BooIzzy.com

It's a zoo.

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:47:14 -0700

It's a chihuahua party over at our house this weekend. We're fostering two chihuahuas, Olive and Sweet Pea, for the Utah Animal Advocacy Foundation. They're from a puppy mill rescue and are poorly socialized just like Amos. Olive is twelve and was in heat when UAAF got her; good reason for her to be spayed right away. Sweet Pea is twelve and very skinny.

Boo, Izzy, and Amos are enjoying all the excitement. Amos is especially excited about it because they're just his size and... we'll leave it at that.

They're very sweet little pups. They're going to take a while to warm up, but it will be so worth it. Anyone interested?

So Sore

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:27:36 -0700

Brian and I felt horribly behind in our gardening after our organic gardening class at Wasatch Community Gardens last week, so this weekend we did a whole lot of garden prep. We made raised lasagna garden beds on the side of our house with last year's compost and some leftover soil from the great yard redesign of 2007. We cleared out the wood chips and rocks in the front yard so that we could dig out the weeds and replace the weed barrier, which obviously wasn't working.

We also got the beds that we made last year weeded and planted with some early spring veggies. The garlic that I planted last November is doing really well. Every single bulb that I planted is coming up (lower left in the pic). I'm always dubious when I plant a seed. It just doesn't seem like it's going to work, but it definitely does. We've got a couple of flats of seedlings coming up, and I can wait to get them all planted.

Adventures in Bus Riding

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:08:55 -0700

This winter has been an insane one for snow, ice, and cold. The bad weather has made it really hard to stick with regular bike riding, so I've switched to the bus for my commute. While a bus ride isn't quite as exhilarating as a bike ride, it does have some other perks. One of my more interesting bus rides is featured on Bus Tales.

Photo Credit: stock.xchng

Pandora

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:31:32 -0700

Pandora is a little stray kitty who found me a few months ago when I was on my way home from work. We weren't going to keep her because we already have three dogs, but she grew on us. She seemed really happy to find me and Brian, but she's still a bit pissed off about the dogs.

Graduation

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:16:48 -0700

Amos graduated from basic obedience a few weeks ago, so we celebrated with some hiking down in Capitol Reef. He loved it:

He's really not as miserable as he looks. Sometimes we have to pick him up to get over big rocks, but generally he's quite the little hiking trooper. Especially considering that his legs are only four inches long. And we couldn't even walk him on a leash when he came to live with us last August.

Thanks to Sebastian for taking this picture.

Farmers Market

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:27:11 -0700

My writeup on the farmers market in downtown Salt Lake was featured on Apartment Therapy earlier this week. Here's the link if you want to check it out.

Last Year's Lawn, This Year's Garden

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:19:50 -0700

I'm not the biggest fan of grass, and when I bought my house in 2005, I managed to kill the whole lawn in a few months. Yellow grass is really depressing to look at, and Brian and I knew it had to go. So we embarked on a great earth moving project that has consumed two whole summers and more calories than I can imagine. In 2006, we ripped the dead lawn up by hand and replaced the whole thing with gravel. Sod takes up a whole lot of space, but lucky for us we had a compost bin the size of a VW bus in the back corner of our yard.

The results were good, but I had no idea what on earth we would end up doing with several tons of dead grass. But that's the great thing about a compost heap. I didn't do a thing, and the whole pile magically transformed itself into really rich soil over the winter.

Thus began phase II. I picked up Square Foot Gardening earlier this summer, and Brian and I decided that veggies were the way to take our soil. So every weekend for the last few months we've been building planters boxes, moving soil, and planting things. The first round of boxes didn't get done until mid-July when average highs were hovering above 100 and there wasn't a drop of rain in sight. I couldn't imagine any plant being able to fight through that and survive, but they did. We managed to get a full crop of beans in about a month's time:

Beans may not seem like something to get excited about, but they taste delicious right off the vine and they're great for the soil. All the nitrogen they're fixing will make next year's crop even better.

We also planted the side of our driveway with tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries in mid-June. Peppers are a great plant that I had never thought to try and grow. It's a nice change from the ubiquitous tomato, and it's similar in the care and conditions that it needs. The crazy thing is how the plant manages to stay upright with big peppers sprouting out left and right:

With all these veggies, it feels like I'm hemorrhaging water, but my bills have been a third of what they were when I was trying to keep the lawn watered. According to Tree Hugger, lawns are actually the most irrigated crop in America. Funny... I don't see anyone eating it. Maybe someday we'll figure out a way to power our cars with all the lawn clippings we toss in trash, but I doubt. In the meantime, I'm a convert to the Food Not Lawns movement, and I'm not the only one. Read more about it here and here.

