Dancing with WonderBred

From the Clique League tournament a few weeks ago. Fun!

92°F

As Paul says, "Je-Zus, it's hot." I concur, and I love it. I just stepped out for a photocopying/mailing/lunch excursion, and it felt so good. Days like today make me glad I'm a woman who works in a casual office and gets to wear sleeveless sundresses. And I'm glad my office has a shower, because I took a nice cold one after I got to work pretty sticky.

Ballet, Take 3

Alright, Scott just bought tickets for us to go see Sleeping Beauty in June. I've never seen Sleeping Beauty in its entirety. And it's being performed by the Royal Ballet, one of the best companies in the world. This will be the third Tchaikovsky ballet we've planned to see in the past six months, so wish us luck!

Enter Pirates.

A lovely weekend, punctuated by pirates.

1. Chris and Alissa arrived on Thursday night, bearing gifts of french roast coffee, fresh produce from a Maryland farm stand, and a Jolly Roger that Chris picked up from "The Flag Guy" in New Haven. So exciting! I've never owned my own Jolly Roger before! We had a quiet night at home - cooked dinner, met Ross the New Subletter, bought a video at Blockbuster (because they only rent DVDs nowadays), and enjoyed cantelope and champagne.

2. We'd planned on a picnic dinner and live jazz in the sculpture garden for Friday, but a bunch of rain canceled those plans. Instead, we had a Chinatown Express fresh noodle dinner and saw X-Men. And I got to see the preview for the next Pirates of the Caribean movie! This time, there are not only ghost pirates. There are fish-ghost-pirates. Can't wait to see it! X-3 was good - I haven't seen either of the first two, so Alissa filled me in on what was going on and who was who.

3. On Saturday, the weather was nice, and we managed to get our picnic dinner/Shakespeare in the Park in. The play was Pericles, and one of the (many) absurd plot twists was a band of pirates kidnapping a girl who was about to be killed. A fun moment in a really fun production.

No pirates on Sunday, to my memory. Chris and Alissa took off in the morning, and I went to church - my last chance to see my pastor who's resigning in June. I'm not sure what the conflict is, but I wish she weren't leaving. I think she's great. I wanted to do a track workout but couldn't find an open track, so I went to yoga instead, which was pretty nice. A little violin, and then up to Delafield.

Social networking

I joined Facebook last week *, and my sister added me as her friend this morning. I looked at her profile, and she has all these really nice photos of the two of us posted there. It was really sweet to see - I was just expecting a few shots of her friends and teammates, but there are a bunch of our family in there too. I'm not sure why it was a surprise; maybe I forgot that we love each other? We're really good friends, and really good roommates, but we're also sisters.


- Fall '04, the picture we ended up using on our Christmas card

I guess I'm being kind of sentimental. But that's OK sometimes, right? I mean, I do have strong sentiments for her!


- Winter '06, the night of the Minnesota party, recreating a photo taken when we were 4 and 6

Exactly 2 weeks from today, I'll be back home in Duluth, getting ready to celebrate young Fred's graduation. Definitely looking forward to it.


- Spring '06, at the joint birthday party for Margaret and my mom and I. Margo made the excellent carrot cake.

See you soon sis!


* I've been doing social network research at work, so I joined all kinds of cheesy "add me as a friend" sites. Have you seen MySpace lately? It's HUGE! Jeez! I had no idea! I'm so glad I play frisbee and have a strong offline social network.

10,000 Sheep

Along the same lines as yesterday's post. Hours of entertainment!

Infinite detail!

A really cool use of a fractal-concept in art. Just keep zooming in on any part of the picture.

Good tools make a big difference

Margaret and I cleaned last night. A nice, deep, summer-is-coming (along with weekend guests and a subletter) cleaning. It's kind of like Christmas - if it happened all the time, it wouldn't be special. The most exciting thing about this Cleaning was the vacuum cleaner. We borrowed our landlady's, which is eleven times more powerful than ours. It glows red when you turn it on, so you can see how powerful it is. And it has a hose attachment. For someone who lives with a cat and a carpeted kitchen, it is a godsend. I cleaned the bathroom, and for the first time in my life wished I had a mop. A mop would have been eleven times more effective than the kitchen sponge I was using to clean the floor.

Bell Crack tournament recap

It was a great weekend! LT and Sasha and I got off to a late start on Saturday morning and missed the first game... but after that it was great. We won one game that day and lost the others, but played well as a team - definitely improved over the course of the day. Sunny, windy weather. Absolutely gorgeous fields. Pizza and beer provided by the tournament at the end of the day, so we hung out and consumed, stretched, played games, napped, generally enjoyed each other's company. Eventually went back to the hotel, showered, made our way to an Italian place for a 9:30 dinner. I didn't get to bed until midnight, but I was up at 5 on Sunday morning with images of Ultimate already flashing through my mind - too impatient to play to be able to sleep, I guess. We lost both our games on Sunday, but continued to play really well.

I'm so excited to be on this team. At the last tournament, I was still a little nostalgic for Ono. But this weekend, I felt much more integrated into the BRDM family. And that was wonderful.

I'm mostly happy with how I played. My legs felt really weak, for some reason, like I couldn't get them out of first gear. Sprinting took a lot more effort than it usually does - I'd come off after a point and feel completely drained of energy. I'm not really sure why. But it's amazing how much energy I got from my teammates - watching them play hard and hearing them cheering on the sidelines. They made a huge difference. Thanks guys! In terms of my goals from last Friday: I didn't layout. I dropped the disc more than I should have. I wish I'd been able to sprint more consistently, but I'm glad I was still working hard at it during the end of our last game. My cuts were alright, not spectacular. I'm definitely impatient for practice this week and for our next tournament (Easterns, in Boston, June 3-4).

52 hours until Scott gets home!

One more list...

10 hours until the first game
5 days until Scott returns
3 weeks until I go home
1 month until Kate and Jaime's wedding

Good luck Paul!

Paul's running a marathon this weekend! Go Paul!!

Lists

Things to do after work:
- Pack for the tournament
- Make a batch of energy bars (for the tournament)
- Meet Margaret for dinner at the Diner

Things to pack
Field things:
- Cleats!
- Socks, socks, and more socks.
- Shorts, or a skirt and spandex. Hmm.
- Dark and white jerseys.
- Sports bra.
- Pants, long-sleeved shirt, rain jacket.
- Ibuprofin, sunscreen, nail clippers, sports tape.
- Nalgene, apples, energy bars, ginger snaps.
- Cowbell.
- A frisbee. An orange or blue one, so I'm less likely to lose it.
Other things:
- Pajamas, toothbrush, shampoo.
- Jeans, t-shirt, hoodie.
- Directions to the three Dairy Queens located within five miles of our hotel.
- CDs for the car: The Wellesley Whiptails mix, and the Duluth Ultimate Soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2.
- Phone, charger, wallet

Goals for the weekend?
- Don't drop the disc.
- Make real cuts.
- Layout. (Yeah right!)
- Sprint hard, from the first point of the first game Saturday until the last point of the last game Sunday.

Not too much to report. But I'll report it anyways.

Sunday.
The great room cleaning of May 2006 was a success! I told myself that I couldn't call Scott until the place was shipshape.

Monday.
A great pilates class in the morning, a productive day at work, and an enjoyable evening at the climbing gym. Liz came along for the first time and did fabulously. Margaret was home by the time I got back, so I got to chat with her for a few minutes.

Tuesday.
Woke up thinking it was Wednesday, which means BRDM practice. Alas, practice was still 36 hours away. A sort of productive day at work. Went to the gym and had a decently hard workout. Wrote haikus to Scott, who is out of phone and e-mail contact until Friday night. Sometimes it's fun to be pining, you know? Tonight I get my first taste of The Vegetable Garden, where Liz is celebrating her birthday. My gift to her is The Gotan Project's new album, Lunatico. I just downloaded it this week, and I love it. Dad, I'm sending you a copy too - it reminds me a little of Talking Timbuktu and Laurie Anderson.

A messy room on a rainy day.

I'm sitting in the middle of a very messy room, mine, contemplating the next step of cleaning it. I've already dragged everything out of my closet, packed away the winter clothes, thrown away the dead running shoes, and reorganized the remaining items. It's sort of funny how much my wardrobe needs have changed since I (a) started riding my bike everywhere and (b) stopped working at Walter Reed. I don't wear "nice" clothes anymore. My uniform used to be a neat Italian skirt, a black top, and a scarf. Now it's jeans (the loose ones that I can bike in, not the tight Saturday night ones) and a tank top. Maybe a necklace if I think of it. I only miss my dressier clothes a little bit. As in, it might be nice to have non-casual Fridays.

