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One-Bowl Pumpkin Bread

2011-11-19T18:15:00.003-05:00

This fall I've made a number of pumpkin related baked goods, but this one is easily my favorite because it is simple, delicious and not ridiculously unhealthy.

3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1/4 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. cloves
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 c. melted butter
1 2/3 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. mashed roasted (pie) pumpkin
1/4 c. cold water (if your mashed pumpkin is watery, use less)
1 Tbs. molasses

Mix all ingredients together. Put in greased loaf pan. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 65-80 minutes.

A Weekend in Shenandoah

2011-04-27T18:46:00.000-04:00

Some pictures from our weekend in Shenandoah last month courtesy of facebook.

Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and beyond

2011-04-26T16:23:00.000-04:00

Earlier this month Rob and I took a drive down to the wildlife refuge near Virginia Beach. We got in late at night as it was raining pretty heavily and traffic was thick coming down from DC. Luckily a great beach side grill was open and serving cold beer and warm seafood right across the street from our hotel so we headed over there and filled our bellies with goodness.

First thing the next morning we drove to the top of VB to see the swamp at First Landing State Park.

The "knees" of the cypress trees that function to deliver oxygen to the tree

Hello Turtle

Next we drove onto a military base to see a couple of lighthouses.

Here I am descending the stairs of the old Cape Henry lighthouse

This is the new Cape Henry lighthouse

After leaving the base, we drove back into town, grabbed lunch at Taste Unlimited, and rented bikes that we rode around for the rest of the afternoon.

Our first stop was this gorgeous old hotel called The Cavalier which is supposedly haunted. Follow the link for some historic photos of the hotel. After riding through the old VB neighborhoods, we headed back to the boardwalk where we found a little amusement park.

Photos from our bike ride around Virginia Beach

After we turned our bikes in for the evening, we had dinner at Tautogs and then went to Skinny Dip for frozen yogurt for dessert. Skinny Dip is a giant frozen yogurt bar with several flavors of frozen yogurt (including red velvet) and all manner of toppings.

The next day we drove down to the wildlife refuge. Here are some of the photos we took:

After walking for a number of miles on the refuge, we headed for a quiet beach called little island beach and made a giant sandcastle that we modeled off a caste we toured in Rome called Castle Sant'Angelo. It was a really ambitious undertaking and my body was so sore the next day, but it was really really fun!

Here is a picture of it from my iphone:

Colosseum

2011-02-16T12:45:00.002-05:00

SDIM1371.jpg, originally uploaded by urbanized.us.

The Collesseum was amazing. We were prepared for it to be "smaller than you would think", but it was not so. I thought it was very impressive and definitely worth visiting.

The Cats of Rome

2011-02-13T14:50:00.002-05:00

SDIM1321.jpg, originally uploaded by urbanized.us.

There are homeless cats that roam the ruins of Rome. This is one we saw on our way to check out the Colosseum. Unlike most cats, they are not interested in attention from people. When I approached this one, it walked over to the wall and sat down with its back to me. Very strange cat behavior. The cats we encountered in the gardens of Palatine Hill acted similarly.

Berlin

2011-02-10T14:43:00.002-05:00

SDIM1282.jpg, originally uploaded by urbanized.us.

This is a palace near where my friend Hayley lives in Charlottenburg. We had such a good time with Hayley going to the various Christmas markets and exploring the downtown that we kept trying to postpone our return to the hotel that night. We ended up walking around the palace grounds and when we'd gotten all the way around a caretaker told us that we weren't supposed to be in the gardens this late and we would have to walk all the way back around to get out (even though our exit point was a mere 20 feet from where we were standing and hadn't been closed yet!). So we walked all the way back around to the other gate which had just been shut by another caretaker. Hayley asked him (in German) if he could please let us out and thankfully he did. What a long, cold night it would have been had he not.

Hayley is an amazing violinist and is in Berlin to play with the orchestras there. Next time we visit her, hopefully we'll be able to catch one of her performances as I haven't been able to watch her play since we were little.

Manneken Pis

2011-02-09T10:37:00.003-05:00

SDIM1105.jpg, originally uploaded by urbanized.us.

The peeing boy of Brussels was presented to us as "the Eiffel Tower of Brussels". These colorful guys are actually little replicas in a Belgian chocolate shop, but the actual boy is peeing into a fountain on a nondescript intersection of two nondescript streets. You'd totally miss it if you weren't looking for it, but luckily my friend was there to point it out to us.

Brussels was a really pretty city. We went shopping at one of the Christmas markets where Rob bought me a gorgeous turquoise jewelry box and we took a tour of the grand place, the parliament buildings, city gate, etc. We also treated ourselves to an assortment of Belgian chocolates that didn't quite make it back to the states (we ended up finishing them off during our Christmas Eve picnic in Rome).

It rained for most of the time we were exploring Brussels. By nightfall, the rain turned to snow and so we ducked inside of a restaurant for dinner and had an assortment of delicious Belgian beers. After, we trudged back to our hotel in the snow and hung our clothes out to dry overnight on the very convenient heated drying rack in our bathroom.

Musée du Louvre

2011-02-08T09:49:00.001-05:00

This time around in Paris, I planned my time a little more carefully. Where before I gave myself less than an hour to visit the Louvre, I cut out a half day to explore it this time. It was a good time to go because there weren't as many tourists so we could get up close to the various antiquities and artwork. This is a photo of the inner courtyard of the museum. Looking forward to my next visit to France this summer!

SDIM0987.jpg, originally uploaded by urbanized.us.

Regensburg

2011-02-02T09:57:00.004-05:00

SDIM1176.jpg, originally uploaded by urbanized.us.

