Biking!

While working at National Wildlife Federation this summer, I commuted via bicycle once every other week or so; it was 10 miles each way (took an hour) and although it was a bit of a trek, it was a great experience! When I was at Duke I also often bike commuted although that was much shorter--a 10-min bike ride each way. What's so nice about is that not only are you reducing your carbon emissions by not driving, you're also getting exercise, getting time outside, and being out in the community and getting to know other like-minded people, so it covers many bases in one fell swoop. I found that I had a big smile on my face and really enjoyed the commute, whereas whenever I drove (especially in the DC area) I was stressed, felt lazy and felt easily annoyed by other drivers or by pedestrians and bikers. I felt much more in touch with the rhythm of nature by biking, as I got to observe close-up what the weather was like and got to observe nature along the way--I even almost hit a deer on my bicycle one day! Which is obviously much less dangerous on your bike; the worst that could happen is I would have bumped into it gently since I wasn't going very fast. I really hope that more people in the DC area will take up biking to work, as I think it will help greatly to reduce traffic problems and commuting frustrations in the area.

One word of caution to anyone who decides to take up bike commuting is to be a careful and considerate biker; I've observed many bikers on the W&OD trail who are quick to flick off drivers (even when the drivers weren't doing anything wrong) or not obey basic biking rules such as biking on the right side of the street, checking for cars before crossing the street, hand signaling or notifying pedestrians when they are passing. These are very important to implement for your own safety and for others' safety. And, even when drivers do something wrong, try not to get too irate about it, because that just further increases hostility between bikers and drivers that is already pretty bad. Flicking someone off doesn't solve anything!

You might make a driver more angry toward bikers which may make them more likely to be hostile toward bikers in the future, so consider that before acting too hastily.

Have fun out there and hope to hear your bike commuting stories!

Rants

A couple rants....

1) In some ways the DC area is awesome for walkability/bikability/public transportation, but not over by Tyson's Corner! I tried to walk from my house over to a Bank of America just a mile from my house that's across the street from Tyson's Corner, and there literally was no way to cross a part of Route 7 that went over the Beltway. There was no sidewalk of any kind. Sooooo dangerous! So, although the place I wanted to go was maybe a 1000 feet away, I had to backtrack, cross the huge street, and wait for the bus to take me the short distance. Lame and a half!

2) A few rants about people's reactions to me being vegetarian:

1. When people apologize about eating meat in front of me. I’m not a freakin pansy.
2. When I ask about veggie dogs and people say “Oh we have turkey dogs, that would be the closest thing.” Turkey = Meat. No closer to being a veggie dog than a beef dog.
3. When people say, “Oh, I guess you can’t have this. Poor thing” when consuming meat. I gave it up b/c I don’t want to eat it!
4. When people don’t get why I’m pescatarian (still eat seafood).
5. When people tell me that they dated a vegetarian/knew a vegetarian/what have you. I don’t care!
6. When people ask what I eat. Everything you eat except the meat!
7. When people ask how I get protein.
8. When people only choose hippie vegetarian restaurants when we go out to eat, thinking that would be the only kind of restaurant I’d like.
9. When people think I only eat vegetables, or think I love vegetables way more than the average person. Or think I’m really healthy all b/c I’m vegetarian. There are plenty of things that you can eat that are vegetarian that are horrible for you, and many don’t have any vegetables!

Sorry for the whining, but I don't rant often and it's been building up a bit. That is all. :)

NEXT next chapter!

Hello after a long hiatus!

After finally graduating in December, and searching for jobs for several months, I finally found something--I've been working at National Wildlife Federation headquarters in Reston, VA since May 16th. I am a Blue Ridge Research Assistant; I'm researching/compiling information about wildlife, land use, geology, water quality, property owners, environmental threats, etc. in the northern Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia/West Virginia so that priority conservation areas can be identified and a conservation corridor/coalition can be created. So far it's been really interesting, I've been able to pull together aspects from land use planning and conservation biology and integrate the information so it's really exactly the subject area I'm interested in. It's only until August, so I'm still searching for something permanent. It would be great to keep on working here! But we'll see what kinds of opportunities come up.

I'm excited because I think I kind of have a career mentor--one of the board members of an organization that we partner with, Friends of the Blue Ridge Mountains, has a background in urban planning and was involved with creating the project that I'm working on. He has given me career advice and offered to put me in touch with organizations that might be hiring. It's a bit early to say, but he may be the career mentor that I've been searching for!

I just found a place to live in Falls Church, VA. It is close to the W&OD bike trail that also goes right past my work. I can't wait to try commuting via bike! It is about 10 miles door to door. I am living with a couple in their early 30s who moved from Czech Republic/Slovakia about 8 years ago. It is a house in a quiet neighborhood, so parking is easy and it only takes about 15 min to drive to work.