I've been working on this mess on and off since I got up this morning. I took a break to go to church, and then I did a track workout. And sometime during the afternoon I got to talk to Scott and my mom. My mom is in the car with Dad and Fred, in the early stages of a 10-hour drive from Kansas to Minnesota. They had gone down on Friday to see Margo race in collegiate nationals. She had really strong races on both Saturday and Sunday... except she got a flat tire right at the end of Saturday's race, and she had a pretty bad crash on the last lap of Sunday's crit. Bad enough that she had to go to the ER for her road rash. I feel so bad that she wasn't able to complete either one; my parents said she probably would have finished in the top 10, which is SO cool. I'm definitely proud of her for being a competitor!

But apart from church and my phone calls, I really haven't talked to anyone today. It's good though. I need to get my room organized - there have been piles on the floor for months and months and months now. And the next 5 weekends are going to be super fun, but not super restful. I feel like it's a little day of meditation before summer sets in. I get to sit on my floor, lotus-style, listen to the rain fall and Elsa sneeze (she's exceptionally sneezy today, which is strange and pretty cute), and sift through papers - last summer's calendar, recipes, bank statements, birthday cards, lots of memories of what I've been up to. I'm pretty bad at organizing this stuff. I mean, I let it pile up for so long before doing anything about it, and then when I DO sit down to do something about it, I end up just blogging about it.

Right. I'll get back to work.

Happy Birthday Minnesota!

From The Writer's Almanac

On this day, in 1858 the state of Minnesota was admitted into the Union. It's the home of the world's largest Paul Bunyan statue, and it was from Minnesotans that we got the stapler, water skis, and roller blades—not to mention Scotch tape, Bisquick, and Spam.

A nice day so far. In fact, the past 15 hours have been lovely. BRDM practice was good and productive, despite my legs feeling super tight. I stopped at home to say hi to Elsa and then headed up to Delafield for one last dinner with Scott before Guatemala steals him away. We got up at 5 am. He left for the airport, which gave me an hour's worth of coffee, breakfast and New Yorker before a really wonderful 6:30 yoga class.

Elsa the Cat

Cats and Dogs

I don’t entirely trust people without pets. Sure, they may have allergies, busy schedules, an aversion to fur balls on the white carpet or suspicious paw prints across the kitchen counter. But caring for an animal gives a person something unique, a centered balance that affects each aspect of life.

My sister and I have been fostering Elsa, one of the animal victims of Hurricane Katrina. She's a wonderful little thing, affectionate and playful and surprisingly vocal, and we're happy to foster her as long as she needs it. But she deserves a permanent home. If you know of anyone who could use a cat, let me know!

From the adoption website:

Elsa is a curious and friendly cat who came to 4Paws after surviving Hurricane Katrina. After spending the first two days hiding in the tiniest of places, Elsa relaxed and became very open and affectionate.

Elsa likes plenty of human contact although she is too young to be truly a lap cat—probably less than a year old. The bedraggled cat has developed into a healthy one with an appetite for wet and dry food and now looks sleek and well nourished.

Elsa likes to play with anything that rattles and that she can bat about. Although she seems happier to be the only cat in the room, she has spent several months in one room with her step-sister, Heather, from Mississippi so she could certainly co-exist and probably befriend another cat. Elsa demands plenty of petting, and wants to sleep on your chest or even share your pillow. If you’re looking for a second cat to keep your cat company because you’re not home enough, she’s not the cat for you.

Elsa is spayed; tested negative for Feline Leukemia and Feline AIDS; and current on vaccines.

(I beg to differ with the "not a lap cat" comment. She loves sitting on our laps!)

a brief reprieve

Guess who missed his flight and has to spend one more night in DC before heading down to Guatemala?

It's a good day for other reasons too... like the burrito lunch Paul and I had on the grass at McPherson Square, and the BRDM practice coming up in an hour and a half. I'm still sore from Monday's track workout, but I can't wait to get out and play. It's gorgeous out today!

Adieu!

Margo leaves tonight. She'll be gone a week, first heading to Duluth for a fellowship interview and then down to Kansas for collegiate cycling Nationals. Good luck sis!

Scott leaves tomorrow morning for a two-week trip to Guatemala.

I miss this!

Here's a NYT slideshow and article about girls in New York who have cerebral palsy and who are learning ballet. I got to help teach a similar class when I was in high school, and it was wonderful. I wonder if there's anything like this in DC. I'd love to do it again.

Here's a short article from Boing Boing about a Dairy Queen ukelele!

Climbing last night was fantastic. Finally met up with my friend Adrian and his friend Aaron - we've been talking about climbing together for a year now. I felt like I learned to move more slowly and deliberately, which is good. 5.7's are still challenging, but I know that I can finish them. 5.8's are almost attainable, depending on how tired I am. Wish I were going back tonight!

Weekend plans - Cinco de Mayo margaritas with the Wellesley ultimate alums tonight, and then some violin I think. Tomorrow a bunch of us are heading to Baltimore to watch the Kinetic Sculpture Race. After that, we'll go to Blob's Park where they have traditional German food, hundreds of beers, live polka music, and a big dance floor. I'm most excited for that last item. Sunday = BRDM practice, which I'm definitely impatient for.

I'm such a sucker for tournaments.

Just bought tickets to Boston for the weekend of June 3rd. I couldn't help myself. It will be a busy month, but what would I rather be doing with myself? I also told Jeremy and Jerry that I'd play in the Clique C League tournament in a few weeks. I'm excited - WonderBred is a super fun team that I haven't seen enough of lately.

On the Fred Front, he told me today that his classmates elected him to be the student speaker at their Baccalaureate this June. He'll be great. What's really cool is that he also spoke at my Baccalaureate seven years ago. The fifth graders, the youngest students at Marshall, wrote down their hopes and wishes for the graduating seniors. Fred was the one who got to read them to us.

On the Job Front, here's a NYT article about being able to withdraw cash from real world ATMS from a virtual world. And here's an editorial about it.

On the Things That Make Me Happy front, Scott and I are going climbing tonight! I haven't gone for a week and a half now, which feels like forever. BRDM practice last night felt wonderful, depsite being sore from Tuesday's track workout. I caught things that I usually don't. Scott and I had dinner at Astor afterwards. Kebabs and greek salads. Mmm.

I have tickets to Potlatch!

I got to play in a tournament over the weekend, and I just bought my tickets to go out for Potlatch in Seattle in July. It feels like summer (i.e. the Ultimate season) is really starting now!

The tournament this weekend was a little frustrating because it was so windy. It's just demoralizing when basic things like throws and catches don't work as well as they're supposed to. Nonetheless, our team had fabulous spirit from the first point on Saturday morning to the last one on Sunday afternoon, it was sunny and dry, and we got to hang out in a gorgeous, enormous beach house. Highlights – walking down to the Atlantic with Aaron and Charles on Saturday after our games and inspecting the horseshoe crabs; coffee and pancakes from the little deli in town; a nice little inside-out forehand I threw to Shamik (I have an awful memory for plays, but for some reason this one stuck in my head.); playing with Ono on Sunday afternoon (I love my current team, BRDM, but that doesn’t mean I don’t miss Ono!); and, because I really am this sappy, getting to watch Scott play.

Pretty impatient for another tournament. Hopefully I’ll get to go to Bell Crack in Philly in two weeks! Probably won’t go to Mixed Easterns in Boston, as there are already a bunch of women going. No Poultry Days (Versailles, Ohio) this summer because it’s the same weekend as Fred’s graduation. But then there’s Potlatch in Seattle at the end of June, Wildwood (New Jersey) at the end of July, and maybe Chesapeake Open (here) at the end of August… unless I’m in Minnesota then.

Not much other news. But here’s a picture of my brother on his way to Prom! He’s second from the left, in the bowtie.

The Midweek Update

Climbing on Monday night was phenomenal. Scott and I went with Nathan, who I’ve met once before when we all went tango dancing, and Rachel, who I just met that night and who made a great climbing partner. I felt nice and strong and was much closer to completing some routes that were pretty inaccessible the last time I went. Yay!

I did a track workout on Tuesday - I don’t think it took as long as last week’s – it was a bunch of short sprints, between 20 and 100 meters, instead of all those 400’s, but it certainly felt harder. I guess it’s because I’m just not used to that kind of workout. The Cardozo track right by my house was open, so I got to use that instead of the one up by Scott’s house. I had forgotten how much nicer (softer) it is. My warm-up laps felt like moon walking!

