I like this quote I found from Alan Fletcher:
"A designer has to have the hide of a rhinoceros, the neck of a giraffe, the memory of an elephant and the persistence of a woodpecker."
I've got to draw this animal at some point soon.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Summer is officially here
Happy Friday readers,
Well, I had my first Board of Directors presentation this past Wednesday. Our Research Learning Network had 45 minutes to update the Board about our current and future projects and I was thrilled at the positive response. Conference calls still amaze me and I’d like to think that I’m getting more comfortable talking to a dozen people without actually seeing them. Here are the creative briefs I put together that introduced my summer projects, most of which you’ve seen before.
Now that this meeting is done, I don’t have any big deadlines looming ahead of me. Which is somewhat of a bad thing because I thrive under due dates. Okay, next week’s goal: more self-discipline!
Have a wonderful (and warm) weekend. I’m hearing that we’ll hit 90 on Sunday? This is quite the heat wave for the Pacific Northwest. I may have to start wearing shorts now.
Well, I had my first Board of Directors presentation this past Wednesday. Our Research Learning Network had 45 minutes to update the Board about our current and future projects and I was thrilled at the positive response. Conference calls still amaze me and I’d like to think that I’m getting more comfortable talking to a dozen people without actually seeing them. Here are the creative briefs I put together that introduced my summer projects, most of which you’ve seen before.
Now that this meeting is done, I don’t have any big deadlines looming ahead of me. Which is somewhat of a bad thing because I thrive under due dates. Okay, next week’s goal: more self-discipline!
Have a wonderful (and warm) weekend. I’m hearing that we’ll hit 90 on Sunday? This is quite the heat wave for the Pacific Northwest. I may have to start wearing shorts now.
What not to do
Next week, I’ve been asked to give a training session of my choice to the new interpreters within our park. Whatever I want? Ha, It’s dangerous to give me that much power. Based on the fact that I am giving a presentation on the very last day of their three-weeks of training, I decided to do something fun with as much audience participation as I can.
To no one’s surprise, some of the things in life that gets me worked up are bad powerpoints, boring presentations and lazy graphic design. So my training will be entitled: “How NOT to give a Powerpoint” I figured this would be useful since the interps will be starting their new evening programs relatively soon and I need to break them of their bad habits.
So I set out to create the worst powerpoint and broke every rule that I could. I was somewhat embarrassed working on it in the office because I didn’t want my co-workers to think that this as a legitimate project I was designing.
I’ll give the presentation and have the staff take notes about what is wrong about each slide (and believe me, the list will be very long). We’ll discuss these points and then I’ll provide examples of good usage of powerpoint slides. Should be fun.
Here are some tips I've come up with:
DON'T even think about using
CLIP ART
SLIDE TRANSITIONS
SLIDE BACKGROUNDS
SOUND EFFECTS or (God forbid)
WORD ART.
These are dated and tacky and whoever designed them should be smacked upside the head. Remember, a good presentation brings the focus back to you, not itself.
RESIST THE URGE!
DON'T use your your slides as your script. Keep text to a minimum, otherwise, audience members will read ahead and stop listening to you. And then they’ll fall asleep while waiting for you to catch up.
DO use a limited number of colors. Keep the background as neutral as possible so that the emphasis is on the content.
DO use only high-quality images. Nothing blurry or pixelated. Ever.
DO attribute your sources. If the photographs aren’t yours or the NPS, you can get in big copyright trouble. Especially if the photographer is sitting in the audience.
DO use your slides to reinforce your words, not repeat them.
Try to maintain a level of graphic consistency. This means, staying with one typeface, a similar color palette, and images of the same size.
DO remember that even if technology fails, you should still be able to give your program. This is how confident you need to be in the presentation. It also helps keep your priorities: content and speech first, then supplemental images second (and know that, as a visual person, it pains me to admit that).
