anything but sedentary

Last night was the first night I slept in my own bed in 2011.

The rest of my time in Virginia was great-- the Doyle wedding was super lovely, it was awesome to spend some time with some amazing people, and I got to see some parts of Virginia I'd never seen before. After the wedding, Taylor and I returned to Vienna via Appomattox Courthouse, Lynchburg (to celebrate his brother's birthday), the Blue Ridge Parkway and Charlottesville, which also included stopping in this other town:

Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

It seems a little silly that no one ever shared this town's existence with me before.

Taylor made me this map to show me the amoeba-shaped loop we took through the state. After returning to NJ and making a few more side trips this week as I started working at camp, I wondered, what would my own since-New Year's map look like? Google actually only allows 25 stops on a given map, so I had to do two: Virginia, New Jersey, which totaled about 1375 miles in the first 13 days of the new year, not including any other side trips or errands, which I made quite a few of. Now, not all of these happened in my own car, but probably about 700 of those miles did.

After looking at maps and realizing how much driving I've done so far, or even how much riding in cars I've done total, I thought it might be interesting to track my mileage for the year... but then I realized that would be absolutely ridiculous. Hello! Have you read this blog?! I do not sit still. My toothbrush is safely tucked in my red toiletries bag and ready to go at all times. However, I think I will keep track of how far my car goes, because that's way easier. Starting mileage for 2011: about 148,500. Current mileage: 149202, which means I've more than broken 60,000 miles on this car since I bought it in May 2007. Remember when I'd reached 50,000? That's right. July. Ten thousand miles in six months.

Things are going well at camp so far. I attended a Presbytery meeting with Kurt and Lorelei on my first day and have been organizing things in preparation to visit other churches and groups around the state to advocate camp. It snowed the night I arrived so I stayed at Harry and Ann's house rather than needing to be dug out of Lakeside first thing the following morning. It was a peaceful few days up there. Warren County knows how to clear roads (ahem, Monmouth, you should study) but everything else was otherwise blanketed in beautiful, clean snow and framed in icicles.

77%

I'll be moving back into Lakeside next week!

It's been a busy couple of weeks of 2011 so far, but I'm pleased.

cool as a cucumber

It's been a lovely week thus far in the D.C. Metro Area. I've been here since New Year's Day, and I've seen a few new places in Northern Virginia and been able to catch up with a lot of wonderful people.

On Sunday evening, Taylor and I met up with JT and Riley at Vintage 50, a brew pub in Leesburg. I'd never been that far west in northern VA before, but it was a lovely evening catching up. It was dark out, so I didn't have much of an impression of the area other than enjoying the restaurant and company and waffle fries. I did notice earlier in the day while running errands with Taylor that the landscape is a lot more rolling than I expected-- I spent much of the car ride with my eyes shut to quell the queasiness that subsequently ensued.

On Monday, I accompanied my good friend and source of the infamous toothbrush quote Becky back to Leesburg for some necessary shopping-- the whole reason I'm in Virginia in the first place this week is to attend a wedding this weekend, for which I didn't have a dress to wear. I was correct about the landscape, lovely and rolling, but it was nice to see slightly less development as we drove west of Fairfax County. We had a successful day and actually also ate at Vintage 50, meeting up with one of Becky's awesome college friends and her very cool son Charlie.

Tuesday involved me spending a lot of time in the library working on thesis while Taylor and everyone else I knew was at work. I accomplished quite a bit before meeting up with various cut-ups and cut-up associates in Arlington. I always like visiting Arlington because it tends to involve awesome people and I like being able to walk from place to place-- on this night it included Earl's (delicious) and Galaxy Hut (also delicious) (except for the Bourbon Stout-- beer of the day would probably be the IPA from Cricket Hill in NJ, which I always see more of in VA than in NJ).

I met up with my college roommate Brittany for dinner on Wednesday (joined by Taylor after he got off work), but spent the day at the mall and library in Springfield, which is another area that is surprisingly hilly. I guess I've only spent time in the flat parts of northern Virginia previously. Good thing I know how to drive my stick shift reliably.

So after spending the entire week thus far around northern Virginia, I finally made it into D.C. itself today, having another wonderful visit with the aforementioned awesome Becky. We volunteered at D.C. Central Kitchen this morning, cutting cucumbers and lettuce for hours to be put into salads and sent to various shelters and schools around the city. What an awesome program-- locally sourced food, training former criminals to be chefs, feeding many people in need. It was incredibly relaxing to just cut veggies all morning.

