Fresh Faces Home

April 24, 2008

Ice Cream Day

So today was the ESPM Ice Cream Social. I was planning on making an announcement here sooner, but I totally blanked on it yesterday. Sorry about that. For today, the ESPM department was giving away free cones of Ben & Jerry's ice cream to anyone who stopped by outside of Mulford. Some of the professors were scooping cones for people; it was pretty cool get a cone from Keith Gilless, acting dean of CNR. I wasn't able to stay for too long (I had to go to class), but just getting the chance to enjoy the beautiful weather and talk with some friends was great. The Strawberry Kiwi sorbet was pretty good, too. This event reminds me of why the ESPM department is pretty cool (and CNR as a whole).

Yeah, CNR is a pretty chill place to be.

March 20, 2008

My day, every day, as an average UC Berkeley student

Fret fret freezing cold, fret fret freakout, fret fret fret fret.

Wake up late? Rush, run faster, catch a random bus, and make it to class earlier than you usually do.
Get an exam back? Hit the books again and maybe worry some more until you improve your grade, or, alternatively cheer!

Today was one of those fret fret freeze fret fret CHEER!!!! days, which makes it significantly better than average.

March 16, 2008

Microwave Sugar Cookies

I used to hate the thought of using the microwave, everything always turns out rubbery or just odd. But last night changed my mind...

I didn't want to wait to heat up the oven, but I really wanted sugar cookies. Found this recipe at www.cooks.com decided to try. It turned out delicious! Cakey, fluffy not-too-sugary cookies.

MICROWAVE SUGAR COOKIES

3/4 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
2 2/3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Soften butter (15 seconds in microwave). Cream butter; gradually add sugar. Cream until fluffy; beat in eggs and vanilla. Toss flour, baking powder, and salt to mix; add to creamed mixture and combine well.
Chill dough 1 hour until firm. Roll out to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut in shapes. Arrange 8 cookies in a ring on waxed paper. Cook 2 minutes on HIGH. Yield 3-4 dozen.


This experience has opened my mind to the fact that yes, sometimes microwaves can help you make things that taste good.


March 10, 2008

Daylight Savings

Daylight savings came up on me unexpected this year. Isn't it supposed to be the first weekend of April? Sunday morning, I looked at my watch, looked at the clock on my computer, and realized one of them was probably wrong.

Then I looked it up - starting March 2007, the United States changed Daylight Savings permanently, extending it one month.

What's the point? I mean, people tell you that it's saving money, and that it's worthwhile - but has anyone actually done studies to prove it? Today I found this article by National Geographic, addressing these questions. Figured you folks might enjoy it, too.


Extended Daylight Saving Time Not an Energy Saver?
Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News

March 7, 2008

On Sunday people in the United States will roll their clocks forward an hour at 2 a.m. and begin the country's second consecutive year of extended daylight saving time.

The change, adopted into law last year, was touted as a way to save energy. But some studies suggest the move actually has consumers using more power—and paying bigger energy bills.

Hendrik Wolff, an environmental economist at the University of Washington in Seattle, is skeptical of the purported savings.

Wolff and colleague Ryan Kellogg studied Australian power-use data surrounding the 2000 Sydney Olympics, when parts of the country extended daylight saving time to accommodate the games.

The pair compared energy use in the state of Victoria, which adopted daylight saving time earlier than normal, to South Australia, which did not.

"Basically if people wake up early in the morning and go to bed earlier, they do save artificial illumination at night and reduce electricity consumption in the evening," Wolff said.

"Our study confirmed that effect. But we also found that more electricity is consumed in the morning. In the end, these two effects wash each other out."

Continue reading "Daylight Savings" »

February 29, 2008

Cal Webfiles

Want to share a file with your classmates, but it's too large to send reasonably via e-mail? When I run into this problem, I always turn to Cal Web Files: https://webfiles.berkeley.edu

What is it?

Online file storage and file sharing! It's hosted on campus, is super secure, and available to students, faculty, and staff.

A few tips:

- It takes a little time to become familiar with the interface.

- Since their servers are based on campus, files upload faster when you're on campus than when you log on from a distance.

