Previously Unlikely Additions to my Resume II

I have a couple more new skills to add!

Roofing- I can deshingle and reshingle, all the while dancing a jig singing a jingle

Demolition- What? Concrete plastered wall? No match for me!

And I'm still enjoying the physical labor. It feels more fulfilling to me than being in front of a computer all day. Besides that, my arms, back and shoulders have seen a workout that hasn't been matched since UT Rowing days.

Animals on the farm

The most interesting $43 I've ever spent

I went to an estate sale this weekend, and spent $43 dollars. You might be bidding on one item (for instance, an 8-track player) but they throw several other items into the same box, so you never know what you'll come away with! Here's everything I got:

Haiku for the Passing of Jesus

3-inch long green love
five eyed friend teaching life's ways
your reminders missed








Today I found Jesus dead. He's been living in my room for 12 days. There were a couple days when I didn't see him, but he was usually out and about— easy to spot on my headboard enjoying my wine. I watched him eat a moth, crawl up a mirror and the wall, groom himself and fly. He was an amazing creature to observe.

UK Plans for "Real-Time" Energy Monitors

The United Kingdom is planning to provide households with free "real-time" energy monitors upon request. They hope "real-time monitors" will help cut greenhouse gas emissions and the amount of energy wasted by appliances being left on standby.

Energy conscious consumers have the potential to save up to 7%, as studies have shown, just by knowing how turning things on and off affects their consumption.

Zozobra

Every year in Santa Fe, the community gathers to burn the man. Zozobra, that is— a giant marrionette puppet also known as Old Man Gloom.

They bring old police reports, taxes, lawsuits, bad report cards— anything they'd like to forget— and store them within Zozobra to be burned in a fantastic show of lights, fire and dancing. The years troubles and worries spread like little fireflies up into the air until they finally disappear.

After Zozobra, the past is in the past and each person is given the freedom to move into the future unburdened by worry.

When Bush is finally out of office, I propose a country wide Zozobra.

History of the World in Less Than 200 Words

Quantum fluctuation. Inflation. Expansion. Strong nuclear interaction. Particle-antiparticle annihilation. Deuterium and helium production. Density perturbations. Recombination. Blackbody radiation. Local contraction. Cluster formation. Reionization? Violent relaxation. Virialization. Biased galaxy formation? Turbulent fragmentation. Contraction. Ionization. Compression. Opaque hydrogen. Massive star formation. Deuterium ignition. Hydrogen fusion. Hydrogen depletion. Core contraction. Envelope expansion. Helium fusion. Carbon, oxygen, and silicon fusion. Iron production. Implosion. Supernova explosion. Metals injection. Star formation. Supernova explosions. Star formation. Condensation. Planetesimal accretion. Planetary differentiation. Crust solidification. Volatile gas expulsion. Water condensation. Water dissociation. Ozone production. Ultraviolet absorption. Photosynthetic unicellular organisms. Oxidation. Mutation. Natural selection and evolution. Respiration. Cell differentiation. Sexual reproduction. Fossilization. Land exploration. Dinosaur extinction. Mammal expansion. Glaciation. Homo sapiens manifestation. Animal domestication. Food surplus production. Civilization! Innovation. Exploration. Religion. Warring nations. Empire creation and destruction. Exploration. Colonization. Taxation without representation. Revolution. Constitution. Election. Expansion. Industrialization. Rebellion. Emancipation Proclamation. Invention. Mass production. Urbanization. Immigration. World conflagration. League of Nations. Suffrage extension. Depression. World conflagration. Fission explosions. United Nations. Space exploration. Assassinations. Lunar excursions. Resignation. Computerization. World Trade Organization. Terrorism. Internet expansion. Reunification. Dissolution. World-Wide Web creation. Composition. Extrapolation?

FOUND: Nightwalker Paintings

Yesterday I was given a couple of paintings. They were done in 1996 by someone named Nightwalker. From what can find, there has been a Nightwalker in Seiling, OK (5 miles from me) and I assume thats the person who painted these. I'm curious, so I'll be doing more research!

I believe pollution is nothing but a resource we aren't harvesting.

Read Cradle to Cradle!

It's about ecologically intelligent design that challenges cradle to grave methods such as "recycling, driving hybrid cars, etc." This book covers the roots of the industrial revolution, commentary on how science, nature and society interact, key design principles, and examples of innovative products and business strategies already playing smart.

