The Waste Management Phoenix Open (formerly known as the FBR)

16th green

So Heather had some free tickets to the final round of the Phoenix Open (golf) this past Sunday... despite the rainy conditions, we went, getting there around 10:15am... just in time to see Phil Mickelson (my boy, and ASU grad) tee off. We followed him for about 4 to 5 holes, seeing him make a birdie on the first hole. After that, we had started to hear roars from Hole 16.... in case you don't know, Hole 16 is not like any other hole on the PGA tour... it has a stadium around it... literally it is encased. You sit in grandstands as golfers enter a par 3, 162 yard hole. People gather there all day to drink, party, and heckle... and this is ok with the Tour and the golfers I guess.... although I have heard some golfers don't come to this event because of this hole, including Tiger, but he had other problems this year to deal with.... anyways, we arrive and sit in the party section near the tee, where a bunch of guys and girls (who look like ASU students) are yelling at caddies and players... yells include "you're pants look like a dish rag", "pink shirt", "argyle", "Don Johnson (the guy looked like he was from Miami Vice)", and "slammin' salmon (pink shirt)", etc... most golfers laughed at themselves or at someone in their pair. We also yelled stuff about their college to get them riled up... the Florida Gator chop came out and I yelled Boomer Sooner to Anthony Kim.... Some other kids were yelling Aussie Aussie Aussie, oi oi oi all day for the Aussie golfers. Also, every threesome that came through, the crowd cheered Caddie Race, in which we were egging on the caddies to race to the green... ridiculous.

Likely after a Caddie Race

Oh yeah, and 2 boys ended up streaking in their underwear, which Heather said she had never seen...they made it to the stands, but who knows if they got caught. Anyways, we stayed there for a while and then went and followed Phil, to find out that he was shooting low round of the day basically while we were gone, but only to miss every putt once we watched him more... too bad! That was basically the day... 8 am to 5pm... amazing how tired you can get just sitting outside watching golf,... wears you out.

Valentines Day

So not to get mushy, but me and Heather had a pretty good Valentine's Day weekend last week. Each of us had a day to something for the other....On the Saturday of that weekend, Heather took me for a picnic on a beautiful day at the Scottsdale Civic Center. It was near a bunch of outdoor art and water features. We had some delicious tofu, kale salad, smoked pasta with mozzarella, and bread with Brie. Afterwards, she took me to the local arts center, where they had an interactive music display. One of the pieces allowed you to DJ, but alas, we were supposed to bring our own records. This was really a downer, considering that I want to learn how to DJ for some reason. After an uneventful visit to the bathroom (hint hint), we took off to eat some good ole ice cream. I got the dulce de leche, which literally was chunks of caramel on a cone.... a great end to a great day.

On Monday, it was my turn. The date officially began at 8pm, but first I had an intramural soccer game. Our team won 4-2; my fantasy stats looked good with 1 goal and 2 assists. I could have had 3 assists when I kicked a corner (that's right a corner) to the center and the header was missed high. Anyways, the reason I tell you this, is that after the game I had to run to the School of Sustainability and take a shower on campus. Our building has a shower because it is encouraging people to bike to work rather than drive in the heat.... Anyways, I digress again. After I showered and got ready, I took Heather to Studio Vino for a wine tasting. Although this wasn't your average wine tasting.

Smelling Oak Chips (see story below)

When we arrived, we met our friends Colin and Jenny, and were introduced to the owners. They informed the girls that we were here to taste 10 wines, eat appetizers, and select one of the wines to make. We would make the wine that night, then come back, bottle it, and design a label. Pretty cool huh? So we conversed through the tasting, enjoyed our company, while making the owner and our host laugh quite a bit... someone mentioned Indian Leg Wrestling, and all of a sudden we have the owners and girls asking us to do it in the studio... funny, but I lost both matches.

the leg wrestling

Anyways, we then proceeded to make the wine, which involved us pouring the grape concentrate into a bucket, mixing it with warm water, and oak chips (which we smelled), and stirring it with a huge power drill. Lastly, we poured the yeast in to make it ferment and we'll be back in a few months to bottle and cork it. Pics of are visit are soon to come, as soon as Heather shares them with me.

