Ok well revolution is probably a strong word, but a lot has happened in the last 2 weeks. I won't go into all of it here, as this is the internet and nothing is sacred, but I will say that things are good. I don't know how long it will stay good, but hopefully for more than another week.
I've been hanging out with someone who's given me some welcome new perspective on what I'm capable of, what I've been through, and what I want. I think he's probably in the same boat as me, which is good (you know, sharing a boat - makes paddling easier). We feel like we've been in an oxbow for the last week, but now it's probably time to get back into the current and move.
Ahh horrible metaphors - my special talent.
I've basically taken the last week off of work and gotten next to nothing done. So now I have some time to get my shit back together, but of course everything is different now. It's so much easier to stay in my little hobbit hole and not let anyone in - status quo is comfortable and easy. I have my list of things to rant about, my list of things that I do every week, every day. A not so subtle shift has kind of rocked my world.
And another note to say that I've realized that I have really protective friends, which is a good good feeling. Considering my past taste in men has been...um...abysmal (and people just LOVE to tell me so; ha ha ha everyone), it's good for people to go out of their way to give me the thumbs up for a change.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Jane's Addiction is still making music?
Apparently they are. Perry Farrell looks straight out of the 90s in the video, but I do like the song. The video kind of makes me laugh though.
My friend Kat also pointed me to this video:
I really like the song - the video is kind of annoying. When I first started watching it I was thinking "who is this annoying whiny guy and WHY is he assaulting my eyes with his nudity?" But now I've listed to the song (more than) a few times and I really like it, especially when Kimbra starts singing. I'm probably projecting my own experiences, but as I see it:
whiny annoying guy was a dick, says he wasn't in to the girl, but is like "waaaah why won't you talk to me?"
girl is like "you were a dick, you blamed everything on me and are still making me feel like crap for not wanting to talk to you."
guy "wwaaaaaaaahhhhh waaaaaahhhh"
Yeah that's pretty much it.
oh yeah and this song is awesome:
My friend Kat also pointed me to this video:
I really like the song - the video is kind of annoying. When I first started watching it I was thinking "who is this annoying whiny guy and WHY is he assaulting my eyes with his nudity?" But now I've listed to the song (more than) a few times and I really like it, especially when Kimbra starts singing. I'm probably projecting my own experiences, but as I see it:
whiny annoying guy was a dick, says he wasn't in to the girl, but is like "waaaah why won't you talk to me?"
girl is like "you were a dick, you blamed everything on me and are still making me feel like crap for not wanting to talk to you."
guy "wwaaaaaaaahhhhh waaaaaahhhh"
Yeah that's pretty much it.
oh yeah and this song is awesome:
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Squirrels are evil
I will always stand by my statement that "I don't like mammals." Well, mostly I don't like mammals. I like birds, plants, fish, mushrooms, prokaryotes, insects and pretty much every other life form on this planet, but I'm really not nuts about mammals. Maybe it's the fur or something...or the teeth.
And now I dislike some of them even more: squirrels.
Squirrels are evil. Complete evil. They are NOT cute (neither are bunnies, which I know makes me strange, but don't we already know that I'm strange?)
The squirrels have been completely decimating the garden this summer. They are awful. I had 5 beautiful pumpkins on the vine and yesterday I went to the garden and discovered that they'd eaten all the ripe ones from the inside out. Nightmare. I was so so pissed. Am still pissed.
In the meantime they've eating the tomatoes, zucchini, strawberries and cucumbers. The only thing they haven't eaten are the habaneros, jalapenos and other hot chilis. Is this all we can grow here now? We need a herd of cats. A squadron of dogs. 100 little boys with bb guns. We can't poison them, and live traps probably aren't feasible since there are probably 500 squirrels in the garden. It's enough to make you give up altogether and just buy your veggies.
Fucking squirrels.
And now I dislike some of them even more: squirrels.
Squirrels are evil. Complete evil. They are NOT cute (neither are bunnies, which I know makes me strange, but don't we already know that I'm strange?)