To no one’s surprise, some of the things in life that gets me worked up are bad powerpoints, boring presentations and lazy graphic design. So my training will be entitled: “How NOT to give a Powerpoint” I figured this would be useful since the interps will be starting their new evening programs relatively soon and I need to break them of their bad habits.
So I set out to create the worst powerpoint and broke every rule that I could. I was somewhat embarrassed working on it in the office because I didn’t want my co-workers to think that this as a legitimate project I was designing.
I’ll give the presentation and have the staff take notes about what is wrong about each slide (and believe me, the list will be very long). We’ll discuss these points and then I’ll provide examples of good usage of powerpoint slides. Should be fun.
Here are some tips I've come up with:
DON'T even think about using
CLIP ART
SLIDE TRANSITIONS
SLIDE BACKGROUNDS
SOUND EFFECTS or (God forbid)
WORD ART.
These are dated and tacky and whoever designed them should be smacked upside the head. Remember, a good presentation brings the focus back to you, not itself.
RESIST THE URGE!
DON'T use your your slides as your script. Keep text to a minimum, otherwise, audience members will read ahead and stop listening to you. And then they’ll fall asleep while waiting for you to catch up.
DO use a limited number of colors. Keep the background as neutral as possible so that the emphasis is on the content.
DO use only high-quality images. Nothing blurry or pixelated. Ever.
DO attribute your sources. If the photographs aren’t yours or the NPS, you can get in big copyright trouble. Especially if the photographer is sitting in the audience.
DO use your slides to reinforce your words, not repeat them.
Try to maintain a level of graphic consistency. This means, staying with one typeface, a similar color palette, and images of the same size.
DO remember that even if technology fails, you should still be able to give your program. This is how confident you need to be in the presentation. It also helps keep your priorities: content and speech first, then supplemental images second (and know that, as a visual person, it pains me to admit that).
Welcome Scott!
This week, we added a new player to our communication team, Scott Beason! Scott will be my counterpart at Mount Rainier and we’re excited to see how our working relationship develops. With his science and interp background and my interp and design background, we have an opportunity to test out a potential staffing arrangement for science communication in the future. The two of us will be focusing on developing a thorough suite of products on glaciers, landbirds, and/or climate. I’m thrilled to have someone to bounce ideas off and to share the workload.
So now, our team consists of people at Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Olympic and Fort Collins, CO. Being separated geographically (temporally too if you include the fact that Fort Collins is two hours ahead), presents some interesting challenges; it’s not the most ideal working scenario in my opinion, but we’re making it work.
So now, our team consists of people at Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Olympic and Fort Collins, CO. Being separated geographically (temporally too if you include the fact that Fort Collins is two hours ahead), presents some interesting challenges; it’s not the most ideal working scenario in my opinion, but we’re making it work.
Fill in the Blank
Hi readers! Time for some audience participation. Please fill in the rest of this sentence:
“The first national park that I remember visiting was...”
Feel free to go into detail if you want, but it’s not necessary. Just post your response in the comment link below.
Here’s mine.
“The first national park that I remember visiting was… Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore”
My uncle has worked as park ranger there for as long as I can remember and I loved my summers as a kid exploring the outdoors of Michigan’s upper peninsula. From 3rd-5th grade, I participated in a two-week long environmental day camp where every day was a wonderful hands-on field trip: putting on fishing waders and electrocuting invasive sea lampreys, spending an afternoon canoeing to count painted turtles, using radio collars to track down some sort of grouse, examining carnivorous plants in bogs. My cousin and I would come home from these excursions and our jeans would absolutely be plastered in mud and our shoes full of water.
It never really occurred to me until later that what I thought was just playing around and having fun outside was what scientists were doing as their fieldwork. I imagine that this type of story is fairly common among my co-workers. I’m also fortunate that I’ve had opportunities to come full circle, where I was the educator and able to introduce a new generation of children to the outdoors.
“The first national park that I remember visiting was...”
