Hello world?

It's late.

I'm in the midst of finals. Imagine that? Back into the grind of staying up late writing papers, some of which I care about (such as why methane digesters are so cool) and some of which I don't but have to bitterly hack through anyways. Then getting up early to edit, then turning in said hacked paper before starting on the next big project due in two days.

What's sad? I'm a nerd and actually enjoying myself! For the most part at any rate.

Of course, as I finish up for the night I wonder to myself: what's going on out there? How are my friends doing as the holiday season barrels down? Who might be out in colorado between December 17th and the 27th when I'm visiting my brothers and might want to ski with me? What, in fact, is the meaning of life after all? Obviously a post on the poor neglected 9Sarg blog is warranted.

Then I realize that my brain is both tired and ridicuous, that it's cold and snowy, and that crawling into my comfy bed is going to be damn nice in a minute.

Hope everybody is doing well out there!

-nell-

Heading West

Little 05 gathering at 5 olde before graduation this year

Well after a great summer at camp it appears that I am going to join the rapidly growing California team. I got a job working with an organization called Call of the Sea based out of Sausalito that does programs all over the bay area. It sounds pretty similar to the program I was working for in CT, basically school groups (or other groups of kids) come on the boat, help with some of the sailing and we have an education program involving California history, ecology, and then sailing related things like navigation. As I have never really spent any time on the west coast I'm really excited to get there and do some exploring. I'm living on the boat so the San Fran couches can expect some visits when I need a break from it. I'm also excited to be relatively close to my brother Alex (Nicole's future husband) who is a freshman at the University of Puget Sound and will have a football game or two in the area.

I'm going to be passing through Colorado on my way out as well, probably like the 7-9th of september, so looks like I may be getting my 9S fix this month.

raising a high life to you all,
Laura K

Just Saw This

Thought of 9S...maybe it can go on the back of the Champagne of Off-Campus Housing shirts...

like woah

there is mexican food.. there is Dr. Pepper.. and here are my friends.. NZ was sweet, but I am thrilled to be back in the states.. right now I am at home.. gearing up, bonding, visiting, etc then I am headed out to CO on the 19thish... IF you live in Kansas I would love to crash on your floor during the drive.. if not, then hopefully I will see ya soon in CO or who knows.. i hope to catch up with yall soon and chat on the phone or play patty cake or something..anything please..!!.. well i miss you all more than i missed Dr. Pepper so you should feel honored and come stay with me in my trailer park in buena vista, CO.. good creeking, playboating, hiking, and bouldering (so i'm told).. so i dont think any of you would be dissapointed..
smoochies
-nicole

Pirates life for me

Hello all!
Just a little update on what I'm up to these days. I arrived back on the east coast a few weeks ago as I am working this spring for the same group I worked for in the fall. Also Sadie joined the crew for this spring as well and I'm very excited to have her around as we have adventures in the exciting land of Stamford, ct. I don't remember how much I may have have told you guys about this organization in the past so here's a little info on what I'm doing. The organization is a non-profit called Soundwaters and is basically devoted to educating kids and the whole community about Long Island Sound and about what we can all do to promote a healthy environment. There is a small museum/community center on in a park nearby where they have after school programs and all sorts of other stuff and there is also the boat where Sadie and I work and also live (featured in the picture above). School groups typically come for 3 hours and we go out on the sound and have about half the time as a whole group where the kids help us raise the sails and hear general info about the sound and the area. We do a trawl everyday so that we can catch creatures for the kids to look at and we spend the second half of the sail with the kids split up into small groups that then go around the boat to different stations taught by the crew members. Most of the time the stations are environmental like plankton and water cycle kind of stuff and occasionally we do a nautical science based program with stations on navigation and how sailboats work. We also have public sails on the weekends so if anyone finds themselves in the nyc area you should come by!

