Rested

It's amazing how much of it difference it makes to get consecutive hours of sleeping at night. Tuesday and Wednesday nights (both nights) Froglette managed to not wake up at all until after 5 am. And on Wednesday morning, she even went back to sleep after PEter brought her in for her morning snuggle/nursing. He eventually had to wake her up to get ready for school - amazing! I'm hoping for a third night in the row, but I'm not counting on anything. I've learned that lesson at least!

Froglette learned a new word. This morning she said [tʃIti] (which might sound like "chitty" if you don't speak IPA). So, that's "kitty"!! PEter read her Nini Here and There last night before bed and she was enamored with the kitty in the book. This morning we ended up reading it twice before leaving the house and she kept herself entertained with it while I was getting dressed. So, finally she has a word for kitty! I also forgot to mention that she has [bʌk] for "book". She learned that word as well as the sign for it in the same day (or at least first demonstrated that she knew the sign and word. She's signs some - we aren't hard core into signing by any means but she seems to enjoy it and she acquired signs for things well before her first words.

In personal news, I found out that I was cited (an article I coauthored quite a few years ago actually) which is super cool. It's the first time I've known about, and I just happened upon it after googling myself (ironically to try to find an electronic copy of said article, which, no luck). So, that was a nice feeling. Plus, the presentation I co-presented yesterday went fairly well too, so a big sigh of relief. Now to prepare for the one I'm REALLY freaking out about!

So, that's the news from here. It's cold again and dreary. But, the cardinals and robins are out so hopefully it's just a matter of time before the weather warms up.

A burst of energy

So, the past few days or so I've been shockingly cheerful and productive. I think I'm finally recovering from the conference exhaustion and the PUPPP sleep deprivation. I'm feeling much more able to get things done, and more importantly even, I'm inspired to get things done and enjoying doing so! This week, I have thus far accomplished

1. graded one stack of tests (one stack still to go)
2. asked a prof for a letter of recommendation for the certificate I'm adding to my PhD
3. talked with a partner about turning our course project into a research project and submitting to a few conferences next year (one here in town and one in MA in June)
4. got prof approval for said project
   
5. met with said partner to get a bunch of work done on the project (we have a shorter timeline than the rest of our classmates due to the baby)
6. sent a bunch of emails
7. worked on class prep
8. did some planning work for the conference proceedings that I'll be editing next spring (in lieu of teaching one class)
9. did planning work for the online class I'm developing in spring (in lieu of the other class)
10. actually cooked a little
11. sorted baby clothes (now for all the laundry!)

The PUPPP is doing dramatically better. I'm not sure what did it, but I'm not complaining. I had to stop my light therapy treatments because I got burned after each try (I tried twice). The dermatologist decided that I was improving enough with the cream that the light therapy probably wasn't worth it. I'm fair enough that I burn pretty quickly, and I'm not super excited about adding more skin burns to my collection from my teenage years. I'm not a sun worshipper anymore! But, if the PUPPP flares up again badly, we'll give it another shot.

All in all, things are going well. I'm slightly terrified and definitely excited to see this baby in six weeks or so. The time has flown by so quickly! We're headed to the childbirthing class this weekend, so we'll be as prepared as we're going to get.

Done (with more to do)

So today is the deadline for my preliminary exam (which around here isn't actually your typical exam - but rather a collection of papers I've written that will be assessed by the department). I finished last night, printed the last piece of paper this morning, and submitted the sucker at 11:00. One whole hour early.

I don't know whether it'll pass, but it is done. I'm am grateful for that. And for my lovely family who listened to me blabber incessantly during those times when I JUST NEEDED TO TALK! And my husband who made lots of dinners (and kick ass waffles for dinner last night YUM). And to my academic friends who actually understood what I was doing and talked me through it all.

This was my desk this morning:
The massive stack of books. The funny (or some other adjective here, I'm too tired of writing to come up with something more appropriate) thing is that I used very few books in my actual writing. The stack of pdf journal articles would be 3 or 4 times more. Sis and I did the math last night and the total set of papers I wrote is about 60 pages.
Here are the final documents, all neatly bundled. Not super impressive looking. And Miles is there in the corner, keeping my chair warm. He contributed a great deal to the writing process.

