Monday, September 29, 2008
New Computer!
I am excited tosay that I love my new computer! Its tiny and has a built in web cam, and its wonderful. THe only major down side is the smaller than average keyboard. I'll get used to it, probably after much deleting. I can go on and on I'm sure but more importantly today is the 'first' yet again day of school. I've done this once before but today starts my real semester not some crazy intense two week thing. But with the quarter system things are guaranteed to move much more quickly. Today I have RS 520 my sustainable technology class if I am not mistaken. The reading has not been terribly interesting yet. The content is good but I was not impressed by the presentations by our two faculty teachers during our two week course. Well I will be sure to write about it. Now I have to shut down and go to class. Wish me luck!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
I am nos here at the end of day three. I am thanking my lucky stars that I did substantial reading ahead of time. The daily page total ranges from 200 to around 50 plus additional research. We have turned in one paper, a reaction paper. These are times for us to lay out our reactions to the class material within particular parameters. Last night we wrote about Science the environment and politics. What could have been a very lively discussion today was happily limited by the end of class.
Although the students in class come from a wide variety of backgrounds we seem to have at least some similar ideas on the role of science in public policy. Our two professors are very interesting. One Dr Quinn is the wildlife biologist/ Ecologist. He is also in his last year at the university making him somewhat more prone to speaking whats on his mind and being generally a bit more colorful. Dr Lawrence is the anthropologist side of the class. we have read a book titled Mukat's People. They are a tribe that is from the area surrounding palm springs. The book is more of a historical reconstruction about what life was like before the presence of Europeans. The book is very useful in studying hunter/gatherer society but does feel a bit outdated owning to the fact that it was published in the 1950s. The most exciting part of the otherwise very dry factual book is all the edibles it talks about. That is by far most students favorite part.
Other class room activities include one paper this weekend of semi-substantial length and another due at the end of the next week that is a collaborative research and presentation deal. SO I have been researching all manner of articles on Community Gardens (my groups topic of choice) and how they affect community identity. I was surprised ti find out how many city sponsored gardens there are in the US. total one document said that there are over 10,000 community gardens. LA and other impoverished urban areas are using the gardens as a was to revitalize communities and reduce crime. It appears to be working to some degree.
Other then snippets of data I haven't read anything top to bottom. That's tonight's project after I go to the gym.
I am sad to report that the weather here has been beautiful, a touch warm in the afternoons but over cast in the mornings and cool in the evenings. Other than that I am getting used to feeding myself again. I have a tendency to go a bit crazy on grocery's and not realize I can't quite eat it all. I guess I'll get better with time. But Mom will be glad to hear that I am not starving (I don't think Ms. Wu would allow that) I get protein and vegies along with plenty of cereal. It looks like I won't be heading back to the Fresno area until October some time. Nathan, Richard, and myself will be jetting off to South Dakota for a wedding next weekend. Than real school starts.
Wish me luck as I continue to toil on my homework.
Although the students in class come from a wide variety of backgrounds we seem to have at least some similar ideas on the role of science in public policy. Our two professors are very interesting. One Dr Quinn is the wildlife biologist/ Ecologist. He is also in his last year at the university making him somewhat more prone to speaking whats on his mind and being generally a bit more colorful. Dr Lawrence is the anthropologist side of the class. we have read a book titled Mukat's People. They are a tribe that is from the area surrounding palm springs. The book is more of a historical reconstruction about what life was like before the presence of Europeans. The book is very useful in studying hunter/gatherer society but does feel a bit outdated owning to the fact that it was published in the 1950s. The most exciting part of the otherwise very dry factual book is all the edibles it talks about. That is by far most students favorite part.
Other class room activities include one paper this weekend of semi-substantial length and another due at the end of the next week that is a collaborative research and presentation deal. SO I have been researching all manner of articles on Community Gardens (my groups topic of choice) and how they affect community identity. I was surprised ti find out how many city sponsored gardens there are in the US. total one document said that there are over 10,000 community gardens. LA and other impoverished urban areas are using the gardens as a was to revitalize communities and reduce crime. It appears to be working to some degree.
Other then snippets of data I haven't read anything top to bottom. That's tonight's project after I go to the gym.
I am sad to report that the weather here has been beautiful, a touch warm in the afternoons but over cast in the mornings and cool in the evenings. Other than that I am getting used to feeding myself again. I have a tendency to go a bit crazy on grocery's and not realize I can't quite eat it all. I guess I'll get better with time. But Mom will be glad to hear that I am not starving (I don't think Ms. Wu would allow that) I get protein and vegies along with plenty of cereal. It looks like I won't be heading back to the Fresno area until October some time. Nathan, Richard, and myself will be jetting off to South Dakota for a wedding next weekend. Than real school starts.
Wish me luck as I continue to toil on my homework.
