Emerson Bell - Rest in Peace

How appropriate that I happened to be listening to T-monk when I learned the news. Hope you've picked your new incarnation. Unfortunately I'm behind in hearing about this. Like most, I mourn the passing of a wonderful person and masterful artist, but in addition, a talented jazz impressario and creative muse. Must be why I've been seeing so much of you in my dreams. Bon voyage, man - you've played it well.

Taken a few months before his passing. Thanks for teaching me to smelt my own metals, the fun between acetylene and butane burning, and the key to the perfect patina.

Mommy, Where do Stereotypes Come From?

Reading a letter to the editor in a small town paper (I was reeeeeaaaalllly bored while eating lunch one day) I was gobsmacked by what struck me as incredulous. Several stereotypes sprung to mind. First, the scenario.

I’ve always tried to pride myself on being one of those people who is hesitant – resistant, even – to falling back on unimaginative, degrading, insulting stereotypes. But today, that’s all that flooded my mind when I read the article.

There is obviously a bigger story and situation than is portrayed by the brief clipping, but in it, a woman writes about her distress in dealing with the child welfare system after her young child has been removed from her care.

Probably very correctly she espouses that protective service organizations do this as a result of physical, mental, or emotional abuse, as well as neglect such as improper nutrition, care, or clothing.

The core of her letter, however, indicates that once a child – particularly a baby – has been removed, the hurdles for the parent to regain custody seem to be tremendous, and according to the complainant, surmountable only with considerable financial assets to ease the way. She uses several examples to try to persuade the reader to the woes of parents in such a predicament.

What caused my jaw to drop, however, was her last argument.

“And what about the parents who didn’t even get a chance to abuse or neglect their children?”

The stereotypes?

Awww, that poor hillbilly, redneck, nascar-watching, budwiser-drinking, white-trash, meth-belt mom didn’t even git a chance to beat her babies yet before them social workers done took ‘em away from ‘er……….

Insanity? You Decide!

Just remembered this old favorite quote from Einstein (or as I like to call him, ol' One Cup):

Insanity:
doing something over and over expecting different results - Albert Einstein

I guess the perfect current example would be sending 20+,000 more troops to Iraq without a change in strategy. Some would question what, exactly, our strategy might be. The best part: - wait for it - is doing so:

• without utilizing REQUESTED feedback from the other assembled strategists that have contributed to provide alternative solutions such as
• the Iraq report
• feeds from members of Congress over the last 4 years
• while denying that there have been any other suggestions
• and while also stating, "there is no plan b"
• ...and that "failure is not an option".
  

So, apparently, we're going to keep on doing what we're doing, with no change in strategy, but this time - somehow - it'll work, by god. In other words, doing something over and over and expecting different results. Or, insanity without strategy.

As 2006 ends, Hussein is dead. Where is the US on its Hunt for Osama, Anyway?

Right now would probably be a good time (about 6 years overdue, actually) for the White House to develop a Global Political strategy that considers the other countries in the world as neighbors, rather than audience members. After 9/11/01, when we vowed to “hunt down bin Laden”, seemingly in an effort more to puff out our chests and show action that to do what we actually said, we opted to declare war on…..Iraq and topple Hussein. This is specious logic, picture-perfect hypocrisy at its best. “Look, ma, he did it! Now I’m going to go beat up this other guy, because, well, I don’t know where they guy who hit me is, I’m pissed off, and I don’t like this other one!”

Many Americans in their post 9/11 shock bought the buzzword media spin that was hard crafted to drive this. We had to chase terror, in any form. There could be weapons of mass destruction (as long as we didn’t look at any of our friendly countries or in our own back yard). Oh, and Saddam had committed genocide 25 years ago. We created all kinds of bridges and tunnels to subvert the constitution to meet those ends, in the name of ‘preventing another terror attack’. Any dissenting commentary was termed ‘unpatriotic’. Turns out only the genocide piece of Saddam’s blame points was true, and hey – what about the hunt for Osama, anyway? We’ve not heard a peep about that objective in 3 years. Now we’ve installed a puppet government in Iraq (that’s never worked for us when we’ve done it before), watched the country slip into civil war, and handed Saddam over to be hung on the eve of a Muslim holiday which will provide future insurgents with a handy holiday reminder in future years. And will no doubt drive the schism between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Iraq even further, to be echoed elsewhere throughout the Mid-east.

So, if our real objective, instead of finding Osama bin Laden, was instead to spend 5 years toppling a dictatorship that posed no threat to us for the reason that, in the end, the dictator committed genocide, then what does that say to the people of these other countries who have been living with the horror of genocide during that time in which the US has either aided and abetted the genocide or ignored it altogether? (See list below).

What this seems to say to the countries who have either tested their weapons of mass destruction, aimed at their enemies (N. Korea), or who already have them (much of the western world, India, Pakistan, China) is apparently: free pass – welcome to the mutually assured destruction club.

America’s global strategy, be it on perceived terror or otherwise national collaboration needs to be pulled from the state of tangled debris and deceit that it is in currently, or scrapped altogether, for one that is supported by logic and legality. How bout that for a 2007 New Year’s Resolution?

Currently at Genocide (Mass Killing) Stage:

Sudan – south, Nuba region
Sudan - Darfur
Uganda
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ethiopia
Colombia
North Korea
Nepal
Afghanistan
Pakistan
Baluchistan, Sind
Burma (Myanmar)
Sri Lanka
Uzbekistan Fergana Valley
Peoples Republic of China
Russia –Chechnya
Iraq
Israel – Palestine
Lebanon
This list ©2006 Gregory H. Stanton, Genocide Watch
http://www.genocidewatch.org/genocidetable2006.htm

Santa's Very Personal "Screw You"

I suppose I wasn't a very good girl this year, but I'm hard pressed to think of any bad things I've done. We were supposed to get some snow on Christmas Night, except I misunderstood that to be Christmas Eve. So on Christmas Morning, I looked out of one of my front / side windows to check what the snowfall was. I saw no snow - instead, I saw raw sewage - my own (yep, turds'n'all, which is all you can really see in the grass) surrounding my sewer drain access cover. I've had slow drainage issues, which my plumber has previously declared the Fault of the Neighbor's Giant Maple Roots getting into my drain, which would have to be snaked out annually. That's on the calendar for March. Might have to be more than annually. But this being Christmas day, I wasn't going to be calling the plumber out. And I didn't want my little bodily presents out decorating the yard. So I grabbed a dozen or so Kroger bags and went out to do what any good pet owner should do when walking the dog - prepped with bags turned inside out, I went to go pick up my own crap. A humbling start to Christmas day.

You Think You Know Your Geography?

I've been around the world a time or three, and only scored a 62 on THIS test. Oy......By the way, it's World Geography Awareness week. Test your knowledge - and good luck!

Anal? Or Detail-Oriented? You Decide....

--excerpt from an email--

I'm writing to comment on the Chicken Wonton Salad with the Honey Mustard dressing. It's one of my faves here at the cafeteria, but I'd like to offer two improvements:

First, wontons are really pasta-like dumplings for soup - actually the precursors to ravioli - and what is included in the salad seems to be thinly cut strips of flour tortillas then fried. That's fine, but if the salad continues using tortillas instead of wontons then perhaps it should be renamed. Call it the chicken tortilla salad or the chicken fiesta salad, but don't deceive consumers by calling it a chicken wonton salad. Even the deep-fried American variety of wontons still reflect their Chinese heritage and are typically wrapped around a bite of meat or other filler prior to frying. Thin fried strips of crunchy stuff does not a wonton make.

Another suggestion would be to use dark greens in the salad portion of the meal - baby spinach, red leaf lettuce, etc. This is marketed as a healthy meal, but by insisting on using iceberg lettuce, you're including value-less, taste-less filler with the nutritional equivalent of cardboard. The mandarin orange slices are a nice touch!

