Subject: An Update from Mormon country!

Greetings!

So I guess the last update was a looong time ago. Around the middle of
Colorado.
There aren^Òt many places to use the internet around here, mostly because there
aren^Òt many People. We^Òre in Southwest Utah now, near St. George. We^Òll
probably get to Las Vegas tomorrow night and be to Santa Barbara in 20 days.
>From the last update, we got picked up in Chris^Òs aunt & uncle^Òs truck and
driven to their adobe brick house on top of this huge mesa. We stayed at their
house for a few days and hiked in the surrounding mountains. Western Colorado
is very beautiful and has lots of colorful flowers and cliffs. We hiked up to
this old mine shaft and I climbed a short way down it, until Chris called me
out because of a threatening flash flood. We watched some of Le Tour de France,
and were able to understand much of the lingo and commiserate with the riders^Ò
pain. Those dudes are crazy! I hear that Lance won it. There is still snow on
some of the peaks in CO. Mostly on the northern sides and in the crevices,
where the sun doesn^Òt reach, of course. We slid down a snow patch on one of our
hikes. Remember, it^Òs JULY! From Chris^Òs aunt & uncle^Òs house, we headed toward
Mesa Verde, where they have the cliff dwellings of the ancient Anasazi people,
who are the ancestors of the Pueblo and Hopi and a bunch of other Native
Americans. We stayed there all day and toured around the ruins and saw some
petragliphs (sp?)^×rock etchings on the walls. There are these underground
chambers called Kivas: a pit dug into the ground with a log roof, backfilled
with sand and mud, so you can walk over the roof of the weed-smoking chamber
like it is the normal ground. We met a nice biking couple who we drove around
the park with, and at the end of the day, they drove us into the next city,
cause they were heading that way anyway. So we slept in a city mark in Cortez,
and I was able to shave off the offending whiskers that itch my Adam^Òs apple at
the public bathroom.

Oh, hot! Into Utah, we had to be careful not to run out of water. The towns are
so far apart in places that we could easily dehydrate. So we each stocked up on
water and parted ways. [Parting of the ways: I wanted to see some more ruins,
which were along a 45 mile dirt/rock road, and Chris wanted to take the road;
his bike can^Òt handle dirt roads well. So we split, with the intention of
meeting 130 miles down the road.] Chris said he had a relatively easy time, and
had fun going at his own pace. I had a rough time, pushing myself into the
ground, in order to stay ahead of a thunderstorm and also going over this rocky
road. We met a day later (I was resting in a roadside kiva, with a sign on the
road for Chris to turn there) and hung out in the shade for the afternoon heat.
A young man in an RV even drove up and gave us ice water.

All the next day we rationed our water and got along fine. The canyons and rock
formations in Utah are sweet! Huge red spires of sandstone that have been worn
away by wind and water, orange and purple cliffs, white canyons extending below
the road, tons of cool rocks. But it is very hot and sand gets everywhere. When
we eat, the wind blows sand into our bread, and we get a little grit for our
gizzards. We saw Glenn Canyon, Lake Powell, Capital Reef (where we were so
starved we ate the unripe apples and peaches from the roadside Government
orchards), Bryce Canyon, and Zion National park in the last few days. They^Òre
all very cool. [Chris -Edit: We are now official junior rangers at Mesa Verde,
Bryce Canyon (which I thought was better than Zion), and Zion...we have the
badges and everything!!!!] I^Òd recommend Glenn and Zion, above the rest, cause
of the
awesome colors and sheer majesty of the locations. We^Òve taken tons of
pictures, and will fill in all the other details at the end of the summer.

This past Sunday, we were in Escalante, and couldn^Òt find a church to go to.
The
Catholic church in town was only open on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month,
and Chris was hesitant about the Mormon church (I wanted to go, as a learning
experience). So, we had an argument about going or not going to the Mormon
church, and in the end we decided to go. But, we eventually found out about a
Baptist church, so we went there instead. They had a potluck dinner afterward,
where we packed the food in. I was eating up until they took the table out from
under me (and even afterward). A woman in the church invited us to stay at her
house for the night, so we hung out with her and her family for the rest of the
day, taking showers and sleeping in beds that night. It was great. We had been
sleeping in the desert for the last week and we both had a thick layer of grime
on our legs. I could lick my finger and clean a streak of whiteness onto my leg
incomparison to the black over-layer. Southern Utah is pretty cool. Lots of
Mormons, wind, and sand. It is sparsely populated, compared to Delaware, but
they do have tons of National Parks.

