I said that I was going to use mobile blogging, but unfortunately, it only works for US numbers, and all the phones here are Liberian numbers.
Things are going so well, I finally got past the humidity, and the culture shock, and am functioning fairly well. There will be tons of stories when I get back, but for now I wanted to explain why I won't be posting often, and to say that I am doing well. Thanks to you all for your prayers!!
Chris, Tony, Baker=The ICE team
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
My Endless Education
One of my favorite things in life is to learn things, I love it. I never want to stop learning, and I try to not make education something that happens at regular intervals, and not at all in between those intervals. This post is mostly about some education that happened over this last week, and some education that is going to happen.
Saturday and Sunday are going to take up most of this post, due to the sheer amount of fun that happened on those days. Not only did I go to church, but I took part in something called "Splash!" which is a program at Stanford University, where current Stanford students, grads, and students from other universities teach classes to middle and high schoolers. I will attempt to have some structure to my recounting, but it will most likely degrade into scraps of memories.
I arrived at 9 (thanks Dad!!), and had an hour to kill, so I took a little look around the campus, just a tiny look, and then indulged in some fun people watching. This event was like a light and moths, except for nerds. Perhaps the largest gathering of nerdy people outside a conference on comic books or Star Trek or such extraordinary event. I am a nerd, that is fine, I am comfortable with that, but I am a more subdued nerd, and most of these people were flaming nerds. I can even handle kid nerds, but the parents were the ones who really pushed me over the edge. Some parents stayed all day, and quite a few were walking their kids to classes, eating lunch with their kids, and other such irritating behaviors. I used the term helicopter parent. I felt bad for these kids, and really wanted to say something to their parents, but, I kept my mouth shut. Another parent behavior I observed was yet defined "college grooming", where the parents graduated from Stanford, and are now forcing their children to take part in events like this, as well as go to prestegious schools, test well, and do other things that greatly increase their chance of getting into Stanford. I wouldn't mind being groomed, but I wonder, is that because I wasn't groomed? I think that parents wanting to help their kids is great, but only if the kids want it.
Now that I am done with the parents, on to the classes. It was striking how average I was, average intelligence, average coolness, average desire to be there. My first class was about social change, microfinance, etc. The class was pretty cool, but the time where we worked with our classmates was absymal. I got two guys who were conservative (in the negative way), pessimistic, contrary, and able to quote statistics with memorized skill. Our topic was governmental reform, and these guys were able to sweep us into deciding that we needed to lessen the punishment for minor crimes, and harshen punishments for major crimes. Not what I thought would be decided in our discussion. I hate people who have nothing to say except negativity.
My second class was about logic, and was really good, but not very funny. Except for when the teacher gave us some snacks. If Teddy Grahams, Plain Triscuts, and Pepperidge Farms Entertaining Collection counts as snack. His apology? "I thought of this this morning, and went by the campus store. This was the best they had."
My last class of that day was Public Finance in America, which was made tons more fun by the closest to thug there. Caucasian, looked and acted like he actually lived in a ghetto, and talked like it too. Some of his more choice sayings of the class. "Yeah, incarceration is when the bacon bust yo ***, and you get locked up.", "I'm saying dat crime down, cause dey hatin' on gangs and **** like that", "I know dem Mexicans be paying most of dem taxes, cause dey don't want no IRS busting they ***** and sending them back to Mexico or wherever.", "I know what dem projects like, like some little culture or some **** like that. Any po-lice that go in there gonna be ****** up real good." I must give a round of applause to the teacher, a mild-mannered MIT student, who showed no surprise at this out of place language.
I was exhausted after that, so slept fairly well, and was feeling pretty well rested for the next day. Sunday was pretty normal, except for when the lead pastor came in to talk to the youth. I can usually pay atttention, but this was so dry, and Brad's voice is so lullingly sing-songy, I was nearly falling asleep. Not kidding.
Classes were a blast on Sunday. First was a intimate class on "Saving the Planet", which was made up of 4 students, and one teacher. The teacher was a passionate Mechanical Engineering PhD, who is really concerned about the environment. Really cool. I'm not the only passionate one.
The next class was on immigration and the border. In the class of 15 or so, only 3 people had not immigrated, or had their family immigrate within the last 15 years. We were the awkward white guys, but at least I have experience with immigrants. The teacher really, really, knew his stats, and did a great job making all his points clear.
