Keith Marran

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 - 10:26AM

2012-05-08T10:26:13-04:00

Watch Hungry Hungry Hippos get sliced in this cool video of retro board game slaughter.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012 - 05:51PM

2012-05-01T17:51:31-04:00

I was wondering why there were a gazillion helicopters hovering above our heads in NYC.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012 - 10:25AM

2012-05-01T10:25:51-04:00

Saturday, Apr 28, 2012 - 10:30AM

2012-04-28T10:30:29-04:00

I usually didn’t agree with the Republican party, but I used to at least understand what they stood for. Now I don’t understand them at all. Where’s their plan? What’s their vision for the future? It seems to just be “Absolute Power for Billionaires”.

Tuesday, Apr 24, 2012 - 09:20PM

2012-04-24T21:20:41-04:00

Do I agree with all of these? No. Did I laught reading this article? Yes. And while we’re on the subject…why is it so imperative that we never end a sentence with a preposition?

Tuesday, Apr 24, 2012 - 12:18PM

2012-04-24T12:18:43-04:00

Seeing Tyra again on Drag Race last night brought back memories. Like how lackluster the contestants for season 2 were and how much I didn’t care for Tyra. Raja was still stunning, though.

Monday, Apr 23, 2012 - 01:15PM

2012-04-23T13:15:58-04:00

Monday, Apr 23, 2012 - 01:04PM

2012-04-23T13:04:30-04:00

Friday, Apr 20, 2012 - 09:50AM

2012-04-20T09:50:40-04:00

Thursday, Apr 19, 2012 - 08:48PM

2012-04-19T20:48:15-04:00

Can anyone explain to me why I have Julio Iglesias’ “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before” stuck in my head?

Wednesday, Apr 18, 2012 - 10:36AM

2012-04-18T10:36:33-04:00

Friday, Apr 13, 2012 - 05:54PM

2012-04-13T17:54:17-04:00

I think Rich Juzwiak may revive my interest in Gawker. This video must be digested.

Tuesday, Apr 10, 2012 - 03:21PM

2012-04-10T15:21:33-04:00

If I had to pick ONE graphic novel/comic book to have on a desserted island or to force all my friends to read, this would be it. After years of being held up in potential litigation, it’s finally in print again!

Sunday, Apr 8, 2012 - 11:40AM

2012-04-08T11:40:17-04:00

Seeing Betty this season hit a raw nerve. I could barely look at her when she was on screen. She’s the one character on the show I can’t bear to see fat. What does that say about me?

Friday, Apr 6, 2012 - 02:27PM

2012-04-06T14:27:46-04:00

This list is a little dubious. I think it was made by the Spanish Travel Council.

Thursday, Apr 5, 2012 - 01:11PM

2012-04-05T13:11:12-04:00

If only they had Latrice…

Thursday, Apr 5, 2012 - 11:35AM

2012-04-05T11:35:26-04:00

I just heard Irene Cara’s “Out Here On My Own” at a store. Does this mean we are reviving Irene Cara? I sure hope so.

Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 - 01:32PM

2012-03-27T13:32:23-04:00

I’m feeling worse and worse for today’s teenagers. Do they know that life is more fun when lived without constant parental involvement?

Sunday, Mar 25, 2012 - 07:49AM

2012-03-25T07:49:18-04:00

This is a collection of sad and isolating messages from the world of tech that we all live in. Brilliant and hilarious.

Thursday, Mar 22, 2012 - 08:07AM

2012-03-22T08:07:27-04:00

In the high 70’s today. And it’s March. It’s kinda freaking me out.

Wednesday, Mar 21, 2012 - 01:05PM

2012-03-21T13:05:45-04:00

I’m on the subway staring at an ad for soup mix. Their first flavor is “Mannish Water: Ram Goat Flavor Soup Mix.” The ad is two over from a Dr. Zizmor ad. New York City subway continues to be awesome.

The Beginning of the Diet

2012-03-19T00:00:00-04:00

A couple of months ago, I had a hard time convincing myself to go to the gym. It was on my agenda for that day, but I just wasn’t in the mood. So to convince myself to go, I made an agreement with myself that I would go, but I wouldn’t push myself too hard. I figured that some workout is better than no workout. So in the middle of giving myself a relatively light workout of my arms, David’s trainer, Victor Muñoz comes up behind me and says “Now I’m going to show you everything you’re doing wrong.” He gave me a lot of correction on my form and put the weight up much higher. As soon as I finished that set, he barked out more exercises for me and kept me going until my arms were putty. So my hopes of having a light workout were completely inverted. At first, I grumbled about my thwarted plans of taking it easy. But at the end of the workout, my attitude changed to “If I’m going to be there, I might as well give it my all.” And eventually, I started Victor on a regular basis.

One of his first set of instructions was to fix my diet. You can’t train a bad diet away. I visibly and uncontrollably cringed when I heard that he wanted to put me on a diet. I like food. I don’t want to eat steamed broccoli and chicken breasts for 5 meals a day. I took his notes for a diet, but I was secretly ready to rebel. Well, going back to the notion of “what’s the point of doing something if you’re only going to do it half-assed,” I’ve decided to take this seriously.

Victor’s notion is that you follow the diet to the letter for four weeks. If you deviate within those four weeks, the clock starts over. At the end of four weeks, you can start adding cheat meals once a week. Eventually, you eat very well during the week and you loosen up on the weekends, so it’s tolerable for the long term. And…this was the big motivator…he said if I really follow it, I’ll have visible abs by the end of the summer. (Granted, I’m not going to be lifting up my shirt to show everyone, but it would be nice to not be carrying around extra weight.) Victor has been training people for a long time, so when he lays down these time lines, it feels a lot more doable. I see the end goal and it doesn’t seem so bad.

This is confirmed by the fact that I have been seeing real results from the workouts with Victor. Even without starting the diet, I’ve been losing weight and putting on muscle. So I sort of trust that if I just follow what he says and try not to think about it too much, I’ll be really happy with the results.

I had recently read this article about Jerry Seinfeld’s Don’t Break the Chain productivity advice. I’ve printed up calendars and am ready to mark off each day that I follow Victor’s diet. Victor said that I’ll probably have a couple of false starts, but once I get enough days into it, I’ll want to stick with it to get the full four weeks.

So without further ado, here is the diet that Victor gave me. (FYI – this is not the same diet he gives everyone.)

General Notes:

Drinks 1.5 gallons of water every day
Take BCAA (branch chain amino acids) before and after every workout
If you can get Isoflex for protein shakes, that would be best – but any low carb whey protein powder is okay
When hungry, have 6-10 almonds or cashews
Two glasses of alcohol per week are allowed

Daily Menu:

First thing upon waking, drink 24 oz of water
Breakfast:
- Protein shake with 60 grams of protein
- 500 mg of vitamin C
Morning Snack (taken 2.5 hours after breakfast)
- 3 oz turkey or bison
- 6 oz salad
Post Workout (two hours later)
- Protein shake with 60 grams protein
Lunch (two hours later)
- 8 oz chicken, turkey, or bison (or fish at 10 oz)
- 1/2 cup brown rice or 1/2 sweet potato
- Salad or vegetables
- 6 strawberries or 2 kiwi or 5 prunes
Afternoon Snack (three hours later)
- Greek yogurt
- Green apple
Dinner (2.5 hours later)
- 8 oz chicken, turkey, or bison (or fish at 10 oz)
- 1/2 cup brown rice or 1/2 sweet potato
- Salad or vegetables
- 6 strawberries or 2 kiwi or 5 prunes
Pre-Bed Snack
- 3 oz turkey or bison
- Salad
- Maybe hot chocolate with skim milk

For more information about, Victor, check out his website: Pro-Edge Fitness Training.

Friday, Mar 9, 2012 - 04:20PM

2012-03-09T16:20:08-05:00

Thank you, 30 Rock, for naming a character “Gaylord Felcher.” I practically spit out my breakfast when I heard that this morning.

Monday, Mar 5, 2012 - 09:52PM

2012-03-05T21:52:32-05:00

Gawker just redeemed itself.

Saturday, Mar 3, 2012 - 10:57AM

2012-03-03T10:57:52-05:00

I put on “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” because I hadn’t listened to it in months. And I realized that’s what’s been missing from my life all this time.

Wednesday, Feb 29, 2012 - 06:14PM

2012-02-29T18:14:30-05:00

I watched this segment and went from laughing to deeply saddened by our modern world. I hate to sound like Abe Simpson. I won’t say the world was “better” when I was younger, but I think it was a lot more fun being a kid before the corporations completely took over.

Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012 - 02:12PM

2012-02-28T14:12:23-05:00

Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012 - 01:57PM

2012-02-28T13:57:42-05:00

David is forcing me to pose for a picture of the two of us for some Mt. Sinai Hoo Haa. Our photo shoot is this afternoon. I plan on acting out Irene Cara in Fame – complete with sobbing, shirt unbuttoning, and sucking my thumb.

Wednesday, Feb 22, 2012 - 05:51PM

2012-02-22T17:51:45-05:00

Oh, Gawker. I could never stay mad at you.

Sunday, Feb 19, 2012 - 05:11PM

2012-02-19T17:11:53-05:00

I’m gearing up to start a very restrictive diet in a few days — as given to me by my trainer. He said the first four weeks are the hardest and then it gets easier. But if there’s any cheating in the first four weeks, the counter starts over at day one. Anyone want to join me? It’s a very healthy diet – just very intense.

Saturday, Feb 18, 2012 - 05:14PM

2012-02-18T17:14:38-05:00

I got a nice greeting from Oz last night when he got home from the office. TGIF!

Tuesday, Feb 14, 2012 - 05:50PM

2012-02-14T17:50:23-05:00

I would like to start a punk band solely for the reason that I found a band name that I love: Sepsis Party.

Tuesday, Feb 14, 2012 - 02:28PM

2012-02-14T14:28:48-05:00

Watch this right before going into some important business meeting and try to pretend that you didn’t just bawl your eyes out.

Tuesday, Feb 14, 2012 - 10:34AM

2012-02-14T10:34:56-05:00

I never thought I’d say this, but I just bought Eric Bana’s playlist that he compiled for iTunes. I barely know any of the artists, but the music is awesome. I never would have pegged him for someone with great music tastes.

Monday, Feb 13, 2012 - 10:52AM

2012-02-13T10:52:50-05:00

I had one of those moments last night that made me wish I had a time machine so I could go back to my frustrated teenage self growing up in Forest Grove, OR. I would tell myself that someday I will be living in NY and will see “Merrily We Roll Along” directed by James Lapine and it will be worth the wait.

Thursday, Feb 9, 2012 - 09:00PM

2012-02-09T21:00:33-05:00

I don’t think one is meant to watch an entire season of The Walking Dead in one day.

Thursday, Feb 9, 2012 - 10:56AM

2012-02-09T10:56:29-05:00

On the bright side, I will be spending the afternoon inhaling nitrous oxide…

Thursday, Feb 9, 2012 - 02:31AM

2012-02-09T02:31:06-05:00

I never understood why SNL got rid of Jenny Slate. And that goes triple after seeing this short video.

Monday, Feb 6, 2012 - 04:46PM

2012-02-06T16:46:49-05:00

Just put a deposit on our big trip for 2012: Tibet. (squeeeee!)

Sunday, Feb 5, 2012 - 03:22PM

2012-02-05T15:22:21-05:00

Just got back from my first trip to Spa Castle. Why has it taken me all these years to finally get out there!? It was a fantastic way to get out of Manhattan and relax.

Saturday, Feb 4, 2012 - 01:37PM

2012-02-04T13:37:17-05:00

Monday, Jan 30, 2012 - 03:04PM

2012-01-30T15:04:17-05:00

Today is my first day in a shared office space. It’s SOOOOO nice to get out of the house. And I’ve gotten a lot more done than I would have if I were still home. However, I have had to reacquaint myself with the concept of NSFW.

Saturday, Jan 28, 2012 - 12:58PM

2012-01-28T12:58:21-05:00

This must be shared.

Saturday, Jan 28, 2012 - 10:58AM

2012-01-28T10:58:53-05:00

Thanks to T’ai for sharing this with me. It came up in a conversation at last night’s Geeks OUT event.

Saturday, Jan 28, 2012 - 10:34AM

2012-01-28T10:34:26-05:00

Yesterday I had a trainer for the first time in almost ten years. And today…my biceps have never been so sore in my life. My arms are stuck in a 90° angle – like an action figure whose arms don’t move.

Thursday, Jan 26, 2012 - 07:10PM

2012-01-26T19:10:12-05:00

My ultra-gay tortilla press is having its maiden voyage tonight!

Thursday, Jan 26, 2012 - 03:04PM

2012-01-26T15:04:23-05:00

This looks awesome! Roald Dahl and burlesque? Who-da thunk it?

Wednesday, Jan 25, 2012 - 03:10PM

2012-01-25T15:10:55-05:00

Why didn’t my high school counselor tell me that “smutographer” is a valid career path?! http://elvisdifaziopeople.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, Jan 24, 2012 - 06:01PM

2012-01-24T18:01:18-05:00

Tuesday, Jan 24, 2012 - 06:00PM

2012-01-24T18:00:35-05:00

What? “Queef” is not accepted in Words with Friends? What sort of sexist, high-brow, Orwellian society are we living in?

Tuesday, Jan 24, 2012 - 04:32PM

2012-01-24T16:32:51-05:00

Well, after reading this I think I can safely say that Mitt Romney will never get anywhere near the U.S. presidency. Being outrageously wealthy is currently out of vogue. It’s even worse than being a liberal.

Tuesday, Jan 24, 2012 - 12:03PM

2012-01-24T12:03:13-05:00

I just passed Sandra Bernhard.

Sunday, Jan 22, 2012 - 09:14PM

2012-01-22T21:14:58-05:00

Geez, I blubbered through this. Every time she smiles, she convinces me that goodness and happiness will always win out in the end. I feel like I could do anything when I listen to her. God bless her.

Sunday, Jan 22, 2012 - 12:20PM

2012-01-22T12:20:04-05:00

The Party Pass-Out Photo.

Sunday, Jan 22, 2012 - 12:17PM

2012-01-22T12:17:30-05:00

This was the birthday cake. The candles helped it look not so sad.

Sunday, Jan 22, 2012 - 11:34AM

2012-01-22T11:34:38-05:00

The gays have come a long way if we’ve knocked Richard Attenborough off of his “wildlife narration” perch.

Friday, Jan 20, 2012 - 06:24PM

2012-01-20T18:24:34-05:00

I have made a cake worthy of cakewrecks.com. It has that “I tried so hard and failed so fully” look about it. After I have a drink or two and can laugh about it, I’ll post pictures.

Thursday, Jan 19, 2012 - 06:14PM

2012-01-19T18:14:24-05:00

It’s been a while since I inadvertently brought down a live website. It’s good to know I still have the old touch.

Thursday, Jan 19, 2012 - 06:11PM

2012-01-19T18:11:16-05:00

Wednesday, Jan 18, 2012 - 12:08PM

2012-01-18T12:08:17-05:00

I think it’s time for me to look for a cubicle to rent. Something to get me out of the house and free of distractions. What’s the better neighborhood for that: DUMBO or Greenpoint?

Tuesday, Jan 17, 2012 - 09:47PM

2012-01-17T21:47:21-05:00

It’s the audio track that makes this so special. If I could only be half as disinhibited as David Lee Roth.

Sunday, Jan 15, 2012 - 09:14PM

2012-01-15T21:14:03-05:00

Thank you, everyone, for the kind birthday wishes. I’m in Puerto Rico right now, drunk on guava cocktails and listening to little frogs outside our window. I hope to see all of you over the next year!

Friday, Jan 13, 2012 - 10:57AM

2012-01-13T10:57:49-05:00

The beauty industry’s secret is now yours!

Thursday, Jan 12, 2012 - 05:32PM

2012-01-12T17:32:54-05:00

I’m really pretty happy to be living in such a puerile society.

Thursday, Jan 12, 2012 - 04:57PM

2012-01-12T16:57:27-05:00

I did an image search for “robot hey girl” and 75% percent of the results were pictures of Ryan Gosling looking “cute.” This Ryan Gosling thing is getting out of hand.

Monday, Jan 9, 2012 - 04:37PM

2012-01-09T16:37:00-05:00

Just finished Portal 2. What a great game. I had a few moments where I was sure they had made an unsolvable puzzle, but I finished without help of the internet.

Monday, Jan 9, 2012 - 04:35PM

2012-01-09T16:35:31-05:00

Gogo is thinking about what it feels like to be a year older.

Monday, Jan 9, 2012 - 01:36PM

2012-01-09T13:36:33-05:00

Happy Birthday to my fuzzy little princess. Gogo turns 11 today!

Monday, Jan 9, 2012 - 12:10PM

2012-01-09T12:10:14-05:00

I have a birthday coming up and I have not given one thought to what sort of cake I want to make for myself. Suggestions are encouraged.

Monday, Jan 9, 2012 - 12:08PM

2012-01-09T12:08:07-05:00

When people that don’t use Facebook or Twitter complain about social networking, they usually say “What do I care that so and so had oatmeal for breakfast this morning?” Well…this is one of those posts.

Time for a Dietary Change

2012-01-09T00:00:00-05:00

This is the third time I’ve gotten sick this fall/winter. I allot myself one cold per year because it’s hard to avoid them in NYC. But three? This is ridiculous. I can’t handle getting sick over and over. Granted, this time it doesn’t feel so bad. It might be one of those things that blows over in a few days. Still, it bothers me that my body can’t fight things off effectively. It reminds me of when I was in my mid-twenties and my tonsils were making me get sick at the drop of a hat. Bye bye tonsils!

To make it worse, last year I didn’t get sick once. I felt impenetrable. At this point last year I was still on my high from India and was not eating any meat. Actually, there were quite a few dietary differences from last year:

I wasn’t eating meat. Not even fish, most of the time. If I was out to eat and really couldn’t find any good vegetarian food on the menu, I’d order fish.

As a result of eating vegetarian, most of my meals were home-cooked. It’s easier to make it yourself.

Since I was making meals at home and was a vegetarian, I became a lot more experimental about the food I was cooking. There was a lot of variety in my produce.

I wasn’t drinking coffee. Tea, yes. Coffee, no.

So why did I quit being a full-time vegetarian? While it was often inconvenient, that’s not the real reason. The real reason is that I put on 10 pounds.

I thought being a vegetarian was some sort of free license to eat whatever I wanted. It’s not. In order to feel full, I was eating a lot of pasta. I was putting cheese in whatever. I let my sweet tooth wander almost wherever it wanted. I know it’s silly to blame the 10 pounds on vegetarianism, because the vegetables weren’t the trouble. The trouble was thinking I had free range to eat whatever I wanted as long as it didn’t have meat.

There were some great benefits however. My body felt like it was spring loaded. All my movement had an ease and lightness to it. I would swear that I was more flexible. It was like someone took the weights off of my ankles. And I was more emotionally present. If someone told me a story about themselves, I was much more attune to their experience and emotions – not in an out-of-control way, more like a heightened sens of empathy. And massages felt great. I know that seems weird, but it felt like all my nerve endings had their sensitivity turned up (in a good way).

In the midst of all these benefits, I had one glaring irritation. I had put on weight. Granted, I could have scaled back the pasta and bread, but I was afraid that I would fall into constant hunger. Meat is filling. And part of the reason I went vegetarian was to not have to watch my intake so much. I wanted a little room to splurge – especially when it comes to sweets. So I felt (at the time) that if I wasn’t getting those benefits, what’s the point?

And one thing to note, I know that when you go vegetarian, you have to do some substituting. For instance, you have to get beans and lentils into your diet. I never really figured out how to make a giant vat of bean stew that I could munch on throughout the week when I was hungry.

So instead of taking a middle path, I started looking online at diets. And every single diet nowadays says to add protein. Protein, protein, protein. Chicken breasts and steamed veggies. Turkey this and fish that. And that’s when I buckled. I started adding fish back into the diet. And I have to admit that having salmon every now and then felt great. My body definitely enjoyed it. And little by little, compromises were made. Especially when travelling. It’s exhausting to try to maintain even a pescetarian diet when travelling.

So now I’ve been eating meat pretty regularly (though I still don’t make it at home). My food variety is way down. And I’m drinking coffee more than just a cup a day (Coffee is so great when travelling to get over jet lag. After a trip to Indochina, I haven’t gone through the process of quitting caffeine again.) And I can feel that my body is not happy. I miss both the heightened sensitivity of vegetarianism and that bullet-proof feeling when it comes to health.

In general, when I think about changing a diet, I think it’s best to focus on what I’m adding and not worry about subtracting. So here’s what I’m adding:

Oolong tea in the morning and chai in the afternoon. It’s a totally enjoyable habit and gets me away from coffee. I know that it’s not caffeine-free, but it’s certainly less caffeine. I’ve been having coffee black lately, and I notice how acidic it is. It doesn’t feel healthy. Oolong tea is considered a green tea and feels great in my system.

Once a week, make a bean stew. I’ve always wanted to make this and never gotten around to it: Azuki Beans and Kabocha Squash. In fact, I might make a double recipe so there’s always some leftovers in the fridge. Winter squash is one of those foods that my body will occasionally say “Psst. I need some roasted squash soon.” I think having a bean and squash stew once a week will be one of the major missing pieces in my dietary puzzle.

Get back to my habit of plain yogurt and fruit for a late afternoon snack. It’s easy. It’s nutritious. It’s just the amount of nourishment I need to tide me over until dinner. And it gives me a that bit of sweetness I crave. Slice up an apple and put some cinnamon in the yogurt. Yum. And I allows myself a bit of maple syrup or honey in the mix (in moderation).

And there’s one final thing that I realized I never solved when I was a vegetarian. Lunches. I don’t really want to think about lunch all that much. I certainly don’t want to start cooking all my lunches. I tried buying things like “Amy’s Organic Chili” or some health food ramen noodles so I could have something easy to heat and eat, but when I saw how much sodium was in them I lost interest. Besides the problem of finding easy lunches, I missed going out for lunch. Since I work from home, lunch is one of my chances to get away from “the office” and relax. Maybe I just need to find better places to go for lunch.

Whew. I think all of this will help me get back on track to a healthy Keith. Because at this point, I think I’d rather have the ten extra pounds that feel like I was susceptible to every cold that blows through town.

Friday, Jan 6, 2012 - 04:30PM

2012-01-06T16:30:02-05:00

Thursday, Jan 5, 2012 - 06:35PM

2012-01-05T18:35:15-05:00

Why did I buy tortillas?! Because now I’m starving waiting for David to come home and I can hear the muffled cries of the tortillas from inside the refrigerator – beckoning to be eaten.

Thursday, Jan 5, 2012 - 09:54AM

2012-01-05T09:54:54-05:00

They had me at Christopher Meloni.

Thursday, Jan 5, 2012 - 07:21AM

2012-01-05T07:21:07-05:00

No shame in having this playing out in the airwaves when I entered the world.

Facebook Challenge:
1) Find out the song that was #1 the week you were born.
2) Find that song on YouTube.
3) Post that video on your wall without shame.

Simple Google Maps with Jekyll and JQuery

2012-01-03T00:00:00-05:00

Google’s latest version of their Mapping API is really great. Mainly, it’s nice that I don’t have to worry about API keys and can make very simple calls to get maps formatted exactly how I want.

I recently started putting events on my website and I wanted to include a simple map on the page. You could also change the code pretty easily to show many locations on a single map if you wanted. Once you start playing around with it, the sky is the limit.

To start, I created a new layout called event. The template will be able to make use of certain YAML attributes if it finds them. I’ll get back to the template in a minute.

Once I know I have a particular type of post that uses an event template, I created some YAML front matter attributes on the post itself. Here’s an example:

layout: event
location:
  address: 218 W 15th St, NY, NY
  latitude: 40.7396183
  longitude: -74.00017439999999

If you have the address, you can just use that value and skip the latitude and longitude. But if you don’t have the address, but you have a particular set of coordinates, you can skip the address.

Now that your content is aware of a location, we need to send that to the event template that you created in your _layouts directory.

On my site, I always want the map to show on the right-hand side of the page – separate from the content. The only thing that we have to render on the page is a paragraph tag with the location information in it. JQuery and Google Maps will handle the rest. Here’s the snippet of code I have in my event template.

{% if page.location %}
<div class="box">
  <p id="map" style="height: 300px" address="{{ page.location.address }}" latitude="{{ page.location.latitude }}" longitude="{{ page.location.longitude }}">&nbsp;</p>
</div>
{% endif %}

At this point, if you rendered the site, you would get an empty paragraph where the map should be. The information about the location should be showing up as attributes of that paragraph, but nothing is displayed to the end user yet. Now it’s time to work Google Maps into the equation.

First of all, make sure that Google Maps is being loaded by putting this in your main layout file:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false"></script>

Next, it’s time to create your custom JQuery code to translate that HTML you created into an actual map. I created a file called (creatively enough) maps.js and put a reference to it in my main layout file. Here’s the entirety of that file:

var geocoder;
var map;

function initialize() {
  geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
  var latlng = new google.maps.LatLng(0, 0);
  var myOptions = {
    zoom: 15,
    center: latlng,
    mapTypeControl: false,
    mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP
  }
  map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map"), myOptions);
  map.setCenter(latlng);
}

$(document).ready ( function() {

  $("#map").each(function() {
  
    geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();

    address = $(this).attr('address');
    latitude = $(this).attr('latitude');
    longitude = $(this).attr('longitude');

    initialize();
    
    geocoder.geocode( { 'address': address}, function(results, status) {
      if (status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {

        map.setCenter(results[0].geometry.location);
        var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
          map: map, 
          position: results[0].geometry.location
        });

      } else if (latitude && longitude) {

        var latlng = new google.maps.LatLng(latitude, longitude);    
        var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
          map: map,
          position: latlng 
        });
    
        map.setCenter(latlng);

      } else {
        alert("Geocode was not successful for the following reason: " + status);
      }
    });

  });

});

To translate this into English, it says that when the page loads, look for any elements that have an id of “map”. For each one that it finds, pull the address and coordinates out of the tag. The address is given priority. If it finds that value, it sends it to Google to be geocoded, otherwise it tries using the latitude and longitude. If you would like to change the qualities of the map (like the map type, the starting zoom, etc.) look in the initialize function.

With this code, it’s not that difficult to add multiple markers to one page, but I’ll leave that to you to write. In fact, there’s a lot more you could do with this, such as adding bubbles to the map markers. This is just something to get you started. The documentation and examples from Google are quite good.

You can see an example here.

Adding an RSVP Form to a Jekyll Site

2012-01-03T00:00:00-05:00

I’ve currently been building some pages in my Jekyll site for events. And with almost any event, you want to know who’s coming. I decided to give Wufoo. a try and use it to build an RSVP form on my site.

For those that aren’t familiar with Wufoo, it’s a site that allows you to create forms that can be used anywhere on the web. It records the answers and stores the results for you. So in other words, it’s a pretty great addition to a Jekyll site, but you get the benefits of a database without having to implement the backend.

Wufoo has a free account that allows you to create forms that get less than 100 entries per month. I’m expecting that should be fine for an occasional event. The next price up is $15 per month, which is more than I want to spend for my small needs. I wish they had something in between that was geared for personal use.

Anyway, I’ll let Wufoo explain itself for setting up forms. It’s a great product and simple to use.

Next, I wanted to create a very simple method of rendering a Wufoo form on a page. They give you Javascript embed code. I decided to abstract out the values so that I can re-use the code for other forms on my site.

First, I started by create a layout file for events.

Then, I added the following to my YAML front matter for the event:

wufoo:
  username: your-wufoo-username
  code: h6x9r2
  height: 500

I’ve made up the code as an example. That code won’t work in real-life.

Next, I added the following to my layout file:

{% if page.wufoo %}
<div class="box">
              
  <script type="text/javascript">var host = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://secure." : "http://");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + host + "wufoo.com/scripts/embed/form.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));</script>            
  <script type="text/javascript">
  var {{ page.wufoo.code }} = new WufooForm();
  {{ page.wufoo.code }}.initialize({
  'userName':'{{ page.wufoo.username }}', 
  'formHash':'{{ page.wufoo.code }}', 
  'autoResize':true,
  'height':'{{ page.wufoo.height }}',
  'header':'show'});
  {{ page.wufoo.code }}.display();
  </script>

</div>
{% endif %}

That’s it. Super simple.

I wish I could show you a working example, because it’s really neat in action, but having a form exposed like that would eat up all my free entries. But at least you can see how easy it is to take a Jekyll site, combine it with Wufoo, and start collecting feedback from users.

And Wufoo, if you’re listening, I would love a $5 a month plan that accepts 250 entries. It would be the perfect price point for me to have on my site all the time.

Monday, Jan 2, 2012 - 10:16PM

2012-01-02T22:16:33-05:00

Please make the Rick Santorum ads stop! I beg of you! He’s everywhere on the internet right now!

Monday, Jan 2, 2012 - 08:52PM

2012-01-02T20:52:35-05:00

Besides Rambo, what other Stallone movies will turn odd to be sadly prophetic?

Monday, Jan 2, 2012 - 06:47PM

2012-01-02T18:47:18-05:00

Man, am I slow posting travel. Here’s Hanoi…

Monday, Jan 2, 2012 - 05:07PM

2012-01-02T17:07:27-05:00

iTunes randomly selected “Hey Jude” and while I try to pretend like I have sophisticated Beatles tastes, I always find myself singing my heart out to this song. Always.

Monday, Jan 2, 2012 - 08:00AM

2012-01-02T08:00:15-05:00

Hearing that the Iowa caucus is coming up makes me sad because it reminds me that primary season is coming to a close. This has been one of the funniest primary lead-ups I’ve ever seen – and full of twists and turns. I’ll miss watching the candidates humiliate themselves and claw at each other.

Monday, Jan 2, 2012 - 07:46AM

2012-01-02T07:46:14-05:00

Here’s a little motivation for everyone’s New Year’s Resolution.

One Day in Hanoi

2012-01-02T00:00:00-05:00

David and I came back from Laos and took the long taxi ride back from the Hanoi airport into the center of town. I have to admit that my initial impression of Hanoi was not good. It seemed noisy with scooters, over-heated, and damp. Luckily, our hotel was quite nice. We stayed at the Hotel Metropole. I could tell that I was going to get really spoiled by the high-end hotels.

We started off our visit by meeting our guide, David, in front of the hotel. Although he was named “David,” he was actually a native Vietnamese man. He took us to see the tomb of Ho Chi Minh. I had never gone to the tomb of a communist leader, and it is quite the spectacle. The security was intense. Our guide took all bags from us. We were pat down by guards. We had to follow a red carpet that led up, through, and out of the tomb. We were gestured at by the guards and they let us know that we were supposed to walk side-by-side on the carpet. I whispered something to David before we were even in the building and they told us no talking. They gestured to David to take off his hat. Then, as we got in the building, they told David to uncross his arms. This was all communicated to us in Vietnamese. Then we finally got into the viewing area. There were eight guards in the main room: one in each corner of the room, and one at each corner of the glass coffin. They had perfect posture – not just standing straight, but standing as if they were using every muscle in their body to maintain their preposterously good posture. I have no idea how long they had to maintain that position. We ceremoniously walked around the coffin and looked at the serene and eerie corpse of Ho Chi Minh – the father of modern Vietnam. Once outside, our guide found us and after we were a distance from the tomb, he gave me back my bag and camera. It was really quite a spectacle and quite worth it. I’m dying to see more communist leader tombs now.

It was in Hanoi that I got familiar with the concept of “not being able to take pictures when you step outside”. It is so hot and humid that when you first step outside, the camera immediately fogs up. I thought something was wrong with my camera for the first minute because when I looked through it, it was literally entirely white. It took me while to figure out that it was condensation on the lens, so I had to wipe the lens and then quickly take a shot or wait for the camera to get used to the outside temperature.

After the tomb, we toured some of the sites in the nearby area. There is the house that the French had built for the President, that has gone largely unused. Ho Chi Minh had lived in very sparse accommodations that he created for himself that is designed to be authentically Vietnamese and also to be a model of frugality.

There was a cute little pagoda in the area as well. In general, we didn’t see a lot of religious places in Vietnam. I think a fair amount of them were destroyed – but also, Vietnam is a collection of different cultures, so there isn’t a single popular religion for large temples.

Next we went to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. I have to admit, that I wasn’t looking forward to this museum, but it helped give us some cultural perspective of the country. Basically, it brought home how the country is largely a collection of different tribes. This became very apparent as we traveled through the country because you could see the look of the people change as we went further south. However, the heat started to get to David in the museum. It was not air-conditioned. So we eventually told our guide that we needed to move along a little more quickly.

We went for lunch someplace that was good, but clearly designated for tourists. In the afternoon, we went to The Temple of Literature. David was a huge hit with young school girls. He got approached by about three different girls that wanted to know where he was from. I guess I didn’t look so foreign. Or perhaps I looked too scary to approach. It was a holiday, so there were school groups everywhere.

We took a walk through the old town markets afterwards. Our guide was raised in that area, so not only did he talk about what was there, he talked about what had been there and how the town changed over time.

If you look at the pictures, you will see one photo that I cannot explain. It was the window of a women’s accessories store. I have no idea what they were trying to say. I never found anyone in Indochina with a terribly firm grasp of English, so I don’t think they were saying what most English-speakers would interpret. So do with that what you will. I didn’t want the guide asking me why I was taking a picture of the window of a woman’s jewelry shop, so I took as quick a photo as I could and David and I saved our giggle fit for later.

And while we’re on the subject of sex and Vietnam, if you look at the photos, you will see some risque wood carvings. Those are from the Museum of Ethnology. It was for a fertility temple and I thought it was worth a picture. However, despite these two pictures, there is almost no reference to sex anywhere in the culture. You don’t really understand how pervasive sex and advertising is in the west until you go to a communist country and see a culture that lives completely without it. Everyone is dressed non-provocatively. And the North Vietnamese people look very “tough” and strong-willed. They are small, but fierce.

After the markets, we went to a water puppet show. It’s standard tourist fare and I don’t think you can visit Vietnam without someone making you see a water puppet show. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very enjoyable. But there were no Vietnamese in the theater except the ones performing.

Dinner was amazing, but we were the only ones in the restaurant. I guess because we were there in the off-season. No one is crazy enough to travel in Vietnam in August, apparently, unless you’re stopping off to go to Halong Bay – which we did the next day!

Keith's Birthday Party

2012-01-02T00:00:00-05:00

David’s out of town! (sssh!) Come celebrate with an evening of live performance!

The festivities take place on…

Friday, January 20th – starting at 8pm
at 218 West 15th St (between 7th and 8th)

Keith is turning redacted years old! And he’s celebrating with a little party. I hope you can attend. There will be the usual food and drink.

And I’m doing something a little special that you need to know about for the R.S.V.P.

We’re going to have a play reading! I’ve picked out a play that appeals to my darkly humorous and slightly unhinged sensibilities. What I need is actors – or, more accurately, spirited friends willing to read.

There are big(-ish) parts and small parts. No acting skills required, though if you have an inner Meryl Streep, this is your chance to shine. Plus, it’s an easy way for you to get laughs and applause.

We’ll start the reading around 9 or 10pm. After the cast has had a chance to stretch their throat muscles.

What can you bring?

Well, just yourself. And any guests that might want to come along. No gifts, please, but if you wanted to bring some gogo boys, I don’t think anyone would complain. Especially if they’re wearing giant, lamay bow ties.

Be sure to R.S.V.P. on the right or send me an email.

Sunday, Jan 1, 2012 - 06:27AM

2012-01-01T06:27:03-05:00

I watched season one of Wilfred and loved it. I highly recommend it to people that have dogs, are unsure of their path in life, or like weird comedy.

Keith's Belated Birthday Party

2012-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

So, Keith is turning redacted years old! And he’s celebrating with a little party. I hope you can attend. There will be the usual food and drink.

The festivities take place on…

Friday, January 20th – starting at 8pm
at 218 West 15th St (between 7th and 8th)

What can you bring?

Well, just yourself. And any guests that might want to come along. No gifts, please.

Be sure to R.S.V.P. on the right
or send me an email at keith (at) marran (dot) com.

Saturday, Dec 31, 2011 - 02:05PM

2011-12-31T14:05:39-05:00

Friday, Dec 30, 2011 - 11:05AM

2011-12-30T11:05:26-05:00

I adore Lady Bunny. She (and Wigstock) were one of the main reasons I chose to move to NYC. If anyone wants to join me, send me a message.

Friday, Dec 30, 2011 - 06:39AM

2011-12-30T06:39:41-05:00

I have spent a small fortune in London. I know of no other city that gets me to buy clothes like London does. And I have made a couple of fashion-related New Years Resolutions as a result.

Wednesday, Dec 28, 2011 - 04:19PM

2011-12-28T16:19:26-05:00

Well…I went from trying to severe my dependency on Amazon to now totally boycotting them. It’s a shame. They used to be about making a great product. Now they’re just about squashing all competition.

Wednesday, Dec 28, 2011 - 07:48AM

2011-12-28T07:48:07-05:00

I hope this is legible on Facebook. It’s from Occupy London.

Wednesday, Dec 28, 2011 - 07:12AM

2011-12-28T07:12:34-05:00

The Occupy movement in London is educational, organized, and peaceful (like NYC without the drums). The encampment seems well tended to by the city. It makes me sad that our country won’t allow the movement to exist in the US. Where are we as a country if we can’t let people protest?

Wednesday, Dec 28, 2011 - 05:49AM

2011-12-28T05:49:16-05:00

Musical theater writers: no one wants to hear three ballads in the last 45 minutes of your show. You get ONE ballad when you get near the end. Use it wisely.

Sunday, Dec 25, 2011 - 06:47AM

2011-12-25T06:47:39-05:00

Merry Christmas!

Friday, Dec 23, 2011 - 09:11PM

2011-12-23T21:11:22-05:00

Young Adult was great. Some good thematic twists at the end. And closing credits music from Free To Be You And Me.

Friday, Dec 23, 2011 - 06:32PM

2011-12-23T18:32:51-05:00

Awww! David got me a new iPhone for X-Mas! And I’ve just ordered a new Flex Mentallo cover for it (gleeful squeal).

Tuesday, Dec 20, 2011 - 02:53PM

2011-12-20T14:53:26-05:00

I read this from a friend’s post and enjoyed the article. Then I read the comments (both on the article itself and the Facebook comments on the friend’s post) and it turns out that some (many?) people HATE this article. I found it honest but ultimately kind-hearted. I genuinely don’t understand why people are so upset. Out of all of my single friends that claim they want to get married, I can put them in at least one of her 6 buckets.

Sunday, Dec 18, 2011 - 06:31PM

2011-12-18T18:31:57-05:00

Sorry, Rebecca Black. My award for Biggest You Tube Trainwreck for 2011 goes here.

Friday, Dec 16, 2011 - 11:03AM

2011-12-16T11:03:48-05:00

Trailer of the Year Award goes to Dario Argento. This looks awesome! Note to world: more Rutger Hauer!

Friday, Dec 16, 2011 - 10:59AM

2011-12-16T10:59:30-05:00

I used to use GMail on the web, but I realized I was constantly distracted by checking the page with GMail. So I started using Apple Mail and liked it better than I thought I would. But I kept going back and forth between the two because GMail’s interface is so rich and Apple’s is so spartan. Then I read this article, gave Sparrow a try, and now I think it’s the mail client that Goldilocks would have picked. Simple, rich, and unobtrusive.

Friday, Dec 16, 2011 - 07:23AM

2011-12-16T07:23:46-05:00

Can anyone explain to me why I still watch Glee?

Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011 - 05:14PM

2011-12-13T17:14:47-05:00

I’m obsessed.

Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011 - 02:07PM

2011-12-13T14:07:58-05:00

I’m at lunch and just listened to a Green Day wannabe band do The 12 Days of Christmas. That was followed by a reggae version of Jingle Bells. I’m reaching that point where a trip to Dubai sounds awesome just to escape the bad Christmas music.

Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011 - 06:55AM

2011-12-13T06:55:59-05:00

Sunday, Dec 11, 2011 - 05:51AM

2011-12-11T05:51:45-05:00

Final three batches are done. America (milk chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers), India (milk chocolate and chai), and Germany (milk chocolate, cherries, and almond cream)

Saturday, Dec 10, 2011 - 12:57PM

2011-12-10T12:57:13-05:00

Friday, Dec 9, 2011 - 05:48PM

2011-12-09T17:48:27-05:00

Two more batches today: Chile (dulce de leche with pecans) and Turkey (pistachio, honey, and spices). Over half-way done!

Thursday, Dec 8, 2011 - 07:30PM

2011-12-08T19:30:43-05:00

Second and third batches done: Australia (macadamia nut and lemon myrtle) and Zanzibar (dark chocolate with coconut and clove)

Thursday, Dec 8, 2011 - 03:14PM

2011-12-08T15:14:03-05:00

First batch of chocolates are done! The first flavor is Brazil (passion fruit and guava in white chocolate).

Tuesday, Dec 6, 2011 - 03:54PM

2011-12-06T15:54:36-05:00

Okay. That’s it. After stories of tormenting temporary employees with heat exhaustion and now attempts to drive local business into the ground, I am done with Amazon. They have crossed the line into evil a few too many times.

Tuesday, Dec 6, 2011 - 03:39PM

2011-12-06T15:39:10-05:00

Yay! Finally!

Tuesday, Dec 6, 2011 - 03:38PM

2011-12-06T15:38:41-05:00

I can’t count the number of ways I love this video.

Tuesday, Dec 6, 2011 - 06:56AM

2011-12-06T06:56:24-05:00

I’d like to propose new marriage laws: two people can get married if and only if they log 40 hours together in a Home Depot and/or a Bed, Bath, & Beyond.

Monday, Dec 5, 2011 - 08:04PM

2011-12-05T20:04:23-05:00

I had a good programmer day. I kept thinking to myself "Wile E. Coyote. SUPER genius!

Sunday, Dec 4, 2011 - 03:30PM

2011-12-04T15:30:02-05:00

I’m trying to make a decent chocolate filling out of lemon myrtle and macadamia nuts and so far it ain’t happening. If any of my friends down under could provide a suggestion, I’m all ears. I tried a white chocolate ganache and it tasted bland and slightly unsettling. Now I’m trying a nougatine.

Friday, Dec 2, 2011 - 04:55PM

2011-12-02T16:55:38-05:00

More internet silliness.

Friday, Dec 2, 2011 - 11:57AM

2011-12-02T11:57:54-05:00

I was reading this list and was shocked that Man Bites Dog was rated NC-17. I thought it was hilarious when I watched and cannot remember anything worse in it than you would see on prime time TV. Am I forgetting something?

Friday, Dec 2, 2011 - 11:23AM

2011-12-02T11:23:53-05:00

This is incredible. And one of my favorite horror movies, too.

Friday, Dec 2, 2011 - 06:31AM

2011-12-02T06:31:17-05:00

The one for Metropolis is stunning.

Thursday, Dec 1, 2011 - 05:31PM

2011-12-01T17:31:12-05:00

You have to follow the link and see the image up close to get how cool this is. http://www.2046design.com/gallery_detroittravelposter.html

Thursday, Dec 1, 2011 - 04:15PM

2011-12-01T16:15:35-05:00

Facebook is a GIANT BUMMER today. Where are the baby animal videos?

Wednesday, Nov 30, 2011 - 09:48PM

2011-11-30T21:48:38-05:00

I have coined the word “fagulous”. As in “He looks FAGULOUS in that sequined kaftan!” Please incorporate it into your daily vocabulary.

Wednesday, Nov 30, 2011 - 06:03PM

2011-11-30T18:03:14-05:00

I’m off to a Mt. Sinai function and happened to look at the website of where I’m going and it turns out that they don’t allow people wearing ASCOTS! I broke out my winter ascot especially for this evening!

Wednesday, Nov 30, 2011 - 03:03PM

2011-11-30T15:03:10-05:00

I just upgraded all the routers in my home. New firewall. New wireless access points. Now I need something really big to download.

Wednesday, Nov 30, 2011 - 12:25PM

2011-11-30T12:25:49-05:00

Tuesday, Nov 29, 2011 - 09:50AM

2011-11-29T09:50:46-05:00

Get it NOW! A tethering app for your iPhone that does not require jailbreaking.

Monday, Nov 28, 2011 - 04:49PM

2011-11-28T16:49:01-05:00

No more Ken Russel. How sad. If you want to see a truly beyond bizarre film, try to get your hands on an uncensored copy of The Devils. Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed make it worth your time. And the sets by Derek Jarman help, too.

Sunday, Nov 27, 2011 - 10:09AM

2011-11-27T10:09:46-05:00

The other great part of having a five year old in the house is watching Jonny Quest episodes.

Saturday, Nov 26, 2011 - 09:16PM

2011-11-26T21:16:51-05:00

I took my nephew to see “Hugo” yesterday and “The Lion King” today. The lesson is: everyone that loves you will die someday soon.

Saturday, Nov 26, 2011 - 07:00AM

2011-11-26T07:00:36-05:00

The only bad part about having a 5 year old in the house is knowing that there’s a box of Lucky Charms just sitting there in our cupboards.

Friday, Nov 25, 2011 - 04:31PM

2011-11-25T16:31:44-05:00

Wednesday, Nov 23, 2011 - 07:24PM

2011-11-23T19:24:09-05:00

Sufjan Stevens has written a comic book?! Geez. Is there anything he doesn’t do?

Wednesday, Nov 23, 2011 - 06:59AM

2011-11-23T06:59:53-05:00

I don’t understand the facelift that Google has given to GMail. Why have they decided to remove all visual clues from the page? It’s an anti-design.

Tuesday, Nov 22, 2011 - 10:59AM

2011-11-22T10:59:28-05:00

I just successfully bought lotus root using Chinese!

Monday, Nov 21, 2011 - 07:21PM

2011-11-21T19:21:55-05:00

So…I was going to post a link to Os Mutantes “Vida de Cachorro”, because the world does not have enough Os Mutantes playing. I stumbled across this video which does not show off the song, but YANKED my hearts strings out. Now I’m off to smothering Gogo and Oz in hugs.

Thursday, Nov 17, 2011 - 01:25PM

2011-11-17T13:25:27-05:00

I just unlocked the “Hot Tamale” badge on @foursquare! ¡Ay, caramba!

Wednesday, Nov 16, 2011 - 09:45PM

2011-11-16T21:45:10-05:00

Wednesday, Nov 16, 2011 - 09:33PM

2011-11-16T21:33:45-05:00

Our energetic dogs.

Wednesday, Nov 16, 2011 - 09:49AM

2011-11-16T09:49:47-05:00

I really think they missed a marketing opportunity with the new Meryl Streep movie.

Tuesday, Nov 15, 2011 - 03:59PM

2011-11-15T15:59:20-05:00

Oh. My. God. You have no idea how much I want this for Christmas.

Tuesday, Nov 15, 2011 - 02:25PM

2011-11-15T14:25:43-05:00

I just unlocked the “Super User” badge on foursquare!

Tuesday, Nov 15, 2011 - 07:40AM

2011-11-15T07:40:15-05:00

It’s going to be a New Wave day. I don’t know why, it just is. I’m warming up The Motels, The Human League, some Violent Femmes…heh heh heh (rubbing hands together).

Sunday, Nov 13, 2011 - 08:10AM

2011-11-13T08:10:15-05:00

An NBC news anchor just said “Silvio BERSC-A-LONI” – and she said it TWICE. As a news anchor, is this the first time she’s seen the name “Berlusconi”? Has she not had ample opportunity to figure out how to pronounce it? (This is me being a grumpy old internet man.)

Saturday, Nov 12, 2011 - 10:20PM

2011-11-12T22:20:08-05:00

Wow, how the mighty have fallen. I used to have such respect for Frank Miller, but this rant is ugly in many ways: http://frankmillerink.com/2011/11/anarchy. I’ve been to Occupy Wall Street and it is not what the media is telling you it is. I think Frank should turn off Fox News for a while and see if he can find his creative voice again.

Friday, Nov 11, 2011 - 10:09PM

2011-11-11T22:09:05-05:00

Thursday, Nov 10, 2011 - 11:12AM

2011-11-10T11:12:46-05:00

This is MOST DEFINITELY not appropriate for work or my relatives or people that are even the slightest bit offended. That being said, I don’t know what’s funnier – this video or the boardroom meetings that led to this marketing decision.

Thursday, Nov 10, 2011 - 10:35AM

2011-11-10T10:35:25-05:00

So much coughing in the past couple of days. Last night I started talking like Jennifer Tilly. Now my voice is more of a Kim Carnes. I expect to be Harvey Fierstein tonight and possible Harry Belafonte by tomorrow morning.

Wednesday, Nov 9, 2011 - 09:25AM

2011-11-09T09:25:49-05:00

I miss the Pacific Northwest.

Wednesday, Nov 9, 2011 - 09:24AM

2011-11-09T09:24:32-05:00

Hmm…maybe this will eventually lead to restaurant websites that don’t have stupid flash animations before you get to the content.

Tuesday, Nov 8, 2011 - 03:48PM

2011-11-08T15:48:02-05:00

I hate to do other people’s advertising for them, but… I was getting ready to listen to Neil Young and for some reason, iTunes changed my selection to the The Muppet Movie Soundtrack. A sign from God? I decided it was best to do what I was told to do by fate and I am now singing “Movin’ Right Along”.

Wednesday, Nov 2, 2011 - 07:11PM

2011-11-02T19:11:56-04:00

Die, IE, DIE!

Wednesday, Nov 2, 2011 - 06:12PM

2011-11-02T18:12:29-04:00

I’m trying to not listen to too much Sufjan Stevens. But it’s autumn. And I can’t help it.

Tuesday, Nov 1, 2011 - 10:34AM

2011-11-01T10:34:47-04:00

I just found out that magenta is not a natural color. It’s inorganic. It’s downright UNHOLY!

Tuesday, Nov 1, 2011 - 10:11AM

2011-11-01T10:11:41-04:00

More Kim Kardashian jokes

Tuesday, Nov 1, 2011 - 08:27AM

2011-11-01T08:27:04-04:00

It’s Nov 1st. Time to start undoing all of the bad food choices I made in October.

Tuesday, Nov 1, 2011 - 07:35AM

2011-11-01T07:35:04-04:00

Sunday, Oct 30, 2011 - 06:07PM

2011-10-30T18:07:39-04:00

Bravo to the Italians for inventing Tortelli di Zucca. An thanks to Robb for teaching me how to make it.

Saturday, Oct 29, 2011 - 09:07PM

2011-10-29T21:07:54-04:00

Doctor Strange doing one last email check before leaving the sanctum.

Saturday, Oct 29, 2011 - 06:00PM

2011-10-29T18:00:59-04:00

I swore after being the hottest I’ve ever been this summer (Israel, Vietnam, New York heat waves, etc.) that I was totally sick of being hot all the time and I would not complaint for one second about being cold this winter. But it’s not winter, it’s autumn. And this weather sucks.

Friday, Oct 28, 2011 - 02:47PM

2011-10-28T14:47:14-04:00

Poor Victor. I think they were being a bit harsh on him. I really thought he had it in the bag.

Thursday, Oct 27, 2011 - 05:25PM

2011-10-27T17:25:41-04:00

If I had to pick one Beatles song to save for eternity it would be “Across the Universe” and perhaps for no other reason than I can’t figure the song out. Sometimes I think the phrase “Nothing’s gonna change my world” is a statement of fact – that nothing can possibly change the world – where we are is where we have been and where we will always be. And sometimes I think it’s something defiant: as if a cry to not let outside forces ruin the world we have created for ourselves. Whatever the meaning I seem to be getting at any time, the song always cuts through me every time I hear it.

Wednesday, Oct 26, 2011 - 09:35PM

2011-10-26T21:35:31-04:00

I just wrote my first (working) iPhone app! Yay, me!

Wednesday, Oct 26, 2011 - 05:29PM

2011-10-26T17:29:10-04:00

I’m so happy to see that gay fan dancing is not a lost art form. This also shows off just how incredibly geeky and anything-goes NYCC is.

Tuesday, Oct 25, 2011 - 11:19PM

2011-10-25T23:19:48-04:00

Tuesday, Oct 25, 2011 - 07:33PM

2011-10-25T19:33:21-04:00

My Halloween costume arrived and looks AWESOME! I was wearing most of it when David got home and he said “You look really….strange.” And he had no idea how right he was.

Tuesday, Oct 25, 2011 - 06:20PM

2011-10-25T18:20:37-04:00

I’m trying to get used to the new scrolling in Lion that Apple has snootily called “natural.” But it’s slow going. I may prefer my unholy scrolling technique.

Wednesday, Oct 19, 2011 - 01:40PM

2011-10-19T13:40:31-04:00

If you’re not reading “Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker” (and its main title “The Boys”), then you’re missing out. Because it’s great.

Wednesday, Oct 19, 2011 - 06:22AM

2011-10-19T06:22:09-04:00

Pedobear Posing with Child

Monday, Oct 17, 2011 - 05:13PM

2011-10-17T17:13:13-04:00

Home crafts + economic info-graphics.

Monday, Oct 17, 2011 - 10:34AM

2011-10-17T10:34:33-04:00

Just in case you had forgotten how cool Dusty Springfield is, or how awesome this song is…

Thursday, Oct 13, 2011 - 10:00PM

2011-10-13T22:00:06-04:00

Why do I feel that enjoying Kasabian is a guilty pleasure? There’s no shame in enjoying music. I like Kasabian. There. I said it. I just started listening to Velociraptor and it’s good.

Thursday, Oct 13, 2011 - 07:35PM

2011-10-13T19:35:10-04:00

It’s kind of fun seeing posters for Footloose everywhere because in my head I hear Kenny Loggins singing “NA GA KA LOOSE. FOOT LOOSE.” And then it’s over. That’s all I needed.

Monday, Oct 10, 2011 - 11:33AM

2011-10-10T11:33:37-04:00

I checked AT&T’s website to see if I could get an iPhone 4S. They excitedly informed me that I was eligible for a full-retail-price upgrade! How kind of them to allow me to pay full price for a new phone! (grumble)

Monday, Oct 10, 2011 - 10:19AM

2011-10-10T10:19:31-04:00

This weekend I rediscovered an album that was heavily played in our house when I was a kid: the soundtrack to the movie The Rose. Yay to forgotten gems.

Sunday, Oct 9, 2011 - 09:57PM

2011-10-09T21:57:26-04:00

I convinced David to see Moneyball with me by convincing him it was a movie about STATISTICS, not baseball. And to some extent, I was right.

Friday, Oct 7, 2011 - 11:45PM

2011-10-07T23:45:06-04:00

Friday, Oct 7, 2011 - 09:51PM

2011-10-07T21:51:42-04:00

Oh…GLaDOS…I could never stay mad at you.

Friday, Oct 7, 2011 - 07:44PM

2011-10-07T19:44:34-04:00

A little bit of atonement, a stroll down the High Line… Shana tova.

Thursday, Oct 6, 2011 - 06:50AM

2011-10-06T06:50:07-04:00

Very sweet story about Steve Jobs.

Wednesday, Oct 5, 2011 - 08:47PM

2011-10-05T20:47:13-04:00

Steve Jobs died. How sad. Not only did he give us Apple, he co-founded Pixar. He will go down as one of the great American inventors – someone with a continual vision of a marriage between creativity and technology.

Tuesday, Oct 4, 2011 - 11:00AM

2011-10-04T11:00:12-04:00

Just put in an order for a super-cool Halloween costume (samples of previous work: http://www.cosplay.com/marketplace/member.php?uid=182032). This is the first time in years that I will be fully decked out on Halloween.

Tuesday, Oct 4, 2011 - 04:40AM

2011-10-04T04:40:03-04:00

Ugh. The Government is voting to allow themselves to start harassing your cell phone.

Sunday, Oct 2, 2011 - 12:11PM

2011-10-02T12:11:54-04:00

I’ve been mini-obsessed with The Mamas & The Papas lately. I had previously only known them for their hits – and while I found those songs enjoyable, their sound seemed a little shallow to me. But once you get past those overplayed songs, there are some real gems (this one is quite subtlely beautiful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhHMwE250zg&noredirect=1). But lurking underneath their cheerful and flawless harmonies is perhaps the most dysfunctional group of people to ever be in a band together. It’s staggering: drugs, adultery, cruelty, pregnancies, incest, etc. I don’t know what point I’m making here other than the juxtaposition is fascinating and apparently stuck in my subconscious.

Friday, Sep 30, 2011 - 10:05PM

2011-09-30T22:05:19-04:00

Another Friday night, another visit from our antiquarian horologist…

Tuesday, Sep 27, 2011 - 03:07PM

2011-09-27T15:07:56-04:00

I’m having a Charleton Heston in Soylent Green moment. Facebook has completely taken over the web. We’ve all been so obsessed with popularity that we didn’t notice that Facebook now tracks practically every thing you do on the web – whether you’re logged in or not! “It’s Facebook. Soylent Green is Facebook!”

Monday, Sep 26, 2011 - 03:09PM

2011-09-26T15:09:32-04:00

Whatever happened to honesty in marriage?

Monday, Sep 26, 2011 - 07:15AM

2011-09-26T07:15:47-04:00

New trailer out. Sometimes I think I enjoy David Fincher’s trailers as much as his movies.

Sunday, Sep 25, 2011 - 06:13PM

2011-09-25T18:13:20-04:00

I don’t know why I find this so funny.

Saturday, Sep 24, 2011 - 03:53PM

2011-09-24T15:53:58-04:00

I know I’m a little late on this, but… Community didn’t even get nominated for an Emmy? Did the judges not see the Paintball finale? Because that was one of the most amazing things I’ve seen on television.

Friday, Sep 23, 2011 - 06:13PM

2011-09-23T18:13:20-04:00

I swear that iTunes started playing Kool & the Gang without any input from me. Is this the beginning of the sentient-computer disco revolt? I placed iTunes on Funkytown in the hopes of educating it.

Wednesday, Sep 21, 2011 - 06:40PM

2011-09-21T18:40:38-04:00

Wednesday, Sep 21, 2011 - 06:11AM

2011-09-21T06:11:26-04:00

We passed this bag and jewelery store in Hanoi. I don’t think they knew what they were saying when they put this on their store window.

Saturday, Sep 17, 2011 - 06:29AM

2011-09-17T06:29:20-04:00

I have the first set of our Indochina travelog up. And it has video!

Thursday, Sep 15, 2011 - 09:37PM

2011-09-15T21:37:18-04:00

Goodbye Tel Aviv. I will miss your constant stream of tan, incredibly fit, and barely-clothed people.

The Laos-y Start of Our Trip

2011-09-14T00:00:00-04:00

The start of our trip through Indochina began with Laos. I knew next to nothing about Laos before we got there other than the fact that a good friend had recommended it. The country is known as a vacation spot to locals, but it is largely off the tourist path.

We were still a bit jet-lagged upon our arrival. Our guide and driver picked us up. To this day, I don’t know the name of our driver. He said his real name is a mile long, so just call him “Viang” which I never felt like I pronounced correctly. They took us to our hotel, the La Residence Phou Vao to drop off our bags. In hindsight, the hotel in Laos was probably the nicest hotel we had throughout the trip. It was extremely luxurious but still felt like we were “in the thick of things.” I quickly got used to the staff always greeting me with a smile so wide, it was as if I was their childhood idol.

After lunch at the hotel, we went out for a trip to a local village and the waterfall. As we were driving around, Viang told us just how recently Luang Prabang had become a place that you could actually get around. He would point to an ATM machine and say that they just got their first ATM machine two years ago. As we drove through the main street, he said that they paved the road just five years ago.

We drove a bit out into the country side and stopped. Viang led us up a small hill and into a Laotian village. We were immediately greeted by small children trying to sell us bracelets. After some hellos, Viang smiled and asked them to leave us alone and they pretty much did. They always stayed nearby though, watching us from around a corner. Viang gave us a brief description of the religious settings in Laos, most of which is Buddhist but also Animist (which I had never heard of). We passed women embroidering pillows, we passed beautifully made huts with woven grass walls. One man invited us into his hut so that we could see the inside. Of course, it was very sparse, but there was a TV and a raised bed. The TV was the only thing electric in the hut.

After the village, we went to the big waterfall in town the Kouang Si Waterfall. We didn’t know that you could swim in the waterfall, so neither of us brought our suits. But I would have loved to swim for a while. It seemed a bit dangerous because the water level was so high, but plenty of people were doing it. Because of the rainy season, many picnic areas near the waterfall were flooded. Bridges had been completely washed away. The water was quite dramatic.

The next day, I rose early to see the Buddhist monks in town. Every morning, the monks walk through town and ask for food. The local people believe that it is very good to give food to the monks, so they make their own rice or buy rice from a vendor, sit on mats, and drop rice into the monks’ alms bowls. I got up around 5am so that I could make it downtown and participate. Most of the tourist just took pictures, but there were a few of us that were on the matts, dropping rice into the monks’ bowls. I did not realize how hot the rice would be and you can’t ask a stream of 100 monks to stop to allow your fingers to cool down, so my fingers got a little burned. Also, I ran out of rice about halfway through and had to sit there looking foolish. I later found out that the monks go in order of seniority, so that the youngest monks end up with the smallest amount of food on purpose.

In Laos, many people are only able to get an education by joining a Buddhist monastery. They do not have to stay at the monastery their whole lives, but they join in order to learn to read and write. So Buddhism is very much engrained into their society.

After David got up, we met our guide and took a dragon boat trip down the Mekong River. The dragon boat was run by a small family that most likely lives on the boat. There were many places we visited that can only be visited by boat. The roads are not dependable and become unusable during monsoon season.

We stopped at a rice whisky village where they made rice wine and rice whiskey. I sampled some whiskey coming right out of the distillery. David was not so adventurous. This town had lots of bottles of whiskey and some sort of disgusting animal. Usually it was a cobra in the bottle. The locals believe that the venom mixes with the whiskey so that drinking the whiskey makes you stronger. They also had whiskey bottles with giant millipedes, scorpions, bear claws, elephant penis, and the largest bees I have ever seen in my life.

We stopped at a few other villages along the river such as a textile weaving town. You could see the worms, the dyeing process, and the weavers. Everyone was hard at work. We stopped at a town that makes their paper out of elephant dung. The paper was not what you would expect and was very high quality.

But the highlight was a visit to the Pak Ou Caves. There are a set of a couple of caves built into the mountain along the river containing hundreds of statues of Buddhas. The caves are very eerie and beautiful. Our guide explained how the different poses of the buddha signify different things. Laos has its own position: if the Buddha is standing and has both hands pointed down, that is unique to Laos and is the symbol for “Pray for rain.”

After the caves, and a visit to a lunch spot on the river (with the largest unused bee hive I have ever seen.), we took an hour or so to get back home. The boat owners had set the benches into day beds and both David and I napped underneath the sun, a gentle river breeze blowing over us, just hearing the sound of the slow engine taking as back to the hotel. Since we had an early start to the day, we were back by 4pm. We decided to book some spa treatments before dinner. The spas were so cheap in this part of the world that it was always a good idea to throw in a massage when free time presented itself.

Our last half day in Luang Prabang was to visit the president’s palage and main temples.

This is the part where I get tired of saying “It was soooo beautiful.” You have to go to experience it. They were unlike anything I had every seen before. There was one temple in particular that had a “Tree of Life” motif on one side made out of elephant skin. Yes, they used elephant skin as the wallpaper. You wouldn’t know if someone didn’t tell you. But even without that exoticness, you see that they have their esthetic. The decorations in the Presindetial Palace weren’t copying the French or the Chinese or anything else. So it is worth going to see. It is very ornate. More so than I can capture with a camera.

We climbed one of the mountains in Luang Prabang. It was perhaps a half hour walk up. Unfortunately, it was one of the most humid days we had there and both David and I arrived at the top as living waterfalls. There was no breeze. We were trying to enjoy the view, but honestly, we were both so hot and sweaty and uncomfortable that we just wanted something cool to drink and some air conditioning. I don’t even think I took a picture.

After getting down, we had lunch at the hotel and took a plane to Hanoi – the next stage of our trip.

Tuesday, Sep 13, 2011 - 02:53AM

2011-09-13T02:53:40-04:00

On the flight to Tel Aviv, our steward offered fresh pita bread and David said “No pita for me.”
Steward: You have hummus. In Israel, we always eat hummus with pita.
David: I know. I don’t want pita bread.
Steward: You know you are on a flight to Israel, right? Take a pita.
David: I have a mother in Philadelphia. She’s better at this than you.

Then the steward laughed and left him alone. He offered me a pita. I took it.

Sunday, Sep 11, 2011 - 01:05PM

2011-09-11T13:05:29-04:00

Dining on the Mediterranean.

Sunday, Sep 11, 2011 - 05:00AM

2011-09-11T05:00:01-04:00

I’m about to board a flight to Israel. Last time I was in the Ben Gurion airport, I was strip-searched. Let’s see I lightning will strike twice.

Thursday, Sep 8, 2011 - 07:14AM

2011-09-08T07:14:09-04:00

Yay, Canaan Dogs!

Thursday, Sep 8, 2011 - 04:05AM

2011-09-08T04:05:20-04:00

This business of being wide awake at 3 or 4 in the morning is getting really old. I would like my eight hours of sleep, please.

Wednesday, Sep 7, 2011 - 02:56PM

2011-09-07T14:56:26-04:00

It’s pretty hard to beat Tina Turner, but I was pleasantly surprised that The Easybeats do a pretty good job with “River Deep, Mountain High”.

Tuesday, Sep 6, 2011 - 12:36PM

2011-09-06T12:36:18-04:00

They’re playing all Barry White today during lunch.

Tuesday, Sep 6, 2011 - 05:59AM

2011-09-06T05:59:18-04:00

Feeding the Monks at Luang Prabang

Tuesday, Sep 6, 2011 - 05:54AM

2011-09-06T05:54:50-04:00

Banana Flower from a Village Boy

Tuesday, Sep 6, 2011 - 05:53AM

2011-09-06T05:53:20-04:00

Waterfall at Luang Prabang

Tuesday, Sep 6, 2011 - 05:51AM

2011-09-06T05:51:31-04:00

Sunrise over Luang Prabang

Tuesday, Sep 6, 2011 - 05:46AM

2011-09-06T05:46:26-04:00

Buddhas in the Pak Ou Caves

Monday, Sep 5, 2011 - 05:08AM

2011-09-05T05:08:19-04:00

If only this weren’t a giant ad for Google, I’d love it even more. But it starts good and gets more awesome as it goes.

Saturday, Sep 3, 2011 - 03:03PM

2011-09-03T15:03:56-04:00

So…I didn’t really get Spotify at first. But an hour into it and I’m loving it. There’s a lot of potential there.

Saturday, Sep 3, 2011 - 11:10AM

2011-09-03T11:10:20-04:00

Thursday, Sep 1, 2011 - 04:33AM

2011-09-01T04:33:52-04:00

Yes, I’m looking forward to being home – seeing my dogs, my friends, my house …being able to eat fresh salads again without fear of getting sick. But part of me is pouting. I have never been so spoiled in my life as the past 2.5 weeks. I feel like a kid on the last day of summer.

Wednesday, Aug 31, 2011 - 01:19AM

2011-08-31T01:19:22-04:00

The Smiling Faces of Angkor Thom

Tuesday, Aug 30, 2011 - 10:03PM

2011-08-30T22:03:46-04:00

Last full day of touring before the long trek home. In many ways, we saved the best for last. Angkor Watt is stunning.

Monday, Aug 29, 2011 - 09:33AM

2011-08-29T09:33:31-04:00

I went for a walk by myself in Saigon and all the pretty young girls told me they thought I was in need of a massage. But that was nothing compared to the treatment that David got at night – he was actually groped by women in bikinis. Why do Asian women tend to go for David?

Sunday, Aug 28, 2011 - 08:15PM

2011-08-28T20:15:09-04:00

Our guide met us in Danang and said “You so thin! I thought you would have big American bellies!” How sweet!

Friday, Aug 26, 2011 - 05:48AM

2011-08-26T05:48:04-04:00

Today, David and I bicycled 15 miles through small Vietnamese villages to go to an archeology site. It was an unreal experience. Old bridges over water canals that feed rice paddies, old women laying rice on their front yard to dry, children running out of the houses waving and shouting HELLO HELLO!

Thursday, Aug 25, 2011 - 07:46AM

2011-08-25T07:46:11-04:00

Cats and Doctor Who jokes. This is why Al Gore invented the Internet.

Thursday, Aug 25, 2011 - 07:40AM

2011-08-25T07:40:27-04:00

Thursday, Aug 25, 2011 - 07:24AM

2011-08-25T07:24:13-04:00

David Getting Fitted for a Custom Suit.

Thursday, Aug 25, 2011 - 04:23AM

2011-08-25T04:23:36-04:00

Our Hotel in Hoi An. I’m starting to really feel spoiled.

Wednesday, Aug 24, 2011 - 01:56AM

2011-08-24T01:56:16-04:00

David in Halong Bay

Sunday, Aug 21, 2011 - 06:03PM

2011-08-21T18:03:32-04:00

Yesterday was my first visit to a Communist leader’s mausoleum. We went to see Ho Chi Minh and it was awesome. The guards told David to take off his hat. When I whispered something to David they told me to be silent. And finally, they told David to uncross his arms and hold them at his sides. The room itself had 8 guards beautifully placed, unmoving, and with perfect posture.

Saturday, Aug 20, 2011 - 08:58PM

2011-08-20T20:58:14-04:00

So far in Vietnam, we have been listed as Mr. David Reich and Mrs. Keith Marran. David had a hard time explaining “two men, one king bed” to the hotel staff.

Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 - 12:19AM

2011-08-18T00:19:00-04:00

Our view at lunch at Luang Prabang

Monday, Aug 15, 2011 - 08:43PM

2011-08-15T20:43:17-04:00

Yay. It’s about time we heard a voice of reason amongst the super-rich. It is in their best interest to have a healthy economy and a financially healthy working class.

Monday, Aug 15, 2011 - 06:39PM

2011-08-15T18:39:15-04:00

3 countries. 3 weeks. And only 2 carry-ons. Woo-hoo!

Sunday, Aug 14, 2011 - 08:13AM

2011-08-14T08:13:24-04:00

I wish they had cast Dillon Casey as the new Superman.

Friday, Aug 12, 2011 - 04:44PM

2011-08-12T16:44:53-04:00

Just saw the best production of Romeo & Juliet I think I’ll ever see.

Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 - 05:47PM

2011-08-11T17:47:10-04:00

To call this man evil is an understatement. I generally try not to wish harm on people, but I hope this guy’s next 28 years are an endless nightmare.

Wednesday, Aug 10, 2011 - 05:54PM

2011-08-10T17:54:05-04:00

Do they teach the difference between “to” and “too” in school anymore? I’m not usually a stickler for grammar in casual internet comments, but I’m getting a little appalled that no one seems to use “too” anymore.

Tuesday, Aug 9, 2011 - 06:59PM

2011-08-09T18:59:13-04:00

How could this be? I’ve seen most of the movies on this list, but I hadn’t even HEARD of #1!?

Tuesday, Aug 9, 2011 - 07:03AM

2011-08-09T07:03:03-04:00

Does anyone out there use mint.com? Any reviews?

Saturday, Aug 6, 2011 - 10:23AM

2011-08-06T10:23:07-04:00

For my geeky and webby friends, I did some research on QR codes…

Make Your Own Neat-O QR Code

2011-08-06T00:00:00-04:00

QR codes are those little blocks of black and white that you see on posters nowadays. They are like a modern-day UPC symbol, except for the fact that they are designed to produce letters instead of numbers. Anyone with a QR reader app on their phone can scan a QR code and get the information embedded in the code. To scan it, you simple point your phone’s camera at the code. The QR app recognizes the code and tells you the text embedded in the code. The information is usually a URL, but people have been using them to give out interesting information. For instance:

You meet someone at a function and he or she gives you a business card with a QR code on it. You scan the code with your phone, and your phone takes you to a vcard of the person you just met so their contact info goes right into your address book.
You go to a museum and the artwork has QR codes next to the title of the piece. Scanning the code takes you to a page describing the artwork and the artist.
Musicians can post QR codes around town or on promotional materials. Scanning the code takes the user to an audio file to sample the music.
And it doesn’t have to be a URL. It can be any text. Secret phrases, directions, anything.

What fascinated me about QR codes of late is that people were starting to embed images into the code. For instance, the QR code for BBC has their logo in the center, like so:

The idea that math and art had converged to make this highly technical code fascinated me. It turns out, the answer isn’t all that hard.

QR codes were designed to allow a fair amount of error correction. So if part of the image is garbled, you can still determine the embedded code. Companies that are using interesting QR codes are making use of that and essentially throwing out part of the image and replacing it with their own design.

I decided to try this myself and the process was pretty easy. I started by going to uQR.me as a site that was recommended for making your own QR codes. It’s fine, but I wanted to be in control. All the QR codes made at uQR.me lead back to their servers and I wanted a solution that took the user to my site directly.

Google will create QR codes for you online, so I started by going to the Google’s Chart Tools: Infographics page.

You should also read the Wikipedia entry on QR codes, because it explains what parts of the code you can alter and which parts you can’t. In general, you’re safe in the center.

If you want to skip to the fun part, this is the URL I used to create a QR code that points to my home page:

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=300×300&chld=H&chl=http://www.marran.com.

If you want to make your own, replace the “http://www.marran.com” with the text that you want for your own QR code.

The important part about this URL is that is specifies the highest possible setting for error correction. That means that, in theory, I could lose 30% of the QR code and a reader will still be able to determine the embedded code.

Once, I had the code, I copied the image into Illustrator so that I could turn it into a vector image. You could use Photoshop as well, but vector images make more sense to me for this kind of work. I used Live Trace in Illustrator to convert it to a vector. Start with the “Black and White” settings, set “Path Fitting” to zero and “Corner Angle” to 90. Then, if you’re feeling persnickety, run the result through “Simplify” and you’ll end up with a very clean and blocky QR code.

I took my logo and placed it in the center of the image. I blocked some white space around the logo and scanned the code with my iPhone (using the app “Barcodes” – which is free). It scanned perfectly! I decided to roughen up the edges a bit and everything still scanned like a charm. Here’s the final result:

At some point, I’d like to have a particular QR code that takes users to a page on my site specially formatted for mobile phones, where they can download a vcard or connect to any of my social links. Or perhaps I’ll start leaving anonymous messages in QR codes around Manhattan.

Thursday, Aug 4, 2011 - 04:25PM

2011-08-04T16:25:28-04:00

Recycled Paper Sheep

Thursday, Aug 4, 2011 - 03:06PM

2011-08-04T15:06:01-04:00

Why am I posting on Facebook so much today? Well, I filled out my visas for Vietnam and Cambodia this morning. My attention is now bicycling through Vietnam, waiting for my body to catch up.

Thursday, Aug 4, 2011 - 03:02PM

2011-08-04T15:02:52-04:00

I’m such a sucker for this type of blatantly enjoyable pop. These guys (The 88) are my new most-listened-to band.

Thursday, Aug 4, 2011 - 02:00PM

2011-08-04T14:00:42-04:00

I have zero opinion on Zach Braff’s play running Off-Broadway right now. However, a standing ovation goes to these two duking it out with words over Scott Brown’s review.

Thursday, Aug 4, 2011 - 11:07AM

2011-08-04T11:07:49-04:00

Oops. I over-caffeinated. I think my latest batch of iced tea is stronger than usual.

Wednesday, Aug 3, 2011 - 07:20PM

2011-08-03T19:20:12-04:00

What’s for dinner you ask? Why squash blossom quesadillas!

Tuesday, Aug 2, 2011 - 02:44PM

2011-08-02T14:44:47-04:00

It’s sweltering in NYC right now. So this is hilarious.

Sunday, Jul 31, 2011 - 07:41AM

2011-07-31T07:41:48-04:00

I just stumbled upon this clip from the movie Performance. What the hell? Why have I never heard of this movie before?

Tuesday, Jul 26, 2011 - 02:26PM

2011-07-26T14:26:14-04:00

Usually, I read Gawker for its snarky and trashy writing, but this is a real article worth reading.

Saturday, Jul 23, 2011 - 08:15AM

2011-07-23T08:15:02-04:00

And the TEMPERATURE is too damn high!

Saturday, Jul 23, 2011 - 08:05AM

2011-07-23T08:05:15-04:00

Captain America was awesome. Chris Evans was perfect. Hugo Weaving was perfect (not that I ever doubted). It’s a fun, summer blockbuster.

Friday, Jul 22, 2011 - 03:09PM

2011-07-22T15:09:21-04:00

Oh sure. When the 4-year-old boy down the block hangs out naked on his front steps, it’s cute. But when I do it, everyone starts freaking out. Our society is so age-ist.

Thursday, Jul 21, 2011 - 06:22PM

2011-07-21T18:22:33-04:00

So…I’ve been cranky about the heat here in NYC. It turns out I just needed an iPod adjustment. I put on some Paper Lace, followed it with Friends of Distinction, and I was suddenly in the mood for hot and sweaty New York. NYC in the summer always reminds me of the 70’s: all the fashionistas give up and walk around in their Hanes tank tops and halter tops. Everyone is letting it all hang out.

Thursday, Jul 21, 2011 - 06:18PM

2011-07-21T18:18:57-04:00

I have my tickets for Captain America tomorrow and I picked up a pseudo-Captain-America t-shirt from Dave’s (on 6th ave) for the occasion.

Wednesday, Jul 20, 2011 - 07:06PM

2011-07-20T19:06:19-04:00

I just saw a clip from “Showgirls” and I can never decide if I’m lucky to have not seen it or if I’m missing out on high trash.

Wednesday, Jul 20, 2011 - 09:59AM

2011-07-20T09:59:06-04:00

Okay. The summer is starting to wear on me. A couple days of cooling rain would be awesome right now.

Monday, Jul 18, 2011 - 10:08AM

2011-07-18T10:08:10-04:00

This is a very interesting article, especially if you have kids. I think we have an ever-growing epidemic of optimism in this country that is doing us more harm than good.

Tuesday, Jul 12, 2011 - 03:22PM

2011-07-12T15:22:14-04:00

I found out that someone at Mt. Sinai named their baby “Kal-El.” How cool is that?!

Saturday, Jul 9, 2011 - 07:09AM

2011-07-09T07:09:45-04:00

Going for a ride in Parke’s Bel Air.

Wednesday, Jul 6, 2011 - 07:29PM

2011-07-06T19:29:17-04:00

Boo to RSC for skinning a real rabbit on stage for entertainment. And boo to Gawker for bad logic. I’m glad they cut the scene. However, it made for some hilarious Gawker comments (be sure to click “All” in the comments).

Tuesday, Jul 5, 2011 - 06:21PM

2011-07-05T18:21:08-04:00

YAY!

