Ahnold at the RNC

There was a lot of buzz on the left side of the blogosphere after the California governor's comment about "girly men" in his convention address tonight, so I figured I should listen to the whole thing so I could get it in context. When he got to the line (and it is just one line), I could see where people were coming from, but I probably wouldn't have made as big a deal of it. Most of the responses could be described as an extrapolation of what he had said or perhaps embodied the subtext behind the statement made explicit. A nuanced interpretation, you might say -- and sadly, I think it's already been proven that nuance isn't welcome in today's political climate. (or maybe people would be pointing out Bush's more relevent flip-flops, like his position on campaign finance reform for starters...)

Nothing earth-shattering in the Governator's speech -- it's the patriotic fluff you'd expect at the convention -- full of grandiose platitudes about America's greatness that no one can argue with. America IS a great country, founded on universal principles of freedom and human rights, we ARE a united country of immigrants (or at least it's an ideal that most of us believe in), out of many peoples, we have created one. You've got to at least give him credit for generally staying on message and not attacking the opposition (mostly, and I'll get to that) as opposed to what I've read about Giuliani's speech. I should hear it for myself, but I really don't have the stomach to sit through that one just yet.

However, I did experience moments of cognitive dissonance during a few of his remarks, and I figured I'd point them out.

• When he talked about growing up in Austria and his fear of the Soviet soldiers, I wondered if he could then appreciate how Americans of middle eastern descent must feel under the shadow of Guantanamo Bay.
  
  
• He became a Republican because of Nixon? Doesn't he know why he stopped being President in '74?
  
  

• "In this country, it doesn't make any difference where you were born. It doesn't make any difference who your parents were. It doesn't make any difference if, like me, you couldn't even speak English until you were in your twenties."

  Except that it does. Like getting into the National Guard when there's a waiting list for everyone else. Being able to start a business for yourself because you've got some extra cash from your college trust fund. Arnold is right: this country is about being able to make something of yourself regardless of your origins. And that's certainly more true here than in many other countries. But it's by no means the equal playing field that he describes.
  
  But there I go into nuance again.
  
  

• "if you work hard and play by the rules, this country is truly open to you. You can achieve anything."

  Which is mostly true, but perhaps more true if you were born into money and didn't have to play by the rules.
  
  

• "And maybe just maybe you don't agree with this party on every single issue. I say to you tonight I believe that's not only okay, that's what's great about this country. Here we can respectfully disagree and still be patriotic still be American and still be good Republicans."

  Yes, that's what's great about this country. But no, I don't think the same can be said of the Republican party, which seems perfectly capable of labelling anyone who disagrees with their policies as being unpatriotic. But I guess that's only if you're a Democrat.
  
  

• "if you believe we must be fierce and relentless and terminate terrorism ... then you are a Republican!"

  Because if you're a Democrat, you probably want to help terrorists. Actually, you probably ARE a terrorist. Bzzzt. Sorry, no.
  
  

• "[Terrorists] ...hate the power of the individual. They hate the progress of women. They hate the religious freedom of others."

  When I heard this, my brain immediately asked (rhetorically, of course): Doesn't the President push policy that favors big business over individual protections? Doesn't the President oppose a woman's right to choose? Doesn't the President marginalize those that do not share his religious beliefs? Arnold, are you saying that the President is a terrorist?

Maybe I'm just nitpicking, but I don't remember the Democratic speakers being quite as misleading. And again, I haven't even tried to listen to Giuliani's remarks yet (apparently it's the 9/11 - Kerry is a flip-flopper speech).

First they came for the bicyclists...

In an entry on MSNBC.com [BoingBoing], Joshua Kinberg of Bikes Against Bush recounts his experience of being arrested during the Republican National Convention in New York City:

I’m now sitting in the MSNBC trailer at Herald Sq., NYC, with Ron Reagan and Joe Trippi after spending 24 hours in the “Tombs” with several hundred Critical Mass cyclists, who were arrested the night before.

I was arrested while Ron was interviewing me about my invention— a bicycle that prints text messages on the street in water-soluble chalk. While we were conducting the interview, the police stopped me and asked for my ID. After I produced identification, the police waited for their sergeant to arrive before placing me under arrest without stating the charge. I was doing nothing more than describing my invention to the media and explaining my disagreements with the Bush administration.

When I arrived in the Tombs, I was placed in a cell with around 30 other cyclists. They had spent the previous night in a location they were affectionately calling “Lil’ Gitmo,” a makeshift detention center on the West Side piers converted from a former bus depot. Lil’ Gitmo had cells sectioned off with chain link fence and razor wire, and a floor covered in motor oil, transmission fluid, and other toxic chemicals. The cyclists detained there were forced to sleep on this hazardous floor wearing nothing more than bicycling shorts and t-shirts. Consequently, several developed serious skin rashes the following day. After 36 hours most of the cyclists had been released with a pending court date. Several had been arrested when specifically following police directions to exit the peaceful bike ride. Others had not been part of Critical Mass, but had simply been on the streets with a bicycle at the wrong time.

starting from a picture...

I was reading this article on MSNBC about the Bush's response to the Swift Boat Veterans ads (the one in which he still didn't condemned them) and I thought the featured photograph (credited to AP photographer Pablo Martinez Monsivais) looked strangely familiar.

I think this is what immediately came to mind:



I suppose they're still trying to cultivate that tough guy image or something. Or perhaps, this is a subtle point being made by the photographer: are we trying to glamorize a group of people that are, fundamentally, just a bunch of criminals? I'm probably just reading too much into it. I tend to do that. Of course, I keep wondering, who has to be Mr. Pink?

Anyway, I've recently been sucked back into following the political goings-ons as things started looking more hopeful, but it's just been getting worse and worse and I think I'm going to have to bury my head again. But before I do that, I figured I'd just throw in my two cents. Even though I know it's just me screaming into a pillow, venting my frustration.