However for the moment the boat is out of the water for some maintenance so we have been spending our days painting, rust busting and putting things back together that were stored at the end of last season. And since we don't move onto the boat until its in the water we have been staying in a hotel where our dirty/paint covered carhartts have really been fitting in well seeing as how last weekend there was a dance competition (think sparkle motion from donnie darko everywhere you look) and this weekend there are lots of small children really dressed up for what we think may be a beauty pageant. Last weekend the crossword competition was also in town but sadly we missed them as they were at another hotel.

Hope everyone is well. Let me know if anyone is venturing to the east this spring as nyc, boston, and hanover are all relatively close.

fair winds
laura k

Moving On

Good news from the dirty south...

I received word yesterday that I have been accepted to the masters program in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. Vancouver, here I come!

I've been working on this since last summer, putting in time at the UNCA library and drumming up recommendations, all that stuff that depresses you because you feel like a high school senior again. But I was also invigorated by researching things I'm passionate about, and now I'm being given the opportunity to fulfill this dream I came up with sophomore year-- of travelling the world and talking to people about what water and rocks and dirt and trees mean to them. As of now, I plan to focus on water rights and management in the Whistler/Squamish region.

So I'll be moving to Vancouver this fall, and working on my masters for two years. If things go well, I'll keep going for my PhD. I'm gonna be an anthropologist!

Get ready to visit with your skis, bikes, kayaks, and climbing gear. It's on!

New England Freshies!

It would seem from the dumping of snow last week that, contrary to popular belief, New England is allowed to get powdery goodness to ski in from time to time! Tom and I have been out and about in the backcountry and I've been putting some serious tree-skiing practice. Not only that but I discovered today that there is backcountry in my backyard. I was actually able to put on my ski gear at home, walk across the street, skin up a trail, put in some turns after work, and walk back home again. Bwa ha ha!

Happy February everybody! I'll hopefully have more of a life-update sometime soon, when things aren't so crazy.
-nell-

An Open Invitation

Will

This is an open invitation to anyone reading this to come visit me in San Francisco. My new city is damn cool; I live in a house called "The Spark" in a really cool neighborhood with Aekta, Crank, and Hoffturd; and I have ample floor space. I'm even planning to buy an air matress.

I'm making this offer because I got such hospitable treatment from many of you all on my trip across the country. Y'all are awesome!

Shout outs!!!!

to Molly Malone for cooking me a delicious Italian dinner and letting me crash on her futon;
to Merrick for taking me climbing and feeding me the second I walked in the door;
to Nate for taking me on the Coors Tour and offering to let me crash at his parents';
to Laura Jorgensen for showing me the best Thai food in Boulder and the best flip cup skillz on this side of the Mississippi;
to Sara Hellmuth for taking off work working with cute animals to put up with my sarcasm;
to Nick Baum for being Scandanavian and for sharing his friends at a sick party in Tahoe; and lastly
to Potter (and Nick too) for making me feel at home while I was squatting in their living room for 2 weeks.

Seriously, schedule in some time in your year to come visit me (and Dan, et al.)! It's great out here!

Question: Who will win in a fight, colts or bears?

Though it is clear where my loyalties lie for the game this coming Sunday I would like to thank Dan for his support and encourage everyone else to cheer for da bears. We have the superfans, Urlacher, and even the lions outside of the Art Institute are feeling the bears fever.



Bear down Chicago Bears!

Jack in the Box

DanCeeCee says....

Hello again. Greetings from Palo Alto. I'm staying here in a house of D'02's + 05 Tim Millikin (don't ask, I'm not sure even I completely understand the chain of events that finds me here), biding my time until I move into an apartment in Oakland. Teaming up with Karla Kingsley on the housing front, while Will and Hoff-funkadelik go in together with Aekta and Crank in San Fran.

The drive out was easy enough. Got to spend a night at Casa Nelson in Hinsdale and see the Golden/Boulder crew in CO (including a rousing night of flipcup and self-administered breathalizer tests to celebrate MJ's birthday - turns out the blood-alcohol gizmo only instills an element of competition into the party, not the caution it should). oh, and lest I forget, Will and I crashed a party with the Young Scandinavian Club of Northern California(!) at their Tahoe chalet. Never have I felt more dark-haired in my life.

