Back Where I Come From: The List

I moved away from my small, more cows than people small, hometown in Western NY about 6 years ago for better or worse.  Since then I've learned that there are some things that are endemic to growing up in a rural county that don't translate to other demographics.  This is my take on the "you might be from Livingston County if" list.  Please comment any that I forgot!

• Your Halloween Costume was made to go over a winter coat
• You learned to drive a tractor before you could drive a car
• Half the school was absent on Opening Day and know I'm not talking about baseball
• You were absent from school due to "Buck Fever"
• You've been to a party in a field
• Said party was moved to a barn when it started to rain
• GFR breakfast special, 'nough said
• In high school, you hang out at Denny's, Walmart, or Wegmans because they're the only places open later than 9pm
• Aunt Cookie's
• Mia's $2 lunch special
• You've seen a deer on the side of the road with the good meat cut out of it
• You hit a deer and ask the sheriff for a tag
• You know the whole police department and half the sheriff's office.
• If you get pulled over 3 people will call your mom before you get home
• Going into town = Marketplace mall
• Going to the City = Rochester
• Country Concerts at Darien Lake were the top social events of the summer
• You went to Minnehan's for Senior Bash
• You're upset if no one get's a deer because you'll have to buy meat that winter
• You have at least one freezer specifically for venison and homegrown vegetables
• The best paying summer job you could get was throwing hay
• Going to the grocery store for your mom at Christmas doubles as a mini class reunion
• You go away to school and find out that your family's property is larger than your roommate's neighborhood. 

Make New Friends...

...but keep the old. One is silver and the other's blue?

After many years of devoted service through frat parties, birthdays, backpacking through Europe, and general abuse I decided to retire my Canon point and shoot.  I knew this day would come sooner or later so I had been looking around at different options.  Ever since I blew through a single use underwater camera in Jamaica, I've been coveting an underwater camera or housing so I wouldn't be limited to multiples of 24 pictures per snorkel outing.

Three generations of cameras

On the hand, I would love to upgrade to a dSLR.  Ever since I was little I've been intrigued by cameras and photos.  My dad worked for Kodak and my mom is a Christmas card picture perfectionist so I was bound to either love or hate photography.  I was almost done with high school by the time I reluctantly gave up on my childhood fantasy of being a national geographic/sports photographer.  By that time I had a film SLR camera and was learning to use it pretty well by the time I left for university.  However, I thought the better decision was to leave the SLR at home and away from the dorms.  Now, living safely away from campus and supposedly more mature, my trusty film camera is outdated and oddly constraining after shooting digital point and shoots with adjustable ISO and the like.  Unfortunately, dSLRs and even dSLR-bridge cameras are a bit of a stretch on my budget right now.  I also want to make sure I know if I want to take the intermediate step in a dSLR-bridge or take the plunge into dSLR world with all of its lenses and romance.

New Camera!

In the end, I went with the Panasonic DMC-TS3, one of the newer ruggized point and shoots.  The two major components that drew me to this camera were the 40ft waterproof rating and the color.  To be fair, I did scour Amazon, dpreviews, B & H photography, Best Buy and others for reviews on the camera before I made my final decision but those are the two characteristics that really stuck.  I also like that I can play with the shutter speed and have more ISO options than my Canon.  My gripe against the camera is its performance in low light.  Or rather complete lack of performance in low light.  I'm still hoping that I can figure out some magically combinations of setting to make them tolerable but for now I'm switching back and forth between the Panasonic and the canon depending on the situation.  

I would still like to level up in camera's before I start doing some serious traveling but I have something to tie me over for now.  I'm trying to figure out a way to experiment with both a dSLR and a dSLR-bridge camera before I make a decision.  

Anyone want to help me with some consumer research?

Some sample pictures from the Panasonic:

Patch Collection through a pinhole

Winter landscape

The details can get a little fuzzy

Artsy Underwater bubble shot (major reason for purchase)

3 Steps to Long Hair: Phase 2

Phase Two took a much different shape than I was expecting.  5 months of growing out a pixie cut left me with a choppy, feathering mullet.  I was heading home for the weekend so I took a shot in the dark and called up my stylist from high school.  If anyone ever needs a haircut in Livingston County, look up Shear FX in Geneseo.  I walked into the shop after driving for 4 hours with no idea of what I wanted to look like.  I know my former phase 2 haircut wasn't going to work so I offered 3 specifications to whatever Laurie could think up.

1. No more feathery mullet
2. Include sweeping bangs
3. A definite shape with some attitude

Laurie was asking me about how I style my hair now and we joked about the days when I had brightly colored hair and was known to spike it on occasion.  I felt a little bad for the mom sitting next to me with the wide-eyed tween listening to my coloring stories.