It's an appeal to John Kerry, although I know he'll never hear it. (And really, what do I know?) Anyway, my thought is this: I really wish that the next time the press brings up this whole stupid controversy, again (or he has to address it in a speech or at a rally), I wish he'd just tell them that these people are just a bunch of partisan liars and smear artists, and could we talk about something more important, like say, getting rid of the national debt, or fixing health care, or actually funding our educational mandates, or protecting civil liberties and personal freedoms, or stopping the rollback of environmental protections, or developing a real energy policy that doesn't just give handouts to energy companies, oh yeah, and how about cleaning up that whole Iraq mess that the current Administration has gotten us into, (and, uh, Afghanistan? ...and what about Iran? ...and North Korea? ...Sudan?), and on, and on, and on...

*sigh*

So, did you hear that they discovered a "Super Earth" just 50 light years away? 14 times the mass of the Earth and it completes an orbit of its sun in just 10 days. Yep, it's pretty cool... Yep, hiding now...

Bah.

I'd like to state, for the record, that I hate it when I leave the office and it's already dark out. I just find it kind of depressing. And it's not even Daylight Savings Time yet.

Oh, and Windows sucks. My home machine just crashed again for the second time in less than 24 hours. Just clicking between windows and all of a sudden: *click* reboot. Grrrr.

I'm getting too old for this

My friend Hedge (along with her just-friends friend DR) flew in on the redeye from L.A. last Monday. Their primary reason for the trip was to see the Prince concert happening at the Fleet center (having been unable to get tickets for one of his sold-out shows on the west coast), but obviously, it was also a chance for us to hang out on my home turf for a change, as well as an opportunity for her to visit Boston for the first time.

It was a good visit, but draining. Up early Monday-Tuesday; first, to be up when their flight got in so we could take them to the diner for breakfast before I went to work, then, so I could get into work at a reasonable hour (or unreasonable, depending on your perspective) so I'd feel less guilty sneaking out early in order to get into the city in time for the concert. Overall, the whole having to go to work thing kinda got in the way of proper hang time (these days, it seems to get in the way of everything), but we're all grownups and can make do with what we've got; nobody needs to be babysat, and Hedge and DR had their own list of things they wanted to do while they were here anyway. DR actually spent quite a bit of time in the basement where he set up basecamp -- conducting business on the phone (cell or internet) while catching Olympic soccer on Telemundo. And the SOOTTAD was able to take Hedge into town on a culinary excursion or two.

Tuesday night was the actual concert. We were running a bit late, me from the office, Hedge and the SOOTTAD from a trip downtown to the farmer's market at Copley and "lunch" at Durgin Park. Traffic on Storrow didn't help. But we got to the Fleet Center generally without incident: parking at the Common, meeting up with friends at Government Center and walking over the rest of the way. We were concerned that we might miss part of the opening set but it turned out we had nothing to worry about. The tickets may have said 7:30pm, but the lights didn't go down until close to 9.

I should state for the record that I generally dislike crowds and am no fan of stadium shows, and while I do retain fond memories of groovin' like it was 1999 and savouring the funk of Erotic City through high school, I'm hardly a Prince fanatic. But having said that, I was blown away by this show. The set list was amazing, as genre defying as the artist himself: flowing easily from a medley of 80's and 90's pop hits to an R&B ballad to funk/jazz fusion to a solo-acoustic singer-songwriter performance and back to the funk. Oh, and a 'Zep cover. The band, the New Power Generation, was awesome. Amazing solos, including a cover by the sax player of "What a Wonderful World." The best stadium show I've ever seen. (And maybe this is the old guy talking, but even though the show was rockin' and groovin' and pounding and flowing with energy, I was pleased to find that my ears weren't ringing the next morning.) And the gravy? Everybody (everybody) got a copy of his new CD, Musicology.

We were still juiced up when the house lights came up so we decided to look for a place to have a drink and maybe grab a late night snack. "No Beantown Pub" was the sole edict from the SOOTTAD. So we end up at the Last Harrah, the bar at the Parker House, and really what I'd consider an old school high-end bar full of dark wood and polished brass. Sadly, the kitchen was already closed when we got there, but I was probably the only one who was hungry, and I figured it'd be cool just to hang out, so we settle into a table towards the back of the room. We're something of a motley crew, half of us in jeans, the other half semi-funked-out for his Royal Badness, but hey, safety in numbers, and, as I'm coming to realize, Boston really isn't nearly as stuffy or formal as I would have expected. I still think we're causing trouble, as Hedge and others nitpick the brand of vodka that's gonna go into their lemon drops and the SOOTTAD ends up sending her first gimlet back because it's on the rocks instead of straight up. Nevertheless, we have two rounds of drinks, including one of the best Basin Hayden perfect manhattans ever (although sadly, the second wasn't nearly as good), before heading out again. It's a good time. They seem to play good tunes there, too -- I think we bal'd to some Ella Fitzgerald, but at this point, it's a little fuzzy. We probably would have stayed longer but they were cashing out for the night. Damn this city closes up early. (hmm, what time is it anyway?)

So out and about again. Now we're all hungry, and since we're already in the city, we hoof it over to Chinatown and end up at the Grand Chau Chow for some "cold tea" and decent eats. The chow foon (cao fen?) was good (make sure to order it dry fried) as were the pea pod stems. The oysters with black bean sauce were b'giant, but otherwise not particularly tasty. The SOOTTAD gave a definitive thumbs down on the General Gau's Chicken. I deny any responsibility -- I was still reeling from the manhattans at the time. If I had had my bearings, I would have ordered their house special fish dish. Regardless, it was a fine finish to an excellent evening.

Except for the part about getting to bed around 4am and having to get up for work the next morning.

Ugh.

Like I said, it always gets back to that having to go to work thing.

clearing the haze

We were double-booked tonight -- two parties on a Friday night. Seeing friends that we just don't have much opportunity to see these days. I guess it's the plight of modern living: too much to do, not enough time.

