200th post!

ha. this post is my 200th on this blog. a lot of those have been mundane and forgettable, but hopefully a few of those have stood out for some of you readers. so, some quick stats: since starting this blog a bit more than a year ago, it has seen well over four thousand visits (4295 at this moment). on average the site sees traffic from around 80 unique users a month, or 30 unique users a week. traffic to this site originates from 5 continents, mostly north america and asia. friends and family in new york, florida (hi mom), california and taiwan top the list of most frequent visitors... thanks for all your attention and positive feedback. and for the few of you who have asked: no, i still haven't submitted any of my essays to the new york times travel section, or any other periodical... maybe soon.

anyway.. thank you all for your readership, and please feel free to let me know if there's anything you'd like to see me write about. here's to the next 200!

~t

science-y stuff

phew... still plugging on this foreland reconstruction. for those of you not on the up and up with my daily research progess, my current project entails reconstructing the kinematic history of the taiwanese foreland (literally the land in front of the mountains) for the last ~2 million years in the region directly west (or tectonically 'in front') of my study area, Puli. the idea is that in order to know where things are going, one has to know where they've been. it all involves a lot of pseudo-3D geometry and eye-crossing. by pseudo-3D, i mean that i'm using 2D constructions, based in different (orthogonal) coordinate systems and trying to kind of mesh them together. think of two pieces of paper, each with something drawn on them, each one penetrating the plane of the other at a right angle. the combined drawings on each sheet defining the structure of an object within its respective plane, giving a 'pseudo-3D' rendering of what that object looks like in real life. this isn't supposed to sound like plato's allegory of the cave... it's less abstract than that.



...hopefully.

~t

whee!

what a show-off.... actually, i've been practicing my wheelies around town for the last couple of months. i'm working on 'manuals' (coasting wheelies: no pedaling to keep you up, just balance) not so much because they're useful on the trail, but because they're just fun.



~t

steeper than...

i think i mentioned something about 'clearing technical lines' while in moab. it occurs to me that not everyone is a mountain biker and so not everyone will really appreciate what i mean by that. the term 'technical', when talking about bike trails, generally refers to the level of difficulty and by default the likelyhood of a rider navigating the trail without falling and/or getting hurt. on the east-coast, technical trails often have sections that are off-camber, choked with gnarled tree roots, loose rocks, or some combination of those. out here in the rockies and out on the colorado plateau, 'technical' can mean something different. i've gone from riding a hardtail (rigid) frame back east, to a full suspension bike with 6" of travel on both wheels... just so i can actually ride trails here without getting off my bike every 50 feet.

one particular obstacle on the trail 'behind the rocks' in moab is call 'nose dive hill'. it is steep. it is rocky. more accurately, it is bedrock and i suppose you could describe it as a cliff of sorts. our group of riders came upon nose dive at the same time that several "jeepers" (4WD off-roaders) did... both groups, one fueled by cafe lattes and power bars, the other by beef jerky, beer and gasoline, stopped at the top to scout the descent. each group tried sizing the other up and summarily decided the other had a snowball's chance in hell of actually making it down in one piece.

looking up the outcrop at nosedive. notice
where the guy in the foreground is standing...

dropping in from the top

...remember that last drop-off the guy was standing on?
in the picture it's directly above my head and it's what
i just had to ride off of to exit the line.

clean.

~t

my technicolor leg

not surprisingly, i came back from moab with some bumps and scrapes... nothing big (not like one of the other guys who came away with 7 stitches in his face). classic for me though, i did crash my bike fairly hard on a section of trail that was smooth and open on the first day. i was feeling sort of off that day, and barreling into a corner with lots of heat didn't pan out for me as well as i would have liked; i went over the bars but somehow managed to scissor my left thigh between my frame and handlebars. the bike proceeded to follow me up and over, finally landing on top of me (i said it was classic). anyway, my thigh now exhibits a wonderful technicolor bruise that takes up significant real estate... check it out:



~t

springtime

just snapped this out my window...



~t

moab, take two...

i returned to moab, utah, this past weekend. ostensibly to ride my bike (which I did quite a lot of) but more accurately to escape the confines of my office for a weekend before locking myself in for the remaining two weeks of the semester. the weather was fair, the riding was good (i managed to clear some very technical lines), and on the morning we left the views were beautiful. see below....





~t

thunderstorm

occasional deep rumblings that resonate with the earth are felt as waves all through my body. thrum of heavy, cold drops hitting the ground and trees and roof above me. expectant breeze comes through the screen triggering memories of past storms, past nights, past loves. the sensation of mist, like that from a waterfalls spray, is everywhere. colorado has blurred my old familiarity with rain and humidity. the feeling of swimming in a creek, beneath a waterfall, in the rain, surrounded by lush foliage and steep valley walls has all but been forgotten.