Tuesday, Jul 5, 2011 - 05:48PM

2011-07-05T17:48:10-04:00

Ouch. Who would have thought doing a “Gladiator” workout would make one so sore?

Creating Redirects with Jekyll

2011-07-03T00:00:00-04:00

One of my big hurdles in moving to Jekyll was making sure that people that stumbled across old URLs for my site would get to the new content. Creating redirects in Jekyll turned out to be a snap.

I had moved my site from Drupal. Their URL alias system is extensive (and cumbersome), and I really didn’t want to lose all the good SEO I had on my old site. Google can take forever to crawl a dinky little site like mine – I’m not high on their list of priorities – so I was not looking forward to all those old URLs generating 404 errors. I made the redirect system part of my core requirements for a Jekyll relaunch.

There is some code based on redirects in the Drupal migrator, but it wasn’t quite what I wanted. It creates multiple source files which live in your source folder forever. Considering that Drupal’s URLs are quite messy, my source directory became unmanageable from all the junk directories and files that got created for the redirect files.

Instead of creating redirect files in the my source directory, what I wanted was to attribute redirect properties to a post. So a post would always have it’s primary permalink URL, but it could also have multiple redirect URLs that lead the user back to the main permalink URL. That way, the redirect pages are created in the destination directory – not in the source directory.

Here’s an example of what you would see in the YAML for a post that has redirects:

layout: post
title: Creating Redirects with Jekyll
redirects:
- /keiths/redirect/works
- /or-use-this-one

Next, I added a property to my _config.yml file to turn redirects on or off.

redirects: yes

Then I created a template in my _layouts directory called redirect.html. This is the file that is created for each redirect property of a post.

This page redirects a browser without any delay, but you could also create a page that instructs the user that the content has moved and to update their links. Note that the page.source_url code is the Jekyll permalink URL for the content. In other words, the place we want the user to end up.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url={{ page.source_url }}" />
</head>
</html>

And finally, I created the following file in my _plugins directory:

module Jekyll

  # The redirect page creates a simple page that refreshes a user from a URL alias to an existing post.
  # Redirects are only generated if there is a "redirects" parameter _config.yml
  
  class Redirects < Generator
    
    safe true
    priority :low

    # only process redirects if it's set in the config file
    def generate(site)    
      generate_redirects(site) if (site.config['redirects'])    
    end

    # find all posts with a redirect property and create a new page for each entry    
    def generate_redirects(site)
      site.posts.select{|x| x.data.key? 'redirects' }.each do |p|
        p.data['redirects'].each do |r| 
          redirect = RedirectPage.new(site, site.source, r, p.id)
          redirect.render(site.layouts, site.site_payload)
          redirect.write(site.dest)
          site.pages << redirect
        end     
      end
    end

  end

  # a class for generating the redirect pages.
  class RedirectPage < Page
    
    def initialize(site, base, path, destination)
    
      @site = site
      @base = base
      @dir  = path
      @name = 'index.html'
      self.process(@name)
      
      # Read the YAML data from the layout page.
      self.read_yaml(File.join(base, '_layouts'), 'redirect.html')
      self.data['source_url'] = destination
      
    end
    
  end
  
end

I think writing this code was the place where I truly fell in love with Jekyll. I thought about all the other systems I had worked on in which writing redirect functionality would have taken a lot longer. There would have been database migrations, programming front ends to accept multiple redirect values, and finally the redirect code itself. Implementing this in Jekyll was so damn clear and direct. It would have been my preference to handle the redirect with HTTP, but that’s a small price to pay in my opinion.

You can test this out by going to http://www.marran.com/keiths/redirect/works or http://www.marran.com/or-this-one. Your browser should end up back at this page. If I ever want to add a redirect to a post, I just add it to the YAML.

Saturday, Jul 2, 2011 - 06:38AM

2011-07-02T06:38:19-04:00

I’ve heard a fair amount of friends say that the Transformers movies are just mindless fun and I should stop rolling my eyes. But I just don’t think Hollywood produces mindless fun. And this article explains it better that any other I’ve found.

Tuesday, Jun 28, 2011 - 06:24PM

2011-06-28T18:24:15-04:00

At the gym, I saw a woman with a severe, eastern European female trainer. After a set, the trainer smiled at the woman with a disarmingly sweet and helpful look and said “I vill tell you vhen your body cannot do anymore.” Female trainers are the meanest trainers.

Tuesday, Jun 28, 2011 - 07:43AM

2011-06-28T07:43:13-04:00

I spilled my bowl of Rice Krispies this morning. And my Gogo Vacuum cleaned it up for me.

Monday, Jun 27, 2011 - 09:04PM

2011-06-27T21:04:09-04:00

Friday, Jun 24, 2011 - 09:23PM

2011-06-24T21:23:52-04:00

Wednesday, Jun 22, 2011 - 12:01PM

2011-06-22T12:01:17-04:00

I just missed TWO opportunities to moon the Google Street View Camera Car. That would have been so awesome.

Tuesday, Jun 21, 2011 - 06:26AM

2011-06-21T06:26:53-04:00

This is possible the most awesome act of graffiti I’ve ever seen. Those Eastern Europeans can produce some great stuff when oppressed.

Monday, Jun 20, 2011 - 10:58AM

2011-06-20T10:58:08-04:00

I’ve really been enjoying classes General Assembly lately. I hope this one doesn’t disappoint.

Monday, Jun 20, 2011 - 10:26AM

2011-06-20T10:26:00-04:00

I stumbled across a Brigitte Bardot album this morning while looking for work music. Her music is quite a bit better than you’d expect, and this is my fav.

Saturday, Jun 18, 2011 - 04:51PM

2011-06-18T16:51:43-04:00

I’m off to see Sleep No More for the second time. On hot NYC days like these, I wonder if the actors think “I can’t wait to get to work and take off all my clothes.”

Wednesday, Jun 15, 2011 - 04:12PM

2011-06-15T16:12:13-04:00

Hey! These people live just a few doors down! When we moved in, they invited us to come use the pool but now they snub us on the sidewalk. I guess that’s what happens when someone tells you your place is worth $11M.

Wednesday, Jun 15, 2011 - 01:34PM

2011-06-15T13:34:58-04:00

If the producers wanted to make their money back, they should have retooled Spider-Man to be a musical about the MAKING of Spider-Man. You can use the same set and costumes, the same music, and cast people as Julie Taymor, Bono, and a producer or two. You can keep all the stunts, but add a bit or two where actors fall off the set and injure themselves. It would be the world’s first Post-Modern Broadway experience! Th

Wednesday, Jun 15, 2011 - 12:54PM

2011-06-15T12:54:16-04:00

You can complain all you want about Mac users being a cult, but if you’ve never experienced their customer service, you really shouldn’t throw stones.

My trackpad started acting up. I made an appointment at the Genius Bar for that day. There was no wait when I showed up. And they gave me a brand new trackpad in 10 minutes.

Monday, Jun 13, 2011 - 06:26PM

2011-06-13T18:26:07-04:00

If Sarah Palin ever stops grabbing the media spotlight, what will we, the people of America, do? We’ve had her around for so long I can’t imagine life without her high-jinks!

Friday, Jun 10, 2011 - 07:25AM

2011-06-10T07:25:34-04:00

A friend of mine has a very funny article up on McSweeney’s website.

Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011 - 06:31PM

2011-06-08T18:31:41-04:00

Wow. This story continues its slow sink into awfulness.

Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011 - 06:28PM

2011-06-08T18:28:49-04:00

I think once the heat wave is over in NYC, we’ll most likely have two weeks of rain and dreariness. God likes to make New Yorkers complain.

Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011 - 07:10AM

2011-06-08T07:10:13-04:00

I came home from my morning jog thirsty and hungry. I opened the fridge and there was a Thai baby coconut. It was honestly one of the most delicious things I’ve ever had. Hot NYC and cold baby coconuts were made for each other.

Tuesday, Jun 7, 2011 - 10:01PM

2011-06-07T22:01:50-04:00

I have really grown to love MIchael Caine impersonations. And this has got to be my favorite.

Monday, Jun 6, 2011 - 04:08PM

2011-06-06T16:08:14-04:00

This article is kind of funny and interesting, but the comments make it really come alive.

Monday, Jun 6, 2011 - 03:59PM

2011-06-06T15:59:46-04:00

Music is sounding brand new to me this morning. I listened to ZZ Top’s Cheap Sunglasses and it sounded like Beethoven. And The Sparks is musical ecstasy to my ears. Is it the weather or am I just in a great mood from my trip to Vienna?

Monday, Jun 6, 2011 - 03:25PM

2011-06-06T15:25:50-04:00

As they say, the devil is in the details, but at first glance, Apple’s iCloud offering looks pretty great.

Monday, Jun 6, 2011 - 08:21AM

2011-06-06T08:21:03-04:00

The Run Walk Plan

2011-06-06T00:00:00-04:00

I found the perfect motivation for getting into shape. Watch Spartacus. It’s kind of like porn, but the acting is surprisingly good and the story has lots of high-eyebrow and pursed-lips moments. And everyone is in unbelievably good shape.

Watching this video, you will understand why:

So after watching a few episodes, I decided it was time to move fitness to the front burner.

I had been honing my diet for the past several months: vegetarian and sugar-free. The sugar-free thing had been going about a month. No sweeteners of any kind: no honey, no maple syrup, no artificial sweeteners. I allowed myself fruit, but that was it. I wanted to see what it was like to not experience a sweetened life. And it was fine. After a couple of days, all the cravings disappeared and regular food seemed sweet again. But I was surprised that it didn’t result in any great weight loss. Clothes were slowly starting to fit more loosely, but the scale didn’t budge. My sweet tooth had always been my big downfall. I was surprised that I didn’t lose more weight.

So clearly, it was time to get into a regular exercise regimen.

I had somewhere stumbled onto an article about a “Run/Walk” plan for marathon training. I don’t remember where the original article is. But essentially, you run for a specified number of minutes and then walk for another set of minutes. It seemed like a good idea, because last year, when I was running on a somewhat regular basis, it took me a very long time to build up my endurance to run a significant amount of time. Running is hard on the body and it takes time for your system to strengthen all of the parts in preparation for long-term running. A run/walk program is supposed to help you condition your body faster and with less of a chance of injury.

Plus, I no longer believe that exercise should consist of pushing oneself to extremes. It just demotivates me.

I found an article online that outlines a run/walk program for people that are just getting started. Today was the first day.

The first few minutes were a shocker. I am not in shape. But it’s always such a surprise to realize how far off you are compared to what you expected. Those first three minutes of running felt like torture and I thought I would not be able to keep up the pace for 35 minutes. But then, those three minutes went by pretty quickly and the walking felt good. All the pressure on my system lifted as I kept a steady walking pace. And after 2 minutes of walking, I was ready to try running again. With each run/walk set, I felt better. I wasn’t intimidated by the running part and in fact, it started feeling pretty good. I finished the run for the day on a strong note. (On a side note, my body has felt a long springier and resilient since I gave up meat, so I attribute some of that to vegetarianism.)

One of the things I like about this plan is that they tell you about how much you should be exerting yourself on a run. I had to continually remind myself that I’m aiming for 6-7 out of 10. I have a tendency to push myself too hard when I run so I had to ease up on occasion.

Looking at the plan, I see that Saturday, I’m supposed to run 5 miles. That’s a little intimidating right now. I still feel like a beginner. I’m guessing that when Saturday rolls around, it will happen in the same relatively easy way that today happened. And I also need to remind myself that I can easily walk 5 miles. I will be using the same manageable pace for those 5 miles that I used for today’s workout.

The other thing I like about this plan is that allows for two days of weight lifting. Because while the running is nice, and I hope that it will kick-start my body into shedding some pounds, I will still be watching Spartacus and feeling woefully inadequate if I don’t get to the gym and put on some muscle.

Here’s another Spartacus image for motivation:

Saturday, Jun 4, 2011 - 07:28PM

2011-06-04T19:28:12-04:00

I always have the sense that George Takei is having way more fun than the rest fo us.

Wednesday, Jun 1, 2011 - 06:05AM

2011-06-01T06:05:57-04:00

Today, I remembered to photograph the food before eating.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011 - 09:34AM

2011-05-31T09:34:31-04:00

Within hours of arriving in Vienna, we made it to Demel. I meant to take a picture of our pastries, but … they were … eaten.

Monday, May 30, 2011 - 08:08AM

2011-05-30T08:08:48-04:00

Well… I’m still not over jet lag from China, so let’s see if a few days in Vienna will bring my clock back to normal.

Friday, May 27, 2011 - 06:05AM

2011-05-27T06:05:55-04:00

For those that don’t know, Phil Jiminez is a super-star in the comic art world.

Saturday, May 21, 2011 - 07:05AM

2011-05-21T07:05:57-04:00

Taking the hard sleeper to Beijing definitely qualifies as one of the crazier things I’ve done. They asked me in Chinese to take the top bunk out of three and I obliged.

Saturday, May 21, 2011 - 04:39AM

2011-05-21T04:39:04-04:00

Last night, my guide offered to arrange a private noodle demonstration for me. The hilariousness of that statement didn’t hit me until today.

Saturday, May 21, 2011 - 03:54AM

2011-05-21T03:54:14-04:00

While in a Confucian temple in China, a man rushed up to me to show me a video of a rodeo on his phone. He said “Spanish. Good.”

Thursday, May 19, 2011 - 10:41AM

2011-05-19T10:41:08-04:00

After 4 wonderful days in Xian, I am on a train to Pingyao. O.M.G. The rainbow of disgusting smells as I walked through the terminal was enough to make mentors curl.

Friday, May 13, 2011 - 04:06PM

2011-05-13T16:06:03-04:00

I was looking at my itinerary for China and I noticed on the way home that I leave Beijing at 6:55am and arrive in Chicago at 6:40am. Which means that before I board the flight, I can myself in the past and ask how the flight was.

Thursday, May 12, 2011 - 02:18PM

2011-05-12T14:18:38-04:00

Is it just me or does everyone else see pictures of people holding giant fish in their Facebook advertising?

Thursday, May 12, 2011 - 01:45PM

2011-05-12T13:45:42-04:00

Farewell, Dolores…Farewell

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - 10:41AM

2011-05-11T10:41:34-04:00

Just thought this needed to be spread around…

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - 04:08AM

2011-05-11T04:08:05-04:00

When a certain Brazilian that I know talked of watching Thor on TV as a kid, I was skeptical, but it turns out there was a cartoon in the sixties. Why have I never heard of this before?

Integrating Flickr and Jekyll

2011-05-09T00:00:00-04:00

I love Flickr and use it regularly for posting and storing photos. And if I post something to Flickr, I usually want to have a post about it on my website. Copying all the photos to my site in a way that I like is tedious, so I created a plug-in that extracts the photo data from Flickr and gives it to Jekyll.

In this post, I walk through the steps for getting authenticated with Flickr and writing a plug-in to show that data in my templates.

Step One: Getting a Flickr API Key

Luckily, the first step is the easiest. It involves logging into Flickr and getting an API key. Follow steps 1 and 2 in this guide: http://www.flickr.com/services/api/auth.howto.web.html.

Be sure to write down the API key and the shared secret that you get from Flickr. You will need them for the next step.

Step Two: Creating a Flickr Authentication Token

When I was first looking to authenticate myself with Flickr, I kept finding examples that assume that you are building a website for all sorts of people to authenticate with Flickr. I didn’t need all that. I only needed to authenticate myself one-time.

The simplest method that I found for using Flickr with Jekyll is FlickRaw, an awesome gem that gives easy access to the Flickr API.

Go to the FlickRaw page and follow the instructions for installation (run gem install flickraw). Use irb and follow the instructions on the FlickRaw page for authentication. Be sure to use your own API key and shared secret that you generated in step one.

At the end of the authentication steps, if all goes well, the code will return to you a Response object. In that response is a token attribute with your auth token. Copy that down.

Put the following information in your _config.yml file.

flickr:
  enabled:         yes
  cache_dir:       ./_cache/flickr
  api_key:         ... your Flickr API key ...
  shared_secret:   ... your Flickr shared secret ...
  auth_token:      ... your Flickr auth token ...

Step Three: The Flickr plugin

Now it’s time to create the Jekyll plugin. Create a file in your _plugins directory and call it flickr.rb. Copy in the following code:

require 'flickraw'

module Jekyll
  
  class GeneratePhotosets < Generator

    safe true
    priority :low

    def generate(site)
    end
    
    def generate_photosets(site)
    end

    def load_photos(photoset, site)
    end

    def generate_photo_data(photoset, site)
    end
  
  end
  
  class FlickrPhoto
  end

end

I’ll go through each of the functions one at a time.

Since the class GeneratePhotosets is a subclass of Generator, we need to have our own generate function. The only thing this function does is to make sure that Flickr processing is enabled and start the process. Here’s the code:

def generate(site)
  generate_photosets(site) if (site.config['flickr']['enabled']) 
end

Next, we find any posts that have a photoset parameter in their YAML front matter and process the photoset.

def generate_photosets(site)
  site.posts.each do |p|
    p.data['photos'] = load_photos(p.data['photoset'], site) if p.data['photoset']
  end
end

Calling Flickr every time we need information of photosets and photos can be a very time-consuming process. I’ve implemented a basic cache so that Jekyll doesn’t have to make all of these calls to Flickr every time it generates the site. To clear the cache, delete the files in your cache directory. I use ./_cache/flickr as a default. It stores the information coming back from Flickr as an unformatted YAML file.

The results are placed into a photos collection for each post. The templates handle the rendering of photos. This plugin is only getting data from Flickr for photo URLs, titles, sizes, etc.

def load_photos(photoset, site)

  if cache_dir = site.config['flickr']['cache_dir']
    path = File.join(cache_dir, "#{Digest::MD5.hexdigest(photoset.to_s)}.yml")
    if File.exist?(path)
      photos = YAML::load(File.read(path))
    else
      photos = generate_photo_data(photoset, site)
      File.open(path, 'w') {|f| f.print(YAML::dump(photos)) }
    end
  else
    photos = generate_photo_data(photoset, site)
  end

  photos

end

The next function is the meat of the Flickr processing. It gets information about a photoset and then loops through the photos in that set to get information about photos.

Flickr stores all different sizes of photos, so you have to make a decision about what sizes you need in your site. I decided that I wanted the largest size available under 1200 pixels wide. I also want the square version of the image and the “Small” version. For each of these versions, I store the URL of the photo.

def generate_photo_data(photoset, site)
  
  returnSet = Array.new 

  FlickRaw.api_key = site.config['flickr']['api_key']
  FlickRaw.shared_secret = site.config['flickr']['shared_secret']
  
  auth = flickr.auth.checkToken :auth_token => site.config['flickr']['auth_token']
  
  photos = flickr.photosets.getPhotos :photoset_id => photoset
  
  photos.photo.each_index do | i |
  
    title = photos.photo[i].title
    id = photos.photo[i].id
    fullSizeUrl = String.new
    urlThumb = String.new
    urlFull = String.new
    thumbType = String.new
      
    sizes = flickr.photos.getSizes(:photo_id => id).to_a
    sizes.each do | s |
    
      if s.width.to_i < 1200
        urlFull = s.source
      end
      
      if s.label == 'Small' && i < 3
        urlThumb = s.source
        thumbType = 'thumbnail'
      end
      
      if s.label == 'Square' && i >= 3
        urlThumb = s.source
        thumbType = 'square'
      end
    
    end

    photo = FlickrPhoto.new(title, urlFull, urlThumb, thumbType)
    returnSet.push photo
  
  end
  
  #sleep a little so that you don't get in trouble for bombarding the Flickr servers
  sleep 1
  
  returnSet

end

And here’s the class that I’m using to store the photo data. It has a to_liquid function to determine what values get passed to the templates.

class FlickrPhoto

  attr_accessor :title, :urlFullSize, :urlThumbnail, :thumbType
  
  def initialize(title, urlFullSize, urlThumbnail, thumbType)
    @title = title
    @urlFullSize = urlFullSize
    @urlThumbnail = urlThumbnail
    @thumbType = thumbType
  end
  
  def to_liquid
    {
      'title' => title,
      'urlFullSize' => urlFullSize,
      'urlThumbnail' => urlThumbnail,
      'thumbType' => thumbType
    }
    
  end

end

If all this code is working, you should be getting a collection of photos in each post. The next step is to render that photo data in your templates.

Step Four: Create Templates

On my site, I show all the photos in a particular Flickr photoset in the sidebar. It’s connected to Shadowbox which gives a nice experience to my users to browse through the photos.

Here’s a scaled-down version of the code in my templates:

{% if page.photoset %}

  <div class="box">
    <div class="box-title title clearfix">
      <div class="left">Photos!</div>
      <div class="right"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/keith-marran/sets/{{ page.photoset }}/" target="_blank" title="View on Flickr"><img src="/images/icons/hand_drawn_flickr.png" alt="View on Flickr" /></a></div>
    </div>
    <div class="photo-thumbs">
    {% for photo in page.photos %}
      <a href="{{ photo.urlFullSize }}" title="{{ photo.title }}" rel="shadowbox[slideshow]" class="popupwindow" /><img src="{{ photo.urlThumbnail }}" alt="{{ photo.title }}" class="{{ photo.thumbType }}" /></a>
    {% endfor %}
    </div>
  </div>
{% endif %}

Notice that the image that shows to the user is the thumbnail, but the href in the anchor tag is to the full size image. That’s how Shadowbox works so that the page loads nice and fast by using just the thumbnails, but when a user clicks on the thumbnail, they see the full size image.

Step Five: Creating Posts

With all of that in place, it’s very easy for me to create a new post that references one of my Flickr photosets. I copy the photoset ID out of the url from Flickr and place this in the YAML front matter for the post:

photoset: 72157625943484513

If you have ideas for other ways to integrate Jekyll with Flickr, I’d love to hear about them.

Potato Pancakes

2011-04-26T00:00:00-04:00

I just endured my first vegetarian Passover, and was hard-pressed to find delicious foods that satisfied the Passover requirements. Although they are usually reserved for Hanukah, potato pancakes are scrumptious and unleavened. They made for a satisfying and indulgent Passover dinner.

Are they the healthiest dinner you ever cooked? No. But they’re oddly decadent and too delicious to dismiss.

We’re purists in our house, so we serve them with applesauce and sour cream, but you could also serve them with smoked salmon, caviar – well, the sky’s the limit, really.

This recipe supposedly serves 4, but honestly, they’re so good that just two of us finished off the whole batch.

3 eggs
4 medium sized potatoes
1 onion
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 freshly-grated nutmeg
3 tbsp matzo meal
cooking oil for frying
applesauce (optional)
sour cream (optional)

Peel and grate the potatoes. I usually do this by hand and use my largest-hole cheese grater to get crunchy, stringy pancakes. Place the peeled potatoes in cold water, let soak for a minute, then strain them. Squeeze them gently to get as much moisture out of them as possible.

Grate the onion and place it in with the potatoes. Add the eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and matzo meal. Stir it all together and place the bowl into the fridge to refrigerate for a half hour.

Put a skillet on the stove top, fill it with about an inch and a half of oil and put it on medium heat. Place the potato mixture in the oil one at a time. The mixture will go to the bottom to fry. Push it down a bit so that it sreads out into the shape of a pancake. Let it hang out there for a couple of minutes, them scrape it from the bottom and gently turn it over. Give it another couple of minutes or until the pancake is golden brown.

When the pancakes are done, put them on a tray lined with paper towels. Sprinkle a little salt on them.

Serve them with sour cream and applesauce.

Forcing Your Fingers

2011-04-25T00:00:00-04:00

Let me start by saying that it’s not always easy working from home. There are far more distractions than one would realize. Interruptions from office co-workers are not nearly as loud as interruptions from dogs. And one’s mood is directly related to the weather (Rain = sad Keith. Sun = happy Keith.)

But the hardest part of all is that you are responsible for structuring your day. Most of the time, no one is demanding anything from you. All that free time you dreamed off when you were shackled to a cubicle somehow gets greedily eaten up by invisible monsters. The end of day arrives and you can’t always point back to what you accomplished, though you have the vague impression that you were busy.

This past week, I started to pin-point where I was faltering in a few fronts and the most accurate description I can come up with is “feeling like it”. It started happening pretty clearly a few weeks ago while going to the gym. I had my gym bag. I was walking to the gym. And I was overwhelmed with a feeling of “I don’t feel like going to the gym today”. The feeling was string enough that I said to myself “That’s okay. Going to the gym should not be torture. Instead, I’ll go for a really long walk to get some exercise.” While I still stand by that I didn’t want to torture myself, I set a bad precedent. All of a sudden “not feeling like it” became a legitimate reason to do or not do something. My diet started slipping (because I felt like having a piece of chocolate). I stopped going to the gym altogether (because I was waiting until I felt like going to the gym).

So last week, I realized that this insidious little notion had slowly wrecked a lot of things in my life. I was waiting for some imaginary wave of motivation to sweep through before I did anything. And as a result, nothing was moving forward in my life.

Then this morning I ran across the following podcast with John Hodgman in which he discusses the nature of procrastination and how to get over it. It boils down to physically forcing your body to go through the motions – in his case, making his fingers start typing until his creative mind takes over. But don’t take my brief summation as the only take-away in this podcast. He gets very specific about the creative process and the procrastination process. And he’s funny. it’s well worth the 10 minutes it takes. Besides, if you’re reading this, you’re probably looking for a distraction from your main work.

So this was buzzing through my head as I went to the gym this morning and I realize how much I operate under the notion of motivation or non-motivation. It’s ridiculous. If there was something I was having a hard time getting motivated about, my answer was to try to mentally list reasons that would psyche me into getting the work done. My inner cheerleader was trying to rouse my inner sourpuss off the sofa and it rarely works. I think a far more effective strategy is to remove all the emotion and expectation from the situation and just physically go through the motions. I don’t have to mentally prepare for anything. I don’t have to be psyched or motivated or happy or anything. I just have to be present and doing the work. It’s all very Buddhist.

So that’s my new mantra.

Creating a Sequential Series of Posts in Jekyll

2011-04-01T00:00:00-04:00

One of the features that I needed to add to Jekyll was the ability to easily group a collection of posts as a series. There are times when I need to link posts together in sequential order – like a travelog, for instance. I want a table of contents in the sidebar to let the user know that they’re in the middle of a series and I want a link at the bottom to encourage the user to go to the next post in the series.

By default, Jekyll creates next and previous properties that link a post to the next post in the site. That doesn’t work for me because posts don’t really have anything to do with each other most of the time. But I like the properties, so I decided to override how they work.

To create a table of contents, I added a new property to posts called siblings. This property is a hash of all the other posts in the series.

To easily denote that a post is part of a series, enter something like the following into the post’s YAML front matter:

series:
  name:   Name of Series Goes Here
  index:  1

The name attribute is an arbitrary string to group posts into a
series. The index attribute describes where the current post lives in
relation to its siblings.

For the code, create a file in the _plugins directory and name it series.rb. We’re going to monkeypatch posts, so create a Post class. Give it an attribute of series:

module Jekyll

  class Post
  
    attr_accessor :series
  
  end

end

The first thing we want to do is override the initialize method so that we can assign any series data to the object itself. We still want to call the original initialize method, so we alias it from the main Post class, and then redefine it. This method calls the main initialize method, then assigns series data to the object if it finds it in the YAML front matter.

alias series_initialize initialize
def initialize(site, source, dir, name)      
  series_initialize site, source, dir, name
  self.series = { :name => self.data['series']['name'], :index => self.data['series']['index'].to_i } if self.data['series']
end

Next, we want to define a new method for getting the sibling data. Create a method that loops through the posts and selects only the ones that have a matching series name. Be sure to sort them by their index so that they are in the correct order.

def siblings
  posts = self.site.posts.select { |p| p.series && p.series[:name] == self.series[:name] }
  posts.sort_by { |p| p.series[:index] }
end

Then, to make sure that the next and previous attributes work as expected, we override the functionality of those functions to pull the next and previous posts in the series.

alias series_next next
def next

  if self.series
    posts = self.siblings.select { |p| p.series[:index] > self.series[:index] }
    return posts.first
  else
    series_next
  end

end

alias series_previous previous
def previous

  if self.data['series']
    posts = self.siblings.select { |p| p.series[:index] < self.series[:index] }
    return posts.last
  else
    series_previous
  end

end

And finally, we override the to_liquid method to add the series data if it exists.

alias series_to_liquid to_liquid
def to_liquid
  if self.series
    series_to_liquid.deep_merge({ "siblings" => self.siblings })
  else
    series_to_liquid
  end
end

To see the whole code, go to the project on Github.

To use the code in a template, you can reference the next and previous properties of the page like this:

{% if page.series and page.next %}

  <div class="next-box">
    <div class="help">This post is part of a series called...</div>
    <div class="series-title">{{ page.series.name }}</div>
    <div class="help">The next in the series is...</div>
    <div class="series-item">
      <div class="title"><a href="{{ page.next.url }}">{{ page.next.title }}</a></div>
      <div class="info">{{ page.next.description }}</div>
      <div class="next-link"><a href="{{ page.next.url }}">Read the next post in the series >></a></div>
    </div>
  </div>

{% endif %}

If you want to create a table of contents showing all the items in the series, use something like this in the templates:

{% if page.series %}

<div class="info">This post is part of a series called...</div>
<div class="title">{{ page.series.name }}</div>
										
{% for sibling in page.siblings %}
  {% if sibling.id == page.id %}
  <div class="series-item current">
    <div class="title">{{ sibling.title }}</div>
  </div>
  {% else %}
  <div class="series-item">
    <div class="title"><a href="{{ sibling.url }}">{{ sibling.title }}</a></div>
    <div class="info">{{ sibling.description }}</div>
  </div>
  {% endif %}							
{% endfor %}
					
{% endif %}

Showing Curly Brackets in Liquid Templates

2011-03-31T00:00:00-04:00

As I started creating new tech entries on my site, I ran into the problem of writing samples of liquid template code. Liquid kept trying to translate my sample code into actual code.

So this:

{% highlight html %}
{% for post in paginator.posts %}

<div class="teaser clearfix">
  <div class="title"><a href="{{ post.url }}" title="{{ post.title }}">{{ post.title }}</a></div>
  <div class="meta"><span class="timeago">{{ post.date | time_ago }}</span>{{ post.tags | tag_links }}</div>
  <div class="description">{{ post.description }}</div>
</div>

{% endfor %}
{% endhighlight %}

…was causing errors because the template kept trying to translate the for loop into code.

It turns out that all you have to do is put this after the highlight tag:

{% raw %}

...lots of liquid code goes here and it doesn't get interpreted...

{% endliteral %}

Category Pagination in Jekyll

2011-03-30T00:00:00-04:00

This site is currently built on Jekyll. I had a few requirements in switching my site over, and one of the big ones was being able to break content out into categories. Jekyll has logic for categories built in by default, so that was pretty easy. However, showing index pages for all the posts in a category was unsightly. Since a category index page would show all the posts for that category. On my site, that meant that hundreds of posts would show on a single page. That’s cruel to both users and search engines. I wanted to break that up into multiple pages. While Jekyll paginates the main index page, it doesn’t paginate category pages. So I created a plug-in that creates paginated category pages.

Since I was building this from scratch, I threw in a few more bits of functionality to cater to my particular site.

I wanted to have each category capable of having its own index page, but I wanted the following pages to follow a standard “list” style. This allows me to feature special items on the index page of, say, “Travel,” but having the list pages after the first page be relatively simple.

Luckily, there’s a pagination module built-in to Jekyll, so I didn’t have to do too much new programming. It only affects the home page, however, so my task was to enable the functionality for categories as well.

Site Structure

In order for this to work, I have index.html pages set at the root of each category. My site before Jekyll conversion looks similar to the following:

+ index.html
+ blog
  + index.html <- index page for blogs
  + _posts
    + 2010-01-01-blog-post-1.html
    + 2010-01-02-blog-post-2.html
+ travel
  + index.html <- index page for travel
  + _posts
    + 2010-01-01-travel-post-1.html
    + 2010-01-02-travel-post-2.html

Each of the category index.html pages needs the following in the YAML front matter:

category: category_name

This is the piece that the code uses to identify a category index page that needs to be paginated.

You also need to have a file in _layouts called category_index.html that enumerates through the posts for that page and converts the results to HTML.

And finally, you need to make sure that pagination is enabled by having this in your _congif.yml file.

paginate: 20

The number denotes how many items should appear on each page.

On to the code

First, create a file called generate_category_pages.rb and places it in your _plugins folder.

The first class to create is the “Generator.” All generators are called by Jekyll at site build, so if you want code that’s going to create new pages or content, you want to sub-class this class.

When Jekyll calls a generator, it calls the generate function, so that’s the first method to implement. In our class, it loops through all the pages in the site and if pagination_enabled? returns true, it paginates that page.

class CategoryPages < Generator
  def generate(site)
    site.pages.dup.each do |page|
      paginate(site, page) if CategoryPager.pagination_enabled?(site.config, page)
    end
  end
end

Next, we need to implement the paginate method. This is the guts of the code. It gets the posts for a particular category from the site object. It uses CategoryPager to calculate a number of things about the pagination. Most of that code comes from Jekyll’s pager class.

After it instantiates a CategoryPager, it decides whether this is the first page of the set. If it’s the first page, there’s already an index.html page, so it only needs to send the pager information to the page. If it’s not the first page, it needs to create a new HTML file. In order to do that, it creates a special type of page of Page that I’ve defined called (surprisingly enough) CategoryPage. I’ll get to that later in this post. The page is created and added to the site.pages collection.

def paginate(site, page)

  # sort categories by descending date of publish
  category_posts = site.categories[page.data['category']].sort_by { |p| -p.date.to_f }

  # calculate total number of pages
  pages = CategoryPager.calculate_pages(category_posts, site.config['paginate'].to_i)

  # iterate over the total number of pages and create a physical page for each
  (1..pages).each do |num_page|
  
    # the CategoryPager handles the paging and category data
    pager = CategoryPager.new(site.config, num_page, category_posts, page.data['category'], pages)

    # the first page is the index, so no page needs to be created. However, the subsequent pages need to be generated
    if num_page > 1
      newpage = CategorySubPage.new(site, site.source, page.data['category'], page.data['category_layout'])
      newpage.pager = pager
      newpage.dir = File.join(page.dir, "/#{page.data['category']}/page#{num_page}")
      site.pages << newpage
    else
      page.pager = pager
    end

  end

end

Next, we need to implement a couple of other classes. In the Jekyll pagination code, there’s a Pager class that handles items such as the current page, the total number of pages, previous and next pages, etc. We want to use that code but add support for the category information. Here’s the code for that class:

class CategoryPager < Pager

  attr_reader :category

  def self.pagination_enabled?(config, page)
    page.name == 'index.html' && page.data.key?('category') && !config['paginate'].nil?
  end
  
  # same as the base class, but includes the category value
  def initialize(config, page, all_posts, category, num_pages = nil)
    @category = category
    super config, page, all_posts, num_pages
  end

  # use the original to_liquid method, but add in category info
  alias_method :original_to_liquid, :to_liquid
  def to_liquid
    x = original_to_liquid
    x['category'] = @category
    x
  end
  
end

Next, we need to subclass the Page class for our specific needs. This code is very specific to my site, you may want to change the logic here to something more straightforward. Basically, I am creating a special type of page that is used just for showing category indexes. This code customizes the layout that’s used and adds some information to the payload data.

# The CategorySubPage class creates a single category page for the specified tag.
# This class exists to specify the layout to use for pages after the first index page
class CategorySubPage < Page
  
  def initialize(site, base, category, layout)
      
    @site = site
    @base = base
    @dir  = category
    @name = 'index.html'

    self.process(@name)
    self.read_yaml(File.join(base, '_layouts'), layout || 'category_index.html')

    title_prefix             = site.config['cateogry_title_prefix'] || 'Everything in the '
    self.data['title']       = "#{title_prefix}#{category}"

  end
  
end

Usage

To use this on a page, whether it be an index page or in the category_index.html template, use something like the following:

{% for post in paginator.posts %}

<div class="teaser clearfix">
  <div class="title"><a href="{{ post.url }}" title="{{ post.title }}">{{ post.title }}</a></div>
  <div class="meta"><span class="timeago">{{ post.date | time_ago }}</span>{{ post.tags | tag_links }}</div>
  <div class="description">{{ post.description }}</div>
</div>

{% endfor %}

To see the whole code, go to the project on Github.

I’ve also included a filter in the main code for formatting next and previous page links. That’s not required, but it helps me out.

Spider-man Wants Candy

2011-02-27T00:00:00-05:00

For those of you that don’t know, Baby Wants Candy is a fully-improvised, full band musical. That means that at the top fo the show, someone in the audience shouts out the title of a musical, the actors repeat it for everyone to hear by announcing “Welcome to the opening night…and closing night…of The Manson Family Follies” or whatever was just shouted out. All of the music is improvised, the lyrics are written on the spot, the plot and characters form in front of your eyes.

Most people I talk to assume that the musicians have standard numbers that they redo every night. I don’t think so. On one song, I heard the pianist go throw some chord changes and the bass player didn’t follow along. On the second time through, the bass player was in sync with the pianist. Also, the title of the show that I saw was “Sesame Street Frathouse” and they threw in a lot of “Sesame Street” sounding songs. I doubt they had that handy in their repertoire.

What amazed me most about the show, though, is that they did not fall into any of the usual traps that musicals fall into – especially modern musicals (I’m looking at you, Julie Taymor). The actors instinctively knew how to make the musical format work in a way that most Broadway writers don’t.

So I decided to write up the lessons from “Baby Wants Candy” in the hopes that future musical writers will understand their format a bit better.

I often point to “Urinetown” as a master class in musical theater structure. There’s not a dull moment, the songs feel integrated into the story line, and there are no harsh transitions from dialogue to song. And as it turns out, “Urinetown” started as an improvised musical – though it was worked on and polished over time as opposed to being a one-night-only production. So a lot of my thoughts are based on comparisons to “Urinetown” as well.

Every scene moves the action forward

I know this sounds like writing 101, but I think writers have a problem when they fall too in love with their own characters. They fall so in love with the intricacies of their characters that they assume that everyone else is as in love with them. No. It’s not enough to say that a scene is there because a character grows or learns something about themselves. That’s boring. There has to be future action based on the events in that scene. I’m amazed that people improvising a scene instinctively know to wrap up the scene with some future plot point – “I’ll show them at the big dance!” or “We’ll dress as undercover pandas and expose everyone!” (I’m using examples from the show I saw).

Don’t put major plot points in song

I’m really trying to remember a good exception to this rule, and I can’t come up with one. Even in the grand act one finale of “Urinetown,” the big plot shift in the middle of the song is done in dialog while the orchestra is vamping. It is unsatisfying to have major plot points happening in the middle of a song. They did this in Spider-Man on one of the Green Goblin’s big numbers and it ruined the scene. First of all, you can’t always hear the lyrics in a musical number, so it’s frustrating to feel like you’re losing important information. Secondly, songs are Dionysian in nature and plot points are Apollonian in nature. The desire for the rapture of the song is at odds with the details of the story.

Once again, I’m trying to find an exception to the rule on this one, but I’m drawing a blank.

For a while, I thought “Angry Inch” in Hedwig was an exception, because that’s when you find out exactly how she went from male to “female.” But just like my previous example, when I listened to the song I noticed that she stops singing and talks to the audience for the important bits of information. The song remains about an emotional state – not a plot point.

Songs are better when closer to the tension of the scene

In Baby Wants Candy, there was never an awkward moment when they transitioned from dialog to song. How is that possible? I’ve seen plenty of musicals on Broadway when the transition to song felt as clunky as a giant Victorian clockwork struggling to come to life.

In Baby Wants Candy, the actors always set up the song before it started happening. I think that’s mainly due to the fact that the actors would be in the middle of the scene and the pianist (who led the band), would realize that they were ready for a song. So the song was an extension of the scene. I know that sounds super obvious, but you’d be amazed how many other shows get that wrong. And because a musician is sitting there waiting for the right moment to put in a song, he had to wait until the tension of the scene was at its strongest.

There was a scene in Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark in which the second act villain is re-introduced to the audience. She has her song with her minions and while the costumes and choreography are great, and the song is one of the more memorable songs, the scene falls totally flat because the song doesn’t rise out of any tension.

Camp it up

This one is a little trickier, because not everyone necessarily loves the musical formula. However, the improvers had to work very hard to take it too far. Even when they were parodying the musical format, it still felt very “real.”

Maybe that’s just me.

I think a lot of modern musical writers are working so hard to be “sophisticated” or “contemporary” that they are throwing out the musical theater formula. Look at the musical numbers on “The Simpsons” or on “South Park” – even when they are ludicrous, they don’t feel ludicrous. They just feel like musicals.

So embrace the formula. It works.

Now that I’ve thought about this a while, I seem to remember another one of my favorite musicals of recent years The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was also a musical that started off with improvisation. I’m starting to wonder if that is the future of writing. When one person is responsible for the script, you run the risk of flat characters that are only there to serve the needs of the playwright. In an improvisation, every actor is responsible for their own characters – and that actor will give the character a through-line and a reason for being on the stage. You end up with a storyline that keeps going to its logical conclusion. You get well-rounded characters instead of just mouthpieces.

My only complaint with “Baby Wants Candy” is that I often was anxious to learn where it was all headed. Because often, no one knew where it was headed. When the script is written, the playwright works much harder to let the audience know that they are in safe hands and to give clues as to where the whole thing is headed. So it’s not like single-author works don’t have their merit, but I hope that authors can take cues from improv and tighten up character and plot development.

Baby Wants Candy is currently running in New York and Chicago.

I highly advise that you go see it.

Ken Russell's The Devils

2011-02-19T00:00:00-05:00

I think it all started from seeing a photo of Oliver Reed as a young man. I didn’t know he ever looked young. He always looked like he hatched out of an egg in his mid-thirties looking bullish, weathered and beaten by life. It turns out that was just alcoholism. There are a handful of images of him looking strikingly handsome at a young age.

Anyway…one of the images was a photo of him with Vanessa Redgrave in a movie called The Devils. Upon further inspection, it turns out it’s an early Ken Russell movie I had never heard of. It’s based on a book by Aldous Huxley called The Devils of Loudon which is in turn based on real, historical events in 1634 France in which a priest was burned to death for practicing witchcraft – an accusation brought about by demon-possessed nuns. You can read more about it on Wikipedia on The Loudun Possessions.

Sounds pretty awesome, right?

By now, my curiosity was piqued, but what really sealed the deal is that the movie is impossible to find in its original state. It was considered so offensive upon viewing that it was immediately banned. Ken Russell made significant cuts to it just to earn an “X” rating. The movie studio made further cuts to it before it was released. And when the film came to the U.S., further cuts were made to it. All of these cuts were considered lost until 2006 (the film is originally from 1971) when someone located the lost scenes and pieced the movie back to together in its original state.

However, it’s still incredibly hard to find the movie. I looked on Netflix which has a pretty good track record for obscure movies. It’s not listed. I went to Amazon. The only version they have is the pared-down U.S. version and only on VHS. There’s no DVD available. Back in 2008, Warner Bros. said that they would release it in its original state on DVD, but then dropped it from their schedule.

Once I found out I couldn’t have it, I became obsessed. I found it on a newsgroup, NZBMatrix, for download. I converted it for my iPad and it had been lurking there ominously for a couple of weeks. So what better time to watch it than when I’m at home alone with David out of town?

First of all, the quality is not great. It’s almost as bad as watching a VHS copy. Secondly, although it has the infamous “Rape of Christ” scene, it is missing the scene at the end in which Vanessa Redgrave masturbates with a charred tibia bone. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I could see where the masturbation scene would have added to the end of the movie.

So … was it worth it? It’s really hard to answer. Right after watching it, I looked for Roger Ebert’s review. He reviewed it back in 1971 and while he never says that it’s bad, he does not write a favorable review and gives it zero stars. He very satirically applauds Ken Russell for blowing the lid wide open on the corruption of 1600’s France. Which is a fair accusation – you can’t help but wonder how this sad story applies to modern times. Ebert doesn’t address whether it’s a good or bad movie, he just points out that it’s an extraordinarily unnecessary movie. Yes, we know that horrible injustices and physical tortures took place in the time of the Inquisition. Do we really need to see this all up close and personal? Well, I guess that’s a matter of preference.

You could argue that it follow Aristotle’s requirements for drama: invoke terror and pity in the audience. When it becomes clear that the last 30 minutes of the movie are just going to be torture scene after torture scene (all very artfully done), you just want it all to be over with. And Ken Russell keeps poking you with the message of “So how unfair life is? So how absolute power corrupts? See how pointlessly cruel these people can be?”

Yes. We see it. It’s exhausting. Which I guess is the point of terror and pity – to wring all of the wretchedness out of your system. But it is gratuitous and tedious by the end. After reading the Wikipedia entry on the original possessions of Loudon, I think Russell really missed the boat on the plot and character interactions. He threw out a lot of the intricacies and focused just on hammering the audience with images of bizarreness and cruelty.

To Ken Russell’s credit, the film is beautifully shot. The costumes and set design are amazing. There are scenes that will be burned into my memory just by their sheer artistry. So if you’re interested in it from an aesthetic viewpoint, it’s definitely worth it.

And if you want to see how awful it was to live in mediaeval Europe, than this film is for you.

And if you want to see Vanessa Redgrave masturbate with a charred tibia … well, I think you’ll have to try to catch this at a film festival or special screening.

What Theater Should I See in NYC?

2011-02-18T00:00:00-05:00

It’s always hard to define what people should see in terms of theater when they come to New York. There are a few questions that need to be answered:

Have you ever seen a big Broadway musical before?
How adventurous do you want to be?
How many shows in total do you want to see? Because I would balance things differently depending on how many shows.

There are usually one or two shows that I have in the “Get Tickets Now Because Seats Are Hard To Come By” category. Right now, there’s nothing that is hard to see and worth it. We are currently waiting for a lot of new shows to open. None of them are sure-fire hits, so almost everything on this list is in the “It’ll Probably Be Good, but Wait and Read the Reviews” category.

This list is in order of preference, but you should adjust it to your own personal tastes.

The Book of Mormon – I’ve almost bought tickets for this because I’m so sure it’s going to good. It’s a musical about a young Mormon going to Africa for mission work. It was written by one of the writers of “Avenue Q” (one of my all-time favs) and by the creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. And the rest of the creative team has a good pedigree as well. If you like Mormons or if you hate being offended, I wouldn’t recommend it. But I think it’s the closest on this list to a sure-fire good time.
http://www.bookofmormonbroadway.com/

King Lear – This is at BAM, which has been amazing in the past few years. I’m getting tickets to this for myself. It’s Derek Jacobi in the lead role and the rest of the creative team is top-notch. BAM has a tendency to sell-out their good productions, so if you’re sure you want to see King Lear, I would say go for it and get tickets now. It’s currently running in London and the reviews were good – saying that Sir Jacobi will go down in history as one of the greatest Lears.
http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=2653

Fat Pig – I will probably see this myself, but I’m sure it’s not for everyone. It’s Neil LaBute, so it’s going to be sharp and uncomfortable writing. You have to be a bit of a masochist to enjoy his plays. The cast is all very good. It will be superbly acted and thought-provoking, I’m sure. This show is for smart, young people.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/broadways-fat-pig-finds-its-title-character/

House of Blue Leaves – I saw this on PBS when I was younger and was captivated. It’s a brilliant script and it’s rarely done. It has an all-star cast. Ben Stiller was in the original production in the role of the son, and now he’s playing the dad. I saw the director’s previous production (“Our Town”) and it was genius. The guy knows what he’s doing. So I think it’s safe to say that this could be very, very good.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/09/ben-stiller-edie-falco-headed-to-broadway-in-revival-of-house-of-blue-leaves.html

Baby Wants Candy – I just bought tickets for this. It’s an improvised musical. They take a title from the audience at the beginning of the show and then improvise an entirely staged musical. I have no idea how they coordinate it with the orchestra. It’s gotten good reviews. It’s relatively cheap. They don’t have dates for May yet, but I’m pretty sure it will continue through May.
http://babywantscandy.com/

War Horse – I saw this in London. The puppetry of the horse is amazing. The story is interesting, but is a bit more in line with “Old Yeller” than a thought-provoking storyline. Both David and I cried at the end. Spielberg has announced that this is his next directing project (though when you see the live production you’ll wonder why he would bother because half the amazement of the show is the horse on stage). So if you love horses, WWII stories, sophisticated puppetry, or balling your eyes out, this is for you.
http://www.lct.org/showMain.htm?id=199

Arcadia – It’s Tom Stoppard, so the script is sure to be good. Though I must say that I don’t care for his plays that are set in modern times. I like him best when he is highly conceptual. The cast is solid, so it could be very good. Wait for reviews and possibly word of mouth.
http://arcadiabroadway.com/

Born Yesterday – I’m basing this entirely on the lead actress who I saw last year in something and she took off-broadway by storm. I have no idea if the show will be worth it, though. I wish they would have found a better vehicle for the lead actress.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/born-yesterday-may-return-to-broadway-with-a-new-star/

The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures – This is Tony Kushner’s latest. The production of “Angels in America” on Broadway is one of the best pieces of theater I’ve ever seen. I walked out of “Homebody/Kabul” at intermission. In other words, Tony Kushner is either amazing or horrendous. So keep this in mind, but it’s a low recommendation. It may be amazing. You never know.
http://www.signaturetheatre.org/

There are two Off-Broadway theaters that have not settled on dates for May yet. They are generally very good, but it’s a bit of a gamble. On the plus side, they are cheaper than Broadway.

Vineyard Theater – I used to subscribe to the Vineyard. I’ve seen about 20 things there and there was really only one show that I wanted to be over. Sometimes it’s amazing. Check to see what they’re doing when the time gets closer.
http://www.vineyardtheatre.org/

Classic Stage Company – I’ve seen the past three productions they’ve done and they have all been excellent. On a side note, if they extend their current production of “Three Sisters”, get tickets to that as soon as you can. It’s fantastic and the whole run sold out almost immediately. In May, it looks like they’re doing Moilere, who I really can’t stand. So do with that what you will.
http://www.classicstage.org/

Classic Borlotti Bean Minestrone

2011-02-11T00:00:00-05:00

Lately, I’ve been getting my recipes from food52. I made this for a dinner party the other night and really loved it. While it was good the day I cooked it, it was fantastic two days later as leftovers.

I made a few changes. Instead of rice, I used barley at the behest of my sister. It was a great change. We also both agreed that perhaps just half a head of savoy cabbage would be plenty.

Also, I made it in a slow cooker and let it go all day. The next time I make this, I am putting the barley, cabbage, and peas in with the beans and letting it cook all day. It did not have quite enough time to cook down in the slow cooker.

The original recipe can be found here: http://www.food52.com/recipes/4632_classic_borlotti_bean_minestrone

This is a classic minestrone that incorporates Savoy cabbage, borlotti beans, parmesan, and fresh herbs. My mother used to make similar soups when I was growing up and this version is one of my favorite comfort foods. I have developed a bit of an obsession for Rancho Gordo beans, and their borlotti beans are classic in a minestrone. I recommend you try their beans if you haven’t already, but if you can’t find borlotti beans, pinto beans or even kidney beans would do. Rancho Gordo’s beans are fresher than most dried beans and don’t need to cook as long so if you are not using them, soak the beans overnight first. Also, when we finish a block of fresh parmesan, I keep the rind in the refrigerator to use in soups. If you don’t have one on hand, omit that ingredient and add a bit more cheese at the table.

Serves 6

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 medium onion
1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
3 potatoes, chopped
1 cup dried borlotti beans (or pinto or kidney beans soaked overnight)
1 28-ounce can San Marzano tomatoes with their juice, chopped
1 parmesan rind
1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, plus more to taste
2 cups peas
1/2 head Savoy cabbage, finely sliced
1 cup uncooked barley
6 fresh sage leaves, coarsley chopped
10 fresh basil leaves, coarsley chopped
freshly grated parmesan for serving

Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large soup pot and add the garlic, onion, parsley, celery, carrots, and potatoes. Stir for a couple of minutes to coat the vegetables with oil.

Add the borlotti beans, tomatoes, parmesan rind, and 10 cups of water, and bring the water to a boil.

Lower the heat, cover, and let the soup simmer for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Add the cabbage and cook for about 15 minutes.

Add the rice and peas and simmer until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes.

Stir in the sage and basil and serve immediately. Top each bowl with an extra bit of parmesan.

The Long Trip Home

2010-12-23T00:00:00-05:00

After all the craziness in travelling to Rome, we were looking for an uneventful trip home. Unfortunately, it coincided with a major blizzard hitting New York. David and I started becoming hopeful that we would be landing in New York City about the time that the storm was scheduled to hit, so we could possibly just beat it there. When we got to Heathrow, all of the later flights were cancelled but ours was still on. At one hour to departure, our flight was cancelled. We asked about being rebooked on another flight. We were told to go to the American Airlines check-in counter to rebook. When we got there, it was chaos. They were still trying to work their way through the people on the previously cancelled flights. There were reports from employees that we might have better luck talking to an agent at the main American Airlines check-in center. Feeling that it would be hours before we got to talk to an agent at the current desk, we decided to try our chances at the main check-in desk.

Heathrow, while always being a horribly designed airport, had slipped a few rungs on the ladder of organization and maintenance recently. I can’t tell you how many times we were looking for something like Terminal 2. We would have to ask for directions, people would point us down a hallway, and we would get there, there would be a handwritten sign on the door saying “Exit Closed. Use Detour at Door G.” And then we would scramble and look for “Door G.” We had three of those scenarios just in the first evening.

When we finally got to an agent, we found that our choices were very limited. There were no flights to NYC that we could get seats on. Everything was sold out for days. David and I discussed our options and we decided that we would rather be in the United States – even if it meant that we would not be quite back in New York. So we decided to get on a flight to Chicago for the next morning with the theory that there are hourly flights to LGA from O’Hare – so as soon as the airport opens up, we would have an easy time getting home.

The agent tried to offer us a flight to Edinburgh and from Edinburgh to Newark, NJ – but we suspected that the flight to Newark would get cancelled sooner or later and then we would be stuck in Edinburgh without the flight options that Heathrow had.

Several people have asked me why David and I didn’t stay in London and make a vacation of it. First of all, David really had to get back to work. Secondly, when you don’t know when you’re going to be able to fly home, you can’t really go hopping around London, you have to hang out at the airport and wait to get on a flight. I was not enjoying the crowd and disorganization of Heathrow. And thirdly, when you want to be home, you want to be home. And being in the U.S. just felt more like home than London.

So we got a flight to go to Chicago the next morning. We even got upgraded to business class. And the flight to Chicago was uneventful and pleasant.

Landing in Chicago, however, was total chaos. The airport was packed with people that were stranded, trying to get to New York. All flights were still cancelled. We talked to a few agents about trying to get to Washington, D.C. or Philadelphia so that we could take the train from there. (I later found out that the trains were completely sold out as well, so it’s just as well that we couldn’t take that route.) David and I stood by for flights for a couple of hours, but after a while it appeared hopeless and we decided we’d rather hang out at the Hilton Hotel than in an airport lounge.

I should point out that I was in a foul mood at this point. Who likes airports? Not me. And I had no clean clothes. I decided to make the best of it and took the train to downtown Chicago. Nordstrom’s was having a men’s clothing sale of which I took ample advantage.

The next morning we got to the airport around 5:30am to start waiting for flights. Lines were already forming. My foul mood returned. I snapped at David twice and then decided to take a walk. On that walk, I made an important resolution. I knew that the day was going to be unpleasant and I decided that no matter what happened, I was not going to let it affect my mood.

Done.

Resolved.

I went back to standing in line with renewed patience. Honestly, it was a big relief to not have to worry about “reacting” to this unpleasant situation. I started chit-chatting with the people in the stand-by-line. These people would become my bestest friends over the next 24 hours.

For the rest of the day, our group of stand-by-ers would go from gate to gate and pray to get on that flight to NYC. I think David and I started off being number 12 and 15 on the standby list, so we were reasonably hopeful that we would make one of the first few flights. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Any spare seats on flights went to employees of American Airlines first. (We later found out that these people were called “deadheads.” We learned to fear and loath them.) Because of the storm, there were no crew members available to fly planes out of New York, so the airline first had to get as many crew members to New York as possible. In fact, about a third of the flights from NYC that morning were being cancelled simply because they didn’t have enough people to fly planes out. And then when a plane couldn’t fly out of NYC, a flight to NYC would get cancelled. So while David and I started at numbers 12 and 15 on the standby list, our numbers often got worse at the next flight.

At each flight, everyone would wait silently once they announced that the gate was being closed since that’s when they would start calling for names. Everyone would get silent, still, and tense. People would count how many names were being called for people that had not yet checked into the flight. I felt like it was Oscar night and people were anxious to hear their name.

I was amazed how many people would show up with a ticket for their flight just 10 minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart. Usually, they sauntered up in no particular hurry, even though their name had been called several times to board or risk losing their seat. David and I agreed that they did not deserve to have their seat if they could not get themselves to the gate at a reasonable time. Did they not know that there were hundreds of people trying to get from Chicago to New York City?

There were several people that had major hissy fits at the gate. They were usually middle-aged business men giving a tempter tantrum worthy of a five-year-old. And they would usually, at some point, shout out “YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND. I HAVE TO BE ON THE NEXT FLIGHT TO NEW YORK!” The response from the agents was always the same: “Sir, look around. Everyone here is trying to get to New York. We are doing the best that we can but there are no available seats.” Twice I heard someone say “YOU ARE NOT ACCOMMODATING ME!” which seems to me to be very odd phrase to shout when your angry, but it seems to be the businessman’s threat of choice.

But the “Angry Traveller Award” goes, without a doubt, to two French prostitutes that were trying to get to NYC. I found out (from their screaming) that their bags made it on an earlier flight to NYC, and now they were trying to catch up. They screamed at every poor gate attendant of every flight. They screamed at the men taking tickets. They even screamed at a janitor who was so thrown off by these crazy French prostitutes that he just laughed at them and said there was nothing her could do.

How do I know they were prostitutes? Well, I don’t. One was skinny and one was fat. One wore fishnet stockings, a leather miniskirt, a black tank top and a leather jacket. The other wore a black unitard with an oversized lipstick red sweater coat. They both wore stiletto heels. They both had a ton of make-up on for 6 in the morning and they both touched up their makeup relentlessly. And I think they were both wearing wigs. And they were not so smart.

How do I know they were French? I don’t. But they sounded like Inspector Clouseau.

On the first flight of the day, they decided that they didn’t need to wait in line and simply interjected themselves near the front of the line. They claimed that they didn’t understand any English and so refused to move to the back of the line, but they gave each other sly glances at their cleverness and laughed. I arrived as a fight was ready to break out. The woman behind them was shouting things like “You don’t have to understand English to know that there’s a line here and you belong at the end of it!” This was later followed with “Everyone that thinks that these two belong at the end of the line, raise your hands!”

I was kind of shocked that a fight didn’t break out, but I think everyone realized that they were the French prostitute versions of Laurel and Hardy.

On the sixth flight of the day, after they finished screaming at the agent at the gate. They waited until the plane started boarding and decided to walk on the plane without tickets. They raised their chins and went striding past the gate attendant. When the agent stopped them and asked them for their tickets, they started shouting at him that they needed to be in New York. The group of us that were going from flight to flight hoping to get on a plane all burst out laughing at their antics. Why no one ever called security on those two, I’ll never know.

It was around this flight that we all started losing hope. None of us knew of anyone that had been standing by and actually made it on a plane. Whenever they called for people off the standby list, it was always American Airlines employees. David was up to number 5 on the list and I was number 7, but the numbers kept jumping around from flight to flight. And the total standby list was over 200 people by now.

Out of the blue, David’s name was called. He squealed. He kissed me and said goodbye and ran to the gate, shouting “I’ll say hello to the puppies for you!” Everyone had been feeling so hopeless that they burst into applause that one of us “Regular Joes” got called to make flight. Now it was possible that we could all go home.

After my attitude adjustment in the morning, I had been having a genuinely good time. David and I had been getting along famously, laughing at the antics of the French Prostitutes or the latest Angry Business Man. The prospect of waiting in the airport by myself all of a sudden seemed awful. I got a little choked up that he was saying goodbye.

I went to the next flight and my standby number had been bumped back to 16. I waited for the flight to board and not even the deadheads made that one. The prospect of sitting around O’Hare for the rest of the day was not appetizing. I had a ticket to go home the following morning, so I decided to call it quits and check into a hotel for the night.

When David got to New York, he kindly called the Palmer House hotel and made a reservation for me. I went downtown, checked in, joined a friend for dinner, and got a decent night’s sleep.

The morning was uneventful. The standby list the next day was less than 20 people. I don’t know what they did to clear out all those people, but by 48 hours after the storm, it looked like American Airlines was clearing through the mess of displaced travelers.

Luckily, I saw one thing that made me smile. The two French prostitutes were still in O’Hare, furiously stomping in their stilettos to complain to someone. As long as I beat the prostitutes home, I was happy.

Christmas in Rome

2010-12-23T00:00:00-05:00

Christmas was our last full day in Rome. We knew that there would be very few business open (if any). We caught one of the hotel buses into the middle of town and set out with no particular plan in mind.

Since there were no businesses or museum open, we wandered into any church that we passed. We started in Piazza del Popolo. I was looking for a particular Bernini statue that was supposedly in a church off of Piazza del Popolo, but I never found it. The amount of things that I have left undone in Rome is staggering. I think my list of things to do in Rome got bigger after spending 4 days there.

Even though we didn’t find the Bernini statue, it was beautiful to wander in all of the churches on the piazza. There were masses happening every hour on the hour. I felt a little odd about going in as an obvious tourist during mass. It didn’t bother David.

We wandered down Via del Corso checking out churches as we went. In each church, parents were taking their children to look at the nativity scenes set up. For a city as large and as old as Rome, on Christmas it felt like a little Italian village. Families were shaking hands with people standing next to them at mass. I don’t remember all the churches we visited, but David and I continued to remark that Rome’s C-List churches would have been A-List in any other country.

We stopped at Piazza del Campidoglio to admire the entrance to the forum and ponder just how old those arches must be. We stopped to get our bearings, and I took some pictures.

Eventually, it started raining and we decided to head back to the hotel to relax.

We had reservations at a restaurant in the Jewish Ghetto called “Vecchia Roma” – based on a recommendation from a friend. The food was as excellent as expected. David and I had been gorging ourselves on artichokes the past couple of days and that meal was no exception.

However, the stand-out for me was the dessert. I decided to order fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with ricotta. It was amazing. The ricotta filling had a tiny bit of candied orange and spice. The flavor of the squash blossoms was very pronounced. I rank it as one of the most memorable desserts I’ll ever have.

After dinner, David and I went back to the hotel to pack for the trip home. Little did we know, it was going to be a long time before we made it to NYC.

In Trastevere, In the Rain

2010-12-23T00:00:00-05:00

After St. Peter’s Basilica, we decided to go to Trastevere. We visited the Villa Farnesina. This was on the B-List of tourist attractions in Rome, but ended up being one of my favorite stops on the trip. There were several works by Rafael – an artist that I had never had the chance to admire much before. Most of the works were of Greco-Roman myths, so it was fun to stare at the images and place the parts of the story they were telling.

It made me want to have more of our rooms in the house hand-painted. Of what, I have no idea.

After that, we were ready for lunch. It was pouring down rain and no one was open yet. The guidebook said that all of these places were supposed to be open, but every time we walked into a restaurant, they smiled and said to come back in 15 minutes. In effort to get out of the rain, we looked in the guidebook and went to a church called Santa Maria in Trastevere. And I’m so glad we did. It was like walking back into the Byzantine age. The front of the church was covered in mosaics. The colors were so intense, that it was like wandering into a treasure chest full of jewels.

They were setting up cameras and audio equipment. I suppose they were going to broadcast their Christmas mass.

I saw an image that I was unable to take a picture of – a black wall with two very large eyes. I saw the image later in another church, but I have no idea what the significance of it was. I will have to ask Benji about it sometime.

There was also a statue of a monk holding the Baby Jesus. It was covered in prayers that people had left. I always love those places that people have made sacred with their wishes and devotion. I am a strong believer in the principle of darshan.

After hanging out at the church, we made it back to one of the restaurants that had not been quite open and sat down for a meal.

I realized that Italy is a great place to be a kid, because they are perfectly happy feeding children a big plate of pasta or pizza. In the U.S., that’s all that kids want to eat and it seems like parents go crazy trying to feed them veggies and meat.

We stopped off to get an Italian pastry to take back to the room for later.

We tried to get to another church in the neighborhood, but it was closed. Seeing that it was the afternoon of Christmas Eve and shops were closing left and right, David and I went back to the hotel for the afternoon.

That evening, we went to a place in our neighborhood for dinner that we were unable to get into the day before – Sagro del’vino. I found it on the web. It was a small, family owned restaurant. There was a small boy working there, a man in his early thirties working the cash register, and an older man delivering food. They all looked extremely related. David told me later that there was a woman working the credit card machine that must have been related as well.

Everyone that came in knew the owners. They all talked exuberantly in Italian, getting caught up on the news before sitting down for dinner.

The walls were covered in white tile, and the tile all had stickers from the 70’s and 80’s on the wall: mainly for radio stations, sports team, and engine parts. The floor had sawdust on it.

There was no menu. A couple minutes after sitting down, they put a bowl of bean soup in front of us (delicious). After the soup course, we got the pasta course of the day – also delicious. I threw my vegetarianism out the window for that meal. They put red wine on the table without asking us if we even wanted any. We got a choice of 3 things for the main dish – so we were allowed one small choice. And for dessert, we got a bowl of tangerines.

It was heaven.

St. Peter's

2010-12-23T00:00:00-05:00

If I had to pick one building as the single most awe-inspiring work of humanity, it would have to be St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. I’ve been to a lot of famous churches in the world, but even St. Peter’s worst completely outshines just about everyone’s best. David and I visited St. Peter’s on Christmas Eve.

The line to get in was somewhat long but moved quickly. It’s funny to think that there was a time when you could just wander in and out of the church – but those days are long gone.

Had I realized that the church was going to be so sectioned off for mass, I would have visited the church sooner. On the morning of Christmas Eve, we could only walk through about half the church. However, any visit is worth it. St. Peter’s never fails to impress.

At the Villa Borghese

2010-12-23T00:00:00-05:00

Our second full day in Rome, we had a morning tour booked with Marco for the Galleria Borghese. The prospect of going to the Villa Borghese was what prompted us to get a guide in the first place, because when I went to the site to get a reservation (only a certain amount of people are allowed to enter so you have to get your reservation ahead of time) I realized that the Villa Borghese is like the Met: it helps to be led through by someone that knows what they’re doing.

And I was right. Marco was an excellent guide and could talk for quite some time about all the art pieces in the museum.

The Villa Borghese is most known for its Bernini statues. It’s preposterous to try to describe what they look like. All pictures that I’ve seen of the statues fail miserably at capturing them. The problem is that the sculptures are three dimensional. As you walk around the statues, the story of the characters is told, the statues seem to move, and you marvel at all of Bernini’s intricacies.

The grand highlight is, of course, the statue of Apollo pursuing Daphne. Don’t even look at the pictures. Just go to Rome and see the statue for yourself.

In the Galeria Borghese, they were also some beautiful Caravaggio paintings and I found new appreciation for.

After the Galeria, we toured the gardens. They are called the “Heart of Rome” because the gardens are roughly in the shape of a heart. Awwww.

If you look at the photos on this page, notice on the “Papal Emblem” photo, there are three heads of blinded slaves on the emblem. I have no idea what the whole story is behind that. Our guide didn’t know.

And we stumbled across a statue of a very spaghetti western looking figure. Our guide told us the story on that one, but I have since forgotten it. I like to think that it was a statue dedicated to Ennio Morricone.

First Day in Rome, On Our Own

2010-12-23T00:00:00-05:00

Rome is an excellent city for getting a little bit lost and wandering around. Marco had bid as adieu for the day, so we were on our own. We had a list of recommendations for lunch and coffee and I had a personal mission to find a church that I had been to before but whose name and location I could not quite remember.

I knew that it was somewhere near the Pantheon, so after lunch we wandered around, stepping into churches. First, we tried to get into Sant’Ivo. It is on the highlight list of every Roman guidebook, but it is barely ever open. Apparently, you can only get inside for one hour after mass once a week. It seems so preposterous that one of Rome’s highlights would be so difficult to get into, but as we learned, that’s part of the magic of Rome. I took some pictures of the outside and then we ventured off in search of The Unknown Church.

Our second stop was an unexpected surprise. Although it was listed on the map of the guidebook, it was not featured in any way. It was Santa Maria dell’Anima. It’s a beautiful church – well maintained and full of incredible scultpures. It is now known as the national church of Germany.

We stopped in a few more churches before I finally found the one I was looking for: Sant’Ignazio. It is undoubtedly my favorite church in Rome. The ceiling is stunning. When I had first visited it, I spent about an hour looking at the ceiling. It is done in a trompe l’oeil style, so if you stand in the magic dot on the marble floor, the ceiling looks as if it ascends to heaven. It was done by Andrea Pozzo, whose corridor we had seen earlier in the day.

I wandered around the church meditating and taking photos. David was quite happy to read more about the church and wander around as well.

They had an excellent nativity scene. It had moving windmills, running water, and what seemed like a hundred tiny sheep. Most churches were still working on their nativity scenes. None of them had a baby Jesus in them yet.

First Day in Rome, Tour with Marco

2010-12-23T00:00:00-05:00

David and I often like to find local gay guides for tour when we travel. It supports the local entrepreneurs, helps us really get to know an area, and is definitely more fun than a group. I poked around online and got a referral for someone named “Marco” that showed us around.

Our first day was an approximately 4 hour walking tour of the center of Rome. We started in the Jewish Quarter, wandered through to Campo dei Fiori, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, and ended on the Spanish Steps.

It was a lot to take in and Marco had many stories to bring it all back to life.

I didn’t take a picture of the Turtle Fountain, but it was something I had never seen before and I fell in love with it. If you go to see it, keep in mind that it was built without turtles. Bernini added the turtles later and they look they had just been flung onto the edge of the fountain. It’s very typically whimsical of Bernini and typifies a lot of what I love about Rome.

We spent a lot of time in Piazza Navona. Marco had asked us at the Fountain of the Four Rivers why the head of the statue representing the Nile was covered. I blurted out “BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T KNOW THE SOURCE OF THE NILE!” I thought I was being really smart for figuring that out, but I later suspected that Benji had told me that originally and I was just remembering.

There were Carabinieri all around Piazza Navona. Rome had been having a lot of protests lately and that day was scheduled for a protest about the government’s change to higher education. I don’t know all the details. It was a little intimidating to go up to a group of Carabinieri and ask if we could pass, but they were very gregarious once we asked. The officer started waving us through and shouting “Pass! We lay out the red carpet!” (in Italian, of course).

Marco pointed out a church for Sant’Eustachio. You recognize his symbol as a stag with antlers. He is apparently the patron saint of adulterers. How Italian that even adulterers get their own saint. Across the street from the church is a legendary espresso shop and we came back here later for cappuccino and pastries.

My friend Robb also suggested that we try to see “Pozzo Corridor” which is a brilliant trompe l’oeil hallway off of the Church of the Gesù by Andrea Pozzo. It connects the monastery to the church and is well worth a visit. Our guide had arranged a time for us to visit. I’m not sure if you can just walk in and see it. Not only was the hallway beautiful, but we got to see St. Ignatius’ living quarters. They are very modest and tranquil. An old monk let us in to the living quarters. There is something about old Italian men – they talk and talk. They don’t care if you can’t speak Italian, they will keep talking and will you to understand. I don’t quite know how I was able to understand him, but he was saying that it is important to say prayers in this room because it is a very holy place – being where St. Ignatius lived and died. He asked if we had any young relatives and insisted that we pray for them in this room. I prayed for Lorenz when Marco and David were out of the room.

While in the Church of the Gesù, I stumbled across a stand of postcards and there was a very odd looking piece of artwork on one of them. I asked Marco where it was in the church. We asked one of the monks there and he gestured for us to follow him. He took us down a couple of corridors and pointed us to the painting. It was a Japanese painting of the arrival of the Jesuits in Japan. I can’t find a picture of it online, but if you take me to Rome I’ll lead you there.

After that, we went to the Trevi Fountain (always beautiful) and then to the Spanish Steps. The rest of the day we did on our own.

Arrival in Rome

2010-12-22T00:00:00-05:00

David was short of making Executive Platinum on American Airlines by just a couple of thousand miles. He needed to make a trip at the end of the year to push him over the limit to being a privileged customer. I started by offering a couple of ideas that I knew he wasn’t so interested in, and then I casually threw out the idea of Christmas in Rome. I didn’t push it, I just let it percolate. In a matter of a couple of days, the idea had taken hold.

I tried to get my family to come with us. Mom and Dad didn’t want to join us. Sis and Lorenz originally said yes, but they had their own trip to Rome planned for March, so they eventually decided against it as well. So we went our own.

We had our share of travel headaches on this trip. For our flight there, we had a day flight to London, a night at the Heathrow Hilton, and then a morning flight to Rome. That unfortunately coincided with a snow storm in northern Europe. We woke up at 5am to get ready for our flight and saw that our flight had been cancelled. They had not moved us on to any other flights, so David called and asked them what was up. They looked at flights and said “If you can get to JFK in time, there’s a flight leaving at 7am that goes to Miami. I can get you from Miami to the Dominican Republic, then a flight to Madrid, then to Rome.”

David and I were so groggy from having just woken up that we didn’t think twice about the plan, we ran out of the house and made it to JFK. It wasn’t until we landed in the Dominican Republic that we had time to catch our breath from short connection times and the reality of our situation set in. Imagine at any given moment, someone told you that tomorrow morning you would be in the Dominican Republic. You would say “What? Why? That’s crazy.” That’s pretty much how we felt. I found a video on YouTube that shows you what it’s like to land in the Dominican Republic.

Our next flight was an Iberian flight to Madrid. Since David is executive platinum and I’m platinum, they booked us first class seats all the way to Rome. The service to Madrid was amazing. It was what flying used to be like. The stewardesses were perfectly groomed and demure. The food was excellent. It felt like you could throw a football and still not hit the seat in front of you. David recognized some special Spanish sherry on their alcohol cart and made me have a sip. And since it was a long flight, I got a fair amount of sleep on the way to Madrid.

The rest of the trip to Rome was pretty uneventful. David was starting to have a hard time while we were waiting for our flight in Madrid, but it all happened and we arrived in Rome at about the same time as we were originally scheduled to arrive. I don’t quite know how that all worked.

So we got to our hotel, the beautiful Hotel Cavalieri. We took a nap and then decided to walk down the hill for dinner. The hotel is situated behind the Vatican. It was about a 45 minute walk down the hill. After touring St. Peter’s Square, we wandered to a street of antique shops – Via dei Coronari. David did a bit of shopping without purchasing.

Our dinner was excellent. It makes you realize how farcically casual American fine dining has become. All the waiters were in their waiter whites and very attentive. Honestly, I could eat anywhere in Rome (within reason) and be happy, but this restaurant was particularly exceptional. It was a recommendation from one of David’s colleagues. I don’t know how Italians can find produce bursting with flavor so far out of season.

After dinner, we got a cab ride back to the hotel. The cabbie was having a hard time finding her way out of the circuitous streets in that part of Rome.

Doodhi Chana Dal

2010-11-29T00:00:00-05:00

I had just come home from India and was invited to Thanksgiving dinner. Having just turned vegetarian, I decided to show off my commitment to a meat-free Thanksgiving and any culinary skills I may have inadvertantly picked up in India, so I made this dish.

This is a typical dish from Gujarat and is a staple food for farmers in that region. There are many types of pumpkin, but the ones available in the Indian grocery stores are called “Iauki” or “doodhi.” I made it with butternut squash to give it a fall/winter flavor. This dish is absolutely delicious eaten plain with chapattis.

1 pound pumpkin or winter squash
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
pinch of asafoetida
1 teaspoon sugar
1 onion, sliced
2 1/2 cups dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and drained
3 tablespoons canned chopped tomatoes with juice
1 tablespoon red chile paste
2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
2 garlic cloves mashed
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
salt, to taste
chopped fresh cilantro, to garnish

Peel the pumpkin or squash and cut into 2-inch cubes. Coat the cubes olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast the squash in an oven at 400º for 30 minutes, or until the edges start to turn brown.

Heat the oil in a large heavy-bottomed pan and add the mustard seeds. When they start to “pop,” add the asafoetida, sugar, and onion and cook until the onion browns slightly. Add the chickpeas and tomatoes, cover, and cook for about 10 minutes.

Add the chili paste, garlic, ginger, ground turmeric, squash, and 2/3 cup water, cover and cook for 5 to 7 minutes longer.

Serve hot with rice or bread.

The Hotel is Really, Really Nice

2010-09-20T00:00:00-04:00

So…David and I had a nice flight to China. It went by really quickly for some reason. I’m sure that being in business class helped. And now it’s 1am, we’re settled into our hotel, and we’re wide awake.

We’re staying the Hilton Beijing Wangfujing. We had some problems getting here. Specifically, the taxi driver had no idea where it was and didn’t speak English. The Google maps that we had printed up helped marginally. Pointing and shouting “zhe ge” also helped.

The hotel is possibly the fanciest place I’ve ever stayed. We got upgraded to a suite. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that there aren’t that many people staying here.

The room is full of mirrors and glass panels. I can’t tell when I’m walking into a new space or when I’m about to crash into a mirrored wall. They had three tiers of sweets on the coffee table: chocolates, chocolate covered cherries, and macaroons. They offered to have someone come to the room to massage our legs (I don’t even want to know if that was code for something). But the pièce de résistance is that they had a teddy bear on the bed waiting for us. A TEDDY BEAR! I’m tempted to see if there’s a “read me a bed-time story” service.

And of course, the usual social networking rules apply in China: no Facebook, no Twitter, no ping.fm. So my little site will have to handle all those duties for me.

Packing for China

2010-09-19T00:00:00-04:00

I’m packing for China now. Well, at least I should be packing instead of writing blog posts.

David had bought tickets in coach flying non-stop from Chicago to Beijing. I was not looking forward to that flight. The good news is that we got upgraded from coach to business! Yippee! And I have 28 hours of video on my iPad and enough Ambien to remain serene, sleepy, and entertained.

So now…what am I doing in China? I was on my won for five days in Beijing last year and I went over board as a tourist. I had crossed everything off my list from temples, to parks, to Peking Opera, to markets, to crazy Chinese medical treatments. I was even one ahead of David on the list of Wonders of the World because I made it to the Great Wall of China before he did. So I naively thought that I would repeat a lot of my successes from the past trip and take David around to my highlights of last year. Foolish Keith. I found a whole new slew ofthings to do:

The Great Wall of China and Ming Tombs – Yes, this is a repeat, but David has to see the Great Wall. Also, my tour guide gave me a terrible tour of the Ming Tombs so I feel like I have to go back. I don’t think I even saw half of them. I never even went inside the actual tombs.