Feel free to go into detail if you want, but it’s not necessary. Just post your response in the comment link below.
Here’s mine.
“The first national park that I remember visiting was… Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore”
My uncle has worked as park ranger there for as long as I can remember and I loved my summers as a kid exploring the outdoors of Michigan’s upper peninsula. From 3rd-5th grade, I participated in a two-week long environmental day camp where every day was a wonderful hands-on field trip: putting on fishing waders and electrocuting invasive sea lampreys, spending an afternoon canoeing to count painted turtles, using radio collars to track down some sort of grouse, examining carnivorous plants in bogs. My cousin and I would come home from these excursions and our jeans would absolutely be plastered in mud and our shoes full of water.
It never really occurred to me until later that what I thought was just playing around and having fun outside was what scientists were doing as their fieldwork. I imagine that this type of story is fairly common among my co-workers. I’m also fortunate that I’ve had opportunities to come full circle, where I was the educator and able to introduce a new generation of children to the outdoors.
I had a dream
I had an information graphic make an appearance in a dream last night. I was driving through a town in the southwest, somewhat touristy though no one was getting out of the cars because of the white-hot heat of the afternoon sun. I must have been lost because I found myself holding a map in my hands. I don’t remember anything other than the map key in the lower right corner. It had very well designed logos for the different types of on/off-ramps and highway overpasses. There was a bit of the third-dimension shown so you could figure out if a road went above or below another. I know this probably makes no sense, but I can vividly see the graphic, colors and all, in my mind.
Why that was necessary for this map, I have no idea. My question is, even though this graphic was “designed” by someone else in my dream, because it was my subconscious, am I free to use it in the future? I like it when all I have to do to find inspiration is fall asleep.
Why that was necessary for this map, I have no idea. My question is, even though this graphic was “designed” by someone else in my dream, because it was my subconscious, am I free to use it in the future? I like it when all I have to do to find inspiration is fall asleep.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Sun=good for creativity
Happy Friday everyone! It looks like a beautiful sunny start to the weekend and I hope you all get a chance to get outside to enjoy the weather. I’ve quickly realized that you have to take advantage of any rain-free and cloud-free days because you never know when mother nature will come back with weeks of never-ending overcast skies.
Also, happy summer solstice eve. I can’t believe how much light we get at this high latitude. I love all this vitamin D and serotonin. Of course, we pay for it dearly during the winter months, right?
No travels this week and I think this blog may be documenting other things besides strictly field work. As I’ve started creating actual products and people have seen what work is possible, it’s like a snowball effect of assignments. That’s a good thing of course, I’m glad there is work for me to do!
I’ll keep trying to share what research and monitoring is going on in the parks in whatever ways I can. It’s okay for this blog to evolve; we’re figuring this out as we go along. Let me know if there is anything in particular you’d like to see here.
Also, happy summer solstice eve. I can’t believe how much light we get at this high latitude. I love all this vitamin D and serotonin. Of course, we pay for it dearly during the winter months, right?
No travels this week and I think this blog may be documenting other things besides strictly field work. As I’ve started creating actual products and people have seen what work is possible, it’s like a snowball effect of assignments. That’s a good thing of course, I’m glad there is work for me to do!
I’ll keep trying to share what research and monitoring is going on in the parks in whatever ways I can. It’s okay for this blog to evolve; we’re figuring this out as we go along. Let me know if there is anything in particular you’d like to see here.
Web of Vital Signs
This is an info graphic that I’ve been playing around with for the past few weeks. When I first started this job, I had a difficult time imagining where each vital sign was being monitored? Which parks had the most vital signs? Which ones had the least? What sort of patterns of partnerships existed?
This graphic is eventually what I’ve come up with to answer those questions. It may not be the clearest explanation, but it sure looks cool, right? I know, aesthetics for aesthetics’ sake is worthless in good design; I’d love any suggestions on how to make this graphic more useful.
