Hop to it

So...last week while hanging out with the brew class I was challenged to eat a hop pellet. Not knowing that I was hazed through several years with the FFF I think my unwavering acceptance of the challenge was unexpected. Joe usually brews with whole leaf hops, so it has been awhile since I've seen the rabbit food look-alike hops...and I'm sorry to say that after a few beers that evening I can't even tell you which type it was. I am so embarrassed :) In any event, for me, pellet hops taste, (perhaps not unlike rabbit food) like imperial IPA soaked cardboard (mmmmm alpha-acids). It was a worthless if not disgusting experience, not that I couldn't handle the taste (as, under Joe's careful beer purchases, I have become a total hop-head over the past few years), but that it ruined the good taste of the fine ales I had been drinking...and it took some effort to brush it out. Be forewarned, garlic cleans up easier.

Bike & Weather...

So I haven't been biking much because I can't get used to the schizophrenic weather here. I'm used to rain and then shine or gray...not rain, shine, rain, shine, rain...in the space of an 8 hour period. So as a result...less biking, more carpooling. I was thinking today, though, how much I hate biking in the wind, so much to the point that I'd rather bike in the rain. Well, like most people I'd prefer neither, although, I find that they come together quite often. In any event, it was quite windy today and I was glad to not be biking in it. Blah Blah Blah.

Our Civilization is descending into Anarchy!

...Or maybe I've just been sitting in front of the computer playing Civ too much (as Freed seems to have noticed :) ). I just finished reading Tom Friedman's new offering, "the World is Flat" which has some fabulous stats (I especially liked that he got Dell to give him an exact readout of the assembly of his laptop computer and where each of its parts came from and where they were assembled etc) and is quite well-researched, but left me wanting a lot more. I suppose I should have just read the first part where he discusses how the world became "flat" and then set it down and called it good. He gives ten events that have caused the spread of globalization to the "four corners" of the world, a few examples are (1) the fall of the Berlin Wall, (2) the phenomena of outsourcing and (3) off-shoring, (4) the widespread use and access to the internet, (5) software improvements etc, etc. he goes on to give examples in each; of which I found the examples of Google and the implications of the fall of the Berlin wall most interesting and those about Walmart's supply chain and 9-11 the most disturbing. In the back of my mind, while Friedman is extolling the features of the flattened world I'm questioning the implications on the environment and on the large percentage of the global population that are considered "have-nots." I felt as though there were more pages to be turned at the end explaining the downside of things, but this was not that book. It was not, I believe, Friedman's aim to tell that story. However, in the latter chapters of the book he begins discussing why the flattened world has helped some tremendously and others negligibly...which is helpful, but at the conclusion of this analysis I felt as though Friedman was asking the developing countries to pull up their bootstraps and find a comparative advantage over their competitor countries. (Like getting their debt forgiven? or erasing the vestiges of colonialism? or overhauling their export sector overnight?) For example, Mexico, key trading partner in the NAFTA block and second largest exporter to the US (after Canada) for some years has been edged out by China. Friedman's recommendation? To focus on demand and create a more business friendly atmosphere; i.e.: reduce the number of days it takes to incorporate a business etc. UGH! Mexico exports many things, but over half of the exports tot he US are AGRICULTURAL products. So then I wonder how we're going to eat in a "flat world." Obviously I'm making a gross generalization while I slide down a slippery slope. Sorry about that. I've been slowly reading this book and every day I would say to Joe, I wonder when he's going to address X, I wonder when he's going to address Y or even Z? And finally I finished, completely unsatisfied, and was sitting, playing Civ on a difficult level and I keep getting picked on by the other countries...I keep giving in to their demands for spices and territory maps, because I know if I don't, they'll just send some spearmen in to kick the crap out of my fledgling cities and if I do stop developing my marketplaces or universities, or what have you, to create war units my civilization can't grow. I spend years and years just trying to keep enough units in the cities to sustain them in one turn of fighting while trying to create an arsenal on the other civilizations border meanwhile, the cost of the units overruns my treasury and so I cannot use the money to research new advances. And suddenly its all coming clear to me. or perhaps I'm just bitter.

