Archive for June, 2008

Looking for anthropology/sociology book recommendations!

June 30, 2008 at 10:49 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged

Although I’m taking a hiatus from formal schooling, I’d like to keep my mind sharp and my anthropological repertoire up to snuff.  I’ve been planning on creating a reading list of all the most critical sociological and anthropological (and everything in between) texts I and others can think of.  A few I have thought about, just to get the list going and in no particular order, are:

Coming of Age in Samoa – Margaret Mead

Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture – Marvin Harris

The Interpretation of Cultures – Clifford Geertz

General Theory of Magic – Marcel Mauss

Tristes Tropiques – Claude Levi-Strauss

Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography – James Clifford and George E. Marcus

I’d love to hear about the books that have impacted your life or that you feel were critical to your understanding of anthropology/humanity in general.  It would really help a young neophyte like myself prepare for the rite of passage that is graduate school!  And maybe we can create an informative list for others looking for some good reading.

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Started working for Sun, developing a collaborative learning environment

June 23, 2008 at 10:17 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , ,

Last week marked the start of my work for Sun Microsystems.  I’m being dubbed an “instructional designer” and I’m charged with researching social learning and virtual environments.  At the moment we are working on a couple initiatives, one which includes facilitating knowledge allocation and sharing among Sun employees.  I imagine an environment similar to Netvibes or iGoogle, where the user can freely drag-and-drop and add content as they please.  It may even be worth modeling the UI after the UIs of either of these services since they seem to be so popular and user-friendly (I love my Netvibes homepage… makes my life on the Web much more convenient).  I think it will be important for the environment to be as non-restrictive as possible.  Not only does this include being able to freely arrange content, as you please, but also having the ability to freely import feeds from elsewhere, such as BBC, CNN, or your favorite blog.  Not sure if the latter will cause security issues.  In addition, having the ability to change the design of your CLE (collaborative learning environment) with regard to your favorite color, etc. would be a bonus to make it feel more uniquely “yours.”

Does anyone who uses iGoogle, Netvibes, or a similar service notice anything about those environments that they would like to see improved?  I don’t use Netvibes’ bookmarking and rating functions often, but I think such tools would be useful in a CLE for Sun employees.  I think the reason I don’t use them on Netvibes is cuz I don’t feel a sense of community on Netvibes yet… I know they’ve tried to improve this, but I don’t think it’s quite there.  For Sun, however, the sense of community may be greater since it will be a walled garden of sorts, more of a bounded community.

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Tornado hits KSU, tons of damage (PICS)

June 12, 2008 at 6:22 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , ,

So I wake up this morning to my cellphone vibrating and ringing like crazy. I had gotten a bunch of e-mails, text messages, and voice messages about a tornado that hit Manhattan and a few neighboring areas. Had I heard? Did I know anyone that got hurt? Were my friends alright? I immediately got online to check out what had happened. I couldn’t find much information aside from a few stories on CNN and MSNBC and a few other news outlets, but they were largely all saying the same thing. None of them had pictures so I hopped on Facebook to see if my friends had posted any. Luckily, my friend Karla sent out a mass e-mail of some photos she took of the damage. I went ahead and posted them below for you all to check out. If anyone has any other information, please leave a comment so others who venture here can know as much as possible about the whole ordeal. I hope everyone is OK!

**UPDATE: My friend Susan told me there are a lot of pics over at WIBW, check em out. Loading is a bit slow – I imagine there’s a lot of traffic at the moment. She also sent me a few pics her mom took which I added (her parents live in Manhattan. Thankfully they are fine!)

My buddy Frankie also went out today and snapped some photos. Here’s the URL to his facebook photo album.

Thanks to Kevin for pointing out this video of the tornado:

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Yesterday: cycling and participant observation

June 8, 2008 at 5:51 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , ,

Yesterday afternoon my brother and I went on an hour-long bike ride along the San Diego coast. The weather was amazing and the view from Coast Hwy is remarkable, especially near the Carlsbad area. Since this was my first time riding in dense traffic on a road bike and this is something I have never shared with my brother (nor my father) I felt I should reflect on the experience. Both my brother and my father are triathletes and they have been since I was young. I never got into doing triathlons, but I have always been a runner, starting young and continuing until now. As a competitor I stopped running track after high school, but I still enjoy going for a run now and then to clear the cob-webs from my head. They have always tried to talk me into doing a triathlon, but I’ve always denied – not enough time to train and frankly it’s something I’m not very interested in (doing myself, that is).

