It's All Good

I am out of town for a software training and was having dinner at a local bar/restaurant the other night when I overheard the older couple next to me talking about this New Yorker cartoon which I had remembered seeing and liking. Here it is. Feel free to comment, or not. It's all good.

ASL study

I am currently taking part in a study to test a new way of teaching basic sign language vocabulary to adults. The study was developed by the American Sign Language Group within the Contextual Computing Group at Georgia Tech. Each day for a week I follow a link from a text message to a mobile website where I go through my ASL lessons for the day. I can complete up to 80 lessons in the week of the study. and each lesson takes about 4 minutes.

During the lesson I watch 4-5 short videos of this guy signing a word. Then I click on "continue" and am shown 4 choices for the meaning of that sign, along with a button for "Don't Know." Finally you are told whether or not you chose the correct meaning for the sign and you move on to the next movie. Over the course of several lessons you see words multiple times and reinforce your knowledge. A week after completing my week of lessons I go in to take a test and wee what I've learned.

Not only do I get to learn some basic sign language, I get Amazon dollars too ($0.625 per lesson, plus time in the lab). I'll end up with around $60. I am asking you, the reader to post interesting and unusual things from Amazon that I could buy with this money. Provide links in the comments section of this post. Nothing vulgar please. I may end up purchasing your suggestion.

Cumberland Island

For the Columbus Day weekend we had a trip planned to Cumberland Island, GA. Fresh off finishing the Ken Burns' National Park Series I was ready to see some preservation in action. I went to Cumberland Island expecting to find no cars, no people, and wild horses; a semi-tropical setting in prime season.

We drove down to Blythe Island State Park on Saturday with a stop in Savannah for lunch. This trip followed a weekend in the mountains of Boone and so I was not ready for the heat that south GA still possesses in October. Temperatures hovered close to 90 most of the time we were there. We slept in tents; a euphemism for sweat torture chamber. Regardless of the heat we still purchased firewood and built a fire to stand around. The threat of storms kept the rain flies on our tents and made it hotter. Luckily though we didn't get any rain while were out there. I'd much rather deal with the heat than be stuck in the rain all the time.

To get to Cumberland you take a small ferry for about 40 minutes from the small town of St. Mary's. The ferry ride was one of my favorite parts of the trip. While we were on it, the sun was out, the wind is blowing in your face and the scenery is nice. I took some time to contemplate the nature around me (save the chemical plant silhouette in the distance) and compare it to the mountains. The coast always seems much more delicate to me, like it has so many more moving parts. That also makes it seem more dynamic. The mountains seem like they are forever unchanged. The views also have differential impacts. In the mountains one can get to great vistas and see the expanse of the landscape as well as stand at the edge or base of a cliff and feel how small you are. On the coast you only get the expansive views that go on forever and make you feel so small in time. I think a lot of naturalists write about each morning in a natural place feels like the first morning; the morning of creation. Like every thing in that place was like it had always been. For me looking out on the ocean and watching the waves gives me that feeling.

Nonetheless, most of my time on Cumberland Island was spent wishing I was in the mountains. I was surprised that there are still occupied residences on the island, and that the horses weren't out running on the beach like something out of black beauty. It didn't help that the rangers on the island give you a run down of everything that can go wrong on Cumberland Island before you head off into the backcountry. We had planned to head in about 7 miles to Yankee Paradise but found out it was occupied and went to the closer (4 miles) Stafford Beach camping area. The spot was very cool. Tons of old live oaks, plenty of room to spread out and keep the kitchen away from the tents, close to the beach, and it even had bathrooms.
The ticks and bugs were still pretty bad but we didn't have any problems with raccoons or mice or gators or snakes or horses or armadillos. The beach was great and in fact my favorite part was heading there in the morning to watch the sunrise and spending time playing in the tidepools.

I'm not sure if I'll head back to Cumberland right away but maybe someday I will revisit the place. I think for now the next barrier islands I try to see will be off North Carolina and maybe we can make a stop by some mountains while we're up there.

Success

[update :: in reference to earlier post]

We did it!! We blew up the moon.

This bridge over a highway is cooler than your bridge over a highway

I can't remember if I have written about it before (when commenting on Tech construction) the Fifth St. Bridge over the connector is an incredible conversion. When I started at Tech it was a two lane road with immediately adjacent sidewalks and high-reaching chain link fence that kept you from throwing stuff into the mess of traffic below. Now it's a park where you have no idea that 10 lanes of mayhem are pulsing below you. This weekend the piece of road solidifies its transformation as it hosts the annual Taste of Atlanta event. This will be a formal acknowledgment of the bridge's role as a place to gather and for leisure and not just a path between destinations. The transition has been progressing for awhile now (see flag football above).

Two days ago I noticed a Robert Mondavi faux chateau set up on the grass, and yesterday when i was walking to the train the tent city was in full swing. This morning on my way in the setup was continuing and in front of the main stage there was a cooking segment being shot for the local news stations. This weekend hundreds, if not thousands, of people will be standing on it, enjoying foods, and taking in the view of the skyline, with no immediate cognition of the speed, noise and power beneath them. Pretty cool.Belw is the satellite image during the construction (the original width is the street plus the red sidewalk).


I wondered about other such bridge projects. A quick google search provided nothing much. Innovative bridge improvements apparently entail "Positioning slabs above the piers to protect from water the “expansion joints” that adjust to bridge movement" and not "throwing a culinary party on the bridge." Of course this one in Florida is pretty cool. Please let me know if you have knowledge of anything better. Until I hear otherwise this bridge over a highway is cooler than your bridge over a highway.

CoA update

Latest College of Architecture temporary installation

Hound Ears 09

This past weekend I headed north with some friends for the beginning of the 2009 Triple Crown Bouldering competition, with some climbing at Hound Ears near Boone, NC. Ben and I were climbing but we were joined by Katy, Ajay and Christa who explored the cultural and natural beauty of Boone while we were wrestlin' pebbles. We arrived late on Friday night with some rain freshly fallen, but things cleared up on Saturday and provided PERFECT weather all day.

The competition went pretty well for me. My only goal for the event was show some improvement over last year when I tallied 1893 points and
finished 10th in the novice/recreational category. Most people assume that there are specific problems that are attempted and then you are judged and given scores on your climbs. In actuality, all the problems in the crag are given a point value and you do what you can and total your ten highest problems. Each successful climb is verified by two witnesses with signatures. All the climbers are given a guide with a map and lists of all the problems. The recreational category is for competitors completing problems rated V0-V2, with scores ranging up to around 230 points.

This year I finished 14 problems including a V3, a V4 and a V5. This meant that I had to bump up a category into the intermediate. Consequently, I did not finish so well within my group but I was proud to improve over last year (and by a whole category). My score this year was 2497. The V3 I sent was a classic problem called the Heretic (shown in the picture). It is a great problem because it has good holds that are far apart (so big moves), and it's high (so you have an intense mental component to it). It was incredibly fun and the rock looks really cool. Ironically, the 'hardest' problem I sent, the V5, was one that I did on the first attempt.

After the comp, we met up with the rest of our friends, had some great food, great drink and a great time. You can read more about it here. We took the Blueridge Parkway from Boone to Mount Mitchel, the highest point in the US east of the Mississippi. Then we went to Asheville. Everytime I go to North Carolina I leave with a little more appreciation for the place.