~t

fuh

wednesday brings another geomorph seminar and heaps of crap to do before the weekend. well, to be fair, i've had heaps of crap to do for weeks. reading through the last few blog entries here, i'm summarily unimpressed. my tone has been blunted and tired for a while, my accounts uninspiring... my single attempt at exposition left unfinished. the events at virginia tech making such writings seem unimportant. i didn't mean to actually write about this, but there's no reason to avoid it; it's certainly on everyone's mind. talking with friends and colleagues, reading news reports and blogs, it seems this shooting has literally been felt around the world. people wonder to themselves, 'would I have the courage to stand up, to fight, to survive?' i myself ran through the idea in my head... in each scenario the events play out like a movie but in the end the shooter lies incapacitated and i am standing. yeah right. before more students (and professors, i'm sure) waste their time on running through close-quarters combat scenarios in their heads, i suggest taking a step back.

i remember thinking on the day of the attack, 'why did it go so far? how did students and professors NOT manage to subdue Seung-Hui sooner?' more and more reports of bravery and thoughtful action continue to come out about that morning. professors barracading doors, students using belts and power-cords to fashion tourniquets stemming arterial flows. then there are the witnesses recounting Cho's expressionless, methodical and efficient manner by which so many lives ended. did he suffer from some form of psychopathy (as opposed to a more 'normal' type of depression)? were his writings any indication of real actions? was he careful and consistent with taking his medications? was Seung-Hui Cho in some sort of fugue-state, was he capable of controlling his actions? some reports make it sound like the shooter showed cold and brutal conviction, exacting death on all in his lines of sight. others describe him as tormented and confused, hesitating at first before committing wholly to oblivion.

some questions will never be answered, but i think it's clear that some important questions have been raised.

~t

sunday's deep house

di.fm is re-airing an old dj set today... it's ok, they've hosted better. i'm hanging out in my office today, continuing with these restorations, since i blew it off yesterday to ride my mountain bike. double cortado losing heat on my desk. my plant is getting kind of dusty too, i should clean it off sometime.



~t

timing

heh...

i just got into the office, bright and early, at 10:30. now, i've never been known to keep a strict schedule unless absolutely required... i prefer instead to mosey in when i like (which can be 7:30am, or 11:30am depending) and as long as i feel productive then i don't sweat the details of how many hours a day i spend sitting at a desk. the funny thing about this morning is that i happened to walk in at the same moment that my advisor walked in the opposite end of the building... it seems he holds to many of the same practices and values (including work schedules) that i do.

~t

precursor

i recently drove three thousand miles through the southwest united states. at times the personal habits, and foul odors, of four other men in the same truck made it nearly impossible to reflect in any way upon the sights surrounding us... but there were also plenty of opportunities to stare. to soak in the hues and textures of the desert. to watch the play of light across broad plains and tall ranges. to marvel at the impressive forces required to literally tear the stony crust of this planet apart. to feel so fortunate to bear witness as a guest of this earth...

~to be cont...

back from the desert

finally back from my latest trip. ten days driving through the southwest. colorado plateau, mojave desert, death valley, grand canyon... lots to see in less than two weeks. i have some great images in my head and things i want to write about, but i need a little time to sort through and pick a topic.. check back for some type of expository or creative writing on that stuff. i'm also planning my next trip to taiwan... this may. at the moment i'm thinking three weeks in country, at least half that time crawling through deeply incised drainages in a sweaty jungle looking for some good outcrop exposures... it's always a bit of an easter-egg hunt over there. I'd also (obviously) like to spend some more quality time in Taipei... one of my friends recently opened her own cafe so i'll at least have to check that out. spicy-pot and dumplings are two other things, ah yes, and 'er-ro' (goose meat), that i need to get my fix of while there ...though i think i'll leave that evening of absinthe and cigarettes and deafening music to a younger, more foolish version of myself.

~t

upcoming 'stache party...

alright...

i mentioned previously that i am rockin' a handlebar mustache in preparation for an upcoming party... i still have a little over two weeks to go, but i think i am already in decent shape. i was told by a few people in geomorphology seminar this morning that they had to avoid looking at me so they wouldn't crack up. i got thumbs-up from others. so far i haven't gotten any scornful looks, though i had one comment on time-travel. decide for yourself. now i'm stuck with it until the party, but a majority of that time will be spent driving around the southwest for a tectonics trip.



~t

morgan spurlock is my idol...

for so many reasons. 'supersize me' was one of the best directed, shot, and edited films i've seen in the last several years. his tv series, '30 days', was just as interesting and it's a pity it wasn't more widely viewed. his general view of learning and, perhaps more importantly, educating the masses through his empirical experiences (he once spent thirty days in jail, just to learn about the failures of the system) is genius.

at the moment however, he is my idol because i have chosen to model my moustache after his... in preparation for an upcoming moustache party in april. this is something that has been poorly planned to date, but there are at least a roomful of people who received advanced warning of this event... so we will be ready for whatever form it takes come april first. I missed the chance to participate in the last one i was invited to (in undergrad at cornell, some four years ago) so i've jumped at the opportunity to be a part of this one.

