Fate of Biodiversity

Where does biodiversity go from here?
A grim business-as-usual forecast and a hopeful portfolio of partial solution

A *very* interesting and informative article about the possible fate of biodiversity ~ predicts its continued demise if we proceed with business as usual but a more optimistic fate to the extent that 7 specific suggestions can be implemented ~

The abstract ~

http://www.pnas.org/content/105/suppl.1/11579

The full text ~

http://www.pnas.org/content/105/suppl.1/11579.full

A pdf file of the full text ~

http://www.pnas.org/content/105/suppl.1/11579.full.pdf+html

A couple of good quotes from the article ~

p. 11579
"Yet despite a ballooning number of publications about biodiversity and its plight, there has been dispiritingly little progress in stanching the losses -- so little that some commentators have characterized applied ecology as 'an evermore sophisticated refinement of the obituary of nature'." (1)

p. 11583
". . . a compelling analogy: 'as books are uninteresting and useless to an illiterate person, so is biodiversity uninteresting and useless to a bioilliterate person'." (2/3)

(1)
Jackson JBC (2007) Economic incentives, social norms, and the crisis of fisheries
Ecol Res 22: 16-18
(2)
Janzen DH (2004) Now is the time
Phil Trans R Soc London B 359: 731-732
(3)
Janzen DH (2005) in Plant Conservation: A Natural History Approach
eds Krupnick G. and Kress J.
University of Chicago Press
pp. ix - xiii

Family Holiday Music

This one seems to be my mother's favorite ~





This one may be my sister's favorite ~





This one does not use "PG" language ~

Stress Depression Holiday

Stress, depression and the holidays: 12 tips for coping
From MayoClinic.com

For some people, the holidays bring unwelcome guests—stress and depression. And it's no wonder. In an effort to pull off a perfect Hallmark holiday, you might find yourself facing a dizzying array of demands—work, parties, shopping, baking, cleaning, caring for elderly parents or kids on school break, and scores of other chores. So much for peace and joy, right?
Actually, with some practical tips, you can minimize the stress and depression that often accompany the holidays. You may even end up enjoying the holidays more than you thought you would.

The trigger points of holiday stress and depression
Holiday stress and depression are often the result of three main trigger points. Understanding these trigger points can help you plan ahead on how to accommodate them.
The three main trigger points of holiday stress or depression:

Relationships. Relationships can cause turmoil, conflict or stress at any time. But tensions are often heightened during the holidays. Family misunderstandings and conflicts can intensify—especially if you're all thrust together for several days. Conflicts are bound to arise with so many different personalities, needs and interests. On the other hand, if you're facing the holidays without a loved one, you may find yourself especially lonely or sad.

Finances. Like your relationships, your financial situation can cause stress at any time of the year. But overspending during the holidays on gifts, travel, food and entertainment can increase stress as you try to make ends meet while ensuring that everyone on your gift list is happy. You may find yourself in a financial spiral that leaves you with depression symptoms such as hopelessness, sadness and helplessness.

Physical demands. The strain of shopping, attending social gatherings and preparing holiday meals can wipe you out. Feeling exhausted increases your stress, creating a vicious cycle. Exercise and sleep—good antidotes for stress and fatigue—may take a back seat to chores and errands. High demands, stress, lack of exercise, and overindulgence in food and drink—all are ingredients for holiday illness.

12 tips to prevent holiday stress and depression
When stress is at its peak, it's hard to stop and regroup. Try to prevent stress and depression in the first place, especially if you know the holidays have taken an emotional toll in previous years.
Tips you can try to head off holiday stress and depression:

1. Acknowledge your feelings. If a loved one has recently died or you aren't able to be with your loved ones, realize that it's normal to feel sadness or grief. It's okay now and then to take time just to cry or express your feelings. You can't force yourself to be happy just because it's the holiday season.

2. Seek support. If you feel isolated or down, seek out family members and friends, or community, religious or social services. They can offer support and companionship. Consider volunteering at a community or religious function. Getting involved and helping others can lift your spirits and broaden your friendships. Also, enlist support for organizing holiday gatherings, as well as meal preparation and cleanup. You don't have to go it alone. Don't be a martyr.

3. Be realistic. As families change and grow, traditions and rituals often change as well. Hold on to those you can and want to. But accept that you may have to let go of others. For example, if your adult children and grandchildren can't all gather at your house as usual, find new ways to celebrate together from afar, such as sharing pictures, e-mails or videotapes.

4. Set differences aside. Try to accept family members and friends as they are, even if they don't live up to all your expectations. Practice forgiveness. Set aside grievances until a more appropriate time for discussion. With stress and activity levels high, the holidays might not be conducive to making quality time for relationships. And be understanding if others get upset or distressed when something goes awry. Chances are they're feeling the effects of holiday stress and depression, too.

5. Stick to a budget. Before you go shopping, decide how much money you can afford to spend on gifts and other items. Then be sure to stick to your budget. If you don't, you could feel anxious and tense for months afterward as you struggle to pay the bills. Don't try to buy happiness with an avalanche of gifts. Donate to a charity in someone's name, give homemade gifts or start a family gift exchange.

6. Plan ahead. Set aside specific days for shopping, baking, visiting friends and other activities. Plan your menus and then make one big food-shopping trip. That'll help prevent a last-minute scramble to buy forgotten ingredients—and you'll have time to make another pie, if the first one's a flop. Expect travel delays, especially if you're flying.

7. Learn to say no. Believe it or not, people will understand if you can't do certain projects or activities. If you say yes only to what you really want to do, you'll avoid feeling resentful, bitter and overwhelmed. If it's really not possible to say no when your boss asks you to work overtime, try to remove something else from your agenda to make up for the lost time.