The last class was about capitalism, viewed through the lens of masturbation. I wasn't sure about it, but Mom encouraged me to check it out. (Thanks Mom!!) The teacher had some interesting ideas on the topic, but my favorite part was the colorful discussion. Just great, and hard to express. That's it for what has passed.
On Thursday, at 5:30 a.m., I will be at the airport in San Jose, and off by 6:30. San Jose to Chicago, Chicago to Brussels, Brussels to Monrovia. I won't be back for 2 weeks, but I will be posting, via mobile. (As they say there)
This video was found looking for a song I heard on my Pandora, and wanted to hear again. Not only is the music great, but the idea is so fun. I have actually done this, but not as goofily as that man, and not on camera. Enjoy!!
That's all for now!!
God Bless!!
Saturday and Sunday are going to take up most of this post, due to the sheer amount of fun that happened on those days. Not only did I go to church, but I took part in something called "Splash!" which is a program at Stanford University, where current Stanford students, grads, and students from other universities teach classes to middle and high schoolers. I will attempt to have some structure to my recounting, but it will most likely degrade into scraps of memories.
I arrived at 9 (thanks Dad!!), and had an hour to kill, so I took a little look around the campus, just a tiny look, and then indulged in some fun people watching. This event was like a light and moths, except for nerds. Perhaps the largest gathering of nerdy people outside a conference on comic books or Star Trek or such extraordinary event. I am a nerd, that is fine, I am comfortable with that, but I am a more subdued nerd, and most of these people were flaming nerds. I can even handle kid nerds, but the parents were the ones who really pushed me over the edge. Some parents stayed all day, and quite a few were walking their kids to classes, eating lunch with their kids, and other such irritating behaviors. I used the term helicopter parent. I felt bad for these kids, and really wanted to say something to their parents, but, I kept my mouth shut. Another parent behavior I observed was yet defined "college grooming", where the parents graduated from Stanford, and are now forcing their children to take part in events like this, as well as go to prestegious schools, test well, and do other things that greatly increase their chance of getting into Stanford. I wouldn't mind being groomed, but I wonder, is that because I wasn't groomed? I think that parents wanting to help their kids is great, but only if the kids want it.
Now that I am done with the parents, on to the classes. It was striking how average I was, average intelligence, average coolness, average desire to be there. My first class was about social change, microfinance, etc. The class was pretty cool, but the time where we worked with our classmates was absymal. I got two guys who were conservative (in the negative way), pessimistic, contrary, and able to quote statistics with memorized skill. Our topic was governmental reform, and these guys were able to sweep us into deciding that we needed to lessen the punishment for minor crimes, and harshen punishments for major crimes. Not what I thought would be decided in our discussion. I hate people who have nothing to say except negativity.
My second class was about logic, and was really good, but not very funny. Except for when the teacher gave us some snacks. If Teddy Grahams, Plain Triscuts, and Pepperidge Farms Entertaining Collection counts as snack. His apology? "I thought of this this morning, and went by the campus store. This was the best they had."
My last class of that day was Public Finance in America, which was made tons more fun by the closest to thug there. Caucasian, looked and acted like he actually lived in a ghetto, and talked like it too. Some of his more choice sayings of the class. "Yeah, incarceration is when the bacon bust yo ***, and you get locked up.", "I'm saying dat crime down, cause dey hatin' on gangs and **** like that", "I know dem Mexicans be paying most of dem taxes, cause dey don't want no IRS busting they ***** and sending them back to Mexico or wherever.", "I know what dem projects like, like some little culture or some **** like that. Any po-lice that go in there gonna be ****** up real good." I must give a round of applause to the teacher, a mild-mannered MIT student, who showed no surprise at this out of place language.
I was exhausted after that, so slept fairly well, and was feeling pretty well rested for the next day. Sunday was pretty normal, except for when the lead pastor came in to talk to the youth. I can usually pay atttention, but this was so dry, and Brad's voice is so lullingly sing-songy, I was nearly falling asleep. Not kidding.
Classes were a blast on Sunday. First was a intimate class on "Saving the Planet", which was made up of 4 students, and one teacher. The teacher was a passionate Mechanical Engineering PhD, who is really concerned about the environment. Really cool. I'm not the only passionate one.
The next class was on immigration and the border. In the class of 15 or so, only 3 people had not immigrated, or had their family immigrate within the last 15 years. We were the awkward white guys, but at least I have experience with immigrants. The teacher really, really, knew his stats, and did a great job making all his points clear.