I can^Òt wait to develop these pictures, and scan them into the electronic
highway. Our plans change daily, but the current one is to hit Las Vegas,
Yosemite, Merced in CA, Monterrey, follow route 1 along the CA coast, and hit
Santa Barbara. That route minimizes on inter-city distances in the desert, so
we shouldn^Òt run out of water in the sun. We^Òre each carrying about 2 gallons
right now.

Catch you on the flip side!
Daniel and Chris

Current readings: Galatians 1-6

ps I had to change my tire 3 times this-morning due to a broken valve
stem...and other problems! Just another fun part of bicycling (Chris)

a generation of hypocrites

Hip hop is misogynistic to all women. The sole reason that hip hop artists continue to express themselves by those means is b/c they profit so well from it. "It is inescapably a part of our culture, and there doesn't seem to be anything for us to do about it"-- sadly, the attitude of our generation.

undeniably, we are a generation of hypocrites. Not only hypocrites, but we are also always making excuses for why things have to be the way they are. We say that people need to love their bodies, but we are never satisfied with our own. We cry for the starving orphans in china, but we complain about the food we eat. We believe that all men are created equal, yet we put people down for being different. It seems fitting that although we believe women should not be subject towards gender injustices, we find it acceptable in certain circumstances. Oh well, I guess that's just the way things are.

Super Star

As a Christian, I can only speak on behalf of my own affiliation. In light of what seems to be a vast majority, I can truthfully tell you that I feel like one of very few. Most people identify with the religion they inherit from their parents (if they identify with any at all,) yet few are actively pursuing a relationship with God. The state of religion in America is mere association-- People can *be* Christian, but it does not mean that they are trying to live as Christ would.

We are all born with the desire to be loved and to questions of who we are and why we are here. There are people around the world with no choice in the matter, their freedoms constricted by greed and ignorance. In America, however, we willingly surrender that inquiry and settle for how society tells us we should be.

survival of the fittest

Of the concurrent endemics prevalent in the world, one of the most infectious in America is stupidity. If people are intentionally killing themselves, why should money be spent in trying to keep them alive. Health care should be for people who are trying to live a healthy life, those who take care of their health, instead of waiting for someone else to do it for them.

People who smoke do not deserve universal health care, at the very most they may recieve assistance in the disabuse of their addictions; however, many smokers laud in their lifestyles in spite of the threat it poses towards their well being. Universal health care may ameliorate the wellness of our nation, but it also perpetuates its irresponsibility. Once we find the cure for stupidy, then we can work on better health care.

super star

As a Christian, I can only speak on behalf of my own affiliation. In light of what seems to be a vast majority, I can truthfully tell you that I feel like one of very few. Most people identify with the religion they inherit from their parents (if they identify with any at all,) yet few are actively pursuing a relationship with God. The state of religion in America is mere association-- People can *be* Christian, but it does not mean that they are trying to live as Christ would.

We are all born with the desire to be loved and to questions of who we are and why we are here. There are people around the world with no choice in the matter, their freedoms constricted by greed and ignorance. In America, however, we willingly surrender that inquiry and settle for how society tells us we should be.

personal statement take 4

When I was a little girl, about 5 years old, my father brought home a Nintendo Entertainment System. Through a sequence of buttons, I could immerse myself into another world, tackling adventures and adversity that my imagination was not yet sophisticated enough to construct on its own.  At that age, my means of interaction was not exclusively through spoken dialects. On top of juggling the languages of two cultures, I began to study the artistic expressions of music.  The cognition of communication flourished in my early childhood, and although it seemed to be thoughtless leisure at the time, the 8-bit processor that ran in my living room began training me to understand the digital interaction between my analogue precision and its 7-pin controller. Through a meager collection of capacitors and resistors, my childhood pastime allowed me to see the world in ways that real life restricted, not that my actions did not yield consequences, but that I could always go back and discover the correct way of doing things.  Since I was not able to understand the science behind the stimuli, these virtual realities sparked a life-long curiosity on whether machine could intelligibly interact with man.

