Remy In Washington with a little bit of SNOW on top

It seems there are never ending activities to fill my time in Washington! Remy came to visit me the past weekend and luckily I had free time to go on lots of adventures with her. When she arrived on Friday I had just returned from biking, climbing, the sauna, and grocery shopping. She arrived on a nice sunny afternoon and after settling in we went for a walk downtown. There is a nice nature trail which leads to the water. Once we made it to the inlet we walked down old railroad track which lead into downtown. It started to get pretty cold so we then went and got some hot beverages and played a game of chess. We made a large dinner with all the roommates that night. On Saturday, we took advantage of the good weather and went to campus to go hiking in the forest. We walked through the forest, down the beach, and back to campus... On the way back we heard an owl call and ran to track it.... Fortunately we somehow spotted it high in the canopy!!! I then showed Remy the new college activities building on campus. That night everyone at the house made a few pizzas and a big salad for dinner. We had a few thin crusts and one large deep dish pizza. The next day was a little bit colder and rainier, however that didnt keep us inside and we decided to go on a bike ride. Remy borrowed Mollies bike and I showed her the country side of Olympia where a giant lake was created by beavers... We made it home nice and soaked then after warming up decided to go eat some Thai food! We had two giant meals which were both very tasty. After eating we went to the mall and watched the movie The Green Hornet. It was funny but lacked substance... On Remys final day within a hour of her pickup time it started to snow! She finally saw a flash of what it is like when Olympia is covered in snow... However, that was just the beginning... After Remy left it really started to come down and proceeded to snow from Wednesday to Sunday! We had around two feet on the ground and Olympia was basically shut down... Almost every school was closed and most businesses also shut down. On Sunday I had a cpr and first aid certification class at the rec center. It was all paid hours so I figured it would be good to refresh my memory, earn a little money, and also have a new certification for an extra four months (most certs. are only good for two years..). I was set to leave to Orcas Island on Monday, however due to poor road conditions we postponed the class trip. Tomorrow morning, if the weather permits, I will be ferrying onto Orcas Island till Friday! There is a lot to look at on these islands and each one is unique with species and ecology... My final project is going well and should be done soon. I have also talked with my job backpacking and it is sounding very exciting! Also heard from REI today and sounds like they really want to hire me.... So who knows, its going to be a busy three months ahead...!

Wilderness Leader

Whew its been a busy week here full of lots of work... Yesterday I worked one of my longest shifts from 8-11, 2-5, and 5-915... It was a very long day, at least during my few hour break I was able to go running and climbing. This week has been very stormy and we have received lots of rain and might even have some snow! On Monday I did some work on my research project and then went to a meeting with a student activities board to support the new budget proposal. As part of the CRC advisory board we are asking the board for money to rebuild facilities and improve the rec center. You can check out the board here http://www.evergreen.edu/reccenter/advisory_board.htm
... I'm representing the student users for the board. Also we have a new roommate now! Mirises boyfriend, Justin, arrived yesterday from New York and they will be living together... Justin is great and we all met him about 6 months ago when we first moved in. About a week ago Mirise and me switched rooms so that she could have the larger one since there would be two living in it... I really like my new room a lot and it was a nice switch.
I had exciting news earlier in the week which was that I got accepted to be a Wilderness Leader at Camp Tawonga. This means I will be spending my summer around Yosemite taking kids on backpacking trips! I will also be doing a variety of other activities such as working at the ropes course! Next quarter I'm going to take a lifeguard certification class to work at camp this summer. The one catch is that I will have to leaving during the last week of school to make it up for training so its going to be a huge rush!! I cant wait, everything is getting so exciting!

OSR Humor

Everything has been going great the past few weeks! Its getting sunnier here, my project is going well, and I'm getting into lots of fun things! To start off the past week I decided it was time to embrace the new weather and went into my backyard and with the help of my roommates got a new hair cut... Over the weekend I went to a Tai Ji workshop which involved an amazing person from China who taught us about movement, language, and calligraphy. I have also been working on my project a lot so far and have been receiving great feedback! I'm studying the connection between OSR (operational sex ratio) and humor. OSR is the "ratio of sexually competing males to females that are ready to mate." This evolutionary theory is generally what dictates mating systems of species and changes behaviors. This theory also deals with limiting and non-limiting sexes which can be in terms of population or gamut size (small/mobile vs. large/sessile)... Anyways we are looking at phenomena of OSR skews that occur such as after wars and how it changes OSR and consequently behavior. We are doing behavioral samples and monitoring groups for 3 minutes and recording how individuals of each gender respond to jokes and laughter in different OSR situations. Basically we predict that humor is an adaptive force which selects members for group membership and cultural success... We predict that in different OSR skews each gender will have more or less incentive to display or receive humor. The next few days we will be collecting data and working on the large paper. I have no more class for the next one and a half weeks so I will be spending lots of time on this project and so working at the rec center. Im still trying to work out plans for next quarter and will hopefully have it figured out soon!