On the third stop of our European trip this winter, we were able to visit the magical fairytale city of Regensburg in southern Germany. The city is one of the only cities that was essentially untouched in WWII and so the beautiful buildings constructed in medieval times remain standing today. The city had such a lovely community feel to it and everyone was so cheery and nice.

On our first night there we went to one of the Christmas markets with lots of little wooden stalls selling various crafted objects. This is where Rob bought me a really colorful knitted cap. The market also had a campfire for people to sit around and be jolly. There was mulled wine and sausage with various potato dishes, of which we had plenty. There was even a lady going around with a stick with mistletoe at the end and holding it above couples' heads so they would kiss. It was seriously one of the most romantic, storybook nights I've ever experienced.

Something Strange Happened Here

2011-01-30T17:08:00.003-05:00

SDIM2069.jpg, originally uploaded by urbanized.us.

On our second to last day in Venice, Rob and I got a day pass on the water bus. We had a ton of fun riding around the island sitting at the back of the boat (where there's a little deck with 5 or so seats). We rode all around the island and then off behind it where we got a great view of the Swiss Alps which were beautiful. We also saw the Venice graveyard which is its own island and then we caught a glimpse of this just after. On our last day in Venice, we set out to try to find out what the strange message was, so we walked to the area on foot and had a look around. It turns out it's an old armory that moonlights as an art venue. The message is an art installation.

Daniel Firman: “SSHH is a work that offers an extendable rendition of reality. The work provokes a questioning of one’s interpretation of the “world” in which we live. In this exhibit, SSHH submits itself to the extraordinary beauty of Venice, yet at the same time, to a vision even more complex and colossal such as that of our contemporary world. Without any explanation nor assertion, the work must simply remain a psychological or even a metaphysical question that one asks oneself.”

New Apt

2011-01-22T02:08:00.004-05:00

No Internet at the new apartment yet, however, it's starting to look like a real live place and less like a maze of boxes. I've already got some good ideas for the bedroom going. I'm thinking a Spanish influence. Not sure about kitchen yet, but living room colors will be based from these vintage fire-place ornaments that my friend Jenna got me for a house warming present.

Our biggest issue is storage space so I'm thinking an IKEA trip is in order pretty soon. It's tough fitting 7 rooms into 3, but we're getting there.

We're going exploring this weekend to check out parts of the city we haven't been to yet. Probably a photo outing since we haven't done much of that since Europe.

I'm looking forward to checking out some of the concert venues. I'm sure DC gets a lot more coming through than good ol' Columbus. Need to research this once I can connect to the internets (on something larger than an iPhone).

Last Day in Columbus

2011-01-11T18:28:00.005-05:00

It's our last day in Columbus. Today we're doing all of the last minute stuff like making sure all of the random junk is out of the apartment before we leave. It is unbelievable how much *stuff* accumulates over three years of living in a giant apartment. I will certainly miss this place; so many fun parties, a house show, bond fires, cook outs, dance parties, and a magical little space called the dream room. I disassembled the dream tent today - I know it is only one of the many fun little creative environments I will build for myself and the people in my life, but this was definitely one of my favorites. It's time to move on to bigger and better things in a giant new and exciting city. I'm really looking forward to exploring the next chapter of my life in DC.

Mosaic in Ostia

2011-01-11T17:10:00.002-05:00

SDIM1760.jpg, originally uploaded by urbanized.us.

The floor of one of the many ruins we saw in the port town of Rome. Most of the ruins were not gated off so it was like a jungle gym for adults.

Venice by night

2011-01-06T13:32:00.001-05:00

SDIM1901.jpg, originally uploaded by urbanized.us.

Here's one of many shots that Rob took with his new camera during our travels around Europe. This one was a long exposure we took over the famous Rialto bridge. Venice is such an amazing little city with great restaurants. Our favorite was called La Piscina where we had a selection of delicious cheeses, seafood pasta and lovely Italian wine.

DC Digs

2010-12-02T14:50:00.009-05:00

Well, there's not a whole lot of apartment you can get for under $2000 in DC, it seems. But, the search continues and we have some appointments set up next week for some cute little one bedrooms over shops and in some vintage low-rise buildings. I'm very very excited to be living in a big city with tons of things going on and mass transit to get to all of them. I suppose I imagined myself in the likes of Chicago, NYC or London, but the more I learn about DC, the more I love it. Finally a place I can convince some of my friends to come visit me in, rather than me always flying out to their more awesomer cities :) Not that Columbus isn't awesome. It's just not nationally or internationally recognized and in fact, when I was in Chicago last week some of the locals I was talking to seemed to have negative impressions about Columbus. Some story about how when in the late 90s they were on tour in Columbus and just wanted a place to sleep and take a shower. Not a hostel was to be found so they ended up going into the OSU student union to sleep on couches but all they found there were chairs. They considered finding dorms to shower in but, in the end, decided to drive on.

Of course, I got rather defensive of Columbus at that point and told them that there's talks of opening up a hostel (in fact, one guy has a sort of hostel running from his north campus home), and that the independent scene has become more realized with things like Independents' Day festival, Junctionview's assorted events, and the new Wonderland (which I'm sad I'll miss the opening of). But, we are certainly no Portland, Madison, Seattle, Chicago, etc. etc. and I'm not sure that we ever will be.

I could go on about Columbus, but I've already set upon the title for this entry being "DC Digs", so DC Digs it shall be.

