A course introduction and first mistake by Chris (first of many no doubt)

Hello all! (or the 2 people who read this) Mel has been on me to write a bit about my experience to-date here at Cambridge. I just got back from a weekend fieldrip through the south of England to take a look at the relationship between road and landscape and to get to know the 35 interesting people from almost as many countries that comprise my program. The trip was highlighted by a visit to Stonehenge. As cool as it is, it was a bit of a dud. The stones are much more romantic on a Windows screensaver then they are in real life. Partly because, as seen in the pics, two roads run RIGHT next to the amazing historic site. A real tragedy. There is a parking lot and visitor's center two weiner lengths from the center of the stones (and by weiners, I mean hot dogs of course).

And this is what the year long course is about. Studying the relationship between development and living. The hope being that we are developing in such a way that our lives, communities, ecosystems, resources, etc are being strengthened for the long haul -- because the actual effects of most development are obviously realized far downstream. The roads that ruin Stonehenge have been around since before I was born and will probably be around effecting folks after I die. Point being that it is important to give the next generation a seat at the table when we act today.

Continuing that theme, I am taking 4 classes that aim to tackle this problem from different angles. I am taking a course on (1) Community, Economics, and the Environment, (2) Sustainable Development Contexts, (3) Management of Technology, and (4) Sustainable Architecture. In addition to my four lectures, I am also taking a compulsory business track that is taught through the Cambridge Business School (called the Judge) and MIT.

I apologize for arrogantly assuming you all are interested in what courses I am taking, so I'll end with a story that will probably not suprise any of you.

Sunday, I was brushing my teeth and Mel was cooking some chicken on the stove. All of a sudden, the most unbelievable pounding came at our door -- such that I nearly swallowed my tooth brush and honestly thought I was going to collapse from the vibrations of the pounding. So I openend the door to find this over-sized English man yelling "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" at me. I really didn't know how to respond. Then before he could get another word out, the fire alarm rang and it suddenly re-occured to me that Mel was cooking something in the kitchen. I therefore closed the door to the kitchen and then turned to remove the smoke detector to turn it off -- big mistake. At this point, the not-so-nice large man continued his rampage and barely above the heinous ringing of the smoke alarm, I could hear him yell "CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT, MY GOODNESS..." So I fumbled and put the smoke detector back on the ceiling, and began to file outside to evacuate along with the other 50 residents of our building. On our way out, the alarm stopped, so we all slowly shuffled back into our rooms while Mel and I apologized carefully to the multi-national croud. When I got back into the room, our phone rang, so I picked it up and sure enough, the English guy wasn't done with me. He asked me to open all the windows and let me know how disruptive my removal of the smoke detector was. At which point, nearly reverting back to my tempter riddled elementary days but stiffling the instinct, I calmly let him know he didn't need to be so rude and he hung up on me. I got hung up on. That hasn't happened since I was twelve. Less-than-impressed by the maturity of the 70 something year old man, I dismissed the gesture as the casual side effects of viagra or some other senile drug. I thought the event was over.

Monday morning I got an email from the Dean and Senior Tutor at my college saying that I needed to go see him immediately to discuss the seriousness of tampering with fire and safey equipment belonging to the college. So I of course phoned him and went to meet him that second. And as it turns out, my actions were punishable as a criminal offense and worthy of a hefty college imposed fine. (Tommy, you are going to have to do some more convincing to tell me that Brits have reason to call Americans uptight) Thankfully, the dean was actually very reasonable, and after I explained the situation to him, he told me that I wasn't going to be prosecuted or fined. I said thank you to him, but am still not sure what for?! Very strange indeed. So the story ends with a rosy email I inflated and sent to the angry English man dealing with the situation.

Thats all, thanks for your patience in reading -- much love to you all!

cr