Lastly, I'd like to comment on the breakfast burritos. You should see what people do to these when they leave the serving line. They unroll the meat, egg, and chese from the tortilla and throw the flour tortilla shell away. I can tell you why - it's too big and too thick. One suggestion is to have someone coordinate with the food services group in our offices in Texas to learn how to make breakfast tacos. For the stuffing in today's current burritos, you could use 1/2 of the wrap material, call it a breakfast taco, and increase revenue to sell 2 for $2. People buy the burritos, as I do, because they want a quick "all in one" breakfast thing that is quick and portable - like the croissant and bagel breakfast sandwiches. I'd venture most people don't like being so wasteful with their burritos. And if time and budget allow, even better to ditch the canned salsa and chop up some freshly - eliminating the tinny taste.

Thanks!!

I suppose you could make the argument either way....but I'd be interested in your opinions!

2007 Calendars - Get Yours Here!

I've decided to self-publish a 2007 Calendar with photos from some of my favorite places: Singapore, Norway, Cambodia, New Zealand, Nepal, Thailand, Morocco, and the US. If you'd like to buy one, you'd have my eternal thanks! Click here to purchase or here to see the photos used for the production.

It's Getting Hard Out Here to be a Camper

Lifehacker recently posted this article about making summer camping reservations now to get spots in more popular destinations. This is becoming a growing pain in my ass....because there is just something inherently wrong with having to reserve a spot on the ground for you and your tent. With a credit card. Six months or more in advance!

If I've never been to Yosemite before (which I haven't), how would I know which back-country site I would want to try and reserve? It's ridiculous. One of the purest pleasures of strapping on a backpack and heading into the backcountry is discovery - not only of place and wildlife and flora and fauna and landscape, but also of the sometimes Perfect Camping Spot. In my humble opinion, this is what backcountry hikers love most. The feeling of discovery. The last thing I want to do when on a backcountry trip is block myself into a desintation itinerary with a timetable. What about the path less traveled? What if I want to strike a different route then the one I was aiming for? What about flexibility and discovery?

The need for guerilla reservation tactics is because more and more people are heeding the call of Nature. They have a real need to escape from the wholly plugged-in, hyperfast reality in which they live the bulk of their lives. It's also a simple supply and demand dilemma. More people with a desire to use public lands, with a public land balance that is not able to meet the need.

Really makes you want to go build a cabin in the woods. Good luck finding a spot to yourself, though. You can petition here to protect the Public Lands that we do have from being parceled and sold; or here to support the creation of public landss (has a search-by-state feature for existing or proposed areas).

It's On, Baby.......

It's official: NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is on. The objective is to write 50,000 words during the month of November, and people from all over the world are taking up the effort. A friend suggested trying it out as a means to unrust some writing chops, and I've taken him up on the challenge. And tonight was the first effort.

I have to say, so far, I'm enthusiastic. I'm not an avid writer; it comes in fits and starts. But I'm using this as a process exercise - essentially, re-energizing a stream-of-consciousness writing state. I'm approaching it differently than most in that I'm not trying to write a novel. In fact, I can't remember the last time I read a novel. I find the world too fascinating a place to bother with fiction. What I do have, however, are shelves of travel journals in various stages of wear and tear, and a long-harbored goal to one day write my own travel experiences. There are now a few women writers on the subject, but when I initially had this dream, for the most part, the women writers were from the Victorian age or wrote about how many guys they could bag on summer break on Ibiza or Cancun. That's changed, but only somewhat, and I've often entertained the idea of adding my travel experiences to those shelves of writing mostly occupied by the men whose books I've devoured over the years.

I'm not setting out to write a travel book - but to exercise my writing abilities. And, if at the end of this exercise, something interesting emerges, I may just pursue that output a bit further to find out if it could yield any fruit. For the time being, though, I'm excited about my first night's work. I've already veered seriously away from my outline of travel stories and written predominantly about my back-story; how it was that I found myself overseas in the first place. The rest of the month will be focused on writing about some of my favorite and most interesting travel experiences. They're not all shiny, happy stories - sometimes the best story to read after the fact is about the experience that, at the time, seemed unlivable.

At any rate, I feel I'm off to a good start, with just under 3500 words which were, essentially, the result of a stream-of-consciousness mind-dump. Which, after all, is the point. For me.

Kitty Porn

My cat has recently taken to stretching out on my lap when I watch the news. He lays out on his back, paws in the air, ready and waiting for his tummy rub. Because of his hair, I have taken to laying out a quilt on my legs when he does this. I decided to take a snapshot that in itself is not spectacular, but when I thought of the caption, found it pretty hilarious. I hope you do too.

Halloween Quip

Overheard Trick-or-Treat quip:

Departing boy: "She was soooooo pretty!"
Departing sister: "I liked her pants!"
...wait for it...
Departing boy: "I meant the kitty!"

In the quaint midwestern town where I live, for some reason, the Town Wise Men and Women have decided that children go trick-or-treating on the Thursday before Halloween. I've got a couple of problems with this, which I'll enumerate here.

First, the Thursday before Halloween was October 26th, 5 days before Halloween itself. Secondly, if it *had* to be on a Thursday, why not November 2, which is only 2 days removed? And finally, the trick-or-treaters were done by 8:30. Thursday, just like Tuesday, October 31st, is a school night. Why move it if it's finished early enough not to interfere with school night activities? Why have it on a Thursday at all? I just don't understand that, and no one I've asked locally has any answers. So, I'm going to have to draw out the big guns, and Write the City Council.

I'm a big fan of Halloween fun. No weird contextual underlying thing to infer here, I just love it as a way to celebrate the changing of seasons and a really good excuse for a costume (as opposed to work, which is my typical Monday - Friday costume habit). And, I'm glad I was able to experience it here. This town of about 40,000 is incredibly safe and peaceful, so children here, unlike in Houston or other metropolitan areas, can still go door-to-door trick-or-treating in relative safety. No fears of being snatched up by predators or poisoned by sickos.

So, as soon as it got dark, the traffic along my street was incredible, with cars parked all along the south side (no parking on my side!!). A steady stream of kids poured through, and there was some definite creativity put into a number of the costumes. Many of the kids stepped all the way inside the house and would comment about the fireplace, the carpet, the tv, etc. - very nice and polite munchkins. Most even said "thank you", and one chatty Cathy, after thanking me, wished me a Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas!!

The best costume was worn by a young boy. He definitely had help from a parent or two, but his costume was ingenious. It was a cardboard construction of a refrigerator. There was an opening in the top freezer compartment for his face. Upon reaching the door, he'd say trick-r-treat, and open his own door - the fridge door. Inside the door were some empty bottled drinks, a carton of eggs, and other condiments. The body of the fridge had a cutout with a bag attached marked "Candy". Ingenious!
The other notables of the night were a young girl dressed as Velma, the brainiac from Scooby Doo. Kudos to young girls dressing as smart girls. Then there were a group of four teens. They wore probably The Most Shocking costumes in town - and probably the Rebel Teenagers. One girl was dressed as a pregnant nun, accompanied by her muslim husband. They in turn were accompanied by another couple - a gay priest holding hands with a hassidic jew. All very Benneton.

So, here in NW Ohio, Halloween is apparently over. We'll have to see if my yard pumpkins go missing on the Real Hallowed Eve......

Winter Already?

Pac-Man Pumpkin Pie......

Another winter is upon us. I know, it’s only recently officially become ‘autumn”, but here in NW Ohio, the leaves have for the most part changed color and many are already on the ground. This week is cold, grey, and rainy, and last week we even had a short snow flurry. So, because I’ve had to run the heater, it feels like winter. And I think this has triggered some latent domesticity in me. I still find this an interesting process and reflect upon it as an observer, even as I find myself experiencing it.

You’d think, after finding a 125 year-old house that needed some work, the domesticity bug had already bitten. It had not – that was purely a financial decision made easier by the rentals available in my new town. The needed work posed for me a new challenge. Could I re-do two bathrooms? Would I want to? Could I get someone to help me? Can I learn enough about grout repair online to effectively employ it without hosing up my home’s value? These seemed like fun little distractions.

