I can’t believe it has been over a year since I left the University of Maryland and started working at APS Physics. Here’s a #TBT in the form of a video I made for the University’s Institute of Applied Agriculture (IAA).
Some IAA alumni formed a program called The First Green, an environmental and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education outreach program that utilizes golf courses as learning labs.
This short snippet was one of my very last projects for the IAA. I really had a blast filming at Westminster National Golf Course that day and felt like I was on the field trip too! The students learned about soil science, water conservation, and plant identification, among many other topics. We even had time to practice some putting.
People, there is more to turfgrass than you or I know.
Recently I had the opportunity to tag along with my co-worker, Ken Ingram, and his Landscape Design and Implementation students as they went on a field trip to The Hotel at the University of Maryland (UMD). It had been a very long time since I went on a field trip; in my opinion, it was a blast.
The Hotel at UMD is in the final stages of development, and one of Ken’s former students, Buddy Hipp, oversaw the planning and installation of native landscaping on the property. Because The Hotel is conveniently located just across the street from campus, Buddy contacted Ken to offer current students the opportunity to walk over from Jull Hall for a landscaping tour.
Our experience exploring the new building, admiring the recently-installed trees and shrubs, and hearing about Buddy’s experience as the landscaping project lead was very informative. It is obvious that he enjoys his work as a project manager for Ashton Manor Environmental, a company with a focus on sustainable landscaping. To me, it sounds like an ideal job.
I took numerous photos and Buddy graciously agreed to be interviewed for a quick Alumni Spotlight video (see below). If you would like to learn more, here is a news item that I wrote for our website at work.
Witness these baller skills! Now presenting William’s And1 Mixtape, the greatest ever.
Starring: William Dyess and Marc Fournier
Written by: William Dyess and Marc Fournier
Stunts: William Dyess and Marc Fournier
Editing: William Dyess
Cinematography: Randie Hovatter
Basil is not only delicious, but easy to grow and manage with the correct approach. Over the weekend, I produced this short video of my Institute of Applied Agriculture (IAA) co-worker Meredith Epstein giving expert advice on proper plant care. She is the Sustainable Agriculture lecturer and advisor at the IAA, and also manages the University of Maryland’s Community Learning Garden. Meredith is also the one who chose basil as the topic for our first how-to video; I think she made a great decision!
Making a how-to video was a great way for me to get back into using iMovie. I had a lot of fun producing this using only my iPhone and the iMovie app. I found that the app doesn’t have all of the features from the desktop version, but still enough.
I have mentioned in previous posts that the Community Learning Garden is one of my favorite spots on campus. I hope that after watching this video, you will see why I love to spend time there.
Please do enjoy le film. Get ready to grow some expert-level basil!
Just cruisin’ with my friend Meg in her Toro Workwoman vehicle. I interviewed her to find out the best way to get into volunteering with the University of Maryland’s Arboretum and Botanical Garden. Meg graduated from the Institute of Applied Agriculture (IAA), where I currently work. The experience that Meg gained through studying Ornamental Horticulture at the IAA led her to become the arboretum’s Volunteer Coordinator. We both work on North campus, so it is easy for us to pester each other. 🙂
Want to help beautify UMD? Email arboretum@umd.edu to sign up!
Check out our crew in front of the fancy new UMD Community Learning Garden banner! We are but a few of many burgeoning gardeners who meet at 4 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays to learn about sustainable food production and help tend the raised beds and terraced plots.
At the official hoisting of the garden banner last Monday. I ended up in the middle of the photo. This is awesome.
Sustainable Ag advisor Meredith Epstein (middle, in teal) manages the garden and leads the work hours. When I started working with Meredith at the Institute of Applied Agriculture, the garden quickly became one of my favorite spots on campus. This summer I grew soybeans, pole beans, green peppers, tomatoes, kale, thyme, sage, and basil in my garden plot.
I was excited when Meredith asked me to design a 12×4′ banner for the garden. I had previously made a sticker design for the garden club, so I took this as an opportunity to build consistent branding by pairing the same colors and fonts with the provided terp/carrot logo.
At 12′ wide by 4′ tall, if you can’t see the banner to find the garden I feel bad for you.
The UMD Community Learning Garden is one of four campus gardens at the University of Maryland, College Park. Formerly called the Public Health Garden, it is nestled between the School of Public Health and the Eppley Recreation Center. You should definitely follow on Instagram.
I just bought tickets to my second Baltimore Rent-A-Tour experience, for this coming Sunday. The last one, a Christmas lights tour, was magical. Our group met at happy hour and then a charter bus drove us through the city while our tour guide, Chris, pointed out various historic sites.
