I'm out to save the world

Yet one more reason why I love Obama

2009-12-08T21:59:44Z

After years of denial, suppression, and delay, the United States government has finally officially recognized that greenhouse gases are dangerous pollutants under the Clean Air Act. The Obama administration has slowly worked on the decision, first sent to the White House by the Environmental Protection Agency in March, then opened for months of public comment through the summer. Less than an hour after the United Nations Climate Change Conference completed its opening day in Copenhagen, Denmark, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson made the “significant climate announcement” at 1:15 pm that global warming pollution endangers the health and welfare of the American public:

This administration will not ignore science or the law any longer, nor will we avoid the responsibility we owe to our children and our grandchildren. Today, I’m proud to announce that EPA has finalized its endangerment finding on greenhouse gas pollution and is now authorized and obligated to make reasonable efforts to reduce greenhouse pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

In 1992, the United States signed an international treaty to “prevent dangerous human-induced interference with the climate system” from greenhouse gases. Seventeen years later, after the continued accumulation of greenhouse gases have decimated the world’s glaciers and Arctic ice cap, acidified the oceans, intensified hurricanes and droughts, increased smog and wildfires, and driven species to extinction, the Barack Obama administration is recognizing its legal obligation to begin regulating this deadly threat.

Source

magneticjade @ 2009-10-23T10:19:00

2009-10-23T17:19:50Z

I have a bed to sleep on! Well, it's actually just two mattresses stacked on top of each other, but at least it gets me out of the living room and into my actual room, and is long enough for me. I've been sleeping on the mattress sofa thing for the last week and a half. It's not uncomfortable, but it's nice to have something longer than me so my feet aren't hanging off the end, and also so I don't wake up to the sun in my eyes.

I acquired my mattresses from the hostel - they had switched out all of their old mattresses for memory foam ones (a donation) and had moved the other ones out to the Fort Ord site in Seaside, where they are working on a new hostel/environmental education center. That place needs A LOT of work, so they won't be using these other mattresses for a while.

Fort Ord was a military post during the 20th century and was a major site during World War II, but the whole place has been abandoned, and it's kind of creepy/cool to walk through the buildings since the hostel can only work on one at a time. They have to do all kinds of things like put down new flooring (the old flooring has asbestos in the glue), take out asbestos from the window caulk, painting, carpeting, new plumbing for appropriate fixtures - one of the buildings used to be a day clinic - and all kinds of other stuff, so it's going to take a long time. I would have taken pictures, but I don't take my camera on Thursdays, so I wasn't able to. Hopefully I will be able to go out there a few more times in the future. There's a lot of work to be done, but it'll be a great place when it's all finished (in a few years).

Emily and I went out there with Aaron (hostel manager) and David (assistant manager) to get the mattresses (Aaron is going to be living out there), and ended up just hanging out on the roof of one of the buildings and playing with the wolves (Aaron's dogs). Apparently Jade - the girl, who is all white - took down a deer in the area a few weeks ago. XD So of course they've still got those instincts, but they're really sweet animals - Aaron raised them since they were puppies, and for the most part they really stick to him like glue. Scout is the boy (they're brother and sister) and he has two-toned eyes and husky coloring. The wolves are about 82% wolf, and the rest is husky.

But I digress. My roommate is in Panama visiting her boyfriend, I have a midterm test on Tuesday and then next weekend I'm going to San Francisco! It'll be fun. Emily and I talked about going to one of the Lighthouse hostels up the coast for Thanksgiving weekend, since we can stay for free 8Db So that would be fun, I think.

Batten down the hatches!!

2009-10-13T06:27:26Z

So there is a big storm coming in the next couple days. It's the remnants of the typhoon that hit Japan almost a week ago and it's blowing right for the California coast. San Francisco is going to get hit a lot harder than Monterey, but all of the news stations are talking about all of the preparation efforts that are taking place. SF is handing out 10 free sandbags to people who want them, Santa Cruz and Pacific Grove are bracing for possible mudslides from recently fire-ravaged areas.

It's been kind of interesting/amusing watching all of the preparation. I obviously haven't experienced this kind of storm and I don't know the terrain either, but that's ALL the news is talking about - sandbagging and possible mudslides and. LoL it's just kind of funny all of the hype, so I'm going to be really interested to see what actually happens. They're prepared for power to be going out (power here is flakey enough) and setting up emergency lines and all this other stuff, it's just seeming like a flurry of over-preparation and a whole lot of "better safe than sorry" mentality.

And, well. Better safe than sorry.

I emailed in and said I might not be going to the hostel tomorrow. I'm not going to ride my bike along the bay in the rain and the wind, and I haven't even really unpacked anything (just thrown things around), so I think it'll just work out for the better. I can go in and stay later on Thursday/Friday and go on Saturday if necessary.

I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes.

Been a while!

2009-10-10T18:51:04Z

Well, hm. Class is class, and I've got a lot of projects coming up soon. I'm doing some research on whaling for two sets of papers and presentations, and yesterday at the library I found a couple of really great books so I'll be digging around in those today.

Oh yes! I'm moving to a new place tomorrow. This one just isn't working out for various reasons and one of my classmates told me his friend was moving to a different place, so the girl needed a new roommate. She's a second year IEP student and she's really nice. Also the apartment is still close to campus - but up the hill a couple blocks, so I'll be getting good exercise! It has a big living room, she's got couches and a TV, the kitchen has an ELECTRIC stove, oven, DISHWASHER, DISH DRAINER, fridge, etc. I'm so excited ;_; She says she doesn't cook much so I might have to buy a few cooking utensils, but that's no big, I can probably find some that'll work for a while for cheap. I'm just excited to be able to cook the way I want.

So this weekend I'm researching and packing, as much as I want to go to the Aquarium again. There's not really anything special going on, I just want to go - my pass came in the mail! So now I can go any time I want and get 10% off at the gift stores.

Monterey is getting chilly, but the weather tends to start out cold in the morning and then work up and be 20 degrees warmer in the afternoon. Right now the fog is drifting away off the mountain so there's some sun coming through, but it's bouncing off the clouds so at the moment it's blinding. Erk. I'm trying to convince myself to get out of bed, maybe take a shower and then eat lunch and go to the library or student center to study/research. I was doing some reading just a bit ago so at least I've done something yet today.

I'll take pictures of the new place (and the view!) tomorrow :)

Also - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM (for tomorrow, since who knows if I'll post tomorrow).

magneticjade @ 2009-09-29T12:13:00

2009-09-29T19:22:28Z

So, here's another thing I don't understand about things people do in California.

Monterey is in N. Cal (I actually would personally call it central, buuut whatever) - the weather is much cooler here than in, say, LA.

Being from the Midwest, I don't mind cool weather. Given that I'm used to dealing with frost from at least November - April, temps in the lower 60s don't usually bother me.

What I DON'T understand is why people here with their ~not as well insulated houses~ leave the doors and windows open all the freaking time. It's 58 degrees right now according to my google desktop, and when I walked out of class earlier, the door to the building was propped open. I came home and while the front door wasn't open (sometimes it is), the window to the kitchen? wide open. Also a lot of the windows at school will be propped open when it's cool outside. I don't get this at aaalllllllll.

I keep the window in my room and the door to my room closed. If it's sunny during the day (which it usually is), the sun warms up the room and keeping it closed traps the heat, so I don't have to sit in a room colder than 60.

Maybe I'm just crazy and used to things like indoor temperature control, but seriously! What's the point of having a building with a supposedly controlled, closed environment if you're just going to leave all the windows open all the time? :|

Another mostly uneventful week, but Friday and Saturday had few complaints.

2009-09-20T18:31:13Z

On Fridays I work at the Hostel, and I changed my schedule so that I have 3 hours on Tuesday and Thursday (since I only have one class), and four hours on Friday. This I think is a better arrangement than splitting it 4 and 6 on Thursday and Friday because it keeps me out of trouble on Tuesdays and also doesn't take up as much of my time on Fridays.