I have, for a couple years, wanted to get into cycling (or at least try it out). So yesterday my brother decided to take me out on a ride (complete with the sponsor covered spandex and speedy looking helmet). I thought this was a great opportunity to see what all the hype was about. Both my brother and father are very active in the triathlon subculture. When I visit my father in Overland Park, him and I usually hang out with his triathlon buddies (which consists of me listening to them talk about their training and upcoming races). I had pondered a few years ago doing an ethnography of their group as they trained and subsequently participated in an Ironman, of which my father along with multiple of his friends have done many all over the country. They certainly are a different breed. They have all the qualities that we anthropologists like to attribute to a “culture” – seemingly religious concern with physical wellness and personal achievement, camaraderie among fellow triathletes (in Overland Park they have a tight-knit group called “KC Multisport”), and frequent rituals (training and races) that serve to reinforce their beliefs and further define their community. So keeping all this in mind I accompanied my brother on a bike ride to gain a kernel of insight into one piece of the triathlon lifestyle.

After an initial learning curve, we were off (the funky handle bars and tiny peddles are a pain to get used to). The Encinitas/Leucadia/Carlsbad/Oceanside area pretty much has bike lanes every where you go which is super-convenient. We started pretty slow, getting passed by fellow bikers along the way (who always seemed to acknowledge our presence). My brother explained to me I should shift gears frequently in order to keep the same cadence in my legs the entire time. He also explained to me the correct positioning of my body which KILLED my perineum as well as the pad’s of my hands. Aside from the initial pain the whole experience was really enjoyable. When the bike lane eventually widened we rode side-by-side and talked about our recent move to SD, among other things. It was exhilarating to be coasting along with the cars, taking in the scenery around me, and doing it all on my own two legs. When we decided to turn around and head back we had a bit of a head wind which made the ride a little more difficult but just enough not to be impossible for my first ride. Indeed, my legs were numb when we finally got back, but it felt great. The endorphins were surging through my brain putting me in a state of mild bliss and the sense of personal accomplishment after riding 12 miles on my own two legs was satisfying.

Since I can work from home (if I ever get *absolute* confirmation that I can start working) I’m going to try and stay active, possibly through cycling. If that doesn’t work out I will fall back to my staple of running. My brother really seemed to enjoy the whole experience (as I would have expected – he’s been doing it for a long time). We stopped briefly along the way to take in the ocean and watch a few surfers who were hanging out with 4 or 5 dolphins that were riding the tide in. He told me that’s one of the reasons he loves riding, especially in the mountains or some place with beautiful scenery. You never know what you’re going to see. I couldn’t agree more… the ride yesterday was a lot of fun and I hope to continue my participant observation soon.

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No future for print media?

June 6, 2008 at 11:50 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , ,

In a recent interview with The Washington Post, Microsoft chief exec. Steve Ballmer claimed, among other things, that within the next 10 years there will be “no media consumption left… that is not delivered over an IP network.  There will be no newspapers, no magazines that are delivered in paper form.”  When I saw this I cringed a little bit.  If the history of media has taught us anything it is that new media never replace old media entirely.  I know there has been some hype over the development of e-books and e-paper (Amazon Kindle, Readius, etc.), but will this really replace paper-based print media?  I don’t know about you all, but there’s something about the texture of a paperback book that I love.  Being able to take it anywhere, cram it in a backpack, or the sense of accomplishment I get after flipping that last page.  Maybe I’m old fashioned, but there’s also something about being able to quickly scan the headlines of a newspaper to find the information I want, rather than scanning tediously through column after column on a digital device.  This may be my reluctance to change showing through – indeed, digital devices will come with their own advantages and disadvantages just like old media (I hate refolding a newspaper because I can never seem to get it right… it usually ends up all distraight and out of order).

What do you all think?  Will information delivered over “IP networks” come to entirely displace paper-based print media?