Tech Kitty

I don't quite understand it but I love it.
Risa has an intimate relationship with my computer and printer, she hangs out up on the printer even when we're not in the room. It's not on except when we use it, so it's not producing any heat or vibration or anything...

Tilting at Windmills

At this point they came in sight of thirty, forty windmills that there are on plain, and as soon as Don Quixote saw them he said to his squire, "Fortune is arranging matters for us better than we could have shaped our desires ourselves, for look there, friend Sancho Panza, where thirty or more monstrous giants present themselves, all of whom I mean to engage in battle and slay, and with whose spoils we shall begin to make our fortunes; for this is righteous warfare, and it is God's good service to sweep so evil a breed from off the face of the earth."

--Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (Ch. 8)

What a calling, to be both crazy and to work to restore a golden age; to restore a sense of peace and happiness to the world...er through battle (of course in this case it happens to be windmills). Of course the word restoration may be too far-fetched as I cannot recall such an age in human history. A little help?

Perhaps that last bit came across as a wee bit of a downer. I just really enjoy Vonnegut's take on life, and I think that the word "used" is usually based in a negative sense, so to see it here as he describes it is a bit different. I recently read a charity book that Vonnegut did for NPR called "God Bless you Dr. Kevorkian" which is a quick book of shorts compiled from bits on NPR where he undergoes supervised near-death and interviews people from just outside the "pearly gates;" the subjects are diverse and include John Brown, Mary Shelley and Newton (and a few more). The cover shows his cartoon self on a gurney smoking a cigarette. I can't help but enjoy the dark sense of humor and commentary that it provides. I mean, c'mon, this is a man who has been saying he's going to sue the cigarette companies because he's been smoking for decades and the cigarettes haven't killed him yet (thank goodness).

"The worst thing that could happen to anybody, would be to not be used for anything by anybody."
-- Kurt Vonnegut

Working the corner has a whole new meaning...

I'm sure that this phenomena is not exclusive to where I live...however, I imagine, or at least I hope that it is not undertaken in less climate friendly areas....But I've noticed over the past few weeks that the favored mode of outdoor advertising is people dancing with signs on the street corners. It's really quite disturbing to me. I bike past them and wonder how they can stand there twisting a sign around loking like they care about the content, which is usually somthing like "senior housing" or "new apartments" and the sign is in the shape of an arrow. I can't even figure out what they're pointing at...and I know that if it was me, I would stand on the wrong corner with the arrow pointing the wrong way just to piss people off.

Too much Potter on the brain

I was watching Joe study for his weekly exam and thought to myself how wondrous it would be to study for tests with the aid of a pensieve :)
(Image courtesy of OOTP, JK Rowling)

Thailand by the days...

There is no way to go back and explain it all...plus it has almost been a month. But I want to pick out memories and jot them here, what follows is me trying to pick one photo from each day and build on it. Read on if you dare. It seems a bit foolish for me to being posting all this now, but I think maybe it will make me feel less sad that we're no longer there if I can just get it out...

Day One:
The arrival...How amazing is it to travel for some 20 or so hours halfway across the world, take the scariest taxi ride of your life, check into a nice little place in downtown Bangkok and walk down the stairs and meet your best friends in the little restaurant in the lobby? Pretty fucking cool...and as a bonus, the taxi ride has made it so I no longer fear death.

This is us on Koh San Road about an hour after arriving in Bangkok. This is, apparently, the haven for backpackers/travelers in Bangkok, it is packed with food and craft stalls and tons of people night and day. Toph introduced us to the splendor of vendor-sold fresh pineapple sprinkled with fresh chili powder and sugar. Mmmmmm....