Great produce, a low water bill, being green... those might seem like enough reasons for taking on a project like this, but we got more. The crowning glory of this whole process has to be this:

The compost pile is now gone, and we've gained back a whole huge chunk of space in the backyard. We also were lucky enough to come into a hammock that a friend had laying around, and the two work exceptionally well together. All those weekends of moving dirt were totally worth it.

Kennel O'Dog

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 07:54:43 -0700

I'll just have you know that they did this to themselves

Alaska!!!

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:57:27 -0700

Alaska was amazing. After Zambia last year, I wasn't expecting to be wowed by a place, but I was. The beauty and grandeur of the place is just out of this world. Plus the facilities and roads are stellar (certainly something that Zambia doesn't have going for it).

We started our trip by flying into Anchorage. Anchorage seems like a pretty pleasant little town with some great bike paths and a vibrant downtown area, but we didn't stay too long.

We headed up to Denali. It's a four or five hour drive. It wasn't too exciting heading up because of all the rain. Rain is a serious risk when you go to Alaska, especially in August. This was an area that we ended up lucking out in immensely on this trip. It cleared up by the time we got to the park, and we did a hike up Mount Healy, one of the trails accessible from the Visitors Center.

Denali is a little different from most national parks. Only the first 14 miles are accessible by private car; to get any further, you've got to hop on a shuttle or tour bus. You can get on and off shuttle buses anywhere on the route you paid for and hike. Since much of the park is tundra, you can hike anywhere you want. This was our plan, but it was pouring all day long. Just thinking about getting off the bus made me shiver.

The rain didn't have the same effect on the wildlife. We saw four grizzles, two wolves, two caribou, two moose, and countless sheep. Here are a few pics:

The only thing missing was seeing the mountain. Only one in four visitors to Denali see it, and we were expecting to be in the majority on that one. The next day we headed south from Denali down to Seward. Along the way, the skies cleared and mountain appeared. It is a pretty amazing site:

The weather stayed clear down in Seward, which is good because we had a lot planned down there. We booked a package deal with Kayak Adventures Worldwide to go sea kayaking in Aialik Bay and hiking on Exit Glacier. It cost $468.50/person which felt like a huge splurge but ended up being some of the best money I've spent this year.

The sea kayaking started with a two hour boat ride out to Aialik Bay. It was an amazing ride. We saw sea lions, seals, puffins, and orcas. If you aren't up for the sea kayaking, it might be worth hiring a water taxi just to take this ride.

We got dropped off in Aialik Bay and headed out to Pederson Glacier in kayaks. Pederson is behind a spit off of Aialik Bay and has some amazing icebergs in its upper lagoon. It also has some amazing wildlife. We saw more bears, river otters, and seals.

The next day we headed out to Exit Glacier with Exit Glacier Guides. It's a 1 1/2 mile hike up to the glacier. From there, we donned crampons and headed out onto the glacier.

As for accommodations, we went the hostel route. In Denali, we stayed at the Denali Mountain Morning Hostel. They have a variety of cabins, tents, and bunks. We chose the Ice Worm for $150/night. It was a pretty spacious two room cabin with four double beds. It was next to a creek and had decent bathrooms nearby.

In Seward, we rented a house from Moby Dick Hostel for $150. It was right in the middle of Seward and could have slept 15 people. It had two rooms with double beds and ten single beds in a loft upstairs. If you need that much space, you need to book early since the rooms and beds are usually rented out individually.

Beyond accommodations, it's really expensive to eat out, and pitchers of beer run $17. We could have used the kitchens at the hostels to save some dough, but we were on vacation. Who wants to cook?

You can see more pictures on Flickr.

The Water Conspiracy

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:51:14 -0700

There's been a lot in the news about bottled water since it was announced that Aquafina would have to label their water as coming from the tap and not some magical spring. I found this interesting excerpt on politics and tap water in a great book called What to Eat:

Organic Style's investigators collected state and EPA reports on water quality and were horrified by what they found. Their excellent advice: "get a copy of the report from your utility company or have your tap water tested. If you're concerned about the water's safety... install a filter."