Colors from days of old: Crazy Grape and the Blazing Red highlights.

I ended up with a much more subdued hairstyle for phase 2 than the days of old.  I give Laurie major credit for this one. It's a little hard to see how much it's really grown since August but I'm so happy to actually have a 'look' again. I'm still debating keeping the bangs but for now they're nice.

Phase 1 (Left), Phase 2 (Right)


What do you think? Should I keep the bangs?

The Money Side of Travel: dealing with disappointment

I have read countless posts by as many travel bloggers about how you 'don't need money to travel.' However, every single one of these respected bloggers also as a post about saving up to go on a trip or budgeting for trips.  How can it be that you need to dedicate time to saving and budgeting if you don't need many for travel?  The answer is that while you don't need to be a millionaire or "from money," you definitely need to be able to pay for your transport, lodging, food, etc.  Sometimes when you're on a deadline, the desire to go someplace doesn't match up to the cost.

Someday I'll find this spot in Santo Domingo, Photo credit

 I recently had the opportunity to spend 4 days in the Dominican Republic with some friends of mine.  One of the guys is from the DR and the other three are visiting.  I knew from the get-go that I wasn't going to be able to go for the full trip. Two days ago and after a couple beers, I checked the cost of flights to prove that it was financially impossible for me to show up after my experiment finished and in time for the last half of the trip.  To my surprise, the flights weren't that bad.  Not great but doable.   And so began a battle of wills and logistics.

Logistics turned into a nightmare. Between the multi-city flights, parking, transportation, and the fact that I've already allocated all of my vacation days for this year all ready, I was beginning to feel like Napoleon at Waterloo.  48 hours of convert war through multiple websites and scheming it looked like everything was going to workout. I was escaping to the DR in the middle of the NY winter! and then I wasn't...

The logistics won in the last round.  No rebuttal. No instant replay.  I couldn't afford the trip anymore.  I was crushed...am still crushed (this happened in the early hours of the morning). As disappointed as I am that the glorious Caribbean sun has evaded me.  I'm flat out distraught that I got my hopes up, and my friends' hopes up only to have them dashed by a stupid piece of plastic.  I'm angry and upset and disappointed and dealing with the guilt of disappointing my friends.  I fully admit the on the list of top 20 responsible life choices this trip wasn't even in the running but it still would have been amazing. 

DR you may have delayed my arrival but make no mistake I will be flying in sooner than later! To my friends flying in today, Diviértanse!

Three Step to Long Hair: 4 Months

 Operation Long Hair has been in effect for just over 4 months now.  So far it hasn't been that painful. *knock on wood* Another inch and I'm going to be at the length where it starts getting all sorts of tangled.  I think I'm going to veer off from my anticipated plan for step 2 but I haven't decided exactly how yet.

Day 1 to Month 4

What do you think?

Coffee Please?

Like so many 20-somethings, I'm a little reliant on my daily dose of coffee.  At home, in the land of a million coffee shops, k-cups, and timer-operated coffee makers, it's incredibly easy to get your daily dose of java.  I quickly discovered that not everyone has the same ideas about starting the day with a fresh cup of joe.

I had dreams of traveling around strictly following the local lifestyles.  Tea in England was delicious but didn't quite cut it as the semester ramped up.  The main stream coffee option was freeze-dried instant coffee.  I tired.  I really did.  But freeze-dried coffee was more than my 20-year-old self could handle.  There was ground coffee at the grocer's but I couldn't locate a coffee maker to brew it in.  Thankfully one of my good friends in the US understood my plight and sent me a little french-press.  That heroic device probably saved my academics that year.

Backpacking through Western Europe meant breakfast in a variety of places. My hostels in Paris and Amsterdam came through with the best brewed coffee. There were plenty of hostels that came with freeze-dried powder at best.  In those cases, thank goodness for local espresso shops. I started flirting with espresso when I realized that I wasn't going to get my standard mug of brew to start the day.  Straight espresso is not for the faint of heart.  Enter the cappuccino.  Best cappuccino I had was in Milan.  I stayed at a tiny family run inn where the innkeep made cappuccino complete with smiley-face when you came down for breakfast.  As much as I like espresso drinks, I can't do them everyday.  They remain one of my favorite treats and/or pick-me-ups, especially with my favorite cafe a couple blocks from my apartment.

With the not so tiny task of finishing grad school before I can set off into the wild blue yonder again, I don't think I'll be kicking the coffee habit anytime soon.  I acknowledge that I'll be pressed to find my preferred morning medium-roast in every country I'll visit but I'll take it every chance I get.

"If alcohol is liquid courage, then coffee is liquid patience."