I spent the rest of the night at Scott’s house. We watched Walk the Line, which was a pretty good substitute for Swan Lake. Every time I woke up during the night, I had Johnny Cash music in my head. Not a bad thing – I really like it and am thinking of downloading some.

Tonight I’m off to a Josh Ritter conert – Aaron spearheaded the outing, and convinced Jesseca, Liz, Scott and I to join him. We’re missing BRDM practice on a beautiful evening, but I’m pretty sure it will be worth it.

Tomorrow… climbing or violin? I should practice. I haven’t practiced since Sunday, and I’m going to a tournament this weekend, so I won’t have another opportunity to practice until Monday. Also, going climbing means getting to bed pretty late; I’m already a behind on sleep this week and certainly won’t get caught up this weekend! But climbing is so fun, so addictive. We’ll see what my muscles have to say about it tomorrow.

Good Monday Morning News

Jesseca passed her exams, and Alissa and Chris found a beautiful little house to move into this summer. Hooray!

My sister was racing all weekend, but I haven't seen her yet. Hopefully the rain didn't make things completely miserable for them...

Practicing Handel instead of handling

One of the nicest things I did this weekend was practice my violin. Wet fields suddenly opened up my Sunday afternoon schedule (BRDM practice was canceled), so I played the violin for two hours. I surprised myself - I expected to get sore or frustrated after 20 minutes, but in fact it felt wonderful. My brand new D string is still getting stretched out, so I had to retune it between every piece, and sometimes in the middle of a piece, but besides that my instrument sounded good.

Last night I dreamt about playing. I heard this story on NPR, about a violin exhibit at the Library of Congress, and I dreamt that my violin was on display there. I was visiting it, and even though the library had just closed, the librarian let me take it out and play it. My alarm went off just as I was trying to tune the D string.

I'm impatient to play again, but I'm going climbing tonight instead.


Another nice thing I did this weekend - danced in the kitchen with Scott while we made dinner and an apple pie to celebrate his birthday.

This Friday feels like a Monday.

Remember how in December I was really looking forward to The Nutcracker but then it was canceled and we couldn't go?

You know how I was really looking forward Swan Lake next week? I just found out:

MATTHEW BOURNE'S SWAN LAKE

Cancelled

The producers of Matthew Bourne's SWAN LAKE -- Back Row Productions and NETworks Presentations in association with New Adventures -- informed the Warner Theatre on April 20, 2006 that the international touring production of the show will be going on hiatus effective April 24, 2006, thereby canceling the planned engagement at the Warner Theatre. Future engagements for the show are planned for Paris, London, Australia and Moscow.

Business Week cover story

A big story about Second Life. Yay for more coverage in mainstream media!

Climbing, climbing, climbing, I get to go climbing tonight!

Turtles, turtles, turtles, I get to see (not be) Trampled by Turtles tomorrow!

Exciting news at work today.
1. It's our birthday! A year ago today, The Electric Sheep Company was incorporated in Delaware.
2. We trying out a Skype-like program in Second Life, which enables an avatar to call himself in Real Life. Crazy!

Big things of the world can only be achieved by attending to their small beginnings. -Lao-Tzu

I did a track workout last night, by myself. I wasn't sure I'd be able to. Running 400m ten times is a daunting task, particularly when you're out of shape from a winter of not playing, and you've got nothing but your conscience to make you do them. Add to that the fact that I hate 400's with a passion, and you'll see why I was fairly certain I'd come up with an excuse for myself to get out of doing them.

But no! Miraculously, I did the workout!

After work, I went home and got changed. Then I got myself to the track. I got warmed up and stretched out. I ran the first three 400's. And then I ran two more and was halfway done. A little while later, I had only two more to go. And then, somehow, I was on my last one! My body hurt, but I finished! (Many, many thanks, by the way, to Jerry for supplying the soundtrack. I listened to a fantastic dance mix he gave me last year. Definitely more fun to think about dancing than about pounding down the track!)


An hour before The Workout, I was in a state of absolute dread. I was almost in tears on the bike ride to the track. But an hour after it was finished, I was kind of wanted to go back and do it again. Here's what Wikipedia has to say:

Although "adrenaline junkie" is usually used facetiously without any genuine implication of addiction, there may be an element of truth to the term. Many of the key elements of addiction are present in the behaviour of an adrenaline junkie:

1. An altered state of consciousness (in this case called an "adrenaline rush") causes desirable physiological and psychological effects.
2. The altered state eventually disappears, leaving a "crash" in its wake, usually involving feelings of disappointment and depression.
3. During the crash phase, craving for another rush manifests itself, prompting a search for a new rush.

This creates a pattern which is reminiscent of the classical addiction cycle.

An adrenaline rush is usually accompanied by an increase in endorphin activity. Endorphins are responsible for feelings of well being, as well as pain relief. Due to synaptic plasticity, increased endorphin activity creates an increase in endorphin receptor sites, which in turn can create a stronger desire for endorphins. Synaptic plasticity and receptor site proliferation are widely believed to be the mechanisms by which chemical addictions are developed.

However, the same can be said for any endorphin-stimulating activity, whether laughter, physical exertion, artistic expression, religious experience, or sexual intercourse. Although synaptic plasticity may responsible for chemical addictions, it is also believed to be involved in reinforcement, the mechanism by which animals learn to differentiate what is desirable from what is undesirable. Seen in this context, chemical addiction could simply be seen as an aberrant form of plasticity.

Although the effects of adrenaline is largely positive, increasing cardiovascular activity and oxygenation, extended or chronic adrenal stimulation can eventually lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, and other stress-related diseases.

Instead of feeding the addiction, I fed my body. Margo had never been to Pasta Mia, so I took her there for a birthday dinner. It was excellent, and we had to wait just long enough to allow me to get hungry. We got gnocchi and ravioli, half a liter of the house red and, of course, tiramisu. Happy birthday Sis!

Jazz in the Garden starts May 26

Mark your calendars!

Enjoy summer evenings of jazz in the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden from May 26–September 15, 2006. Every Friday evening from 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., rain or shine, experience an eclectic mix of top Washington-area jazz artists. Concerts take place in front of the Pavilion Café next to the grand reflecting pool and fountain. The café also offers a seasonal light fare menu and cold beverages during the Friday evening series. Sculpture Garden hours are extended to 9:30 p.m. on these nights.

Easter Weekend

A quick recap...

Lauriol Plaza after work on Friday was great. Good company, good sangria, AND we got to sit right next to the tortilla-making machine. Darn cool. I went to the Good Friday service after that - my first in a few years. It's a somber affair, but it felt good to go. I rounded out the night at Delafield; Scott and I put ingredients into the bread machine so that we could have fresh bread for breakfast and played Scrabble.

My father's daughter, I got up early on Saturday for coffee and some reading. Saturday morning might be my favorite time of the week. I spent the afternoon running errands and doing chores and then met Scott down at the National Gallery to see the Dada exhibit. We only got through a few galleries before it closed, but I'm not quite interested enough to go back. First I want to see the Housaki show at the Sackler. The gallery closed at 5, and it was absolutely gorgeous outside, so we laid down on the Mall and worked on the crossword puzzle for a little while.

We went climbing later on, but we arrived late and the gym closes early on Saturdays, so I didn't get to do much. I did buy a pair of climbing shoes for myself so that I won't have to rent them anymore! They're nice and tight and barely comfortable. After pointe shoes and cleats, though, I can't imagine what other damage they can inflict on my feet. A trip to DQ, a meandering drive home listening to Johnny Cash on WETA, a collapse into bed.



On Sunday, I had breakfast with my sis, and then we went to the 10:30 Easter service. We got to sing all of my favorite Easter hymns, and it was so nice to see the church full of flowers after being stripped bare on Friday. Such an uplifting service. BRDM practice that afternoon went well, but I should have worn sunscreen. Am definitely feeling the effects today!


An interesting tidbit from the Writer's Almanac:

The word "Easter" comes from an ancient pagan goddess worshipped by Anglo Saxons named Eostre. According to legend, Eostre once saved a bird whose wings had frozen during the winter by turning the bird into a rabbit. Because the rabbit had once been a bird, it could still lay eggs, and that rabbit became our Easter Bunny.

Also, I'm thinking of volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. The next orientation meeting isn't until May 11th, so I won't be able to start for a little while. But I think it would be fun.

Swan Lake!

Only 11 days to go. Here are some dance videos to watch...

Thinking in Four Dimensions
The bottom video is the famous Four Little Swans variation, quite truncated. (The top video is a neat modern dance.)

From the Edinburgh International Festival
Video Clip 1 shows the Four Little Swans much more clearly.

Wiki has a few videos, towards the bottom of the page.
Two pas de deux, plus Odile's 32 fouettes!