My friend Lesley who lives in DC has said that my "preferred criteria" are going to be hard to come by. I know that I want a fairly full kitchen and an "in unit" washer and dryer. Rob and I have rescued a ton of plants over time from the abused and mistreated plant section of Lowes and it'd be nice to have a sunny room or balcony to put them on. I'd like to continue my balcony vegetable garden we started at Rob's old place as that was really fun and yielded a ton of delicious tomatoes, peppers, and some admittedly bland tasting strawberries. I also started some blueberry bushes that I'm super excited about. Is it too much to ask for a one bedroom with bike storage, wood floors, and close proximity to grocery, metro and green space for under 2.5k?

DC apartment research seems to think that it is too much to ask, but I remain optimistic. Stay tuned to see if I prevail...

Update

2010-11-28T00:10:00.003-05:00

Apartment search has been intense. Rob was saying he would pay someone $500 to find us the perfect apartment and I'm starting to feel the same. Fortunately, we have a real estate agent who works with DC properties to help us out, so I'm feeling better about the situation.

Need to start packing the house up as we will be off to Europe in a few weeks and will be needing to move as soon as we get back. I'm super excited to be heading back to Europe and I'll be visiting with three of the same people I saw last time I was there and, funnily enough, all three are living in three different cities. Karim has moved from Paris to Brussels, Hayley has moved from London to Berlin, and Brendan has moved from Dublin to a small German town outside of Munich. We'll be visiting him during his birthday so I have to figure out some sort of gift to bring him. I'm knitting a scarf in like a herringbone pattern, is quite pretty and I think I'll take it to give to Brendan's friend Julia. Julia is German and I met her in Dublin when I went to stay with Brendan while I was interviewing with universities for grad school in 2005, which means they've been together for 5 years! I'm really looking forward to seeing the German Christmas Markets. I've heard good things. We're also going to get to see some parts of Italy which is supercool.

I'd really like to live in Holland. I visited Amsterdam in 2007 and fell in love with the city, the people and the overall aesthetic. I've started teaching myself some Dutch. I'm finding it rather challenging and thinking it'll be easier to take a class which I might do when I get to DC.

I visited with my girlfriend Kathleen in Chicago last weekend. It was so good to see her. She's bought her first house with her awesome boyfriend Matt and they're off to a beautiful start to a sweet life together. I remember discussions with Kathleen several years ago when we were both so worried about not finding anyone to spend our lives with. How we might have to start a ladies commune together and raise babies together. Well, fortunately, it won't have to come to that :)

One of my friends is having trouble letting go of an old relationship. I think it's because she is really stressed out right now and finds it difficult to get out of bad habits. I found this series of articles on how to get over tough breakups and sent it to her. I think they're fairly good.

http://www.examiner.com/thirtysomething-relationships-in-phoenix/harmony-nicole-deleon

After breaking up with my first long-term boyfriend, it took me 2 years to not feel heartbroken. I didn't seriously date anyone for another 2 years, but I think once I had the first (painful) experience, it's taken me less and less time to get over subsequent broken hearts. Unfortunately, you can't know that all will be well eventually until you've experienced it yourself.

Kes-fren

2010-11-04T17:14:00.011-05:00

I met Kes while hanging out at a boy's house when I was 16. The first time she came over to his house, she had her hair in a ton of tiny little braids. Up to this point in my life, I'd never really connected with another human being quite the way I connected with Kes. She was creative and fun and would make mix tapes that we would play in my Oldsmobile as we drove around town. We saw a LOT of movies together. We would research far away places that we wanted to visit together. We buried a time capsule together in my mom's backyard which included a tape where we interviewed each other with important questions like: "Who do you have a crush on?". We went on our first serious road trip together "A Trip to Fripp" (Island) where we drove halfway across the United States to the east coast.

She moved to California when I turned 18 and soon after that, I went to live in New Zealand. We've seen each other once in the last 12 years.

But Kes is back in Ohio this week!

Being with her is as if no time (or maturing) has passed since we were friends long ago :)

Here are a few pictures so far...

Before bringing her over to the apartment to meet Rob, we stopped at Giant Eagle to get some bread, cheese, pears, wine, and jelly bellies (for extra class).

She was impressed by all the giant cheeses on display:

And at very reasonable prices:

(this taken right before the cheese was confiscated from her by a grocer)

But, that didn't stop her from picking up more giant cheese:

And cradling it like a baby:

After the cheese adventure at Giant Eagle. We went back to the apartment and hung out with Rob. Caught up about all the crazy things that have been going on in each other lives since we last caught up. She is working as a sound engineer in San Diego and has done some sound design for a few shorts. She also does recording for various artists around town.

I knew she'd appreciate the dream lounge so I took her up there and we had an impromptu photoshoot with the help of Rob.

I love this girl.

There's no way I'm letting 6 years get in between now and the next time I see her.

Roadtrip

2010-10-28T20:07:00.009-04:00

Photo by Ryan Stolte-Sawa

Ryan, Rob and I went on a little road trip towards western Ohio today to see what we could see. I shot mostly with the Bronica so my photos aren't immediately available. But, here are a few shots that Rob got with his new Sigma DP2s.

Pacific Pride gas station

Entrance of a 1960s style mall in Springfield

Tonquas sign in Troy

On the way back we listened to the album that Ryan recently sang/played violin on by Time & Temperature. It is a really pretty album that you should listen to and perhaps even buy.

http://timeandtemperature.bandcamp.com/

Rob's New Camera and Banana Muffins

2010-10-27T20:53:00.017-04:00

Rob got a cool little new camera today. It's a Sigma DP2s and it will be perfect for our assorted travel plans near and far. It's a point and shoot that has a DSLR sensor and a really good lens so you can take it where you wouldn't want to take a DSLR camera, i.e. the mean streets of Naples, Italy.

He used it to shoot some photos of me making Banana Muffins earlier today.

