Take a Break - It's Friday

I originally posted this on my blog for work, but I decided it was applicable here, too. Especially since this blog serves mainly a different audience - an audience I've been neglecting!

I don't know about you, but this week has been a very busy one. We are in the full throes of our Annual Conference preparation, recovering from being gone all last week in Portland, and of course all of the other "life-as-usual" things here at USEE. Needless to say, I am very happy that it is Friday!

I thought it might be nice to write about something other than the usual this afternoon. Something easy, that doesn't require a lot of research, but still might be at least somewhat interesting to read. So how about weekend plans?


This weekend I have a mix of fun, productivity, and relaxation on my list. Tonight I am going to dinner with my family at my uncle's to see his new house. After that, my sister is coming home with me and she will be staying with me for the weekend as she takes a break from her regular life. She owns a photography business, so we are going to visit Andree' to take pictures of Little Olive and the family. Saturday night my sister and I are getting together with an old friend - maybe we will all watch the University of Utah football game together, or maybe we will just laugh the night away after going to dinner. Those plans haven't been completely solidified yet.

Other than that, the rest of my weekend is free to do as I please, other than the regular things like cleaning out my garden area, cleaning the house, and early-morning runs. I hope to get in a good bike ride, or maybe even a hike somewhere below the snowline on Sunday. I feel some studying at the local coffee shop is also on the horizon.

I am definitely feeling the seasons change. Many of my friends have gotten really sick with the flu in the recent weather changes, I feel like I've missed fall completely since the snow fell in the mountains before the leaves had a chance to change, my house is very chilly, and I've pulled out the pumpkin candle, long-sleeved shirts, blankets, and hot tea. Part of me embraces the change. I look forward to the holidays and all of the festivities they entail, getting warm with hot cider under a blanket after cross-country skiing, and wearing slippers again. The other part of me is already nostalgic for late summer vegetables, long evenings on the porch, and flip-flops.

The transition from summer to fall is always a happy one for me, as fall is most definitely my favorite season. But when summer heads straight into winter, I find myself wishing it wouldn't all happen so fast. But don't get me wrong, I am excited to go skiing! And I plan on visiting the Black Diamond Gear swap tomorrow to see if I can get a good deal on some decent skis to justify buying a pre-season ski pass from Solitude. We'll see how that goes. For now, I'm going to try and enjoy the weather as best I can and hopefully I'll be able to get one more rock-climbing day in before the snow really starts to fly.

Jason (my boss) has informed me that he plans to do an 18 mile run tomorrow in preparation for the marathon he is running in a few months, followed by a short bare-foot relaxation run around the park on Sunday.

So what are you doing this weekend? Getting outside? Going for a run? Spending time with your family and friends? Enjoying life? I hope so!

Photos by Mallory Platt

Lake Blanche

Over Labor Day weekend I finally hiked to Lake Blanche. Lake Blanche is 3 miles up a side canyon up Big Cottonwood Canyon, just below the big S-curves. I regret to say that I have lived in Salt Lake City my entire life and this is the first time I have ventured here. I have been missing out! The trail is incredibly steep, which is part of the reason why I have shied away from it for so long, but it actually wasn't as bad as I was expecting.

The trail is absolutely beautiful and winds mostly through mixed pine and aspen trees. At the top there is steep red rock ridge that runs across the canyon. Lake Blanche is perched just over the ridge and Sundial peak (about another hour and a half to the top) looms above the lake. If you keep hiking west along the ridgeline, there are two smaller lakes beyond Lake Blanche. A small waterfall cascades from Lake Blanche into the first lake, and a slightly larger waterfall comes out of the last, and smallest, lake into the river that runs down the canyon.

As I was hiking up the trail, a few hundred yards from the top of the ridge, a friendly hiker informed me that there were some mountain goats on the cliffs past the smaller lakes. After resting up and eating my lunch, I set off to find them. After exploring for about an hour, I finally found them high on the cliffs above the lakes. Unfortunately, they were too small to see with my camera - so no pictures of them, but I enjoyed watching them bound up and down the cliffs with the greatest of ease - definitely a treat to see.

