Okay, he wasn't really on a spelling bee.

But, right now the Eastern Conference Finals are on at the same time as the National Spelling Bee. And I gotta say, as excited I am for this Cavs vs. Magic game (mainly because I really want Cleveland to win, but they're down 3 games to 1) this National Spelling Bee is definitely much more intense than the game.

Laodicean, can you spell that!? That was the winning word.

I can't believe that Cleveland's blown a 23 point lead, a 16 point lead, and now a 20 point lead (they're down 67-63 right now after being up 30-10) in this series though. Anyone else watching?

EDIT: Shoot, I forgot to include this originally--http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/up/news/1823197/total_recall_pixars_winning_streak--Rotten Tomato's recap of how awesome Pixar is. I'm gonna make it a plan to watch my remaining ones from that list over the summer.

PAACH just sent out a Google calendar of summer events in Philly, including free lunchtime concerts, author book signings, free outdoor movies (I'll definitely be at those since that sounds awesome. Does anyone else have a drive-in theatre by their house? I love going to the movies there.), multicultural events, and other events. Most of the stuff on there is in Center City and is free. I'd be glad to accompany anyone to anything on there!

You guys can find the calendar here: http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=d501fs79up44kh0quf9sh01gc0%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York

I am currently sitting in my apartment in Paris eating a pastry before I have to head to class. I have been in Paris for 4 days now and really really wish I knew some French! I have learned a few words and ordered for the 1st time without pointing this morning. This trip is making me appreciate my language so much more.

Before coming to Paris I spent just under a week in London with another architecture student. London was the shit! It was great to be in a foreign place but still be able to understand people. We waited to long to book our Eurostar tickets to Paris (the train through the chunnel) so we decided to take a ferry instead. Not as simple as it sounds... To get from London to Paris we ended up taking 4 buses, 3 trains, 2 cabs, the metro, and a ferry. Oh--and we got stuck in Lille, France one night and had to spend the night in the sketchest hostel because we got kicked out of the train station. To make things better I got so drunk on the ferry that I forgot I had my ticket for the next train and spent forever trying to convince a lady (who only spoke French) to print me another one.

My apartment in Paris is not bad at all! There is the best bakery at the end of the block which we have gone to at least once a day. The ladies are no longer upset that we cant speak French and are helping us learn how to pronounce everything we purchase. Also, there is a little little wine and cheese shop just across the street which we frequent.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer wherever they are.....

So Jon Kole handed me down the Barackcycle for my riding (and commuting to DRL) enjoyment, and I am PSYCHED. Okay, so he didn't really hand it down to me, he gave it to me for 20 bucks and a few stipulations, but that's beside the point. I have a ROCKIN, SOCKIN, bike, and I'm quite excited to travel around Philadelphia and everywhere around in it.

Pete, you now have a wingman.

In fact, I'm so excited that my friends decided to go bike riding a couple times in the past few days, one of which was mountain biking at the nearby Lake Minnewaska. It was my first time mountain biking ever, and I'm probably really bad at conveying my enthusiasm for the trip over blogging, but from that experience mountain biking definitely has a shot at being my second favorite hobby (next to snowboarding). It's got the speed and downhill excitement of snowboarding, with a bit of sightseeing mixed in, and a whole lot of fun sweat-equity (read: going up hills really suck but is awesome when you get to the top). In fact, I really want to get a legit mountain bike now and travel around to different places to bike around. AND it's a summer sport, so I don't have to choose between that and snowboarding.

So thank you, Jono, for giving me your bike and inspiring me to take on a new hobby. It's cardio-tastic, yet not nearly as difficult as running, and infinitely more fun. Who knows, maybe if I like it enough I'll take on the great wonder that is bike and build too.

I'll end this post with two remarks: JAI HO (because that song's stuck in my head) and be sure to follow Jon's trip across the U.S. here: http://jonkole.blogspot.com/

EDIT: Oh wait, actually one more thing. You'll see in the FIERCESOME pictures following (admit it, fierce is an understatement, just look at my bright shirt and short shorts) that I'm wearing a helmet. I'm actually quite glad I wore a helmet that day. Not because I almost ran into a tree or because I fell off my bike, but because at the very end of the day, as we were packing the bikes back onto the roof rack of the car, I dropped the thing on my head. Yeah, go helmet!...

Hey all,

Who is going to be in Philly this summer? At least tomorrow evening when I will be there for the night and will be celebrating my 21st?

-George of the Jungle

Ian, why is our city so stellar - and WB´s copyright laws so stinky...

Anyway, I was supposed to get back to Philly this morning but I managed to miss my flight in an embarassing episode of dawdling in suburban Buenos Aires. On the subway ride back to Juana's, I was at least entertained by a guy breakdancing to Little Bow-Wow (on a moving, crowded train - imagine it!). So, I am at the airport now after arriving incredibly early, and to pass the time I decided to splurge on $5 internet. My time in BA ended up passing very quickly - while I am exhausted, it was nice to get away and have to worry about navigating a new culture and language rather than worry about classes and gbm agendas.