The squirrels have been completely decimating the garden this summer. They are awful. I had 5 beautiful pumpkins on the vine and yesterday I went to the garden and discovered that they'd eaten all the ripe ones from the inside out. Nightmare. I was so so pissed. Am still pissed.
In the meantime they've eating the tomatoes, zucchini, strawberries and cucumbers. The only thing they haven't eaten are the habaneros, jalapenos and other hot chilis. Is this all we can grow here now? We need a herd of cats. A squadron of dogs. 100 little boys with bb guns. We can't poison them, and live traps probably aren't feasible since there are probably 500 squirrels in the garden. It's enough to make you give up altogether and just buy your veggies.
Fucking squirrels.
Friday, September 16, 2011
On doing things you know are bad for you, and of course other random ramblings.
"Like eating the whole pint of ice cream" as Ethan would say, "and yet I do it over and over and over again."
This was a mundane example, but I'm speaking of more um...emotionally challenging examples. I've been thinking about these things lately, and much more.
The 14th was the 10th anniversary of my sister's death. I didn't call my parents until the next day. The seem to be holding up rather well.
Teaching community college students has been an amazing experience so far. I'm not sure if it's something I'd like to do as my only profession. I think I'd feel stranded if my only community was other teachers and the students. Going to Seattle got me so fired up about science. I like teaching, but I think, like many things in my life, I could only be satisfied if it's a component of my life, and not my whole life.
I went to SF yesterday afternoon to hang out with Ethan, who's back for a couple of days. He had some crazy massage the day before, so he just hung out and belayed. What a guy! Then we got indian food at a restaurant in the Mission with a bunch of other people. It was awesome. I really like hanging out with his friends in SF. I'm a bit envious of his community there. Ethan is pretty young, but it's pretty impressive how mature he is in some ways. For example he's way better with people than I am. He can sit and chat with people in the gym, and be interested in what they have to say, far longer than I can tolerate. Not to mention that given he's a famous climber, people are always stopping to talk to him. His patience impresses me...it's never been something I've had in spades. I could learn a lot.
Got back around midnight and finally slept ok. It's been so warm at night that it's hard to sleep...the last couple of nights have been cooler, and I actually wake up refreshed, which is a nice feeling.
Going back to teaching, I'm learning so much about what makes people successful and what doesn't (at least in my small small world of school and academia). In generally I don't think of myself as particularly successful. Until I go and teach! Then I think "hey, I'm not doing so bad, and I know a thing or two." It's a nice feeling. That said, a lot of my students are really great. I think it's just that the general vibe is that people don't listen, have to ask things over and over, get confused easily, don't turn in things on time, show up late, or think I'm expecting too much. Sometimes it seems like some of them are just missing some basic life skills. It's not that they have a lack of knowledge, or are unable to learn, or don't know the right people - it's just that they don't know what to prioritize, be responsible or professional. I don't know. It's hard to put my finger on it.
This was a mundane example, but I'm speaking of more um...emotionally challenging examples. I've been thinking about these things lately, and much more.
The 14th was the 10th anniversary of my sister's death. I didn't call my parents until the next day. The seem to be holding up rather well.
Teaching community college students has been an amazing experience so far. I'm not sure if it's something I'd like to do as my only profession. I think I'd feel stranded if my only community was other teachers and the students. Going to Seattle got me so fired up about science. I like teaching, but I think, like many things in my life, I could only be satisfied if it's a component of my life, and not my whole life.
I went to SF yesterday afternoon to hang out with Ethan, who's back for a couple of days. He had some crazy massage the day before, so he just hung out and belayed. What a guy! Then we got indian food at a restaurant in the Mission with a bunch of other people. It was awesome. I really like hanging out with his friends in SF. I'm a bit envious of his community there. Ethan is pretty young, but it's pretty impressive how mature he is in some ways. For example he's way better with people than I am. He can sit and chat with people in the gym, and be interested in what they have to say, far longer than I can tolerate. Not to mention that given he's a famous climber, people are always stopping to talk to him. His patience impresses me...it's never been something I've had in spades. I could learn a lot.
