TEDx Monterey??

I'm excited and humbled to be one of 3 students considered for the Student Speaker position at the TEDxMonterey event at MIIS on April 15th. Yesterday, we presented a short version of our proposed TEDx presentation at the Idea Slam. It was recorded for your viewing pleasure. I'd love to hear your comments/suggestions/ideas. I intend to slow down, flesh out some of the story/my idea, and perform the contortion parts how I usually perform: music, personality, following through...you know, stage craft.

Kayaking Elkhorn Slough

Just wanted to share some pictures from a few weeks ago when our buddy Dave stayed with us for 10 days, and our friend BrieAnn stayed for 2 days. These are from our excursion kayaking the Elkhorn Slough, site of the greatest bird biodiversity in North America....and seals, sea lions and otters.

Also, we found a cake on the street that night. Weird, I know. We took it home with us, gave it to some friends as a sly/sketchy joke...but then we all ate some. It was sugary and fake-strawberry flavored, but not poisonous. It smelled good.

En Mi Clase de Español

I am really enjoying my Spanish class this semester. We have a small class size (7), the first ingredient to a good language course. Secondly, our profesora has us presenting material and leading class discussions ourselves, in rotating order. This way, we never get overwhelmed with material to prepare, but go through cycles of more or less homework. Finally, our profesora facilitates our learning by correcting our grammar/vocabulary as we go, rather than trying to mold us to a rubric. It works really well!

We are teaching one another about different environmental issues, and basing our discussions around the hispanic world. Some of the themes of discussion: biocommerce, sustainable agriculture, genetically modified foods, forestry, etc... We had a debate the other day on the pros and cons of biofuels. I never thought I'd be decent enough in a language to have a debate. My favorite days are when we have a charla (chat) with someone who works in a particular environmental sector somewhere in Central or South America. Last thursday, we spoke via Skype with a man who works on encouraging biocommerce in Bogota, Colombia. It was really amazing. He gave an hour long lecture/presentation first (all in Spanish), then we had 45 minutes of Q&A/discussion. You could see the mist coming down over the mountains behind the high rises in Bogota as we spoke with him.

See, over his L shoulder, those pink high rises?

The dark behind them are forested mountains,

and the white above them is mist.

I felt like "the future is here!"...amazing what technology can allow when it works! And I'm surprised at myself and proud that my Spanish skills are improving as much as they are. I feel free to speak in Spanish outside of class which is a paradigm shift for me.

Mackerel

Anchovies, also a fave

One of my favorite displays at the Aquarium is the Mackerel. Seeing them up close, in a school, swimming, swimming, swimming is surprisingly awe inspiring. Check them out here, in video.

Gorgeous Day

Today was gorgeous; 70 degrees and sunny.

I spent the first part of the morning watching the TED talks stream live in our auditorium on campus. Morgan Spurlock, a perennial favorite, was engaging and hilarious, "Mindful and Playful" as usual.

I had my first day of work at Seafood Watch, making packages for restaurants around the nation that strive to carry best choices for sustainability, and getting a good tour of the place, how it runs. This picture is from there. Like I said, gorgeous!