The trail switches back through many aspen groves.

First view of Lake Blanche

Lake Blanche with Sundial Peak high above.

The two smaller lakes west of Lake Blanche.

View down the canyon from the ridge line - the trail goes up this canyon.

Even though it took me way too long to get up there, I'm glad I finally did now rather than later. If you live in the Salt Lake Valley, or close by, I highly recommend this gorgeous excursion.

Washington State Prisons: Green Job Training and Sustainability

I came across this article in The Grist the today. (Washington State Prisons Pursue Sustainable Practices, Green Collar Job Training by Sarah van Schagen) Though they have a lot of interesting articles circulating about, this one I thought was particularly interesting. It's about a partnership between The Nature Conservancy, Evergreen State University in Washington, and the Washington state prison system. It's called the Sustainable Prisons Project and it's changing the way Washington state prisons are training offenders for the workforce.

Jason Chandler plants Walla Walla Sweet Onions in the
organic garden at Stafford Creak Corrections Center
Photo: Sarah van Schagen

The Sustainable Prisons Project's website states their mission is "to reduce the environmental, economic and human costs of prisons by training offenders and correctional staff in sustainable practices. Equally important, we bring science into prisons by helping scientists conduct ecological research and conserve biodiversity through projects with offenders, college students and community partners." They achieve this by providing offenders with green job training. It is so far a win-win situation as "the scientists get cheap (and eager) labor, while the offenders get the opportunity to participate in meaningful work."

Offenders' task vary from tending the prison's organic garden (the produce is used in the prison's kitchen), separating recyclables from the prison's waste stream, beekeeping, and attending to composting worms. The offenders can also participate in a variety of conservation efforts as well. One project led by The Nature Conservancy involves planting native grass seeds as part of a federally funded prairie restoration project. Other offenders "are also helping breed endangered spotted Oregon frogs and “farm” mosses for the horticultural trade (which aids in preventing unsustainable harvesting from old-growth forests)."

This training allows the offenders to have the opportunity to get involved in science, develop their critical thinking skills, and develop needed skills that could help them in the job market after serving their time in prison. The program is also helping the state prison system money. At the Cedar Creek facility, "efficiency upgrades like low-flow toilets and showers and a rainwater catchment system helped save 250,000 gallons of water in the summer alone. And the gardening, composting, and recycling efforts are saving the facilities thousands of dollars every year."

The Sustainable Prisons Project is currently in practice at 3 state prisons in Washington. The project hopes to expand the program to all prisons in the state. Since correctional facilities as basically like small cities, they hope their example can be followed by other state prisons, summer camps, military bases, hospitals, and schools.

To find out more information about this project, I recommend reading the entire article.

Photo by Sarah van Schagen

"Sustainability Index"

Walmart announced last week that they will be launching a new "sustainability index," or in other words a database designed to "put information about how environmentally friendly suppliers, manufacturers, and their products are."

The index will be implemented in three phases: the first is to survey all of Walmart's suppliers about how the supplier opperates, where their products are made, and how. The second step would be to actually develop the database, and the third and final step would be to launch the index and have consumers using it.

I know that Walmart represents a lot of different feelings for many different people and I personally have difficulty shopping and supporting the mega-retailer. However, you have to give them credit here. I am not sure what this database will look like, how much it will really represent sustainable products, or if Walmart shoppers will use the database, but it is definitely a step in the right direction. Will the index be something that shoppers use and access at the stores, or is it something that shoppers will research before coming in? How will different products be represented in the index? Does that mean Walmart will be selling locally grown or locally made products? Will there be a type of rating system or regulation/policy for the products and suppliers, or how will Walmart address the issues of greenwashing?

There are definitely some hard questions that need to be answered before something like this could be as successful as I think Walmart hopes it to be. In the mean time, I hope someone on the index development team raises these points.

I originally heard of this issue on The Grist and you can read the entire article here.