After finishing at the kitchen, Becky escorted me to purchase a SmartTrip-- her contribution to convincing me to move to the area. Whether or not I find work and move here any time soon, I will be sure to visit, especially now that I have my way cool SmarTrip card!

Tonight I head to Richmond to kick off wedding festivities!

Happy New Year!

I spent 2010 all over the place. I didn't spend more than two consecutive weeks sleeping in the same place, whether spending a night at Cheryl and Gurzo's to lessen my commute to Rutgers, or spending days off from camp at home, or taking trips to Virginia or Malawi, among other adventures. Earlier in the year, my friend Becky sent me an email about settling back into her townhouse following Peace Corps and world travels, saying "There is something therapeutic about putting your toothbrush in the same place every night, right? Earp, I know you're not familiar with that experience." Good point, Becky. I imagine there is something therapeutic about that, but I enjoyed my year of constantly changing scenery, and keeping my toothbrush in my awesome travel toiletries bag.

Will I travel in 2011? Of course. I'm actually spending the first week of the year in Virginia for a wedding and some general hanging out, and then returning to New Jersey for work: I'm returning to camp as the Marketing Assistant, to advocate Johnsonburg to Presbyterian churches and other groups around the great state of New Jersey. I'm excited to be able to share with others the beauty and awesomeness that is camp, and of course appreciative of a good excuse to explore new and different places in NJ while I'm at it. I'll be finishing the masters next month and looking for more permanent work, but I'm looking forward to being at camp in the meantime.

Happy New Year, all!

conditionality of seasonality (AHEM Monmouth County)

Yesterday, Timmy and I drove to camp for the annual staff reunion. Before we left, I was thinking about what sort of post I could do about the trip-- probably something talking about how I love New Jersey's distinct four seasons and how evident they are at camp. I experience camp mostly in the summers, when it's hot and humid, but reunion is always very chilly, usually with snow on the ground. In the past few years I've been able to visit during spring and fall as well. Each has their charm.

However, I have little to say about camp, because I spent more time driving to and from camp (three hours fifteen minutes each way, usually takes two) than I actually spent at camp yesterday (four hours). This is mostly Monmouth County's fault. After the blizzard earlier this week, it is just a wreck. Granted, Ocean County isn't much better, having received some of the highest snowfall in the state, but the Parkway in Monmouth was like a terrible obstacle course in which the lanes would just disappear abruptly. We did see a few trucks trying to clear snow out of the far lanes, but it was incredibly frustrating. We arrived at camp at dusk. I didn't get to see the lake, which I hear is quite icy at this point. Warren County only got about four inches (compared to our 28+) so it was easy driving in the northwestern part of the state, but still very pretty and serene. However, because it was dark, I didn't really get to see camp under snow. At least I got to catch up with some old friends.

It's always surprising when we get snow, especially substantial snow, at the shore, where our climate is moderated by the proximity of the ocean. For us to get so much and up north, which has "mountains" and no ocean, to get so little is mind boggling.

updates from Malawi

In the past few weeks, I've received a few emails from Mwalabu (program director at Blantyre Synod Health and Development Commission) and Bonongwe (VIP's village worker) through Liz (the woman from Allentown who lead the trip). These emails have been updates on the status of various projects that I witnessed the early stages of back in August, including photos that got me a little teary:


well in use



school being built-- beginning stages discussed here

It's incredible to see progress, even from so far away. I can't explain what it's like to see a hole in the ground or a pile of bricks and take part in discussions of plans and how wells and schools closer to the villages will change lives, and then see these things actually happening and knowing the difference that is made. It's absolutely amazing.

be safe, friends!

Last night I was running an errand with my friend Purba in New Brunswick. The light turned green, I put my car into gear and started to move, only to hear her yell out-- as she did I noticed a kid sprinting in front of my car. Not someone out to exercise, just someone in a hurry. He didn't appear to look at all, just ran full speed into traffic and kept going down the street. I probably would have hit him if Purba didn't notice him and yell. Granted, I wouldn't have been going very fast, but still.

I subscribe to the headlines of NJ.com in my Google Reader, and have noticed a ton lately about pedestrian and cyclist accidents, often resulting in death. The most recent one was yesterday afternoon on Route 1 near Rutgers, before that was actually a Rutgers student killed while biking last week. And actually, just now searching in my Reader to see just how many articles about such accidents have come up in the last few weeks and month, another one came up-- a guy my age from Toms River was hit in Brick earlier this week, and died this morning.

Obviously, sometimes pedestrians aren't paying attention (like that kid last night), and obviously, sometimes drivers are not paying attention. I feel like I see people running red lights way more now than when I started driving. What is with the general attention deficit on the roads lately?

We all have our moments. I drive quite a lot, and I think I'm pretty good at it, but I have my moments too. However, I'm constantly checking out what's going on around me, trying to be aware of other people's moments, because sometimes I feel like no one else is paying attention to anything else on the road.

Please walk, bike and drive safely. Be careful. I like you and don't want to read about you next.

another whirlwind trip to VA

This past weekend I made my 8th trip to Virginia this year, this time to help celebrate the marriage of my awesome college roommate Brittany and her awesome husband Adam! Of course, I spent a few extra days before and after, visiting with other friends in the area as well.

First, I have to say, Northern Virginia continues to charm me. Well, the traffic is still not charming, nor is the overdevelopment, but I keep finding new things that I enjoy. First was Jammin Java in Vienna. I traveled down on Thursday night so that I could just wake up and get to work on some thesis things Friday morning. However, I beat the librarians to the local library, much to my chagrin. So I wandered down two blocks to Jammin Java, which is awesome for reasons including, but not limited to: good selection of teas (and all of the coffee type beverages that coffee drinkers would appreciate), they were playing my favorite Radiohead album when I walked in, they apparently had Dogfish Head on tap (it was 9.30 in the morning, I didn't find out what brew in particular), well priced, nice staff... sweet little music venue, I imagine. I also later found out that the owners are from Jersey. Of course it was awesome. I happily worked here for a few hours before hitting the library.

Also very charming in Northern VA: Mad Fox Brewing Company in Falls Church, where my dude and I met up with my beer buddy and his girlfriend. My full review is here. The short version: AWESOME.

However, beer of the day probably goes to the incredible Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout, acquired at The Big Hunt in D.C.

Not the tree of the trip: that awesome mulberry tree. Taylor and I had planned on going back with my tree measuring tape (I know I'm a dork) to figure out how old it is, but I forgot the tape. Argh.

The wedding was on Saturday in Fairfax at Historic St. Mary's chapel. What a lovely little church, and a really sweet wedding. I lived with Brittany from sophomore year onward and really enjoyed getting to know them both through those years. It was awesome to see them finally make it official! It was also pretty sweet to catch up with the rest of our sweet suite.



On Sunday morning, I went to Kitty's with Taylor for brunch and English soccer. Brunch was good, and I fulfilled a life goal to consume Guinness before noon (clearly the beer of the day, as a result). I don't think I have a drinking problem, but I was jealous when I received a text message from my beer buddy during the World Cup saying he was enjoying a game with a Guinness... at about 9 AM. We ended up heading into D.C. to hang out with Luke for a while before eventually meeting our friends Scott and Alison for an excellent dinner at Dishes of India. It was great to catch up with them over such a delicious meal.

On Monday, I headed back to Jersey, specifically my office on Livingston Campus of Rutgers University in Piscataway, which I took a rather inefficient route to reach, avoiding tolls and touring things aside from I-95. It was a productive afternoon and evening in the office after taking my sweet time getting there. Always tough to get back to work after such a great weekend, but that thesis is calling, and it is again right now...

the Colleen authority of NY and NJ

At the end of last week, I had some unexpected journeying through New Jersey. While I love NJ dearly and am always excited to check out new places in the state, the circumstances were not the greatest-- the new beau was coming to visit for the weekend from Virginia and totaled his car en route. Taylor thankfully walked away unscathed.



And so I had the opportunity to drive to Bellmawr late Thursday night to retrieve him from a state police station, and down to Deptford the next day to help him empty his car and say goodbye to it. Both of these drives involved heading straight through my beloved Pine Barrens and hanging out in semi-rural Wawa country on the other side of the state. Not much going on down there, though we did stop for an afternoon snack at a perfectly legit Jersey diner. The drive was fine, and the grey skies actually provided a lovely backdrop for the changing leaves.



The weekend was redeemed with a trip to New York City that had been planned all along to see an exhibit of artistic maps at Pratt University. I mean, really artistic. Like the gelatin Lady Liberty and New York Skyline. The exhibit had the term "psychogeography" in the title... so not my particular branch of geography, but very interesting nonetheless. This was Taylor's original excuse to come visit, since he's a cartographer.



Other highlights of the city included discovering Odessa Cafe over by Tompkins Square Park and the Joe Strummer mural, a total gem of a diner with well priced good food; hanging out in Central Park (tree of the day: black maple that dropped its leaves all over the rock we sat on there); meeting up with one of Taylor's friends from college for a beer and to see Megamind, which I thought was pretty great. All in all, a good trip to the city.

Happy Halloween!

my first costume since I was in elementary school...

And just to take the geographic nerdiness up a notch-- I downloaded the theme song and listened carefully to the words to see if they used any outdated names for the places that Carmen Sandiego goes. The show was on early to mid nineties, so I didn't think it would affect it too much. However, I got the warm fuzzies when I realized that it totally goes against that perpetual myth that African countries change their names all the time. That comes from the people whose geographic education was limited to perhaps grammar school during the few decades when those countries were becoming independent from their colonial rulers, methinks. Anyway, the only antiquated name? Czechoslovakia!

sanity and insanity

So I went to that rally that's been in the news lately.

Actually, I did more travelling than that this weekend. And when I discussed it with a friend of mine, and someone within earshot of our conversation asked why I was leaving the state, my friend replied, "Because that's what Colleen does!"

I began in Philadelphia, visiting some of the historic/tourist sites for the first time since... class trips in elementary school, I believe. We spent some time around Independence Hall, seeing the Liberty Bell (and hearing Sousa's march a zillion times-- as a French horn player, I'm not Sousa's biggest fan, never having played anything but offbeats). We also stopped by the Christ Church cemetery, where Ben Franklin is buried, where I took pictures of ginkgo leaves in senescence (clearly the tree of the day).



Also, we spent some time at Yards brewery. Beer of the day: probably the George Washington Tavern Porter.

Like I said, I went to the Stewart/Colbert Rally in D.C. yesterday. It was difficult to get there-- we left later than we should have and every train was packed. We eventually got on the Metro at Courthouse, getting to the Mall just minutes before the National Anthem. It was a lot of fun, though we couldn't hear some of the time and were definitely not anywhere near the stage but got the occasional peek at a jumbo screen a bit ahead of us. There were so, so many people there. It was a bit crazy, but a beautiful fall day to spend outside.



Tree of the day: this incredible mulberry near the Washington Monument.



Leaving was ridiculous. Every Metro train was absolutely packed. Thankfully we were only taking it to the third stop in Virginia... passing it later on the highway I saw it was still absolutely jam packed. People were being really impatient self centered about it, too. Despite the conductor announcing at every station, "Keep in mind, you might not be able to get on this train, more are coming!" six people would try to replace every two that got off, and then would complain about how tight it was. Very frustrating, and very uncomfortable. I'm not a huge fan of crowds but occasionally overlook that in favor of some interesting adventure. I definitely enjoyed the day, especially the signs, but the insanity of the Metro was kinda lame.

Driving back early this morning, I had the joy of watching the sun come up in the Pine Barrens, so I guess the tree of the day is a repeat: pitch pine!


foggy morning in the Pinelands National Reserve

How to Lie with Maps was kind of cool to read after the fact. (It's also the title of a really great book I had to read in my undergrad Cartography course.) I'm not a conservative hater (I'll respect anyone's opinion as long as they can back it up), but I think Glenn Beck is kind of out of his mind.

Lighthouses

On October 16-17, JACK had a reprise: the NJ Lighthouse Challenge.

People might ask, what is so alluring about sitting in a car with people for two days straight driving all over the southern New Jersey coastline? Well, clearly you don't know JACK, or love New Jersey nearly as much as we do (which is a lot a lot a lot). The weather was beautiful and it was a really fun and different way to spend time with some really amazing people. We started on the Delaware River overlooking Philadelphia and ended on the Sandy Hook Bay overlooking Manhattan. We were kind of celebrities for our way cool T-shirts (thanks Jamie for the design!). It was a lot of fun and we already have an idea for next year's T-shirt... but here's a little info on each of the NJ lighthouses and affiliated stops, in case you were curious. On day one:

1. Tinicum Light, Paulsboro: We almost missed this, located amidst little league and pop warner fields, slightly inland from the Delaware River. We climbed this one, and found a nice view of Philadelphia and, much further away, the Delaware Memorial Bridge. The top had this little trap door that you had to throw your entire weight against to get out on the platform. Good start to the day!

