Sunday, November 30, 2008

knitting, what's that?

It's about time I posted some knitting on this blog - but to be perfectly honest, the knitting has been pretty lagging lately. I started this blanket... oh, about a year ago. With a couple of productive spurts this fall, it now resembles a square, and now I'm trying to push on to get a border (the blue wools around the edge there) accomplished - and then... I have to figure out a lining/backing of sorts. But oh well, here's the start!


Oh yes, and in a fit of procrastination, I'm now on "ravelry" which is likely to result in even more procrastination. 'Tis the season!

Saturday, November 29, 2008

actual size


On my return from eating my way through American thanksgiving, I spied the sticker in the rear view window of this Cooper Mini...

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Caught!

Oh Pillsbury, is there nothing you cannot do? We were surprised to find Pillsbury brand Samosas "heat and eat" in the freezer section yesterday. Granted, this was the freezer section of A-1 Indian Grocery... but still, Pillsbury? Samosas?



Today I was surprised to find that Felix the Cat sells Cadillacs. I get the 50's style connotation, but it still seems like an odd product choice to me. I'd most definitely be buying the Pillsbury brand samosas before I'd go here!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

is it a bug?

I put down my reservation payment. Now it's just a waiting game...
APTERA

winding down

This semester has been unusually draining, and this weekend capped off the last of the "for credit" field trips I had planned. For something different, but to go to an old favourite - I decided to try out an afternoon/evening trip to Red Rock Canyon so that we could take a gander at constellation spotting. It was a beautiful day, nice temperature, and I borrowed my Rock Buddy's fabulous green laser pointer for pointing out stuff far away in the night sky.


To my sheer delight, the amphitheater at Red Rock blocked out the big shiny moon for hours and we had an amazing view. Armed with binoculars (thanks daddy!) we were actually able to see, shockingly clearly, the Andromeda Galaxy (also known as M31), the Orion Nebula (aka M42), and two of Jupiter's moons (though they were only pin pricks). I assembled a collage of sorts to show my students what we had been looking at:

Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Great Southern California Shakeout

Today marked a state-wide earthquake drill - and all week the Geology Club hosted the "GeOlympics" to promote earthquake awareness on campus. The GeOlympics included a "guess the weight of the rock" contest, "volcanic bomb toss", "strong man lift", and "seismic scavenger hunt". They also sold reusable grocery bags, magnets, and other things for fundraising.


Some of them at their table (totally reminiscent of my days in Miller Club, *sigh*)

Bomb toss - check out the perfect football shaped rock!


Demonstrating duck & cover - but they should be holding on to something!!!

Today, in addition to handing out the Earthquake Preparedness Guide, they also sold their Earthquake Disaster Kits - which were pretty awesome, I must say.


Strong man lift!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The depressing world of teaching today

*SIGH*

Albedo: great thick walls/snow earth located by albedo
--- the tip of mineral that is flat and can stack easy
--- the minerals that contain several species to the material
--- is when glaciers melt. Slowly.

Luster: minerals that tend to pass through the surface
--- some kind of minerals that are found in the desert

Clastic: the way something move through or around the Earth. That has to do with the surface
--- is when minerals in a sedimentary rock are not touching

Loess: a stream that is deflating of water

Porphyritic: in which gravity obtains pressure to the object

Q: What is a mineral? What is it made of? What is a rock?
A: Mineral is transported to the preexisting luster. It is made out of material and chemical. A rock is a building block...
A:...A rock is a solid that doesn't occur naturally and is made up of quartz.
A: A mineral is any natural organic resource. It is made out of heat. A rock is a mineral.

Q: What are the three agents of metamorphism? What is the role of each?
A: Solid - a thick layer of the earth's surface. Fluid - liquid passes through the sedimentary. Mafic - Fe and Mg iron rocks.

Q: How much (approximately) of the earth's water is freshwater? Where is most of it located? Where is most of the USABLE freshwater located?
A: 90% of the water on earth is freshwater. The most freshwater is located at Alaska. The most usable freshwater is located at California.
A: Most of the freshwater on Earth is somewhat fresh due to a lot of the freshwater underground. A lot of usable freshwater can be used if cleaned and filtered properly. Using water from the ocean is not considered freshwater b/c it has salt and other things in the ocean.
A: There is a 30% of freshwater on earth. The most freshwater is located in the oceans...

Q: Name and describe a desert feature that is a) formed by deposition and b) formed by erosion.
A: A rock pattern is a changed by deposition and erosion. In deposition the pattern is cloby [sic], these pattern is all over the place. In erosion the pattern changes to somewhat of a up and down or sideways pattern.

I WISH I WAS MAKING THIS UP

Monday, November 03, 2008

More bottle house

Two more photos of the bottle house at Calico - we couldn't go inside, but I tried to get shots through the windows to show that the whole bottle was used in the walls!!!


Sunday, November 02, 2008

Adventuring the Calico Mountains

A couple of my favourite photos from this weekend in the desert (it actually rained - can you believe it???) - it started as a field trip to Calico ghost town, and finished as an offroading adventure in the Calico mountains.

A gorgeous day and a gorgeous place to go looking for petroglyphs

Goat?

I've seen all kinds of broken glass shards in the desert among other trash - but I must say I've never seen any sign of milk being consumed until now.

Very fold-y folds!

A rainbow of rocks under rain clouds.

The bottle house at Calico - it's actually whole entire bottles cemented together!