The last class was about capitalism, viewed through the lens of masturbation. I wasn't sure about it, but Mom encouraged me to check it out. (Thanks Mom!!) The teacher had some interesting ideas on the topic, but my favorite part was the colorful discussion. Just great, and hard to express. That's it for what has passed.
On Thursday, at 5:30 a.m., I will be at the airport in San Jose, and off by 6:30. San Jose to Chicago, Chicago to Brussels, Brussels to Monrovia. I won't be back for 2 weeks, but I will be posting, via mobile. (As they say there)
This video was found looking for a song I heard on my Pandora, and wanted to hear again. Not only is the music great, but the idea is so fun. I have actually done this, but not as goofily as that man, and not on camera. Enjoy!!
That's all for now!!
God Bless!!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Book Reviews
A few posts back I mentioned our trip to the library, and the cool books I got. I also promised to have reviews for those books. Here they are!!
Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond. Wow. I had heard good things about this book, but when I picked it up at the library, all I could think was "Is he really going to try to explain all of human history in 400-odd pages?" Yes, he did try, in a way. The point is understanding why Eurasian societies are dominant today, and why they have been dominant for several years. So not really understanding all of history, but understanding the events that brought about much of current history. That explained, this was a great book, partially due to the unique lens through which Diamond looks at history. So many people start with politics, but he starts with science, and particularly food. (I like food.) This book does take some work, even trying to explain it to my parent's required some thinking on their behalf, so read this book, but only if you want to put some work into it.
Journey to the Ants, by E.O. Wilson, and Bert Hölldobler. This book is actually on loan from one of my fellow MBA volunteers, not the library. I am not exactly a "scientific" person, I love science, and all the cools things that can be discovered, or made, due to advances in science. I thought that this book would be a little too science-y for a causualist like me, but it was perfect! A great collection of stories, with just enough theories to make me feel like I was thinking about smart stuff. I would whole-heartedly recommend this to anyone who finds nature fascinating.
The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell. Sarah Vowell is a contributing editor to This American Life, which is one of my favorite radio shows of all time. Sarah (we are on a first name basis) has such a fun take on history. She does great research and can draw parallels between seemingly unconnected events in history. Her tone is seemingly flip, but really just removes the over-reverence we have for history, and historical characters. Just because they lived hundreds of years ago, doesn't make them perfect, or above mocking. In this particular book she focuses on Puritans, and I learned more about them than I thought would be interesting. The theological minutiae, the historical context, and the hilarious anecdotes. Good only if you have time to kill, and don't want to be totally bored, but still want something with some redemptive value.
That is all for this edition of Hays Book Review.
I will have a post for the events of this week tomorrow. (Probably)
Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond. Wow. I had heard good things about this book, but when I picked it up at the library, all I could think was "Is he really going to try to explain all of human history in 400-odd pages?" Yes, he did try, in a way. The point is understanding why Eurasian societies are dominant today, and why they have been dominant for several years. So not really understanding all of history, but understanding the events that brought about much of current history. That explained, this was a great book, partially due to the unique lens through which Diamond looks at history. So many people start with politics, but he starts with science, and particularly food. (I like food.) This book does take some work, even trying to explain it to my parent's required some thinking on their behalf, so read this book, but only if you want to put some work into it.
Journey to the Ants, by E.O. Wilson, and Bert Hölldobler. This book is actually on loan from one of my fellow MBA volunteers, not the library. I am not exactly a "scientific" person, I love science, and all the cools things that can be discovered, or made, due to advances in science. I thought that this book would be a little too science-y for a causualist like me, but it was perfect! A great collection of stories, with just enough theories to make me feel like I was thinking about smart stuff. I would whole-heartedly recommend this to anyone who finds nature fascinating.
The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell. Sarah Vowell is a contributing editor to This American Life, which is one of my favorite radio shows of all time. Sarah (we are on a first name basis) has such a fun take on history. She does great research and can draw parallels between seemingly unconnected events in history. Her tone is seemingly flip, but really just removes the over-reverence we have for history, and historical characters. Just because they lived hundreds of years ago, doesn't make them perfect, or above mocking. In this particular book she focuses on Puritans, and I learned more about them than I thought would be interesting. The theological minutiae, the historical context, and the hilarious anecdotes. Good only if you have time to kill, and don't want to be totally bored, but still want something with some redemptive value.
That is all for this edition of Hays Book Review.
I will have a post for the events of this week tomorrow. (Probably)
Sunday, March 29, 2009
A Very Good Weekend
I like weekends. Fun stuff can happen on weekends. Like some weekends, this one was packed, tiring, and great!