As a University of Delaware 2003 Science and Engineering Scholar, I worked as a team member with a number of graduate programmers on a Mobil Ad Hoc Networking simulator for military operations.  Under the direction of Dr. Stephan Bohacek, professor of computer engineering, I was given the role of researching military operations, working with OpenGL to efficiently create a way of producing urban areas, and helping to determine a conventional way for nodes to mobilize in such an environment.  Although the Internet has introduced an ever-increasing amount of information to the fingertips of millions, it is confined to the limits of wired communication; long overdue, the next stage of this information, communication, and computation explosion will inevitably come with the deployment of Mobile ad hoc Networking—MANETs, impacting on every apparent aspect of life.  It was the central goal of our work to advance the performance of such wireless networks.

For the first time in my undergraduate studies, I was challenged to apply my acquired knowledge in computers towards solving a much bigger problem.  Research has encouraged me to aspire a graduate degree, leading me to the Ronald McNair Scholar Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. Through the McNair Program, I took on a more independent study with Professor Richard Hanley, of the Philosophy department.  Although my project, “The Aesthetics of Jazz,” seemed to be no more than a breadth experience to investigate my stretch of interests, I began to realize the correlation between my passions of music and computers.  This has led me to conclude that jazz, more than mere music, is like a language of its own culture; similarly, computer science is the study of communicating logic.  In addition, my work in computer science is balanced with philosophical meanderings, giving me insight into the types of worlds and realities that I might one day (re)create through applied artificial intelligence.

I am just beginning to scratch the surface of the artificial intelligence anomaly, including my childhood infatuation with it.  In particular, I am interested in Dr. Michael Lewis’s investigation of Human-Agent Interactions and Game Engines in Research. I believe that adversity and experience build character; however, the realm of interaction is not exclusively person to person.  Novels and movies trigger profound ideas and emotions, but so much is left for its audience to pursue.  The uncharted possibilities of virtual reality would be a fruitful area of research, because of the intellectual taboo that overlooks video games.   This under-explored idiom can potentially express literary genius and cinematic masterpiece through the creative development of AI and VR.  With computer science as my medium for inducing progress, I hope to develop a means for effectively communicating revolutionary ideas.

personal statement again

When I was a little girl, about 5 years old, my father brought home a Nintendo Entertainment System. Through a sequence of buttons, I could immerse myself into another world, adventures and adversity that my imagination was not yet sophisticated enough to construct on its own.  At that age, my means of interaction was not exclusively through spoken dialects. On top of juggling the languages of two cultures, I began to study the artistic expressions of music.  The cognition of communication flourished in my early childhood, and although it seemed to be thoughtless leisure at the time, the 8-bit processor that ran in my living room began training me to understand the digital interaction between my analogue precision and its 7-pin controller. Through a meager collection of capacitors and resistors, my childhood pastime allowed me to see the world in ways that real life restricted, not that my actions did not yield consequences, but that I could always go back and discover the correct way of doing things.  Since I was not able to understand the science behind the stimuli, these virtual realities sparked a life-long curiosity on whether machine could intelligibly interact with man.

As a Science and Engineering Scholar in summer 2003, through the UD Department of Computer Engineering, I worked in a team of programmers on a Mobil Ad Hoc Networking simulator for military operations.  This was a project lead by Dr. Stephan Bohacek, and specifically, I was given the role of researching military operations, working with OpenGL to efficiently create a way of producing urban areas, and helping to determine a conventional way for nodes to mobilize in such an environment.  Although the Internet has introduced an ever-increasing amount of information to the fingertips of millions, it is confined to the limits of wired communication; long overdue, the next stage of this information, communication, and computation explosion will inevitably come with the deployment of Mobile ad hoc Networking—MANETs, impacting on every apparent aspect of life.  

For the first time in my undergraduate studies, I was challenged to apply my acquired knowledge in computers towards solving a much bigger problem (i dont know how to make this work.)  This has encouraged me to aspire a graduate degree, leading me to the Ronald McNair Scholar Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. Through the McNair Program, I took on a more independent study with Professor Richard Hanley, of the Philosophy department. I submitted my proposal on “The Aesthetics of Jazz” for the following summer, and although it seemed to be no more than a breadth experience to investigate my stretch of interests, as the project itself was revealed to me, I began to realize the tie between my passions of music and computers.  I looked at Jazz through the eyes of a philosopher and collected the opinions from Jazz critics of all trades. This has led me to conclude that Jazz, more than mere music, is like a language of its own culture. My infatuation with Jazz is not that different from Computer Science. Jazz is a language of emotions, and similarly, Computer Science is the study of communicating logic—both are mediums for expression.