The well-articulated argument is that an industrial system that "takes, makes and wastes" can become a creator of goods and services that generate ecological, social and economic value.

Conflict between industry and the environment is not an indictment of commerce but an outgrowth of purely opportunistic design. The design of products and manufacturing systems growing out of the Industrial Revolution reflected the spirit of the day-and yielded a host of unintended yet tragic consequences.

Given what we now know today, design can (and should!) reflect a new spirit. When designers employ the intelligence of natural systems—the effectiveness of nutrient cycling, the abundance of the sun's energy—they can create products, industrial systems, buildings, even regional plans that allow nature and commerce to fruitfully co-exist.

Not only do I love what this book has to say, it is 'treeless'-- printed on a synthetic 'paper,' made from plastic resins and inorganic fillers designed to look and feel like top quality paper. And it's also waterproof, I tested!

Previously Unlikely Additions to my Resume

Now that I've had this major change in life, I've acquired some new skills. If anyone wants to hire me, I'm now awesome at:

Pulling up baseboards, carpet, linoleum
Post hole digging

Not only can I dig a post hole like the biggest and best of them, I actually enjoy the manual labor. You know where to find me!

Janie's Beekeeping Lesson 1 with Wilbur Severn

"You'll be happy to know that this variety of bees, not one of them will bite you," says Wilbur Severn, the renowned beekeeper and honey-seller located in Chester, OK. "But watch out for those stingers!!"

Thus begins my first hands-on lesson in beekeeping. "They're peaceful, really. They won't sting you unless you give them a reason to."


I still felt more comfortable once dressed in typical beekeeper uniform: white jackets with mesh-like face shields. It helped me stay (somewhat) calm when the bees started swarming all around.

We opened up one of the "hives" so I could have a peek inside. Racks of wax honeycomb filled with honey and larvae in all stages. You always want to locate the queen and make sure she's producing good eggs, not too many drones.

Every colony has one queen bee. She lays up to 1,500 eggs a day, more than her body weight. Each spring, the hive will grown in population up to 50 to 60 thousand bees. They travel up to three miles to collect pollen. The result: 100% pure, raw local honey, which tastes amazing.

My second beekeeping lesson is in a couple of weeks, when it will be time to harvest the honey. The main piece of advice resonating in my mind: "Be sure not to get a bee up your pants-- Now that's something you really don't want to experience!"

Pink House Land Plan: Accomodate Greenhouse and Forest Garden Test Plot

Here is the layout of the land the pink house sits on, to scale. I am building compost bins and a greenhouse this fall, and designing an edible forest-garden to plant on this lot in the spring. It's almost the equivalent of wire-framing websites and emails!

Edible forest gardening is the art and science of putting plants together in woodland-like patterns that forge mutually beneficial relationships, creating a garden ecosystem that is more than the sum of its parts. You can grow fruits, nuts, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, other useful plants and animals in a way that mimics natural ecosystems in high-yield. If designed with care and deep understanding of ecosystem function, you can also design a garden that is largely self-maintaining.

I plan to post my design ideas over this "wireframe" as I research and brainstorm!

The Little Pink House That Could

My mother purchased it at auction, maybe nine months ago. There has never been any particular plan for the house. It just happened to be located on a prime corner in Chester, right across from my grandparents' land. After purchase, it became storage for random junk— some stuff from my family's move and some things my mom picked up at local estate sales.

I've been given the keys— freedom to do with the pink house what I would like! So I spent the past week sorting through things. I'm now the proud owner of a vintage portable typewriter, an old counting machine, a really awesome chandelier, etc. The house is old and it needs structural work if it is going to be used for any real purpose— such as living inside, or setting up shop.

Until any of that is done, I plan to use the front room for planting since it has windows facing south and west. I have some indoor planting projects that I can't wait to get started on. The next room over also gets great sunlight and will be used for painting and art projects. I rolled up this tacky and fun linoleum in the paint room yesterday, to discover beautiful, well-built wood floors underneath. They just need to be sanded and refinished.

I expect a significant amount of my time in the near future will be spent in the pink house. I will be uploaded pictures of treasures I find inside for fun, so look forward to that!