But now, the majority of my Home Projects are complete. I went project-happy earlier this year and probably, in hind sight, should have spread them out a bit. But, at the time, part of me just wanted Everything Perfect so the only thing I would HAVE to do at home was enjoy it instead of continuously working on little projects, which would inevitably, and quickly, remove the attraction I have for This Old House.

But, I think, with the onset of the Cold and the Grey, I’ve taken a subconsciously different turn on the home life. Take this weekend. I had some plans for around the house, so opted not to go out of town. My plans took a tangent on Saturday – which started by not being able to operate my new chainsaw. Fortunately, a friend called with Something Else to Do, so I eagerly left the work behind. Enjoyed cooking a meal for a friend later that night, and somehow, I think that triggered a massive cooking itch.

I decided, for some reason, to cook a jambalaya on Sunday. I’ve not cooked one in years, and don’t really know how to prepare a good jambalaya in volumes small enough for one person. I think my version could literally feed 12. Fortunately, I had some help in putting a dent in the volume of food, but there’s still a lot left over. (And, yes, it’s even better now!). Also, for reasons unknown to me (but still entertaining), I wanted to make a low-fat pumpkin/spice pie. So I did. And an Indian twist on a salad. Did that too. I even finished up all sorts of lingering laundry and other chores of the domestic ilk. Except dusting. I had to leave something to do for Some Other Time.

So, for now, I’m hoping I got all that out of my system. This weekend promises to be sunny. I promise to explore it, beyond the bounds of my home and yard. A girl’s got to keep things things at bay, after all……

Telepathic Radio

I've recently had a discussion with a friend about this phenomenon I call many things - soul radio, telepathic radio, internal radio - I've not yet landed on a term that fits it best. At any rate, we've all experienced that tune that, unwarranted and unprompted in any way, just seems to enter your head. It seems practially everyone experiences this. In Australia, I met a crystal-loving hippie that described this phenom as a kind of radio signal reverb from the universe, and that it was a signal that one needed to heed as a cosmic communication. I don't know about all that.

I tend to experience it a lot. And, I've toyed with creating a list of those that seem to "pop in". There are a couple of ways I'd categorize the songs that enter my thought process: oddball, coincidental, nature/acoustic, and reminiscent.

Those in the oddball category are just that because they are not a genre I'm otherwise interested in, or I have very little generational relevance to them. These include songs by the Andrews Sisters, Newcleus (Jam on It), Kraftwerk (ewww!), and a few operatic stretches. When they start up in my head, I often think, "what? not again.......". So, right here I'm ruling out some sort of personal affinity for the songs that come to me. Or the theory of some cosmic communication. What is the value of the cosmos sending me Tannheuser when I don’t speak German?

The coincidental ones are my favorites. For example, when traveling through Bosnia-Herzegovina during the war, I had a close encounter with the butt of a soldier's rifle. And just before that event, Rockwell's "(I Always Feel Like) Somebody's Watching Me" was running through my mind. Other interesting flukes seem to happen prolifically when I’m overseas. I’ve never really been a big fan of Tom Petty before the Wildflowers cd, but in the early 90’s, his “American Girl” and Bowie’s (who I’ve always been a fan of) “Young American” often entered the thought process. At one point, 4 Non Blondes “What’s Going On” was popular all over Europe (after having exhausted itself in the US), and this would frequently play in the background on events when I encountered translation difficulties. Ironically, I met the drummer for the band at a bar in Istanbul, who said, literally, “What’s going on?”….but that’s another story.

Nature / acoustic type music -- and no, I’m not referring to a recording of crickets in the forest-- seem to come to me when on a really good hike or a camping event. These are heavily populated by John Denver tunes, with CSN&Y, Nick Drake, and Neil Young’s later solo work (mostly from Harvest Moon) thrown in for good measure.

Finally, the reminiscent songs. Because I’ve become aware of the effect that music seems to have on me in a recalcitrant manner, sometimes I plant musical seeds for later harvest. For a few years, my friend Matt and often drove to western Wyoming, throughout Utah, and Colorado for some camping and hiking adventure. We always brought along some music for the occasion. One thing these areas have provide to the outdoors fan is a looohhotttttt of drive time. So, anymore, I can’t hear Rufus Wainright, Coldplay, Jack Johnson or G. Love, Beck’s Sea Change, or Mightymouse without also feeling a momentary elation about having been able to hike, climb, and camp in some of what I consider the best outdoor country in the world. Or driving in that region, singing at the top of my lungs. Sorry, Matt – the Meters just didn’t leave the same impression. So, now, if I’ve got a bit of a drive and I want a happy memory boost, I’ll bring along a cd from one of these previous adventures, and relive it, just a little. Even better is when they just come to me in my thought process. It’s at that moment that I reap what I’ve sown years before.

Likewise with my mp3 player. The music on that hasn't changed much since I was working overseass. It's as though I've been able to freeze some of the best memories and events of that time through the music on my gadget, and adding more music to it now would skew its reminiscence factor.

On my last weekend adventure attempt, I brought along the Coldplay cd, along with a few Jack Johnsons, and the new Beck. Unfortunately, the Coldplay and JJ's In Between Dreams cd cases were empty......

Con - sarn it!!!

I tried to go for another weekend camping adventure. As you can probably guess, it was not quite a success. I've encountered the third location that was "full" and unavailable for backpacking!!

I still have a difficult time accepting this. In my outdoors experiences in states West of the Mississippi, in National Forest country, there are lots of little gravel roads that lead like little capillaries into the heart of the forest. Sometimes, there are campsites scattered within; other times, trailheads. In any case, if you find yourself exploring one of these little roads, you - as a single owner representative of Public Lands - can strike off on the trail or pitch a tent. Even in Texas, in the State Forests, the same holds true.

Not so in Ohio! I visited Mohican Memorial State Forest. I'm not sure what the 'memorial' is for - perhaps obliteration of the Mohicans? Their western-most lands were in present-day Vermont. There is a memorial shrine in the forest dedicated to Ohioans who lost their lives in wars from WWII onward.

Here are some differences in the way Ohio manages its State Forest: it closes at 11 pm. Yes, that's right - with actual gates that are closed on the roads. There are trailheads that close at dusk (whatever you may interpret that to mean), with their own sets of crossroad gates. It has trails that you can walk, bike, or weather permitting, snowmobile - but they are marked with signs indicating that you must stay on the trails. So, I suppose, if you're snowshoeing on the trails and a flock of snowmobiles roars forth, you're SOL.

On the plus side, it is located in beautiful rolling hills and heavily treed. The trees were putting on their fall colors in beautiful arrays - the forest had the most reds I've seen (but probably only about 10% of the color observed was reds). It has a lodge and a resort with associated campgrounds, which were all literally overflowing with people and tents. Who wants to camp like that? Maybe that's all these eastern midwesterners know, but I find it almost repulsive to pitch a tent 5 foot away from someone else's tent unless we're at something like Burning Man. There are also natural gas transmission lines throughout the forest, which to forest management's credit, are well tucked away from the trail structure.

So, it was with a bit of a sigh that, after driving and hiking and exploring this region, I decided to come home. It's only about a 2 hour drive, and wasn't worth hoteling to explore the next day, because I'd been able to walk the trails in one shot. Besides, it was going to get down to the upper 30s, so I could take a soak in the giant tub and light a fire. Which is just about as fun as camping anyway. And, I've not been home for a weekend since August, so there is a whole lot that I needed to catch up on. At least, this way, I was able to make a dent in my ever-growing list of Things to Do and still enjoy some time outside.

Some of My Favorite Photos

My Favorites
Originally uploaded by partially landed vagabond.