While I was here, I looked at two really interesting local development models. The first one was a banco communal - known in English as a "village bank". They are pretty widespread in South America. Essentially, a group of community members (generally women) come together and receive loans from a not-for-profit organization. The not-for-profit gets money in the form of loans from a conventional bank, which they then lend out to the women at a higher interest rate to cover their administrative expenses (the justification for this is that the women wouldn't be able to receive a loan from a conventional bank). The women can in turn lend the money out to people in their community (often to men) at an even higher interest rate. On the one hand, this creates what is called a "grupo solidario", a communtiy where everyone trusts each other and keeps each other in check. It also empowers women and allows for more money to flow in the community to fund entrepreneurial activities. On the other hand, however, it is recreating the problems of conventional economy on a community-level (interest, indebtedness, etc.). One rather idealistic person I interviewed said that it is turning the women into "little capitalists". However, it was neat to talk to the women and hear about how paricipating had made a big impact on their economic situation and personal relationships - it was also cool to see a lot of younger women, daughters, etc. getting interested and participating.

The other model I looked at is trying to recreate the economic system. Before and during the economic crisis in Argentina in 2000, provinces started issuing their own currencies to try to curb inflation. In addition, at one point over 6 million people were participating in informal barter clubs where they used local currencies (wootwoot!) to exchange goods and services. At the time, many people participated out of desparation, and after the economy improved, the movement died down. Some of the founders of the barter clubs, though, still see the movement as a way to make economy more social (the weekly or biweekly meetings of the groups that still exist are pretty neat - everyone knows everyone else and absolutely loves participating). One flaw, though, is that initially the clubs were meant to encourage production (i.e. someone who bakes could exchange cookies for a sweater made by a knitter), but the clubs have now become sort of a flea market where people bring assorted goods they have bought or that they had lying around the house (I guess this is still a form of recycling, though). Some production does still take place - I exchanged a package of yerba mate for some delicious homemade pastries, and the clubs do seem to have really helped people who are out of work. Actually, it sounds like with the current financial crisis more people are participating than have been in the past few years.

I had some major takeaways in terms of analyzing not-for-profits, too, which you guys might find interesting - when they were starting up, a lot of these different barter clubs had arguments over philosophy, and while the fact that they largely fell apart can be attributed to the improvement of the economy, it also sounds like there was some corruption in a few groups, rising distrust over the fact that there was no oversight, and competing personalities in leadership that prevented progress from being made. The clubs that have survived are in the hands now of some really incredible female leaders - they operate independently in the communities, and most of the participants don´t know about the hierarchical movements that lead to their creation. I guess this speaks to the benefits of having decentralized projects. Also, there was formerly some connection between the person running the village bank that I visited and one of the founders of the local barter clubs. There is now a "riff" between them where they practically don't talk because there were arguments over their differing philosophies. One of the people who was involved in the barter clubs I think rightly pointed out that there needs to be more collaboration between groups and movements. Every development project is going to have pros and cons, and it would be ideal if people could take aspects of different ideas and apply them to different communities. There is no recipe that is going to work for everyone, and it is a shame that people get so engaged in certain development philosophies and creating the "perfect model" that they lose their willingness to change. I guess this makes me think of CHAC in some ways - a) because we are dealing with administrative elements that are to some extent comfortable with an old model (to their credit, they want to make sure the new one will work) and b) it would be great if in our new constitution, we could develop a structure that will allow us to be as flexible as possible with different group's needs and work - a structure that is less rigid, I guess.

It was great hearing about the impact that both groups have made, but I continue to be disillusioned in that it seems like sweeping government changes could do a lot, too (as in the U.S.). Argentina is a very disparate country - the downtown areas are very posh, but there is incredible poverty in a lot of the outer neighborhoods where these groups are working. There is a great deal of corruption and lobbying that takes place (as in other parts of the world, too :)). A lot of Argentines are fed up, too - I went to the University of Buenos Aires and saw a huge gathering of communist students - who later took to the streets calling for a communist vote in the upcoming elections. On the other hand, the village bank I looked at is staying low-key and is trying to work with the government. Argentina has had such an interesting, volatile history, and there is so much going on, that I am definitely going to keep it on my radar :).

Anywho, that was a whopper of an e-mail, but hopefully it was semi-interesting, and it was nice for me to reflect before I watch movies and pass out on the plane.

Looking forward to seeing those of you that are in Philly soon!!

Julia

I was taking my annual trip to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and guess what was standing right at the entrance? It was the Ford Angelina that Harry and Ron stole to get to Hogwarts in Chamber of Secrets movie!

