Bags

Whenever I hear about the makeup of landfills in the US (for example in this book discussed in class), or when I read pieces about how to reduce your footprint or the 10 things you can do to make a difference plastic bags seem to find their way into the conversation. I guess they really are pesky and persistent nuisances, in more than one regard. While I don't see the connection to stopping global climate change directly it makes sense that using less of these bags could eventually reduce the number that end up somewhere later. The most common substitute, and one that is in my face more all the time, is using a more substantial (cloth, read hemp) bag for your groceries. Your own personal, dedicated, and somewhat more permanent grocery bags.

On a recent trip to Ikea (the haven of socially responsible hyper consumerism, if there is such a thing) we were asked, at the self checkout, how many bags we had used in completing our purchase. Not thinking we responded with none. On the way out we also decided to pick up a food item to take to a party. Again we were asked if we wanted a bag and this time I had to inquire as to why they would need to know. It turned out that it's all a new policy that aims to reduce consumers use (or overuse) of plastic bags. Each bag requested or required by Ikea shoppers will carry with it a $0.05 charge.

I like Ikea's approach to all of this. Leave it up to the consumer to make the change. Maybe people will come here and think about plastic bags and then leave here and make more informed decisions about plastic bags later. The economics of it is simple enough and I, as a consumer, could immediately see how my decision was affected. For us it worked like a charm. We left the store juggling our goods through the parking lot.

After the trip to Ikea, I found out that California had already taken steps making this environmentally-friendly, if not trendy, practice into mandate (no surprise here). San Francisco was the first to take action (again, no surprise). I can't say I'm against all these actions, just think of all the other hazards these bags present. Surely from a public health standpoint (independent of environmental quality) less plastic bags lying around is a good thing. Especially lying around a baby alone on a bed.
If all the plastic bags disappear we may be losing more than a simple and wasteful method of carrying things and picking up dog poop. We might just be taking away a mundane object that, when its path crosses a gust of wind, can make us realize how much beauty there is in the world. But at least if we got rid of new plastic bags today, we'd still have the ones we have right now for the next 200 years or so. Thanks, Ricky.

Santa Barbara :: Winding Down

The weekend of Chad's Graduation Reunion finally ended. Everyone has returned home, including Guitar Hero and the axes. We wrapped it up properly with a huge day.

Freeman and the boys made a trip to the track to put some money on the Preakness ponies. Later the sun came out, the race was run and the ping pong balls replenished. We proceeded to grill up some madly delicious candied bacon cheese BBQ curry burgers before heading out to the club.

Saturday also saw our first real "man down" of the weekend. Mikey took about wicked long nap on the couch and was out of commission for most of the day. At one point of the night a game of flip cup ensued that found the two teams pitted against each other as 'the smart team' and 'the stupid team.' Though I would only go as far as to call them 'the less smart, as defined by a single narrow identifier, team', they began the flip cup competition by losing ten (10) games in a row. Gill, once well into the game of survivor, found himself pitted against all four of our team. He fended off two but ended up losing. He's a good sport. Before heading out to the club, Mikey ironed his shirt while wearing it (on the recommendation from a member of the 'smart team'). Eventually we all went out on the town and had a time.

At the end of the night we voted to pick up burritos on the way home and found ourselves at a corner stand on the recommendation of our limo-van driver. Gill postulated that burritos in Santa Barbara somehow cost an incredible $2.50; an idea later dismissed when we received the bill for our nine (9) burritos. They were delicious. I had a great time with this weekend really enjoyed seeing all of my old friends. It may be a little early but if everyone wants to come down to Atlanta to celebrate my graduation (in a year and a half) with Lauren and me, we'd be happy to host.

Since everyone left we've had more time to unwind and get out a bit. Yesterday we went to the local high school field to kick around the soccer ball and play some catch. Tonight we went to a little BBQ at a friend's house in IV. Isla Vista is a place littered with bikers... bikers riding helmetless down the street in a pair of Uggs with a vente late in one hand. The bike rack outside of what appeared to be a dorm rivaled something you might see in the Netherlands. At that point I guess you stop calling it a bike rack and start saying bike parking area. I really liked the whole feel of it. We played a bit of cornhole and watched the pistons take game one. I am thinking of trying to build a cornhole game of my own. But first I need to stain the deck.

Tomorrow we may go to the hills of SB for a hike, stay tuned.

One last little bit of awesome from this weekend. Enjoy.