From Top, Left to Right:
Morocco, Morocco, Wyoming, Ohio, Cambodia
Morocco, Morocco, Canary Islands, Thailand, Singapore
Norway, Nepal, New Zealand, Cambodia, Morocco
Morocco, Morocco, Morocco, Singapore, New Zealand.

Looks like I've got - by count anyway - a new fave setting for travel shots!

Meet Arya Gaduh

I've been enjoying a bit of blog-versation on one of my favorite blogs, "On Indonesia and the Economy". It's a ripe, heady blog that feeds my interest in economics as a behavioral indicator on a more global scale than what I could find on, say, cnn. At any rate, Indonesia being a Muslim country, the topic recently has turned to Ramandan, and one of the features of the season being helping the poor. A few postings have been made about begging. In it, Arya...pardon the pun....begs the question of who really benefits by giving to the poor: the poor, or the giver. During Ramandan, it is said that the generous are richly rewarded in heaven. But, the recipient is also a benefactor. Is there a way to quantifiably measure who benefits more? In this series of posts, I commented about an experience in New Delhi when the beggars - during the Hindu Diwali festival - went on strike, thereby preventing any potential donor from accumulating good karma. At any rate, if you are interested in some really good reading, soul-food style, and an appreciation of the economics of Indonesia in particular, by an incredibly well-read and well-writing blogger, check it out. Often.

Awww, c'mon, now....

I'm experiencing a new situation in my new hometown. Neighbor issues. I've not really had to deal with these before for the most part, because, with my past neighbors - of all ages - I'm typically friends with them. In this case, it's a little different. I've posted before about an odd situation with this neighbor, in which complaints about my large maple tree were relayed (albeit by a 9-year old). I've since had that tree considerably trimmed - for my own reasonst, not the neighbor's.

Now, it seems, we have a new problem. Last weekend, I noticed that the mom was spraying something along my fence. I usually weed-wack the fence, but had been gone for a few weeks, so I didn't mind that so much. I noticed she was spraying Round-Up. I thought, "great, one thing I don't have to do."

But this week, I noticed what the Round-Up has killed. And, all of the kill path seems to be in my yard. Along the edge of my landscaping and new mulch:
...and along the inside of my fenceline, reaching, I think, exceedingly far at the top of the photo. For this, I noticed that she was leaning over my fence to extend her spray reach.
Why would someone do that? Too add insult to injury, I noticed 6 not-so-little piles of presents from the neighbor's 100+ pound chocolate lab in my yard (and noticably, none in the neighbor's front yard).

I made an effort to publicly pick up the dog shit. Then I went next door to very politely ask that the neighbors refrain from allowing their dog to shit in my yard and from spraying my perfectly weed-free lawn with Round-Up. But there was no answer. (They really might be out of town.)

But I still can't get over the audacity of a neighbor to do this. I have a theory, though. Maybe, my recent tree work, landscaping, and vacation departure have served as a reminder to the parents next door of all of the free time and disposable income they no longer have with three children. It's the only thing I can think of. I've got to be sure to remain on the high road, in any case, as the neighbors both work in law enforcement. So, as soon as we're both home, I'm going to pay them a kind, neighborly visit. Until then, I'm photodocumenting any activity along that side of my house.

Now What???

I’m almost out of vacation days as September nears an end and time slips quietly into Autumn, and I find myself wondering what I can do next. Normally this doesn’t happen until the new year when I tend to reflect back; project forward. Now, though, it seems to be naturally occurring for me much earlier in the year. And, this reflection seems to be intricately tied to my vacation time. It’s nearly done for the year, and somehow, I think that has become the triggering event for my current train of thought.

Granted, life in Ohio isn’t bad, it’s just…..not very exciting. I tend to get that from going Elsewhere. But now that I’m almost out of vacation time, it feels as though my Personal Excitement Potential has dwindled to near-zero.

So, I’ve started thinking of other ways I can get my groove on, while being in a comfortable, genteel village in Ohio. One thing I was initially jazzed about was taking flying lessons. I’ve made a few inquiries to places that purport to be ‘flying schools’, but they’re either not really in that business or not interested in increasing their business from interested parties. Another option is skydiving but unfortunately that’s a few and far-between event here, and even worse, advertised at the same flight training places that don’t bother to return genuine interest phone calls.

There’s an equestrian center for the university nearby, but on last inquiry it required student status to use. Or a horse. I was planning to resume my MBA this September, but my vacation plans spanned over the period of course startup, so that will have to wait. And, no – I will not tolerate any comments about my priorities being mixed up; I will always place an Adventure in Another Country over starting something routine and otherwise mundane, any day.

So I find myself on a drizzly Saturday, confounded by my own “What Next?” dilemma, and fighting the onset of a cold. The only cure is to pour myself into efforts of interest, and see what shakes out. Vacation come-down sucks.

My Moroccan Chicken Tajine

Well, it's finally happened. I've found myself back in a kitchen. But I'm not complaining.....
Thought I'd list out my favorite Moroccan meal in recipe form for any you you out there willing to try it.

Note: I tend to be an anarchist in the kitchen – and don’t measure anything. Quantities listed here are general assumptions and may need to be tailored to suit your tastes.

This is a traditional Moroccan dish, but cooked without the traditional Moroccan ceramic cookware and without being done over a slow blazing charcoal roast. Instead, I find it easy to recreate using a crock pot. This recipe fills a medium-sized crock pot.

Feeds 2, maybe with some leftovers
Prep time: 10 – 15 minutes
Cooking time: 4-5 hours (on high), 7-8 (on low)

Ingredients:

Meat:
Chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces (customary to use lamb but I don’t like it so much).

Veggies:
Some tomatoes, diced (Romas are preferred)
1 large (or two small) whole white or purple onion, chopped
~ 2 cloves of minced garlic
1 bunch cilantro (chopped)
1 or 2 sliced zucchini or squash (for texture and color variety)
1 cup of olives with juice (I like the kind pictured below: various olives in a merlot)
Handful of chopped mushrooms
~2T. of lime or lemon juice

Spices:
1t. Cumin (though Curry can be substituted)
1t. Tumeric
1t. Corriander
1t. Ground Ginger
1T. Black Pepper
pinch of Saffron
1t. Course / Sea salt

Other stuff:
~ 2 c. chicken stock or broth

Preparation:
Add the broth to the crock pot.
Chop all the stuff up and dump it into the crock pot.
Stir it up a bit, gently folding ladlefuls of the meal over and over, to ensure equal coverage.
Cover and let it go.

Check occasionally to ensure it is not getting too dry; if so, add more broth, some merlot or a chardonnay, or as a last resort, water.

Serve with fresh, flat bread (pita works well) and Moroccan Mint Tea; finishing with Moroccan Orange Dessert.

Moroccan Mint Tea

Ingredients:

Teapot

Tea (doesn’t matter what kind – most ‘recipes’ call for green tea, and other than a few high-end restaurants, I’ve seen regular teabags used in Morocco)
Bunch of mint
Lots of Sugar

Preparation:
Heat tea in a kettle.
To the serving teapot, add the boiling water and teabags. Let steep for about a minute.

Add the equivalent of 1-2 tsp. of sugar per anticipated serving to the teapot; stir, let continue to steep for a minute.

Crush several mint sprigs (to release the oils) and add them to the teapot, allow to continue to steep for a minute longer.

Add a sprig of mint to each serving glass (or crush the mint sprig into a small ball and place in the bottom of the glass).

Pour one glass of tea, with a high arc, into a glass. (This is the aerating tradition). Pour the glass of tea back into the teapot. Pour (again with a high arc) into each serving glass, and serve.

Moroccan Orange Dessert

Feeds: 2.
Prep time: 5 minutes.

Ingredients:
One navel orange, peeled and sliced
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Powdered sugar
Nuts – walnuts, almonds, your preference
Honey

Preparation:

Slice the orange either in wedges or flat slices. (This works better with flat slices, because then the nuts can rest on the flat surface of the orange. In the photo, I’ve sliced my oranges into wedges which nearly eliminated the ability to pick up any walnut pieces on the same fork as an orange slice.)