In the meantime, let me walk you through it (though, admittedly, a good graphic shouldn’t have to be explained like this). Click on each image for a larger detail.
-Each national park unit is represented by its 4-letter acronym.
-The arrangement of the parks matches their geographic locations on a map.
-If scientists monitor a vital sign at a particular park, a circle is placed around the park.
-You may notice that as the circles radiate outwards, the opacity changes (that is, it fades as it spreads out).
-This is because the more parks that monitor a vital sign, the darker the line (ie “Climate” is monitored at all 7 parks, “Intertidal” at just 2)
-This fading effect should be apparent in the 9 boxes to the right.
-In addition to a circle around the park, there are lines that connect the parks to each other. This shows the relationships to other parks that share the same vital sign.
Thus, we can conclude that Mount Rainier, Olympic, and North Cascades share the most vital signs out of the network.
In any case, I’ll be reworking this graphic throughout the season, but I wanted to put it out there to get discussions started.
Clearly, Melissa Block reads my blog
My co-worker Cindy Bjorklund alerted me to the NPR story that aired last night. I’d like to point out that I covered a similar story as my first blog post:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91561739#share
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91561739#share
I forgot that I had collected these images from a few weeks ago while talking with Jon Riedel and Jeanna Wenger of the glacier monitoring team. Looking through them again, I realized they are pretty good competitors for the Mountain Lakes crew in regards to having the coolest job ever. Literally, of course.
I’ll do my best with the captions, though Jon and Jeanna will have to double-check for me.
Jeanna inserts a rod into Emmons Glacier on Mount Rainier, Spring 2008. After marking the snow level, the team will return later in the season to see how much has melted.
A hot steam wand assists in the creating the initial hole for the rod.
Oops. Something got stuck and they had to dig it out. That’s gotta be at least a 10’ hole.
(Is this too large to view?)
Noisy glacier, Summer 2007
Silver glacier, Fall 2006
These are images from the United States Geological Survey monitoring of South Cascade Glacier. While technically not within park boundaries, these photos are often used because the change is so visibly dramatic. Photos were taken in: 1928, 1960, 1967, 1979, 1991, and 2000
I’ll do my best with the captions, though Jon and Jeanna will have to double-check for me.
Jeanna inserts a rod into Emmons Glacier on Mount Rainier, Spring 2008. After marking the snow level, the team will return later in the season to see how much has melted.
A hot steam wand assists in the creating the initial hole for the rod.
Oops. Something got stuck and they had to dig it out. That’s gotta be at least a 10’ hole.
(Is this too large to view?)
Noisy glacier, Summer 2007
Silver glacier, Fall 2006
These are images from the United States Geological Survey monitoring of South Cascade Glacier. While technically not within park boundaries, these photos are often used because the change is so visibly dramatic. Photos were taken in: 1928, 1960, 1967, 1979, 1991, and 2000
Top 12 Places in Washington
Here is another project I’ve been working on this past week (still in progress). I’m not sure how much background I’m allowed to share other than a handout was needed that introduced all national park units in Washington as well as promote our notable stories and unique features.
Giving equal face time to each national park is an interesting challenge when most people just focus on the “big three” or “crown jewels”: Mount Rainier, Olympic, and North Cascades. (It was interesting to discover that Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area came in second in terms of highest annual visitation). Also, I can imagine some debate about the cover, where each park is reduced to one iconic image. But the main point of that graphic is to showcase the diversity of Washington’s parks.
In any case, I look forward to developing this further.
Giving equal face time to each national park is an interesting challenge when most people just focus on the “big three” or “crown jewels”: Mount Rainier, Olympic, and North Cascades. (It was interesting to discover that Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area came in second in terms of highest annual visitation). Also, I can imagine some debate about the cover, where each park is reduced to one iconic image. But the main point of that graphic is to showcase the diversity of Washington’s parks.
