Tuesday, May 29, 2007
West Point, New York
Stay tuned for more information about my trip to West Point and New York City, New York, May 24-27, 2007. My cousin graduated from the U.S. Military Academy on Saturday, and that was the main reason for the trip. My mom, grandmother, cousin and his girlfriend, and I flew up there Thursday and returned Sunday. My Aunt and Uncle drove up there Tuesday so they could load up all his gear and drive it back Sunday. A few of us rode the train in to New York City Friday afternoon to walk and look around. I had a fun time hanging out with everyone!
Friday, May 18, 2007
Mount St. Helens
Today is the 27th anniversary of Mount St. Helens' May 18, 1980 eruption:
KOIN News
Oregonian
Below is a relatively live static image of Mount St. Helens, taken from the Johnston Ridge Observatory. The Observatory and VolcanoCam are located at an elevation of approximately 4,500 feet, about five miles from the volcano. You are looking approximately south-southeast across the North Fork Toutle River Valley, in the State of Washington.
This image is courtesy of:
KOIN News
Oregonian
Below is a relatively live static image of Mount St. Helens, taken from the Johnston Ridge Observatory. The Observatory and VolcanoCam are located at an elevation of approximately 4,500 feet, about five miles from the volcano. You are looking approximately south-southeast across the North Fork Toutle River Valley, in the State of Washington.
This image is courtesy of:Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Homeowner
As of last Friday, I am now a homeowner for the first time. I made an offer last Monday on a three bedroom, three level townhouse in Charlotte, NC, near the university where I will begin working on a Ph.D. in geography this fall. After I made the offer, I got into a bidding war with a couple of other people. The sellars finally accepted my offer on Friday morning. I'm really excited about this! My first home that I own! Anyway, this just made much more sense economically to me than simply renting an apartment. One bedroom apartments in and around the university area go for around an average of $700 per month (I was astonished to find that out). My monthly mortgage on this townhouse, however, will be much less. And it is three bedrooms, so I could possibly rent out the two bedrooms and bathroom I'm not using and supplement my monthly payments. I could perhaps even make a little profit each month! How's that for capitalism? At least I will be building up equity in owning a home rather than throwing money away on rent each month.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Immigration Talk
The debate over immigration reform within Congress and the mainstream media is now coming to the boiling point again. You have those from the "anti-immigrant" side spouting mindless rhetoric in an attempt to get people to align with them. You also see many "pro-immigrant" persons trying to get the facts out to the general public, facts that are often skewed by the media and by vote-seeking lawmakers.
The following is an excerpt from an op-ed I wrote (Debate on Immigration Should Consider Underlying Issues) amidst last year's public demonstrations across the country - demonstrations both for and against immigration reform - in response to the immigration debate ensuing in the United States:
"In recent years the xenophobes of this nation have made themselves known through their vehement attacks on anyone or anything “different” from themselves or what they know. Attacks on immigrant businesses, local government officials making life difficult for immigrants – documented or otherwise – as well as the so called minutemen who seek to take the law into their own hands by situating themselves on the southern border, are but a mere sampling of the uninformed actions that have taken place. However, many forget that our country is one formed, for the most part, by immigration. People who think with an “us” vs. “them” mentality seem to pose a danger to our country. This way of thinking is both saddening and dangerous. As of 2004, there were over 34 million foreign born persons residing within the United States, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Therefore, our country’s immigrant population does play an influential role.
Immigrants come to the United States to perform jobs vital to our society, economy, and way of life – jobs that have to be done. Americans crave low-cost goods and services while at the same time demanding higher wages for themselves. But the current nature of the U.S. economy, as a product of globalization and our interconnectedness with the global economy, absolutely requires low-wage labor to produce those economical goods and services. People increasingly come to the United States because there are jobs available here for them. There is a demand for labor, and immigrants come here to supply that demand.