A post for the sake of posting

A quiet, slow Friday. Looking forward to 5 pm when I get to meet up with Liz, Michelle and Jesseca. Only one drink for me, though, as I'd rather not be fuzzy-headed at the Good Friday service.

Did a track workout last night with Scott. I definitely would have skipped it if he hadn't ignored my whining and dragged me out. I'm really glad he did! I hate 400's... but when they're over the feeling of accomplishment is wonderful. I guess they'll make me faster and stronger on the field, and that could be a motivating factor in getting me to do them. But really it's the fact that the sooner I start, the sooner I'll finish, that gets me out there.

Waking up at 6:00 this morning to meet Liz for a 7:00 pilates class was about ten times easier.

No big plans for the weekend, besides attending an Easter service and BRDM practice. I might go shoe shopping; I want climbing shoes of my own.

What a boring post! My apologies. Go watch the Italian scooter ad again.

I Dream of Rimini

Tonight is the opening party of Paganello, a big beautiful international Beach Ultimate tournament in Italy. I got to go in '04 and '05, but not this year. I opted for Guatemala instead, and would do so again in a heartbeat. But that doesn't mean I'm not dying to be there right now!

On the Italian theme, here's a really terrific ad for an Italian scooter. Thanks for finding it Aaron!

Climbing Rocks!

I saw that on a tee-shirt, so I take no credit/blame for your groans.
I got to go climbing with Scott and Jack last night!
As usual, I can't wait to go again. I wasn't ready to leave at the end of the night, even though my muscles were like Jell-O. My hand and forearm muscles didn't tire nearly as quickly as they did on my first two excursions, and little by little, I feel like I'm getting the hang (if you will) of new moves. I'm going to get shoes and a harness for myself sometime soon...

Australian suicide dream

Crazy vivid dream sometime last night. Something about climbing beautiful sunny cliffs in Australia. The woman (I couldn't tell if it was me or not...) kept wanting to roll off into the ocean as some sort of beautiful, heroic suicide. Her partner (either me or Scott, I'm not sure...) kept preventing her from doing that, and they/we kept climbing to one more ledge. But eventually she rolled off and he followed her into the ocean.

And then we were ghosts together, but very tangible ghosts. And my cousin Jeremy was there warning us about the extremely dangerous guinea pigs. They'd attack and gnaw you or something, or maybe they were more like the bunny in Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail



A visually beautiful dream, but strange.

I was reading plot synopses of Swan Lake today, since Scott's taking me to see it later this month. Different productions give it different endings, but

In the version currently (2005) danced by American Ballet Theatre, Siegfried's mistaken pledge of fidelity to Odile consigns Odette to eternal swanhood. Realizing that her last moment of humanity is at hand, Odette commits suicide by throwing herself into the lake. The Prince does so as well. (From Wikipedia)

So maybe I had a Swan Lake dream last night?


I had another dream, a nice simple one. I dreamt that my left big toenail was no longer bruised and lumpy. It had miraculously shed its ugly top layer and was smooth and white. I didn't realize it was a dream until I changed my socks at the gym today and saw the offending toenail. It's going to take forever to grow out. Sigh.

Monday PM

I tried to practice my violin last night; it's one of those things I've been meaning to do for quite some time, and finally found the time, energy, motivation, lack of people to disturb, etc. Sadly, I took out my instrument and discovered I had a broken D string. So I picked up a new set of strings today after lunch (a nice kebab lunch with Team Dinner Party). Cheap, not the brand I usually get, but convenient. Good enough until I can order a nicer replacement online. Good enough to let me practice tonight! I'm excited!

We didn't get to go climbing over the weekend. It was pretty wet outside. But a lazy day at Delafield is nothing to sneeze at, especially when it involves baking banana bread and playing Scrabble.

Sunday was gorgeous. Palm Sunday service in the morning, first BRDM practice of the year in the afternoon.

Right now I'm waiting for immigrants' rights demonstrators to come marching past my office. Sixteenth Street is still open to traffic. I thought they'd close it by now.

Duluth!

Hey, I just bought my plane tickets to Duluth so that I can go see my brother graduate in June! Hooray!

AND it's Friday afternoon.
And it's not raining anymore.
And I might get to go climbing with Scott tomorrow. Outdoors!

Trampled by Turtles!

Hailing from Duluth, Minnesota, Trampled by Turtles (TBT) is an original, non-traditional bluegrass band whose raucous live performances put a unique spin on the genre, tweaking the tradition with their own mix of punk, alt-country, rock and pop.

Fredachi introduced me to this band, and as I was downloading some of their music this morning, I noticed that they're coming to DC (well, Arlington) on April 20th! There's more info on the IOTA Club and Cafe site. Yay Duluth bands!

IOTA is also hosting Cloud Cult, another Minnesota band, on the 16th. Yay for Minnesotan music!


I got to go climbing last night with Scott, Erin and Nina. I was tired and sore from a long-ish day at work but left the gym feeling rejuvinated. I was definitely tired and sore, but as the result of physical challenges instead of computer screens. As usual, I can't wait to go back.


On my bike to work this morning, I passed someone mowing a lawn. It smelled wonderful. It's so exciting that summer is on its way!

There

What I did at work today...



Here I am at an astrology gazebo in There.com, a virtual world sort of like Second Life.




Here's a view up a hill to the St. Louis Cathedral in Cabildos. I tried to go inside but couldn't find a functional door.




Here I am talking to another There.com resident. We're trying to figure out how to look up. I imagine this church has nice spires, but I really can't figure out how to raise my virtual head to look at things above eye level. Sadly, you can't fly in There.

220 of My Favorite Photos from Guatemala

I finally got my photos up and organized on Shutterfly.com!

The Sproats Go to Washington

The past weekend was pretty darn nice.

1) It started on Thursday night. My parents flew in, and Margaret and Scott and I met them at Coppi's for dinner. Margaret made friends with the owner and scored a free t-shirt when he discovered she's a cyclist. It was my parents' first time meeting Scott, an event that went well by all accounts. And, of course, the meal was excellent. It's organic Italian cuisine. If you live in DC and haven't been, go!

2) While my parents admired the peaking cherry blossoms, Scott and I drove down to Fredericksburg to join the Mighty Mighty Hurricanes (Amherst High School's alum team) at Fools Fest. I was nervous going into it - I hadn't played in months and wasn't looking forward to being rusty and out of shape. But I didn't feel all that bad after all - it would have been nearly impossible to feel bad under such great weather conditions and alongside such fun, spirited teammates. We played (and won) three games, and then

(3) Scott and I headed back to DC for another dinner with my family - this time a birthday celebration at Chez Limon for the women. Mom and I have March birthdays, and Margaret is an Aries. We arrived exhausted and hungry and very appreciative of my sister's vegetable lasagna. Carrot birthday cake, a little gift exchange (hooray for buying presents in Guatemala!), the Guatemala slideshow for Mom and Dad, and bed.

(4) Will kindly picked us up on Saturday morning for Day 2 of the tournament. Again, gorgeous weather, fabulous teammates. We won 2 of our 3 games and played really well all day long. We finished around 4 which meant we had a long time to crash at the hotel before the tournament party. Showering, eating pizza, watching the George Mason basketball game, napping.

(5) It's a good thing I volunteered to help out at the party. Otherwise I would have gone straight to bed and missed it entirely. Instead, Scott and Nick and I (Nick, who I met 5 years ago as a coworker at Explo and haven't heard from since!) headed downstairs where we poured beer for an hour. I managed to dance and socialize until 12:30, and then I was very done for the day.

(6) My parents came out to watch on Sunday! They saw our 14-13 win over Donkey Bomb and our 15-8 loss (but well-played loss) to the Brown University alums. It was really really wonderful to have them there - they haven't seen me play real (non-Duluth pickup) Ultimate before. They couldn't have picked nicer weather or a more exciting game to watch. Many thanks to my friends who chatted with them on the sidelines and filled them in on what was going on! My parents headed back to DC while the rest of us lingered - we had finals to watch, sun to soak, alcohol to consume.

(7) We stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home.

(8) Super quick showers before meeting the parents and sister at Tono Sushi in Woodley Park for dinner. Lovely! I often feel like I'd be friends with my family even if I weren't related to them. I wish we could have spent more time together... but I'll be heading home for Fred's graduation in June and will spend about a week there, so I'll get to see a lot of them then.

I feel like this list should extend to 10. So... 2 little post-weekend tack-ons.

(9) I went running after work yesterday, because I wanted to see the cherry blossoms one more time. They were beautiful, and they smelled beautiful. I was doubly glad I went when I did, because there was a big storm last night and the petals were all rained and blown down.