Muffin Recipe:

Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- dash or two of nutmeg
- 1 tbsp of ground flax seed for extra healthiness (not mandatory)
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup skim milk
- 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup mashed bananas (2-3 bananas)

Preheat oven to 400*

Directions:
- Using a whisk, combine all dry ingredients in one bowl: whole wheat, sugar, baking soda and powder, salt, nuts, spices.
- Beat the egg lightly in a separate bowl. Whisk in milk, applesauce, molasses, vanilla to the eggs.
- Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Fold bananas in.
- Divide the batter among a greased or paper-lined muffin tin.
- Bake for about 18 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Makes 12 large or 20 small muffins :)

Sloss

2010-10-19T01:38:00.003-04:00

Sloss, originally uploaded by J in J-land.

Rob took me to one of the spots he used to go to a lot when he lived in Birmingham. It's a giant blast furnace that made pig iron. Built in the 1890s it was turned into park for people to explore sometime in the 80s. This was one of my favorite experiences from the Birmingham trip.

Rock City

2010-10-19T01:32:00.005-04:00

Rock City, originally uploaded by J in J-land.

On our way back from Birmingham, we decided to see Rock City. It was full of rope bridges, vantages such as this, and multitudes of glow in the dark gnomes scattered throughout. It was definitely worth it.

Overlooking Birmingham from Vulcan

2010-10-19T01:27:00.001-04:00

Overlooking Birmingham from Vulcan, originally uploaded by J in J-land.

Columbus to DC to Buffalo to Toronto and back

2010-10-05T01:00:00.002-04:00

It's been almost two months since our giant adventure that started with an interview, proceeded to an engagement, then a wedding, then over to an entirely different country and back to where we started with some other interesting bits in between. Or as my partner put it "Odyssey w @nmbrsbypnt: 8 days, 1600 miles, 3 cities, 2 subways, 1 job interview, walking, love & a GPS tracker app"

We started our little adventure with a 5 hour drive over to Middletown, MD where we stayed with my aunt and uncle in their 19teens Victorian house. The next day we made our way into DC and settled into our room at the Adams Inn. This is the most amazing place to stay in DC with its overflowing platters of peppermint patties, its whimsical decorations, and incredibly gracious and helpful staff.

Little bird cage in our room

Under our bed side table

That night the doctor who invited Rob to interview treated us out to a Cajun dinner with his wife. They were a very amiable and smart couple and I definitely approve of Rob's new boss (spoiler alert: Rob got the job). New boss was really good to us; very thoughtful, articulate, had a great sense of humor and rather laid back. I think Rob will very much enjoy working with him in the future; he's good stuff.

Rob had his interview the following morning. After dropping him off at the hospital, I explored the city a little more on my own. Five hours of interviewing later, we went to celebrate its completion with dinner and drinks at The Black Squirrel.

Little firehouse across from the Adams Inn

The next day we spent navigating DC's subway system trying to pick a spot we would want to call home. It's hard in DC because it's so built up. We love living in Clintonville because of its community feel, its ample green space, and proximity to the city. Unfortunately, there's not really anything as affordable as housing in Clintonville in DC. What we pay here for a three story, three bedroom duplex with a garage and lots of garden space would easily be 5 times as expensive in the district.

More Adams Morgan

DC Chinatown

We hit a bunch of spots in our neighborhood search. Columbia Heights is affordable, has some cool stuff going on... but it's a little too new constructiony and a lengthier work commute for Rob. Adams Morgan has a ton of character, is affordable, but is kinda grimy and is rumored to get a substantial bro crowd on the weekends. Cleveland Park is okay, but the only affordable housing options are giant "filing cabinet" style apartment buildings. So the first go around at neighborhood shopping was informative, but we didn't really fall in love with any of the neighborhoods. We'll be going back in a few months to check out some more places, though.

After our hood search we left to go back up to MD, grabbed a pizza and spent the night chatting about our time in DC with my folks. We stayed at my cousin's condo that night and left early in the morning for Buffalo.

Downtown Middletown, MD

I wanted to see the finger lakes after having heard good things about them from my ex's band's east coast tour. The trip up there was beautiful. We stopped at the southern point of Seneca lake and had a seafood dinner. We walked up the dock and around the marina and were having a moment when this fellow and his girlfriend asked if we might take their picture. Rob handed me his camera and the gentleman handed Rob his point and shoot. Rob pointed and shot and was just starting to return the camera when suddenly the guy got down on one knee. I joined in on the photo-fest and shot a few with Rob's camera. I've never witnessed another couple's engagement before; it was really quite beautiful.

She said yes, incidentally. I asked for Lloyd's business card so I could send him the photos I had taken. When Lloyd received the photos I took of him, he wrote us back thanking us and telling us a little bit more about himself and his fiance:

"I want to thank you again for being at the right place at the right time. It was an amazing time and I am thankful to have met you and your boyfriend. You helped make a memory that we will cherish for the rest of our lives..." Letter continued here

Sweet, huh? It was thrilling to be a part of someone's "romantic movie" and I have to say that I felt like I was having my own, concurrent, romantic movie along side of them.

A shot of me at Seneca Lake right before the engagement.

Next stop was Buffalo.We stayed at this historic site mansion built in 1855. It was incredible. The best part about it was that the care taker was a retired lounge singer who was a sweet no nonsense type of lady and quite the character. The mansion had been redecorated in the 70s so there was fabulous shag carpeting, bright orange wall paper and all of the other trappings of the period - including Story of O-esque owl statues and over-sized grapes chandelier. We were the only guests that night and I was partly convinced I'd just walked into a horror film, but we survived the night and a three course breakfast was waiting for us in the morning as promised.