8. Don't abandon healthy habits. Don't let the holidays become a dietary free-for-all. Some indulgence is okay, but overindulgence only adds to your stress and guilt. Have a healthy snack before holiday parties so that you don't go overboard on sweets, cheese or drinks. Continue to get plenty of sleep and schedule time for physical activity.

9. Take a breather. Make some time for yourself. Spending just 15 minutes alone, without distractions, may refresh you enough to handle everything you need to do. Steal away to a quiet place, even if it's to the bathroom for a few moments of solitude. Take a walk at night and stargaze. Listen to soothing music. Find something that reduces stress by clearing your mind, slowing your breathing and restoring inner calm.

10. Rethink resolutions. Resolutions can set you up for failure if they're unrealistic. Don't resolve to change your whole life to make up for past excess. Instead, try to return to basic, healthy lifestyle routines. Set smaller, more specific goals with a reasonable time frame. Choose only those resolutions that help you feel valuable and that provide more than only fleeting moments of happiness.

11. Forget about perfection. Holiday TV specials are filled with happy endings. But in real life, people don't usually resolve problems within an hour or two. Something always comes up. You may get stuck late at the office and miss your daughter's school play, your sister may dredge up an old argument, your partner may burn the cookies, and your mother may criticize how you're raising the kids. All in the same day. Accept imperfections in yourself and in others.

12. Seek professional help if you need it. Despite your best efforts, you may find yourself feeling persistently sad or anxious, plagued by physical complaints, unable to sleep, irritable and hopeless, and unable to face routine chores. If these feelings last for several weeks, talk to your doctor or a mental health professional. You may have depression.

Take back control of holiday stress and depression
Remember, one key to minimizing holiday stress and depression is knowing that the holidays can trigger stress and depression. Accept that things aren't always going to go as planned. Then take active steps to manage stress and depression during the holidays. You may actually enjoy the holidays this year more than you thought you could.

More on MSN Health & Fitness:
7 Alternative Depression Treatments
The Things That Make Us Happy

URL: http://health.msn.com/health-topics/depression/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100096451>1=31009

Dog Photos

Procrastination

The Lure of Tomorrow

New research on why we procrastinate and what we can do to follow through on at least some of those plans for the new year.

Wray Herbert
Newsweek Web Exclusive
Dec 10, 2008 | Updated: 9:55 a.m. ET Dec 10, 2008

Late holiday shoppers will soon be rushing out to get the things they'd planned to buy way back in November, when they made those well-intentioned lists. And by New Year's, people will start thinking about projects: updating that resume, cleaning out the attic, starting that exercise routine. But the sad reality is that most of us will not follow through on these commitments, and not because we're insincere. We'll just never get to day one. Tomorrow is always a better time to get going.

And tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Procrastination is a curse, and a costly one. Putting things off leads not only to lost productivity but also to all sorts of hand wringing and regrets and damaged self-esteem. For all these reasons, psychologists would love to figure out what's going on in the mind that makes it so hard to actually do what we set out to do. Are we fundamentally misguided in the way we think about plans and effort and work? Is there some perverse habit of mind that automatically dampens our sense of urgency? Are we programmed for postponement and delay?

An international team of psychologists has begun exploring these questions in the laboratory. Led by Sean McCrea of the University of Konstanz in Germany, the researchers wanted to see if there might be a link between how we think of a task and our tendency to postpone it. In other words, are we more likely to see some tasks as psychologically "distant"--and thus to consign them to some vague future rather than tackle them now?

Psychological distance is a well-documented idea. It's been shown that people think of geographically distant events and ideas as less detailed and concrete than things taking place nearby. So for example, "locking the door" means simply turning the key here at home, but locking the door 3,000 miles away means security and personal safety. McCrea and his colleagues suspected that this same cognitive oddity might show up in the way we think about time and tasks. That is, vague, abstract tasks might be easier to mentally postpone into the future than concrete tasks. They decided to test this notion in a few simple experiments.

Here's an example. The psychologists handed out questionnaires to a group of students and asked them to respond by e-mail within three weeks. All the questions had to do with rather mundane tasks like opening a bank account and keeping a diary, but different students were given different instructions for answering the questions. Some thought and wrote about what each activity implied about personal traits: what kind of person has a bank account, for example. Others wrote simply about the nuts and bolts of doing each activity: speaking to a bank officer, filling out forms, making an initial deposit, and so forth. The idea was to get some students thinking abstractly and others concretely.

Then they waited. And in some cases, waited and waited. They recorded all the response times to see if there was a difference between the two groups, and indeed there was--a significant difference. Even though they were all being paid upon completion, those in a what-does-it-all-mean mentality were much more likely to procrastinate--and in fact some never got around to the assignment at all. By contrast, those who were focused on the how, when and where of doing the task e-mailed their responses much sooner, suggesting that they hopped right on the assignment rather than delaying it.

This makes sense in an odd sort of way. When you first think about the possibility of trying something new, you're focused on why: What's the purpose? Does it make sense for me to do this? It's still just a distant possibility, and these are the things that matter. Only as you get closer to actually taking on the task do you start to think of the more immediate how-to details. So conversely, thinking about the how-to of a job gives it immediacy--and urgency.

Even so, the scientists decided to double-check their initial findings with a different kind of laboratory technique. In this experiment, the task was to complete sentence fragments, either in an abstract or a concrete way. For example, some might complete this fragment: "An example of a bird is ______." Others completed this kind of fragment: "A bird is an example of ______." The first requires a concrete example--an indigo bunting, for example, or scarlet tanager--while the second asks for an abstract category--warm-blooded vertebrates, say. So again the experiment primed one cognitive style or the other, and again the psychologists logged in the e-mail response times.