- You can choose to store things in a private folder, a shared folder, and a public folder. With the public folder, you can share files with anyone, not just Cal students. Shared is only accessible to people with Cal WebFiles accounts, and the private folder is viewable only to you.

Stuff I've passed along via Cal WebFiles:
- Class notes
- GIS maps
- Digital audio recordings of class lectures
- Photographs from study abroad

February 20, 2008

Speaker - Martin Hammer

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Time: 7pm - 9pm.
Location: Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave, near Dwight Way, Berkeley.
Cost: Free.
Info: 510-548-2220 x233, erc@ecologycenter.org, www.paksbab.org.


Rebuilding with Straw Bale in Earthquake Affected Pakistan

Berkeley architect Martin Hammer recently returned from Pakistan where he has been working to bring straw bale and other sustainable building practices to the mountainous region devastated by the 2005 earthquake, which was responsible for over 80,000 deaths, and left millions without permanent shelter. He'll give us an update on the work he presented last year, as well as provide details about straw bale construction. Straw bale construction is earthquake resistant, energy and resource efficient, and an affordable solution to northern Pakistan's enormous reconstruction needs. Martin Hammer has been involved with the design, engineering, and construction of straw bale buildings since 1995, and is the lead author of the proposed straw bale building code for the State of California. In 2006 he co-founded Pakistan Straw Bale and Appropriate Building (http://www.paksbab.org ). Come join us for this informative talk and slideshow.

Hay, a house!

Would you believe this beautiful earthquake-proof California home is made of hay?

You can find more pictures of that beautiful Berkeley home here:
http://www.2339ninth.com/

Straw home construction started in the sand hills of Nebraska, when the European settlers couldn't find building materials, and made do with straw. Now desired for its incredible ability to insulate, and its safety against strong winds and earthquakes, straw is starting to move up in the world, beyond hobbyists and into the mainstream as a sustainable building method. Even this conference and retreat center, the Presentation Center in the Santa Cruz mountains, has chosen straw for construction.


Straw construction is reinforced with steel and framed by wood. Compressed hay bales make up the bulk of construction, which is later covered with several layers of plaster. Not only are these homes earthquake safe, they are esentially sound-proof with their two-foot-thick walls.


(photo from http://www.redfeather.org)

An organization called Builders Without Borders is making a difference with straw home technology in earthquake prone countries like Pakistan. Straw has become one of the most practical and economical methods for common folk to rebuild their communities after earthquakes. Since hay is grown locally, costs are reduced in all areas of construction, especially with transportation. Here is a link to an organization that promotes and educates the people of Pakistan with hay building: http://www.paksbab.org/

Here's a story from CNN about a straw house in Santa Cruz:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/08/10/straw.bales/
Website for the Presentation Center in Santa Cruz:
http://www.presentationcenter.org/


Websites of interest:
http://www.strawbale.com/
http://www.strawbalebuilding.ca/strawbales.shtml
http://builderswithoutborders.org/
http://www.redfeather.org/programsStrawBaleConst.html

February 13, 2008

Dr. John Francis

Today Dr. John Francis came to speak to my American Cultures & Natural Resource Managment course.

Experience of a lifetime.

He's the one who spent 17 years not speaking while he crossed the United States by foot. He currently spends 6 months every year walking around the world to raise awareness of environmental issues.

He's a UN delegate, and writes environmental policy.

Check out his website (his photo came from here):
http://www.planetwalk.org/

February 4, 2008

Lecture - Genetics & Faith

Thought maybe a few folks will find this interesting! I'll definitely be there.


Intellectual Reflections of a Christian Geneticist
7:30pm. Wheeler Auditorium, UC Berkeley
Francis Collins
Author—The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.
Director—National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH.

The talk will be followed by an interview conducted by Professor Jasper Rine (Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development UC Berkeley (MCB))

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., is a physician-geneticist and currently serves as the Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. In this capacity, he oversaw the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium, and its landmark effort to sequence the entire human DNA code; the Human Genome Project. Building on the foundation laid by the Human Genome Project, Dr. Collins is now leading the NHGRI effort to ensure that this new trove of sequence data is translated into powerful tools and thoughtful strategies to advance biological knowledge and improve human health.