Note from the trenches....

Just wanted to tell you all how much I love the KCRW show Sounds Eclectic (A radio station out of Santa Monica). The host Nic Harcourt is responsible for all of my work music listening these days. I heartily recommend it.

New opportunities!

So, a month or so ago, I applied for a job. Yes, I know I already HAVE a job (a busy one at that) but this job ad came to my email and was just about perfect for me. So, I applied. The job is teaching a class at a small liberal arts college (SLAC) nearby-ish. I'd get to teach a class in my discipline to students actually interested in the subject- how could I pass that up?

They interviewed me Wednesday, the assistant dean offered me the job Friday, and I said yes today.

On Wednesday, I submit a grant for a project in the spring as well. I'm collaborating with a professor in rocket science (not really) and we're working on a plan to buy me out of some teaching time at Farm U to do some cool rocket science meets basket weaving stuff. (Trust me, although I think it's cool, you aren't missing much by my obfuscation).

So, although there's still plenty to do this semester, next is looking pretty exciting! Woo hoo!

Quitting Time

I gave 3 weeks notice at work today. Despite the fact that I don't really like my job because of the constant physical and mental stress it puts me under, I was a little sad. The people I work with are pretty cool. And occassionally, I have a good time at work, even when I'm really busy and want to stab people with knives (can you believe that someone once ordered a peanut butter & jelly sandwich to-go from my restaurant. A PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH!!!!! I refused to make it, I was so upset, both that I had to make it and that someone would actually order a PB&J to go).

Anyways, in 3 weeks I'll be heading south of the border to meet up with Kimberly in Mexico for 10 days, then I start school in mid-August. We've been in Iowa for almost a year. Time really flies here in the middle.

Done... sort of

I just finished teaching my last class of the year (literally, 2 minutes ago). Although I'm far from done (2 papers to write, one take home exam, 23 portfolios to grade, 50 final exams to grade, and 30 term papers to grade), the end is in sight.

Phew. I'm really looking forward to being done with my first year.

Hot Oven, Cool Scars

I hope this doesn't become a weekly update, but I figured I would show you all the cool new burns I got this week at work. Remember, 600-degrees F is hot.

This one is on the outside of my forearm:

This one is on the inside of my forearm. I think it looks pretty cool (although the photo doesn't really do it justice):


Someday, when I have kids, I can tell them cool stories about how I used to get into knife fights and got all these cool scars on my arms. But I wasn't a wussy, so we didn't use regular knives, we used hot knives.

And just so you're not all freaking out about the gross pus from my wounds getting on people's food, I treat them with ointments and cover them during work.

Blisters are for Healing

Hi all (if there's anyone out there that still reads this).

So, I haven't posted on here in weeks because I've been kind of busy - I finally got myself a job. I'm working in a kitchen at a local restaurant; it's probably the best restaurant in town, having beat out the other 1 good ones. While it's not the greatest job in the world, it gets me out of the house, gives me something to do, and almost doubles our monthly income. And it's a good job for the near future, while I wait for a decision from Farm University on my future plans.

I work at the brick oven station, making pizzas - I decided I needed to start living up to ethnic stereotypes more accurately. The oven runs between 580 and 600 degrees, which is really hot and makes for some pretty good pizzas, which is a nice perk. Unfortunately, I also occassionally nick parts of my arms on the mouth of the oven or the oven floor, all of which are also at 580-600 degrees. As you can see from below, at these temps, human skin doesn't stand a chance:


I have absolutely no idea how I got that first one my wrist - I came home and Kimberly inquired to the red mark and blister on my wrist. I got the one on my finger on the first order of the night last night - reaching into a hot oven with a heat blister for 5 hours does not feel good.

Keep your fingers crossed that I get into the program I applied to so that I don't have to keep working on the hot oven - the nerves in my fingers will appreciate it.

Published!

It's official! I'm published! Hooray! Well, so it's only one co-edited chapter in a very big book, but nonetheless, it certainly counts.