Amazing Westwinds

Time is moving ever so fast and the past days are becoming a blur. The past week I was in Oregon from Monday to Friday on a class trip. We met Monday early in the morning and divided into the vans. My van ended up stopping in Portland at VooDoo Doughnuts. They have a huge variety from bubblegum to bacon and also vegan options with a banana batter. It was a very tasty treat and right as we were about to leave our teacher and classmates in my van decided everyone in the class should try these amazing tasty morsels. So we then ended up getting around 50 doughnuts for the rest of the class to indulge on. The weather was amazing and it was the first real sun I had seen in days. When we first pulled in we passed a heard of elk and then hit the estuary. However, we realized we were on the wrong side and would have to backtrack to cross the river. We eventually found the correct entrance and unloaded all the gear. Only the cargo and 1 passenger van full of gear drove in on a small trail while the rest of us hike for almost an hour to arrive at camp. We arrived at a stunning facility in the middle of a forest looking out on a beach surrounded by large mountains and cliffs. There was sand everywhere and many cabins scattered about so that you could hardly see them through the temperate forest. The first day was pretty busy unpacking in the cabins and setting up. I did manage to go for a quick stroll on the beach which was awesome. I ended up staying in a cabin with 2 other friends and it had a nice view overlooking the beach. Additionally it had electricity, heating, and also a wood burning stove! This was very fun and homey; just about every night after a bon fire on the beach we would get a little one going in the cabin to keep us warm while the ocean waves lulled us to sleep. That night 4 other people and me were in charge of cooking dinner and we made a giant salad, pasta, bread, and for desert cookies. The night sky was amazing out there and due to the nonexistent light pollution the stars were very clear and bright. The next day we had breakfast at 8am, however I somehow managed to wake up early (!) and went jogging down the secluded beach before. After eating I got together with a group and went to the ocean at low tide. There were amazing tide pools with many star fish and anemones along with small sculpins cryptic in the sand. A few caves were also accessible at low tide and were very fun to explore, however you had to keep a close eye on the oceans once inside... At another side of the beach there was a group of seals that would haul out often onto to the beach when not feeding at the mouth of the estuary flowing into the river. Later that day I also saw a family of bald eagles flying around the beach and feeding from the ocean. The main goal of the trip was to learn about unique forms of life that exist in many niches all in the same temperate environment. The next day I loaded up at breakfast and packed up food for the day in my bag. I then began a long journey up a mountain, past lost lake, around an amazing meadow and then back to the other side of the beach and wondered into Lincoln City. This was a beautiful long hike during which I saw a beaver dam and the gradient along which species change and adapt at higher elevations and away from the coastal wind and ocean spray. I managed to return just before diner to shower off and then eat some amazing food... Every food group cooked up something very delicious and there was always a surplus of food and snacks. The next day I decided to summit a "saddle" on the beach with a good friend. This was a fun hike up very loose terrain and then got to slide back down. The majority of the trip was spent looking at things around the beach and also playing some games with class. On one particularly sunny day I even went for a little swim in the ocean. Our teacher also brought a projector and some other equipment and we received a few lectures. We heard a very fascinating lecture about senescence (the decline of vitality) and how biological mechanisms play a part. We also learned about a correlation between aging, cancer, tumors, and proto-tumors which I will have to share another time because it is very complex, but mainly revolves around the idea of telemeres. (click the blue word for a little info....). The weekend was a great break from everything and I have also finalized my project proposal for this quarter which you all will hear about soon. Today I turned in a human subjects review application which will be part of the project (very exited for this!)... I have also had work the past two days and am managing to keep busy and happy!!! Still getting lots of time in at the climbing wall and sauna, so dont worry... Im also on the CRC advisory board and we have been meeting and planing out future plans for the gym along with new equipment for the rooms and climbing wall... Well I need to get a good rest now. You can check out the rest of the pictures from Oregon here. If anyone cant view them let me know and I will post them on a different website.... Still have lots to tell but will save it for next time!