January 29, 2008

Cell Phone no-no's

What you should NEVER, EVER do:

- Never answer your phone and carry on a conversation in the library. It's going to bother at least one person near you.

- NEVER leave your phone on "ring" during class. Turn off your phone, put it on silent, or put it on vibrate

- Do not ever use your phone in a computer lab. Most have it posted on the wall as a no cell zone, but all expect you to know not to use one.

- Never answer a phone during office hours. Just a bad idea. Terribly disrespectful.

- Please do watch where you're walking when you're talking on your cell phone. It's no fun getting trapped behind cell-phone-talking, slow-walking, hand-gesturing oblivious folks on your way to class.

- Please don't have a loud and obnoxious ring tone, in case you accidentally forget to turn off your cell phone in class.

January 17, 2008

Miami University Photos

Miami University of Ohio is a small school with a well-established Botany department. I am considering them for my graduate studies. Their graduate Botany department offers a small student - to- faculty ratio, ample funding, and graduate course offerings to drool over.

While I was meeting with faculty, Tom spent his afternoon touring campus and taking photos. A few highlights.

The Botany & Zoology Building



The Administration Building


The Stadium

Miami Univeristy is small, well-maintained, and filled with beautiful brick buildings. 

January 15, 2008

Busy Day in Oxford, Ohio

Today I visited with a large portion of the Botany faculty at Miami University of Ohio. This is one of the schools to which I have applied for graduate school. You can visit their Botany website here: http://www.cas.muohio.edu/botany/

Tom toured the little town and took photos while I met with faculty.

My schedule for today:
8:45am - Hotel pick-up by Dr. Prem Kumar (Post-doc in Dr. Kiss' lab)
9:00am - Dr. Linda E. Watson (Botany department chair)
9:30am - Dr. John Kiss (NASA-funded space Botany)
10:30am - Dr. R. James Hickey (fern systematist)
11:00am - Dr. Mike Vincent (herbarium curator)
11:30am - Dr. Quinn Li (genetics)
noon - Lunch with Prem Kumar (Post-doc for Dr. Kiss' lab) and Neela Kumar (PhD student Dr. Kiss' lab, vegetarian)
1:30pm - Dr. Richard Edelmann (electron and light microscopy specialist)
2:00pm - Dr. Nik Money - (Mycologist)
2:30pm - Dr. Beth Schussler (Biological sciences education researcher)
3:00pm - Dr. David Gorchov (Ecology)
3:30-5:15pm - Meet with Tom and discuss day.
5:30pm - Driving tour of campus with Dr. Kiss (Tom, too)
6:00pm - Dinner with Dr. Kiss (Tom, too)

The weather was cold, but not at all unbearable. Dreary in the morning, clear blue skies in the afternoon. People asked me often my impression of the weather. It was pretty. I liked watching the little flurries of snow caught up by the breeze.

Impressions of the program:
Well-established Botany program. Knowledgeable staff. Focus on teaching. Kind people.
Dr. Kiss is my favorite faculty member. His research is fascinating. The folks in his lab are kind and fun.

Drawbacks of the program:
May not be easy to petition into PhD program. Many encourage you to complete your master's, then move on to PhD.
Described by one graduate student as having "low expectations" (challenged by other students I met, who found it quite difficult to juggle teaching, their own coursework, and research)

Pluses:
Excellent funding
Diverse coursework offerings
Gentle people
Fun, fairly isolated college town, but driving distance from Cincinnati and Dayton.

I like it.

January 9, 2008

Send Certified

The UC Riverside Biological Sciences Graduate Division has officially lost 2 of my transcripts, GRE scores, supplementary application information, check, fellowship application, and 1 (of 3 total) letter of recommendation.

5 separate envelopes. 2 of which sent from outside the state of California.

They tell me it's all lost in the mail. "If you sent it certified, we might be able to track it."
I didn't.

Let's have this be a lesson for all of us:
Choose to mail everything certified.

Oh, and... Don't plan on getting small-school attention from UC Riverside. No matter how small the program is that you're applying to, the school is massive and you can still fall through the cracks.