Prepare the serving dish:
A scribble of honey, sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg.
Lay out the orange slices, sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg, nuts, and powdered sugar.
Serve and enjoy.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Maps!!

Decided to rent a car in Morocco. Initially, a couple of us hired a car and driver to go from Fes to Marrakesh to pick up my friend Alan at the airport there. This seemed like a great idea at the time - we could stop at will for drinks, photo ops, etc., and not be trapped into the same 'train set' that took half of my day just to get to Fes in the first place. On that adventure, from Casablanca, I purchased a 2nd class seat in an airconditioned compartment. Train fares are dirt cheap in Morocco, and it's a great way to see the inner city of the country's larger metropolitan areas. Last time I rode the train in Morocco, this classification of travel had assigned seats and compartments, and was not air conditioned.

Imagine my surprise when, at the train station in Casablanca, all was a mad rush just to board. It was similar to - but not quite as bad as - trying to board a train in India. I just don't have the cahones to push old, veiled ladies to the side to squeeze onto a car. I managed to board but was crammed sardine-like into a car which had all of the compartment and seat numbering removed. I could only bear standing in the aisle for an hour or so, but by then enough people had disembarked to allow me to lay down my pack for something to sit on. Shortly after that, a seat opened up in a compartment. I found my way to it, and the compartment doors closed - to keep the hot air from the aisles out. Unfortunately, the hot air from the aisles was the only "air conditioning" that this car along with several others had. It was a bit disappointing.

So, for a trip south to Marrakech, I opted not to train. However, this opened the door to a new type of heat adventure: traveling through Morroco's interior, at the end of summer, in 105 to 107 degree temps, in an unairconditioned car with the windows down. Because there were 3 of us - the driver, Sayeed, and my Spanish/Morrocan/Jewish friend Tony, we rotated passenger seating. The car was a hatchback and with the windows down, the victim - I mean, passenger - in the back seat was subject to incredible gusts of baking hot wind and often sand that would force heated air and particulate into the nose, ears, and somehow even the closed mouth. By the time we reached the airport at Marrakech, the temp was at 107, and all of us felt completely wiped out.

We did sucessfully pick up Alan, a colleague from the Norway-based project I'd previously been working on, and drove back up to Fes for a wedding celebration. But Alan only had 3 days in the country with an early morning return, so we had to turn around and head right back to Marrakech. For this journey, though, I rented a car. With airconditioning. And we drove a different route.

The driving was incredible fun - especially with windows up and air conditioning. The roads in the countryside are sealed two-laners that twist and bend first through the Middle Atlas mountains, and then through the High Atlas range nearer to Marrakech. We ventured in and around both ranges, and before I knew it, we'd driven almost 10 hours. It felt like 4, and I felt like Mario Andretti - straightening out curves, or eating up the camber of the road. We all had to be on the lookout for goat and sheep herds, though - one of the beauties of Morocco is that is nearly fence-less (minus the walls that surround cities and homes).

What we did not have was a real map. My guidebook, in the introductory pages, had a basic map - more for the purposes of illustrating where the towns and points of interest are, though it did show a few main roads. But, as has been said many times before, the journey is the adventure - and with maps, we very likely would not have encountered a village's traditional heritate celebration. This was a re-enactment of the tribespeople of the village putting down an invasion by nomads, and consisted of elaborately decorated riders on even more elaborately decked out horses - complete with antique musket-like guns layered in silversmithing. Alan, Tony, and I were the only non-regional folks there. And we would have missed the serendipitous celebration had we bought a map.

The Depreciating Value of Youth & Beauty

Ok, I know, a heady title. But there's a funny story behind it. Not that I consider myself a current or former poster child for Youth & Beauty......

Recently, on my trip to Morocco, a friend I was traveling with (who spoke Arabic) was offered 500 camels for me in a small country town during a rest stop.

Flattering, possibly, when you consider a good camel can be bought for about 1500 euros. My perceieved value by this berber gentleman farmer is $592,500 USD. The problem (well, one among many) is that approximately 10 years ago on my first visit to Morocco, my then boyfriend was offered 8,000 camels for me, or $9,480,000. Of course, then I had long hair that was blond, and youth on my side.

Jump forward to last week. I'm creeping up on 40 and have short auburn hair, and it appears I've suffered a 93.75% depreciation in overall net value. Fortunately, because my friend was a good negotiator and could do so in Arabic, he was able to get the value bumped up to 625 camels, 93 goats, 2 horses (male and female), and a female donkey, with some chickens thrown in for good measure.

Unfortunately, with my current rate of personal depreciation in Morocco, next year I'll be worthless. Though that could be an interesting travel aspect in an of itself - as in perhaps whatever friend I have with me won't be solicited to sell me.

Morocco Revisited: Je suis arrivé! (I have arrived!)

First off let me describe my posting methodology for this trip. If you are looking for photos, go to the other blog. I will be posting commentary here, and eventually, photos there. But this first post I have made to both sites.

I made it to Morocco - it is HOT - and my French is rustier than I imagined!

I would love to use contractions but the keyboards in Morocco are not laid out in qwerty fashion, so while many of the letters are in the same position, I cannot find the apostrophe icon anywhere. The thing I am tripping up on the most is that the M is to the right of the qwerty-placed L space, and there is a comma where the M should be. So you may see Q where A should be and commas for Ms.

As for speaking, since the last time I was here I have become more versed in Spanish and apparently lost some French capabilities. So now instead of speaking right away, I think of what to say and in my mind I have to translate, which to my brain right now means English - Spanish. Then I have to think French, and then say it. The embarrasing part of all of this is that this sequence seems to initiate only once I have opened my mouth.

Imagine someone walking up to you to ask a question, but instead, you see an open mouth and can hear no sound except the rusty mental gears trying to crank the language skills back into use. When you finally hear something it is with all of the finesse that a 10-year old could flourish linguistically.

My arrival in Morocco was apparently more amazing than that of my checked luggage. I had an hour layover in Paris, and the flight arrived 20 minutes early. But in true major airport fashion, we taxied on the runway for a good 20 minutes before I boarded a bus to the terminal, and another bus to the terminal I needed to transfer to. Then I got lucky and jumped into the brand new line that formed at the transfer/customs location after which I was able to directly board for the Casablanca flight. But, that boarding went to the ground, to another bus that got stuck in a short traffic jam behind 4 fire trucks busy putting out a luggage cart engine fire.

To make things interesting, I really had to pee just before disembarking the first flight. And, since the flight staff were stingy with the liquids on the flight I was also parched. I managed the thought of not having a bathroom opportunity with the irrational assumption that, since I was so thirsty, it was probably best I retained all liquid that I had. My chances to change some dollars for euros, find a bathroom, and make my once-daily connector flight were zero.

Transit overall was very good - smooth check-in, good flight, great onboard movie selection (I had my choice of indy/foreign flicks), great food, and apparently my luggage had an easier transfer than I did. I was convinced that it would not arrive today, so seeing it on the rotator belt was a very happy reunion moment.

Until I later opened it to find my shampoo had exploded in my toiletries bag. That was a first.

Now, off to a good Salon de The (tea); then a recommended spot for pastillas for dinner ith the possibility of catching a small group of traditional musicians in from Marrakech. Gleaned the latter off of the radio, so it will be interesting to see if my comprehension is correct.

watch this spqce..........observez cet espace.........

T H R O U G H

Last weekend, there was an annual Balloon Fest in town. I learned about this not through local media (the paper is quite dreary and a day behind); not through the community calendar online (which is woefully out of date), or through the newspaper's online edition (since it's only a portion of the actual paper). There is not a local television station for news events, and while there is a college radio station, it's not often listenable. As for having public event notices, I've not listened enough to find out.