The findings, reported in the December issue of the journal Psychological Science, were very clear. Even though the sentence fragments really had nothing to do with the actual task, those primed for concrete thinking were much less apt to delay and postpone than were those primed for abstract thinking. They saw the task as more immediate and acted with more urgency. Those prompted to give vague and amorphous answers were indecisive.

Lots of psychology experiments don't have a practical take-home message, but these do. You know that exercise routine you've been talking about starting up in January? Well, forget about how virtuous it is, or how healthy, or how it might boost your confidence. Instead, think about putting on your sneakers and tying them, one at a time; entering the front door of the gym and walking to the first treadmill you see; stepping aboard and starting to move your legs, right leg first.

Wray Herbert writes The We're Only Human blog at

www.Psychologicalscience.Org/Onlyhuman

Toyota Prius raffle

The Southwest Environmental Center (SWEC - www.wildmesquite.org) is selling raffle tickets for a 2009 Toyota Prius hybrid car!

The tickets are $100 each and only 400 tickets will be sold.

The drawing will be held on 19 March 2009.

SWEC is a local (southwestern New Mexico) non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the habitats of species that are native to the Southwestern borderlands, in the interests of biodiversity and the health of our planet.

The three main areas of effort are -
Desert waters (e.g., Rio Grande river)
Desert lands and wildlife (e.g., Otero Mesa, Mexican gray wolf)
Education for a sustainable society

SWEC operates on a small budget and this raffle is one of the the primary annual fundraisers and thus critical to the continued day-to-day operation of the organization.

Raffle tickets make great gifts for folks who already have everything they need!

Interested parties may contact this blog author for tickets.

Holiday Spirit

2/3 of Wolfpack

Cuter in Person

Here are a few photos of the cutest / smartest / funniest / naughtiest 1-year-old in the house on his birthday ~

I think I said "cookie" to try to get him to look at me ~

Eventually he looked ~ wondering about that cookie ~

For his birthday Bodhi and I jogged 2 miles on the flood control dam and then went to the downtown mall where we bought apples (and shared an apple) and pretzel bread. That evening I celebrated his birthday by going to the whitest place I have ever been in Las Cruces - a fairly new Irish pub called Brigid's Crossing. Maddie pouted at being left out of the fun so all three of us jogged 3 miles on the flood control dam this/Sunday morning and then took a 1.75 mile walk this/Sunday evening. The wolfpack is happier when the wolfpack is exercising regularly.

Here are some other things in addition to the whitest place in town ~

I heard about this on some TV news magazine and it cracked me up ~

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/

1 year old

Happy Birthday to Bodhi!

1 year old today!

And Happy Birthday to Kevin - more than 1 year old today.

photos - of Bodhi - soon

Busy Monday

I escaped to Starbucks for caffeine and work as soon as the kids had run out most of their morning energy. There I lamented with the staff about the fact that Starbucks in Las Cruces DOES NOT RECYCLE! It was frustrating to see all of the dozens and dozens and dozens of empty cardboard boxes lying around the store from where they had been unpacking all of their Xmas products. So I loaded all the empty boxes into my car and took them to recycling. More on this story later. I also took two boxes of stuff to a local thrift store and seven books to COAS for credit. Ended up buying one book there - The GenX Reader - An underground look at the twentysomething generation - Explained by those on the inside and dissected by those on the out. I was 20-something when the book was published in 1994 so it is relevant. I also went to Better Life Natural Pet Food Store and bought a vitamin and mineral supplement to give to Bodhi which will hopefully get him less interested in eating dog poop. And I went to Primetime Fitness and renewed my gym membership.

More Later

That was at 2 p.m. and now it is just past 10 p.m. I met Ed for lunch and then took the dogs for a 50-min romp in the desert and then went out to do laundry and then called Mom. Since then have been wasting time and now am going to bed.

I want soon to call Dave and donate blood and get a local public library card. Tomorrow/Tuesday there is a SWEC lunch to meet potential new board members.

Nice Saturday

Yesterday was an unplanned and fun day. The kids let me sleep until 9 - that has never happened before with the new kid. It was probably because I took them for a good romp in the desert late Friday afternoon and then I stayed up late working on Friday night and they sort of stayed up with me. Kim and Cheryl were near the house at an estate sale and stopped by for a short visit on Saturday morning and we planned to get together on Sunday. Then I took a shower (notable because have not had many of these since returning from Chicago) and took Bodhi to the downtown mall for the weekly farmers market and craft fair. We bought pretzel bread and blueberry muffins. We also visited with Kevin and practiced behaving nicely and then stopped by the dog park for a quick run around on the way home. I also talked to Ed on the way home and we planned to meet for lunch after I dropped Bodhi off at home and dropped off the recycling. After lunch we stopped by the stadium to watch part of the last NMSU home game. I stopped by the grocery store on the way home and then cooked dinner for the second straight night (italian sausage, polenta, wilted spinach on Friday; roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, wilted spinach on Saturday) and the third time in four months. The kids and I played for a bit and then we were all in bed by 10 and slept until 8 this morning. Today I worked on academic stuff and cleaning and organizing the kitchen cabinets and we visited Kim and Cheryl and Dakota and Jake for a play date. The kids are now sleeping and it is almost 9 and so I will be sleeping soon too. Nice to get to bed early these days with the colder temps and earlier nights. Tomorrow I want to go to the gym and pick out guest room carpet and order kitchen bar stools and get some good academic work done and do laundry and maybe buy a mattress and a simple temporary bed frame.