Feel free to leave your thoughts on what to put on our label design... my thought is to put some obscure country like Estonia and a year like 1962 on the label, to make it look vintage.

Odd things my girlfriend does...

(4) While it hasn't happened for probably 3-4 months, she'll meet me sometime in the afternoon or evening, and say, "Are you hungry?" If I say "Yes" or "why do you ask?", she'll pull some sort of leftovers (pizza or quesadilla) out of her purse... her PURSE.... and ask me if I want it. Of the 2 or 3 times she has done it, it has either been in a napkin or a plastic bag.... a louis vuitton doggie bag.

What's been happening?

Been a while here on the Nomadic Ute... sorry for any die hard followers (ha)! The month of January went by quickly... when I got back from Utah, Heather basically took my planner from me and wrote in all the dates and events that I had with her... I guess that comes with the 'leaving her for 10 days' situation... we had a launch party, housewarming party, and oh yeah, I went to Vegas with her for her friend's bday. I experienced my first sports betting, and I lost on 3 of 4 prop bets, which will likely discourage me from doing it again. Also, Vegas is just not worth doing anymore unless you have plans to go to shows; showing up and figuring it out only results in me losing money :)

We also went to Barret Jackson a few weeks ago... for those, like me, who had never heard of this, it's this huge car auction, where people with a lot of money congregate to ogle over fancy cars. A Shelby went for $350K.... and Rusty Wallace sold his NASCAR stock car for like $130K. Heather told me there is always a party atmosphere with celebrities galore, but there was not.. I was told that Kerry Wood (the ole Cubs pitcher) was there by a few her Dad's friends, but come to find out, it was some other Cubs pitcher I'd never heard of..... they pointed him out to me and I was like "that's not Kerry Wood." They say, "oh, so who is he?" I don't know, it's your pal. If I didn't go, Heather would have saw me later that night and been like, "Riley Riley, guess what? We saw Kerry Wood!" Pssshh

Other than that, I organized an intramural soccer team for our Grad School. We are the Flying "SOS"ers. Most of us on the team haven't played soccer since we were in 4th grade, but we won our first game this past Monday 5-3... surprisingly, I scored 3 goals, a hat trick. I wouldn't put too much on that though, as my 2 other frontline teammates did all the ball handling and just passed it to me beautifully so I could kick it in. For the next game, there just might be some celebrations, like tearing the shirt off and diving on the ground.

(3) Odd things my girlfriend does...

She cries during the Biggest Loser and screams/yells at the dimwitted girls on the Bachelor. :)

(2) Odd things my girlfriend does...

While out for lunch in Flagstaff, Heather is looking at the drink menu, searching for a fruity beverage. She comes across the Bramble Berry Brew (BBB), a beer. Mind you, she does not drink beer. After asking the waiter a few questions, she decides to go with the BBB. Upon getting the drink, she sips it, and yells "it tastes like beer... and it has a yeasty aftertaste!" Well Heather, I don't know what you were expecting. Soon after, she switched it out with a cider, for a more fruity taste.

What have I been up to this holiday break?

Well, where do I start? The holidays started for me in mid December, around the 18th. I had just finished writing a good 1/3 of my thesis and would spend the next 3 days or so with Heather doing Christmas parties (one at the workplace & one at the family). The workplace party was a bit awkward, but there were fried bananas.... B-A-N-A-N-A-S! The family party was much better, including good food and good compnay. Afterwards, me & Heather visited the family house in Flagstaff, where we were able to have our own little Christmas. We exchanged presents, hit the town, and lounged around. Presents included DJ Hero, clothes, Arizona book, art book, smell good items (ie soy candle), and a few other things. I have in that time, become quite good at DJ Hero, and Heather believes that I've already beat the game basically.