I'm still doing barre classes, running, biking, and dabbling in other exercise. I tried indoor rock climbing for the first time in November and have since done it two more times, and I finally learned how to ski in January. I just did bikram yoga yesterday for the first time in several years....and it was super hot here in DC yesterday so it was rough! But felt good.

This weekend I'll just be settling in and getting furniture for my place, and hanging out with Nick school people. Oh and So You Think You Can Dance started up again, so I'll probably catch up with that on Hulu!

Cheers mate.

Transitions

Well, I've been in Michigan for about 6 weeks....I'm here until I find a job. I ended up not finishing my MP by the end of August so I have to present in December! I think it'll be really good though since I've had all this time to work on it, so that's good. I've applied to about 25 jobs so far; some of them seem really cool, but I haven't gotten any interviews yet. Sometimes it seems like no one will ever want to hire me! But I have to keep reminding myself that I haven't really been searching that long, the economy is bad, blah blah blah. I really would like to be in DC, but I'm also looking in other places too: any place that has a lot of stuff to do and isn't too cold, basically. I even applied to jobs in England and Malaysia so far! Before, I hadn't pinpointed exactly what I was looking for but now I know that the main buzzwords I'm looking for are "Conservation Planning" or "Conservation services". Defenders of Wildlife has a great website that explains what that is.


Next week I'll be going to Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity in DC, so looking forward to that! A bunch of my friends from high school, college, and grad school will be there so will be great to catch up with people and wreak havoc on the city! I can't wait for people to see my Halloween costume, it's a good one this year! It'll be a surprise but I'm pretty sure it will make you laugh. Will post photos!

All in all, it's good to be in Michigan for a short while since it's almost the holidays and it's nice to hang out with the family, see the seasons changing, etc. There's a lot to do and see in Ann Arbor so it's not so bad....but definitely want to be in a bigger city for where I move next! College towns are cute and everything, but I'd like to try living in a big city for a little while, at least. Hopefully, in a place that's not too far from outdoorsy stuff so I can get a break from city living whenever I want. I've been biking a lot in Michigan including the Border to Border greenway trail in Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti, the Lakefront trail in the Whitmore Lake/Pinckney area, and out in Webster township east of Dexter off of Stein Rd, Joy Rd, etc. And I've been doing yoga, running, etc. so keeping myself in shape, and I've had a chance to catch up with a lot of friends, do some great shopping, revisit places from college and from growing up, etc. BUT, I'll definitely be ready to move on when I find a job! Keep your fingers crossed for me that it will be soon!

Soliloquy on a summer night

My favorite time of day is just after dusk, when the birds are making their last few calls of the night, the frogs are croaking sleepily, and cicadas are humming. It is particularly nice in the summer, when the warm air persists even though the sun has gone down, and the damp, warm, dark air envelops you like a blanket. It is an exciting time, when deer and other animals begin their evening foraging, and sounds of music, people's muted voices, and clanking of silverware and plates from people eating dinner can be heard through open windows in the neighborhood. It is a transitional time, before people head out for the evening if they have plans, or before they head to bed if they don't. It is a time filled with excitement and promise, and I feel a strong pull to be outside during this time. Eventually, I force myself to go inside for the night, but I keep the windows open for a few hours as a compromise, so I can feel the warm night breeze and evening sounds for a while longer. It's because I love the dusk/nighttime in summer so much that I could never live in a cold place, and I could never be too much of a morning person!

This evening there was a quick storm that rained about an inch in an hour, then stopped. I just went on a walk down to the West Ellerbe Creek Trail a few blocks from my house to check the level of the creek, and it was high and flowing rapidly! It's amazing what a difference such a quick storm can make in the water level. I saw two deer at the intersection of the trail and Albany Rd, who quickly retreated to the forest adjacent to the trail when they saw me approaching. I can't believe there were deer right in the middle of my neighborhood!

A quick update on my life, since I haven't posted anything on this blog in about 9 months:

Finished all my classes for my graduate program, but still working on my MP this summer, and will graduate in September. My lease goes through the end of August, so will probably stay in Michigan if I haven't found a job by the beginning of September, as I don't really have enough money to keep paying rent here.

My MP is looking at potential habitat for gray wolves in lower Michigan using GIS (geospatial) and MaxEnt software, which is a software used to predict species distributions, using telemetry data from the species' location and environmental variables such as human density, climate, elevation, slope, road density, land cover, etc. I'm still doing a bit of background research, then have to download some more GIS data, then will input everything into MaxEnt and then GIS next week or so!

I'll be taking a trip to Michigan June 25-July 12, then Chicago for Lollapalooza August 5-9. Then, I present my MP in the end of August. I'm trying to expand my music know-how and get to know some of the bands that will play at Lollapalooza, particularly indie rock bands....I think I'm ready to move beyond my limited knowledge of music which so far has consisted mostly of pop music!

