Response to Crater Lake (My Research Project)

I have an interesting observation that I would like to share about my research topic on Crater Lake. Showing above is Wizard Island; an island on the west end of Crater Lake. Wizard Island is what remained after the ancient eruption about 7,700 years ago when in was Mount Mazama. Take a look at the island for a second. What does it look like? Yes, it looks like an arrowhead from an Indian spear. I share this because Crater Lake is also part of an culture called the Klamath and Modec Indian Tribes. Back in the mid to late nineteenth century, these tribes protected Crater Lake because it was a sacred place. The Klamath and Modec Indians believed that ancient spirits lived deep inside the lake and would terrorize anyone who stepped near it. The Indians that did seek Crater Lake never came back because the spirits would engulf them. The arrow head island, Wizard Island, must be a connection between the spirits of Crater Lake and the Indians. While doing my research, I did come across another belief of how Crater Lake became to be. Instead of the eruption 7,700 years ago, it is believed that two spirits, The Chief of the Overworld and Chief of the Underworld battled which caused a massive explosion of Mount Mazama. Interesting hey? My beliefs are that what was left over from this battle was Wizard Island; a sign that this battle evidently took place.

Mental Map of the WOrld

I thought this map was cool. It sort of ties into what Dr. Dobson was taking about two weeks ago. Is geography fading away? This is a mental map of a college student of the world. Should it be better than this or not? I know it's a mental map, but look at South America and Europe. I ran across this to looking for a world map for another class,so I thought I would share.

A dog named Jupiter

I thought I would blog about my new roommate's dog named Jupiter. He is a male Jack Russell terrier about seven years of age and weighs about twenty pounds. I classify him as "one weird dog" because of all things I have seen him do that normally other dogs don't do.

Here are a list of things that I would consider abnormal from a dog:

1. Jupiter has his own bed in my roommate's bedroom, but sometimes he wants to make his own bed on my bed. He does not sleep like an ordinary dog and sleeps under the covers. When I go to sleep, he will crawl under the covers to go to sleep with his head poking out like us humans do.

2. He is always passing gas under the covers and I usually have to end up kicking him out of my room because it stinks so bad. Dog farts are far more worse than humans.

3. When Jupiter gets into a playful mood, he always thinks that his tail is a playing toy. I have sat there and watched him many of times going round and round into circles like it wasn't his tail at all.

4. I cannot take Jupiter anywhere in the car. Most dogs, after a while, will eventually lay down after being in the car for a while. Not Jupiter. He stands up in the front passenger seat all the time. Even when I come to a stop, slam on the breaks, or make sharp left and right turns, he crashes into the dash and cannot hold still. He still stands and you would think that eventually it would lead him to the back. Jupiter thinks he has a seat belt on or something.

5. Jupiter cries like I have never heard any other dog cry before. When I take him for a ride in my car, while running errands, I make a stop at a store and he starts to cry out load where the whole parking lot can hear. He cries and does not stop because he wants to get out also. On my way back, he is still doing it. This dog has one pair of vocals I have never heard of in my life.

Although Jupiter has these characteristics as an animal, I have grown attached to him the few months I have been living here with my roommate. I find alternate ways to try to break him out of these habits by discipline, but I am finding that doesn't work either because he just keeps doing these habits.

Mono Lake

On my way to down to the Lancaster, California, Antelope Valley for spring break, I decided to share one of the most beautiful landscapes overlooking Mono Lake along U.S. Highway 395. In between Bridgeport and Lee Vining, I pulled off on the side of the road to park and observed Mono Lake throughout the distance. The air smelt so fresh and I felt like it was paradise. The elevation is about 8,000 ft. before going into the Lee Vining Valley and you can see the town of Lee Vining from above. Of course, I have been through here many times and never managed to take pictures, so finally, I had that chance. And, it was flippin' cold and around 19 degrees that Saturday morning, March 22, at 830AM.

Eating Too Much

I decided to go out to eat last night at one of the best pizza places in town, Nu Yalk Pizza. This place, on the corner of Kietzke and Moana Lanes, serves their best New York style pizza with a choice of your toppings like Italian sausage, meatballs, pepperoni, garlic, mushrooms, peppers, and salami. The super thin style crust gives it the ultimate flavor of what a pizza should really taste like. As I ordered 2 slices of pizza, I enjoyed every minute of folding that pizza in half, like a sandwich, and eating it New York style with the grease dripping into my mouth. After eating the two slices of pizza, I could not figure out why I was still hungry. I mean, have you seen these slices? They are huge! About 2 slices would equal a whole small order of Dominos. After contemplating, I ordered my third slice, which was plain cheese, and ate every last bite of it. I really do not eat like this, but I was sure on a roll last night. Yesterday, I did eat cereal for breakfast and had a little corn beef and cabbage for lunch. I don't know what really got into me eating three slices of Nu Yalk pizza, but it sure was worth it and good. Nu Yalk Pizza also serves other Italian dishes such as spaghetti, lasagne, sandwiches and more! Check the menu out above.

Response to the reading on Sea and Survival

Figure 1. Sand dunes along the Florida panhandle.

Sand dunes are a natural phenomena that occur along beach shores, bay shores, and coastal inlets. This piece was written for the physical geographer to learn about how sand dunes are formed and the parts of the sand dunes that are protected and not protected by human landscapes. The author focuses on coastal regions of the Netherlands and the U.S. Atlantic primarily because these are flat regions. Sand dunes are used as protected barriers against natural storms and human landscapes have added to altering the shape, along with wave production and winds, in which cause some areas of the sand dune to become intolerable.

I think the author was trying to send a message to his readers that sand dunes are actually an important part of the natural, physical landscape. Not many people consider sand dunes important. They do protect from floods of coastal regions in some extent. Sand dunes, especially in two particular areas; the primary and secondary, are off limits and bridges are built over them for their protection. In other words, lets stop the building of homes over these sanes dunes and build further inland for more protection. In an event of a severe storm or hurricane, a house built on a sand dune is more likely to suffer maximum damage than if it were built more inland. There is a reason why the primary sand dunes are fenced off to keep out, to become a better protection barrier.

Check out these links for more pictures.

picasaweb.google.com/.../M1pKKpB1dpg79fFuGdi9Zg- Beaches along the Jacksonville, FL coast and Amelia Island.

Using the Network Analyst Extension in GIS

This is a cool extension in ArcView 9.2 where you can create your own dataset of a city. The program was introduced to me yesterday in my GIS class. There are so many things you can do to such as create your own drive time analysis, point to point routing, route directions, service area definition, shortest path, optimum route, closest facility, and an origin destination analysis. Check out these videos from the ESRI site to gain a little knowledge on it.

http://www.esri.com/flashmedia/na_drivedirect.swf

http://www.esri.com/flashmedia/networkana.swf