They had a whole exhibit of props and costumes from the movies. I saw Harry's glasses, a wax Dobby, and I got to SIT in HAGRID's CHAIR. It was sweet, but Warner Bros. wouldn't allow photography, hence the picture of me pointing to the car, instead of the one of me with a quaffle fake-flying Harry's firebolt that the security guard made us delete.

Only one more week until I get back to Penn. Until then, more pictures of the car:

Philadelphia Weekly just published their annual summer guide to Philly. It includes stuff about concerts, art exhibits, food events, etc. For "teh crazy," it even contains a guide to having sex in public and info on masturbation month... uuuummmm right.

Oh, and if you go to the link it'll ask you to sign in. The following username and password will work:
Username: bloopa
Password: bloopa1234

http://issuu.com/reviewpublishing/docs/051309_pw_opt

Hello Chacsters!

Greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I arrived really early this morning (Red Eye flight) and I am about to go pass out...

Today I got settled in with my host - a lovely woman named Juana who showed me how to make Yerba Mate (apparently it is really important to stress the ¨Yerba¨ so that people don´t confuse it with marijuana).

Buenos Aires is very European, and I was completely prepared to take the city on in some dashing Parisien-esque garb. However, weather.com failed me again, and I find people in jackets and boots rather than frollicking in the 70 degree weather I was expecting. Fortunately, Juana offered to outfit me in a matching sweater vest and wrap she knitted herself. To be honest, it looks ridiculo, but I admired it and I am wearing it. "You can´t find things like this in New York anymore, eh!?" she exclaimed as she gingerly tucked a matching scarf around my neck.

I went to the main government center where there were a number of protests going on. Apparently, not a single day passes when there isn´t some sort of protest. In addition, I noticed in the subway stops (where there are TVs) that EVERYONE watches intently when news comes on or a government official speaks. I had a very interesting conversation with Juana about her preferences for decentralized politics and economics - Argentina has had such a varied political and economic history (colonialism-democracy-military dictatorships, being the economic superstar of South America to having the worst government debt default in history). While I am doing research here I am really excited to hear other people´s views - I´m also looking forward to indulging in a steak and some empanadas before I leave.

That´s it for now! and Nicke I would like to be added to get post notifications too ;)

Julia

Hellooooo from Villanova! A whole 13 miles from campus! In 5 days I'll be 7,776 miles from campus....ahhh!

So while I'm in India, I'm still going to be posting on CHACtracker every now and then, but here is my actual India blog my friend and I are going to try and update more regularly http://michellekatieindia.blogspot.com/. That is, if we have electricity. Or internet access. Or the right converter.... the guy at Brookstone thinks I'm insane, I've called them at least 17 times. I was told at one point that it didn't matter if their converter couldn't fit my laptop's three-prong power cord, I could always break the third prong off. Whether or not the computer actually needs that to function, I'm not exactly sure how he thought I was going to be able to break a solid piece of metal off of my power cord. Scissors?

Oh and we have a twitter :) http://twitter.com/katiemichelle09. Apparantly there is also a way to put this on our blog...am going to try and figure that out later...

Miss you guys already!

So this isn't exactly CHAC related, but it is Civic House related since Diana Funk (one of this year's PennCORP coordinators) is working for Google over the summer.

Instead of using lawn mowers, Google's using goats to trim their grass. That's right, 200 goats feast on Google's grass for a week.

Since they're trying to cut down on their carbon emissions, I guess it's better than using cows, which apparently fart so much they contribute to global warming (that's so awesome).


First link: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/mowing-with-goats.html
Second link: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/GlobalWarming/Story?id=2723201&page=1

Greetings from the Constitutional Convention. So I'm just sitting here with Sam, who is wearing his shades inside and Nicke. We are trying to redo the constitution and kind of failing.

Last night my friends and I were so bored that we drove 3 hours round trip to go to Sonic in Pennsylvania. Of course, when we got there only the drive through was open so we didn't even get to have the Sonic experience. = (

Hey Everyone!

Welcome to the CHAC Tracker! So hopefully this will be a place to post all our adventures, learnings, quibblings, and miscellaneous stories over the summer. Everyone's Google accounts should be added to the blog, so you all should have authorship to it through Google. Once you accept being an author, I'll promote you to administrator so you can customize the site and other stuff as you want, such as adding additional gadgets (like the chat box!) on the side.

For those going on trips, I tried to find a decent map gadget you could map your travels, but they all required the traveller to create an account. You guys could go here (http://www.blogabond.com) if you wanted to do such a thing or create your own travel blog (apparently that site's specifically to make travel blogs or something). And if you guys are keeping your own blogs and will have sparse internet access and are worried about not being able to post on two different blogs, let me know your blog address so I can repost your content here.

So, with that, I'll open the floor to you guys!