(10)Only three weeks now until Swan Lake! Scott's taking me since our Nutcracker date was such a sad failure.

Go Scott go!

This guy makes me so happy!

Almost as Cool as Pi Day

On Wednesday of this week, at two minutes and three seconds after one o'clock in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.

One more article

One more Sheep article - this is the best one I've seen so far that describes what our company does.

ESC and SL in the news!!

On Tuesday, there was a story on public radio's "Open Source" with Christopher Lydon all about Second Life. You can read a little bit about it and listen to the entire piece here.

And there's an article in today's Washington Post about Second Life that mentions The Electric Sheep Company! It's entitled "Roaming Virtual World Is a Real Trip."

Yay!

Cherry Blossoms! Stunning!

Happy sigh - Scott and I just went for a lunchtime run down around the tidal basin, and the cherry blossoms are just about at their peak. It's warm and sunny out, and there are tons of people out enjoying the weather and the flowers. Slow going, but absolutely lovely. I'm so glad my parents will get to see it this weekend!

I have a commute again!

This morning Sibley and Jonah and I moved into our new office space, so now I'll be commuting downtown each morning. I'm happy to have a switch from working at home all the time, but I will miss having Elsa the cat on my lap while I work, and now Chez Limon is back to an internetless existence.

I had a fabulous weekend up in Gettysburg celebrating Scott's friend Emily's 30th birthday. We drove up Saturday afternoon, hung out, saw a little photography show at the college, tossed (yay!), ate lots of good pizza, and then returned to Emily's parents' house where we cleaned up, dressed up and got the party started. It was a really wonderful celebration - tons of family and friends from PA and beyond came out, and everyone was so excited to be there together.

We spent the night at a neighbor's house (which had a note on the unlocked front door: Friends of Emily's are friends of ours. Make yourselves at home!), and then spent Sunday eating brunch, learning about the Gettysburg civil war history, eating some more and discussing enneagrams before heading back to DC around 7. A lovely group of people to spend time with!

The big plans for this week start on Thursday night when my parents fly in for the weekend! Yay! If you're going to be at Fools Fest on Sunday, come over and meet them!

Hooray for Cafe!

First, a 2 minute video on the health benefits of coffee.

Next, some information I picked up at the coffee plantation outside of Antigua.



It's a little hard to read, but it says:

The Public Advertiser
May Nineteenth, 1657

Pasqua's Public House
In Bartholomew Lane at the back of the olde exchange
offers a drink newly arrived from Turkey called
COFFEE
& it is being served to the public at ten in the
morning and at three of the clock after noon.
Employers are beseeched to release clerks &
workmen briefly at these hours to partake of this
beverage as it is noted that renewed vigour &
industry more than accommodate for the few
moments away from quills & other labours.

This wholesome drink closes the orifice of the stomach
& fortifies the heat within, helpeth digestion, quicken-
eth the spirits & maketh the heart lightsome.

I really like drinking coffee.

Another interesting thing:


(Click for an enlarged view if this is too hard to read.)

Scott contemplating a coffee tree:



And some depressing statistics about where your money goes when you buy coffee in the US:

For every $1 spent here, only $0.16 goes to the producing country - $0.08 for labor, the rest for the farm and the exporter. The consuming country gets $0.84 - $0.67 for the importer, and the rest for transport and the wholesaler or retailer.

So buy Fair Trade Coffee!

Have a good weekend everyone. Spend a lazy hour with the paper and a cup of coffee.

Fairly Tame Residence in the District

While Guatemala is still firmly in my mind (I'm cooking a nice traditional Guatemalan dinner tonight, complete with homemade tortillas!), I did 3 things today that reinforce my residence in DC. I canceled my Minnesota bank account, since it doesn't have any East Coast branches; I converted my (expired) Minnesota driver's license to a DC license; and I registered to vote in DC. The banking piece means fewer headaches for me, but I'm a little sad about having to give up my MN license. It had holographic snowflakes on it! The woman wouldn't even let me keep it. She just dropped it into a shredder.

Still, it's sort of a cool thing to have a DC license. There aren't that many residents of this city, so it's sort of a rarity, right? It expires in 2011; I wonder what I'll be doing then.


Quick note: I edited my March 14th and 15th posts to include some photos. More to follow!

Hockey in Minnesota, and the Super Fan

I'm so impatient for warm weather! I want to be able to go outside without bundling up. I feel a little silly whining like this, since I'm from Minnesota and it's not really all that cold out. My brother is still reveling in winter - here's a link to his recent post about the state hockey tournament. I think it's great.

And here's what my mom had to say about the whole affair:

I just returned from St. Paul as I had driven down to watch the Marshall Hockey Team play - actually that is not true. I went down to watch Fred in action as Super fan. He is very good - Marshall out cheered the other school and our team out played the other school winning 4 to 2. They play again on Friday and if they win then, they will play on Saturday, and if so we will probably go down for that game. Fred really is a minor celebrity. I met a couple of new parents who said - you are "Fred's Mom - he is so great". I decided that it was almost more cool to be the mother of Super Fan than of one of the hockey players.

My parents are coming to DC the weekend of Fools Fest and will come out to watch a game or two on Sunday. Too bad they're not bringing Fred!

Having just eaten banana bread in Antigua

From Miami's Airport

We had a nice wrap-up morning in Antigua - one last rooftop breakfast, a stop by the jewelery store for my (custom-made) jaguar charm, liquados and fresh fruit in a courtyard cafe... then back to Guatemala City. Amazing that the door-to-door trip, from the Antigua hotel to Chez Limon, is only 12 hours. It feels like a lot though. I miss Scott already. (He has one more day of work, so isn't flying home until tomorrow.) I guess it makes sense to go through a little withdrawl period after spending so much time (281 hours) with him.

The take-off and landing of the flight also made me a little melancholy; all the urban-ness of Guatemala City and Miami is so ugle. All the pollution, all the roads and houses... I'd much rather live in a city than in a pristine cloud forest, but seeing those cities from the air made me sad.

Friday - Arrival in Antigua
We had a nice chatty breakfast with Braulio and Wendy, caught the bus and arrived in Antigua around 11. Coffee and fruit at a cute little cafe before dropping our things of at a cute little hotel. Lunch, window shopping, jade museum, amazing banana bread hot out of the oven, and a nice walk up the hill to a scenic overlook of the city as the sun was setting. A little more wandering around town before drinks at trendy Cafe Sky and then paella at a Spanish restaurant.

Saturday - The Day I Learned About Coffee
After a relaxed breakfast on our rooftop patio, we took a tuk-tuk (a tiny 3-wheeled taxi) out to a coffee plantation. They have a neat museum all about growing, harvesting and processing coffee. There's also a little museum on ancient and current traditional Mayan music that's pretty good. Scott dragged me to Pollo Campero for lunch - it's a fried chicken fast food chain that's huge down here. Good and greasy. We spent the afternoon shopping for gifts and souvenirs and then split a liter of Brahva (the Brazilian beer that's just arrived on the scene to compete with Guatemalan-brewed Gallo). Upscale Guatemalan food for dinner.

Being in Antigua makes me miss Rome a lot. Maybe it's because this city is more colonial, has more fancy old churches, feels more European than the rest of the country. I find myself thinking about Rome (and Lisbon) quite a bit. The architecture, the markets, the food, the museums, the streets.

Sunday - I'm 25 today!
Today is my last full day in Guatemala, which is a sad thing I'm not ready to go home yet and feel like I could spend at least 10 more days here with Scott. I guess that's a testament to how wonderful this trip has been.
We got up at 5:30 this morning for a 6am departure for Pacaya - an active volcano about an hour and a half outside of the city. It took a few hours to hike to the top, most of which was on loose, sandy, rocky volcanic terrain. We got to see lava flowing, steam coming out of the ground and rocks being spat out of the crater. Cool stuff. We got back to our hotel around 1, showered to get rid of the black dust that had managed to get under my toenails and up my nose, and had a little picnic on the rooftop patio - toast, avocado, local cheese, mango. Lovely.

I'm sitting on a balcony overlooking the courtyard f our Antigua hotel. Early morning light, lots of vines and flowers. Scott and pretty much everyone else around here is still asleep. Munching on some of the amazing banana bread we bought yesterday afternoon, hot out of the oven.

Thursday - The Day of the Amazing 3 AM Pee
Thursday was neat because it began and ended with extremely gracious hospitality offered by 2 completely different families.

