I was able to snag a copy of the vidcast Chris DeSisto and I made last school year about the NASA solutions network and hydrologic forecasting model (see previous posts).
Friday, August 15, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Whale Tale
I'm just back back from three of the most enjoyable days of my life. Myself, this guy Justin, Mel, Brenda, and this chick from South Africa named Taryn all went on a whale watching trip to the Bahia Drake, which is where the grey and humpback whales hang out and people used to be able to swim with them until it became illegal in 2006. We left on friday and stayed at this cool hostel in downtown San Jose. It was pretty swanky and had a pool with swim up bar and a bunch of young, drunk 20 somethings from sweden, who I had to tell to keep it quiet at 2am. The next morning we walked 
to the Teatro National (the famous national theatre) and caught a 5 hr bus ride (with a dozen or so other whale watchers) to the beaches south of Dominical (the central pacific coast surf capital). We had to walk out into the water to get onto the boats as some kids tried to hold it steady in the pounding surf. There was about a three hour boat ride (saw one whale and a giant sea turtle swimming) to the north coast of the Osa Peninsula, which is mostly comprised of the Corcovado National park (National Geographic called it the most biologically intense place on the earth and I b
elieve them). We hiked along a couple of beautiful beaches until we came to the most beautiful, San Josecito, and stayed in some nice little cabins at the poorman's paradise resort. We all went swimming in the warm water and body surfed in the massive waves until dinner time. They had a nice little bar where I caught a good buzz and then walked up and down the beach with Mel as three lighning storms in the distance illuminated the beach from three different angles. That beach is one of the most magical places I've ever been. The next day we went out in the boat again and saw five 
whales. The best sighting lasted about an hour and was right off of the coast of Isla de Cano. It was a mother and her 4 day old baby playing around, slapping the water with it's tale and jumping above the surface, totally awesome! Then we landed on Cano island and hung out and swam and I hiked up on some rocks overlooking the beach and did a little meditating on the magic of the moment. Then we got in the boat and sped up the Sierpe river past the largest Mangrove forest in Costa Rica, had beers and food in Sierpe, and got on the bus 
back to San Jose. This morning everyone left out of the same hostel at 6am but I decided to stay and tour San Jose a little bit and catch a bus by myself. I went to the three parks in the downtown and took photos of statues and landmarks, went to the Central Market (much like the arcade downstairs at the Pike Market), had breakfast at a little diner stand, then caught a bus back to La Selva. On the bus I met an old ex-pat raft guide living in La Virgen who pegged me as a raft guide right away (it's kinda like gaydar for gay people) and told me to come up and hang out with him and his family and he'd get me on a raft trip down the class 5 section of the Sarapiqui for free. I think he enjoyed conversing raftguide talk with someone from the states as he said they don't hire gringos anymore because they cost too much. All in all it was a f##king great time.
to the Teatro National (the famous national theatre) and caught a 5 hr bus ride (with a dozen or so other whale watchers) to the beaches south of Dominical (the central pacific coast surf capital). We had to walk out into the water to get onto the boats as some kids tried to hold it steady in the pounding surf. There was about a three hour boat ride (saw one whale and a giant sea turtle swimming) to the north coast of the Osa Peninsula, which is mostly comprised of the Corcovado National park (National Geographic called it the most biologically intense place on the earth and I b
elieve them). We hiked along a couple of beautiful beaches until we came to the most beautiful, San Josecito, and stayed in some nice little cabins at the poorman's paradise resort. We all went swimming in the warm water and body surfed in the massive waves until dinner time. They had a nice little bar where I caught a good buzz and then walked up and down the beach with Mel as three lighning storms in the distance illuminated the beach from three different angles. That beach is one of the most magical places I've ever been. The next day we went out in the boat again and saw five 
whales. The best sighting lasted about an hour and was right off of the coast of Isla de Cano. It was a mother and her 4 day old baby playing around, slapping the water with it's tale and jumping above the surface, totally awesome! Then we landed on Cano island and hung out and swam and I hiked up on some rocks overlooking the beach and did a little meditating on the magic of the moment. Then we got in the boat and sped up the Sierpe river past the largest Mangrove forest in Costa Rica, had beers and food in Sierpe, and got on the bus 
back to San Jose. This morning everyone left out of the same hostel at 6am but I decided to stay and tour San Jose a little bit and catch a bus by myself. I went to the three parks in the downtown and took photos of statues and landmarks, went to the Central Market (much like the arcade downstairs at the Pike Market), had breakfast at a little diner stand, then caught a bus back to La Selva. On the bus I met an old ex-pat raft guide living in La Virgen who pegged me as a raft guide right away (it's kinda like gaydar for gay people) and told me to come up and hang out with him and his family and he'd get me on a raft trip down the class 5 section of the Sarapiqui for free. I think he enjoyed conversing raftguide talk with someone from the states as he said they don't hire gringos anymore because they cost too much. All in all it was a f##king great time.Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Turrialba
Hi everybody,
This entry is one day behind as I'm still trying to catch up. I may even back track more in future blogs.