There’s so much more I want to investigate; in particular, I am interested in Dr. Michael Lewis’s work in Human-Agent Interactions and Game Engines in Research. I believe that adversity and experience build character; however, the realm of interaction is not exclusively person to person.  Novels and movies trigger profound ideas and emotions, but so much is left for its audience to pursue.  The uncharted possibilities of virtual reality would be a fruitful area of research, because of the intellectual taboo that overlooks video games.   This under-explored idiom can potentially express literary genius and cinematic masterpiece through the creative development of AI and VR.

I am just beginning to scratch the surface of the artificial intelligence anomaly, including my childhood infatuation with it. I don’t really know any better than the next person on whether or not the world needs to be changed, but I don’t believe that things have to be the way they are.  With AI as my medium for inducing progress, I hope to develop a means for effectively communicating revolutionary ideas.

personal statement

When I was a little girl, about 5 years old, my father brought home a Nintendo Entertainment System. I remember when I first fumbled with the RF switch and AC adapter; somehow, these cable connections allowed this machine to project itself from the cathode-ray-tube that sat in my living room, and through a sequence of buttons, I could immerse myself into another world, adventures and adversity that my imagination was not yet sophisticated enough to construct on its own.  In addition, since I was not able to understand the science behind the stimuli, these virtual realities sparked a life-long curiosity on whether machine could intelligibly interact with man.
At that age, my means of interaction was not exclusively through spoken semantics. On top of juggling the languages of two cultures, I began to study the artistic expressions of music.  The cognition of communication flourished in my early childhood, and although it seemed to be thoughtless leisure at the time, the 8-bit processor that ran in my living room began training me to understand the digital interaction with my analogue precision from my 7-pin controller. Through a meager collection of capacitors and resistors, my childhood pastime allowed me to see the world in ways that real life restricted, not that my actions did not yield consequences, but that I could always go back and discover the correct way of doing things.
As a Science and Engineering Scholar in summer 2003, through the UD Department of Computer Engineering, I worked in a team of programmers on a Mobil Ad Hoc Networking simulator for military operations. This was a project lead by Dr. Stephan Bohacek, and specifically, I was given the role of researching military operations, working with OpenGL to efficiently create a way of producing urban areas, and helping to determine a conventional way for nodes to mobilize in such an environment.  Although, the Internet has introduced an ever-increasing amount of information to the fingertips of millions, it is confined to the limits of wired communication. Long overdue, the next stage of this information, communication, and computation explosion will inevitably come with the deployment of Mobile ad hoc Networking—MANETs, impacting on every apparent aspect of life. It was the central goal of this work to advance the performance of such wireless networks.  For the first time in my undergraduate studies, I was challenged to apply my acquired knowledge in computers towards solving a much bigger problem.
This encouraged me to aspire towards a graduate degree, leading me to the Ronald McNair Scholar Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. Through the structure of the McNair Program, I took on a more independent study with Professor Richard Hanley, of the Philosophy department. I submitted my proposal on “The Aesthetics of Jazz” for the following summer, and although it seemed to be no more than a breadth experience to investigate my stretch of interests, as the project itself was revealed to me, I began to realize the tie between these two passions. I looked at Jazz through the eyes of a philosopher and collected the opinions from Jazz critics of all trades. This has led me to conclude that Jazz, more than mere music, is like a language of its own culture. My infatuation with Jazz is not that different from Computer Science. Jazz is a language of emotions, and similarly, Computer Science is the study of communicating logic—both are mediums for expression.
After these intense attempts of exploration, there’s so much more I want to investigate. In particular, I am interested in Dr. Michael Lewis’s work in Human-Agent Interactions and Game Engines in Research. I believe that adversity and experience build character; however, the realm of interaction is not exclusively person to person.  Novels and movies trigger profound ideas and emotions, but so much is left for its audience to pursue.  The uncharted possibilities of virtual reality would be a fruitful area of research, because of the intellectual taboo that overlooks video games.
Now, at the end of my 3rd year in college, I find myself just beginning to scratch the surface of the artificial intelligence anomaly, including my childhood infatuation with it. I don’t really know any better than the next person on whether or not the world needs to be changed, but I don’t believe that things have to be the way they are. There is much for me to contribute to the world around me, and I know that graduate school will bring me closer to finding out the kind of person who I am meant to become, with AI as my medium for inducing progress in composing human-agent interactions that build character.

arts and sciences

Sheryl Chen – Issue Essay

"The objective of science is largely opposed to that of art; while science seeks to discover truths, art seeks to obscure them."