Friday, shockingly, did not include the MBA in anyway, except that I did have a subsitute. Instead, I went to Planet Wisdom youth conference.
View Larger Map
As you can see, the trip from San Jose, where I met the group, to Brentwood, was quite a trip. Notice the disclaimer that the trip can take up to 1 hour 30 mins in traffic. Longer really, if you stop for in-n-out. My plan, when I posted from my phone, was to have a nice little semi-live stream. Then the conference just piled on top of me, and I didn't have that kind of time. Now I do.
Within 30 minutes of leaving, the trip had taken on a unique River Youth flavor. My youth pastor, Kyle, has a deathly allergy to any kind of nuts. The edible kind, not the mental kind. Can someone be allergic to themself? Anyway, one of the other adults who was driving, Audury, gave the guys, who were all in one car, some snacks. Pretzels and bananas. Not bad right? As we hit some traffic, Kyle decides it is time for a snack. He grabs a pretzel, and with it almost into his mouth, asks "Is there peanut butter in this?". I knew the weekend was gonna be great.
When we stopped in Livermore for dinner (Double-double, with sauteed onions, fries, and coke.), I decided that I needed a break from the boy's car, so I was going to ride with some of the ladies. Lis, the other woman leader who came, Becky, Betit, and Lauren. The conversation was much more civil, but the driving wasn't too good. Kyle drove skilfully, if crazily. Lis, on the other hand, was following a GPS, and this particular GPS gave some interesting directions. Suddenly we left the highway, and were on some backroad, passing pastures, vineyards, corrals, houses with trailer hitches, wheels, and duct tape, and tons of windmills. I liked the windmills. We eventually got back on to the highway, only to take an exit, drive paraell to the highway for 5 minutes, then getting back on to the highway. THE SAME EXACT HIGHWAY!!! When we finally arrived, we were late, so sat in the very back row, but not in the balconey, because it was closed. Except not.
The speaker was Mark Matlock, and he spoke on "The Hero's Jourony". I really appriciated when he finished inviting people to begin the journy, and spoke on how to continue the journey. That is much more relevant to where I am in my life, and more practical than what happens at most camps and conferences, where the speaker is mostly abstracts and calls to Christ. The band was a not mainstream Texas band called Dutton, which means nothing. I know they are not mainstream, because they don't have a wiki page. There were also 2 guys, "The Skit Guys". Pretty funny, but I really loved when they began ad-libbing. Much more organic.
On lunch break, we decided to play Ultimate Frisbee. If you don't know how to play, too bad! I'm not going to explain it. Trying to choose teams was going to be hard, because there were 7 girls, 5 boys, but all the boys were athletic, and all the girls were short. I made a heroic choice, and decided that we would do boys vs. girls, but I would be on the girls team. BWHAHA! We demolished those guys!!
The sleeping arrangements were......crazy. Not the arrangements so much, but the effects of those arrangements. Aside from the typical bored male talk, there was a critque of my hairyness, and how that earned me my own queen bed, and Kyle jumping from a half-wall, wearing his sleeping bag, and bouncing off the bed. Hilarious at 1:30!
On the ride home, I rode with Audrey, who was following Lis, who was following Kyle. Right out of the parking lot Kyle went a different way, so then we were just following Lis. Lis was following her GPS, which once again led us down the road less traveled by. Our dinner was great. We stopped in Livermore again, but this time got authentic mexican place. 4 tacos, for $1.50 each. So good! I knew the place was legit, because the cable hookup was dangling from the wall, and all the commericals were in Spainish. The ride the rest of the way home was good, the group of people in the car lent themself to good conversation. Lis took us through downtown Livermore, but that was on purpose. As we were leaving Livermore, we were following Kyle. He was over in the left turn lane, then zoomed across 3 lanes to the right turn lane. Lis followed him, slightly frantic, then Lis went absolutely manic when Kyle camly moved into the straight lane, and gave us a little wave as we turned. Crazy.
This Sunday was a bit different compared to most Sundays. My church occasionally has an event called "Kindness San Jose", or "Loving San Jose", which is the whole church going out and trying to bless, and help, and love as many people as possible. I was part of the car wash team, which was pretty cool. It was funny how many people with dirty cars would just pass by, and that the first few people were suspiscious of our sign proclaiming "Free Car Wash!". I think it should have read "Free Car Wash! Really!". I also got to go up on stage and share about the carwash to the congregation, and was only 1 of 3 who got to do so. I was dubbed "cute" and a "born speaker", depending on who was asked.