The day began at 3am when Scott got up to go to the bathroom. I had to go to but was more interested in holding off until our 5 am alarm than leaving the semi-warmth of the bed for a chilly trip outside to the outhouse. But Scott told me it was pretty outside and not that cold, and so I had the most beautiful nocturnal urination ever. There was a full moon illuminating everything (definitely no need for a flashlight) and lots of stars, and it was completely quiet. No hum of traffic, no running water, no people walking around, no roosters crowing, not even any wind blowing. It was almost like being in an old black-and-white photograph.
When I got back inside, Alfonso's grandmother was up. I'm not sure if she was starting to cook or was just getting the cooking fire started. I went back to sleep for a few more hours as other people in the house gradually woke up and got their days started. We had breakfast around 6 - more cak'ik, the special spicy chicken soup that we had eaten for lunch and dinner the day before. After expressing our thanks and saying our good-byes, Alfonso took us back down the mountain. it was a 2-hour hike down to where we would catch a ride into town. Part of the path we were on took us through a really spectacular cloud forest Ancient moss-covered trees, giant ferns, ropy vines, veritable jaguar territory. It was just like something you'd see in Jurassic Park or King Kong... but not cheesy. Just beautiful.
Eventually we got to the village whose name I forget and were pleased to see that a microbus with padded seats and only a few passengers would be taking us to Carcha. On the way up 2 days before, we rode in the back of a big truck, crammed in among locals. It was fun in an adventuresome sort of way, and if you're going to be packed in with a bunch of people it's nicer for it to be in open air than in a sun-baked school bus... but it was still a pretty rough ride. During our final ascent, a space opened up on top of the cargo rack, so I climbed up and rode up high like the other cool young Guatemalan men. Only they make it look easy and comfortable, which it most certainly was not. The road got a lot rockier during that last part, so I was holding on for dear life as the truck lurched and jolted from side to side along mountain hairpin turns. Definitely a relief to reach our destination.
In any case, that leg of the return trip was much easier. In Carcha, we caught another microbus, this one much more crowded, to Coban. We got in around 11:30 and spent a few hours eating lunch, retrieving our bags from the Proyecto EcoQuetzal office and using the internet. Then we hopped on an air-conditioned 2pm pullman to Guatemala City. We got in just as it was starting to get dark, around 6:30. Scott asked the man in front of us for directions to the other bus stop, the one where we could catch a bus to Antigua. To our surprise, it was not 5 blocks away as we had been told; it was a 20-minute taxi ride away. Definitely not walkable at that time of day with our obviously foreign backpacks Taking a taxi wasn't a great option either, as there's always the risk that your driver will take you 20 minutes in the wrong direction, steal your things and leave you stranded. The man told us which public bus we could take and then offered to take us there himself, as it was just 3 blocks from his house. Scott judged him to be trustworthy, and thus started our friendship with Braulio Mayen. He's a colonel in the Guatemalan Army with a couple of side businesses - some shooting ranges and a security service for foreigners.
We told him about our trip, about our plans for Antiua, and he invited us to spend the night at his house instead of continuing on. We protested but he insisted and, as the night kept getting darker, we eventually gave in. We arrived at his home around 8, filthy after spending 2 nights on the farm, and were welcomed in by his wife Wendy and 3 children. Dinner was pulled pork and potatoes with rice, tortillas and spicy pickled vegetables followed by fresh mango (from his family farm) tossed with lime juice and crushed toasted pumpkin seeds. Their family spoke very clear Spanish, so I was able to follow much of the conversation. In addition, Wendy used to work as a translator so spoke English (albeit shyly), and their oldest daughter had just graduated from an American high school so spoke very good English. It was fun for me to be able to chat with them.

My ability to communicate was the least of the differences between the indiginous Mayans and the urban Mayens. I woke up in a 2-room house composed of a dirt floor, a tin roof and wood plank walls, containing no electricity or plumbing, painfully little furniture and just enough food to live on. I woke up on top of a mountain on a farm only accessible by foot that's been cultivated by the same family in the same manner for generations. I went to sleep in Guatemala's biggest city, a few minutes down the freeway from an enormous luxury hotel, a mall and all the fast food you could want. The 2-story house was filled with comfortable furniture, paintings and figurines and decorations. There was hot running water and a refrigerator filled with food. There were TVs and CDs and a digital camera. There was a hired (Mayan) woman to help with the cooking and cleaning. The family has traveled far beyond the borders of Guatemala and can continue to do so at their leisure.
While the Mayen's house was certainly more comfortable (and familiar) than the Mayans' farm, both families extended beautiful hospitality. I thank both of them for sharing their lives with me.

The day I planted maize and beans!

Just woke up from a nap. We had thought about going for another hike into the forest, but our little "let's lie down and digest lunch" idea turned into an hour-and-a-half nap. We've come to stay with Alfonso and his family at an incredibly opportune time. They started planting the grandmother's field today, so there's been a lot going on and a lot of special food being eaten. Today's lunch was caxic - spicy chicken soup - and tamale-like bread. Sounds like we're having both chicken and beef tonight, very special.


Got to help with the planting this morning.


I got a big pole with a pointed end and a pocket full of maize and bean seeds. About 10 of us worked side by side, each making our own row. I had a man helping me keep my row straight, pointing out where to make each subsequent hole. It was appreciated, as it's much harder than it looks to plant a straight line when the field rises and falls and is cut by stream beds and fallen trees. I planted most of 2 rows before I got blistered and a little bored, so I took photos and helped Scott instead. He made a hole with his pole, and I dropped in 3 maize and 1 bean seed and covered them up.

After a hot chocolate break, Alfonso took Scott and I on a little hike up through some fields and into the forest behind his house. Afterwards, we sat on a hillside overlooking a handful of houses, the school and the church and learned more about planting - how they let fields rest for between 1 and 30 years, where they grow firewood, interesting stuff. I'm learning a ton. Alfonso asked about farms in the States, and we told him how all the fields are perfectly flat and the roads are perfectly straight - such a huge contrast from here.


I keep thinking about how incredible it is to be here. We saw farms like this from he bus window, and I had to idea what it was like to live on one. To suddenly be inside, to watch them cook and clean and plant and hang out together is such an opportunity. I'm glad the men know Spanish and that Scott can talk to them, but I wish I could communicate as well. The women and kids only speak Ke'chi, the Mayan language.

Last night they covered the ground of the non-kitchen room with pine needles, so after the big family dinner, everyone wrapped up in blankets and lay down on the ground to sleep. A heck of a sleepover! I think they all stayed because dinner was late and they wanted to start planting early-ish in the morning and they live a ways away from here. Or maybe it's just an excuse for a party.

Sorry for such a disorganized post!

On a traditional Mayan farm on top of a mountain

I'm in an incredibly foreign place, and it's wonderful. I'm by the cooking fire of our guide Alfonso's grandmother's house. Tortillas are frying. A woman is kneading cornmeal and water to make a paste for tamales, and more maize is cooking in a huge pot over the fire. Alfonso and his father are planting this week and enlisting the help of 25 others, so there's going to be a big fiesta at this house tonight. Hence the house is full of tamales made in preparation for all the people who are coming over.


It was dim before, but now that the sun has gone behind the mountains, it's quite dark. There's just light from the fire and a candle. Hardly any furniture, very few possessions, lots and lots of ears of maize hanging from the ceiling to dry. Chickens, turkeys, a scraggly kitten, a few dogs and 2 cows. Scott is out playing soccer with Alfonso and Matteo and 3 little boys.


It's sort of hard to describe this place because it's so different... it's hard to know where to begin.

Semuc-Champey = more swimming in a river!

Sunday -
We got to have a lazy Sunday morning and then spent most of the day traveling - first a chicken bus (an old school bus which offers very cheap transportation all over the country) from Rio Dulce to Los Ranchos, and then a pullman to Coban. Upon arrival, around 6pm, we were approached by "Eric from Portland" who offered us a room in his father's B&B right across the street from where we were standing getting our bearings. We took him up on his offer and have a room for Q35 per night (about $5). We chatted with Marvin from the tourist office, got tortillas and grilled meat from a wagon off the main square, and then walked down to see a religious procession. Neat.

Monday -
Up at 6 to catch a 7am microbus to Semuc-Champey. Gorgeous river, spent 4 hours there swimming, hiking to the top of the hill for a beautiful vista, and then more swimming. After a little lunch, the bus took us to Lanquin where there are some big caves. It was slimy with guano, and the electric lights weren't working, so it wasn´t the most comfortable experience, but I´m definitely glad I got to see it. Arrived back in Coban around 8 filthy and ravenous. Got a great meal at a little place off the main square, then returned to the B&B for much-needed shower and sleep.