After Flagstaff, I began my journey home by heading to San Diego to visit Will and see the Utes play Cal in their bowl game. As I have told Will many times, the day of the 23rd was well executed in terms of time and activities. We began with a hike at Torrey Pines, catching some good vistas of the ocean and landscape. Next, we picked up our cheap Field Level tix (row 23 ironically enough) for $30 a piece. This was followed by a game of Frisbee golf, which I had never played. I can't throw a frisbee, and it doesn't help when the holes intersect one another, meaning that frisbees are flying over your head at any time. However, I logged a few pars.
Finally, after a brief stop at Chipotle (love the vegetarian burrito), we began our travels to Qualcomm Stadium, where the Utes would easily handle Cal for their 9th straight bowl win, the longest active streak in NCAAF. Don't get me started on this stat, as I might ramble for a while!

[Need to insert pics Will took of the game here]

Amazingly enough, we decided to leave the game at 9pm and begin our drive home to Lehi, so we didn't arive the evening of Christmas Eve. We got to Mesquite by 2:30am and woke up in time to finish the drive off by 3pm the next day (including the time change into the MW time zone). Again, I was impressed by our brief 36 hours together.

In Lehi, I have stayed busy. I have played some pick-up bball twice now, went snowboarding (soon to be twice), went to Wendover with the Entourage and lost some money, and obviously spent time with the family during the holidays. Christmas was great, even though some say it gets boring with age, I still find the giving and receiving of presents to be quite enjoyable. What awaits me for the rest of the break will be less fun and more work... I am about to continue my work on my thesis and further my jumpstart on getting done by April/May, in time for graduation.

Elves dancing?

Heather made these videos that are pretty cool... they are videos of elves dancing around to funny music... but the elves have photo cutouts of people's faces.

Me and Heather: http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/usyORejuSPwbhIQ6?cmpid=ey_fb_friend

The Entourage (me, Will, Jeremy, & Nick): http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/HKvGAhU593UKV5Wq?cmpid=ey_fb_friend

Check them out, they are quite funny

(1) Odd things my girlfriend does...

I will be periodically posting things Heather does to enlighten others on who she is, to make fun of her, and to help me remember all the great things about her :) . I do so only because I love her.

1. She wears turtlenecks despite the fact that she does not like things touching her neck. As a result, she spends time holding the 'neck portion' of her shirt away from her body or puts it over her face. This only happens when she thinks about it touching her neck. I really thought I would have to cut it off most recently when she wore one.

House is on fire!?!?

Sorry for the gap in between posts... classes just ended and papers/presentations are finally done.

Yesterday (Friday) I woke up and decided to do a little work on my thesis. I worked throughout the day from 11am to 2pm. During that time I turned the heater on for the first time this year (that's a nice pro for living in PHX) for a total of 10 minutes. This is an important fact for later in the story.

At around 2pm I went to the kitchen to make me a veggie burger (yep, I know but its microwaveable and pretty easy to eat; plus I had 2 vegetarian roommates for 2 years). I had the microwave and toaster going (love toasted buns) and all of a sudden I smelt smoke in the kitchen (crazy how fast it surrounds you). I believe I was cutting cheese when I realized it was around me. Anyways, I went in panic mode and popped up the toaster to find the buns not even cooked (not the toaster), stopped the microwave (not that), put the vent on to get the smoke out, but it was already getting to the living room.

Now I'm in semi-panic mode. I'm thinking that its my fault. And the only thing that it could be was the heater, considering it was used for the first time in a year. I have now abandoned my lunch, running around the house to clear the smoke out. Meanwhile, the fire alarm in my room goes off. Full panic now consumes me. I go to the fire alarm to try and stop it... don't succeed in this. Now I'm thinking that I've somehow started this smoke/fire, and will be responsible for all the fire trucks/services that come to the house. I open the front door to get the smoke out and run out to already see a cop outside the condos. He yells, "there's a fire, you need to get out" and I yell, "all I did was turn the heater on for 10 minutes.... and it wasn't the toaster". He yells back in quite a confused daze, "there is a fire, you need to get out and help me get other people out of their apartments". I yell, "I promise, its just smoke in my place."