Day Two:
Okay...I'm tempted to go with a memory of the train ride, because it was my first one, however, we also visited the Grand Palace on this day and the painstaking detail with which the Wat within was designed wins me over. We approached this architectural wonder by boat, touring the canal and making our way through the market at the pier. I was struck by the enormity of the buildings and thus the inability to find my way around. It also inhibits my ability to adequately explain the astounding beauty that it encapsulates...the gold leaf, the color, the detail in each square inch of space. I was also amazed at the multitude of different offerings based on the many belief systems that have coalesced in this area of the world. There was something for everyone, ranging from incense, to lotus flowers, to baskets of eggs and hot oil.

This is photo shows one of the 7 "pillars" that surround the main temple where the Emerald Buddha is stationed. Apparently, this particular Buddha has been moved every time the capitol has changed, Thailand (formerly Siam) is now, with Bangkok, on it's 4th capitol city.

Day Three:
Post train, we traveled into the rural areas north of Chiang Mai, my favorite thing on this particular day was our bike ride. We popped on to these lovely low-key bikes that put me in the spirit of the "Sound of Music" and rode around the backroads of the area we were staying in. We stopped off at a women's sewing cooperative where they fed us strawberry flavored Fanta (which is all the rage) and took us on a tour of their small shop and production area. There were beautiful hats, scarves, bags and more...I found some neat patchwork house slippers and I picked through dozens to bring up the biggest pair I could find to bring home for my brother. This day was truly full of many activities, we were fortunate enough to have an amazing Thai kantoke dinner, listen to local children play traditional instruments and then watch their patience with us as they tried to impart their skills upon us, each in turn taking their instrument around the group for a quick lesson. My skills with the Thai style violin are only slightly less devastating then my drumming talents.

Day Four:
This was our first day of trekking; there is obviously, so much that I'm glossing over, including our trip to the fabulous Chiang Mai night market where we encountered the spiciest food of our entire trip and more Thai goods and crafts in any other one place we visited (of course we were on a mission to find boxer shorts for Toph...every vendor...only silk boxers, who wants to hike in that?). The entire first day of our hike was so majestic, the mammoth bright green banana leaves obscuring the view of the never ending rice fields, the sudden creek or waterfall and the soft singing of our guide. What captured my imagination most was the vastness of the rice fields, not withstanding the incredible distance from the villages. Fields can be built as far as two hours away from the village that tends them. We saw small shelters dotted along the landscape to serve as day and night cover for those tending the fields. This photo is from one of the shelters.

Day Five:
This memory is pulled from our second evening, after a long day of trekking and spending some quality time around the village and also (for most) bathing in the cold creek near by. Whenever the trekking group visits this village they spend time with the young children and cook dinner for them. The requested meal this week was fried eggs and rice. So we all chipped in to buy some eggs (we left the rice to the experts) and they set us up over a fire with a wok. It was such a neat experience being in this village; it was the village that our porters were from, so we stayed with their families and enjoyed their gracious hospitality. It was quite cold in the evening here and we were glad for the long johns and our down sleeping bags (that we had lugged all over the country) this night. This is me expertly frying an egg and one of our porters, dubbed spiderman, teaching me.

Day Six:
Elephants! Oh my! I love elephants, in general. Truly, they are my favorite attraction at any zoo and though I was originally hesitant to ride them, feeling that it was abusive and was a poor way to treat wild animals (not that I prefer them behind bars in zoos or in the fucking circus or anything) I learned quite a bit beforehand that changed my mind. The elephant's habitat is being destroyed, the elephants themselves, although protected by international law are also being destroyed by poachers. What was so devastating about all of this was it was knowledge that I already had, only, now it was right in front of my face. It's easier to read about the atrocities committed against flora and fauna then to be faced with them, no joke. So cutting the story down fine, by riding the elephants we were feeding them. Our money paid for their meals and in essence, tourism was keeping the Asian Elephant alive in Thailand. Er...ecotourism if you will. There's so much more here and with this whole day, but here's a lovely picture of the baby elephant that stayed with it's mama while she gave a lively jungle tour. Interestingly enough after a few days of being in the woods and hiking through who knows what I came out realatively unscathed...put me on an elephant for an hour and I have to pick ticks off of myself. These elephants were incredible, I had no idea how agile they were or that even with their enormous bulk they would purposefully charge up and down steep hills for whatever they could get their trunks on. :)