Science’s primary objective is to investigate truth; in contrast, art does not operate within the same parameters of logic. However, it is more a matter of whether science is in conflict of art, whether one is counterproductive to the other. Although both can be mutually exclusive in procedure, the arts and the sciences both operate on the basis of truth, and in fact, go hand in hand.

The entirety of truth can be abstracted into objective and subjective generalities. Science investigates the theories of irrefutable truths, while art expresses and reflects the subjectivity of the individual. Disregarding one’s study of statistical truth versus the other’s expression of emotivistic truth, both encapsulate ideas on the premise of truth.

Art preserves and communicates truth, while science uncovers and develops it. Whether it is the revolutionary ideas of a poet or the expressed emotions of a musician, art communicates the personal truths of its artist. It is a reflection of its creator the historical and cultural context and the response of its audience.

Science becomes an art once the communication of ideas is implemented, whether through jargon, nomenclature, diagrams, or the aesthetic presentation of its information. Similarly art becomes a science once it becomes investigated logically, mathematically, or even sociologically. One does not operate independent of the other, especially not in opposition.

vocab

mendicant - beggar
florid - marked by emotional or sexual fervor, manifesting a complete and typical clinical syndrome
nexus - a connected group or series
lucid - clear to the understanding
squander - to spend extravagantly or foolishly
sanctimony - affected or hypocritical holiness
garner - something that is collected, accumulation
expiate - to put an end to
ruddy - having a healthy reddish color
pelt - a usually undressed skin with its hair, wool, or fur
mercurial - characterized by rapid and unpredictable changeableness of mood
expurgate -  to cleanse of something morally harmful, offensive, or erroneous
quiescence - tranquil
gauche - lacking social experience or grace
burnish - to make shiny or lustrous especially by rubbing
mitigate - to make less severe or painful
ubiquitous - existing or being everywhere at the same time
erudite - learned
perfidy - the quality or state of being faithless or disloyal
lassitude - a condition of weariness or debility
obfiscate - to make obscure
pilliate - to cover by excuses and apologies
limpid - absolutely serene and untroubled
perfunctory - lacking in interest or enthusiasm
penury - severe poverty
petulant - insolent or rude in speech or behavior
vigor - active bodily or mental strength or force
benign - showing kindness and gentleness
exacerbate - to make more violent, bitter, or severe
fidelity - the quality or state of being faithful
opporbrium - something that brings disgrace
antithetical - marked by antithesis
salacious - arousing or appealing to sexual desire or imagination
hallow - to make holy or set apart for holy use
rubric - an authoritative rule
fulminate - to utter or send out with denunciation
rescind - repeal, take back
impetuous - marked by impulsive passion
vilify - to lower in estimation or importance

maybe i dont mind being me

Cade: hey

Auto response from FF PaLaDiN UD: im tried of being different

Cade: at least you aren't boring
Cade: at least you don't do the same thing every day, day in, day out
Cade: at least people remember you, really remember you
Cade: at least you care about people :-)
Cade: at least you have to worry less about being sucked in to the easy malaise we all fall into where what is common is what is god
Cade: (which it isn't :-))
Cade: as unfair as it can seem, you're difference is here for a reason
Cade: what did Christ say about salt?
Cade: Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (Matthew 5:11-12)
Cade: I know
Cade: it's hard
Cade: deep inside you just want it to be easy, to just skate through and be popular
Cade: but you're cut out for something deeper
Cade: it's like tea vs soda
Cade: soda is extremely sweet and tastes really good
Cade: but there's very little to it
Cade: and in the long run it'll rot your teeth
Cade: tea is kind of bitter
Cade: but is ultimately a much more satisfying drink
Cade: I know it is silly for me to lecture about how you should be happy to be different
Cade: but you have a courage I've never been able to muster without great consternation
Cade: I can barely find the ability to open my mouth when I think the Word should be defended to somebody
Cade: you air opinions that are extremely unpopular but you throw your whole weight behind them because you believe them
Cade: even if people give you shit
Cade: be glad you have that courage, I have a feeling that God will count your courage much higher than he will count my cowardice
Cade: the world needs you
Cade: God needs you to be you
Cade: without you, without that difference in the world, without that friction that originates with God, the world would never know him
Cade: *Him
Cade: Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. (Matthew 6:11-12)