We spent the first part of the day exploring some abandonments in Buffalo including Bethlehem Steel Lackawanna Plant, Buffalo State Hospital, and Buffalo Central Terminal. The last of which was having a restoration day and so we were informally invited to walk the grounds. Rob's knowledge of these sites is so impressive, which really enriched my own experience. The explanation of the theory and history of keeping the insane in the community of the insane with the buildings arranged in flock formation - in order of increasing inhabitant insanity extending on either side was particularly interesting to me. The era of the insane asylums ended in the 1980s in preference for immersing patients in with the rest of society for better normalization and a higher quality of life, though at the expense of quality of treatment in some cases.

Buffalo Central Terminal Clock

We left the asylum to celebrate an institution of another sort. My friends Adam & Larissa were wed that afternoon. Rob kindly helped our friend Giles photograph the wedding. It was held on Larissa's parents' property replete with weeping willow tree and cat tail marsh.

Larissa and flower girl kissing Adam

Jon & Sara

Adam and the male half of the wedding party

Kendyl & Giles

When the glow sticks came out later that night, I became a glow stick hippie - and when Jon got to scheming, I became a glow stick Native American.

The next morning the Mansion's caretaker gave us banana bread as a parting gift for our travels. We stopped to visit the falls before moving on to Toronto.

I really felt a connection with Toronto. The city had lots of fantastic street art, super nice people, and was incredibly diverse. We walked through the market place, bought some wares and had dinner at Peter Pan Bistro which was as quirky as the name implies. The bistro had an interesting menu and nice private little booths with 1920s era light fixtures.

Guy in his low rider wheelchair shot from a trolley window

We spent the next day poking around Toronto via the trains and trolleys and pretty much hit every spot on the map that my Canadian-born friend Ryan made for me: here. Below is a picture of the chubbiest little bird which we saw at High Park and a black squirrel.

We returned via Detroit to make it back in time for a bike advocacy meeting with pizza and wine and a number of Columbus' mode shift experts to plan for a very cool mode shift project. This reminding us of how bitter sweet this move to DC will be. I'm sure there are plenty of cool community projects to work on in DC as well, though.

Too much good times! I can't wait for our next adventure which is looking to be a trip to the Mediterranean.

Leg Warmers, High Kicks & Fast Beats - (614) Magazine - Columbus, OH

2010-08-06T01:19:00.000-04:00

Made it out to Columbus' second Dance Dance Party Party tonight after a professional engineers mixer, hah. Didn't make the photoshoot for this article, unfortunately.

Leg Warmers, High Kicks & Fast Beats - (614) Magazine - Columbus, OH

Singing with Super Desserts at Comfest, Part 2

2010-07-03T08:42:00.000-04:00

I finally have time to post the photos from Super Desserts related fun at Comfest last weekend. It was an incredible experience and I think I know now at least one of the reasons why musicians do it. It is fantastically exhilarating and even though my role up on stage as part of the guest choir was quite insignificant compared to the rest of the band, I still got to feel the rush of people smiling and dancing and bopping their heads to what you're producing for them on stage.

In a way it brings the past 2 years of my life full circle. I got to participate in the back end of seeing what it takes to record, mix, master, create album artwork for and release a record. I got to see what the touring process looks like - booking the venues, trying to publicize shows, trying to get people to review the music, sending music out to radio stations and building a fan-base. But, I never really had any idea what it was like to be on stage actually performing (again, terribly insignificant role with the Super Desserts, but still a small taste of what it's like).

Here are a few photos from the second practice at the Conservatory of Music at Capital University with the Super Desserts and a few of the first photos taken with the new Bronica ETRS at the actual Performance.

Here are the Obviouslies, they recruited some members of the Super Desserts to sing with them during their performance on Friday of Comfest.

Here are most of the Super Desserts and some of the guest choir practicing.

Here the Super Desserts are performing at Comfest

Here we are, the guest choir.. Eric, Curtis, Lisa, me, Joe and Cory

Eve and the some of the ladies of Super Desserts

The guest choir

The B&W photos were shot by Rob and you can see more of his stuff here.

More updates soon including Columbus' first Dance Dance Party Party and my trip to Birmingham (which is happening right now, actually and has been super fun so far!).

My Grandpa

2010-06-25T09:04:00.001-04:00

My Grandpa passed away a year ago today. He was a really cool dude and I miss him a lot. My aunt recently found this post written about him in February. It appeared in the proceedings of The Board of Trustees at Ohio State. He rode his horse 200 miles to go to college!

THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE

ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINTH

MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Columbus, Ohio, February 4 and 5, 2010

Fairfax E. Watkins

The Board of Trustees of The Ohio State University expresses its sorrow upon the death on June 25, 2009, of Fairfax E. Watkins, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science.

In 1930 Fairfax Watkins rode his horse some 200 miles westward to the mountain town of Blacksburg, Virginia, where he began his studies of mechanical engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. After graduating with a M.S. degree in mechanical engineering in 1937, he received an offer from Professor Thomas French for a faculty position at The Ohio State University. Professor Watkins taught at Ohio State from 1937-42.

In 1942 Professor Watkins took leave from OSU to serve in the United States Army during World War II. While serving in the military, he managed engineering operations of the barrage balloon protection of the Panama Canal, for which he was decorated with the Legion of Merit Medal of Honor.

Professor Watkins was transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1943, where he served as a professor of military science. A year later, while still in the U.S. Army, he served his country by investigating the background of scientists working on the Manhattan Project.

When WW II ended, Professor Watkins took a civilian job with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation where he designed traffic interchanges for the Pennsylvania Turnpike. These interchanges, then called clover leafs, were among the first to be built in the world.

Professor Watkins returned to Ohio State in 1946, joining the former Department of Engineering Graphics where he taught courses in engineering graphics and engineering mechanics. He retired from OSU in 1974.