Monday, September 8, 2008
First day of class
Okay so for those not up to speed. The Wu's (the family I'm living with) are very interesting people. The only time English is spoken in the house is either when it is directed at me or when their daughter is at home. So for me it is a rather "quiet" house. Other wise its noisy as all get out, is just that its all in Chinese :)
The house is located in an area that feels very much like North Fresno. There is a large shopping center just down the road. Its not quite river park sized but it does put a sizable dent on each corner. Grocery shopping is also close by. The hardest park about the City of Walnut is that they have a no-parking-on-the-street-between 2-4am rule. its supposed to help reduce crime but with 5 different cars at the house they don't all fit in the drive way. At the moment myself, the other renters and their daughter take up the tree drive way slots and the Wu's park on the street with permits.
My room here is very comfortable and large enough to not feel cramped with all the time I spend in it. The down side to my lovely east facing room is that I am also the farthest connection from the wireless hub making my signal rather doubtful once everyone is home at night.
Now the good stuff. I started class today! Yay! It is going to be a bit intense because it is a 4 unit class crammed into 2 weeks but since I was somewhat on it and did most of the reading in advance I can do more reviewing for retention rather than blasting through it in one night.
We began with introductions there are about 14 of us in the class, coming from a wide variety of backgrounds. There is a good sampling from PoliSci, a few biology, theater, communications, architecture and others I don’t remember. Our reasons for being there are also just as diverse. It was very exciting hearing about the reasons people are entering the program. We got a full tour of the RS (Regenerative Studies) campus. There is so much going on and the impact of just a little consideration is huge. They have landscaped almost entirely with useful trees and shrubs. There are banana trees, apples, peach, nectarine, Chinese dates (like mealy apples) and so many more, all food bearing. Then lower lying things are herbs, vines, and veggies. There are more traditional gardens, but just the landscape produces an excess of food so they can send it so a local food distribution center. The agronomists guess was that it was in excess of 1 to 2 tons a year.
Buildings were built for experimental purposes too, on stilts, buried into the hill side, with allowances for prevailing wind, passive solar and so on. The original plans called for much more intensive work and design but money and conventional planning rules got in the way. The best example is the AC. The main building dosen’t need it. But since there is a communal kitchen the are a was deemed a food preparation area and there fore had to have one. Setting them back something like $100,000 and that was 10 to 15 years ago. The MS (masters of science) only began 5 years ago. So things are still new but have been hard fought through the planning stages since the 80’s at least.
Well I’ll take my camera tomorrow and try and post some pictures here. Until then you’ll just have to do with what’s on the CRS web site.
Time to do Homework!
The house is located in an area that feels very much like North Fresno. There is a large shopping center just down the road. Its not quite river park sized but it does put a sizable dent on each corner. Grocery shopping is also close by. The hardest park about the City of Walnut is that they have a no-parking-on-the-street-between 2-4am rule. its supposed to help reduce crime but with 5 different cars at the house they don't all fit in the drive way. At the moment myself, the other renters and their daughter take up the tree drive way slots and the Wu's park on the street with permits.
My room here is very comfortable and large enough to not feel cramped with all the time I spend in it. The down side to my lovely east facing room is that I am also the farthest connection from the wireless hub making my signal rather doubtful once everyone is home at night.
Now the good stuff. I started class today! Yay! It is going to be a bit intense because it is a 4 unit class crammed into 2 weeks but since I was somewhat on it and did most of the reading in advance I can do more reviewing for retention rather than blasting through it in one night.
We began with introductions there are about 14 of us in the class, coming from a wide variety of backgrounds. There is a good sampling from PoliSci, a few biology, theater, communications, architecture and others I don’t remember. Our reasons for being there are also just as diverse. It was very exciting hearing about the reasons people are entering the program. We got a full tour of the RS (Regenerative Studies) campus. There is so much going on and the impact of just a little consideration is huge. They have landscaped almost entirely with useful trees and shrubs. There are banana trees, apples, peach, nectarine, Chinese dates (like mealy apples) and so many more, all food bearing. Then lower lying things are herbs, vines, and veggies. There are more traditional gardens, but just the landscape produces an excess of food so they can send it so a local food distribution center. The agronomists guess was that it was in excess of 1 to 2 tons a year.
Buildings were built for experimental purposes too, on stilts, buried into the hill side, with allowances for prevailing wind, passive solar and so on. The original plans called for much more intensive work and design but money and conventional planning rules got in the way. The best example is the AC. The main building dosen’t need it. But since there is a communal kitchen the are a was deemed a food preparation area and there fore had to have one. Setting them back something like $100,000 and that was 10 to 15 years ago. The MS (masters of science) only began 5 years ago. So things are still new but have been hard fought through the planning stages since the 80’s at least.
Well I’ll take my camera tomorrow and try and post some pictures here. Until then you’ll just have to do with what’s on the CRS web site.
Time to do Homework!
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