Hendricks Hall: Brett’s home away from home for the last two years. His department is located on the first floor and the Career Center where he did his Peace Corps job is on the second floor.

We want everyone to feel included as we wind down this chapter of our lives. Here is the official evite for Brett’s defense next week. I’ll put a PDF of the project on the website when I finish all the edits in a few weeks. Also, here is the link to the invitation on the PPPM website. Thanks!

You are invited to attend Brett Holt’s exit project defense
Tuesday, June 3, 2008, 9:00am
University of Oregon EMU Coquille Room

Perception to Inception: Assessing Contractor Capacity to Utilize Woody Biomass for Energy Production in Lane County, Oregon

Brett W. Holt

Master of Community and Regional Planning, June 2008

Abstract

Events such as global warming, peak oil, and catastrophic wildfires are bringing government officials, community members, conservation organizations, timber industry officials, and other stakeholders together to explore sustainable long-term solutions to create healthy and vibrant communities. The utilization of woody biomass is being explored as a solution because of its ability to minimize the effects of these events, as well as meet economic development, renewable energy, and ecological objectives. On the front lines to promoting woody biomass is the timber industry. Though they stand to benefit economically, there are challenges they face before fully committing to utilizing woody biomass.

To better understand the opportunities and challenges the timber industry faces in the Southern Willamette Valley, this study accomplished two main objectives. The first objective was to understand the capacity of firms either engaged in or have the potential to engage in woody biomass collecting, processing and transportation services. The second objective was to determine the willingness and interest of firms to participate in biomass utilization efforts and what barriers prevent them from engaging in or supporting woody biomass utilization.

As part of the study, we interviewed key individuals involved in the collection, transportation, and/or utilization of timber in the Southern Willamette Valley. The results of the study provide a better understanding of the competition surrounding the region’s existing supply of woody biomass and the perceived challenges and limitations of increasing specific woody biomass opportunities. Findings suggest opportunities are limited due to supply availability, firms have an inconsistent definition of what woody biomass is and its uses, and the industry may benefit from increased government subsidies.

I enjoy working with computers. More importantly, I enjoy using computer programs that improve productivity, improve efficiency, and expand creativity. I’d say over the last couple years, I’ve been able to add an arsenal of programs and internet browser add-ons that have improved my computing experience for social, school, and work uses.

By no means will you need or even want all of these, but they are useful. These programs have worked well for my needs and my computer capabilities. Also, many of these programs have a paid version, but I have yet to pay for them and have still been happy with the functionality of each free version.

Here are some of my favorite FREE programs. Some are open-source, some are just freeware. Enjoy.

One day Google, like Costco, will rule the world, so let’s start learning how to work together now.

• Picasa – easy to use photo organizer, editor and more. Laura is able to use it which is saying something.
• Gmail/Google Calendar – all of our email first goes through our Gmail account. It creates a back up and allows us to email from anywhere in the world. If you set up your Gmail account today, they have a great program to upload your contacts and email into your account so you won’t miss a beat. If you get the Gmail account, then you’ll have access to Calendar. Calendar can sync with Outlook. Laura and I use Calendar to sync our two Outlook calendars together.
• Google Earth – update maps, features, integration for your web browser. I love this program.
• SketchUp – who needs Autocad when you have this program. It offers some wonderful design functionality and integrates into Google Earth nicely.

Firefox Add-Ons

First, get Firefox 3. I am currently using the final candidate release version of Firefox 3 and it’s stable. The only hang up is that the developers are playing catch up to make sure their add-on is working properly with FF3. This is my list of essential and fun add-ons that worked great with FF2 and, I hope, FF3. You can find most of these add-ons at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/.

• Adblock Plus – block all those annoying ads on websites (thanks for refreshing my mind on this one Matt).
• All-in-One Sidebar – great sidebar for easy viewing of bookmarks, history, downloads, and more.
• Better GCal – improve Google calendar.
• Better Gmail 2 – improve the Gmail interface.
• Better GReader – I love my Google Reader and this improves its functionality for viewing RSS feeds.
• Colorful Tabs – easily sort and view your websites with colored tabs for each site.
• Craigslist Image Preview – clicking on each Craiglist ad to view pictures is yesterday. Now you can view all the photos on one easy to use page. Highly recommended for Craigslist users.
• Download Helper – easy to use application to download images and videos.
• FireFTP – easy to use FTP program built into the browser.
• Flashblock – block annoying flash objects.
• Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer – this is a great way to sync bookmarks between computers you use and an easy way to backup your bookmarks.
• Google Preview – search through Google and Yahoo results with website previews.
• Paste and Go 2 – no need to click “Paste” and then click “Go’, with this button it is all done with one click.
• RealPlayer Browser Record Plugin – this is from Real and needs to be downloaded from their site. It allows you to download almost any song on the internet for free. I use this for songs on MySpace.
• ScrapBook – great way to capture parts or whole website and organize your collection.
• ScribeFire – this blog editor integrates easily into your browser and allows for full functional editing.
• Tab Mix Plus – check it out
• Zotero – this is for all you academics out there. Forget EndNote, Zotero is free and more functional than EndNote will ever be.