That is it for this weekend.
Have a great one!
Friday, shockingly, did not include the MBA in anyway, except that I did have a subsitute. Instead, I went to Planet Wisdom youth conference.
View Larger Map
As you can see, the trip from San Jose, where I met the group, to Brentwood, was quite a trip. Notice the disclaimer that the trip can take up to 1 hour 30 mins in traffic. Longer really, if you stop for in-n-out. My plan, when I posted from my phone, was to have a nice little semi-live stream. Then the conference just piled on top of me, and I didn't have that kind of time. Now I do.
Within 30 minutes of leaving, the trip had taken on a unique River Youth flavor. My youth pastor, Kyle, has a deathly allergy to any kind of nuts. The edible kind, not the mental kind. Can someone be allergic to themself? Anyway, one of the other adults who was driving, Audury, gave the guys, who were all in one car, some snacks. Pretzels and bananas. Not bad right? As we hit some traffic, Kyle decides it is time for a snack. He grabs a pretzel, and with it almost into his mouth, asks "Is there peanut butter in this?". I knew the weekend was gonna be great.
When we stopped in Livermore for dinner (Double-double, with sauteed onions, fries, and coke.), I decided that I needed a break from the boy's car, so I was going to ride with some of the ladies. Lis, the other woman leader who came, Becky, Betit, and Lauren. The conversation was much more civil, but the driving wasn't too good. Kyle drove skilfully, if crazily. Lis, on the other hand, was following a GPS, and this particular GPS gave some interesting directions. Suddenly we left the highway, and were on some backroad, passing pastures, vineyards, corrals, houses with trailer hitches, wheels, and duct tape, and tons of windmills. I liked the windmills. We eventually got back on to the highway, only to take an exit, drive paraell to the highway for 5 minutes, then getting back on to the highway. THE SAME EXACT HIGHWAY!!! When we finally arrived, we were late, so sat in the very back row, but not in the balconey, because it was closed. Except not.
The speaker was Mark Matlock, and he spoke on "The Hero's Jourony". I really appriciated when he finished inviting people to begin the journy, and spoke on how to continue the journey. That is much more relevant to where I am in my life, and more practical than what happens at most camps and conferences, where the speaker is mostly abstracts and calls to Christ. The band was a not mainstream Texas band called Dutton, which means nothing. I know they are not mainstream, because they don't have a wiki page. There were also 2 guys, "The Skit Guys". Pretty funny, but I really loved when they began ad-libbing. Much more organic.
On lunch break, we decided to play Ultimate Frisbee. If you don't know how to play, too bad! I'm not going to explain it. Trying to choose teams was going to be hard, because there were 7 girls, 5 boys, but all the boys were athletic, and all the girls were short. I made a heroic choice, and decided that we would do boys vs. girls, but I would be on the girls team. BWHAHA! We demolished those guys!!
The sleeping arrangements were......crazy. Not the arrangements so much, but the effects of those arrangements. Aside from the typical bored male talk, there was a critque of my hairyness, and how that earned me my own queen bed, and Kyle jumping from a half-wall, wearing his sleeping bag, and bouncing off the bed. Hilarious at 1:30!
On the ride home, I rode with Audrey, who was following Lis, who was following Kyle. Right out of the parking lot Kyle went a different way, so then we were just following Lis. Lis was following her GPS, which once again led us down the road less traveled by. Our dinner was great. We stopped in Livermore again, but this time got authentic mexican place. 4 tacos, for $1.50 each. So good! I knew the place was legit, because the cable hookup was dangling from the wall, and all the commericals were in Spainish. The ride the rest of the way home was good, the group of people in the car lent themself to good conversation. Lis took us through downtown Livermore, but that was on purpose. As we were leaving Livermore, we were following Kyle. He was over in the left turn lane, then zoomed across 3 lanes to the right turn lane. Lis followed him, slightly frantic, then Lis went absolutely manic when Kyle camly moved into the straight lane, and gave us a little wave as we turned. Crazy.
This Sunday was a bit different compared to most Sundays. My church occasionally has an event called "Kindness San Jose", or "Loving San Jose", which is the whole church going out and trying to bless, and help, and love as many people as possible. I was part of the car wash team, which was pretty cool. It was funny how many people with dirty cars would just pass by, and that the first few people were suspiscious of our sign proclaiming "Free Car Wash!". I think it should have read "Free Car Wash! Really!". I also got to go up on stage and share about the carwash to the congregation, and was only 1 of 3 who got to do so. I was dubbed "cute" and a "born speaker", depending on who was asked.