It's the first morning we haven't had to wake up before 5 am to go somewhere, but I'm up early anyways and sitting out on a dock on the Rio Dulce. The sun has already risen but things are still pretty hazy. Our hotel here is wonderful. There's a restaurant surrounded by a bunch of little cabins connected by elevated wooden walkways through the jungle. There's a mosquito net around the bed, so when you're lying in it it looks and sounds like you're out camping in the woods.

The first order of business is to wrap up Thursday night. I figured we would just head to bed after dinner, but a little serendipity came our way. Scott ran into one of his high school friends, David Kroodsma, who's in the middle of a really cool trip: A Ride for the Climate. He's biking from California to Argentina raising awareness about climate change. (Definitely check out his blog!) It just so happens that our hotel was also full of researchers from around the world studying how climate change may have caused the collapse of the Mayan civilization around 900 AD. They were taking core samples from Lake Peten Itza. By looking at layers of biomatter that fell into the lake and settled on the bottom, they can get an idea of what was growing around the lake hundreds (and thousands) of years ago. They found evidence of a bunch of grassy plants starting around 900, which means the climate suddenly turned drier, which may have meant more difficult living conditions. No one knows for sure, but the researchers sounded pretty excited about what they were finding and how it fit into other archeologists' studies.
So, definitely cool to meet David, and definitely cool to eavesdrop on all those climate discussions.

Friday - The Day We (Almost) Got to Be Scientists
Friday was the researchers' last day out on the drilling platform, and the previous night one of them had invited David and Scott and I to join her out there to help with the work. We were pretty psyched about this opportunity. The shift started at 6am, though, so true to form we were awake at 4:30 in order to eat and get the OK from the other scientists. It turns out the guy in charge didn´t want extra people running around getting in the way, since it was the last day and EVERYTHING had to get finished. Disappointing, but completely understandable. So we heard a little more about the study over breakfast with all of them, drank our coffee, and hit the road. A 40-minute bus to Sant Elena, and then a 4-hour pullman to Rio Dulce. Definitely enjoyed traveling through the countryside and getting to see non-tourist destinations: farms with cows and horses and chickens and fields of maize and tiny tin or thatched-roof houses. Villages with tiendas and churches. It's a very rough countryside, big hills or small mountains. Scott said someone once compared it to a crumpled piece of paper. It's neat.
Arrived in Rio Dulce around 1, hot and a little cranky after the bus ride and the early morning. But we were immediately shuttled downstream to our hotel which presents itself as a tropical paradise sort of place. We checked in, got a sandwich and a pineapple liquado (juice, ice, sugar - beautiful) and then hopped on a boat for a tour of the river. The highlight was our stop at a natural hot spring. Guatemala is situated over the meeting point of 3 tectonic plates, so there's lots of seismic activity. Our boat, which contained 2 families and 4 other 20-something backpackers, seemed pretty content to sit and observe the hot spring, but Scott and I wanted to swim. He asked if it was okay to jump in, and we both dove in. Eventually, most of the other passengers were enjoying the sulfuric-smelling springs as well.
We continued on to Livingston, a small city on the Carribbean coast, and spent an hour there. I was curious to see it, a conclave of Guatemalans of African descent. (Maybe a slave ship crashed there? I forget the exact history, sorry...) It was neat to see, as its culture is a little different from other parts of Guatemala, but I didn't need more than an hour there. It felt more tourist-y than other-culture-y.
We had a great dinner at the hotel that night. I had cerviche for the first time, and it was amazing. Scott, who's had various cerviches in the past, agreed that it was excellent. We also had penne with smoked snook (a local fish) and 3 grilled meats: lomito, churrasco, and longaniza. Tasty.

Time for breakfast and coffee!

The day I raced Scott to the top of a temple.

I'm writing this up from notes more than fully formulated sentences and paragraphs. Sorry for its lack of structure.

To wrap up Thursday evening, I did get to eat my tepescuintle after all. After Scott woke up from his nap, we explored the hotel lawn, examined the banana trees, and did some stretching and yoga. We ate dinner at Restaurant Cahui (cahui is Mayan for haunted!) down the road. We ate outdoors, overlooking the lake. We were the only patrons. Completely peaceful.


Friday.
Up at 4:30, on the 5:30 bus to Tikal. An early arrival means you have a better chance of seeing neat birds and animals. We arranged a small tour group - just the two of us, a 21-year-old Israeli woman and our guide Josue. We left at 7 and saw an anteater right off the bat. Josue said he only sees one or two each year, so this was a treat. Other things - a tiny frog, a tiny lizard, a couple ant freeways (very cool), a blue-headed parrot, some toucans, neat yellow-tailed birds, and some sort of white jays. And more monkeys! Both spider monkeys and howler monkeys, which sound like jaguars.

The Mayan ruins were pretty spectacular. We saw (and climbed!) temples and pyramids and palaces. Wish I could upload some of my photos right now! We learned about stellae (carved upright slabs) and altars (for human and other sacrifices, like incense, jade, cacao seeds, and human blood). Cool trees, like the ceibal, which symbolizes the Mayan world view: the branches are the heavens, the trunk is this world, and the roots are the underworld. Huge and beautiful. And there was the copol tree, whose sap is used to make incense as well as to treat rheumatism. The sap from the chicle tree is harvested as a chewing gum ingredient. There was the bread nut tree, more palms, papayas... stuff you don't find in Minnesota. Our tour ended around 11, so we took a breather in the Gran Plaza and had lunch. (A funny thing - the egg salad sandwiches we bought were really fried egg sandwiches with 'salad' - lettuce and tomatoes.) We wandered through a few more sites and caught the 2 pm bus back to the hotel for another much-needed siesta. Around 5 we walked down the road to a little dock for a dip in the lake. Blue green water, perfect temperature. We got to watch a beautiful sunset.

Now we're just finishing up dinner. Nothing as exotic s tepezcuintle, but the piña colada and margarita were excellent, as was the jungle tea. It's sort of spicy like chai. I got to eat a new vegetable, the wisquil, which is like a big zucchini. Again, we're dining outdoors overlooking the lake. Lots of crickets and frogs to be heard.

The Day the Monkey Peed on Me

My first post from Guatemala! I'll be doing lots of backdating, since it's much easier to write posts longhand and type them up in batches when I get to a computer, and I'll be making lots of typos, since Spanish keyboards take some getting used to.

So - Wednesdays flights went just fine. I arrived in Guatemala City right on schedule, sailed through customs and into Scott's arms. We taxied back to the apartment where he's been staying and made rice and beans for dinner.

A few impressions of the city - I was surprised at how dark it was flying in, how unlit. There was a sprinkling of orange lights, but nothing like the blaring whites when you fly over the East coast. I hope that means I'll get to see some stars while I'm down here. The drive through the city was congested with cars and pollution. All the walls are painted in bright colors, and there aren't many signs. Instead, store names and advertisements are painted directly onto the walls.


Thursday.
Up at 4:15, in a taxi by 5, on a flight to Tikal by 6. At our hotel, La Casa de Don David, shortly after 8. We checked in, hopped on 2 of the hotel's old beat-up mountain bikes, and rode a mile down the road to a bioreserve. We passed kids and horses and a pickup trick with about 10 Guatemalan men crammed in the back. We chatted with Edwin, the man who worked at the reserve for a little while. He was sitting at a table with animal skulls: two tapirs and a tepescuintle (more about that animal later). And there were a bunch of glass bottles filled with formeldahyde and reptiles and insects: a bunch of snakes, a huge spider, some sort of horned beetle called elephantito for "little elephant". There was a squirrel which was upside-down in its jar for some reason.
After preparing ourselves for the beasts we might encouter within, we started down the path into the jungle. It was green. There were all kinds of exotic trees with large leaves and funny bark. We hiked up a big hill and were suddenly rewarded by a miradore - a beautiful view of the road we had come in on, the surrounding hills and the big blue lake. It was sunny and warm and there were cool breezes; it felt good to be there.
On our way down, I felt what I thought was collected rainwater falling from the top of a tree. This seemed strange, since the rest of teh forest was completely dry. I looked up and realized that it was actually a monkey urinating from the treetops. We backed up, and Scott discovered the rest of the family on another branch overlooking the trail. They were howler monkeys, five adults and a baby, and their continued urination and defecation in our general direction made no secret of the fact that they were anxious for us to get on our way. But their lack of accuracy meant that our curiosity outlasted their bladders, so eventually they all sulked off to find another, more private branch. They have the most amazing tails. I think the best part of the encounter was watching them move through the trees. They're very graceful, almost catlike.
We also saw a lizard, a pair of woodpeckers, and a big flock of noisy black and white birds whose name we can't remember.
We got back to the hotel around 1 and went to the Don Juan (!) restaurant across the street. I wanted to get tepescuintle, an edible jungle rodent that I had read about in the guidebook, but they were all out. So Scott and I split the two other local specialties - venison and whitefish. (It was his first time eating venison! Funny, because for me it's not a foreign food at all. It reminds me of Minnesota and dinner at my grandma's house.) We lingered over the meal and returned to the hotel to a much needed siesta. I woke up before Scott and have come out to the hammock to write. I have no idea what time it is. the afternoon light is diffused by all the green leaves around me. The more I listen, the more birds I hear. In the distance, across the lawn, I can see a man trimming the hedges and the topiary with a machete. We might go for a swim later on. Or I might just lie here and watch the birds. This is a beautiful vacation.