Auto response from FF PaLaDiN UD: im tried of being different


Cade: if nothing else, at least this
Cade: As your life goes by, whereas most people kind of wander through with this inexplicable feeling, barely noticeable, that there is a hole, a vital peice missing
Cade: you won't have this problem
Cade: you'll have God, who persists through all time
Cade: when all pleasures and fun and notions fade, God will still be there
Cade: and at the end, when you face the Lord, you'll be able to sit with him in joy and peace
Cade: I hope I helped
Cade: nobody is without friends Sherol, there are many who love you just because you are you

millions of emails

today i asked the questions of what is jazz to...

c murray
v james
m arenson
j foster
t groves
f weiss
t palmer
r tauber
p rinzler
t betz

i still need to contact...

m robinson
spaulding
dre
w oree

chris and dan's excellent adventure

Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 17:21:18 -0400

Yee Haa!
We're in Johnson, Kansas right now staying at my aunt and uncle's house for
tonight and tomorrow. We've been having fun and our muscles are slowly getting
into shape. Kansas is beautiful. It's crazy. Eastern Kansas is not like what
you would imagine... it has hills and trees and lots of cattle. It's really
green (the locals say they've had an unusual amount of rain this year, which
we've had to ride through), and the sky is huge. Western Kansas IS what we'd
imagined. Totally flat, lots of wheat growing and lots of small, dancing
clouds. (EDIT(Chris): dancing clouds Daniel? I think he's getting a little to
poetic folks...sorry Daniel, but stick to science, jk ) For the past few days,
there hasn't been rain, and the sky is awesome
at night. Starting where we left off: We spent the night in on the Missouri
border with some college kids who we met at a Bible study at Pittsburg State
University. Back roads into Chanute, met a few cyclists who had gotten up to 53
mph coming down out of the Rockies. (Yahoo!) Head winds all the way to
Beaumont on hilly roads made us get only 65 miles the next day, when we had
meant to make 90. We struggled all that day and were exhausted at the end.
Providentially, there was a rest stop allowing camping, just as we had given up
cycling (we were walking up that hill, cause it was so hard to pedal against
the wind on tired muscles). [Interesting thing: often, it was easier to pedal
up the hill than down, because the hill blocked most of the wind while we were
on the leeward side. But we bore the full brunt of the wind on the downhill, so
it was harder.] We met some cool Kansans there who told us about milo (sorghum)
and the road conditions ahead. Then God brought some Christians to us while we
were sitting on the bench by the bathrooms. This large family was just getting
home from a vacation, and they gave us all their leftover food, including
chocolate bars!!! Then they tried to give us a Bible tract, but suprise!
(already know the info). We were invited to stay the night with them when we
arrived at their home in Wichita the next day.

We stayed at the rest stop for the night (on the side of a plateau, overlooking
a huge plain). A garganutan storm rolled in and blew all of our stuff around,
even lifting my sleeping bag off me so I had to jump up to catch it. We watched
the lightening for an hour until we were driven inside the bathroom by the
rain. AWESOME! The wind and colors were just what a Kansas thunderstorm sounds
like. No twister, though.

We showered and washed at our sunday school teacher's house (in Augusta) on
July
4, and had lunch with them and the pastor at Pizza HUT. Divine. Hooked up with
the rest stop family for an Indep. Day concert in Wichita, and then ate and
slept at their house, leaving in the early afternoon for Nickerson. That family
(parents, kids, grandkids) was so cool and inviting. They made us feel very at
home and one son gave Chris a CRKT (pocketknife). Home fireworks with them was
a great experience (though we didn't get to see a huge commercial display), as
we can't have them in DE. The dad (and grandfather) biked out with us for part
of the way, when we left. Much more stuff to talk about, but no time till we
get home at the end of the summer.