But more importantly, everyone should check out this shameless parody of SNL's Dick-in-a-box video.

www.wallstrip.com

If you're going to the site after today (1/29) you'll have to search for "jack in the box." This site is my new web discovery - I think it's going to make me hip, funny, and a millionaire all in one easy swoop. See, being unemployed, I have time for this kind of self-improvement. The Apple clip is worth checking out also; as are, well, probably most everything they have.

And finally, in the interest of community engagement, I'd like to hear people's picks for the Super Bowl. I am, without question, going with Laura and . . . da Bears! For nothing simpler than I must stay true to the Great Lakes industrial cities (that's right, the Rust Belt).

keep on rockin,
Dan

Drinkin Time

So I was steered to this video by Kate Lyon and since I found it entertaining thought I would use some newly acquired technical skills (aka posting video knowledge) to share it with all of you. Hope this works.

In other news I got to see Dan for a short bit on his trip west. He stopped by to crash for the night at the Nelson household as he was driving from Cleveland to Boulder. It was a brief visit but good to see him none the less. I'm looking forward to hearing how everyone's adjustment to San Fran is going.

As for news from me, I have decided to go back to the boat I was working on last fall when the program starts up again in March. So its back to Stamford and Long Island Sound and educating the youth of the area about marshes and sea creatures. And there's nothing like a group of inner city non-english speakers in the morning and then greenwich kids in the afternoon to keep you on your toes. I'm also planning on making a little trip up to hanover for carnival and hoping to also stick around for a day or two afterwards with the hopes of skiing a bit but I guess the snow will kind of dictate that. So if you're in the area (mike, james, nell...) get your work done early cause I want to play. So hopefully I will see many of you soon and also recall my skating lessons from last year cause occum pond and some elementary school kids' pick-up hockey game isn't going to know what hit them.

Laura

Paul Marino's Blog

Luke

Hi -
If you know Paul Marino, you'll get a kick out of his blog. If you don't know him, he's great - just read. Aside from being one of the few, the proud, the Dartmouth bark beetle ecologists, Paul is also a writer, has in the past been the host on a pilot show in Venezuela in which he traveled around to beaches talking about sea turtles, and has been a field tech in Spain. Check out his posts "Mite Doctor" (a film about Tarsonemids, alright!), "Science," and "Life in the South". They're pretty good.

http://www.grannyballzentertainment.blogspot.com/

Luke

Happy '07!

Will

Hey all, just wanted to wish everyone a happy New Year and let you all in on my plans for 2007.

The big news is obviously my move to San Francisco. I'll be working for an organization called Net Impact. This is what Net Impact has to say about itself:
"Net Impact is the premier membership organization of emerging business leaders committed to socially responsible business. Most of our 10,000 members are MBA students and young professionals; Net Impact’s 130+ chapters are located in business schools and cities across the globe. Net Impact runs programs and services to provide members with information and resources on utilizing business to create a better world."
The position is right up my alley and I'm pretty excited.

I start on January 31, so I'll be leaving to drive out there sometime in the next week and hopefully getting to San Francisco around the 20th. I'm definitely planning on stopping in Boulder (and in Asheville if you're around, Molly) to do some skiing and hanging out. If you live in the aforementioned cities, you'll hear from as soon as I get my travel schedule figured out, which will hopefully be pretty soon.

I've accepted an offer from Potter to crash on his couch for a while when I get to San Fran - I've heard from many sources that Chez Potter is a pretty sweet place. After I get my bearings, I'll be connecting with Danders and Karla Kingsley/ Hoffman and friends to look for an appartment. Sick!

Hopefully I'll be settling in soon after my job starts. Once that happens I can focus on using my Kirkwood season pass and reconsidering plans I once had to climb Denali and travel in Shanghai. Anyone interested? (You know who you are).

Oh yeah, and my New Year's resolution is to learn Spanish. If I'm not greeting you appropriately by March, feel free to berate me.

Will