I saw a posting today for a job in Gautier, MS which is near New Orleans, tracking sandhill cranes, etc as a wildlife intern from October through February. It looks like pretty much exactly what I'm looking for (I'd prefer if it was a mammal species, but whatever), so I'm going to apply! I've applied to about 4 jobs so far, but only federal jobs and I haven't heard back from any of them.

I'm trying to get more into biking....I recently discovered a whole network of greenway trails in Durham, so tomorrow I'm going to take a ride with my friend Allison and explore the American Tobacco Trail.

I'm reading Guns, Germs and Steel now, which was a Christmas gift from my mom. It's really interesting and explores why human evolution happened the way it did on the different continents and why Eurasians became more "advanced" with steel tools, guns, etc. and other cultures didn't. "Advanced" because they obviously weren't really superior in any way, they just had different factors in their society that others didn't have, and not some sort of biological superiority.

I think that is it.....enjoy my photo of the night sky below (looks way cooler in person, but oh well).

Night sky

Back to school!

Hey all,
So I just posted the last of the Asheville photos on facebook. Looking back on all those photos, I was reminded of how beautiful it was out there...when you're there, you get kind of used to it and forget how amazing it is. Now, I'm in my third week of the semester back at Duke. I only have 3 classes: statistics at NC state, wetlands, and watershed management. I'm also TA-ing Land Use Principles and Policies, which has been an interesting experience so far! The first assignment is due Thursday for that class, so we'll see how grading goes! I'm also taking Advanced Latin Dance at Duke, and two other dance classes (Broadway and hip-hop) at a local dance studio, 9th Street Dance. I'm also playing intramural volleyball, finishing my term as treasurer of student council, and helping out with other groups and attending seminars, career/resume workshops, and trying to figure out my MP (master's project). I'm having trouble finding an MP advisor; I think things will go a lot smoother once I find one. So, things are pretty busy, but it's kind of fun! I went to Beaufort for the Neuse Riverkeeper Triathalon this past weekend which was a great time; there may be photos posted if you google it. It was awesome to see the 2nd year coastal students who live there this year, and see the Marine Lab and what their life is like down there. It seems a lot more laid back than the Durham campus, almost kind of like summer camp with a dining hall and little cabin-esque living quarters (although most Nicholas students lived in regular houses). I shouldn't say "regular" houses, they were actually really huge, gorgeous houses! We got to spend some time on the beach, we went to Fort Macon beach which was awesome...really soft sand, and the water was pretty warm! Well, should probably get some reading done, but I'll try to update this more often! Ciao...

Only 12 more days in Asheville...

Welll...it's nearing the end of my time here in Asheville, and I figured I'd put some pics on here to capture what it's like here OTHER THAN all the scenic mountain vistas and hangin with the Dukies, which is what the majority of my facebook pics are. So here they are, and in reverse order...I was too lazy to drag them all around into the correct order. Most if not all of these aren't on facebook, so enjoy!

Also..thought it'd be worthwhile to note...despite seeing bear scat, tracks, fur, and hearing it shuffle around in the woods, I never actually saw a bear on the property that Foothills owns! HOWEVER, I did see a bear crossing the Blue Ridge Parkway at about milepost 430 the weekend before last, which was awesome! I was in my car and it was quite a ways away, so not a dangerous situation and it was just great to be able to see one! Between that and the coyotes, I have now had my charismatic megafauna fix for the summer!

In other news...I've been making major progress on my management plans and should finish those up in the next couple of days. My last day at my internship is next Friday, the 14th, then I'll be moving the following day, the 15th! How time flies when you're having fun...

Also, I got offered a TA position for Land Use Principles and Policy this fall! I really liked the class last year and the prof is very cool, so I think I'm going to accept it! Which means that between that and the salsa dance show I want to try out for, and the MP, and student council, and all my classes, and being social, it's gonna be a ridiculous year, but whatevs! It's my last year of school probably ever, so I'm gonna make the most of it!

OK, without further adieu, here are all the photos of random crazy Ashevegas!

Bucolic scene of US-74, it was so pretty to drive on!

Lake Lure Inn...where Patrick Swayze stayed while filming Dirty Dancing!!!

Top of a waterfall in South Mountain State Park...

Fence lizard on one of our properties...

Tuft of bear fur on one of our properties!

Eastern box turtle on one of our properties!

One of the hazardous :) stream crossings on one of our properties...I think this is the one I slipped and fell into...

Bear print!

Bear scat!

La Zoom comedy tour funny painter guy!

La Zoom tour funny lady!

Crazy strawberry, blue cheese and lavender thing that was kind of disgusting, although it looked pretty!

Statue lady downtown...

Yummy chips and salsa at Salsa's!