On behalf of the University community, the Board of Trustees expresses to the family of Professor Emeritus Fairfax E. Watkins its deepest sympathy and sense of understanding of their loss. It is directed that this resolution be inscribed upon the minutes of the Board of Trustees and that a copy be tendered to his family as an expression of the Board’s heartfelt sympathy.

My maternal grandparents, Fairfax and Olga.

Urban Gardening

2010-06-23T13:16:00.005-04:00

I have built the second tier to the Urban Planter. Only one more tier to go until it's complete.

I should have my vegetable plants, which have nearly outgrown their current containers, into their new homes by the end of the weekend.

Today I listened into an NPR program on Urban Gardening which featured a guest called The Cheap Vegetable Gardener. After investigating this chap on the internets, I found out about a nifty little contest he's got going on to win a responsible gardening kit from Garden Safe. I'm all about it. The buggies have got to go!

The cutest thing about the NPR interview was the tip regarding how to deal with bunnies, squirrels and birds. You just gotta grow enough to feed yourself and all the little critters as they have as much right to the land as you do!

Lepidopterology

2010-06-20T23:09:00.004-04:00

This weekend I got a brand new (to me) camera that I'm very excited about. More on that later...

In the mean time, here are some iphone photos from my trip to the conservatory of a few butterflies that were around. There weren't as many as were out in years past, but I think that's due to the fact that I have not ever gone this late in the conservatory butterfly season.

One landed on my hand

Bike Love

2010-06-19T11:52:00.009-04:00

vienna, originally uploaded by :a:.

Today featured:

Biking to Columbus Camera Group to look at new cameras
Biking to get Food
Biking to the Conservatory for Blooms and Butterflies
Biking to meet Austin Kocher of Bike OSU and Yay Bikes! to discuss how to get info on bike safety into new student orientation at OSU
Biking to feed mom's cat
Biking home

Women's Cycling Conversation Forum

2010-06-18T12:10:00.003-04:00

My girl Meredith Joy and founder of Yay Bikes! is organizing a forum to discuss biking for females in Columbus. She wants to know how woman feel about cycling in Columbus; what it means to us and what we would hope for cycling in the future. The info gathered from this forum will be used to create an agenda for women's cycling in Columbus to be carried out in 2011. The forum will be held Wednesday, June 30th at 6:30PM at the University Area Enrichment Association building on campus. It'll be a super low key (multiple, small) round table discussion Let's get riding ladies!!

Women's Cycling Conversation Forum facebook event

Singing with Super Desserts at Comfest

2010-06-17T22:09:00.007-04:00

Justin Riley of the Super Desserts invited me and a few other folks to perform with the band as part of a choir for Comfest on the main stage (Bozo) next Saturday afternoon.

This is one of the songs I'll be singing with them next Saturday:

Super Desserts - On Sunday from Ohio Sessions on Vimeo.

We had our first practice session last night at the Conservatory of Music at Capital University and it was a total blast! Justin and his group of musicians are so fun to sing with. Some of the songs we'll be singing may include: Funeral, Ibiza, I Only Love You Because You Can Play Guitar, and On Sundays. The set is only an hour long so I don't know which ones they'll have us all sing on. Last night we practiced 8 songs over three hours.

Notes for Wicker Chair:

Here's Justin and another guest choir member, Curtis

iphotos from the weekend

2010-06-14T23:40:00.015-04:00

Popped into one of Ohio's caves for a wee visit this weekend. Took some poor quality photos with my iphone:

Just for your nerd alert: this is an example of where calcite crystal is hanging off of an iron oxide deposit called a duel formation which is really rare, however I'm kind of suspicious that the Ohio Caverns made this factoid up so they can seem impressive and different from the other caverns in the land. I guess it doesn't matter because I thought they were pretty cool anyhow.

After caving, I tried to get to this candy shop in West Liberty that advertised lots of free samples (!), but it was closed (!!!). However, across the street was a pretty sweet green haus. So I went there instead.

This was my favorite part. This little flower started growing out of the wood in the walls of the greenhouse. What a trooper, huh?

bloggage: Tummy Bug

2010-06-10T20:30:00.001-04:00

bloggage: Tummy Bug

My first ever formspring question!

Anonymous asks: "How is your tummy bug!"

Thanks for asking! I'm feeling much better; I think the tummy bug nastiness has completely run its course and I'm able to get back to my normal stuff. Today I even went for a bike ride to the north market! That's big stuff for someone who previously had to be within 20 feet of a bathroom at all times :)

Dance Dance Party Party

2010-06-10T16:37:00.007-04:00

No Boys. No Booze. No Judgment. (Legwarmers Optional)

Going to a planning meeting tonight for starting a Dance Dance Party Party Chapter in Cbus.

In answer to anonymous formspring question: "which legs are yours!", none! This photo was stolen from the website, which probably means I should site the location.

Tummy Bug

2010-06-08T19:14:00.003-04:00

I have a rather bad stomach bug. Yesterday, I got IV fluids to replace all that I lost.

Update

Camp Falcon

2010-06-06T23:41:00.012-04:00

Last weekend I got to hang out at the summer camp I spent at least 6 summers at as a kid. It was really cool to catch up with the other campers and staff whom I hadn't seen for a good 15 years. All of them were up to super cool things like: big time documentary film maker (including About Baghdad, the first film that came out covering the war in Iraq), PhD student of contemporary racism, a lawyer who works with national security, a PhD student of speech pathology, and yet another PhD of chemistry, and that was just the ladies! I was impressed with the diversity of smarty pantism that was represented by my fellow campers.