Academic Clean Up

First - Happy Birthday to Ed ~

Second - today I am cleaning up a bunch of academic and other unfinished tasks ~

stuff related to a recent student MA defense
stuff related to a prospective graduate student
CV stuff related to consulting on a bid for an ARI contract
stuff related to being an irrevocable trust beneficiary

more later

Yesterday

In the morning ~ notice the possessive chocolate legs draped over the accommodating yellow legs ~

In the afternoon ~

They are resting on their new Halloween toy - a Tuffies octopus that Bodhi destroyed in minutes - he enjoyed extracting the squeaky from each tentacle - 8 fun projects!

He Drinks Tequila

and She Talks Dirty in Spanish ~

I wonder what it is with me and the country music these days. But I was just thinking of this song which I heard for the first time at a happy hour with some of our graduate students when I was a fairly new faculty member. I think one of them requested it from the dj and it has cracked me up ever since. Plus I like songs that mention trailer parks.

By the way - Happy Birthday Dom !!!

I am also fascinated by the fact that this blog service lets you post html code which opens up a whole host of posting possibilities.

The Offspring

Bodhi jumping off the top ! of the patio table - talk about naughty ~

Madeline pretty girl ~

Six Word Memoirs

I bought a cool book in Key West in May titled "Not Quite What I Was Planning" featuring hundreds of six-word memoirs [perhaps the coolest one of which provides the title of the book]. Coincidentally the origin of the book evidently lies with Hemingway. Legend has it that Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in only six words. His response? “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

Possible Lyrics

When I did that last post I had in mind the lyrics to the last verse of a David Allen Coe song:

"Well, a friend of mine named Steve Goodman wrote that song, and he told me it was the perfect country and western song. I wrote him back a letter and I told him it was not the perfect country and western song because he hadn't said anything at all about momma, or trains, or trucks, or prison or gettin' drunk. Well, he sat down and wrote another verse to this song and he sent it to me and after reading it I realized that my friend had written the perfect country and western song. And I felt obliged to include it on this album. The last verse goes like this here:

Well, I was drunk the day my momma got out of prison, And I went to pick her up in the rain. But before I could get to the station in the pick-up truck, She got runned over by a damned old train.

And I'll hang around as long as you will let me. And I never minded standin' in the rain. Ohhh. You don't have to call me darlin', darlin'. You never even called me, Well I wonder why you don't call me, Why don't you ever call me by my name?"

Perfect C&W Song

Could you write the perfect country and western song?
Or at least a verse?
To be the perfect C&W song it has to mention~
mama
trains
trucks
prison
& getting drunk
Give it a try.

Stevie

Janis

Liberals *are* Sexy

You are a Social Liberal (75% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (28% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid.com: Free Online Dating Also : The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Miscellaneous

http://youniverse.com/statement/module/PersonalityModule/New_Personality_module

http://www.scribd.com/doc/16081/Personality-Test

Sunday 14 September

Today is the 7-year anniversary of closing on the house.

Today Bodhi ate a butterfly.
And Maddie had a ladybug on her head.

Tile was delivered on Tuesday and installation began on Thursday.

The wolfpack took their first walk (off leash) in the desert behind the house yesterday/Saturday.

Bodhi Watching Birds

Monsoon Season

A few photos of cute Bodhi playing in the rain pouring off the roof ~

Today I am ~ making/returning phone calls ~ catching up on email ~ doing laundry ~ reading a grad student comps paper ~ picking up the dogs from the kennel ~ cleaning up the patio and yard ~

September

September is my favorite month!

Time to start training for Imogene 2009 - 9/12/09 !

Below are a couple of photos that show why Bodhi does not yet get to have a mattress in his crate when I leave the house ~

You can click on each photo to enlarge it and see better the funny naughty Bodhi.

SPI photos

The hat is for sun protection and hair control ~


The hats are because we are being pirates ~

Happy Birthday to Rigbig!

Fri Sat Sun

Above is gratuitous cute photo ~

Work

Fri read chapters 2 and 3 in Algebra II for Dummies

Sat read chapter 4 in Algebra II for Dummies

Sun finished reviewing manuscript (sent another one off last Sun)

Dogs

Fri worked with both on - down - sit - stand - and both got a bath

Sat practiced walking Bodhi on leash nicely next to Jake

Sun practiced a short wolfpack jog on the flood control dam

Sun practiced playing nicely with Dakota and Jake

Exercise

Fri Burned 100 calories on each of bike stairs treadmill at gym

Fri Leg Press 50 @ 100

Sat nothing

Sun wolfpack jog on flood control dam

House

Fri a guy was here all day doing stuff

Sat talked to guy at Home Depot about countertops

Sun got measured for countertops and decided on colors

Social

Fri went to a SWEC party

Sat went on a walk with Cheryl and Jake (with Bodhi)

Sun had lunch with Dom

Sun had dinner with Kim and Cheryl and Dakota and Jake

Yesterday et al.

Thursday 21 August = yesterday
1st day of classes = 1st day of sabbatical
a good day to start keeping up with things again

Work - read chapter 1 of Algebra II for Dummies

Dogs - worked with both on
heel - sit - come - sit stay - walking on the right - no bite

Exercise - up and down A Mountain once with wrist weights

House - spent copious time
researching appliances on internet
talking to Lowes woman about appliances
talking to Home Depot man about countertops and sinks

Important dates from the past month or so ~

July 28 - workmen started tearing apart the house - 4 weeks!