Independence Day

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Independence Day is a day of fun, families, friends, and food! Ever since I was young we had hamburgers and hot dogs, watermelon, potato salad, corn on the cob, and usually some type of fruit pie with homemade vanilla ice cream on the side. I find this to be traditional fare among many American families. But the 4th of July is special in my family for a different reason...


It's my birthday!

Having a birthday on the 4th is an interesting affair. When I was younger I couldn't imagine having it on any other day and when I would ask my mother if the fireworks were for me she would always reply, "Why yes of course!" I felt special...And I made sure my little sister heard this and was prompt to note that she never got fireworks on her birthday. Children can be so vindictive.

But being a Yankee-Doodle-Dandy isn't all it's fire-crackered up to be either. As I got older I wanted to have parties with my friends. But since they were all doing stuff with their families, I stuck close to home. When I was in college I spent most of my birthdays alone as my family started making their own Independence Day plans by going to the local minor league baseball game to eat hot dogs and watch the fireworks on the baseball diamond lawn. I didn't want to spend my birthday that way and they naturally assumed I'd be with my friends or roommates anyway.

Not so. My closest friends have amazing 4th of July traditions that are unwavering and every year it baffles me. Even though it's an important holiday for my family too, especially with it being my birthday, we never have that many plans or traditions. Maybe it's because of my birthday that we don't.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you. It's just an interesting predicament that surprises me to this day. This year I've tried to get rid of my expectations and embrace the day for what it really is. It's about remembering hundreds of years of history, but I think more importantly, however, that it's about setting aside time for family, whatever that means for you. This year I am going to the baseball game with my family and on Sunday we are having a family/holiday/birthday dinner.

Now that I'm a vegetarian, the traditional 4th of July feast is altered a bit. Instead of burgers and hot dogs (much to some members of my family's chagrin) we will be having shrimp and veggie kabobs. We still have pie - I've never been a lover of cakes. This year my mom is making a wonderful cherry pie. We used to have peach, but the peaches around here aren't ripe yet, which means they come from California or somewhere farther. My mother has discovered a lovely farm about 45 minutes up the highway that grows cherries and freezes them over the winter to sell in the early spring at the farmer's market. These are what will be our pie.

In the mean time, I hope your holiday is full of sunny skies, parks, parades, fun runs, festivals, family, friends, fireworks, hot dogs/hamburgers/kabobs, and of course, cherry pie.


Photo Credits: Fireworks, Cherry Pie

7 Random Things

I originally was tagged back in December. I started the post but never finished. I came across it today when going through all of the drafts I have of unpublished blog posts. I decided to finish it today:

Well, I got tagged about a week ago (thanks Mom) so I guess I should probably follow through on that, even if it's belated. The rules are pretty straight forward: list 7 random facts about yourself and then tag 7 other people to do the same. Most of the people I know to tag my mom already got, so I'll see what I can do about that one later.

But for now, here's to seven.

1. I grew up in a musical family. And when I say musical family, I mean musical family. You know, the kind where we are all judged on what instrument we play, how well, and for how long. The kind of musical family that contains generations of band directors (from junior high on up to college), professional performers, singers, private lesson teachers, and well, really anything you can think of, on almost every instrument. So naturally, I spent most of my youth learning to play the piano, and then later the French Horn. When I got to college, I didn't pursue music as a major, but I was in the marching band for all four years which was a lot of fun and provided an instant group of friends. Now that I no longer choose to dedicate my time to honing my skills at the piano or horn, I am learning to play the guitar. So far it is filling that musical void nicely.

Photo Credit

2. I'm having a hard time deciding what to do with my life. Whomever decided that by the age of 18 you need to go to college, pick a major, and soon thereafter begin a career obviously knew what they wanted to do when they were 5. There are so many options! I'm five years past the point when I was supposed to "pick something to do with my life" and I still haven't figured it out. I do know one thing, however: no matter what I choose, no matter where I end up, I will always be in a place where I'm doing my best to have a positive influence in this world. I want to be a giver, not a receiver.

