Update from the Wilson Center

I've been unsuccessful in getting a hold of George Seay, my old boss at the Wilson Center. Aside from catching up, I was hoping to get some insider tidbits about Haleh's homecoming. She had been in Iranian prison since May. Recently released several weeks ago, she is now back at work in DC. I am sure the sound of those noisy gold wrist bangles she always wears is a welcome sound in the Center's hallways.

Link to October 2007 issue of Centerpoint is here.

A whole mess of new skivvies

I am set for Fall 2007. Undergarmetwise that is. In the mail today I received a shipment of many pairs of new underwear and 3 new bras. They aren't anything particularly new...the same styles and sizes from years past. Still, I would argue there's something that puts zing into your day by tossing out the old and stepping into the new. Wadda bang!

I've had to order these things over the web for the last few years. I could probably never find the time to actually physically go bra and underwear shopping. Seems like a waste of time if you know what you want. I'd rather spend my weekend in good company, listening to music in the park, or even having a productive Sunday night at Wurster Hall. Who would have guessed?

Speaking of productivity, time to begin drawing...

I can't be your boyfriend

Below is a link to another great single off the new Jens Lekman (Yans Lake-man) album to be released this week. I got it a few days early!

A Postcard to Nina

Aside from Jens, the weekend was pretty action packed. Friday entailed field trip excursions to the Musee Mechanique, drinking with classmates and professor at Vesuvio's, freaking out about Blue Angel jets weaving about SF's skyscrapers, and bussing ourselves west to see the opening acts of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival out in Golden Gate Park. We saw quick bits of John (Cougar) Mellenkamp and Neko Case, but failed to stay (due to the cold setting in) to see Jeff Tweedy. The day was made complete with an injera meal unit enjoyed with Jason. Fast service, lightening fast. In that respect, that place is entirely NOT authentic in the Ethiopian sense. Here is a link to probably the most authentic Ethiopian restaurant in the continental United States. It takes anywhere up to 3 hours to have a meal here. There is a good chance you will also get something delivered to your table that you did not order. And you will pay for it.

Sunday I returned to Golden Gate Park to see HBRSB, one of my favorite your bluegrass bands. They've seen a lot of the world since I first saw them in early 2005. Way to go. There were TONS of people there, making it really hard to even hear anything at the central Banjo Stage. Christina and I left there to find the Star Stage, far removed from the major event foot traffic. We still managed to see some great acts before leaving at 4:00 PM.

Since that time, I have been at Wurster Hall mulling over parcel maps of Rodeo, CA.

This is the week of field trips. Tomorrow studio heads out to Rodeo, again, to visit the headwaters of Rodeo Creek at Fernandez Ranch. Tuesday, for Plants in Design, we head out to Emeryville to the Chiron corporate campus. Chiron was one of the big anchors that started to redevelop around the train tracks many years ago, effectively reshaping the city form.

Is it me.....

....or is that not the greatest picture of Jerry Boone in the Oregonian? At least his coverage of my stepdad isn't so bad....yet.

Socratic habitat

This is an actual school assignment. I still have to watercolor it.

Also, the best thing on the Interweb today:

Collision

About 12 feet from my apartment building this morning I had a bike collision with a pedestrian. I don't know if this is a coincidence or not, but today was also the first day I remembered to wear my helmet. Turns out I didn't need it to survive this wreck - my victim would have benefited more from having it having taken a spill on the sidewalk. Anyway, the poor girl (14 years old) was certainly more calm than I was post-impact.

Nothing like almost maiming someone in public to start off your day!

Two favorites

=

Click below to hear a song from the much-hyped Jens Lekman album Night Falls Over Kortedala, to be released Oct. 9:

The Opposite of Hallelujah

He is playing at Bimbo's Friday Nov. 9. I'm excited for this Swede.

Pilgrim journey

No, I am not journeying to Mecca. I am only going home for Thanksgiving. But I thought it warranted a posting since I haven't done this for give or take a decade.

I really do not recall a time I've gone home for Thanksgiving in my 20s. I've been in school all that time, or living across the country, so venturing to Portland for what is essentially a drawn out meal never happened. It was always "too expensive", "too crowded" or "too annoying". But this year changes everything. I am showing up for my turkey leg. And I will not take kindly to being assigned to the kiddy table.

Goin' to the Village

This upcoming Monday I am going to the heartland.....Davis, that is. Davis, CA is where my professor Rob Thayer lives. He lives in the famed Davis Village Homes. Completed in 1975, Village Homes was "designed to encourage both the development of a sense of community and the conservation of energy and natural resources." Most of the people that live there ride bikes as their main form of transportation and probably have admirable carbon footprints. Some even do not own cell phones, much like my professor.

Rob invited anyone in our class up to Davis on Monday during class time to come tour Village Homes. We can even stay after for dinner. One of the groups in our studio is the "Renewable Energy" group. They are charged with proposing ideas about energy conservation and alternative production to the Town of Rodeo. Hopefully they can find some design concepts we encounter and find a useful application for them in Rodeo. That is the hope.

I am along for the ride in the true sense of the word. I am in the Rodeo Creek Watershed Restoration group, so this stuff probably won't help our group too much. However, since I got to UCB, I've wanted to visit Village Homes simply because it is a well-known and successful example of environmentally mindful residential development.