Tour of Buddhist Temples – We found a gay guide that suggested this tour. I had been to the Lama Temple and it’s stunning. I’m happy to go back. I’m also happy that there are 7 other temples our guide will be taking us to.

Moxibustion – This will be part of my visit to a Chinese health clinic. I’ll let this page explain it: http://acupuncturetoday.com/abc/moxibustion.php. The practitioner is also going to give me a “food energetics” session which will outline what sorts of foods I should be eating and which ones to stay away from to “remove the damp from my system” and promote the flow of Qi.

The Museum of Ethnic Clothes – This looks a great museum of old textiles and clothes from China.

Cooking Class – I’m not 100% sold on this one, but I may attend a class (spoken in English) on traditional Chinese home cooking. I was hoping for a hand made noodle pulling class, but I’m too late for that one.

So I feel like I’m ready to attack Beijing again like a rabid tourist, hungry for new experiences. And I’m with David this time, so I will have better meals than last time.

FYI – I never got around to posting the photos from my trip to China last year, so at some point you can expect to see a whole mess of China photos on the site.

I'm obsessed with pre-fab mini homes

2010-08-02T00:00:00-04:00

Perhaps it was all the news footage of Chelsea Clinton’s wedding, but I have become obsessed with the notion of getting a mini pre-fab home in the country. Sara had shown me this site a while ago: http://www.weehouse.com and I can’t stop looking at the images. A little house upstate to retreat to…ahh…sounds perfect.

Now I need to figure out where I’m going to get the money for such a house.

My favorites are the McGlasson and the Marfa, by the way.

Green Tripe to the Rescue

2010-07-31T00:00:00-04:00

The big hurdle in Oz’s recovery has been getting him to eat. The doctors initially warned us about not trying to feed him too much too quickly. In hindsight, that seems laughable that we were concerned about him eating too much. Some days it’s better than others and he goes for it, but usually it’s a few nibbles and he loses interest.

So I decided to pull out the big guns and order green tripe. For those of you that have never heard of it, tripe is one of the later stomachs of animals that chew their cud (in this case, cows). There’s even a website about it: http://www.greentripe.com/. Green tripe refers to tripe that has not been cleaned of contents. In other words, it’s animal intestines filled with partially digested food. Yummers! It’s supposed to be very good for their digestive system because it has all sorts of enzymes that their bodies can’t produce.

It’s illegal to sell to humans, but you can sell it to dogs. And I had heard stories of people that had fed it to their dogs. Step #1: put a clothespin over your nose. Step #2: give the green tripe to your dog. Step #3: Watch your dog go insane with happiness.

I ordered green tripe from Oma’s Pride (http://www.omaspride.com/) along with many other disgusting and hard-to-find animal items. I had been holding on to it until Oz was a bit more on the mend, but this morning he was barely eating. He had a few bites of the canned food that the vet gave us. He turned his nose up to everything else I had. So I pulled out the tripe.

Yes, it smells like manure. It was still partially frozen so the smell wasn’t that bad. For half a second, I thought of defrosting it in the microwave, but I think David would have run screaming out of the house if the whole kitchen reeked of microwaved manure. I pulled out the mostly defrosted parts into Oz’s bowl and quickly sealed up the remainder.

When I put it down for Oz, there was a tentative sniff. My lips were still curled into a sneer from the smell. Then he gave it a tentative lick. Then he started eating voraciously. He went through two servings and still asked for a third. It was more than he had eaten in days. He lost his appetite at the beginning of the third helping, so Gogo got the rest. She did the same tentative sniff and then went crazy. They licked the bowl spotless.

It’s pretty clear that I’m going to have to order more for them. I’m hoping that it does indeed have a great effect on his digestive system which has had quite a blow over the past couple of weeks.

So many ways to stay connected

2010-07-25T00:00:00-04:00

I'm putting together an exit strategy for Facebook. I love the fact that I'm contact with smart, fun people that I rarely get to see. Unfortunately, the constant privacy concerns are…concerning me. I tried Twitter for many months, but the 140 character limit really gets to me sometimes. And I have been unable to get TweetDeck truly integrated into my weekly routine, so Twitter has fallen by the wayside. I tried Tumblr, which I ay still fall back on, but it updates Facebook in an odd way.

So now I'm trying Posterous. Which is designed to be the ultimate tool for updating your various feeds everywhere. We'll see if it's a decent payoff.

Saw "The Kids Are Alright"

2010-07-25T00:00:00-04:00

…and it's a really great movie. Maybe it's just because I'm so bogged down with Oz's recovery or bogged down by the mugginess of NYC right now, but I immediately thought "I want to move to California and raise kids". I've had moments in my life where those two thoughts came and went pretty quickly – usually separately. But this was the first time in my life that the idea of having kids actually felt like a good idea. I could see it all and play it out roughly in my head and it felt…doable. It felt right. It resonated with me. I have to not focus on the first 5 years which seems like an unending terror of diapers and crying. Everything after that seems like it would be pretty amazing – rocky, of course, but still like something that challenges you, makes you grow, and allows you to see more of how life works. And to have a family, of course.

And on a side note, I remember my Mom got misty when she dropped me off at college. How did she not bawl her eyes out? Did she cry all the way back to Oregon? Because just watching the movie, I don't think I would have any emotional fortitude at that moment in my life.

And California…ah, California. I was ready to pack up and go within the first few shots of sunny California. Man, living in NYC is hard sometimes. I feel like I'm always fighting crowds or weather or strangers or just the city itself. And as I said, this probably has more to do with Oz's recovery which is weighing pretty heavily on me right now. And the painters in the house. And work. And the constant heat waves. But in all the outdoor shots I could smell California – the eucalyptus, the fresh produce…ah. Maybe someday.

Anyway, the movie is really fantastic and feels so authentic. The acting is top notch all around. I recommend it to all adults.

No More Store Bought Dog Food

2010-07-25T00:00:00-04:00

After Oz’s pancreatitis, I’ve decided that it’s not enough that I’m buying healthy, raw dog food. I thought I was making good choices for him, but it comes down to the fact that when it’s made by someone else, you don’t really know what goes into it. I want to know and be responsible for absolutely everything he eats. I read through the section of Dr. Pitcairn’s book on pancreatitis and he listed some foods that aid digestion and the pancreas. So I’m going back to making the dogs’ food from scratch. That way I can pick exactly what he needs and make sure he gets human-grade meat. (Really, I should have known better than to trust packaged food after that whole melamine pet food scare from a few years ago.)

And in addition to making their regular food, I’m going to start making their treats from scratch, too. I found a bunch of recipes online: http://www.dogaware.com/diet/treats.html. I’m not really looking forward to having the whole house smell like liver and garlic, but so be it. I’ll start small on the batches until I’m sure they like they taste and then start making bulk.

Once I get into the rhythm of making food for the dogs, I’m going to tackle David and myself next. It would be great to never order out for meals again.

Muppet Wedding Music

2010-07-25T00:00:00-04:00

I’m at a wedding at the Palace Hotel of Gossip Girl fame. A string quartet played “The Rainbow Connection.”

Bravo, Wedding Planner.

Fondue

2010-02-28T00:00:00-05:00

Ah… fondue. It has the reputation of being hopelessly 70’s. David recently received a fondue set for his birthday. How we had gone all this time without a fondue set is beyond me. I’ve made fondue twice with it now, and the second round was so good, that I had to tell myself to not get into a fondue frenzy – it was going to start doing damage to my waistline.

I get my cheeses from Artisanal. You can order some of them from Fresh Direct. And Whole Foods has a pretty good selection as well. Maybe one of these days I will wander down to Murray’s Cheeses for a selection. I think it’s good to be a little experimental with the cheese selection.

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, 1 clove garlic
1 cup white wine
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
6 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated
6 ounces Emmental cheese, grated
6 ounces Appenzell cheese, grated
6 ounces Jarlsberg (or Hoch Ybrig or Beaufort if you can get it) cheese, grated
4 teaspoons cornstarch
Crusty bread, cubed, for serving
Boiled fingerling potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, or mushrooms, for serving (optional)

Sprinkle fondue pot or a 2-quart saucepan with salt. Vigorously rub the inside of the pot with garlic; and discard. Add the wine and lemon juice, and bring to a boil over medium heat.

In a medium bowl, stir to combine the cheeses and cornstarch. While whisking constantly, add the cheese mixture in four additions. Be sure each addition is completely melted before adding the next addition. Once all of the cheese has been added, cook for 1 minute more. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat, and serve immediately with bread, potatoes, or vegetables, as desired.

The Hardest Work Out of My Life (thus far)

2010-02-19T00:00:00-05:00

I took a new fitness class today. It was recommended to me by a friend. It’s a gym that is only a block or two from my house called AeroSpace NYC (http://aerospacenyc.com). To be honest, I’ve been meaning to go for months. And this week I finally put my foot down with myself and said I had to go. And even then, I chickened out twice when I got to the front doors. Looking back on it, I have no idea why I was so stressed out about attending. I would have no problems going back – in fact, I’m currently planning to quit my regular gym and just go here.

The gym does not have any weights or machines. It’s primarily for classes, though it appears there are some private sessions there as well. The gym centers around boxing fitness. The owner is a former professional boxer. I don’t have any desire to box, but the classes sounded very intense with a low risk of injury. The classes focus on either boxing moves (doing punch and jab sequences), rope jumping, or toning using weighted bars or small dumbbells. The big inspiration is the owner, who is lean, strong, and fast.

The main part of my intimidation was the fact that most classes have some sort of jumping rope. I had a trainer in my 20’s try to get me to jump rope and it was not fun. Even if I had the coordination, within 30 seconds of successful jumping, I’m ready to heave up a lung. One of the times I had chicken out, I arrived to see a class all jumping rope in perfect unison. They were doing various foot sequences in harmony just to cement their “we’re doing something you can only dream of” status.

And the other part of my intimidation is that it’s New York. It seems like whenever you try to learn something new in NYC, you have to do it with people that have been doing that exact thing for 10 years and are pretty damn alpha about it. I really, really, really didn’t feel like being The Out-Of-Shape Guy in the back while everyone breezes through the workout.

As I raised these concerns to the friend that told me I should go, he kept saying “It’s not like that. Just go. No one can keep up. It’s okay.”

And why I didn’t believe him, I’ll never know.

The instructor/owner could not have been nicer. He came up to me before the class and introduced himself. He said that I should not try any footwork for jumping rope – just do the basics and never do more than 8 in a row until I get more comfortable. He also said that for the lunges and squats, I should make the movement as small as possible until my body says it’s ready for me. So all in all, I felt pretty good.

But what really put me at ease, was the guy in the center of the front row. He was in perfect condition – one of these hardcore Chelsea fitness buffs. And he looked like he had taken the class many times before. As we started warming up (which was quite a warm-up), he had to stop twice to recover. Within 3 minutes of the class starting, my ribs were aching and I was out of breath. I had no idea it would go that hard that quickly.

After Mr. Perfect in the front row had to stop to recover, I noticed lots of other people having to stop for a few seconds to catch their breath. And it was like that the whole class. Not a single person could follow everything. People took breathers liberally. All of a sudden I relaxed and had more fun. I had no problems taking a breather for a minute and then throwing myself back in the thick of it.

My rope jumping was not so bad. My punching was pretty good, but the instructor came over and corrected me from hyper-extending. I took a water break about 20 minutes into the class. At the 40 minute mark, I was seriously seeing stars. Even the abs section of the class – though very brief – was so intense that I could only do about 4-5 of each exercise. I’ve heard that with perseverance, you can get through the whole class without stopping. I can’t even fathom what sort of shape you have to be in for that.

What amazed me most about the instructor was his speed and agility. The punching sequences were a real wake-up call. I kept thinking that when we would start a punching sequence, that it wouldn’t be as hard as the rope jumping – but I eventually started praying for more rope jumping. I have no idea how you make all those movements for the punch sequences as fast as he does it. And I just didn’t have the mental acuity in the workout to keep doing it. Every now and then, my brain would short circuit and I’d look like a spastic muppet – limbs flailing randomly.

So, I finished. And yes, I’ve never felt so old, slow and out-of-shape in my life. But damn it was a good workout. The owner came by afterwards to shake my hand and compliment me on my jumping. I left with a feeling of “well, how could I not continue?”

Sis & Lorenz Visit NYC

2010-02-16T00:00:00-05:00

I just said goodbye to Sis and Lorenz. David was kind enough to use his miles to purchase tickets for Sis and Lorenz for a little winter visit. Looking back on it, it’s hard to believe that it was just over two days. I’m surprised Lorenz’ head didn’t burst after all the activities we threw his way.

They arrived on a Saturday night. Lorenz crashed in the cab ride form the airport and stayed comatose while we caught up with Sis. The next morning, after breakfast, David and I took him to Union Square to play in the park. We gave him the first of his birthday presents: a Fujifilm Instax 210. We told him that it only worked outdoors to help motivate him to leave the house and also to keep it a novelty. There’s really just one thing to do: press a button and take a picture. He kept wanting to take pictures of the ground. He got the hang of it and took some really great photos. Of the photos below, there are only two he didn’t take.

The rest of that day was largely dedicated to making homemade donuts. Sis had invited some friends over to help eat everything. I was a bit overwhelmed at first, but soon got myself in the rhythm of cranking out donuts: vanilla glazed, cinnamon donut holes, and maple bars. I wish I could make donuts more often, but they just don’t fit into a healthy diet.

That afternoon, Lorenz and I spent some quality time playing Lego Star Wars on my PS3. I don’t really understand what it means to be 4 years old. He had a hard time understanding the controls and often got too carried away to even work the controls. I tried to keep the video games to a minimum, because it overloaded his system.

For dinner that night, we made use of a present that David got for his birthday: a very nice fondue set. I had gone to Artisanal earlier in the week and got a variety of Swiss cheeses. It was my first time making a fondue, but it’s not that hard – especially with really great ingredients. Surprisingly, Lorenz was not into the fondue, which was fine since the adults were all having a great time.

The next day was a big day. We took Lorenz to Hayden Planetarium. I was blown away. The show was fantastic. I forget that I live in NYC sometimes, and that living in NYC means you get the very best. The show, with a voice-over by Whoopi Goldberg, was light years beyond the planetarium shows I had seen as a kid. And I think it’s one of those shows that you appreciate more the older you get.

After the planetarium, we wandered through the Museum of Natural History. Lorenz went cuh-razy looking at all the dinosaur bones. And there were so many more exhibits than I remembered. I would have enjoyed staying and looking at some of the more boring exhibits, but we were constantly flirting with (or managing) meltdowns, so short-circuited trip and took him to the whale room. He was in total heaven in the whale room. I think just the calming dark blue light helped significantly.

As we approached the whale room, and he was looking at the hundreds of animals on the walls and ceiling, you could almost see his brain short-circuiting. As an adult, I know when I’m hitting overload time. I know when it’s all getting to be too much and I need to sit and let everything sink in. A child doesn’t know how to do that though. I don’t know how they compensate. Do they start ejecting information that they can’t process?

We got one last look at dinosaur bones and then got back on the subway to head downtown. He was having a hard time not being really cranky, and I was tempted to go straight home, but instead we took him to Max Brenner. It was a madhouse, but he was instantly transfixed by all the chocolate. Everyone got something to take out and we walked home.

Most of us crashed except for Sis and Lorenz (I don’t know why Sis hasn’t instituted nap-time, but oh well). Dinner was relatively simple.

This morning was pretty low-key. I think Lorenz was starting to break down from being away from home. He was pretty cranky in the morning. I gave him his final present, an iPod Nano loaded with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck cartoons. He loved it and didn’t want to put it away when it was time to go. However, I think he knew that the weekend had been too much. He wanted to go home.

Here are some of the better Instax photos.

Quince Branches

2010-02-10T00:00:00-05:00

For David’s 50th, our good friends Maria & Michael sent us some quince branches. I had never heard of keeping quince branches as a cut flower, but they have turned out to be beautiful.

At first I was a bit intimidated by the size. There were about 5-6 branches and they were 6 feet tall. We didn’t have a vase big enough to hold them. I went to our local high-end florist who got us a vase and cut the ends for us – both cutting off the tips and splitting the bottoms to help them absorb water.

Yesterday they started blooming all over. I took some pictures of them in the light of the snowstorm.

Supposedly they will last until spring. I’m so impressed with them that I will have to add them to my list of great gifts to deliver to people.

A Pomodoro in Time

2010-01-28T00:00:00-05:00

I just finished reading a book called “Pomodoro Technique Illustrated” by Staffan Nöteberg (http://www.amazon.com/Pomodoro-Technique-Illustrated-Really-Minutes/dp/1934356506). I guess it’s a little premature to say that it’s changed my life, but in my first week of truly implementing the method, I find myself on Thursday and have already accomplished more than I had mentally apportioned to get done for the whole week. A couple of months ago, I had read the free PDF by the original author and decided to test it out, but in typical fashion I sort of did it half-ass. This particular book helped me understand much more why the technique works and modifies it somewhat so that it’s inline with other time-management and productivity techniques.

For those that don’t know the Pomodoro Technique, it’s really simple. At it’s core, you work in 25 minute increments. You set a timer, work uninterrupted for 25 minutes, then take a break for 5 minutes. You keep doing that and every 4 “pomodori”, you take a longer break. And the thing is, you can’t break up a pomodoro into smaller pieces. If someone interrupts you for more than a minute or so, you invalidate the entire pomodoro and start over. So you quickly learn the phrase “Respect the Pomodoro”. You quickly learn to ignore the growing number of unread messages in your inbox.

It was founded by an Italian student that felt like he was working all day and not accomplishing anything. In total frustration with his short attention span, he set a timer and said he was going to do one task for 25 minutes – just to see if it was possible.

I have tried to read other productivity books and they always come across a bit too much like a cult manifesto. And the techniques were just too complex. I always subconsciously knew I wasn’t going to be able to modify my habits to the point where I would follow the technique. So one of the big benefit of the techinque is that it’s simple, and the benefit of this book is that it’s short. When you distill the book down to the actual technique, it’s just a handful of pages. He spends the majority of the book talking about how our brains work and what they need to operate optimally. He takes a very matter-of-fact approach that is pretty rare among self-help books.

A few times he talks about the contributing factors to procrastination and he does it in a simple, non-emotional way. I’ve seen books to help you deal with procrastination where they claim that you essentially need to generate an inner cheerleader – constantly firing you up to ACCOMPLISH THINGS. Nope. Doesn’t work in my world. His description and prescription for procrastination fits my particular outlook much more clearly.

When I first read about the Pomodoro Technique, I thought that it was primarily centered around stopping disruptions. And it’s definitely that, but I would argue that that’s not the reason it works so well. Staffan talks a lot in the book about creating a rhythm for accomplishment. It’s almost like you’re training your attention span like a professional athlete trains in cycles. You’re exercising your ability for productivity. The cycle of 25 minutes on and 5 minutes off puts you into a buzz of focus.

On software projects, there’s always a big push at the end. I’m clear-headed, driven, and I’m crossing everything off my to-do list at a lightning pace. I often thought “I wish I could start every day like this and not just close to the deadline.” And I think we tend to convince ourselves that we have to wait for the muse to strike or the adrenaline to kick in before we can really accomplish something substantial. Following the technique allows you to tap into that energy as soon as you set the timer. As soon as I wind up the timer, I feel like I’m on the bonus round of “The $25,000 Pyramid.”

And finally, it has shed a big light on my time estimates. When I first read the free PDF, I had no interest in recording my estimates. I just wanted to set the timer and go. After reading Staffan’s book, I realized that the time estimates, review and analysis was crucial. It’s a real eye-opener to see how I wildly under-estimate certain tasks.

Anyway, I don’t want to go on and on or it will sound like I’m evangelizing. I highly recommend the book. You’ll start using the Pomodoro Technique for everything: 25 minutes to clean the kitchen. Go. 25 minutes to organize my desk. Go.

FYI – It took me two pomodori for this blog post.

Got Problems, Baby?

2010-01-15T00:00:00-05:00

If you skipped my other CD mixes, fine. This is the one to download. One night I dragged Benji to see Coffy at the Film Forum – not really knowing what to expect. I was transfixed. It was hard-core, it was sexy, it was righteous revenge, it was … Pam Grier. She’s a better vigilante than Batman. If you haven’t seen Coffy or Foxy Brown, you really should. I can honestly say that my sense of entertainment was altered when I saw Coffy.

Listening to these clips recently, I don’t think people today would be able to make these movies. In fact, I was really excited when I heard Quentin Tarantino was making Jackie Brown. However, it was unbelievably tame compared to her early films. There’s a thirst for justice and revenge pumping through her original films.

And besides the films, the music is incredible. I really don’t even want to bother trying to explain why it’s so great. Just listen to it.

So consider this mix a primer course in blaxploitation films. There are two discs. The highlight is track 9 on the second disc – transitioning from Marlena Shaw into one of my favorite clips from Coffy and then into “Treat Her Like a Lady”. It scratches an itch I didn’t know I had.

This music doesn’t work well out of context. It’s meant to be listened form start to finish – not randomly. And be sure that the files are marked for gapless playback. There are lots of fade ins and fade outs that don’t work if there’s a gap in playback.

Download “Got Problems, Baby? – Disc 1”

80.6MB

Download “Got Problems, Baby? – Disc 2”

83.5MB

I've Got Kitsch in My Heart

2010-01-14T00:00:00-05:00

This was my second attempt at making a CD mix. I really felt like I hit my stride on this one. I borrowed lots of film clips “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” and “Blood Sucking Freaks”. And the music is a bit more focused – clearly hitting more of the late 60’s and 70’s psychedelia.

Once upon a time, I had plans for a third one “I See Kitsch With My Third Eye” that would focus primarily on Bollywood music from the 60’s and 70’s. We’ll see if that ever materializes.

Like my other mixes, this music doesn’t work well out of context. It’s meant to be listened form start to finish – not randomly. And be sure that the files are marked for gapless playback. There are lots of fade ins and fade outs that don’t work if there’s a gap in playback.

Download “I’ve Got Kitsch in My Heart”

82.2MB

I've Got Kitsch on the Brain

2010-01-12T00:00:00-05:00

Around 12-15 years ago, I discovered a mix tape that belonged to a friend of mine. The tape was called “Schlock Around the Clock” and it was a revelation. I don’t think I recognized any of the music on it. It juxtaposed The Cramps with Eartha Kitt. It had movie clips spliced into the songs. I listened to it non-stop and it kicked off years of musical obsessions and CD hunting.

I attempted to make my own version on CD. The first one is called “I’ve Got Kitsch on the Brain”. It contains a handful of songs from the original mix tape and at least one of the movie trailers. It took me forever to track down the original trailer soundtrack from “Astro-Zombies”. And I never found a digital copy of “Hot Dog Rock & Roll”. I threw in some songs that just about everyone has heard to balance it all out.

I had some qualms about placing this on the internet. Yes, people used to make mix tapes for their friends all the time and no one thought anything of it. So what’s the big deal if the mix tape is now in digital format? And what’s the big deal if I can now immediately distribute this to ALL my friends instead of just some? To help me justify my guilt, why don’t you throw some money at some of the artists on iTunes or Amazon? After all, we could probably all stand to beef up our Sergio Mendes collection.

And finally, this music doesn’t work well out of context. It’s meant to be listened form start to finish – not randomly. And be sure that the files are marked for gapless playback. There are lots of fade ins and fade outs that don’t work if there’s a gap in playback.

Happy listening.

Download “I’ve Got Kitsch on the Brain”

76.6MB

Big and Fearless

2009-12-23T00:00:00-05:00

Last year, my friend Sara asked me about my resolutions that I had for 2009. For some reason, I took it very seriously and wrote a lengthy post about my resolutions. I accomplished most of them to some degree. I’m not going to worry about the ones that I apparently wasn’t as resolute on as I could have been. But we both enjoyed the process so she wrote me this year for my 2010 resolutions. And here they are…

The first one is an important one and one that will shape the rest of the year: Start thinking big. Big and Fearless. I’m tired of feeling like I drown in the details of life.
I did not make as much money this year as previous years. In general, I’m having a “is this where my career should be?” point in my life. As I approach 40, I’m getting too old to compete with college age consultants for building simple websites. But what else should I focus on doing? Hmmm…
Take photos of all my friends in some sort of photo that represents them. In costumes. Staged. I really want a nice photo book at the end of the year with everyone I know. This requires some long term planning.
Keep losing weight. I felt like I was on a good nutritional path before the holidays arrived. I can feel it’s in my grasp. I just need to keep everything in focus and not get side-tracked. Keep up with my existing routine of lifting weights and running.
Get my god-damned comic books on my website with donation links and places to buy printed issues. I was so close to get everything up a few months ago and then I got side-tracked. I’d love to do another issue, but without money to hire an artist, it’s not going to happen.
Learn Spanish. Learning a little Mandarin was pretty painless (using Fluenz). As long as I give it an hour or two a week, I make progress.
It’s time for more social outlets. I don’t what this would be: a photography group, a gay rights group, a musical group…something.
I bought t-shirt silk screening supplies over a year ago and I’ve never used them. Why not? It would be fun to be making my own t-shirts. It’s not even that hard, I just need to get over the hump of making the first one.

These are some resolutions that I doubt will ever come to pass but are fun to think about:

There is news that the Apple Tablet will be coming out soon. I think they will have a new format for printed materials delivered electronically. I’d like to learn that as quickly as possible and try to get in on comic publishing for electronic formats.
Start a NYC chapter of the Tea Party Movement (I’m only half-joking. This would be hysterical and I could write a book afterwards.)
On a side note…chairmanswife.com and dearbartender.com are two URLs that I have that are expiring soon. Maybe I should finally do something with them. This past year I laughed at the notion of building a content website. Who would ever visit? Now I’m in a mindset that maybe I should just build it and not worry about the results so much. (Think big, Keith!)
I had a thought when I was making chocolates this year. I could write a book about all the chocolates. I have recipes now for almost 20 chocolates, each with a flavor from a different part of the world. I could write a few pages about each of the places and their local flavors. I could have copious pictures of the process of making the chocolates. It would all make a cute little Christmas-y book to give to people.

Some updates…

I saw a book on developing your programming career from one of my favorite publishers. Perhaps I should read it and start putting into practice some techniques for growing my career. And on another side note, there’s all of a sudden a lot of little work in my lap.

I went to meetup.com and looked for some groups to join. And so I joined the following:

Gay Tech Meetup
Queer Sangha
NYC Gay Men’s Book Club
Pin Up Studio Photography

I know it’s a little gay-centric, but hey…I like the company of gay men. Meetings start this Sunday, Dec 27th, so I’ll be 3 days ahead of schedule on completing these resolutions!

A Hammerlock Swing Dance Move with Neat-o Exit

2009-11-19T00:00:00-05:00

I’ve been meaning to write down some of the new dance moves I learn in private class so that I don’t forget them. And what better place than a blog for others that might be curious?

The past couple of private lessons have been dedicated to hammerlock positions. While they look incredibly twisty and complicated, it turns out that they’re really easy.

The first one I learned starts with a tuck-turn on the leader’s right side. At the end of the tuck, you give the partner a good spin, hold onto the hands, and put them into a hammerlock. It helps if you use your right hand on your partner’s hip to guide them. Instead of rock-stepping backward, rock-step forward. Then spin them back around into a cuddle position.

From there, Nathan taught me a fun move to get out of it. It’s an 8 count move to make it easier on the follower. You rock-step backward and go forward for the first triple. Give the follower a little notice with your arms that something is about to happen. Then on the step-step, create a tunnel with your right arm (which is behind your partner) and lean at the hips and don’t go back with the follower. They will get the signal and shoot behind you. At this point, you should still be hold hands and they will be totally criss-crossed. Go with it. Lead a tuck turn and don’t let go of the hands. At the end of the tuck turn, you will be magically correct.

Damn. Now I can’t remember the other hammer-lock move that Nathan taught me. Well, stay tuned and I’ll write it down from tonight’s refresher course.

Bye Bye Dairy

2009-10-23T00:00:00-04:00

When I was in Beijing, I had almost no dairy. There was some milk available for coffee at the hotel, but after that there was nothing. Nothing with cheese on any menu I ever found. No cream sauces. I doubt they used butter to cook with. I think that’s why real Chinese food has the wrap that you are hungry a half hour after you eat – because there isn’t that dairy to give you an inflated sense of feeling weighed down.

And I did experience the “hungry half hour later” thing. After a meal, there was usually a brief period of hunger followed by several hours of feeling very sated. And the nice thing was, I never got tired after I ate. I’m used to crashing after meals in the U.S. But in Beijing, we would eat and I would be ready to start off on my next round of adventures.

The other big shift is that when I got home, everyone commented that my skin looked so much better. If I felt my skin, then yes, it felt softer and smoother – but mildly so. I never would have guessed that it would have been that noticeable, but it was Rodrigo’s first comment when he saw me. I attributed it to the dairy after reading an article about Woody Harrelson’s skin and dairy issues: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/23/woody-harrelsons-vegan-ac_n_295765.html

The odd thing about having had next to no dairy for a week is that I realized I didn’t miss it. If the trade-off is that I have more energy, my skin is healthier, and I generally feel lighter and happier, well that seems like a no-brainer to me. So I’ve decided to minimize dairy as much as possible. I’m not going to say “never again”, because that usually just means I can’t stick with it. And it turns out it’s not as difficult as I originally thought.

My first fallen moment came when we had someone over for wine and cheese. I got a fancy cheese to share. I couldn’t resist a farmhouse cheddar. And once I had a little bit, I went back a few more times. The next morning I woke up with a headache and a head full of phlegm.

I always find it so odd that when I give up some unhealthy eating habits and then go back to them, what a gargantuan crash I have. Was it always this bad when I had dairy and I just never noticed? Or was body used to all the extra phlegm and coped with it better?

So dairy has been greatly reduced in my life with an end goal of getting rid of it entirely. After only a few days, I have so much more energy. Chronic sinus discomfort or pain? Gone.

If you have dairy now, just try going one week with as little dairy as you can muster. I think you’ll be surprised that you won’t miss it and the benefits are tremendous.

Blue Jays Outside My Window

2009-07-22T00:00:00-04:00

I had a treat today. Outside my office window, I was visited by two blue jays. I had been seeing them around the neighborhood recently, but these two hung out for quite a while just a foot outside my window. They didn’t even seem bothered by my movement to get a camera and take photos.

I assume that one is male and the other is female. The male is the one with a more pronounced crest. The female seemed to be nesting. She seemed fluffed up and didn’t want to move. The male was flitting all over from branch to branch. I couldn’t figure out if he was courting her or protecting her.

I’m not usually so easily swayed, but I have to admit that there was some magical qualities about their visit. We don’t get much wildlife here in NYC and I rarely see birds other than pigeons. And the fact that they seemed so comfortable outside my window, contributed to the serendipitous qualities of their visit. Let’s hope that it’s an omen of good things to come.

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[flickr-photo:id=3745708991,align=center]

Sugar Snap Pea Salad

2009-07-08T00:00:00-04:00

Our CSA has resulted in me having to learn a bunch of new recipes. Last week, we got 2 pounds of sugar snap peas. I’ve never really used sugar snap peas, so I did a web search and found the following recipe. It makes a great salad and is almost entirely raw – which is always a benefit. And I munch on the sugar snap peas as I make the salad. They are surprisingly munchable.

3/4 cup sliced radishes
4 ounces sugar snap peas, sliced (about 1 1/4 cups)
4 ounces ricotta salata, crumbled (about 1 cup)
1/2 bunch mint leaves, torn (about 1/3 cup)
1 clove garlic, minced
Pinch kosher salt, more to taste
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper to taste.

In a large bowl, toss together the radishes, peas, ricotta and mint.

Using a knife or a mortar and pestle, make a paste of the garlic and salt. Place in a small bowl and add the lemon juice and balsamic vinegar and stir well to combine. Drizzle in the olive oil, stirring constantly, and add pepper to taste.

Pour dressing over salad and toss well to combine. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary.

This story is from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/dining/171arex.html?_r=1

Homemade Ranch Dressing

2009-06-19T00:00:00-04:00

Since we joined our CSA, it’s been clear that we’re going to be eating a lot of salads. The majority of the produce so far has been leafy green vegetables – and in a large variety. So if I was going to be eating a lot of salads, I needed to come up with at least one salad dressing I really loved.

I hate most every salad dressing I’ve ever bought. Our default salad dressing is a balsamic vinaigrette. It’s really more David’s thing than mine. I have more fun with it when I get a fun vinegar – like passion fruit vinegar. What I really wanted was to master creamy salad dressings.

I looked for a ranch dressing recipe on the web. A lot of them recommended using MSG to add robustness. MSG?! Doesn’t it defeat the purpose of a homemade salad dressing to be throwing in chemicals?

Then I found a recipe posted on chowhound.com for a simple ranch dressing. I tried it and it was excellent. I added in a few touches from some of the other research that I did. I must say, this is one of the best dressings I’ve ever had. It’s one of my staples now and it generally gets unsolicited compliments from guests.

Without further ado, here it is (and I sometimes halve the recipe if I’m just making it for me for the next couple of days):

1 cup mayo
1/2 cup kefir yogurt
1 or 2 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBsp parsley, chopped
2 TBsp chives
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 tsp white vinegar (you could use rice wine or white wine vinegar)
freshly ground pepper
salt to taste
a dash of Worcester (totally optional)

It keeps for several days in the fridge.

One commenter on chowhound commented that a real ranch recipe uses dill, to which the poster commented “So add dill.” And it’s true. You could add whatever herbs you had on hand to customize the recipe.

Orta

2009-06-17T00:00:00-04:00

After taking a leisurely stroll down the west side of Lake Maggiore, we were ready to get out of the car. The afternoon rain had passed. We arrived at Orta San Giulio, managed to find parking, and trekked down the hill.

There are no cars allowed in the heart of town. Or more precisely, the town could not fit any cars. It’s a labyrinth of tiny little cobbled streets. There’s one main drag that most people use to meander through town.

First things first, we stopped for a cappucinos. Ah…

Then after walking through town, we stopped at the main docks. There are boats that take people to San Giulio, an island just off the coast that is right out of a fairy tale. Here’s a bit about San Giulio:

According to the legend, the Island of St. Giulio was dominated by a big serpent that destroyed everything. But when St. Giulio, that had the power to command over the waves, the storms, the wild animals and the human beings, arrived near the lake , waving his hand he chased away the dangerous menacing animal.

He reached the Island journeying over the water on his cloak guided by his staff. The big reptile disappeared and St. Giulio, tired and near to his death, thought that the island was the right place to build his hundredth and last church dedicated to the Holy Apostles. The Island of San Giulio is today a place of great mysticism.

At first, David didn’t want to make the trek because it looked like there was a huge line for a boat. It turns out that getting a boat did not take long, but it was total chaos. There was a dispatcher that was shouting at all the boat captains and pointing various tourists to each of the boats.

As part of the trip to the island, they take you all the way around the island. You get to see just how beautiful and bizarre the island is. There is only one road and it goes all the way around. If you go in one direction, it’s called “The Street of Meditation” and has little signs giving you motivational phrases in 4 languages. If you walk the road in the other direction, it’s called “The Street of Silence” and the same signs have writing on the back to encourage an appreciation of silence. Unfortunately, there were a lot of tourists and no one was much into the concept of silence.

After lots of strolling, we went back ot Orta San Giulio, checked out the local church, and then headed back to the car.

It was Sunday, so finding a place that was open for dinner was quite a challenge. We dropped the rental car off at the airport and got a very exuberant cab driver that took us to a couple of places, but they were all closed. We found a place near the hotel to eat.

Mantova & Cremona

2009-06-17T00:00:00-04:00

On our second day, I was a bit more coherent when I woke up. I still didn’t have it together to have breakfast with David. He went off to the conference for a bit and I tried to find the Etro store. It was a total bust. The main store was completely intimidating: bizarro fashions in the window with enormous prices. I didn’t even bother going in. Then I tried to find their outlet store. It was a very frustrating experience. I think I found it, but I didn’t bother ringing the buzzer to go in because I found no evidence of it being an actual store. Oh well. I didn’t need to spend any money on clothes that I would rarely wear.

David came back to the hotel just before noon. We went to the nearby airport and rented a car to explore the lakes around Milan. David drove, which was fine by me. We got a GPS. I don’t know how we could have done it without the GPS – some of the roads that we ended up in were tiny.

Our first stop was Mantova. You may have heard of the anglicized name of Mantua. God only knows how the English mangled that one. I guess it’s not as bad as turning Deutscheland into Germany. Anyway, Mantova is a small village built around three lakes. It’s the town that Romeo fled to when he was banished. It’s the setting of Verdi’s Rigoletto. And it’s a beautiful little tourism stop. The palazzos are lined with cafes and gelaterias. There was a rock band that performed in front of the clock tower.

There are a few churches to visit. Once of which is built over the blood of Christ. According to the tradition the earth and blood was brought to Mantua by the Roman centurion Longinus, who had scooped up the bloody earth from Christ’s crucifixion.

But the mega-highlight is the Palazzo Ducale. The palace is enormous. After about an hour of wandering through rooms, David and I wondered if we were still in Mantova. With the exception of the gardens, I preferred it to the palace at Versailles.

I think we spend around 4-5 hours in Mantova. I found a spot for us to stop for dinner on the way home. So we set off on the back roads to Cremona. Once again, it’s a beautiful little medieval village built along the water. This one was on the shores of the river Po. On the drive out of town, we saw a carnival built along the river. The dinner was exquisite. And it was one of those places where they kept giving us things we didn’t ask for: a complimentary martini as we sat down, a complimentary appetizer to whet the palate, etc. I was almost full by the time the meal actually started. And it was here that my love of tortellini di zucca (pumpkin tortellini) was solidified. I’m still dreaming about that meal.

After dinner, we took wandered through the palazzo, which was full of people drinking, eating, and enjoying the night air. I took a few pictures of David which he will not allow me to post because they clearly show that he has been travelling all day.

The ride how was uneventful – considering that we were only an hour from Milan.

Last Day in Milan

2009-06-17T00:00:00-04:00

Well, it was the last day in Milan. Part of this trip was an effort to escape the madness of the renovation, and in that sense, the trip was a total winner. I feel like I’ve “done” Milan, though I would never pass up any chance to visit Italy again. But I feel like there was a lot of the surrounding area that I would love to come back and explore: Lake Como and Verona are two biggies. I could imagine spending at least a week, casually bopping from one small town to the next.

On my last day, I visited Castello Sforzesco. The castle is impressive, though there’s not a lot to see. David joined me in the afternoon. I took him to the castle and then we went shopping.

Shopping! Finally!

It is stunning to wander around Milan and look at the fashions. However, I live in New York City. There isn’t that much that you can get in Milan that you can’t find in NYC. And with the exchange rate, you certainly aren’t getting any bargains. And finally, I didn’t really connect with anything. There were some things in the Etro store that I liked (I finally made it in), but the stuff that I liked was marked “slim fit” and I didn’t even want to bother with the disappointment of how far away from “slim” I am. Widt-wise, the salesman was on par with a street lamp. So I decided to forgo a Milan purchase. However, I did enjoy talking David into getting something nice at the Zegna store.

That evening, we went to dinner with a colleague of David’s from Amsterdam. We had a wonderful meal at the highest recommended restaurant in Milan (by the guide book): Trattorio Milanese. It was excellent. The whole meal tasted like it was made by the Italian grandmother I never had. Perhaps it was also the quality of the company.

It turns out that I picked the same restaurant that our friend’s wife’s department picked, so we got to meet some others from Amsterdam. We got an invitation to visit which I certainly hope will become something more than an idle nicety.

Ah…Milan, I will miss you.

And FYI – not only was it a good break from the renovation, since I’ve been back, it’s been much easier to deal with the renovation, so I think we can say that Milan has cured me.

Bellinzona

2009-06-17T00:00:00-04:00

I’ve tagged this entry with “Italy” even though Bellinzona is in Switzerland. However, you would really never be able to tell that you left Italy in this part of Switzerland.

David and I got an early start and hit the road to a town called Bellinzona. The ride there was pretty great, too. We drove past Lake Como and all sorts of other lakes. I could see that if you lived in northern Italy, it would be quite nice to have a summer condo on the lake.

Bellinzona is famous for its three castles (Castelgrande, Montebello, Sasso Corbaro) that have been a UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2000. We had some initial trouble finding the castle – which seems kind of laughable in hind site. It’s right in the center of town built on a hill. It is completely unmissable. In the end, we did the smart thing and just parked near the center of town and started walking. We got a heart pumping climb up the rampart walls to Castelgrande.

The castle seemed rather modest at first, but there was plenty to explore. The views of the hills around Bellinzona were magnificent. And the more we walked around the castle, the more the magic started to work on us. You could wander all over the rampart walls which were covered in grass. They had taken the hills of the castle to grow grape vines. The castle has two towers: the white tower and the black tower. You can climb up each of them as long as you don’t mind twisting stairs. We went to the museum but there was really nothing to see – especially since most of the items in the museum did not have English translations. There was an interesting painting of a man changing into a wolf – of which I took a picture.

After exploring the castle, David and I went back to the center of town for something to eat. As usual, we were too late for the lunch crowd and we had a hard itme finding anyone to serve us. About the time I had settled upon the idea of a gelato lunch, we found a Turkish take-out place and got döner kebab.

Our next stop was Orta, but we decided to take the long, scenic path around the edge of Lake Maggiore.

West Village CSA - Week 2

2009-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

I figure I’ll get bored of posting the weekly CSA haul, but when I was looking for a CSA, I couldn’t find any information about what was in the CSA from week to week. So maybe these posts will help someone else. Also, so far I’ve had something every week that I have never seen before in my life. So there’s some food education going on here as well.

Here’s the note from the CSA about this week’s produce:

Among the top favorite vegetables that members look forward to receiving each year are Garlic Scapes. They are the long, curly tailed seed head that emerges from the garlic plant early in the season.

The scape will develop seed if left but the seeds are small and take years of planting and re-planting to deliver any sizable garlic bulbs. The preferred method of propagating garlic is each year to save the best bulbs which are broken apart into individual cloves and planted in October. Each clove will yield a garlic bulb the next July. The scapes are removed when they start to curl and the energy that would go into producing seed goes to the garlic bulb.

The scapes have a delicious garlic flavor. Garlic scape pesto is a member favorite. Remove the very end of the scape and the rest of the scape can be used. Look to some of the CSA websites that are listed on the farm website under a previous blog for recipe ideas. There are also more photos of the garlic plants in the Photos section of the farm website.

Enjoy the vegetables-Deborah for everyone at Stoneledge Farm

Garlic Scapes-6
Red Leaf Lettuce-1 head
Buttercrunch Green Leaf Lettuce-1 head
Bok Choi-2 heads
Mizuna-1 bunch
Summer Spinach-1 bunch-this spinach is a little more resilient than the spinach you may be familiar with. Most varieties of spinach will bolt or send out a seed head early in the season. Summer Spinach will last right into the summer. It has a larger leaf, spinach flavor.
Mustard Greens-1 bunch
Lemon Balm-1 bunch-lemony mint flavor. Good in tea.

I’m most excited about the Buttercrunch Green Leaf Lettuce which looked extra creamy delicious.

I usually munch a bit on everything as I put it in the fridge. The garlic scape packs quite a bunch.

To Milan and the Lake Region

2009-06-13T00:00:00-04:00

Every time we go to Italy, I say that we don’t go to Italy enough. Why does it only happen once every few years? We had dinner with one of David’s colleagues in Milan that tells us she goes to Rome twice a year. Granted, she’s a hell of a lot closer, but still…we should be going ot Italy more. I haven’t been to Rome in over 10 years! What’s wrong with me?

So even though it was a short trip (only 4 nights), and David would be at a conference a lot of the time, how could I pass up a trip to Milan with David?

I've Landed...What's Happening?

2009-06-13T00:00:00-04:00

I flew to Milan by myself. David was coming in from England. So even though I got there ahead of time, David had not taken red-eye flight to get to Milan and he had already adjusted to the time change. I got ot the hotel first and took a nap for a few hours. There is nothing like that first nap when you arrive in Europe from an overnight flight.

Eventually, he prompted me to get up. The whole thing was helped by the fact that he had got some pastries to help me ease into consciousness. After I pulled myself together, we went to the Piazza del Duomo to see the center of Milan.

We started our tour by buying tickets to get into a broom closet of an elevator to the base of the roof. The Duomo di Milano is one of the few cathedrals that you can climb all over. Well, that’s an exaggeration. You can walk all over the roof. And by the time you get to the top, you’re pretty high up. There are non-stop carvings along the way. Every where you turn there’s a gargoyle or statue – completely unique amongst the others. The top of the Duomo has all sorts of saints placed high on top and facing out towards the city. It is intensely serene to look at the saints as they monitor the encroaching modernity of high-fashion Milan.

David and I made it all the way to the top, but we felt raindrops, so took the stairs down and went inside the cathedral. The fun part abotu visiting cathedrals in Italy is that they are still quite well attended. We saw plenty of people praying or waiting to make confession.

One of the highlights in the cathedral is a statue of Saint Bartholomew, who was flayed alive. The statue has him wearing his skin like a shawl or a toga – and he is nothing but muscle and bone. It’s very surreal. There were plenty of saints around the cathedral that had been stabbed with arrows or eviscerated and left for dead.

After the cathedral, we walked a bit around the piazza so I could get something to eat. However, we had missed lunch hour and barely anyone was serving anymore. So we went back to the hotel and I caught a nap before dinner.

And dinner that night was at a very well-known restaurant called Bice. It’s apparently well attended by high fashion designers. We didn’t see any that night. The meal was excellent and we were joined by two colleagues from Israel. We had the full experience, including Santo Vino with Biscotti for an aperitif.

When we got back to the hotel, I slept for something like 12 hours. I was woken by David getting ready. I said “I’ll join you for breakfast and then shower when you head off ot the conference.” He replied “I’ve already had breakfast. You slept through all of it.”

Oh. Oops.

Our First CSA Haul

2009-06-09T00:00:00-04:00

This year, David and I signed up for a CSA – which stands for “Community Supported Agriculture”. It’s a way for those of us living in New York City to get a weekly supply of organic and locally grown veggies every week. The share is roughly $450 and lasts for 24 weeks. We also signed up for a fruit share, which starts later in the year.

I really had no idea what to expect, except what I heard from a friend that had participated in a CSA last year. We signed up with a CSA for the West Village. Their pickup locations is less than a block away. Their farm is Stone Ledge Farm" and they are an organic farm.

This week was almost all leafy green vegetables – which is what I was hoping for. I don’t recognize some of the items. I’m assuming that I can eat most – if not all – of the foods raw. Here’s the whole list:

RHUBARB-1 bunch-very tart perennial that is only available for a short time in the spring.
RED LEAF LETTUCE (Red Tide)-1 head
MIZUNA-1 bunch (Green with serrated leaves. Good in salads or lightly cooked)
ARUGULA-1 bunch
BOK CHOI-1 head (white, crunchy stems, dark green leaves)
CHINESE CABBAGE (Rubicon)-2 heads (described in the seed catalog as “sweet, tangy, juicy and delicious”) This makes a great fresh slaw or used in stir fry.
RADISHES-1 bunch
SAGE with Flowers-1 bunch. The flowers are beautiful on the sage which grows as a perennial. Strip the leaves and use with any poultry dish. Enjoy the flowers as a bonus.

As my friend said, it’s sort of like an episode of Iron Chef – you never know what you’re getting from week to week. The fun of it is coming up with something once you know the ingredients.

Last Trip to Ithaca

2009-05-26T00:00:00-04:00

In May of 2009, Mom and Dad flew to New Jersey, spent a night with me, and then we all drove up to Ithaca for a family weekend. It was billed as a “Pre-Mother’s Day” event – since the timing did not work out for Mom and Dad to visit on actual Mother’s Day. I was only there for a couple of days before driving home. Mom and Dad stayed for longer and flew back from Ithaca.

We had no hard and fast plans for what to do while we were there. Sis and had come up with plenty of options, but we kept it pretty open, since you never know what you’re going to be in the mood for.

Our big trip was driving to Watkins Glen, which is a town at the base of the largest of the Finger Lakes. There is a beautiful gorge there. Unfortunately, we were still on the heels of winter, so some of the paths were closed. Still, we were able to tour much of the gorge and take some nice family shots.

This trip marked a turning point in my relationship with Lorenz. Although he was typically totally nonplussed to see me, we got along great. Sis had given me the suggestion that I buy a Star Wars sticker book, since he talks about watching Star Wars with Uncle Keith. (It turns out he watched it with Uncle David, but I’m happy to take the credit.) When I had gone to Barnes & Noble to get sticker books, I had no idea there were so many. I got a little too excited for an adult when I saw that they had Fantastic Four sticker books. I decided to stay with the original plan and get Star Wars (though I also threw in a bugs sticker book).

The book was a big hit and we played with the stickers over dinner. When food arrived, Sis told him to put the stickers away and Lorenz said no. I told him we would do two more stickers and then it was time to eat. It worked like a charm. No fuss at all when it was time to put the book away.

When we were at the gorge, he found a large stick and was using it like a gun, imaginarily shooting things. Sis hates any talk of guns and was trying to squelch such behavior. Since I needed to reinforce my status as “Bad Uncle” I encouraged Lorenz to shoot everything – “There’s Mommy! Shoot Mommy!” Mark put a positive spin on it saying that Lorenz sometimes says that the gun shoots a cleaning spray. So we then switched to saying “Lorenz! That’s dirty!” and he would shoot it clean.

I know. Go figure.

We tried to get a shot of him shooting a big sign in the gorge that said “Lover’s Lane”, but the chain link fence ruined the shot. Bummer.

After the gorge we went for lunch. Mom and I walked Lorenz along the water, which he enjoyed. And then we all went for ice cream. It was a beautiful spring day and a very “upstate NY” time.

The next day was fairly uneventful. We went to the mall for reasons I can no longer remember. Then we went to the Farmer’s Market. It was a pale comparison to the last time I had been there – which was in the fall. A lot of the booths were empty since there were no harvests yet. I was hoping to take a homemade pie home, but I left empty handed.

Nice weekend. I’m sad to think that it’s probably my last trip to Ithaca since Sis is leaving in a month.

First Night in Arusha

2009-05-25T00:00:00-04:00

After Kenya, we headed to Tanzania for one night in Arusha. The flight to Tanzania was fairly uneventful. On the flight, there was a small contingency of young frat-style guys with a ton of outdoor gear. They were clearly off to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. David and I christened them “Kilimanjarheads”. <!—break—:>

At the airport, we were met by Urassa – one of the drivers for our trip. We later learned that his real name is “Goodluck Urassa”. We figured that he went by the name of Urassa because he was tired of all the Americans being confused or making jokes about a name of Goodluck.

We drove about 45 minutes to Arusha. It was dark, so there was not much to see. We would periodically pass a small collection of houses with lights – usually with a bar or restaurant where the locals were congregated. We didn’t see many cars on the road, but we saw lots of people walking or riding bicycles. Since there were no street lights and very few houses, it was pitch black out. I suppose people had to hug the road to make sure they didn’t get lost. I kept thinking that we were so far away from anything, that anyone walking would take hours to get anywhere.

We arrived at our destination, the Serena Mountain Village Lodge. Upon stepping onto the property, there was someone greeting us with warm, wet towels. That seemed nice at the time – later I would realize just how nice it is to be greeted with a wet towel while traveling through East Africa.

We checked into our bungalow and then headed to dinner. We made all sorts of conjectures about who in the dining area was going to be on our safari. There was a very poorly behaved Russian family that had been on the flight with us – arguing with every service person they ran into. They were thankfully not on our safari. I don’t remember seeing anyone in the dining room that night that was on our safari.

After breakfast, we met in front of the lodge as a group. We had the typical introductions and stilted conversations with people you don’t know but will soon be spending every waking moment together. We met our group leader: Sebastian Chuwa. Everyone met the driver that we had last night: Urassa. And we met our third driver: Mustafa Mollel.

Everyone made one final trip to their bungalows, and we were off on safari. Our first day was going to be spent driving through Lake Manyara

One Day in Kenya

2009-05-17T00:00:00-04:00

We had a few very circuitous flights in Africa (to say the least). One of them was getting to Tanzania. We had to find flights that were cheap, get us to Arusha, and would get us miles. So to get us to Arusha, we flew overnight to London Heathrow, spent a few hours, then took a flight to Nairobi, Kenya. We spent two nights in Kenya – though we arrived so late and left so early in the morning that it felt like we were barely there. Also, we were so jet-lagged that we didn’t really have much functional time.

Still, we got a realtively early start in the morning and got a tour guide to drive us around. He drove us to the Nairobi National Museum, which was a great introduction. Inside, a licensed guide took us around. One of the highlights was a very well-preserved woolly mammoth fossil.

Our next stop was to a giraffe sancutary where you can get close enough to the giraffes to feed them. It turns out, that a couple of the giraffes are shameless beggars and will do anything for food. David got a fair amount of giraffe slobber on him while he was posing for a photo.

While we were having coffee, we talked with a Canadian that had just finished going on safari. She couldn’t stop saying wonderful things about her trip. David and I were still wondering exactly what the trip was going to be like. It’s not something you can really imagine until you’ve done it. And I suppose that each trip varies greatly depending on specifically where you go and with whom.

On the way back to the hotel, we got stuck in the famous Nairobi traffic. We passed by some shanty towns (which are called townships in Africa). It’s hard to capture how sprawlingly large the townships can be with a photo. We started getting a taste of the crazy culture clashes in Africa. We were driving on a major highway and right along the side, people were herding cattle. And just past that, there were people in business suits walking to work. When we were completely stopped in traffic, there men selling all sorts of items: fans, stickers of animals, medical supplies, etc.

On the way out of Kenya I was expecting a real headache at the airport. It was just the opposite. Everyone was as nice as could be and really quite efficient on getting us ot the gate. The only drawback is that we had quite a wait for our flight because we got there so much ahead of schedule.

We flew from Kenya and on to Tanziania to start the safari.

A Month in Africa

2009-05-16T00:00:00-04:00

Did David and I really go to Africa? Were we really gone for 3.5 weeks? It all feels like an ethereal dream at this point.

This first time that I remember seriously thinking about what Africa may be like was at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I was watching “Road to Mecca” by Athol Fugard. Two women were talking about South Africa and the landscape that one woman had traveled to visit the other. She referred to the land as “God’s Country”. I had heard that phrase many times before and I had always interprested it as meaning “a land so beautiful that it was loved by God.” In the play, they clarify what they mean by that phrase – a land that was untouched by humanity and incapable of being affected by humanity. As I’m writing about my impressions about a play that I saw over 20 years ago I realize that I could be completely mangling the play. I hope you understand my point anyway.

My other serious consideration of Africa was from reading “The Poisonwood Bible”. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the book (can’t remember why anymore). But it did leave me with an impression that Africa lumbers on with its own rules. It doen’t give you, a westerner or an individual, a second thought. I vividly remember the images of the missionaries trying to build American crops in the Congo. When they finally figure out how to work against the floods and the ants and grow crops, the African bees show no interesting in pollinating the strange new plants.

All of this is true. And if you don’t really understand what I’m talking about with my vague writing, I urge you to go to Africa. Follow an elephant on foot. Track a lion. Hang out with the Maasai. You’ll see what I’m talking about.

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Keith's First Acupuncture

2009-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

Today was my first acupuncture session. I had pulled my back out about a week and a half ago. I told myself in Africa that it was time to try acupuncture, but I hadn’t gotten around to it. So with my back out, I decided it was time to make an appointment and try it.

I had heard various stories of people going to acupuncture and the needles having a visceral and sudden effect on their body. Sometimes it was described as a jolt of electricity, sometimes it was described as a sudden withdraw of tension. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

I got a referral from my friend, Kevin, to see Jackie at Blue Lotus Healing. I tried finding a website for them to put on this post, but I can’t find one. Maybe someday I can put a few pages together for them – though I don’t think they really need the business.

Jackie had told me to set aside 2 hours for the first appointment. I think we used the whole time, but I was so zonked out at the end that I forgot to look at the time. When I got into the room, I got down to my underwear and got on the table. Jackie is very chatty and easy to talk with – which was good because I was a little nervous. She started by taking my pulse and checking for energy flow. She immediately zeroed into a stiff spot in my abdomen. She told me I had digestive issues (true), and that I was probably low on energy (also true – the past couple of years, despite diet and exercise, I have not had one of those “limitless energy” days that I used to have). So she put in a few needles. They went all over – abdomen, ankles, arms, hands, etc. I quickly lost track of where they were. It almost felt like I had little thread coming out of me, like a marionette’s strings, and someone was gently pulling on them. She put one into my arm that when in with a bit of a “woo” sensation. The first couple of minutes I thought I was going to mention that it hurt, but soon I had no real sensation of it at all.

I have to admit, I was kind of surprised that I didn’t really feel that much. I gently blissed out for a while. She came back in, took out the needles, and I got a brief back massage. I flipped over onto my stomach and she put needles in my back. I felt these needles even less than the ones on my front. When I was done, she asked me to do a simple stretch (a child’s pose – for you yoga folk), get dressed and meet her outside.

When I got off the table, I was really hoping that there wasn’t going to be any back pain whatsoever. But it was still there. There was less of it, but it was still there.

When I got outside, I was visibly out of it. People that had seen me before I went in started commenting about me as if I wasn’t in the room – “Look, his eyes are so open now! What a difference!” Jackie said that I was “acu-stoned”. For a while, I didn’t realize what they were talking about. But as I walked outside, I discovered I couldn’t make simple decisions. My perception of time was way off. I felt like I was high.

I went out to lunch with Jeff, feeling giddy the whole time. I found myself blatantly smiling at people, so much so that I would start making jokes with strangers. People were laughing with me. It was kinda crazy.
I got home and took things relatively easily. And I noticed as the afternoon went on, my back got better and better. I felt like I had all-of-a-sudden put my body on the fast track to healing. I’m still kind of marveling at the difference between this morning and now.

I watched the season finale of Lost and my emotions – while not out of control – were so clear and in the foreground. I choked up three times (at least) while watching Lost.

At the beginning of the session, Jackie had mentioned that about 3-4 visits would get my back to return to normal. At the end of the session, she said it would probably be only one more visit. But at this point, I don’t know why I wouldn’t want to go as much as possible.

Anti-Advice

2009-04-17T00:00:00-04:00

Tell me if this sounds familiar. A close friend or relative is complaining about an obstacle that they have in life: problems at work, spousal frustrations, backstabbing friends, etc. You listen attentively and politely. You offer productive and easy-to-follow advice. You friend looks at you like you have overstepped some boundaries. They either tell you that your advice wouldn’t work and launch into more complaining or they are downright offended that you offered unwelcome advice. And no one ever follows your advice. Ever.

Many years ago, I decided that most people aren’t really asking for advice, they are asking for you to sit there in rapt attention while they bitch. You fare better as a friend by occasionally muttering “That sucks” or – even better – “So what are you going to do?”

I have found the answer to giving advice. I call it “Anti-Advice” and I’ve had a lot of success with it. It goes along the same principle of homeopathic medicine. You don’t try to cure the problem, you intensify the symptoms so that the body naturally solves the problem.

Here’s an example: Your single friend is complaining about having gained weight recently and claims that it’s too hard to lose weight. Here are some responses:

Who wants to lose weight anyway? It’s a lot of work with little reward. Let’s go for ice cream.

So what if you’ve been gaining a lot of weight recently. It’s a great excuse to buy more clothes!

You look great. Would Kevin James be as popular if he were thin? You’re like the Kevin James of [insert person’s town or neighborhood].

The key to anti-advice is that you have to really go for it. You can’t get caught being disingenuous. Your voice can’t be dripping with sarcasm or it doesn’t work. Put a smile on your face and confirm their deepest anxieties.

I’ve found myself liberated from my don’t-say-anything approach to complaint sessions. I now politely listen to the complaints and search for the one thing they don’t want to hear. When it works well, the complainer is completely stymied. It also frees you from expecting some sort of positive outcome. In order to give anti-advice, you have to divest yourself of an expectation that things are going to change. In fact, you become an advocate of things never changing.

Here are some more examples:

Your boss at work is unable to make decisions and commit to a direction. You have to constantly remind your boss that the wrong decision could have gargantuan ramifications.

A friend finds themselves sexually attracted to their roommates new boyfriend/girlfriend. How about they try to orchestrate a three-way with the roommate and love interest?

A friend is procrastinating and obsessing about how much work they have to get done. Tell them to blow off work and go to the movies. If they refuse but continue to procrastinate, start reading favorable reviews of movies currently playing.

Most of the time, people react so strongly to anti-advice that the subject is dropped. They may actually take steps to fix the problem. Or they realize that you are not mentally balanced enough to be a source of any advice.

One point of warning: anti-advice doesn’t work on children or pets. The target person has to have some sort of super-ego in place for this to work.

I probably wouldn’t recommend trying it on the criminally insane either – but who am I to try to tell people what to do? After all, the population could stand to be thinned out a bit.

Family Trip to Hawaii

2009-04-16T00:00:00-04:00

I hadn’t been to Hawaii in about 10 years. The last time I was there, I was staying in an old coffee shack on the Rosenworld Compound. I have very fond memories of the trip. I did not have fond memories of the never-ending flights home and the resulting jet lag. So I hadn’t particularly rushed to go back.

My parents have been going for many years – never waiting more than two years to go there. And recently I believe they had been going every year. So it was no surprise that eventually they would want a family trip to Hawaii together. So David, myself, Sis, Lorenz, and my parents met in Kona on the Big Island for a week of Polynesian goodness.

On the way out there, David and I stayed a night in Honolulu. We couldn’t find reasonable flights through American that got us there in one day. It was probably a good idea to have a night in Honolulu. We would have been zombies if we tried to do the flight in one swoop. The airport was swamped with security when we got to Honolulu. I asked David with as much sarcasm as I could muster “Is the President in town or something?” It turns out that he kinda was. Barack Obama was president elect and was on his way out of Hawaii as we were coming in. There went my plans of getting a photo of our President’s abs on the beach to sell to tabloids.

For some reason, we got to the Honolulu airport very early the morning. It turns out I don’t like the Honolulu airport. It was full or extremely obese Americans with their ultra-slutty teenage daughters and their mind-numbingly stupid teenage sons. They embodied the image of American terror that strikes the hearts of foreigners everywhere.

When we got to Kona, I was in a significantly better mood. David and I got ourselves to the time share and were quite surprised at how nice the digs were. Our unit felt palatial. The kitchen was well stocked with utensils and equipment, though David didn’t look any further than the coffee machine.

I picked up Mom & Dad at the airport later that day. For dinner, we went up to the Rosenworld compound and picked up Sis and Lorenz. I hadn’t been there since they built the new house. I don’t even think they call it the new house anymore. It was beautiful. I decided that the next time I come to Hawaii, I’m doing it without family or David and I’m staying at the compound for some peace and quiet. They have every type of fruit on their plantation: macadamia nuts, pineapples, avocados, passion fruit, guava, lemons, grapefruit, papayas, and more. Andy had made a wonderful guava cake with guava mousse. I’m still dreaming about it.

Looking back on it, I can’t remember the exact order of everything we did on the trip. David, Sis, Lorenz and I took a day to go to the volcano. It rained almost the entire day. I thought Lorenz would be more entranced with the idea of lava tubes and volcanos, but he was in his own world the whole time. We took him to the 15 minute movie they show about volcanos. Once he realized it was a documentary, he turned to Sis and said “This isn’t a real movie.” Apparently, he had just discovered the soul-crushing reality of documentaries. And when they showed images of volcanoes spewing and gurgling red molten lava, he just said “Yucky”.

On the way home we went to a beach to visit giant turtles. And they were quite big. Lorenz started being a pill, then decided he didn’t want to wear pants, and then decided he wanted to sit on the sand. David and Sis made him take a mini-shower before getting back in the car. I took a picture should I need to blackmail Lorenz at some future point. However, I have spared his dignity by not posting it online.

I can’t remember what we need the next day, but I didn’t take any photos. I think Sis, Dad, Benji and I went snorkeling. Which was nice but a little crowded.

David charted a course for the next day. We were going to visit a small little village on the way up the mountain and then visit a coffee plantation. The village was mostly closed and kind of a bust. Then we couldn’t find the coffee plantation. It turns out that GPS is not so accurate in Hawaii – as we would repeatedly learn throughout the trip. Just after we had given up on finding the coffee plantation, we decided to go back just ONE MORE TIME, and we found it. They had pigs and geese and cats, so Lorenz was in heaven. They had coffee, so David was in heaven. We bought several bags, and it really is the best coffee I’ve ever had.

After that we took a trip back down to the beach, with a few wrong turns along the way. We found a place where there is some beach and then a little walk to visit Petraglyphs. On the way home, we stopped in downtown Kona for some shaved ice and a walk along the beach. Very beautiful.

The next day was a big event. We took a trip up and over the middle of the island on Saddle Road. The goal was to go to Hilo and see some of the big waterfalls. Benji had said that Hilo is his favorite city in Hawaii because it’s like the old Hawaii used to be before it was discovered by all the tourists. It rains too much to ever be a popular tourist destination. We totally lucked out. It was sunny and clear the whole time we were there.

We saw many waterfalls. We even found the cheap, fast food place that Mom and Dad were looking for. There some story about it being owned by a relative of someone that they work with. I don’t remember the whole story. The food was authentically Hawaiian.

Mom & Dad started showing signs of exhaustion near the end of this trip. For the last waterfall (which was the really big one) they stayed near the car. Since the Saddle Road trip was not a good ride for those that get car-sick, we took a trip around the north of the island to get home.

David and I went home the next morning. I didn’t get as much time frolicking in the water at the beach as I was hoping, but that’s how it goes. Next time, I’m sure…

Chocolate Post-Mortem

2009-04-14T00:00:00-04:00

This was my third year making holiday-time chocolates for friends, family, and co-workers. This year Mom helped me hit a record of 1080 individual pieces of chocolate. Every year I learn a lot about the process and I’m convinced I’ll remember it all the following year. And every year I start the process with the same set of questions and frustrations. So this year I’m writing down everything I learned over the process for notes to next year.

To start off, here are the finished chocolates:

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The flavors are:

American – Peanut butter in milk chocolate
German – Cherry and almond cream in dark chocolate
Turkish – Pistachio and spices in dark chocolate
Brazil – Passion fruit & guava fondant in white chocolate
Colombian – Orange and coffee in white chocolate
English – Milk chocolate caramel in dark chocolate
Mexican – Cinnamon & pepper milk chocolate in dark chocolate
Indian – Masala chocolate in milk chocolate

The good news is that all the flavors were great. I usually change the flavors around a bit every year, but think I’ve found my permanent list. I wouldn’t mind finding another flavor for Asia, but I don’t know who I would bump from the current list.

Now on to lessons learned:

With my new chocolate temperer, I had to determine the temperatures myself. The milk chocolate was too runny and some of the batches were slightly out of temper by the end. It went into the molds a little too thin. Next year, my final temperature for milk chocolate should be a bit cooler than what the package recommended. And let it dry in the molds a bit more than last year.
In contrast to the milk chocolate, the dark chocolate was very thick when it went into the molds. This led to the German chocolates being “the disaster batch”. On the dark chocolate, keep the resting temperature of the chocolate a little on the high side and get it into the molds quickly. And when you dump the partially melted chocolate out of the molds, you have to really bang the dark chocolate out.
For the German batch, the idea of chopping up sour cherries and putting them in the chocolates was a big headache and didn’t work. In the future, put the cherries directly into the cream and pipe it in.
The big enemy for molded chocolates is air bubbles. One option is to paint the inside of molds first, before pouring the chocolate in. That’s very time-consuming. I was able to keep the air bubbles to a minimum if I keep the mold tilted while I pour the chocolate. And pour at the top of the mold so that the chocolate drips down into the crevices. Give everything a very vigorous shake to work bubbles to the top. Pour more chocolate if necessary. Then wipe it all clean with an offset spatula. That should take care of air bubbles. Don’t be afraid to bang the mold of chocolates.
For the fondants, use the recipes on my spreadsheet. Don’t look for a different recipe. The passion fruit didn’t set up at first and took a lot of work to come together.
For fillings that are dependent on white chocolate, melt a bunch of white chocolate first, then add flavoring until you get the right consistency. Don’t add melted chocolate to flavoring. It takes forever to know if you have the right consistency.

That’s all I can remember. Let’s hope that this all makes sense in December when I do it again.

Westminster Dog Show 2009

2009-02-16T00:00:00-05:00

A couple of weekends ago, Evan & Renee (Gogo & Oz’s breeders) came to New York City for a visit. They had two of their dogs competing in the Westminster Dog Show. I was able to tag along for the Canaan Dog competition.

For those of you that have only been exposed to dog shows via the movie “Best in Show”, in some ways I think the movie’s caricatures pale in comparison to real life. There were some real characters backstage with their dogs. And the movie did not accurately depict the look of sheer boredom that the dogs had on their face as they were being prepared for the ring. I felt most sorry for the poodles, who all had a look on their face of “Not this again”.

I took some photos backstage, then when the Canaan Dogs were ready to compete, I tried taking shots of the action in the ring. I learned a couple of things about dog shows. First of all, the dogs are only looked at for a minute or two, so if the dog doesn’t feel like showing themselves off for a judge at that exact minute, you’re done. Secondly, to see why the judges are picking certain dogs, you have to be right up close to them. There’s no way you can tell from a TV camera. Yes, some of the winners that I saw definitely had “star quality” – but I don’t think it’s the sort of thing I would have noticed from TV. (Although, the one photo in my set that I thought was really beautiful was of the dog that ended up winning the Canaan Dog competition)

A few notes:

It was really dark in the auditorium for photography. I was nowhere near close enough for the flash to make any difference. I opted for a long shutter speed and waiting for the subjects to be still. That wasn’t such a smart idea. No one wanted to sit still for me. Someday I’ll be able to afford a lens with a nice big aperture so I can get away with more low-light shots, but not this year.

Obama & Spider-Man

2009-01-14T00:00:00-05:00

Marvel comics has been doign a great job of creating marketing events over the past year or so – which is good because they haven’t focused on creating great comic books. This week, on the cover of “The Amazing Spider-Man”, is Barack Obama. For some reason, this is a really big deal. Apparently there’s a mini-story in the book involving Spider-Man and Obama. I’m happy for the author, who I think has been one of the more under-rated comic book authors in the past few years. I’m doing him a service by not reading his comics anymore, because whenever I start reading them, they get canceled. Plus, I’m not that big of a Spider-Man fan.

Anyway, comic book stores have been sold out for over a week and it just got released today. There are all sorts of notices at comic book stores to pre-order and that you are limited to one copy per customer. Maybe someday I’ll grumble when I see collector’s editions of this issue going for thousands of dollars. But for now, I don’t really care.

I keep digressing. This morning I went to my local comic book store. They had only been open an hour and they had already posted a sign on their front door that they were sold out of the Obama issue. And what’s even more impressive, is that someone had already put graffiti on the sign.

I’ll let the photo speak for itself.

New York cracks me up.

Siena Tart

2009-01-12T00:00:00-05:00

Siena is a charming medieval city just south of Florence that is best known for its famous horse race, called the Palio, in which riders wearing the bright, traditional colors and insignia of each of the city’s time-honored neighborhoods vie for first place in a thunderous free-for-all around the beautiful piazza. It is a place that takes tradition seriously, in food as well as horse races, which is evident in its dedication to panforte. Every store in the city seems to have its own “best” version of this honey-based cross between a fruitcake and a candy, with a chewy, dense, caramel-like texture packed with almonds and hazelnuts, spices, and candied citrus peels. While in Siena, I tasted many versions-all for research purposes, you understand-and my favorites were those that contained the cocoa, which tempers the sweetness and adds complexity to the flavor. I couldn’t help thinking that panforte would be even better packed with those addictive dried sour cherries from Michigan that I adore. This tart is very reminiscent in flavor to a scuro panforte, although it is not the classic cake-like confection. Instead, a crisp tart shell is filled with almonds (both sliced and whole for a contrast of textures) and dried sour cherries coated with just enough honey, spices, and citrus zest to sweeten them. The tart is a gorgeous, rustic sight, the sensuous curves of the nuts and cherries a glistening medley of browns. I serve it during the winter months, when its spicy flavors and chewy crunchiness are most appreciated.

Taken from Cindy Mushet’s Desserts: Mediterranean Flavors, California Style

YIELD: serves 8 to 10

EQUIPMENT AND ADVANCE PREPARATION:
1 recipe Shortcrust Dough to fill a 9-or 9 1/2 inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom, partially baked and cooled

FOR THE FILLING
1 1/2 cups (4 1/2 ounces) sliced almonds
3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces) whole natural almonds
3/4 Cup (3 1/2 ounces) dried sour cherries
4 tablespoons (3/4 ounce) powdered sugar
2 teaspoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
Pinch of ground white pepper
1/2 cup (6 ounces) honey, preferably orange blossom or wildflower
1 tablespoon finely minced orange zest, about 1 large orange
1 teaspoon finely minced lemon zest

FOR SERVING
Powdered sugar
Honeyed Mascarpone

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Position an oven rack in the center of the oven.

To make the filling, place the sliced almonds, whole almonds, and cherries in a medium mixing bowl. Sift the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and spices over them and stir with a rubber spatula until they are evenly coated. Place the honey, orange zest, and lemon zest in a small saucepan and cook over low heat just until the honey is hot to the touch and very liquid – do not let it boil. Remove from the heat and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes, so that the honey is flavored with the citrus zests. Then pour the honey over the nuts and cherries, scraping every bit out of the pan with the rubber spatula. Stir until everything is evenly coated with the honey. At first, it will seem that there is not enough honey, but continue to stir gently (trying not to break the sliced almonds) and eventually the nuts will be thoroughly coated. Be sure to scrape up from the bottom of the bowl as you stir, as pockets of dry cocoa powder and spices tend to form there.

Scrape the filling into the prebaked tart shell and use the spatula or your hands to pat it into an even layer. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a deep golden brown. Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool completely.

To unmold, when cool, center the tart pan on top of a large can (1 use a large can of tomatoes) so that it balances midair as the rim of the tart pan falls to the counter. Leave the bottom of the pan under the tart for support, or slide the tart onto a serving plate by running a large spatula between the crust and the pan, using it to guide the tart onto the plate.

SERVING AND STORAGE NOTES: If desired, dust the surface of the tart with a bit of powdered sugar. Serve at room temperature with a spoonful of honeyed mascarpone. Because the filling’s rather sticky, I find it easiest to cut this tart with a thin, sharp knife that has been lightly coated with a flavorless vegetable oil. Store, covered loosely with foil, at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Shortcrust Dough

2009-01-12T00:00:00-05:00

This dough has a higher butter and sugar content than a classic flaky dough, resulting in a sweet, crisp, yet crumbly tart shell reminiscent of a butter cookie (known as pâte sablée in France or pasta frolla in Italy).

Taken from Cindy Mushet’s Desserts: Mediterranean Flavors, California Style

Yields: enough dough to line a tart pan up to 10 inches in diameter

EQUIPMENT AND ADVANCE PREPARATION:
One 9-or 9 1/2-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom
A piece of heavy-duty foil and enough pie weights to fill the tart shell to the top for prebaking
Rice and/or dried beans may be used instead of metal pie weights, but note that rice and beans used in this manner are no longer suitable for eating (though they may be used over and over again to prebake tart shells).

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/4 cups (6 1/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (3/4 ounces) sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (4 ounces) cold (not frozen) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 large egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 to 3 teaspoons water (as needed)

To mix using a mixer: Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low for 1 minute to blend the ingredients. Add the butter pieces and mix on medium speed just until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, about 3 to 4 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together the yolks, vanilla, and 1 teaspoon of water. Add this to the dry ingredients and blend just until the dough begins to form large clumps. Test the dough by squeezing several clumps in your hand-they should hold together. If not, add the remaining water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the dough coheres. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead it gently 2 or 3 times, just to finish bringing it together. Shape the dough into a round disc about 3/4 inch thick and 5 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes before proceeding.

To mix using a food processor: Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse 5 times to blend the ingredients.

Add the cold butter pieces and pulse 6 to 8 times, just until the butter is the size of large peas. In a separate bowl, whisk together the yolks, vanilla, and 1 teaspoon of water. Add this to the bowl of the processor, then process just until the dough begins to form small clumps-do not let it form a ball. Test the dough by squeezing a handful of clumps-they should hold together. If not, add the remaining water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the dough coheres. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead it gently 2 or 3 times, just to finish bringing it together. Shape it into a round disc about 3/4 inch thick and 5 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes before proceeding.

To mix by hand: Place the flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl and blend well with a whisk. Add the cold butter pieces and toss until they are lightly coated with the flour. Use your fingertips, 2 knives, or a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. If at any time during this process the butter softens and becomes warm, place the bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes before continuing. In a separate bowl, whisk together the yolks, vanilla, and 2 teaspoons of water. Add this to the dry ingredients and toss between your fingertips 20 to 30 times to evenly distribute the moisture. The dough will still look very crumbly, but if the mixture is squeezed in your hand, it should hold together. If not, add the remaining teaspoon of water and toss to blend. Turn the dough out of the bowl onto your work surface and knead it gently 5 or 6 times, just to finish bringing it together. Shape it into a round disc about 3/4 inch thick and 5 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes before proceeding.

TO LINE THE TART PAN
To roll out the dough: It is easiest to roll this dough when it is at cool room temperature. This means that if it has been refrigerated for longer than 30 minutes, let it sit on the counter for 10 to 15 minutes before rolling it out (if it is too cold, the dough will crack as you attempt to roll it).

Place the disc of dough between two 12 inch pieces of plastic wrap. Roll the dough into an 11-inch round as shown, rotating it clockwise slightly after each roll to create an even round. Remember to roll from the center outward and to lift the rolling pin at the edge rather than smashing the edge down. As you roll, the plastic wrap will wrinkle and resist. When this happens, peel it off and replace it smoothly, then flip the dough over and repeat with the plastic on the other side before you continue rolling. You may need to do this several times during the rolling process. (Experienced pastry makers may wish to roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface, turning the dough as you roll and dusting the work surface and dough with extra flour as needed to keep it from sticking. Before transferring the dough to the tart pan, brush any excess flour from the surface, then flip it over and brush the flour from the bottom as well. Transfer the dough to the tart pan by rolling it around your rolling pin, then unrolling it into the pan.)