I went to Turrialba today. It was awesome. I got to tour the countryside in a 4x4 with my driver, Macho. Really, that's his name. If I have a son I shall name him Macho as well. Macho McDonald esquire. We had to drive up in the mountains along a winding mountain road that followed a ridge line where if you looked down one side you were gazing into the valley of the Rio Reventazon and in you looked to the other side you gazed upon the mighty Rio Pacure. Little do I need to tell you that these are two of the premier white water rafting rivers in the world, as I know you've been up all night memorizing my blog from yesterday. I was originally going to deliver samples and get dropped off there in order to spend a couple of days rafting and staying at the hotel interamericano, witch is known as THE place to hook up with other boaters and and get inside info on the status of Central American Rivers. That fell through as La Selva has rules(lame ones) about their shuttle service, you can't use them for anything that even appears to be personal. No matter, I'll be back there by bus this weekend or shortly thereafter. Anyhow, I got to go to the CATIE (pronounced caat-ee-eh) Laboratorio to deliver our ghetto-ass looking nutrient samples in dixie cups wrapped in garbage bags to one of the premier research laboratory in Costa Rica. It was alot like the Battelle lab outside of Sequim but on an even more sprawling campus. The head chemist, Patricia, looked a little surprised by the appearance of our samples and the dirty coolers I brought them in, but f##k it, we're in the jungle. As I was leaving I got to take a few minutes and check out all the research posters in the hall of posters, again-much like Battelle. I think I might be a bit of a nerd as I love that s##t; research information in easily digestable poster format. After we left, Macho and I stopped at a roadside restaurant outside of Siquirres and I treated him to lunch, much to his delight. The place was a bit of a dive but so authentic that if it were in the states it would be considered high end because you just can't manufacture that sort of authenticity. It was a collection of open-air thatch roof dining areas connected by little walkways. There was a fish pond with Tilapia that was the actual fish they would cook for you and chickens out back that they would kill and cook for you. There were onions and chilis and bannanas and other s##t I didn't recognize hanging from the roof everywhere you looked, but they were there for a reason, not just for show. They had a wood-fire stove and oven in the open kitchen in the center of the compound so you could watch them prepare your meal old school style. We had rice and beans (obviously) and fish prepared with lemon and vegetables and sweet baked? plantains and salad and fresh salsa and tortillas and chicken and some other stuff that I didn't know what it was but it tasted f##king awesome. I think we ordered one or more of everything they made there, hell it was on my wallet. When we finished and sat there bloated like hogs ready to butcher, I sauntered up to the register thinking that meal for two was worth at least $100.00 and when everything was added up it came to a grand total of $9.30. God I love the third world.
This entry is one day behind as I'm still trying to catch up. I may even back track more in future blogs.