We are allowed only to come if we ride our bikes and take Amtrak to Davis. From the Davis train station, we ride to Village Homes on two wheels, helmets and all.

Fifteen

My efforts to retrieve my misplaced favorite corduroy jacket are once again spoiled. I left it at a friend's house a few weeks ago. Shame, too, since it is beginning to get cool in the mornings and evenings (and I come home LATE, by the way).

I've been in the city a few times since losing it and I always phone the people that live there but none of them have ever been home to open the door. I asked Brendan about tomorrow night and he said it was likely everyone would be at the big Critical Mass. Apparently, it is the 15th birthday (or anniversary) of the monthly tradition that effectively ties up traffic at rush hour and induces utilization of public transit out of the city center. After a rough spring, the close-knit membership alliance has managed to stay out of the press.



I've only done CM once. It was Halloween 2005, I believe. Good time. I wore this amazing blond mermaid wig. (BTW, wigs will overheat one in a snap. If you wear one, dress light.) I kind of want to go again, should be a nice ride. Hopefully no old people in minivans will be assaulted and/or berated in public intersections by militant bike ninjas.

Field trip to Contra Costa County

My studio course, LA 201, Ecological Factors in Urban Landscape Design, took a trip to the bowels of Contra Costa County on Sunday. For almost 11 hours we toiled out there looking for any threads of environmental hope for this place. Anyway, below are some images of what we found:


Into the culvert we go....


Land slump


That's the way they do it in Pinole.


For some reason, my camera turns all skies pink lately...This is a channelized Rodeo Creek. Beautiful!


Great old building in Rodeo's downtown. Too bad its structural integrity is about zero based on the posted sign on the front window. I love the arcade entrance.


The coal fire plant in Rodeo off Hwy. 4.


What you see a lot of in Rodeo: powerlines on almost every hill landscape there is

To be Mayor...

The Oregonian carried a short story on my stepfather's annoucement to run for Mayor of Beaverton, OR. So far, I guess, the media coverage seems better than worse.

Good luck to him. The bid is for NEXT fall's election. All in time. Plenty of time for some skeletons to fall out of the closet, though.

It's a weekend. Really.

Well, kind of. It's going to be kind of a weekend. 'Kind of' for two reasons. One, I have nothing (big) due on Monday, so it feels like I have free time. Two, I have to go on some kinda hellish field trip all day on Sunday, from 7am to 6pm, up in Contra Costa County. We are going up there to look at about a gazillion things for our Ecological Analysis Planning and Design Studio.

So it is, therefore, kind of a weekend. I look forward to Friday night and Saturday as long as I get in before 12am. While Sunday is spoken for, the other two days got potential.

A major episode of 12 year old boy humor happened in my Plants in Design class. You wouldn't have guessed, but it did. While my professor was lecturing us with a powerpoint presentation on English Landscape Gardens, a slide flipped up with a map of Stourhead. Stourhead is one of those kinds of estates that are featured in all of the Jane Austen novels. Anyway, the map caught my attention because it included the location of an inn with a name that I cannot believe has not been changed or altered in modern times. See for yourself.

Also, in other news, my stepfather Bruce is announcing to the City of Beaverton tomorrow that he is running for mayor. This could get interesting. Hmm, I make an early prediction that the new Dalrymple-family Porsches are not going to impress local voters.

Let's go to Yosemite

From my drawing class:

My parents like cars or something

Since I left Portland this summer, my mother and stepfather have dabbled in conspicuous consumption to an extent that leaves me more than a bit queasy. There is little explanation to it other than the fact that my stepdad Bruce is an extremely easy sell for anything with four wheels. This past weekend, my mother and he decided to purchase two (yes, two) more (yes, more) Porsches. They already had one Porsche before last weekend, which I complained about at every opportunity, plus a Jeep Cherokee and a Mustang convertible.



I do think that buying two Porsches for two people, when those two people already have three cars between them, is a pretty idiotic idea. According to them, it would seem that one must have more than one or two choices of vehicles to be happy in this world.

I begin to wonder if we are related at all.

Sincerely,

Miss E
(proud owner of an 18 year old VW)

P.S. Five dollars says I won't be allowed to drive my mother's Porsche the next time I visit. Lame-o.

On the earphone

Jens Lekman, Oh You're So Silent Jens Lekman

Post Veteran's Day Music

The Walkmen have announced fall tour dates...

Tues, Nov 13, The Independent

WALK, don't run.

For the wrist challenged

Stephen Colbert has come up with a very keen promotion, advertising and public awareness vehicle: The Wriststrong Bracelet. The idea was hatched as a result of him breaking his wrist this summer.



Having just broken my own wrist this winter, I feel happy someone is taking the time to spread awareness for the wrist challenged.

Philippe's Inner Place Holder....Read strip below

Just



Keep



Scrolling




Down



Until




You



Can



*See*



The



Entire



Achewood



Cartoon!



Whoops



It



Will



Take



A



Few



More



Lines.

Philippe's Inner Machinations

Finally, a flow chart of my favorite otter. After I post another entry, you should be able to read the whole thing. Or I can do a placeholder....Let's see....