Day Seven:
Hands down, the Chiang Mai cooking school. Of course I did receive the best massage I've ever had in the day market later this day...it was a foot massage, really a toes to knees massage that was perfect after lots of hiking. But the cooking school wins out, I didn't take a picture of my relieved feet (which everyone else should be relieved to hear). We started with a market tour where Jessica witnessed and was splashed during the brutal murder of a fish and we leaned a bit about the wonder of fresh Thai ingredients. We were then ferried back tot he school where we first watched our lovely host demonstrate how to make, first, a mainstream soup called tom yum goong (with lemongrass and shrimp) and then green curry and pad thai and finally, coconut banana cakes. After each demonstration we were sent out into the cooking area to try to remeber what we had just seen and put it into practice. It actually went a lot better than I expected. Everything was really yummy (we had a huge feast when we were done) and the cooking tools were awesome, we bought a knife from the school, that is positively fabulous, despite the fact that it made our airport security experience a wee bit of a hassle (not really, shipping it home would have cost about $25.00). I regret having not bought a wok while we were there...ti would have been worth dragging it around the rest of the trip, our wok at home is shit...as we have found out trying to replicate the recipes. We have had some success, although I would say our attempts at red cury have turned out much better than our pad thai. This picture is of the green curry with garnish (the garnish costs extra...wink wink nudge nudge) that I made.

Day Eight:
I really wanted to put the picture of us sitting around the airport waiting here...because we seemed to do a lot more waiting and transporting than anything else this day. However, after train, plane and automobile we visited the Temple of the tiger cave and some of us (meaning not me and Jess) hiked the extremely steep 1,272 steps to the top. We both tried, but for me it was the dread of coming back down the steps, it was quite vertical. A long day, and a complete turn-around from the bustling markets and local foods of Bangkok and Chiang Mai to the tourist beach areas of Krabi on Phuket. Beautiful though, that cannot be denied.
Photo of the vertical climb; no that is not my ass. This is baout where I stopped...somewhere on the 300th or 500th stair...who knows?



I think it should be noted that I started writing this blog on the 24th of January amid heckling from the peanut gallery that I "didn't really talk about our trip." I've been adding a bit everyday...It makes me feel better.

Day Nine:
The islands tour, warm, sunny and for me, tense on the speedboat ride. I've never felt uncomfortable in a speedboat until that day. I think it was just me though. This is when we realized that the rest of our trip was the beach and sun sort of thing. This photo is of the second island we went to that day, the rock outcrops such as this were everywhere and absolutely stunning. It should aslo be noted that this was the day we went snorkeling and Toph was brutally attacked by plankton :)

Day Ten:
Okay. Forget what I said about the speedboat. This was the day of the scariest boatride ever...EVER. No sun, lots of wind and rocking and waves and us being tossed about in a large form version of a longtail boat. Looking back I guess you could call it awesome, during, it was an excercise in remaining calm. I'm a total wuss. I know. It was worth it though, we ended up on the most beautiful island and had our own little bungalow and a kitchen in spitting distance that we ordered all our meals from. There was a lot of hammock"ing" and reading and drinking tea this day, it was quite windy and cool in comparison to every other day, still postively stunning however. See Photo :) This was actually taken by Toph or Jess...or with their camera anyway...

Day Eleven:
Island tour and rubber tapping, definitely the highlight, I had read about rubber tapping in Brazillian rainforests and the social and environemtnal movements there, so to actually see it put into practice here was very cool. Apparently, it is a night job...the tappers go around in late evening and cut the trees and then collect the rubber sap in the morning. We watched the rubber being flattened out by hand (or foot in this case) and then pressed to get the water out. Er...there's much more...but I feel that this is dragging out too long.