This time it will be another tipsy tour, but on the water. We’re going to take a Water Taxi and Chris is going to narrate the pub-related origin of our National Anthem, describe the Baltimore-based forerunner of the modern sports bar, and tell us the history behind one source of many of my college hangovers, National Bohemian beer.
Looking forward to my second tipsy tour reminds me of a project I did for fun when I used to work with my friend (and Chris’ girlfriend), Jen. In the storage closet on Jen’s floor there was a pin maker that I always coveted but never got to use (it would have halted productivity). After having so much fun on the Christmas tour, I created these pin designs in Illustrator.
If you are in the city, definitely check out Baltimore Rent-A-Tour! Unless you hate history. Or fun. Or both. Then we don’t want you.
Envision a world where I have a full time job with my art degree; a job where the checks clear and the snow days are plentiful. Where a supervisor is reluctant but not pissed off when two employees from his department buy tickets first and ask permission later.
This image sums up how I felt about not going to work for an entire week.
This review is long over due, but on March 13th I embarked on my first spring break trip with a friend from work, Kristen. We found an irresistible deal on Travelzoo from Apple Vacations to Barcelo Dominican Beach resort in Punta Cana. $1000 for seven days, all-inclusive! What a week.
I had never traveled all-inclusive and didn’t anticipate the amazing service that we were about to receive. The reviews were ominous, so I packed for a cross between Appalachian site camping and an Atlantic City La Quinta Inn. By day two, Kristen and I realized that there are some spoiled-ass punks on Google Plus and Trip Advisor. At Barcelo we found a place with upbeat people, delicious food, three swimming pools and a long stretch of sand, plus endless Mama Juana to help white folks learn to dance the bachata.
If you find yourself heading to Barcelo Resort in Punta Cana with Apple Vacations, here are a few travel tips—
Do:
Pack granola bars in your carry-on. These are handy if you don’t want to spend seven bucks on a mystery snack box from Xtra airlines. The attendants mention free snacks before takeoff but I think they mean that the snacks are free because they are imaginary. Spend three bucks on a box of Kashi and be happy.
Bring your own beverage containment unit and save $12 at the Barcelo gift shop. You will get tired of the small plastic cups that they use at the bars on site. We saw a lot of savvy resort guests with their own large cups full of Cuba Libre.
Pack an outlet converter. The outlets look similar to those found in the USA, but do not be fooled by this.
Have you heard of Poopourri? Good! The bathrooms don’t have exhaust fans.
Make a reservation at Don Quixote and order the salmon. It is delectable.
Tip in American dollars to the porter. We were fresh off the plane and tipped in pesos without understanding the conversion rate, so we definitely under-tipped and felt horrible once we realized what had happened. I felt slightly less horrible since I understood with my limited Spanish skills that the guy had talked some smack about us while we were standing right in front of him.
If you are with a travel company, visit your guide right after check-in. The guide will give you valuable advice about excursion planning, and can answer all of your questions about the resort. Ours told us about how the water at the resort was safe to drink after we had already bought giant jugs of Dasani from the Barcelo Mini-Mart. You can find the guides next to the Pizzeria and Photo Hut area.
At the towel bar you can pay $5 for a ten-minute catamaran lesson. Pop some dramamine and go for it.
Get iced coffee or Irish coffee at La Café. These drinks were so good I couldn’t believe they were included.
Play bingo before dinner. It is a fun multicultural experience because everyone is yelling the letters and the numbers to each other in their own language.
Make a left out of the front gate and walk one block South to Posada de Gladys. Fried fish, chicken, beans, rice, free wifi, and beer. Ask for sliced avocado; they are gigantic and cost less than a dollar. YES YES YES.
Walk a few paces North on the beach until you see what I call “The Russian Store.” They sell souvenirs, alcohol, jewelry, clothes and cigars; this place had the best prices and selection by far of any shops we visited. They also don’t hassle you while you shop. Come prepared, they only accept American dollars and if you use a credit card there is a 7% surcharge.
Make your dinner reservations ahead of time in the lobby. No one told us initially that reservations were required for all of the restaurants on the resort, so we were relegated to the buffet on our first night.
Go to the nightly dance extravaganzas near the lobby and casino. They are incredible! I am a bad dancer but I still went up on stage every night to participate with the dancers and other audience members. The shows are different every night and the costumes are incredible.
Don’t:
Pay for photos with animals on the first day. The resort keeps the photos the entire week and you will probably see more animals and get photos for free.