I then see about 3-5 fire trucks pull up and begin to realize that there is a fire in the condo that is directly on our backside (aka we share a wall, which turns out to be a fire wall luckily). I proceed to get others out of their condos. One guy was sleeping the whole time and firemen had to go in and wake him up as smoke filled his room, which is crazy. Turns out that a candle (I think it may have been illegal substances) set the fire in the place behind us, and clear (not black, thankfully) smoke filled our whole house. Now we are in the process of getting everything back to a regular, non-campfire smell. All in all, we (me, roommate, and his cat) are ok, I just stink like smoke all the time.

Entourage Trip to Minneapolis

So this past Halloween weekend me and Heather visited Minneapolis to hang out with the Entourage (and everyone's significant others). This is the first rendition of our semi-annual trip where it was more than the 4 of us. We all wanted to go to Minn because we knew that Jeremy was finishing up law school soon and wanted to make sure to visit while we had a chance. Plus, this was the 1st chance Heather could meet my good friends... So this is what went down:

Minneapolis Skyline at night (kind of looks like Gotham)

Thursday: We got delayed because the airport in Minneapolis decided to shut down all but 1 of its runways... now that's got to be some bad decision-making. We were supposed to get in at midnight (due to the 2 hour timechange) and we got in at 2:30am (and so did Will & Nick). Because we all got in at the same time, we took the light rail together to downtown where Jeremy picked up up. He lives in the "Warehouse District" which is a refurbished area of town that still has a lot of character, yet is still nice. We all chitchatted until about 4am, made our inflatable beds, and called it a night.

Friday: Waking up and getting 8 people ready takes a while. We got out in the early afternoon and took a trip to the Minnapolis Institute of Art. It was quite large.... large enough to get my dogs barking! My favorite place was the Modern Art section, as well as the Sub-Saharan section (see my friend Will's blog for pics)...afterwards, we all went to 7 Sushi, a very nice restaurant where I had a delicious crabcake.. .it was so flavorful

All of the crew (starting with Jeremy on left and going clockwise: Jeremy, Justyne, Heather, Riley, Nick, Robbie, Ashley; Will is taking picture)

After dinner, we all decided to go back and get ready to go out on the town. It was Jeremy and Justyne's defacto bachelor/bachelorette party since they decided to elope. We had a good time, and again made it home quite late in the morning.

Saturday: After another late start (and some doughnuts/ cold pizza for lunch) a big group of us went to the Mall of America. I was rather quite vocal about not wanting to go, but was the only one. To me, it is just a regular mall... except imagine your local mall with the exact same layout stacked on each other 4x. Plus, it was Halloween (child trick or treaters) and a Saturday, so the whole Minnesota population was there, making it difficult to move around. Nonetheless, Jeremy and Will liked an inflatable Ice Cream Cone, which was the highlight.

After the MoA, we all got ready to go to the Halloween Party at the Law fraternity (?, not sure that is what it is called) house. Anyways, it is the house Jeremy lived at for a few years (not like a typical fraternity). Nick and Robbie dressed as Mormon missionaries (not sure I agree with that), Jeremy was the Minnesota sleeping pilot, Will was Plaxico Burress, and I was Kanye West (Heather was Taylor Swift). Everyone looked spot on in their costumes, while I looked rather white for a rapper, so Heather at the last minute, painted my face black... this would go down as a bad decision, as I looked terrible. Luckily, Heather would end up giving me her blond wig to wear, so I then looked like what Will called "Zombie Rupaul". Nonetheless, my terrible costume turned into a memorable one. The other odd thing was that the party was completely dead when we showed up, so we were able to just make it our own, which was a good thing.... Later that night, the Entourage had a secret late night dinner, to just hang out by themselves, which the significant others would not know until this was written.