~t

cripes!

not crepes... cripes! i just posted my audi on craigslist a few hours ago advertising it for sale: for about 1400 less than its blue book value due to a few problems. i've already had about 5 people email me in that time all offering to buy it by monday!! obviously, selling the car will not be a problem, but jeez... didn't think i would have such an easy time of it. this is good news though, because it means that i can get right on the few small plans i've hatched for the new golf. i've also already enlisted the help of my roommates in these mods, since they are interested in learning about how to soup ("sup'", "soop"?) up a car. mods will include an all new performance suspension setup and new performance brakes... for now. perhaps a new exhaust too since the current one only has a few thousand miles left in it (but not one of those stupid "ricer" getups that sound like a tin-can full of bees - been there, done that).

also, off to pueblo, co, tomorrow morning at first light to go mountain biking with a few guys... should be fun. st patty's day on fat tires!! i will resist the urge to fill my camelbak with guinness.

~t

financial responsibility

several years ago now, i had a real job. i was an environmental consultant for an international consulting company... working for clients like the military, navy, nestle... you know, that sort of thing. coming straight from a psuedo-job at my undergrad alma mater, i thought i was rolling in dough with my moderate salary. within a month i had agreed to finance a 25000 dollar suv. well, i ended up leaving that job to go back to school, and took a huge pay cut in the process. my suv was now above my financial means, so i traded it out for something (slightly) cheaper, but still quite nice. for the last two years, i've been driving an audi a4... all leather, v6, heated seats... mmmm. anyway, i finally got my act together and made the move to a car i can actually afford. afford to own, maintain, fuel, and afford to drive given the fact that i'm a geologist and supposed to be among the ranks of people most conscious about the dire state of our planet. i ended up going for a little red vw golf: awesome gas mileage, cheap to maintain (not to mention the fact that i can pretty much do all the work myself) and lets not forget, really fun to drive.

before:


now:


soon? (i love photoshop):


~t

told you i broke it...

yeah... flip flops and mountain bikes were never really meant to go together as i reaffirmed today while wiping out, very publicly, in the middle of a crowded sidewalk on campus. i ripped all the skin off the tip of my left big toe, and broke the middle toe on the same foot. the long winter and persistant snow cover have given way to dust on the sidewalks and streets which has yet to get washed away by spring rains. i've broken many of my toes over the years, some of them more than once, and i'm quite used to the sensation by now... i can usually tell immediately when it happens. at first it's a dull pain, followed by swelling and shooting pains when flexed, then the toe turns purple at the break and goes stiff.

today i exacerbated the break by participating in our departments first intramural ultimate frisbee game, which took place about an hour after my crash. hey, it's a toe, it's broken, all you can do is implement the buddy system by taping the toe in question to a neighbor. running on it for an hour might not help, per se, but it won't exactly damage it more than it already has been.

anyway... we won our game, and here's the proof of broken-ness.



~t

little green men... sort of

i just ran across this article on the bbc website... check out: the story.

i tend to agree with kristi curry-rogers though... this seems a little far-fetched. it's also interesting to point out that statistically (ok, ok, only based on a couple of data points, so not really) that this planet is potentially overdue for some type of "ele" or extinction level event or large meteorite/planetoid impact. the physics involved in the fallout of such an event are awesome to say the least... people wonder why it's so hard to find fossil evidence of dinosaurs killed in the K/T boundary event, but when you realize that the ensueing global firestorm responsible for the planet-wide iridium rich clay marker layer essentially cremated/carbonized all life at the surface, it kind of makes sense.

back to reading about the physics of rainsplash driven downslope sediment grain transport... yay!

~t

motivation

ha. i hate to admit it, but i feel like i have forgotten what motivation feels like for the last several months. i also seem to think that i've spent an inordinate amount of time during that period just doing whatever i wanted, whether it was biking, snowboarding, just sitting around on my ass, or otherwise avoiding a lot of work. not that i haven't done any work recently, i just haven't done what i really should have been doing. case in point; yesterday was terrible, weather-wise. it was rainy, with freezing slush/snow and fog in the mountains. a perfect day for doing work, but instead i went snowboarding. i was soaked, cold, tired and just felt sort of blah for the rest of the evening.

this morning it is beautiful out; today will be sunny and warm and perfectly spring-like... but in an uncharacteristically responsible move, i'm going to my office to get something done. i just woke up motivated today, for the first time in a while, feeling like i actually want to get something done. instead of reading papers for my classes, and writing abstracts of presentations, i'll be playing (and it does feel like playing to me) with my pencils and protractors to finish restoring (palinspatically) one of the cross sections through the taiwanese foreland. work can actually be fun, if you're doing what fascinates you. i've spent months thinking about this reseach project, visualizing the finished prodect in my head, working out the potential for animations that would be jaw-dropping even to an audience of my professors... 3D frameworks of stratigraphy deforming backwards in time, literally deconstructing the western half of taiwan, illustrating the dynamics of the arc-continent collision over the last 2-3 million years in a seamless time regression series. how f%$#ing cool would that be?! ...heh, now i just have to do it.

~t