Today I had a planning meeting for another project and we have a abstract for a conference due Tuesday. Eeek!

So, things remain in motion. Slowly but surely, as they say.

One down, seven to go...

Well, it's over. Done. Finito. Phew...

The semester is finally done. It's official. My grades are submitted (all 50 of them). The portfolios have been read, the finals reviewed, the math double-checked (thank you Excel). I've been done with my own work since Thursday, and so this means I'm actually DONE!

Want to know my dream plans for the break? My secret aspirations?

I ordered 5 books from Amazon and none of them are school related. Whoopie!! Thousands of pages of relaxation. Now if only they arrive soon.

Of course, I have two new preps next semester that I need to lesson plan for, and three crazy-hard classes of my own that I need to start studying for before classes begin (yes, we PhD students start studying BEFORE classes start, that's just how geeky we are). So the break won't be all rest. But, that's okay, any break at all is welcome right about now.

See you in a few days, I'm sure I'll have to stop reading at some point!

Oh the weather outside is frightful

A long time ago in a temperate place, I got some advice about my future. Dr Athlete (from City U) used to live in our new home town and had much advice. "It's going to be cold" she said. She even gave us an ice scraper with a warm mitten handle. Dr Culture (who is from up north) says "No, it's not so cold. You'll be fine!" Peter just laughed and said "she's going to be cold. But she'll have to learn."

Well, I have been cold. So cold in fact that I bought some of these. They are so fantastic and I thank Em for suggesting them. Now my hands don't freeze while I grade! My office is decently warm, but I've been spending a lot of time in our department computer lab which they keep quite chilly (what with all the computers I guess). Various people walk in and out during the day and chuckle at my getup. It's not unusual for me to be wearing a hat, or coat, or extra layers to keep warm. Note that it is only the middle of November. I'm totally screwed.

Dr Athlete's parting words were, "Don't worry, you'll be so productive there. There's nothing else to do!" It's scary how right she was. This semester is winding down. I'm ending my time teaching 52 students (we actually only have one week of classes left as we have individual conference appointments after the holiday). My three classes are winding down too. I still have two group projects to finish, one research project of my own, and a few papers to write. Amazingly, next semester is already starting to take form. I'm only teaching one of my own classes next semester (but now have total autonomy- I even get to pick textbooks!). But I still need to write a syllabus, figure out assignments, order textbooks, get at least my first week of lesson plans written before the new term starts. I'm also a teaching assistant for a course in my field (yay!) with a favorite prof here, so I need to start reading the new text book and figuring out what this class involves (think more intro to my field than general ed requirement). New Prof and I are also doing a research study on some new things we're implementing in class. Hopefully we'll end up with a publication. And I'll have three new classes for next semester of my own. I just met with another prof (let's call him Testing Prof) to talk about a potential research study for next semester. It sounds promising, and even though we won't have any money, we might be able to get two publications out of it. A third prof (Teaching Prof) has invited me to go to Mexico to teach at some point over the summer. And I might be able to continue the research project I'm doing for one of my classes and turn it into the beginnings of a presentation or something.

I'm looking forward to this upcoming break. Farm U has resigned itself to students leaving for Thanksgiving, so they close the whole campus down all week. We'll be back in Rose City on Saturday to relax and recuperate (well, and catch up on all the stuff that I haven't had time for over the semester, and write paper, and collect data. But relax too). After that there's two weeks of school, a week of finals, and then four precious weeks of holiday. We're looking forward to a little time off together. And we're planning to make it up to Minneapolis (finally!) too!

It's amazing how quickly 4 months has gone by (and scary too). Perhaps the Middle won't be so bad after all.

The Silver Lining

I haven't found full time work here in Iowa just yet. And while it's great not having to work, my days are becoming more boring and I look forward to getting a job eventually.

However, there is a benefit to being unemployed this time of year: I get to watch the baseball playoffs in their entirety. Because baseball is played pretty much every day and each game takes almost 4 hours, they need to start the games in the middle of the day and play them all night.

The Red Sox start in 3 hours.

What sucks

There are a few aspects of my career choice that are envied by most. Many folks envy the flexible schedule, the control most teachers have over their day to day activities (profs in particular), and the mythical summers off.

