Working in the dusty dungeon

Until today, there remained one last corner of the Lightsmith building that has not been touched by its new owners: the old coal and oil storage room behind the boiler room. Chris wants to clean up the area, paint it white, and put in shelves for storage to take up some of the stuff that is overflowing the other storage areas.

So this morning we started hauling stuff out--old rotten boards, burned out lightbulbs, a moldy drinking fountain, and other forgotten items--all covered with coal dust and looking like they had been through several floods (which may well be true, as the area used to leak water before Chris sealed the holes). Then I took a wire brush to the concrete walls, setting loose so much dust that I was spitting black goo in a few minutes--after which we bought respirators and breathed much easier. As of tonight we have all of the worst dust and junk out, and we are ready to paint the walls tomorrow.

I spent yesterday working on my application to Oregon State's Biological and Ecological Engineering program. I remain much more excited about bioenergy than I ever was about ecology, but I won't know for sure if I want it as a career until I see what these folks do day-to-day, sitting in front of computers or microscopes.

Walking in the cold

It is my tradition to go for a walk on the coldest night of the year. Last night, at about -12 here in the city, may have been such a night. Or there may yet be colder days coming. In any case, I bundled up and set off down Annapolis St. last night, heading for a park with many large trees where I could see the close conjunction of Mars and the moon. From there I wandered down to the High Bridge and looked out over the lights of St. Paul from 160 feet above the river. All in all about two hours of enjoying the cold stillness, or at least as much stillness as can ever be found with 500,000 people moseying about in their little heated compartments on wheels.

I'm headed to a club tonight to hear Aaron's band and meet up with Andy and Annaka (and perhaps other Alumni whose names begin with A).

Easy work, good pay

I remain unemployed and will remain so for the immediate future. In the interim, I am working for my mom and for Robert Cohanim, producer of a very successful line of homeopathic lozenges including Stress Mints. Turns out his packing staff is gone for the next few weeks, and he is paying me better than any wage I have yet earned to fold boxes, load them with lozenges, and ship them off. Not something I would want to do as a career, of course, but for now I don't mind sitting in a spacious, mint-smelling, plant-filled warehouse with giant windows overlooking several railroads and downtown St. Paul.

Turns out my car doesn't like cold. Very poor idling, and sometimes fails to start after it has been running for a short time. Also seems to have developed a coolant leak. So I am taking it to a Subaru shop on Monday to spend all of the money I just earned.

Coldest weather of the season this weekend - 13 below tonight and 14 below tomorrow night with a high of -1 tomorrow. A good time to get out and feel the crisp air...

A New Direction?

For the past three years or so I have been expecting to pursue a career in ecology--this despite the fact that I am not particularly excited about most ecological research. I do love the birds and other creatures, but I find that an objective study of them takes away from my appreciation of nature. I'm sure I would enjoy using radio telemetry to track bird migrations and ultimately contribute to the conservation of species, but it lacks a certain pressing importance and intellectual challenge that I would prefer. The birds will be fine if we stop destroying their habitats, and if we continue our current course no amount of ecological research will save them.

So I began to think how I could use biology to address more pressing concerns, especially alternative energy. The energy reaching the earth from the sun in one hour could power all of the world's energy needs for an entire year, so solar power is promising if only we could find a cheap and efficient way to turn sunlight into energy. Plants do this everyday through photosynthesis. At present the best we can do is burn the plants after the growing season ends, but I began to wonder if we could engineer plants to produce useful energy throughout their life cycle--rather like the photosynthetic equivalent of milking a cow. As it turns out, it is conceptually possible to insert a hydrogenase (an enzyme capable of making hydrogen from protons and electrons) into the photosynthetic apparatus of bacteria or algae. I envision future solar panels filled with cyanobacteria and water that churn out hydrogen with virtually no up-front energy investment or expense.

As it turns out, quite a few people are working on this, and so far light-to-hydrogen efficiencies have not exceeded 1%, but the future looks promising. In any case, I am currently much more excited about this than about ecology, so I am looking into graduate programs in this area.

Several holidays have come and gone since my last post. All went well and were filled with family reconnections, many thoughtful gifts, and tasty food of all types. I am still unemployed. I returned to Carleton for the first time since graduation this past weekend. I walked the entire Arb, reunited with my best Carleton friends at a midwinter bonfire on an oddly warm night, discussed hydrogen photobiosynthesis enthusiastically with Susan Singer, ate waffles at the new waffle bar, and otherwise had a great time at a place that I now miss following my entry into the "real world."