In any case, I look forward to developing this further.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Peer review
There will probably be a few more posts going up this weekend as I have several on-going projects that are coming to completion at the same time. Well, the first drafts at least. Let me know how these logos work for each vital sign:
My goal this summer...
I found a great interview with Steve Duenes, the graphics director at the New York Times. He shared the following anecdote:
"From: Nicholas Kristof Subject: the power of art
in september i traveled with bill gates to africa to look at his work fighting aids there. while setting the trip up, it emerged that his initial interest in giving pots of money to fight disease had arisen after he and melinda read a two-part series of articles i did on third world disease in January 1997. until then, their plan had been to give money mainly to get countries wired and full of computers.
bill and melinda recently reread those pieces, and said that it was the second piece in the series, about bad water and diarrhea killing millions of kids a year, that really got them thinking of public health. Great! I was really proud of this impact that my worldwide reporting and 3,500-word article had had. But then bill confessed that actually it wasn't the article itself that had grabbed him so much -- it was the graphic. It was just a two column, inside graphic, very simple, listing third world health problems and how many people they kill. but he remembered it after all those years and said that it was the single thing that got him redirected toward public health.
No graphic in human history has saved so many lives in africa and asia.
I'm sending you a copy of the story and graphic by interoffice mail. whoever did the graphic should take a bow.
nick kristof"
I recently have become very interested in the field of information graphics, the visual representation of complex data. It appeals to both the detail-oriented/mathematical side of my brain and my creative/aesthetic-conscious side. It's a fun challenge to synthesize something that is very confusing into a form more visually palatable to the public.
Working with this network of scientists is providing me with ample opportunity to try out some info graphics, so stay tuned!
"From: Nicholas Kristof Subject: the power of art
in september i traveled with bill gates to africa to look at his work fighting aids there. while setting the trip up, it emerged that his initial interest in giving pots of money to fight disease had arisen after he and melinda read a two-part series of articles i did on third world disease in January 1997. until then, their plan had been to give money mainly to get countries wired and full of computers.
bill and melinda recently reread those pieces, and said that it was the second piece in the series, about bad water and diarrhea killing millions of kids a year, that really got them thinking of public health. Great! I was really proud of this impact that my worldwide reporting and 3,500-word article had had. But then bill confessed that actually it wasn't the article itself that had grabbed him so much -- it was the graphic. It was just a two column, inside graphic, very simple, listing third world health problems and how many people they kill. but he remembered it after all those years and said that it was the single thing that got him redirected toward public health.
No graphic in human history has saved so many lives in africa and asia.
I'm sending you a copy of the story and graphic by interoffice mail. whoever did the graphic should take a bow.
nick kristof"
I recently have become very interested in the field of information graphics, the visual representation of complex data. It appeals to both the detail-oriented/mathematical side of my brain and my creative/aesthetic-conscious side. It's a fun challenge to synthesize something that is very confusing into a form more visually palatable to the public.
Working with this network of scientists is providing me with ample opportunity to try out some info graphics, so stay tuned!
Photos of the Week
Thanks to Ashely Rawhouser, Aquatic Ecologist at NOCA, I just gained access to the digital image library for the mountain lakes monitoring project. I hit the mother lode of images and am putting up a few of my favorites. From what I've seen, this looks like the most fun field work out of all the vital signs (yes, all you other teams should see that as an incentive to prove me wrong!). More captions coming soon.
Aerial view of Blum Lakes
Green Lake
Waiting for the helicopter to arrive...
Aerial view of Blum Lakes
Green Lake
Waiting for the helicopter to arrive...
Don't eat me!
Our first "foreign correspondent" works on the vegetation mapping crew at Mount Rainier National Park. Michelle Hansen sent this photo of what we think is plasmodial slime mold, taken off the Paradise road near Kautz Creek:
Slime molds? What exactly are slime molds? Well, they're not exactly fungi and their taxonomy is still being determined. Anyone out there want to send in a good description? In the meantime, enjoy this video from the series Planet Earth:
Mmmmm
This week on the blog we have a potluck of posts to share. Meaning, for the first time, we have others contributing to the fun.