That is it for this weekend.
Have a great one!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Two Quick Articles
Thought that this is a great challenge to all you new Facebook design haters.
I don't really care, because I don't use Facebook. HAH!
http://www.slate.com/id/2214447/pagenum/all/#p2
This is a great article, and I highly recommend the videos too. This is art of the next generation! I hope to see more stuff like this happening.
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2009/03/kutimans-pionee.html
I don't really care, because I don't use Facebook. HAH!
http://www.slate.com/id/2214447/pagenum/all/#p2
This is a great article, and I highly recommend the videos too. This is art of the next generation! I hope to see more stuff like this happening.
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2009/03/kutimans-pionee.html
Monday, March 23, 2009
Warning: Excessive Fun Can Have Side Effects, Including Aches, Bruises, and Cuts
I knew that this weekend was going to be fun and productive, and fun. But I did not expect this much fun.
Friday!! I got up, ate, did other morning things, then marched off to the bus stop, with pillow and blanket under my arm, and my bag on my back. I arrived at the station, and realized that I only had a $20 bill, and my fare was only $3.50. I walked up to the little snack shack right by the station, and asked for change, feeling vaugely confident about the day. I should have realized that things were going to be nuts when I was told that there was not change for a 20 there, so I would have to run down the block to a bagel shop, in less than 5 minutes. I did so (and got a cranberry bagel), and ran back, with 2 minutes to spare!
Upon arriving in Monterey, I walked to CFFO (Center For the Future of the Oceans), which is a branch of the MBA that is focused on policy, advocacy, and conservation, for a meeting about my SOC project. I was early, so I stashed my bag and pillow under some stairs, and sat down to read. A woman walked out of the CFFO building, walked towards me, akwardly looked at me, and finally asked if I was Chris. (This just in! I am Chris) Our meeting was good, informative, but not just in the way that it was intended to be. Before I go off on my little boring bit, I am going to be a prototype for a national camgpain by other insitutions like the Aquarium, which will utilize the massive force that is the concerned public, and volunteers in particular. Should be interesting. Now for my bit. One of the big take-aways for me was that there is a bit of a dilemma for someone who wants to make change on a small-scale. I could have either gone about it on my own, assembling my data from the Internet, and having absolutely no rules, except those that I set, or I could have used resources from a well-established group, like the MBA. I chose the MBA path, and now I am founding out what the pros and cons of that are. I instantly have a good reputation behind me, I have terrific resources, great support, but I have to fit my actions within a strict bureaucratic framework, and I have to play by a certain set of rules. Time will tell how this will play out.
As I walked to the Aquarium, I got plenty of odd looks, perhaps due to my extremely fashionable hat. Or, it could have been because I was carrying a pillow and blanket under one arm, and eating my bagel with the other, while carrying a large backpack. Dunno.
Volunteering was fun. I worked a station which is basically really small stuff, plus a microscope, plus a big TV screen. I don't usually work this station, but I actually did pretty well, and had fun. If I had any questions there were two other guides there as well, so I could easily ask them. One of funniest moments was at a touch pool. These two girls walked up, and they looked pretty similar, but were dressed in fairly individual styles. I asked them if they wanted to touch any of the animals in the pool, and they answered in almost perfect sychroninization. "No, thank you." Somewhere a little lightbulb went off, in that part of my brain that realizes that people are twins. I attempted to engage them a couple other times, and everytime I got the same kind of wackily polite, simultanious rejection. So funny really.
After shift I contentedly sat in the guide lounge eating my chili (thanks Mom!!), and when I finished, I went upstairs to find my boss (Jeffery) to ask when I should show up to help out. Jeffery immediately put me to work, and I didn't stop until SOC students showed up. (Except for dinner)
The sleepover was great fun. I got to see some people I remembered (which was not many), to talk with older SOC'ers about what their life is like now, and to do some heavy-duty interpretation. I actually got to talk about marine animals, and conservation, to an audience that was totally listening, and was comfortable with what I had to say. SO AWESOME!!! The sleeping part was not as great. I only had a blanket and pillow (for complicated reasons) and the ground was uncomfortable, cold, and I didn't actually "lay down to go to sleep" until about 2:15 a.m. I woke up at 6:30ish, and the rest of the morning was unremarkable. (Except for the fresh chocolate muffins)
Immediately after dropping the girl Dad was giving a ride to Gilroy, we drove to paintballing. Fortunately for us, the field we were playing at was in Morgan Hill, so the drive was nice and short.
