Anticipating Snow

This is the snow day map I made, with data from Buncombe county. It was fun working with real local data, and the ArcMap software is so powerful it is almost hard to figure out what to do with it.

Then it was time to work on the problems in the book. Things went downhill, as there was a problem with one of the data files we all were using. Pete got us a corrected file, but it was complicated to get it and put it in the right place and get ArcMap to starting working with it. It was kinda frustrating, but I found it a good learning opportunity also.

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Here's how far I got on the classwork from the chapter.

Nature's Mysteries & the Curious Brain

I found this little blurb on a trail brochure in the Okefenokee swamp during my sullen, peripatetic, & pensive xmas 2006 trip. I really like that circled part. Yeah, that's why I circled it. My brain is really curious, and a big part of that trip was to give it plenty of mysteries to keep it occupied.

Air Conditioner Update

The Air Conditioner.
It has been reassembled!
I feel sick and it's really cold out,
otherwise I would have removed it,
to the basement.

The Air Conditioner

It's true there is a disassembled air conditioner in my bedroom.
I need to do something about that.
I'm hoping putting this in the blog might help.

Filing for Chapter 9

Yes, here is my post for chapter 9. We made a fancy map tonight, and learned a lot about how to do that. How to format every little detail to make it really nice looking and easy to understand. Greg was the teacher tonight, and he was very knowledgeable, like Pete. Greg really likes the North Arrow. He says it should be at the top, because it is so important to him. I'm pretty sure he was talking about the top of the map, but it may have been a metaphor for life. The North Arrow orients you, and without orientation, you really can't do much of anything. Greg saying the North Arrow should be at the top, I don't know, its almost like he worships the North Arrow. Or perhaps it is more of a fetish. Really I can't blame him for wanting to have direction in life, and to be well oriented. I may look into this North Arrow and see if it could help me too.

We also played a little with some real local data from Asheville. I tried to make a map that highlighted places where railroad tracks intersect with streams. I haven't learned enough to do that yet. I look forward to being able to do that in the future.

Greg also showed some impressive animated GIS things he did. One was a map of the riverfront of Asheville showing the river at 100 year flooding water levels. Well, it was not just a map, it was a 3D rendering with buildings and everything, and the POV was as if you were flying around the area. You could see how far up the buildings the water level was.

Pete

Pete at work.

Save Early and Save Often

I worked and worked and then ArcGIS encountered a problem and needed to close. It did apologize for the inconvenience. But I still am disappointed about my loss. Not that it is really a significant loss in the greater scheme of things. I am OK and healthy and safe.

Pete rocks! Really. I think he may be a rock-n-roll star from the 90's. More on that later. Pete is a very good teacher of this material too. A lot of energy and very knowledgeable. Those two things are very important to me as a student.

I was a little late to class and tired and hungry tonight. We had a massive lecture session and covered important information. I'm glad I got the book, so I can review the information again. I got the last book. So here is my map as of my last successful save. I had gone so much further... With my memories of the night I spent in Kennebec, SD in 1985.

Oh it's such a perfect day, I'm glad I spent it with you.

Well, it was a nice day. One of the strange in-the-upper-60's days we have been having this winter.

I'm getting more comfortable with my single-ness.

This morning I heard a little clip on NPR from the Lou Reed song mentioned in the title of this post. Apparently about heroin; I did make some nice chai this morning, but that was the strongest thing I've had all day.

Did some yard work in the garden, and on the van. Investigating what 20 year old cooling system hoses are about to blow. Got down to just sweaty T-shirt in the warm sunshine.

I made an appointment to soak in the hot springs in Hot Springs on Monday. That should be very nice. I should bring a towel and a cold drink and clothing is optional, which is good since I often misplace my pants anyway. I'm going to soak alone, since most of my friends are beautiful young women, and relaxing in hot, bubbly, clothing optional water with one of them just seems like a situation I am not up for at this point. Yeah, not up for it.

After lunch Callie and I took a nap in the van as part of acclimating her to being in there, so that we may go camping together one day. She did her wandering around and looking out all the windows, then settled down and was laying by my feet when I woke up. It was a good nap, which was needed after that stressful week of hard working long days.

Next up was a nice West Asheville bike ride in the beautiful weather. (After setting mp3 player to record On the Media for later listening.) Rode from home to the little park at the confluence of Hominy Creek and the French Broad River. There I saw this nice stack of debris in the river that reminded me of one of Andy Goldsworthy's sculptures. I rode along the river on the unofficial trail that connects to the parks on Amboy Rd. It was kinda sloppy in places, and I got off the bike at the first sippy hole. The next one I came to was really quite long and looked less muddy. It was maybe 40' of water covered grassy double-track. I decided to go for it, and it wasn't too soft to ride on. It was deeper than I thought, and one shoe took on quite a bit of water. I laughed at the hazard not being what I expected. I then scared a quite large girl deer, who bolted through the brush at alarming speed. The parks on Amboy Rd were full of others enjoying the beautiful weather and in good spirits. Stopped by the dog park and didn't have tinycam out when the photo opp happened.

Ran into Laura and her quiet husband, out enjoying the beautiful day. Laura with such the bright eyes and countenance that I like so much. I ran into Matt at work the other day and the same thing happened, so it's not just smiling pretty women that seem to pick me up. Maybe just seeing happy looking people tweaks my brain waves. Yeah.

Up, Up, Up, some steep hill from the river to the high ground of West Asheville and past a lot of residential infill development. Nicely done little houses. Some rather close to the odoriferous MSD lift station, and many having nice winter views of the train yards. I recall again in '97 when I was WA house shopping, looking at the "cat pee" house on Riverview Dr. I still regret not getting that place. The house was small and smelled like, you-know-what. But it backed up to the slope down to the river and I had visions of sitting out there watching the trains and industrial landscape in the evenings, and making a trail down to the river. I found these houses on Riverview built on impressive steelwork overlooking the stuff I mention above.

That's how badly people want to live in West Asheville.

I was attracted to the dumpster by a wad of excess wire on the top of the trash. I always need to add to my spare wire resources. This wire was not of interest, but while I made that assessment, I found this big hunk of steel in the dumpster. I need that. So I strapped it on the back of my bike:

It was heavy and had an effect on the bike's handling, but I didn't crash.

Next a little trip down Haywood Rd to check on the latest price of Biodiesel. Not one, but two prostitutes wandering on the beautiful Haywood Road Saturday afternoon. The phrase, "Prossies need Biofuel too!" popped into my head for some reason. $3.00 for the Biodiesel.

Oh it's such a perfect day, I'm glad I spent it with you.

concrete poetry

rain dusk fog walk
Originally uploaded by EMaglott.

Typing with a centered alignment.

There is no way to grow

an inverted

pyramid

here.

There's the snow as it fell in front of the setting sun.

The first class

I remember that first class. It was a cold evening, but I warmed up quickly at the potential of the subject at hand.