I went to Turrialba today. It was awesome. I got to tour the countryside in a 4x4 with my driver, Macho. Really, that's his name. If I have a son I shall name him Macho as well. Macho McDonald esquire. We had to drive up in the mountains along a winding mountain road that followed a ridge line where if you looked down one side you were gazing into the valley of the Rio Reventazon and in you looked to the other side you gazed upon the mighty Rio Pacure. Little do I need to tell you that these are two of the premier white water rafting rivers in the world, as I know you've been up all night memorizing my blog from yesterday. I was originally going to deliver samples and get dropped off there in order to spend a couple of days rafting and staying at the hotel interamericano, witch is known as THE place to hook up with other boaters and and get inside info on the status of Central American Rivers. That fell through as La Selva has rules(lame ones) about their shuttle service, you can't use them for anything that even appears to be personal. No matter, I'll be back there by bus this weekend or shortly thereafter. Anyhow, I got to go to the CATIE (pronounced caat-ee-eh) Laboratorio to deliver our ghetto-ass looking nutrient samples in dixie cups wrapped in garbage bags to one of the premier research laboratory in Costa Rica. It was alot like the Battelle lab outside of Sequim but on an even more sprawling campus. The head chemist, Patricia, looked a little surprised by the appearance of our samples and the dirty coolers I brought them in, but f##k it, we're in the jungle. As I was leaving I got to take a few minutes and check out all the research posters in the hall of posters, again-much like Battelle. I think I might be a bit of a nerd as I love that s##t; research information in easily digestable poster format. After we left, Macho and I stopped at a roadside restaurant outside of Siquirres and I treated him to lunch, much to his delight. The place was a bit of a dive but so authentic that if it were in the states it would be considered high end because you just can't manufacture that sort of authenticity. It was a collection of open-air thatch roof dining areas connected by little walkways. There was a fish pond with Tilapia that was the actual fish they would cook for you and chickens out back that they would kill and cook for you. There were onions and chilis and bannanas and other s##t I didn't recognize hanging from the roof everywhere you looked, but they were there for a reason, not just for show. They had a wood-fire stove and oven in the open kitchen in the center of the compound so you could watch them prepare your meal old school style. We had rice and beans (obviously) and fish prepared with lemon and vegetables and sweet baked? plantains and salad and fresh salsa and tortillas and chicken and some other stuff that I didn't know what it was but it tasted f##king awesome. I think we ordered one or more of everything they made there, hell it was on my wallet. When we finished and sat there bloated like hogs ready to butcher, I sauntered up to the register thinking that meal for two was worth at least $100.00 and when everything was added up it came to a grand total of $9.30. God I love the third world.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Pura Vida!
Hola senor and la senora blogeros,
I'm a little late to the table with my blogging this summer, but hey I've been working hard trying to save the planet, so lay off with all of your incessant requests. I can't log onto hotmail without having to shuffle through hundreds, possibly thousands of emails with headings like "please do another blog or I may throw myself from a bridge" or "when will you lift this darkness with another illuminating blog" or "Shea will you father my children." O.K., that last one was wishful thinking, but the rest is all true. This is just a background entry so you can catch your bearings as to what your cyberhero has going on this summer. I don't want anyone to O.D. after such a long layoff, but rest assured that more will follow. Be prepared.
Here is the background and itinerary for my summer trip to Costa Rica. Basically, I'm getting paid two round trip tickets, room and board, along with 5 G's to be Dr. Bill Eaton's research b##ch, er I mean assistant. Dr. Eaton, for those of you who havn't heard of the legend, is the vice president of Peninsula College and a fairly respected microbiologist. Under his expert guidance myself and three other students (more later) will be doing lab work at the La Selva biological research station (you can Google it to learn more) from July 7th to the 21st, then collecting samples in the Monteverde cloud forest preserve for three days. Then I fly home to Port Angeles for a memorial on the 25th and coming back to La Selva on July 28th. On August 23rd, I head up to the Laguna de Largo lodge near the Nicaraguan border where I'll do work in the Maquenque preserve until the 7th of September. Then I have a week to do whatever I want, which will probably include beer, a beach hut and a surfboard, until I fly home on Sept. 15th. All and all, I'll be in Costa Rica for about ten weeks.
The work wer're doing is soil microbial analysis to understand the effects of global climate change and different land management practices. Soil microbes are a great indicator of ecosystem health and change for a number of reasons. They respond rapidly to change, they aid in decomposition and humus production, and they're key players in nutrient cycling and availability. So what I do is: take soil samples -> determine pH and bulk density -> determine the Total Organic Carbon (TOC) using K2SO4 extraction -> determine NH4, NH3, and total nitrogen using KCl extraction -> then I extract different types of DNA (for presence) or RNA (for activity) from the soil, clone it many, many times using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), then see if I have what I'm looking for using Gel Electrophoresis. The things I'm looking for as far as presence and activity are concerned are: genes for nitrogen fixation, methane production and digestion, lignin digestion, certain fungi and archeabacteria, and a bunch of other s##t. I left a bunch of other steps out and if you want to know more, just email me as I'm sure most readers have quit by now.