Globalization and the globalizing economy, with the economic restructuring in post-industrial societies such as the U.S., are some of the underlying factors behind the increase of people moving here. Push factors such as economic hardship in their homeland plant the notion for people to move. At the same time, pull factors here in the U.S., such as the possibility of earning higher wages than in a person’s home country, serve to draw people here. After people begin arriving in an area, a migration network typically forms. Migration networks help to reduce the hardships of migrating, with finding work in a new land, and with reducing the problem of language barriers. Networks also serve to increase the likelihood of migration in the future."
I've found the following articles interesting and helpful toward the process and dialogue of the immigration debate currently ensuing within the United States:
Meeting Our Immigration Needs by Tamar Jacoby, May 14, 2007 - RealClearPolitics.com
Lazy, Job-Stealing Immigrants? by Sebastian Mallaby, April 29, 2007 - Washington Post
Immigration Misery, Editorial, March 15, 2007 - New York Times
Immigration Nation by Tamar Jacoby, Nov/Dec 2006 - Foreign Affairs
And here are some interesting articles from Wikipedia:
Immigration
Human Migration
Immigration to the United States
The following is an excerpt from an op-ed I wrote (Debate on Immigration Should Consider Underlying Issues) amidst last year's public demonstrations across the country - demonstrations both for and against immigration reform - in response to the immigration debate ensuing in the United States:
"In recent years the xenophobes of this nation have made themselves known through their vehement attacks on anyone or anything “different” from themselves or what they know. Attacks on immigrant businesses, local government officials making life difficult for immigrants – documented or otherwise – as well as the so called minutemen who seek to take the law into their own hands by situating themselves on the southern border, are but a mere sampling of the uninformed actions that have taken place. However, many forget that our country is one formed, for the most part, by immigration. People who think with an “us” vs. “them” mentality seem to pose a danger to our country. This way of thinking is both saddening and dangerous. As of 2004, there were over 34 million foreign born persons residing within the United States, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Therefore, our country’s immigrant population does play an influential role.
Immigrants come to the United States to perform jobs vital to our society, economy, and way of life – jobs that have to be done. Americans crave low-cost goods and services while at the same time demanding higher wages for themselves. But the current nature of the U.S. economy, as a product of globalization and our interconnectedness with the global economy, absolutely requires low-wage labor to produce those economical goods and services. People increasingly come to the United States because there are jobs available here for them. There is a demand for labor, and immigrants come here to supply that demand.
Globalization and the globalizing economy, with the economic restructuring in post-industrial societies such as the U.S., are some of the underlying factors behind the increase of people moving here. Push factors such as economic hardship in their homeland plant the notion for people to move. At the same time, pull factors here in the U.S., such as the possibility of earning higher wages than in a person’s home country, serve to draw people here. After people begin arriving in an area, a migration network typically forms. Migration networks help to reduce the hardships of migrating, with finding work in a new land, and with reducing the problem of language barriers. Networks also serve to increase the likelihood of migration in the future."
I've found the following articles interesting and helpful toward the process and dialogue of the immigration debate currently ensuing within the United States:
Meeting Our Immigration Needs by Tamar Jacoby, May 14, 2007 - RealClearPolitics.com
Lazy, Job-Stealing Immigrants? by Sebastian Mallaby, April 29, 2007 - Washington Post
Immigration Misery, Editorial, March 15, 2007 - New York Times
Immigration Nation by Tamar Jacoby, Nov/Dec 2006 - Foreign Affairs
And here are some interesting articles from Wikipedia:
Immigration
Human Migration
Immigration to the United States
Monday, May 7, 2007
Charlotte, North Carolina
Stay tuned for information about my trip to Charlotte, North Carolina to visit UNC-Charlotte, the Geography Department, the professors there, and look for housing for when I move there this fall. I'll be starting work on a Ph.D. in Geography at UNC-Charlotte this August.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Weekend Activities
Well, I just got back from a run around the Lake. I try to go running there often - its really pretty around there.