Day Twelve:
Apparently all that we were impressed about, enough to take a photo, this day was the mangroves...which as I'm sure you know are a unique and wonderful ecological phenomena that are being totally wiped out all over SouthEast Asia due to things like fish farming, logging and pollution from mining.

Day Thirteen:
Walking into the water...I do believe this was actually Dec. 25th...we spent two days on the beach in Phuket and were there to commemorate the anniversary of the Tsunami (Day Fourteen).



















Day Fifteen:
Going Home. It is bittersweet. At least we had good old Singha lager to keep us company.

This took two forevers...and I only feel mildly better. Next stop?

Someone please explain to me...

...the point of leaf blowers. I mean really.

We've reached an all time low...

Sigh.

Forecast for tomorrow...

There is a beautiful park that sits on the bike trail that is about 2 blocks from our apartment. Towering trees shade the trail and the surrounding grassy areas and now that I have some time on my hands, I thought I'd take the SLR for a trip to capture these magnificent trees. However, we noticed that the past months flooding had creeped into the park...we biked the short distance anyway to see it up close...no joke, the park, was a pond.

Well Sure!

The word "sure" is quite possibly one of the worst words within the English language that can be used as a reply to a "yes" or "no" question. "Sure" is an adjective, as in, indisputable, or careful or inevitable. However, many have used this word as an indication of yes; (Joe included) and it drives me nuts. It is such a non-committal utterance, offering what is more of a maybe than really a definitive answer or actually perhaps, just a space filler as the person answering the question has no idea what you asked them. "Would you like a bag for that?" "Sure." But why!??! It's a newspaper!
Would you like an expanded vocabulary? Sure. Drives me crazy.

2006 and the seventh plague

Joe and I spent a mostly quiet new years eve with each other and the many people who obliged us with phone conversations over the evening. The cold of suspect origin that I am hosting allowed me to do my best impression of someone who has been smoking since birth...and I'm sure that talking all night has done nothing to improve it today. But it was worth it.

On the other side of the year, I am guessing that I should get more acquainted with local events. I haven't really been living here that long so I hadn't found a good local paper or really made any attachment to the city at all. Apparently...there's a great risk of our area flooding since it's been raining every day since we got back. Not quite raining fire, but, I have never lived in an area prone to flooding before, so it all seems quite dramatic to me. The extensive coverage of the rain and "flood alert" (the potential breakdown of the levees and byways that make up the flood control system) by the paper has been headlined "Tempting Fate" a phrase that makes me want to review our renters insurance agreement.

Er...Happy 2006.

We're Home

...and I'm at a complete loss as to how to describe it in this forum...I wrote so much while we were there, to reproduce it would be too much.

Off we go into the wild blue yonder

Well we're fleeing the country for the remainder of the holiday season, by this time tomorrow we'll be far away and jet-lagged beyond all reason.

Happy Holidays. Mwhahaha.

Green Phone

I just signed up for paperless billing for our phone/dsl. I do this out of convienence and a desire to reduce all the paper that comes in the mail. The phone company thought of this too and has signed on with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant one tree for each customer that goes paperless. Cool.

It's days like these...

I sometimes miss the microwave. I want to reheat my coffee. That's all. Reheating food is easy enough in the toaster oven...but not so much on the coffee front.

Other dilemmas that make the coffee reheating seem frivolous this morning are the liters of toxic insect repellent that are now sitting on my bedroom floor. Jessica and I discussed how we felt that it was a necessary compromise, but it still irks me. I'm reading the spray bottle for treating clothes and bednets and it basically says to stay the fuck away from this kind of stuff...but here's how to lather it on to your daywear...he he he. Oh well.
One week to go...

...and the holiday season is upon us

Ugh. Holiday music at work and Christmas lights blinking out at us from the other apartment windows. I guess there could be worse things. Like Christmas songs sung by boy bands and Christina Aguilera...oh wait...

I truly do like the idea of the holidays, it's just what they've become that bothers me.

At least the lights are pretty.