One thing that truly sucks is grading.

I don't mind reading 52 papers. Providing feedback to my students is one of my core job descriptions (if they gave us job descriptions, which they don't). But I HATE trying to take thoughtful, reasoned feedback and turn it into a letter.

Now, those of you who know my academic interest in assessment (or testing) might be surprised by this. After all, what is testing if not scoring someone's ability to do something and turn it into a percentage or a letter grade? (Note that this is a trick question)

I like using rubrics (those grid like forms that teachers often use to check off how well you've done on different aspects). I like conferences, I like students visiting to me to talk about how to change this paper or talk out an idea. But trying to take Susie's*** paper full of great ideas but completely lacking any organization and Jose's well written nonsense and figuring out a letter to assign? Yuck. Do they get D's for not completing all elements of the assignment (assuming the assignment was to include grammar, organization, and content)? Does one do better than the other? They both clearly have problems; but how much do these problems matter to the whole?

Today's office hour is a perfect example. My students received their first major grade on Monday. Let's just say that it didn't go so well for most of them (or for me). The average grade was a C, no As at all, and a fair number of Ds. They were less than thrilled. And, in a paragraph of feedback, it wasn't always easy to both point out the areas they do well, address major issues, and propose something to focus on for next time. That's a lot to cover. A student came to my office hour this afternoon who had one of those "what in the heck do you even do with this paper because it is so confusing it makes your head hurt" situations. And, although it was challenging to write down these things, in discussion, we addressed all and many more. In an office hour, I can pose problems and make students come up with solutions. I can tie the paper they just got a grade in to the writing they will do for next time. I can brainstorm with my students individualized strategies for what THEY can do BEFORE turning in their next paper (e.g. Jose always looks for commonly misspelled words, Fredrick checks all his sentences to make sure they have verbs, Annisa does a reverse outline to see if her sentences belong in her paragraphs and to see if her paragraphs support her paper). I can't do this in class for my students. And, honestly, I can't do this for each and every of my 52 students.

In theory, I have a 20 hour a week job (half time). Now, I teach for 6 hours a week. I'm obligated to have 4 hours of office hours a week. I'm already at 10 hours with my obligated "showing up" time. Then, add in lesson planning, photocopying, responding to student email, reading the darn textbook before the students do, making additional appointments, and oh yeah, GRADING, and there's no possible way that fits into 10 hours a week. (Note that 52 papers times 15 minutes a paper equals 13 hours alone and I have papers to grade every two or three weeks).

So, the result is, honestly, that the students who make appointments and seek help get enough instruction to do well. And the students who don't? Some of them get by, some do not. So, in a way, students are required (but not explicitly) to come see me outside of class to be successful. Granted, some students still haven't learned that they need to see me IN CLASS to be successful. But the students who missed class today are going to be unhappy. I extended the due date for the next paper, and they aren't going to know about it.

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*** Note that I never talk about specific students or classes in this blog. Any student names used are purely my imagination and details used are amalgamations of many real and imagined characteristics.

But What Do We Sell?

So I'm looking for a job here in the middle. I had been considering a career change before we left Portland and I figured a move to the middle would be a good opportunity to make a clean break and start something new.

The first thing I did was to post my resume on the major internet job sites. Just throw it against the wall and see what sticks, you know. As I soon find out, you get some interesting responses when do this. Most of them having little resemblance to a respectable job.

I get a lot of emails from emails like recruiting15281@fakecompany.com asking me to send them personal info. That's encouraging and makes me feel better.

I also get a lot of emails for jobs I have qualifications for, like IT Director of Microsoft. I assumed they read my email before sending out potential jobs, but that may be a bad assumption.

So I got a call from one company: they told me they do the marketing and sales for a large (I mean, LARGE) financial services company. They asked me to attend informational session. Not having much to do, I went.

The info session wasn't great, nor was it terrible. It just was. Most importantly it was short in specifics. They talked in generalities about selling mutual funds and life insurance. Now, I'm not really into sales, but I figured maybe I could get some financial certifications out of the deal. So I made an appointment to meet one of the guys for an 'interview.'