Before I continue with the paintballing saga, I feel the need to share about one of my favorite parts of living in an apartment complex. There are "cart vendors" which walk around, or ride their bike, and sell a variety of Hispanic culinary favorites. I love them! My favorite is these chips which can have lemon and chile poured/sprayed on them and chipped ice with syrup. So good, and I have no clue what is in any of it.
Paintballing was great fun, but I want to talk a couple of my favorite, or most memorable moments. Matthew Ma., who played last time, wanted to play a game called "Single Flag", in which one flag is set in the center of the field, and then the teams have to grab the flag, and take back to their side. My team consisted of Jesse, myself, and 3 adult males who were new to the group. The other team was Jose, Paul, Warren, Dad, and Matthew. Except for Matthew, the rest of that team is really good. My team was more marginal. Jesse appointed himself tactitican for our team, and the key point in his plan involved me running up and grabbing the flag. I liked this plan. We started about 50 feet away from the flag. On "go!" I ran forward, vaulted the wall of a bunker, and ducked down inside. My team ran up and provided covering fire, and Jesse gave me the go, and I jumped the other wall, grabbed the flag, and ran back to the fence. Game over! Perhaps 3 minutes had elapsed. The other team decided that sides of the field should be switched. The second game went more or less the same, I ran up, grabbed the flag, ran back, done. They decided that they didn't like Single Flag.
The other fun moments included holding off 3 men, only to get hit by Dad in the wrist, and then in the head. The very last game we played was 3 teams of 3 or 4. Craziness! Having to worry about two sets of men shooting at you, that really pushed my little brain, so unaccustomed to such things, pretty hard.
After a night of 3 hours of sleep, my body was already pretty tired, but paintball cut me down to nearly exhausted. I was looking forward to Sunday being a day of rest and recuperation.
Sunday was not a day of rest, for young men's small group, instead of the usual study time, we went to a park and played ultimate frisbee. On the day that had gusting winds, and saw dead fronds falling from palm trees. Of course. This game was great fun, but very physically demanding, and tiring. Today the amount of body parts that don't hurt could be counted on one hand. As I was limping to the bus, I had a quick encounter with an IPTP. The weather was perhaps 50 degrees, but windy, and I was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and my fashionable hat. As I limped past the bus stop Weatherman was sitting at, he asked if I was cold. "Nope." "Bet you're acclimated to Ohio or somewhere like that!" "Pretty dang close. Iowa." "So this doesn't bother you?" "This is a beautiful spring day!"
The bus ride home was uneventful, and so far today has been pretty tame.
That's all for now!
Have a great one!
Friday!! I got up, ate, did other morning things, then marched off to the bus stop, with pillow and blanket under my arm, and my bag on my back. I arrived at the station, and realized that I only had a $20 bill, and my fare was only $3.50. I walked up to the little snack shack right by the station, and asked for change, feeling vaugely confident about the day. I should have realized that things were going to be nuts when I was told that there was not change for a 20 there, so I would have to run down the block to a bagel shop, in less than 5 minutes. I did so (and got a cranberry bagel), and ran back, with 2 minutes to spare!
Upon arriving in Monterey, I walked to CFFO (Center For the Future of the Oceans), which is a branch of the MBA that is focused on policy, advocacy, and conservation, for a meeting about my SOC project. I was early, so I stashed my bag and pillow under some stairs, and sat down to read. A woman walked out of the CFFO building, walked towards me, akwardly looked at me, and finally asked if I was Chris. (This just in! I am Chris) Our meeting was good, informative, but not just in the way that it was intended to be. Before I go off on my little boring bit, I am going to be a prototype for a national camgpain by other insitutions like the Aquarium, which will utilize the massive force that is the concerned public, and volunteers in particular. Should be interesting. Now for my bit. One of the big take-aways for me was that there is a bit of a dilemma for someone who wants to make change on a small-scale. I could have either gone about it on my own, assembling my data from the Internet, and having absolutely no rules, except those that I set, or I could have used resources from a well-established group, like the MBA. I chose the MBA path, and now I am founding out what the pros and cons of that are. I instantly have a good reputation behind me, I have terrific resources, great support, but I have to fit my actions within a strict bureaucratic framework, and I have to play by a certain set of rules. Time will tell how this will play out.