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Finally made it to San Diego (after a stressful move and being robbed)

June 3, 2008 at 4:41 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , ,

I don’t even know where to start.  Our move to San Diego was so exhausting I don’t have the energy to write it all out so I will try to summarize.  It all started with the moving company (Transamerica) consistently telling us they would call us back regarding the the status of our move and consistently breaking that promise.  We were forced to return our own phone calls only to get the message that the person we wanted to talk to had “stepped out of the office” or “was busy at the moment” when that same person told us hours before they would call us “right back.”  We were told our movers would show up on Wednesday (the 28th) but they didn’t show up until Thursday.  We were also told they would show up in the morning around 10 since we had plans for that evening (and my brother had plans to take his girlfriend out for their anniversary).  They didn’t show up until 4 o’clock which set everything back.  When the movers were finally almost done (they worked their butts off getting all the stuff in the truck) they couldn’t fit the washer and drier, the patio table, or the treadmill in the truck.  They claimed they hadn’t known about it.  However, a week before someone came out and documented all my brother’s belongings and gave him a weight estimate.  The movers had this list and the washer and drier, table, and treadmill were on it.  The movers informed me they were going to go weigh the truck and call my brother after the weigh (he and his g/f were already at dinner while I stayed back to keep an eye on the movers).  They left, but never called him.

The next morning I am going through a couple of my bags upstairs (I had flown out Thursday morning) and noticed an envelope full of money ($400 to be exact) missing from my backpack.  What was odd was another envelope full of checks in the same zipped pocket was still there.  I had just recently closed my bank account because I was moving and was going to deposit the checks and some of the cash that day at another bank.  Since it would take a while for me to receive my debit card, I needed the cash to spend on food.  What was also odd was that I had sealed the envelope with the checks in it and it had been slightly opened, just enough to see inside.  I looked and looked but couldn’t find the other envelope.  If it had fallen out (which I highly doubt, if you see the pocket you’d know why) then why didn’t the other envelope go with it?  I then look in the main pocket of my backpack and realize my green iPod nano is missing as well!  I had placed it in the main area of my backpack when my plane landed and we were getting off.  Realizing that the only people who had been in that room were the movers….

We contacted Transamerica and the police (as well as the Better Business Bureau and a lawyer), but nothing was going to come of it.  My stuff was gone, Transamerica didn’t care, and the movers weren’t going to confess.  Our main worry at that moment was the status of my brother’s stuff.  Everything my brother owned was in the truck that the alleged thieves were driving.  Had we been robbed entirely?? My brother called Transamerica to complain about the stuff the movers had left behind and they claim that there was someone else’s stuff on the truck and that the movers had dropped the stuff off at a storage unit about an hour away and were on their way back to pick up the rest of the stuff.

Upon their return my brother asks them about the stuff they unloaded.  Evidently, according to Carlos, one of the movers, they had unloaded my brother’s stuff, not someone else’s.  There wasn’t anyone else’s stuff on the truck besides his.  So my brother calls Transamerica back (gets a message machine) and complains once more about being lied to and wanting to know how they planned to get the rest of his stuff to San Diego by Sunday (it’s Tuesday now and the mover’s still aren’t here and Transamerica has yet to call back).  I also confronted them about my money and iPod which they denied taking (of course).  I gave them the opportunity to place it back with all the stuff so I could find it later.  I’m all for giving people the benefit of the doubt, but this situation was like seeing a mess in the kitchen that’s not yours and your roommate denying it’s his when it is only you two living together.  I ultimately called the cops and gave them as much information as I could about the two movers, the truck they were driving, etc. but I think the cops have better things to worry about than my lost $400 and iPod nano.

So we are now in San Diego.  The house isn’t ready yet and probably won’t be ready for another few weeks (it was supposed to be ready on Sunday).  We’ve had to bounce around from hotel to hotel with my brother’s dog and my cat (she probably hates me… I’m such a terrible owner for making her go through this).  It’s been one crazy, long weekend!  But the weather is great and we are finally in a stationary place where we will be for another week before moving into a temporary rental property (hopefully).  Our real estate agent Libby is amazing.  She’s been so helpful in getting us situated and making sure we don’t lose our heads.  She’s even trying to find me a place of my own on top of helping my brother and his g/f with their place.

I’m probably leaving out a bunch of details – so many things have gone wrong that I can’t even be angry.  It’s actually at the point where it’s amusing to see.  Such a “civilized” society with so many inefficiencies and errors.  Guess it helps keep me grounded.  Libby said something really enlightening yesterday.  She said she felt like when things keep going wrong it was God/the universe/higher power/whatever reminding you that you’re still on the planet, just in case you’d forgot.

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