Assume the toilet in your room works. Check first before you get situated. We had to ask for another room due to a broken toilet and it is a common complaint about Barcelo on review websites.
Blame the resort when you get diarrhea. Instead, consider how often you actually eat Dominican food in your normal life. More than likely you are sleeping with the enemy (your digestive tract). Pack some Pepto Bismol.
Expect a hot shower. Sadly, the showers on The Bloque were no bueno. Prepare for low pressure and fluctuating temperatures. After a day on the beach it will serve you well to rinse off at one of the many outdoor pool showers to get rid of all of the sand before you shower in your suite for the evening.
Drink unpurified water. This is where a reusable bottle comes in handy. Free agua potable in bottles is readily available. The ice cubes and water served with meals is also safe at Barcelo. Produce is safe as well because it is rinsed in purified water.
Pay full price from the local vendors. Most places let you haggle. Get your friends a bunch of wooden sculptures and roll on. We couldn’t figure out a pattern but several nights there were tables set up around the resort with people selling paintings, sculptures, Mama Juana and cigars. If you buy a sculpture usually someone will carve your name, Punta Cana and the year for free.
Do a full day excursion in the second half of the week. Do it when you first get there and are still pumped and full of energy. Once you’re on island time, you will be in relaxation mode and thus too lazy for a 12 hour day of travel. I highly recommend a visit to Manati Park; skip Isla de Saona.
Go to the casino to gamble. The house always wins, unfortunately. However, if you are overheating after the nightly theater performance, they do blast the AC in there.
Bring your fancy DSLR camera. I have a Nikon but I left it at home in favor of a Go Pro and my Cyber Shot. Easier to carry, fits in a purse, and less potential for damage. This of course is subject to personal preference.
To reiterate, we purchased this trip all-inclusive with airfare for $1000 on TravelZoo. The reviews were bad but we couldn’t resist the price. I am so glad we went because this was the best vacation ever and ultimately I am the kind of a person who can tolerate cold showers and infrequent gastrointestinal distress for an amazing life experience. As I reflect on this now I am reading my notes from our second hour trapped in a hot plane on the Punta Cana runway because of snow in Baltimore. Bonus two hours of vacation for free! \__(^_^)__/
The people who work at Barcelo Dominican Resort are so customer service driven and thoughtful. They really want you to have an amazing time and it is easy to do when everyone you meet has such a positive outlook and good sense of humor. I don’t know how they select the employees at Barcelo but they are truly a fun group. The front desk called us in the middle of the week just to ask how things were going, and people around the resort quickly learned our names and always joked with us and answered our questions. I want to give a special shout-out to Angel, Shadow Black (Daivis), Ramon, Lino, Carmen, Fernando, Jean and Monkey Black, for being so amazing and showing us a great time.
I don’t know what people get at a five-star resort but Kristen and I had such a memorable and overwhelmingly positive experience here, I would come back again any time.
Today work was closed due to inclement weather (although others weren’t so lucky) and I made the most of our snow day by creating a GoPro mount and taking the dogs out in the snow. Thank you parents for the awesome Christmas gift!
Hipsters and HGTV like to talk a lot about upcycling as a way of repurposing materials to make something beautiful. I decided to make a GoPro dog mount; in my case, upcycled means “items fished out of the recycle bin and taped together on a dog.” This entire project gave me something fun to do on a snow day and cost nothing. Maybe you can learn something from my trial and error and create something even better!
For this project, I made use of the following found materials from the recycling and my mess of a desk:
GoPro or similar snow-proof camera
egg carton
yarn or string
yarn needle
tape and scissors
sticky old Starbucks cup that says “Heather” on it (or any sturdy plastic cup)
dog harness and leash
a participant (here I used my roommate’s dog, Shelby)
Random found materials from my desk and the recycling bin.
The rubber bands hold the GoPro on to the mount.
This is what I came up with. Pretty good for a freebie.
Shelby is all set to record the adventure.
I poked some holes in the bottom of the Starbucks cup, sewed the rubber bands to it, and then taped it to the egg carton. I reinforced the cup and egg carton with some more yarn. I then used two more rubber bands to attach the carton to Shelby’s harness. In the future I’ll have to find a better way to attach the carton to the harness since it kept leaning forward. You will see a lot of the back of Shelby’s head in the video but it’s not bad for a first run!
And, after a little bit of toying in iMovie, voila! The finished product. Try to ignore my big head in the first few seconds, I left it in because I wanted to include the other dog, Riley. 😀
Randie Hovatter 