This past Wednesday, I attended the North Cascades summer season kick-off and enjoyed a huge potluck dinner with about 75 guests bringing in as many dishes. As a foodie (and frugal recent college graduate), I was in heaven.
So, as far as I'm concerned about potlucks and blog posts, the more the merrier! Send submissions to: michael_liang@nps.gov
Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy the sunshine (finally)!
This past Wednesday, I attended the North Cascades summer season kick-off and enjoyed a huge potluck dinner with about 75 guests bringing in as many dishes. As a foodie (and frugal recent college graduate), I was in heaven.
So, as far as I'm concerned about potlucks and blog posts, the more the merrier! Send submissions to: michael_liang@nps.gov
Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy the sunshine (finally)!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Join the fun!
You too can be part of the blog:
Since I can't be everywhere at once and since I know there are many talented writers among our ranks, I'm opening up the blog to anyone working on an Inventory and Monitoring team this summer. Print this poster and spread the word!
I'd love to see anecdotes about bears invading campsites, revelations made from mountain tops, underwater photographs from snorkeling with salmon...anything and everything that shares what your daily life is like as a National Park Service scientist.
I'm not sure where we'll end up with this but I DO know that we need to start with an informal forum to share our field stories.
Since I can't be everywhere at once and since I know there are many talented writers among our ranks, I'm opening up the blog to anyone working on an Inventory and Monitoring team this summer. Print this poster and spread the word!
I'd love to see anecdotes about bears invading campsites, revelations made from mountain tops, underwater photographs from snorkeling with salmon...anything and everything that shares what your daily life is like as a National Park Service scientist.
I'm not sure where we'll end up with this but I DO know that we need to start with an informal forum to share our field stories.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Best Wildlife Photos EVER
I burst out laughing when I stumbled across these. Suggest a caption for what the owl must be thinking.
Anyone know the names of these guys? The file names just read "Owl sitting" and "Rob and Owl."
Anyone know the names of these guys? The file names just read "Owl sitting" and "Rob and Owl."
I travel for work and work for travel
I am on my couch, feet propped up, basking in warm afternoon sunlight. After four rainy days on the road, this seems like the perfect way to conclude my week. I don’t have much field work to report on for today’s post, since I traveled because of meetings, but I do have several travel musings that you might find…amusing (ugh, sorry).
1. Driving in the rain puts me to sleep. The combination of rhythmic wiper blades, the constant patter of rain, and the blurred wet vision of the world all makes for a potent recipe for hypnosis. Even a cup of gas station coffee fails to wake me; the warm liquid melts my core faster than the caffeine can stimulate it. I had to take two separate 10 minute naps on Tuesday and was almost late to my first meeting. But no one would fault me for taking care of my own safety, right?
2. I underpacked. In addition to a rain jacket (or umbrella, though no Washington native uses them), I forgot my sleeping bag/blankets, pillow, and toothbrush. Charles, Nikki, and Kate were gracious enough to lend me extra supplies. Oh, and then I left my soap in the shower after my first night.
3. On the flip side, I did find extra food supplies in the fridge when I stayed at Mount Rainier. The great thing about transient housing in national parks is that it’s inevitable that things are left behind which means they’re up for grabs for the next occupant. In my case, I scored on a can of chili, instant Viennese café au lait, and beer. Don’t ask me how long they were in the fridge though.
4. Gas prices are ridiculous. I don’t even want to discuss it further other than mention the fact that I spent two hours on the road mentally figuring out the advantages and disadvantages of buying a motorcycle. Good: 80 mile to the gallon. Bad: being exposed to the rain.