I only have one drink at the first gathering, but it's on the strong side -- a Knob Creek manhattan, perfect, although a little warm, since I don't want to use up all the ice. We hang for a while and then move onto the next party. More friends that I wish I had more time for. I have only two beers, but it's enough to put me on the loopy-side of buzz. It's probably not so much, but I'm too lazy to stay focussed and I happily stumble around, doing my own buzzy version of silly walks. Nevertheless, it's a good thing that the SOOTTAD is driving. (on the way over, I'm thankful she's at the wheel when a moronic cyclist crosses our path against the light.)

Home again, home again, jiggidy jig. I'm craving savory (and really, I'm craving noodles, specifically) but I don't want to deal with Chinatown. ("Thank gawd," thinks the SOOTTAD) I settle on some Korean instant ramen; it's not the kind I'm used to, but it'll do. (the SOOTTAD picked up the most recent batch at Victory) How do I know it's Korean? The spice pack. (The "Seoul, Korea" in the fine print on the package is just the second form of ID) This one comes in it's own styrofoam bowl (which I'm not too keen on, environmentally speaking).

"OPEN LID HALF WAY, ADD SOUP BASE AND BOILING WATER. CLOSE LID AND LEAVE FOR 3 MINUTES. REMOVE LID. STIR WELL AND ENJOY."

Just like the old cup o' noodles. But better.

Anyway, done, done and done. Don't forget that last part; it reminds me of an animated short we saw a few years ago that sort of went like this:

[a boy and girl sit opposite one another at a round table. They each have a cup o' noodles cup in front of them]
BOY: this cup o' noodles isn't so good.
GIRL: are you sure you followed the directions?
BOY: I folded the lid back half way. I filled it with boiling water to the line. I even closed the lid securely and waited 3 minutes. I removed the lid and stirred.
GIRL: see, you didn't follow the directions.
BOY: what do you mean?
GIRL: read it again: "Fold back lid half way... fill to inside line with boiling water... close lid securely and let stand 3 minutes... remove lid, stir... and ENJOY.
BOY: oh. [sips from cup] Ahhhhh.

I surf the web as I eat. The world (even the interweb) is still a swirling haze, but as I make my way through the noodles and savory/spicy broth, things start to come back into focus.

Ahhhhhhh.

Yep. Spicy ramen. Just what I needed.

Alien versus Predator

Well, ok, not really. I just thought it'd make a funny title given all the X versus Y stories I've been seeing around. (And hearing a reference to it on the Daily Show didn't hurt.) And I'm still slightly amused that it's actually real movie that's coming to theaters August 13th. (Geez, do I sound like a commerial or what?)

• CostCo versus Walmart:
  An article in the Globe [SmirkingChimp] describes the rivalry between CostCo and Walmart (or, more likely, Sam's Club) in the context of political affiliation, with the Costco peeps backing the Dems and the folks from Walmart backing the GOP camp.
  

  The differences are based on more than ideology: Each retailer has a stake in the election's outcome in areas from healthcare to the minimum wage to the way unions can organize workforces.
  
  . . .
  
  Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco offers comprehensive health insurance to most of its 78,000 US employees, making it eligible for Kerry's plan, said Kerry's top domestic policy adviser, Sarah Bianchi, 31. That may cut 10 percent, or $35 million, off its annual healthcare premiums.
  
  Wal-Mart's health plan for its 1.3 million US workers is probably not broad enough to qualify for the savings that Kerry's proposal would bring, since it doesn't cover enough workers, said Jason Furman, 33, the Democrat's chief economic policy adviser. Fewer than half of Wal-Mart's employees are enrolled in the company health plan, according to figures supplied by the retailer.
  
  Costco wouldn't have to raise salaries with Kerry's proposal to increase the minimum wage to $7 an hour, from $5.15 now. It already pays hot-dog vendors as much as $16 an hour, and the lowest wage it pays is $10 an hour. That's higher than the $9.96 average wage paid at discount stores bearing the Wal-Mart name.

  I was a bit disappointed that the article seemed to suggest that their political allegiances were largely based on the benefits they and their companies would receive based on each candidate's respective fiscal policy proposal. In my mind, I saw it as reflections of competing values -- one set putting a premium on profits and the aquisition of personal wealth , the other looking beyond the bottom line and considering what other people (such as employees) need (which in turn does benefit the company). But no matter how you look at it, it at least gives me a reason to feel less guilty about shopping at a big, national warehouse chain like Costco.
  
  
• Koppel versus Stewart:
  From Slate, a description of the showdown between Ted Koppel and Jon Stewart on Nightline.
  

  But after the commercial break, something unforeseeable happened on Nightline: an anchorman showdown! What began as a casual media-on-the-media puff piece turned into a fascinating five-minute referendum on old and new ways of looking at the meaning and purpose of television news. In a one-on-one chat on the deserted convention floor after the day's festivities had ended, Koppel, in his low-key, dignified, What-Me-Worry way, got medieval on Stewart's ass.

  I wish I could have seen this, but my television viewing is generally limited to DVDs and the TiVo'd Daily Shows and Sox games at a friend's house.
  
  
• Polls versus Terror Alerts:
  Ok, I'm kind of forcing this one into this format, but I wanted an excuse to post this. In the wake of the latest announcements, here's a timeline (and the handy chart) that correlates news unfavorable to the administration and terror alert announcements.
  
  Note that as of this writing, the latest announcement appears to have been corroborated by blowing the cover of an Al Qaeda informant. Why doesn't that make me feel any better?
  
  And why isn't this getting reported in the mainstream media?

weekend review; brain riffs on White Castle

It was a pretty good weekend, all told, despite the humidity and threat of thunderstorms. I don't think it got over 90° all weekend, but with the humidity it was certainly hot enough (although certainly not an L.A. fry-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk hot) and certainly sticky. But I'll take the sunshine we got all Saturday. And the forecasted rain and thunderstorms that never materialized but nevertheless kept us from going climbing on Sunday didn't have any significant negative affects on the day.