For fun, and in the country spirit, I leave you with John Mellencamp, Pink Houses.
"Little pink houses for you and me"

We are seeing the birth of a new perspective of the world, where ecology and economics are two sides of the same coin.

Leif Johansson

I have arrived. Hello Chester, Oklahoma

I was recently labeled a "gypsy artist." I admit that I love making art and many times have been spotted with paint unkowingly blotched on my face or in my hair. But lets not forget thay I lived in Austin for a long, long while-- long enough to get the six year allergies. Such permanence does not resonate with gypsyness. I give it to you that since I have left I have been hard to track down, but that was *mostly* vacation, with a little residency switch up.

So I am here to officially announce that I am located in northern Oklahoma and will be here long enough for us all to get on the same page. This is my new mailing and billing address, although not changed on my license until after the elections.

I'm enjoying time with my family and allowing space for research and contemplation as to my next steps. My dreams involve sustainability, gardening and creating things. It may be the time to finally venture out on my own, as I've always planned or to step into that corporate dream job that would take me into my new industry. The possibilities are numerous. I'm not sure how long it will take for me to develop my plan or make any sort of decision, but until then here I stay! (I think.)

The real purpose of saying all this is just to let you know that you can now mail things to me and I will receive them. You can now stalk me at a permanent address. And if you are interested in working a a little (work you will likely enjoy), you can come visit.

If you would like my mailing address, please contact me personally.
Much love my friends!

Email Response from Kay Bailey Hutchinson, US Senator, Texas— Her stance on energy

Thank you for contacting me regarding our nation's energy policy. I welcome your thoughts and comments on this issue.

I support a comprehensive energy strategy that combines conservation, the development of alternative sources of energy, and an increase in domestic oil and gas production. We are increasingly dependent on foreign sources of energy - importing over sixty percent of the oil we use today. Preliminary research data suggests there may be as much as 125 billion barrels of oil and over 565 trillion cubic feet of natural gas located in designated production areas of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) combined. The domestic oil reserves in both the OCS and ANWR, when coupled with existing U.S. reserves of 21 billion barrels, are more than Iran’s total oil reserve of 136 billion barrels. However, Congress has enacted a moratorium on production in these areas.

In order to bolster domestic production and reduce our reliance on foreign sources, I cosponsored the American Energy Production Act of 2008, which repeals current misguided policy and provides access to America's domestic energy supplies in ANWR and the OCS. The bill also allows access to alternative sources, such as one trillion barrels of shale oil in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. These sources, which presently sit unused, are equal to three times the reserves of Saudi Arabia.

I have also supported numerous initiatives to encourage alternative energy use through market- and incentive-based approaches. On March 28, 2007, I introduced the Creating Renewable Energy through Science and Technology (CREST) Act. It promotes the research and development of renewable energy sources, including wave, solar, wind, geothermal, and biofuels. I am very proud to say that Texas is the nation’s leading producer of wind energy, illustrating our state’s commitment to alternative energy production.

Our nation’s energy policy must be proactive instead of reactive. Some of my colleagues in the Senate believe that imposing a windfall profits tax on oil producers or suing the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is the solution to our country’s energy crisis, when, in fact, neither of these proposed plans produces one more ounce of energy. The burden of this tax would be passed down to the consumer, causing record-high fuel prices to rise even higher. Additionally, a windfall profits tax would discourage oil companies from increasing refinery capacity and furthering exploration and production of our own domestic resources. These are not solutions. Instead, a comprehensive energy policy that combines conservation, the development of alternative sources of energy, an increase in domestic oil and gas production, and a safe nuclear energy program will lower energy costs and help our nation become energy independent.

You may be certain I will keep your views in mind regarding any energy legislation offered in the 110th Congress. I appreciate hearing from you, and I hope that you will continue to keep in touch on any issue of concern to you.

Sincerely,
Kay Bailey Hutchison
United States Senator

284 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5922 (tel)
202-224-0776 (fax)
http://hutchison.senate.gov

Tune In: T. Boone Pickens on Jay Leno Tonight

T. Boone will be hitting the big time with an appearance tonight with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show. Check your local listings for the time, should be a fun way to spread word of the Picken's plan.

If you want to read the plan, click here.

If you want to email your state representatives about the plan, click here.

She must, can't not plan.

