Yippee Snow Day

We in academia are lucky.  I mean even with "adult" children, the administration closed school today.

Sure, there is about 10 inches of snow on the ground right now (9:45 am) on top of the 2 inches we got over the weekend, but just think about all those workers in the real world, going to work in the grocery stores and Walmart, so that people like us can buy another loaf of bread.

I encouraged my students in Recreation Geography to go play in the snow and I hope most do.  This class of students seems to be more active than the last class.  More activities outdoors and more places to do the activities.

So what I am doing on the computer?  Well, doing some tax stuff, and getting ready to snowblow the driveway, so I can get that loaf of bread.

Biggest Sporting Day of the Year

Yes, it is the Bowl Day.

Puppy Bowl and new this year is Kitten Bowl.

What a great day for sports.  Adopt a shelter animal.

A European View on Recreation

This is a good report on recreation in Europe.

A citation would be....

Simon Bell and Liisa Tyrväinen and Tuija Sievänen and Ulrike Pröbstl and Murray Simpson,
"Outdoor Recreation and Nature Tourism: A European Perspective",
Living Rev. Landscape Res. 1, (2007), 2. URL (cited on <29 2014="" jan="">): 
http://www.livingreviews.org/lrlr-2007-2

It is important to compare and contrast recreation across the globe.

National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, & Wildlife-Associated Recreation

The Census Bureau keeps a good database of recreation demand data at this link. http://www.census.gov/prod/www/fishing.html

Hint Hint for my Quantitative Methods Students... a good database to "play" with (pun intended).

Recreation Demand

While there a lot of good sites to get recreation demand data and forecasting information, this commercial site is useful.  

http://www.outdoorfoundation.org/research.participation.2013.html

" The Outdoor Recreation Participation Report is the only detailed study of its kind tracking American participation trends in outdoor recreation. The study is based on an online survey capturing responses from over 40,000 Americans ages six and older and covers 114 different activities. "

Downton Abbey

I was entranced with the very first episode and now I can't wait for the next episode.  The next episode for us now is Season 5 and if PBS continues the trend that won't occur until January 2015.

Maybe I need to move to the UK, where the next season will be broadcast in the fall of 2014.  Or continue what we have done by donating to PBS to get the whole season early in the States.

If you don't know about this remarkable TV show, check out this link.

Biking in Westfield

MassBike has published a report on the "Bikeability" of Westfield Massachusetts and can be found at this link.  Several recommendations are made to make the city a better place for bicycles.  Let's hope the recommendations come true!