Got back around midnight and finally slept ok. It's been so warm at night that it's hard to sleep...the last couple of nights have been cooler, and I actually wake up refreshed, which is a nice feeling.
Going back to teaching, I'm learning so much about what makes people successful and what doesn't (at least in my small small world of school and academia). In generally I don't think of myself as particularly successful. Until I go and teach! Then I think "hey, I'm not doing so bad, and I know a thing or two." It's a nice feeling. That said, a lot of my students are really great. I think it's just that the general vibe is that people don't listen, have to ask things over and over, get confused easily, don't turn in things on time, show up late, or think I'm expecting too much. Sometimes it seems like some of them are just missing some basic life skills. It's not that they have a lack of knowledge, or are unable to learn, or don't know the right people - it's just that they don't know what to prioritize, be responsible or professional. I don't know. It's hard to put my finger on it.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
The good news never stops
Two news articles of interest to me came through my reader feed today:
http://blogs.al
and
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/10/3898211/federal-judge-halts-paiute-cutthroat.html
Wow. The news just doesn't get any better. Soon we'll be left with rainbow trout and largemouth bass.
http://blogs.al
and
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/10/3898211/federal-judge-halts-paiute-cutthroat.html
Wow. The news just doesn't get any better. Soon we'll be left with rainbow trout and largemouth bass.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Barely making it...
So Cannibals...the new route I'm working. It's hard. A lot harder than hanging on to jugs for long enough to call it .12d. Yep - there's real rock climbing on it. Like with your feet and stuff. Anyway I went up there Friday afternoon and then this morning. I gave myself 2.5 hours to get home before I got picked up to go to the airport for a flight to Seattle. Unfortunately there was a massive accident on the portion where east-bound traffic is in the west-bound lane, and that was a huge clusterfuck and I wasn't sure if I'd catch my flight. I got home with half an hour to pack, eat, and not shower. So now I'm dirty from climbing.
I'm also looking at the program for the AFS conference in Seattle - I'm pretty excited and extremely overwhelmed. It is HUGE. I think there are hundreds of presenters, dozens of special symposia, and some interesting socials. Tonight I think I'll make it in time to go to this huge sustainable seafood welcome banquet. This NatGeo chef Barton Seaver is apparently spearheading a big to-do:
"Join us for a sustainable seafood extravaganza that reflects the variety and abundance of Pacific Northwest and Alaskan seafood, with menus reflecting the famed sustainable recipes of National Geographic Fellow, Chef Barton Seaver. Come for great food and beverages, lots of conversation with friends, and a fun-filled session of Swing Dance (including instructions!!). Why swing dancing? Well, can you keep a secret? (((We’re preparing for a Wednesday night AFS Swing Fish Flash Mob…aka Splash Mob… to be held at the Westlake Center PRIOR TO the Wednesday Night Social…shhhhhh))) This Welcome Social isn’t one you’ll want to miss. It will be a fun way to dive straight into a fantastic AFS conference in Seattle."
I doubt I'll be swing-dancing. Unless J-Katz is there because he's so cute. But that's neither here nor there. Monday there are a few talks I'll go to, Tuesday morning some more, then I'm working the satellite info booth Tuesday afternoon (CV builder), and Tuesday night there are 2 big socials. The first one is the genetics subsection which my advisor will be at...so I kind of have to go. Also they are closing down the Seattle Aquarium for students only for 2 hours...should be awesome:
"The whole aquarium will be exclusively set for students only from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. The Career Fair will be hosted from 5:30 to 7:30 for students and later at 7:30 to 8:30 for AFS general attendees. This night is proudly co-hosted by the AFS Student Subsection and HTI. Bring your appetite early in the evening for a free student-only dinner and freely tour Seattle’s world-class aquarium. In the background, HTI will show real-time demos of the latest in acoustic telemetry and hydroacoustic echo sounding technology in the aquarium tanks to watch while everyone enjoys one great Seattle night. Come for the connections, to hang out with fellow students, for the great food, the live local music, and to watch the diversity of aquatic life in the Pacific Northwest"
Wednesday there's an entire symposium on conservation genetics and genomics, and my collaborator on the delta smelt project is speaking...Wednesday afternoon I'm getting picked up by a friend of a friend to go to Little Si - never been there. Plus James managed to find out (how does he do that?) that I'm going so he'll be along as well. Jesus word travels fast in the climbing community.