What this means is that the government no longer guarantees the safety of drinking water. Instead, you are responsible for getting your utility's safety report, paying for having your tap water tested, and installing a filter. It makes good sense to do these things, but here is another place where economists talk about "externalized" costs. The government allows companies to dump chemicals into streams and contaminate drinking water, but instead of requiring them to pay for prevention or cleanup, it shifts the burden to you. Your water utility bill does not cover anywhere near the true costs of providing clean water, so you pay for water in three additional ways: in taxes to pay for cleaning up polluted water, in taxes that pay for subsidizing companies that pollute in the first place, and in the price you pay for bottled water at the grocery store.

Source: Nestle, Marion. What to Eat. North Point Press, 2006.

Better with Chocolate

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:02:19 -0700

Since our vegetable garden isn't quite where I'd like it, I signed up for a half CSA share through East Farms, and I've been getting between three and six zucchinis every single week. Brian and I enjoy a fair amount of zucchini sauteed with onions and tomatoes over pasta, but there's really only so often you can eat the same pasta dish. Luckily, I discovered a yummy recipe for zucchini chocolate chip cookies in Margaret Atwood's new book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It's the best way I've found to eat zucchini. Here's the recipe with a few of my own simplifications: Mix the following in a large bowl:

1 egg
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Add the following:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspon of salt

Mix thoroughly and add the following:

1 cup finely shredded zucchini
12 ounces chocolate chips

Stir everything together. Drop by the spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.

He Almost Looks Normal

Tue, 01 May 2007 15:49:51 -0700

Why not evolution?

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 20:04:33 -0700

From an excellent book about the differences between typical Eastern and Western thinking …

The obsession with categories of the either/or sort runs through Western intellectual history. Dichotomies abound in every century and form the basis for often fruitless debates: for example, "mind-body" controversies in which partisans take sides as to whether a given behavior is best understood as being produced by the mind independent of any biological embodiment, or as a purely physical reaction unmediated by mental processes. The "nature-nurture" controversy is another debate that has often proved to generate more heat than light. As evolutionary biologist Richard Alexander pointed out, nearly all behaviors that are characteristic of higher order mammals are determined by both nature and nurture. The dichotomy "emotion-reason" has obscured more than it has revealed. As Hume said, "reason is and ought to be the slave of passion"; it makes sense to searate the two for purposes of anaysis only. And it's been suggested that the distinction between "human" and "animal" insisted upon by Westerners made it particularly hard to accept the concept of evolution. In most Eastern systems, the soul can take the form of any animal or even God. Evolution has never been controversial in the East because there was never an assumption that humans sat atop a chain of being and somehow had lost their animality.

Source: Nisbett, Richard E. The Geography of Thought. Simon and Schuster, 2003.

How would this business case go over at Harvard?

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 17:30:06 -0700

As the country was gripped with the now quaint fears of Y2K and pondered the coming of the third millenium, on the Southside of Chicago, on streets largely ignored, Big Cat had more practical problems. For the last six years he had been the leader of the Black Kings, assuming leadership after the arrest of the former leader, Cornelius Desmond, who died in jail and did not appoint his successor. The Black Kings was one of Chicago's feared gangs, and now it was a gang in trouble. Big Cat had anywhere from 150 to 200 gang members who answered to him, but he also had to answer to them. He had to keep them happy, keep them paid, and keep them in line. But all this took money, and the money was not coming in as easily as it had just a few years ago, when crack users saturated the area and supported the gang's drug trafficking enterprise. Unlike the past, when the gang was a social center and its leaders sponsored gang parties, gambling, basketball parties, and other nondelinquent activities for its members, Big Cat's men expected gang membership to deliver the benefits of corporate position: namely, a steady income and a mobility path to greater future down the road.

Big Cat knew that the gang had to alter its entrepreneurial mien if he was to deliver on the organization's promise to its rank and file. Although the Black Kings had a monopoly over crack cocaine in the community, this was a faltering economic sector.

So as leader of a gang in Chicago, how would you diversify your money-making activities beyond the softening crack cocaine market and provide benefits to your workforce? What parallels can you draw to the experiences of large corporations like GM or Walmart?

Source: Venkatesh, Sudhir. Off the Books. Harvard University Press, 2006.

The Detrimental Effects of Hamsters and Smoking

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 06:56:25 -0700

A (pointless) smoke inhalation toxicity study exposed various rodents to cigarette smoke for four hours, five days a week. Unexpectedly, many of the animals responded by placing their feces in the smoke-delivery tubing, repeatedly and in quantity. One poor hamster stuffed the air inlet so effectively that he/she suffocated.

Source: Pleasurable Kingdom: Balcombe, Jonathon. Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good. Macmillan, 2006.