Yes, it is Monday.

And I am posting! In case you couldn't tell from the lack of pictures (not to mention multiple consecutive exclamation points and emoticons), this is not Adrianna.

What?! Why is this not Adrianna?!!

Didn't you read my post last week? We're changing things!

Why?!!

Why not? Change is fun! 

It's a new surprise everyday! Never know who might post!

Sounds suspiciously like anarchy to me. 

Think of how things will be scrambled.

Now that's just ridiculous.

No it's not!!! It's already started.

You're stealing Richard's format!

Why yes, I see that I am. I'll revert back. Sorry about that.

(You're still wrong though, residual spirit of Adrianna's posts).

To clarify our new schedule: Monday I post; Tuesday Johnny posts; and Adrianna has Saturdays.

Ever other day of the week is as previously constituted (that is unless someone wants Sundays....?).

Enough with the administrative blabber! After all, the reason you guys read this is to find out about my life, right? What's going on with Ruth, right? Well, I will tell you. About two weeks ago I scheduled an appointment to give blood at 12:30pm today. Unfortunately I got sick within those two weeks, and while I am pretty much recovered (barring a couple still-swollen lymph nodes), I thought it would probably not be the best idea to donate (mostly because I would not want to be responsible for making other people sick [also it is not allowed]).

In closing, please watch this video so you will know what to do if someone has a seizure!

(Love you all)

Interviewing the (Assistant) Chief

Sorry to steal your blog post day Joseph, but I’ve forgotten yesterday and the week before that, so I figure I’d better just get it out now.
Today was our last day of data collection for our directed research. I got Environmental Policy, which was my last choice, but I am so happy I got it. The other two groups are in a bit of a mess compared to us (all the people in my group are awesome and work really hard) and it is probably the most beneficial studies as it goes for wildlife conservation. Our research topic (which is completely different from our individual studies- we collect a bunch of data on the topic and then we all focus on a different portion for our individual studies) is on land tenure, land use, livelihoods, and how all this relates to human-wildlife conflicts.
It is with both great excitement and great sadness that this was the last day of data collection. The past seven days (seven days excluding thanksgiving, of course) we have everyday gotten interviews from 8 different households in either Kimana Group Ranch, Kuku Group Ranch, or the Kilimanjaro Foothills. I was nervous for this at first but I’m really going to miss it. Even though we have to speak through interpreters it’s amazing just to talk to people, to gain knowledge from them and hear all their stories. The guides are awesome too, and I’m sad I’m not going to be seeing much of them now. The other groups give us a hard time because they have to follow animals or trek through a forest by the river, but I think that our work was equally difficult, just in a not as physical way. Today we split our group into two and split up the interviews. We were interviewing a Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) assistant manager of Amboseli National Park, the Loitokitok District Senior Chief, Livestock Officer, and Agricultural Officer, and the Kimana Assistant Chief. Unfortunately, KWS pulled a “you have to fill out this paperwork etc. etc.” before we could interview them (which they had never done in previous years) and the Loitokitok District Senior Chief never showed up, so we couldn’t get those interviews, but I was at the interview with the Kimana Assistant Chief (the other half of the group did the Loitokitok District Livestock Officer and Agricultural Officer interviews). It was enlightening and discouraging. Talking to Kilelo, the Assistant Chief of 17 years and counting, we learned a lot of how little dialogue there is between the local government and KWS/central government. We also saw how the local government didn’t really do anything. It operates by just being open most of the time and people can walk in, but in the guest book (which we signed) there were only 5-10 people in the last 6 months. We also asked him what were the three biggest projects on their agenda (and gave examples, such as hospitals, roads, fencing) and he wasn't able to name a single thing. The discouragement from this only compounded the discouragement I had felt on the 22, when my friend Alyx and I were interviewing. At the end of our questions we always ask if they have any questions or comments, and that day they had a really good question. They told us that every single year they were questioned by SFS students but there had been no change for them. That was a really hard question to answer, and only thing we could say was along the lines of we’re going to do our best, this is just a study where the findings will be sent to government organizations and NGOs. I didn’t expect my findings to have any serious change in governmental structure or anything like that, but I was hoping for something, some benefit to the area, and seeing that it probably won’t, that all these studies, at least 2-3 times a year for over a decade, has resulted in no change for the people and the area is just heart-breaking. I am back up from the discouragement some, though. Today in the car (on the way to the Senior Chief-who-never-showed-up’s office) we were talking about the interview with Kilelo and how we didn’t see how we couldn’t really change anything pretty much no matter what we found in our studies. Then Rainer, one of the members of our EP group, pointed out that for serious change, as seen in many movements, it takes at least 50 years from its conception before actual change occurs. This gives me some hope, at least, as does many of the interviews which I have had with people who have already started to make changes to help change the degradation of their lands.