Santa Barbara :: Welcome to the Testoster-dome

As the days roll on here, routine begins to to shape. On Thursday there were still a few straggling piece of the workweek to be handled. Not for all of us in school (slackers) of course, but for Freeman and Vinay. There were also trips to be made to stores like Vons, Costco, and Home Depot, all in preparation of the festivities which were to follow.

Our days have consisted of a significant amount of Guitar Hero and beer pong. Thursday was unique as it was sprinkled with Detroit sports throughout. We tried to get Tigers-Red Sox double header on tv but couldn't find it. Then the Pistons clinched their series and the Wings let one slip away but all-in-all a pretty big sporting day for the D. It is really fun to finally get to watch some of these games with a big group of people, especially people all tied to the same team.

The whole trip has turned into an even bigger reunion than initially imagined. Vinay was able to make it here thanks in part to a business trip and Brian Egan came up from LA to hang out for a night as well. Tricia is on the west coast for a stint of work and has come down from Salinas to hang out and show us how hard real guitar is. Everyone is really coming through to spend some time together and take incoherent and sometimes funny pictures.

Friday we began to see the additive effects from repetition of our newly established, if still evolving, routine. Also, with some of the conference calls and grocery shopping out of the way, all of us were free to fully emerge ourselves in the spirit the weekend: celebration of Chad's achievement (which we all found out is forthcoming in October). Devotion to the cause, created more opportunity for reminiscence, catching up and general ridiculousness. For example, see the clip at the end of this post, when Vinay was dared to stick his hand in the ultra cold cooler for what we thought was an impossible length of time. I think he got a few dollars for it. By the end of the night, Mikey was volunteering this type of activity every 3 minutes.

I am proud of the way we all come together and have a good time though. We even come up with ways for Vinay to play flipcup without drinking. It's refreshing to operate in an environment with a number of people who are very comfortable around one another, but perhaps this is where the lunacy comes from. Also, the dynamic of a large group of men is starting to become more and more apparent to me. I am used to having a woman around all the time or working in an environment with a majority of women (RSPH). I will try to think more about differences and how the group dynamic works. We'll see what develops as the weekend rolls on.

warning! strong language

Santa Barbara :: Guitar Hero

I arrived in LA last night and was picked up by Freeman and Gill in their blue Dodge Caravan. The timing of it all had a sense of starling efficiency. It would have been even smoother but Mikey missed his original flight. Something about traffic. Eventually we got everyone assembled, headed to Burbank, picked up Mark and ended up at Chad's at 11:20.

One thing Mikey and Freeman made sure to pack was their extraordinarily large video game controllers. It was all part of a plan starting with an e-mail message that detailed the location of Gill's PS2 (it was at Chad's house). The controllers, their axes as they call them, are for use with the series of video games called Guitar Hero.

You may have seen this in a local arcade, but basically the game follows the lead of the incredibly popular Dance Dance Revolution. And like DDR, it is inexplicably fun and hilarious to watch people try it for the first time. Mikey, Gill, and Freeman are seasoned pros, but it's surprising to see how fast you can pick it up. No idea to mediocre is quick but decent to Jimmy Page takes a long time.

The games (Guitar Hero 1&2) have a really good selection of songs and it's cool that they actually let you play the entire thing rather than an abridged version. The solos are where it becomes really interesting and the most difficult but also the most fun.

Stay tuned, next you may get to hear about the Trailer Park Boys.

Manny

Not Ramirez. Me.

For the last week I was a nanny for Bodhi. I was helping out John and Shannon as Shannon returned to work and there was a week before daycare started. Something like that, anyway they needed a nanny, or manny as it turned out.

I spent around 10 hours a day with 13-week-old Bodhi. I watched him at the house that J+S are renting in Druid Hills. For those of you not familiar with Atlanta, this is not some cultist mountain monastery. This does remind me of how I love the feeling when you first move to a town and are free of all your associations with different neighborhoods. However, one drive down some of these streets and you wouldn't need a tour guide to figure out the character of the place. I should say that there are also good things about getting to know places. If all you know about East Point, you picked up in a Goodie Mob track, then some time at the velodrome is all it would take to change your opinion.

Oh yeah, mannying. We went on walks to Emory village, watched TV, had some tummy time, visited commencement. I did feel a bit emasculated as the only male pushing a carriage around town. The landscapers, sewer maintenance guys, and construction crews all nodded as I walked by but I feel like they laughed after I passed. I wonder if they thought I was a real manny, or a stay-at-home dad who shockingly could live in this neighborhood.