We met at a coffee shop. The first thing that surprised me was that the guy didn't buy me a cup of coffee. A couple things about that: (1) a cup of black coffee, even at Starbucks, costs like $1.50. If you can't cover that, it's not encouraging; and (2) I'm terrible at business ettiquette, but I know enough to at least offer to buy something for the other person: offer to pay for lunch, a cup of coffee, anything,especially if you're looking for something from that person. I don't know, maybe I was supposed to buy him coffee, since I was looking for the job?

Anyways, after BS-ing for a while, my first question was, 'So I'm new to the area and don't really know anyone. How will I get clients?' After telling me it wasn't too hard to go up to people and just start talking to them, he explained that we had access to resumes we could call. Again, I've never done sales, but it seems strange to call people who post their resumes on line to sell financial products.

After some more talking, it became clear that I was to call these people to see if they wanted to be on my 'team' and sell products. So I tried to clarify what it was we were selling, because everything he had said so far was about hiring more people instead of products they sold. The guy was definitely avoiding the answer, making me more suspicious.

After some more questions and some evasive answering, I finally asked how I was to be compensated. When I was told that I got promotions based mostly on the number of people I hired and less on the products I sold, I decided I didn't need this job.

The guy told me that he liked me and that he would feel comfortable having me on his team. He told me he wouldn't want to hire someone who he wasn't comfortable having baby sit his kids. He said he would want to talk to my wife before I decided to join, since he wanted to make sure she was on board; all I could think of was how Kimberly would laugh in this guy's face as he explained our 'products.' He told me I should go home and pray to God on it, as He would tell me what to do.

I need a job, but I don't need to be involved in a job where they sell nothing. Or where I'm expected to baby sit my 'teammates' kids.

Butterflies

Apparently vacation is truly over. This morning I'm off to new employee boot camp (I haven't decided how much to talk about what I do in this blog, so for now, I'll be a bit evasive). It seems like those months of traveling in Italy were so long ago- hard to believe that we haven't spent 5 straight days in a time zone for the last 3 weeks.

So, just as if I was in 1st grade, Peter made me lunch and is preparing to drive me to my first day of this new life. He thinks it's cute- I'm nervous.

Here we go- our new life is about to begin...

Things I'll Miss About Oregon: Volume 8 [The Couv]

For the last year, I've been driving 20 miles across the Columbia River and heading north to Vancouver, WA for work. My last day was last Friday.

The Couv. Vantucky.

The Couv doesn't have the best reputation: it's the red-necked, meth-addicted stepchild of cool, hipster Portland. In reality, it's mostly a bedroom community for people who want to work the system: no income tax in Washington, no sales tax in Oregon. Me, I worked the system the wrong way.

Don't get me wrong, the Couv seems like a perfectly reasonable place to live. It's just a lot of suburban sprawl compared to Portland's dense city center. It probably gets an unnecessarily bad rap, especially when people perpetuate the stereotypes by calling it Vantucky.

Over the last year, I've resisted learning anything about the Couv, including the names of the streets near my office. I have found some decent eating places that I'll miss, like Patrick's Hawaiian, the Golden Tent Mongolian Grill, and the always popular all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet.

Most of all, though, I'll miss my work mates. My job was often insanely crazy; we even invented a new term for those really rough times: a cry-nap. But the crew of people we had was pretty great, often times making my life easier. I don't know if I'll ever go back to the same industry; I'm don't think I'll miss it if I don't. But I will miss the good people I've worked with.

On the Road Again...At Home, Finally

I'm home now. I'm tired. We drove 900 miles over the last 4 days.

I stood on a 100-foot tall fire lookout on a 3500-foot tall mountain in the Coast range. I saw a fire outlook from 1902. I saw a fire outlook that was burned down.

I rode on the steepest, muddiest logging road, where the truck slid sideways. I rode on a road so rutted that the bottom of our truck was scraping against the ground. Multiple times. One of the rocks tore a whole in someone's tire. I drove 30 minutes up locked forest service roads, to the middle of nowhere. I hit my head on the roof of the truck. And my shoulder on the door. A lot.

