What I Dream About

Thanks to anonymous source that sent me this, I've posted for you all to see. For those that obviously don't know, I work at the Cheetah Conservation Fund of Otjiwarongo, Namibia. Which makes something like THIS so enjoyable... Behold, the things dreams are made of.



"Professor Sangbae Kim designer of the Stickybot and a Robotic designer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Is trying to understand how he can replicate natural animal mechanisms by creating a robot inspired by the cheetah.

The idea is to build a prototype robot from a construction of lightweight carbon-fiber-foam that will then be able to match the cheetah's speed of 70 miles per hour.

Over the next 18 months, Kim and four other MIT graduate students are going to start constructing the prototypes. Starting with a computer model of the robotic cheetah to establish the optimal limb length, weight, gait and torque of the hip and knee joints.

It's an ambitious project. Current wheeled robots are efficient, but can be slow in rough terrains. For instance, iRobot's PackBot, which is used by the U.S. military, can only travel at speeds of up to 5.8 miles per hour."

I have to turn my head and WHAT?

So I sat and documented and took inventory of my first aid kit. The important reason why I’m posting it, is that hopefully someone could suggest something they think would be beneficial or something important that I’m forgetting. Got it? Good. I also plan on bringing a book on first aid, as well as the U.S Army Survival manual given to me by Professor Urcuyo. Thanks! Here we go, please make comments and suggestions.

Instruments / Applications
- Latex Exam Gloves
- Surgical Tweezers
- Adhesive Tape
- Bandage Scissors
- 2 Instant Cold Compresses
- Single Use Thermometers

Bandages / Wraps
- Sterile Dressing Pads
- Trauma Pads
- Sterile Eye Pads + Patch
- Fabric Bandages
- Ace Bandage
- SteriStrip Skin Closures
- New Skin Liquid Bandage

Wound Dressing/Ointments
- Neomycin Ointment
- Equate/Neosporin Ointment w/Pain relief
- Burn Cooling Gel w Antibiotic
- Sterile Swabs
- Alcohol Prep Pads
- Athletes Foot Cream

Water Purification
- Silver Dihydrogen citrate (Chemical)
- Steri-pen (UV light)

Antibiotics + Fever reducers
- Tylenol Liqui-gels
- Extra Strength Non-Aspirin
- Doxycycline (Also my anti-malarial)
- Ciprofloxacine
- Vigamox Eye Antibiotic

Thats it. Any suggestions would be incredibly useful. Thanks Guys.

Its the beginning!!!

So we've ended the last lap - I've got a little of a month over until I finish my Peace Corps experience and begin something a little different. I've begun packing, which I will keep everyone updated on, so hopefully, someone can give me advice on something I'm forgetting or should bring along.

To begin us off, I've got the first thing packed. let's kick start this - I've packed my towel. Why? Well, theres a quite a list on the usefulness of towels. In fact, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels...

"A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to- hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with."


One thing, Down. Next - I'll probably post the current state of my first aid kit.
Cheers.

Random Quidbits

So little funny things I wanted to share. The first could be my letter. You see, each PC volunteer has to write themselves a letter in the future. You write it at Reconnect, (3 months in,) to be opened at COS. Since I went to my Completion of Service meeting last month, I got my letter. Here it goes:

Dear Future Nick,
Congrats. If you're reading this, you've survived Peace Corps. I'm impressed. Really, not even I thought you would make it all the way through. But you survived it. Since you've heard about Peace Corps for long enough, I'll not be like everyone else and write down what you want to get done, cause let's face it, what are the odds of that? I don't really have any words of encouragement, because now the hard part begins. Grad school? MCATs? Foreign Service exams? If Karen hasn't found someone better than you, at least you have her going for you. Good Luck figuring it out - I'm just glad I'm not you. Cheers,

Past Nick

--------------
Man, I'm such a wiseguy - even to myself. My past self is such a dick. I wish I could be like Calvin and go back in time to beat up my former self.
--------------

The second thing is that I have a conversation with my father couple days ago on the phone, when I admitted a problem. I think I have an addictive personality.

Me: "Dad, here's the issue, I think I have an addiction.
Dad: How so?
Me: I've always wanted adventure. And each time - the experience gets much bigger and more erratic. First one was Road trip across America with Shannon and Amy. Then came wet caving with Ish and Karen. Then Skydiving. Then Bungee jumping. Then two years in Sub-Saharan Africa. And Now I'm gearing up for another one!! Backpacking and Hitchhiking across Africa.
Dad: Well, you WERE always like that. Whats going to be next after that, you think?
Me:At this rate? The next adventure would have to be.....The Moon
Dad: Well thats....wait, what?!?

Not going to lie - starting to get nervous. I found this quotation from Mark Jenkins I love.

“Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.”

I've been there before. And I'll be there again very soon.

Stranger even still.

So two months since a post. Almost my longest absence. But if you had internet like I had, you'd understand.

So lets see, since last time, I've become scheduling master, volunteer coordinator, and been handed more and more responsibility. Its somewhat interesting to see how the health care debate since my last post REALLY hasn't changed since July.

So my Peace Corps completion of service meeting was two weeks ago. I'm done... well, almost. I finish here November 26th. After that, well, we'll get to that.

But two years, don't they go by in a blink? The definition of bittersweet - many friends are finishing their Master's - I've hitchhiked across the African Savannah. Friends are getting married - I've participated in traditional medicine services.