Sunday: Will and Ashley had an early afternoon flight this day, so we missed them on this day. So after another late start, we got up and walked to the Sculpture Garden, an area that I had been pleading to go to. This was a great decision. Lots of art pieces placed very well within a park. The most famous one is the Spoonbridge with a Cherry (see below). I took many pics at all different angles, and think this one with the Basilica in the background is the best. We spent a lot of time here, as there were interactive art pieces (including transluscent mirros, poetic benches, and a swinging platform)... We then trotted over to the Basilica to take pics of the great architecture, and a few decided to go sit in on Mass. I liked it, and we stayed about 10 minutes. ...afterwards, a good dinner at Joe's Garage.... because we missed a play at The Guthrie (dang matinee), we decided to walk the Miss River front and downtown art scene.. this was really cool and again looked like the picture at the start of this blog... but the Guthrie was awesome.

The SpoonBridge (although its hard to see how it spans the water on this pic)

Monday: We woke up at 4:40am, to catch our 7 am flight... not cool, although I thought we all handled it well. More pics are to be seen once we hang out.

My 'eye-opening' experience with Healthcare

So if you hadn't heard.. I recently had a chalazion (sounds terrible, I know... but an infected one is called a hordoleum)... but all it is a clogged sebaceous gland in the eyelid, and as a result, you get a raised bump that was about half the size of a dime. Google it, you'll find much more disgusting pictures than the one I had.

When I found out I had it, Heather WebMD'd it and found out that I should put a warm compress on it, and if it doesn't go away, go see a doctor.... I did this.... and it didn't go away. I went to the ASU health clinic and waited 4o minutes to hear the doctor tell me exactly what Heather told me... except to see an ophthalmologist instead. That was $10. Ok..

So I warm compress it for 10 more days and it doesn't go away...(by the way, warm compressing your eye really makes you pretty worthless, as you can't really do anything except lay down or watch TV). I went to the ophthalmologist and after a 20 minute wait, I was told that I had a chalazion (I already knew this) and that I would need to come back to have outpatient surgery. Again, nothing new that I already did not know. That was $35.

I wait another week to finally go in to have it lopped off... after some numbing of the eyeball and some anesthetic dropped into the eyes, he 'pinched' it off (there was some pain) and told me to keep some gauze on it for 5 minutes and would be back.... 40 minutes later he shows up to tell me all is good and that I could leave, since the damn office was closing up and locking doors anyway. He totally forgot I was there. That was another $35. Add a $5 prescription onto that, and I can't figure out if the time or $ was the big loss in this endeavor.

Really! Hulu you're awesome!

I was just visiting Hulu (for those that don't know, its a site with a bunch of videos) and on the front page was a video that looked to be a bunch of football players gathered around a coach... their jerseys were red and white and the title of the video (documentary) was 'Second to None'. I started thinking is that the Utes. It was!

Then I figured it was just a college football highlight video. It wasn't. It's a full on documentary of the Utes 2008 season on the front page of Hulu. Here's the link.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/101888/second-to-none

I thought the Indians were not in the Postseason

So I have been watching some October baseball and did not know that the Cleveland Indians - my favorite team - was in the postseason... well, not really, but one could get confused. If you can remember, the Indians were 1 win away from the World Series in 2007, with a stacked lineup and 2 Cy Young Award candidates (CC Sabathia and Fausto Carmona.... Sabathia ended up winning and another Indian, Cliff Lee would go on to win it the year after). Well, they lost and over the last two seasons ended up selling players like it was 3pm in the afternoon on a Saturday garage sale... (aka you just try to sell things for a dollar, so you don't have to find somewhere to place the junk)

So what's my point? Well every game that I watch this October, there are some Indians from that team making key plays. They are:

CC Sabathia (Yankee)--- finally had a quality win in the postseason because boy did he lay some eggs in 07.

Cliff Lee (Philly)--- dominated the Rockies twice

Ben Francisco (Philly)--- just made an awesome diving catch tonight

Rafael Betancourt (Rockies)--- came in the game in pressure situations twice and shut the Phillies down.

Casey Blake (Dodgers)--- didn't see many of their games, but seemed to be up in key situtaions

Victor Martinez (BoSox)--- guessing he didn't have much of an impact since they got swept.

