The Charrette

The charrette was fantastic! I was really impressed with the consultants from Ferrell Madden Associates. Whatever they charge, they're worth it. I am excited about the ideas that the groups came up with and I think that the new zoning laws will help our town prevent sprawl and promote responsible growth, while keeping its small, agricultural flavor--score one for the good guys!

In other news, I have suddenly become a hot commodity with 3 interviews scheduled for the next 2 weeks! Yippee! I have also been gorging myself on fresh produce. I'll just say it: Michigan has the best fruit in the entire US! Blueberries, strawberries, cherries, peaches, apricots, apples, melons, pears, raspberries, thimbleberries...nobody can touch us (but I will give cranberries, cheese curds and beer to our lovely western sister, Wisconsin).

I've also been busying catching up with high school and college friends who are back in Michigan for the 4th. We spent time playing at the beach in Grand Haven, tasting some fantastic homebrew, hanging out in smoky East Grand Rapids coffee shops until the wee hours and just enjoying the company. It has been a wonderful week and the fun isn't over yet! It's time to head to Mullett Lake for some waterskiing, swimming, biking, running and grilling. Have a fun and safe 4th of July everyone--esp. Dave & Deb chillin' with the Journey and Styx fans in Muskegon!

Thinking

I've been doing a lot of thinking these days, in all my vast free time. I have decided that life is too short for lollygagging and that I need to shake things up a bit. So I'm going to (try to) quit worrying about my state of employment and have some fun. I'm going to connect with friends that I've been missing for a couple years, I'm going to travel, and I'm going to work on more of my "projects", like my new website idea.

But before I head out the door to drink the wild air, I have a few loose ends to tie up. Mainly, I have to attend a charrette tonight and tomorrow in my hometown. A charrette is a design workshop that is really useful for visioning. My little town is trying to be proactive about sprawl and change planning and zoning laws to avoid ending up like Southeast Michigan (esp. the Highland Lakes area, that has to be the ugliest, sprawliest part of Michigan!) Anyway, I'm excited to see how the locals like the charrette. I'll post something about it in the next few days.

A tree falling in the woods.

Why do people think the 'tree falling in the forest' question is profound? I think it is far too anthropocentric to be a relevant question.

My blog title

By the way, for those literature buffs out there, my title is from an Emerson quote: "Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air...". His essays on man and on nature are very good- pick them up if you're looking for a bit of summer reading to take to the beach.

High tech

This is my first blog. This is my first real website, too! Maybe this blog will teach me some tech tricks so I can finally get a job. Maybe I'll become famous for my blogs, like Arianna Huffington. Or maybe this will just be one more way for me to waste time, sigh.
Ok, let's see if this works.