August 2 - Maddie adoption day (2004)

* August 13-19 - South Padre Island #7 with Ed & Marco

1 summer 03
2 summer 05
3 thanksgiving 05
4 summer 06
5 summer 07
6 thanksgiving 07
7 summer 08
8 thanksgiving 08 - fingers crossed

* Friday 15 August - did my first jibe
acutally I did 6 of them - 3 each direction

This is the one I can do now ~ light wind jibe ~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXnp6-6l-54&feature=related

This is the one I want to learn next ~ carving jibe ~

http://www.ehow.com/how_8992_carve-jibe-windsurf.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkNJhwqpRBk&feature=related

And here is a cool windsurfing (aka sailboarding) site ~

http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~wprinz/windsurfing/windindex.html

August 19 - parental anniversary (42 years)

& TODAY ~

August 22 - Happy Birthday to Kathy & Susan (my age)

Hello Dolly

Today we are getting the rain from the hurricane - and I am going to start blogging about my daily ! exercise and Imogene training.

This morning I took the dogs on a 3-mile walk in the rain on the flood control dam.

This afternoon I hiked the Baylor Canyon/Pass trail. I had intended to go the entire 3.5-ish miles to the peak but turned around at just over 2 miles because part of the trail was under water and I was not willing to get my trail running shoes totally wet and muddy.

So a total of about 7 miles for me today - 3 flat - 2 up - 2 down.

Web Sites

Interesting web sites ~

The article in Outside magazine explains the guy ~
http://sifter.org/~aglisi

What is the difference between a duck?
Courtesy of some Rice students ~
http://www.betweenaduck.com/

Buy new artwork online ~
http://www.20x200.com/

Design your own energy bars ~
http://www.youbars.com/

Buy and Sell event tickets ~
http://www.stubhub.com/

Other people answer questions about your face ~
http://www.facestat.com/

Morph your face ~
http://morph.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Transformer

Scary political ideology ~
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/24/usa.comment

Adventure travel for singles ~
http://www.oars.com/
http://www.theworldoutdoors.com/
http://www.backroads.com/

Dave and Imogene

Dave from St. Louis - to distinguish him from all the other boys I know named Dave - visited this past Saturday - Sunday - Monday. I had not planned for us to get together with other folks but he ended up meeting almost all the important people here. We had lunch on Saturday with Laura Keith Ian Erik - lunch on Sunday with Ed - dinner on Sunday with Marco and Kevin - and lunch on Monday with Marco and Larry and Dom. I know a lot of boys. But he would have also met Kim and Cheryl had they not been out of town.

We also took the doggies to the dog park on Sunday morning and to White Sands on Sunday afternoon and for a walk on the flood control dam on Monday morning. Maddie and Bodhi miss their Uncle Dave.

Dave left on Monday and I started training for Imogene on Tuesday. Just managed to get in a 1-mile jog on the flood control dam before darkness fell. Wednesday I started speed work with a Yasso 800 [3:40] on the flood control dam. Then off to Primetime for a 3-mile treadmill jog. Thursday/today I did two Yasso 800s [4:24 and 4:17] on the flood control dam and will later get to Primetime for a 4-mile treadmill jog. Tomorrow may be three Yasso 800s and/or a 5-mile Independence Day fun run and/or a pilates class.

I must be diligent about training over the next two months as you can see from the course profile here -

http://www.imogenerun.com/profile.htm

What is a Yasso 800 you might be asking?

It is an 800-meter (about half a mile) repeat and the goal is to work up to 10 of them with 400-meter jog recovery intervals. Your average time across the 10 repeats in minutes and seconds is supposed to be a pretty good predictor of what your marathon time would be in hours and minutes. So my goal is to get up to 10 repeats with an appropriate recovery interval - today I walked an 800-meter recovery interval - and then hopefully I will be doing them at a suitable pace. I am not training for a marathon right now but your marathon pace is supposed to be a good predictor of your Imogene pace. And the Imogene run has cutoff times - another reminder that I must be diligent about training from here on out.

20 June 2008

1st day of summer

summer solstice

longest day of the year
(tomorrow - first full day)

hot hot hot

today might be the first day in a couple of weeks
where the temperature does not hit 100+ here

on Tuesday my car thermostat hit 110

a slight chance of rain today

fingers crossed

today is also Take Your Dog to Work day

fun

Bodhi got to come home yesterday afternoon
instead of having to wait until this morning

yay

Events Past and Future

May 11 - Happy Mother's Day

May 13-17 - I met the parents in Key West and learned that "conch" is pronounced "conk" and that if a bar advertises that it shows American Idol on the big screen then it is necessarily a gay bar

May 17 - Happy Birthday to Mom

May 17-20 - I met Ed in Santa Fe for the century bike ride on Sunday May 18

May 26 - Happy Birthday to Dad

June 1 - Dom and I registered for the Imogene Pass Run on September 6

June 14 - Raft the Rio - a SWEC event - plus the fire broke out in the Organ Mountains

June 15 - Happy Father's Day

June 16 - kayaking at Elephant Butte Lake

June 19 - today - Bodhi was neutered so no more "half Bodhis" (sperm are "half babies") - I thought I would love the peace and quiet of having the Bodhi Monster at the vet for 24 hours but it has been way too peaceful and way too quiet today

June 28-30 - Uncle Dave visits from St. Louis

approximately July 4-13 - hopefully South Padre Island windsurfing with Marco and Ed

late July - Marco moves to Mississippi for a job as Assistant Professor in the Marketing Department in Gulfport

mid August - Ed moves to Louisiana for a year at Stennis Space Center / NASA

September 6 - Dom and I tackle the Imogene Pass

Favorite Quote

"Mountains are the means, the man is the end. The goal is not to reach the tops of mountains, but to improve the man."