Friday night we chilled at home and watched The Chinese Feast. "Study time" as it were, at least for me. The SOOTTAD is thinking that it'd probably be a good thing to try and pick up some Chinese as well, but she's a long ways off from me, and I couldn't follow 99% of the dialog. And it was probably a little more work than we had hoped for as we often tried in vain to read the small white subtitles (we won't even go into whether on not the translations were any good) as they were carefully placed in front of white tablecloths, white chef's uniforms, white ice scultures or just an overexposed outdoor set. We initially let some of it just wash over us, which made the story somewhat confusing, but we eventually were able to follow along with a few pauses and rewinds. Despite all the trouble, we both thought it was a great flick. Nice story that held together well, interesting characters, sprinkled with your typical Hong Kong comedic passages, plus cool cooking scenes. It also made God of Cookery make more sense. Afterwards, for lack of any special features on the DVD, we ended up rewatching a few scenes afterwards switching between Cantonese and Mandarin tracks. (well, I did while the SOOTTAD dozed) And I feel like I was catching more of the dialog on subsequent viewings.

I also have to say, the dialog and sound dubbing on these films is really odd. I swear it often looks like some of the actors are speaking Mandarin and others are speaking Cantonese, so no matter which voice track you pick, someone's voice is getting dubbed. We first noticed this in Tai Chi Master (Tai Chi San Feng) where it becomes clear that Michelle Yeoh is speaking in Cantonese the entire time while Jet Li is speaking Mandarin the entire time, so no matter which track you picked, someone's voice would be out of sync. (And as yet another side note, I should mention that I've disliked the Mandarin dubbing for Michelle Yeoh in all the movies we've seen so far, but unfortunately it's the one I have to listen to because it's the dialect I'm trying to learn) I suppose this all makes me feel less guilty watching them in Mandarin, but you can tell that the films are originally released in Cantonese because the quality of the soundtrack is so much better and the Mandarin dubbing just isn't as good -- or at least, it seems like there's a lot more Cantonese-to-Mandarin dubbing than the other way around. And really, dubbing just isn't that good in general.

Anyway, sidetracked.

Saturday my frisbee team played in a local mini-tournament with 3 other teams. Well, mostly my team. We've basically turned into that older, more experienced team with an average age over 30 and with the occasional baby on the sideline, which is cool because we're beating some of the younger, faster teams in the same way that we ourselves were being beaten only a few years ago. (They're old and slow, why are we losing?!) But it also means that we're more prone to injury, so right now we have at least 5 players that are, or should be (myself included), on the DL. That's almost a third of our full roster. Meaning that it was mostly my team, but with a few alumni, friends and family padding our numbers a bit. And we were still feeling like we might be a bit low on numbers by the end of the day.

On the whole, I think we were playing well; and I felt pretty good overall. Up until last week, I've really been feeling slow -- not comfortable making the hard cuts and getting open on offense, playing more conservatively and maybe getting a little lazy on defense. But in Thursday's game, I actually felt like I was finally running at full speed again. And on Saturday I felt like I could maintain it. Maybe I've finally turned a corner and I'm back in game shape. And I had my first layouts (both O and D) in a while, too.

But back to that old theme -- really sore (really sore) at the end of the 3rd game. I'm almost glad we lost the last point because my calves and hamstrings had started cramping up and I probably would have pulled something if I had to sprint the length of the field again.

So, sore. But it was good sore. Mostly. Well okay, it was good to be able to play hard enough that I felt sore afterwards, but the actually soreness kind of sucked. But it was a good day. Oh, and sunny with blue skies for most of the day. Windy too, now that I think about it. (Which made the games more challenging, too)

Sunday got to a slow start. It wasn't terribly hot, but it was muggy, and a bit uncomfortable in the house. The SOOTTAD cooked up one of the b'giant zucchinis (I swear, as big as your head) that she brought back from her parents' house (shredded and fried with eggs, onions, breadcrumbs, spices and perhaps some other stuff I didn't catch into a stack of frittery things not unlike potato pancakes. Except with zucchini. And less crispy.), and enjoyed a nice breakfast out on the deck. We otherwise spent the morning attempting to tidy up the house with only minor success.

Avoiding the outdoors because of the weather threats, we eventually decided to retreat to some A/C by catching a flick in town with some friends, ending up with Harold and Kumar go to White Castle at the Fenway. Funny. And yes, stupid. But oddly satisfying. It resonated in ways that I wouldn't expect from a silly "slapstick/gross-out/stoner comedy" (as described by JozJozJoz, where I first heard about it) or "feature-length fast-food commercial" as The Onion puts it. The movie may have been knee-deep in shovelled stereotypes, but the protagonists, at least, seemed genuine, even if their adventure and the characters they came across in their travels are pure Hollywood fairyland. Maybe something about an asian main character who's an American, but who at times can be made to feel acutely aware of the forces (both internal and external) that make him feel like he's on the outside... Uh, and did I mention that it was funny? (Even if it was "hit-or-miss by design." [Onion again])

Interlude. We grab drinks and snacks at Audubon; snacks including a beef quesadilla and "potstickers" which come complete with far too many water chestnuts in a Chinese cardboard takeout container. Afterwards, we retrieve the car with only minor hassle (and an extra eight bucks for overstaying our welcome in the theater parking lot). Say our goodbyes. And...

Hungry now. So our heroes decide, "hey, we're already in the city. Let's go to Chinatown!" And we end up at the Taiwan Cafe and order real potstickers. Which often go by "Peking Ravioli" (Ugh) but which I think of as pan-fried dumplings because I don't know what they're called in Chinese. Note about Taiwan Cafe -- all the good dumplings (the fried dumplings we ordered, the small steamed bun - xiao lung tang bao or just xiao lung bao and the like) take 20 minutes to prepare. (Sez so right on the menu.) Definitely worth the wait. But in the meantime, we decided to order an additional noodle dish so we went with the "Hearty noodle with pork and vegetables."

The item in Chinese is only three characters. The first is da (big) and we've deduced through some basic food vocabulary knowledge and pattern matching that the third is mian (noodle), but I haven't a clue what the second character is. So I take an unprecedented step after ordering and ask the waitress. It takes a moment for her to figure out what I want as I point to the character and ask what it is (it's what you ordered, you idiot. What the #@*%& is your problem?) and she helpfully says, pointing to each character: ta - lu - mi.