Transfer the dough to the tart pan by removing the top piece of plastic wrap. Leave the bottom piece on to hold the dough together while you lift it and flip it over into the tart pan (remaining plastic side should be up), centering it as best you can as shown. Remove the top layer of plastic wrap and press the dough into the corners of the pan using your fingertips. Patch any tears by simply pressing the dough together, then build the edge of the tart slightly above the rim of the pan by reinforcing each flute. To do this, press the index finger of one hand against the dough inside the curve of each flute to push the dough upward while at the same time pressing the dough from the outside of each flute with the thumb and index finger of your other hand in a pinching position. The dough should rise about 1/4 inch above the rim of the pan all the way around. Place the tart pan, uncovered, in the refrigerator for 1 hour or in the freezer for 30 minutes.

TO BAKE THE TART SHELL
To prebake the tart shell: Preheat the oven to 375°F. Position an oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Line the chilled tart shell with heavy-duty foil, pressing the foil firmly into the corners of the pan. Fill the pan with metal pie weights, dried beans, or rice. The center layer of weights may be thinner, but be sure to push the weights all the way up the sides of the pan to reduce shrinkage and to ensure the edges are straight.

To partially bake the shell: Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges and center are set and no longer stick to the foil when you try to remove it. Remove the foil and weights and return the pan to the oven for another 8 to 12 minutes, or until the crust is a pale tan color. Place on a rack to cool completely before filling the shell.

To fully bake the shell: Bake for about 20 to 22 minutes, or until the edges and center are set and no longer stick to the foil when you try to remove it. Remove the foil and weights and return the pan to the oven for another 8 to 12 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown all over. Place on a rack to cool completely before filling the shell.

New Year Resolutions

2009-01-04T00:00:00-05:00

It’s time for New Year’s Resolutions! I usually don’t do New Year’s resolutions – I do vacation resolutions. It’s on a trip that my head clears and I have some time to think about what I’d like to change in my life. This year, though, for some reason, I have a ton of New Year’s resolutions. And I have to admit, I’m pretty excited by them.

1. Be narcissistic.
I originally twittered this as a joke. But I followed it for a couple of weeks, and I realized how much I needle myself with negative comments and discredited myself. I need a regular, healthy dose of self-love. Like an internal cheerleader. In theory, if I follow this one to its fullest, I can forget all other resolutions.

2. Cook more dinners at home
David specifically requested this one. I made a great Mexican vegetarian dinner and it was like the old days when I would have a nice home-cooked meal most nights. I don’t know how I got so far off the path of home-cooked meals.

I think one of the hardest things for me is coming up with ideas for dinner, and then getting the shopping done in time. So I’ve developed a plan of coming up with a rotating one-month menu. On Friday night, I’ll put together the grocery list for next week’s food. That way, I don’t have to think about what the individual dinners are – I just follow the monthly plan. The plan can always change – but it helps if there’s a plan to start with. That also helps me make sure I’m not repeating foods too frequently.

3. Spend some time at The Tibet House
I really think group meditation could be a really good thing. And it’s something to get me out of the house. I’ve talked about doing this for years – and I actually went there with my friend Sara once. The place is beautiful and the people were as friendly as could be. I think a regular dose of group meditation is the sort of thing that would help me stick with all of the other resolutions. And help me not be so crabby.

4. Do photo shoots around the city
Specifically: start reading Time Out New York for odd things around the city, go to the events, and take photos. The Brooklyn Cop had told me a story about a Santa Claus Pub Crawl where there were hundreds of people dressed in Santa costumes crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. Why was I not there taking pictures? I have no idea where any of this would lead, but it would be fun and make me a better photographer. And if I could sell some of the photos someday, that would be great.

5. Write at least one play – preferably two.
The candidates are “Gay Men Behaving Badly” and “Randy & Sheila’s Guide to Extramarital Relationships”.

6. Swim at least once a week
No explanation necessary here. I love swimming. It’s good exercise. I have time for it. It’s a no-brainer.

7. Get over my fear of social swing dancing
It’s time to just bite the bullet and start going to Tuesday night dance practice and Frim Fram on Thursday nights. No ifs ands or buts. Once again, it’s good exercise, it’s fun. No brainer.

8. Take Tai Chi lessons
We’re starting to get into the dregs of resolutions. I doubt this one will happen – but it’s definitely something I’d like to do.

Strangely, I have no tech aspirations.

There’s a lot more there than I thought. It’s all do-able – and if I were to accomplish all of that, I would be the happiest boy in the world.

Christmas in Ithaca

2009-01-02T00:00:00-05:00

This year, Sis and I are both in New York, so we got to spend Christmas together. She came down for Thanksgiving, so we decided it would be appropriate if we came up for Christmas.

I think this was Lorenz’s first Christmas that he had some awareness of what it was and that he was getting presents. I thought for sure that he would not be able to wait opening his presents, but Sis explained several times to him the schedule that presents are opened after breakfast on Christmas morning, and he was cool with it. In fact, he didn’t really understand that he was getting a bunch of stuff until he was about half way through the present unwrapping.

I had a hard time picking out a gift. Sis had various criteria. She would prefer a gift that was nurturing, designed to spark the intellect, and preferably had animals – and more specifically whales. I ignored all that and got him three Playmobil dinosaur sets. I have to admit – they were super cool. There was one set with a car and people, and the car had a big cage on wheels that you could tow behind that had a velociraptor in it. Super neat. And another set had a Triceratops, a baby triceratops, and they all lived in a volcano that you could explode with a button. Oh my god. I get excited every time I think about it.

Lorenz took a bit to get really excited about it. That was partly due to the fact that there was a lot of assembly involved. David tried to act like he was put out by doing so much assembly, but the truth is that as soon as he saw all the little pieces and an instruction book, he seized them all and made himself a little workstation – all the while complaining about how much work it was.

After present time, we got in the car to go see a movie. We drove about 30 minutes out of town to see Bolt, but it turns out the web had lied and that the theater was not open and if it was open on Christmas, Bolt wasn’t playing. I realized that we had worked so hard to get Lorenz excited about the movie in order to leave his new toys behind, that we had another crushing disappointment on our hands. So we went back to Ithaca and saw “The Tale of Desperaux”, which he liked. He’s all business when he watches movies and is extremely well behaved. They had a photo booth in the movie theater which we used for great hilarity.

For dinner that evening, we made a delicious Mexican dinner – Sopa Azteca and Mushroom/Spinach Enchiladas. It was so good, I made a variation a week later when David and I were back in New York. For dessert, I had made a pumpkin tart. It was good, but a little too sweet and dense. I’ll have to look for a recipe that lightens everything up.

The next morning, I was anxious to take some shots of the great outdoors. We had seen some great views of frozen waterfalls on the way up. So we all went to Buttermilk Falls and Ithaca Falls. The former was a bit of disappointment because instead of looking grandiose it just looked dirty. I think the best time for shots of the waterfalls is during the spring when all the snow from winter is melting.

This year actually had put me back in the Christmas spirit. I have been a real scrooge in recent years. I’m just not that into Christmas. But the winter drive to upstate New York, hanging out with Sis in her collegiate apartment, and seeing Christmas through the eyes of a 3-year-old renewed my faith in the holiday.

The Last(?) Big Renovation

2008-12-21T00:00:00-05:00

One of the last big renovations was the Bollywood Room and my office. As I’m sitting here writing this, it’s hard to believe that this room sat full of junk for years. It’s hard to remember that the carpet was ripped up by the door from Gogo trying to escape. It feels like my own personal cave. I never want to leave.

So, after give tours of the house and listening to everyone rave about the X-Men Bathroom, David decided to trust me on my plan for a Bollywood Room. Not because he liked the idea, but because he would do anything to stop people gushing about the X-Men Bathroom. I think he realized that the Bollywood Room had the potential to be the coolest room in the house.

It’s close…but there’s no beating the X-Men Bathroom. No Way.

The House Tour

2008-12-21T00:00:00-05:00

If you want a virtual tour of the house, this is the place to start.

When we bought it, it was the Bowery Mission Women’s Home. Even though it’s been privately owned for 8 years now, we still occasionally get visitors to the house hoping that it’s still a mission home. Sad, I know.

You can start with the pictures of what the house looked like before we got it, and then move on to the finished product. And one of these days, I’ll take new photos of what it looks like now.

The First Round of Renovations

2008-12-21T00:00:00-05:00

The first renovation included the kitchen (since the only kitchen is in Benji’s unit), the living room, and one of the bathrooms.

Luckily, my sister planned to get married in our house that summer. She would often stop by, talk to the workers, and remind them that she was getting married there. It helped keep the project on track. We didn’t have counter tops in time for the wedding, but Dad went down to the local lumber yard (yes, NYC has lumber yards) and had some plywood cut to fit and we placed table cloths over it. All in all, we were shockingly ready for the wedding.

During this renovation, our only kitchen was on the top floor. We had a hot plate, a microwave, and a mini-fridge on the top floor. And we only had one bathroom which we shared with the construction crew. Looking back on it, I don’t know how we managed during this phase of construction. I had taken the attitude that it might never end and we could live like this for our entire lives. I was then pleasantly surprised when it was all done.

Photographic Lighting: Final Class

2008-12-10T00:00:00-05:00

We had our final photography lighting class. The assignment was quite open ended:

EVOKE AN EMOTION

It is now time to take all that you have learned up to this point and put it together into strong evocative images. Images that show you can control the mood and voice in your lighting technique.

No pressure.

I went through many iterations of ideas for images. I had to immediately rule out spontaneous photos since that’s not really about lighting. I had to think of images that were pre-meditated and planned. I had a few ideas here and there, but nothing that stuck. I went to see Slumdog Millionaire and fell totally in love with it. Every single shot was breathtaking and felt quite “real”. However, it left me even more frozen as what to do.

In the end, I tried to recreate an idea I had while trying to fall asleep in Amsterdam. I thought of someone being visited by hypnagogic images of figures while unable to fall asleep.

I invited some friends over for dinner and the photo shoot, rented some lights, bought some animal masks, and we had a good time. I honestly could not tell if the photos were interesting or weird in a sort of bad-undergraduate way. In the end I was quite happy with them. They certainly stood out as different, which counts for a lot, I think. And the teacher really liked them. So Mission Accomplished.

For the rest of the class, we focused on taking shots of products – meaning wine, fruit, and cheese.

Also in the set are some photos I had taken in the previous class.

Gogo at Christmas

2008-12-10T00:00:00-05:00

I had been looking for this photo to show Mom while she was in town and I didn’t have it handy. But now here it is: Gogo at Christmas. This was done a few years ago when David and I went to St John and left Gogo at a kennel. They dressed her up in a Christmas collar and somehow convinced her to smile for the camera. Though I don’t approve of dressing up dogs for photos, this will go down as one of my favorite Gogo photos.

[flickr-photo:id=3098559841,a=center]

Rosh Hanikra

2008-11-25T00:00:00-05:00

Our final stop on our day tour is a locale at the very northern tip of Israel: the [w:Rosh HaNikra grottoes]. You take a small tram down the side of a cliff to get to the grottoes. The cliffs are a beautiful white chalk and the Mediterranean feeds into the grottoes, making for great tourist photos.

Rosh Hanikra was the site where Israeli and Lebanese officials negotiated and concluded an armistice in 1949 which ended the Lebanese-Israeli component of the 1948 War of Israeli Independence.

You’re essentially at the border of Lebanon. So I took a photo.

Acre

2008-11-25T00:00:00-05:00

The main event of our tour was [w:Acre, Israel]. It’s an ancient city several layers deep. Like many of the sites in Israel, it’s had many different rules at different times: Greeks & Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans, etc. The British used it as a prison for a while. There are several layers to the city, meaning that underneath the main city, they discovered a temple. And underneath that temple that discovered an older temple. They are still digging and finding more levels underneath what they’ve already found.

Some of the pictures include a view of Knight’s Hall. There’s evidence that the French ruled during the building of it because there’s a fleur-de-lis engraved into a column.

Off of the Knight’s Hall is a small passage that was originally built for royalty to escape the fortress. The passage gets steadily smaller until it empties out into the graveyard. It all felt very “Da Vinci Code”.

After touring the ruins, we stopped into a shop that sold copper and silver plates. The designs were quite impressive – better than the usual gift shop fare. They didn’t want me taking photos, though.

We passed by a mosque on the way out, but we didn’t go in.

Photographic Lighting: Week 7

2008-11-14T00:00:00-05:00

This week, our assignment for class was to photograph food. He gave us the general guideline of using natural light in the background and a reflector in the front to capture the light. I think I did pretty well at getting the subject to really pop with the reflector. I took some shots without the reflector for comparison and they came out a little too contrast-y – and not in a good way. The reflector gave the food a nice glow to it.

Martha Stewart Magazine, here I come.

Photographic Lighting: Week 6

2008-11-13T00:00:00-05:00

I’m a bit behind on my posts about photography class. Week 6 was all about black and white photography. I was hoping to bring in some male nudes, but all of my friends were shockingly prudish! I’m trying to figure out if that’s because in the age of the internet, people just don’t want someone to take nude photos of them. Or perhaps none of my friends trust me. Or perhaps the younger generation just isn’t as comfortable stripping for art. Hmmm…

So instead I went to [w:Abingdon Square] in New York City. People had donated several carved pumpkins to the square for Halloween. They made great subjects.

I also finally learned to use my new on-camera flash successfully. It’s wireless, so I was using one hand to hold and angle the flash. I exposed the camera without the flash first, to get a very underexposed shot of the background, then used the flash to make the pumpkin take the focus. I think the effect worked.

Since I was shooting RAW, I converted the images to black and white using Aperture. They have a tool called “Monochrome Mixer” that helps you convert images to black and white. You can assign each RGB value a different percentage of the total black and white. So, for instance, if you want the green values to be more dominant, you would mix the image to weigh the green values more heavily in the black and white image. This allowed me to make sure the pumpkins stood out more, by mixing the image for an “orange” filter.

The Baha'i Temple Gardens

2008-11-08T00:00:00-05:00

Our second stop on my organized tour was to the [w:Baha’i] Temple Gardens in Haifa. I thought we were going to have more time in Haifa – which is considered by many to the most beautiful city in Israel. We only had about twenty minutes, which was disappointing. They droves us to the top of the gardens, let us out to take pictures, then we drove off to the next stop. Bummer – but at least I was able to see some of the gardens.

One of the major tenets of the Baha’i Faith is on making things that are beautiful. The gardens are meticulous and well manicured. You are only allowed in the gardens if you are a member of the faith. Hence, all of these shots are taken from roughly the same – at the top overlooking the wall of the garden.

Someday, I hope to see more of the garden.

Caesarea

2008-11-04T00:00:00-05:00

I had the fortune of going to [w:Caesarea] two days in a row. The first visit was with David and our friend, Idit. She had decided to take us there to see some new films and exhibits that had been installed there and for lunch. She had been married at Caesarea, so it holds a special place in her heart.

We saw some of the new exhibits and films about the area. They gave an excellent slice of history about the area and also gave you a sense of how huge the original location must have been. We were commenting after the exhibits how many people had come through and laid claim to the area over the past few thousand years. What’s next or Caesarea? Does it stay in Jewish hands from now until forever? Will they have to update the films someday to talk about how the Martians landed there and took it for themselves? It’s definitely a location that inspires to think about the passage of time in a grand scale.

Idit treated us to a wonderful lunch on the water, watching fishermen out on the ancient remains of the rampart walls.

The next day, I took a tour from the hotel that went up the western coast of Israel. Our first stop was Caesarea, but we saw a different side. We visited the stadium where a flautist was showing off the incredible acoustics. We saw the arena where they held chariot races. Overall, I don’t think we were there more than an hour – and it’s a huge site – so I’m glad I had some time during the preceding day to enjoy the site.

The Negev Desert

2008-11-02T00:00:00-04:00

After getting acclimated to Israel, we left the Ein Gedi Kibbutz and headed to Be’er Sheva. It’s a major city located in the Negev Desert. David drove us up the cliffs of the Dead Sea to the desert. It was a bit of a culture shock. There were large stretches of barrenness with an occasional Bedouin village. I was not a fan of the Negev desert on our first day.

We checked into our hotel in Be’er Sheva, relaxed a bit, and got ready for dinner. We went to a suburb to have dinner with Yoram Shapira, chairman of the hospital in Be’er Sheva. His backyard had a great garden with all sorts of fruit bearing plants. The patio was covered by an arbor with grapes that he uses to make his own wine. We got a tour of the basement where we saw his process for making wine – every step entirely by hand.

The next day, he took us around some areas of the Negev Desert. What I had originally thought was a barren landscape came alive. Yoram showed us how they had created areas of the desert to collect rainwater (there are only a couple of inches of rain per year) and build small groves of trees. They had imported various types of trees that could survive the arid landscape.

Our first stop was Ein Avdat National Park. It’s a wadi (a canyon formed by a spring) near the home of [w:Ben Gurion], who David had described as the George Washington of Israel. We walked through the canyon to the source of the river (which was very small). Along the way, we saw many Ibex. They were not shy around humans at all. We got very close and if we came up on any on the path, they did not stop what they were doing.

After our canyon visit, we went to [w:Mitzpe Ramon] – the site of the largest crater in Israel. It’s hard to capture the expanse of the crater in a photo. My wide angle lens couldn’t take it all in – and you still don’t get a sense of how deep the crater is.

I felt like the day was a great introduction to the Negev. I could myself returning someday. And honestly, even though it was extremely hot, it didn’t bother me really. I guess I got used to wearing a hat and drinking a lot of water.

Photographic Lighting: Week 5

2008-10-29T00:00:00-04:00

I missed the 4th week of photography class, so I’ll jump right into week 5.

This week in class, we started using soft boxes – which are big boxes of fabric you put over a light to direct all the light in one direction. There’s a flat white part where the light emits, which diffuses the light.

After we had gotten the hang of taking photos with the lights, the instructor came over and told us to start playing with the edge of the light. Essentially, this means positioning the soft box so that the light is not focused (in the least) on the subject. You end of just catching the edge of the soft box light on the subject. It was a really nice effect.

For our homework, we were to focus on subjects in motion – either capturing blur in the photo or stopping action in progress. This turned out to be very difficult for me. I spent an afternoon at Union Square. It turns out this wasn’t so smart. It was midday, and in order to take a blurry shot, I had to use a long shutter speed. There was too much natural light to pull it off. I went to the dog run hoping to catch some dogs playing, but all the dogs were sitting serenely at their owner’s sides. I looked for skateboarders, but there was only one. I got a couple of shots for class anyway, but I threw away the vast majority of photos I took.

I also tried an evening photo shoot of Kevin lighting a cigarette. It didn’t come out at all like I thought. I thought I was going to get these great streaks of light. It didn’t happen. I was happy with one of the photos none-the-less, but not because it was a great example of motion photography.

Go Wig Out!

2008-10-25T00:00:00-04:00

If you live in NYC, you should go see Wig Out! at The Vineyard Theater.

It’s a hard show to describe. It helps if you’ve seen the movie Paris is Burning, since that’s kind of the source material. It’s essentially a fictional account of a “family” of drag queens competing at a ball in Harlem. There’s dancing, singing, performance art, snappy dialogue, high drama, and lots of fantastic drag outfits. And this are not your silly, campy drag queens. These are your hard-code, tough-as-nails, steal-your-credit-card-so-they-can-buy-a-versace-outfit drag queens.

It’s playing until November 16th. It’s been extended twice. I hope it gets extended again. It’s the sort of show that should reach a wider audience.

The First Visit to the Dead Sea

2008-10-23T00:00:00-04:00

While we stayed at Ein Gedi, we took a trip to the spa. The spa had all sorts of treatments that you could get: mud treatments, ayurvedic massages, swedish massages, hot stone therapy, you name it. I got an ayurvedic massage and David got a mud massage. There were plenty of things to do if you didn’t want to get a treatment. You could hang out at their big, blue pool; you could take trip down to the Dead Sea and go swimming; you could give yourself a mud treatment; or, you could stay indoors and hang out in the Dead Sea waters (they had piped up the water from the sea).

David and I took a trip down the Dead Sea itself. It’s not something you can do for very long. If you have any open sores, you’ll feel them burn a little due to the minerals in the water. David didn’t last that long. He said his whole system starts to get agitated by the water. You can see in the photos that the floor of the sea is like walking on solid salt. There’s also a photo of a wooden pole that was placed in the water and the culture of minerals that has grown on it.

I didn’t take any photos of the spa until the last half hour. I decided to leave my camera in the locker and just experience the spa for a while. But my massage finished a half hour sooner than David’s, so I grabbed my camera to take pictures of the water, the lifeguard, and people in mud.

Too Many Coffee Shops

2008-10-15T00:00:00-04:00

Many years ago, I complained regular to anyone who would listen about the horrible state of espresso drinks in New York City. You only had a few choices: Starbucks, Your Local Deli, and restaurants. There were a few places in the village or Little Italy where you could maybe get a decent espresso, but you couldn’t count on getting the good barrista on any given day – and without a good operator, you can only go so far.

I was so vocal about it, that someone forwarded me an article about why the espresso will never be good in NYC (the water has low calcium content) and the author’s efforts to find a decent cup of espresso. He had the same comments I had – maybe your could find a good one here and there, but eventually the work would be handed off to a newbie barrista and the skill would be lost.

This past week, I noticed that things have changed. The city is turning into Seattle. There are quaint little mom-and-pa coffee places everywhere now. There used to not be any local coffee choices in my neighborhood, now there are two great ones within a couple of blocks: Grumpy’s Cafe and Irving Coffee Company. Then, just yesterday, I saw them putting up a new independent coffee place on Greenwich:

Hallelujah. The Starbuck’s locations are dwindling and these independent cafes are on the rise. Finally. Now maybe we can start thinking about adding bookstores back to the city.

Photographic Lighting: Week 3

2008-10-14T00:00:00-04:00

The third week of photography lighting class, we worked on beauty lighting. We set up two stations with a tripod and a strobe light. We later added umbrellas to the mix to see how that affected things.

The teacher really made the class this week. Our group was having fun taking photos, checking the exposures, etc. We had all adopted the habit of counting 3..2..1 before taking the picture. The instructor came over and said “Something is very wrong here! Can anyone tell me what it is?” We all shrugged in silence. He said “This light is at eye level. It’s boring! I want excitement! Drama!” and he moved the light up. He told us to stop counting down. He grabbed someone’s camera and started making banter with the subject, taking various photos. He basically infused a whole bunch of adventure into our rather boring photo session. After he left to go back to the other group, we got continually more creative. Standing on seats, crazy poses, and playing with reflectors. He came back later to infuse some more creative chaos later.

I’ve included my favorites of the portraits that I took.

I’ve also included my favorites from my homework. I wanted to explore photographing food. I had done some research and several people suggested not getting fancy with lighting food. Natural light is generally best. I went a photographic store and bought a light reflector (for capturing as much natural light as possible) and I went to The Cupcake Cafe to get a small cake as a subject. I took these photos at noon, to try to get as much natural light as possible. Unfortunately, my subject started sweating half-way through the session. Still, I like the photos. Half of the photos use the reflector and half just use the single light source of the sun.

Kibbutz Ein Gedi

2008-10-12T00:00:00-04:00

David and I stayed in Kibbutz Ein Gedi for 2 nights (or was it 3?). It’s a great location for a total retreat. From there, we were able to go to Ein Gedi (the spring) and the Ein Gedi Spa (for mud baths, the Dead Sea, massages).

Our room was very private. I never heard anyone around our area of the grounds. The closer you got to the pool, the more you would hear kids playing. There were certain times of day when the pool was packed with kids, but there were also times when I had the place almost to myself. And it was so hot there, that just about any time of day was a good time to go to the pool.

David Reich, who usually does not get wet at all, was a water fiend. He went swimming in the natural pools of Ein Gedi, he stuck his head in the waterfalls, he swam in the Dead Sea, and went in the kibbutz pool several times. It was like living with a labrador retriever!

When we checked in, David asked if they had any special rooms available. They gave us the honeymoon room. I think the only thing that made it “honeymoonish” was a large jacuzzi for two. We spent so much time in water that it seemed silly to take a bath. So it went unused.

The grounds of the kibbutz were beautiful. At first glance, they seemed dry and lifeless, but as I wandered around (early in the morning as opposed to the heat of mid-day) I saw a huge variety of cactus life. There was a 7:30am tour that you could take of the gardens, but we didn’t want to commit to any times – especially so early in the morning.

For food, they had a big cafeteria that served breakfast and dinner – buffet style. The food was surprisingly good – especially considering that it was kosher.

Ein Gedi

2008-10-11T00:00:00-04:00

On our first day in Israel, we rented a car at the airport and drove to the Ein Gedi Kibbutz on the Dead Sea.

The flight to Israel was not as bad as we expected. We flew El Al on an overnight flight (coach, no less!). There was someone sleeping in between us. Luckily it was a small female that was probably on a “birth right” trip. The GPS device in the car wasn’t going to take us the way we wanted to go – which drove a little bit through the West Bank. But everyone in Israel goes that way. The GPS route would have added an hour and a half to the trip.

As is typical with traveling east, the room wasn’t ready when we arrived. We wandered through the garden like zombies until the room was ready.

The plus side on a trip to the desert is that in the first few days of jet lag, you’ll be wide awake for the early hours of the day when it’s cool. So our first day, we went to Ein Gedi – which is a natural spring. There’s a kibbutz near there where we stayed. And there’s a spa on the Dead Sea that is run by the kibbutz.

We arrived at Ein Gedi as soon as it opened. David politely said “You are wearing your hat and drinking 2 liters of water on this trip because I’m not carrying you back to the car when you faint from heat exhaustion.” Thank you for caring, David.

Along the walk were little prairie-dog like animals called Hyrax (Hyraxes? Hyraxi?") They loved to sun themselves and climb the trees to eat the leaves. I don’t know how they got so pudgy on a vegetarian diet. There were also Ibex (Ibexes? Ibexi?) – which were deer-like animals grazing for grass. Neither of the animals seemed bothered in the least by people.

Along the walk were occasional pools caused by the waterfalls. We stopped at one that was empty for a swim break. The water was pretty warm for a natural spring. It was only 9am by the time we got to the first pool and it was already extremely warm, so the water felt great.

At the top of the walk is the main attraction: a very big waterfall (I think called David’s Waterfall). We got there just before the tourists descended upon us.

There was more that we could have hiked up to see, but we weren’t feeling that adventurous so we headed back to the car. A two minutes drive from Ein Gedi is a site of an ancient synagogue called, appropriately, The Old Synagogue. There’s a tent covering the ruins where you can see some very well preserved mosaics.

After Ein Gedi, we went back to the room and napped.

A Trip to Israel

2008-10-11T00:00:00-04:00

In September of 2009, David was scheduled to speak in two conferences: one in Tel Aviv and one in Berlin. He asked me if I wanted to join him and I responded with jumping up and down shouting “ISRAEL ISRAEL ISRAEL!”. Since he didn’t have a lot of time, we went a few days before the conference to spend sometime together. Then after the conference, he went to Berlin and I stayed. A colleague of David’s in Israel, Yoram Shapira, organized a trip to Jordan for me and a few other anesthesiologists and their spouses.

I had been to Israel only once before, and it was a very different trip. I visited mainly religious sites: Nazareth, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, etc. This trip was more about nature and archeology. It hit me just as hard as my first trip, but in a very different way. I think I must have lived in the Middle East in a past life. I took the desert so happily. Sure, I was ready for a week of rain by the time I got home, but my time in the desert was food for the soul.

I took 657 photos. It’s taking me a long time to go through them all. So please come back every week or so to see the updates. Don’t stop checking until you see the dramatic conclusion to my trip in Jerusalem!

The Simpsons Are Hysterical

2008-10-08T00:00:00-04:00

The Simpsons have not been as consistently funny as their early years in a long time. But clips like this one prove that they when they’re good, there’s no beating them.

This is a preview of this year’s “Treehouse of Horror” featuring a segment on voter fraud. I hope it’s not prophetic.

Total Immersion Swimming Workshop

2008-10-07T00:00:00-04:00

I have always wanted to be a better swimmer. I can manage to splash about and get somewhere when I need to, but I never really took to the water. A few years ago, I got a weekly swim instructor. He definitely helped, but I still felt like I struggled with the water a lot. And it was exhausting. I could only do a few short laps at a time without stopping to wheeze. I didn’t know how people could swim lap after lap without stopping. A friend told me that I should learn to relax in the water and not try to swim so fast. Whenever I tried, I would sink, get water up my nose, etc. I only knew how to sprint in the water. I developed a routine of doing two freestyle laps and then a breast stroke on the third, because the breast stroke felt free and natural with lots of time to breath.

I read Terry Laughlin’s Total Immersion Swimming. While everything made sense, I just could not really apply the lessons to my swimming. First of all, you have to have someone that knows what they’re doing help you get the right positions in the water. It’s very much based on all sorts of body awareness that I just flat out don’t have. Secondly, it’s based on doing drills. And there are very few people that will sit down and do the drills required to really change your swimming. You need an instructor to force you to go through things systematically.

I saw that they offered workshops in Queens, but they emphasized bring a buddy since some of the class will be partner based. Somehow, I managed to talk Jeff into going with me. I was really excited about the workshop until I read someone’s blog about attending the workshop in Queens. She said that both her and her husband took the workshop and were both triathletes. And most everyone in the workshop was a triathlete as well. Yikes! I am not a triathlete. I was intimidated to say the least. Plus, I had heard that they would be videotaping us in the water for review.

Anyway, Jeff and I went. The workshop started at 8am both days (Saturday and Sunday) and finished around 4pm. About the half the time was spent in the pool. Starting off was difficult – especially in the morning. The last thing you want to do at 8am is get into a cold pool. But once we got moving in the water there was a lot to concentrate on. And the constant movement warmed us up.

I could write pages about the things we learned in the workshop. The swimming technique really breaks everything down from the beginning. Some lessons came easier than others. There were a couple of times where I got quite frustrated with myself and the technique, but those moments were always followed an hour later with a big revelation and breakthrough.

In the end, I got the amount of strokes it took me to cross the pool from 24 to 17!

And though there were some triathletes in the class, it was not intimidating at all. Pretty much everyone was starting over learning the technique so it’s not like there were some people that were perfect and some people were horrible. I didn’t even mind the videotaping. On the final videotape review, I was actually looking forward to seeing how I did.

And most importantly, I now feel significantly more comfortable in the water. I have not yet made it back to the pool at the gym, though I have no anxiety about doing so. I have a list of things that I know I need to work on and look forward to doing so.

Photographic Lighting: Week 2

2008-10-07T00:00:00-04:00

The first review of my homework for my photography lighting class went well. He gave me a specific challenge: to photograph objects instead of people. I clearly enjoy photographing people and he wanted us to start working outside of our comfort zone.

I also decided that I wanted to focus on indoor lighting where I control the light source. There was a person in our class that had done a great series of photographs of a sweet potato under various lighting sources. I wanted to recreate that look.

In trying to decide what object to use, I thought I would try for organic objects. But I have to admit that I was feeling a little uninspired just photographing plain old objects. I wanted to pick an object that was going to be fun. So I went to a comic book store and looked for action figures. I found a Magneto doll that was highly posable. Then I bought a bunch of produce. I thought it would be fun to photograph Magneto relating to produce with stark lighting.

The photos came out pretty closely to what I had envisioned. We’ll see how they go over in class.

A New Photography Class

2008-10-02T00:00:00-04:00

I came home from Israel with several goals. Most of the fitness goals are well in progress. I had also decided it was time to take a new class. I loved the photography class that I took at NYU, so I looked for a new class along those lines. I narrowed it down to a photographic lighting class and a portrait class. The lighting class seemed to have a more broader application, so I signed up for that.

We’ve had 2 out of 10 classes. The class is great.

My previous teacher definitely taught along the lines of “rules” – such as not to go over 800 ISO on the camera. Having those rules definitely helped me understand how to make better photographs and why one would make certain decisions. The new teacher, Don Penny, is the opposite type of teacher. One of the first photos he took in class was at an ISO of 1250. His basic philosophy is to first get the shot. He said there were photographers in the 70’s that always shot at a high ISO because they wanted “grain the size of golf balls in their film”.

So the class is much more experimental and free-spirited.

In the first class he showed us a technique for checking our white balance. I had one of those “ah-ha” moments as I have occasionally had a whole batch of photos with a bluish tint that I just couldn’t figure out why. Now I know why and how to fix it.

Why set up several lights in the class, took photos of each other, and compared the quality of the light on the subjects. It was amazingly fun and educational. He also knew the rough prices of all the equipment should we decide we’re redy to start setting up a studio.

Our first assignment was to take photos in three different lighting situations: in noon-time sun, during the “magic hour” (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_hour_(photography)), and indoors where we control the lighting.

Here’s my homework. I actually only showed the 8 best at class, but I posted a slightly larger set on flickr.

My Folding Bicycle

2008-09-24T00:00:00-04:00

I came from Israel with many goals. One of them was to lose my extra weight. It’s gotta go. Another goal was to enjoy more of NYC. I was definitely in a day-to-day rut. So I decided that one of the things that I could do to combat both of those was to ride a bicycle around town more often. I talked to my friend Jeff about starting to trade out days at the gym with long bike rides. We could bike along the water-front, we could bike to new neighborhoods, etc.

Jeff has a folding bike and loved it. I decided to get one, too, so that I could keep it in the entryway for easy access. I fell in love with it almost instantaneously. Since it’s a folding bike, I can take it on the subway with me. We could go to Brooklyn and bicycle around Prospect Park or Ocean Bay or wherever. And folds down small enough to fit underneath our coat rack.

A Dream from Israel

2008-09-15T00:00:00-04:00

I’m writing this from Israel. Once again, Israel has totally knocked my socks off, but in an entirely different way. When I was here before I was primarily struck by all the religious sites. This time, I’m struck more with the people. Israelis generally have the reputation of being loud and pushy people. Yes, that’s true.

While David and I were in Tel Aviv I pointed out that not only is everyone in exceedingly good shape, the majority of the poopulation moves with a natural grace and vitality that I’ve never seen before in a whole country. Everyone has incredible posture and moves with athletic ease. I asked him if he thought it was the compulsory military training that did it. His theory is that first of all, it is largely an outdoor-loving people. They are active and appreciate what life has to offer. Secondly, Israeli children are not born with the same restrictions placed on them as American children. Even the teenagers run a little wild – but not wild in a malicious and loud way, but in a “do as you please” sort of way. They are treated as adults – with more than a few lectures, I’m sure – and are not controlled.

Also, most of David’s colleagues that we’ve met here are incredibly interesting people. We met one colleague that makes his own wine in his basement. He showed us his set up in the basement where wine is pressed and stored in barrels for a year at a time. He bottles his own beer. He took us hiking in the desert. We met one of David’s colleagues here in Tel Aviv. She talked about how she goes bicycling along the Mediterranean. She’s taking salsa classes. None of these people seem bogged down by life or by a daily grind at all.

Last night I had vivid dreams about it all. I was at a writer’s conference at one point, and I was my usual self – reserved about showing my work and letting other people take the spotlight. At one point, an instructor came up to me and said “There are no consequences here. Be bold.” – which by that he meant no bad consequences. So put yourself out there!

So I’ve made up my mind: when I get back to the states, I’m taking a class in photographic lighting (to continue by photography hobby), I’m starting swimming again, I’m sending off Betsy Stevens to publishers, I’m writing – I’m done being bogged down with limitations and exceptions.

A Trip to Ithaca: Part 2

2008-09-02T00:00:00-04:00

So…I was just in Ithaca. But Mom flew out pretty much right after I left to help take care of Lorenz. It would have been a shame that Mom had traveled all that way and we wouldn’t have been able to see each other – so I packed a bag and drove to Ithaca again. At least this time I knew the scenic road to take. And since David wasn’t with me this time, I could crank up the music and shout/sing to my heart’s content.

A lot of time was spent just hanging out at the house. The second day I was there, Mom and Lorenz and I drove around Cayuga lake, stopping at wineries and other local sites. It was stunningly beautiful. At one stop, Lorenz saw a necklace with wine corks and fake grapes. He went bonkers for that necklace. I tried to take some photos, but they didn’t capture his squealing glee and ecstasy that came from the necklace. We almost bought it. We decided for 8 bucks, it was worth the entertainment value. But he lost interest in about 30 seconds so we skipped it.

On the morning of the day I left, we all went to the Ithaca Farmer’s Market. There was a ton of fresh produce, some homemade pastries (like apple-poppy seed strudel), musicians and all sorts of modern hippie goodness. Honestly, Ithaca is the sort of town I think I could settle into.

Photos of Ithaca

2008-09-01T00:00:00-04:00

I posted my photos from my first trip to Ithaca.

There are a lot of pictures of taking Lorenz out on his tricycle. Then photos of his day care – Namaste Montessori. And finally, pictures form a trip that David, Sis and I took to Lucifer Falls.

The New York City Waterfalls

2008-08-26T00:00:00-04:00

Last weekend was one of those perfect summer days in NYC – blue skies, billowy clouds that show off every last detail, and not too sweltering. Mr. R and Benji were in town, so I asked them if they wanted to go on a short cruise to see the NYC Waterfalls. The answer was yes and David agreed.

We headed down to South Street Seaport to get tickets from one of the cruises that leaves from down there. Apparently, we were one of several hundred other people that had the same idea. The lines were long and didn’t move. We quickly bagged the idea of the cruise and decided to just look at the waterfalls from afar, which still ended up being a good idea.

I think one’s first reaction to the waterfalls is “meh”. But the more you look at them, the more it helps you appreciate the fact that New York is an island with all of these great waterways with their own life. The one at the Brooklyn Bridge seemed to be the best because the bridge blocks the wind. The other two that we could see were being blown so strongly that it was more of a mist-producer than a waterfall.

After the viewing we went for ice cream and then to the TKTS booth, where Benji and Mr. R got tickets to The Marriage of Bette and Boo.

A Trip to Ithaca

2008-08-20T00:00:00-04:00

David and I drove to Ithaca, NY on Monday to help Sis and Lorenz move in. They had not even been here 24 hours by the time we arrived, so it was a chance to catch the two of them before they had settled in. Sis still had a few large pieces of luggage in the car and could not figure out how to get the orange U-Haul straps off the car, so almost immediately after hugs and hellos, we went to work.

Her apartment is nicer than I had expected. It’s spacious – considering that’s only the two of them for most of the year. Lorenz has a great bedroom. There were a number of things to fix around the apartment and Sis had already started a list. After arranging some things, we put Lorenz in the stroller and headed to the downtown area for dinner.

Ithaca is a very crunchy town. It wasn’t until day two here that I found out THE Moosewood Restaurant was founded here. We passed several organic grocers and vegan restaurants. The Ithaca Commons (which is a string of stores and pubs where cars are not allowed) is filled with acoustic musical groups and hacky sack players. David had never heard of hacky sack to which Sis and I expressed reluctant belief.

We found a Mexican restaurant with outdoor seating. The meal was cut short by a passing downpour – but by that time, all I had to do was chug my margarita and run for cover.

The second day, we decided to tackle the list of things to fix around the apartment. Sis had a pretty lengthy list that covered things like utensils (she had forgot to bring knives, forks, and spoons), bed rails for Lorenz, curtains and curtain rods, etc. There is a Target in town. David and I had never been in a Target (to which Sis expressed reluctant belief). I have to admit, Target was pretty amazing. The choices of things to get were actually pretty nice and the prices were shockingly low. Sis wanted to get a $99 sofa, but when she saw me sit in it, she realized it was probably too small. So instead we got a sofa cover for existing large and mildew-smelling sofa.

We got some items for Lorenz as well – a Play-doh set and a Spider-Man lunchbox and thermos.

After the Target run, we took Sis to the “other” daycare center. Sis had gotten accepted, but she had decided to go with another daycare center and was racked with indecision. We took her there so she could check it out. It was a more modern daycare, filled with plastic toys and efficiency. Although everyone was very nice and they had a huge waiting list that Sis had somehow gotten around, Sis felt like she had made the right decision taking Lorenz to Namaste Montessori instead – which is more in the country, uses only toys made of wood and metal, and has other vegetarian kids.

Next, we took sometime to explore the campus. It’s up on a hill, over-looking the rest of Ithaca. There’s a beautiful river cutting through campus so there are waterfalls and bridges. Sis got us some cool Cornell fashions since today was a bit breezier than we had expected. We saw the building with her office, which looked to be one of the nicer and more character-driven buildings (at least form the outside).

After that we went unloaded the car. I put on the bed rails for Lorenz, David hung up the new curtains. At one point, David said that he felt like he was hanging up curtains for his theoretical daughter. I asked him what he meant and he said “I’m at the age where if I had gotten married and had kids, they would be at the age right now where they’d be going off to college and I’d be here hanging up their curtains in their dorm room.”

I told him that we were happy to satisfy the needs of his biological clock.

We drove to Namaste Montessori to pick up Lorenz. The school was very small and cute. The teachers all seemed extremely kind and competent. I could see that Lorenz was in good hands. We drove to the nearby Buttermilk Falls and did a bit of hiking around. Lorenz was in a crabby mood from being both tired and hungry, so we skipped the next waterfall and went for dinner.

We couldn’t get into Moosewood, so we went for Japanese instead. Lorenz was a lot more pleasant to deal with after he got some food. And we got cold sake to share – making jokes that we were going to change from uncles to drunkles.

After dinner, we took them home (Lorenz LOVED his Spider-Man lunchbox) and went back to the hotel to crash.

Although I am the Capricorn of the family, I fell like my sister is the true sea-goat. The idea of the Capricorn is that with the front of a goat and the tail of a fish, it stubbornly refuses to accept its limitations and climbs mountains regardless of its lack of hind legs. How my sister could pack up her son and just enough items to get by, drive across the country to rent an apartment she’d never seen in a new town is beyond me. It’s of course a good career choice, but it’s quite a sacrifice and not an easy road. Things will be easier when her husband Mark comes to visit but that’s several months away. I don’t think I could ever make the choice that she did.

David wins the husband, brother-in-law, and uncle of the year award for taking care of Sis. And I told him as much.

The Wrong Losers

2008-08-14T00:00:00-04:00

What is going on with the judges for this season of Project Runway? This is the second week in a row where they sent the wrong person home.

Last week they sent Emily home with her “colorfully exploding breasts” dress. I understand that it wasn’t great, but I thought Keith’s dress was hideous – no shape, no skill in execution, no real design. And Emily said as much during her exit interview. She knew that her dress was not the real losing dress.

Then this week they sent Kelly home. How can that be? I agree, the outfit was awful. But Blayne’s was just as bad and he had a terrible attitude. Every week I think that his 15 minutes of fame are over and he manages to squeak by again. I hope he doesn’t end up being the one that clearly doesn’t deserve to be in the final three but somehow ends up there anyway.

I’ve noticed that you can survive a bad week by mouthing off to the judges. Santino got through a couple of challenges that he clearly lost by refusing to admit that there was anything wrong with his outfit. Blayne squeaked by using the same technique.

I think we’ve entered the phase of the competition where the people that may have wowed me in the first couple of episodes are not able to keep up. And I feel like I have several designers now that I would happily see go.

The Dangers of Eating Healthy

2008-08-14T00:00:00-04:00

This summer, I’ve been slowly cleaning up my diet.

It started a few months ago when my friend, Sara, and I started eating at Pure Food and Wine about once a week (we plan on eating there once a week, but it probably averages out to every other week). For those of you who don’t know, Pure makes solely raw, vegan food. No meat, no dairy, no wheat, no soy, no rice, no cooking anything above a particular temperature. I always love it when I tell people about it and they respond with “What’s left?”. Uh…fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc.

And it’s delicious. And not “health food” delicious, but really delicious.

The first few times we went there, I would look forward to it every time I went. Then after a couple of months, it started happening that the morning of our Pure date I would think “Boy, I could really go for hamburger today. I wish we had planned lunch at Pure for tomorrow.” I didn’t give it much credence, I just went away. It turns out, that’s the part that really needed to happen. I think that was when my brain started re-patterning, because the craving for junk food got replaced “I had healthier food and I feel a lot better.”

Shortly after that, David and I went to our favorite sandwich shop for lunch. I realized that the things I loved about their sandwiches were the vegetables, cheese (I still love cheese), and their herbal mayo. So I got a veggie sandwich. David asked me if I was detoxing. I said that I honestly crave the veggie sandwich and didn’t want the meat. And it was great. I haven’t ordered a sandwich there with meat for a while now.

I started making more raw food at home. I started making my own almond milk. The odd thing is, at no point did I miss the old alternatives. Every now and then, I would try the old version of something (like milk in a protein shake) and it would taste “off”. It would make me feel heavy and dull-headed.

I should say that I’m still eating meat. I’m still having dairy and I’m still having coffee. I’m still eating sugar and lots of other processed foods. If I get a craving for something, I make no bones about having it. I have no rules about what I will and won’t eat. I’m just becoming more and more aware of how I feel afterwards – and unhealthy foods have started dropping by the wayside.

The other night, I was home by myself for dinner. That was usually the night I would order barbecue – so I did. I felt LOUSY. I couldn’t even finish it. I got cranky. I had a hard time sleeping. And the next morning, my body was doing it’s best to evacuate everything in my system.

Geez. Was my system really used to this kind of food at one point? It’s a little frightening.

Yesterday, I had lunch at Pure and stopped at the farmer’s market on the way home. I made a great salad and we grilled corn and salmon for dinner. Last night I slept great and woke up earlier than usual, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

A little side note: I had taken a friend to Pure yesterday for his inaugural visit. I ordered a Strawberry Blond smoothie: it had strawberries, bananas, pineapple and some other delicious things. My friend ordered a ginger shot. He saw the look on my face and said “what? is that bad?” I said absolutely not, it’s just kind of advanced for someone that’s new to raw food. It cracks me up how people will go to a place like Pure and then order something that is – frankly – difficult to enjoy when the menu is full of genuinely delicious foods that are also healthy. I had a sip of his ginger shot. I had expected it to be pretty strong and intense. It was LIP-SEARINGLY STRONG! My sinuses burned from the tiny sip I had. Then he had a sip of my smoothie and the look on his face said it all. He thought he was drinking the most amazing milkshake of his life. I said “It’s okay to eat healthy and enjoy yourself at the same time.”

FYI – This post was inspired by reading Renee’s beautiful blog: http://reneesrandomthoughts.blogspot.com

Photos from Class 4

2008-08-13T00:00:00-04:00

For our final class, we went mostly indoors. We went to the apartment of one of the class members for some experiments in indoor portrait work and then some night shots from her balcony.

I didn’t come up with any great shots from this class, though I took the most photos from this class out of any of the others. Especially with the night shots, it was hard to determine how the shot was going to turn out. So there was a lot of trial and error.

Photos from Class 3

2008-08-13T00:00:00-04:00

This week was tough. We had a guest teacher – someone whose name I can’t remember. He is a famous street photographer. He gave us his general philosophy about photography and especially street photography. For instance, he suggested that once we feel like we have the shot, step into it the shot by taking a step 1 – 2 feet forward. It makes a big difference. All of a sudden, you feel close to your subject.

Then we went to Times Square to take street shots. I found a young couple making out and decided to take a shot, I had everything ready, then decided to take a big step forward. All of a sudden they stopped making out a looked at me like I was crazy. I hadn’t gauged the distance between us very well and I was standing literally right next to them. I couldn’t take a shot. I sheepishly left.

At another point, I was trying to take a purposely blurry shot of people passing in front of a theater. I was calmly waiting with the camera up to my face for enough people to pass. It seemed like fewer and fewer people were passing by. Then I lowered my camera and realized that tourists had lined up outside of my shot thinking they didn’t want to interrupt my photo. I said “thank you” and everyone started passing by again. This time I waited with my camera down, and when enough people were passing by, I quickly got my shot.

It’s really hard to take photos in Times Square. There’s just too much activity to single out something. I thought I had taken some good photos, but when I got back home I found that most of them were unusable.

There’s also one photo of some lighting experiments we did in class.

Photos from Class 2

2008-08-13T00:00:00-04:00

Here are photos from our second photo walk. This walk was done in and around Bryant Park. The clouds were wreaking havoc with our settings, so we had to be nimble – and many of my photos came out too dark.

We spent a lot of time working on portraiture in real light situations. Emmanuel showed us various lighting techniques, such as using a reflector. We also experimented with using slow shutter speeds around a fast moving subject for effect.

After the formal part of our class, we were given time to wander around the park and take candid shots. That is not an easy task. I’m not very fast with the camera yet, and people get very uncomfortable if they see you staring a camera at them for a good 30 seconds. A lot of us developed a technique in which we would aim the camera just to the side of the subject, get the settings right, and then quickly point at the subject and take the shot.

I was very happy with a lot of these photos. I even caught a picture of Tom Sproat smiling! That’s more rare than any National Geographic nature shot.

Photos from Class 1

2008-08-13T00:00:00-04:00

It took me a while to post these, but here are photos from our first photo walk. We took a stroll around Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building. Our instructor, Emmanuel, would give us little assignments – such as “set your shutter speed to 1/250 and give me a reading as to what the aperture should be”. On some assignments, he gave us all the settings and just told us to take pictures. That allowed us to see how the settings affected the quality of the photo and also to allow us to focus on composition.

We did one exercise at a construction site. The light was catching the bright yellow equipment in an interesting way, so we tried to capture that quality. A family passed by staring at us in confusion. I heard the wife say “it’s a photography class” and the husband responded with “yeah, but what the hell are they taking a picture of?”

At another point, we were right across the street from the Chrysler building. Emmanuel pointed out that the Chrysler building was reflected in the plain building across the street. The class immediately looked away from the Chrysler building and started taking photos of the reflection. A few tourists were completely baffled as to what we were taking pictures of and kept scanning the building for something interesting.

My photos from this session varied wildly from good to awful. I really wasn’t happy with any of them when I got home and was dreading the critique at the next class. However, I was happy with the critique I got. I think my expectations were too high for the first class.

Triumph the Comic Insult Dog at Comic-Con

2008-08-12T00:00:00-04:00

Aah…Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. He needs no introduction other than to say that if you are easily offended (or under age 13) you probably shouldn’t watch this.

The Marriage of Bette and Boo

2008-08-12T00:00:00-04:00

I saw the Roundabout Theatre’s production of The Marriage of Bette and Boo. It was a great production and several days after seeing it, I’m still thinking of it quite a bit. It’s one of the few plays I think I could see again and again.

I had seen a production when I was in high school at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I still think that production was the best you could possibly see of the play. They absolutely nailed it in every way. However, the Roundabout’s production had very different goals and it achieved them, so I can’t fault the Roundabout too much. Their production was less of a caricature and more of a real, grounded play. And it works both ways.

Typically, I wouldn’t recommend a Christopher Durang play to too many people. They are darkly comic, sadistic, and often painful things. The Marriage of Bette and Boo is certainly no different. However, all of his other plays end in total chaos and absurdity. This one always stays so close to home that you can’t escape it.

I had remembered a lot of the lines. I could recite almost entire scenes. However, once it got to the end, it all felt new. There were certain scenes I had no memory of whatsoever. I think they are the sort of concepts that someone young could simply never understand. For instance, at the end of the play, the main characters are in a hospital room and reminiscing on their lives together. After watching these characters at each other’s throats the entire time, I don’t think I understood when I was younger how you can look back on something like and laugh. I didn’t understand how a couple could go through a divorce and still call each other during difficult emotional times. Christopher Durang is making a joke at the end by showing them laughing at what are genuinely horrific moments in his childhood. But there’s something existential there as well. What are we supposed to do? Harbor resentment that these awful things had happened? Consider our lives a waste because they didn’t live up to our expectations? Even if you hated the person you spent the majority of your life with, at the end, it’s still the person that you went through life with. Who else are you going to turn to?

It was during this scene I could have easily burst out sobbing for the rest of the play. David and I were with two of our friends, so I had to keep my composure.

If you’re in New York, I highly recommend going to see The Marriage of Bette and Boo. There are few people that would not recognize some of their family in the play. It feels good to laugh at people for whom I normally would have lost all sense of humor. And if you’re willing to go on the emotional journey, the play brings one to a beautiful catharsis.

Lemonade

2008-08-11T00:00:00-04:00

Today’s the day that I got all the recipes moved over from my old site to my new site. So let’s celebrate by adding a new recipe!

This summer I’ve been getting into homemade lemonade. It’s really easy to make and is significantly healthier than anything you could buy. And you can make a million variations, so I’ve had fun experimenting.

8 lemons
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 liters unflavored seltzer
mint leaves

Take 2 of the lemons and using a vegetable peeler, peel off the zest in thick strips. Place it in a small saucepan with the sugar and water. Bring everything to a boil. Let it boil for about a minute, then turn off the heat and let the syrup marinate while you juice the lemons. The syrup will turn a little yellow and the zest will turn slightly translucent.

In a large pitcher, juice all the lemons including the two you zested.

Take the zest out of the syrup and pour it into the pitcher. Pour the two liters of seltzer water into the pitcher and give everything a quick stir.

When you serve, but a couple of sprigs of mint in the bottom of the glass and pour the lemonade over the top.

I’ve made a few variations: I used a grapefruit in place of two of the lemons. I’ve replaced two lemons with 4 limes. I’ve put a couple of star anise seeds in the syrup to marinate. They were all successes, but the simple lemonade is the best.

For a party, I put a splash of citron vodka in the bottom of the glass before pouring in the lemonade.

It’s all good.

Some changes to the site...

2008-08-10T00:00:00-04:00

I’ve been steadily making changes to the site. This weekend I had some time to really go to town. It seems like I really didn’t do all that much – I don’t know where the time goes when I program. I suppose it’s because I use my own site as a test ground for changes, so when I work on something, I may spend hours going down a path that I realize was not the right way to go. I chalk it all up to learning experiences.

Anyway, here’s the list of recent additions:

Add a twitter feed. This makes it easy for me to send little snippets about my day to the site.
Add a search box to every page.
Changed the definitions for recipes so I can more easily migrate content from my old site over.
Added boxes on the right for “Recipes by Dish” and “Recipes by Ingredient”.
Added a “similar posts” box.
Cleaned up some layout and display issues.
Optimized the URLs for search engines
Installed sitemaps and submitted them to the major search engines

Now that I wrote that all down, it does some like a lot for one weekend.

Jott Has Changed My Life

2008-08-09T00:00:00-04:00

You can expect to start seeing some entries on really cool iPhone apps. The latest and greatest one is Jott (http://jott.com). It’s a lot more than an iPhone app, but that’s how I discovered it.

I had started using the built-in “Notes” application for the iPhone. When I tried to transfer the notes I had taken to my computer, I discovered that you couldn’t. Apple hadn’t built that yet. Grrr. So I started looking for a new application for taking simple notes.

Jott seemed to fit the bill and had some sort of voice recording feature, so I downloaded it and started playing around. It turns out that it’s a lot more than just taking notes. It’s a speech-to-text application, but instead of loading a ton of software on your computer and bogging down your system, it sends the piece of recording to its servers, translates, and sends you back the results. It keeps their applications small and lightweight.

I tested it out and it was pretty accurate. When I decided to really push it by speaking however I felt like, it started having problems. It’s definitely best to speak clearly and a little slowly. If you come across a word that you think it wouldn’t know (like a proper noun), you can say the word and then spell it out. It figures out what you’re doing and spells the word correctly.

Now comes the cool part. They have a toll free number that you can call. From that number, you can do more than just take notes. You can send a text message to someone, you can send an email to someone, you can add items to any type of list you can think of, you can add events to your Google calendar, and much more. It’s incredible.

I set up a “To Do” list for myself. David uses it all the time if there’s something he wants me to take care of. He calls the number, it asks “What would you like to Jott?”

He says “To Do List”

It says “Okay”

And then he says something like “Call Kaback K-A-B-A-C-K to schedule repair of air conditioner”.

Within 10 minutes, it shows up on my iPhone’s to-do list.

I also set up a list for groceries. So if there’s something I need to get, I call the number, say “Grocery” and then the name of the item. When I go shopping, I have the list on my iPhone and can check off items as I shop. It’s pretty cool.

They also have a website so I can easily type lists of items if I want – as opposed to calling the number.

We’ve used it for our shared Google Calendar. David set up a day that we are going to Philadelphia to visit his family. I called the toll free number, said “Casa de Gogo” (which is the name of our shared Google calendar), and said “August 31st, Reich R-E-I-C-H Pool Party”. Done.

You can send email as well through Jott, but so far I haven’t done that. There are some things that require a personal touch.

Does Liking Mika Make Me a 9 Year Old Girl?

2008-08-03T00:00:00-04:00

My friend Claudio’s 9-year-old daughter, Carmen, recently had a birthday party in New York City. I asked Sara if she had any information on something that might be appropriate to get her. Carmen likes Mamma Mia and Madonna. At first I thought I’d get her a Cyndi Lauper CD. Then I texted Jeff to see if he had any ideas. He was with a friend that recommended Mika’s album Life in Cartoon Motion.

I checked it out on iTunes. Yes, it’s appropriate for a 9 year old girl. A lot of the songs of bubble-gum pop, it’s catchy, it’s upbeat. And the album cover is beautiful. It was so enjoyable, I got it for myself as well.

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Apparently, I’m just a 9 year old girl at heart. Who cares…some of the songs on the album are too fun to worry about such things.

4 Nights in Fire Island

2008-07-25T00:00:00-04:00

The past two years, I’ve rented a place on Fire Island for a week – specifically, in Cherry Grove. Previously, I had taken the pups out, got a 2 bedroom unit, and attempted to get work or writing done.

This year, I decided to bag the trip to Cherry Grove for a few reasons: finances were tight, we had a lot of travel this year, the dogs kind of drive me crazy out there, I never got any writing done, etc. On 4th of July weekend, it all of a sudden hit me that I’m supposed to be walking on the beach with the sand between my toes and the surf running over my ankles. I went on craigslist and found a studio apartment on the bay for only during the week for a reasonable rate. No pets allowed – so sorry puppies, you have to stay with David.

I scheduled it to coincide with a trip that Kevin and Jeff were making to Bellport (a 15 minute drive from the Cherry Grove ferries). They were staying for a few days at the house of Kevin’s doctor who had graciously offered them his house for some needed R&R. I spent the first day and night with them, then we all went to Cherry Grove together the next day where I stayed for the rest of the week.

Looking back on it, I can’t really tell you what I did. Without any puppies or a phone that could get reception I slept. A lot. Pretty much every activity was followed with a half hour nap.

And actually got some writing done! A few times every day, I sat down to the computer and plotted out a script.

In the evenings, I usually went to eat at a restaurant on the ocean and then to one of the bars for a drink or two before bed.

I think I could have stayed a whole additional week. I did miss David quite a bit, and the puppies, of course.

FYI – These photos are the first ones to be taken with my new iPhone. Not bad for a camera phone, I think.

Yuba City Fashion

2008-07-16T00:00:00-04:00

The latest season of Project Runway gets started tonight. I was on Hulu, checking out the batch of new designers when I heard something I never expected to hear:

One of the latest designers is form Yuba City, CA! If I had been drinking anything, I probably would have done a spit take all over my desk.

Take a quick look at her life story:

Will all of her outfits be green and yellow? Will we see personalized belt buckles in every outfit?

Tune in to find out if small town girls does good!

..Across the Fruited (and apparently slick) Plains!

2008-07-14T00:00:00-04:00

I saw this blurb about the latest Miss Universe pageant:

AP – Miss Venezuela was crowned Miss Universe 2008 on Monday in a contest marked by the spectacle of Miss USA falling down during the evening gown competition for the second year in a row.

I immediately stopped what I was doing and searched for videos of our proud Miss USA spilling out for both 2007 and 2008. Granted, it wasn’t the same person (that would have been hysterical if it had been the same girl – cursed to a life of slipping on stage during inopportune moments). Still, it’s funny that it should happen to us.

Are they going to change the Miss USA competition? Maybe they should add a “walking on difficult surfaces” portion to ensure that we have able walkers for the Miss Universe contest.

Here’s the video from both years:

Miss USA 2007 definitely wins the “total unrecoverable wipe-out award”. Were there ball bearing in her heels?

Miss USA 2008 does a great job of recovering. She applauds herself. You almost suspect that she’s drunk.

Well, future Miss USA 2009 – you have some mighty wobbly shoes to fill.

Um...I take it all back...

2008-07-12T00:00:00-04:00

So…this morning I stood in line again for an iPhone. Am I being masochistic? Do I really not have anything better to do with my time?

These were some of the nagging questions chattering in my mind that I squelched as I stood in line hoping to get an iPhone.

I decided to try my luck at the Apple Store because they stood a better chance of having everything in stock and their employees seemed nicer and smarter. When I got to the store a half hour before opening, the line was even longer at opening time than it was the first day. After the first hour of waiting in line, my mind did a big “What are you doing wasting another 3-4 hours? Just wait a week and there will be no line! There’s no guarantee that you’ll even get an iPhone!” I justified that if I left now, that would be completely wasting a full hour. If I stuck it through, I would at least make the waiting worth it.

I was visited by Jeff and Scout, then Kevin, and finally David. I waited in line a bit over 4 hours. I won’t say the time went by quickly, but it didn’t feel quite as bad as four hours.

The final line is on the second floor. They let 6 people go up to the second floor at a time, where you wait for an agent. Luckily, David showed up right as I was given the pass to go upstairs, so he got the fun of the purchase without the pain of the waiting. There really is something to be said for waiting for something for 4 hours. By the time I ascended the glass stairs, I felt like I was entering heaven (although getting an iPhone was feeling a lot more difficult than getting into heaven). In a couple of minutes, a sales agent came over and introduced herself.

Her name was Erica. She smiled. She asked me how long the wait had been. She said that they’re getting better – yesterday it was an average of 7 hours wait. She only asked me a few questions and then went to get my iPhone. Gone was the disarray of AT&T, the confusing responses that the computer wouldn’t let my order go through, the general dismissal of my needs. I got the sense that Erica was going to get me an iPhone no matter what. She was looking out for me. We chit-chatted about the neighborhood. Her cousin has crashed on her futon for the past week. Erica was cool.

I asked her how the system was going to transfer my phone number over. Didn’t she need to switch my SIM card? She had only asked my name and phone number. How could it figure out who I was? She walked over to a Mac, plugged in the iPhone, and two text messages to me from Jeff came up on the iPhone. It found me already. I couldn’t figure out if I should be creeped out or amazed. Where were the 2 hour activation times I had been hearing about? This was instantaneous. Sara got her iPhone at AT&T over 24 hours earlier and it had still not activated.

Erica kept talking politely at this point and was holding my iPhone (it was now mine. – mine mine mine – gimmee gimmee). I was trying to be polite, but really, I wanted to snatch it out of her hands. David kept up the conversation as I stared intently at my iPhone. Eventually, she gestured in a way that could have been interpreted as offering me the phone and I grabbed it. She wished us well and went on to make someone else’s day.

When we descended the lucite stairs to leave, I felt like I had to leave the place with a smile. I had seen so many people leaving the AT&T store disgruntled. I owed it to the people still standing in line (hundreds of them, in fact), that yes, there is an iPhone at the end of their journey and it will be worth it. I beamed a smile. I cheered. It turns out the people in line didn’t care about me at all, but the other employees cheered with me and opened the door for us to leave.

I’ve been playing with it for a few hours. I can’t explain what’s so great about it, but it’s the coolest gadget I’ver ever owned. What’s so great about it? Everything. Every little detail makes you go “neat!” and “wow!” and “they’ve thought of everything!”

That’s what’s so great about Apple products, they inspire this weird possessive/personal/devotion response to electronic devices. You can almost hear yourself saying to the Gods of Apple: “You can make me wait in lines for ever and I’ll still be there for you.”

Screw You, Apple! I don't need your stupid iPhone!

2008-07-11T00:00:00-04:00

Today was the big day: the release of the iPhone 3G. We had a multi-tiered plan – I was going to check out the Apple Store near my house at 7am, Sara was going to check out the AT&T store nearest her, and her friend Morgan was going to check out the Union Square AT&T store. Whoever had the shortest line would grab a spot and we would all meet there.

The Union Square store won – although the Apple store near my house looked like the most fun. The people in line had giddy faces, there was a camera crew, and the windows of the store were covered in black fabric.

I went to Union Square and we all waited in line. About an hour and a half into the waiting, someone that knew Morgan came to say hi, saying that he was further back in line from us. We chatted for a bit and then he said the inevitable: “So do you think I could join you guys in line?”

Silence. Sara and I looked to our feet. Morgan murmured something like “I don’t think anyone would say anything.” The guy said that he’d be right back and returned with his female business partner. It turns out no one said anything about them butting ahead in line, and they were great company – but I had started rehearsing in my head what I would say if anyone else tried to join us.

We noticed that, with the exception of the first person to walk out the door (who did a cheer), everyone was leaving the store in a dour mood. We figured that people should be excited that the fruits of their waiting labor were finally ripe. People just seemed to be slinking out of the store with a bland look on their face.

We got into the store after about a 2.5 hour wait in line. I assumed that it would go smoothest for me since I was the only existing AT&T customer, and I have already checked that I was eligible for the upgrade to an iPhone. The salesperson took my information, then said that she had to talk to the manager. Apparently, the AT&T computer said I was eligible, but iTunes had said that I was not. Why it mattered what iTunes had to say was beyond me – I think there were some competency issues. Especially considering that the guy that had my sales agent before me had the exact same issue. They asked me to step aside while they checked it out.

I actually don’t think they did that munch to fix the issue. I waited for about 20 minutes. My sales agent went through two more customers while I waited. Sara got her iPhone, but they were not able to activate the service. They told her to wait as well – but that it should activate sometime in the next hour or so.

I talked with the manager who tried to care about my situation, but couldn’t do anything to help. Customer service had flown out the window. I was a drop in the bucket of iPhone consumers. I could leave an unhappy customer and they wouldn’t bat an eyelash. So I decided to leave. God knows how long I would have had to stand there in the store with no resolution.

While I was standing there debating leaving, Sara and I were playing with their demo models. For some reason, a piercing store alarm went off on my demo iPhone. The little cord that keeps you from stealing it started flashing a red light. They had to have someone come over, open up the panel, and manually shut off the alarm. I was embarrassed at first, then slightly glad it happened. I toyed with the idea of doing it again in the hopes that they would give me an iPhone just to have me out of the store.

Sara and I left with those same bland and dour faces that we saw on everyone else. I had no iPhone and hers was unactivated. We had coffee at Taralucci y Vino. I felt better about my iPhone-less existence.

I stopped by two AT&T stores on the way home. Both of them were sold out. It was only 11am. How had I so seriously misjudged my fellow Americans ability to participate in a consumer frenzy?

I thought I’d swing by the Apple store on the way home. Maybe the line wasn’t that long? It wasn’t outrageous in the morning when I stopped by…

It was ridiculous. It snaked back and forth and went halfway to the river. They had handed out Apple umbrellas to people standing in the sun. I heard that they had even given out cookies! Clearly I had picked the wrong line.

Then the sour grapes started setting in. I didn’t need a stupid iPhone. Maybe this was God’s way of telling me to wait for the 32GB version? If so, thank you God for caring about my technological well-being. And maybe I shouldn’t be so gung-ho about something this popular. When did Apple go from underdog to market crusher? Suddenly, I started feeling like a Jonestown member complaining that my cup was empty – “Don’t tell me you’re out of Kool-Aid! That’s not fair!”

Maybe I’ll wait for the Google Android…

It looks like I’ll try again at the Apple store tomorrow morning. There’s a slight chance that the line won’t be bad and that they may still have phones left and that they had worked through my eligibility problem. Not bloody likely, but worth a try.

I went home and the plants on the front steps needed water. It was a good reminder – plants need water to live. Water is a necessity. iPhones are not.

Waiting for the iPhone 3G

2008-07-09T00:00:00-04:00

All in all, childhood is not something I want to experience all over again. I didn’t like the general helplessness, lack of knowledge, the clashes with authority – and of course, the waiting. The endless waiting for…say, The Return of the Jedi to come out. I think I was in a 2-3 years depression as a small child knowing that Han Solo was frozen, Luke was missing a hand, and the Empire was still on the march. I don’t think kids in general are good at waiting. Well now I get to relive all that waiting again.

WILL THE IPHONE 3G JUST HURRY UP AND COME OUT ALREADY!?

My friend Sara and I have made plans to stand in line at 7am on Friday morning at the AT&T store. We predict that this iPhone release won’t be as much of a zoo as the first release. I don’t know what we’re basing that on. Maybe we just assume that the rest of the world isn’t as superficial materialistic as the two of us.

My current phone is beautiful (It’s an AT&T 8525). It’s been my favorite phone by far and has been leaps and bounds ahead of most everyone else’s phone. I’ve loved it – until they announced the iPhone 3G. Now every time I look at my current phone, I have this “oh, you again” response to it. There are plenty of glitches in Windows Mobile, the browser sucks, I can’t sync reliably, and I reboot almost once a day. I can’t wait to ditch it.

The real kicker is that I know that Apple is working my ultimate device: an iPhone that has a physical keyboard and 32GB. Once I get one of those, I can die a happy man. Every few days I tell myself that I should just wait until that one’s ready. It’s only 6 months to a year, right? But I can’t wait. I’m helpless against wanting an iPhone. Every time I check email on my Windows Mobile phone, I think about how much easier it’s all going to be on an iPhone. Then I settle it with the thought that I promised my current iPod to Rogrido when the new iPhone came out. Poor Rodrigo doesn’t have any iPod, so it’s really selfish of me to NOT get an iPhone and give him my hand-me-downs.

At the beginning of the week I thought that the time would fly by and that Friday would arrive sooner than I could expect. I was wrong. The week is dragging by. Is this why they say time flies when you’re older? Because when you’re a kid, you’re trying to kill time waiting for the next shiny new thing to come out.

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Oz Organizes Comic Books

2008-07-08T00:00:00-04:00

I’ve been having a hard time lately with a few comic book series. I’ve been obsessed with Batman lately – it’s one of the best comic series I’ve read in years. I was talking to a friend saying that I was enjoying it, but that it was hard to follow. He summarized his favorite parts of the story and it was all new territory to me. I had no idea what he was talking about. Then I went back and noticed that i was missing about 3 issues over the past year. That’s a lot.

I looked at another series that I like called “The Twelve” and it was a similar story: missing issues.

So I decided it was time to organize my comic books again. There are stacks of books all over the house. When I look for a missing issue, I have to go into 4 different rooms to look through stacks.

I went to the comic store and got some boxes, bags, and boards. I figured that 100 should be enough. As I went through the stacks to organize them, I realized that I hadn’t organized my comic books since the series “52” ran – which was about two years ago. They had a comic book a week for one whole year. That series alone was 52 issues. I probably had about 200 – 300 comic books to bag, board, and organize. Yuck.

So today’s goal changed into “let’s at least organize and stack the comic books and then figure out what to do”. I made it that far and stood up to take a break. Oz either liked the warm spot that I left on the rug or felt like he needed some attention, because he grabbed my spot as soon as I got up. Here’s a photo of him.

Awww…

Retouching Photographs

2008-06-27T00:00:00-04:00

I’ve started playing around with Photoshop to enhance my photos.

I was looking at the wedding photos done by the professional they hired for my cousin’s wedding. They were fantastic. You can view them here: Kellie and Paul’s Wedding. Her composition is excellent, the pictures are sharp, and she certainly gets a great sense of playfulness from her subjects.

There’s also a lot of post-processing in her photos. I don’t know everything she’s doing, but I can that there are adjustments to color and saturation for starters.

I decided to play around with some of my existing photos to see if I could breathe some life into them.

I experimented with curves, an unsharp mask, and vignetting in Photoshop to alter the image below.

Here’s the original (You definitely want to zoom in to the photo. It looks a lot better close-up):

I went to “curves” in Photoshop and modified the red and green channels to have a slight “s” curve. I left the blue channel as it was. I then applied an unsharp mask to the image. I aimed for a radius of 50 on the unsharp mask and played with the other settings so that it wasn’t too severe. Next, I added a filter of an “inner glow” and changed the color to black. That gave it a soft vignette.

When I look at the after photo, I start thinking that I didn’t too that much, but when I go back to the original, I see how washed-out the original now appears.

Here’s the final image:

Let me know what you think.

Aunt Beth's Garden & Greenhouse

2008-06-27T00:00:00-04:00

On recent trip to Yuba City, CA, I took some time to take photos of Aunt Beth’s garden and greenhouse. I should say – take photos of a small fraction of her garden and greenhouse. There are lots of vegetables, herbs, and fruit trees there – unfortunately, I was there a bit early in the season before the plants had a chance to get going. I was still able to get some good shots.

The orchid greenhouse is amazing. Aunt Beth told me that there was very little in bloom this time of year. What I saw was still enough to amaze me. It seemed that every time I turned around, there was another orchid bloom that I had missed. Each one was more strange and wonderful than the last.

I have no idea what kind any of these are, so they are all labeled generically.

Visiting Uncle Scott and Aunt Grace

2008-06-24T00:00:00-04:00

Sis and I got a chance to visit Uncle Scott (from my father’s side) and his wife, Grace, while we were there. This is only the second time I’ve seen him in the past ten years.

They took us for a drive through the Buttes (my first time driving through them) to a restaurant/bar on the Sacramento river called “Lovey’s”. It was a great location that had it been anywhere else in the world, would have been packed with boats and swimmers. Thank god there are still places like Sutter County in the world.

We had a great visit and got to get a picture in as long as it somehow featured Scott’s boat.

The Sutter County Cemetery

2008-06-24T00:00:00-04:00

On the way out to Lovey’s, Scott drove us by the Sutter County cemetery and pointed out that our birth father and grandparents are buried there. After lunch, both Sis and I wanted to drive back and see Keith Sr’s grave. I had never seen it and Sis had only been when she was very young.

We thought that we could locate it by finding the cemetery’s office, but that was closed with no directions. We thought we could locate it by walking around, but it became quickly clear that a cemetery, no matter how small it looks, is a big place. We wandered for a while where we thought we would see it with no luck. I was becoming increasingly discouraged – not to mention depressed by looking at all the tombstones. I couldn’t help creating little stories in my head about the people buried there or wondering what had happened to them.

Then I remembered that one of the first things I did when Google first became popular was to Google my own name. The first thing that came up was the Sutter County cemetery records for Keith Sr’s grave. I used my phone to search for that page again and found the location of his grave. It turns out that we were no where near it. We got back in the car and found it.

I was not in the right state of mind when we found it – staring at everyone else’s graves had put me in quite a funk. Still, I’m glad that we did it. I don’t know why I’m glad and I don’t know what it was I was hoping to get by finding it. Truth be told, it put me in a funk for the rest of the trip – one that has slightly lingered to this day.

I never knew that he made it to be a doctor.

Here’s a link to the picture if you’re curious.

Out at Buck's Lake

2008-06-24T00:00:00-04:00

We drove almost directly from the Sacramento airport to Buck’s Lake. It’s about 45 minutes from Sacramento to Yuba City and then another 2 hours to Buck’s Lake.

It did not occur to me to call David while in Yuba City. It wasn’t until I got to Buck’s Lake that I realized there was no internet or cell phone reception. Yikes! At first, I thought I’d be fine with the break. It turns out that I was wrong. During the second day at Buck’s Lake I took my iPod Touch for a walk around the lake until I found internet access to poach. I must have looked quite out of place with my sunglasses, Kenneth Cole jacket, and iPod sitting on a stump and sending email.

Buck’s Lake is beautiful. The cabin has been in the family for a long time – my mom played in the lake when she was a child. Her first honeymoon was in the cabin.

Over the years, my uncle Parke has significantly altered the cabin: he rotated it 90 degrees to get a better view, he’s expanded it both out the sides and on top.

The first night and day we had Aunt Catherine, Uncle George, and Uncle Parke as company. We built a fire at night and gave Lorenz his first s’mores. His face was smeared with chocolate and marshmallow in no time.

The next night, Uncle Chris arrived with Dad. We had a great visit. It’s a good place to unwind and talk.

Lorenz was unfortunately not so comfortable there. We had a hard time getting him to relax and go to sleep. At one point, Sis and I took him out on the boat. There must have been something about the rumble of the motor, because he went out like a light as soon as we got out in the water. Sis and I put a blanket over him so he didn’t burn and had a nice slow circle around the lake.

We took Lorenz out another time and he stayed awake. This time I took the boat fast, which scared him at first. In no time, he was asking to go faster.

Kellie & Paul's Wedding

2008-06-24T00:00:00-04:00

And now for the big event: Kellie & Paul’s Wedding!

The big debate leading up to the wedding was “Who’s Wearing a Tie?”. Well, shockingly few men wore a tie. Or not so shocking, considering the Everetts. I was one of the few wearing a tie. I had a nice linen suit for summer events, so I figured it would be silly not to wear it to an event in Yuba City. And I wasn’t going to schlep a suit all the way to California and not wear the whole enchilada.

I guess I looked the part of a New Yorker, because several people said to me “Coming to Yuba City from New York must be a big culture shock!” Did I have a wide-eyed blank stare of fear and confusion? I hope not.

The wedding was beautiful. And thankfully the ceremony was not overly long because linen suits do not “breathe” as much as advertised and it was a typical Yuba City day of pounding sun with not a cloud in the sky.

It was a great reception. There’s never quite enough time to connect with cousins and catch-up. I keep thinking there will come a day when I’ll finally get to sit down and hear what people have been doing with their lives, but before you know it, another 5-10 years have passed by.

At Beth & Charlie's

2008-06-24T00:00:00-04:00

For most of the rest of the week, we stayed at Aunt Beth’s & Uncle Charlie’s.

Uncle Charlie has spent most of his life working at John Deere. Hence, there is a LOT of John Deere paraphernalia around the house.

Charlie took Lorenz on a ride on a “gator”. For you city folk, it’s a four-wheeled utility vehicle made by (whom else) John Deere. Here’s more information: http://www.deere.com/en_US/ProductCatalog/GC/category/GC_UV.html. Lorenz went NUTS getting to ride in this. Just about the only two words that he said crystal clear the whole weekend were “marshmallow” and “gator”.

And Lorenz wasn’t the only one. Beth and Charlie’s dog Coda was ecstatic for the ride. And Aunt Catherine’s glee is quite visible as well. Charlie seems to be the only keeping his cool.

You may also notice the fetching pink swimsuit with a frilly skirt and multi-colored daisies. It was the only life vest that Lorenz. He didn’t mind wearing it. We’ll see if he retro-actively minds having worn it when these pictures are shown to future prom dates. Thank god for the internet – these photos may be here for a long time!

A Trip to Yuba City for Kellie & Paul's Wedding

2008-06-24T00:00:00-04:00

In June 2008, Mom, Dad, Sis, Lorenz, and little old me rendezvoused in Yuba City. The event that brought us there was the wedding of my cousin, Kellie Everett (Parke’s daughter). It gave us a chance to visit Buck’s Lake, where Parke has a cabin that’s been in the family for decades, hang out in Yuba City, visit Uncle Scott, and have a good ole Everett time.

You will notice that Aunt Catherine is in more than her fair share of photos. That’s because she’s a ham. Plus, she’s photogenic.