If I haven't said so before, I'll say it now: the hostel is an awesome place to work. It's quiet, the other staff are really nice and friendly, and I can work at my own pace. They're really laid back and I think I'm making good progress, so I'm really hoping that enough people will show up for the work days next weekend. I've contacted Target, several schools and churches, put up ads online at different websites, etc. I even tried adding it to the community calendar for Monterey on a website, but I'm not sure if it was the appropriate spot. I kind of wish there was a page for community events, like the Gazette for back home has. So far I've had a couple of people directly respond, so that's pretty encouraging.

I finished work around 2 PM on Friday and went to the Ghiradelli cafe down on Cannery Row since I had a coupon for a sundae. I looked around for a few gift ideas and I think I know where I'll be doing some Christmas shopping ;) They have a seating area that overlooks the bay, so I sat out there, ate my ice cream and tried to do a little bit of reading for class. It was a really nice day - on the warmer side for Monterey. After that I went down and sat on McAbbe beach which was just below the shop and outside of one of the hotels. Since it was Friday afternoon it was pretty quiet and not crowded at all. I sat on some rocks in the sun and did some reading while watching the waves come in. It was great. Eventually I had to move on, though, because I hadn't worn or brought any sunscreen, and I've already had one sunburn since coming here, so I didn't want to risk another. I biked down around near Fisherman's Wharf and sat in some shade and did more reading.

Eventually I made it back home long enough to leave my bike and grab another book to go study in the reading lounge at the student center. I've discovered that this is probably one of my favorite places to study and read, because it's warm and very quiet, usually. Not many people go in there, particularly on weekends. Although I had forgotten that it was Friday, and the school has a weekly sponsored Happy Hour (yes, literally) that happens on the patio of the student center. So they had that going on, and it was a little loud, but hey - I went out and tried some stuff (they only serve beer and wine, and Hansen's sodas and then snacks), and then went back inside the reading room. Honestly I get pretty burned out pretty fast when I'm in a large crowd of people. It's way too hard to carry on a normal conversation when you're squished in with 100 other people in the same space.

One of my friends from a couple of my classes - another IEP student - came in and invited me to dinner with some other people. I didn't really want to spend more money on food, but we went to a Thai restaurant and it ended up being really good. Although I feel the need to make another comment about how I've noticed that people here are weird about doing split checks - as in they don't really do it or even think to ask. Usually at the very least in Iowa city, since they're used to students most waiters/waitresses will ask if you want separate checks or not, and if they don't offer, you can ask for them and it's not a problem. But for several places I've been to here in Monterey and elsewhere, it seems like for some reason there's an issue trying to get separate checks. Now at the Thai place it was a little different, because they didn't even have a computerized system for processing orders - which okay, it's probably a family owned place so that's fine, but I've been to other restaurants and they just. I don't know, don't seem to get the concept of we're students, not a family, so we tend to pay for ourselves. There are several higher-education schools (and high schools) in the area, so I just kind of wonder.

Eh. California culture shock, or something.

Anyway, I was glad I went because I got to talk with a few of my classmates and such. Marissa (the girl who invited me out) also told me about a fellowship that will fund your studies for a year abroad if you get accepted, and not many people know about it so there's less competition than for something like Fulbright. Apparently eight students from MIIS last year received this fellowship, so I'm going to do more research and apply for it. The application is due at the end of February, and if it goes through I would probably be doing a year abroad in Japan (since that seems logical) and then finishing up in Monterey later. She said you could go even just for language study, but I already had a few ideas as to what I would do in Japan pop into my head, so I just need to do a little more research on the kinds of things that I'd want to be doing. Also on how I would even do research over there, or what kind of school I'd be affiliated with. I'm not sure, as a female foreigner, I'd get very far on my own, so I'd need some kind of ally to help me through the system.

So that was Friday.

Saturday I got up around 8 and walked down to the beach to Monterey Bay Kayaks to meet Emily to do some trash cleanup. Eventually we got into wetsuits, windbreakers and lifejackets (seems like a lot for Kayaking, but I wouldn't want to accidentally fall into that water with only a swimsuit - no thanks, yo. We paddled out to around the aquarium, which was a good mile plus, and roamed around the kelp beds looking for trash. There had been a few groups ahead of us that I think got the most interesting stuff (a kid found a frisbee and another guy two hats), but I managed to pull several cigarette filters, masking tape, candy wrappers, and a plastic bag out of the water before we went home.

Although let me tell you, if you want to experience wildlife in Monterey? You have to go Kayaking. There's seals, sea lions, sea otters, pelicans, jellyfish, seagulls, etc. that you can see so candidly. I had a small seal just pop up literally a foot off the end of my Kayak. He was maybe a foot and a half long and super cute. But since all of the marine mammals in Monterey Bay are federally protected, you have to actively try and keep fifty feet away from them. If they happen to come up next to you, you have to move away. I got about ten seconds of OH THAT'S SO COOL before I had to start paddling away.

So yes, you get several animal encounters when you kayak, and be careful of curious sea otters. I was told that they can easily board Kayaks if they want to, but you know, they're still wild animals, so even if they're curious, there's still a possibility they'll get spooked enough to attack or bite.

It was really fun. I would totally go all the time if I could.

We got done Kayaking around 12:30 or so, and there was a small art fair going on at Portola plaza. I went to go check it out. One thing I like about Monterey/California is that it's really easy to find people selling jade. I found one booth that had jade from all over the world and these really gorgeous solid pale lavender bangle bracelets - that were $90. Erk. Some of them were really gorgeously carved with dragons. There were also a lot of really gorgeous pendants and earrings. (Also apparently all jade from China is Burmese?) There was one pendant shaped like a whale fluke in a really gorgeous dark green. But, I have jade around my neck already. I moved on and looked at some other stuff - I tried not to look too hard, really, because as much as I like art, I can't afford anything original and I have no place to put it. But then I came across another booth that had these really gorgeous bracelets with carved pieces of jade and very pretty rope weaving. I bought one for myself and went back later in the day to buy two more for gifts. I'm halfway tempted to buy more, but trying hold that back. I'd buy ten more if I could, they're all very very pretty.

The rest of yesterday was more reading and studying. Today is more reading and studying because I have a couple quizzes tomorrow (at least one) and more reading to finish. The sun's out and I'm hoping it's warm enough to go find a nice sunny place to sit so I can get out of the house.

magneticjade @ 2009-09-17T16:56:00

2009-09-18T00:06:46Z

Haven't posted much this week, not really much to report, actually. I've sort of fallen into a routine so there isn't a whole lot to talk about. Classes are going pretty well for the most part, but I think I will be getting a lot buisier in the next couple of weeks. I have a couple of assignments due at the end of the month so I need to make sure I stay on top of things. I'm going to start spending less time at home because there are a lot of distractions there and more time out at the student center or other places. The only thing is that Monterey's coffee shops aren't very study-condusive, or the coffee sucks (like Peet's coffee. Yuck). That and they only give you a limited amount of internet access :| I can understand wanting to limit it only to paying customers...but only for 1-2 hours? Lame.

Tomorrow I think I'm gonna stop at one of the cafes along the bike trail and do some reading after work. If I can find my coupon for the Ghiradelli shop I'll get something there too >3

On Saturday, like I wrote earlier, I'm going to be helping with the Coastal Cleanup day. Hopefully I can get to Kayak while cleaning up the bay. That would be awesome.

Work study is going well, the environment is really great at the hostel. Still not sure how much of the work I've done to recruit volunteers will work since I've never done it before.

LoL today I fell off my bike. Nothing too serious other than a scraped palm so far, though I'm a little worried I might have done something to my left thumb by snapping my wrist too hard too fast.

