Great Lakes. Great Times.

Here are some pics from my trip back home. I miss everyone already and can't wait to show them around Southern California. Jason really enjoyed his time... but will NOT miss the mosquitos. lol.

The Cove

I'd like you all to visit the site for a new documentary called The Cove. This cause is really near to my heart. Of course I'm concerned for all the humans of the world, but I think somehow our connection to the other inhabitants of the planet and sympathy for them add greatly to our humanity. If we show no mercy to what is below us, how can we ask for mercy to what is above us? Please watch the trailer:



Upcoming screenings of The Cove. If you can see it I hope you will. I want to see the August 7 showing in Irvine: http://thecovemovie.com/festivals/upcoming_screenings.htm

Here is a downloadable site that shows what seafood is safe. I would never advocate everyone stop eating seafood... but maybe we should just try to be safer about it...

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/download.aspx

Me and Dancer Photos

Here are a few of the photos from our "photo shoot" on Wednesday. Danielle ended up taking hundreds, so here are a few of the best (I'm having a lot of trouble picking my favorites):

Book Update

IT IS FINISHED!!!
(for now at least)

Well, five months and 182 pages later it's done. I just completed my memoir about fifteen minutes ago and I'm so excited to get to work editing it and citing my sources. Once this is done, which should be sometime in July, I will be sending out copies to a few people for further analysis and revision. Hopefully I'll be able to get it to publishers in the Pacific Northwest, and maybe I'll get lucky and have it published. I'm looking forward to hearing what you all think and seeing where this project continues take me.

You are what You Eat

Where is Michael Moore on this one? I guess the issues he covers are only major media frenzies. Once again, he is also a victim of the profit-mentality: cover issues that will make money in the box office. The farms are after profits, the whistle-blowers are stifled, and the politicians seem to only care about being reelected. Who can we trust? This is another great video. The intro is a bit long, but the talking begins at about 1 minute. Watch it. Think about it. Pass it on. Start to make a difference:

Killing them Softly

Hey family,

Well I've been a busy little bee, painting and writing. Jason's house is coming along, we are still in the priming process (it's taken a lot longer than expected because we needed to patch a few walls). I'll take pics once the priming is complete in hopes of showing you the before and after face-lift.

I visited Jeleen and she seems to be doing ok for her situation. I feel bad that she's all cooped up and can definitely relate to her "cabin fever." She's suffering from the same condition many of the women in our family fall victim to: doing too much! She still wants to answer the doors, make conference calls, and get guests food. It's ridiculous and if you are reading this Jeleen, take a breather and let people wait on you a little bit. Sometimes it's ok to do nothing, you know?

I've spent a lot of my down time writing and now I only have two chapters left before I'm completely done with the first draft!!! I can't wait to finish it and give it a once-over and reference check before I send it out to family, friends, and ultimately publishers. I'm hoping to finish it before I go home, but we'll see.

In related exciting news, I've contacted Howard Garrett of the Orca Network (see credentials here: http://www.orcanetwork.org/contact/contact.html) and he offered to send me pictures of orca captures for my book as well as to give it the once-over before I send it to publishers! I'm so excited to have him share his opinions and hopefully he'll like it. If he thinks it's good, I'll most likely ask him to write a forward for me. Needless to say, I'm pretty much freaking out. lol. I also contacted my hero Alexandra Morton and asked if she'd allow me to use a photo of pink salmon fry infected with sea lice. She's given me the green light and added to my excitement about the project. (The picture can be seen above.) She, like me, came to the Pacific Northwest as a whale lover with an interest only in orcas, and expanded her horizons once she realized the danger the orcas were in as a result of salmon farms.

The largest farm in the area, Marine Harvast Canada, thinks they're providing a great service to the local economy and they claim to be committed to the environment on their web site:

For Marine Harvest Canada, environmental sustainability requires operating a business that is environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable. We recognize that environmental integrity, transparency and innovation are key values. Our commitment to environmental sustainability includes:

• Open communication with our employees regarding environmental issues and safeguards and promotion of our environmental sustainability and actions to our suppliers, customers and stakeholders.
• Commitment to meet and exceed all government environmental regulations, industry Codes of Practice and corporate guidelines.
• Dedication of resources to ongoing research and technological innovation to learn more about our local environment and to continue to reduce our environmental footprint.
• A commitment to communicate environmental sustainability research findings by making data available on our website on a regular basis.

Wow. I'm astounded by the load of crap they continue to dish out while they feed on our most precious resource: the environment.