We had BBQ at my grandparents for lunch today, then Karen, Mom, and I went to the Mountain Brook Library to hear a talk by Alexander McCall Smith. There was a large crowd there! He is a really delightful person and eloquent speaker. He spoke over an hour and talked about some of the things that inspire his various book series'. He said if he had to narrow his overall theme in all his books down to one thing it would be that he wants to write about "the little everyday things" in an attempt to preserve the "local" and "sense of place" in the various fictional communities and characters in his book. He feels this is very important in this era of globalization and lessening of emphasis on "local community". He also discussed some of the places he's been to, which go in to helping him find ideas for his books. He and his wife live in Edinborough, Scotland. (I've begun too many sentences with "he"). But he is originally from what is now Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) and was a medical law professor in Botswana and Scotland - and is now a professor emeritus (which he stated means you don't have to do any work for the university, its just a title, but they don't pay you anymore either --- "if you want to be paid to do no work you have to seek out a "research chair" position"). Someone asked him a question about his schedule to which he responded that he has no control over his schedule - other people and assistants plan it out for him. They plan his speaking engagements and book tours throughout the year and "block out" weeks of time for him to actually write his books. He said everyday is planned out from now through the next year and a half. He said he usually goes away to write - places he mentioned were Botswana (he goes back there every year), Buenos Aires Argentina, Montevideo Uruguay, Canada, Australia, etc... and writes from 8 to 11 AM each day during his writing blocks of time. His wife, who is a doctor, often accompanies him and tours around the places where he's set up writing. A very delightful talk.
He signed books after the talk and made an effort to stand up and greet each person line and carry on a little conversation with each person. I'm really glad we got to go hear him. Karen had bought the tickets a while back. Last night we went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat musical at Hoover High School. It was really good - most shows I've been to at Hoover have been great.
Tamar's visit was fun (a family friend from Israel). She's nice to visit with. She and Hillel really want us to come to Israel and have been trying to get mom and dad to go for over 30 years since they all were at Alabama together. Tamar wanted mom to actually set a date within the next year and said "it would be a shame, with all your other travels, if you never made it to Israel". Which is true I suppose. So, we decided upon right after Christmas returning before the spring semester in 2008 begins (mine at UNCC starts around Jan. 12). Tamar has always wanted to go to China but Hillel has never had any interest in going there despite all their other travels around the world. So, they discussed traveling to China together while you are over there sometime in the fall. I think they mentioned sometime in November specifically. If they go they may actually just meet in Beijing rather than flying together since they will be coming from different continents. I still really want to find a way to come to Beijing at some point while you are over there too, if I can afford it.
In orchestra, we performed the music for the Birmingham Ballet's performances of Hansel and Gretel (two performances on Friday and one Saturday afternoon) at the BJCC. That was a lot of fun and the music was beautiful and fun to play. I had the songs stuck in my head a while.
Other than that, I'm working on several papers that are due Monday and Wednesday in two classes. Then the spring term at UAB is over, but the May term begins Thursday. Lots going on! All that combined with working all day makes for a full day. I think when I actually move to Charlotte to start the PhD I'll feel like it is a much lighter work load since I won't have this full time job anymore.
We had BBQ at my grandparents for lunch today, then Karen, Mom, and I went to the Mountain Brook Library to hear a talk by Alexander McCall Smith. There was a large crowd there! He is a really delightful person and eloquent speaker. He spoke over an hour and talked about some of the things that inspire his various book series'. He said if he had to narrow his overall theme in all his books down to one thing it would be that he wants to write about "the little everyday things" in an attempt to preserve the "local" and "sense of place" in the various fictional communities and characters in his book. He feels this is very important in this era of globalization and lessening of emphasis on "local community". He also discussed some of the places he's been to, which go in to helping him find ideas for his books. He and his wife live in Edinborough, Scotland. (I've begun too many sentences with "he"). But he is originally from what is now Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) and was a medical law professor in Botswana and Scotland - and is now a professor emeritus (which he stated means you don't have to do any work for the university, its just a title, but they don't pay you anymore either --- "if you want to be paid to do no work you have to seek out a "research chair" position"). Someone asked him a question about his schedule to which he responded that he has no control over his schedule - other people and assistants plan it out for him. They plan his speaking engagements and book tours throughout the year and "block out" weeks of time for him to actually write his books. He said everyday is planned out from now through the next year and a half. He said he usually goes away to write - places he mentioned were Botswana (he goes back there every year), Buenos Aires Argentina, Montevideo Uruguay, Canada, Australia, etc... and writes from 8 to 11 AM each day during his writing blocks of time. His wife, who is a doctor, often accompanies him and tours around the places where he's set up writing. A very delightful talk.