Hum. Not sure what I should have for dinner. I bought spaghetti the other day, but not sure what I'm going to do with it if I can't find the right pan to cook pasta with.

SF, Hostel, and stuff!

2009-09-12T01:16:09Z

It's been a while since I've posted - I've been pretty busy with starting class and other things. Hm, guess we'll start with last weekend.

On Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend I ended up in San Francisco. A friend of mine left me a message and it was an easy ride up (didn't have to take the bus/train), and we got there sometime around five. We stayed with my friend's (Matt) friend (Margaret) at her apartment in Berkely. On Saturday night we went to go find something to eat for dinner. There are a lot of indian/mexican/lebanese/persian/any other middle-eastern cuisine you could ever want restaurants in the area, so we were going to go to one of those, but ended up at this AWESOME sushi place instead. It had half off most nigiri sushi (seriously, we're talking about $2.50 for TWO pieces of salmon/eel/yellowtail MMH), and their philadelphia roll was super delicious because it had a small piece of salmon sasshimi on top. Super delicious.

After that Margaret took us to this place called Jupiter, which was a local brewery/beer garden/pizza restaurant. The make their own ciders, too, so I tried a pomegranate cider and it was really good. It had a really awesome atmosphere and an outside seating area with a fire pit in the center. We got to sit right next to the fire so it was a perfect spot on a slightly chilly night.

Then Margaret took us to downtown San Francisco. Since the Bay Bridge was out all weekend (from Thurs. night to Tuesday morning), the BART and bus systems were running all night and day. We took the BART down (omg I love subways. Also the BART is a lot like the Japanese subways so that was awesome - AND it's better than the L in Chicago 8D) and wandered around a little. There was this place called the Gold Dust Lounge that we went into and it had this really old vintage theme going on with a live band playing folk-type music.

After that, Matt wanted to take us to this Japanese-style (Korean-style) Karaoke place that was a fair distance away. We tried taking the bus and got a little lost (no big, though) and never found it even though we ended up being about 3 blocks from it. We found a pub/bar, the name of which escapes me, that was pretty empty because by the time we ended up there it was probably close to 12:30/1AM. There we got some really great pear cider and then played some darts and pool. The place was deserted so it was pretty fun, actually.

Then we eventually headed back, didn't get in until a little before four, I think. T_T

On Sunday, long story short, we went to the Golden Gate Bridge. Matt and Margaret biked across, and I just walked and took LOTS of pictures (I'll get them up this weekend, hopefully). It was a really pretty, sunny day - not too hot but rather windy on the bridge. We went across then back, and drove through Sausalito on the way back - Sausalito is an incredibly adorable little waterfront town with all kinds of awesome shops and restaurants. Monterey is great, but I don't think there's half as many cool restaurants here as there were in Sausalito. I'd love to go back and visit sometime when it's not labor day weekend with a closed bridge.

We stopped at a sandwich place to grab some food, drove back and met up with our ride back to Monterey eventually. It was about 8:30. I'd wanted to be back sooner since I still had some catch-up reading to do, but I'd had fun at the bridge, so it was all right.

Except I didn't end up getting home until about 1 AM, and here's why.

Our driver ended up on highway 17, which is a sort of windy, scenic route through the mountains (which kind of loses its appeal when it's dark out). Okay, fine, cool, take a new way back home. 17 goes through Santa Cruz, and our driver had lived there for a bit a few years ago, I think, so she wanted to stop there.

And do her homework at this cafe called Saturn (I visited two planets that weekend; but also - excuse me? some of us had work to do still, too). Saturn is an interesting, strange diner place. Probably not something I would have ever visited on a regular basis had there been something like that available to me nearby. I didn't really want to stop on the way home because I had things to do myself. But they had chocolate chip pancakes, mimosa, and wireless internet for my ipod touch, so I didn't complain too much.

Then oh, we had to go to the beach to see the waves in the moonlight.

Yes okay, pretty, but I'd like to be home now, please.

Finally we made it home, and I was tired, but hadn't had a chance to really unwind and do the things I wanted to do, so I still got to bed pretty late.

The next day I stayed at home because I was tired from the whirlwind weekend and hellz no labor day in a tourist spot like Monterey. No thanks.

Classes for the most part are going well. I need to work on getting a little more organized to keep track of things. One of my friends mentioned google calendar and I'm going to look into that this weekend. I also need to clean my room 'cuz it's getting cluttered (big surprise) and do some more laundry.

This week I started work at the Hostel, and so far it's been fun. I already have a project to work on and gather volunteers, so I've been putting up ads/info on a few websites and I called the Target in Sand City about a volunteer opportunity. Not sure how many people we'll get out of that, but it was worth a shot, I think. I also made up a flyer and on Tuesday when I go in next I'm going to send out some emails to local schools and churches.

I have to admit, though, that one of the best parts about the hostel job is that Aaron, the Hostel Manager, has two 82.5% wolves that are...well essentially his pets, but he takes them everywhere he goes. He got them from this guy who was breeding them (probably unauthorized, because he made a comment about how "if there was ever an argument for spay and neutering). The wolves are about 16-18 months old and they're beeaautiful. He has a kennel he built in the back corner of the parking lot for them to stay in while he's at the hostel, and he brought them out so the other two girls who are doing work study and I could see them and pet them. They're really well behaved and just gorgeous. The girl is all white, and her name is Jade, and the boy (they're brother and sister) has coloring like a husky (which is the other 18.5% or so of their heritage), and one ice blue eye and one brown eye - his name is Scout. They're really sweet and it made me really happy because I've been missing my dog like crazy.

Another good thing about working at the hostel is that I now have a bike, and the hostel is over by the CVS and a regular supermarket. So if I need to, I can pick up some groceries after work without having to go all the way to Target or the other grocery store over there. I'm also going to get a mug and some tea to stash there since I'm sure I'll be drinking a lot of tea while I work.

Tomorrow I think I might go to the Aquarium - they do animal feedings on the weekends, and they got a Great White Shark not too long ago, so I want to go see that guy, too. I'm going to buy a student membership, because it's a steal at $50 for a whole year, and I should get two free guest passes for if/when people come to visit.

NEXT weekend I'm going to help out with the Costal Clean Up day, which is all up and down the entire California coast. The effort in Monterey is starting out at the Monterey Bay Kayaks, and if you go volunteer you can go around in Kayaks for free out on the bay picking up litter, and you can even get out of the boats and dive in. You get to use all the equipment and everything for FREE essentially for most of the day, which is amazing because usually Kayak rentals from that place are about $30/day. Which - for me - isn't all that bad, but if I can do it for free and help the environment? Heck yeah I'm totally there!

I think that's all from me for now. I'm hoping to get pictures up this weekend.

My Brain is Dead

2009-09-01T02:55:56Z

6 hours of class in a row = no brain power.

My books aren't coming until tomorrow and Wednesday, sigh.

I need a bike.

The remainder of my student loans that I get to live off of comes to me on Thursday.

Interview tomorrow at 1:30 for the Hostel work study.

The advising staff are going to discuss the problem with the Records office on my behalf tomorrow at their staff meeting, ha ha ha.

I need to somehow get to San Jose or San Francisco to get my Japanese text book because it'll take too long to get here and cost more than I want to pay online ._. (although if you factor in paying someone for gas and possibly buying lunch on a day trip, it'll be about the same. But...that means I'll have gotten to go on a day trip to SJ or SF, which is worth a lot more than buying it online).

Classes start tomorrow. I still feel like I haven't really had a day off.

2009-08-31T04:23:00Z

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday had a heat wave go through. I think it might have gotten over 80 degrees for all three days at one point. I managed to get sunburnt on Thursday, so I didn't go out too much the other days. Friday was a Values workshop for the GSIPM students, so that kept me inside for most of the day. Later in the evening I went to a bonfire on the beach that some other students were throwing. It was kind of fun, but still pretty tiring since it was more of "meet people and talk a lot" kind of thing. I don't mind meeting people and talking to people, but doing it in large groups several times a week gets a little strenuous.