Mostly the kid slept. There were episodes of intense crying. But those were usually in anticipation of the feeding that was on the way. But what a life. When was the last time you had someone push you around while you spent half an hour pushing out gas so hard you crap your pants and then pass out,exhausted. Waking up to the tune of some cleaning you up and changing your pants. All of this taking place immediately before your feeding which is followed promptly by your nap. Ahhhhh, to be young again.

The biggest problems of the whole week were with my dog, and even then they were manageable. So, to all the people who questioned my decision to try this I say, "I did it. The kid's fine (better than fine... dry, fed, exercised, clothed, baby eisteined, burped and cute). You may have been nervous when you heard I was taking care of a 3-month-old all by myself, but I knew I could do it." Moreover I know you can do it too when the time comes. We're programmed to do it. The hardest part is not being able to communicate with him directly. All you'll want to do it give them what they want but they can't tell you what that is and you can't tell them how hard you're trying. So good luck and if you need a manny, call me.

Desoto Falls

This weekend we escaped the heat and traffic and general schedule of Atlanta and made our way to the falls. We scouted out the site using a guide we picked up a year ago called 'The Best Tent Camping in Georgia'. Everything sounds great, secluded, near water, hikes, mountains. As always happens when we decide to go camping.. rain was in the forecast. We haven't had much (rain) in Georgia this year (wildfires in the south, etc.) and so Lauren and I thought we would do the region a favor and do our rain dance also known as a trip to the north Georgia hills.

We left on Friday and set off up 400 into the the abyss of rush hour. This is when the rain started... on and off until we arrived. Our friends Elizabeth and Adam joined us. We had great weather for our first night and into our second morning when we went for a hike to the two waterfalls. Then the rain started to pour down but luckily we had a tarp rigged over the picnic table and we could escape the storm and play some cards while it passed. A&E had to leave on Saturday to return home but we stayed up there. This was also Mali's first time out camping and she was a bit skiddish. Especially when some new Korean SCAD students set up camp a few sites down and decided that they'd just stroll through our site unannounced to look for wood.

After all the rain, Lauren and I headed back to the waterfalls to see if anything had changed with the rain but it was just about the same, except we climbed all the way to the top. All and all it was a pretty good weekend. In the end, we were able to get away and enjoy some time outdoors. One thing about the site is that it lies along a road that has been finished since our guide was written and is now a thoroughfare for motorcycles and semis. A bit loud but relaxed and scenic. On the way home we stopped by the wineries which are a must for anyone in Dahlonega.

Frogtown is my favorite but on this trip we also stopped by
Blackstock for our first time. The service was a bit slow but the view is amazing. Both looked like a great place to take a mother for brunch on Mother's Day.

When we finally arrived home we found that the rain had not only hit us but had also smashed the city; particularly our part of town. Lauren walked into the backyard to find that the gutter had been pulled off the house. Now we're trying to deal with it. It looks like the gutter company (who shall, for the moment, remain nameless) did not fix the gutter to the sturdiest studs and only fastened it to the facia. At the same time it appears that the people who re-did the house used finishing nails to attach the facia to the house. Stay tuned.

Barbershop

On Wednesday I finally did something that I have wanted to do since moving to Atlanta: I got a haircut at a serious barbershop. Once, in Ann Arbor I took the advice of a coworker and went to an old barbershop for a haircut. The main selling point was the conversation and the ambiance. I don't remember too much about that particular haircut and maybe that says something. I thought the guys in there would be talking amongst themselves, bringing me into their conversations about the game last night or the latest current events. Why is it (and I feel this is strongly an American thing) that we try to romanticize everything and turn it into a Utopian experience, even a haircut. I think it has something to do with the movies and how they help us define Utopian haircuts.

The Faith Barbershop in the Edgewood Retail District is where I went on Wednesday in search of the perfect haircut. I introduced the experience as a visit to a serious barbershop but what I really mean is a black barbershop.Atlanta is nearly two-thirds African American (to use the parlance of our times) and is consistently regarded as one of the best cities in the US in terms of opportunities for black Americans. A great part of moving to a vibrant city is the opportunity to incorporate part of the other cultures around you into your own. Again, I romaticize.

I have to say that this experience was much more enjoyable than the trip to the Ann Arbor barbershop and definitely better than Supercuts or my waiting room visits to fancy salons where Lauren is getting her hair cut. As I parked my bike outside next to another bike a guy came out of the shop to talk to me. It was his bike next to mine and immediately we were talking about riding around town, accidents, and pants vs. shorts. Soon we introduced ourselves and we stepped inside so that Kenneth could give me a haircut.