Alexandra Morton is championing a cause to eliminate the farms and create a brighter future for the local ecosystem that is being suffocated by the farms' practices. You can help her in this effort by visiting and/or donating to the web site www.adopt-a-fry.org. Her video can be seen below:

Brief Update

Below: I want some variation of this for the cover of my memoir. I'd really like a photoshopped orca swimming just beneath the water. (It'd create a cool effect.)

Hey all!

Well it's almost exactly three weeks until I head home for a visit and I'm pretty excited. I'm really looking forward to seeing mom, dad, and bub again ~ especially cheering for bub's soccer games. I'll be home from the 22nd to July 13, and will spend the time with family, visiting Dancer (who I'm missing more than ever), celebrating mom's 46th b-day, and taking Jason to some of my fav spots including Cedar Point. (He thinks Six Flags is the best place for roller coasters, this will change when he goes here with me, my friend Chelsea, and her boyfriend Jerek.)

Jason is officially a home owner! He's looking forward to moving in over the course of the next two weeks. I'm so excited that he's let me paint! I love picking out colors for walls and fixing rooms up, so I'm most looking forward to that. Jason initially wanted plain white walls in the rooms, but after some persuasion (I told him how completely lame that would look), he decided to go to Lowe's with me to pick out colors. There are four rooms that need to be painted: the Master bedroom, both spare rooms, and the upstairs bathroom/coat closet. The Master suite is going to be three shades of blue: Stormy Waters, Whale Song (clearly my fav), and Big Sky. The Stormy Waters one is a deeper blue and will only go on one wall. The rest of the room will be Whale Song, which is like a darker tone of baby blue. Finally, the master bath will be the lightest color, Big Sky, which is an off white sky blue. The upstairs bathroom and downstairs coat closet will be done in Sun Hat yellow, which isn't a super bright yellow because it has a more orangish undertone to it. The spare bedroom near the stairs will be painted Pond Moss, sounds totally gross, but it's actually a pretty color. It's a brighter green, but not obnoxious like neon or something. The spare room near the bathroom will be done in Rising Star, which is an almost white lavender color. It's really pretty and I'm pleased I was able to convince Jason to go with it, despite him being initially adamant against any shade of purple. I'll post pictures once the painting is done and Jason is somewhat moved in.

In my spare time I've been continuing to write in my memoir. I'm well over 100 pages now and not halfway through. I'm hoping to complete it by the time school starts and then maybe send it to family for edits and opinions before sending it to a publishing house in the San Juans to see if they'd want to do anything with it. Here is the way the book is shaping up with the chapters:

1. Dedication - of course it's dedicated to my family and the memory of the whales who died in 2008

2. Aliens Exist - I discuss my first encounter with whales and how they led me to San Juan

3. Growing up Midwest - how living in Michigan shaped my life

4. Road Trip - traveling with mom across the country

5. Island Life: A World Apart - I introduce the crew, history of San Juan Island, and set the stage for my experiences with orcas over the summer.

6. Mockumentary - how science can be shaped by the questions asked and my first experiences as a naturalist.

7. Light the Fire - becoming interested in the science projects behind the whales

8. Pooparazzi - working with Katherine, Adam, and her crew

9. Close Encounters of the Cetacean Kind - I share detailed experiences of special encounters with the whales.

10. Killing them Softly - a discussion about pollution and orca contamination

11. The Truth about Shamu - this one speaks for itself. I delve into the history of whale captures, their affect on the Southern Residents, and Lolita's freedom efforts.

12. To Choke a River - I hit on dams and deforestation in the Pacific Northwest and their impact on the ecosystem and ultimately the salmon and orcas.

13. Feeding the World - the need for salmon and the damage of salmon farms.

14. Who Does Science Answer To? - Japanese whaling operations in a whale sanctuary and America's private endorsement of this.

15. Whale Huggers - not all environmentalists are whack jobs, there are real issues at stake, not just for whales, but for people.

16. Making a Difference in an Indifferent World - what can be done? Is all hope lost?

17. Why do Whales Sing? - the people/whale connection and its impact throughout history (myths, interesting stories, and my take on this relationship).

18. Afterward - I share my interest in environmental law: it's not enough to sit back and let other people make a difference.

So, that's the basic outline. I'm hopping around from chapter to chapter and working on what I feel like talking about on any given day. (The finished chapters are italicized above so you can see what I've done and what needs to be done.) Hopefully this won't remain an unfinished project.

My Dr. appointment went well. I'm still experiencing random stomach pains, but it seems everything is normal for now. I'm going to continue monitoring the situation and I'll see a specialist if I can't shake my concerns.

Love you all! Stay in touch!

(Picture's of Jason's first house coming soon...)