5. I prefer meeting people face to face. Besides the fact that I’m socially awkward on phones (hithsismichaelliangvisualinformationspecialistforthenorthcoastandcascadesresearchlearningnetworkhowareyou?), I’m finding it’s worth my time to make these formal introductions and put a face to a name. This is especially important in how our network is set up, with staff scattered amongst seven different national park units. I know I keep saying this, but I’m always amazed by people’s passion, patience with me, and willingness to help. For whatever reason, I really felt like this summer was going to be an independent endeavor but I’m finally realizing the resources I have available.
6. I had my first teleconference call today and given my initial hesitancy, I thought it went very well. I’m in awe at how the technology works- that seven people in seven separate locations (one even using a satellite phone from Stehekin) can talk together and have a productive meeting.
All in all, it’s been a fairly good week because by the end of it, I finally have a sense of how my position this summer fits into the larger communication goals of the network. I also think I’m done traveling for a couple weeks. I’ve met so many people and gotten so many great ideas that I need to sit in the office and unload and organize that enthusiasm into coherent plan of actions. As Charles keeps telling me, create create create!
Next week I’ll post my ideas for these projects.
Special thanks to: Charles and Nikki Beall, Kate Minto, David Szymanski, Mark Huff, Scott Stonum, Lee Taylor, Reah (housing coordinator extraordinare), Barbara Samora, Bret Christoe, and Darin Swinney.
1. Driving in the rain puts me to sleep. The combination of rhythmic wiper blades, the constant patter of rain, and the blurred wet vision of the world all makes for a potent recipe for hypnosis. Even a cup of gas station coffee fails to wake me; the warm liquid melts my core faster than the caffeine can stimulate it. I had to take two separate 10 minute naps on Tuesday and was almost late to my first meeting. But no one would fault me for taking care of my own safety, right?
2. I underpacked. In addition to a rain jacket (or umbrella, though no Washington native uses them), I forgot my sleeping bag/blankets, pillow, and toothbrush. Charles, Nikki, and Kate were gracious enough to lend me extra supplies. Oh, and then I left my soap in the shower after my first night.
3. On the flip side, I did find extra food supplies in the fridge when I stayed at Mount Rainier. The great thing about transient housing in national parks is that it’s inevitable that things are left behind which means they’re up for grabs for the next occupant. In my case, I scored on a can of chili, instant Viennese café au lait, and beer. Don’t ask me how long they were in the fridge though.
4. Gas prices are ridiculous. I don’t even want to discuss it further other than mention the fact that I spent two hours on the road mentally figuring out the advantages and disadvantages of buying a motorcycle. Good: 80 mile to the gallon. Bad: being exposed to the rain.
5. I prefer meeting people face to face. Besides the fact that I’m socially awkward on phones (hithsismichaelliangvisualinformationspecialistforthenorthcoastandcascadesresearchlearningnetworkhowareyou?), I’m finding it’s worth my time to make these formal introductions and put a face to a name. This is especially important in how our network is set up, with staff scattered amongst seven different national park units. I know I keep saying this, but I’m always amazed by people’s passion, patience with me, and willingness to help. For whatever reason, I really felt like this summer was going to be an independent endeavor but I’m finally realizing the resources I have available.
6. I had my first teleconference call today and given my initial hesitancy, I thought it went very well. I’m in awe at how the technology works- that seven people in seven separate locations (one even using a satellite phone from Stehekin) can talk together and have a productive meeting.
All in all, it’s been a fairly good week because by the end of it, I finally have a sense of how my position this summer fits into the larger communication goals of the network. I also think I’m done traveling for a couple weeks. I’ve met so many people and gotten so many great ideas that I need to sit in the office and unload and organize that enthusiasm into coherent plan of actions. As Charles keeps telling me, create create create!
Next week I’ll post my ideas for these projects.
Special thanks to: Charles and Nikki Beall, Kate Minto, David Szymanski, Mark Huff, Scott Stonum, Lee Taylor, Reah (housing coordinator extraordinare), Barbara Samora, Bret Christoe, and Darin Swinney.
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