Read this so you can reply to all of the important points I raise!

First of all, if you are only reading this because of the title, I would suggest you skip to the last couple paragraphs.

Now, on with talking about my life(!):

I learned a new skill since last I blogged. I am now a tatter! Ta da!!
What is tatting? It is essentially the process of tying a series of whole hitches to make lace. While I am not personally an avid fan of (most) doilies, there are lots of other cool things that can be made by tatting.

In case you are wondering how my NaNoWriMo is going, I will tell you that it is not at the moment. I was doing rather well until sometime last-Tuesday-ish, when my tatting supplies came in the mail (hurrah for amazon gift cards!).

Christine and I went downtown yesterday for an assignment for one of her classes. We went first to the Chicago Cultural Center (which used to be the Chicago Library), where we saw some neat exhibits and found information on free cultural events being held there within the next couple months. Afterwards, we went to a farmer's market that was not really a farmer's market at all. Instead, it was a store that got its goods from local farms. (No, that is not the same thing as a farmer's market!) They had some free recipes, so I nabbed one for artichoke soup to try out (Don't judge me! It looked really good... It has bacon in it!)

Friday night, Christine and I made hot chocolate. We happened to have some leftover cream in the fridge, so Christine threw some sugar in it and whipped it into (drum roll...) whipped cream! So we had homemade hot chocolate with homemade whipped cream! In foresight, this was probably not as amazing and ingenious an idea as it tasted, considering milk worsens congestion (Did I mention I'm a little sick? Don't worry; I'm getting better). I can't find it in myself to regret it though. It was delicious (and very very rich).

So, a few administrative details before I close: I realize that many of us have undergone lifestyle changes since first starting the blog, and I was wondering if it would be helpful to switch around everyone's days? I could rustle up a doodle poll or some such thing...

Also, is everyone up for doing secret Santa again this year? If we are going to do it again, I can set it up with everyone's emails. I think we mentioned before, cheap/homemade gifts and spend more if you so choose (Yay for being broke students/graduate!).

So respond in comments and let me know what you think!
Miss you guys.

Homework Curse

I had not thought about what to say

Nor known my post would go this way

I had not forseen this rhyming verse

Rather, I think it’s a product of my homework curse

What is this curse you ask, my friend?

Why a horrible thing of fright and gloom

Regardless the effort and time that I spend

I get nothing done, just doze off in my room.

Sad it is, but true, but true!

Think you not I’d like my coursework to do?

But my curse it prevents me, oh were it not so!

My distractions are legion, and Facebook, my foe

Whether at library, at home, outside or on bus

I cannot do work, so why make a fuss?

My fabled will-power has turned into jelly

Might as well just give up and turn on the telly.

There has been a change.

I now have a library card!!
And there are qed thn 8iklm8ikm (<--- Christine's contribution to the blog [for those of you who are unaware, Christine is my roommate, not a cat.])
As I was saying before I was interrupted, there are ebooks for download!
Welcome to the 21st century. We've been here for over a decade, but no single advancement in the availability of technology has made me more happy.
The follow up question would naturally be: So what amazing books have you found to check out Ruth?
Well,...... no amazing ones yet. Most of the ones I wanted were checked out. But I'm on the waiting lists!

In other news, November is almost halfway over! Which not only means boys around the world will again start shaving before too much longer, but also that I should theoretically be halfway through my novel! Right?
Well, close at least. Right?

To be honest, I am not entirely sure of my total word count. I have been keeping up with my daily goal rather consistently, so if I am behind it is not by too much.

I was thinking of maybe posting in Italian every once in a while to keep from forgetting all six semesters' worth. I was going to start with this one, but I forgot.
But how would you all be able to read it then? Google translate of course. It has gotten much better over the years. I remember one particular lecture of my cognition class when my professor presented us with the following passage, a translation of a song verse into Spanish, then back into English:

You would improve the clock towards the outside,
You would improve not the shout,
You would improve not the codfish. I is saying
to him Papa Noel is coming to the city.

Can you guess which song??
If you happened to say "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," you are correct!
If you said anything else, you were wrong.
If you've seen this before, well good for you Joseph. (Just kidding. I love you!)

Miss you all.

Research!