- Walter Bonatti - Italian climber

Happy Birthday

Madeline is 4 today!

Interesting

Today is graduation day at Furman where I graduated 17 years ago on 6/1/91. I believe the commencement speaker then was the vice-president of the local telecable company. The speaker today is supposed to be the president of the country.

There is some understandable opposition to his visit and an eloquent statement of objection on the website below - I have also pasted the text of the statement below the link -

http://www.furman.edu/bushvisit/petition.htm

Under ordinary circumstances it would be an honor for Furman University to be visited by the President of the United States. However, these are not ordinary circumstances. In the spirit of open and critical review that is the hallmark of both a free democracy and an institution of higher learning, we, the undersigned members of the Furman University community, object to the following actions of the Bush administration:

Claiming a linkage between Iraq and 9-11, and exaggerating the threat of weapons of mass destruction, to justify a new and morally questionable strategy of "pre-emptive warfare" against Iraq - a country that did not attack us and posed no immediate international threat;

Classifying war prisoners as "detained nonmilitary combatants" to permit their detention and interrogation in violation of our own laws and standards of human decency;

Sowing fear and using "threat levels" to side-step the Constitution and justify the erosion of individual liberties, such as challenging the Fourth Amendment (wiretapping without authorization of law) and the First Amendment (denying access to information and restricting dissent to "free speech zones");

Suppressing or ignoring empirical evidence that contradicts administration ideology, such as denying global warming and then obstructing progress on reducing greenhouse gases while favoring billions in tax breaks and subsidies to oil companies that are earning record profits;

Installing lobbyists for the coal, timber, and mining industries as the chief officials in charge of managing and protecting our public lands;

Encouraging reckless over-spending (creating the largest deficits in history), expanding the reach of national government into local affairs (No Child Left Behind), and increasing our involvement overseas at the expense of domestic concerns (reconstructing New Orleans).

We are ashamed of these actions of this administration. The war in Iraq has cost the lives of over 4000 brave and honorable U. S. military personnel, wounded more than 13,000 military personnel so severely that they are unable to return to duty, killed tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians, will cost more than 2 trillion dollars, and has severely damaged our government's ethical and moral credibility at home and abroad. Because we love this country and the ideals it stands for, we accept our civic responsibility to speak out against these actions that violate American values.

Organ Needle

I woke up on Sunday 6 April expecting to be unable to walk because the day before I had climbed the Organ Needle - almost 9000 feet and the highest peak in the Organ Mountains. Here is a photo of me and my hiking buddies - from left to right - Kevin Melissa Greg Ed - at the end of our 10.5 hour day. We look pretty darn good!



We started at 8:30 a.m. at around 4500 feet and by around 2 p.m. had ascended to the peak - about 4 miles and 4500 feet above. We played around at the top a bit for too short a time before heading back down for the descent that - at least to me - was every bit as tough as the ascent - and arrived back at the parking lot around 7 p.m.

Here is the Google Earth image of our hike. We started climbing via a more southern route but then did a bit of off-trail bushwhacking northward when we decided that we were off trail. Luckily we found the trail again and so were able to head pretty straight east and dramatically up hill to our destination. I have more stories to tell but the passage of a week and a half has made them feel more appropriate for the heart than the blog. And it is late. And I expect to do this again.

Renewable Energy

Earlier today/Wednesday at SWEC there was an unveiling of the first commercial photovoltaic system in the city of Las Cruces which was installed on the roof of the SWEC building. A number of state and local dignitaries - including Governor Bill Richardson - were in attendance. It took me a minute or so to realize the significance of his being there in terms of his being a former Energy Secretary as well as the current governor of course. It was a nice ceremony of about 45 minutes with many brief but influential speakers. Funnily enough it was a very windy day which no doubt prompted more than one attendee to ponder whether a wind turbine or six should also be installed on the roof of the SWEC building.

Biodiversity

I also became a board member for the Southwest Environmental Center [SWEC] during my blog hiatus. This non-profit organization is "dedicated to protecting and restoring the unique natural heritage of the Southwestern borderlands" [from the website].

The website is currently under construction but please check back later ~

http://www.wildmesquite.org/

To those who know and love me who read this blog - and even to those who do not - if you ever need an idea for a gift for me - a donation to this group would be most appreciated. You might also consider becoming a member.

Now for a segue between the hike from the prior posts and the hike in the next posts ~ The hike from the prior posts [REP] was a training hike for the hike in the next posts [ON] ~

The major SWEC fundraiser is "On the River, For the River" in the fall. There is always a silent auction. Last fall I bid on and won a guided hike and gourmet lunch. We did this hike this past weekend and - to quote Greg - it was "super cool." More on this hike in the next blog entry.

R E P continued

You might notice in the photos that I am wearing my Garmin Forerunner. After the hike I transferred the data to my computer and then used Google Earth to create this image of our route and the terrain. You can see where we headed east up the mountains and then where we found the trail and headed more northeast. We got a late start that day and so turned around before reaching our summit - the plateau - so this hike is still on our list of things to do soon.

You can click on the image to enlarge it.


An excerpt from Day Hikes and Nature Walks
in the Las Cruces - El Paso Area
by Greg Magee

"This is a very strenuous hike of about 8 miles gaining over 3,000 feet of elevation. Though the first part of the hike follows a rough 4WD jeep trail, most of the route is off-trail, traversing rugged and steep terrain. Though not for those who suffer from fear of heights, your reward is great if you do make it to the top of Rabbit Ears Plateau. The panoramic views from the peak are spectacular. The wildflower display along the route can also be impressive, especially in the Fall."