Enjoy the photos.

My First Body Scrub

2008-06-23T00:00:00-04:00

This past week, I decided it was time for a spa visit. My friend Sara insists that I have been sorely lacking in my spa-attending duties, so it was high time I booked myself for an appointment. I had originally thought a massage and a waxing would be a good idea (Yes, yes, men can get waxed too. It really helps cool off for the summer.) I booked an appointment at Nickel (http://www.nickelspanyc.com), which is just a block away.

The day before the appointment, I decided I really didn’t want a waxing. So I decided to try something different, I got a massage followed by a body scrub. I didn’t know what to expect and decided to be surprised, rather than ask anyone what it was like.

The massage was great. It was with a masseur that I had not had before. His name was Omar and he was gargantuan. I had signed up for a sports massage, so I expected him to really work any tension out of my muscles. Mission accomplished.

He did the body scrub as well. He started by putting warm, wet hand towels over my front (I was lying down). Then he poured warm water over the towels. One by one he took the towels away and scrubbed the skin with a loufah. The only area of my skin that was a bit sensitive to the scrubbing was my lower legs. I had a brief moment when he started scrubbing my sides that I was going to break out in ticklishness, but I held my composure. After he did the front, I flipped over and he did the same thing to my back half. At the end, I was covered with soapy water. He showed me my robe, a clean towel, sandals, and pointed me to the shower down the hall.

The treatment is certainly not for people that are drip-phobic. There was water being poured all over the place. A was a big sudsy mess by the end of it. There’s something very child-like to having someone scrub you while you just lay there.

Yes, my skin was soft and smooth afterwards. I would definitely sign up for another one.

Some Hiccups

2008-05-28T00:00:00-04:00

The new blog has been up a while. There’s still no progress on moving over all the old content to the new site. It’s feeling like a herculean task right now.

And I found a few hiccups.

If you browse the site with IE 6, it looks terrible. I make no apologies. UPDATE YOUR BROWSER! I toyed with the idea of putting a big block on the site just for IE6 users to upgrade their browser, but then I figured I didn’t want to waste time making any concessions for IE6. It’s an old browser and it’s not compliant. Everything will look better if you use a newer browser (preferably Firefox).

The other big hiccup that I found is that Google Analytics was not turned on correctly. So I have no idea if anyone actually browsed the new blog pages. And seeing that no on has left a comment yet…well it’s left me in the dark.

Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment if there’s something about the site that’s not working correctly.

My cruelty knows no bounds...

2008-05-05T00:00:00-04:00

I posted this photo as an experiment. Does my mother ever visit my site? My hope is that she starts hearing “nice photo” from her brothers and sisters before she finds this. It is a good photo of Lorenz. And just to help her out, I bumped the date up to something more recent.

Send me an email, Mom, and I’ll be happy to take it down!

I have a slew of photos from our visit to Springfield that I just discovered. Here’s the whole set:

The Great Migration Begins!

2008-05-02T00:00:00-04:00

How many years have I had my old site? I think it’s been at least 8 years. It’s been time for an overhaul for a while now, but the task was much bigger than I could have imagined. I did a quick page count of my site and found several hundred pages that had to be migrated. Some of them I could migrate automatically, but the vast majority would have to be ported over by hand.

This was mainly due to the fact that I had significantly upgraded much of the technology. I wasn’t just copy and pasting text over, I was moving pictures to my flickr account so that it easily went into an automated slide-show, I was re-tagging content, recipes were being put it into a database so that you could easily double or quadruple amounts, etc.

So not all of the content is over yet. Everything that was once under “blog” is moved over. In some cases, I enhanced the blog entry (especially where photos were involved). I’ve only moved over one recipe so far. My next goal is to finish moving over recipes.

And then on to everything under “photos” in my old site. Yuck. I’m not looking forward to that.

The benefit will be a new look and feel, the ability to add comments to any page, enhanced keyword tags, spam-blocking, cool new slide shows, forward-to-a-friend, search-engine-optimized pages, and eventually a section of business and creative work.

I hope you like the site! Let me know what you think or if you find a bug by leaving a comment.

Photography Class

2008-05-02T00:00:00-04:00

I just finished taking a month long photography class. I had been talking to my friend, Tom, about my photography skills. I felt that after I got a high-end DSLR camera, that my photos actually got worse. I had no idea what all the buttons were for. Every time I tried to figure out f-stop and shutter speed, I’d take lousy photos. I really needed a class to get me into shape.

We looked at a few classes in the city. In the end, we took a “Digital Photography Workshop” from NYU. The instructor was Emmanuel Faure (http://www.emmanuelfaure.com/).

The class was invaluable, in that it forced me to understand everything that my camera does and why you would pick particular settings over others. The teacher also gave us a lot of advice on composition, framing, and other artistic ideas.

The latest photos on my site were all done during or after the photography class. I’ve definitely noticed a night-and-day difference. I would occasionally take a good shot before, but now I can hit it with much more reliability. And when I’m not hitting it, I know what I can do to fix it.

This is a photo of our class, taken by the instructor.

Seder at the Adelson / Kloepfer House

2008-04-29T00:00:00-04:00

My photography class got me out of the first night of passover. I made a stunning pistachio macaroon cake for David to take with him (more on that recipe another time).

So, to be a good goyishe husband, I agreed to go to the second night of passover at our friends’ Sara Adelson and Curtis Kloepfer. They have two sons, Jonathan and Joshua. I decided to bring along my new camera. I think I got some good shots in.

I was sitting next to Jonathan. He asked to see the photos and noticed that I had taken a lot of his brother and not many of him. I told him that it’s easier to get a shot of Joshua because he sits still. It worked like a charm.

Eventually, the Wii won out and the kids ended up playing Lego Star Wars instead of finishing the seder.

Dogs & Spring

2008-04-29T00:00:00-04:00

Our front yard has been completely re-done this year. In the past year or so, I put some potted flowers on the front steps. It makes a big difference to come home and see some flowers welcoming you.

I told Benji that he should put some plants in the front yard. So he went all-out and lined the front with boxes and planters, expanded the watering system to take care of the front, and then flooded them with flowers. Our daffodils have been in full force. People have been stopping us on the street to tell us what a wonderful thing we’ve done for the block. I think people in New York really understand the preciousness of making some natural and beautiful in the midst of all the urbanity.

I took the puppies in the front yard for some nice photos.

A Day at the Central Park Zoo

2008-04-29T00:00:00-04:00

Kevin had just started radiation. We wanted to do something special on the weekend. Our plans were to go to the Bronx Zoo, but the weather was not good and neither was Kevin’s energy level. So we decided to go to the Central Park Zoo instead. We invited our friends Bob & Larry.

Jeff happens to know someone that works at the Central Park Zoo, so Nicole got us all in for free, which was nice.

This was my first visit to the Central Park Zoo. It was small, but surprisingly nice.

This was also the debut of Kevin’s blond mohawk. He had decided that if there was a chance that he was going ot lose his hair during radiation, that he was going to go out with a bang.

Sea Foam Cake

2008-02-05T00:00:00-05:00

Whenever Grandma Everett came to visit on my mom’s birthday, this would be the only cake my mom would want for her birthday. The topping was originally put on a sponge cake, but we’ve since changed the recipe to go on an angel food cake. The results are indeed, heavenly. Definitely have enough ingredients to be able to make the crunch a couple of times. It doesn’t always come out on the first try. The leftover crunch makes an excellent topping for vanilla ice cream. This cake does not keep well because the crunch seeps into the whip cream. Be sure to serve within a few hours of putting the crunch on the cream.

Toffee Crunch

1½ cups sugar
¼ cup brewed coffee (or espresso)
¼ light corn syrup
3 teaspoons baking soda.

Combine the sugar, coffee and corn syrup in a large pot. The contents will bubble up considerably, so use as big a pot as you can while being able to get an accurate read on the temperature.

Bring it to a boil over med-high heat. Without stirring, continue to cook the coffee-caramel to 310º.

Remove from the heat, and add in the baking soda. The mixture will foam quite a bit. Keep stirring. Once it stops foaming (about a minute), immediately pour the mixture onto a non-greased cookie sheet with sides. Let it cool completely.

When the coffee mixture is cool, place it in a plastic bag and break into smaller pieces.

The Cake

1 angel food cake, cut into three layers
2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix the cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl until soft peaks form.

Spread the whip cream between the layers and around the entire outside of the angel food cake.

Press the pieces of the toffe crunch into the sides of the cake. Serve within a couple of hours, or the toffee crunch starts to melt in the whip cream.

I’m Not as Much Into You As You Are To Me

2008-02-05T00:00:00-05:00

I wish I had started keeping track of all the calls I’ve been getting from political candidates lately. It was at least five calls yesterday. They’ve all been democratic candidates. It makes me wish I had signed up as a republican, so I could have compared the average republican call to the average democratic call. Although, now that I think of it, why bother. They’re all going to be the same.

The Clinton calls go like this:

This is Hillary Clinton. In my XX years of EXPERIENCE bringing about CHANGE blah-blah-blah CHANGE blah-blah EXPERIENCE.

The Obama calls go like this:

This is Barak Obama. On February 4th, vote for HOPE and CHANGE blah-blah-blah HOPE blah-blah CHANGE

It really seems aggressively anti-substantive. I guess it’s foolish to expect that they could say something of value in a 1 minute recorded voice message. But if they aren’t going to say anything actually relevant or important, why bother me?

The whole thing is making me feel very…used. And creeped out.

I got an email from Obama yesterday that was titled: “One Last Thing…” Did he not get his message in the previous 2 emails he sent me that day? He starting to sound like someone that can’t end a telephone conversation for fear I’ll never call back.

I wish political candidates realized that they should be following dating rules. When you’re in that initial dating phase and you aren’t sure if you’re going to go all the way, you would NEVER call someone that twice in one day! That would sound way too desperate and needy. I would have been happy to have a call on Friday from the candidates that went something like: “Hey. It’s been great getting to know you. I hope we can continue our relationship. Have a great weekend. Call me if your bored.” And then nothing until primary day.

They should let me have some time to sit and think about it, chat with friends at Sunday brunch, etc. The soonest they should call would be the eve of the primaries with a “Happy Primary Day. I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately. I hope you had a good weekend. Think of me at the polls.”

The candidates have crossed over from courting me into stalking me. At this point, I’m looking for anyone that knows how to not sound desperate.

Astrophysicist

2008-02-05T00:00:00-05:00

Okay…just to even out my feelings about gay culture from my last post: here are some clips from a very funny drag queen movie: Girls Will Be Girls.

Am I the Lisa Simpson of Gay Men?

2008-02-05T00:00:00-05:00

One of the hardest things about getting older is that you can’t tell if you’re turning into a grumpy old crank or if you’re just starting to notice how irritating the world actually is.

I just saw this commercial on Comedy Central. I found it offensive on so many levels. The most obvious and irritating thing about the commercial is that they equate meeting people with picking out clothes. They might as well be advertising crystal meth.

And I love the guy that they picked for “smart”. I think I must have very different standards for what constitutes “smart”.

Crash Diet Weekends - pt. 1: Dairy Free

2008-01-11T00:00:00-05:00

David is now traveling every weekend until February. Since I’ve been on a weight-loss kick, I’ve decided to take his absence to try a month of weekend crash diets. Every weekend, I’ll pick a new theme. I should say that some of these are not crash diets but legitimate lifestyle choices. However, they are choices that I never thought I’d make, so I’m trying them out for a weekend since you can stick just about any diet for a weekend.

This is the first weekend and I’ve chosen to give up dairy. If I had a normally bad diet, I don’t think giving up dairy would make a bit of difference, but I’m already on a pretty healthy and restrictive diet, so this is just the icing on the cake. It’s a chance for my system to clean itself out. I tend to think that dairy slows down our digestive system and I think a good part of healthy eating is getting your body to be able to process food faster and more completely. I have also heard that people with dark circles under their eyes have a low-level dairy allergy, so I’m hoping to see a difference in my complexion.

I don’t have a lot of dairy normally, but the dairy that I have is heavily ingrained in my routine, so I had to be able to substitute. For instance, I have milk in my morning protein shake and then my coffee. I’d have to change both of those things. I had tried soy milk several months ago and while I liked the taste, it was definitely not making my digestive system happy. So this time around I’m trying almond milk. I had some last night and was surprised how good the unsweetened kind is. At first it seems pretty watery, but the aftertaste has a delicious, nutty tang to it. So that’s my substitute for milk.

I have recently gotten into a daily dose of yogurt. That’s going to have to be replaced as well. I may try soy yogurt in the hopes that the enzymes in yogurt will balance out the issue of the digestive problems of soy. I’ve also stocked the refrigerator with watermelon, which is another healthy snack that I’ll have in place of my usual yogurt snack.

I think the hard part will be salad dressing. I’ve been getting into salads a lot lately. Even a non-creamy cobb salad has blue cheese in it. I suppose that my salads will have to have oil vinegar dressing for the time being. Anyway, it’s just for a weekend.

I’ll be sure to do another entry next week to discuss any changes with a dairy free diet.

Dramatic Prairie Dog - Where Have I Been?

2008-01-06T00:00:00-05:00

I happened to be served up the following video, which is by definition “cute”, and I highly recommend it. However, what it led me to was the Dramatic Prairie Dog phenomenon. It’s a simple shot of a prairie dog from a Japanese kid’s show, but someone added a dramatic flourish of music. Here’s the original video:

And here are some of my favorite remixes:

The original video:

Saw, the Musical

2007-12-30T00:00:00-05:00

I just saw Sweeney Todd. I loved it. The filming is impeccable. The scenes of 19th century London are stunning. The story is captivating (they made some changes from the stage version that tightened it up).

I had read a review in The New York Times that said that it is as gory as Saw. I haven’t actually seen Saw all the way through, though I think I can safely say that it is not nearly as gory as Saw. In fact, the blood is too bright red to be realistic. It’s meant to be over-the-top Grand Guignol. There are some big gross-out moments, of course, but it’s always in Tim Burton style – meaning that it’s effective, but cartoonish.

The acting is great. The singing is not as good as you’d like, but it’s no surprise. Johnny Depp had a bit of a rock-and-roll flair to his singing, which I expected. He hit the notes better than I was expecting. But his acting is just so good, you have to forgive him.

I had seen a revival of Sweeney Todd last year on Broadway that was excellent. I really shouldn’t compare the two, because there’s no coming close to how talented the cast was in the stage version; however, the movie has one thing that I’ve never seen in a stage version of Sweeney Todd – it’s creepy fun.

I really can’t think of anyone that I wouldn’t send to go see it.

Raw Food

2007-12-30T00:00:00-05:00

My friend, Renee, has been talking about raw food restaurants here in New York. She turned me on to one in particular, Pure Food and Wine. There’s a little blurb on their website describing raw food.

Last night, we were looking for a restaurant to take a kosher friend to and I suggested that we try this place out. They had a sample menu online and everything sounded delicious by the description of things.

Our kosher friend, Sarah, upon hearing that we were going to a raw food restaurant said “Aren’t there a lot of articles about raw food restaurants making people sick?” When we pressed her for more information, it turns out she was talking about a Sex and the City episode.

So we got there and I ordered a cocktail. It was good, but definitely felt light on the alcohol part. They use sake and prosecco for their main alcohol. I don’t know what it is about sake that makes it more organic/raw than other alcohol.

The menu was different than what was on the web, but still as tasty-sounding.

When the food arrived, I was blown away. You would never be able to tell in a million years that there was no dairy – the food was so rich and creamy. I really don’t know how they did the things they did.

Both the appetizer and the entree were extremely good. I was thinking that I might not fill up from eating there and was fully prepared to get dessert on the way home. But halfway through my entree, my stomach said “I’m filling up! Slow down!”

David and I decided to split a sundae for dessert. It was amazing. I never never never would have known that it was vegan. In fact, I preferred it to a regular dairy sundae because I didn’t feel weighed down and bloated from eating it.

Even the kosher doubter had a great meal. She confessed that she was ready to harass me about the meal. But she left with a changed attitude and a happy palate.

My Tired Feet

2007-10-21T00:00:00-04:00

I guess I have to face the fact that I’m not going to have my new site up any time soon. At this point, I think hitting January 15th would be a tough deadline.

So in the meantime, here’s a video of our latest dance performance. Yours truly is the one shaking the finger at the dancer playing the little girl in the beginning. Then I re-emerge later.

This was a great performance. I had a lot of fun because there’s a bit more acting, the choreography was not quite as demanding, and it had a creepy Halloween theme to it.

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

2007-10-19T00:00:00-04:00

Here it is! The truly great chocolate chip cookie recipe. Rumored to me to originally have been the template for the cookies sold by one of those fancy New York Department stores. I can’t divulge my source (mainly because I don’t remember it), but here it is, pared down to workable size for you to enjoy!

In a food processor or blender, combine the following:

2 cup unbleached flour
2 cups oatmeal
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoons baking powder

Process the dry ingredients for 1-2 minutes, or until the oatmeal is ground to a fine powder.

In a mixer, cream the following:

1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar

Add the following and beat on medium high until blended:

2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the batter on low speed. Fold in the following:

12 oz milk chocolate chips (one bag)
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (very optional)

Line your baking sheets with parchment paper and drop the cookie dough onto the paper. Bake as usual, at about 350° for roughly 10 minutes depending on the size of your cookies.

Tomato Sauce w/Meatballs

2007-10-19T00:00:00-04:00

The old family puh-sgetti and meatballs recipe. What kind of Italian would I be if I didn’t have this on my site?

Servings: Feed 4 happily

The Sauce

1 medium onion chopped
1 clove garlic (minced)
1 tablespoon oil
56 oz cans crushed tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ cup fresh basil, chopped

Heat the olive in a skillet or sautee pan. Add the chopped onion. Cook until the onions turn clear, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook just until fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes. Be careful to not let the garlic brown. Add the tomato paste and cook another minute. Add the crushed tomatoes and bring everything to a light boil.

If you have a slow cooker, put the tomato/onion mixture in the slow cooker and add the remaining ingredients. Otherwise, add the remaining ingredients and turn the heat to the lowest possible setting. Cook for as long as you can, at least two hours, stirring occasionally.

The Meatballs

1 lb ground meat (you may want to use half hamburger and half sausage)
1 egg
1 cup breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons parsley
1 clove garlic (minced)
½ teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

Form the meat into small balls. Brown the meatballs in olive oil. Add them to the tomato sauce and simmer. The longer, the better.

Southern Red Velvet Cake

2007-10-19T00:00:00-04:00

I often accuse David of saying “this is the best fill-in-the-blank you’ve ever made”. In the case of this recipe, it was the best batch of cupcakes. I might agree with him this time. They’re incredibly moist and delicious. I made them for 4th of July and put 3 blueberries on top for the red, white, and blue theme. However, you can’t go wrong using these for any occasion.

Servings: 1 3-layer 9 inch cake or 36 cupcakes

Red Velvet Cake

Vegetable oil for the pans
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1½ cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring (1 ounce)
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows
Crushed pecans, for garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Lightly oil and flour 3 (9 by 1 1/2-inch round) cake pans.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In another large bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla.

Using a standing mixer, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and a smooth batter is formed.

Divide the cake batter evenly among the prepared cake pans. Place the pans in the oven evenly spaced apart. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking, until the cake pulls away from the side of the pans, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Remove the cakes from the oven and run a knife around the edges to loosen them from the sides of the pans. One at a time, invert the cakes onto a plate and then re-invert them onto a cooling rack, rounded-sides up. Let cool completely.

Frost the cake. Place 1 layer, rounded-side down, in the middle of a rotating cake stand. Using a palette knife or offset spatula spread some of the cream cheese frosting over the top of the cake. (Spread enough frosting to make a¼ to 1/2-inch layer.) Carefully set another layer on top, rounded-side down, and repeat. Top with the remaining layer and cover the entire cake with the remaining frosting. Sprinkle the top with the pecans.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 pound cream cheese, softened
4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup), softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand-held electric mixer in a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and butter on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to high, and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (Occasionally turn the mixer off, and scrape the down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.)

Reduce the speed of the mixer to low. Add the vanilla, raise the speed to high and mix briefly until fluffy (scrape down the bowl occasionally). Store in the refrigerator until somewhat stiff, before using. May be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days.

Reference: Cake Man Raven Confectionary, NYC

Why There Are No Updates

2007-07-11T00:00:00-04:00

Normally, you can chalk up my lack of recent blog entries to laziness. Well…maybe that’s too harsh. Distractions is perhaps a better word. Anyway, I have a reason this time.

I had written a nice long blog entry about a movie that I had been hunting down on DVD for a long time. It took me about a half hour to write. I click “post” and the browser-busy icon kept spinning. After several minutes, the server timed out and I lost all my work.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened. My blog software is Wordpress, which is pretty good, but it’s PHP running on Windows. My hosting company hasn’t quite worked out the kinks and unfortunately the server hangs from time to time. You would think I would finally get in the habit of writing posts in a separate application so as not to lose any work. Alas, no.

So when I lost that entry, I vowed to re-do my site and put it on a Linux server. The new site is going to be pretty great. It will be divided into three separate sections: Business, Personal, and Creative. The content of the current site will be moved into the “Personal” section.

To make sure that I don’t take forever, I’m telling everyone that the new site will be live by August 15th! Be sure to come back on the 15th for the new site. There will still be a lot under construction, I’m sure, but at least the current site will be completely migrated.

See you back here soon!

Only for the Prurient at Heart

2007-06-11T00:00:00-04:00

A friend sent me this link the other day. WARNING: you really have to have your mind in the gutter to find this funny.

Luckily, that’s where my head is 80% of the time and I laughed quite hardily at almost all of these. I read it a second time after working until midnight. Working late definitely helps put you in the right mood to find this funny.

Top 15 Unintentionally Funny Comic Book Panels

A Summer Breeze…Came Blowin’ In…

2007-05-25T00:00:00-04:00

It appears that summer has hit here in NYC. It was in the 80’s today.

I had to get my hair cut, and I was in one of those crazy moods. I decided to get it totally buzzed. I had been thinking about doing this for a while. I have a lot of friends that have their head shaved or closely buzzed, and I often think that they look best on the first day of the haircut. So I went to a barber and asked for a buzzcut – not completely shaved, but short. And I didn’t look at it until he was done.

And a good thing, too. I had those five minutes to prepare a look of stony optimism to not to reveal to the barter that my world had crumbled on the inside.

I took a glance in the mirror at the end. It looked FAR WORSE than I would have imagined. Somewhere after paying and stepping out of the barber shop, I felt better. I caught a look of myself in the window, and it didn’t look chemo-inspired, it looked military. I looked like a bad-ass.

I went to Whole Foods and no one pointed and laughed. No one came up to ask me what type of cancer I had. The breeze felt fantastic on my head. Why – I may just keep this haircut for a while!

I got home and wondered if the pups were going to sniff my head, wondering what happened. Oz was fine. Gogo took a look at me and went nuts. She got all excited and even gave me TWO KISSES! Maybe girls dig military haircuts.

I was feeling pretty gosh-darn great about the haircut when I took a serious look in the mirror. It’s not good. It’s somewhere in between escaped mental patient and just-got-home-from-the-hospital. I’m hoping in a couple of days it will have grown out enough to be passable. For the time being, I’m going to have to wear a hat – at least when I’m with David.

I was planning on taking a picture for this entry, then chickened out when I tried to take a decent shot. I finally decided to be brave, but so as not to horrify people when this page loads, I’ve hidden the picture.

NOTE: After some consideration, I’ve decided I’m not brave. I took down the photo.

A Furrier Keith

2007-05-14T00:00:00-04:00

David was taking a nap this weekend. He looked over at my side of the bed and Oz was in my exact position – head on the pillow, stretched out on the bed. He was being David’s “Keith Substitute”. So he took a picture with his cell phone.

May I Have Some Privacy, Please

2007-05-02T00:00:00-04:00

As it turns out, there were two people making videos of our Charleston performance at Frim Fram. No one in our troupe knows who took these or how they got posted on YouTube. It’s kinda creepy. Am I being filmed right now without my permission? Probably.

Anyway, this one has a slightly better angle to see the whole dance routine.

Mac Attack

2007-05-01T00:00:00-04:00

I wish I were a stronger man. I wish I had more resolve. I wish I didn’t get obsessed with buying the latest something and then spend my time pining away for it.

Somehow, a few weeks ago, I got obsessed with getting a Macintosh. I think it started with my interest in going open source. As I read programming manuals, I began to notice that the installation instructions for Mac were very brief. Many of them said – “If you have Mac OS X, this software is already on your machine”. I had experimented with putting Linux on my machine, but when I saw how limited the software options were, I ran screaming. No Photoshop? No Illustrator? No iTunes?

Then it dawned on me…now that Mac OS X is built on top of Unix, you get all the benefits of open source development, with commercial software options and a really cool OS.

This started a period where I noticed everything that bugged me about my PC. I started to notice how poor my video and audio playback was on my PC. I would wait forever for the hard drive to finish spinning before the computer would come to life. A couple of weekends ago I tried to set up Drupal (open source content management system) on my home machine. I spent a better part of the weekend and couldn’t make it work. It drove me crazy.

At that point, I was completely decided to get a Mac. It was just a matter of time. I felt like a consumate addict – every morning I told myself that today was really not the best day to get a Mac. Just be patient. Rise above your desires. You still can get everything done that you need to get done. None of it was working.

Eventually I got the call from my pseudo-employer that they would reimburse me for a Mac and the associated software I would need to get. Needless to say, I was off to the store to get my new Mac.

I got a 15", MacBook Pro. I spent extra for the faster processor, more memory, and bigger hard drive. I spent almost as much money on the software as I did on the hardware. By the time I got home, I was giddy with anticipation. I hate to admit it, but the Mac exceeded my expectations. I must have said “that is soooo cool” to myself three times in the first 15 minutes. Some of the cool factors are:

I was trying to figure out where to plug the power cord in, when it leapt out of my hand and into its socket. Why? It’s magnetic! All you have to do is get close to the slot! That way if someone trips over the power cord, the cord slips out of its slot without bringing the laptop crashing down.

As part of the setup, it takes a picture of you to use with your profile.

It automatically finds a nearby wireless connection during startup. It was downloading software updates in no time.

Within 30 minutes, I started to get feel like that Mac snobbery descend upon me. I had become part of the computer elite. I envisioned that all Mac users would someday settle our own planet like a Star Trek colony of peace-loving, creative, intellectuals.

It’s sad that Macs will probably never break the barrier of market share. I think it will always remain a niche product. Maybe that’s not so bad. But I feel bad for all those people out there that are missing out on a super cool computing experience.

And by the way, remember how I spent a weekend trying to get Drupal up and running on my Windows machine and gave up? I had it up and running within an hour on my new Mac.

Aaahhhhh….

We’re Done?!

2007-04-28T00:00:00-04:00

Well, the Charleston performances have come and gone. I had a blast. It was very well received.

It’s sad that I feel like I was just getting it down solidly by the last performance.

And I lost 3 pounds in the last two weeks alone with all of the rehearsal. Why don’t more people dance for exercise? I get better results and have a lot more fun than any exercise machine.

This video was posted less than 24 hours after our performance at Frim Fram. No one knows who recorded it or who posted it.

It’s Showtime!

2007-04-25T00:00:00-04:00

Last night we had our first performance of our Charleston dance routine. It’s been a long 8 weeks of rehearsal and there were times when I was worried that I’d never get the choreography. Then shortly after I got the choreography, I was worried I’d never get it up to the speed of the music. I’m actually at the point now where everything seems pretty manageable, and it’s a matter of everything being sharp and tight.

Technically, last night’s performance was called a dress rehearsal, but there was an audience of about 30 people. I seemed to be the only with jitters, but I think some of the other troupe members were not letting on how much their nerves were affecting them.

The performance went great. The parts that I saw of it looked really hot. And the audience went wild. They started cheering about halfway through the piece and by the end, there was consistent cheering and applauding and by the time we hit our final pose, the audience went wild.

Here’s a shot of the final pose.My face is blocked, but I’m the one in a center with a female on my back.

We have two more performances left:

Thursday, Apr 26th
Frim Fram (412 8th Ave. 4th floor)
We’ll perform at 11:00pm

Friday, Apr 27th
Dance Manhattan
We perform as part of the Guest Night

And one final photo, we bowed as we were being showered with applause.

Lecture Musical

2007-04-21T00:00:00-04:00

This video needs no introduction. Make sure you have the sound at a moderate level.

http://www.prangstgrup.com/lecturemusical/

Your Star Wars Horoscope

2007-04-18T00:00:00-04:00

Nothing exceeds at wasting time like the internet. And I’m glad of it. I recently found these pages that tell you your personality by combining your astrological sign with Star Wars characters.

Star Wars Horoscope for Capricorn

You have a ton of ambition and inexhaustible desire to reach your goals.
You are very loyal, going to great lengths to help someone out.
You are a very social unit, winning the hearts of many with your cute personality.

Star wars character you are most like: R2D2

What Is Your Star Wars Horoscope?

David Reich: Spoiler Alert

2007-04-11T00:00:00-04:00

I am a late new-comer to Lost. I had downloaded it for David’s iPod a while back because I thought he’d like it for travel. It took me a while to getting around to watching it myself (like until I got a video iPod, for starters). I started watching the show recently and really like it so far. I watched the pilot episode on a plane. I must say – that was therapeutic. Watching a show about a plane hitting really bad turbulence and splitting in two while you’re on a plane and flying in turbulence was a new one on me. At one point, I was sucked into the show and watching a moment between two characters right before the crash. Our flight was smooth as well. Then our plane hit turbulence at the exact same moment the show’s plane hit turbulence. I must admit…I made an audible noise.

Anyway…

The other day I commented that I couldn’t figure out which one of the cast members was Michelle Rodriguez. David said that he didn’t know who that was and I explained that I remembered reading news reports that Michelle Rodriguez had been pulled over for drunk driving while in Hawaii filming Lost.

At this point, David could have put two and two together and realized that there’s a major plot point that I hadn’t yet seen. Instead, he blurted out “Maybe she’s one of the people from the back half of the plane”. At which point it became really obvious that there’s a major plot twist coming up involving a bunch of people previously thought dead.

Thanks a lot, David.

I immediately chastised him for revealing something I didn’t want to know about future events and this was his brilliant response: “Well…there are lots of websites with plot spoilers on the web.”

Yes. And I don’t visit them.

I hope that we meet these characters soon, because now this is hanging over me as I watch episodes: when are we going to meet the people from the back half of the plane?

FYI – If you haven’t seen Lost and you were expecting to watch it someday, you shouldn’t have been reading this blog entry.

Yes, Virginia…There is a Spider-Man

2007-04-07T00:00:00-04:00

There’s a certain part of my brain that is eight years old, is happy to be eight years old, and will always be eight years old. For instance, I am eternally grateful that I was eight years old when Star Wars came out. If I had to be born at any time, I’m glad that I was alive to be a kid when those first three Star Wars movies came out.

I have had another one of those moments. For April 30th – May 6th, New York City is having Spider-Man Week in NYC. Be still my geeky heart.

My friend Sara originally told me the news. I simply replied “Every day is Spider-Man day in my head.”

There are banners all over town and in the subways advertising it. Yes, it’s a big corporate marketing event. But at least it’s better than tried to get everyone talking about say, some new fried hamburger from McDonald’s.

I’ve looked at the list of events and sadly I will have to steal someone’s kids to participate in most of them. As an adult, I just don’t think I can run through the Bronx Zoo looking for clues to Spider-Man’s location. Is this why people have kids?

I’ll definitely have to get a shot of the giant inflatable Spider-Man at the Sony store.

And the New York Public Library’s exhibit of never-before-displayed, original Spider-Man comic books at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library sounds somewhat age appropriate.

Really, I’m just hoping to catch glimpses of people in Spider-Man costumes throughout the week.

Your Flight Has Been Re-routed Through Hell

2007-03-28T00:00:00-04:00

We’ve all heard the horror stories of people being stuck in airports for days because their flights were delayed. Somehow, it never really sunk in how bad that would be. I guess it was too far removed from my own experience.

Last week I visited my Mom and Dad in Oregon. Mom just had knee replacement surgery, so I went out to be helpful. Unfortunately, I wasn’t so helpful because I had a major site launch to finish and the day before I went home, I threw my back out. I guess I had not been too careful in terms of sitting in the office chair with good posture – combined with helping Mom move things around the house. So I went to the Portland airport with a bad back, thinking I would be home soon enough and could see someone to help me fix it. Then the following chain of events happened:

The flight was delayed by several hours leaving Portland. I had to connect in Chicago and was worried about missing my connection. They told me that all flights were on hold, so I should make my connection fine.

When we got to Chicago, they put us in a holding pattern.

Then they said that they couldn’t land in Chicago due to weather (it didn’t seem bad at all – a few scattered clouds), so they were going to take us to Indianapolis.

We landed at Indianapolis and they made us sit on the tarmac for an hour.

We got off the plane and stood in line for an hour to get hotel rooms. At this point, it was 1am.

I got to the hotel, which I nicknamed “Hotel de Standing Water”. It smelled of mold, was remote, and had some sort of weird heated indoor pool area from the 1950s. It had the air of some creepy middle-of-nowhere hotel that you see in horror films. I expected to see someone in a halloween mask holding a machete.

Four hours after getting to my room, I got up, showered, and packed.

Stood in line for an hour at check-in.

Waited at the gate for two hours past the departure time. While this was happening, all of the scheduled flights (including one to Chicago!) left on time.

Sat in the plane for another hour. They counted all the passengers 4 times. Apparently they were confused as to how many people were on the flight and couldn’t get the computer to agree. At this point, I was trying to console myself that I might not get home and may have to spend another night in a hotel. I was just hoping that it would be Chicago and not Indianapolis.

Got to Chicago and, of course, the flight to New York was delayed. But only by an hour!

By the time I got home, I almost felt like crying – both from relief and because my back was killing me. Thirty hours of lines, airplanes, and carrying luggage is not the best remedy for back problems. I couldn’t even stand up straight.

Now when I hear reports that people have been stuck in airports for days, I can’t even comprehend what that must be like. It took me about 30 hours to get from Portland, Oregon to NYC and it seemed like an eternity.

I think the lesson to be learned here is to not travel over spring break. I think that was the main problem. The weather was not so bad, but there were so many flights at full capacity that when there was a bit of a delay, all hell broke loose.

Dream Donuts

2007-03-05T00:00:00-05:00

I’m always looking for an excuse to make donuts. I love donuts and I think they’re highly underrated. I want to really experiment with donuts and make some fun ones.

So I’m planning a donut tasting party. I want to come up with several different recipes to try out on people. So here’s what I’m thinking of:

Vanilla Donuts – I’m going to use the family recipe from Grandma Fern

Raspberry Donuts – Same recipe as above, but using raspberry glaze

Pistachio Spice – One of my favorite aspects of donuts is that bread-y, cinnamon, goodness. This recipe will combine middle-eastern spices with pistachios in a cake donut.

Chocolate Banana Cream – I love chocolate and banana together. For this, I’ll make a banana cream to inject in the center of the donut and put chocolate glaze on the outside.

Tangerine Filled – I wanted to do one curd-filled recipe. I keep waffling between tangerine and grapefruit. For this, I was going to use a brioche dough for the donut.

Strawberry Filled – Same recipe as above, but using a jam. Strawberry is the classic filling. Maybe I’ll use blackberry instead since I think it’s an under-rated flavor.

Chocolate Cake – I think I need another cake donut, and I’m missing some chocolate. Maybe I’ll make it Mexican chocolate for fun.

If you have any ideas for flavors, please let me know. I’d love some ideas or feedback on the flavors.

Barney’s: The Haul

2007-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

The Barney’s Warehouse Sale ends in a couple of days. I decided this year to go at the end to make use of any last minute markdowns. In addition to the typically low prices of the warehouse sale, everything was marked down an additional 40%.

[flickr-photo:id=2297298998,size=m]

I got two pants. One is a charcoal denim. The other is a distressed khaki. The khakis were only $23. How could I not get them? I’ll turn them into shorts if I don’t like them.

[flickr-photo:id=2297299176,size=m]

This is a basic Barney’s work shirt. It’s blue and gray striped. Good for David or myself.

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This is a dark charcoal shirt with a hint of red and blue in thin stripes. Very good for a casual night on the town.

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This is a loud, Zegna sport shirt. The fabric is a very wrinkly cotton.

[flickr-photo:id=2296504391,size=m]

This is a Michael Kors shirt that normally retails at $275! I got it for a hell of a lot less. The fabric is very sturdy. The craftsmanship is excellent.

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While I was inline, someone had set aside this Canali linen shirt. I grabbed it. The person behind me in line had his eye on it, so I had to get it before he did.

[flickr-photo:id=2296504585,size=m]

When picking ties for David, I aim for one very safe choice, one choice that is a bit out of his comfort zone, and one tie that I will have a hard time talking him into wearing (but will get a ton of compliments). This is the safe choice.

[flickr-photo:id=2297299746,size=m]

This is the choice just outside of the comfort zone.

[flickr-photo:id=2296504809,size=m]

And this is the tie that will get a ton of compliments when I finally convince David to wear it.

[flickr-photo:id=2297299902,size=m]

This was the most expensive item I bought. A gorgeous Paul Smith shirt. You have to zoom in to appreciate it.

[flickr-photo:id=2297299990,size=m]

And to go with the shirt, I got this unbelievable tie.

[flickr-photo:id=2297300048,size=m]

When I was first looking for ties, I was getting very discouraged. Then I found this tie buried on a rack. It has little blue Krishna’s sewn in! I’ve told David that he can’t wear this tie. It’s MINE MINE MINE!

Charleston Performance Class

2007-02-28T00:00:00-05:00

I signed up for a Charleston Performance class taught by Evita Arce and Michael Jagger. It’s eight weeks of classes. Each class is an hour and a half. There are two performance at the end of the class. Here’s the flier:I had taken classes with Evita before and felt somewhat assured that I’d be able to keep up. But no matter how much you think you’re prepared, it’s quite intimidating to think that you’ll be performing in front of strangers in 8 The decision to go ahead really came down to the fact that this is going to get me in shape better than any aerobics class and it’s going to be a hell of a lot more fun.

We made a significant amount of progress in the first class. Enough for me to realize that I’m not going to flat out embarrass myself when it comes to performance time.

And the music is fun. It’s two pieces: the first is “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise” performed by Rufus Wainright. The second is “Happy Feet” performed by The Manhattan Rhythm Kings.

Since we go through material very quickly, we’re expected to write down the moves after class so that we don’t forget. And it’s amazing how quickly all of it leaves your head. So in the interest of putting this somewhere where I won’t forget, I’m writing down the sequences in my blog. This is going to be absolutely meaningless for the general public, but if there are others in the class that want to compare notes, this is a handy resource.

Charleston Swing Out

Heel Pop

Right foot down, bring follow in

Kick left

Step left

Touch Right

Right Out

Touch Right

Down – prepare to heel pop again

Beginning of Solo Sequence

Two Basics (our group starts on left)

Two flaps

Slide to left

4 steps (turning) and ka-bam

Toes (start out)

Scarecrow (in out in)

Pause pause pause

Scarecrow (out in out)

Pas de veux (start on right)

Kick (left)

Slide to left

Rock step kick (right)

Cross right foot in front, clap hands

Suzie, suzie, suzie

Oscar Night

2007-02-27T00:00:00-05:00

David and I threw a small Oscar night party.

The Oscar’s website had handy download-able ballots that we printed up for guests. We put together a betting pool to see who could see into the collective mind of the academy – $5 per person. I started handing out ballots and a couple of guests got so serious and driven about filling in the ballots that I wondered what I had gotten myself into. I foolishly thought this was for fun. One person entered his dog so that he could fill out two ballots.

I wanted to bake something fun, so I made an old family recipe that I have re-christened Sea Foam Cake. The crunchy gold exterior and the pristine whiteness of the cake felt very “oscarish”.

At the beginning of the evening, David took a clear lead. Everyone felt a bit disappointed – what would be the fun of David winning? He was going to be asleep before the Oscars were over. Luckily, I caught up with David and eventually took the lead for myself. Our friend Jeff was beside himself with competitive envy. At one point, it looked like the dog’s ballot was going to beat out Jeff’s.

All turned out well in the end. The two truly competitive people in the room, Jeff and myself, tied for first. We could all live with that.

Google Analytics (not really) Hacks

2007-02-27T00:00:00-05:00

I’ve been using Google Analytics for myself for quite a while. I generally put it into all the sites I build for clients.

Since it’s driven by JavaScript calls, I figured that there had to be hacks so that you could report on more than just which pages were being visited. Theoretically, you could see if people were getting confused by a particular button, a form entry, anything. I did a search for “Google Analytics Hacks”. I found what I was looking for, except it wasn’t called a hack. The information I wanted is in the Google Analytics support section. That was easy.

The information that I was looking for is right here: http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?answer=27229&topic=2978.

Unfortunately, I don’t really have any need for this on any of my sites now, but it’s good to know it’s there.

Apple: Aggressively Cool

2007-02-24T00:00:00-05:00

I’ve been seeing the new iPod commercials a lot lately. The new song is quite catchy. I thought I’d do a search and see who the band is. I’m never surprised when I don’t know current bands – I stopped being impressed with popular music a long time ago. I barely ever recognize the music acts on Saturday Night Live anymore.

Anyway, the band playing in the iPod commercials is “The Fratellis”. And get this – their albums aren’t even released in the U.S. yet! There’s an EP of some of their songs that you can get on iTunes, but if you want the full CD, you have to wait until March. It’s a band from Scotland and they’ve apparently hit it big out there. According to a reviewer on Amazon, all of their songs are ridiculously catchy. I pre-ordered the CD on Amazon.
How aggressively cool is Apple to select a song for their new iPod commercials using a CD that isn’t even released in the U.S. yet? It’s almost frightening.

Abs-solutely sore

2007-02-21T00:00:00-05:00

A friend of mine has a big event coming up in April and wants to look his best. We often see each other at the gym in the morning, so we decided to work out together to keep us motivated. It’s worked out great. However, I’m sore all the time these days. I think I just went a whole week of going to the gym every day. I’ve had different muscle groups sore every day of the week. I usually go light on a few muscle groups – like back or legs. Having someone else there makes sure that I hit everything equally hard.

And the best part of having a workout partner is having two person abs exercises. I’ve pulled out a few abs exercises that trainer used to have me do. I find that what I don’t like about most abs exercises is that you have to push yourself to get the most out of the time. Having a two-person exercise with someone that’s a little mean-spirited and competitive actually makes it easier to do abs.

So here are two exercises:

The exerciser sits on a decline bench (knees are at the top) and sits up

The trainer stands behind the person and hands the exerciser a medicine ball on the left side

The exerciser, holding the medicine ball, twists and hands the medicine ball back to the trainer on the right side

The trainer then hands the ball back to the exerciser on the left side

Repeat

This one is really good for oblique muscles. The twisting motion combined with the medicine ball makes it a great workout. Be sure to switch sides on the next set (right to left).

The other one is really diabolical:

The exerciser lays down on a mat

The trainer stands over the exercisers head or chest

The exerciser, keeping legs totally straight throughout the exercise, raises their legs

As soon as the legs are perpendicular to the floor, the trainer pushes the legs out and down forcefully

The exerciser, has to stop their legs from hitting the floor, and so need to use their abs to put on the brakes

As soon as the legs are up again, the trainer pushes them down

Repeat until the screaming starts

It’s not so much painful as it is infuriating because it’s so easy for the trainer to push the legs down. I guarantee you will be sore the next day from doing these.

Carbonite - Cheap Online Backup

2007-02-19T00:00:00-05:00

Once upon a time, I bought a copy of Winzip. This is before the days that zipping was built into the Windows OS. Occasionally, I get promotional email from them and I’m too lazy to unsubscribe. Well, I’m glad I haven’t, because I got an email from them about a new service.

The company is called Carbonite, and they perform online backups of your system. They offer $49 a year for unlimited backup space.

I tried the service for free for 15 days. It took almost all of that time to finish backing up all the files, but now they’re there. The install didn’t take long. It took me a few minutes of reading instructions to figure out how to tell it what to back up. I kept looking for a dialog within the application to specify what to back up, but it’s integrated with Window explorer – so you specify it by browsing files. There’s a toolbar icon that tells you if it’s idle or if it’s actively backing up files.

I’ve had an external hard drive for performing backups, but that doesn’t protect me if the house should burn down (knock on all wood present). I have periodically looked for an online backup solution, but could never find one that was worth the price. However, $49 per year is something I’d happily pay for the peace of mind of having files backed up.

Os Mutantes

2007-02-17T00:00:00-05:00

Last summer, we went on a canoing trip with some friends. On the ride back, my friend Jeff was listening to my favorite iPod songs and commented that I would probably enjoy a Brazilian band: Os Mutantes. Later on, he sent me an mp3 file of one of their bigger hits “A Minha Menina”. It was psychedelic, pop fun, so I got their “Best of” CD, “Everything is Possible”. This launched a huge Os Mutantes obsession for me. They have been my go-to band on my iPod for months now. They even helped me with my fear of flying!

I recommend skipping “Everything is Possible” and going right to the actual CDs. There are fantastic songs that didn’t make it to the best-of compilation. And “Everything is Possible” has about a third of each of their first two CDs. It’s more fun to go right to the source material.

Start with their first CD “Os Mutantes”. You might recognize some of the songs. I had heard “Bat Macumba” before from “The Nuggets” boxed set. And “Baby” rang some far and distant bell, but I couldn’t tell you for sure if I had actually heard it before or if it’s just one of those songs that feels familiar. There’s plenty more on the CD to enjoy. There were certain songs I didn’t connect with at first, but then started sounding like pop icons on subsequent listenings.

Next on the list is “A Divina Comédia”. This is my current favorite album of theirs. It feels like a concept album, but since I don’t speak Portuguese, I can’t tell you if there’s any cohesion to the lyrics. I found some sites that translated their lyrics, but they made even less sense in English. This album ends with two great songs that feel like a descent into pop madness. I was listening to this on a very turbulent flight over Spain one day. My fear of the turbulence completely disappeared. I tried listening to this song on other bumpy flights and it still works. There’s something about the infectious madness of the music that puts me totally at ease.

I describe Os Mutantes to friends as The Beatles of Brazil. I don’t know if that’s really apt, but there is something about the psychedelic pop nature of them that feels very similar. And they certainly smoked enough pot…

Guinea Pigs: A New Comic Book

2007-02-17T00:00:00-05:00

Sitting on my desk, is a completely finished copy of my first comic book: Guinea Pigs. For a while, I changed the title to “The Four Last Things”, but I think there’s something fun and weird about “Guinea Pigs”, so I’m keeping it for the time being.

It’s a horror story about a group of children that were involved in an experiment at an amusement park many years ago. I won’t go into a lot of detail about it here.

So it sits on my desk and I’m trying to work up the nerve to put it into a submission package to send to publishers. For some reason, this is the hard part. Actually, getting the comic book drawn, inked, colored and lettered was easy. I hired people to do the drawing and coloring. I did the lettering myself. Now I’m frozen in anticipation of sending it out. How do I package it for editors? Who should I send it out to? Should I include a box of cookies with the submission? Should I follow it up with phone calls to talk to them about it in depth? It feels like I’m just throwing a note in a bottle into the ocean in the hopes that someone stumbles across it.

Well, while I ponder these questions and tasks, I thought I’d post the first few pages of it. The color got a little washed out when I exported the images to JPG. Try to see past that. Here are the first 6 out of 22 action packed pages!


Page 1	Page 2	Page 3


Page 4	Page 5	Page 6

Gogo the Snorer

2007-02-16T00:00:00-05:00

I never knew that dogs could snore so loudly. I’m in the kitchen watching TV. At one point, the sound got a little soft. Not silent, just soft. I heard the gentle sound of snoring. It was Gogo who was in the other room, underneath the piano, curled up asleep. I thought snoring was just for dogs with shortened snouts – like pugs or bulldogs. I’ll have to go wake her up and tell he how cute she is.

The Spammers Are Here! The Spammer Are Here!

2007-01-23T00:00:00-05:00

I occasionally bemoan the fact that my website is not more popular. God knows why. Do I feel like I should be getting the attention of people that I’ll never meet? I have fantasies that I’ll someday get a comment from someone I don’t know – something along the lines of:

We’ve never met, but I ran across your blog a few months ago and I’ve been reading every day since. I just want to let you know that you have one of the most interesting blogs I’ve ever seen.

The fantasy sort of goes along the lines of a typical New York fantasy, that as you pass by a production team filming a movie, that you hear the director shout “That man over there is PERFECT for our film! Someone get him a script!”

Well, I can say that I’m one step closer to my blog dream: at least the spammers have found me.

I have a plug-in on my blog called Akismet which stops spammers from putting comments in your blog like links to Viagra or cheap loans. For months, not even the spammers bothered with me. But with the new year, I’ve all of a sudden been discovered by them. Akismet has kept them out, but it’s nice to now that I’m gaining some level of popularity.

Visits from the Open Source Angels

2007-01-20T00:00:00-05:00

Some angels visited me in a dream and told me to get off my Microsoft high horse. They told me to go to http://www.rubyonrails.com. I think I may have seen the light. I was getting really tired of the .NET framework being either ridiculously high-level with widgets that made your page look and act like a dorky .NET site or ridiculously low-level where you had to write a bunch of code for pretty standard database/middle-tier transactions. In this day and age, why should developers have to hand-write the code for moving simple form data to and from business objects and then to the database? It was all just seeming really tedious. Ruby on Rails (at first glance) does an excellent job of managing all that tedious code so you can write relatively clear, readable logic.

So after getting excited about open-source web development, that led me down the obvious path of full open source-ness: Linux, mySQL, Ruby on Rails. Or perhaps just go buy a Mac which has Ruby on Rails installed already. I started to investigate Linux about a year ago and when I got to the part of the article that said: “the hardest part is tracking down all the Linux drivers for your computer” – I ran screaming. I know that you can get Ruby on Rails and mySQL on Windows, but I did that for PHP and I get an error on my server every time I have to use it.

I was able to create a Virtual PC and installed Linux (I used Ubuntu), mySQL, and Ruby on Rails (this article was indispensable: http://www.rubyrailways.com/getting-ruby-on-rails-up-and-running-on-ubuntu-dapper/). I have yet to make a custom project with it, but it was actually not as hard to get going as I thought. I think I may make a dual boot on my machine. My install of windows is feeling really bloated and sluggish lately. If I really do switch development over to RoR, I may consider getting a Mac for my next machine. The Mac OS has RoR installed by default.

I toyed with learning PHP, but everytime I looked at it, I hated it. It really seems like it’s a major step backwards in terms of good development tools, intelligent language, etc. But it turns out that most major interactive web sites are built using PHP these days.

Anyway, I was seriously considering an Apple for my next machine, when I was cured by reading this article: http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008631.html.

Wedding Photos?!

2007-01-19T00:00:00-05:00

You know how you have those things that you think “I should really do that thing” and you just never get around to it. And eventually that thing reaches some ridiculously late point of completion. And your procrastination almost becomes fascinating to watch. You begin to wonder “will I ever accomplish that task?”

Well…our wedding photos have been sitting in the library for almost 4 years now. We had a set of proofs and all the negatives. For some reason, the black and white proofs were very washed out. The photographer insisted that it was the proofs – not the negatives that were washed out. Anyway, I knew that I wanted to get digital copies of everything, so I had a task on my to-do list for years that said “wedding photos” – meaning that I should scan the proofs and post the photos. I did one page one day and realized that it was going to takes hours and hours of tedious scanning to transfer the proofs to digital copies. I tried all sorts of mantras to motivate myself: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Nothing worked.

I finally just took the negatives to a photo store and had them transferred to CD. It was expensive, but at least it was done. So I posted the photos to a Flickr set. You can view them here:

Keith & David’s Commitment Ceremony

Extras

2007-01-19T00:00:00-05:00

For those of you that have never heard of it, “Extras” is a TV show produced by HBO (http://www.hbo.com/extras/). It’s co-written, co-directed, and starring Ricky Gervais who was the writer, creator, and star of “The Office”.

I have to admit, I saw a few episodes of the original UK production of The Office and never really got into it. It had it’s moments, but overall it felt to realistically sad and mundane for me. Perhaps I was just spending too much brain power getting past the accents to process the humor. I tried watching the first episode of “Extras” and found it a little funnier, but you really had to pay attention. For some reason, I kept with it. If I didn’t really enjoy an episode, I’d wait a while and watch it again in a couple of weeks. It was usually funnier the second time around.

They just started the second season and the season opener was one of the best episodes of a comedy I’ve ever seen. Not only did it have several “bust a gut” moments, it was oddly sad and touching without being depressing.

They usually feature at least one major star in each episode playing themselves. The first season had Kate Winslet, Ben Stiller, Patrick Stewart and a bunch of UK stars that I didn’t recognize. Episode 8 features David Bowie and he is amazingly funny. I had to watch the episode again the next day because I couldn’t get it out of my head.

I highly recommend the show. If you don’t immediately get into it, give it a few more tries. You have to actually watch it – not have it in the background while you do something else.

Resolute

2007-01-17T00:00:00-05:00

I just looked at my blog page. My last entry was November 19th? Yikes!

New Year’s has passed and I have made three resolutions for the new year, along with a bunch of minor ones. The big ones are:

Get a comic book published

Get more consulting work

Get my weight down to 185

And one of the minor ones is: a blog entry a day. So here I am. Part of the “blog entry a day” resolution is understanding that blog entries don’t have to be major revelations – just little notes about books read, movies, seen, etc. I think I got myself into a habit that every blog entry had to be a novella. Well – no more!

So for resolution, #1, I am a few pages away from finishing the lettering on my first comic book. It’s a horror story with a title that keeps changing. The current title is “The Four Last Things”. The artist did an amazing job. And I’ve learned a lot by doing the lettering myself. There were times when I changed the dialog to fit both the panels better or to better match the flow and characterization. So once that is done, it’s time to send it to publishers. Yikes. I am dreading that.

And I have a second comic book that is being penciled now. The artist is about a third of the way through it. So that one has a ways to go yet. It’s more action/comedy and I suspect I’ll have an easier time getting it published.

For resolution #2, I have a couple of strong leads for more work. I should really set some goals for myself in this category so I can track progress and make changes when things aren’t going according to plan.

For resolution #3, this is going to be a tough one. I’ve been lifting weights a lot lately which means the scale has not budged. I’ve been getting compliments from people about looking better, so I should pay attention to the spirit of resolution #3 and not so much the actual weight. I think a big part of that one, though, is finding more outlets for aerobic activity. I go dancing which is fun and a great way to burn calories, but it’s hard to find the time to go enough. We shall see.

What are other people’s resolutions for the new year?

Pea Soup

2007-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

2 tablespoons butter

1 onion (chopped)

200 grams goose breast (chopped)

2 – 3 stalks celery (chopped)

500 grams whole peas

4 cups water or broth

1 cup cream (optional)

Add the celery, peas, and broth. Boil for 20 minutes.

Puree the soup until it is smooth but still has bits of whole peas and celery.

Add the cream and serve.

Cranberry and Port Wine Chutney

2007-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Servings: Serves 10

2 cups fresh cranberries, washed and picked over
2 oranges
1½ cups sugar
2 sticks cinnamon
¼ teaspoon all spice
½ cup port wine
½ cup red currant jelly

Cut the rind of 1 orange into a fine jullian or fine match-sticks. Simmer in water 2-3 minutes. Drain.

In a sauce pan, combine the juice of both oranges, jelly, wine, sugar, cinnamon sticks and all spice. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the cinnamon sticks and add the cranberries and orange-rind.

Bring to a full rolling boil until berries pop, 10 – 12 minutes, then cool.

Cheese Popovers

2007-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Servings: 12 popovers
1½ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup half and half
½ cup whole milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup cascaval or grated gruyere cheese

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 300º.

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and make a well. Beat the eggs, add the milk and half-and-half, and butter in a spearate bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix to combine.

Grease a tray of muffins. Pour the batter in the tins. Spinkle the tops with cheese.

Bake for 30 – 40 minutes.

Real Estate Trevails

2006-11-18T00:00:00-05:00

Well, good news and mixed news.

On Wednesday, I closed on a condo in Memphis Tennessee. It’s a property I found through the infamous Mr. Rosenberg. He’s had friends snatching up real estate in a development for the past few years, so it was my turn to get a piece. It’s managed by a company that we know and trust, so there’s very little to do. And since it’s so cheap, I paid all cash for it. I’ll get a nice little check every month for it.

I had other good news earlier this week. I saw a building in Park Slope, Brooklyn – before a listing agreement was even signed. It was on the nicest block out of the buildings that I had seen, was in the best condition, and was a 4-unit building instead of the typical 3-unit, and was rented out. The owner needed money to sell it to start building a hotel in Park Slope. It was significantly under-priced, and I jumped on it. Well, as most things that are too good to be true, it had a problem lurking under the surface. Once the lawyer started putting together the contract, we found that it was a “single room occupancy” building – not a 4 family. That’s bad. It’s very similar to having a rent controlled building. It’s hard to get a mortgage for an SRO, and there’s no guarantee that you could ever change the certificate of occupancy to a 4-family unit. If you could change it, then the sky’s the limit, but it’s not a gamble I’m willing to take right now. I decided that if the seller hid this from me when I saw it, that it’s a sign to walk away from the deal.
So we’re somewhat back to the drawing board. My broker took me to a place in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. We’re preparing to put an offer in on it. The first floor is totally renovated and the top two floors are full of students from the Pratt Institute. The rent is good and Fort Greene is a great neighborhood. The students are apparently being difficult about letting prospective buyers into the top two units. Personally, I’m very happy that they’re being difficult, because it scares other buyers away and doesn’t really worry me all that much.

Green Tea Chocolates!

2006-11-10T00:00:00-05:00

For some reason, I decided that I wanted to make chocolates this year to give out to friends and co-workers. I’ve done some small experiments over the past couple of years with molded chocolates. They turned out reasonably well. But what I really wanted to do was to use chocolate transfer sheets to create designs on the tops of the chocolates. Transfer sheets are essentially colored chocolate printed onto acetate in a particular design. When you put melted chocolate on the transfer sheet, it transfers from the sheet to the chocolate.

Next up was to decide on flavors. I got the idea of doing different flavors representing different parts of the world. I brainstormed with some people to come up with the following list:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pVD2fWJVXvHmhdP2RUVo3MQ

So now I’m testing the difficult recipes in preparation for the final production. The first difficult one was “Green Tea”. I went to an Asian grocery store and got powdered green tea. Here’s a picture of how they turned out:

And I must say, they taste great. I was worried that I put in too much powdered green tea, but the outside of the white chocolate blends nicely with the filling. It’s excellent.

I think my next test will be the Brazillian – passion fruit and guava. I can’t decide if I should make a white chocolate based filling like I did with the green tea or whether I should try a fondant filling.

Applicious

2006-10-24T00:00:00-04:00

Friends Kevin and Jeff invited me to go apple picking. I had never been. People talk about it all the time here in the Northeast. I sort of viewed as some quaint attempt to stay in touch with nature. On the west coast, most people either have an apple tree on their property or know someone that does. The idea of going out to pick apples always struck me as a bit silly. However, a fall day spent driving out to the country to hang out in an orchard sounds like a day well spent to me.
We went to a place called “Outhouse Orchards” in Westchester. Jeff said that it was not initially named after an outhouse. It had a Dutch name originally that sounded like “outhouse” that eventually morphed into the English. Jeff and I were both skeptical of that explanation.

Kevin had directions printed from Mapquest. The way to the orcahrd turned out to be very straighforward, but you would never know that from the Mapquest directions. We took a total of 4 wrong turns, each one put us about 10 minutes out of the way. I was starting to lose my sense of humor on the final wrong turn. But once we got there, all of our mis-steps were forgotten.

Jeff got us three 1/2 bushel bags and we headed up a hill to the orchard. Once I got my bearings, I let the dogs off leash. They mostly stuck with us, sniffing and inquisitive. Eventually, they got comfortable and so started to wander away a bit more, so I put them back on leash for a bit. Once they calmed down, it seemed safe to let them off leash again. As soon as I did, they both took off running as fast as they could without looking back. They were heading towards some people that had entered the orchard with kids. I had to get them back on leash. Oz was relatively easy to get back, but Gogo totally disappeared from view. Kevin helped in the hunt and he found her. He said she was quite proud of herself for getting so far away. I had an apple as we were walking around. I have to admit, they were delicious – much better than anything you get at a grocery store.
We finished picking apples with the dogs on leash and headed back to the storefront. There were goats, geese, ducks, chickens, roosters, and rabbits on the property. Gogo and Oz were a bit tentative at first, but then decided they wanted a chicken.

Kevin and Jeff picked out a couple of pumpkins to take home and a homemade pie. We also got some homemade donuts for the trip home.

Getting home was relatively easy and uneventful. The pups passed out and didn’t make a peep until we pulled into Chelsea.

I guess now seeing how much I enjoyed it made me realize that I do live in the Northeast and I don’t have a lot of opportunities to hang out on a farm. And the puppies always enjoy the chance to run free in nature for a bit, as long as they can come home to a warm house and The New York Times chair.

It’s the Most Mommie-less Time of the Year

2006-09-13T00:00:00-04:00

We live next to a children’s nursery and it’s that time of the year when school starts. Which means for the next week or two, from eight to eight-thirty, I listen to the sounds of inconsolable children crying for mommy from the neighbor’s backyard. Their suffering is bottomless. Most of the time it’s a constant moan or wailing. Every now and then, one of them does a “I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE” sound. It goes on for so long, I can’t help but laugh. I don’t find their suffering funny – I find their vehemence funny. Some of the people that work there are trying to get a game of “Duck Duck Goose” going or trying to teach the kids a song. I think some of the kids are totally fine saying goodbye to Mommy and Daddy, but they are outweighed by the loudly inconsolable right now.

My favorite mourner was from a couple of years ago. There was a kid that, for two solid weeks, spent every morning for a half hour crying “I WANT MY MOMMY. I WANT MY MOMMY. I WANT MY MOMMY.”

I mentioned something about the kids to the nun next door. Something like, “Boy, the kids sure don’t like the first week.”

She said, “The children get over it soon enough. The parents never get over it.”

Ouch!

Hallelujah! Knees are fixed!

2006-09-08T00:00:00-04:00

On Tuesday, it will have been six weeks since Gogo had her knee surgery. By the end of six weeks, the scar tissue is supposed to be in place and the majority of the healing is over. It was time to take her to the doctor to see if the latest surgery was successful.

I couldn’t help but let my mind wander to what we would do if it wasn’t successful. This has been the second surgery on the same knee and Gogo’s third knee surgery overall. The recovery is awful. I feel terrible for Gogo, I have to carry her up and down stairs, I have to watch her like a hawk, and Oz doesn’t get all the long walks that he wants. David had said that if this surgery wasn’t successful, he didn’t want to try again. I definitely see where he’s coming from, but it would have been a hard call for me to make – especially if we saw her condition worsen over time again.

So it was with great anxiety that I took Gogo to see her surgeon, Dr. Fusco today. Well, good news, he said that the position of the knee is perfect! Yeah!

He said that we could increase activity, but to be on the safe side, don’t do anything outrageous for another six weeks. He checked both knees and they both felt great.

I can’t tell you what a huge relief it was to hear. I feel like a humungous burden has been lifted.

Please, God, please let that be the end of poor Gogo’s surgeries.

Internal Frame

2006-08-30T00:00:00-04:00

Over the past year or so, I’ve been making a fair number of changes to my diet: eating healthier, trying to eat a greater variety of foods, not baking extravagant desserts, and eating less red meat and more fish. Although I felt better, I didn’t lose any weight.

For exercise, I had been taking swing dance lessons, but not really at a level that would cause a major aerobic revolution. I had been staying away from exercise machines because they’re boring and I always have a joint ache somewhere in my legs after all of that repetitive movement. I had also been taking yoga once or twice a week.

The past few weeks, I all of a sudden hit a big revolution. At the suggestion of my coach, I started lifting weights. I have had a personal trainer on and off – some good and some not so good. I once had the same personal trainer for about two years. Although I gained a lot of weight in muscle, I never lost as much fat as I wanted. My appetite would go through the roof after a workout. I’d feel like I literally couldn’t eat enough. Plus, I never really liked going to the gym with my trainer. It was hard! I felt as if I was always on the border of getting an injury and I was constantly sore and stiff. To counteract all of that, my coach (who was a dancer and also practices Feldenkrais) gave me some activities to do to warm up my joints to avoid an injury. He also gave me a solid plan for working out that:

Does not require hours a day at the gym

Involves only three weeks of intense work outs followed by 9 weeks of maintenance

Gives me a framework for what to accomplish and leaves room for some creativity so I don’t get bored.

We also did some NLP work to help me get the best results from a workout.

I was quite surprised how quickly the changes took place. Within a couple of weeks, I could feel the difference and was getting compliments. However, the runaway appetite problem re-emerged. Which launched me on to my big discovery: portion control.

My coach had been talking about portion control for a while, but he really brought it home to me with a discussion of “internal frame” vs. “external frame” vs. “false internal frame”. Let me try to summarize.

An “internal frame” is when you have your own set of standards, criteria, guidelines, processes, etc. on a particular subject. An “external frame” is when you find those things through an outside source – like a subject matter expert. And a “false internal frame” is when you think you have an inner set of standards, but really it’s coming from somewhere else.

There are a lot of different ways that I could compare this to my personal experience. I think baking makes a good analogy. I spent many years putting myself through my own little “baking school”. For instance, learning how to make croissants. The only thing I had in terms of an internal frame was that I knew how my own perfect croissant should taste, feel, and look like – but I didn’t know anything about ingredients or technique. It took a few tries before I could internalize that process enough to say “I know how to make croissants”. Now I have those skills and standards and I’m not looking for someone else to show me how to do it. Another good example is when I went through a macaroon phase last year. I made macaroons incessantly and tested about 10 different recipes. I made my own adjustments to the recipes, I learned how to make the recipes work with ingredients I knew I could easily get and with my own kitchen equipment. I now “know” how to make macaroons and I know how to judge whether they turn out well.

This also applies to computer programming. I “know” when I’ve written something sloppy and when I’ve written something solid and I have the skills to get me there. For a while, I didn’t, so I read books and took advice from mentors until I could internalize that process.

So when it comes to eating, I see now where I hit a lot of limitations in diet. First of all, there’s so much “diet” information out there that’s just a list of foods to eat to lose weight without any regard for a maintainable and healthy way of eating (such as the Atkins or Scarsdale type diet books). I could never really internalize what I learned from those sorts of diets because they weren’t anything that resulted in day-to-day food strategies.

Secondly, I have a lot of “false internal frames” about diet. I think they’re part of my own process, but really, they come from some outside source. For instance, I went to pick up fish for David and me recently. I almost always say to the fish monger “2 of your larger steaks” or “2 good sized steaks”. And my thinking behind that was always, “David and I are men and larger than average, so we should be eating larger portions.” When I saw that thought for what it was – an false internal – I ordered one steak and split it in two after I cooked it. It still ended up being too much food, but not by much.

I should say that this discussion came after I had spent a couple of months checking in with myself as I was eating. I was no longer aiming for “full”, I was aiming for “not hungry” or “sated”. It’s amazing how much sooner one can feel satisfied with food when you stop aiming for “full”. The combination of my own empirical research and discussion of “internal frame” completely transformed my diet. All of a sudden, I was in charge of my diet. I know what I should be doing and take as much care with it as I would if I were programming or baking. I know how much I should be eating. There was no more guess work or feelings of guilt or doubt. Even if I have dessert, I never have enough food to cause a lot of damage. And the weird thing is, I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself at all.

So the new rules are:

Decide on the correct portion before you start eating

Eat fresh veggies and salads first (they help you fill up)

Eat only until you’re no longer hungry

If the part of you that wants to over eat seems to be winning the battle, envision everything else on the plate as animal fat (because that’s what it will become)

When you get hungry again, eat!

So far, clothes are much looser, but the scale hasn’t gone down. That’s to be expected because I’m gaining muscle from lifting weights. I’m trying to patiently wait for the day that someone that doens’t know I’ve been trying to lose weight looks at me and says “oh my god, you look great”!

Does Ambien Make You Stupid?

2006-08-28T00:00:00-04:00

The answer: yes.

My sister got me a Kakuro book a few weeks ago. It’s a more complicated version of Sudoku that involves some basic math skills. I was very glad to get it as Sudoku was becoming quite boring.

Anyway, I took an Ambien for the flight to London, although I only slept for a couple of hours. The rest of the time I tried playing Kakuro. And I played some that night at the hotel. In a day’s worth of travelling, I could only finish three games. On each game, I made at least one mistake and I eventually screwed up the puzzle so much I had to abandon it unfinished.

The next day we flew from London to the Czech Republic. In a matter of a couple of hours, I finished three puzzles without any errors.

Yikes.

Stay away from drugs, kids.

Practicing Fun

2006-08-25T00:00:00-04:00

I had been stuck on my latest writing project. I spent a couple of months working together act breakdowns, scene breakdowns, character analyses, etc. I had all the pre-work done and ready to go, all I had to do was starting actually writing. I kept putting it off. So clearly something was wrong. I told myself that after I get the first couple of pages out, I’ll get over my “fear” of writing and the rest will flow easily. I got myself to agree to only write 2 pages – to help me get over the initial hump. Those two pages came somewhat easily, then there was another delay. I found myself putting off work on writing.

My next strategy was to set aside one hour in which I could work uninterrupted. I did some NLP exercises to clear disctractions. I realized that I had a goal in my head that the writing had to be “good”. I told myself that was ridiculous – it was a first draft for a whole play. The only goal is to get the whole structure down on paper. How could I expect to write in the wonderful details if I couldn’t get my hands around the whole thing first? The deal I made with myself was that I had one hour to work. I didn’t have to accomplish anything, but I wasn’t allowed to be distracted. No checking email, no practicing piano for “just a couple of minutes”, no checking the news. I was allowed to do whatever I wanted as long as it had to do directly with the script.

That went well and I got a few pages out of that hour of work. Then there was another several days where I could feel the act of working on the script turn into a “chore”. Try as I might, I couldn’t make the writing come any easier.

Then today, it hit me as I was practicing piano. I was working on Bach’s Invention No. 4 and trying to get the last quarter of it. I kept thinking about the words of my piano teacher, Robert Cowie, that if you practice a piece in frustration and tension, you will have a hard time getting that out of your playing when you have learned the piece. It’s much better to make the practicing easy so that you always have an experience of enjoyment and ease as you learn the piece. Ah…sage advice.

So today, the goal was to make writing fun! Make it easy! If I’m belaboring the writing, then only write the subtext. Write nonsense. Let the characters have emotional outbursts. Do whatever it takes to have fun.

Now that made a difference.

The End of the Good Puppies

2006-07-26T00:00:00-04:00

Up until yesterday, Gogo and Oz had been great on the island. I could let them off leash without any fear of them running away.

That ended yesterday.

I had noticed that they were starting to wander a bit further away from me on our walks, so for our afternoon jaunt, I had decided to go through a path that’s not usually travelled. It’s open, sandy, and has little bushes and trees along the edge. They were great at first, a bit slow in fact – smelling every little leaf. Then they found something off the path that they liked and checked it out. I tried to keep walking hoping that they would notice me gone and follow. It didn’t work. I wandered back to where they were, and they kept sniffing and wandered farther away. I tried various games to get the them to behave. None worked. Eventually, I got them back and put them on a leash.

I felt a little foolish because when I looked around, I saw that they hadn’t really wandered far at all. They don’t know the difference between walking on the path and wandering around the bushes. And no one was around. What’s the worst that could happen? I let them off-leash again in the same area.

As I’m sure you can guess, this time they really took off and in opposite directions. I was fine until Gogo climbed up over a hill and disppeared. I waited for a minute for her to come bck, but she didn’t. I ran up the hill and looked for her. There was a large grassy field, two more hills, and no Gogo. I panicked. Oz was in the opposite direction. I decided to try to get Oz first, since he was closer. Luckily, he cooperated. I put the leash on him and took him to where Gogo had last been spotted. I couldn’t see a trail of her foot prints anywhere. Oz picked up her scent immediately and started pulling me, although we still didn’t find her for a couple of minutes. She was on the beach, sniffing some seaweed and looking calm and happy.

Okay, so lesson learned. The dogs have gotten brazen in their explorations.

This morning, I was having brekfast at the house. There’s a big deck in the back that the pups had been laying on to suin themselves, so I always leave the back door open. When I called them inside, Oz was nowhere to be found. I calmed my rising panic and started calling for him. It turns out that he wasn’t far – just the neighbor’s yard. He had squeezed through an 8 inch space behind the tool shed to get there. But he was having trouble getting back. He couldn’t make it back and had somehow ended up in the stagnant swamp underneath the house and needed help clearing some old wood. I helped him the best I could, but it mainly came down to his determination to jump. His legs were covered with black swamp water. I hosed and dried him off.

I know I’m going to be tempted to take them off leash, but no more. They are now untrustworthy.

Acclimating to Island Life

2006-07-25T00:00:00-04:00

Gogo, Oz, and I are in day 4 of our week out on the island.

David and Rodrigo joined us on the first night and day, then our friends Kevin and Jeff came for the next two days. I really appreciated the company, because it took me a while to adjust to island life. Also, I like their company.
The cell phone reception in the house is spotty, there’s no land line for phone, and there’s no internet connection in the house. It’s kind of a blessing because it gives me the isolation that I wanted, but I have to admit that it’s a little more isolated than I was expecting.

The first couple of days, the dogs were a bit on edge. They didn’t sleep so well because they were growling at all the strange noises. Every time they hit the beach they ran around and played non-stop. Last night was a shift: they slept thorugh the night, didn’t wake me up, and when we walked on the beach, they primarily just trotted along. I think they finally got their “crazies” out.

So we’ve finished the phase of the vacation that’s fun, running on the beach, walking to the pines, being social, etc. Now we’re relaxed and ready to get some reading and writing done.
It’s odd that it really takes a while for one’s head to unclench and enjoy the lack of responsibility and schedule.

Some Bad News

2006-07-14T00:00:00-04:00

I took Gogo to the vet that did her knee surgery today. He said that the second surgery was not fully successful and that her patella is still luxating. Ugh. That means he’ll have to take her for another surgery and another recovery period. Ugh.

I was so extremely saddened to hear that news. On the trip to the vet I kept saying to Gogo that all the surgery is done, this is the last trip – just to make sure you’re okay. Luckily, she doesn’t understand English.

After they told me the news, they kept her for x-rays. I walked around the block a few times and called David and then Sis. A big part of me kept saying that I didn’t have the strength to put her through this again. Having to get her up at 6am and take her to the animal hospital and leave her there for a couple of days and then trying to get her home and getting her to relax and sleep. It all seemed like a daunting task for which I had not reserved the emotional strength. I took some deep breaths and reminded myself that I shouldn’t wish for life to change or for me to change – I should wish for better tools to deal with the things life throws at you. Anyway, it’s not the end of the world – it’s just one more surgery and hoepfully that will be the end of it.

I felt guilty about taking Gogo out to Fire Island for a week. I thought about having her surgery before we go. But no scenario made sense. I certainly didn’t want to skip Fire Island and kiss $2000 goodbye. The doctor was encouraging. He said to let her go to Fire Island, run around, have a good time, and then try to have it done soon after getting back.

I also felt bad that I didn’t bring her in for a check-up sooner. I kept thinking that if we had caught it sooner, we wouldn’t have wasted all those weeks of recovery.

Oh well. Yuck. Poor Gogo.

That means the first week of recovery will be when Sis and Lorenz are here, so we’ll have lots to distract ourselves, and lots of excuses to hang out at home with Lorenz and the pups.

Oz’s Dip

2006-07-06T00:00:00-04:00

Today, I decided to take Oz with me to Gogo’s swim therapy. He paced aorund the edge of the pool the whole time. Then at one point, he got crowded by dogs and decided to jump on in. Boy was that a mistake. He splashed around in a panic and tried to climb out the wrong end. He soon realized that he was trapped and couldn’t get out. The therapist and I eventually led him over to the edge with the steps and he made it out. He kept trying to shake water out of his ears and sneezed for about 10 minutes.

Poor Oz.

The Cruelest Daddy in the World

2006-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

It’s been about 8 weeks now since Gogo had surgery for her floating patella. About three times over the course of her recovery, someone suggested I consider getting hydrotherapy for her. We live just 5 blocks from a canine hydrotherapy place in the city (http://www.thedogrun-nyc.com/), so I took it as a sign from God that Gogo should have hydrotherapy.

I had been resisting because I know how much Gogo hates water. She doesn’t like going out in the rain, she doesn’t like going out when it’s still from having rained recently, she doesn’t like walking on a sidewalk that’s been recently hosed down. I couldn’t imagine anything crueler than to make Gogo have knee surgery and then make her swim during her recovery. But so be it, it would be for her own good, and that’s part of being a good parent, right?

We went for our first session this past week. I asked the girl at the front if they’re okay with dogs that despise water and she said that the therapists get the dogs acclimated in about 5 minutes. I have been watching “The Dog Whisperer”, so I can believe in canine behavior miracles.

After the morning walk, I put Oz in the bedroom by himself and took Gogo for a walk. She was ecstatic to be walking with just the two of us. She would often look up at me with a huge smile to say “I’m so glad we’re rid of that other one!” As soon as I walked up to the door of the hydrotherapy place, she started pulling to go home. I don’t know what she was reacting to, it could have been the fact that she knew it was a day care place from the smell, or she could smell the water, or any number of things. We went in and I sat down on a bench next to the pool while Gogo growled at the other dogs (there were about 20 other dogs there for daycare – none of them swimming). I got to see the therapist with another dog before our appointment. It happily and lazily paddled in the water with not a care in the world.

We got “John” for the first session. I’ve since talked to dog store owners in the neighborhood and they all seem to know John or at least have heard of him. John’s process of getting Gogo acclimated to water was to pick her up (she ran from him), and take her in the pool and let go. Gogo absolutely panicked. She paddled furiously towards me. She struggled to keep her head up. John grabbed her waist so that she couldn’t make any progress but had to continue swimming to stay afloat. Here are some pictures:

She kept paddling with no end in sight. She kept staring up at me with pleading and terror-stricken eyes. Every five minutes, he would lift up her torso so that she could pant and catch her breath. He also stretched out her hind legs at the same time. After a short break, it was back in the water for more swimming. Time has never felt like it crawled along at a slower pace.