He signed books after the talk and made an effort to stand up and greet each person line and carry on a little conversation with each person. I'm really glad we got to go hear him. Karen had bought the tickets a while back. Last night we went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat musical at Hoover High School. It was really good - most shows I've been to at Hoover have been great.
Tamar's visit was fun (a family friend from Israel). She's nice to visit with. She and Hillel really want us to come to Israel and have been trying to get mom and dad to go for over 30 years since they all were at Alabama together. Tamar wanted mom to actually set a date within the next year and said "it would be a shame, with all your other travels, if you never made it to Israel". Which is true I suppose. So, we decided upon right after Christmas returning before the spring semester in 2008 begins (mine at UNCC starts around Jan. 12). Tamar has always wanted to go to China but Hillel has never had any interest in going there despite all their other travels around the world. So, they discussed traveling to China together while you are over there sometime in the fall. I think they mentioned sometime in November specifically. If they go they may actually just meet in Beijing rather than flying together since they will be coming from different continents. I still really want to find a way to come to Beijing at some point while you are over there too, if I can afford it.
In orchestra, we performed the music for the Birmingham Ballet's performances of Hansel and Gretel (two performances on Friday and one Saturday afternoon) at the BJCC. That was a lot of fun and the music was beautiful and fun to play. I had the songs stuck in my head a while.
Other than that, I'm working on several papers that are due Monday and Wednesday in two classes. Then the spring term at UAB is over, but the May term begins Thursday. Lots going on! All that combined with working all day makes for a full day. I think when I actually move to Charlotte to start the PhD I'll feel like it is a much lighter work load since I won't have this full time job anymore.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Home from the Bay Area
I think San Francisco is one of my new favorite cities to visit. It is in a beautiful and picturesque setting, and there is so much to see and do there and in the surrounding area!
Friday morning a couple of us walked over to the postcard row of Victorian homes called the "painted ladies" near Alamo Park. Then heard a couple of talks at the conference before having lunch at a Thai restaurant near the conference hotel. I then went back to the hostel to work on my talk, then headed to the conference and presented my talk at 2:00. After my session was over, I met up with another friend from UT and we rode the bus west out of downtown toward the Presidio. We must have exited quite far from where we were going though because we then walked and hiked for hours through beautiful residential areas and then through the entire Presido itself (part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area - http://www.nps.gov/goga/). This place is breathtaking! We found a trail that wound its way at first along a beach on the Pacific, and then up into the cliffs leading up to the Golden Gate Bridge. The trail also passed through some old World War II bunkers. All along the trail we were treated to various vantage points of the Golden Gate Bridge itself, which appears larger than life - it is huge! I'm excited to see it with my own eyes after having seen so many pictures of it and after hearing about all my life. Well, after gazing at the sight a while and at the surround bay area, we got on another bus back towards downtown San Francisco. We got off the bus near Chinatown and began exploring for a restaurant to eat supper. We found a place called the Oriental Pearl Restaurant and it was delicious. The meal began with green tea (which lasted throughout the meal) and some dim sum appetizers. Hot and sour soup was then brought out, followed by the main course of three entrees: almond chicken, sweet and sour pork, and fried rice. Dessert was of course a fortune cookie. It was a really nice and delicious place.
Saturday we didn't make it north across the Golden Gate to Muir Woods or Sausalito. Several of us did, however, ride the BART east across the bay to Berkeley and looked around the University of California campus (http://www.berkeley.edu/). Set on a gradual hillslope overlooking the bay and the Golden Gate in the distance, the campus is quite picturesque. We had a delicious lunch in Berkeley at an Indian buffet before heading back in to San Francisco. I then had to work the rest of the day at the conference. For dinner I met up with a couple of friends from UT and we walked down to the financial district to eat supper at a German restaurant. The waiter was a very large, jovial German of course! It was a fun meal!