On Saturday I decided I'd walk down to the Hostel to see about their work study positions. It's a pretty far walk - about 30 minutes - but it's all that bad. However it was pretty hot on Saturday. Usually I take the bike/walking trail around to Cannery Row and then just up the hill. Not too far off from Fisherman's Wharf I saw these seals and pelicans sunning themselves on the rocks:

(More at the end of the Flickr gallery here)

The hostel ended up being closed until 5 (no one at the front desk), so I wandered over to the comic shop I'd been meaning to hit up. They didn't have the very next Fables chapter I was looking for, but I picked up some random ones (and the newest one, I think?) and called it good. It was like $7.50, so eh. Then I let myself have a small indulgence at Baskin Robins and wandered down Cannery Row for a bit. Stopped to watch the waves off an overlook and eventually made it over to catch the Trolley at the Aquarium to get back to downtown since it was hot and I was wearing jeans. I stopped by Troia's Market on the way home, which sells a random variety of american/mexican/asian foods and picked up some curry rue for curry rice that I will have on tuesday after a trip to farmer's market for vegetables. Yum!

Today I went with my friend Emily, who has a car, to Target. I picked up some food things to throw in for lunches since I have to make mine before class on Monday/Wednesday because in theory I have class straight from 8 AM to 2 PM (we'll get to the "in theory" part in a bit). I also got a set of four tall cups for $2 because apparently my landlord doesn't believe in cups taller than a coffee mug? I dunno. It doesn't work well for iced tea. I also got a couple more containers to use for food for class, and then some supplies for class. I probably shouldn't have waited so long because I couldn't find any loose-leaf paper at Target...and I forgot to go to Walgreens on the way back, so hopefully Walgreens will have some tomorrow when I go after class for milk and bread.

After the Target run, we went over to the Hostel since there was an open house. I got to talk with a few of the people who worked there and luckily they remembered me. I don't think I ever met the manager who will be interviewing me while I was staying there a few weeks ago, but I chatted with him on the phone on Saturday about the position and sent in my resume. I have an interview on Tuesday afternoon. Emily thinks I will probably get it. I'm hoping so, because it's only about 10 hours a week and $14/hour, and they're willing to max out the $2000 I get for the work study a semester. That will be a big help. I applied for their Volunteer Coordinator position. It's not expressly related to IEP, but I think working with non profits and volunteers is something that I've done before and will probably have to do. That and it's just a touch more professional/organized than AnimeIowa, so it'll be good experience nonetheless.

I'm still debating on volunteering at the Aquarium, because that might get me a shoe in the door for a summer internship.

Anyway, class starts tomorrow. The advising office never officially got it worked out so that I would be enrolled in the Public Policy course with the IEP professor, but my advisor and other students have told me to just show up and go with it. I talked to the professor briefly at a meet and greet, and hopefully there won't be too many people trying to squeeze into the class. :| I'm also going to try and sneak my way in to another class that's Tuesday/Thursday at 10 AM, because I think 13 semester hours is just too few to start out on. :| And I'm also frustrated with their course registration system in general.

If I can't make it in, I'll have class from 10 AM to 2 PM and from 4 PM to 6 PM on Monday and Wednesday with Tuesday/Thursday/Friday completely free. I could potentially take this other class, but it's on Monday from 6-9. I'm not sure I can handle 9 hours of class all in one day and not feel overly burnt out by the time the last class rolls around. I have a lot of "if than this" scenarios floating around in my head, so I'll get it figured out.

In other news, I'm thinking about getting a bike. People have suggested finding used bikes on craigslist and my landlord says I could pick one of these two bikes and have them repaired, but buh. I don't want to spend too much money on one, but on the other hand it would be nice to have something that works reliably. I'm going to be visiting a couple of bike stores in downtown. Hoping to not spend more than about $300 total for the bike/helmet/lock/lights/etc. Here in monterey you have to have a light on your bike if you go riding at night, otherwise you can get a ticket.

Having a bike would make getting around town easier, especially going to the hostel. I could also go down to the trail and go for a ride if I felt the need to get out of the house.

Edit: So apparently, as I was checking my schedule online to be sure I knew where I was going tomorrow, the one class I asked to be put on the waiting list for I'm already registered, and actually has three open spaces. So now I'm technically up to 17 semester hours, and this makes me MUCH happier. So even if in the event I can't get into that Public Policy section I want, I'll at least have a full class load.

Also it seems as though my Contemporary Texts: Japanese class will be moving from 12 PM to 2 PM on MW, which will be nice, because then I'll have two hours for lunch (and hopefully not get in the habit of spending it screwing around on the internet). So the ideal schedule would be 8 AM - 12 PM, then 2 PM - 4PM.

We'll just have to see how tomorrow goes.

Learning how to play the MIIS registration game

2009-08-28T19:54:30Z

So the last few days have been adventures of a different kind. I'll first say that yesterday I went with my housemate to the beach and got sunburnt on my shoulders and back, but it should be fine in a couple days. I think we were out for only a little over an hour and that was enough to make me a little crispy. Definitely won't be going anywhere for longish periods of time without sunscreen anymore.

The biggest obstacle right now is fighting with the registration process at MIIS. In a word: it sucks. Why? Because they don't use online registration yet. You have to go talk to your advisor and pick the classes, and then you go to the records office in the next building over and give them your registration card with the classes so they can sign you up.

Naturally there are a lot of problems here: the advisors can't keep up with how many spaces are ACTUALLY left in the classes, so between picking your classes and actually registering? You could lose your spot. My advising appointment was for 5:45 on Wednesday, one of the very LAST of the day, and the records office was closed by then. I couldn't make it to the office until 11:30 on Thursday and they were like: oh, well this class is full. I said: but my advisor told me I could get in (she had to go beg someone to let me in to a couple of these classes) and the guy goes: yeah well you were misinformed. You'll have to take a different section at this time.

ExCUSE me?

I was told that as an IEP student I should take my required core classes with the IEP professor, whom I met the other day and was actually really looking forward to taking a class with him. Now I'm being kicked out because there's a disconnect of information. The guy goes: do you want to be put on the waiting list or go into this other section? Can I do both? No.

Well it's not like I have a choice because I NEED to take the class as it's a core class, so I can't exactly futz around hoping enough people will drop to get in on the class, when in the meanwhile all the spots in the other class could be gone. So I said fine: put me in the other section.

After that I went straight over to the advising office and tried to get this worked out, because I'd been told I could take this class at this time with this instructor, and then all of that goes to heck because their system is horrendously outdated.

Luckily the people in the advising office are super helpful - I love my advisor and she and another colleague are trying to get this worked out for me and a few other students. They really want to make sure that I've got what I need. So I'm not really mad at anyone specifically (although the guy in the records office really irritates me), I just think their system needs to be FIXED badly. I think they're working on it, but really?

But if I'd been told that I was SOL about this whole thing? I probably would have just started crying I was so frustrated.

Currently I have only 13 credit hours registered. The minimum for a full time student is 12. This really is not how I want to start out my graduate school career because obviously I'm going to have to make up for something somewhere when I need 60 credits to graduate. I'm just really frustrated that I can't have what I consider to be a full class load (at least one more 3-4 hour class) because their class caps aren't large enough to cover the amount of students they have who are required to take certain classes when they come in.

The OTHER fun thing is that the majority of class times? Are usually on Monday/Wednesday either at 10 AM or 12 PM. It's ridiculous, because some of these other classes that I could have taken to fill things out that might not have been full didn't work out because I already had a class plugged into one of these times.