I've been catapulted into this place of what in the world do I want to do now, how will I make my life successful on my terms? I'm starting with dreams, and then finding ways to work toward them in "real" life.

I always wanted to be a painter— but how in the world would I ever make a living? I took different routes to compromised career path. Now I'm going back. I can make a great living painting if I am on a farm where I have extra time (and inspiration), and where my living is cheap compared to the city but so rich in benefits! I can use that to learn and practice all the skills I would need so that I could be a painter for Pixar. I can seek creative jobs— where I make original content, think of new concepts and design new things. I will be working for myself for a while: making truffles, painting, and starting a website for income. I love to make things, that is my calling. I'm learning how to create content now- it's scary to me, but I'm writing. I also discovered that no one has ever made prickly pear chocolate, hence the truffle-making. Niche markets are awesome. (Emergency Chocolate evolving into grown-up dream form.) I will at the same time be applying for jobs that will give me any future skills that I would need to be a successful artist of any medium or craft I choose, physical and digital.

Its a step backwards from the work myself up the ladder plan I had all figured out. But I really like it so far. I like it so much that the recent, strange couple of weeks some of you have heard about don't rattle me at all! I'm excited about my new direction and believe the new plan will work out beautifully.

I decided to dream about what would be the absolute perfect life, and THEN start to look for ways to get me there. The plan looks solid, with calculated risks I find manageable.

I owe my good friends, a few amazing strangers along the way and myself a great deal of gratitude for the creation of this new plan.

Much love!

Beetle Tree Kill

I just spent weeks in the car. From Texas up through Oklahoma to Kansas, and then across Colorado, Utah, Nevada and back into New Mexico. I met with locals along the way, enjoying the land in which they live and discussing the changes taking place. In Colorado and New Mexico, covered with mountains and forests, one common theme arose: the growing number of dead trees each year.


Why? Beetles gone wild.

A consequence of climate change, the milder winters have allowed the beetle population to thrive (kill off rate has been reduced from 80% a year to a mere 10% since 1994). These beetles feast on and kill the trees. Over the past three to four years, I'm told significant changes have been taking place as the amount of trees killed each year is visibly increasing. This topic wasn't brought up by scientists closely measuring the beetle population, but rather from locals who live in the areas and have simply observed the changes.

I myself noticed my home-town mountain looking rather drab compared to the last time I visited.

Why does this matter?

1. More carbon released into the atmosphere: A significant number of the trees have been killed and that means that the carbon sequestered in these trees is released into the atmosphere. Scientists say that the beetle tree kill actually releases more carbon into the atmosphere than the huge fires we've witnessed on the news in the past couple of years. This must be calculated into climate change model-analysis, but is hard to calculate.

2. Less carbon-capture: If the trees are being killed and releasing carbon into the atmosphere, it is obvious that they are no longer capable of capturing carbon out of the atmosphere.

3. More dry, dead wood to feed forest fires. Until intense new land management practices are put into place to deal with the increase die-off, the growing wildfires we've seen are all too inevitable.

4. Other affects that could occur, but aren't yet measurable: decreased quality of watersheds and decreased vegetation for the animals that live in the area to feed from.

In Canada, the beetle tree kill crisis has been labeled as the first major climate change crisis they've faced. It spans across the country and down into the US, all the way to California. Besides the scientific implications, it was simply sad to see so many trees dead, where otherwise the forest has been green.

Land management will become increasingly more important in the next decade as it will take much more energy to manage issues such as this. Perhaps that'll be my second degree.

My love affair with the Mini Cooper continues...

I was researching my carbon footprint-- calculating how much impact my lifestyle has on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide. The carbon footprint is a subset of the ecological footprint, which includes all human demands on the biosphere.

Then I found it— the Mini CarFun Footprint. A measure of how fun your car is vs. how much impact it has on the environment. My little orange Chevy Cavalier got a funscore of 43 and a greenscore of 56, for a carfun footprint of 49. (Note: funscore is not a measure of how fun you are as a person.) Mini derived the funscore from a third party survey measuring delight index and fun rating, while the greenscore is a combination of Air Pollution scores from the EPA, MPG and curb weight. My car ranked 95 out of 197.

Of course, this could be improved if I could just have that Mini I've been wanting all along!

Here's the link to calculate your own CarFun Footprint.