I have to admit that I wanted to leave. I didn’t want to be witness to Gogo clearly having a horrible time. I smiled and encouraged her and tried to let her know that this was all perfectly normal. (Somewhere in the back of my mind, I have memories of mother doing the same to me, but I must have done a good job repressing them because none spring to mind immediately)

I noticed at the beginning that Gogo was not really using her hind legs. She would move them only an inch or two. I think that’s part of the reason he was stretching out her hind legs during swimming. Sure enough, by the end of the session, she was using more of her back legs (though still not normal). And she eventually got used to swimming. I wouldn’t say she enjoyed it, but she at least looked calmer:

We went two days later and had a different therapist. This one was a female. Gogo was happier because this meant that she was much more manipulable. Gogo spent much more time in “recovery” mode – a.k.a. being held in the arms of the therapist. She twice pretended that she was getting used to swimming by swimming circles around the therapist. The therapist would praise Gogo for her good swimming, Gogo would gradually increase the distance between her and the therapist, and would then bolt for the stairs to leave the pool.

I’m hoping to see a big change in another couple of weeks. Hoestly, it seems like she was walking a little straighter after the first session, so I’m pretty hopeful. They say that only about 1% of the dogs never quite enjoy swimming. I’m pretty sure Gogo is one of those, but I’m willing to suspend disbelief.

The Piano is Blowing My Mind

2006-06-08T00:00:00-04:00

Just had lesson #3 from Robert Cowie yesterday. The lesson hit me as particularly profound. We did a lot of the same types of exercises that we had done before, playing clumps of notes together, transposing up a half step, outlining phrases. But this week the general theme of the lesson was playing with your ear, not your mind.

I suppose a lot of my attitude towards the piano comes from being raised with a wind instrument. Especially with a trombone, you spend most of your mental energy listening to what you’re playing in relationship with everyone else. So much so, that I found it extremely frustrating to play the trombone. (Plus, I never got the hang of the “PPHHHTT” thing of playing a brass instrument.) Saxophone was a bit easier, but still, you could bend notes with your mouth, so you had to be aware of what you were playing in relation to everyone else to stay in tune. With a piano, there’s no question as to whether you’re in tune or not. And if you are out of tune, you can’t fix it as you play.

I always thought that I had to “calculate” where my fingers were supposed to go. Many of the exercises that we did focused on playing with your ear rather than with your mind. THe big shift in my head would come would I stop trying to calculate wher my fingers were supposed to go on what beat and just play with my ears – trust that my musical brain was going to put the fingers where they were suppsoed to go and if they didn’t, let themselves correct. It’s a very bizarre experience because I feel as if I’m letting a part of my head do the work that I’m not consciously aware of.

The other big lesson that he gave is that the goal is to play the whole piece free and easy. Therefore, I have to learn the piece free and easy. I can’t practice the piece tense, frustrated, and calculating and expect that at some later point I’ll be able to drop the tension, frustration and calculation. So the process is to break the learning of the piece into segments that always feel free and easy. To always practice in the mannerin which I want to be able to play it someday.

Ah-hah. A lot to process. It’s been just over 24 hours since the lessons and there’s been a dramatic improvment in my playing and my enjoyment of my playing. THe Bach minuet that has been haunting me is like a whole new piece. I t completely opened up to me this afternoon.

The Baby Invasion of '06!

2006-06-06T00:00:00-04:00

In August of 2006, my sister, Christine, came to New York for a conference with my five month old nephew, Lorenz. We got him to ourselves over the weekend, so we hired a baby-sitter: the sitter of a friend of ours, Rhonda. And to add to the excitement, Gogo and Oz’s breeder came to town on Saturday with her husband and their 8 month old baby, Ian. It was to be known as…

The Baby Invasion of ’06!

To make life a little more difficult, Gogo had come home from knee surgery on Thursday. She was still pretty dopey that weekend, but was coming along nicely.

Gogo back from surgery, looking rather dopey.

First of all, let me say that Lorenz at 5 months was about the easiest baby I’ve ever seen. He almost never cried, and when he did, it didn’t last more than a minute or two. He was occassionally a little cranky at feeding time, but nothing too bad.

David’s over-exuberance worked on Lorenz. He started smiling without any idea as to what he was smiling about.

And here’s happy little Lorenz with the babysitter, Rhonda.

Lorenz and Rhonda

Evan and Renee arrived with Ian around noon. We had a lunch of pizza. Renee had made a peach crisp which we baked and saved for after our big excursion.

Here’s Ian clinging to Renee

Here’s the whole clan preparing for a walk. Evan, Renee, Ian, Rhonda, Lorenz, and Oz.

Just preparing for the walk was a chore. We had to get two strollers and a red wagon down the front steps. Gogo was not allowed to walk at this point, so she rode in her red wagon.

Gogo in her wagon

Here’s a picture of Lorenz in his stroller.

Lorenz in his stroller

We walked to the Hudson River in search of a baby play park. It was a beautiful day but HOT HOT HOT. We made it to the pier, but the park was more for little kids and not for babies.

Evan, Ian, and Renee on the pier.

Gogo was loving the walk. It was her first big excursion since her surgery and I think she loved getting out of the house.

Gogo in the sun smiling at David

Just the walk to the river had done us in. The heat was really sweltering. We all hung out in the shade on the pier. Oz was having a hard time walking on parts of the street that were dark because the pavement was hurting his paws.

Here we are, exhausted from the heat.

We got back to the house and had a bit of a crash. Lorenz went upstairs to nap. Ian crashed on the New York Times chair.

Ian sleeping

We had the preach crisp, which was delicious. Ian woke up and had a bit of a begging episode with David. He was determined to have more peaches. You can see that he was quite good at charming some food out of David.

Gogo took a little nap from the safety of underneath the piano.

Poor Gogo

I like to say that Oz was bred to blend in with Ralph Lauren furniture.

Noble Oz

That was the big baby invasion. We still had several days of Lorenz and Sis.

Oz seemed to appoint himself the babysitter. He never really got close enough to Lorenz to let anything happen. Near the end of the week, he would saunter up to Lorenz for an attempted lick, but most of the time he would park himself near Lorenz, but not close enough for Lorenz to touch him.

Lorenz and Oz in the Living Room

Gogo loved having Sis around. She slept with Sis almost every night that she was here. Whenever she could, Gogo would try to get some sympathy from Sis.

Sis Comforting Gogo

Lorenz in the Backyard

He was so seldom upset, that I felt that I had to capture a picture of him crying, just to prove that he does it. Here’s a picture that you can show a future prom date:

Upset Lorenz

Gogo and Oz keeping an eye on Lorenz from a respectful distance

Here’s a nice series of Sis playing with Lorenz. I could pick a favorite photo, so I’ve included all of them.

Thames Trip

2006-06-06T00:00:00-04:00

Our next day in London, David was chomping at the bit to go to Oxford. I told him that there was no way were getting on a train and fighting weekend crowds again. I would be up for a boat ride, but we had a hard time finding a boat trip that would go that far up the Thames.

Instead, we decided to go the opposite direction and catch a boat to Greenwich. I’m still not clear on whether Greenwich is just a neighborhood of London or an outer borough or what. Anyway, it’s south east of London and you can get there via boat since it’s right on the Thames.

On the way to the ferry station, we passed by Buckingham Palace. There was a big crowd gathering just outside. We asked some people what they were waiting for. The first people we asked said that they saw the crowd and stopped but they didn’t know either. Someone eventually told us that it was the Queen’s 80th birthday.

The gardens outside Buckingham Palace

A View of Buckingham Palace from the Front

The Parade for the Queen’s Birthday

More of the Parade

We continued to walk through the park and got some interesting shots. From this view, you can see the London Eye and Big Ben poking over the trees in the background.

From the Park

Some Very Tame Pelicans

We got to the ferry station just in time to catch a trip down the Thames. Although he claimed he wasn’t a licensed tour guide, there was a crew member that was very entertaining and knowledgeable manning a microphone on the tour down the river.

The London Eye

The London Tower

A View of St Paul’s from the River

The next photo is pretty much just for my mom. This photo shows a little canal off the Thames. It’s the place in the novel “Oliver” where Bill Sykes dies. The movie filmed the scene in that location as well. It’s now built up into condos. How sad.

Where They Hung Bill Sykes

My Nephew, Lorenz » A Trip to California

2006-06-06T00:00:00-04:00

Lorenz and Sis recently went to Yuba City, California for Aunt Beth’s 50th Birthday party. I believe that most everyone of the Everett clan was there, so it was a chance for Lorenz to see what he’s in store for him. And also for Sis to see her relatives and probably get teased for being short. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there, so I don’t have the full scoop. But Mom sent me these pictures of Lorenz. And the other big unfortunate is that there is a great picture of Lorenz with a huge smile, but the photo came out blurry. He’s about 6 or 7 weeks old in these photos.

Here’s a picture of Lorenz all sprawled out in his Pooh Slippers.

Aunt Beth with Lorenz

Aunt Catherine with Lorenz

I think he’s doing a Popeye imitation in this photo.

Is he wearing some line of prison clothes for babies?

London & Kent

2006-06-06T00:00:00-04:00

For some reason, David became concerned that he wasn’t going to make platinum this year. He always operates under the assumption that he doesn’t travel much. We planned a short week in London as an easy way to rack up some miles and figured we could see some shows, visit the countryside and bum around London.

Last Full Day

2006-06-06T00:00:00-04:00

When David and I were first planning our trip to London, I commented that this is the first time we’ve gone to London without the need to purchase any antiques. His response was “well…there are those side tables in the living room…”.

So, our trip to London would not be complete without a visit to The Furniture Caves. It’s a collection of about 8 – 10 antique and reproduction stores where we’ve bought the armoir in the bedroom, a small dresser, a side board in the living room, and a secretary-like bookcase. They’ve treated us well.

Poor David leaving the Furniture Caves Empty Handed

Unfortunately, on this trip, we came up empty-handed. There just wasn’t anything that spoke to us. However, we did visit someone that had some interesting things from India. He gave us a suggestion of where we might be able to find more India imports.

We took a bus into Chelsea and found the Indian place, but it was all ultra-modern merchandise. What’s the point? We checked out anothe antiques market in the area and had a good time walking around Chelsea. We ended up walking into a no-man’s-land looking for a lunch place. After many map consultations and a few “I have a good feeling there will be a lunch place down this street”, we ended up at Harrod’s. We went in and ordered lunch at one of their counters.

That afternoon, we took it easy again. We went back to the hotel, read, caught up on email, and napped.

That evening we went to see “Sunday in the Park with George”. I’ve seen the version that was taped for PBS plenty of times and am a huge fan. This was the first time seeing it live. I enjoyed it immensely. David, on the other hand…not so much. He was a little bored and lost with it while I was having an apotheosis.

Last Day - St. Paul

2006-06-06T00:00:00-04:00

We didn’t have much time on our last full day. I wanted to do just a little bit of shopping and David wanted to visit St. Paul’s Cathedral. We decided that we could easily do both.

I had found a store on the internet that sold Indian things and there was a music store that specialized in musicals and soundtracks that were near each other. We took the underground to close to the neighborhood, but left a lot of time for walking. It was a nice day for it.

By pure happenstance, we stumbled across a house that was known for two famous writers: George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf. I took a picture. I wanted to go knock on the door and tell the residents that we expected great literary achievements from anyone that lived here, but David stopped me.

The House that George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf Lived In (at separate times)

We found the Indian store. Or rather, we found the remnants of it. It had apparently closed the previous December. Oh well. And we made it to the music store but I wasn’t feeling too inspired to buy anything. So it was on to St. Paul’s.

I don’t have many pictures of St Paul’s because you’re not allowed to take pictures once you’re inside. However, I found a little section where there were no monitors roaming around and the view was too beautiful to resist taking a picture.

I had been to St. Paul’s many years ago by myself – on a long layover. I remember being not that impressed. What the hell was up with me that day? It’s a beautiful cathedral. I think there must have been some construction or renovation going on to stop my from seeing all of it, because I was mightily impressed going through it with David.

The Entrance to St. Pauls

The Ceiling of St. Pauls

After St. Pauls, we grabbed lunch and sat in the gardens outside the cathedral and ate. It was another beautiful day. We have been blessed with good weather in London.

I was quite surprised how this long weekend in a city that I have visited several times really turned into a great vacation. Every time I go back to London, I enjoy it more.

Kensington

2006-06-06T00:00:00-04:00

The next two days in London were dedicated to shopping. And also to relaxing a bit. We had toured pretty hard, and we were now starting to settle into vacation mode.

The first day of shopping, we focused on Kensington. We wanted to do Harvey Nichols, Harrod’s, and try to find an antique map store that David had been to a few years ago. We started our journey with a walk through Hyde Park and Kensinton Gardens.

A Peter Pan Statue in Hyde Park

We walked through Harvey Nichols relatively quickly. Several of the floors are dedicated to women’s fashion which can be quite dull if you’re a male. The men’s clothes were in the basement. Little did we know that they were in the middle of a 70% off sale! David and I each got some designer shirts for bargain prices. I was happy. We next went to Harrod’s and wandered through confusedly. This is a department store to get lost in.

Next, I had to find David’s map shop. I can’t remember how we found it in the first place. I think I was the one that originally saw it on a side street on our first trip to London together. It wasn’t too hard to find. I dropped David off and headed back to Harrod’s. The had put a “La Duree” (a famous French cafe) in a section of Harrod’s and I was set on having coffee and a pastry.

It’s a little nerve-wracking going to a fancy French cafe by myself. I certainly was dressed well. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures, but La Duree has photos on their website. I ordered a cappucino and a pistachio religieuse (a puff pastry filled with pistachio cream and icing on top). It was magnificent. It also gave me the courage to go back to Harvey Nichols and get a fantastic bow-tie and cumberbund set for David that I saw.

About an hour later, I got message on my phone that David was ready, so I went to pick him up. We grabbed some lunch (I had a salad to off-set the pastry) and went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. The museum is huge and, as I said, we were more interested in having a relaxing experience at this point. We decided that we would do the India Arts rooms and the Raphael rooms and see how we were doing. Even that was a lot to take in and we were ready to head back to the hotel after that.

The Lobby of the Victoria Albert Museum. A mix of history and ultra modern.

After taking a nap and reading at the hotel, we went to our favorite restaurant in London, Sofra, and saw Evita on the West End. I had never seen the show before and enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.

Greenwich

2006-06-06T00:00:00-04:00

The Thames boat ride stopped in Greenwich where we disembarked. Greenwich is a small community with cafes, shops, an antiques market, the Royal Observatory, and a whole bunch of other things. You can visit this website for more information.

We didn’t do half of the things listed there.

We started off by having lunch because it was around 2:30 and we were starving. We went to a place serving very English food and had a good lunch. While we were there some obnoxious older American gentleman came in, demanded attention, and then was talking to his guests about how hard it is to find polite people in the U.K. Ugh.

After lunch, we headed to the antiques market. I’ve learned that “antiques market” in Britain really means “flea market”. There really wasn’t anything of interest there.

Our plan was to visit the Christopher Wren buildings in the Old Royal Naval College and then work our way up the hill to the Royal Observatory.

Our first stop was the Painted Hall. It’s called that because the walls and pillars are flat but painted to look ornate. It was, indeed, very impressive.

The Entrance of the Painted Hall

The Main Room of the Painted Hall

They set out mirrors so that you can examine the ceiling without straining your neck

A Section of Ceiling of the Painted Hall

After the Painted Hall, we went across the courtyard to the Chapel, also designed by Christopher Wren. It’s the plaster work that’s impressive here. I don’t know if it’s really captured in this picture.

Christopher Wren’s Chapel

After that we started heading up to Royal Observatory. When people refer to “Greenwich Mean Time”, this is the place they’re referring to. You can stand on a line and have one foot in the eastern hemisphere and one foot in the western hemisphere. In the picture below, you can see The Queen’s House in the center and just above to the right is the Royal Observatory. The walk there is a bit steep at the very end, but through a park that was full of people enjoying their Sunday afternoon.

Looking Towards the Queen’s House

It was hard to get a picture at the observatory because it was fairly crowded. You can just barely make out central London in the distance. I tried taking some pictures but none came out too well.

There was an interesting museum at the observatory featuring many old clocks with the guts exposed. And visiting the observatory itself was fascinating.

After that, we walked back down to the town. We had spotted an antique map store. I dropped off David and went to get an iced coffee. On my travails, I went back to the main pier. There were many street performers – most of whom did not seem to be asking for money at all. Next to where I sat came two people dressed like colorful 1950’s shysters with a peep show box. They played music and encouraged people to come up and take a look in the peep show box. The man was saying harmless but lewd things about what you’d see if you looked. Both children and adults were smiling and laughing after they looked, so I decided to get in line and have a look myself. It was a gyrating puppet of an old woman with tassels on her breasts and tiny underwear.

A Peepshow at the Pier

Upon going back to find David, I found the much better open market in Greenwich. David bought a map, I took him through the market, and we took the train home.

Dinner that night was a Malaysian restaurant in the neighborhood of the hotel.

Dover

2006-06-06T00:00:00-04:00

Our next stop was Dover to see the castle and the white cliffs. It looked from the map that we could wakl to the castle. However, when we got to Dover we had two obstacles: although we could clearly see the castle from the middle of town, we couldn’t figure out how to walk to it; and secondly, it looked like quite a hike up a cliff to get to the castle. We were already pretty tired, so we hired a cab. We learned that our fears were well founded. We never would have found it and the ride was pretty long and steep.

The Dover Port

The entrance to the castle was pretty empty. We were concerned that it was closed. We later learned that almost everyone takes a car to Dover Castle and parks on the other side. We must have been one of the few or only visitors to come in through the pedestrian entrance.

The Pedestrian Entrance to Dover Castle

We definitely wanted to see the Wartime Caves, so we paid ahead for tickets to that. The man at the ticket booth told us to hurry to make the next tour. Our walk took us up to the top of the castle grounds and then back down the other side to the entrance of the caves. We did our best to avoid any sight-seeing so as not to delay our trip. We ended up arriving quite early, so I had some water in the cafe.

The trip through the caves was a lot of fun. The caves are a three level system of underground caverns built into the cliffs. Dover was a major air base during WWII, so they had used the caves for intelligence, living quarters, and makeshift hospital. The tour was conducted by a single individual that would press buttons throughout the caves that would simulate bombs being dropped above us – the lights would flicker, we’d hear thunderous sounds, and the air raid sirens would go off. There was one small girl that took the whole thing very seriously and became quite afraid. You lose all sense of direction in the tunnels.

We weren’t allowed to take any photos, but there was one stretch without a guide and I quickly pulled out my camera and took a shot without a flash.

The War Rooms

After the tour of the tunnels, we walked around the castle some more, then got directions on where best to see the cliffs. There’s a 3 mile walk along the cliffs, but I was getting pretty tired of walking at this point, and it seemed that we wanted to see the cliffs from below, not walk on them. We decided to walk down to the piers and get a view of them from below – possibly from a tour boat.

Dover Castle

The area along the water was…not the nicest beach I’ve ever been to. It seemed to be the sort of place where only the locals hung out. We almost made a tour boat, but when I saw that it was packed and full of little kids, I vetoed the idea. We could admire the cliffs from where we were standing.

Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery power, so I couldn’t take a photo.

The walk back to the train station and the wait for the train was long and uneventful. We were glad to be back in London.

For dinner, we went to our favorite restaurant in London – a middle eastern restaurant called Özer.

Canterbury

2006-06-06T00:00:00-04:00

David and I got up relatively early to catch a train to go to Canterbury. It felt like we could have slept for days. England has a fantastic train system. You can get pretty much anywhere you need to get to by train and they run on time. The only drawback on taking the trains going south during the summer is that you’re getting family beach crowds. We got stuck next to two loud groups on the train, but that didn’t stop us from getting a little nap in on the way there.

David Asleep on the Train

I was expecting Canterbury to be very similar to York, but it turns out that it’s a more modern city. It seemed to be a big destination for teenagers – there were lots of kids hanging out in the park, and lots of families strolling around the shops. We headed right to the cathedral, which is the big attraction.

The Gateway Arch to Canterbury Cathedral

Past the gateway arch, you get a glimpse of just how large the cathedral is…

Canterbury Entrance

A Side View of Canterbury Cathedral. This is still only about half of the full size.

An interesting spire on the outside. Notice the heads along the crest.

David got a map of the cathedral and we were on our way inside.

David at the Entrance

The cathedral is largely known for its stained glass. Unfortunately, a lot of the stained glass was bombed out in World War II. In fact, the only reason that the cathedral is still standing is because the Germans had poor maps of England. The locals in Kent would also light fires out in the middle of nowhere to try to trick the Germans into thinking the targets were in a different place.

The stained glass at the entrance of the cathedral.

Stained Glass

Once inside, there was nothing to do but wander around and look.

The Apse in Canterbury Cathedral

The Tomb of the Black Prine

A Stretch of Ceiling in Canterbury Cathedral

A Side Chapel in the Cathedral

A beautiful example of medieval painted word work.

A marble tomb of a king and queen (can’t remember who)

Clock

We wandered around the back. We came across a room called “The Treaty Room”. It was the room in which France and England signed the contract to build the chunnel together.

The Treaty Room

The monk’s entrance in the back.

After the cathedral, we went to a place for lunch called “The Custard Tart”. It was a tiny little shop in a back alley that was recommended by the guide book. We had a light lunch and grabbed some sweets for later.

For our next stop, we were going to take the train further south to Dover. The man at the ticket window in Canterbury was trying to save us some money on the fair and was taking forever to calculate and sell us a ticket. As we sitting there, our train rolled into the station. We eventually politely asked him to just sell us a simple ticket to Dover and we ran for the train. The conductor held the train a minute to let us on, but we got the sense that they barely ever hold trains for people.

David and I both fell asleep on the half-hour trip to Dover.

Arrival in London

2006-06-06T00:00:00-04:00

David and I took the day flight to London, as opposed to the red-eye, to help with jet lag. Our flight was around 8:30pm, it’s about a 6 hour flight, and you arrive in London around 8:30pm. I can’t think through the math right now to know if that’s right. Perhaps I’m conditioned from many previous red-eye flights, but whenever I arrive in Europe, I’m exhausted. I don’t know what it is about sitting on a plane for more than a few hours.

When we got to London, we took the Heathrow Express train (15 minutes from airport to London!) to Paddington Station. Our hotel was a 5-10 minute walk from the train station, which was much appreciated after a long flight.

It took us a few tries to get the hotel room right. The first room had a sink that didn’t drain well and the towel rack came off when I tried to dry my hands. The second room was nice, but didn’t have an internet connection. And the third room was just right. Goldilocks would have picked this room. I’ve learned not to expect much from British hotels, so was pleased that our hotel was somewhat spacious, clean, and was facing an inner courtyard.

After we settled in, we decided to go get something quick to eat. We passed several places on the walk to the hotel, so we headed back out. We ended up at a little place called “The Chicken Stop” and decided to get something and bring it back to the room. Most of the restaurants on the block were run by Arabs since that seemed to be the mode of the neighborhood. There was another man in “The Chicken Stop” that was talking to us about the wonders of fried chicken. He claimed that people made fun of him for drinking Diet Coke and then having fried chicken, but that he couldn’t help himself because fried chicken is so delicious. He also recommended KFC.

We went back to the hotel room with our chicken, fries, and soda. We ate, finished unpacking, and went to bed.

There is nothing like that first night of jet lag to give you a good sleep. We slept about 10 hours – all of it wonderful.

We had decided that tomorrow would be all about Kent.

The New Piano Teacher

2006-06-05T00:00:00-04:00

One of my New Year’s resolutions this year was to learn piano. I started with someone that I had found on craiglist. It started off well. However, I felt like I outgrew him rather quickly. All of the pieces that he picked were frenetic finger exercises and I often grew bored of the pieces. One of the first pieces that he had given me was a Back minuet. I liked the piece, and got the fingering down realtively quickly. However, the more I practiced it, the less like music it sounded. It kept sounding more and more plodding, forced, and “scale-like”. I asked him a couple times and he always said that it sounded uneven and would make me practice with the metronome more.

In general, the lessons were extremely critical. I would play a measure or two and he would provide constant on-going criticism like “3rd finger on the D”, “that wasn’t staccato enough”, “you didn’t hold that note long enough”, etc. No surprise – I eventually started to dread piano lessons. David has noticed an improvement in my playing, but I felt more like I was learning fingering exercises rather than learnign to play piano. I picked up some music from books that we had in the house and the thought of playing something other than what he was teaching was daunting to say the least. He wrote out all of my fingering, so how was I supposed to figure out which fingers to use?

There was one day in particular that he was hyper critical. I had arrived already quite proud of the progress I had made on a piece. Considering that I couldn’t play any of it the week before and I had put it together in a week’s time, I was excited to show off. He started in with the constant criticism and I started playing worse and worse. I felt terrible by the end of the lesson. I decided to give him a couple more weeks and see if that was just a fluke week for him. Really, though, after that lessons my heart just wasn’t in it anymore.

I had been talking with a former co-worker, Joy Ellen Snellgrove, about piano teachers. I told her stories about my current teacher and she suggested that I contact her former teacher (she had moved to Boston) Robert Cowie (http://www.robertcowie.com/). She told me a bit about the technique that he uses, but it didn’t really sink in until our first lesson. She described the approach as thus: You’re learning a new piece. Most people teach that you should slow a piece down to a point that you can play it and then try to bring it up to speed. The problem with that is that you don’t really understand the piece at the point in which you learn to play the notes. You really only learn “technical proficiency”, but you don’t really understand the piece much because you’re playing a much slower version – and usually ignoring the musicality of the piece. Instead, start by just playing the down-beat notes. When you can do that, add in the notes at the quarter beat, etc.

So, I ran this around in my head and went to my first lesson. First of all, I have since realized how much bad programming I had been under from my old teacher. I was constantly saying “sorry” as I would mess up notes. I was hitting the keys very hard (he insisted that if you play a new piece forcefully, it will get in your muscle memory better). And overall, I was just very down on myself about my piano playing.

The new teacher has been trying to break that down. I’ve had several lectures about not being so hard on myself about my playing. Some general statements have been: “There are people dying in Iraq. They are suffering. You are not.” At one point, I could not get my fingers to do something I wanted them to do. I was getting extremely frustrated and he actually burst out laughing at me.

Then, there’s the teaching technique. We started with the Bach minuet that I said never sounded like music to me. We started off playing just the down-beat notes. Mentally, I was trying to play all the music in my head and just press the keys on the downbeats. He said it doesn’t work that way. I had to play the notes as if they were the only notes written. With some repetition, I could hear what those notes were doing and it started sounding like music. Then we added just the quarter beat notes in the right hand. Once again, I had to start hearing the notes lead from one to the next. (I’m making this sound easy, but if you’ve never looked at a full page of music and tried to isolate out just a few notes, it’s quite hard.) Eventually, I started adding in more of the notes. At each point, I played as if it was a completed piece.

At the end of the first week, David heard me practicing and said that it was the first time my practicing sounded like music rather than fingering exercises.

Now that I’ve had the introduction, he’s started throwing more variations. Some of them are:

Playing the bass clef in both the right and left hand

Playing the treble clef in both the right and left hand

Playing the bass clef with the right hand and the treble clef with the left hand

Clumbing notes together as chord instead of runs of notes

Playing everything a half-step up

Playing only one hand a half-step up

They are all very bizarre exercises. I never really understand what’s going on when I do the exercises, but when I go back and play the piece normally, it’s like a brand new piece. The music comes pouring out. I’ve never experienced anything like it.

That’s all well and good for a piece that I already knew, but I really wanted to see how it would work with a piece I didn’t know. I went to a music store and got a book of Harold Arlen songs and picked out a piece that didn’t look to demanding: “This Time the Dream’s On Me”. It’s very slow going, but the piece is coming together. We started off just playing down-beats. Even though you’re playing a small fraction of the song, you still hear the progression of music. Then I added in quarter-note beats, etc. I can play just the melody and bass clef right now and if you didn’t know that I was omitting the harmonies, you would think I was playing the whole thing. It’s pretty amazing after just two lessons.

So the piano has really come to life for me. I no longer have the feeling that it will be at least 4 years of arduous torture before I’ll be able to enjoy playing piano.

McKee Transformations, pt. 2

2006-06-04T00:00:00-04:00

Okay. So I had the McKee seminar, re-read his book, and found myself full of great ideas, renewed spirit, and totally unable to write.

I was completely weighed down by all these various thoughts that my writing was coming out forced and awkward. I talked to my coach, Kevin Creedon, about it and we went back to the drawing board about writing.

First of all, I was going to try not writing from beginning to end. Instead, I was going to work more or less backwards, or at least write the passages that I “knew” in my gut first and then would flesh out from there. (I used to write like that all the time and somehow got in the habit of writing start ot finish when I took a comic book class).

Secondly, I was going to write scenes/character actions on index cards and arrange them in a way that helped communicate the story to me. (I had been doing this on the computer, but there’s something about printing something out and re-arranging it that is much more clear than typing it into an outline on screen.) I went to Staples and got a package of Avery business cards (since there are more per page) and types up very brief character actions on the cards. I spread all the cards on the kitchen table and starting re-arranging things. I realized that I had left out some important elements. And it really helped to see how each character action had to lead into the next.

The third task, which I have yet to do, is break the witing into a series of “passes”. There will be NO EDITING on the first round. Whatever is typed stays there. Then I will come up with a series of editing passes. For instance, perhaps the first pass, I will focus on more robust panel descriptions. Perhaps the second pass will focus on communicating subtext. I’ll come up with a series of passes and then I will change the order of passes as I work through each page of the script. The point is to experiment to find the correct order of editing passes that works best for me.

I’m about 1/3 of the way through the first draft of the new script, and already I feel things going much better. The “bones” of the script feels like it’s in place. I can see the flow of character and action in a way that wasn’t there before, and I’m focusing on the essentials of the script and not getting side-tracked with clever, but unnecessary nuances.

The thing that was kind of bugging me was the fact that I didn’t have any room to spread out my business cards of character actions. So I went back to Staples and got cork wall tiles. I’ve attached them to the back of my office door.

On the right side of the door, you can see the little business cards that map out the story for issue one. You will also see a color drawing on the left side of the door. That’s a little technique Kevin taught me for keeping motivated on another script. Each time I work on it, I add another line to the “puzzle”. My brain gets a little adrenaline rush at completing the puzzle and ensures that I keep working on the script to finish the puzzle.

This photo makes it look like the cork job wasn’t very good. Damn this expensive camera! In reality, the tiles look very even.

On the adjacent wall, my white board which has my weekly schedule.

So, my home office is really taking shape. It’s like a little creative coccoon.

McKee Transformations

2006-05-26T00:00:00-04:00

I recently took a seminar with screenwriting professor extraordinaire, Robert McKee. The seminar was a weekend long about four different film genres: Horror, Thriller, Comedy, and Masterpiece. I signed up for two days: Horror and Comedy. The horror day was for a comic book script that I had written that always got a somewhat lackluster response and the comic day was for a play that I’m about to start work on.

I’m not going to go into a huge amount of detail about the class and McKee as a teacher other than to say that it has really transformed how I think about writing dramatic material. I went back and re-read his book, Story. I have since changed how I go about writing.

At first, I thought I could get away with a few edits to my horror comic book, but leave most of the whole thing in place. However, as I started to notice scenes that didn’t work and have an understanding of why they didn’t work, I realized that I had to start over with an outline. Then, as I went through the outline, I realized that my problem ran deeper than just the outline, it was the scene structure. Then as I started to write out more detailed scene information, I realized that I needed to start over with the characters. In the end, I gutted everything and started over. I created a Word document along the lines of McKee’s “things to watch out for” as I put together the scenes.

I created some character maps in Microsoft Visio to show who the characters are, what their dimensions are, and how they play against each other. (However, I re-read McKee’s section of characters this morning and realized that I need to revisit the character map to make it clearer.) Then I went through each scene in the story of the first issue. For each scene, I had the following information:

Who is the protagonist of the scene? What do they want in this scene?

Who or what is the antagonist? What’s stopping the protagonist?

What is the subtext of the scene? In other words, what are the characters trying to communicate to each other without actually saying it? For instance “I’m smarter than you” or “I don’t feel safe around you”.

What’s the progression of values in the scene? Does the protagonist get closer to their goal or farther away?

There were often modifications to characters as I went through this, because I would discover a character that had no real motivation. I had left them completely static and therefore uninteresting. Either that or their motivations were so generic as to be a non-entity. Once I gave them real motivations, they started becoming real people.

I also noticed as I was putting together progression of values that sometimes the scene didn’t move forward at all. I would think that I had a nice scene, would get to the progression of values and notice that nothing changed. The protagonist of the scene didn’t get any closer or further away from their goal. All of a sudden, I would mentally snap out of my writer’s mind and approach it from the mind of a generic reader and I would see the scene as dull. This usually meant that I would go back and modify the character a bit throughout the story so that the scene in questions could be interesting; or it meant that the scene got cut as unnecessary.

I found huge scenes that were dull and lifeless as pure exposition that could easily be made dramatic. Since I had a solid character map that told me what made the character tick, I could easily add a force to an expository scene to make that scene dramatic.

Most of the changes were very subtle but will hopefully add to a much more compelling issue. I have not written any dialogue yet, but I can already see that the dialog will largely write itself. If I’m particularly uninspired, I have enough notes in the scene breakdowns that I can write the dialogue without any need for creativity (that sounds bad, but it’s true!).

I should also point out that this was excruciating at first. I hope that this gets easier over time. I’ve been spending the past week looking at other things that I do well, and there is always this “outlining” approach. Especially when writing code, I often write all of the function calls first, so that the structure of the code is in place before I write the working code.

The Dog Whisperer

2006-05-19T00:00:00-04:00

I hate to admit it, but after South Park did an episode featuring “The Dog Whisperer”, I dediced to watch the show. I’ve been hooked ever since. For those of you that haven’t heard of the show, it’s on the National Geographic Channel. You can also go to Cesar Millan’s website: http://www.dogpsychologycenter.com/.

I started using his tactics at home on Oz and Gogo. I have to admit, they’ve worked very well. When they decided that they didn’t want to behave, I used to give them a very loud and aggressive “HEY” to get them to pay attention. It worked, but I really didn’t like looking that out of control on the street. So I switched to Cesar’s “PSST” which I don’t have to do as loudly for them to react to. And I taught them that by doing a gentle but quick hand-claw on the their throat while I made the sound. The first time I did it to Gogo, she threw her ears back in shock and stared at me in disbelief. I only had to do it twice with her. She now knows that “PSST” means business. Gogo no longer waits forever on our front steps before coming down for a walk. Whenever she stubbornly pulls towards a doggie store, I give her a “PSST” and she gives up. Oz has been a little slower about picking up a reaction to “PSST”, but it still works wonders. He’s much better on walks.

I’ve also been able to significantly cut down on their dog aggression on walks. For a while, it was getting pretty bad. I was crossing the street whenever I saw a nother dog coming because i knew they were going to lunge and snarl at another dog. I changed my behavior so that if another dog is coming up to us, I put both Gogo and Oz behind me and make sure I stay in between them and the strange dog. Their aggression is almost none existent when I do that. I’ve now let them say hello to other dogs and I carefully watch Gogo (since she’s usually the instigator of dog aggression). If Gogo starts to growl at the new dog, I give her a “PSST” and move her behind me. It’s worked wonders.

I just read the following link: http://www.newsday.com/features/printedition/ny-etlede4743494may17,0,1617948.story?coll=ny-features-print. I guess it’s not surprising that everyone wants to sue Cesar Millan or talk about how he’s “set dog training back to the middle ages”. There are too many people in this world that only know how to take aim at other people rather than create success for themselves. Positive reinforcement works for training tricks, but there are some behavior elements that just cannot be addressed with positive reinforcement. We’ve given Gogo a lot of positive reinforcement, and she often uses it to walk all over us.

It’s also a shame that people have reduced Cesar Millan’s tactics to “being abusive to your dog to get it to pay attention”. There’s nothing in his show about being cruel or physically abusive. When I went to do the “hand-claw on the neck” with Oz and Gogo, I barely applied pressure. They understood what I was doing without me having to be physically harmful.

Well, thank God the South Park guys gave Cesar some room in the spotlight to Cesar.

A Blessing from Martha Stewart

2006-05-05T00:00:00-04:00

Last night, David and I went to the Mount Sinai Crystal Ball. It’s the hospital’s annual really big fundraiser. I have to admit that I don’t usual look forward to going. I had been to two already, and they are usually kind of fun but largely dull. It’s very dependent on who you sit next to.

This year’s I was having a slightly better than usual year. I saw next to my David and David Nudo. We were having a good time and I remained entertained while David went to press the flesh. During dinner, David was sitting next to me, so we got some visits from his colleagues – one of whom is the vice president in charge of public relations. She mentioned that Martha Stewart was there and David suggested we go meet her. So before I could say anything, we got up to visit Martha’s table.

I sort of imagined that we would get within viewing distance and say “Yep. That’s her. Cool.” I also thought that if we got introduced, she would say hello and go back to hanging out with her group. What I did not expect was a full introduction and a few minutes of discussion. When we were introduced, she smiled, stood up from the table, and started talking to us. She asked me what I did and I told her that I was an aspiring comic book writer and told her that she is the inspiration for a comic book that I’m working on. David added, “Don’t worry. It’s tasteful.” And laughingly she replied with “It doesn’t bother me if it is or if it isn’t.”

We chatted for a few minutes. She was extremely cordial and personable. And she looked very good for her age. Someone should get the number of her plastic surgeon.

There was a bit of star-struck in my eyes. A big part of me hopes that this is a good omen in terms of my comic book. I thought of the people that would hold out screenplays or novels for the Pope to touch in hopes of getting a blessing. So let’s hope that some of that Martha Stewart magic rubs off into Betsy Stevens and the Domestic Godesses.

One of the Joys of Adulthood

2006-05-02T00:00:00-04:00

I’ve been taking piano lessons this year. It’s one of the skills I always wished I had. Also, I used to plink around on the piano all through high school and college writing music. I miss it, but this time I’m going to learn to play correctly in the hopes that I can write something more than just chords and a melody.

Anyway, I have run across one of the great joys of adulthood. When I was a kid, I always felt bad about not practicing enough (well, not bad enough to actually practice). As I got older, I got to see that the kids that practiced a lot were significantly better musicians, so I practiced maybe a little more than when I first started – but still not really “enough”. Now that I’m an adult, I realize that I don’t have to feel bad when I don’t practice! It’s my responsibility! No teacher is going to give me a bad grade, no parent is going to scowl, my instructor doesn’t even really get that upset (I think because he has other clients that almost never practice). What’s the result of my not practicing? I’m not as good at doing the thing that I chose to do.

Most of the time, I practice every day and enjoy it. However, there are times when I don’t practice because I’ve been too busy or travelling. I relish the freedom I feel at knowing that there’s no one around to admonish me. It’s one of the times that I can suddenly appreciate being a responsible adult. And sure enough, I get back to practicing when my schedule frees up.

Gogo’s Recovery

2006-05-01T00:00:00-04:00

We’re on the fourth day after Gogo’s surgery and doing well. When I picked her up, she was hobbling on three legs quite well. When we came into the waiting area of the animal hospital, she was wearing a cone, had her complete lower right side shaved, and was hobbling on three legs desperate to get out of the hospital. She got a universal “awwww…” from the waiting area.

The first day, there were times that she had a wide eyed terror look in her face that I assume was the last of the drugs wearing off. There were times when she would simply whine about nothing in particular. The first night of sleep was fitfull and we had to get up every few hours. I think she was mainly feeling pain and the effects of the opiates. Despite all of that, she was much much better this time around for the surgery. She was able to go to the bathroom outside without any help. Last time, she stumbled and fell over and couldn’t figure out how to move. She drank water right away this time and she has the typically abundant Gogo appetite.

Still, I completed underestimated how much work it was to care for her in recovery. Although Oz has been very respectful of her state and never leaves her alone, he still wants his walks. And I underestimated how hard it would be to leave Gogo alone. I called Rodrigo, our dog walker and general helper, and asked if he had any time to walk Oz over the weekend. He helped out tremendously.

The second night of sleep went much better and Gogo didn’t make much of a fuss at all. In fact I think I woke up before any of the dogs which is a rarity - believe me!

I did leave them alone for a few hours on Sunday afternoon. Gogo didn’t seem too bothered by wearing the cone. Rodrigo said that she was asleep when he showed up.

This morning I noticed that Gogo’s “hospital grittiness” had disappeared. When I picked her up, she had a lot of dandruff where she still had hair and just seemed to feel sort of gritty. This morning her coat is feeling strong and smooth again. I assume it’s a combination of being allowed to sleep in the sun and getting her omega oil supplements.

I think the big challenge on this recovery will not be helping her through the pain and disorientation, but trying to slow down her recovery. Now that she’s more awake and aware, I can see her little devious mind trying to figure out how to get the staples out, how to lick wounds without getting caught, how to jump up on the furniture, etc.

Gogo’s 2nd Surgery

2006-04-27T00:00:00-04:00

For those that don’t know, Gogo has floating patellas – which means that her knee caps don’t stay where they should. We had one of the knees fixed last September. The recovery was pretty bad (she just laid there and cried the saddest sound in the world for the first two days), but she moved much better afterwards. Well, the other knee started showing signs of problems and her movement started to go down again, so we scheduled to have the other knee done. I took a picture of her inncoently sleeping this morning, unaware that she was scheudled to go in for surgery.

She woke up soon after the camera flash started going off and was a little ticked off about it.

She didn’t seem too bothered once we got her leash and took her out. And even at the Animal Hospital, she wasn’t freaking out like I thought she would be. She did poop as soon as we walked into the hospital, but that was more my fault for not giving her enough time out on the street.

So now I’m at home and Oz and I are whimpering until Gogo gets home. I think Oz is more traumatized than I am by the absence of Gogo. I keep trying to focus on the fact that this will be over soon and she’ll be able to run and play more without pain. It’s hard to see the forest for the trees right now, though.

The Road to Nirvana

2006-04-18T00:00:00-04:00

Those of you in the know have heard that I’ve been shopping religions. I think it all goes back to when I read Life of Pi by Yann Martel. The first quarter of the book talks about the main character as a boy in India getting equally excited about Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. I realized that I don’t know that much about religions outside of Christianity and Judaism. I tried a few “Introducing…” books to get to know some of the basics of Islam and Hinduism. Although Introducing Islam was good, I was still totally lost after reading Introducing Hinudism. I bought a Qur’an to read, but the real thing proved extremely dry and dense – sort of like reading the Bible!

Then I saw Lama Surya Das on The Colbert Report and thought that I should give Buddhism another try. I had dismissed Buddhism because I read some Buddhist books by Chögyam Trungpa and decided that it was just too intense – thoughts like “life is emptiness” and “reaching Nirvana through boredom” turned me off for some reason. I gave Buddhism another try and had a similar experience for different reasons. This time, I read Awakening the Buddha Within : Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das. At first, I was really connecting to the book and finding it incredibly transformative. Eventually, I started getting really down on myself. I started seeing just how far I have to go to resemble anything Buddha-like. I hit a chapter that was talking about not talking about other people when they aren’t present – even if it’s good! That whole week I noticed just how gossipy I was and not particularly interested in changing. Subsequently, everything I read started feeling like an unattainable goal and more excuses to beat myself up.

I met with a former co-worker, Uma Natarajan, who said that many people (herself being one) consider that there are only three major religious texts in the world: The Bible, The Qur’an, and The Bhagavad Gita (Hinduism). I believe she was making the point that Buddha was raised a Hindu and reached enlightenment in India, so he’s really a subset of Hinduism. (I suppose this is the same thinking that middle-eastern terrorists employ when they lump Christianity and Judaism as essentially the same thing. When Uma reads this, I’m sure she’ll chastise me for missing the point of what she was saying.) Anyway, I took her larger concept of the Bhagavad Gita as a major religious text, so I put Buddha on hold and started reading it. It’s fantastic, but you can only read it a page at a time. It’s incredibly dense – like a religious version of desne chocolate cake. You have to savor each bite before you can move on to the next piece.

And somewhere in all this, I went back to reading the Lama Surya Das book. I noticed that my life had changed since reading it and that I shouldn’t feel discouraged from feeling so far away from Buddha. For one, I had started being far more communicative, complimentary, and optimistic with other people (not a small feat living in New York City!). I never noticed that I didn’t ever look people in the eye before. Now, I say hello, smile, and ask them how their day is – with sincerity. It’s incredible to see people in New York perk up just a little bit. The barrier of “Us vs. Them” that most New Yorkers walk around in dissolves. I’ve become far more tolerant of other people. A lot of my judgement has washed away. My thoughts directed towards myself have been much more encouraging instead of just rants or internal criticisms.

So I guess I’m on a dual path right now – read a little Bhagavad Gita, read a little Lama Surya Das. The real test, I think, will come when looking for a community or sacred place to visit.

You know it’s spring when…

2006-03-29T00:00:00-05:00

I’m seeing the real signs of spring in New York. It’s not tulips on the sidewalks. It’s not birds chirping in the air (although we have some really vocal ones in our backyard this year). It’s movie crews. I always forget every year how much filming goes on in New York in the spring and summer. I’ve perfected my look of disdain when some overly pierced intern with a clipboard asks me if I could please walk on the other side of the street so as not to disrupt the shot.

I never see the actual stars, either. I tend to think a lot of the filming is for commercials or music videos. Either that, or the celebrities hide in their mobile home and only come out for the 10 seconds that they’re needed.

On a side note, I saw Sarah Jessica Parker on the street the other day. She blended in with New York quite well. Many celebrities try so hard to not be noticed that they call attention to themselves. She seemed nonchalant. Didn’t wear a hat.

A Passage to India

2006-03-24T00:00:00-05:00

I’ve been having a lot of dreams over the past several months that involve traveling to India. Last night, I had my most vivid dream yet about traveling there. It was broken up into three major sections. Each section was in full color and crystal clear accuracy. I even remember the feeling of touch at some parts of the dream.
The first section centered around buying property in India, although the location was a cross between Mexico and India. I was with Sara and another woman that I did not recognize. She knew Sara, but was more of a local guide. She was going to take us to a building that I was thinking about buying. We walked through a jungle to get there. The guide told us that there were some people that were bitten by the animals in the jungle and died. I suggested that we hurry up and get out of the jungle because it sounded dangerous and I could see the little animals scurrying around our path. Sara stopped to say that she wasn’t worried and as she was talking, some thick tree vines came down over her head and started to wrap around her hair, pulling up. I reached over and grabbed the vines (I remember actually touching them) and entwined her hair. She then agreed that it was time to get out of the jungle. We went to go meet the people at the building that I was thinking about buying. They weren’t much interested in me and held some resentment because they liked the previous landlord. I wished them well, understood that over time they would appreciate me, and let them be.

The next phase of the dream was clearly in India. I was with my family and we were wandering around. Sis had the guidebook and suggested we go to a park nearby that was somewhat secluded and had a meditation retreat in it. We found the retreat. It was beautiful green park with a terraced landscape. Scattered on the tiers were various people meditating, some were Buddhist monks and some were westerners. At the bottom of the park was a rectangular, stone pool of water about 10 feet deep. Also on the terraces were small clay pots with incense or with red powder. I saw and meditated. Someone in my family got lost and disoriented (it was getting dark and there was a lot of incense smoke and mist from the pool) and wandered into the pool creating a large splash. I came out of the meditation, helped the family member out of the pool and we left.

The next phase of the dream was with David. I believe that we were leaving where we were to go someplace interesting. We got in a car with a driver that we did not know who was going to take us to this place. We started driving through the jungle on a very bumpy and winding path. At some point, I started getting disoriented. It seemed as if the driver was driving without his lights on, but when I looked closely there was a light that we were heading towards. It felt as if we might be traveling through a tunnel of some sort. I was getting worried, but I trusted the driver and decided to relax and let him take us where we needed to go. He took us to his home first, to meet his family, before we went the rest of the way. We was a foreigner that had relocated from a western country. For some reason, David and I thought he was Dutch. He had a small daughter that we met and then his wife. The dream ended shortly after that.

Reap What Your Sow

2006-03-23T00:00:00-05:00

As many of you may know, I keep an herb garden in our backyard. Most of the time, I let the plants do what plants do and just try to make sure they’re watered enough. Last year, I lost a few plants with my cavalier attitude to gardening. And my tomato production seemed a little low. This year, I decided to do it right. I bought several seeds, got a seed starting kit, and started growing seeds on the top floor.

As you can see, they’re all growing! This is the first wave. It includes, a lot of basil, tomatoes, peppers, thyme, mint, and parseley. I also have seeds for tomatillos, cilantro, and pumpkin, but they either start later or go directly in the ground. I actually read the instructions on the seed package. Amazing what a difference that made!

Yeah, Vertigo!

2006-03-14T00:00:00-05:00

I was lamenting (to myself) a few months ago that Vertigo Comics had really let itself go. It seemed that the majority of their publications were re-hashing past successes like The Sandman or Swamp Thing. And a lot of the new stuff was fairly realistic crime comics like DMZ, 100 Bullets, or The Losers. Basically, stuff you could find elsewhere. I thought Vertigo was about pushing the envelope and providing an outlet for high-end alternative comics?

As if they heard me, Vertigo has recently released three new titles – all of which are worthy of picking up:

American Virgin – This is fun and is the most different from the average comic fodder. There’s only been one issue so far, so it’s hard to judge. I liked what I read so far and the author started a lot of threads that can go somewhere interesting.

Adam Chamberlain is a 20-year-old youth minister, a best-selling author, and most important, the head of a rabid national virginity movement. But practicing virgin or not…Adam is about to lose it.

Just a few weeks shy of marrying the girl of his dreams — the only woman God has said he can ever know sexually — Adam’s fate, future and sex life are cast in direct opposition with God’s Word.

The Exterminators – If you can handle it, this is a fun and twisted series. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart. But it’s also not pointlessly mean-spirited. By issue #3, it starts to poke its head out of the murky angst that it’s mired in.

The series centers on a dysfunctional group of bug killers prowling the barrios and bungalows of Los Angeles — the thinnest point on the shaky borderline between civilization and the violent chaos of nature.

Testament – It’s a little too soon for me to be able to say what this series about. So far, it’s taking stories from the Old Testament and applying them to a sci-fi future based around issues that we see in play today’s government – privacy, war and recruitment. Here’s the DC blurb about it:

From the imagination of best-selling author Douglas Rushkoff (Coercion, Club Zero-G), one of the most iconoclastic and acclaimed minds of our era, comes a series that exposes the “real” Bible as it was actually written, and reveals how its mythic tales are repeated today.

So there you go. Smart, interesting, and alternative comics. Go for it. Buy en masse.

I’ve often thought the problem with the modern comics market is that everyone associates comics with costume clad superheroes. There’s no reason to think that:

Just because the characters are superheroes doesn’t mean it’s vacuous

Not all comic books are about superheroes

If the comic industry is to grow to its next step, it’s getting more people to buy comic books by convincing people there’s more out there than just kid stuff.

So congratulations to Vertigo for pushing the boundaries. I hope they get the support they need to continue.

Where is ritual in modern American culture?

2006-03-03T00:00:00-05:00

I am just finishing up a week trip through Chiapas in Mexico. We attended two very important festivals, one was the “Pocho” dances in Tenosique and the other was “Fat Tuesday” in Chamula. If I don’t have a full travelog posted now, I will soon. However, this post is more about my own thoughts and ramblings and is separate from the travelog.

The festivals that I attended where somewhat choreographed in that there was some sort of dance to be done that the townspeople knew and participated in. There were some sort of group of directors that would wave a flag, beat a drum, and somehow direct the action and the dances. And the festivals generally had a lot of references to animals, fertility, and the passage of death. They were profound to attend. I haven’t had such vivid dreams in so long as I did after attending the festivals – and that’s only as an outsider. I can’t imagine what it would be like to actually participate.

So anyway, it got me thinking, where are the modern American rituals? And by ritual, I don’t mean people’s daily personal rituals like “I come home, open a bag of corn chips, and watch Roseanne reruns.” Where are these group festivals? The best I could come up with was Puerto Rican Day or Gay Pride Day. I’ve seen these, though, and they don’t even come close to stacking up. These seem to be more about getting drank, waving a flag, and shouting a lot. There’s no group dance. There’s no director.

I also thought about sports. I couldn’t make the connection though. There’s no real imagery, there’s no real story being acted out, and there’s really nothing for the audience to do.

I suppose the ritual is part of what always attracted me to Jewish/Israeli events like a wedding or a bar mitzvah. There is a dance and there is some form and story to it. Granted, there’s nothing primal, so it’s a little tame.

I suppose most religion was supposed to take the place of the rituals, but modern religion is so antiseptic by the standards of the festivals that I attended. It’s a shame.

Be water, my friend

2006-03-03T00:00:00-05:00

I was watching a documentary about martial arts movies and caught an interview with Bruce Lee. The following quote of his rang in my head like gospel:

Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.

This is my new theme. I’m carrying this around in my head and savoring it like hard candy for the soul.

Villahermosa

2006-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

Our flight went from La Guardia in New York, to Mexico City, and then to Villahermosa. We left a lot of time in Mexico City since we had to go through customs. For some reason, we got through customs RIDICULOUSLY quickly and we were left with a long layover in the Mexico City airport. Unfortunately, it’s not the best airport to get stuck in. Now that I know it a bit better, I would have found the one upscale area and spent some time shopping. We didn’t know better at the time, though, and so we just hung out in the main waiting area. Time seemed to pass at an all-time slow. It didn’t help that we had gotten up at something like 4 in the morning and the airport was not air conditioned. There’s nothing like being tired, hot, and wearing warm clothes because you jsut left a place that’s still in winter. We were also somewhat lucky to make the connection to Villahermosa. We had been listening carefully and heard the gate being called about 15 minutes prior to our flight taking off. We never saw a gate being posted on the electronic boards throughout the airport – even when we arrived at the gate. I think the locals that take that flight all the time know the gate. Anyway, the flight there was pleasant and uneventful.

We checked into our hotel and unwound. Our hotel was next to the Hyatt and I believe were the only two upscale hotels in that area. There’s not much to see in Villahermosa other than the Olmec heads. We asked at the hotel for a good place for dinner. They (and the guidebook) suggested VIPS. I had a vague recollection of a VIPS in northern California. I thought they were more in the category of a Denny’s than a nice restaurant. David double-checked and said something along the lines of “Are you sure it’s a good restuarant?” The person at the hotel smiled and ensured us that it was a good restaurant. It turns out that I was right. Vips is a Mexican Denny’s. We had to do some shopping first for bottled water and bug repellant, so we passed VIPS. We ended up eating a Sanbourne’s which we suspect was better than VIPS – but who can tell. It was probably a toss-up.

Our hotel had a nice lobby – including a Mayan-inspired mural that covered one wall.

This is the courtyard where our room was located. I didn’t know the person in the shot until later. Her name is Kelly and she was part of our tour group. You have no idea how good it feels to see this in the middle of a New York winter.

David relaxing in the hotel room after a long day of air travel.

The Road to San Cristóbal

2006-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

We left Palenque today and headed to San Cristóbal. Palenque is at an elevation of 80 meters (~260 ft) and San Cristóbal is at an elevation of 2160 meters (~7000 ft), so we had a ways to go. And it was, of course, a tiny, winding road. Although we were looking forward to getting out of the warm lowlands and head to more temperate weather in the mountians.

Our first stop was at a waterfall called Miso Ha. There was nothing particularly cultural or historical to see. The natural beauty of the falls spoke for itself. This is apparently one of the prime locations featured in the movie Predator.

The view from when you first walk up to the falls

Showing a person in the image gives you an idea of how large the falls are

Here’s David trying to pretend that he doesn’t mind being wet

Our next stop was another set of waterfalls called Aqua Azul. There had been heavy rains the night before, so the falls were stronger than usual. Unfortunately, they were not blue – they were brown. We were reassured that they are normally quite blue. Oh well. We parked at the base and worked our way up the falls.

The Base

David still pretending that the wetness doesn’t bother him

The next point

Keith posing and actually not minding the wet

The next point up

David preparing to cross a very rickety bridge

David crossing to the very tip

Incredible View

David crossing back

Our next big stop was a site of ruins on the way to San Cristóbal – Tonina. The ruins are built into a cliff, so there was a lot of climbing. The steps were so steep that it felt as if you were climbing a wall. Tonina is known for having very good reliefs about the capture of warriors and a tribute to the god of the underworld. I decided that I was going to brave the room of the dead – reagardless of spiders. Luckily, there were none.

A shot of the site before the climbing

Entering the ruins

Walking into the room of the dead

Reliefs depicting the fate of captives

The tribute relief of the god of the underworld. Be sure to zoom into this picture to see the skeleton-like god, the upside down heads.

A view from the top. It was actually a pleasant day despite the heavy clouds.

After the ruins, we stopped at a place for homemade quesadillas and then drove the rest of the way to San Cristóbal. We noticed that most of the signs on the road had large holes in them. We all assumed that they were bullet holes, but our guide pointed out that the government drills holes in them because the locals steal the road signs to cook tortillas on. Drilling holes in them makes them useless as stovetops.

Tenosique

2006-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

Today was our first “festival” day. We went to a town called Tenosique where they have been having this very bizarre festival for hundreds of years. It’s a bit hard to describe. It takes place every Sunday starting in January and ends with lent. A few select people dress up as jaguars – they paint their body orange, use a Coke bottle to make black spots on their skin, and drape an actual jaguar pelt over their back. We got access to where some of those people were preparing to get some good pictures.

A couple of jaguar dancers

The majority of the participants dress up as someone called Cojo. They dress mostly in white, wrap banana leaves around their ankles, wear masks, capes, and hats with tall pointy leaves in them. Our guide said that the story that they’re enacting is a little vague, but supposedly it has to do with Cojo drawing out the evil jaguar and taming it. I don’t really know. He said that people generally think that the Cojo character represents a Spanish conquistador, but David pointed out that they look more like a giant ear of corn.

Our guide trying on a Cojo mask

A family preparing and posing for us

Mom is helping the family prepare

David is the one wearing a mask

We waited along the street for the action to heat up. The Cojo characters have small boxes with holes in the top. They will come up to you, shake the box and grunt at you. This is a sign that they want you to drop a couple of pesos in the box. I learned early on that I should not pull all of my change out of my pocket and pick out one small coin in view of the person demanding money. They will not be satisfied with one measly peso! Several times, David went to buy a piece of candy and ask for change to give the Cojo people. It’s sort of like Halloween. Most of the people dressed as Cojo are kids.

People are starting to gather for the dance

A pair of Cojos

David posing with a Cojo

While we waited, a small kid (about 10) stopped by and started talking to us in very good English. His name was Alessio. He often came up to us later in the day to talk to us. He was holding something in his cape that David noticed a little later. A giant phallus. Our guide warned us that there were going to be some sexual/suggestive elements in the dance. I guess I wasn’t expecting kids to be walking around with large phalluses. I tend to think he was hiding it in his cape when he talked to us because he knew we would think it was weird.

Alessio and his friends

We hung out with a group preparing and then went into the festival. There’s a moving dance that is somewhat controlled by a drummer and a flag waver. The dance moves very slowly through the town and stops to go through a dance cycle periodically. I couldn’t figure out the stages of the dance, but the drummer would change the beat and everyone would slow down, scatter, form a circle, or speed up.

The dance

More dancing

Part of the ritual that I didn’t understand

What makes the day REALLY fun is that while the dancing is going on, they throw flour at you or squirt you with water. For some reason, most of our group was pretty much left alone, but David and I were pelted with flour. I’m still cleaning flour out of my camera bag.

After following the dancing for a couple of hours, went to a restaurant for lunch. There were a couple of guitar players and singers that played for us while we waited for our food.

Our guide, one of our group, and David at lunch

After lunch, we went back to festival. It had moved into the public square and was at full force. They upgraded their arsenal from simple fistfulls of flour to hollowed out eggs full of flour. I took one on my jaw that exploded all over David. I was trying to be a man about it, but it really hurt! Things were really chaotic by this point. We ran into Alessio and he was clearly exhausted. It was clear that young women were the targets of the flour. The prettier the girl, the more covered with flour she would be. David and I decided that we should be flattered that we were the only ones in our group to be targeted. After about a half hour, we got to the van and rode back to Palenque for a shower and a quiet dinner.

You can’t really see how crowded the public square is. I didn’t want to get close enough for fearing of having my camera pelted.

San Juan Chamula

2006-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

I’m going to put all of San Cristóbal on hold for a second and talk about what happened the next day because it was one of the most bizarre experiences I’ve ever encountered. We celebrated “Fat Tuesday” in a small mountain town called San Juan Chamula. Unfortunately, the one experience that is the most difficult to describe is the one place we were absolutely not allowed to take pictures. The locals strongly believe that it steals your soul. There were signs posted as we got to the main square saying “NO PHOTOS ALLOWED AFTER THIS POINT”. There were men with sticks that would knock a camera out of your hand if you even lifted one up.

San Juan Chamula is a place that has mobined ancient Mayan religion with Catholicism. They have a modified crucifix that looks more like an ear of corn. David once heard that the Chamulans believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to become the Sun God. They also highly prize Coca Cola because they believe the carbonation releases evil spirits and it’s one of the few things they can’t produce themselves. Their version of Fat Tuesday doesn’t really resemble anything the Catholic church would endorse. They sacrifice bulls in the town square. The day is unbelievably chaotic and surreal. I will do my best to describe it, but this is something that has to be experienced.

Shortly after we arrived to town, our guide ran into a local guide named Chip who has been living in San Cristóbal for many years and knows the locals. He got us into the mayor’s house for a special glimpse of the preparations. It was a small and relatively modest house. All along the walls were the male town elders – small, old men that did not talk. There was a man changing into white ceremonial clothes clsoer to the center. I saw only one woman there. She was attending to a shrine in the middle of the room. There was a huge amount of incense being burned and god only knows what else. The room was filled with smoke. There were candles everywhere and banners hanging from the ceiling. I would have liked to have stayed maybe a little longer, but I felt like I was intruding on their festival and I was concerned that I was inhaling something I would later regret. (I later found out that the locals often do hallucinogenic drugs as part of religious ceremonies).

We wandered up to the main square. There were people everywhere running around. We saw many older children dressed in brightly colored clothes wearing black pointed hats with red, yellow, and green streamers hanging from them. We later found out that the black hats were made from the skin of howler monkeys. Many of this kids had horns that played two very dissonant notes at once. Some of the kids had drums. Also in the town square, they were setting off extremely loud firecrackers. Our guide wanred us not to go near the firecrackers because sometimes they fire into the crowd. You could lose your hearing or worse.

After waiting in the public square for a bit, we went into the church. The church is especially sacred and no pictures are allowed. For a Catholic church, it was not ornate – well, not ornate in the way that one would expect. There were corn husks hanging from the walls. There were large banners strewn across the ceiling woven by the natives. There must have been thousands of candles throughout the church – on tables, on the floor, and along the wall. People would come in with candles, light a few, and simbply plant them into the stone floor and start praying. We saw some people praying fervently, bowing on their knees, and holding coke bottles up to their forehead as an offering to God (remember that they value Coke and they are preparing to give something up for Lent). All along the walls were glass cases with saints inside. The name of the saint was usually painted on the glass. All of the saints were ornately dressed and usually had a mirror hanging around their neck to ward off evil spirits. The saints looked more like large (some of them were almost life-size) porcelain dolls. Their faces had been painted to have disarming expressions. Some had a look of suffering, some looked like they had just seen God, some looked afraid, some looked at peace. Walking around the church and looking at the saints was one of the most bizarre experiences I’ve ever had in my life. They had an air of real people – I kept expecting to see one of the saints move – and yet the whole atmosphere was fantastical at the same time. Add to this the sound of the drums, dissonant horns blaring, firecrackers going off outside, and some sort of very strong incense. I stopped in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary (who had multi-colored chaser lights around her glass box) and meditated on what I was experiencing. I thought of places I had been where the barrier between this world and the next is very thin – like a veil that you can almost see through. I tried to “look through the veil” in this church and I saw chaos. I don’t know how else to describe it.

Our group went back out to the main square. David and I decided to break off from the group and explore on our own. We could see something happening in the corner of the square. There were men in black lamb tunics. We saw them holding onto ropes. Occassionally, the crowd would shift and the kids would come running in our direction for a moment and then crowd back to where they came from. We eventually realized that they were dragging a bull into the town square with the rope. The bull would start charging and all the kids would run away for a second. Part of the “game” was for the teenage boys to jump onto the bull’s back and ride it for a few seconds. They were slowly dragging the bull into the center of the square to sacrifice it. Along with the realization of what they were doing to this poor bull, I realized that I must have inhaled something along the way, because I started having mild hallucinogenic reactions – my perception was starting to go two dimensional and my jaw clenching. I told David that we should get out of here and have something to eat (we hadn’t had lunch and it was past lunchtime). We found a place to have a coke and some churros. I felt a little better.

We wandered around a bit more. Luckily, we didn’t see any of the bulls actually get sacrificed. They sacrifice five of them. It was explained to me why, but I can’t remember it now. Our gruop eventually gathered up and went to a nearby textile town to see how the locals weave textiles by hand as they have done for thousands of years. The home where we went also made us some tortillas, but I was feeling quite out of it and passed.

A weaving demonstration

This is what they use to set up the “loom”

Making tortillas in her kitchen

San Cristóbal

2006-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

We spent two and a half days in San Cristóbal. It’s a beautiful town to sit back and relax. The people couldn’t be nicer and it’s a blend of local culture and Western tourism. David and I had a great time just stroliing around the city. It’s one of those places that didn’t really get good until we exhausted all the major tourist destinations and just wandered around.

The street that we would walk down from Na Bolom to the center of town.

We loved the banners in the street and looked around for places to buy them. We went into at least 10 different stores asking for those banners and had the exact same story every time. David would ask for “banners” in Spanish (“banderas”). The clerk would look at him confused. David would describe them in Spanish. Eventually, they would understand what he was saying. Once they understood, David would ask them what they called them and they would nod that he was correct and say “banderas”. No one ever carried them, but they always said that a paper store closer to the zocalo (town square). We tried what felt like every paper store in town and never had any luck. I later found them on 8th Avenue in New York just up the street from us.

One of David’s favorite things to do in a Mexican city is to check out the local market. There’s no possible way to capture everything that you see there – people holding onto a group of live chickens by the feet haggling over price, the fresh produce, the kids, etc. I was aware that we were in an area where they did not always appreciate photgraphs, so I took it easy. We ended up asking one man for a photo and paying him. David and I were on our own. We later found out that the rest of our group could not find anyone to consent to a photograph in the markets.

A man selling all sorts of grains in the market.

This market stall had all sorts of local herbs and plants for medicinal purposes. They each had a name and a list of symptoms they cure. We noticed that many of them were listed as a cure for diarrhea.

San Cristobal has beautiful churches. Unfortunately, the one really beautiful facade was under repair and surrounded in scaffolding. Oh well. Something to go back for. The interiors were beautiful as well, but often very dark.

One of the main churches on the zocalo

A beautiful interior of Santa Domingo

A striking statue of one of the 12 stations of the cross

A beautiful statue of the Virgin Mother unlike any I’ve ever seen.

This beautiful church wasn’t even on the guide book map – we found it by accident.

The interior of the church.

Despite the pictures of the local spots, San Cristóbal is surprisingly “Western”. There were great restaurants, hip hotels, streets without cars and lined with tourist trap shops, more internet cafes than you can shake a stick at, and good cafes. We found a great little dessert shop that we stopped at more than once after dinner to share a slice of cake.

For a country not known for great desserts, this place was pretty fantastic.

Speaking of food stories, we went one night to a small steakhouse. I had been feeling not so great and was probably dehydrated. We ordered something simple – sopa azteca and a New York strip steak. David and I commented at how cheap the food is in Mexico. The food arrived, we ate. The waiter came back asking us what we wanted next. We said just the check. He left confused. Then the owner came over to our table to ask if everything was okay and why we didn’t want to order more. We eventually realized that it was an “all you can eat” steakhouse and we were supposed to keep ordering more steak. We had severely under-estimated how good of a bargain our dinner was. Since we were full and had not been feeling so well, we assured them that the food was delicious but that we filled up and would take the check.

And, of course, it wouldn’t be a trip abroad unless you ran across some New Yorkers. The day that we went to San Juan Chamula, we met the famle half of a couple that has a house right behind Casa Na Bolom where we were staying. Our last full day in San Cristobal, we went over to their house for coffee. We also met Chip there, the guide that had taken us to the mayor’s house in San Juan Chamula. They are a couple that lives in New York most of the year, but vacation San Cristóbal and the Adirondacks. Small world!

A beautiful convent garden that has been converted into a cultural center

Palenque

2006-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

Today was our first real touring day, although it started off with a long car drive. We got up relateively early to prepare for the trip. A car was picking us up and taking us to Palenque to visit the ruins. We met two of our group – a young woman named Kelly from Washington D.C. and an older woman named Melanie from Sacramento. We made polite conversation, but it ran out quickly considering we didn’t really know each other. It was about 2 and a half hours to Palenque. It was good to adjust oneself to the fact that we were in Mexico. That area was particularly lush and green. As we got closer to the ruins, our driver pointed them out from a distance. It was quite exciting to see how large they were from a distance.

There was some initial confusion when we first showed up at Palenque. Apparently, our tour guide had already started walking around the site with the three people that were part of our tour that were already in Palenque. So we met the rest of our group: a British couple named John and Teresa and a former Brit/current Norwegian Mike. They were on a several week tour of most of southern Mexico. This trip landed in the middle of their overall tour.

How to describe Palenque? Well, it’s humungous. Not only are the ruins themselves quite large, but it’s very extensive. There are also some 1,400 structures identified at Palenque. We only went through the most prominent ones – about eight of them. The tour was very thorough hitting everything from the ancient bathrooms, to how they built the wall, to the carvings. It’s silly of me to try to go through every detail that we explored there, so I won’t. Here are some photos.

After a few hours of walking the grounds, we went to a place about 15 minutes down the road for lunch. There was a small collection of restaurants and hotels called El Panchán. We ate at a restaurant called “Don Mucho’s” and is owned by the brother of our tour guide. We later found out in our guide book that our tour guide’s family is something of local royalty.

After lunch there was more exploration of the ruins at Palenque. We got more detail on Pakal’s palace, walked through a tomb of an unidentified woman, and then headed off to the museum at Palenque to see some of the items that were taken out of the ruins and preserved. David and I kept hearing this loud occasional roaring from the forest just outside of the ruins. It was occasionally quite loud. It sounded as if someone had a special effects record of a roaring animal – like a jaguar or tiger. We didn’t think much of it at the time because it did sound like it was coming from a stereo system, but a few days later at Yaxchilán, we asked someone and they told us that it was howler monkeys. I decided that if a single monkey could make that sound, I didn’t want to run into that monkey.

After the museum, we checked into our hotel in Palenque where we’d be staying for the next three nights. The hotel was nice enough. We took a walk into the main part of Palenque after settling into the hotel and ate dinner in a restaurant off of the town square – which was hopping at night.

Na Bolom

2006-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

Our hotel in San Cristóbal was pretty incredible. We spent three nights at Casa Na Bolom which is a short walk from the center of town. Casa Na Bolom is a cultural center, a restaurant, a museum, a garden, a hotel, and a historical icon. All the rooms are individual and scattered throughout the estate, down hallways, across courtyards, up steps, etc. It’s a huge area that I would stroll around and constantly find new little buildings or gardens hidden around a corner.

The front entrance of Na Bolom. At night, you have to knock on the door to be let onto the grounds. The floor is made with upside down wine bottles embedded into cement.

This is the room we stayed in for the first two nights.

The main courtyard

Some iron work along the hall

The view of the courtyard directly outside our room.

David built a fire in our room. Being in the mountains, it got quite cold at night.

Although our room was nice, on the last night we asked if we could try another room. We specifically asked for the room that Diego Rivera slept in on his trips to San Cristobal. It was another great room with a view of a garden.

The Diego Rivera Room – although that’s not what the hotel calls it.

A picture of one of our group admiring the beautiful day.

Mexico City

2006-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

Aaah. Mexico City. More importantly, The Four Seasons Hotel. Rustic charm is nice, but a private and clean bathroom is a rare thing in a third world country. David and I arrived quite tired and there was a line to check in at the Four Seasons. I overheard some conversation that there was renovation going on during the day on the 6th floor, so I was prepared to not accept a room on the 5th, 6th, or 7th floors. When we got to the front desk, the clerk was taking a very long time to find a room. It was several minutes of watching her type into a keyboard and click her mouse repeatedly. She called over the manager and they clicked and stared at their screens for a while. I began to worry that they were going to downgrade us on the room, so I said “Is there a problem?” – which was intended to sound inquisitive and reassuring but David insists came out like acid. The manager said there was no problem and within a minute said that they had upgraded us to a nicer room on the 8th floor. Woo-hoo!

The room was huge. It took us forever to figure out how to work the remote control – it was JUST THAT FANCY.

The view of the courtyard from the 8th floor.

We were quite tired, so we ordered room service and hung out in the room the first night. The next day, we went to the antiques market. I started having my usual reaction to Mexico City – weak, bleary, short of breath, and unable to focus. I lasted a while at the market, but evenutally headed back to the room. We got a hand-painted offering box for the kitchen and David ended up getting about a dozen or so ex votos.

I have to admit that a lot of my visit to Mexico City is a poor-air-quality blur. We went to a couple of antique stores looking for more ex votos. We found out that they are easy to replicate and hard to authenticate, so most dealers don’t carry them. Which is fine by us. They’re cheap and look nice, so what’s the big deal if they’re replicas?

We had a wonderful evening with Pastor Luna, a colleague’s of David that lives in Mexico City, and his wife, Anna Laura. They took us to a wonderful Italian restaurant in the hip and trendy part of town.

Our last full day in Mexico City, we went to the Franz Mayer Museum and took our time walking back to the hotel part of the way. We finally ate at a VIPS (remember from our first night) and it was all I dreamed it would be. The thing that always strikes me about Mexico City is that so many of the neighborhoods clearly had their big day once upon a time. We drove through a couple of pretty rundown neighborhoods that had fantastic architecture. I kept thinking that if there’s ever an economic boom in Mexico, that Mexico City will be one of the most sought after cities in the world.

So, an incredible trip over all, but I was so happy at the thought of going back home, having a regular old salad and letting my digestive system recover. I suppose it’s good that Mexico is only for true travelers. It seems so rare these days to go some place that is truly unspoiled.

Chiapas!

2006-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

David and I scheduled to take a tour with Maya Sites (http://www.mayasites.com) through the southern area of Mexico for the fall of 2005. Unfortunately, David took a trip of his own on 23rd street and broke his foot weeks before our vacation. So we postponed that trip and re-scheduled it with the same company for their “Festivals of the Highland Rainforest Maya”. And I’m so glad that David broke his foot because this trip that we took instead was amazing!

Cañón del Sumidero

2006-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

On our last day in San Cristóbal, we decided to get an early start, drive to Chiapa de Corzo, and take a tour of the Cañón del Sumidero before heading to Tuxtla Gutiérrez. It’s a very striking canyon that you tour via speedboats that take you up the river to look at the dam and back. To get there, we took the most harrowing ride of my life.

We hired a local cab driver to take us to Tuxtla Gutiérrez and drop us off to see the Cañón del Sumidero for a couple of hours. Kidnappings or robberies of tourists has been on the rise, so I was a bit on edge to begin with. About 15 minutes into the trip, I realized that kidnapping was the least of my worries. I was far more likely to die in a car wreck, tumbling down the side of the mountain. Although they are building a super highway (two lanes in each direction!) from Tuxtla Gutiérrez to San Cristóbal, the road was only available for the last 15 minutes of the ride. The first part of the trip was on an extremely winding road along the edge of the mountain. Our cab driver was not in favor of waiting for anybody or anything. He did not slow down on curves, he sped up (I’m not joking!). If a large truck was moving slowly in front of us, he would pass the truck on a blind curve. At least twice he had misjudged passing a car in front of us and slammed on the brakes to avoid having a head-on collision with the car in front of us. Every 500 feet, there was another sign that read “CURVA PELIGRASO” (dangerous curves) or “NO MALTRATE LAS SENALES” (don’t disregard the signs). There were small shrines along the side of the road of people that most likely had driven over the edge and down the edge of the mountain. I eventually tapped into my inner Buddha and told myself that if I was meant to die on the road to Tuxtla Gutiérrez, then so be it. It would at least be a quick death. Oh…and there were no seat belts in the car.

We made it to Chiapa de Corzo and immediately got on a bus for a tour of the Cañón del Sumidero. We kind of lucked out and got on a group that was primarily comprised of a bunch of middle-aged Mexican women touring together. Although they generally didn’t speak English, they were a hoot. They had one American travelling with them – a retired gentlemen from Madison, Wisconsin, who had moved here so that his wife could be closer to her family. He had decided to tour with this group of women more because they were so much fun. They would cheer, take pictures of each other, and in general have a great time. The canyon was very impressive. The pictures don’t do it justice.

A grand view approaching the canyon.

The only bridge over the canyon.

A crocodile we saw along the banks.

The crocodile started coming towards us. Some of the women screamed.

Look carefully and you’ll see monkeys in the trees

There were vultures everywhere along the canyon

In the middle of the canyon is a small cave that our boat drove up to. You cannot reach this area by land, you have to use a boat. There’s a small ladder up to a ledge where shrine was built to the people that discovered the area and worked to keep the local wildlife protected.

The shrine

We drove to the dam and instead of going right back to the spot that we left from, our driver took us to a small restaurant along the river for drinks and snacks. Unfortunately, we learned first hand the meaning of “tourist trap”. It was obvious that our boat driver either owned the restaurant or was getting a lot of money from the owner for bringing tourists. We were in the middle of the river with no way to get out. Everyone ordered a full lunch. We were stuck in the restaurant for about an hour and a half. David and I started becoming worried because our cab driver had been told that it would be a two hour trip. It ended up being a four hour trip. On the plus side, there were a couple of cute parrots at the resturant that were very social.

We were very relieved to get back to our starting point and see our cab driver there and not overly pissed off that we took two hours longer than we originally thought. We went to Tuxtla Gutiérrez, had a nice lunch at the airport cafe, and headed on to Mexico City for the final portion of the trip.

Bonampak / Yaxchilán

2006-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

Today we had an early start. We met at 6:30 to visit all the stops. And it’s a good thing, because we had some surprises later on the trip that delayed us for a few hours. We started off with about a 45 minute drive to lunch spot. I forgot to ask for the details of where we were, but looking back at the map now, I think we were at Rio Chancalá. It was a small tourist stop on the road with excellent homemade breakfasts under a thatched roof. There was a large German tour bus that stopped for breakfast at the same time we did.

Breakfast at Rio Chancalá. David is at the left of the table. Although he looks like he’s focusing on the conversation, he’s really contemplating having another quesadilla.

We passed a sign warning us that we were entering Zapatista territoy. I was blissfully ignorant of the details of the sign.

After breakfast, we climbed aboard the van, hit the road, and…didn’t get very far.