Today I went and put myself on the waiting list for another class (I think I'm number 17). I might try begging my way into one or another since a lot of students I've talked to said that I should just go talk to the professor and see if they'll let me in.

Just. NNGH. This is registration, it shouldn't be that difficult. I think something's a little backwards when you're stressed out BEFORE the semester starts and starting classes will be a relief.

I the textbooks I know I'll need yesterday, hopefully should have them early next week.

On the up side, my computer is configured for the wireless internet on campus, so I typed this whole thing outside.

Now I have to run off to a GSIPM (GPISM? I have no idea how these letters go) orientation activity that supposedly runs for 5 hours.

I'm so glad I have the weekend off.

Orientation Day 2, and I want that apartment

2009-08-25T18:53:21Z

This morning was the Academic Advising Overview for all students, where I got the "Advising Syllabus" that would tell me the classes I need to take what semester. It only briefly mentions "concentrations" in IEP, so I'm still kind of wondering how big of an issue that really is. My advisor made it out to be like I needed to make up my mind about a concentration for that semester, but in the syllabus it says that it should be incorporated by the end of the first year. I've already decided what I want to concentrate in, but even so, it's a little frustrating.

After that I went with Tetsuko who was showing another Japanese student who needed a place to live an apartment. It's being renovated, so it might still take a couple weeks, but this apartment we looked at is GORGEOUS. It's going to have new tile and new carpet, and it's a two-level unit with two bathrooms. The kitchen is on the upper level with lots of windows, and it's a corner unit. The best part is that it's a lot farther up the hill than my current place, and so there is the most beautiful view of Monterey and the bay from the kitchen.

The rent is $1600/month and I wish I knew someone else who was looking for a place to rent and wouldn't mind paying that, because it is GORGEOUS and I would totally sign a one year lease and stay there for the two years of my study.

I don't know all of the details, but it's unfurnished, so I'd have to get something to sleep on, and I didn't remember until later to ask about laundry. It's in an apartment complex, so it might have laundry in the building. If it did? It'd be perfect.

I kind of feel bad, because I don't want to snipe it out from anyone's nose, but. It's SUCH a nice place.

Man.

Anyway, after that was the Japanese oral test. Eh. It went okay. At the end the Sensei said that based on my score and on the talking that she'd put me in the upper-300 class. So, not the lowest, but not the highest either. Works for me. Only thing is that it might conflict with one of my other classes, but I think she said it might be possible to switch the time for the class.

Although if it gets switched to 2 PM on Monday Wednesday?....yeah uh. That'll be six hours of class.

In a row.

OTL

I have the afternoon off, it's a nice day so maybe I'll do something outside. Ah! Farmer's market again today. I need to remember to pick up some chili powder at Trader Joe's, too.

Big box of doom just arrived from mom! Thanks mom!

Orientation Day 1

2009-08-24T17:56:52Z

Just got done with the Japanese placement test (after some issue finding the room) and...well it wasn't too bad. Most of it was fairly easy grammar and such...I didn't look at the 400 level test, but I probably wouldn't have been able to pass that one since I've taken a year off language study as it is. The kanji would have eaten me. But, everyone else in the class took the 300 level, so I'm probably okay. The only thing that was really a disaster was the small composition paragraph we had to do at the end. My kanji was really horrendous (I couldn't remember the compound for "high school" despite having learned that IN high school, you'd think I'd know by now), and the grammar was eeeehhhh...but hopefully that alone won't kill me >_>

I've got about an hour to kill before the "Community Building Activity" which is 2.5 hours, and then I'm good until 5:30 since I don't have to take the economics exam (woohoo).

Hummm...not much else to report. I need to run down to Walgreens at some point to buy bread and chocolate.

Photo post of random

2009-08-23T02:52:07Z

Today was the last day of my econ class- Hooray! All done with that. Now if I can get my schedule figured out and survive the language placement tests. I'm a little terrified.

After class I came home and grabbed a PB sandwich, then took a nap for a bit. Around 3:45 I went out to see if I could find this comic book shop that was theoretically closer than the one on lighthouse (same store, though). And. I walked and just kept going until I thought I saw a place, but I never did. I didn't think it would be too easy to miss...but I didn't find it and ended up walking all the way to the corner of the Post Naval Graduate school before I decided to turn around and head home. When I checked the map again I remember walking past that point and...who knows. Boo. Maybe I'll get to the one on Lighthouse eventually because I know where that is, and I've been wanting to venture over to that part of town again. I'll see about going sometime next week.

Anyway, here are a few more photos from around town:

HUGE Victorian House on the corner of my street in the way to class. The blue one in the background is about as big with different detailing. I'll get a picture of it sometime.

The house itself. I live in the back, at the end of the driveway.

Shot from the front of the house. City hall is on the other side of the house which roof you can see in the background there.

The Underwood-Brown Adobe, now Monterey City Hall. Across the street (to the left of the photo) is the Police station, and then on the corner is the Fire Station across from the Public Library.

The Lara-Soto Adobe, a former residence of Steinbeck, now the Admissions office for my school, MIIS. XD

Quick shot of my room. Not much on the walls yet.

The kitchen

Del Monte Beach - it spans a good mile or two, I think. This is at the southern end. There's a Kayaking rental place right there, I want to go Sea Kayaking so bad ;_; Not sure how expensive it is, though. The beach doesn't have a whole lot of waves because of the bay, I think.

The day I went to hang out on the beach (last Sunday), I wandered over to Fisherman's Wharf again just to enjoy the weather, and this guy had set up a little stand with all of these exotic birds that people could get their pictures taken with. I'm not really sure why, but the birds were cool.

Hmm I think that's it for now. I wish I had pancake mix, and sausage. I really want pancakes for dinner :| Too bad I didn't think of this until now, because my friend had already offered me a ride to Target this afternoon and I didn't think there was anything I needed. Sigh.

Not about food, for once.

2009-08-22T00:08:35Z

Yesterday I went to an advising appointment to see if I could get my class schedule figured out early and out of the way. I didn't actually end up getting anything set up, but I'm glad that I went because...wow. I can't imagine having to make a snap decision in 15 minutes of time.

I pretty much found out that there are actually different concentrations within the International Environmental Policy (IEP) program, and that I should take this one class if I wanted to do this track, or this class if I wanted to do this one, but be careful because it'll be hard to switch later!

I just. What? There is NOTHING about different tracks on the website (I went back and looked yesterday), and there's at least four or five. I was a little annoyed because really...that's a big deal! It makes no sense for them to not have that information up on the website about the program. I would have definitely gone into the appointment with a better idea of what I really needed if they had. Also it would be helpful for anyone considering the program in the first place, you know?

Luckily I've been following environmental news sites since about April (and watching way too much Animal Planet. I miss Animal Planet ;_; ), so I figured I wanted to do something with like ocean conservation or alternative/clean energy to help reduce dependency on fossil fuels and work against global warming. But if I hadn't been ready for that? Man. I would have really been frustrated.

My advisor suggested I go find the syllabi for these two classes that I needed to take one of for the semester (and would probably decide what track I do), and gave me a list of environmental organizations to look at. I've glanced through the list, but I haven't gone to check out any of the websites. Also, I figured out how to get to the syllabi, but only one of the classes is up. :|

The two concentrations I'm considering are Conservation and Sustainable Development. Right now I'm leaning more towards Sustainable Development, because I think there will be a ton of opportunities for getting into that kind of career. I've already got a sort of business background, and since there's no way America and so many other modernized countries can cut back on the consumer culture, it'd be worth it to at least work to make that consumption less wasteful and more environmentally friendly for everyone and future generations (for both people and ecosystems). In a way SD encompasses conservation, so I think at this point that'd be the best route for me.

I'm also hoping to maybe do the Development Project Management Institute program, since it'll be particularly pertinent if I do Sustainable Development.

That way, also, when I've paid off all my debts and have saved some kind of money, the BFF and I can work on opening an entirely eco-friendly coffee shop/bookstore someday.