Anyways, this is my way of moping, since my team now sucks, and all of our good players are doing well elsewhere.

Happy Meal!

So I have this theory that anytime you are shocked (or full of some emotion) in response to someone else's actions.... you just say, "Jeez, its not a happy meal!"

I know this is confusing, when you read it like this... but listen through a few examples because I haven't found an instance where I truly couldn't use it. Yet at the same time, no one understands my 'theory' so I'm either crazy or extraordinary. Here are some examples, which I'm making up on the spot.

EX 1: Someone is washing the window with the squeegee thing at the gas station and does it all hurriedly, leaving smudges... I roll down the window and say " Jeez, its not a happy meal!", meaning that you can't just rush the window cleaning and expect a good job like you could in the devouring of a happy meal.

EX 2: Someone wins a free coke from one of those under the bottle cap promotions and exudes exhilaration beyond a normal point of excitement. Once they calm down, I say "Jeez, its not a happy meal!" meaning that I have never seen excitement as such since I saw a kid jump fo rjoy over the toy inside the happy meal.

EX 3: A couple is walking down the street when someone cuts right in between them (rudely) and continues on without saying 'sorry' or anything like that. A person either yells out to the 'cutter' or says to the other "Jeez, its not a happy meal!" meaning that its not like you are bullying through a crowded line at McDonalds to get my happy meal. A simple 'pardon me' or walk around would suffice.

(All of these were hypothetical... I'm sorry that I use a McDonald's reference in this theory.)

My Rileyisms have been doubted before, but one's such as 'delicious' and 'old man winter' among many latched on, until they were being used daily... while I don't expect the same for this one, I had to defend it with some case examples :)

Kickball

So I recently played co-ed kickball with Heather (and her work peeps)..... had 4 hits out of like 7 at bats (its harder than you think when there is 10 people fielding) and made some ridiculous running plays. I dodged 2 throws within 4 seconds, impressing many spectators... but I digress. There are 2 points I need to make about this game.

First, the correct play in Kickball is to just bunt, aka kick the ball like 3 feet down the line. Everybody (even slow people) who did this got to first base, because no one is allowed in this space... so the catcher, pitcher, and 3B have to chase it down and make a barehanded across the field throw to the 1B with a ball that you can't grip, nor throw accurately more than 15-20 feet. Thus, if I can successfully bunt it without popping it up (which I was 1 of 2 in my attempts), I can score from 1st on the next play because its hard to field and throw the ball... and if needed, I only have to dodge 1 ball.

Second, the game is really easy for anyone to pick up... making it funny to watch people who think they are athletic, when in reality they probably are not. Why is this funny to me? Because a few people were so into the game that trash talking came about... some trash talking and some tempers in kickball... YES! That's what I'm talking about.

The ease of playing this game (for everyone, not me) is making me think of other universal games/sports that anyone can play.... but the only one I can think of is frisbee... and maybe soccer. But Kickball, I think, is the easiest to pick up and play well right away.

Still, I had a lot of fun and am doing it again this Tuesday!

PS Heather played really well too... she had more catches than me and got on base 3 times.... impressive.

Running Wild

This morning I was doing my daily perusal of ESPN and found a headline titled, 'Utah Golfer nets $1M with hole-in-one'. Naturally, I had to look because its the home state, but what is most awesome about this video is his reaction after the shot. This would most likely be the exact same reaction that I would have, either as the golfer or as his buddy. It made me laugh!

Click link above for video... if that doesn't work, cut and paste http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=4484181

My Take on Kanye and Michael

So there has been a lot of episodes lately concerning 'celebrities' and their civility in the eye of the public. Serena yelled profanities at a ballgirl, Congressman Joe Wilson called Obama's comment a 'lie' (what an idiot), Kanye rudely prances on stage and ruins Swift's moment, and Michael Jordan gave probably the most 'unclassy' speech of the 5 inducted. Let me go ahead and take a moment to consider 2 of these episodes.