Rabbit Ears Plateau

Two weeks ago - March 25 - during Spring Break - Ed and I set out to hike the Rabbit Ears Plateau trail in the Organ Mountains. We failed to appreciate the value of trying to spot the cairns - at least until near the end of the hike - and so we found ourselves off the trail. We later discovered that we had headed east when we should have headed north. We did a lot of bushwhacking followed by a lot of scrambling before deciding that we were in fact off the trail and turning around. After more scrambling followed by more bushwhacking we found the correct trail and followed it for awhile before turning back and eventually discovering where and when we had lost the intended trail.

Still Catching Up

During my blog hiatus I went up to Santa Fe twice to visit with my sister and brother-in-law and it was great fun to see them and to get out of town for awhile and a nice and welcome break from being a full-time puppy parent.

My parents came here another weekend to visit and helped out a great deal with the dogs which was another nice and welcome break for me. We also went to the NMSU versus Boise State WAC final basketball game which was a very exciting game with multiple overtimes.

At the last test the dogs still both tested positive for coccidia but they finished another round of medication last week and I will take another sample in to the vet tomorrow.

Bodhi is at the kennel this weekend from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon because I had meetings all day Friday and a hike all day Saturday and the kennel does not open until this afternoon. Maddie was supposed to go to the kennel too but she came down with an eye infection or eye injury so I took her to the vet instead of the kennel on Friday. She got some medication and is looking and feeling better and it was nice to have her here with me on Friday and Saturday nights. It is strangely quiet without Bodhi around but very nice to get some one-on-one time with Maddie again. I took her to the vet on Saturday morning for boarding and then my phenomenal neighbor Kim picked her up in the afternoon and dropped her off at the house.

Dog training is going well with Bodhi learning lots of good things and Maddie being reminded of lots of good things that she learned a while ago.

I think my dishwasher is broken and so I envision a new one in my near future. I got an online subscription to Consumer Reports so I could get information on all large kitchen appliances. I had picked out new everything based on the reports. But then I started reading consumer reviews on other sites and it turns out that consumers were not necessarily happy with products that got good ratings. So I am still gatering information and doing dishes by hand.

Working Backward

I will work backward to update the latest interesting and not-so-interesting happenings.

The water was not draining out of my dishwasher and so I looked online for information on this. One good web site gave a lot of possible reasons and instructions for evaluating each possibility. The first suggestion was to disconnect and clean out the drain hose. I did not particularly enjoy learning how to do that on Wednesday. But it seems to have done the trick. After disconnecting, flushing out with the hose (no obvious junk came out), and reconnecting, the water has been draining just fine.

The dishwasher was and still is sounding a little bit funny - so I am wondering if I might have to get a new one soon. If so then I am tempted to get all new stainless appliances. Not sure how that will look in my kitchen but if I change the cabinet knobs from gold to silver then it might be okay.

This is the end of our Spring Break week. Classes start back up on Monday.

Hiatus

I took an unplanned hiatus from blogging because raising the new kid to be a good boy - with another dog in the house - has been more demanding than I had anticipated. So - with this first blog back - I wish a very happy belated birthday to a number of friends who have turned a year older in the past month or so.

So, Happy belated Birthday to:

Austin & Jesse & Leda on Feb. 10
cannot believe they are 22!
and college seniors!
have known them since they were 7!

&

Kim on Feb. 10
Cheryl on Feb. 16
Ian on March 3
Laura on March 10
Tom on March 14
Nancy on March 20

Kid Pics

Runners Blog

I wonder if blogging about running will help me run more or at least more consistently. I was running every single day of the new year until I got Bodhi. Since then I have not been very consistent and both Maddie and I are missing it. This morning I ran in a Mesilla Valley Track Club event with Ed - the Super Bowl Fun Run. It is a trail run up Geothermal Road and there are 5k and 10k events. We both did the 5k this time but I have done the 10k in the past. It is a tough run with lots of little hills and lots of soft sand. I may try to make this the beginning of a new running streak. We will have to wait and see. I was glad I went this morning because I saw a number of people that I know or have met in the past - Shannon and Mary & Eddie and Jules & Kate and John.

It is a small world after all. John is one of my neighbors and I met Shannon through Team in Training which was coached by Kris. I first met Jules & Kate at a party at the house of Kris & Steve. I have since met them again at a party thrown by Kevin & Lisa and another party thrown by Mary & Eddie. I met Kevin & Lisa through Ed. I was introduced to Mary by Steve after the marathon last year that Shannon and I and Steve did - and Kris coached. Steve and Mary and I spent the several few post-marathon hours at the finish line drinking beer instead of drinking water or stretching or showering or napping. What fun. I met Eddie when Mary invited me to a party at their house a week or so after the marathon. Ed met Eddie through a friend of his who is a colleague of Eddie. I am intrigued by the small worldness of life in this town.

Puppy Games

Some of the puppy games we play:

Potty outside like a big girl/boy

Fetch like a retriever

Tugs and kisses

I do not bite you - Why do you bite me

Baby Book

This blog is turning out to serve as a baby book for Bodhi.

Thanks to the stranger friends who said the nice things about the doggies yesterday.

When Maddie was little I started calling her Maddie Pookins.

Bodhi still has his puppy fangs and was climbing on me the other day to give me some love with his fangs bared. I have started calling him Bodhi Monster.

I wonder if I am gender stereotying them already.

Bodhi also has a rasta name - Bodhi Mon.