I am also a little frustrated because I would like to take International Econ. this semester, but that would make the schedule a little weird. I just wanted to get it out of the way while I was still in the economics mode.

Speaking of Econ, tomorrow's the last day of the whole spiel, and I'm soooo glad. It was getting pretty exhausting. Except now I'm not going to know what to do with all of my free time, fff. I think on Sunday or maybe tomorrow afternoon I will call up Tetsuko and ask her to help me practice my ~~horrible~~ Japanese. One of my friends in the econ class said they were going to ask you questions about like...career goals and stuff and I'm just. Terrified. LOL my vocabulary is awful and who knows about my sentence structure. I need to find an online thing to help me refresh or something. Where did I put my grammar notes, anyway?

Hm, I should see about figuring something for dinner. One of these days I need to get my posters on the walls and liven this place up.

Don't go Roasting Marsmallows

2009-08-16T05:14:56Z

So, there's a wildfire burning near Santa Cruz, not too far from here.

I can smell it outside. It smells like a campfire everywhere, and if the wind is blowing in the right direction, we get wispy things that look like clouds, but are dirtier, so it's actually smoke. Today has been especially bad, because it's been pretty hazy.

It doesn't smell bad - actually it smells kind of good - but it just sucks to know that there's a forest burning.

Fires are important to ecosystems, as they return a lot of necessary nutrients to the soil, but they're still not so fun to deal with, and a forest takes years - decades - to grow back.

I have no chocolate :| this needs to be fixed. But it'll have to be fixed tomorrow.

Luckily I haven't burned through the second book that I checked out from the library today (bad pun, sorry), so I'll have something to read tomorrow at the beach 8)

(lol two hours later I push the post button :|)

My misadventures in food just keep continuing.

2009-08-15T19:57:14Z

I walked a few miles to the Del Monte shopping center yesterday. I took my smaller camera with me to snap some photos along the way, only to discover that it's broken. When I turn it on, the lens is open and everything, but it doesn't display anything on the screen. Not sure when this happened - possibly on the plane or earlier. But it doesn't work, so I didn't get any photos.

I went to the shopping center for two main reasons: one, to get a book because there's no regular bookstores in the downtown area (wtf), and two, to go to whole foods thinking that they had different stuff than Trader Joes and I could find more things that I wanted to use.

Luckily my trip wasn't entirely fruitless, as the Border's express had the book I wanted (which I have already finished, given that it was only about 260 pages and a quick read), but Whole foods? Is another organic/natural food store.

I wouldn't be complaining except that they had ONE kind of cream of mushroom soup, and that had all this extra stuff in it. They had ONE. KIND. Also one kind of brownie mix.

I about had a mental breakdown (not really, but I was exceedingly frustrated).

Also - none of these places seem to have canned tuna. Or bacon. I don't understand.

So instead I bought some peanut butter and some honey mustard and a box of organic mac and cheese.

The mac and cheese was all right, but it was pretty bland :|

Just a few minutes ago I decided I'd make myself a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. I opened the jar and took off the seal and. The peanut butter? Was runny. Like it was melted runny, even though I'd just kept it in the jar at room temperature.

What. The. Crap.

It tasted okay (obviously not as sweet as, say, Skippy), but. Runny Peanut butter. Who the hell can eat RUNNY peanut butter on bread? You don't melt butter in the microwave before putting it on most things, right? WTF. Ugh.

I put the peanut butter in the fridge, and now I'm just exceedingly frustrated that I can't find some of the kinds of things I want to buy without excessive amounts of trouble. Now I'm pretty much stuck having to take a bus to go grocery shopping, because the only other place I know about is over by the youth Hostel, and then Target. Nob Hill is walkable, but not with groceries. It'd take me 40 minutes to get there on foot, probably. Target just isn't walkable period.

At this point it'll be worth the $5.00 round trip just to get the things I want :|

Guh.

Last day of Microeconomics was all right. I missed more questions on the quiz than I had on any of the others, but my cumulative points missed all together ended up being only 3 since there were extra credit questions on one test, so that cancelled out my previously missed two and gave me an extra point, then today I missed four. But considering we've had five tests of 21 points each, I'd say that's pretty darn good.

I have the rest of the afternoon off - I plan to go to the library to check out the next book of the one I just finished, and then read or watch movies, and tomorrow I'm planning on hanging out at the beach for a bit, maybe doing some laundry.

Macroecon starts on Monday. Uggghh I'm going to be so exhausted by the end of next week.

Where have all the bookstores gone

2009-08-14T02:02:26Z

Economics is going really well so far - I've only missed two points total out of 3 quizzes (aced today's quiz) so I'm sure that passing Micro won't be a problem. I find it kind of funny that it's coming so easily to me, because it seems like there's a lot of people struggling with it, I don't know. It's not like I sit in my room all day and study, so. I dunno. There are two classes left, and I'm definitely ready for a break on Sunday. Five hours of class a day really wears you out mentally. Orientation/regular class will be a breeze compared to this; I won't know what to do with myself, lol.

Tomorrow during break I'm going to turn in my work study forms so that I can be ready to go when one that I can actually do pops up. There's one position that would be a good alternative to my "dream job" of working at the aquarium, but it requires that you have your own transportation to and from the site (wherever it is, because conveniently enough while they say that, they don't give you an address), and other places you'd have to go (possibly around Monterey county), so that one's out as I don't have a car, obviously. That's particularly frustrating.

But, I'm checking the work study page every day to see when new things pop up. I really do want to work at the aquarium :(

Otherwise there are office jobs on campus I can do, but those won't get me the experience that I want :\

I'm also a little frustrated with the fact that there is not an actual bookstore in the downtown or even New Monterey area. There's some used/old/rare bookstores around, but the closest thing that has just a regular bookstore with new books is the Del Monte center, which actually isn't that close to me. There's a Borders Express there. The regular Borders is over by Target, but that's a $5 bus trip.

What's really kind of ironic about the whole reason for me wanting to go to a bookstore in the first place is that there's a book series I want to look into/start, and I checked the Monterey public library because it's literally just a couple blocks away, but it doesn't have the first book of the series. WTF. Super lame.

I could probably use a trip out there anyway, since there's a Macy's and a different grocery store other than Trader Joe's that maybe has some normal things that don't cost an arm and a leg :| I want things like wosterchier (sp?) sauce and regular rice and cream of mushroom soup to make stroganoff and also to not have to pay $6 for a pound of hamburger.

I also think I might need some kind of new regular walking shoes, because I discovered a hole in my sketchers the other day :( It's not noticable but...yeah. Errggghh. It's just annoying and inconvenient and I don't really want to buy another pair of shoes, but there's a hole in the toe and. Augh. Sigh. I'm going to put that off until I really need them. I almost bought new shoes before I left home, but the only place I really like to buy shoes is Khols, and their selection sucked as did Famous Footwear next to it, so I just didn't deal with it.

Mph.

Anyway, I might go to the Del Monte center tomorrow after class to get that out of the way.

I guess there's a forest fire on the other side of the bay. I thought I smelled something burning last night, and the clouds look kind fo dirty. My landlord told me there was a fire, so. I don't think there's a danger of it coming over here though (and if it did it'd be a tragedy, Monterey has a lot of historic buildings).

I want to go to the beach on Sunday.

Berries and economics

2009-08-12T00:15:17Z

I just got back from this HUGE farmer's market in downtown Monterey. It was amazing! So many people there selling fruits and veggies, flowers, and some of the local restaurants had stands. I almost got some Lamb Curry for dinner. There were also people selling jewelry and clothing and all kinds of nifty stuff.