Oh right, Talu noodles. I know those. They used to have them at that place we used to go to for lunch (Tai Shiang Garden) near the office up in Chelmsford. Cool. I'm quite pleased with myself. Both for the new information, but also for actually asking for it in the first place. It's about overcoming the fear and embarassment of looking stupid. Point for me.

The da lu mian arrives quickly (we applaud our good planning since it's gonna be a while before the dumplings come) and we're mid-evaluation (hmmm, soupier than I was expecting, but the egg and mushrooms look right and...) when the waitress interrupts with something I don't understand.

"I'm sorry?" (It doesn't even occur to me to try duibuqi)

And she repeats, in english, "do you want small bowls?" (in my mind's eye I see her rolling her eyes as she asks this)

"Um, yeah."

At this point, I'm feeling pretty lame.

Actually, really lame.

Über-lame.

Lameness like I have not felt in years.

Well, no. It's just that it had a certain quality of lameness that has a kind of resonance frequency that amplifies it. It resonates, to coin a phrase. There is an experience, that I find quite common, of hearing a sea of voices that I don't quite understand, but feel like I should understand. Walking around Chinatown. Sitting in a restaurant. Attending a big family dinner where the conversation just goes over my head. But that's not quite it.

Almost 20 years ago. Los Angeles. High school. We're Juniors, so we're allowed to leave campus if we don't have class, and every Friday we have two free periods back-to-back that gives us just enough time to drive to Chinatown, get lunch, and drive back to school without being late for AP E&M.

And so we go get beef noodle.

Which was not just a tasty meal but, at four bucks a bowl, was a pretty sweet deal as well. (Cheaper than a lunch at Carney's or Micky D's, even then.) I didn't really speak Chinese, but I had learned how to order, in Mandarin, three beef noodle, one hot, two not hot for me and my two best friends. And so we went. And I ordered. And everything was great until the waitress/server/manager (she was the only one we ever saw in the shop) came over and asked me something. What, I don't really know. Because it was in Chinese. And I think it had something to do with how my parents were, or why they weren't there, or something. There was definitely something in there about my parents. I think. But even if my comprehension was there, there was no way I could reply. And boy, did I feel lame. Kind of like at Taiwan Cafe, except multiplied by teen angst and awkwardness.

It got the ball rolling, and I thought about feeling on the outside, on both sides of the fence. Born and raised in the US, I still notice the occasions when I'm at a bar or restaurant and I'm the only "slanty-eye" in a sea of white. But I'm strangely uncomfortable in ethnic pockets like Chinatown where I might blend a bit better, but I can barely make out a character or two on a storefront sign and certainly don't understand any of the conversations swirling around me. Feeling outside. We are all ultimately alone in our own skin, but it's not always so in your face. It's certainly not always like that -- sometimes there's peace being lost in the ocean. And sometimes it's just there, and that's just where you are, and it's fine. It's part of the character, the backstory.

I guess I was feeling a little bit like Harold. There was that bit in the movie where Harold talks about the threat of being called a "twinkie." And I can still remember being called a "banana" by a great uncle visiting from China. But, y'know? That's just a little bit of the backstory, a few threads of the fabric.

And hey, did I mention that the dumplings were awesome? (As were the noodles.)

A Former President's Son

...has some things to say about another President's son.

In the latest issue of Esquire, Ron Reagan, Jr. does a pretty good job of covering much of what is wrong with W and his administration:

...and you wonder to what extent Mr. Bush himself lives in a world of his own imagining.

And chances are your America and George W. Bush's America are not the same place. If you are dead center on the earning scale in real-world twenty-first-century America, you make a bit less than $32,000 a year, and $32,000 is not a sum that Mr. Bush has ever associated with getting by in his world. Bush, who has always managed to fail upwards in his various careers, has never had a job the way you have a job—where not showing up one morning gets you fired, costing you your health benefits. He may find it difficult to relate personally to any of the nearly two million citizens who've lost their jobs under his administration, the first administration since Herbert Hoover's to post a net loss of jobs. Mr. Bush has never had to worry that he couldn't afford the best available health care for his children. For him, forty-three million people without health insurance may be no more than a politically inconvenient abstraction. When Mr. Bush talks about the economy, he is not talking about your economy. His economy is filled with pals called Kenny-boy who fly around in their own airplanes. In Bush's economy, his world, friends relocate offshore to avoid paying taxes. Taxes are for chumps like you. You are not a friend. You're the help. When the party Mr. Bush is hosting in his world ends, you'll be left picking shrimp toast out of the carpet.

And that's just a small part of what he has to say. Read the article here. [Smirking Chimp]

Just in time...

First read this [TPM].

Then read this [TNR].

Then read this [Yahoo].

(Sadly, an update to the TNR article gives away the punchline)

TV, the DNC and Barack Obama

We don't watch much TV these days. The TV is really only there so we can watch DVDs and videos. But with all the hubbub of the convention going on practically in our own backyard (and the constant reminders from the traffic displays warning about the closed roads and impending traffic, which thankfully never materialized), I figured I had to see what the Democratic party had to say.

And what I heard gave me hope; or rather, it gave my hope new life, new energy. They may have been preaching to the choir, but it was good all the same, and what I needed to hear. For the last few months, I've basically tried to reduce my brain allocation for politics because it was just getting me too depressed. But I have been reminded that there are people out there who are standing up for the things I believe in.

Monday's headliners were all great: Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton. Omigod, Bill Clinton. I don't remember him hearnig him speak when he was in office (just the soundbites in the news during the F'ing Lewinsky BS), but his speech was just incredible.

And then I heard Barack Obama.

I've been hearing about Barack Obama here and there. Ok, pretty much everywhere. They were really talking him up at all the pre-game stuff, he was in the news, on NPR, and all over the web. An Illinois State Senator that's running for the U.S. Senate. A rising star. A rock star. Sorry? A what?

