Effluvia
Went geocaching yesterday for the first time with my Vista GPS. I found one of two that I had estimated to be on the path of my walk. It’s like high-tech treasure-hunting - fun! I still haven't figured out how to make much use of the Vista - in order to get good road directions and whatnot, you have to fork over $100+ for a database of all the streets in North America, which I consider to be of limited usefulness, not planning on road-tripping all of North America in the next year or so...
Unfortunately, instead of finding the 2nd cache, I found instead something that triggered an allergic reaction that has had me pretty much laid out since. Dammit! Oh well, it was fun anyway, and I think I could get addicted to looking for these little “treasures.” Lucky for me, there are a bunch of them in my area - apparently geocaching has gotten pretty popular in my neck of the woods.
In other news, a site for the day showcasing the winners of a design competition called “Shelter in a Cart” is pretty cool. Housing and homelessness have been themes on which I’ve been riffing again lately (most of the families that are subjects of CPS referrals are experiencing some level of difficulty in terms of the basic necessities of daily living, a factor that substantially increases the risk of child abuse/neglect), and I’m looking into getting back into advocacy for this frequently overlooked and underserved population. Here’s a link to a great blog that shows this issue from the perspective of someone who is living it.
Oo! I got a new (to me) digital camera yesterday, a hand-me-down from my mom. It gets the same 3.2 megapixels as the old camera, which is kind of a bummer, but it is not the size of a lunchbox like the old camera, so that is definitely a good thing! It is hard to take superduper-stealthy photos of people/places/things when your camera is big, black, and bulky. I need to get a memory stick, and some AA batteries, and I’m in business!
Unfortunately, instead of finding the 2nd cache, I found instead something that triggered an allergic reaction that has had me pretty much laid out since. Dammit! Oh well, it was fun anyway, and I think I could get addicted to looking for these little “treasures.” Lucky for me, there are a bunch of them in my area - apparently geocaching has gotten pretty popular in my neck of the woods.
In other news, a site for the day showcasing the winners of a design competition called “Shelter in a Cart” is pretty cool. Housing and homelessness have been themes on which I’ve been riffing again lately (most of the families that are subjects of CPS referrals are experiencing some level of difficulty in terms of the basic necessities of daily living, a factor that substantially increases the risk of child abuse/neglect), and I’m looking into getting back into advocacy for this frequently overlooked and underserved population. Here’s a link to a great blog that shows this issue from the perspective of someone who is living it.
Oo! I got a new (to me) digital camera yesterday, a hand-me-down from my mom. It gets the same 3.2 megapixels as the old camera, which is kind of a bummer, but it is not the size of a lunchbox like the old camera, so that is definitely a good thing! It is hard to take superduper-stealthy photos of people/places/things when your camera is big, black, and bulky. I need to get a memory stick, and some AA batteries, and I’m in business!