to remember why everyone was enchanted before they became soulless, over marketed Disney phenomena.
Anyway, we just finished the Winnie the Pooh and the House at Pooh Corner. Next on the list are Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Little House in the Big Woods.

Blog #2

2007-11-27T15:35:00.000-08:00

The title for my blog is Miriam's suggestion. Other options were, "not my dissertation," but that title will hopefully be obsolete in a couple years, or something very boring, like Jesse's blog, or something to do with the environment, since I am planning posting links to environmental sites I like, etc. To start out, here are the two organizations that I participate in most

moveon.org - I generally find that I agree with most of their positions on issues. Although, like lots of liberals, they sometimes have trouble imagining how they come off to most people. I find that it is a great way to keep informed about issues that I care about, and participate, however minimally, in the political process.

Union of Concerned Scientists - Since environmental issues are the most important political issues for me, I find that I agree with almost everything these guys send me. They take a very pragmatic approach, which is nice.