Jordan is arguably the best basketball player to step on the court and Kanye is arguably the best hip hop artist currently on the scene (although Jay-Z's re-return may negate this). Let's take Jordan's speech first. The other 4 Hall-of-Fame inductees (Robinson, Sloan, Stockton, and Stringer) gave the most classiest, graceful, 'we're undeserving of this honor', 'so many people are responsible for getting me here', speeches I've heard. Hoping for much of the same from Jordan, he got to the podium (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/15/michael-jordan-hall-of-fa_n_287875.html) and explained why he became the best player in the world... his internal competitive drive. He then made references to several players/instances which 'fueled his fire' for being better than everyone. There was a certain arrogance present in his speech that may have turned people off, but for those who knew him, that is Jordan.... Pause

As for Kanye, you have seen his rants and raves. He is the self-acclaimed best in the business at what he does. He has wrote "When someone is strong enough to believe in something only they believe in, people are going to call them crazy... sometimes crazy is a label that the average put on the exceptional." He is never embarrased at proclaiming his greatness.... Pause

My point in discussing this, is that it seems like to be the 'best,' one has to be arrogant. For how can you be the best, when you don't think (or possibly conceive) you are the best.... and compete against all others who are in your way. Both Kanye and Jordan's (and most likely Serena's, which is obvious in her dominance over the more endearing, loving Venus) actions are rooted in this thought pattern.... when I was in Jr High and High School, I often thought (but didn't yell it from the mountain) I was the best student in the school, and it seemed to work out for me. But is the arrogance, and the potential 'fall-out' (in terms of people subjugated, loneliness, etc), worth the excellence attained? Instead of competitive, self-interest, can we move to a world where cooperation leads to excellence? The importance of this question resonates in our endeavor towards sustainable cities/communities (that's right, I just tied in sustainability to this discussion).

Earning 'man' points

About a week and half ago, I got the distinct feeling of 'manliness' that I typically don't get in my daily life (riding my bike to school, attending classes, reading books, and writing papers). As a part of my GK-12 fellowship, we are visting schools from around the valley and presenting our vision of what a 'sustainable school' could/should look like. As of right now, it is in its infancy stage, but we are slowly puttting together a framework in which high schools can begin to implement sustainable change in their curriculum, campus, and community. But that is not the point of this story....

On our way to the school (about 40 min into our drive), the 4 of us in the car start to hear the infamous 'flat tire' noise (although it didn't pop or explode, like I've heard in others). To put it bluntly as possible (and not stereotypically), the girl driving did not know what to do (and she admits it to the day). We tell her to put the hazards on and pull over to the right. She doesn't know where the hazards are on her dashboard and she starts to signal left . . . hmmm

We pull over on the freeway and it looks flat and feels cushy. Not a good sign. We get to the gas station and there is no noticeable gash or 'object' poking out, so our advisors (faculty) suggest putting air in it and just getting to the school. They are adamant about us getting there on time, and even suggest putting everyone in the other car... my mind was racing with some profanities, because they wanted us to risk life to get to this meeting on time. Because they were being idiots, and I know the driver did not know how to do this, I stayed behind.

In dress clothes, and 110F heat, I jacked the car, took the very tight lugnuts off, and fastened the doughnut on all by myself (it had been since I was 16 that I changed a tire). During this endeavor, I was sweating like Patrick Ewing (check out pic, .... this picture was probably taken when Ewing just entered the game... its like a watefall down the face) and my hands were black., but I somehow didn't dirty my dress clothes....

In the end, we were late 20 minutes, the tire was severely gashed on the inside, and I got my 'manliness' in, that is so lacking in the academic life.

School of Sustainability Interview

The School of Sustainability recently contacted all the grad students to do a very introductory video in which we answer 3 questions on sustainability. They are then going to show the video to the undergrad intro class, so that they can start to see what we are all doing and what we think of the program. I am trying to embed it into the blog post, but I am unsuccessful....

Here are 2 links that will get you to my interview... if you are real bored, you can watch all my classmates too :)

http://vimeo.com/6370178

http://vimeo.com/channels/57245