[abhayadana]
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[previous posts]
family visits [expected & unexpected] (11/18/08)
the end of summer + other things (9/21/08)
the auklet & other random things (7/19/08)
backpacking! (7/7/08)
one year gone by (6/13/08)
awake & sing or real life (7/15/07)
a winding windy day (5/20/07)
{title goes here} (3/18/07)
the new year (1/3/07)
what it is (11/29/06)

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[current music: silverchair- straight lines (you may remember silverchair from their grunge days in 1995, singing "tomorrow" from the frogstomp album. or maybe not. in any case, i hadn't realized that they were still around making music until yesterday when i stumbled upon this song on one of thehill88's (australia's favorite youtuber) videos. very epic coldplay-esque sound to the song, which makes it a bit of a guilty pleasure, i guess.]

it's 4:45pm on sunday. the sky is grey & we're getting some pretty good gusts right now. not all that pleasant of a day for being outside. & so really, what better time to sit down & finally update my blog, eh? okay, so look to your right --->

yes, through the magic of lastfm, you now can listen to some streaming radio from my personal radio station. basically, since i subscribe to lastfm, i can make a playlist (50+ songs & counting) and share. it only allows you to listen on shuffle so if you really wanted to hear, say for example some sufi john, well oops, you've got to wait until he comes up. also, i'm limited to the songs that lastfm has on their system, which excludes some of my recent favorites like chris thile's "the beekeeper" & yo la tengo's "by the time it gets dark."

so... i haven't updated since the middle of march. what's gone on since then?

in chronological order (the links will take you to a picasa slideshow!):
(+) amanda & i drove up to portland to see anne & francis and catch fran's gig with curtis & chuck masi at the goble tavern. anne & i came up with the captions for the photos but really, those photos should speak for themselves....

(+) on 3/25, i threw out my back pulling out a weed at the community garden. (ouch)

(+) dacey, amanda & i went backpacking in the rouge river valley. (i included all of the photos that amanda took on the trip so that dacey could download them. so, there are lots of them! amanda took a photo of every stream crossing on the way to "snail island" including my favorite: almosta creek!) we covered 60 miles in 3 days so there were blisters galore for me by the end (not to mention that i was also sore for the whole next week). but ah, the wildflowers were great & the crazy norwegian awaited us upon return!

(+) i visited gina in iowa from 4/6-4/10. a quick trip but it was really good to see gina & her folks & kitty. i also got to meet becky & ben, 2 folks that i had heard lots about but never met. & gina, her folks & i had meatless taco pizza! & played many games of outburst! & jenga too! gina had to work on monday so i hung out in her apartment, did some work, read some articles on cartographic techniques, & made dinner for her. we had a fabulous wine that she brought back from south africa to go with our chocolate-covered strawberries in phyllo dough shells. mmm.

(+) i bought a sewing machine.

(+) cavemen, wizards, fairies, crazy hunters, Amandacorn, invertebrates, and a street pimp named Uri, among others, descended upon South Beach State Park for the Quest for the Amber Stargrass. The Oracle, Shea'arendril and Kalijanga, Children of Twilight, abetted (and hindered) many through the course of the day, which ultimately saw Rick, Linda, the Suryans, Karen, Keith and Anja emerge victorious. more pictures (from amanda's camera)!

(+) deadlines = a week of little sleep from 4/23-4/26.

(+) we had a going away party for dave at the rogue brewery.

(+) amanda, sylvia, dacey, emily, becca, justin, anne, francis & i went up to long beach, wa to stay at anne's aunts' beach house during our ledbetter point shorebird reunion. the birding wasn't all that great on saturday when i got in due to the tide. but we had a festive time that evening singing & celebrating fran's birthday. on sunday, after everyone except for amanda, syl, dacey & i left, we finally had some excellent shorebird sightings. as the evening approached and the tide moved back out, the birds would fly over the peninsula providing an audible swoop over our heads as they headed towards the tidal flats. so cool.

(+) after we all split ways on sunday after the shorebird reunion, i headed to portland to stay with anne & francis overnight (since i had to work half a day in pdx). then monday afternoon, i headed north to sequim, wa to work with the washington maritime refuges. usually, when i'm up there, i stay either in a campground or at the spooky house or (very rarely) at a hotel. this time, i was fortunate to be able to stay at the dungeness spit caretaker's house, which is nestled at the base of the spit. wow, what a spot! on tuesday, the staff & i headed out to smith & minor islands to map rhinoceres auklet burrows & potential habitat. i can't really say enough good things about the san juan islands. they're lots of fun to explore. there was an elephant seal in the water north of minor island & a ground nesting bald eagle on minor. pictures from washington!

(+) on wednesday, i got back from the olympic pen & met up with anne & francis & hannah at the funky church for some live music.

(+) from 5/4-5/7, i met up with hitesh, joe, & spiro in philadelphia. we were midnight wig-wearing diner-goers, out-of-shape ultimate frisbee players, playground statue-of-liberty-diagramming two hand touch footballers, cinqo de mayo celebrators, booty shakers, rittenhouse square musicians, gawkers, street wanderers. on sunday, we recorded a song. i did the synth/drum programming; s provided the tabla track; joe the extra spice & hc the recording space. it was really good to see the guys.

(+) after philly, i attended the geospatial 2007 conference in portland. like all of the conferences i've attended, there were useful sessions, some not-so-useful sessions. probably a 70/30 split. lots of opportunity for schmoozing though.

(+) last weekend, amanda & i took ram to the train station in albany so that he could start making his way back up to st. george. & then we had a nice weekend in corvallis with dacey.

so we're all caught up, right?

next weekend, amanda, ingrid & i will be heading to the kalmiopsis wilderness for a backpacking trip. so look for a post & some pictures sometime during the next 3 months (just kidding, i think.)

Labels: amber starglass, birds, goble, iowa, music, northwestern, philadelphia, rogue river

   [posted by khem @ 6:10 PM]
   [3 Comments]

   I love the Philly pics!! You guys are awesome! It did my heart well to see you all together like that. And khemer, that wig is a good look for you!