I learned about the balloon festival by stepping outside on Friday morning to go to work, and hearing an overhead whoosh sound. When I looked up, I saw some hot air balloons floating over the city. It was all a bit exciting. Later at work, in the print edition of the newspaper, I read about a website, where I could find a schedule of events. The festival was ongoing from Friday through Sunday.

On Saturday, rain was forecast, so it was the perfect day to go find a gradual neutral density filter and adapter for my camera. Except the closest camera shops are in Toledo, an hour away. I spent the day, then, running errands out of town. When I got back, it was still raining, so I naturally took a nap, planning to go to the Balloon Fest on Sunday.

Come Sunday, around 12:30, I packed up my camera, hopped on my bike, and headed to the Balloon Fest to shoot some photos. I arrived to find about 20 kids playing soccer - and nothing else. No sign, other than an ironic signboard, that the festival had been there in the first place.

results for: through
–preposition
1. During the whole period of; throughout: They worked through the night.
2. Having reached the end of; done with: to be through one's work.
3. To and including: from 1900 through 1950. or, in this case, August 18 through August 20.

How foolish I was to assume "August 18 through 20!" meant that this included activities occuring on Sunday, the 20th......!!

Perseid Meteor Showers.....happening now!

Today is August 13th, and I just read that we're in the middle of the Perseid metor showers this year. Unfortunately, I also learned the peak of activity was to be last night!! But, activity should last through most of August, and I plan on figuring out how to capture long exposures on my digital SLR, and try my luck and shooting some stars.

From NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) site, complete with great links and photos:
While the Perseid meteor shower is scheduled to peak this weekend, bright light from an almost full Moon will also flood the night and mask the majority of relatively faint meteors. Still, skygazing in the evening before the Moon rises (before about 10 PM local time) could reveal spectacular earthgrazing meteors. Persisting even later into the moonlit night can reward northern hemisphere watchers looking for occasional Perseid fireballs.

Happy stargazing!

Pop Culture Flashback - What's Your Bacon Factor?

I was talking with a friend today who was trying to determine her Bacon factor. Remember that fun little conversation game in the 90's, six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon? Kind of an Altman-like association - name an actor and try to link him or her to Kevin Bacon via other actors in as few links as possible. Later, students at the University of Virginia developed an internet Oracle of Bacon at Virginia. At any rate, my friend was trying to determine what her personal Bacon factor was. She'd met some singer in the late 90s and was trying to link him to Bacon. Unfortunately, I couldn't help her much.

Then she asked me. I guessed about 4 or 5. But then, I remembered when I first moved to Houston, my roommate and I were hosts for a visiting lecturer....Timothy Leary. That's a whole other story, but as it turns out, Leary has a Bacon factor of 2. Turns out Leary was in a movie that I saw in an indy theater in the early 90s (and didn't remember him being in), called Roadside Prophets - with John Doe, Arlo Guthrie, Adam Horovitz from the Beastie Boys, Flea, and Don Cheadle, among others. So my bacon factor is a 3.

Only later that day did I realize, while enjoying some VH1's "I Love the 90's", did this subject come up again - which is probably what got my friend thinking about it in the first place.

Today: Hindu Festival. Tomorrow: Antique Tractor Show. Ain't life in a small town grand??

Today I enjoyed a quick trip up to Toledo to check out the Hindu Temple's 17th annual Tala festival, complete with good performances, good food, and great weather.

On the way back, I had a great photo op encounter passing by the local car dealership, where these and more of these were on display.

Lastly, en route to get some Round Up (weed pulling is no longer something I wish to do), I noticed that the fairgrounds here are hosting an Antique Tractor show. Gonna start charging those camera batteries now....watch this spot!

Mishap....

I recently learned that my cat, Kathman (short for Kathmandu), is part Bengal cat. This is a relatively new breed (about 20 years or so) that came about via mixing the small, wild, Asian Leopard cat with a domestic like the Burmese, Abyssinian, or, possibly, whatever seemed attractive at the time. They're the best of both worlds, in my opinion - intelligent, loving domestic cats that have an air of the exotic.

Bengal cats have all kinds of interesting traits, and researching this info gave me greater insight into the lovable quirks my own cat has, such as 'herding' me to the cupboard with the cat food when he's hungry, ambushing me when I walk by, splashing all the water out of his water bowl, once joining me in the tub, and often trying to enter the shower. Bengal cats have an affinity toward water, it appears.

In some of the reading I learned that a number of owners often will harness their cats and take them walking, because they've got an apparently insatiable appetite for exploration - especially when it comes to trees. This would explain why he likes to perch on the high steps going upstairs at home.

So, I prepared him with the topical anti-flea and tick stuff, and got a harness and one of those snazzy little self-recoiling leash things, and we set off to explore the backyard. Lately, he's been looking out of the window and coming to the door when I go in or out. When he first came to live with me, he was terrified of the outdoors. I thought his curiosity might be peaked by summertime and seeing all of the activity outside.

First off, I carried him out into the backyard. My thought was getting him and the leash thing all tangled up in the deck rails if he decided to take a route other than the stairs to get to the yard. I took him over to the giant old maple tree, and he slunk around a bit - climbed a bit - generally seemed happy to explore, if a bit timidly.

Then, something piqued his interest. There is a tomcat in the neighborhood that I desperately despise but can do nothing about. Apparently this skank has been spraying along the side of my deck, and Kathman picked up the scent. In a flash, it was like an entirely different personality erupted. He started bounding left and right, in and out of the viney undergrowth, howling, growling, and hissing. I had to unhook him because he'd tangled himself up in the leash, and figured I'd take him inside - enough excitement for the day.

When we got inside, I discovered the bonus to our adventure - he'd been hopping around in some sort of nettle-like undergrowth, and was covered with millions of little velcro-like seeds the size of bb's. I mean MILLIONS. He was also panting - audibly (loudly!), tongue out and all. So, I pushed my thoughts of taking evening strolls down the sidewalk with my perfectly mild-mannered cat into the back of my mind, and set to try and de-nettle Kathman.

He'd had enough of me by that time. Wouldn't let me come close to him for the rest of the evening. Ironically, I was also trying a new feeding routine with him that day. Since he came to live with me, he has literally inhaled his dinner. He's perfectly healthy, but maybe from causal factors predating entering my life, he literally opens his mouth like a snake unhinges his lower jaw and scoops up his food like a front-end loader. The problem is, he starts pleading for more food (and he's borderline beginning a weight problem). Then, probably because he ingests so much air by eating this way, he gets gassy after eating. Not the typical kind of pet gassy - but burpy! Which is pretty funny.

At any rate, I learned that by putting his food on a plate, instead of in a bowl, it causes him to pick up and eat each piece of food, and eliminates the scoopability factor.

So, from Kathman's perspective, it was a pretty horrible day.

"Yeah, a real winner. First, my woman tied me up in this horrible thing, and then actually carried me outside. Where the squirrels and rabbits, and for chrissakes, even the birds could see my human toting me like some newborn. Then I smelled that catbastard from next door and got really riled up, looking for a fight. Instead of letting me go take care of business, my human - dammit - picked me up again!! - and brought me inside. I had all these neat little prizes stuck to me. But, it was feeding time, so my human could redeem herself. Instead, she added insult to injury by putting my food on a goddam plate! I was so freakin' hungry - rage makes you that way - and here I had to eat my dinner piece by piece, like some raccoon!! Bad enough I wasn't eating that catbastard from next door instead of those little fake-prey-clumps. But to make me have to pick up each one was just too much. So I gave the human the cold shoulder all night. She kept trying to pick my prizes off my fur! Don't know what's with her, but I'm going to give her a wide berth for a few days. She needs a hobby.”

I've Decided. And the destination is......

Morocco!

I've been before so have a good idea for an itinerary, except this time I'll be routing through Paris, which will be a nice twist.

Will keep you posted....

Go to ___________!!