About 15 minutes into the next section, the traffic all came to a stop. The local Mayans had blocked off the road as a protest to the government. And that is the only road that takes us from where we were to where we wanted to go. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the Zapatista revolution, there wouldn’t be a road at all because the government paved roads so that they can easily get the military into towns and control the locals. Our van driver went to talk to the locals. Apparently three men had died in a fight over land the day before. The locals had been asking the government to intervene for some time and put down clear ownership of the land. Our van happened to be stopped right in front of a house where they were holding a funeral for one of the deceased. There were women showing up in traditional Mayan dresses, followed by a lot of crying and singing, a small dingy white truck showed up and they loaded a casket onto the truck and drove off. The government made a big show – helicopters flew over head, police rode up, and then the military drove up in riot gear. It didn’t make any difference. Each time a new group showed up, it looked like the protesters were going to leave, but they kept their ground. Our tour guide was clearly worried. We found out later that they have sometimes blocked the road for days without letting people through. Eventually they got some positive response from the government and they started letting people through. Our van driver was right, wait a couple hours and they’ll let us through as long as we pay 200 pesos. And that’s what happened.

So, we were back on the road to Bonampak. We had another hour and a half, I suppose, before we got there. Our tour guide said that the locals at Bonampak were one of the Mayan groups that had mostly given up their Mayan way of life and tried to survive on the tourist industry. Unfortunately, the tourist industry isn’t enough to support them. They did not seem to be as healthy as the other Mayan groups that we had encountered up until that point who were poor, undoubtedly, but self-sufficient. The site of Bonampak was quite amazing. The murals are still quite colorful, but had clearly lost a lot of color over the past fifteen years (our tour guide had photos of what they used to look like). Once upon a time, they were covered by a dust that had preserved them, but when the archeologists uncovered the dust, the murals started fading. So run to Bonampak! These murals won’t be around for long!

This is our group having just arrived at the site of Bonampak.

A Room at Bonampak

This mural depicts a captured and bleeding warrior in the bottom

A Room at Bonampak

One of the more impressive reliefs.

Another very large relief at Bonampak

Next, it was back to the van and an hour drive to Yaxchilán. Since we were late getting to Yaxchilán from the road block, we skipped lunch and grabbed some snacks at a small store before getting on the boats to Yaxchilán. You cannot reach the ruins by car, you have to take a small boat to the ruins. It’s about a 45 minute trip up the river.

A shot of the boats to go to Yaxchilán

Our boat driver

The front of our boat

David started singing “Proud Mary” quite loudly (“ROLLING! ROLLING! ROLLING DOWN THE RIV-ER!”) Just kidding. I think I caught him pre-sneeze.

The ruins at Yaxchilán are impressive. They weren’t as monumental as Palenque, but there was some very dramatic sites. Also, since the site is so hard to get to, it’s a lot less invaded by tourists. Our first stop was through a temple of the dead – which is a structure to honor the underworld. There wasn’t a lot to see because it’s primary function was to be completely dark on the inside. Even walking up to it, it felt as if we had walked into a set for an Indiana Jones movie. At the entrance, our guide pointed out some bats hanging from the ceiling. I went in last of our group since I was fiddling with the camera. As I walked in, I heard the guide say “There’s a wolf spider on the wall. See that?” I didn’t know what a wolf spider looked like, but I didn’t really want to find out. I sort of instinctively took a few steps back outside and into the sunlight. I decided that I was being a wimp, so I started to walk back in (it was pitch black inside with the exception of the guide’s flashlight). Then I heard our guide say “Wait. Where did it go?” I thought about not going back in. Wolf spiders sound bad enough. Jumping wolf spiders I can do without. I was comforted when I heard the guide say “that’s not a very big wolf spider”. I started to step back in and heard him say “Now there’s a big wolf spider.” Okay. We’re now plural. And we had reached a large size. The part of me that has no interest in hanging out with large spiders said "Why do you want to hang out in a dark, cramped space with spiders? No thank you. And I stepped back out. Out in the sun, all fears of spiders left. I felt like an idiot. There were old women on our tour with more bravery than me. This was ridiculous. So I started to go back inside. And heard the guide say “See overhead? Those are vampire bats.” At that point, I decided I was actually the smart one by hanging back. What do I benefit from hanging out with bats and spiders? I’ll pass, thank you. And I happily waited outside for the group to finish. I asked David later how big the big wolf spider was. He said “Well it wasn’t only a couple of inches tall.” Sensing that he was leaving something out, I asked how long it was. “About this long”: and he held up his hands to be about a foot long. I praised the part of my brain that told me to give up on a false sense of masculinity and just stay outside.

Walking up to the Temple of the Dead

Coming out the other end of the temple

The tour of Yaxchilán was great. It was one of the highlights of the trip. There are some incredible temples at the top of hills. The reliefs were fascinating. Many of them featured blood-letting rituals. The women would pierce their tongues and run thorny vines through the hole. The king would pierce his foreskin. We also got some time walking through the jungle to some of the largely unexcavated areas of the ruins.

A relief

Climbing up to the basketball court

Checking out ruins

More ruins

More reliefs

A good hike up to the ruins

We walked through the jungle a bit and then took the boats back to main road. Our guide took us to the local cultural center that also acts as a restaurant in the evening. We were in a bit of hurry, because we wanted to get home before it got too dark. Mainly because people and dogs wander along the road. He said that he didn’t want to hit any pigs on the way home, but we assumed he was saying “pigs” instead of “dogs” so as not to worry anyone. There were dogs walking all along the road all day. It’s a miracle that we didn’t hit any (thank God).

Fun with Wide Angle Lenses

2006-02-20T00:00:00-05:00

David got me a new camera – a Konica Minolta DSLR, with a wide-angle lens. Although these aren’t as extreme as I was hoping to get, I still had fun. Here are some shots of the dogs with a wide angle lens.

Ah…Camille

2006-02-15T00:00:00-05:00

While in Minnesota, I picked up my sister’s copy of Camille Paglia’s “Sex, Art, and American Culture”. I flipped randomnly to a chapter called “Sexual Personae: The Cancelled Preface”. I read the following section:

Personality is at the heart of the West. Governing its representation in art are principles I call Apollonian and Dionysian, in a theory elaborated from passages of Plutarch, Nietsche, and G. Wilson Knight. These terms were used by German scholarship in a sometimes vague or portentous way. I fine-tune them for practical criticism. I see the Apollonian and Dionysian as a cyclic pattern of expansion and retraction, of the shapeless and the definite.

I have often used the model of Apollonian and Dionysian sides to art, long before Camille Paglia discussed it so fully in her writing. However, this phrase of hers resonated with me: “a cyclic pattern of expansion and retraction, of the shapeless and the definite”.

I could apply that same notion to describe what it is I love so much about any piece of artwork or writing that has grabbed me: the ability to be at one point ineffable, and then to return to a state of something knowable. The best example I could give would be the X-Files at the height of the writing. The beginnings of the episodes seemed unreal and unknowable. The rest of the episode was about pinning down the edges of what was happening; giving shape to the events in unexpected ways.

I could also make the same case for sci-fi or comic books. My favorite books always start with something unreal, fantastical, and profound. Slowly that grandness retracts into something we can understand; something that is familiar and concrete.

I’m on the lookout now to see if this theory holds true and when it breaks. I’m trying to think of movies that might break this pattern. Even something like “Heavenly Creatures” perfectly captures this sentiment. The girls have wild flights of fantasy and we, as viewers, are taken into their surreal and bachannal flights. At the end of the movie, though, we are left with a very concrete view of what happened. It’s really an amazing and transforming process.

Baby Plaything

2006-02-12T00:00:00-05:00

It’s a shame that most babies don’t realize how entertaining they are. I’m in Minnesota taking care of my sister and her husband while they attend to the baby. The baby is just now starting to look at his surroundings. It’s still firmly in the “cry, eat, and poop” phase. However, the baby has provided us with endless amusement.

Sis was telling us last night that our mom had created little business cards with a picture of him and his vitals. We expanded it into a playbaby centerfold. Lorenz’s turn-ons include “exposed breasts” and his turn-offs are “sleeping in my own poop” and “the hiccups”.

We are endlessly amused at listening to him burp, which he does quite freely, or an audible poop or, as Mark calls it, a rocket fart. I tried to imagine what it would be like to burp so freely or – god forbid – poop my pants with abandon. I can’t imagine. Maybe Freud has something there…

I stare at him and wonder what it must be like to exclusively make vocal sounds describing what’s going on with my gastro-intestinal system. Besides the crying, you know when a burp or a fart is coming from the facial gyrations that he goes through and his grunts and moans.

My Nephew, Lorenz: One Week Old

2006-02-10T00:00:00-05:00

Is this the most flattering picture in the first week of Lorenz’ life? No. Is it accurate in that Sis’ eyes are closed, Mark looks exhausted, and Lorenz is barely holding off a crying jag with a look of “if you don’t feed me in five minutes, I’m having a meltdown”? Yes! Zoom into the photo to get the full effect. I was in Minnesota to capture some moments in Lorenz’s first and second week.

<!—break—?

Smile! You have no choice.

First of all, let me say that it is exceedingly cruel to take pictures of such a newborn baby and post them. The poor guy didn’t have a lot to say except “feed me”. When I first arrived, he was barely opening his eyes. By the time a left, he was starting to look around and recognize me as “Not Mommy”. It might have been my imagination, but his wild limb flailing seemed to be more controlled. And of course, he was starting to hold his own head up after just a week and a half! What an incredible baby!

This is a familiar sight. Sis is looking like she just woke up or she’s about to fall asleep. Which was pretty much always true. More shocking than seeing my sister as a mother was seeing her awake so damn much of the time! Also, I should note that when I first showed up, the dogs were not allowed on the furniture anymore. After several days of realizing that Sis and Mark would have to enforce that rule, they gave up. This picture came late in the trip when Mel and Eugene were allowed back on the furniture. And speaking of Mel and Eugene, I took some pictures of just them so they wouldn’t feel left out.

Eugene with a chew toy.

Mel under the table – one of his favorite spots.

Mark holding Mel – the ORIGINAL baby

At this point, you’re probably saying to yourself, “I came here for baby pictures. Where are the baby pictures?” Well, they’re coming. Unfortunately, only half of the photos that I took actually turned out. David got me a new camera recently and I have to actually learn the fundamentals of photography to really use correctly. So the majority of the baby pictures didn’t turn out. Here are some that did.

In his diaper changing bed. He HATES having his diaper changed.

Looking sly.

Sleepy

In a beautiful hat and sweater knitted by Mary Lou Reich.

We took a picture because he looked like all butt.

And I’m saving the cutest photo for last. Sis and Lorenz often fell asleep on the sofa together. In this photo, they fell asleep 180 degrees from each other.

Batman Returns Again Another Time

2006-02-06T00:00:00-05:00

I was re-reading Grant Morrison’s “Bulletteer” yesterday. His “Seven Soldiers” is a lot of fun for the most part. I wish more people had picked it up. In the latest issue were two advertisements for upcoming Batman stories. The copy of “Bulletteer” is upstairs, so I’ll have to paraphrase them for you.

One of the advertisements is for a mini-series called “Secrets”. The ad has a beautifully drawn Batman and Joker. You can see a preview here: http://comics.ign.com/articles/677/677819p1.html.

The other ad is for a mini-series called “Batman Year 100”. Wired magazine did an article about the artist and author: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.02/pope.html. I wish I could find an image of the ad, because that’s really what I’m going to rant about. The ad has a drawing of Batman and says “Gotham 2039. Fromt the shadows of a tortured city a forgotten champion rises again.”

Ugh.

First of all, let me say that as soon as I read a little bit about both of these, they both sounded interesting. The artwork looks fantastic (especially on “Secrets”). These people spent a lot of time making something they thought the public would want to buy and I wish them all the success in the world.

And now my rant…

I’m so sick of Batman. Haven’t we seen all these stories already? Several times, in fact. The only Batman stories I would find interesting at this point would be stories that get him to stop acting like a mopey, angry teenager. I came up with the following storylines.

The Scarecrow finally figures out that he’s been going about this all wrong. Instead of trying to poison Batman with fear gas, he posions him with anti-depressants. Batman gets over the death of his parents, his obsessive/compulsive disorder clears up, and realizes that it’s a little silly to run around in a bat costume fighting crime. He takes up tennis instead. Eventually, he builds a resort town in Nevada.

Gotham City goes through a real estate boom because it’s the most affordable city in the country – due to years of crime keeping real estate prices low. Eventually, Gotham City becomes a bastion of art, culture, and nightlife. It becomes so expensive, that the criminals have to move someplace more affordable – like New Mexico. Batman finds himself living in a city that doesn’t need him anymore. His attempts to bust up crime anger the now upper-class citizens of Gotham City. He spends his days dressing up as Batman and running around his own house pretending to solve crimes.

Or how about something as simple as “Batman gets a steady girlfriend”. He’s had a few affairs, but for someone that keeps himself in such good shape, he clearly has pent up sexual frustration. In fact, I’m becoming very suspicious of super heroes that clearly don’t get much, if any, sex. The more I think about it, the more I like this one. The Gotham City villains conspire to get him married off. They discover Batman’s secret identity and somehow trick him into going on “8-minute dates”. Bruce Wayne meets someone and falls in love. Eventually, the Batman thing kind of falls to the side. He has kids. Twenty years later, at suburban cook-outs, he contantly tries to tell people about the good old days: “I was Batman! Did you know that? Yep, that was me. Still got the costumes somewhere. We had to turn the batcave into a nursery for the kids.”

I say all of this, but when the next Batman movie comes out (as long as it’s directed by Chris Nolan), I will be first in line and salivating. Who am I kidding? I’ll be the 1000th person in line behind all the people that buy anything that says “BATMAN” on it. The thing is, I still look forward to quality Batman stories. It’s possible that these two new Batman mini-series wll be amongst those great stories. My point is, maybe we can all think about something that’s not Batman? Maybe we can let the poor character take a break for a while? Maybe we can recognize that he’s severely decompensated for a single tragic event in his life?

Why do I care about del.icio.us?

2006-02-02T00:00:00-05:00

If you browse the web, I’m sure you’ve heard about del.icio.us. It’s a site for maintaining links on the web. Like most of the sites out there that claim to be the hottest new technology, I shrugged my shoulders, said “meh”, and forgot about it. Clever URL, but I don’t need it.

The other day I was switching from my kitchen PC to my office and realized that I had lost a URL that I had bookmarked. Okay, I could see the advantage of having my bookmarks someplace central. So I set up an account on del.icio.us and converted my bookmarks. I was blown away. The product itself is great – not amazing. They’ve thought through a very simple, clean interface. The impressive part is to realize that you are participating in a world-wide effort to classify the web. The product gets really amazing as you “tag” your links. No more folders – just tags.

At first I was having a hard time coming up with a tagging scheme. I was taking my best guess at coming up with tags, but I wasn’t entirely sure if I was naming them something useful. Then I started getting to some URLs that I shared with other people. If your URLs are in other people’s account, you can see how other people have tagged them. You immediately plug yourself into a global organization scheme. It’s really quite ingenious. Not to mention fast and efficient.

There are other great little things about the interface. For instance, no complicated tree structure for your tags. Instead, you can view your tags in a list or as a cloud. The cloud view is really cool and honestly helpful.

So then I started thinking about how this applied to various projects I had creating intranets at companies. I’m still sorting through my thoughts and wondering if it’s a valid comparison. In intranet projects, there’s usually some sort of problem coming up with a common language. Companies often complain that there is no central language – their keywords are a complicated mix of synonyms and double-meanings. There is an effort – and usually one person at the core of it – that comes up with a taxonomy that the system is built around. The tagging effort is never left to individual users of the system for the following reasons:

Individual users can’t be trusted to do any tagging whatsoever

The taxonomy is too nuanced and complex for the users to understand

Individuals will muddy the taxonomy

Well, seeing del.icio.us in action proves all of that wrong. If the general public can agree on a list of keywords to describe any page on the internet, maybe a company’s taxonomy is not as subtle and convoluted as they’d like to admit? Maybe users are not as helpless and/or destructive as previously thought? Maybe it isn’t worth maintaining a taxonomy so complicated that the average user can’t automatically tag content?

A user would use the global taxonomy rather than create their own special language for things because it’s in their best interest to do so. By adhering to the global taxonomy, you make it easier to find related content – both for yourself and the other people that use those tags.

In fact – why WOULD you trust all keyword tagging to be done by someone else? You know what a piece of content means to you – you should be able to use your own subset of keywords to describe that content. When I was tagging my own URLs, I would generally only use a subset of all the recommended keywords. My own set of tags has many to me, while also being applicable to other people with interests in those tags.

I don’t think del.icio.us applies to all intranet metadata efforts. However, I’ve seen months spent on projects to come up with taxonomies that were frought with problems: the taxonomy was too confusing; items were either too broad or too detailed; it didn’t address the needs of an individual; it was too cumbersome to maintain. There’s a lot to learn from this system and they’ve solved many problems very elegantly. The real benefit is the trust and power that it gives its user to make a rich and meaningful experience.

Google Strikes Again

2006-01-29T00:00:00-05:00

For years I’ve been complaining that there are no programs that map public transit systems. It’s great – especially travelling abroad – to be able to see where nearby subways are, how to get from one place to another via bus or train, etc. I was poking around Google today and ran across this…(lucky Portland)…http://www.google.com/transit

Friday Night Ticket Scalping

2006-01-28T00:00:00-05:00

David is in Paris and we were scheduled to see “The Magic Flute” at the Metropolitan Opera. Since we ran out of time to exchange them, we had the choice of donating them to the opera for a tax-deductible donation or scalping them. I decided it would be fun to try scalping.

Let me say, it was quite an adventure. As most things in New York, you show up and realize there are people that make their living in front of the opera house scalping tickets. I would not classify them as opera lovers. I also discovered that having really good seats is a liability in the scalping business. At least 20 people said they were interested until they saw the location and price of the ticket. Some people just walked away from me without a word. Most people laughed and said “I’m looking for something MUCH cheaper, thank you.”

There was a woman there that was dressed like a homeless person. She was very short, pushy, and spoke with a craggly voice. She came up to me at least 5 times. The first couple of times she would say “I’ll give you $40 for it.” I told her no way. On the third time, she said “What do you want for it?” I gave her my price and she walked away in disgust. She came up a couple more times to say something like “What did you say you wanted for it? I’ll give you half that.” It was clear that she was just trying to re-sell the ticket and was hoping that I was gullible.

There was another man there that I was convinced was trying to steal the ticket from me. He came up to me very amicably and said that he was trying to sell a ticket too. He did not seem part of the “opera crowd” – more like the Port Authority bus terminal crowd. He started off by saying “There’s a bunch of moochers out here tonight. They don’t want to pay f-ing anything for a decent ticket. What ticket are you trying to sell?” I held up the ticket and he quickly tried to pull it out of my hand. I held onto the other side and wouldn’t let go. He looked and walked away. A couple of times I noticed him showing me. At one point I had the ticket in my hand by my side. I turned around and he had apparently been right behind me. He quickly turned and walked away as if he had been minding his own business.

I ended up getting lucky. I sold one of the tickets for full price within the first 15 minutes of being there. It was another 45 minutes before I sold the other one and I only got half price. Still, it beat the price that we would have gotten if he had dontated the ticket.

The Joy of Picasa

2006-01-26T00:00:00-05:00

I think I had downloaded Picasa once upon a time, said “that’s it?” and uninstalled it. After a very strong recommendation from Sara, I gave it a second chance. It turns out that I didn’t know I needed it.

It’s software to help you organize your photos. That’s really all it is. But they’ve put in every little feature you’ll ever need. You can resize, crop, and re-color photos. You can have it make web-ready versions, automatically add it to a blog, create a CD, etc.

I installed it last night and let it do a scan of my hard drive for photos. First of all, I found photos that I had completely forgotten about. David and I spent a half hour reminiscing on shots of Gogo as a puppy and trips to Mexico. Secondly, I found out that I had been scattering photos all over the place. I thought I had been pretty good, but I found about 6 different folders dedicated to Gogo photos. This morning I finished moving files around, consolidating things, and touched up a few photos.

I can already see that this is going ot change the way I work with photos. I used to spend a very long time converting camera photos to web-ready versions in preparation to post on my site. Now I’m thinking I’ll leave them in their native size from the camera, and do the conversion to web just when I need it.

I highly recommend Picasa. It’s free. It’s made by Google.

The Birthday That Keeps on Giving

2006-01-25T00:00:00-05:00

It’s about ten days after my birthday and today has somehow turned into my great birthday celebration. I got a package this morning from Sis. It had the following:

Two cookie presses
Chocolates from Japan
Japanese apricot liqueur
A book of dog treat recipes with three cookie cutters
A DVD about Blaxpolitation movies
A Desi Arnaz CD

Whew! Pretty great.

Then I met Sara in Union Square and we walked around to some second-hand stores looking at clothes and furniture. I predicted that fashion next year will be all about the Brokeback Mountain look – rugged suede coats with fleece lined collars. We wandered up to Little India for lunch and had some of the best Indian food I’ve had in a while. The place is called Copper Chimney. The chef came out to talk to us during lunch. And Sara said that lunch was on her – it was my birthday present because she couldn’t find the original gift she had in mind.

So I came home and there was another package waiting for me: gift certificates at Barney’s from Mom and Dad! Whoo-hoo!

Not bad for ten days after my birthday.

Wild Rice with Currants and Sauteed Apples

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Servings: Serves 8

1½ cups wild rice
1½ cups chicken stock
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1½ tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or¾ tsp. dried
1 Granny Smith apple
⅓ cup dried currants or raisins
¼ cup apple brandy (Calvados)

Rinse the rice in several changes of cold water and drain. Combine the rice, stock, water and salt . Bring to a boil and cover and reduce the heat to a gentle boil and cook until the rice is tender (35-45 min). If necessary, drain the rice.

Plump the currants in ⅓ cup Apple brandy for about 20 minutes.

In a medium fry pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the onion and thyme and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent (about 5 min). Remove.

Peel core and slice the apple. Cut the slices in half or thirds. Melt the remaining ½ teaspoons butter in the frying pan. Saute the apple stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly browned (about 10 min.)

Stir the onion, apple currants and brandy into the cooked rice. Re-heat if necessary.

Sweet Potato Puree with Brown Sugar and Sherry

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Servings: Serves 6-8

2 pounds red skinned sweet potatoes (Yams)
2 pounds medium size tan skinned sweet potatoes
10 tablespoons butter (1½ sticks)
¼ cup brown sugar
5 tablespoons sherry
¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Pre-heat oven to 425°.

Pierce all sweet potatoes with fork. Bake until tender when pierced with a knife, about 55 minutes. Cool slightly.

Cut potatoes in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, scoop potato pulp into a large Bowl. Add the butter and brown sugar. Put through ricer, food mill, or a blender. Add the sherry and the nutmeg. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Stringbeans with Almond and Lemon

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Servings: Serves 8

2 pounds green beans
2 tablespoons salt
¾ cup slivered almonds
4 teaspoons lemon zest
⅓ cup finely chopped italian parsley
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Bring 3 quarts of water to a rolling boil, add the salt, when the water returns to the boil add the beans. Boil the beans for 6- 10 minutes until they are just tender, Drain the beans and refresh them under cold water and drain them again and pat dry. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Melt the butter in a large deep skillet over medium heat. Add almonds; saute until nuts are crisp and butter is lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add beans toss to heat through, about 5 minutes. Mix in lemon peel; cook 1 minute. Mix in parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

Mexican Chocolate Souffle Cakes

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Perhaps the year’s most popular dessert: the chocolate soufflé cake with a rich molten center. Cinnamon, espresso and vanilla give the cakes a Mexican accent.

Servings: Makes 6 ramekins

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1½ teaspoons instant espresso powder
Pinch of salt
6 large egg yolks
⅓ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large egg whites
½ cup chilled whipping cream
1 cup fresh raspberries
Mint sprigs (optional)

Butter six 4 1/2-inch-diameter tartlet pans with ¾-inch-high sides and removable bottoms. Place tartlet pans on baking sheet. Stir chocolate and butter in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Add espresso powder and salt; stir to blend well. Cool to lukewarm, stirring occasionally.

Using electric mixer, beat egg yolks, all but 1 tablespoon sugar, vanilla and cinnamon in large bowl until mixture is pale yellow and thick, about 5 minutes. Fold ¼ of egg mixture into chocolate mixture. Fold chocolate mixture into remaining egg mixture.

Beat egg whites in another large bowl until soft peaks form. Add 1 tablespoon sugar; beat just until firm peaks form. Fold into chocolate mixture. Divide batter among prepared pans. Cover; chill at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.

Beat cream in large bowl until soft peaks form. (Whipped cream can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400°F. Bake cakes until edges are set and centers are still soft, about 11 minutes. Cool on racks 2 minutes. Run knife around pan sides to loosen cakes. Remove pan sides. Transfer cakes to plates.

Top each cake with dollop of whipped cream. Garnish with raspberries and mint, if desired. Serve cakes warm.

Mashed Potatoes with Parsnips and Garlic

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Servings: Serves 6-8

5 medium Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and, cut in 1-inch cubes
3 medium parsnips, peeled and cut in 1-inch cubes
1 cup milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1½ teaspoons salt
freshly ground pepper to taste

In a large pot place the parsnips and potatoes and enough cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, covered, until vegetables are just tender, about 15 minutes. Place in a colander and drain well.

Mash the vegetables with a potato masher, ricer, or food mill.

Reheat and gradually whisk in the milk and butter (and if using, the minced garlic). Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Many-Layered Lemon Cake

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

We made this for Sis’ birthday. Overall, it was delicious, but if I made it again I would use raw coconuts to get a smoother coconut flavor.

Servings: One 3 layer, 9 inch cake

Lemon Curd

4 large eggs
15 large egg yolks
2¼ cups sugar
1½ cups strained fresh lemon juice
¼ pound unsalted butter

Place the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and lemon juice in a double boiler over low heat and cook until thickened, about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally with a wire whisk to promote even cooking. Raise the heat to medium high and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes thickened and tracks.

Off heat, add the butter and stir to combine. Pour through a strainer and discard the solids. Cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.

Lemon Cake

Chopped zest of 4 lemons
¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
1⅓ cups sugar
½ pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 large eggs, separated
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1¼ cups unsweetened coconut milk

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line three 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper.

To make the cake: place the lemon zest confectioners’ sugar, and 1 cup of the sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle and mix for 3 to 5 minutes. Add the butter and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and beat well.

Place the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and mix to combine. Add the flour mixture to the lemon mixture, alternately with the coconut milk, and mix until just combined.

Place the egg whites and cream of tartar in a bowl and whip with a mixer until the eggs just begin to foam. Gradually add the remaining ⅓ cup sugar and slowly increase the speed until it is high; whip until the mixture is stiff and shiny. Fold into the batter and spread into the prepared pans. Transfer to the oven and bake until golden at the edges and the center springs back easily, about 20 to 22 minutes. Set aside and cool in the pans. Remove the cake from the pan when cool.

Coconut Milk Syrup

1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
⅓ cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients and mix well until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Lemon Buttercream

6 egg yolks
½ cup fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup plus 2 teaspoons sugar
⅞ pound unsalted butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, salt, and sugar in a double boiler over medium heat and cook, whisking, until hot, light yellow in color, and thickened, about 6 minutes. Transfer to the bowl of a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and whip on high speed until cool, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, and whip until smooth. Add the vanilla.

Trim the tops of the lemon cake layers. Bottom side down, lay the first layer on a cake plate. Brush with soaking syrup.

Spread the top with lemon curd. Continue with the remaining cake layers, but place the top cake layer bottom side up. Douse with syrup.

Cover the top surface with the buttercream, then frost the sides. Into the sides, press:

2 cups toasted coconut

Refrigerate until the lemon buttercream is set, about 30 minutes.

Leek, Mushroom and Sausage Stuffing

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Servings: Serves 8

16 ounces Herb Seasoned Stuffing
2½ cups chicken broth (more if necessary)
½ cup olive oil
1 whole onion minced
2 large leeks, white part only
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1½ cups sweet or hot sausage, crumbled and cooked
2 cups chestnuts, roasted and peeled and diced
¾ cup dried cranberries
1 can water chestnuts drained and diced
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Saute crumbled sausage in olive oil until cooked, 10 – 15 minutes. Add onion, leek, mushrooms and chestnuts and saute until the onions become translucent. Add the cranberries and water chestnuts to combine.

Add the stuffing and broth to the saute pan and mix until all ingredients are incorporated. Use a large mixing bowl if it doesn’t fit all. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Put into large covered casserole, (or cover casserole with foil). At this point you can refrigerate for 2 days. Bring to room temperature. Bake at 325° for about 30 minutes or until hot throughout.

Key Lime Pie

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

The Crumb Crust

1 ½ cups or 7 oz graham cracker or other dry cookie crumbs (I prefer dry ginger cookies)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup sugar

Press firmly into an unbuttered 9-inch pie pan. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Pie Filling

4 teaspoons freshly grated lime zest
½ cup fresh lime juice
4 large egg yolks
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
Pinch of salt

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350º.

Since key limes are so small and hard to squeeze, I quarter key limes and squeeze each lime quarter with a garlic press. It takes about 12 key limes to get enough juice. Be sure to use the ones you zested.

Combine the yolks and lime zest and beat on high speed until well mixed and slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Add the condensed milk and beat well. Add the lime juice and salt and beat again. Pour into the pie shell.

Bake the pie on a baking sheet until the filling looks firm when the pie is gently shaken, 15 to 17 minutes. Transfer the pie to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.

Whip Cream Topping

1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Just before serving, make the whip cream topping. Beat the cream with the sugar and vanilla on high speed until stiff peaks form. Decorate the pie with the whip cream topping.

Gogo the Destructor

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Gogo spent the morning destroying a stuffed animal in the Bollywood room. The room was completely dark. We turned on the light and saw nothing but white fluffy carnage.

Ginger Glazed Carrots

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Servings: Serves 8

2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch thick rounds
¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons sugar
1½ tablespoons grated peeled fresh ginger
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Place the carrots, orange juice, butter sugar and ginger in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, cover and cook 3 minutes.

Uncover and simmer until liquid glazes carrots, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Fall Roasted Vegetables with Juniper Berries and Walnuts

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Servings: Serves 6

½ tablespoon vegetable oil
10 cloves garlic
2½ tablespoons sweet butter
2 medium leeks, white part only, cut into ½ inch pieces
½ pound small, very firm white turnips, peeled, and cut in 1/2-inch wedges
½ pound small Yukon Gold or red potatoes, peeled, and quartered
1 teaspoon fresh or dried juniper berries, ground
5 ounces porcini mushrooms or seasonal mushrooms, caps only
¼ cup walnuts, finely chopped
10 brussel sprouts, halved
salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat the oven to 375°.

Heat½ tablespoon oil with 1 tablespoon of the butter in a medium roasting pan or Dutch oven on top of the stove over medium heat. Add the leeks, brussel sprouts, turnips, potatoes, ground juniper berries, and salt and pepper to taste and saute for 4 – 5 minutes over medium heat. Transfer to the oven and roast while tossing often. After 15 minutes of roasting, add the mushrooms and cook for another 15-20 minutes.

On top of the stove, add the garlic cloves, and remaining 1½ tablespoons butter. Toss over high heat for 4 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle with walnuts.

Doughnuts

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Although I’ve come close, I’ve never had a better doughnut than Grandma Fern’s homemade doughnuts.

In a very large bowl, place the following and let it dissolve:

12 oz evaporated milk (preferably PET)
12 oz warm water
2 packages dry yeast

Once the yeast has dissolved, add the following:

2 teaspoons salt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs lightly beaten
1 cup oil
8 cups flour

Mix everything well. Cover it with a damp cloth and let rise for 3.5 to 4 hours.

Put ⅓ of the dough on a bread board. Roll quite thin. Using a doughnut cutter, cut out the doughnuts and place them on an olied cookie sheet. Let rise 25-30 minutes.

Heat 3 inches of oil in a skillet. Drop the doughnuts in a few at a time. Don’t crowd the doughnuts. Turn them only once using the handle of a wooden spoon. Let the doughnuts dry by hanging vertically from a wooden spoon.

For the glaze, mix the following in a mixer until smooth:

1 package (500 grams) powdered sugar
½ cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla

Dip the top side of each doughnut in the glaze. Return the dougnut to the wooden spoon to drip and dry.

Cranberry Sauce with Figs and Pistachios

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Servings: Serves 12
6 cups or 24 oz of whole cranberries
3 cups sugar
2 medium oranges, unpeeled, chopped, and seeded
½ cup fine chopped onion
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup toasted shelled pistachios
8 dried figs, chopped
3 tablespoons fine chopped fresh ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried mustard

Cook all ingredients in a large, uncovered, non-reactive pot over medium heat until all the sugar has dissolved.

Cover the pot and cook on high for additional 3 minutes.

Let cool. Serve at room temperature.

Cinnamon Babka

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Be sure to give yourself a good head start time-wise by starting preparation several hours ahead or even the day before. This traditional bread-like cake originally hails from Poland.

Servings: One large loaf

2½ to 3½ cups all-purpose flour
2½ cups bread flour
1¼ cups (¾ pound) unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup warm water
½ cup milk
1 cup sour cream
3 egg yolks
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rum
zest of one lemon
zest of one orange
¼ teaspoon almond extract

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2½ cups all-purpose flour and the bread flour. Using a pastry cutter, cut butter into flours to create a crumbly mixture.

Combine the yeast, sugar, salt, water, milk, sour cream, egg yolks, lemon juice, lemon rind and extracts together in another bowl, then stir into the flour mixture, adding enough of the remaining 1 cup all-purpose flour as needed to form a soft dough.

Knead dough several minutes on a lightly floured work surface, then place in a well-greased bowl, turning dough over once, and cover. Refrigerate a minimum of 4 hours to overnight.

Gently deflate dough. On a lightly floured work surface, roll dough into a large, thin rectangle.

Combine ingredients for filling and sprinkle evenly over dough. Roll up (as for jelly roll) and place in a well-greased tube pan.

½ cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup raisins or currants (or combination of both)
½ cup dried cherries or cranberries (optional)
1 cup chopped almonds, pecans or walnuts

Brush with egg wash and make slits on top with a razor or sharp paring knife. Cover lightly with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

1 large egg beaten with 1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until done. Cool for 10 to 15 minutes in pan on wire rack before removing. Cool completely on wire rack. Dust generously with powdered sugar before serving.

Chocolate Orange Cake

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

This rich mixture of chocolate cake and two different kinds of ganache is a perfect party dessert. But beware, it’s very rich, so serve in small portions.

Servings: Makes one 9-inch three-layer cake, about 12 servings

Orange Syrup

¼ cup sugar
⅓ cup water
¼ cup orange liqueur

For the syrup, combine the sugar and water, bring to a boil and cool. Stir in the liqueur.

Ganache Filling

1 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream
16 ounces semisweet chocolate, cut into ¼-inch pieces
2 tablespoons (¼ stick) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup

To make the ganache filling, bring the cream to a boil, then remove from heat. Add the chocolate, allow to stand 2 minutes, whisk in the butter and corn syrup until smooth. Cool until thickened.

Orange Filling

⅓ cup orange marmalade
1 tablespoon orange liqueur

To make the orange filling, stir the marmalade and the liqueur together.

Ganache Glaze

1 cup heavy whipping cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, cut into ½ inch pieces

To make the glaze, bring the cream to a boil, then remove from the heat. Add the chocolate, allow to stand 2 minutes, then whisk until smooth. Strain into a bowl and cool to room temperature.

Assemble the cake

One 9-inch round Chocolate Genoise, baked and cooled

To assemble, slice cake into three horizontal layers and place one on a cardboard or springform base. Sprinkle layer with syrup and spread with half the orange filling. Spread with a third of the ganache filling. Repeat with remaining layers, syrup, marmalade, and ganache filling. Spread the outside of the cake with the remaining ganache but reserve enough to pipe some rosettes on the outside of the cake. Chill cake to set.

Place the chilled cake on a rack over a roasting pan and pour the glaze over it, starting in center of cake and pouring outward in larger and larger circles to the edge, ending at top edge. Let the glaze run down and cover the sides of the cake. Allow to stand about 5 minutes to set glaze. Use a pastry bag fitted with a small star tip to pipe rosettes around top edge of cake. To keep the glaze shiny, avoid refrigerating the cake.

Chocolate Genoise

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

This versatile French sponge cake may be used in any number of ways – usually it is filled and frosted or rolled.

Servings: Makes 1 round layer, 9 or 10 inches in diameter by 2 inches deep

⅓ cup cake flour
⅓ cup cornstarch
¼ cup alkalized (Dutch process) cocoa powder
3 large eggs plus 3 large egg yolks
¾ cup sugar
Pinch salt

One 9 or 10 × 2-inch round layer pan, or a 9-inch springform pan, buttered and the bottom lined with a disk of parchment or wax paper.

Set a rack at the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350°.

Sift together the cake flour, cornstarch, and cocoa through a fine?meshed strainer over a piece of wax paper to break up any small lumps in the cocoa. Set sifted ingredients aside with the strainer.

Whisk together the eggs, yolks, sugar, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and continue whisking gently until the mixture is lukewarm, about 100°. This should take only a minute or two.

Whip with the electric mixer on high speed until the mixture is cooled and increased in volume, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Remove bowl from mixer and sift in dry ingredients, in three additions, gently folding each third in with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread the top even with a spatula.

Bake the layer about 30 minutes, until it is well risen and the center is firm to the touch.

If necessary, loosen the layer from the side of the pan with a small knife or spatula and invert the cake onto a rack. Place another rack on the cake and invert again. Remove the top rack, so that the layer cools right side up, still on the paper.

Challah

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

This traditional Jewish Sabbath bread, blessed and served before Friday night dinner, is a sort of butterless brioche. It is particularly good at breakfast time.

Servings: Makes 1 braided loaf

Combine in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer and let stand until the yeast is dissolved, about 5 minutes:
1 package (2¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast
½ cup warm (105º to 115º F) water

Add:

½ cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons sugar
1¼ teaspoons salt

Mix by hand or on low speed until thoroughly blended. Gradually stir in:

2½ cups bread flour

Knead for about 8 minutes by hand or with the dough hook on low to medium speed until the dough is smooth and elastic and no longer sticks to your hands or the bowl. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and turn it over once to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place (75º to 80ºF) until doubled in volume, 1 to 1½ hours. Punch the dough down, knead briefly, and refrigerate covered until it has again nearly doubled in volume (a three-quarter rise is sufficient), 4 to 12 hours. The dough is now ready to be shaped.

Weigh and divide the dough equally into 3 pieces. On an unfloured work surface, roll into balls and let rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 10 minutes. Grease a baking sheet and sprinkle it with cornmeal. Roll each ball into a 13- to 14-inch-long rope, and 1½ inches think and slightly tapered at the ends. Dust the three ropes with rye flour so they will be more distinctly separated. Place the 3 dough ropes side by side and pinch the top ends together. Lift the left dough rope and place it between the right and middle ropes. Lift the right rope and place it between the left and middle ropes, then the left rope between the right and middles ropes and so on until you reach the ends. Tuck both ends of the braid underneath the loaf and set it on the baking sheet. Whisk together and brush over the top of the loaf:

1 egg
Pinch of salt

Loosely cover the braid with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until not quite doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the over to 375ºF. Brush the loaf again with egg wash. If desired, sprinkle with:

1 tablespoon poppy or sesame seeds

Bake until the crust is golden brown and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack.

Brownie Puddle Tart

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Servings: One 9½ inch tart

The Brownie

1 cup chopped pecans
14 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 oz high quality bittersweet chocolate
½ cup + 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa
1 cup + 3 tablespoons sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 oz cream cheese
½ cup all purpose flour
a pinch of salt

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325º.

Line the bottom of a 9½ inch tart pan with parchment paper. Spray the insides of the pan with non-stick spray.

Place the pecans on a cookie sheet and toast them for approximately 10 minutes. Cool completely.

In a double boiler over low heat, melt the chocolate and butter stirring occasionally.

Beat the cocoa, then the sugar, into the chocolate mixture until completely incorporated. Beat in the eggs and the vanilla. Beat in the cream cheese. Be sure to scrape down the bowl occasionally to make sure that all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.

Stir in the flour and salt and mix only until the flour is moistened. Stir in the nuts.

Place the tart pan on a cookie sheet to catch any leaks. Pour the ingredients into the tart pan and spread it evenly.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the batter is set. A toothpick inserted one inch from the side should come out clean.

While the brownie is baking, prepare the ganache.

The Ganache

2 oz coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate
⅓ cup heavy cream

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or on very low heat in the microwave.

Mix the cream and chocolate until smooth.

As soon as the brownie comes out of the oven, grease the end of a wooden spoon, and insert it into the brownie at one inch intervals. Twist is slightly as you insert it into the brownie and go all the way to the bottom. You should end up with about 25 holes in the brownie.

Fill a reclosable freezer bag with the ganache and cut off a small portion of one of the bottom corners. Fill the holes with the ganache.

Let the brownie cool completely before attempting to unmold the tart.

Blueberry Oatmeal

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

It tastes great, lowers cholesterol, is a great slow carb, and is high in anti-oxindents and omega-3 fatty acids.

1 tablespoon butter
4 tablespoons flax seed
1 cup steel cut oats (McCann’s is a good brand)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 apple peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
1 quart low fat buttermilk
3½ cups water
12 ounces frozen blueberries (you can get wild blueberries at Whole Foods, and regular ones at any grocery store)

In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat and toast the oats and flaxseeds for 3 or 4 minutes. While it’s toasting, stir in spices.

Add the chopped up apple, maple syrup, 3½ cups of water and½ cup buttermilk.

Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to low and stir occasionally. Start tasting after about 30 minutes. Cooking time varies, it may not be done until 45 minutes or even longer (It will also taste too spicy at this point.)

Once the oats are done, stir in a whole bag of frozen blueberries (12 oz.) Stir well, and cook for a minute or two and then stir in another half cup or so of buttermilk.

Portion the oatmeal into either microwave safe containters or into zip and lock “freezer” bags. The freezer bags can reheated in a pot of hot water. You’ll need to refresh the reheated oatmeal with more buttermilk to regain the creaminess.

Banana-Strawberry Layer Cake

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

This is one dessert that I have a hard time keeping my hands off of when I make it. I think I could finish it off by myself. It’s essential that the bananas are fully or overly ripe and the strawberries are at the hieght of the season.

Servings: One two-layer 9-inch cake

Banana Cake

¾ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1⅓ cups mashed overripe bananas
2 cups cake flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup full-fat sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease and lightly flour two 9-inch round cake pans and tap out the excess flour.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. One at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition, add the eggs. Add the vanilla and bananas. Scrape down the bowl again and beat.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add half the dry ingredients to the banana batter and mix just enough to moisten the dry ingredients. Add the sour cream to the batter. Add the remaining dry mixture. Mix just until the batter is evenly mixed. Add the batter to the two pans and smooth the tops.

Set the pans in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. A wooden skewer should come out clean. Cool the cakes in the pans for 7 minutes after baking, then set on a rack and cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

16 oz cream cheese
½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 package (500 grams) confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Prepare the cream cheese frosting by mixing the cream cheese and butter on high speed until light and fluffy.

Sift in the powdered sugar. Mix on low speed until evenly blended. The less mixing, the better. Cover and refrigerate the icing for 15 – 30 minutes to help it firm up.

Final Assembly

1 quart strawberries, washed and dried

Add a dab of icing to the center of a cake circle. Add one of the cake layers. Starting with a generous amount of icing, cover the top of the first cake layer. But everything back in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up.

Remove 10 to 12 small, pretty strawberries and one large one. With the remaining berries, hull them, and cut them in thirds horizontally. Add the strawberry layers to the top of the iced cake layer. Do not overlap slices. Add the second cake layer and press down slightly so that the icing can adhere to the second cake layer. Ice the cake with the remaining cream cheese icing. Put everything back in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.

Just before serving the cake, take the reserved small strawberries. Arrange the small strawberries around the edge of the cake. Take the large strawberry and make thin slices vertically from the hull to almost the stem. You should be able to fan out the slices so that the berry remains intact. Place the strawberry in the center of the cake and serve.

Banana Bread

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Servings: 2 8½ x 4½ loaves

6 very ripe and soft medium bananas
2½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
8 oz cream cheese
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350º. Lightly butter and flour to 8½ x 4½ inch loaf pans, tapping out the excess flour.

Mash the bananas in a medium bowl with a potato masher or fork until smooth, with a few pea sized lumps. You should have about 2 cups.

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl.

In a large bowl, cream the sugar and cream cheese together. One at a time, beat in the eggs, mixing well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. Mix in the mashed bananas until well combined. Stir in the walnuts or pecans. Add the flour mixture and stir just until blended. Don’t overmix or be concerned about a few small lumps. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pans.

Bake until a wooden skewer comes out clean and the batter in the cracks on the top of the breads looks cooked, about 1 hour.

Transfer to a wire cooling rack and cool in the pans for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the inside of the pans to loosen the loaves. Takes the loaves out of the pan using a kitchen towel, and let cool on a rack completely.

Aunt Beth's Salmon Chowder

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

Aunt Beth got this recipe from a restaturant in Alaska when her and her husband, Charlie, went for an Alaskan cruise. She made it for an Everett family gathering and it’s hearty enough to serve as the main course.

2 cups diced and peeled potatoes

1½ cup mixed vegetables

1 large onion, chopped

1 stalk celery

2 cloves garlic

¼ teaspoon celery seed

2 cups water (or clam juice)

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

2 cups milk

2 cups cubed cooked salmon

In a dutch oven or similar soup pot, combine the potatoes, vegetables, opion, celery seed and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let simmer covered for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

In a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper and stir until smooth. Gradually add the milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook and stir for 2 additional minutes or until the mixture is thickened.

Add the salmon and the milky mixture to the veggie soup base. Heat thoroughly. Serve warm.

Angel Food Cake

2006-01-01T00:00:00-05:00

I’ve tried several recipes and this is the one to follow. You can’t go wrong. And yes, it’s worth the effort to make it from scratch and not use a cake mix.

1½ cups egg whites (11 to 12)
1½ cups sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 cup sifted cake flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons cream of tartar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

About 1 hour before baking the cake, place the cold egg whites in the bowl of a mixer. Bring the eggs to approximately 60º.

Preheat the oven to 350º. Have a clean, ungreased, 10 inch tube pan.

Sift the confectioner’s sugar, sifted cake flour, and salt onto a piece of waxed paper.

Whip the egg whites on low speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and increase the speed to medium. Whip just until soft peaks form. Continue whipping and gradually add the granulated sugar in a steady stream until the egg whites thicken and form soft, droopy white peaks. Add the vanilla.

Sprinkle one quarter of the flour mixture over the whites, and with a rubber spatula, fold into the whites. Repeat this process three more times. Gently pour the batter into the tube pan.

Bake until the top is golden and springs back gently when pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean: 40 to 45 minutes.

Invert the cake onto the neck of a bottle or funnel. Cool completely in the pan – 2 to 3 hours.

To remove the cake, run a knife through the inside of the pan to loosen the cake from the edges. Invert the cake onto a plate and remove the bottom.

Western Wall

2005-09-01T00:00:00-04:00

The second half of our last full day in Israel was dedicated to the Western Wall. The Western Wall is the only remaining portion of the Temple Mount that King Herod built for the Jews. The Temple Mount was destroyed by the Romans. It is now the location of the muslim Dome of the Rock (where Muhammed left the earth to talk with God), and it is also supposedly the rock where Abraham was commanded to sacrifice Isaac, so you get to see the problems that people have about which group has more claim to the land than someone else. You almost expect to see a sign posted that says “No more religious epiphanies in this area, please”. The Western Wall also functions as an open air synagogue. There are always people praying. I had that look of “easy convert” on my face and was approached twice by people trying to convert me to some particular sect of Judaism. All along the Western Wall, people write prayers on paper, fold them up, and place them in the cracks of the wall. Although it’s most prevalent here, I saw this being done as far north as the Sea of Galilee.

Visitors to the Western Wall

A close-up of the prayers written in notes in the stone cracks

David and I took a tour that takes you underneath the city of Jerusalem and walk all along the Western Wall. Apparently, they have concerts and other events underneath the city in this area.

The very bottom of this pciture is one big stone that is estimated to weight 600 tons!

David!

This picture doesn’t really capture the grandeur of the height of the tour.

A Roman staircase

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

2005-09-01T00:00:00-04:00

Out of everything we saw on the trip, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was by far my favorite. I went there three times: with David on our first day, with our tour guide Jaliel on the second day (and he took us some areas that we never would have found on our own), and at the end of our second day to visit the inside of Christ’s Tomb. I could talk on and on about the church, but you should just go there and see it for yourself. It is divided up by six different denominations: the Greek Orthodox, the Armenians, the Franciscans, the Ethiopians, the Christian Arabs, and I think the Syrians have a section in there too. I forget.

The Entrance

The steps that lead to Golgotha.

The Stone of Unction where Christ’s body was annointed and wrapped.

I have to admit that I had a bit of a freak out when we first went to the church. It’s hard to describe. I’ve grown up hearing and reading all these stories and all of a sudden I was staring at the hole in Golgotha where Christ’s crucifix went and it stopped being some faraway story. I’ve written several sentences just now that I’ve deleted and decided that one’s reaction to this church is very personal. I’m not going to describe what I felt, but I will say that it moved me very deeply every time I went. These pictures pale in comparison to what it’s like experiencing the real thing.

Golgotha

The entrance to Christ’s Tomb. It’s only big enough for 3 or 4 people, so there’s a line to get in.

Tel Aviv & Jaffa

2005-09-01T00:00:00-04:00

David and I met in Zurich and flew together to Tel Aviv. He had flown from Australia and I had flown from New York City. Needless to say, there was some jet lag – especially on David’s part. The first few days, we were staying in Tel Aviv for a conference. When we got to the hotel, they didn’t have a room for us, even though David was an invited guest speaker. The hotel across the street didn’t have a room either. After about 2 hours of a cab ride and some mild shouting, we got a room at the Crown Plaza. It was significantly better than the hotel at the conference. We had heard from other people at the conference that the other hotel had air conditioning problems. Our hotel was like a refrigerator. So it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

A view of the Tel Aviv beach from our hotel room.

Tel Aviv is a mostly modern city, so there isn’t much to see in terms of tourist spots, other than museums and such. However, there’s so much to see in the rest of Israel, that I took tours to other parts of the country while David was at the conference.

The one big exception is Jaffa, which is a small neighborhood at the southern end of Tel Aviv. It’s filled with small art galleries and other shops. It’s particularly beautiful at night. David got a recommendation to go to a restaurant owned by the Israeli version of Emeril LaGasse. The food was excellent. I’m still dreaming about my dessert which was chocolate-cardamom ice cream with a caramel sauce.

A street in Jaffa at night

An old building in Jaffa

Masada & the Dead Sea

2005-09-01T00:00:00-04:00

My second full day in Israel, I was on my own for the day again, so I signed up for another tour. This one was to Masada and the Dead Sea. There were seven tourists on this trip.

Masada is a mountain-top fortress built by King Herod around the 2nd century BC. It was also the final stronghold of the Jews of the Zealot sect who were the last remaining Jews in Israel against the Romans. This fortress was under siege for 2 years before the Romans were able to breach the walls. When the Romans arrived, they found that all but a couple of the inhabitants had committed suicide. This is where the phrase “better to die free than live a slave” came from. They suppose that the only survivors were left to tell the story of Masada because they were old women they would not be of use as slaves.

The fortress is 1300 feet up a pretty steep cliff. To get to the top, you could either hike up a snake trail (it takes about an hour) or take a cable car. Either way, it’s not good for people afraid of heights. I hadn’t really figured that part out until it was too late. But I smiled and didn’t look down and was on top of the mountain in no time. The trip was fascinating and I couldn’t possibly go into all the details of things we learned on the trip.

A view from the top of the Dead Sea

A shot of the grainery in Masada

Some of the original mosaic

More mosaic

After Masada, we stopped for lunch and then went to the Dead Sea. It’s called the Dead Sea because it’s so full of salt and minerals that nothing can live in it. It’s supposed to have healing powers and be great for your skin. You can splash around in the mud, but I skipped that and just went to the water. Our tour guide gave us a HUGE list of things to be afraid of about the Dead Sea: if you swallow any of the water, you could die; if the water gets in your eyes, it stings TERRIBLY; because you’re so bouyant, it’s difficult to move around in the water and you may PANIC and swallow water. At one point, I did get water in my eyes and it didn’t sting THAT badly. And I did swallow some water and became paranoid that I was going to pass out later, but nothing happened. Mainly, I just floated around in the water. It was very relaxing and my skin did feel great afterwards. Also, in my dream I had before coming to Israel, we had visited the Dead Sea. Once I saw it in person, I realized it related to the dream.

On the way home, we stopped to take pictures of the caves where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. I’m not going to try to describe their significance here. We also saw a few bedouin camps along the way. They are small tribes of people that live in the desert without many (if any) modern conveniences. And we saw a real Canaan Dog at one of the camps. Unfortunately, I was too slow with the camera to get a picture.

Caves of Qumran: Where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls

A Bedouin Camp

Jerusalem

2005-09-01T00:00:00-04:00

Our trip to Jerusalem started with a visit to the Model of the Second Temple Period. This gives one a nice perspective on what Jerusalem looked like before the destruction of the temple by the Romans. The model covered all of Jerusalem in 1:25 scale. It helps get a bearing on what one is about to see.

The Model of the Second Temple Period

The Model of the Actual Second Temple

We checked into our hotel, the David Citadel Hotel. It is gorgeous – one of the nicest hotels I’ve ever stayed at. Our room overlooked the pool, which I swam in once while we were there. We had a great view of the old city. One night, we woke up at around 10:30pm to the sound of sharp explosions. There was one loud “bang” and then a smattering of more. We assumed that it was gunfire. Then I went to look out our window and saw fireworks. It was part of a sound and light show over David’s Citadel.

The view from our room of the pool and David’s Citadel

Since our first day in Jerusalem was only a half day, we did sightseeing on our own. We primarily walked around the markets, went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and had Turkish coffee. We were lucky enough to meet a tour guide at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre named Jaliel. He seemed to know what he was talking about, so we decided to sign up with him for a tour the next day. I can’t go into everything we saw and learned on the tour. It was amazing. We went to parts of the Via Dolorosa (which traces the 14 stations of the cross) that most other tour groups seemed to miss. We visited an Ethiopian monastery on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. And everywhere we went, Jaliel exchanged hellos to the locals whether they were Greek Orthodox fathers or the local Arabs. He was an excellent tour guide.

The old walls of Jerusalem leading to Jaffa Gate

We started off walking around the walls of the old city into the Mount of Olives. Jaliel pointed out recent excavations along the walls of ancient Roman houses. You could see the changes of the rocks in walls where they had been fortified by different periods, from Roman to Byzantine periods.

Kidron Valley featuring Tower of Absalom and surrounded by Jewish graves

The first big stop on our tour was Gethsemane. There’s a very beautiful church there called The Church of All Nations that has some of the most fanciful mosaics I’ve seen in a church. I was hoping to come back to the church later in the trip because it’s the kind of place that you could stay for hours meditating, but unfortunately, there was never time to come back. I guess I’ll have to wait for another trip to Jerusalem.

The Church of All Nations

The Garden of Gethsemane

Inside the Church of All Nations. Check out the mosaic of flowers on the ceiling.

After Gethsemane, we walked to the Tomb of the Virgin where Mary is buried. Our guide, Jaliel, emphasized this by saying it twice, the actual tomb where the mother of Jesus Christ is buried. For some reason it felt tacky taking a picture of such a holy site, so I didn’t. It’s a beautiful church, though, and should be experienced. There was a line to walk into the actual tomb which can only fit about 3 people. I was able to see in and that was enough for me.

As we were outside the old city walls, Jaliel pointed out Golden Gate. It is currently bricked over so that no one can use it. The Golden (or Mercy) Gate appears in the legends of all three religions. An early Jewish tradition holds that it is through that gate that the Messiah will enter Jerusalem. According to Christian tradition, Jesus made made his last entry to Jerusalem through the Mercy Gate. The Muslims refer to it as the Gate of Mercy and believe it to be the gate referred to in the Koran, through which the just will pass on the Day of Judgment.

The Golden Gate

After touring outside the old city walls, it was time to cross into Old Jerusalem. We came in via the Lion’s Gate in the Muslim quarter. Our tour started at the first station of the Via Dolorosa and went in sequential order. Early on, my camera pooped out, so I don’t have most of the pictures from this part of the trip. The Via Dolorosa follows every spot of Christ’s steps leading to his crucifixion and burial. It starts with the Ecce Homo Arch where Pontius Pilate is said to have declared “Behold the Man”. It actually starts with where he was condemned to death, but that is now a Muslim school.

The Monastery of Flagellation (the 2nd Station)

A Garden at the Monastery of Flagellation

The Crown of Thorns Site

It was around this time that my camera went kaput for the day. I was able to salvage it later at the hotel. Anyway, we saw the rest of the Via Dolorosa, Jesus’ prison, where he stumbled, etc. We went onto the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and down through it. There’s no way we would have seen even half of the things that we saw without our tour guide. He seemed to know everyone. A couple people on the street told us that we had a very good guide and I agree.

After the tour, we were exhausted. David took a nap and answered email. I went swimming in the hotel pool and read. I was able to get my camera functioning again and took other photos in Jerusalem on other days.

A nice view of Jerusalem in the Muslim Quarter

Another pretty shot of Jerusalem

A mosaic in the Jewish Quarter

The Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall in Jerusalem

Israel

2005-09-01T00:00:00-04:00

In September of 2005, David and I had a rendezvous in Zurich and flew to Israel for a week. This was probably David’s 8th trip there, but it was my first. What was I expecting? I don’t really know. Pushy people on crowded streets, perhaps; hot, arid weather; and so many armed guards as to make one constantly nervous. Boy, was I wrong.

Yes, the security was heavy, but it was far more unintrusive than I was expecting. It was comforting more than alarming. I get he same sort of safe feeling in New York. The weather was surprisingly moderate. It was sunny and warm everyday and as long as I wore a hat and sunglasses outside, I was fine. And the people were not nearly as pushy as I thought. Well, I take that back. The merchants in Jerusalem were to a level of pushy that I had never seen before – but the average citizen merely maintained a reasonable level of frankness.

We had three nights in Tel Aviv (on the coast) and three nights in Jerusalem (in the desert). I had two days on my own in Tel Aviv. I arrived with almost no plans whatsoever. I only had two carry on bags and no coat when I left New York. The only thing that had prepared me for this trip was a dream that I had a couple of months ago about visiting Israel which ended up being oddly prophetic.

Galilee

2005-09-01T00:00:00-04:00

On our first full day, I took a tour to the Sea of Galilee to see spots that are famous in the New Testament. Our tour guide was Solomon Golan and there were two other guests on the tour. Our first stop was to Nazareth, where we visited the Church of the Annunciation. This is the spot where the angel Gabriel told Mary what she was going to give birth to Jesus. Unfortunately, the original church that was built there is long gone. You learn quickly in Israel that almost everything was destroyed by either the Romans, the Syrians, the Turks, or the Crusaders. However, there were still some remnants of the old church left.

The front of the Church of the Annnunciation

Inside the church you can see a bit of the original church left over

The outside of the Church of the Annunciation

After we left the church, we went to a little shop where I had some Turkish coffee (yea, caffeine!) and some date juice (never had that before). Our guide, Solomon, stopped at a “tabboun” and got some fresh pita bread. The bread was about the size of a pizza and covered with olive oil and spices. Since it was fresh from the oven, we had to wait to let it cool down, which was fine because the traffic out of Nazareth was very slow. This was also my first realization that there are plenty of areas in Israel where Jews and Arabs live with little to no conflict. Nazareth is an arab town and Solomon was on good terms with everyone there. In fact, most of the area that we drove around was populated with Arabs.

Our next stop was Tabgah, where Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes. There is a beautiful little church built there to commemorate the event.

A mosaic of loaves and fishes

Also in Tabgah is the Church of the Primacy of Peter which is where Jesus appeared to the Apostles after his resurrection. In the middle of the church is the rock where Jesus told Peter that he was the rock on which to build the church. There are pictures on the wall of various Popes that have come to kiss the rock. This was the first place that, to me, felt like a “holy” site. There was something ethereal about this location above and beyond the other spots that we had visited so far. The grounds around the church are lush, well kept and rather beautiful compared to the desert-like landscape just beyond the church.

The rock of the Church of the Primacy of Peter

A view of the Galilee

Our next stop was Capernaum. It was the home of several of the apostles and has a synagogue dating back to the 4th century B.C.

The Roman ruins of Capernaum

The synagogue

Another shot of the synagogue

The remains of Simon Peter’s House

Our next stop was lunch. We stopped at a resort town along the Galilee called Tiberias. There were kids swimming in the water. We had a fish called “St. Peter’s Fish” which comes from the Sea of Galilee. I later found out that it is a variety of tilapia.

Our final stop before heading home was at the Yardenet Baptism Site. This was supposedly the location where John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ. No one knows for sure exactly where the event took place, but they know how many days Jesus walked from a certain location and have estimated that this must have been the place. In any case, it’s a beautiful location. People still come to be baptized all the time. No one was there to be baptized the day I was there, but I included a picture from the internet of what it looks like when people are there.

Facing south from the location

Facing north from the location

The site of a baptism

Farewell to Israel

2005-09-01T00:00:00-04:00

WAAAH! I don’t want to leave! Luckily, we had to get up at 2 am to catch a taxi to the airport, so I was too sleepy to get emotional about it. If you’ve ever thought about going to Israel, then GO! Don’t put it off. These pictures are nothing compared to experiencing it firsthand. Now is a good time to go because there aren’t a huge amount of tourists.

David checking out

Getting through the Ben Gurion Airport was relatively painless. We got asked a lot of questions about the nature of our visit. We had to come out to the security guard interviewing us. She eventually asked me, “So. You’ve been living together for five years and this is your first visit to Israel? What took you so long?” We got into the airline lounge because we were flying business class. David knocked over the glass jar of candy at the front desk and it made a very large crash and shattered into a million pieces. Then I saw a very pushy man trying to be first on the plane and in his rush he tripped over luggage and did one of those slow motion falls where you repeatedly think he’s going to catch himself but then eventually fell flat on his face. I was too tired to respond to all of this early morning slapstick, but once the coffee kicked in I was giggling all the way to Zurich about David knocking over the candies and this pushy man losing his dignity in front of everyone.

I can always tell if it’s a good trip because I have no jet lag on the way there and I have a lot of jet lag when I come home. This was one of those trips.

Bethlehem

2005-09-01T00:00:00-04:00

The morning of our last full day in Israel, I went to Bethlehem. This was a big deal for a few different reasons. First of all, it’s the birthplace of Jesus Christ. Secondly, it was the place that I had a dream about several months prior to visitting it. And thirdly, it was in the West Bank under Palestinian control. Israeli tour guides are not allowed to go into the West Bank for security reasons, so if you want to go, you have to figure out how to get there. There are tours that go there, but I couldn’t find any. You will occasionally hear someone on the street say that they are willing to take you to Bethlehem, but I don’t want to go with a stranger for obvious reasons. Our tour guide from the Via Dolorosa, Jaliel, offered to take me, so I took him up on it. David did not go because he did not want to make himself a target to angry Palestinians. However, tourists have rarely, if ever, been a target for terrorism in Israel.

Nativity Square in Bethlehem

I met Jaliel in Old Jerusalem. He took me through into East Jerusalem, the muslim part of town, to get a shared taxi that would take us to the West Bank. A shared taxi fits between 10-20 people. It’s a little bigger than a mini-van. I was quite obviously the only non-arab on the taxi. Although Bethlehem is only a 15 minute drive away from Jerusalem, we had to go through Israel checkpoints to get there and since the wall had been built, we had to use an indirect road to get into Bethlehem. Before the Israeli guard got on the bus to check passports, Jaliel asked me to NOT say that I was going to Bethlehem. He told me to say that we were visitting friends in Gosh Etsyon. He said that the guards don’t like to hear that tourist are going to Bethlehem, but I think there was some other reason. Still, I was already nervous at that point and the thought of being told to lie to an Israeli guard in full military gear was not making me feel at ease. Luckily, the guard didn’t ask. The shared taxi went on for a while and we got off at a non-descript stop in the street. There was no sign, no house, it just seemed like a dirt road. But we found a taxi right away that took us to Bethlehem where I met a certified Palestinian tour guide that took me to the Church of the Nativity.

And now on to the Church of the Nativity. First of all, it’s the ONLY church in Israel that was not destroyed by the Syrians in the 6th century. When the Syrians came to destroy all the churches, they saw the mosaics in the Church of the Nativity and saw the wise men in Syrian dress and thought it was a Syrian church. Secondly, the visit to this church was right out of my dream. As soon as I saw the entrance to the church, I had a slight freak-out, because it was right out of my dream. You have to duck to go into the church to make you humble and to keep camels and horses out of the church.

The entrance to the Church of the Nativity

The mosaics from the original church. They are now mostly covered to protect them, I guess.

The inside of the church is beautiful. Unfortunately, almost every photo I took came out incredibly blurry. I don’t know if this is God’s doing or Sony’s. My guide took me down to the area where Christ was born. He said we only have a few minutes between the Catholic mass and the Armenian mass to visit the birthplace, which we did. Once again, I felt the vibrations of being in a holy location. It was incredible. And I had another moment of seeing something that was in my dream.

The original Black Madonna

The Franciscan Temple

After visiting the church, we went back to a souvenir shop (whenever you have a tour guide, your tour will end up at a souvenir shop), I bought some things to support the local economy and had some mint tea. The Palestinians were extremely friendly and less pushy than I had been used to. I think they were a little beat down that tourism had come to a near standstill for the past five years. Most of the shops in the town were closed. Apparently, the Pope had come to bless that Church of the Nativity in 2000 and a bunch of people bought shops thinking that the Pope’s visit would promote tourism. Then the Intifada started and everything came to a halt. It’s quite sad. We got lucky on the way back in that we found an Israeli taxi that was willing to take us over the border and back to Jerusalem.

An Israeli outpost

Arab Markets

2005-09-01T00:00:00-04:00

Jerusalem is more than just the land of religious epiphanies. It is also full of the most cut-throat market owners I’ve ever seen. The shop keepers will do anything to get you in their store. You are constantly hounded as you walk down the streets of Jerusalem. They will even stand in front of you as your walking so that you can’t pass quickly. We knew enough to ignore them, but they had some sneaky tactics. Several times we would ignore them and keep walking, and they would shout “excuse me!” after us as if to say, “how could you be so rude as to ignore me!”

A street in the Christian Quarter

Another street in the Christian Quarter

At one point, David and I stopped for turkish coffee and baklava. At that point, we asked someone for directions to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They boy that we asked turned out to plague us the entire trip. I came to dread seeing him. He was very helpful, but we ended up in his father’s shop, which was actually pretty good. We did most of our souvenir shopping there. However, whenever he saw us for the rest of the trip, he would come over to us (or just me if I was alone), offer to buy us tea, and try to get us to go to his father’s shop.

We stumbled into a square looking for turkish coffee

A view of where we stopped

The shop owners that we made very happy. The kid that found us is in the center.

And then there's Oz!

2005-06-06T00:00:00-04:00

As fate would have it, in the summer of 2005, we adopted little Isaac, Gogo’s younger half-brother. He was raised in the city, and seemed to enjoy coming back after living at Renee’s place for a few weeks. We re-christened him “Oz”, since that was the name we were going ot give Gogo if we had gotten a boy. We’ve since discovered that it’s a good name for him, because he’s got the courage of the Cowardly Lion, the clumsiness of the Scarecrow, and he’s as squeaky as the Tin Man. He whimpers at just about everything.

Evan, Renee, Rasta, and Oz on the day they delivered him to NYC

Oz going counter-surfing

Oz Resting

Oz and Gogo each eating a flossy

Attack of the Bee Killers

Tuscany

2004-10-01T00:00:00-04:00

When people talk about travel, Italy comes up a lot. I always mention Rome which still stands out in my mind as a place I could see myself happily trapped in. A standard response I get is “Have you been to Florence? You haven’t seen nothing yet.”

David and I were trying to plan our big trip for that year. We looked at several options but either the timing didn’t work out, or the flights getting there and back were too difficult, or the whole thing would have been too expensive. Then, all of a sudden, we over looked the obvious. Why don’t we just go to Florence and spend a week driving around Tuscany? It was the perfect plan and ended up being one of the most perfect vacations I have ever been on.

Torre di Bellosguardo

2004-10-01T00:00:00-04:00

It turns out that getting in and out of Florence is not so easy. We decided to fly to Rome, take the train to Florence, and then take a cab to our hotel. So, yes, that meant that the first day of travel was kind of hellish. However, the hotel that greeted us at our arrival was WELL worth it! I think it was more than just the jet-lag – our hotel (the Torre di Bellosguardo) felt like a dream. And I don’t mean to say that it was idyllic (although it was), it was like a dream when you’re in a big house with hallways and stairwells going all different places. When the porter took us to our room, I got lost. I couldn’t find any other hotel rooms! Our room was off of an old banquet hall and there didn’t seem to be any other guest rooms off of it. (I did some exploring later in the week and we did find a few more rooms.)

The entrance to the Torre di Bellosguardo

The ceiling of a room just off the lobby.

David standing in the hotel entrance.

A view of the lobby and the parrot that lived there

Another view of the lobby…and the parrot

And that takes us to our room. It was magnificent. It’s the only hotel room that I’ve ever missed when I left. Everything was antique – even the artwork on the walls was medieval. We had two windows. Out of one window was an unbelievable view of Florence. Out of the other window was a view of the gardens. We could only hear two sounds really: an occassional church bell from Florence and a braying donkey. The donkey lived on the property. We went looking for him one day, but we never spotted him.

The view of Florence

The view of the gardens

One day we took some time to explore the gardens of the property. It took us a while. They grew all their own fruits and vegetables. There were plenty of birds flittering about. There was also a pool, but we were more interested in exploring than hanging out by a pool. Also, October weather was not so hot that we felt the need to cool off by the water.

The tower where our room was as seen from the gardens

Touring the gardens

More gardens

And more gardens

A view of misty-morning Florence from the gardens

The Villas

2004-10-01T00:00:00-04:00

This area has several old villas that are not in use anymore, but allow visitors to tour the grounds. We got to the area a little late, and had to do a little convincing of the man and wife that let people in that we would be quick. They let us in and we were free to wander around. We were not the last to leave. The first villa that we saw was Villa Reale.

A small house on the grounds

This must have been servants quarters

More servants quarters?

The “wet” house? Usually for cooling off in the summer.

A garden

A line of shrubs leading to the orangerie

A fountain

The orangerie

More gardens

At long last, the main house

We weren’t allowed in the main house

There were two other villas in the area. One was definitely closed. The other was perhaps not as nice, but the woman let us in to wander around. There were a couple of dogs that followed us. I made the mistake of petting one, and he decided he didn’t want me to go and clamped onto my wrist and wouldn’t let go. After a couple of minutes of trying to coax him into letting go, I started to get a little nervous, and we shouted for the woman that let us in. He did loose interest and we were free to roam the grounds.

A shot of the grounds

A photo of the co-dependent dog

A fountain

There was some joke behind this photo. I can’t remember it now.

Sienna

2004-10-01T00:00:00-04:00

Although I’d be hard-pressed to pick a favorite city in Tuscany, a couple of people told me that they thought Sienna to be one of the most beautiful cities they’ve ever been to. It certainly ranks quite high. We set today to be almost exclusively dedicated to Sienna. There’s a breathtaking cathedral, wonderul shops, local cuisine, and great history.

Starting the day off right with a cappucino

Sienna is a sister city with Rome, so we saw several images of Romulus and Remus (the supposed founders of Rome) feeding from a wolf. Here are several images of the main square.

The main square in Sienna. It’s much larger in person. I could only capture about half of it.

Fonte Gaia in the main piazza

I know I said that the cathedral at Pisa was incredible. Well, the cathedral in Sienna was incredible, too. There’s something about Sienna that feels “lived in”. In some ways, you could see yourself living in Sienna i na way that you can’t imagine yourself in other cities. And on the other hand, there are ways in which you realize that you could never belong to Sienna because it only belongs to its locals.

The exterior of the Duomo

The interior of the Duomo

Intricate stone work was all over the floor

A view of the library in the Duomo. Once again, this is a small fraction of the whole room.

This was a good place for tourist tchotchkes. It was also a good place for local food. One of my favorite recipes is a Sienna Tart that I got from one of my first cookbooks. It’s based on “panforte” from Sienna. We bought several to give to friends and eat for ourselves. For lunch we ate at a local place. I don’t think I mentioned this before, Sienna is very hilly. We got quite a workout walking around this city. You can see how they’ve levelled the tables and chairs for the outdoor seating in this restaurant.

San Gemignano

2004-10-01T00:00:00-04:00

After two days of touring Florence, we were ready to hit the road and see more of Tuscany. In general, I found the Tuscans drove quickly, but fairly. Of course, we wouldn’t dare driving in the actual towns. Usually, the goal was to park just outside the medieval walls and walk in.

San Gemignano is built on a hill and looks like a small mideival Manhattan with towering spires. They had one main church with incredible murals, but one is not allowed to take photographs.

The main square

The church

A view from outside the walls of the old city

Pisa

2004-10-01T00:00:00-04:00

The subtitle of a trip to Pisa should be “Come for the Tower. Stay for the Cathedral.”. Honestly, I don’t know why everyone gets so excited about the tower. Especially when the cathedral and the baptistry were stunning.

The Piazza del Duomo

The Piazza del Duomo from another angle

The Tower

We walked around the tower. Even making Pisa the first stop of the day, there were plenty of tourists. I can only imagine what it would be like to hit Pisa later in the day. We were not prepared for how stunning the cathedral is. Apparently, Pisa was a center in the area for the moors, and it shows in the artwork. There is an odd mixture of Arabic geometric designs with Catholic iconography. It’s especially noticeable in the baptistry. Here are a ton of photos of the cathedral.

The entrance to the cathedral

Inside the cathedral

More of the inside

A chandelier

Trying to give you some perspective as to how big the place feels

A mosaic

An intricately carved marble pulpit

The ceiling, the pulpit, the chandelier

Another corner of the cathedral

The moorish influence

And finally, we get to the baptistry.

The outside of the baptistry

The entrance to the baptistry

Intricate marble inlay

You definitely see the Arabic influence

More stunning marble work

Lucca

2004-10-01T00:00:00-04:00

I feel repetitive saying that this Lucca is a beautiful, medieval town. All of these towns have their own personality and should be experienced. This town has a cosmoploitan heart to it. Once we hit the main area, we found that it was full of small streets with shops galore.

The main church in town

Artwork in the church

Lucca is the birthplace of opera composer Giacomo Puccini (he wrote Madama Butterfly, La Boheme, and Turandot for all you cultural heathens). The had a museum of his house which was more interesting than one would imagine. David bought a first print of a score there.

A statue of Puccini

Puccini’s Piano

Last Day in Florence

2004-10-01T00:00:00-04:00

We just couldn’t get enough of Florence, so we changed our plans somewhat to spend our last day in Florence before getting on the train home. We did a little sightseeing, had gelato at one of the world famous gelato places, and then went to our respective shopping excursions.

On our earlier visits, one of the churches, Snata Croce, was closed. We went back and it was open. There are several famous Florentines buried here.

A shot of the ceiling

Galileo’s Tomb

Michaelangelo’s Tomb

Machiavelli’s Tomb

Rossini’s Tomb

The garden

A mural

Another mural

Since being back, it’s taken me weeks to get over a sadness that I can’t start every day with a cappucino and a pastry, staring at rennaisance sculpture and architecture. There are many things here that aren’t documented: the Italian Alps, the palace at Florence, the city hall at Sienna, the restuarants we went to, and countless of other details. Everyone deserves as much time in Tuscany as you can muster. Run, don’t walk. This was a vacation I will not forget.

Garfagnana

2004-10-01T00:00:00-04:00

As we came out of the mountains, we settled into an area called the Garfagnana. This is where I want my Italian home. It was serene, luscious, the homes were beautiful, and we were close to Lucca for shopping.

The Serchio River

A medieval bridge known as “The Devil’s Bridge” for its odd shape

After this area, we went to some villas in the area, but we decided to come back to the is area for dinner and ate along the river.

Florence

2004-10-01T00:00:00-04:00

David signed us up for two walking tours, which ended up being a very good idea. Our first day in Florence, we had a four hour walking tour that covered most of Florence, followed by lunch, and then a tour of Michaelangelo’s David.

The walking tour gave us an excellent overview of Tuscany: who are the Medici’s, what are these crests we keep seeing on buildings, etc. The tour guide had a seemingly limitless supply of stories about the city. I started becoming suspicious at all the commonly known phrases that seemed to originate from Florence. For instance, “saved by the bell” comes from the story of a woman that buried alive, but was able to ring a bell so that someone could hear her and dig up the grave. The phrase “I ate at a little hole in the wall” refers to the small doors next to the kitchen where wealthy families would hand out scraps to beggars. You get the idea. Regardless of their authenticity, all the stories were captivating.

This is a famous boar fountain that supposedly tells you how long it will be until you return to Florence.

We heard many stories of tempermental artists. Donatello was high on the list of divas. There was a story that he had made a statue and he was showing it to the patron on a rooftop. The patron made some criticisms of the statue and Donatello said, “You’re right. It’s junk.” and shoved the stature off the rooftop and letting it shatter to a million pieces. My hero.

A Donatello Statue

The Duomo

The Front of the Duomo

The inside of the Duomo. This should give you sense of the size.

Inside the Duomo

A Statue of Medusa in one of the main squares

For the afternoon, we had two major events for which unfortunately, I cannot show any photographs: Michaelangelo’s David and the Uffizi Gallery. Both were breathtaking. I have had experiences in the past in which I looked at a major piece of artwork and said “I don’t get it.” Not the case with Michaelangelo’s David. Our guide also did a very good job explaining the context and what Michaelangelos was attempting to do with the sculpture. It really is one of those “run, don’t walk” kind of things.

And the Uffizi had some amazing pieces of artwork: Several Botticelli’s including “Birth of Venus”, Michaelangelo’s Pieta, and many others.

The ceiling of the entrance to the Uffizi

The one place that I could get a lot of photos that actually turned out well was in the baptistry of the Duomo.

The doors of the baptistry

The ceiling of the baptistry

Carrera

2004-10-01T00:00:00-04:00

After Pisa, we drove up to Carrera (the place with the marble!). Once again, quaint medieval town. Unfortunately, most everything was closed there. We saw some workers carving marble and took a picture. They let us know that that was not cool. Obviously, we looked like tourists, so they weren’t too worried, but I did put the camera away.