Anyhow, it's a pretty cool project, I get work at one of the premier jungle research stations in the world, and hob nob with some fairly big names in the business. Plus it's like working in a zoo. Costa Rica has more biodiversity per square kilometer than anywhere else in the world which is about 4-5 times that of North America. I've already seen monkeys, a jagarundi, sloths, a kinkajou, wild pigs, pacas, and snakes, turtles, insects, frogs, birds and butterflies of all shapes, sizes and colors. Also, there's three kick-ass class IV & V white water rafting runs in close proximity to where I'm staying (the Sarapiqui, Reventazon, and the Pacuare) as well as world class surfing. Tune in again to see how the adventure unfolds
I'm a little late to the table with my blogging this summer, but hey I've been working hard trying to save the planet, so lay off with all of your incessant requests. I can't log onto hotmail without having to shuffle through hundreds, possibly thousands of emails with headings like "please do another blog or I may throw myself from a bridge" or "when will you lift this darkness with another illuminating blog" or "Shea will you father my children." O.K., that last one was wishful thinking, but the rest is all true. This is just a background entry so you can catch your bearings as to what your cyberhero has going on this summer. I don't want anyone to O.D. after such a long layoff, but rest assured that more will follow. Be prepared.
Here is the background and itinerary for my summer trip to Costa Rica. Basically, I'm getting paid two round trip tickets, room and board, along with 5 G's to be Dr. Bill Eaton's research b##ch, er I mean assistant. Dr. Eaton, for those of you who havn't heard of the legend, is the vice president of Peninsula College and a fairly respected microbiologist. Under his expert guidance myself and three other students (more later) will be doing lab work at the La Selva biological research station (you can Google it to learn more) from July 7th to the 21st, then collecting samples in the Monteverde cloud forest preserve for three days. Then I fly home to Port Angeles for a memorial on the 25th and coming back to La Selva on July 28th. On August 23rd, I head up to the Laguna de Largo lodge near the Nicaraguan border where I'll do work in the Maquenque preserve until the 7th of September. Then I have a week to do whatever I want, which will probably include beer, a beach hut and a surfboard, until I fly home on Sept. 15th. All and all, I'll be in Costa Rica for about ten weeks.
The work wer're doing is soil microbial analysis to understand the effects of global climate change and different land management practices. Soil microbes are a great indicator of ecosystem health and change for a number of reasons. They respond rapidly to change, they aid in decomposition and humus production, and they're key players in nutrient cycling and availability. So what I do is: take soil samples -> determine pH and bulk density -> determine the Total Organic Carbon (TOC) using K2SO4 extraction -> determine NH4, NH3, and total nitrogen using KCl extraction -> then I extract different types of DNA (for presence) or RNA (for activity) from the soil, clone it many, many times using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), then see if I have what I'm looking for using Gel Electrophoresis. The things I'm looking for as far as presence and activity are concerned are: genes for nitrogen fixation, methane production and digestion, lignin digestion, certain fungi and archeabacteria, and a bunch of other s##t. I left a bunch of other steps out and if you want to know more, just email me as I'm sure most readers have quit by now.
Anyhow, it's a pretty cool project, I get work at one of the premier jungle research stations in the world, and hob nob with some fairly big names in the business. Plus it's like working in a zoo. Costa Rica has more biodiversity per square kilometer than anywhere else in the world which is about 4-5 times that of North America. I've already seen monkeys, a jagarundi, sloths, a kinkajou, wild pigs, pacas, and snakes, turtles, insects, frogs, birds and butterflies of all shapes, sizes and colors. Also, there's three kick-ass class IV & V white water rafting runs in close proximity to where I'm staying (the Sarapiqui, Reventazon, and the Pacuare) as well as world class surfing. Tune in again to see how the adventure unfolds
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