The camp opened up a bunch of the activities like archery which I was happy to learn I was still pretty okay at. Unfortunately I couldn't play on the beach as the waterfront was under a good 5 feet of water.

Here are some flags welcoming campers as they drive up the winding road leading to camp (taken with iphone)

This seat sits on a little peninsula that normally rises out of the water about 5 ft (Nikon D50)

This would be the water front that is under water. That diving board you see is the high dive (Nikon D50)

happy kitty

2010-06-01T08:14:00.007-04:00

happy kitty, originally uploaded by animal nudity.

Happy kitty indeed!! I'm so excited about this weekend. I get to...

a) hang out with my old roommate who is on break from PhDing at Rutgers
b) go see three beautiful ladies perform their brand new music
c) go back to the summer camp I used to go to when I was a kid for alumni weekend
d) go on a bike ride with my favorite people and then do some glow yoga

Urban Planter

2010-05-31T23:50:00.008-04:00

Because there's not very much room on the balcony that I'm growing my vegetables on, I've decided to design and build a planter.

It's an idea that's been rolling around in my head for over a month. About three weeks ago, I transferred the idea from my head to google sketchup during a creative computing session with my friend Ryan and about two weeks ago, I built the first of the three tiers.

To save space, I'm stacking three planters; one on top of the other. I've decided that a stair step design would maximize both access to sun and root space as I'll be planting the deep rooting plants on a slant (got this bit of advice from a parking attendant at the Franklin Park Conservatory - seems legit to me). The first tier will be for shallow rooting plants (e.g. herbs), the second tier will be for baby carrots and spinach, and the last and largest planter will hold the tomato, eggplant, and pepper plants.

Apparently, the cheapest source of wood is fencing wood (thanks google). I bought a bunch of unfinished cedar planks (naturally rot-resistant) from Lowe's for about $30. I'll be relying on donations from parents for random bits of wood for the end caps (colored blue in the diagram). The cedar planks will span across the blue end caps. Last, 2x4s will make up the frame (colored pink and green in the diagram).

More to come including photos of the finished base planter.

Dream Tent

2010-05-31T22:54:00.007-04:00

Last October I had a party for which I installed a dream tent. It now serves as a guest room for anyone visiting me. These photos were taken by Jonathan Lindell.

Maleonn, Days on the Cotton Candy

2010-05-28T01:19:00.005-04:00

It rains in Columbus with brief snippets of sun today. This should be good for my plants.

I got a giant cache of seeds from my new friend Kristen including native corn, hopi and iroquois squash, a bunch of beans, flax, a rye & barley mix, tiger and yellow tomatoes, and some other randoms. I also learned about three sisters planting from her.

I met Kristen at bonfire last fall. We bonded over s'mores and mutual goofiness. I had not seen her since then, but after I made a post on facebook about whether anyone had a spare watering can, she answered the call. In addition to the watering can, I got the seeds, a bird feeder, tons of pots, and quite a bit of useful gardening knowledge.

I seeded the new seeds last night. I have a bunch of plants already growing and two that are producing right now. It should be a delectable summer.

Sharon's lovely blog has inspired me to actually write again instead of just posting photos. Originally the idea for this blog was just to keep track of photos I liked, but originally originally, the blog was more of a channel for journaling. I'm getting back into the original original vein.

Now back to cleaning... or perhaps more internetting and then more cleaning...

TIGHTROPE WALKING IN GOA

2010-05-24T14:44:00.005-04:00

TIGHTROPE WALKING IN GOA
Originally uploaded by TRIANGULAR APACHE

epson r-d1s

2010-05-13T14:15:00.002-04:00

Originally uploaded by catastroerg

Thyme (I think)

2010-05-13T14:08:00.003-04:00

Thyme (I think)
Originally uploaded by gilesclement

Photography by a local Columbus, Ohio photographer and my friend, Giles.

Signpost for a pilgrim.

2010-05-04T10:32:00.004-04:00

Signpost for a pilgrim.
Originally uploaded by caballosblancos

PULP ART BOOK

2010-05-03T15:16:00.003-04:00

This image is from a series published in PULP ART BOOK
Originally uploaded by neil △ krug

Pretty

2010-05-03T11:32:00.003-04:00

enough!
Originally uploaded by fast boy

A custom bike made by fast boy cycles.

Cloud dress

2010-05-03T11:29:00.002-04:00

Cloud dress
Originally uploaded by Johanni

2010-05-03T11:26:00.002-04:00

Originally uploaded by Chrissie White

2010-04-30T14:10:00.002-04:00

Originally uploaded by Anna Ådén

2010-04-29T11:12:00.002-04:00

Originally uploaded by carninscatola

Beyond Dante.

2010-04-22T09:53:00.002-04:00

Beyond Dante.
Originally uploaded by caballosblancos

2010-04-22T09:51:00.002-04:00

Originally uploaded by jonathan raymond

BEAUTIFUL WINDMILL

2010-04-22T09:50:00.003-04:00

BEAUTIFUL WINDMILL
Originally uploaded by cecilia-ivy

ZABRISKIE POINT

2010-04-16T11:28:00.003-04:00

ZABRISKIE POINT
Originally uploaded by neil △ krug

I heart expired film

2010-04-16T11:27:00.002-04:00

Originally uploaded by Maggie Lochtenberg

I need to go here at some point in my life.

LATEST DAY BY MY DIANA MINI

2010-04-14T17:07:00.002-04:00

LATEST DAY BY MY DIANA MINI
Originally uploaded by cecilia-ivy

iphonography

2009-07-31T10:50:00.006-04:00

I've been taking a lot of photos with my iphone of late. I got this new application called Toy Camera which applies random filters to the photos. Here are a few from the past month or so:

MARCON

2009-05-28T16:22:00.002-04:00

I was asked to be the official photographer for Marcon. I brought some lights and my camera, Marcon supplied the backdrop and I took some shots of the costumed characters. It was pretty fun, but also a lot of work. I'm glad I did it.