Met 4 bikers in Nickerson city park (our campout for the night), and then
stayed
up till 2am talking and then being herded by the sheriff into the local high
school girls' locker room / bomb shelter because of the huge storm that hit. We
didn't wake up till 9:30 (very late, compared to our usual 5-5:30), because of
the late night. But it was cool. We got picked up in Jetmore by my uncle, and
driven to their house in Johnson, where we are now. Kansas is the friendliest
state, by far, that we've been in. All drivers wave and give much room on the
road. Most people are more than friendly. Last night at Rozel, we camped in a
city park and two different sets of neighbors brought over bug spray and
barbeque dinner (one brought spray, one brought dinner) just because they had
seen us in the park.

Live it up!
Love, Daniel and Chris

Sat, 3 Jul 2004 19:36:26 -0400

Sheryl,

Hey, its been a while. I'm still in Costa Rica, but I'll be back in about 2
weeks, so I'll try to get ahold of you then. Hope all is well with you, and
that you're getting to relax some this summer.

I know this sounds kinda cliched, but I wanted to say... God loves you,
specifically. He made Sheryl just how he wanted her to be, and she is really a
blessing to lots of other people, whether or not she realizes how much of an
impact she makes. You don't need to deny that. It's true.

Anyway, have a lovely summer. I have some ideas for adventures when I get back.
Hope you're up for going out and playing a little.

Much love,
Laura

great american adventure

Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 14:23:15 -0400
Subject: Re:An Update

Hello All!
I know it's been a while, but here's another update.
We are currently in Hutchins Library, Berea College, Berea Kentucky. For
those
interested it's a little south of Lexington.
Well, we left UVA and stayed with our friend Neil that we met. Neal is very
into bicycling and rode with us to his house and then 20 or so miles the
next day. We stopped at the "Cookie Ladies" house in Afton Va, she has been
putting out refreshments and cookies for trans-America bikers since 76' i
believe. She is a wonderful woman and has a impressive bike museum that she has
put together from things that bikers have left her as gifts to thousands of
postcards, letters, and pictures that people have sent her. We had a few
miles of climbing to do up the mountain and were pooped at the top. Daniel had
broken several spokes earlier, and we were not able to fix the ones on his
back tire that were on the chain side, as we didn't have a big enough wrench.
So he rode 2.5 miles down the mountain to a bike shop and got his tire fixed.
Chris waited at the top of the mountain and chatted with Appalachian trail
hikers that were passing through ( the trans-America route and AT intersect at
that particular point ). Then we began to climb into the blue ridge mountains
on the aptly named Blue Ridge Parkway. It was starting to thunderstorm south
of us and as we began to climb we ended up pedaling through the clouds, it was
a beautiful and slightly surreal experience. We stopped at a hostel we had
heard about, it's run by a man named Rusty for mostly AT through hikers, but
it's open to bikers too. He has been doing this for 22 years on no income
but donations. He puts you up for the night in an old barn filled with bunks,
feeds you pancakes in the morning, and has a nice area for everyone to hang
out in. It's a real backwoods kinda place, I think he got electricity 2 weeks
before we got there. He is an amazing man and hopefully we will have a more
cohesive/comprehensive tale of our stay in Rusty's Hardtimes Hollow up soon.
The night we stayed, there was about 6 or so hikers, me and Daniel, another
biker from Montreal, and three guys on a Canoe trip staying there, it was very
cool. Over his 22 years doing this, I think he's had 18,000 or so hikers
come through his house/farm. He is a real man with a heart to serve.
After Rusty's it was onward and upward on the Parkway. We ended our time
on the parkway with a 4-5 mile descent into the valley with top speeds around
44 mph (yikes). It was very fun and very scary. Chris's knee's really began to
become a problem that afternoon, so after a stop at subway, we went on
towards Lexington Va. The next day, after camping on an old abandoned highway
that was overgrown, we headed of towards Natural Bridge, VA looking for a
Church, since it was Sunday. At the Natural Bridge Baptist Church we met Jim
and Shirley Earheart, who were interested in what we were doing and offered to
take us to their house for lunch. That morning Daniels mom (who is a nurse)
told us we needed to take a minimum of three-4 days of for Chris's knee, so we
were looking for a place to stay for 3 days. The Earhearts offered to let us
stay at their place for the night, and the pastor of the church had some land
that he said we could camp out on. We had a great time with Jim and Shirley,
Jim was a retired Aeronautical engineer turned ranch hand, who worked on the
Apollo moon missions back in the day. The next day we helped mow the grass and
check email. We decided since we were a day or two behind and looking at 3-4
more days of not moving we would call my Grandparents in Kentucky and see if
they could pick us up. In order to be able to make it to California in time we
thought it was necessary to do that. So, we got 270 miles in one night!
Our mothers thought that Chris should see a doctor and he recommended that
we take a few days off, and then step up the pace from 30 mile/day back to our
normal pace. It took several days for the cord to the digital camera to
arrive, and then we left on Saturday. We did 30 miles and ended up sleeping
behind an abandoned house off the road. We got up, after sleeping in for an
hour, and did 35 miles before church started. At church, we met a man named
Sam Brown who bought us lunch and offered to let us sleep on some land he
owned near Red River Gorge State Park. It was about 9 miles from the church so
we got 44 miles done Sunday. He came by latter that night with some watermelon,
cantaloupe, his 2 boys, daughter, and his niece. We feasted on melon and had a
good time with the Brown family, and we all drove into the state park so they
could show us some very impressive rock formations and vistas. All in all
another excellent day. The baptist church has proved to be nothing but friendly
and loving wherever we've been. I've been very impressed by their hospitality
and friendliness. The next morning we helped Sam mow the grass around his
cabin and he drive us 15 miles to natural bridge state park and showed us
around. We parted ways, and Daniel and I took an hour or two to hike around
the park and see the natural bridge. It's a great big arch of rock that's been
carved out by the wind or some sort of geological event and is REALLY cool. So
we headed south and west deeper into the hills of Kentucky and got another 30
some odd miles done, with 45 total for the day. We met a local farmer who let
us stay on his land for the night. We feasted on Chile, rice, and cheese, and
went to sleep. It started to rain during the night, and neither of us had our
rain fly's on the tent, but we were able to rush out and take care of business
before everything was soaked. That brings us to today, I'd say today
was one of the most scenic rides yet, maybe second to the Blue Ridge mountains.
We rolled through some beautiful valleys, surround by mountains on all sides
and peaceful farms and cow pastures. Best of all...a surprising low number of
hounds and mutts chasing us. The people of Kentucky seem to own an inordinate
number of baying, rabid mongrels that freely roam the country side chasing
bikers. But, besides the packs of dogs that we've encountered from time to
time Kentucky as been most enjoyable so far.
Sorry if this has been unorganized and rambling, but I just sat down and
emptied out a week and a half of memories that deserve much more time and
consideration, but I hope that this is a good overview of whats happened to
us. We hope to be out of Kentucky and Into Missouri in 4-5 days. Well, God
bless and hope to hear from you.
--Chris and Daniel