Other Programs

• Filehippo – **I love this program. It will look for latest versions of installed programs on your computer (usually freeware) and check if updates are available. Then you just click each update you want. Very useful program because of its one stop updating feature.
• Tweak UI – easy way to change Windows appearance and improve functionality of Windows.
• CCleaner – great program to clean up unnecessary files, shortcuts, and your registry.
• Syncback – all about backing up your files efficiently.
• TeraCopy – not just your normal copy and paste program.
• iTunes Folder Watch – have you added music files to your music folder, but can’t remember which ones you added to iTunes? Use this program to ensure all your music files are added to iTunes and not just sitting around your computer.
• AdAware – protect yourself against adware
• AVG Virus Protection – protect yourself against viruses
• Spybot – no more spyware
• Notepad++ – get more from your text editor / notepad program.
• Power Toy Calculator – get more out of your calculator.
• Filezilla – I know I mentioned FireFTP above, but this is also a great FTP program.
• uTorrent – if you know about torrent files, this is a great program for downloading…oh and sharing of course.
• Object Desktop – redesign, manipulate and improve the functionality of your desktop. If you have a Mac, nothing new here.
• Launchy - no more searching around for a program/file on your computer, now just type and go.
• Skype – I love this program for weekly video calls with my family and to make calls to Armenia (great rates).
• Trillian – this is what I use to manage all my instant messaging accounts.
• Audacity – great program for editing and recording audio. I’ve used it to create podcasts.

There’s my almost complete list of freeware/open source programs that I regularly use. If you are interested in learning about the latest freeware and/or open source programs, I highly recommend checking out the website Lifehacker.com. You can subscribe to their RSS feed for all the latest updates.

I just finished reading the book The Last Season by Eric Blehm and what a great read it is.The story is about Randy Morgenson, a backcountry ranger for twenty-eight seasons at Kings Canyon National Park, who goes missing in July 1996. The book details the search and events surrounding his disappearance, the life Randy lived until he went missing, and historical perspectives about the National Park Service backcountry/wilderness rangers and mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

I bought the book two years ago while browsing through Border’s here in Eugene. I read the front cover and thought to myself, “That sounds like a search I was on in 1996.” Well, I wasn’t wrong. I worked on the Yosemite National Park Search and Rescue team in summer 1996 as a search and rescue intern and we were called out to this search on July 27. We were flown to the backcountry where we spent five days searching for Randy in some of the most beautiful terrain one could imagine. For me, this book provided clarity and truth to questions that were only speculations at the time I was on the search. Though my book sat on the shelf for almost two years, I highly recommend reading this book today

You can learn more about the book here: http://thelastseason.com/.

Immediately following my completion of The Last Season, I dove into reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. The book captured my attention so well that, despite trying to finish graduate school in the next three weeks, I read the book in three days. I haven’t read a book this quick since the Peace Corps three years ago.

This is truly an inspirational story on how one person can make a difference in a world filled with unnecessary conflict. Though he didn’t start out to be a spokesperson against the war on terror, he sure has found ground in showing that there is another avenue to create peace in this world than through current U.S. foreign policy. His story of perseverance to build one school in Pakistan has flourished into a highly successful NGO called The Central Asia Institute. It is built on an understanding of cultures and empowering women through education.

This book details Greg’s life and how he went to build schools, clinics, and other necessary institutions in rural areas of north Pakistan and Afghanistan. Through his story you learn about the politics, religions, and cultures of Pakistan and Afghanistan, mountaineering history in Central Asia, and U.S. influence, or lack of, in this region. It is a gripping story that truly inspires one to be a catalyst for peace in a world filled with conflict.

You can learn more about the book at http://www.threecupsoftea.com/. You can learn more the Central Asia Institute at http://www.ikat.org/.

Photographs by Miguel Lisa

A friend tipped me off to these beautiful photos of Osprey in Oregon. I remember writing a research report on Osprey in 1999 for an animal biology course at San Jose State University. They are truly magnificent birds of prey. Visit one of my favorite websites to learn more about Osprey.