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November 22, 2005
there is a light that never goes out
On Sunday night, my grandmother passed away. Although it wasn't completely unexpected--at the same time, it was. Ironically, I had returned from Boise on the same day.
Although I haven't seen her often in the last few years, she was a strong force in my life as I was growing up. We used to spend every summer in Burley, ID at my grandparent's house, which I remember perfectly, like I was just there yesterday. Her friends called her Perk because she was like a percolator, always on the go, always bubbling, never stopping. It was even on her license plate.
When we would go places, everyone knew my grandmother. We couldn't get through a store in town without at least 2-3 people stopping to chat with her. She ran the cafeteria at the now defunct Heyburn, ID Simplot plant. I remember we would go pick her up from work and we would sit in the car when my mom would go in to get her. The stench from the plant was overwhelming. But she always brought home bags of french fries and chicken patties--a little kid's dream to be able to have McDonald's french fries at home.
She was always smiling. Even when I last saw her and she only sort of knew who I was, she was smiling and seemed happy.
Her light won't ever go out--it shines on, deep inside me, an indelible part of who I am and who I have become.
Posted by crystallyn at 07:04 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
November 16, 2005
Home on the Range
Heading out to Boise this morning. Oddly, the company I work for acquired a software company in Boise. What are the odds of that? My mother is ecstatic. She thinks it means more trips home. Maybe a few more but for the most part there isn't a lot of reason for me to go there for work. This trip, yes, because of transition stuff but once that has happened there isn't much need for me to go back. We'll see.
Other than seeing my family, I'm never very excited to go back to Boise. It's flat, full of cows and lacks character. Well, at least the character I'm interested in hanging around. It's becoming such an awful sprawl of cookie cutter houses, strip malls and chain restaurants. I don't agree with the politics and the general religion of the place. Just doesn't do it for me. There is a lot of outdoor things there--skiing, hunting, fishing, but well, not into those either. Their little downtown area is perking up a bit, finally, but it's less than a square mile of the entire town.
My mom thinks that I bolted right after high school because I was running away from them. That's not really true--I was running away from the dead end hole called Boise. Still, I'm excited to see my family, especially my adorable little nephews who are growing up so quickly. But coming back to Boston will be a big breath of fresh air otherwise...
So dang tired. I never sleep before trips. So I tossed and turned all night and finally got up at 4:30, even though I don't leave until 6. Argh. And of course we're out of coffee. *pout*
Back in a few days...
Posted by crystallyn at 05:26 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 13, 2005
so much for walking 10 miles in snow each way...
New England is known for having particularly hard winters. And in truth, last year's was a doozy and so was the year before. But several new studies are showing that New England winters are just not what they used to be. The U.S. Geological Survey shows that for one, New England Rivers are melting sooner in the spring.
The total winter days of ice-affected flow decreased by 20 days from 1936 to 2000 for the average of the nine rivers with records that long, with most of the decrease occurring since the 1960's.Of the 16 rivers studied, 12 had significantly earlier spring melts, called "ice-outs," the study found. On average, the ice-out dates became earlier by 11 days from 1936 to 2000, again with most of the change occurring since the 1960's.
"The changes in spring river ice-outs in northern New England are consistent with previous studies," said USGS hydrologist Glenn Hodgkins, the lead author. "The overall evidence of changes is strong and is consistent with warming temperatures in the late-winter and spring in New England in the last 30 to 40 years."
We've certainly had our share of weird weather this year. The whole year has been a mess. Hard snowfall in the early part of the year, followed by one of the rainiest springs on record (I think May only had 2-3 rain-free days), a super-hot dry summer and now, this fall has been so freakishly warm that it's the second week of November and although most of the trees have lost their leaves, there are still quite a few that are just now starting to change colors. The bright red maples, usually one of the first to turn, were one of the last to change over because we didn't have any frost until just a week or two ago. The weather is just plain freakish this year. We even had a quarter inch of snow the Saturday before Halloween. And yet today is supposed to be in the lower 60s.
A recent article in the Bangor Daily News talked about the devastating effects that global warming can have on New England's environment which in turn, directly affects our tourist dollars.
Because of global warming, widespread and costly impacts could hit the region hard. According to researchers at the University of New Hampshire, New England could experience a 10-30 percent increase in precipitation and an overall temperature increase of 6-10 degrees by 2090 - a greater climate variation than any the region has seen over the past 10,000 years.In this drastically different climate of tomorrow, maples would fade from our hillsides as oak and hickory trees became the dominant species. The pride of farmers for generations, New England pure maple syrup could become a memory if global warming remains unchecked. And like the sugar maples, seasonal leaf peepers would also increasingly migrate north to Canada as the fall frosts so vital in creating the fiery hillsides immortalized by Kipling, Thoreau and others become a thing of the past.
Although a few might miss the traditional winds and snows that have made New England winters so famous, New Englanders surely would miss the annual tourist dollars. Not counting the adverse economic impact of climate change on New England's agriculture, conservative estimates show that a 50 percent drop in fall tourism could cost the region nearly 20,000 jobs alone. Unfortunately, though, this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Indeed, according to a recent study commissioned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, global warming over the coming century could cost local cities like Boston as much as $94 billion. Through increased flooding and changes in seasonal weather patterns, researchers in the five-year study found that climate change will impose increased demands on building upkeep, emergency services and energy consumption throughout the region. Luckily, however, New Englanders have never been inclined to sit and wait while danger mounts. The gathering threat of global warming is no different.
I think the thing that bothers me most is that people only start to care when there is money to be made or drastic amounts of money to be lost. Protecting the environment simply to protect it makes no sense unless some sort of government or big business is going to profit. It just makes me sick. Case-in-point, Fox News' special that will be airing tonight on global warming. Yes, you read that right--Fox News. They realized that the public is very concerned about this issue (in fact, a recent Fox poll showed that 77% of Americans believe that global warming is happening) and so as a result, they decided to cash in. Not because, IMHO, they really believe in the issue, but because there are ratings to be had. There is nothing fair and balanced about it at all.
Posted by crystallyn at 08:35 AM | TrackBack
November 03, 2005
mmm Han Solo!
I had such a crush on him when I was ten! Good thing because my Fantasy/SciFi character is none other than:
courtesy of Niki...you MUST go check out the Halloween pictures of her little twins! Absolute genious!
Posted by crystallyn at 07:09 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
couch to 5k
So I'm really doing it...the couch to 5k running program. Remember way back in February when I talked about working towards a mini-triathlon? I never forgot about that. I was battling shin splints and so felt discouraged about running in general. Finally switched out my shoes and started up again and boom! I'm on my way!
The good thing is that I'm such a gym rat that I didn't have to start from scratch. I am strong and I have been a demon on the elliptical and the bike so my endurance isn't bad. So even though I technically only started two weeks ago, I'm ready to start on week 3 of month 2 of the couch program. It's a great feeling to be improving and adding more time to my jogging each week. My goal is to run a 5k by my birthday next year, which I think will be easily doable.
Joanie inspired me awhile back when she started training for and ran a couple different half-marathons. Maybe I can follow in her footsteps someday. :)
The other super cool thing is that I am working toward my goal of being healthier at 35 than I was at 15--I already am in a lot of ways and am moving ever closer!
Posted by crystallyn at 07:11 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack