05
May 10
The Santa Rosa Farmers Market
If you asked me to recommend a good lunch spot in Santa Rosa on a Saturday, I’d have one and only one suggestion: Go to the Santa Rosa Farmers Market. Go hungry. Go willing to try a variety of cheeses, yogurts, dried fruits, vinegars, smoked fish, fresh produce, coffee, and Afghan pestos. Don’t shy away from the Bellwether Farms Sheep Yogurt (go for the plain), and if someone offers you a taste of dried cantaloupe, for heaven’s sake, don’t hesitate to destroy it with your digestive system. If you’re still hungry after your free-sample free-for-all, you can purchase some food from the lunch trucks and BBQ stands. Top it all off with a heavily caffeinated cup of Brazilian coffee. You might want to stop by the fresh fish stand for dinner supplies.
12
Mar 10
The Everglades Action Map
Today marks the launch of the new Everglades Foundation website, featuring a web map I developed on the front page. Visit the new site, and click on the “Everglades Action Map” to check it out!
12
Feb 10
NorCal URISA
The Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) is a nonprofit, multidisciplinary organization geared toward professionals using GIS in urban and regional environments. I recently attended a meeting held by the northern California chapter of URISA in Sacramento, the theme of which happened to be web-based mapping. The first presenter was Brian Morgan from the UC Davis, which apparently has an extensive arboretum utilized regularly by students for research purposes. Darrin Farmer from Weston Solutions gave a presentation on a geospatial information “dashboard” developed for water-resource employees. Finally, Doug Renwick from HostGIS in Arcata talked about free, open-source GIS and web mapping technologies. A lovely and informative meeting overall!
06
Feb 10
Fresh Cranberry Recipes
Until a few short years ago, I wouldn’t have known a fresh cranberry if one ate me for breakfast. And now, I eat THEM for breakfast! My, my, how the tables turn when time flies by. Here are a couple of fresh cranberry-inspired recipes I’ve been experimenting with lately.
04
Feb 10
Natural Earth
Natural Earth is an online map dataset organized by Nathaniel Kelso of the Washington Post and Tom Patterson, a cartographer working with the U.S. National Park Service. The dataset is consistently updated, modified, and corrected by collaborators worldwide (many of which happen to be members of the North American Cartographic Information Society). GIS and cartographic data can be downloaded at a variety of scales in both raster and vector formats. All map data are free and in the public domain.
So… GO CRAZY!
25
Jan 10
Thanks!
I was recently introduced to a land surveyor starting his own surveying company in Fresno, California. He let me pick his brain about the industry and how he got started. He also gave me some great job hunting tips for someone just out of grad school looking to start a career in GIS. I sent him this postcard as a token of my appreciation for taking the time to impart advice to a young GIS professional. The grid is the transportation network of Fresno. I hope he notices!
24
Jan 10
Mom Captured the Present, I Long for the Past
While I was in Florida this past Christmas, I decided to take up a pet project scanning old family photo albums, many of which had somehow made their way into my brother’s old bedroom. These are some of the photographs my mom took in the 1960s and 70s. The first time I flipped through the yellowed album pages, caressing the textured, fading, chemically-treated pieces of paper, I was overwhelmed by a strange feeling – a sort of furry, perhaps velutinous sensation that I couldn’t quite explain. I ran downstairs in a bit of a panic, trying distractedly to self-administer brain wave therapy, worried that I might be experiencing the sure symptoms of early-onset Alzheimer’s, sudden death syndrome, or maybe even indigestion. My mom quickly recognized the problem, sat me down, made me a warm mug of oatmeal with cinnamon and soymilk, and explained to me in simple terms that, back in her day, photographs contained these things called “memories”, which sort of disappeared after the advent of digital cameras and the annihilation of all squares. Apparently, it’s believed that film grain may be responsible for a type of delusion known as “reminiscence”. When viewed through the medium of a computer monitor, people often mistake these images for modern clothing advertisements, their subjects as supermodels or even “fashionable young people”. Essentially, this significantly decreases the harmful effects that photographs pose to one’s spiritual health. However, if you were born in the 1980s or beyond and happen upon your parents’ old photo albums, you may want to take caution, as it’s not unlikely that you will find a hole in your heart, a gaping wound in your soul, where these phantasmagorical, tangible objects of nostalgia, will never exist…
Enjoy!