One thing I'm always bad about is giving instructions to people giving the haircut. and this time was especially confusing. Usually you could just say a number on the side, and a bit longer on top (that's Supercuts lingo) but here the guards all have different numbers, so I was off to a poor start. I told Kenneth that he could do what he thought was best and not to be afraid, because it would grow back. He said, "Shiiiiitt. I want you to come back."

Another thing that I'm still learning about haircuts is that you have to go to someone that knows your kind of hair and style. I was first introduced to this at my job at GDOT when I learned that some black women go to the salon every week and then don't wash their hair. Then last week Lauren was pointing out how not all short haircuts are the same and the importance of going to a skilled stylist when you are girl with short hair. Anyway, I estimate that the expertise of the black barbershop is the fade. They spent a good deal of time on this. The fade should be kept tight and clean thus people come back often to get them taken care of.

They had a tv on and one guy was just sitting over in the corner reading a book, but most of the guys were all talking. At one point Kenneth took a break from cutting my hair to act out someone running and having to pull their pants up. That was part of discussion about how the kids wear their pants so low. "At that point, you're basically making yourself a one armed man" said one Master Barber. They also have cards that they give to customers and they say things like 'Master Barber.'

I even got dissed because I move my head around so much, apparently like a 6 year old. Kenneth talked mostly to me about his apartment, his failed marriage (a topic people like to dive into after hearing that I am happy in mine) and bike rides. At the end I felt like I usually do in foreign situations, I didn't know what to do. Someone had already had his fade finished and was sticking around to chat and hang out. Do you have to be invited for that? How much to tip? In the end, I handled it like every other haircut situation and everything worked out. So maybe all the nuance I expected, all the new culture, the Utopian bliss of Faith Barbershop was in my head and getting a haircut is really just that, a haircut. We'll see next week when I go back to get this fade tightened up.

Home Improvement Part 2

This weekend Matt and I got out the ladder and did some pruning on the huge Pine in the back and the Red Maple in front. I think it was the most masculine either of us have felt in awhile. Probably since we worked on the first fence back in February. Riding that wave of testosterone we decided to organize a backyard campfire scenario in the near future. After checking on the State's Burning Ban we found that we had only 2 days left to make it happen legally. Georgia imposes a burning ban during smog season (May-Sep) as a strategy to reduce its criteria pollutants, such as particulate matter and ozone. In any event we squeezed it in on Sunday night. I have to say the location lends itself well to such activities, but I did feel bad about all the smoke going into the air and our lungs. We'll see if it happens again in the fall and what progress can be made on that stump we want to get out of there.

But I've finished more than cutting down trees since my last home update. First, we got some gutters installed, thanks to the generosity of my parents. I can't think of a much better housewarming gift. I might also mention that we found and bought a grill,even though it didn't include much work on anybody's part. Throw in a few places to sit and the deck is nearly all set for summertime. We just need to get it sealed and figure out some way to hang a hammock. But, no worries school is almost out and I have some free time to devote to this project.

The grill is strapped to the deck with an irregularly large chain. The plan is to lock it to the bollard. You may remember me talking about bollards for our bike a while back. Well, we also finished that project. We ended up taking a fence post and the tool developed specifically for driving that fence post into the ground. I had a machine shop drill and hole through both and, voila, we had our bollard. The fence post is pretty easy to cut through with a saw, so we filled it with cement when we set it. Essentially making a bollard the way they're always made, pouring cement into a mold. It's just that ours has arms. Works well so far, now we wait for the rains and see what grade changes might be needed.

I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but the "grass" has been cut (to a point). On my birthday we bought a lawn mower and since then we've had a lawn that is trimmed. We had to pass on the reel mowers on account of our large, hilly, and debris-laden yard. But we did decide to go with the electric mower which has worked very well for us so far. You'll notice a distinct line where the weeds get tall, that's the extent of our current extension cord.

Finally, we completed the sealing-off of our yard, keeping the neighborhood strays out and Mali in. We started by finishing the first part under the deck and then tackled the other side of the house. The design is pretty much the same as the fist side of the fence, except it's higher. I'm still tweaking the design to make it sturdier, but currently it's serving its intended purpose.

Thanks for letting me ramble about these things we're doing (which probably mean little to you), and stay tuned for more to come.