Thursday I'm talking about Conservation Genetics of the Owens pupfish in a special symposium on using genetic tools to for conservation programs ...should be a fairly breezy talk, I've given most of it before and it's in pretty good shape. Plus everyone loves pupfish. I could probably show a bunch of pupfish photos and everyone would just lazily sit back with silly grins on their faces. I feel sorry for my roommate Mariah who has to talk about the extraordinarily political subject of reintroducing chinook to the San Joaquin River. Not jealous.
Then I fly home and spend Friday in bed not talking to anybody. These events completely overwhelm me. Just looking at the program has made me say "holy shit." and "oh my god" out loud to myself (in the airport) several times. This conference is gigantic. Totally high-rolling it at the Sheraton downtown as well. There are so many talks I wont' get a chance to see...talks that have less to do with my research and more to do with my personal interest, especially now that it's piqued by teaching my fisheries class. I want to hear about out addiction to stocking...how to keep teaching about fisheries exciting, another labmate's talk on analyzing the stomach contents of predatory fish to determine what they are eating, yet another guy who's been helping me out with fish sampling is also talking. Too bad I don't have the stomach to sit through talk after talk without getting extremely antsy.
I can say this - life will definitely calm down after the conference. I want to focus on my Great Basin projects and teaching, plus my ward is leaving so I'll be collecting delta smelt data by my onesie. Wonder when I'll get a real job.
I'm also looking at the program for the AFS conference in Seattle - I'm pretty excited and extremely overwhelmed. It is HUGE. I think there are hundreds of presenters, dozens of special symposia, and some interesting socials. Tonight I think I'll make it in time to go to this huge sustainable seafood welcome banquet. This NatGeo chef Barton Seaver is apparently spearheading a big to-do:
"Join us for a sustainable seafood extravaganza that reflects the variety and abundance of Pacific Northwest and Alaskan seafood, with menus reflecting the famed sustainable recipes of National Geographic Fellow, Chef Barton Seaver. Come for great food and beverages, lots of conversation with friends, and a fun-filled session of Swing Dance (including instructions!!). Why swing dancing? Well, can you keep a secret? (((We’re preparing for a Wednesday night AFS Swing Fish Flash Mob…aka Splash Mob… to be held at the Westlake Center PRIOR TO the Wednesday Night Social…shhhhhh))) This Welcome Social isn’t one you’ll want to miss. It will be a fun way to dive straight into a fantastic AFS conference in Seattle."
I doubt I'll be swing-dancing. Unless J-Katz is there because he's so cute. But that's neither here nor there. Monday there are a few talks I'll go to, Tuesday morning some more, then I'm working the satellite info booth Tuesday afternoon (CV builder), and Tuesday night there are 2 big socials. The first one is the genetics subsection which my advisor will be at...so I kind of have to go. Also they are closing down the Seattle Aquarium for students only for 2 hours...should be awesome:
"The whole aquarium will be exclusively set for students only from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. The Career Fair will be hosted from 5:30 to 7:30 for students and later at 7:30 to 8:30 for AFS general attendees. This night is proudly co-hosted by the AFS Student Subsection and HTI. Bring your appetite early in the evening for a free student-only dinner and freely tour Seattle’s world-class aquarium. In the background, HTI will show real-time demos of the latest in acoustic telemetry and hydroacoustic echo sounding technology in the aquarium tanks to watch while everyone enjoys one great Seattle night. Come for the connections, to hang out with fellow students, for the great food, the live local music, and to watch the diversity of aquatic life in the Pacific Northwest"
Wednesday there's an entire symposium on conservation genetics and genomics, and my collaborator on the delta smelt project is speaking...Wednesday afternoon I'm getting picked up by a friend of a friend to go to Little Si - never been there. Plus James managed to find out (how does he do that?) that I'm going so he'll be along as well. Jesus word travels fast in the climbing community.