I saw a Brown Bear, kind of. We had a family of deer running up a mountain next to our truck. We had sheep on the road. Cows on the road. Llamas, alpacas, donkeys, goats. We saw wild turkeys. We saw a whole colony of black lizards (geckos?). Someone caught a snake. Someone caught a lizard. One of us has a tick in his leg, tried to burn it out but couldn't get the head out. We watched a pair of ospreys circle above us: one landed in their nest perched on the top of a tower; the other perched on our antennas and watched us. I watched a red-headed woodpecker peck for bugs in a telephone pole, then hop into his hole-in-the-pole/nest and peck away to make it bigger.

I saw some sort of altar on the side of a dirt road where we're pretty sure a timber truck accident occurred. We had a large dump truck come barreling down a one-lane logging road right at us, with both of us braking and swerving at the last second to avoid one another. We had 2 logging trucks, full of trees, screeching, brakes smoking, as they barreled down the road behind us and we weren't moving fast enough.

I watched the fog roll in from the ocean. Below us. I stood in the shining sun and was cold. I stood in the sun and was hot. I got a tan. One of us got a sunburn.

I saw the Redwoods. But no Ewoks. I saw Myrtlewood trees (I was told that these trees grow in 2 places in the world: the Oregon Coast and the Holy Land). I saw wild rhododendrons. I saw poison oak. I saw white dogwood trees blooming wild in the dark, dense forests, standing out like ghosts. I saw trees so windblown that their tops were gone. Or had branches on only one side. I saw cranberry bogs.

I saw clear cuts. I saw thousands of cut down trees, floating in water, waiting for the saw mill. I saw forests of evergreens that stretched out to the hazy horizon.

I stayed in bland hotels. With really comfortable beds. I stayed in a City that only had a hotel, a truck stop, a casino/hotel, an RV park, and a Burger King. We stayed on the beach, with one the top 5 golf resorts in the world just down the street. We didn't see a Starbucks for days on end.

[Edit: One of us opened the door to his room and found a fat, naked trucker standing there.]

I ate. Alot. Lamb with risotto. Prime rib. Gourmet Mac and Cheese. Wine. Beer. Cheesecake. Crab Nachos. Shrimp Cocktail. Spanikopita. Pizza. Wings. Burgers and fries.

I met good people. Clients laughed. Competitors worked together. Vendors joked. There was 7 to 10 of us, depending on the day. We had 5 to 7 cars.

My camera battery died, but I was able to take some pictures. Then I forgot my camera in someone else's car. Sorry no pictures right now. I'll update later.

Sometimes I hate my job. On trips like this, I really like my job. I don't think a lot of people get to drive past locked Forest Service roads and see what I saw, whether for work or for fun. I also don't think this stuff exists in Iowa; I'm not 100% positive about that, but I'm pretty sure.

On the Road Again

My job is pretty evenly split between being a desk jockey and windshield time. Lately, I've been spending most of my time in front of the computer, but it's a rare week that I don't get out for at least a little bit. Most of my driving is around the City, checking out rooftops, visiting jurisdictions, or going to client meetings.

Then there are weeks like this one. On Monday, I got called into my bosses' office; he was sitting in there with one of our construction managers ("CM"):
The Chief: Can you go down south for the rest of the week?
Me (a little surprised): Um, why?
The Chief: The Esteemed Phone Company ("EPC") we work for has a bunch of walks set up and we need Real Estate representation. You can drive down with CM.
Me: Um, you know I'm leaving next week, right?
The Chief: Yes, but you'll be handing these sites off to your replacement. And I'd rather you hand them off rather than The Dude.
Me: Oh, I understand. I'm in.

So less than 24 hours later, I got picked up and was heading to southern Oregon. I had just recently undertaken a similar trip not more than 3 weeks ago. I was a little worried about the whole ordeal, what with the under 24-hour notice, the 4 days of driving, and the living out of the suit case, but I was excited to see the rolling hills and mountains of southern Oregon again.