2. Finns Point Light, Pennsville: A cute and quiet stop-- the lighthouse itself was not open so there was not much fuss going on... until JACK showed up on the scene. Come on, what would you have done? Four of us, four tables, we clearly needed a picture with them... and I even stopped and gently placed myself on the table instead of diving on with my full weight, in hopes that something like this wouldn't happen.

3. East Point Light, Heislerville: This lighthouse was at the end of a lengthy detour, right on the Delaware Bay. The house itself was really beautiful on the outside, though the inside appeared to be a bit dilapidated. However, it recently received a preservation grant and will be seeing some major interior renovations imminently. Also in the area: one of the state prisons. I guess they can't get into too much trouble down in the Pine Barrens.

4. Cape May County Museum, Cape May Court House: Nothing much to see here except for a first order Fresnel lens that used to shine in the Cape May Lighthouse. This is the biggest kind of Fresnel lens, and depending on how many panels around they are, is how many seconds are between the light hitting a given focal point and thus sending a flash out to a relatively stationery ship (360 degrees divided by how many panels).

5. Tatham Life Saving Station, Stone Harbor: This place was really cool and really informative. Before the US Coast Guard, the east coast had a Life Saving Station every five miles. These had a pretty impressive system to save a ship in distress. Their motto: "You have to go out, you don't have to come back." Intense.

6. Hereford Inlet Light, North Wildwood: Possibly the prettiest little light we saw. It was a beautiful old house with really gorgeous gardens on all sides and a walkway along the ocean.

7. Cape May Light, Cape May Point: After watching the sun set at Sunset Beach (how appropriate, in more ways than one), we climbed this lighthouse, one of the tallest in the state at 199 steps. It gave us a beautiful view of the colors on the horizon, where the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean meet. We were disappointed that it was the most expensive fee to climb, rather than a voluntary donation, because this is probably one of the houses that gets more attention in the state, as it's in a seasonally touristy area. But, beautiful view and well kept grounds.

We stayed at a hotel on the beach in Wildwood Crest. Very peaceful this time of year. Day two included:

8. Absecon Light, Atlantic City: It took us quite a while to get here because traffic was competing with a marathon that morning, but we made it. For those keeping score at home, this is where my post- Lighthouse- Challenge- Facebook profile photo came from. This was one of our more impressive timer group shots, as the anchor was way across the yard from the house, though still not as impressive as the moment caught on camera in Heislerville the day before...

9. Tucker's Beach Light Replica, Tuckerton: Kind of the lamest one, not going to lie. The real one fell in the water during a nor'easter in 1927. The replica was just a house in the Tuckerton Seaport with an area on top that was a similar shape to a light encasement. It was the easiest to climb though-- actual stairs with real railings, not the narrow spiral stairs that I so adore but definitely complicate the ascent.

10. Barnegat Light, Barnegat Light: This is sort of my home lighthouse, even though it's on the next barrier island south-- by the way the bird flies, it's the closest, but you can also see it from Island Beach State Park, which is near my homeland. Jamie, Amanda and I ended up climbing it for these very reasons, spotting the Seaside bridges as well as Katie sitting on a bench 218 steps below us.

11. Barnegat Light Museum, Barnegat Light: Some interesting things in this small museum. Another Fresnel lens, some nice gardens.

12. Sea Girt Light, Sea Girt: We ate our lunch next to the ocean here. This was really nice but really busy when we were there, so we didn't stay for long.

13. Sandy Hook Light, Fort Hancock: We were planning on finishing here, but some construction and weird traffic patterns and an earlier misunderstanding in the directions lead us here second to last. What a lovely park. We were looking forward to climbing and seeing a sweet view of Manhattan, but we heard that Twin Lights was closing early and didn't want to not finish the challenge after our incredible efforts thus far. Sweet park, we decided this National Recreation Area would be well worth its own visit, between the lighthouse itself and the historic fort surrounding it (and also the beach, we love the beach).

14. Navesink Twin Lights, Highlands: WE FINISHED THE CHALLENGE! This beautiful lighthouse (do you call it lighthouses if it's one building?) was near impossible to get to, but really nice once we made it up the hill and found it. They also had a Fresnel lens on display, as well as some Life Saving Station gear. We could still see Manhattan and the towers on this were way shorter than Sandy Hook Lighthouse. To celebrate, we had a ridiculous timed photo shoot.



And, if all else fails, this is how you know we spent two days in south Jersey: despite spending most of the drives on very rural, undeveloped stretches of highway, we saw 17 Wawas (21 if you count the ones in Toms River heading back to Amanda's house). All in all, a most excellent adventure.