Ok, so I just saw his keynote address at the DNC, and HOLY CRAP, he's a freakin' rock star! If you don't believe me, check out dKos, Amy Sullivan (guest writing at Washington Monthly) or Andrew Sullivan (a Republican) for starters. Or just see for yourself. (Or listen here)

"Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there’s not a liberal America and a conservative America—there’s the United States of America. There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the UNITED STATES of America."

Yeah, man. You go.

Check it.

L.A. observations

We've been back over a week and many of the images are already fading. I figured I'd catch a few observations I made during our short jaunt out to the west coast:

• the sweet smell of honeysuckle. We have honeysuckle out here, but it seemed like it's everywhere when I went on a run the first morning we were there. I miss the jasmine and gadenias, too. We don't have them here, outside of the garden store.
• there are no annuals in L.A. That is, things don't really die off in the winter. (although I guess some stuff dies off in the summer because it's too damn dry/hot.) It was weird to discover a bed of ground cover that turned out to be a huge patch of morning glories spread thick like ivy.
• the sound of running water. Running down the gutters on the steets that follow the contour of the canyons into the valley. Strange because L.A. is a desert, not to mention that it's 100°F in the middle of summer. I always noticed the water running down the street but never really thought much of it. What's the deal? Then I heard it: a rhythmic chk-chk-chk-chk up in the hills. Right. Sprinklers.
• We rented a convertible while we were out there. We ended up with a Chrystler Sebring; it was a boat ("Hop in my Chrysler, it's as big as a whale and it's about to set sail..."), but the top did come down. It also had a temperature gauge display option built into the dash. The first day out, we drove from the valley to the Santa Monica Pier and we watched the temperature go from 97°F at the parental homestead to 91°F at the top of the Sepulveda pass to 88°F when we got to the west side descending steadily into the low 80's when we hit the 10 until we reached the coastal area of Santa Monica where it dropped suddenly to 64°F. It was completely overcast at the beach, while there hadn't been a cloud in the sky a short 20 minutes and 40+ degrees earlier.
• I have to say, I forgot how hot it gets in the summer. It's been a while since I've been back this time of year. In the last several years, I don't think I've run the A/C as much, other than on a trip to the Mojave in late May two years ago.

Inner Statistician

I first noticed this when I flew United over the holidays. I was munching on pretzels out of one of the foil snack packages they always give you with your drink when I was struck by a moment of confusion. I could have sworn I was eating a snack MIX. A quick scan of the packaging confirmed that I wasn't crazy:

So did I just miss the sesame sticks and cashews? I was eating them somewhat absentmindedly after all. Curiousity got the best of me, and I inventoried the contents of the subsequent package: 6 pretzels, 7 sesame crisps and 1/6 of one cashew. (Hey, so at least the crisps finally came out to represent.) So now several months later, we're flying to L.A. on United and we get the same little snack mixes. So what's the verdict? 14-1/2 pretzels, 3 sesame crisps and 1/2 a cashew. The SOOTTAD fared better with an even 7-7-7 split.

Before we're off...

Things have just been totally crazy over the last few weeks -- our annual summer blowout BBQ/party, "camping" weekend with the frisbee team, and it seems like there's even been something going on every weeknight. This past week it was two frisbee games and two birthday dinners. And this afternoon, we're flying out to L.A. for the week. We're ostensibly heading out for a wedding, but it's also an excuse to take a few days off from work and spend some time with friends and family. And the SOOTTAD is looking forward to the opportunity to sample some of the fine culinary delights that are more readily available in southern California. She's already put together a list of places that well exceeds the amount of time we have -- I'm gonna just put it in neutral and let her lead.

So yeah, I probably should be double-checking my packing list or something right now. Maybe I'll get around to writing about the trip or some the of the stuff that's been going on when we get back. Maybe not. After all, that's what summer is all about -- being active, going out, doing stuff, appreciating the weather before it's gone too soon. Living. (No poker!) Save the computer time for when the outside is less hospitable.

I'll just leave you with a few pictures from the beginnings of the summer harvest:

Break from the office

So I snuck out in the early afternoon today for a short run.

Strangely, there wasn't really a reason for me to be sneaking out... it's not like I didn't come back. And I would have gone during the generally accepted lunch hour but I was in the groove and getting stuff done. Sometimes you're beating your head against the wall and need a break to get a fresh perspective, sometimes you know exactly what you need to do and you have to let the momentum take you where it needs to go. Lunchtime, I was rolling.

So I had worked through lunch, and I was waiting for a simulation to compile and run anyway. But there's something about leaving the confines of the building at two-and-a-half in the post meridian that feels somehow not on the up-and-up. I'm sure that's just what they want you to think. And the Senior VP (previously the CEO of my group/department when it was a startup) was known to look unkindly upon those not in the office working vigorously at their desks, at all hours of the day. (Which barely scratches the surface of his mentality that you should be spending every waking moment doing work.)

But I've been trying to keep up my conditioning, especially after my forced inactivity while waiting for my shoulder to heal. And I was feeling a bit stiff and sore from the game last night, so I figured it'd be a good idea to get the body moving for a bit.

It didn't hurt that it was in the mid-80's and sunny with clear skies.

So 2:30ish, I head out. I figure I'll do a fairly short loop, maybe 30 minutes, since I did want to get back to check the results of my sim. Maybe a good day to check out one of the trails -- it hasn't rained much so it hopefully won't be too muddy, and on a warm day, it's nice to get off the road and run through the shade of the woods.

So I have one route that hits a trailhead through some town conservation land about 13 minutes into the run. I'm feeling a little sluggish and it's definitely work coaxing my legs into a decent pace, but it's always good to be outside. The sun and light summer breeze are just gravy.

So I hit the trailhead (13:25, right on schedule) and maybe 30 feet in -- WHAM! Faceplant. Well, maybe more like an unintentional layout. I'm stretched out on the ground lying slightly on my left side, left arm out, right arm bent next to me, legs straight behind. It wasn't painful, at least not initially, just surprising. And annoying. I just kind of laid there for a moment, surveying the situation. Must have tripped on a root or small tree stump. My eyes were probably still adjusting to the light change or something. Whatever. I did a quick self-check: the knee that I shredded yesterday during the game was fine, but I cut up the other knee (hey, matched set), a cut and scrapes on my left forearm, some nice bruising on both palms. Dirt.