Unbeknownst to you, I never thought I would actually have lasted two years. Seriously. Two years without Karen, my brother, parents, and friends by my side? How I made it, I'll never know.

So its becoming around that time where I need to conclude my affairs. I need to start to anding over my responsibilities and duties to other qualified volunteers and staff.

I also need to start preparing...for my journey. Yes, theres another one on the horizon. Its becoming clear to me that neither Karen or my parents have been filling anyone in - but I'm not coming home come December. Not right away at least.

Current plan? Be interested; Be interesting. It looks like Chaz and I may have a ride available to us, and spend some time around botswana, zambia, zimbabwe, SA, Lesotho, and Swaziland. After that, We'll meet up with Natalie and Eric and keep heading north.

This should be fun.
or as my mother remarked, "Please come back alive, smarter than you are right now."

One can only hope.

Politics, Smolitics!

So unlike mainstream America where political, local, and international news are hurled at you through a slingshot on a nearly 24hr updated basis, news comes in short stuttered bursts here. I check MSNBC, BBC, and the New York Times on my cell phone when I can, allowing for phone credit and time.

The one thing that caught my attention today was the demonizing of politicians. While this may be largely in part due to what the networks deem acceptable and relevant for my phone feed, it seems almost every article I read about any politician is negative. Whether it's Clinton, Palin, Obama, Sotomayor...

I'm wondering about the nature we view politicians. We elect them into great positions of power and stature, hoping they change the fabric of our society. Fixing the wrongs and curing the ills they so often campaign about. Sure, you campaign in poetry and govern in prose - but have we become so cynical and impatient as to never view a politician positively?

The majority of news I'm receiving is regarding House and Senate Democrats trying to slip off stage regarding Health Care reform. Talks of Obama "moving too quickly" or hastily. Talks of Democrats moving away from Obama because he is either "too liberal" or that their constituencies are finding out that his plans for success are slow-acting. I'm only 24, with no major background or interest in economics, but even I know that an entire economy (a global one at that,) doesn't possess the power to change overnight.

I figured that out of any politican, Obama would have been the one to galvanize the country together. And yes, he seems to have succeeded past his election date. But here we are, 7 months after the fact with doubts and fears having crept into our culture, with the rats already beginning to jump off the ship before the leaking starts.

I keep finding myself wondering whether or not it's our fault. Have we become so cynical and thirsty for blood we'll just jump towards any negative act for the sake of drama? Can we ever have a politician that we can tolerate for more than the length of our attention spans?

Probably not. It's interesting living a lifestyle that doesn't really give me an opportunity to associate myself with drama that tends to encompass college, family, and high school. Please, if its me and my phone feed, let me know. Let me know what exactly it is I'm missing.

I will just say, regarding the health care debate - I'm confused as to what the argument behind the anti-universal stance really is. Either universal health care will be too good and not give private insurance companies a chance to compete in a capitalist market, or that the quality will too low and we'll have to wait 9 months for doctors and adequate care. Are they really arguing that universal health care will be both better and worse than the system we have now?

This is the Title of My Post

Ok, so this is officially the longest I’ve gone without posting. My apologies. For those of you that haven’t heard from my parents, or my public relations officer, I lost the access to the high speed internet here for quite some time. We’re going back all the way to dial-up, anyone remember those times? We’re talking like, 3kb/sc speed. I could physically draw the screen in the meantime. But anyway…

So I just returned to Africa after three weeks in America. The first week was spent gallivanting around the Maryland/Pennsylvania area. Highlights include the wedding of Nancy and Andrew, which was the original reason I returned home in the first place, the stand-up routine of Steve Gimbel, crashing at Katie’s, and the visitation of Karen’s family and friends. So a word on each.

The wedding was beautiful, with the wonderful bride having designed and made her own dress. Nancy, you looked gorgeous. The service was short and sweet and for the first time ever, I’ve actually enjoyed the priest giving the service. The wedding was the primary reason for my return to America, formulated by a wager with the groom. Originally, no one thought I would actually return for the wedding, so it was agreed that if I were to return home for their wedding, the “Imperial March” from Star Wars would be played as they entered the reception. Unfortunately, they chickened out and ended up using the theme from Boondock Saints. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a fantastic song, one I may end up stealing for me wedding, but its no Imperial March. I think they felt guilty, since I ended up with a dedicated song from the Bride herself, which of course was “Toto’s Africa.” The highlight of my night was probably the DJ announcing, “This next song is from the bride Nancy to a dear friend Nick, who came all the way from Africa to be here, from the country of Na….Nam….Nammmii..” and then had everyone in the room yell “Namibia!!!!” Thanks Nancy. All my love – hope you enjoyed Hawaii.

The next thing was visiting a favorite former professor do standup comedy in Maryland, which was awesome. It’s great to hear “smart people” jokes. I’m debating about writing a short stand-up for my return. ‘Cause hell – the crap here is funnier than fiction. This followed a great night and dinner with friends in Baltimore’s inner harbor, where Karen got me a Guinness and Katie pretended to be a pirate wench. Argghh!!! And prior to all this was visiting Karen’s family and Karine, all of which are wonderful. Karine, you look great. Really. Sorry I didn’t get to see you more. Maybe more next time huh? Maybe I’ll follow you to Lebanon. (*hint)

Ok, so I’ll write up more later, promise. I’m just so very close to lunch, and so very hungry too.

Never a good combination.