I ended up buying a few peaches, a couple of tomatoes (one of which got bashed in by something on the way home :( guess I'll be eating that soon lolol), blackberries and raspberries, walnuts, homemade salsa, and an orchid. I've wanted an orchid for soo long, and I thought it would be a nice thing to put in my room, so I got a small one for about $10. It's so pretty!

The berries are effing delicious. I'm never buying berries at the grocery store again, particularly after the last batch I bought at Trader Joes was AWFUL (although their cottage cheese is the best cottage chese I've ever had). Ugh. I ended up throwing half of them away :| I'm just not doing so well with food here for whatever reason, but this stuff is awesome. Next week hopefully I'll have a better idea of stuff I can make and can buy accordingly. There was even a stand selling fresh fish (in coolers), so maybe if I ever aquire some teriyaki marinade I can get some salmon. Mmm.

The economics class (micro) started yesterday, and it's actually not so bad. I remember a lot of the concepts from before, and I think taking International Econ helped put a better perspective on things. I can tell I'm not having a hard time with the concepts, unlike some of my classmates who ask the most WTF questions (like if a Market Power, aka Monopoly, was the concept behind Obama's national health care plan. DUDE. WRONG CLASS a;ewjfaowiejf). Also people have a hard time with the simplicity of the models, because they bring in all of these outside ideas to the problem and just making it more complicated than it is.

Anyway, I got 19/20 on the first quiz, and you just have to get 80% average on the quizzes to pass the class, so hopefully it won't get too difficult along down the road.

Although the power going out in the house last night? Kind of made it difficult to study :| I guess this house, and just a couple on this block are on a municipal grid, so everyone around us had power, but ours didn't. I'm not sure what happened, but I ran into one of my friends on the way to the farmer's market and he said that another part of downtown was out too. Weird.

But, anyway, I think time to do some more studying while I munch on berries and cottage cheese.

P.S. I keep meaning to take pictures of the campus and such, hopefully I'll remember to do so tomorrow.

Adventures in grocery shopping

2009-08-10T00:34:27Z

I went shopping at Trader Joe's yesterday for groceries...and let me tell you, that was an experience. We don't have a Trader Joes close to anywhere in CR and I've never been to one regardless, so it was a little bit difficult finding exactly what it was I wanted to buy.

It's great that it's organic and natural-foods oriented, but really...I don't much fancy paying $5 for some parmesean cheese or sliced turkey breast for sandwiches and pasta. For most of the trip I felt kind of frustrated because I knew what I wanted but had a hard time actually finding it. And sometimes their selection quite frankly sucks - like salad dressing. If you didn't want balsamic vinaigrette or just plain olive oil, you had little choice :| I ended up with Cesar, but what I really wanted was either just straight Italian or rasperry vinaigrette. Sigh. And I don't much care for the bread, as I found out after making a sandwich for lunch once I got back. It's just...hard around the edges like it's stale or something, and after a while just isn't pleasant to eat at all. But now I have a whole loaf of it and. I don't know what to do with it. I'll probably just make due and eat what I can during these first couple of weeks and make sandwiches to take to lunch during econ or something. For the most part their fruit is okay - peaches and apples are really good, actually, but the Driscolls raspberries were terrible :|

Sigh.

I did make a trip to walgreens today to pick up a few more necessary things that I didn't grab at target - notebooks/folders and one of those collapsable laundry hamper things, because my clothes had just sort of been strewn across the floor otherwise. I want to buy an electric kettle because I know once it gets perpetually colder I'll be making a LOT of tea, and frankly the gas stove freaks me out, so it'll be easier to have it in my room. But anyway, walgreens didn't have the tea kettle, but I did happen to notice that they have milk for either the same price or cheaper than Trader Joe's, and also a few things that I actually recognized (again, for cheaper), so I can probably do some shopping for things there when necessary.

Hopefully I will make buddies with someone with a car (I think a couple of the students whom I met on Friday night at a mexican restaurant had cars) and we can make trips to Target or Costco for other food things (because I mean really).

Oh yes - apparently my suspicions have been concerned, and generally there are NO classes scheduled on Fridays, which is awesome. 3 day weekend to do things.

Tomorrow my Econ class starts, so I'm thinking I'll skim through the first few chapers to get a heads up on it. One of the students that was staying at the hostel was an Econ major, so he says if I need help I can ask him XD He'd been having a hard time finding a place to live because a lot of places had preferences for girls, but luckily he found a place close.

I'm thinking I might try looking for a bigger place for next semester. Not that I dislike the place I have now, but it is small everywhere. It's a good place to get started, but I'm not sure I want to stay here for the whole school year. I'll keep my options open and what not, but obviously I won't go anywhere if I can't find another suitable spot. It's just a thought.

Whoops, been busy lately, time to play catch-up!

2009-08-08T18:22:19Z

Picture heavy! Just to warn you!

On Wednesday I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The last time I went was when I was eight, so I don't remember very much about it. I spent about 3-4 hours going through almost every single exhibit. I didn't see any of the special shows, but I did take a lot of pictures!

I walked from the hostel to the aquarium, but I got a little turned around about which way it would be (silly me it was only one block over and down) - I actually ended up in Pacific Grove a little bit, but followed the bike trail back over.

Along the way I saw some Seals sunning themselves on a beach by the (Hopkins?) research center:

If you look closely you can see a few youngsters, so cute!

This is the Aquarium from the back - it was built in the old sardine canning factory and is right next to Cannery Row (where the Steinbeck novel of the same name takes place).

Front entrance of the Aquarium.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is known for its Otter exhibit, among other things. They have several sea otters and river otters from all over the world. Throughout the exhibit there are a lot of education panels directed for people of all ages to learn about the animals (not just the otters), so it's a really great facility. Their special exhibit right now is called "The Secret Lives of Seahorses," so I got a lot of seahorse photos. :3

I also walked through their exhibit that lets you reach in and touch things - the only really exciting was that I got to touch a bat-ray (stingray). That was pretty awesome. They're soft and a little "slimy" at the same time. I got my sleeve wet because the water was deep and collllld.

After the Aquarium, I walked a little bit down Cannery Row. Cannery Row is very touristy with lots of gift shops (that all seem to sell uh...the same stuff, LOL. I looked at christmas ornaments briefly in one shop, and then found them again in another place across the street). But there are a lot of restaurants along there (Bubba Gump's shrimp) and some other fun places, like a Ghiradelli cafe and Nestle cafe.

I went back to the Hostel around 3 ish and chilled for a bit. Later I went back to Cannery row with Tetsuko and took a few more photos, but I haven't uploaded them yet.

I'd picked up some pasta at the CVS down the street to make dinner with, and used some leftover spaghetti sauce that was in the free part of the fridge. Long story short, I think it actually ended up making me sick in the middle of the night. Not fun.

On Thursday, despite feeling rather ill still in the morning, I walked back down to Fisherman's Wharf to go whale watching. I'd found a $5 off coupon for one company, and I followed the bike trail from Cannery Row down along the coast over to the wharf. It took about 30 minutes to walk there, and the sun was pretty intense, so I wore a scarf over my head to protect my already burnt scalp. Getting there was a bit difficult because my legs were pretty worn out from the first two days.

Fisherman's wharf from about the end of the wharf, looking back.

The tour I went on was narrated by an experienced marine biologist. She was a real character, and I wish I could have talked with her a little more, but I think she was up on the top deck most of the time while on the boat, so it was kind of hard to go up and just chat during the ride.

Anyway, we saw some sea lions as we were leaving the bay:

And then some Risso's Dolphins:

And finally after a while of being out on the wider part of the bay, we found some Humpback whales! 3 of them total: two adults and one calf:

We followed them for quite a while. They didn't get too close - the tour company maintains a distance of 100 yards, but if the whales get closer they put the boat in neutral and just let them do what they want. A lot of whales are injured or even killed by boats each year (obviously our boat was too noisy to sneak up on the whales, but big tankers that have their motors at the back are virtually silent up front, so a lot of whales don't even know they're coming until it's too late), so it's great that they keep this practice.