Ok, I'm fine. Good enough, at least. I get myself together and continue on. I mean, it's a short run, turning around doesn't get me back to the office much faster, I may as well finish the run. I did have an image flash through my brain of me lying face down, unconscious with my head split open, but I dispelled that fairly quickly. Otherwise, pretty uneventful. Well, maybe the water hazard and 4 muddy stretches -- so maybe it wasn't so dry after all. I get back, do a quick stretching routine, shower, and I'm back at my desk maybe 64 minutes after I left, none the worse for wear. Well, you know what I mean.

Oh, and I can't forget to mention: while on the ground, I picked up some friends...
(found 'em while in the shower)

Maybe someone is trying to tell me something.

Still, it was good to get outside.

But maybe next time, I'll go during lunch. (And maybe stay off that trail.)

Studying Chinese, again

After finishing up the class at the Boston Language Institute in April, I figured I'd take a short break from studying. The class was a good kick in the ass to really work on my vocabulary and (lack of) conversation skills, but after two months I was pretty drained. Plus, Faith, my language exchange friend (really, informal tutor, since I really didn't feel like I was helping her all that much with her English), was taking a long trip to visit family back in China. Taken together, the motivation to study dropped off considerably.

It also seemed like a good idea to take a break and give my brain a rest. From language study, at least. Work had been heating up, and it really felt like most of my head was filled up with new vocabulary rather than the new (old) design I was supposed to be debugging.

I figure I'd take a few days off and then get back into it. Maybe a week or two, or at least as soon as the project calmed down. (I'm pretty sure it was only supposed to be two weeks or so.)

Two weeks. Yeah. It was two weeks, and then the next week, it was still two weeks. And the week after that... That lasted for about two months, actually.

So anyway, I'm finally studying again. It probably didn't hurt that I got an email from Faith that she was back and wondering when we wanted to meet. So I'm listening to the audio CDs in the car and reviewing flash cards and reading through chapters in the textbook again. It doesn't feel like a routine yet, but hopefully I'll get there.

It's definitely harder to buckle down when the weather's nice out and I've got disc in the evenings, and the weekends are all full. Your basic overplanned summer. But I have come up with one study trick that I feel like I'm going to be able to stick with...

I'm watching Chinese kung-fu movies.

Videos are alright in the short term, but it really is all about the DVDs because you can select the language track as well as easily disable (and enable) the subtitles. I'm not confident enough to get to that point yet, but I figure I'm going to experiment with that soon enough. I originally tried this with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon when I first got the DVD. I guess it's a testament to the quality of its subtitles that I thought I really understood what was being said until I actually turned them off.

The library is great for renting DVDs and videos. And a dollar for a weekly rental (and the ability to reserve a movie) is hard to beat. Unfortunately, the selection of Chinese films, while better than expected, still isn't that great. But it's still a great resource that we highly recommend. Plus, they've got a searchable catalog that's plugged into the regional library network. Also cool.

We did find a decent selection at the new Hollywood Video that recently opened in Waltham, but unfortunately, a several of them only have English-dubbed tracks which I can't understand. (They're also kinda expensive.) I've discovered the same problem with many of the DVDs offered on Amazon.com. I suppose with the recent rise in interest in old kung fu movies, there's been a rush to re-release a bunch of the classics in the same format that many of us remember watching on TV on weekend afternoons.

But as much as I fall into that crowd that fondly reminisces about those poorly dubbed action spectacular, I remember that the whole point is to get more material that I can (watch and) listen to in Chinese.

In some ways, it's a little weird, because in most cases, the original dialog is actually in Cantonese. So I'm still watching a redub. But somehow it doesn't seem as bad as the English dubbing. I mean, at least there more vocabulary and syntax in common. Still, I keep wondering how accurate the dubbing is. I tried poking around on the web to see if there were some native speakers that had an opinion on the subject, but I couldn't find anything. It'd be nice if I could just ask my parents, but it would require them to watch both versions of a given movie and then give me the rundown and frankly, I don't think they'd pay that much attention to the differences. You definitely need a net geek to do the proper in-depth nitpick.

For now, I'm just running with it. I bought a bunch of movies on Edaymovie.com and were pretty happy with them: good selection of DVDs with the original Cantonese and dubbed Mandarin tracks, prompt delivery and good prices. I just put in a second order which included the classic 36th Chamber of Shaolin (also known as Shaolin Master Killer). I'm also branching out and trying to get some more contemporary films, since vowing vengeance after the death of your master seems to have somewhat limited application. (perhaps a reverse of the Korean brother in Better Off Dead that spoke like Howard Cosell)

Anyway, I've found some sites that have been helpful in selecting additional film titles. LoveHKfilm.com has provided excellent overviews and reviews of many of the films. And when I couldn't find info there, I stumbled on hkmdb.com which has been a mixed bag. It's more of a central repository for people to submit plot summaries and reviews, so the quality varies greatly depending on who cared enough to enter a submission.

As far as other on-line stores, I'm also going to check out acmemovie.com which is the only site that I've found so far that carries copies of the elusive Zu: Warriors From the Magic Mountain that have the necessary DVD region encodings, picture format (NTSC versus PAL) and language/subtitle tracks. YesAsia.com seems to be a Asia-centric Amazon wannabe, but it's mostly region 3 (South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and region 6 (China).

Speaking of "Zu," it was interesting to discover a whole controversy associated with it's U.S. release (or lack thereof). The SOOTTAD and I saw a preview for it sometime last year at the Belmont and were pretty psyched about seeing it once it came out. But it never did and we eventually forgot about it. Something similar apparently happened with Shaolin Soccer as well. I hadn't really thought about the movie recently, but I remember the buzz when the trailer showed up online (was it atomfilms.com?), and we did get a chance to see it when someone from my tai chi class brought in the DVD.