As I walked to the Aquarium, I got plenty of odd looks, perhaps due to my extremely fashionable hat. Or, it could have been because I was carrying a pillow and blanket under one arm, and eating my bagel with the other, while carrying a large backpack. Dunno.
Volunteering was fun. I worked a station which is basically really small stuff, plus a microscope, plus a big TV screen. I don't usually work this station, but I actually did pretty well, and had fun. If I had any questions there were two other guides there as well, so I could easily ask them. One of funniest moments was at a touch pool. These two girls walked up, and they looked pretty similar, but were dressed in fairly individual styles. I asked them if they wanted to touch any of the animals in the pool, and they answered in almost perfect sychroninization. "No, thank you." Somewhere a little lightbulb went off, in that part of my brain that realizes that people are twins. I attempted to engage them a couple other times, and everytime I got the same kind of wackily polite, simultanious rejection. So funny really.
After shift I contentedly sat in the guide lounge eating my chili (thanks Mom!!), and when I finished, I went upstairs to find my boss (Jeffery) to ask when I should show up to help out. Jeffery immediately put me to work, and I didn't stop until SOC students showed up. (Except for dinner)
The sleepover was great fun. I got to see some people I remembered (which was not many), to talk with older SOC'ers about what their life is like now, and to do some heavy-duty interpretation. I actually got to talk about marine animals, and conservation, to an audience that was totally listening, and was comfortable with what I had to say. SO AWESOME!!! The sleeping part was not as great. I only had a blanket and pillow (for complicated reasons) and the ground was uncomfortable, cold, and I didn't actually "lay down to go to sleep" until about 2:15 a.m. I woke up at 6:30ish, and the rest of the morning was unremarkable. (Except for the fresh chocolate muffins)
Immediately after dropping the girl Dad was giving a ride to Gilroy, we drove to paintballing. Fortunately for us, the field we were playing at was in Morgan Hill, so the drive was nice and short.
Before I continue with the paintballing saga, I feel the need to share about one of my favorite parts of living in an apartment complex. There are "cart vendors" which walk around, or ride their bike, and sell a variety of Hispanic culinary favorites. I love them! My favorite is these chips which can have lemon and chile poured/sprayed on them and chipped ice with syrup. So good, and I have no clue what is in any of it.
Paintballing was great fun, but I want to talk a couple of my favorite, or most memorable moments. Matthew Ma., who played last time, wanted to play a game called "Single Flag", in which one flag is set in the center of the field, and then the teams have to grab the flag, and take back to their side. My team consisted of Jesse, myself, and 3 adult males who were new to the group. The other team was Jose, Paul, Warren, Dad, and Matthew. Except for Matthew, the rest of that team is really good. My team was more marginal. Jesse appointed himself tactitican for our team, and the key point in his plan involved me running up and grabbing the flag. I liked this plan. We started about 50 feet away from the flag. On "go!" I ran forward, vaulted the wall of a bunker, and ducked down inside. My team ran up and provided covering fire, and Jesse gave me the go, and I jumped the other wall, grabbed the flag, and ran back to the fence. Game over! Perhaps 3 minutes had elapsed. The other team decided that sides of the field should be switched. The second game went more or less the same, I ran up, grabbed the flag, ran back, done. They decided that they didn't like Single Flag.
The other fun moments included holding off 3 men, only to get hit by Dad in the wrist, and then in the head. The very last game we played was 3 teams of 3 or 4. Craziness! Having to worry about two sets of men shooting at you, that really pushed my little brain, so unaccustomed to such things, pretty hard.
After a night of 3 hours of sleep, my body was already pretty tired, but paintball cut me down to nearly exhausted. I was looking forward to Sunday being a day of rest and recuperation.
Sunday was not a day of rest, for young men's small group, instead of the usual study time, we went to a park and played ultimate frisbee. On the day that had gusting winds, and saw dead fronds falling from palm trees. Of course. This game was great fun, but very physically demanding, and tiring. Today the amount of body parts that don't hurt could be counted on one hand. As I was limping to the bus, I had a quick encounter with an IPTP. The weather was perhaps 50 degrees, but windy, and I was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and my fashionable hat. As I limped past the bus stop Weatherman was sitting at, he asked if I was cold. "Nope." "Bet you're acclimated to Ohio or somewhere like that!" "Pretty dang close. Iowa." "So this doesn't bother you?" "This is a beautiful spring day!"
The bus ride home was uneventful, and so far today has been pretty tame.
That's all for now!
Have a great one!
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