If your morning beverage choices are like mine, do your best to avoid the powder (or cut in with hot chocolate mix), or try some espresso drinks if you're hurting.  Cafes can add up quickly if you're a real coffee fiend.  However, if you're traveling inthe chillier months an occasional hot drink can be a perfect chance to warm up inside and out.

Three Step Program to Long Hair

One of the methods I'm trying to minimize my expenses is growing my hair out.  This is not my favorite thing to do but it's guaranteed to save me a couple hundred dollars.  Thanks to Google images I've been able to put together a celebrity three step plan to long hair

Step 1. Step 2. Step 3.

My last haircut was phase 1.  Mandy Moore with a pixie inspired look.  This is the haircut I've had all summer and I'm sad to see it go.  Next step, Katie Holmes's bob.

Looking for the next big trip

Hi.  My name is Julie and I'm addicted to traveling.  It's been 14 months since my last major trip and I'm itching for another.  Unfortunately graduate school doesn't provides much time for length vacations.  I'm at a point where 4 days off in a row is a big deal.

My new goal is to take six months off after I graduate and escape to far away lands.  Six months is a little long compared to the post-graduation breaks most people take.  The way I see it, opportunities to take a couple of months off between when I graduate and retire will be few and far between.  Also research has monopolized my school "vacations" for years and I just want so time off.

The itinerary for this adventure is still up in the air.  The top destination contender is language school in Mexico so I can pass the C2 mastery D.E.L.E. exam.  I'll settle for an intermediate fluency certificate but I'm shooting for mastery.  The school I'm looking into has campuses in several cities.  I'm planning to spend the first third of my course at the school in Playa del Carmen before completing the course in Guanajauto.  By splitting up the course a little I'll be able to experience beaches and mountains and the distinct cultures that accompany the two climates.

Ideally I want to include a 6 week trip to Australia in this 6 month odyssey.  The Australian tour I have planned crisscrosses the country/continent and will be one of the greatest organizational feats I've attempted.  I would start on the west coast before flying from Perth to Darwin.  From Darwin I would make my way south passed Uluru to Melbourne/Tasmania before working my way north again to Cairns.  This portion is highly dependent of the amount of money I can save between now and then.

If Australia doesn't come together, I will continue heading south, from Mexico, into Central and South America.  I would be a little sad to postpone Australia but I will have just finished a fluency certification in Spanish so the language barrier should be at an all time low.  I definitely have more potential contacts in the Americas than Oceania which has its own set of perks when traveling.


View Untitled in a larger map

Since I'm planning this trip to begin in a mere 20 months and have a substantial amount of money to save I am restricting myself on most forms of nonessential spending including: clothes, shoes, make-up, entertainment, etc.

My friends, please be understanding as my favorite Friday night activity becomes watching DVDs at someone's house.  I promise to send postcards from far-away places as thank-you's!

Evicting Irene

Along with everyone else in the Capital District, I thought I was done with Irene after Sunday afternoon.  Unfortunately the worst of the damage to the Northeast was just starting.  Flooding has serenely damaged Southern Vermont and the surrounding town of the Mohawk and Hudson River valleys.  Thankfully, rivers have been receding since Tuesday morning across the Northeast.  It was strange seeing River St, the lowest street in downtown Troy, actually turn into a river.  Several of the people in my lab agreed that this was the first time that we were really appreciative to be living in high up on the hill in Troy.  River St has been above water since Tuesday afternoon and the restaurants are making a tremendous effort to have their establishments open as soon as possible.  I know Brown's Brewing Co. is aiming to open on Friday.  No word yet on when Dinosaur BBQ will reopen.

While we're busying ourselves with the beginning of the school year and worrying about when our favorite eaterys will open,  many people within 100 miles of Troy are having their groceries delivered via National Guard helicopter because the roads have been destroyed.  Thousands of people along the Eastern Seaboard still do not have electricity.  Most places in Troy had the power blink off for a few minutes at the worst.  By and large Trojan feelings toward Hurricane Irene were 'That was it?'  It's amazing how a few miles, or a large meters of riverbank can completely alter the way a natural disaster is perceived.  Overall people are determined to push every remnant of Irene out of their houses, lawns, and towns, and start rebuilding.

Weathering Irene, Part 2

The worst of Irene has left the Upstate New York.  Thankfully the wind and rain died off significantly before it came this far up the Hudson River valley. Wind gusts from the worst of the storm woke me up early this morning. The rain hasn't stopped since last night.  I would consider it a pleasant rain if we weren't still waiting for it to stop. The Weather Channel reported that it probably won't stop until later tonight.   I'm located high on the hills surrounding the valley so I haven't had any flooding near me.  The basements of some of my friends were not so lucky.  I-90 is above water so Heather was able to head back to Livingston County with minimal problems. Now to enjoy a very rainy Sunday.  Good thing I have lots of new travel books to read!