A view of the mountainside. That’s marble you’re seeing on the side – not snow.

A statue dedicated to workers that died in the marble mines

The picture we weren’t supposed to take.

After Carrera, we took the scenic route to our next stop. That meant driving up and over one of the Italian Alps. The views were fantastic. We didn’t take any pictures. The road was dotted with occasional road-side hotels, but for the most part, there was absolutely no one around.

The Night the Lights Went Out in Manhattan

2004-08-01T00:00:00-04:00

What was quite exciting and novel slowly descended into hell by night. It’s extremely disorienting to walk around New York City with absolutely no lights on at all. Even after living through it, I can’t imagine New York without lights. David thought I was crazy, but I took a brief walk with Gogo after the sun went down. You could hear people all around, and you could see flashlights, but you couldn’t see anyone. Gogo was very unnerved.

The night was like a Carribean island. People had brought makeshift drums out on to the street to play music and dance. We tried to read by candle light, but it turns out that candle light is pretty inadequate for reading. We spent most of the evening just lying on the sofa and listening to the handheld radio for news. It was unbelieveably hot.

Gogo enjoyed the heat

I went to bad that night expecting to hear the electricity to go on at any minute. I was looking forward to the bright lights, loud radio, and most importantly…THE AIR CONDITIONING! Imagine my disappointment when I woke up at 8 the next morning to the same stultifying heat and humidity in sweat soaked sheets.

Gogo and David snuggle

New York had enjoyed the novelty of the blackout the night before. The thought of a second night of a blackout had everyone pissed and grumpy. Chelsea was one of the last neighborhoods to get their electricity back. David, Gogo, and I were going to go for YET ANOTHER walk when the electricity finally returned. The news had told us not to turn air conditioning on right away. We decided not to follow that advice.

The Day the Lights Went Out in Manhattan

2004-08-01T00:00:00-04:00

In August of 2004, there was a blackout on much of the Eastern seaboard of the United States. We were in Manhattan when it hit. At first it was a bit exciting, but as the evening approached and we realized we’d have to go through a hot August night without even a fan, I lost my taste for this little adventure.

So many people walking.

There were hundreds of people walking. You can’t tell from this picture.

Just about every other block, someone would open their car doors and leave their radio on loud enough for other people to hear the news.

Here’s an interesting note that I found taped to a door. FYI – Queens is a LONG WAY AWAY! (Don’t forget to click on the little magifying glass to see the details)

Trip to Oregon: Dinner at Home

2004-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

The next day, we decided to take it easy, make a nice dinner at home, and invite friends over. We started with a look at the grill. I knew we could do much better, so Mom and I went to Home Depot and we got ourselves a new charcoal grill. And of course, there’s no sense in throw the same old briquettes on a charcoal grill, so we got a starter chimney and some real wood charcoal. Man, what a difference it all makes in the flavor.

Trip to Oregon: Day at Lincoln Beach

2004-06-17T00:00:00-04:00

One of my goals during my unemployment was to get back to Oregon for a visit. And if I was going to get everything I could out of Oregon, that meant a trip to the coast.

Dad and I along the beach

Mom, Dad, and I left after lunch and took a lazy drive to Lincoln City. We were hoping to stop at the Sea Gypsy motel and walk along where they fly kites, but it must not have been windy enough because we didn’t see any kites. Instead, we went to the Salishan lodge and walked a nature trail to the beach. Unlike the East Coast, the Oregon coast is not a mob scene. There were a few people here and there that would pass by – some savouring the introspection that comes with a walk on the pacific coast and others gleefully saying hello, excited by the good fortune of the weather. Unlike most days on the Oregon coast, there was barely a cloud in the sky. There was a mildly cool breeze blowing off the ocean. In the distance, we saw a helicopter inspecting some boat off the coast.

Mom and I along the beach

Just me

Mom putting on her shoes

After a stroll along the beach, we went up to Charlene’s for a drink. She has a brand new house in Salishan – very serene and picturesque. There was a squirrel taking full advantage of the bird feeder on her porch. He munched on sunflower seeds the entire time we were there. Next, I went to Michael’s house (also in Salishan) to check out his home theater. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to see anything in action, but I got some good advice when it’s time for me to build my home theater.

A squirrel on Charlene’s patio

For dinner, we met at the Bay House on the ocean. The food was great and we caught a fantastic sunset over the water.

At the Bay House

St John

2003-12-01T00:00:00-05:00

Every year, the Reich family spends the second to the last week in a villa on top of St John in the Virgin Islands. I have been lucky enough to be invited have spent four years now vacationing in the Carribean.

A welcome spelled out in shells was waiting for us when we drove up to the villas. I can’t remember what it spells out at the bottom. I believe it’s Sunset Ridge Villas, which is the name of the time share.

Even the shells welcome you…

The door to one of the villas

The view to the south over looking St John

The view south east. It was more impressive in person.

Ben and Batya drying off after a swim. You can see St Thomas in the background.

I believe this was the fifth screening of 101 Dalmations.

We always take one day to go out sailing with a local sailing tour captain by the name of Captain Phil. He takes us out to remote snorkeling locations. This is usually the trip that makes me forget about my life in New York.

Here’s a picture of Captain Phil. We’re just beginning to leave the St. John harbor. We’ve always been very lucky weather-wise on our boat excursions. I believe that one year we had a little bit of ran on the way back, but it always returned to sunny very quickly.

Here we are leaving the St John harbor. That’s Captain Phil.

Here’s a picture of David as we’re anchoring near an island.

Here we are at anchor at one of our stops.

These photos were taken during a day at our favorite beach spot, Trunk Bay. It’s right next to the more exotically named “Cinnamon Bay”, so I’ve used that name for the journal entry. We found this bay one day when we were at Cinnamon Bay and David and I rented a kayak and paddled over here. The water is not too rough, it’s not too crowded, the snorkleing’s not too bad…this would definitely be the beach that Goldilock’s would pick.

Trunk Bay

Our camp is set up.

Everyone’s relaxed. It’s hard not to be.

More sunscreen.

The favorite Reich Family dining destination is Chateau Bordeaux. It’s a little French restaurant in the middle of the island at the top of a mountain.

The viewpoint giftshop.

Pose #1

Pose #2

I never seem to get tired of snorkeling in St. John. Unfortuantely, these photos do not capture how much there is to see underwater.

This pictures probably look like no big deal. It’s a shame because I was looking at hundreds of fish of the brightest colors I had ever seen. Apparently, the magnificence of tropical fish doesn’t show up when using a disposable underwater camera. Go figure.

The X-Men Bathroom

2003-07-01T00:00:00-04:00

Somehow, somewhere, I got the idea in my head of creating a bathroom that was almost entirely composed of glass mosaic tile. I figured I could take any image, scan, and use photo editing software to transfer the image into a mosaic. David and I spent a couple of months trying to come up with a good image. I eventually decided that comic book panel would make a good image because the colors are bold, the concept is fun, and we wouldn’t lose a lot of details in reducing the image quality down.

I started scouring old X-Men comic books that I had when I was younger. I spent some time tracking down old copies on E-Bay and then trying to find an appropriate image. I settled on a panel from the

Next we had to transfer that image to a workable matrix for laying out the tile. We decided to go with Carter Glass Tile which had a palette of 50 colors. I used those colors to reduce the size of the image down to what we needed to fit the bathroom. There were a lot of conversion and re-measurements. The image below shows the finished product that we used to create the mosaic. The mosaic was built in grids of 15 tiles by 15 tiles. Each square in that image represents approximately 13 inches when assembled.

The other nice thing about Carter Glass tile is that they sold plastic grids so you could build your own mosaics. If we hadn’t found that grid, I don’t think we would have been able to do the project. The grid is a big plastic waffle of 15 tiles by 15 tiles that you drop the tiles into. Once you have the grid filled, you put contact paper on the tiles and lift the tiles out. That grid then gets labelled and set aside.

We would zoom into each 15×15 square and then turn on one set of colors at a time, using that to build the grid. The image below shows what it looked like to us on the computer. This section is the square that makes on the right eye of the guy in the center.

The final image is composed 33,456 tiles. It took us about 3 weeks to make all the panels. Here are some shots of us putting together the panels.

And this is what it looked like layed out on the floor. Each night we would lay out the day’s work as a little reward.

Take a tour of the bathroom under construction.

Take a tour of the bathroom almost finished.

The New Kitchen

2003-07-01T00:00:00-04:00

Shortly after finishing the new kitchen, we saw a commercial for Martha Stewart. We were stunned to realize that we had unknowingly (I swear!) built Martha Stewart’s kitchen….except we have a better countertop. But in terms of “look and feel” Martha and ourselves are in agreement. This is either very good or very bad. After spending any amount of time in the kitchen, you will be forced to agree that we nailed it. Especially on a summer day, the doors open to the backyard, everyone hanging around the island without me having to yell, “GET OUT OF MY WAY! I’M COOKING.” You will soon forget you are in Manhattan. Let’s take a tour through the kitchen with David, shall we?

The whole kitchen

There are two main lighting fixtures in the kitchen. We got both of them at aplace in Soho with hundreds of different lights. You don’t buy any individual light, you point out the lights that you like and they make them from scratch for you. That way you can mix and match various styles. For instance, the lighting fixture in the store that matched the one over the island had three lights and we asked for two.

The fridge…

Appliances were a big deal. We cut corners on some items, but not on the appliances. Since David has more experience with high end appliances, he made a lot of the decisions here. The centerpiece (in my opinion) is the double convection oven. A convection oven has a fan in the back to circulate the hot air so that there are no cold spots in the oven – everything cooks evenly, cakes don’t rise in the center, and everything cooks faster. It’s kind of a miracle. And now we have two of them. Occassionally, I’ll be making a big dinner and think, “I’ll prebake the tart crust, then put in the chicken and when the chicken is done, I’ll put in the…wait. I have two ovens.”

When the kitchen was pretty much finished, I said to David, “I’m sorry that I bulldozed every decision into getting my perfect kitchen.” David replied with, “What do you mean? I got everything I wanted.” ACtually, the base design came from a kitchen place that we lived next door to when we had an apartment on the east side.

…and the sink.

Here’s David drinking some iced tea!

Here’s David enjoying a view of the back yard. He doesn’t have to worry about hitting his head on the way out!

Here’s a shot of the other end of the kitchen.

Now David is sitting down at the kitchen table.

He can enjoy the fireplace at the kitchen table. This was previously painted over.

And this is a shot of the kitchen island. The pots and pans are in open cabinets underneath the cooktop.

Double convection ovens. Yum. David’s going into the living room.

Let’s take one last look at the kitchen before we leave.

The Master Bedroom

2003-07-01T00:00:00-04:00

First, I need to remind myself what the bedroom looked like before. It’s one of those things that the memory of the bedroom disappeared about a day after we tore it apart.

The master bedroom was one of the last great rooms in the house that still projected “women’s dormitory”. It had the industrial grey carpeting, a tiny door frame, and the outline of flourescent lights on the ceiling. Despite all these reasons to renovate, I think the main reason we renovated was because Gogo just did not want to be house-trained in this room. The carpet had so many layers of old carpet, carpet padding, and carpet squares that anything spilled on the floor got permanently absorbed into the floor.

Remember this. The closet goes through a transformation

The fire place has a formica top to it. Formica!

So now let’s take a look at what it looked like during demolition…

Drywall waiting for a home.

Plastic and dust everywhere.

We also put in duct work for central air on the top two floors.

No more bedroom

This is the ceiling of the secret closet – ripped out for the central air.

And now here’s the finished product!

The floor is brand new. We put in wide-plank knotty pine and stained it very dark.

The wallpaper is from

This is the armoire that David brought back from London.

And here’s the new closet.

UPDATE: okay. So, I didn’t really want to leave the top floor bedroom. It was cozy, it was simple, and it was closer to my X-Men bathroom. I was worried that the new master bedroom was a little too fancy.

The Creamsicle Room

2003-07-01T00:00:00-04:00

When we first renovated the living room, we had picked out a color called “milquetoast” that was very plain beige on the swatch. By the time we got to painting the living room, we were exhausted with renovations. The painters first got paints that were the same number from a different paint manufatcurer. It came out very dark olive green. David came home and said, “wrong, wrong, wrong!” The next day he came home and they had painted a panel with the rigth color, but on the wall it came out very peachy. I didn’t say anything because I figured David would tell them the color was wrong. However, the color was right and David was too tired to pick a new color. So our living room became “The Creamsicle Room”.

Gogo poses in front of the hole in the wall that will be the fireplace.

Whenever we told people that we weren’t sure that the color worked, the response was always “Oh, no, it works great for this room. Don’t change anything.” When we put in the fireplace we had to repaint and we decided that enough was enough. As soon as we started telling people that we were repainting, the response was always, “Good. This peachy-orange doesn’t work.”

Here are some pictures with the new paint job.

You can see a close-up of the floor in this picture.

In this is the new centerpiece of the room…the fireplace. It’s from the same time period of the house taken from another Manhattan townhouse.

Take a tour of the living room.

The Bollywood Room

2003-07-01T00:00:00-04:00

The Bollywood Room is done! This was a VERY large project. Building a home theater is certainly not anything new, but somewhere, somehow, I got it into my head that I wanted a Bollywood room. I think this is left over thoughts of wanting a Turkish room that never materialized. But in hindsight, it makes perfect sense – create a home theater celebrating the country that has the biggest film industry in the world.

David and I quickly realized that we were in over hour heads with the technology of it all. We shopped around and decided to go with AV Transformations to help us make decisions and purchase equipment. We also had to figure out how to decorate the room, and once again we thought we were in over our heads. Eventually, with help from Sis and ABC, we found ourselves not needing a special decorator. Whew!

Here’s the layout of the room.

And these were the main colors and styles we were going for.

First, let’s talk technology. For anyone that’s ever tried to plan a home theater, my heart goes out to you. I was practically paralyzed with endless decisions. The audio/visual knowledge that you have to accumulate to make a simple decision is staggering. I constantly changed my mind as to what we wanted. David originally wanted a plasma screen, but I convinced him that front projection is the way to go. We are DEFINITELY happy with the quality of the system. I won’t go into all the details of the system. We got a JVC D-ILA projector since it is supposed to match real-life color most accurately. We went with a DENON receiver and DVD player and a 5.1 surround sound system. Yes, it’s all as impressive as you would want it to be. And we had a gazillion cables run through the walls.

Here’s the screen. David is going through the left closet which has our DVDs. The right closet has all of the A/V equipment.

A closeup of the right closet.

This is the projector on the opposite wall of the screen. It is mounted to the wall above and behind the sofa and chair.

Now let’s talk design. David and I went to look at furniture and fabric samples several times with no luck. I liked silk designs – he said no silk because it stained too easily. I showed him busy patterns – he didn’t like busy. We were going nowhere. Then my sister came to visit and while I was at work, the two of them went to ABC. David called me all excited about the silk paisley pattern that they picked out. I was baffled, but ultimately happy that my sister convinced him where I had failed. And everything is uber-comfortable.

Here’s a snapshot of the sitting area.

A nightstand in between the sofa and chair.

The chair. It’s soooo comfortable.

The coffe table is from India. It was made from an old window shutter.

Now on to lighting. This was a bit of a sopa opera. We got a Morrocan-style chandelier a few months ago for the Turkish room. We thought it would go well in the Bollywood room, so David spent a couple of hours moving it. After a couple of weeks, we realized it didn’t go, and David moved it back up stairs. On a trip to ABC, before we had planned anything in the room, we got four lights. Two of them are smaller, pomegranate-shaped lights that we thought would go near the screen on each side, and two larger chandeliers. And best of all: they were CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP!!! At one point we thought that we were being too extravagant getting four lamps, but at the prices that we got for them, we would have been fools to not grab them while we had the chance. They are nice, but we later saw the PERFECT chandelier and it actually goes well with the ones we already bought.

You’ll notice the shutters on the windows. These block out all external light so we can watch a movie during the day.

The main chandelier

Above the chair

Above the sofa

And this ended up not making the cut. How sad.

When we finished the room, but up new lights, etc, my friend Sara came to visit and her first comment hit me to the core with my greatest fear: It Was Too Tasteful. So the next weekend, I went and got some artwork for the walls, a new window topper, and some more pillows. It’s getting closer in that it’s cluttered to start to feel authentic. I’m sure we will eventually get it cluttered to the point of offensive – at which point I’ll be REALLY happy.

The topper over the entrance.

Our sideboard, with a carving from India (via Uma, one of my co-workers), and some brass sculptures from David’s parents.

Some elephant sculptures

Artwork

A beautiful ganesh carving

More artwork

Keith's Office

2003-07-01T00:00:00-04:00

Keith’s Office (aka The Anti-David Room) has been done in a 70’s/Blaxploitation theme. I found some fantastic vintage wallpaper on the internet, a lamp from E-Bay, and pulled out the Pam Grier movie posters that David had never let me hang on the wall.

A shot of Gogo amongst the pieces that will soon be the room.

Gogo enjoying the shag carpet in the finished room. No furniture yet.

A Renovation in Progress

2003-07-01T00:00:00-04:00

We’ve just begun the final renovation. I’ve started comparing it to childbirth. Everytime we prepare for renovations, I’m all excited about the final work. Then the demolition starts and I think “Was I crazy for looking forward to this? I want this OVER!” And as soon as the renovation is ended, I think “that wasn’t so bad. When’s the next one?”

Plastic everywhere

The site of my future office

The new hall closet

The arch for the screen

The wall with the windows. So many wires for our high-tech room!

One of the not so wonderful aspects fo this renovation is that we had to do the demolition in two parts. We did the main demolitionof the two rooms on the second floor, then a week later, we had demolition on the first floor. So basically, about the time that the major dust and trauma of the first demolition was over, we got hit with a second dose. Not fun. And now whenever you come into the house, a little bit of dust and plaster falls on you from above. It’s quaint, really.

The downstairs hallway without walls

Gogo loves the construction for some reason. She always says hello to the guys in the morning and she loves to wander into the construction zone. When they were settting up for the second round of demolition, Gogo and I were still in the bedroom. I was just finishing getting dressed. The workers were taping up all the entrances to minimize the flow of dust into the other rooms. They started to tape up the bedroom, and I heard someone say (do this in your best Brooklyn accent) "Don’t tape up that room. Gogo and that guy are still in there.

More of the first floor hallway

The Trip to the Czech Republic

2003-05-01T00:00:00-04:00

Our first day in Prague was really two. We left the house a little late, and than found out that we were dealing with rain, holiday weekend, and Friday afternoon traffic. We got to the airport as they were boarding the flight – in fact, it was mostly full when we got there. So we got two middle seats. For an over night flight. Yay. However, the flight to Zurich went relatively quickly. we had a five hour layover in Zurich, and we saw something about day rooms. So we decided to check them out. They were very white, sterile rooms with a communal toilet and Shower down the hall. We were so dead tired, we decided to rent one. And it turns out they made quite a difference. Waking up was sheer torture, but once I was up, I felt distinctly better. Also, the shower felt fantastic.

The Swiss Air flight was a wonderful welcome to Europe. They served a fantastic smoked ham and herb cheese sandwich followed by Swiss chocolates. I looked at David and commented on the food in Europe. He said, “Low fat. What’s that?”

A Long Layover

Sad to Return

2003-05-01T00:00:00-04:00

So we got to the hotel and packed. Nothing too eventful. The flight home was a little trying. The flight to Zurich was in front of two blabber mouths that couldn’t talk below a shout. And American Airlines didn’t have us sitting together on the way home. We were persistent in our complaining and eventually got two seats together. The flight felt very long on the way home.

It turns out that I brought a friend home from Prague in my stomach. I couldn’t go to work the next day – it felt like I swallowed glass. But after a day of rest, I was ready to go back to work. Well, as ready as I was going to get.

I left a lot of things yet to do in Prague. I found an antique map shop for David that he didn’t have time to visit, so there’s something calling David there, too. I will never pass up a trip to Prague.

On My Own in Prague

2003-05-01T00:00:00-04:00

David was at conferences most of today, so I did some exploring on my own. I started off near the Prague Castle to check out some of the “Little Quarter”. My first attempt at reading the map resulted in a wrong turn. Once I re adjusted, I was fine for the rest of my excursion.

My first stop was at Wallenstein Palace. It is essentially a senate house with large public gardens. It was full of statues, frescoes, and had a little area that housed some owls. There was also this very large, bizarre wall called “The Grotesguery” that’s made to look like limestone stallactites. It did look like that, but I couldn’t figure out what the points was.

Wallenstein Palace

More of Wallenstein Palace

After the palace gardens, I wandered around the neighborhood and ended up by the Church of St. Nicholas. Once again, I was not prepared for how majestic the churches would be in Prague. The picture here does not do it justice. I should have taken more pictures, but I always feel tacky taking pictures of a church. Well, I feel tacky taking pictures all the time. So in this picture, compare the size of the people to the size of the church. Along the altars are giant white marble statues of saints and patrons of the church.

The Church of St Nicholas

I came back down to the river and walked along Kampa Park which is a park along the river. It’s not known for anything in particular except that it’s relaxing and pleasant and off the tourist path somewhat. I sat on a bench and enjoyed looking at the locals enjoy a tranquility in life that you just don’t see in the U.S.

I went back to the Old Town via the Charles Bridge. I took a picture of people rubbing a stature for good luck. The statue has two brass reliefs: one of a man and his dog and one of a saint leaping off a bridge. People had started touching the falling saint for good luck and at some point, I assume after the lines for touching the saint got to be too much, people decided that touching the dog was good luck too. So now both the saint and the dog are shiny from everyone touching them.

The goodluck charm on the Charles Bridge

On the way back to the hotel, I stopped by the river, made a wish, and threw a coin into the river. I’ll let you know if it comes true.

For dinner that night, David and I went to a small restuarant behind a convent. It was partially outside and the night was perfect for semi-outside dining. I have to admit that the heavy eastern european food was starting to get to me at this point. We stumbled back to the subway after dinner, going through side streets and trying to walk off the heavy food. We saw nuns in the convent fixing up their rooms. We listened to the sounds of classical music in people’s apartments.

Long Weekend in Prague

2003-05-01T00:00:00-04:00

When I was at marchFIRST, David asked if I would join him on a trip to Prague. I said yes at the time, but then a major project at work was scheduled to go live near the time of our trip, so I backed out. Then marchFIRST went bankrupt. I vowed never to pass up a vacation for work again. Well, Century 21 scheduled a project to go live within a month of my trip, and I said “screw it, I’m going!”

Food Hangover

2003-05-01T00:00:00-04:00

I’m having a hard time this morning, because I’m having a bit of a food hangover. We went out with friends of David to a place that turned out to be a tourist trap. It’s called “U Kalicha” and is based on a popular Czech novel, “The Good Soldier.” It was a stereo typical Eastern European event, complete with an accordion player and a tuba player. As soon as they sat us down, they looked at us and said, “Beer?” We said yes and they brought us each the biggest mug of beer I have ever seen. It had to have been at least a liter. Then, while we were looking over the menus, they came around with Slivovitz and asked it we wanted shots. My stomach lining begged for mercy. I was afraid that dinner was going to be over the top, but it was typical Czech food. We had an appetizer with a lot of pork and cheese, and all the men ordered roast goose and the one female ordered a salad. I think with the combination of food and beer, I have a bit of a food hangover this morning.

So now, let’s backtrack to earlier in the day. David made an appearance at the conference after breakfast, while I wrote and read. We headed off to Prague castle first. I got the bright idea of walking through the gardens to enter, which entailed a very hearty trek up the side of a hill. There were may school groups waiting outside the castle. One of the groups was a group of about 20 preteen girls. One of them said hello to us quite loudly. David said hello back. Then all 20 of them said hello to us in unison. The first girl, the ring leader, asked us where we were from. We said “New York” and all 20 girls started screaming with excitement. We figured that they must be from some small German town and were practicing their English.

On the wall of the castle

One of the palace courtyards

So back to the castle. The highlight of the castle is the cathedral. It’s enormous and beautiful. I think the only church that I’ve seen that’s more impressive is St. Peter’s in Rome – and no one will ever top that one. It is also interesting to note that there were some relatively recent pieces of art as part of the cathedral. Especially beautiful was an art nouveau stained glass window. I always tend to think that its a shame that they can’t build modern buildings to be as majestic as they used to be, but this cathedral helped show that something doesn’t have to be old to be beautiful.

St Vitus’ Cathedral

An outside mosaic on St Vitus’

Next we went on to a palace. There were many great halls and a room where two discs were pushed out of a window – setting off the Thirty Years War. The palace had a few large entrances especially designed for people riding in on horseback.

The main hall of the palace

Next, we ventured on to a small street where Kafka lived for a short while with his sister. The houses were all painted in pastels. It looked too quaint and cheerful for Kafka’s residence.

We left the castle and ventured across the river into the Jewish Quarter. We saw the Old-New Synagogue, which is really centuries old and is where the Golum is supposedly still resting. Right around the corner is the Jewish Cemetery. l was quite moved when we got to Rabbi Leow’s grave – the rabbi that created the Golum. I’ve been thinking a lot about Kavalier & Clay.

The Jewish Cemetery

More of the Jewish Cemetery

After the Jewish Quarter, we went in search of an English bookstore. I bought David “I Served the King of England” and we had a coffee. The bookstore and cafe felt very communist era. I imagine that life must have been very quiet for the average person back then – and extremely boring. As it stands now, capitalism has not taken too strong of a foothold here. There are people selling shot glasses and T-shirts with images of Prague, but there’s surprisingly little advertising. There is a calm silence that has remained.

After the bookstore, we went back to the hotel for a nap and then on to the dinner that I’ve already told you about.

First Day in Prague

2003-05-01T00:00:00-04:00

We took a cab to the hotel. The driver reminded me of Kornblum from “Kavalier & Clay.” the hotel was nice and didn’t have one of those funny “shelf” toilets that I see in Eastern Europe. We unpacked and decided to head to the “Old Town.” lt took us about 20 minutes and two trips to the subway station and back before we were on our way.

The first cafe we visited – Namesti Republiky.

The view from the outside.

I have to admit, the first day in Prague was a bit of a blur. We were operating on only a few hours of sleep. The subway took us near the Old Town, and we started walking. There was no great destination in mind. We came across Tulla and her Finnish associates. Tulla was looking vivacious. But her colleagues didn’t recognize that we existed. I had a list of cafes in Prague, and so we headed to one on the list. It was a beautiful art deco building. We sat outside, listening to their musicians and had an iced cappucino – which had no ice, but a lot of cream, and some sort of syrup or liquor. We headed over to the old Town Square, checked out the churches and architecture, and waited for the Astrological Clock to chime. As I had read about the various machinations that the clock goes through, it seemed sort of fun or cute, but when I saw it happening, I realized it was quite haunting. The second I saw the apostles start to parade past the open windows, I felt like a kid.

Old Town Square

The Church of Our Lady

We continued walking down to the river. The river was full of people that had rented row boats. I thought about taking a picture, but I knew I would never translate.

The Astrological Clock

Eveyone is waiting for the automatons to play.

U Rotta

We walked across the Charles Bridge. I will have to do that again, because the sun was in our eyes and I was quite tired. We found a restaurant that was popular with the locals in the Little Quarter. My meal was big, but David’s was enormous. We both had beer. After a heavy meal, beer, and jet lag, we stumbled out of the restaurant drunk and found a cab. We later realized that the cab driver recognized drunk tourists and significantly over charged us.

Charles Bridge

More Charles Bridge

Excursion to Kutna Hora

2003-05-01T00:00:00-04:00

I had heard a lot of the ossuary at Kutna Hora. So we found an excursion to take us there. The town is an old mining town, which used to act as the mint for the Czech Republic. The town ranks high on the “quant scale”; but unfortunately, our tour guide was not so great. At our first stop, a beautiful church, she simply read from the english text that they give all tourists. She also added extra prepositions to the text and occassionally asked for help with words like “apron”. Worse yet, we found out that the tour would not be stopping at the ossuary. So instead of going back to Prague with the tour, we went to the ossuary on our own. It was a beautiful day and the walk was only a few kilometers.

St. Barbara’s Cathedral in Kutna Hora

The walk along the old wall in Kutna Hora

The ossuary was small, but quite amazing. the pictures do it some justice, but it’s better to see it in person. Oddly enough, it did not seem morose. And only macabre from a distance. Up close, it was amazing beautiful. The chandelier has at least one of every bone in the human body.

The ossuary

A stack of bones

An urn made of bones

A coat of arms

This is a part of the coat of arms. It’s an image of a bird picking out an eye of a Turk to celebrate the defeat of the Turks.

After the ossuary, we walked a little further to the train Station.

We almost didn’t realize that we had to transfer trains, but everything worked out well. We went back to the hotel – I relaxed and David went to the meeting for a bit.

For the evening’s entertainment, David and guest were invited on a river boat with dinner and music. Granted, it was a bunch of doctors, but it turned out to be a lovely evening. The boat took us from one side of Prague to the other, with two stops in a lock. Looking at Prague at night was magical. There have been many times on the trip so far that I have thought, “So this is what they mean by Bohemia.” I’ve been searching for words to describe it. It’s more than just an epicurean lifestyle. That word always mates me think of France, where they take epicurianism very seriously. The Czech enjoyment of the pleasures in life is somehow devoid of hedonism. It’s youthful without being immature. And it’s entirely unselfconscious. More than Paris, this is a city I can imagine myself staying in – writing in journals, attending concerts, sitting by the banks of the river naively enjoying life.

A chandelier using at least one of every human bone

Daddy's Girl

2002-06-06T00:00:00-04:00

There’s just no denying that Gogo knows how to show favoritism. Although I’m usually the one that gets attention, Gogo definitely knows how to snuggle up to David and say “I’m a Daddy’s Girl!”

The Hard Life

Snuggling in Bed

Kisses

Wednesday: Avignon and Surroundings

2002-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

This was the first day that I woke up feeling like a normal person. We drove to Avignon,

which is a walled city that was once the home of the French popes-back in the 1300’s

and 1400’s. We had breakfast and then took a two-hour tour of the Palais des Papes.

Afterwards, we walked around the city, tried to go to a museum, but we hit the lunch

hour and everything started closing. We went to a pastry shop for a goat cheese and

spinach pastry and a smoked duck sandwich. Fantastic.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame-des-Doms

We drove up a bit along the Rhone River to Chateauneuf du Pape, which is famous for its

wines (this is silly because the whole area is famous for its wines). We went into a “cave”

(which is a wine tasting cellar) and bought some wine. We traveled on to Orange, but by

then it was pouring down rain. We stopped for some coffee and a crepe and re-planned

the rest of the day.

We decided to hit the open road and travel through Provence. After several wrong turns,

we saw some spectacular little towns – we drove over cobblestone bridges that took us

over moats into walled villages. The views were fantastic, and I’m afraid the pictures just

don’t do the area justice. I used to think that Santorini was the ideal honeymoon location:

I’m now convinced that the ideal is a small town in Provence. Two of the highlights are

St. Didier and Bonnieux, but there were several hotel/restaurants that were near small

towns but self-contained retreats. Somewhere along this road we made an important

turning point in our vacation: we stopped trying to pronounce the town names correctly

and started pronouncing them phonetically.

A fountain in Avignon

The Avignon Opera

The Avignon Carousel

A view of Bonnieux

Next we stopped into a little tourist trap that I fell in love with. It’s an area where water

comes out of the bottom of a cliff, and no one knows where the source of the water is. It’s

called Font de Vaucluse (“The Source”) and there are nonstop consumer stands as you

walk along the river up to the source. However, there was a little medieval town along the

river with restaurants pretty much right on top of the water. It was a 10 on the quaint

scale.

Font de Vaucluse

We drove some more and ended up in Pertuis for dinner. It was not a big town, but had a

very nice Moroccan restaurant. After dinner, we drove back to the hotel and crashed.

Tuesday: Aix en Provence

2002-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

We got a relatively early start this morning. David was anxious to get out of the "Miami

Beach" atmosphere of Nice and on to the provincial setting of Provence. We picked up a

rented car and with David as the navigator and myself as the driver, we went to Aix-en-

Provence. I think it took us around two hours. After we checked into the hotel, we went

for a brief walking tour. Almost every town in Provence has an office of tourism with

maps of the town, things to do, etc. After getting a lot of maps and a pass to all of the

museums, went for a walk around the town. Aix has a beautiful old city, so we wandered

the medieval streets and went into a few small museums. It is also known as the city of a

thousand fountains. We turned out to be rather tired, so after some touring, we went back

to the hotel room and took a nap. For dinner, we ate outside in a public square. A lot of

the cafes and restaurants are only big enough for the kitchen and the staff and the seating

is outside.

The main fountain of Aix

The Hotel de Ville (city hall)

Travel to the South of France

2002-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

We went to the South of France expecting cold and dour people and sunny weather. We got just the opposite. Nice was once part of Italy, and we began speculating that when the Italians handed Nice back to France they said, “We’ll give you Nice back, but you have to be friendly to the tourists and serve lots of pizza.” However, the same was true for all of Provence-the people could not have been friendlier. I guess my only exposure to French culture so far has been the Parisians where the rule is to be snooty to the tourists.The weather was…not as bad as it could have been. There was only one day that was continually rainy. Most days were nice in the mornings with a little drizzle in the afternoon. We were there in April, so what can you expect? (State the previous sentence with a Yiddish inflection.)

Thursday: Chateaus of Provence

2002-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

Today we started by driving out to hit some of the chateaux (castles) of the area. We went

to Chateau Barben, which is right next to the local zoo. The grounds were fantastic, but

the only way to see it was to go with the tour, which we had just missed. We decided to

come back.

A view of Chateau Barben

Our next stop was Le Beaux, which is another walled village, high on a mountaintop. The

views were stunning, but by this time, we were actually starting to get picky about our

mega-quaint, medieval, walled villages. We did a bit of touring, had a magnificent lunch,

and took the slow road back to Chateau Barben. We got the tour of the Chateau, which

has, of course, spectacular views. Many of the rooms were very well stocked with period

furniture. One of the highlights was a room that was wallpapered with leather. The

leather had designs imprinted upon it and was original to the Chateau.

The grounds of Chateau Barben

We returned to Aix and did a little shopping. I found a kitchen supply store and went a

little nuts.

For dinner that evening, we had one of the best meals I’ve had in my life. I started with a

cream of leak soup that had tomatoes and sausage in it. My main course was a steak

stuffed with foie gras, served with green onions wrapped in bacon. And dessert was

unbelievable: it was four small desserts based on a chestnut theme. There was chestnut

mousse, chestnut créme brulee, some sort of chestnut pudding in a shot glass with

whipped cream, and chestnut ice cream. I can’t remember what David had other than the

foie gras for an appetizer. After his first bite, he said, "I am ordering foie gras at every

meal from now on."

Sunday: 2nd Day in Nice - Nonstop Israelis

2002-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

I barely remember waking up enough to join David for breakfast. I went back to the hotel

room, took a little post-breakfast nap, a long bath, and then decided to greet the day. I

took a walk through Old Nice again, going a little closer to the coast. I ended up at

Promenade des Anglais and walked through the open market. They had fruit stands,

flower strands, marzipan fruit stands, and spice stands with every spice you could

imagine. David called me on my cell phone and said that he had time to do lunch. We

met in the area of the open market for an uneventful but delicious lunch.

The view from the Musée Chagall

After lunch I decided to go to the Musée Chagall. I left the hotel and in one block

realized I was lost. I took a new direction and discovered in two blocks, I was still lost. I

eventually did get there, but I took many wrong turns and probably spent twice as much

time walking as was necessary. The visit was well worth it. This particular museum was

dedicated to images of the Old Testament. I always thought Chagall’s work was

interesting, but seeing his work together, especially the 17 images of the Biblical

Message, made me a convert. After the museum visit, I knew the direction that the hotel

was in, so I decided to be lost for a while. I wandered around a wealthy section of town

looking at houses before heading back to the hotel.

David finished his conference duties about the same time I got back. His presentation

went well. We decided to take a walk up to the town park, which is high on a bluff. There

are some ruins and a large, planned waterfall that can be seen from pretty much any point

in the city. On the way up, we ran into an Israeli colleague of David’s. The park also has

two cemeteries: one of which is a Jewish cemetery. Both cemeteries were closed, but we

peeked in and were very impressed with what we saw.

After the park excursion, we met two other Israelis, Benny and Chanah, for dinner. We

went to a restaurant that served primarily seafood for dinner along the Promenade des

Anglais. I had a fantastic grilled lobster – they threw in some fennel. Fantastique!

Saturday: St. Maximin and Return to Nice

2002-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

We had a few outstanding items left in Aix. We had some museums to see still, and I

wanted to get my hair cut in France. Since I had asked someone at work to write out

directions to a hair stylist in French, I knew they would be disappointed if I didn’t come

back with a kooky French hairdo. We first went to Atelier Cezanne, which was the

artist’s painting studio. We visited the Museum Tapisserrie (Tapestry Museum). And

then I went to get my hair cut. I was very nervous, but it ended up being no big deal.

They gave me some magazines and I pointed to a haircut and said, “Like this.” It ended

up being a very good haircut. I told the stylist (we communicated in broken English) that

I would have to return to Aix in six weeks for my next haircut. I don’t think he got it.

The altar of St. Maximin la Ste Baume

The organ that Napolean’s younger brother saved

So then we hit side roads to go back to Nice. We had most of the day ahead of us, so we

were still in tour mode. We stopped at a village that was on the way that ended up being a

highlight of the trip. The Basilica of St. Maximin turns out to be the traditional burial

place of Mary Magdalene. The chapel alone was magnificent – it was very well preserved

during the French Revolution because Napoleon’s younger brother used it as a storage

depot and had the Marseillaise continuously played on the organ. However, the macabre

highlight was the crypt where St. Maximin, St. Innocent, and Mary Magdalene were all

buried. Mary Magdalene’s crypt had a gold bust reliquary with the facemask gone,

showing the skull of her remains. I really wanted to take a picture, but it seemed

disrespectful.

The view from our hotel room on the last night – Promenade des Anglais

Eventually, we ran out of quaint villages and hit the main highway back to Nice. We

stayed at a different hotel room that was a little nicer. Our last meal in France was very

good, but nothing too different than what we had been having.

Saturday: Arrival in Nice

2002-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

I can’t say that we had the best flight to Nice. We couldn’t get seats together on the flight

out, but a woman was kind enough to switch with us. We didn’t sleep much at all on the

flight over, so by the time we got to Heathrow, we were pretty tired. And then our flight

kept getting delayed, we got stuck on the runway, and we sat next to this crazy woman

that kept shifting every five seconds and was crying (literally) about not being able to sit

at the window. Anyway, we got to Nice and had a pleasant taxi ride to the hotel. The

taxis in France are luxurious compared with what we are used to in New York. Pretty

much as soon as we got settled in the hotel, we took a nap. We woke up around 7pm and

went for a walk in the old part of Nice (Le Vieux Nice). Finding a restaurant was not

hard, but finding a restaurant that was not just a pizzeria where we could get served

relatively quickly turned out to be rather daunting. We ended up ordering pizzas at a

more formal-looking restaurant and they just got their pizzas from the place next door. I

guess you could say that we benefited from the service of the friendly waiter and the

fruity aperitif. After that we went to the ice cream shops to end all ice cream shops. They

had at least 50 flavors, each one had a little sample atop the mound – for instance, banana

had a slice of banana on top of the ice cream so you could tell what it was, amaretto had

an amaretto cookie, etc. They even had savory flavors such as thyme and rosemary. After

ice cream, we went back to the hotel and I completely zonked out.

A view of the Promenade des Anglais

Monday: St. Paul de Vence

2002-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

I used to think that Santorini was the ideal honeymoon location: I’m now convinced that

the ideal spot is St. Paul de Vence. It’s a small walled city that is inland from the rest of

the Cote D’Azur coastal resorts, high on a hill. The streets are winding and confusing, but

the only thing to do is wander around and look at shops. It was primarily art galleries, but

we also found some cloth shops, candy shops, spice shops, and a fantastic shop that had

all sorts of homemade liqueurs. We sampled and bought fig, blueberry, and red peach

liqueurs.

Approaching St. Paul de Vence

We spent a half hour walking to the Fondation Maeght and discovered that it had just

closed for lunch. We looked at the artwork on the grounds, decided it looked too much

like a 1960’s suburban synagogue, and walked back to St. Paul de Vence for lunch. We

did a little more touring of the town, including a stop for crepes, and then headed back to

the city.

Liquors Extraordinaire

The entrance into St. Paul de Vence

Crepes Outside

For dinner, we went to L’Auberge de Acropolis, which is a very local restaurant off the

beaten path. No one in the restaurant spoke anything but French. The owner was very

frustrated that he could not communicate with us, as he was extremely sociable with

everyone else. We had a very good food translation section in one of our guidebooks, so

we knew more or less what we were ordering. There was a man eating alone next to us

that also only spoke French, trying to make pleasant conversation. We told him we were

from New York City. At one point it sounding like he said “Boosh” (as in G. W.) and

made hand signals that led us to believe that he was offering condolences for the World

Trade Center attack. He gave as some of his grappas, an extremely potent grape liqueur,

and we toasted his hospitality, using most of David’s twelve words of French vocabulary.

The owner’s lovable german shepherd sat in the corner and came over once for some

affection. Or was it to lick the food off my hand?

Friday: Cavaillon, Carpentras, and Gordes

2002-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

Today, there was more touring of Provence. We started off going to Cavaillon to see a

cathedral and a synagogue. The cathedral and cloister were beautiful and the synagogue

was a highlight. When we arrived, the museum attendant said that in order to see the

synagogue (which is one average sized room), we had to get the tour. However, she

spoke only French. David said to her in French (in a friendly and joking manner),

“You’re in a synagogue, we should be able to speak Hebrew.” She replied with, "You’re

in France, you should be able to speak French." Anyway, she gave us a 40-minute tour of

the synagogue to us and one other woman that was occasionally able to translate.

However, David’s French turned out to be eerily good, and he was able to communicate

excellently. In fact, he translated some of the Hebrew in the synagogue for them. She

gave us much more than a tour of the synagogue – she went into great detail about the

lives and the history of the Jews throughout all of Provence.

The apse of Ancienne Cathédrale Notre-Dame-et-St-Véran

The synagogue at Cavaillon

Elijah’s Chair

Next was Carpentras, which is known for an excellent Friday market. The whole town is

transformed into a giant open market with meats, cheeses, produce, clothes, honey,

lavender, etc. We caught the very end of the market and had lunch. I found an excellent

patisserie that had canelles, which I’ve heard of, but have never tried. We bought some

things to take with us for later in the afternoon as well as some gifts. There was a

beautiful cathedral that we visited before heading on.

Next was Gordes, which is another ueber-quaint, medieval, walled city high on a hill.

They specialize in mortarless fences and houses, but we didn’t go for the real tour. We

walked around, had our pastries (a real macaroon, a real florentin, and a real canelé), had

some coffee, and then headed back to Aix.

A view of Gordes

On the way back to Aix we made a brief stop in Lacoste to visit the Marquis de Sade’s

chateau. It was heavily ruined, but we got a cheap thrill out of being able to say, "We

visited the Marquis de Sade’s chateau."

The Chateau of the Marquis de Sade

For dinner, we went to a restaurant that is featured in one of Peter Mayles’ books about

Provence. It was very homey, rustic-very provincial. David had better luck ordering, his

meal was heart-stoppingly good, while mine was only wonderful. We stumbled back to

the hotel room drunk-well, not exactly stumbled, but we were giggly and silly. It was

our last night in Aix.

President's Day Weekend 2002

2002-02-18T00:00:00-05:00

Evan and Renee came by for a visit on President’s Day Weekend. They came with Isaac and Elena (I guess they felt like having all blonde dogs). Gogo loved having everyone visit. She wanted to show off her tennis ball catching skills, but when I threw the tennis ball, Isaac appeared out of nowhere and snatched it in mid-air while Gogo was patiently waiting for it to come right to her. I gave a chew treat to Isaac after I got him to speak. I got a chew treat ready for Elena, and when I asked, “What tricks does Elena know?”

Isaac, Renee, Evan, and Elena walking with the Empire State Building in the background.

Both Evan and Renee said at the same time, “Elena doesn’t know any tricks.”

Evan and the poopy-paw girl.

“Hmmm,” I thought. “That’s not like Renee to not teach her dogs any tricks.” This was clue number one that Renee is really a softie.

We ordered lunch, talked and relaxed. Elena came over and put her paws in my lap for some attention. I noticed that I now smelled like dog poop. Elena was tracking it all through the house. Evan took Elena in the bckyard to clean off her paws, Renee grabbed some cleaner and started cleaning the floor, and I went to change my pants. When I got back, Renee started grilling me:"

“Keith, this smells like kibble poop. Are you feeding Gogo kibble?”

“No, Renee. I have never fed Gogo kibble.”

“What’s that bag on the shelf? That’s a bag of kibble!”

“We’ve had that bag as long as you’ve known us. It’s the same size as it always is. It’s leftover from our previous dog and we keep it in case of an emergency.”

Luckily, I remembered that Gogo had spent last weekend at a kennel, and was fed kibble. I was off the hook as far as Renee was concerned. I was actually glad that it was kibble poop, becuase we could locate it via smell to clean it up.

So after that adventure, I was anxious to get all the dogs out fo the house. We went for a walk along Chelsea Piers. It was then that I saw my second clue that Renee is not the tough-mama that she claims to be. ISAAC PULLS ON THE LEASH AND RENEE DOESN’T DO ANYTHIGN ABOUT IT!! How many times has she teased me for being a softie and letting Gogo walk all over me? Well, I captured it all on camera.

This photo is blurry because Isaac was pulling SO HARD that the camera couldn’t capture it.

We also had a fun little adventure when we first got to the water front. There’s a four foot high concrete wall between the sidewalk and the water that’s 10-15 feet below. Gogo wanted to see over the edge, so I lifted her up to look at the ducks and the water. Evan said, “Up, Gogo.” and all of a sudden, in one leap, Isaac jumped up and over the wall. Renee screamed and held on to his leash and was afraid that she was now strangling him as he was dangling over the edge of a concrete wall. However, on the other side of the wall, is about one foot of space that Isaac had managed to land on. Isaac is very, very lucky.

After that we had a relaxing walk through the piers. Renee still insisted on teaching Isaac agility commands and had him jumping over benches and walking up and down steps. I started teaching Gogo a little bit of walking and jumping. And no one taught Elena anything – she just enjoyed the day.

Gogo having an Evan appreciation monment.

Evan and Renee playing with their camera.

Gogo’s a little nervous being so close to water. Water is evil.

A Night at the W

2001-09-01T00:00:00-04:00

The first night of the fire, we had to stay at a hotel. Luckily, the W Hotel at Union Square accepted dogs.

Trying to get the little princess to calm down.

The was Gogo’s first experience with post-modern decorating and she was clearly tantalized by it. As soon as she got into the room, she started running around like a crazy person. I don’t know if it had anything to do with the fact that the comforter was down, but when she jumped on the bed, she crouched down and started chewing aimlessly. Go figure.

Gogo distracted from chewing

She did eventually calm down and the second night we actually felt refreshed when we woke up.

Gogo was suspicious of the mirror. She kept running behind it (it was freestanding and not connected to anything).

Relaxing. And thinking of breakfast.

Gogo sticking her tongue out again

A shot of the room

The extra fancy bathrooms at the W

Gogo the Moray Eel

2001-08-01T00:00:00-04:00

I recently went into our bedroom looking for Gogo. She was nowhere in sight. As I looked around for her, I heard a thump and saw a paw quickly flash out from under the bed. Gogo was having a grand time doing her impression of a moray eel. I grabbed the camera and documented her performance.

The deadly moray eel emerges from its home.

We can see the head of the deadly moray eel.

Our fearless explorer tries to coax the deadly moray eel out of its home.

The deadly moray approaches it helpless victim, preparing for an attack!

The deadly moray eel viciously chews on its prey.

Sleeping Habits of the Cute and Furry

2001-07-01T00:00:00-04:00

Here are some shots of how Gogo slept when she was a puppy. She used to love to curl up in our neck and doze off. It didn’t last long, which is probably a good thing, because I couldn’t really sleep when she did it. But it was too cute to disrupt her.

This is Gogo practicing her yoga.

Actually, she’s sleeping if you can believe that.

Gogo: Queen of the Jungle

2001-06-01T00:00:00-04:00

During the summer of the first renovation, Gogo’s favorite spot to hang out was in the backyard. It happened once that she figured out how to get loose from the top floor and wandered through a construction zone down three flights of stairs to hang out in the backyard. From then on, we asked the guys on the ground floor if they would mind just keeping an eye on her in the backyard.

Gogo has clearly claimed the backyard has her territory..

Actually, the whole house is her territory.

Gogo hanging out on the patio.

Gogo In the New House

2001-04-01T00:00:00-05:00

So then we moved into the new house. She spent a lot of time riding in my gym bag (finally a good use for it) on trips to and from the new house.

Her head isn’t as big as it seems in this picture.

There’s a small room on the second floor that we had declared Gogo’s Room. It faces the street, so I figured, when she got older, she could sleep on a chair in the room and look out the window at people passing by. How quaint. Of course all she did in her room was scream and rip up the carpet. A man across the street left notes about how much she cries and was concerned about her well-being. He talked to our dog-walker, Melanie, one day and threatened to report us to the ASPCA. She explained that Gogo has her own room, bigger than a lot of other people’s rooms in Manhattan. I did meet him one day, and I think he was disappointed to find out that I wasn’t an ogre.

Gogo chewing something. Imagine that.

It was also around this time that I took Gogo to a puppy playgroup. It was sponsored by my vet for puppies under the age of 16 weeks, since puppies that young shouldn’t be out on the street or going to the dog run. Everyone had their sweet little fluff balls with them. I figured that Gogo came from such a big family, that she would have no problems socializing. She sat on my lap and wouldn’t move. If a puppy came up to us, she would growl and bare her teeth. Eventually, she stepped off my lap and everyone said, “Oh good, she’s coming out of her shell!” They soon regretted her new found confidence as she began systematically bullying every dog there. She would run up and pounce on other puppies, corner them and nip at them, knock them over – anything to prove her superiority. Now add to this new Gogo sounds – snarling, barking, growling; when they do sound effects in movies for vicious dogs, it doesn’t sound this frightening. I tried to smile and say the typical bad owner phrase – “She’s usually not like this.” And to be honest, she wasn’t

Gogo helping out with the housecleaning.

Girls and their shoes.

When I Met Gogo

2001-03-02T00:00:00-05:00

Little Gogo was born on January 9th. Her mom’s name is Lucy. My mom’s name is Lucy. Do you feel some cosmic force at hand? I do, too.

This photo was taken by Renee on the day I picked Gogo up.

My sister drove with me out to Renee’s to pick Gogo up. The ride back was fairly uneventful. When we left, Gogo started shivering for a while, but eventually calmed down. No crying. Sis is very good at comforting puppies.

We got home and David was there packing. We all played with Gogo and she seemed quite happy. Lots of frolicking.

The second day we had her, I thought I’d get her used to her crate and put her in while I went to take a shower. There was a little crying. No problem. Never let a crying dog out of a crate. The crying turned into screaming. This is difficult, but I’ll be strong. The screaming turned into sounds I never heard come out of a dog before. It was the sound of a dog losing its mind. At its height, it turned into the sound of a hyena. Out of sheer panic and torture from having to hear those sounds, I let her out of her crate. Gogo wins.

The rest of that week, when I would leave for work, I would begin to hear her cry as I left. However, a couple of times I came home a few hours later and she was still crying. It happened once that a friend of ours was at the apartment packing and happened to call me at work. I could barely hear him from the sounds of Gogo in the background. I ran right over and she just seemed out of her mind with grief.

These pictures of from that first week with Gogo and the last week in our old apartment.

The one time Gogo’s crying has worked to an advantage is the first night we tried to have her sleep in her crate. The crying started. The crying turned to screaming. Eventually, David said “I know I’m going to regret this for the next fourteen years, but…” and let Gogo out and put her on our bed. And she’s been hogging the bed ever since.

The Yard

2001-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

Here’s our backyard. We still haven’t figured out what to do with it. This is Gogo’s favorite part of the house. She loves it back here.

The stairs from the first floor kitchen.

The back of the house.

More of the back of the house.

The back yard. You can barely make out ceramic daisies embedded into the concrete. We haven’t figured out what we’re doing with this, either. I found a Morrocan tile store that I’d like to use to cover the concrete. Or we may deck over the concrete. We’ll have to consult Gogo.

The Third Floor

2001-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

The third and most confusing floor. It was split into a million rooms when it was a dormitory. We’ve taken down many of the walls.

The bathroom. Once again, the stalls are gone. A jacuzzi bath will eventually go here.

One of the many bedrooms. This one faces the back. You can see what the floor is originally. The verdict is still out as to what we’re doing with the floors. Right now it’s getting industrial carpet.

This room and the one next to it are becoming the temporary kitchen. It will eventually become the Turkish room.

The room above Gogo’s room. We aren’t quite sure what to do with this room.

This room and the one next to it will become the guest bedroom.

Yet another bedroom.

More of bedroom number five.

The sixth and most glamorous room. No windows. What did they use it for? It will be our storage/linen closet. (And maybe a dark room someday when I take up photography.)

The view from the front.

The view to the rear.

The former and future skylight. It’s right above the center of the stairwell, so light will reach all the way down.

And stairs taking you all the way back down.

The Second Floor

2001-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

The second floor. This is really our floor. It has Gogo’s room, the family/entertainment room, and master bedroom.

A niche. What do we put here? I vote for a statue of the virgin mother. Please email us with suggestions.

Gogo’s room. She can hang out here during the day and monitor 15th street.

The view from Gogo’s room.

The family room. This is on the street side of the house.

The front of the family room.

The master bedroom.

This bathroom is being split in two – a small powder room accessible from the hallway, and the master bath accessible only from the master bedroom. No more stalls. I wanted to take Monica’s advice and leave them there for parties.

And up to the third and final floor. The payphone is gone. :(

The Ground Floor

2001-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

There is much confusion as to how the floors are numbered. The architect somewhat decided it for us by calling the first floor the ground floor and the second floor the first floor. This is how it’s done in France – and now that we live in such a fancy building, we always have to be aware of how things are done in France.

By the way, this is Benji’s floor.

A shot of the entrance we just walked through. The EXIT signs are all gone. Presumably because David wants to put up better ones.

The front of the ground floor. The part that faces the street.

mmmm…..fireplace

More of the ground floor front room

The kitchen for the ground floor. Some of this has been moved to the top floor for our temp kitchen, the rest has been trashed.

The world’s largest stove. We could have opened up our own diner. The picture doesn’t do it justice.

mmmm….more fireplace

A beautiful glass door that opens up to the back yard.

The ground floor bathroom

The ground floor hallway. This is how you get to the basement.

Up the stairs to the first floor.

The Happy Homeowner.

The First Floor

2001-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

We’re now on the first floor. This is the future home of the dining/living room and the fantastic kitchen.

The front door entrance to our part of the house.

The view of the street side of the first floor. You can’t see in this picture the wrought iron ivy grates on the front windows. You also get no idea how big this room feels (for Manhattan).

The fireplace. David foolishly got rid of the little swirlies.

More of the living room.

The kitchen fireplace. Our smaller dining table will go in front of this fireplace. The mantel is solid marble, and someone painted over it!

More kitchen. This wall will have fridge, cabinets, sink, etc. The room will have a large island in the center.

The view of our backyard from the kitchen.

The hallway leaving the kitchen.

And up the stairs to the second floor.

The Bowery Mission Women's Home

2001-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

Here are photos of what our house looked like before we gutted it. I wish I had kept the original photos. These web versions seem quite small now. But alas, I can’t find the large versions anywhere.

Outside View

2001-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

So here we are. 218 W 15th St. Formerly the Bowery Mission Women’s Home. To our east is a Catholic nursery. To our west is a building similar to ours, but broken into a million tiny apartments. David said that during the demolition, several people stopped by and said how happy they were to know that the house was being used as a family residence again. I guess those Bowery Mission Women were not the best neighbors.

The view of the front of the house from across the street.

The view of the front of the house from the same side of the street.

The entrance at the top of the stoop to the top three floors.

The entrance underneath the stoop to the ground floor.

Gogo In the Beginning

2001-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

Shortly after Dorian died, I went on the American Kennel Club website and started poking around. I hadn’t even thought of getting another dog. However, I noticed that it eased the pain to look at pictures of other dogs and think that maybe someday, in the future, I would get a new dog. At the time, I felt like I let months pass before I started researching breeds with the intention of another dog. In hindsight, it was more like a week.

Lucy and Her Litter

David and I had decided that we wanted to get a puppy. And if we were to get a puppy, we would either have to know someone whose dog we liked that was having a litter or we would have to get a breeder. Considering that we wanted to take the new dog to play with kids, we had to know that the dog we were getting was friendly. So I started systematically going through the AKC website and researching breeds.

I can’t even remember now what my original attraction was to Canaan Dogs. I suppose it was the easy grooming, the good health records, the “dogly” disposition and the intelligence. So I contacted Parker Flowers (I got his name from the CDCA as a contact in Rhode Island) and he suggested I come out to Renee’s house to meet her recently born litter and her gang of adult Canaan Dogs.

As close to a show position as she’ll ever get. This was the best of three photos.

Renee is a proud owner (most of the time) of many Canaan Dogs. You can check out her whole pack at Renegade Canaan Dogs. Before I came to Renee’s both she and Parker warned me about how aloof Canaan Dogs can be with strangers and that the reaction I get at the beginning is not what they’re like once they get used to you.

When I arrived at Renee’s, three of her dogs came right up to me to check me out. They said hello and hung around for a little attention. Both Parker and Renee said that this was atypical. Later, when they brought Lucy out, they mentioned that she was hormonal and may act rather strange and aloof. She came up to me wagging her tail and was very affectionate. Once again, not the usual reaction. Luckily, one of Renee’s dogs, Oren, did live up to the stand-offish reputation that Parker and Renee promised.

She then brought out all the little furballs. They seemed to have no idea where they were. One of them would be standing in the middle of the room and would start crying for no reason. (I’m pretty sure that was Gogo). Anyway, after meeting the whole gang, the mother, and some other adults, I knew I had stumbled onto to something great, and put a deposit down on a pup.

Gogo with her sister, Petunia.

Over the next several weeks, it was a matter of waiting. I was still quite sad about Dorian, and was not ready for a puppy quite yet. David was putting pressure on me to wait, because we were scheduled to get Gogo the week before we moved. Luckily, I had friends that talked me out of waiting. What is a good time to get a new puppy? Always. I thought of it as a wonderful way to break up the monotony of packing and moving. Plus, that was when our apartment was two blocks from my job, and I was hoping for a leg up (so to speak) on housetraining.

I did get a chance to drive out to New Jersey to meet the litter again when they were eight weeks old. At this point, we pretty much figured that I was getting Gogo. Renee had taken them all for personality tests and she seemed like the best match for me. I now know that what Renee meant by that was that Gogo was a trouble-maker. I also told Renee that we were probably going to name her Gogo. It didn’t fly with Renee. Luckily, Parker was there and thought it was an appropriate name.

The whole clan at eight weeks. Gogo is the left-most puppy.

The Flight to Istanbul

2000-07-07T00:00:00-04:00

First of all, let me just say that seeing pictures and reading a journal of someone else’s trip is like trying to imagine what a meal tastes like by seeing pictures of the food. It doesn’t even come close. Especially on a trip to Turkey and Greece – not only do the photos not do justice to the sites, but they do not capture the 99% of everything going on between the photos. To experience the Old City of Rhodes at night, for instance, you have to go there and experience it. So go there and see it because everything on this trip was worth it.

One more caveat – I took most of this journal on my palm-top and so there may be glitches in the hand-writing recognition software.

In general, we got very lucky with the weather – we only saw a few clouds in Istanbul and the rest of the trip was clear blue. Although you didn’t want to hang out in the hot sun, there was usually a breeze to come through to prevent it from being too much. So, here’s the journal…

We’re about to take off from JFK. They also let us hang out in the Admiral’s club and gave us each 2 drinks. David and I got upgraded but we can’t sit together. We thought we could trade seats but we have two middle seats and I’m sitting between two large businessmen that would no way want to give up their aisle for middle seats. Personally, I feel a little petite in these huge new business class seats. I’m looking right now and David doesn’t have anyone to his right. We may still get lucky. American Airlines has been good to us.

We didn’t get lucky. David says that the woman that didn’t move got a bad case of the hiccups as divine retribution. The flight was very calm with excellent service. Hopefully, Heathrow will have a paper showing who won Survivor last night. We are scheduled to land in a half hour.

This will soon be us!

Santorini

2000-07-07T00:00:00-04:00

It took David and me a while to get into the rhythm of the day. He was a little spacey and draggy and I was crabby and snappy. Mainly because I had to go to an Internet cafe to handle a call from work. After that we rented a car and drove around the island. There were fantastic views all around, but I was not seeing what was so wonderful about the island until we got to the very north end to a town called Eio. This town is mainly at the top of a cliff, with the houses and Villas along the top and working their way halfway down the side. When you see cigarette ads for people dressed in white linen on a white patio over looking the water, this is the place. We took a long walk down to a thin rocky beach and had an iced coffee with baklava. Iced coffees in the Mediterranean are much creamier and dessert-like than in the U.S.

The view from the restaurant where we had lunch in Santorini.

David talked me into hiring a donkey to take us back up the steps. There were a couple of other Americans that did it with us. The owner comes up behind and smacks the last donkey in the rear, so they all go somewhat quickly.

A church in Santorini.

We walked around the town a bit more and then went back to the car. After returning the car, we went back to the Internet cafe to finalize the work stuff and return to the ship.

The place where we walked down for coffee. This is a typical honeymoon spot.

Dinner that evening was a BBQ on the pool deck. Our table Consisted of David and I, the two Brits – Brian and Neil, Jim – the Southern gentleman, and his traveling companion, Bob. We had a wonderful dinner, both in food and in company, looking up to the town of Thira atop the cliff beside us. Jim and Bob eventually went to bed, but the remaining four of us waited until the ship sailed away to see the lights of the villages dotting the top of the island.

Rhodes

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Today we were at port in Rhodes before we awakened. We had break fast and headed into the city. Rhodes has the reputation of being the Florida of Europe. I think it’s specifically the South Beach with a medieval section.

A picture of the mosaic floor of the synagogue at Rhodes. Most of the walkways in Rhodes were made of small stones – although usually not in this ornate of a pattern.

We set off to walk into town and a woman that we met on the ship stopped us and asked if we wouldn’t mind if she walked with us. She’s 82 and was ditched by her daughter. What can you say? So she walked in with us but we wore her out in a half hour.

David under a lime tree in the garden where we had lunch.

The old City is a medieval town with areas where merchants have setup storefront tourist shops. We walked into the palace, which was restored for Mussolini, but l don’t think he ever got a chance to use it. The Italians did a great job on the restoration. Pretty much every room had a fantastic mosaic that had been taken from another location. The Italians are big on recycling, as Benji would say.

We also went to a synagogue and Jewish museum. The Jewish population was quite strong is Rhodes before the Holocaust. And the only ones allowed in the old city used to be Turks and Jews.

Eventually we had to do lunch, and we found a small hole in the wall that was basically just someone’s garden. They make only a few dishes a day, and so we had a little of everything. Real Greek Salad tastes much better than the American version. And the garden was lovely. We ate under lime trees.

Since we did not have the task master tour guide, Inci, we went back to the ship for a nap. After getting back to the city, David bought another rug at a place we had passed earlier. I just found out that David only brought one pair of shorts. What was he thinking? The other homosexuals came into the shop when David was bargaining and said hello. They may join us in Bodrum. We took a trip up to the old Clock Bell tower where there was a fantastic view of the city. There was a similar tower in Rab, Croatia with narrow, rickety steps. You just have to take a deep breath and assume that if the structure has survived this long, it will last another fifteen minutes.

For dinner we went to fish restaurant that was recommended by the guy that sold us the rug. Very good food. The walk through the noncommercial area at night was wonderful. With the quiet and the lamps along the narrow cobblestone streets, you really did feel transported to another time.

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

:

The Colossus of Rhodes

. Of course, nothing is left.

Mykonos

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The last day of the cruise. Getting the bill in the room is a real slap in the face. Although David and l have both said that we’re ready to return, it still has been so wonderful that we don’t want it to end.

The main town of Mykonos. David, Brian, Neal and Earl Bobby of Memphis.

So, at dinner we decided to rent or car and head to the naughty, clothing optional, somewhat gay, “Super Paradise” beach. Jim decided hot to go as he has seen plenty of beaches. The location was rather nice and had lots of beach chairs and wooden umbrellas to rent. It was somewhat empty when we got there, but was plenty full by the time we left. It was very mixed and very clothing optional. Fire Island had prepared me well. After a couple of hours at the beach, we went into town for a traditional Greek lunch, and then walked around town. Neil, who had been there 10 years ago, said that it was very run down compared to what it used to be. I have to admit that I was not impressed and after a while everyone was anxious to get back to the ship.

We rested. We showered. We felt better about life.

Pretty much everyone was at the 7:15 debriefing so that they would know how to get off the ship. The captain gave a long speech about the whole trip. The brits taught us a new phrase – they said the captain is a bit of a “Jack the Lad” – meaning that he’s a rambunctious boy at heart.

Dinner was once again very pleasant with Jim, Earl Bobby of Memphis (as we were now calling him), Neal, Brian, David and me. After dinner, David and I got to packing.

Last Day in Athens

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We left the air conditioner running on high all night and my sheets were wet with sweat when we woke up. The first thing I did was go to get a bottle of water out of the mini-bar, but it was empty. We are changing hotels. Other people on the boat had mentioned the Sheraton, so it was off to the Sheraton we went.

The Sheraton was much more luxurious and most importantly – WELL AIR-CONDITIONED! The other big plus about the hotel was that there were other people from the ship staying there. In particular, Pam’s group was there and we often ran into them in the lobby. David and I agreed that we want Pam’s travel agent from now on.

We took a trip to the Ancient Agora . This was much more bearable since there were trees and therefore, shade. Actually, the Temple of Hephaistos, while not as large as the Parthenon, was in much better shape. Frankly, we were getting a little “over-ruined” and although it was interesting we weren’t spending as much time on this as would if it were at the beginning of the trip.

We went back to the hotel, ran into some people from the ship, and they recommended an air-conditioned restuarant. When we got there, we ran into Pam’s group, so clearly, this was the place to eat. The food was good and a crash was imminent. We went back to the hotel for reading and napping. I took a little stroll around the town before dinner for some pictures and ran into a bead stores, where I picked up some “Turkish Eyes.”

For dinner, we asked the hotel for a a simple, nearby recommendation and they sent us to a true Greek diner. The waitstaff looked to be in their seventies and very pleasant – the atmosphere looked to be from the 1950’s – and the food was good.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We were ready to be home. We were on the flight the next morning and spent the whole day in the air.

One of the busts from the National Archeological Museum.

A cafe along the Agora. Notice the Acropolis in the distance. It’s much more prominent and beautiful in person.

Kusadasi

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This stop is merely an excuse to see Ephesus . We met Inci and got in a car to drive a half hour out of town. Our first stop was the house of Mary the Virgin Mother. It was found from a dying nun in another country that was having visions of talking to Mary. Eventually, someone started taking notes, and later a group of scientists set out to disprove the notes and discovered a monastery with a house that described the nun’s description of Mary’s house. The house was very small and simple and there was something calm and sacred about the house and the whole area (a monastery was nearby).

The ruins of Ephesus.

After that we headed off to the ruins of Ephesus. I imagine we spent about two and a half hours going through the ruins. Inci was once again full of information. She apparently used to work at the ruins and so took us through some back areas – showing us places that most tourists were not getting to – and explaining how it all fit together. The ruins were far more extensive than Pompeii. The main centerpiece was the library, since the facade of this two-story building remained almost entirely intact. Perhaps the other reason I enjoyed it much more than Pompeii was that we took a tour guide and so got a better layout of the city and how it all fit together. She also showed us the first recorded advertisement, which was an engraving in the main walkway that gave directions to the brothel.

The theater at Ephesus. It is still used for rock/music concerts.

Next we went to the Basilica of St. John the Baptist. It was mainly in ruins, but she walked us through the layout and how it must have been built. And then the grounds keeper offered to show us his garden of fruits, flowers and vegetables, since they apparently knew each other. In general, the fresh produce in Turkey has been about the best quality I have ever seen.

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

: This was our first stop that contained one of the former ancient wonders of the ancient world –

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

. All that remains now is one pillar.

Hadrian’s Arch – one of the ruins of Ephesus.

Our final stop was the museum of Ephesus which had many artifacts taken from the ruins at Ephesus. I must admit that I was very tired by then. There were a couple of great statues, though. The most impressive was a statue of Artemis that looked more Egyptian than anything.

The view of Ephesus from St. John’s Basilica.

We went back to Kusadasi after that and did some shopping. I slept most of the way back. That Inci is a taskmaster – and I had not yet had that first sleep that signals that jet lag is over.

That evening before dinner we spent some time in the lounge talking to Jim, a gentleman who is here with his traveling companion, Bob. And that night after dinner we had the sleep that we’d been waiting for.

Istanbul to Athens: Day at Sea

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I won’t spend too much time talking about the day at sea as all we did was lay in the sun and read. The sea was fantastically calm. Half of the time I didn’t even know we were moving.

A picture of our ship.

We did meet someone on the ship – That night we were enjoying the bough of the ship as we sailed into the night and a blond woman carrying a book, a glass of wine, and a cigarette came out to where we were and we got to talking. Her name is Pam and she’s here with a large group, many of whom are anesthesiologists. Later in the trip, Pam became an invaluable source of gossip and amusement about a leathery, blond woman who was at least 50% silicone that walked around in a yellow thong bikini. We all had different names for her – Pam called her “Barbie,” others on the ship called her “Miss Las Vegas” and David and I simply called her “Boobs.” I wish I had a good picture of her, but I could never work up the guts. She and her husband were often in the gym.

First Day in Istanbul

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The hotel is very nice. For breakfast there was a fresh honeycomb dripping honey and next to it, three different types of honey. The food in Turkey is great.

I’m finding if hard to describe my first full day in Istanbul. We went to a very old Byzantine church, The Chora Church with beautiful mosaics on the ceilings. Our tour guide was very good and pointed out many of the intricacies of the artwork that I’m sure I would not have noticed otherwise.

This is the base of one of the pillars in the cistern – an upside down sculpture of the head of medusa.

After that we went to a Synagogue. Our Muslim tour guide taught some things to David about Hebrew and Judaism (bima vs. teva – he still insists that he’s right). I was fading pretty hard at this point because I didn’t sleep too well the night before. We went on to the Hagia Sophia , which is a church that was built on top of a Roman basilica, and then was converted to a mosque and is now a museum. If you think that the structure was a bit confused through all of its transformations, you’re right. The inner courtyard had the remnants of Christian mosaics and when you walk in there are giant discs hanging from the wall with Arabic writing. Near the front are two large columns whose tops look as if they had fallen off. It turns out that they were giant candles. I can’t possibly do this structure justice, so I’ll stop here.

Another column in the cistern – this one with a teardrop pattern.

After Hagia Sophia it was more than lunchtime. Inci, our tour guide, seems to know everyone – wherever we go. I suppose she just always takes people along the same routes. Anyway, lunch was great. David and I had the chicken version of gyros and a green salad. Inci explained to us that the Greeks have stolen a lot of Turkish culture and claimed it as their own – gyros being on that list. In Turkey, it’s called “doner” meat. I also had my first real Turkish coffee (In Greece, the same thing is called “Greek coffee”). It comes in the size of an espresso cup, but is very thick and muddy. It’s also fairly sweet. After lunch I had no problems staying awake.

The entrance to the Blue Mosque.

So, after lunch was the Topkapi Palace . This is a palace built in the 15th century that closely resembles most people’s ideas (or at least my ideas) of what Istanbul must look like. It is filled with tiles and complicated geometric patterns. There are an awful lot of jewels and artifacts – such as a gold throne embedded with emeralds. Mohammed’s sword was also in this palace.

I was trying to capture some of the detail from the ceiling of the courtyard of the Blue Mosque.

After that was an underground cistern in the style of a large basilica. People can walk around on platforms above the water. Some of the columns were in a special design. It finally dawned on me that I should be taking pictures. We were getting dripped on quite a bit since the whole structure was designed to collect and contain water, so David mandated that we leave.

This is a composite of three photos of the Blue Mosque. The man you see is praying.

After that we took off our shoes and went into The Blue Mosque, which is Istanbul’s premiere mosque. There isn’t much to say, other than that it was enormous and exquisitely beautiful. I could spend a week in there taking notes on the various designs and colors. By then I was in high picture mode (not to mention high Turkish coffee mode). Hopefully, the pictures captured some of the beauty.

The ceiling of the Blue Mosque.

After that was a trip to the Grand Bazaar, which is just what you would imagine it is – a giant market selling rugs, clothes, chessboards, etc. David helped me bargain something down, but eventually I said, “that’s fine” and paid for it. Both David and the Inci gave me chastising looks for giving in on the bargaining too early.

Next, we said farewell to the tour guide and went back to the hotel for a nap. It was about 6 o’clock at this point and we were beat. Dinner was at seven, and it was great. We had some sort of sour cherry wine for an aperitif. Dinner was some sort of grilled ground beef with cheese. It’s hard to do Middle Eastern food justice with words – it’s all in the spices and they are impossible to describe if you’ve never had them.

After dinner we went to a Turkish bath. Our tour guide gave us a brochure for one that we showed to the cab driver. The driver took us to a different one and when we said it’s not the right one, he said, “it’s okay” over and over. Since I recognized it from the guidebook, I figured it was still good, so we went in. It turned out we were the only ones there, so we got very good treatment. A Turkish bath consists of sitting in a hot steamy room, getting a vigorous massage, and then getting a loufa-like scrub followed by soap and rinsing. You sit on a marble floor while they scrub you and throw buckets of water on you. It’s quite jarring but a lot of fun. Somehow, after an exhausting day and a relaxing massage and bath, David and I had trouble sleeping. Jet lag can be a terrible thing.

First Day in Athens

2000-07-07T00:00:00-04:00

Athens is hot. So very hot. Our hotel is a bit of a fleabag. Actually, it’s a flea sauna. We’re supposed to be here for two nights.

Athens dog.

We figured, “At nine in the morning. How hot could it be?” and went to the Acropolis. It was very hot. We asked around for a guide at the entrance, but luckily there wasn’t one. A tour guide would have been added torture. The Acropolis was grand; we took some pictures, and got the hell out.

The Parthenon.

Next we walked to the National Museum, which had some very good examples of sculpture and statue. Lunch was much needed, as I was fading pretty hard in the museum, despite a little water break in the cafeteria. We made a stop at an Internet cafe and then headed back to the hotel room.

Another Athens dog. They’re everywhere!

David announced at the hotel that the heat was too much. We called British Air about going to London early and they said we had a ninety nine percent chance of making the next flight. Well, she was ninety nine percent wrong. We waited on standby for about three and a half hours. The Athens airport is a pit. We went back to the hotel with our tails between our legs and checked back in. For dinner, we went to the Plaka, which is the tourist section with restaurants and shops, and had a great dinner at a place called Diogenes (named after the philosopher). Once again, the heat was getting to David since we were sitting outside along a park. So we went back to the hotel.

One of the non-Parthenon temples of the Acropolis. I can’t remember which one. It was too hot to take notes.

Day of Departure (Second Day in Istanbul)

2000-07-07T00:00:00-04:00

Today was a lot less hectic. We started off going to Dolmabahce Palace , which is a more modern (19th century) palace for the sultan. It was much more along the lines of a typical European palace with chandeliers and grand carpets. The wooden floors were spectacular with their intricate Turkish geometry. There was also a nice art collection throughout the palace.

The front entrance of the Dolme Bahce.

After that we went on a ferry that took us north up the Bosphorus Straits. The ride was uneventful but relaxing and had a group of musicians playing Turkish music. We went to a local family beach area and had fresh fish for lunch right on the water. This gave us a glimpse of the Black Sea. We got into a cab and headed back to the hotel. Luckily we got in the cab just before rain started, and it stopped right before we arrived.

David and our tour guide, Inci, having Turkish tea on the ferry.

We gathered up our things and headed to the ship. The ship is quite nice. Similar to last year’s, although there’s one less cabin deck and less open deck space. They had champagne and mimosas waiting for us when we arrived. All in all, we relaxed and watched the departure from port.

A group of Turkish musicians on the ferry.

The big surprise is that David presented me with an engagement ring. We laughed and I showed him the ring l got him. This story is too cute.

Bodrum (formerly Halicarnassus)

2000-07-07T00:00:00-04:00

Yesterday was our last day in Turkey, and so our last day with Inci. We were joined by a Jim – the southern gentleman we met on the ship. Our first trek was through the Bodrum Castle, which, like many structures around here, started in the ancient world and then changed throughout the ages. They had some particularly interesting exhibits of underwater excavations. And the views throughout the castle were great.

This is the view from the castle at Bodrum. You can see the minaret from the mosque in the castle and the row of red Turkish flags.

Before going to the next Site we had a fantastic lunch. The Turkish food is really quite good. Lots of grilled meats and tasty fresh veggies.

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

:

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

. Next we went to the remains of the Mausoleum, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. This is where our word “mausoleum” comes from, although in this context, it was King Maussollos’ tomb.

This is our tour guide, Inci, from the castle. In the distance is our ship.

After that we did a bit of shopping for knick-knacks and then rented a boat. He took us around to a few bays and then to a special spot called, “The Aquarium.” It’s supposedly called that because the water is so still and clear. I took a swim in the Aegean and then we went back to the docks.

We said our goodbyes to Inci and went back to the ship for a couple of very strong pina coladas. For dinner, we ate with Jim and Bob and two Brits, Brian and Neil. It was a very enjoyable dinner and we agreed to do the same the next night. We also had the first bits of rocky water, although it was not as bad as we had last year.

Arriving in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople (formerly Byzantium))

2000-07-07T00:00:00-04:00

I think I might have just blown out the charger for my palmtop. I had it plugged in to the evil, foreign outlets and there was a puff of smoke from the charger. Hmmmm….

It’s the Morning after arriving in Istanbul. I had a hard time sleeping. I kept dreaming about work and Survivor.

When we drove in from the airport I was struck at just how foreign this culture is to ours. At first, the taxi ride was playfully dangerous. After we passed an accident, it wasn’t so playful. The cab driver did not speak English. He offered us a cigarette. Take that New York. The road took us around the edge of the city along the water. Istanbul is closer to a third world city than I expected. It’s not as European as I was expecting, but I’ve not been to other Middle Eastern cities.

After we got settled, we called our tour guide and went to a shish kebab place for dinner. The food was very good and covered with olive oil. Most everyone here is very thin. Go figure.