Today I skinned my hand playing duck duck goose with some of the children from the primary school, about a 45 minute walk from our camp. Those kids are fast, and I took the curve of the circle of use a little too fast. It was a lot of fun.

I have a little question to pose. Tomorrow is exam day (which is why this post will be shorter than usual) and after exams we will need to rank which of the three directed research projects we want (wildlife ecology first, environmental policy second, wildlife management third, this is just an example). The three directed research projects are:

Wildlife Ecology: Do a quality assessment of critical wetlands in the Group Ranches and examine human encroachment and use.

Wildlife Management: Examine how wildlife disperse and use the Group Ranches.

Environmental Policies: Examine how land tenure affects wildlife conservation.

I know I want wildlife ecology or wildlife management, but the question is which one should I put first? I know how the research will be conducted (WE through vegetation transects, water sampling, human buildings/water use assessment; WM through transects and observations of large wildlife [probably in a car, because we can't really be in the sanctuary on foot technically I think but I might be wrong]) and I enjoy both of them, and I like both of the professors and the research topics. So I don't know what I'll choose, but I'm feeling lucky, so I'll probably get it.

Talking about research, I have had a few problems with the way it is conducted here. Not with the staff or professors, they are great. The research procedures are awesome, as are the issues they are investigated. The issue I have had is with other students. We did a transect through Acacia tortilis sparse woodland/scrubland to assess damage to vegetation by humans and damage by elephants. The group I had was on a transect that went through some of the denser portions of the rangeland (though dense in a rangeland is not really that dense at all), so we had a lot more shrubs and trees to examine and assess. The other members of my group wanted to rush through it, so they started pushing to cut corners which, while they might not compromise the data they might as well, and one of them even said, "We can make that up. It's not graded." It really shocked me. We came here to learn how to do research, and how can you do it correctly if you refuse to learn it correctly? Also, the study we did in Tanzania on bird density and abundance in habitats in the Serengeti is going to be submitted by Kioko (our wildlife ecology teacher there) to a paper. Did their groups cut corners in that one? These studies that they have us practice on our meant to not only teach us but to also be useful. It really surprised me that these students, of all people, would be so quick to, while not falsify (except maybe, if the person was serious), potentially compromise data. There was also talk in the car afterwards, complaining that we had to write it up, and someone else said that they didn't come to Africa to write papers. They, and I, came to Tanzania and Kenya to participate in this academic program. Academics include communicating the information you find through papers. If they wanted a non-academic study abroad they could have chosen it. We were told it would be academically rigorous before we came here. It just annoys me how quick we are to forget why we came here (to learn how to conduct field research and possible solutions to current issues facing wildlife) and the importance to maintain integrity in research. Just recently an eminent psychologist, Diederik Stapel, has been cited for falsifying data on many of his studies, and we all know about the autism and vaccine link study. How can we trust any research if some scientists are willing to make up data so that it looks like that their studies make a difference, when they don't.

All I can say is that I hope the other members, whoever they are, of my directed research group will take it as seriously as I will.

An Unexpected Guest

I came home from Chicago Monday night. It was a very good trip. I was tired. Before unpacking, and as I was letting people know I had arrived safely, I noticed that the inside of living room window frame had been shredded. No, I'm not kidding, and YES shredded is exactly what I mean. I'm not exaggerating. What? You still don't believe me? Fine. Want to see some pictures?

Yes all those chips on the floor were part of the window frame. I agree with you it IS shredded. That's what I said.

'What happened?'

That's what I wanted to know too.

I looked around. No droppings anywhere. Rat poison untouched.

On the other side of the house a loaf of bread on the kitchen counter was untouched. Apples in a mesh bag partially rotten. Bag uncut. Did something eat in between the mesh or did the rotting happen on its own?

The toaster in the kitchen was knocked over and a plate was knocked off the counter and broken in the middle of the floor.

The glass of the window with the shredded frame is smudged all over. All the windows were locked, and the doors as well. The only openings from the outside I could see were a couple of small holes in the ceiling to the attic, and a sliver around a not very well hung light fixture.

Yet something had gotten in and probably had trouble getting out. I couldn't figure out what it might be. My conclusion was that it was most likely a bat. Here's why. No droppings. Stuff disturbed on both ends of the house (no walls in between). Food untouched. Rat poison untouched. And just before I left they were exterminating bats in the house in front of us. A bat might recognize the window and try to get out that way. Still would a bat shred the wood that much?

I went to bed without a sure answer.

From what you know, what could have shredded the window?