3. Even though I don't know where I want my life to go, who I'll meet along the way, or how I will get there, I would say that I'm pretty satisfied right now. Sure, there are ups and downs, stress over how long I will get to keep my job, what goals am I working toward now? and when, where, and what grad school will be about. I've got a lot to think about, no doubt. However, I am enjoying my little apartment, the shops that are near by, still living fairly close to my family and friends, being able to ride my bike to work, taking guitar lessons, reading all kinds of books, and otherwise being happy. And that is what this is all about.

4. I love to cook, however I wont claim to be good at it. I just took a bread baking class through the community education program, which was great! I like perusing recipes and trying out new flavors. Many people ask me if being a vegetarian (which I've been now for about 2.5 years) is difficult, but I don't think so. Though it was challenging at first, it's actually been quite the positive experience. I feel I am more healthy, I don't have to worry about the environmental impacts the meat industry is making since I don't support ANY of it or what humane practices are or are not being used, and I have discovered so many new wonderful cuisines because of it.

5. I have one of the rarest personality types in the world (INFJ). This personality type is widely misunderstood, which explains why people have a tough time understanding where I'm coming from. I've never met anyone else who thinks the same way I do, aspires to the same things, and is also afraid of the same things. One way INFJ's are described is: "They are, in fact, sometimes mistaken for extroverts because they appear so outgoing and are so genuinely interested in people...on the contrary, INFJs are true introverts." This can sum up my life pretty well. I hate making phone calls, I dislike giving presentations, and I get extremely anxious when being put on the spot. (Though this has gotten better in the past year with some of things I have to do at work.) But when I tell people I hate these things, they generally don't believe me. I don't give too much stock to my personality type dictating my life, however it does provide some interesting insight.

6. When I'm brushing my teeth at night and swishing around my mouth wash I think about what I would do if I were ever on one of the Listerine commercials? How would I swish this stuff around? What kind of face would I make? This one? Or what about this? Oh, that one was good. THAT would be funny on a commercial.

7. Everything in life seems better after a good thunderstorm. It doesn't rain here much (though after this week, it might be hard to tell). It's a desert. It's hot. Especially at this time of year. The cool days of spring are fading and the crisp burn of summer will soon be upon us. But when the weight of the world is on your shoulders, there is nothing better than spending the evening sitting on the porch, watching the lighting in the distance, hearing the consequent rumble, counting the passing seconds to discern how far away the center of the storm is, thinking of all the other times I've sat on porches doing these same things, and smelling the plants breathe again as the humidity rises...Then comes the rain. It washes the world clean, carrying the stresses of today away until another tomorrow. The neighborhood is refreshed as steam rises from the hot, black streets after the passing storm. I am rejuvenated and can take on anything. Drink it in.

Photo Credit

Saturday Adventure on Antelope Island

Over the weekend my friend, Deborah, and I went for a hike out on Antelope Island. We decided that it was a perfect day to try the highest point on the island, Frary Peak. The hike is about 8 miles round trip and provides many beautiful views of all sides of the lake. We were pretty tired after the trek up to the 6,600 ft peak (a climb of over 2,000 vertical feet from the trail head) and back, so as we were driving home we decided to head over to the other side of the island for a quick wade in the lake.

View from the top of Frary Peak (looking South)
We didn't have a camera, but this is similar to what we saw.
Photo Credit

I had never swam in the Great Salt Lake before, which seems kind of strange since I've lived here all my life. It was good to get that checked off the list. As we were there wading in the water, Deborah (who was excited to finally teach me something about the outdoors) was telling me about the sand on the beach.

It's called oolitic sand, and it's apparently fairly unique. It's only found in a few other places around the planet and is different from regular sand in the fact that it is smooth and rounded, while regular sand is very angular. Oolitic sand at the Great Salt Lake is unique because it is not mineral fragments that were washed down from higher ground like sand in most places, but was formed within the Great Salt Lake:

"An oolite has a shell of concentric layers of calcium carbonate that precipitated around a nucleus or central core. The nucleus is usually a tiny brine shrimp fecal pellet or a mineral fragment. Oolites form in shallow, wave-agitated water, rolling along the lake bottom and gradually accumulating more and more layers." - Utah Geological Survey

Photo Credit