January 8, 2008

Captain Vegetable!

This was my favorite super hero when I was a kid! He still is!
Stopping sugar-eating criminals in the act, Captain Vegetable convinces all of us that eating veggies is cool.

December 23, 2007

Moon Rocks

For those of you who are crazy about geology, here's a great article from the National Geographic. It focuses on the formation of the moon, through analysis of moon rocks.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071219-moon-collision.html

Earth-Asteroid Collision Formed Moon Later Than Thought
Richard A. Lovett
for National Geographic News

December 19, 2007

The moon was formed from fragments of Earth after a collision with a giant asteroid relatively late in our planet's formation, new tests of moon rocks show.

The finding upends many of the prior theories for how the moon came to be, researchers say.

Scientists have long believed that the moon was formed by a collision between our planet and a Mars-size object.

Computer models have shown that in this scenario 80 percent of the moon's material should have come from the asteroid, with only 20 percent from Earth.

But the new study of moon rocks collected three decades ago by Apollo astronauts, however, found that Earth and the rocks were too similar for that to be the case.

Continue reading "Moon Rocks" »

May 3, 2007

99 Ranch!

Today I went to 99 Ranch, in Richmond, where I purchased some delicious tea-type stuff.

"Honeysuckle Flower Beverage" The majority of the packaging is in Chinese characters, which of course looks beautiful but... well... I only took one semester of beginning Mandarin.


I love 99 Ranch.  Incredibly inexpensive deliciousness.  A Chinese grocery store - easy to get to on BART, or from campus just hop onto AC Trainsit bus #43/El Cerrito Bart and get off at Pierce St. & Pacific East Mall.



February 26, 2007

FAFSA & Taxes

Yep, it's that time of the year again! Yay! Tax time. FAFSA is due this Friday and of course I'm sitting here trying to figure everything out at the last minute. I have a few words of advice for you folks - don't trust anyone to do your paperwork other than yourself. My fiance wanted to deal with the taxes this year, so I collected all of the paperwork in an envelope for him, then placed it on his desk for him to help me with. I told him that it needed to be done by March 1. Then - it's lovely... he let it sit there for the past 4 weeks. When I reminded him this weekend that I need to have everything done by March 1st, he of course says "Why didn't you tell me that?!" Then proceeded to call his dad and ask him how to do my taxes. Mind you, I'm not stupid. And I am 24. I have done my own taxes for a few years. I don't need him to do my taxes... but somehow I convinced myself that it was a good thing to let him worry about them. Well, folks, now I'm hoping that I get my financial aid application in on time. Don't make my mistake - take these silly things into your own hands - as I will be sure to do in the future. What a pain!

November 25, 2006

Artichoke!

We have had artichokes growing in my backyard since I can remember. My parents never tried to cook them. But in May, I finally bit the bullet and put those delicious artichoke buds in a pressure cooker. The result was a more poignant artichoke than one you can find at the market. All sorts of delicious. I couldn't believe it: all of this untapped potential hanging out in my backyard year after year. Unfortunately the fruit is small enough that it's a lot of effort to peel and eat, for only a little reward of potent, incredibly delicious artichoke-yums.

Continue reading "Artichoke!" »

September 11, 2006

Art Project

I'm taking Art 14 this semester, which is an intro to scuplture course. This weekend's assignment was to come up with directions for a sky-writer. After a great deal of conversation with a pilot friend, here are some directions for a sky-written heart directly above the Campanile.

Continue reading "Art Project" »

September 1, 2006

Yuca Root

Nope, it's not Yucca!

Nope, not at all. I just want to make this very clear, because if you try looking for Yucca root when you want Yuca root, you'll be terribly disappointed.

This is the plant you're looking for:

Yuca root is what they make tapioca out of! Have you seen Boba Tapioca pearls? Those are made from Yuca Root, too. Other great uses include anything you could use potatoes for, like Yuca Root gnocchi. Also, its flour can be used to make a wheat-alternative bread.

Continue reading "Yuca Root" »

August 25, 2006

Store Wars

Who would expect Organic Foods to join forces with Star Wars?

Http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html

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