Sound off with your guesses in the comments below. THEN check out what I learned today: https://sites.google.com/site/johntglass/mysteryguest

Hello!

I am sorry, but I do not have much to say.

My NaNoWri is going well. I currently have 8, 213 words, so I am only a little behind. It has only four characters so far (three of which actually count) and still no plot line! The great thing about trying to write a novel within a month is that there is absolutely no way for it not to suck, so it's ok!

Other than that, not much else is new. I drove with Dad and Judi to Nauvoo on Thrusday (which was really awesome). Christine and I went to the Lincoln Park Zoo yesterday (which was also very awesome and completely free). I'm getting the hang of navigating the transit system. Daylight savings time was eeeeaarrrrlly this morning, so we gained an hour (more sleep! :).

I loved all of your posts this past week. Thanks for being amazing guys. Miss you all!
Ruth

P.S. As an apology for the brevity of this post, I thought I'd include a poem!

Guess what!!..... No, you're wrong. :)
I'm right....mwahaha


But that's ok because you are awesome anyway. What you were supposed to guess is that Virginia is going to a Bowl!! For the first time in 3 years the University of Virginia has finally qualified. Football wise we are actually doing "ok," at least in comparison to the past seasons :D

Oohoh! I've gained 16 pounds! Aren't you all so proud of me! yay! More good news? yes! no more conjunctivitis! My eyes are back to normal. Even more awesome news? very yes! one of the medications I got is Cyclopentolate Hydrochlorine Ophthalmic Solution USP, 1% .....which is basically a fancy way of saying "stuff that dilates your eyes. Mwahah, it's the same stuff they put in your eyes prior to eye examinations, but it keeps your pupil huuug for more than a day. So for the past week I looked kinda psycho with one little pupil and one HUGE pupil. Soooo if any of you guys want to look super cool with freaky eyes, just let me know (oh yeah...btw...it gives you a horreeenndous headache if you are around lots of light...minor detail :D )

Gosh I miss you wonderful people!! and there aren't enough pictures in the blogs :P (props to adri!)



So far life at the good old UVA goes well. Sleep schedule is kinda weird and homework is stressful, but those are the side effects of me not appropriately prioritizing and such. For example, taking pictures of myself and a Cheezit cracker isn't conducive to academic excellence.








Aside from cheese photography, homework, and weight gain, I have become increasingly aware of much more I need to work on simple forms of self-control. For example, for the past three weekends I have spent $4.76 of my plus dollars on a pint of of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream. However amazingly wonderful the taste is, the satisfaction is momentary and always results in a slight stomach ache. I tell myself that it is so very much worth it, because it is so very yummy and I don't get real ice cream often, plus its Plus Dollars that I should spend anyway. So it is frustrating to decide what should be done about this situation. Impulsively, it seems like a great idea, but when under the light of healthy eating behaviors and economic frugality, it is pretty pointless. Of course this is a large generalization of both arguments.

Oh and keeping up with politics is rather interesting. I'm about to give a short and base run down of my hall's political affiliation. My hall consists of seven Republicans, three Democrats, one Independent, and the rest (about 6) don't care to discuss politics. When discussing war, the distribution of wealth, and tax laws I wasn't surprised at who landed where. But what I found interesting was their individual experiences, which came up on a completely unrelated discussion. The two most outspoken republican persons described their parents' salaries as "alright, I guess" and "doing well enough" which to them is $1.5 million a year. Another student who is firm in the Republican party, has a father serving in the military. The frontrunner Republican candidate for the conservatives in my hall is Herman Cain, followed by Perry. The most outspoken Democrat is a kid who has lived most of his life outside of the United States. His parents have worked in U.S. embassies in multiple European countries and spent the past 5 years in El Salvador. As of two months ago, his parents are now in Afghanistan. The second Democrat in the hall comes from a household that is strongly conservative. His dad is a dermatologist who teaches a Piedmont. (sidenote: this student has insane amount of knowledge concerning music from the 50s -80s, Miami Vice, and James Bond) One other student prefers to avoid any form of potentially argumentative topic and never comments on any political or religious discussion. The rest of students are never active in political discussions. Some don't care to discuss it and then some don't care about it at all.
So yep, there it is. Those are some things about my hall's politics.