Well, I finally got back to my apartment around midnight. The flight from San Francisco to Atlanta arrived in ATL almost 45 minutes early at around 6:00 pm (about a 4 hour flight), so I had an even longer layover in ATL, and didn't leave there until almost 11:00 pm. But the flight from ATL to BHM is only around 20 minutes. Everything went smoothly though.
Now I get to dive into the final couple of weeks of the end of the semester at UAB. Need to start and finish two large research papers by next week. Plus some other homework of course. Then, there is this performance at the BJCC that I'm playing in with my church orchestra. I think we have dress rehearsals there tomorrow evening, and Wednesday and Thursday evenings. I think the performances are 10:00 AM and 7:00 PM Friday and 2:00 PM Saturday.
Also, my parent's college friend from Israel, (Tamar), is arriving for a visit on Friday, and leaving to fly back to Israel on Saturday (she is in Atlanta this week for a meeting with her family business consulting group). Hopefully I'll get to visit as well in the midst of all this other stuff.
Friday morning a couple of us walked over to the postcard row of Victorian homes called the "painted ladies" near Alamo Park. Then heard a couple of talks at the conference before having lunch at a Thai restaurant near the conference hotel. I then went back to the hostel to work on my talk, then headed to the conference and presented my talk at 2:00. After my session was over, I met up with another friend from UT and we rode the bus west out of downtown toward the Presidio. We must have exited quite far from where we were going though because we then walked and hiked for hours through beautiful residential areas and then through the entire Presido itself (part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area - http://www.nps.gov/goga/). This place is breathtaking! We found a trail that wound its way at first along a beach on the Pacific, and then up into the cliffs leading up to the Golden Gate Bridge. The trail also passed through some old World War II bunkers. All along the trail we were treated to various vantage points of the Golden Gate Bridge itself, which appears larger than life - it is huge! I'm excited to see it with my own eyes after having seen so many pictures of it and after hearing about all my life. Well, after gazing at the sight a while and at the surround bay area, we got on another bus back towards downtown San Francisco. We got off the bus near Chinatown and began exploring for a restaurant to eat supper. We found a place called the Oriental Pearl Restaurant and it was delicious. The meal began with green tea (which lasted throughout the meal) and some dim sum appetizers. Hot and sour soup was then brought out, followed by the main course of three entrees: almond chicken, sweet and sour pork, and fried rice. Dessert was of course a fortune cookie. It was a really nice and delicious place.
Saturday we didn't make it north across the Golden Gate to Muir Woods or Sausalito. Several of us did, however, ride the BART east across the bay to Berkeley and looked around the University of California campus (http://www.berkeley.edu/). Set on a gradual hillslope overlooking the bay and the Golden Gate in the distance, the campus is quite picturesque. We had a delicious lunch in Berkeley at an Indian buffet before heading back in to San Francisco. I then had to work the rest of the day at the conference. For dinner I met up with a couple of friends from UT and we walked down to the financial district to eat supper at a German restaurant. The waiter was a very large, jovial German of course! It was a fun meal!
Well, I finally got back to my apartment around midnight. The flight from San Francisco to Atlanta arrived in ATL almost 45 minutes early at around 6:00 pm (about a 4 hour flight), so I had an even longer layover in ATL, and didn't leave there until almost 11:00 pm. But the flight from ATL to BHM is only around 20 minutes. Everything went smoothly though.
Now I get to dive into the final couple of weeks of the end of the semester at UAB. Need to start and finish two large research papers by next week. Plus some other homework of course. Then, there is this performance at the BJCC that I'm playing in with my church orchestra. I think we have dress rehearsals there tomorrow evening, and Wednesday and Thursday evenings. I think the performances are 10:00 AM and 7:00 PM Friday and 2:00 PM Saturday.
Also, my parent's college friend from Israel, (Tamar), is arriving for a visit on Friday, and leaving to fly back to Israel on Saturday (she is in Atlanta this week for a meeting with her family business consulting group). Hopefully I'll get to visit as well in the midst of all this other stuff.
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