I know what it looks like when a girl dog squats to pee but I am still getting used to what a boy dog looks like - so I can be effective at house training. Not sure if all boy dogs stand this way but Bodhi stands like a telemark skiier - one leg in front of the other with bent knees and ankles. Will try to get a picture.

Pics of the Day

New Kid Pics

He is more docile than Maddie. She was the spunky puppy of the two available yellow females. Both available chocolate males were docile. It was difficult to decide. But we picked this one for several reasons. He bit me less than did the other one. He followed Maddie around more than did the other one. He wagged his tail more when I talked to him than did the other one. He seemed to be a little bigger than the other one. This was a consideration only because he will probably be smaller than Maddie anyway - but if he is less smaller then he might have less of a complex about it.

She was born 06/06/04 and came home 08/02/04.

He was born 11/29/07 and came home 01/25/08.

I believe it is the case that any color combination of parents can result in any color of offspring - black yellow chocolate - within the same litter. The only exception is that two yellow parents will produce only yellow offspring.

Maddie Loves Bodhi !

& Bodhi Loves Maddie !

After much thought and talk with friends and family and meeting the new little guy - the new little guy shall be called Bodhi:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhi

He was going to be Barkley during the whole drive down to pick him out. But when we picked him out - his name was not Barkley. But after many suggestions from Ed and Kim and Cheryl on Friday evening - none of which ended up being his name - I realized that his name is Bodhi.

He is a bit of a different puppy than was Maddie. He is the same age that she was when she came home but he is much smaller. She was 16 pounds and he was/is about 9 pounds. His birth parents are about the same weight as Maddie - about 70 pounds - but they are both considerably shorter and stockier than Maddie and her parents. So I expect that he will be shorter and stockier as well.

Her birth parents are Onyx [black] and Grace [yellow].
His birth parents are Elvis [chocolate] and Pryscilla [chocolate].

All four parents are AKC registered - and Maddie and Bodhi are both eligible for full registration - but I do not plan to register them with the AKC. They are special enough as it is - this will not do anything to enhance that!

Home Again

We are home again - for those who care about such things.

All is well with double trouble in the house.

Will post more soon.

Travel Day Tomorrow

Thanks to Dad, Nicole, Kim, Laura, and Keith for all their advice toward the name of the new little guy.

Maddie and I are traveling tomorrow/Friday to Douglas AZ to pick him out and bring him home. I think I need to wait to meet him to name him but I am leaning toward one particular name.

He is one of these - either the one in the dark green collar or the one in the black collar - and check back for updates once he has been picked:

http://cochiselabradors.com/Litters/Pryscilla/11-29-07/male_puppies.html

Island Music

I heard a great Jimmy Buffett style band - called the Beach Bums - on one of my earlier trips to South Padre Island. The last time I heard them was June 2007. I looked them up on the web before our Thanksgiving 2007 trip to try to find the locales and dates and times of their gigs. Could not find anything but an email address for a band member so I emailed him asking for locales dates times. Did not hear back from him before our trip - but on our trip I learned that the band had dis-band-ed. But I heard from him after our trip - saying that the band had dis-band-ed. I did not reply - but only because I am a huge email slacker. And then I heard from him again a month or so later. I have not yet replied but that is next on my extensive "to do" list. One of my resolutions is to catch up on - and to keep up with - email. Here are some very cool excerpts from his second email:

"I hope you'll come back to the Island again and look me up. I don't know for sure if I'll be playing solo or have a new band next year, but I hope you'll give me (or us...) a listen if you can. I want to tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time to look us up. I moved here 14 years ago because I wanted to catch people on vacation, and help them have a good time. Your e-mail tells me that it wasn't completely in vain, and you wouldn't believe how much that means in December. Thanks again"

P.S. My blog is titled "Migration" because this is the Buffett song that is my current favorite.

No Decision Yet

Now I'm vacillating between Barkley and Gilligan. Input still welcome!

Re: Barkley - the pun is partly intended.

Re: Gilligan - because he would be Madeline's little buddy.
Might shorten it to Gilley as necessary when speaking.

Arg!

Chocolate Brother

I think his name might be Grover or Gopher instead of Barkeley or Berkeley. But I am not sure yet. I went through this with Madeline too. Mostly again with regard to how it should be spelled and pronounced. These are not trivial decisions.

First Day of School

Big Fat Yippee

More on the new chocolate brother. I think I have put more thought into getting my dog/s than many people put into producing their human children. The latest news is that we did not travel yesterday to pick a brother. But rather we will travel next Thursday or Friday when he is old enough to actually come home with us. Thanks much to Laura for this brilliant idea that saved us a road trip yesterday. And I have been re-thinking his name and the merits of spelling it Berkeley versus Barkeley versus something different altogether. I welcome any constructive feedback on this issue. It has been easier to get ready for this new offspring than it was for the original offspring - I have a pretty good idea of the stuff I need to get for him and a pretty good idea of how my lifestyle will change for awhile. But I am hoping and planning that it will change less than it did when I got Maddie and was a brand-new first-time puppy parent. I have acquired LOTS of experience over the past 3.5 years!

Busy & Changes

Lately I have been quite quite busy getting my financial and emotional and physical life in order! I have spent much much time this week working on estate and financial planning and investing as well as contemplating adopting a chocolate brother for Madeline. His name would be Berkeley (pronounced Barkley) and we are going to travel on Tuesday to meet two lab puppies. We put down a deposit and now we just have to see if one of them fits our family. I have also gone running every single day of the new year thus far. More on all of this later!

Mary & Justin

Sis & Bro-in-Law