Quick Things About Johnny from My Hall
"Johnny you should join a circus" - Vishesh, "You know your stupid if Johnny calls you stupid" - Patrick, "You must get all the ladies with you guitar playing and Hugh Jackman looks" -Greg, "Hey don't say that around Johnny" - Vishesh, "Johnny doesn't get mad" - Aaron, "Hey it's ok if people think Mormons sacrifice cats, a guy I met thought Catholics sacrificed babies" - Alex, "Johnny, how much time of your life have you played Super Smash Bros?" - Patrick, "Your hair looks better short, it looked really bad long" - Wyatt

The Watson-Webb, 3rd Floor, Left Wing is a pretty chill group and yes, I dominate at Super Smash Bros, and yes that is a bowl of Captain Crunch mixed with Reese Cup Cereal.

Piano-sized holes

Hullo all.

Yesterday morning as I left for class and I noticed something was different in our living room. Nothing looked new, and no furniture was out of place, but there was a lot more room, and one slightly more dusty square of floor next to the front door. Then I realized that someone had taken the piano. The piano that had been claimed by Nathan Peterson, the piano that had been brought here by Richard and a troop of muscly movers, that had been bequeathed to the moving-out Ben Ogden, that had been left in our living room for half a year or so, that piano is now gone. It moved next door I believe. At least I think. I think Nathan left it to one of them, anyway.

There are lots of things that you just don't expect to go anywhere. They've been there forever, and yeah, you heard they'd be going or changing or whatever sometime or another, but they haven't at all. You kind of suspect that life has gotten infected with the same procrastination the whole world gets from time to time.  But then BAM! suddenly and without warning, they're gone.

And there is now a small, out of tune, piano shaped hole in our furniture arrangement. It will no doubt remain that way for a while.

But spaces mean more room to do new things with, more space to play and ramble and cavort in. Novelty has its charms.

Backwards hands

Hello all.

I would like to start my blog today talking about animal tracks. Specifically the animal tracks that I saw today.

The first was the tracks of the impala. They're pretty much just like deer tracks.

Next were the elephant tracks. Imagine a large dinner plate pushed into the soil, and that's what it looks like.

Giraffe tracks are like cow tracks, only two or three times larger.

Ostrich tracks are the most interesting. They are like mittens, almost as if someone with backward hands were wearing mittens and walking on said backward hands. If that makes any sense.

These tracks were seen while we were doing a field exercise, a rangeland assessment. The majority of land in Kenya is rangeland, though only 35% of the population lives there (this is growing with the population however). Why would only 35% of the population occupy the majority of the country? Because the rangelands have a very low carrying capacity. One of the assessment criteria was vegetation cover, and not once in any of our eight plots was vegetation cover (which was pretty much all dead) greater than at most 30%. Erosion was an obvious visible problem as well. Of course, the vegetation will be greater during the rainy season, but people, like most animals, have to survive the whole year, not just during the rainy season. Needless to say, at least in my groups transect (and most likely everyone else's) the rangeland was assessed as very poor. This is the land that the Kenyan population has to expand to, and that is set aside for wildlife conservation. So while it may look like a lot of land is set aside or managed for wildlife conservation, in effect the food biomass in that large area is extremely limited, limiting the effectiveness of the conservation. There's been a push, both by the World Bank and the Kenyan government, to get the Maasai, a traditional nomadic pastoral tribe, to become sedentary and commercialize their livestock production. This has failed horribly for several reasons. One is the fact that the rangeland, because of its poor quality, can only support a nomadic lifestyle, and a nomadic lifestyle is not very conductive to a market economy, especially when the people involved are most worried about subsistence. Another reason is the migration of agricultural tribes, such as the Kikuyu or the Kamba, into the region. They practice their traditional agriculture, which makes the poor soil even poorer, strains water resources due to the necessity of irrigation, and increases human-wildlife conflicts due to crop-raiding by wildlife. In short, although I think my last post may have about this (sorry if this bores you), the past and current plans for sustainable development in the area are not, themselves, sustainable, because of the area.

Not Nauvoo

Yes, this post is not about Nauvoo. So what you say? EVERY post so far has not been about NAUVOO IL!

Well, yes that's true. But there's a difference this time. This post was supposed to be about Nauvoo. We were going to go there today, but the temple is closed so we are going tomorrow. Ruth is going too! So maybe next week's will be somewhat about Nauvoo, a little bit anyway.

I'm still in IL until Monday, but just got some information about a job I applied for in WV which sounds great. So, some good news on that front. Otherwise this post will be much less interesting than Adrianna's post. Mine usually are--I set low expectations. That way when I do have a great post like last week, it can really wow you. That doesn't really work though, because who's really still reading the blog anyway? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone? Sound off if you're here?