It turns out that they both figure into a greater issue of the release of successful Hong Kong movies in the U.S. -- and apparently an issue with Miramax/Disney in particular. It's all kind of a bummer and has me just a bit worried about the pending release of Hero. I won't go into the details here since this is already getting pretty long, but if you're interested, you should check out the Web Alliance for the Respectful Treatment of Asian Cinema. (Oh, and I just found this open letter to Miramax.) Here's also an article on the (non-)release of Shaolin Soccer which I found in this post while I was trying to find information on the Mandarin versus English dubbing of Cantonese spoken language films. ...which was unsuccessful, but did turn up this paper on teaching ESL using subtitled broadcasts of the X-files.

Lilies are out

Yay, summer.

Revisiting Reagan

Now that the 24/7 Reagan memorial craze seems to have finally blown over, I figure it's about time for me to post this.

But first, a quick comment (Ok, potshot) at the Bush/Cheney reelection committee that replaced information on Bush with a full page memorial on their website. (You can read about it at Talking Points Memo) What was up with that? It made you wonder whether they really are gunning for this.

Anyway, in the thick of it, I was hitting a lot of cognitive dissonance while listening to all the overly saccharin, warm fuzzies that were lavished over his memory. But it was hard not to get caught up in it either. I do remember the scary nuclear build up, which were hightlighted by movies like Wargames or the TV miniseries, The Day After. But, yeah, we beat the Evil Empire (mark 1), right? Yay us. And reading some of the backstory now, I find I have to give credit to the ol' Gipper for having the cojones to play his hand strong when the stakes included possible world annihilation.

That being said, I did want to go through a list of what I remember from the Reagan administration, having achieving sentience around that time.

• "trees cause pollution" [link]
• the attempt to classify ketchup as a vegetable [link]
• Iran-Contra [pbs.org]
• the aforementioned nuclear arms race and threat of nuclear annihilation.
• Reaganomics/voodoo economics and the resulting record deficits (until now, that is)
• Savings & Loan Crisis (although fully materializing during Bush Sr.'s tenure)
• Oh yeah, Star Wars (the Strategic Defense Initiative, that is)

Then there's stuff that I've found out since then:

• removal of solar panels from the Whitehouse when Reagan took office. [link] [link]
• support of Saddam Hussein
• CIA funding of Osama bin Laden (There's also this article that discusses the Reagan administration's culpability in the rise and spread of Islamic fundamentalism)

I think the last two can both be considered to be the "Reagan doctrine" in action.

Anyway, a lot of this can also be found in this article from the Washington Post (If you've got issues with the login requirements, don't forget our friends over at BugMeNot.com), which I thought was a much more balanced perspective than the rest of what was being broadcast.

And to be fair, here are my memories of the Carter administration:

• double-digit inflation
• Odd/Even days to buy gas
• U.S. embassy hostages in Iran
• middle east peace (Egypt-Israel)
• Something about Salt?

So I suppose everyone sucks if you think about it enough. Which seems to be a fairly accurate starting point these days for a lot of people.

Updates for early June

I haven't been posting much these days, but I suppose that goes without saying. I suspect that part of it is that I've been trying to avoid reading news or hitting politically charged blogs that would get me all juiced up. Maybe it's the hopelessness of it all, or maybe I'm just subconsciously stepping aside to let the better writers say what I want to say. There may be a lot of crap out there in the Blogosphere, but you have to at least give it credit for making people feel less alone out there in the electronic wilderness. Ah yes, the internet, bringing people (and wackos, can't forget the wackos) together since 1969.

So, what have I been up to?

Well, we've been doing our fair share of puttering around the garden; mostly in the mornings... making me late for work, but also on the weekends. We've been doing battle with the evil vine (Black Swallowwort), and the SOOTTAD has been putting in all kinds of native woodland flowers in the back. Off the top of my head I can come up with red lupine, bleeding heart and yellow violets... but I'm pretty sure there's more.

We had the first raspberry blossoms open this morning. The peas are a little thin this year, but there are a number of pods that are already maturing. We also had our first alpine strawberries mature, but we didn't get to actually taste them because they were swiped by marauding critters. Grrr. With the return of the warm weather today, the watermelon mounds which were looking so sad and barren in the cold and rain are finally showing signs of life. No such luck for the two new grape vines that we put in last year.

Monday, I got the green light on my shoulder. I'm still going to be careful with it (I'm trying to avoid any layouts until July), but I can have a little more confidence playing in games now.

Work finally seems to be under control, but I already have to refocus on the next big project.

I told myself when the last project finished, I would get back to studying Chinese. I've been listening to audio CDs in the car, but I really need to sit down and start reviewing characters again. Maybe this week...

Oh yeah, and I've been playing a bit of poker online these days too. I used to play with a bunch of guys in college; I have good memories of stumbling home at the crack of dawn, pockets full of nickels, dimes and quarters. It's not like I was any good, but I would get lucky at crucial moments that would allow me to continue playing.

The folks I played with were pretty hard-core card freaks; I'm not actually sure when those guys actually went to class. Or slept. They all started freshman year, back in the dorm. And when they weren't playing poker, they were playing bridge. (they moved on to blackjack the following year) They'd be playing in the lounge when you got back from class. And they'd still be playing when you went to bed. And the next morning, there they'd be, the scene exactly the same, except for the addition of a few empty pizza boxes.

I hadn't really played much since I got out of college. I have a few friends who play (regular games, even), but I've probably only played three or four times in the last year or two. So maybe a couple of weeks ago, I followed a link at Cardhouse to PartyPoker.com. I'd actually never played Hold 'em before -- it's been fun. And it's kinda nice to play online because you can play with real people, and you can pretty much play whenever you want, what with that whole global network thing and all.

And maybe that's another reason why I haven't been posting all that much...

Yeah, it figures...

You're a Speak & Spell!! You nerd, you. Just
because you were disguised as a toy doesn't
mean you weren't educational, you sneaky
bastard.

What childhood toy from the 80s are you?
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