Here are some of the photos:

Earth Photos

2009-04-15T12:37:00.018-04:00

This weekend Columbus celebrates Earth Day!

In honor of Earth Day and the upcoming celebration, I've picked a few photos I've taken over the last several years that have something green about them:

Back in the summer of 2007, I took a tour of the LEED Certified EPA facilities in the refurbished Lazarus building in downtown Columbus. This is a photo of their working green roof.

This is a photo of the tower that stores the greywater for the Lazarus building. This water is taken from washing basins and reused in the toilets which decreases the water demand on the water treatment plant.

This picture was taken in the Lower Queen Anne section of Seattle, WA. It's a way to capture storm water so that it doesn't run off into the streets and take the oil, grit, etc with it to the water ways.

Columbus Rides: Columbus' own Jen Duane highlighted in Venus Zine

2008-12-26T23:50:00.004-05:00

Columbus Rides: Columbus' own Jen Duane highlighted in Venus Zine

There was a story about me and a few other lady bikers in the fall issue of Venus Zine:

Shawnee

2008-06-14T13:47:00.002-04:00

Went out with a coupla friends for little adventure in an old coal town called Shawnee. This is a photo of Dave jumping in front of a brick wall.

Ride of Silence

2008-05-22T00:08:00.001-04:00

Amazing experience. As the name of the ride suggests, it was eerily silent.. without the noise of the cars on the roads driving by, you could actually hear the sounds of the birds chirping in the trees, people laughing and talking out on the patios of the cafes, children playing in the parks. Perhaps when gasoline becomes more and more cost-prohibitive, this will be a more common experience along High St.

Volunteering

2007-07-25T00:20:00.002-04:00

Today I volunteered for an arts group in Columbus. They do all sorts of really cool activities including drum circles, spoken word poetry, hip hop, break dancing, and MCing. They also have a program at a community center in the inner city to give kids and teens fun art activities to do during the day. I decided to volunteer to help out since I was so impressed with one of their performances I saw recently. I basically just called them up and told them that I liked what they did and wanted to know how I could help.

The director told me to show up at the community center today at noon to assist teens with some art projects. We were doing portraits in different artistic mediums with the idea that we'd make a collage of the different portraits. It ended up not quite working to plan as most kids drew stick figures, but I got to do some fun paintings of random faces.

Gallery Hop

2007-03-03T23:50:00.002-05:00

Tonight was the gallery hop, an event that The Short North of Columbus puts on the first Saturday of every month. The galleries keep their doors open later than regular hours and serve patrons wine, cheese, and chocolates in the hope that someone will buy the art work on display. Tonight, I went for the first time in several years and came to find that, showing up at 6:00, I was an early bird. My plan was to cruise the area from 6 until 7:50 and then go see Pan's Labyrinth at the Drexel Gateway, a nearby theater. The night was going wonderfully; the galleries weren't very full, owners were just setting up their food and drinks, and so I essentially had each place to myself. Free to talk to the artists and peruse at my leisure. At about the fifth place I stopped into, there was this guy who was acting peculiarly towards my existence. I couldn't really figure it out, so I said "What's happenin'?" - my good for any situation phrase. He returned with some inquiry as to how I was doing and somehow we got engaged in conversation. It turned out that he was the artist and so I asked him a host of questions (as I do). This all lead to an invitation to a party he was having later that night. He even drew me a quaint little map on how to get there. That was fine with me, I'm in the habit of making new friends, so I marked that in my mental agenda for the evening. I had had tentative plans to go to a show that my friend's band was putting on after the movie, but they put those on all the time, incidental invitations hardly ever happen.

I continued on with my plans, checked out a few more galleries and then went to see the movie. Afterwards I tried to find dude's house and no one answered. I was like a half hour late, but what the rock?

Blueberry Muffins

2007-02-28T14:21:00.000-05:00

I have discovered the best healthy, low calorie blueberry muffin recipe to fall from heaven. It kind of only works if you're on a low calorie diet, though, because then you're not used to high sugar foods and so you can actually taste the sugar that exists in low-sugar foods. Having said that, if you're concerned about not being able to taste the sweetness of the following recipe, just add more sugar. I recommend about another 1/4 cup. I got the base of this recipe from allrecipes.com, but tweaked it by adding different kinds of bran, altering the sugar content, and going from one whole egg to two egg whites. I suppose that's all I can take credit for :)

Low Calorie Blueberry Flax, Oat, and Wheat Bran Muffins

1/2 cup wheat bran
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup oat bran
1/4 cup flax bran
1 cup milk
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 375 F and prepare muffin tin with cooking spray or muffin liners.
2. Mix wheat bran, rolled oats, oat bran and flax bran with 1 cup milk and let soak while preparing other ingredients
3. Add baking soda, baking powder, and salt to whole wheat flour and mix well
4. In large bowl mix together egg whites, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and applesauce. Add bran mixture. Sift in flour mixture until just blended. Fold in blueberries.
5. Bake in preheated oven 15 to 20 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly tapped.

Servings: 12 Muffins

Nutrition Facts:
Total amount per muffin
Calories: 136
Calories From Fat: 15
Total Fat: 2 g
Saturated Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 167 mg
Total Carbohydrate: 28 g
Dietary Fiber: 5 g
Sugars: 11 g
Protein: 5 g
Vitamin A: 1%
Vitamin C: 11%
Calcium: 7%
Iron: 9%