They were so beautiful ;; I almost bawled, lol, but it was too windy on the boat.

We saw their tails (flukes) as they dived deeper. That was so awesome to see. Scientists can tell humpback whales apart by looking at their flukes.

Eventually the boat turned back around and then we came up on more Risso's dolphins, this time they were really close - right under the boat, even!

Risso's dolphins are flat-faced, meaning they don't have a snout like the bottle-nosed dolphin. They do have a little bit of a lip that protrudes a bit, though.

I took a video of the whales when they were closer and getting breaths of air and diving, but I don't have a way to edit it yet, so I haven't been able to upload it yet. I'll figure that out this weekend, maybe.

That's all for now - I'll be back later to update about yesterday and such. Right now I need to go get some food and buy groceries.

Monterey, Day 1

2009-08-05T04:50:40Z

Soooo....good thing my facial moisturizer and my foundation have sunscreen in them, 'cuz otherwise my face would be burnt as all hell, like my chest (which is oddly shaped because of my camera bag strap) and my scalp. My scalp is PINK, and I wish I'd known before I stopped at CVS on the way back from having sushi because I would have bought more sunscreen for the rest of me and maybe some aloe vera. :|

Anywho, to recap:

Flight was decent, lulzy points being that the guys flying the plane from Minneapolis to San Jose were Steve and Chip.

Got in around 7:15 PST, managed to grab a burger from Burger King because my options were limited and I was starving, so did that before I left the terminal for baggage claim. I found my bags okay by looking for one with a busted foot and wire sticking out, and another one that's gigantic. :| Both of them are pretty beat up, but the one I'm going to pitch at the next convenience. The wire is all bent and dangerous to be lugging around because it drags on the ground.

I waited for the Monterey - Salinas Air bus in the terminal and ended up talking to this older lady who had just come back from a long trip in Africa (she'd been on Safari with one of her kids/grandkids) and then stayed a few days in Colorado before going back home. I couldn't quite pick out exactly what she did (I think now she teaches Spanish in a school part-time?), but she lived in South America at one point when her kids were younger, and she's been to India with her husband and stopped in Japan, and all these other places and just. Wow. It was cool.

The bus arrived in Monterey around 10:45 ish? Luckily there was a Taxi that had pulled up right as the bus came in, so I just hopped in and had him take me to the Hostel. The hostel is actually quite nice, and there's a lot of different kinds of people here, and they're not all just young adults. There're these two guys here from probably the UK (accents), and a couple germans, and then a bunch of other people from who knows where. The beds and rooms are nice for the most part, so is the kitchen and sitting area. I'll take pictures before I leave for sure.

Also, obviously, free wi-fi. cha-ching.

I slept until around 8 or 9 PST then got up and showered and grabbed some free pancakes (yum). I spent about an hour and a half figuring out where I was going to go and how to get there. The hostel is actually a bit of a distance from downtown monterey and therefore also a bit of a ways from the school, but it's close to a main street that runs near the bay and there's a bus that comes that's easy enough to catch. I called about one room that was supposedly in "walking distance" from the school and she let me see the room.

So at noon, after a long trek across the city and up a flipping HUGE HILL I arrived at a private neighborhood and looked at the place. It wasn't too bad of a spot and I might have taken it...except that I would not enjoy the walk every day. It actually takes about 30 minutes to get to the school and it's not an easy walk. Not to mention that there aren't any busses that go through the neighborhood, and so getting groceries? Really out of the question without a car. The landlady was nice, and her new puppy was super cute, but. No, it really wasn't going to work.

So, after that I hiked back down and decided to go find the campus. I didn't go in any of the buildings, but it's pretty small. From there I called a guy about the listing I'd written down just in case I didn't go for the first one and went to see the room. It was only a few blocks from the campus and the house itself is a dinky little thing. Like the first floor of my house at home is about twice as big of the square footage of this place. But the room has a bed, dresser, closet, desk, and a chair, and gets a lot of natural light, which I like. The kitchen is small, but has everything necessary, and the bathroom was clean. In this house there will be three people living - the guy who rents it (he's not the owner I guess, but he rents the rooms), and then two others, usually students (so myself and one other person). The guy who rents it is older, probably older than my dad, though not by much. He keeps a sort of garden in the back of the house which serves as a "living room" as well with a fire pit, and he does kind of handy-man projects and is a photographer of sorts. He's really laid back and quite nice and has been renting the rooms for several years.

Rent is $550/month, two blocks from campus, nice area, laundry on-site, and a Trader Joes a couple blocks down. And internet. No cable, but I'll live.

I took it, because I knew I wasn't gonna get a better deal. As much as I wouldn't mind living up near where the Hostel is, I'd have to take the bus every day or have a very long walk. I figure I can always move for next year if necessary. I didn't actually sign a lease or anything, so I think rent is just month-to-month. The room isn't available for me to move in until the 7th. I was offered the other room to bunk in in the meanwhile, but I like the hostel and it gives me time to do touristy things in the meanwhile.

After I wrote the check for the room, I left to go explore for a bit. I ended up down by the bay and over to Fisherman's Wharf, which has a place selling clam chowder every ten feet it seems. It's a bit of a tourist trap because it's not very big or even all that interesting. I do plan on going back for a Whale Watching tour at some point, maybe on Thursday. One of the companies claims to have a "99%" chance of seeing whales, so. LOL guess I'll go look. and if you don't see any they give you a rain check to come back some other time. Which hey - works for me 'cuz I'll be here a while.

I returned to the dorm after only being out for a few hours because my feet were starting to hurt, and I didn't wear socks, so I think blisters were starting to form. I took the bus back successfully and played around on the internet for a few hours. Eventually I realized that I should go out and eat something...and ended up at a sushi place not too far from the Hostel (just a few blocks down). It was pretty good, and the people working there were ACTUALLY JAPANESE. I love California.

So here I am back at the hostel on the intarwebs again. I've uploaded a few photos already, you can see them on my flickr account. They're not super exciting right now (a few from the plane), but I'll get more up tomorrow.

Tomorrow the plan is to go to the Aquarium and maybe Cannery Row 8Db

Conversion

2009-07-10T19:49:32Z

Soon I will be starting graduate school at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California. I'll be working on an MA for International Environmental Policy.

Here I will be posting about my adventures, all photos and otherwise interesting things that relate to my study to try and save the world.

I'll be leaving on August 3rd.

Leaving...

2006-12-17T01:03:42Z

So this is going to be my last post from Japan *sadface*

I'm almost ready to go, I just have to pack up my computer and throw it in my backpack and check out of my dorm, which I have to do here soon, and then lug my VERY HEAVY LUGGAGE to the train station...that's going to be the hardest part coming up here...one large suitcase that is EXTREMELY heavy...if I can't somehow ninja some stuff into my other suitcase I'm definitely going to have to pay extra for that >< and my small roller and a backpack. Egh. I just want it all home. Why can't I like...I dunno, snap my fingers and it'll be gone? blegh. Just get me on the plane, I'll be good.

Yesterday was JUMPFESTA and was AWESOME. I wrote up a report at my other journal, so you can go check it out there (it's jade-fragment.livejournal.com, this POS new updateing page is being STUPID).

Ack, running out of time. It was awesome, no time to reflect, gotta run to the airport! oh yays!

Dear Mom...

2006-12-15T15:29:19Z

Mommy-

Please bring me my winter coat and snow boots to the aiport if it is colder than 30 degrees on Sunday afternoon and if there is snow on the ground.

For dinner on Sunday I would like onion roast (cooked in the oven, not the slow cooker, plz), mashed potatoes, corn. And something chocolate-y for desert.

For dinner on Monday I would like either stroganov, sausage/cheese/shells casserole, or enchiladas.

♥

Thank you.