I have some vacation time in September blocked, but can't decide where to go. I've had several ideas, but they've been all over the map, literally. I want to go to a place with the following criteria:

• visually interesting - lots going on (photo frenzy opportunity)
• has cultural appeal
• has nature appeal
• has a touch of danger appeal (encountering a bear, falling off a mountain, encountering interesting/scary people)

So, I have a few places in mind that I'll list here, in no particular order. To make things interesting, I'll solicit ideas here and see what shakes out. Call it the purest form of potential adventure travel.......

1. Jackson, WY and Kalispell, MT: for hiking in the Tetons and checking out Glacier Nat'l Park
2. Rockies via Denver and visit with friends, gallery hopping
3. South-east Asia: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos
4. Nepal: post-monsoon but still really hot (some difficulty getting to and from; would limit my days there)
5. Istanbul / Turkey, via London and a visit to a friend
6. Morocco, via London and a visit to a friend

Want to send a suggestion? Send a comment!

Notes from Migraine Madness

For approximately the last 10 days, I’ve been out of the picture – and enjoying a marathon migraine run. If you’ve never had one, consider yourself lucky. If you have, then you’ve got my empathy. This one was especially weird for two reasons: its length and its depth.

Length, or duration, is easily measurable…typically measured in hours, but this one would ebb and flow, never completely disseminating, until it had run a grueling 10 continuous days. The depth of it is a different story. It did ebb and flow, so it wasn’t constantly excruciating, but for anyone who’s wondered what having a migraine is like, read on.

It started off with the usual symptoms – visual weirdness – spots and loss of color on occasion – and then entered the aural arena, in which any sound was nearly enough to make me crazy. When they enter the aural level, typically it feels as though the best solution to end the pain of noise is to ram a railroad spike into your ear as far as it will go. I’ve never done this, but always want to. Then there is the sensitivity effect – bright lights or high or low temperatures do weird things to a body. I found myself going in a matter of minutes from a heat-induced cold-sweat to goose-bumps and chills over my entire body. The weird part is that this all feels………kind of nice. You feel so incredibly tuned in to a physical realm of perception – as though you interact with the world around you through your skin. It’s quite bizarre and not too unpleasant.

The silver lining behind a migraine, for me, is that I can always sleep and sleep and sleep some more. So, I spent the better part of 5 days on my couch in the dark. Sometimes I’d have the tv on, tuned to the history channel or cnn, because you can often find yourself drifting in and out of sleep. And, if you’ve got some sort of interesting material being discussed in the background, this weaves itself into your light-level dream state with all of the grace and none of the yuckiness of a hallucinogenic contribution. So, I would alternate between watching a special on North African archeology to incredible dream states.

The interesting thing was that, through the 5 days or so of on-again, off-again bizarre dream states, Denzel Washington played a consistent role throughout. Sometimes he would provide a narrative voice as a backdrop to the dream events; other times, he was either a central or a contributing character. Throughout them all, though, the character he played was unfailing – like that of a career coach. I found it incredibly funny that I was taking advice from Denzel on calculating a weighted front-end load of anticipated resource requirements to implement a new objective at work (something I was really thinking about working on for work). Why anyone would need to employ fourier integral level math on such a business-case type calculation is beyond me, though. I just thought it was funny as hell that he thought fourier integrals were required – all I remember about those is that they somehow apply to frequency calculations. Which doesn’t apply to my business case scenario at all!

…….or does it??????

At any rate, the universe seems to have returned to normal. At least in my no-longer screaming brain.

Experimentation

You ever do something just to see what happens? Sure you do. Everyone does, I suppose.

Today, I gave it a try in a completely new setting (for me). I was in a meeting (one of many today), and just for kicks, I wanted to see how easily the discussion could be derailed. I had my suspicions: I bet myself that it would take a full 5 minutes for the discussion to get back on track again. I calculated my risks: the group was engaged in the discussion, but I suspected easily distractible as we were approaching the end of the day. Similarly, I didn’t want to jeopardize our meeting run time or complications with any subsequent appointments anyone in the group may have had (hence the end of day tactic).

There is a basic assumption that meetings are rambling, tenacious beasts that we groan about prior to engaging in them, especially when they contain a large number of attendees. (Notice I didn’t use the word “participants”, because, more often than not, attendance and participation are mutually exclusive). We often refer to the meeting / discussion process as “herding cats” – hard to get a handle on. This one was different, though, because I was leading it. I figured I could throw a diversion topic out, see what happened, and wrangle the discussion back on point after my 5 minute experiment was up.

The interesting thing about the diversion tactic: it failed! Even though we were at the end of the day, nearing the end of the meeting, an interesting dynamic occurred – tangential bridge-building to return to the topic, by each member of the group, in turn. It was like a little verbal ballet – a pirouette here, a pivot there, a swirl there, and voila – back on point! Quite an interesting thing to observe. Even if it wasn’t quite efficient. But it did take less than 5 minutes.

Photo Upload News

I've decided to spring for a larger memory account at the photo sharing website, Flickr. By saving this Flickr link, you can see new photos at any time withouth having to read my little musings and ramblings.
Enjoy!

Free to a Good Home

I picked up a copy of the local town newspaper today. I normally don't do this, because the bias and opinions woven through the paper are thicker than a bamboo placemat. But today was worth a chuckle or two.

First, I had heard about these events, but never seen anything in writing about them. Now I know they really do exist. There are local singles dances every month. Each month has a theme: the next is Red, White and Blue; and the one after that is Western ("wear boots and a hat!"). That doesn't sound out of the ordinary (except that it's not for high school students). What is extraordinary about the monthly dances is where they are held.

(wait for it........)

The Humane Society Hall.

There are several directions I could go with this now......but the thoughts that keep popping into my mind are "Needs a Playmate: I am an adventurous, housebroken, well trained kitten! I have all my own claws, earn my own income, make my own bed, can cook, and have my very own truck. If you are looking to add a friendly girl to your life, stop by today!!" (paraphrased from an actual humane society adopt-a-cat ad)

In other news, there were apparently several traffic incidents. I had no idea how many occurred locally, but when every fender bender makes the paper, it seems like a lot. The most interesting one (albeit a fatality, I'm sorry to say) was a collision between an auto and an Amish buggy. Apparently it's not just auto drivers who tend to fall asleep at the wheel and fail to yield.

A Shangri-La

Oringal post: June 23, 2006:
I've recently become a flickr member. I love this website. There are so many groups of photo types - lately, I've been addicted to the global communities. Which got me to thinking.

I live, now, in a small rural town in the midwest. I haven't done that since I was a wee one. But, I decided to do so because the project I'm working on and many of the people I work with are quite interesting. I put a time limit on this project though, because I know I can't live here forever. I've got a couple of years to put in.

Then I thought some more. About the perfect place for me. It would have to have the following qualities:

• diversity: I have learned I cannot live in a town/city of just one type of people
• diversity, part ii: ditto above, but replace "people" with each of the following: "restaurants, grocery availability, culture, political affiliation, and opionion base"
• landscape: can't handle the flat
• weather: needs to have 4 seasons
• wilderness: needs to have proximity; easy access
• airport proximity
• an environmental/ecological culture apparent, even if just barely
• humidity: not so much.
• cultural scene
• economic health: either stable or in recovery mode, at a minimum, but not through the roof (ie, unaffordable)
  

Now, if only there were some sort of metadata portal I could plug these and maybe some other factors into, I'd be set. If you happen to know of such a tool, please send it my way.

UPDATE!!! I've found a website that allows you to indicate your preferences on a broad number of topics, from education to crime to environment to culture. And, while Denver's not at the top of this list for me (comes in at #2), it's close enough!

Postmodernism and the Impact on Critical Thinking

I experienced a brief conversation today that got me to thinking. Baudrillard wrote in Simulacra and Simulation that, essentially, symbolism has replaced fact in the postmodern age - namely, that the symbolism created by present culture and media shape our perception of reality; regardless of factual basis. Like the old saying, if you repeat something often enough, you start to believe it. A couple of things got me to thinking along this line - which is really a tangent for the point of this writing. I think one of the best examples of this are slogans. They are blasted out to a consumer audience with such frequency that, eventually, that audience starts parroting those phrases right back out, but in a larger context, and sometimes, as original thought (once removed from the originating source).