[Quick side note: I drove 800 miles in 2-1/2 days 3 weeks ago. I went from Portland to Roseburg to Grants Pass to Crescent City, CA to Gold Beach to Coquille to North Bend to Portland. I had a fantastic time. I was going to post about it, but didn't. Consider this post a 2-for-1.]

So far, we've been to 4 sites, each of which is high on a small mountain top, approximately 2,000 to 3,000 feet tall. All of them are reached by dirt roads, whether they are forest service, logging, or randomly cut, with locked gates. One of them was reached by a dirt road that was so steep and muddy that the 4-wheel drive truck with downhill assist I was in slid sideways on multiple occasions. My neck hurts from the potholes, deep ruts, and general condition of the roads; I'll send my bill to the EPC when I get back to Portland.

But once you get to the top, it's all worth it. A quick rundown of the highlights, in chronological order:

• High above Roseburg: This site wasn't super exciting. The area around Roseburg is very reminiscent of New Zealand: rolling grassy hills, patches of trees, sheep. But Roseburg itself is fairly well forested and is in fact an old tiber community. I met the caravan crew here; a couple people from EPC, some folks from the the Sheep phone company, a few other vendors for Engineering and Architecture, and some people from a competing Real Estate firm. There are 9 people in the caravan in 6 cars; if that's not efficiency, I don't know what is. It was here that the flow of the weekend was established: everyone would be done with their work in 30 minutes, except the architect, who needs 1 - 1.5 hours. So the rest of us will need to kill some time. I wish I had packed a frisbee.
  
• Sleeping in the Canyon: Ever here of Canyonville, OR? Me neither. They have a truck stop and a casino, and that's basically it. We ate dinner at the 7 Feathers Indian Casino. It was their fancy restaurant and cost about $50 a person, but no one was very impressed. I also didn't pay, which made it more tolerable. Then I played some craps, which is a pretty fun game.
• In the Clouds Outside Canyonville: I don't remember much about this site. It was cloudy. My camera battery died. I was bored. But the drive was treacherous. I would say the road was at least 30-40 degrees inclined up a very muddy, very rutted road. The way up, we went fast, because you had to to make it up. On the way down, we were going kind of fast (I'm not sure why) and the car was sliding sideways. I wasn't confident we were making it down that hill without rolling a few times.
  
• The Fire Lookout: The second site of the day may have been the best site I've ever been too. You could literally see for miles, and miles, and miles. This site was so fantastic that people built a fire lookout up there in 1920; the original lookout is still there. It was pretty cool.

• Room with a View: The last site provided the best views. The weather was great: sunny, warm, and dry. We were high above Grants Pass, with views in all directions. That panorama at the top is the City of Grants Pass from on the mountain, with the Rogue River running down the middle. The Rogue runs through those mountains in the distance all the way to the coast and the Pacific Ocean. Again, views were plentiful all around. At this site we killed time by seeing who could kick a big rock down the slope and get it to roll the furthest. I was terrible. The Head Dude of EPC was good at it; I think he has a lot of practice.
  

• Sleeping in Medford: Another night in a boring, cookie-cutter hotel. Just had a prime rib; paid for it this time. Good beer. Good crew. We have a long day tomorrow: some local sites, then a run to the coast via the Redwoods. I think it's bedtime. And this post is all together too long. If anything good happens tomorrow, or I get some good shots, I'll put them up. Although I imagine the Oregon Coast fog will reduce our visibility.

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On this trip, I've supposedly also had my first encounter with Poison Oak. I don't really know if it was or not, as I didn't get a rash; but I'm magically not allergic to Poison Ivy either, so I might not be a good test case (one time, my whole elementary school class had a picnic in a field of Poison Ivy and everyone in class got a rash except me (that's a good teacher)). Apparently the same cautionary rhyme holds true for both plants: 'Leaves of Three, Let it Be."

I'll let you decide it it's the real thing.

A Seinfeld Moment

You know what the problem with using Staples as your office supply company is? All the boxes are labeled Staples. Even the ones for paper clips. Or binder clips. Or pencils. All the Staples boxes make it hard when all you need is staples.

I spent 5 minutes looking for staples yesterday. I almost pulled down the shelving unit. I don't have anger management issues.