Moving to Typepad

Heh all,

I can't update this blog easily. I've started another one at:

http://www.jayfrentress.typepad.com

Similar style, more power and flashiness with typepad 'cause you have to pay for it ;)

The Middle Kingdom

I have to update the blog via a different email address, my gmail
seems to get blocked more by the powers that be than this account. I
can't visit the blog directly, it's blocked as well. I'll play with
this and see if I can keep it. It may be easiest to use a different
blog page altogether.

I should be able to upload pics. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my
adapter to the internet cafe so a kayaking pose will have to do as
guinea pig:

Updating by proxy

Another test to see if I can update my blog via email. In the place
where I am living, some websites can be difficult to load.

Water Resources Science ~ Botany and Plant Pathology
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97330
http://www.oregonstate.edu/~frentrej

Packing, Cleaning & Moving

I'm leaving for China in a week and I've spent the last few weeks slowly preparing lists of things to and not to take, both for myself as well as for the intended research I'll be doing while in China. Until now though, I'd done very little actual packing and cleaning; cleaning because I'll be moving out of my apartment and storing my precious free furniture and 'stuff' for my return in September. 

The packing has finally begun and this time I've managed to actually throw out the stuff I don't use - it's easiest to just store it all and plan to sort it later but I know I won't get around to doing it later either. So, piles and boxes are cluttering my apartment, I find I've already packed stuff I need now, let alone while I'm in China, and I haven't labelled any of the boxes (so much for good organization skills). 

No pics of the chaos, you can all imagine it.

Three Days on the North Umpqua River

With the extra day off over Memorial Day weekend, we decided to head down to the North Umpqua River for paddling and hot springs. It was a fantastic time, the water levels were high for this time of year and we pushed our skills to the limit. The runs we did were mostly class III with a few class II thrown in to keep you sharp. I rolled, I swam, and I got beaten down by big boulders. 

Coming over a 4' ledge that dropped into some hard foamy water.

Slipping sideways through some waves.

This hole tried to eat my boat. It's directly upstream from an even larger hole but I wanted to see how the boat feels in a hole this size.

Maneuvering around a boulder. You have to lean into them, especially when they're large, to avoid the upstream current swamping your boat. My only, and most dangerous, swim came from poor technique getting around these rocks. I failed to lean, was swamped by the upstream current and couldn't hit a roll in the downstream hole so I got pushed downstream into another boulder that caused  a nasty bruise on the shoulder and made me happy I wear a helmet. It also scared me enough to bail out of my boat pronto. It's eerie to lean into one of these boulders because there's usually a big hole on the downstream side. This one is safe and small though, perfect to practice on.

A not uncommon sight in some of these big rapids. That's Kim in the foreground, she's underneath her boat, hoping to roll up before her boat collides with something harder than water.

We retired each night to our campsite at Tokatee Falls where my favorite Oregon hot springs are. I didn't think once about my thesis or mental to-do list the entire weekend :)

Cannonball into Spencer's Hole, North Santiam

As promised the vid of a certain cannonball. Try not to get sick when you watch it here on YouTube.

The ol' Stink Eye

For some reason, after practicing rolling in a friend's pond, my eyeball burst a blood vessel, or something like that. I've been telling everyone I got hit in the face with a paddle.

Gruesome, huh? My students pay more attention to what I say now.