In my conversation earlier today, one person said two things that later, considered through the lens of critical thought, don't really make much sense at all. The first statement that got me to thinking was one we've all heard a million times: "Life is short." We've heard it so frequently, often associated with a carpe diem mentality, that we've accepted it as 'fact'. But consider what that phrase is saying......your, mine, our lives are short. That simply isn't true. Can you think of anything else you'll do that's longer?

The second comment was regarding a recent performance by Bruce Springsteen, covering a Pete Seeger song. I forgot the song, but it has some politically aspiring commentary. My conversant said that musicians shouldn't discuss politics in their songs, that fans just want good songs to sing along to (I suppose "If I Had a Hammer is prohibited in my coworker's musical lexicon). Which got me to thinking....taking this universal syllogism one step further, one could assume then that businessmen shouldn't discuss music; it's not their forte. Unless they're musician/businessmen, and then, I suppose, the world of topics is open to them.

Which brings me back to the simulacra and critical thinking point. I wonder, if we really took the time to consider it, how much in our daily lives is purely constructed symbolism passing itself off - with our perpetuation, of course - as fact? I'm almost afraid to know.

Photog High Noon

Yesterday, I helped with a surprise 50th birthday party for a friend just up the highway from home. This friend is a former direct supervisor, now an indirect one through our nearly simultaneous promotions. And, he's a consummate practical joker. Fortunately, I like to think I am one too, so with the help of his wife and on occasion some co-workers, we've been able to provide him a few "gotcha's" to even up the score a bit. This surprise party was one of them. Everyone should be so lucky to survive to the age of 50, to begin with. But to have such a fan base of friends, co-workers, and family willing to travel across the country to join in a massive surprise effort says as much about the person as it does the friends and family.

I brought two cameras to the event to snap as many photos as I could, and provide them to his family. But, one of the cameras required a little hands-on attention, so I found myself neglecting to use the smaller one. I was lucky to quickly engage the help of Phillip, my co-photog for the day. We were quite a successful tag-team. Phillip has cerebral palsy, which makes coordination for walking a little cumbersome. So, he's got this neat-o scooter, and - being the entrepreneur that most young teenagers are - was offering folks $10 a ride - limit 5 mph, or $10 a photo. I'm not sure how many takers he got! So, I'm not going to post a bunch of birthday pictures here, but I will post the High Noon scenario that Phillip and I played out. With cameras, of course!

And now, for a word from our sponsors......

For those of you who are occasional or regular public radio listeners, or PBS viewers, you probably cringe when pledge time rolls around....seemingly more frequently with time. Well, this Boston Globe article details a plan to reduce public broadcast funding by $115 million dollars, if approved. The funding reduction would eliminate several programs on both PBS and NPR. I can't begin to fathom why funding reductions in this category would significantly help reduce our record deficit, as compared to slashing or eliminating other avenues of legitimately wasteful spending.

In the UK and parts of Europe, people buying new televisions are required to purchase a license, for about $15 (the last time I checked), which directly supports programs like the BBC. Seems like a good idea, in this age of can't-buy-HD-flatscreens-fast-enough. I say we implement something like that here. I'm not necessarily a new tax cheerleader, but let's face it - there is a consumer rush to purchase those flat-panel LCD HD TVs, and Plasma Screens that start at 42 inches. I figure if you can afford to shell out the dough for those options, why not pay an extra $15 to ensure the future of in-depth non-partisan news and educational programming? Maybe that's too much to ask for. In this day and age where we pay pro sports persons millions upon millions to play their games, and in which we continually belt-tighten educational funding and teacher salaries, maybe having intelligent programming options is an insult to a society that doesn't value education. Please prove me wrong.

Sorry, lady - we're full!

I can chalk up one more Ohio experience this weekend from the urban-girl-goes-country category. I have relatives coming to visit over 4th of July week. They include my niece and nephew, who I've enjoyed taking camping in the past. So, we want to do it again when they visit. Simple, yes?

Not really.
I took a Sunday drive to two of the closest "State Parks", down toward Columbus - in almost rolling hill country with lakes. And there, I learned that there is not a spare spot on the ground over 4th of July weekend. When at the first location I was told "we're full", I figured they were referring to RV spots. Even this weekend, there must have been hundreds flitting by the area and filling all the privately owned campground en route. I specified that we'd be "camping", not "RVing", ...you know...pitching tents and sleeping on the ground. Still no luck.

So I went to the second park, about 40 miles from the first, and the same scenario played out. This time, however, the entry "guard" told me that I'd be lucky to find a campsite in all Ohio on 4th of July week.

How on earth can that be?!? It's incredibly frustrating - but, I suppose I should be glad that so many people want to camp/RV in their state. They must be residents, because I can't think of any reason that someone would come to Ohio from another state to camp out.

Maybe my viewpoint is skewed, because I began my camping life in Texas. Well, really in the Netherlands, but was (kind of) living in Texas at the time, where the passion fully bloomed. On any given weekend, I would rather sleep under the stars than indoors, and was able to camp in any number of State Parks within weekend driving range, even with the frustration of having to get in and out of Houston traffic to do so. Never had I encountered a fully-full campground. There were always walk-in sites, that RVing families and car campers are just too lazy to pursue. Not so, apparently, in Ohio.

So, a natural conclusion to jump to is that, as our population grows, so should our set-aside, public land base. There are hundreds of naturalists who have written this sentiment better than I can over hundreds of years, but it seems no one is listening. And so, today, we have full campgrounds, with no apparent decrease in RV or regular camping desires to use them. In contrast, there are several efforts afoot nationally to privatize and/or develop existing public lands, and resolutions to declare several areas as "wildnerness" that have been stalled for years. I can't even get started on describing the current administration's public land (mis) management - my head would explode. But you can read more on that here. And, if you're interested in saving existing public lands, or (please) creating new ones, support your favorite public land office, or you can apply a shot-gun approach at the Trust for Public Land. Minor soapbox moment over.

Ooh, just one more.

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

25% Dixie

10% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

These things are addictive.
I found this one pretty interesting. I was born in Kansas, spent childhood years in Texas and Louisiana, and moved to Texas as soon as I was old enough to get away from Louisiana. One thing I learned after moving to Texas that time was to smooth out the cajunisms I'd picked up in Louisiana.

Don't get me wrong - it's a wonderful place to grow up, because you're surrounded by a rich, cultural tapestry and diversity that is rare to find in many places - and you can play outside all year long. But, there are drawbacks, too. Socio-economic issues aside, one issue for me was language. I have no problem with native Louisianians expressing themselves linguistically, as you do when you inherit the culture. But I was an outsider, whose language obtained a cajun-infused linguistic sheen over time, like mildew on a fallen log. This resulted in, after moving only two hours away, being asked what country I was from - more than once. And, personally, it's hard to take someone seriously when they're speaking in a syrupy southern drawl. It doesn't matter if that person is a Nobel prize-winning physicist, explaining a new technological breakthrough, weyen thay start tawlkin’ liyuk theeyus, I simply tune out.

So I focused on having more of a CNN tone – location of upbringing undetectable. And it worked. In fact, it may have worked too well. It prevented me from speaking appropriate cowboy-ese. Although after listening to “Dub-yah”, maybe that’s not such a bad thing, after all. Keep ‘em guessin’.

At any rate, what I found most interesting is that while, for the most part, my word choices are general Americanese, I have what looks like a contradictory mix of some Yankee, and some Dixie. How I managed to avoid the Midwest phrasings, I don’t know…because, after all, I was born in the Midwest, and recently moved to the Midwest for work. As for the Yankee bit, I’ve only lived in that region a few months – not nearly long enough to pick up the lingo, and make it stick.