Wed, 7 Jul 2004 01:14:52 -0400

"Sheryl, I know you are busy reading a lot, but I would like to recommend
something every student of expression should read. I believe it is crucial
to fully understand your concept of art in order to place things in a larger
picture. You may or may not have an internalized concept of what art feels
like, but a excellent piece of literature that explores the question of
defining art is a book called "The Principles of Art" by R.G. Collingwood. I
also realize your research is based around the question, "What is jazz?" But
I believe you have a passion and are an artist, so I think another question
that you should explore personally is "what is art?" because that is really
the goal of much of jazz. I feel this will help you keep a relatively
concrete topic in a larger perspective of the goal of all forms of
expression. I think that exploring this question might lead to much
different results than defining jazz in itself, as they are on a basic sense
completely different subjects. Okay sorry for the ranting. Your site is
very nice, I definitely dig and it seems that you are getting a lot of work
done this summer. I am also doing research so I can relate. talk to you
later."

Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 11:43:35 -0400

"Hey Sherol, thought I'd send you an email to see how you have been. I am
going to have some time tomorrow to come and pick up some stuff from you
and talk around the evening after my lab lets say b/w 4 and midnite I am
free. SO let me know what works for you, I am glad that we are friends
b/c you are such a cool person!! If that didn't sound dorky, but its
true.... God has designed you in such a way to impact and desire to
impact people's lives in a positive manner whether or not they are
receptive to it and that is a gift. Do not let your pride get in the way
though of doing things even if they seem small or insignificant b/c those
little things need to be done too for the strengthening of the kingdom of
God, and always let God's glory be your driving push whether or
not people may see it/recongnize you or no. So now, ummm... I have been
having a good summer for the most part, lift me up in prayer when you get
the chance so that I may keep a GOd centered focus in life through my
relationships, and summer. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow so let
me know when we can get up aight... holla."