Thursday I'm talking about Conservation Genetics of the Owens pupfish in a special symposium on using genetic tools to for conservation programs ...should be a fairly breezy talk, I've given most of it before and it's in pretty good shape. Plus everyone loves pupfish. I could probably show a bunch of pupfish photos and everyone would just lazily sit back with silly grins on their faces. I feel sorry for my roommate Mariah who has to talk about the extraordinarily political subject of reintroducing chinook to the San Joaquin River. Not jealous.
Then I fly home and spend Friday in bed not talking to anybody. These events completely overwhelm me. Just looking at the program has made me say "holy shit." and "oh my god" out loud to myself (in the airport) several times. This conference is gigantic. Totally high-rolling it at the Sheraton downtown as well. There are so many talks I wont' get a chance to see...talks that have less to do with my research and more to do with my personal interest, especially now that it's piqued by teaching my fisheries class. I want to hear about out addiction to stocking...how to keep teaching about fisheries exciting, another labmate's talk on analyzing the stomach contents of predatory fish to determine what they are eating, yet another guy who's been helping me out with fish sampling is also talking. Too bad I don't have the stomach to sit through talk after talk without getting extremely antsy.
I can say this - life will definitely calm down after the conference. I want to focus on my Great Basin projects and teaching, plus my ward is leaving so I'll be collecting delta smelt data by my onesie. Wonder when I'll get a real job.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
How to teach evolution
I'm cruxing on the fact that a lot of my students clearly don't understand evolution and natural selection. Those topics are particularly tough for several reasons:
1. It's political (which is dumb, but people are dumb, so it makes sense)
2. People think that they understand it when they really don't
3. It's a topic that needs to be "sat" with for a long time to really let it sink in
4. It's not something that you can see happen in an instant.
So I'm putting together a series of videos:
First one that I can't embed that is by far the most offensive, and hilarious:
http://youtu.be/KzF5aQ8X-hA
Next up:
Too bad I can't actually show all of this or I'd get fired. Being in a community of academic scientists in Davis has skewed my perception of the world and what people believe, understand, or care about. I try to remind myself of that every day, but I'm still actually surprised when people believe in Jesus and shit. I can't let my students in on my disbelief and how much of a bubble I live in. It's hard.
I'm not required to teach evolution in my class. In fact I'm not required to teach anything since the class has never been taught before at American River. However on a personal note it's really important to me that people at least understand it, even if they don't believe it. Some of the students understand it, but since there are no prerequisites, a lot of folks have never had to learn evolution, or learned it so long ago that it's out of the window. So many questions about what I should/can teach. I mean even a quick and dirty talk on evolution and natural selection could be a challenge - people get entire graduate degrees and base their whole careers on understanding it.
Basically this is all I'm thinking about right now. Such an eye-opener.
1. It's political (which is dumb, but people are dumb, so it makes sense)
2. People think that they understand it when they really don't
3. It's a topic that needs to be "sat" with for a long time to really let it sink in
4. It's not something that you can see happen in an instant.
So I'm putting together a series of videos:
First one that I can't embed that is by far the most offensive, and hilarious:
http://youtu.be/KzF5aQ8X-hA
Next up:
Too bad I can't actually show all of this or I'd get fired. Being in a community of academic scientists in Davis has skewed my perception of the world and what people believe, understand, or care about. I try to remind myself of that every day, but I'm still actually surprised when people believe in Jesus and shit. I can't let my students in on my disbelief and how much of a bubble I live in. It's hard.
I'm not required to teach evolution in my class. In fact I'm not required to teach anything since the class has never been taught before at American River. However on a personal note it's really important to me that people at least understand it, even if they don't believe it. Some of the students understand it, but since there are no prerequisites, a lot of folks have never had to learn evolution, or learned it so long ago that it's out of the window. So many questions about what I should/can teach. I mean even a quick and dirty talk on evolution and natural selection could be a challenge - people get entire graduate degrees and base their whole careers on understanding it.
Basically this is all I'm thinking about right now. Such an eye-opener.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)