Ready for takeoff!

Today's the day! Twelve hours from now, I'll be deplaning, ready to begin a Guatemalan adventure. Watch this space in 2 weeks for trip photos.


I got to go see Don Juan at the Shakespeare Theater last night. (Many thanks to Brian for the tickets and to Amy for taking me as her date!) I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wish I knew a little more about Moliere and the circumstances he was writing about, but despite fact that I felt like I was missing things, I still learned a lot, and had a lot to think about and found it very funny and accessible. One of my favorite scenes was in the first act. Don Juan is going on about why he loves serial female conquests, and the whole time his servant Sganarelle is helping him change clothes, from one elaborate sixteenth century costume into another. The layers, the fabrics, the fastenings, it was fascinating!

My cat, Elsa, gives scalp massages! It turns out that one of her favorite places to sleep is on my pillow, right behind my head. Before she settles down, she has to knead the surface, which happens to be covered with hair. So she crouches there, purring into my ear and tugging on your hair, which feels great on the scalp. Now to teach her some commands, like "a little farther down".

Time to throw some clothes in the dryer, make a quick trip to the grocery store, and pack! Ciao! Adios!

I awoke relieved that my bike was only vandalized in my dreams.

Just now I pulled my hair into a ponytail for the first time since March of 2000. It feels weird to have it pulled back so tightly, and it's not at all stylish yet. It's just a stubby little thing with lots of neck wispies. But this will be a godsend for Ultimate.

When I was a senior in highschool, I wore my hair in a bun secured by chopsticks nearly every day. I miss being able to do that... but it will take a few more years of length before I can manage that again.

I had a great kabob lunch with Team Dinner Party today at Moby Dick in Dupont. Not as good as Astor, but the company made up for it. Paul remarked that I never blog about my work, so without further ado, here are the wildly exciting IRS forms I've been learning to comprehend today!

Form 1040
Form 1040 Schedule C
Form 1040 Schedule C-EZ
Form 1040 Schedule SE
Form 1040ES
(Today was exceptionally boring... usually I have more engaging things to work on.)


Less than 48 hours until I see Scott!

I awoke relieved that my bike was only vandalized in my dreams.

Just now I pulled my hair into a ponytail for the first time since March of 2000. It feels weird to have it pulled back so tightly, and it's not at all stylish yet. It's just a stubby little thing with lots of neck wispies. But this will be a godsend for Ultimate.

When I was a senior in highschool, I wore my hair in a bun secured by chopsticks nearly every day. I miss being able to do that... but it will take a few more years of length before I can manage that again.

I had a great kabob lunch with Team Dinner Party today at Moby Dick in Dupont. Not as good as Astor, but the company made up for it. Paul remarked that I never blog about my work, so without further ado, here are the wildly exciting IRS forms I've been learning to comprehend today!

Form 1040
Form 1040 Schedule C
Form 1040 Schedule C-EZ
Form 1040 Schedule SE
Form 1040ES
(Today was exceptionally boring... usually I have more engaging things to work on.)


Less than 48 hours until I see Scott!

Another nice low-key day. Church, an easy run, yoga, and kale. I'm off to an Oscar party at Liz and Jesska's house in a bit. Definitely glad the wind has died down, otherwise that ride up Connecticut can be brutal. I got to talk to Scott for a long time today, which was wonderful - we've had pretty limited communication since he left last week. Assuming my flights go as planned, I'll be landing in Guatemala City 72 hours from now!!

There's nothing like napping with a cat.

Just woke up from a 3-hour long nap. So much for going for a run this afternoon! The nap was wonderful. Sun was pouring in the window onto the futon, and I had the cat curled up right next to me. Now I'm listening to Garrison Keillor, broadcasting live from Grand Forks, North Dakota this week. But I'm heading over to an Ono team meeting/party in a little while, and I need to clean my room first. I've had laundry strewn all over it for days now.

Announcements (fun ones and then boring ones)

- Save the date of Saturday, March 25th. I'm turning 25 this month (a quarter century!), so I'm going to have some sort of birthday party that day. Not quite sure what exactly... let me know if you have suggestions. Too bad there's not a centrally-located Dairy Queen!

- Margaret had her first race of the season today and did really well, placing 7th out of 25 class A (upper level) cyclists. Yay!

- Once I get back from Guatemala, I need to shop for health insurance for myself. Let me know if you have any experience doing this!

- My new job is wonderful, but it's going to be a 6-month-to-a-year kind of gig. So I've still got my ear to the ground job-wise. And I figure the more people who know I'm on the job market, the better!


Woo hoo! Guatemala is only 4 days away!!

The Brassicaceae family was formerly called Cruciferaceae.

I strayed from kale tonight... I feel a little guilty for flirtying with another member of the family. But I had this recipe for chamomile-cauliflower soup that calls for 6 chamomile tea bags (you brew strong tea and use that instead of broth). Since I don't like the chamomile tea that I have right now, this seemed like a good way to use it up. And I was right! It's a pretty tasty soup.

Another kale betrayal: there were fresh brussel sprouts at the store today. They're one of my favorite spring foods, so I had to pick some up.

My last brassicaceae (try typing that ten times fast!) comment for the day: radishes and rutabagas are also members of the family! Two more great veggies! I had no idea!


Last night I dreamt that I was talking to some Ultimate players who were going to Lake Fairfax for a tournament and didn't have enough people. They asked me to go, and I agreed to go. I was actually pretty excited about going out to play and was disappointed that I couldn't find a ride out there. I think this means I'll be ready to play again when I get back from Guatemala. Yaay! I've been waiting for this feeling for a long time.

Hmm, I get back on March 20. Fools Fest is April 1. I haven't played since January 1.


5 days until I leave for Guatemala! I took my last typhoid pill today, so my immune system is as prepared as it's going to be for the organisms it will encounter down there...

Spicy kale!

Tonight's kale was accompanied by sauteed red onion, a few pieces of roasted red bell pepper and hot sauce that Josie left behind. Boiled in chicken broth, like last night, but a marked improvement. Still, I get why it's usually a supporting character in soups and things.

It's really a pretty interesting plant though. According to this site, kale and collards "are, in effect, primitive cabbages that have been retained through thousands of years." So it's like I'm eating a dinosaur vegetable!

The cabbagelike plants are native to the eastern Mediterranean or to Asia Minor. They have been in cultivation for so long, and have been so shifted about by prehistoric traders and migrating tribes, that it is not certain which of those two regions is the origin of the species.

So not just a dinosaur vegetable, but a mystery dinosaur vegetable!

Before the "newer knowledge" of nutrition, our experts bemoaned the poor diet of southern farmers, especially the Negroes, and were amazed to find so many of those people to be apparently well nourished. The ubiquitous collard patch on every farm, and in nearly every dooryard where there is room, is now believed to play a most important part in furnishing the necessary vitamins and minerals.

This is turning into a superhero dinosaur vegetable. So I might just buy another bunch of kale when my current one is finished. Kale loaf anyone?

Super fun morning - I got to go down to the International Spy Museum and try out an adventure experience they're putting together. Nina's in charge, so all the Sheepers got invited. Even though we just went through a very rough draft of it and stopped for little debriefing sessions after each piece, there was still a great sense of adventure. It's set to open in May of 2007, and I can't wait to see the finished product!

Since I was in the neighborhood, I got lunch at Chinatown Express, where they make their own noodles. Divine.

Sheep errands, a not-too-hard workout at Fitness First (where I'm now a member!), and home again, tired. I've had this low-level cold for a few days now. Threatening to turn into a phlegm storm, but it might just drizzle and clear up. Hydration, zinc, vitamin C, sleep... what else can you do?



The really happy news for today is that Margaret got a job at City Bikes!

Boiled some kale today... Need to find a real recipe for it.

Scott left for Guatemala this morning, which means that the next 7 days are going to be the Longest Week Ever. I'm impatient to see him again, and I'm impatient to go down there! (For the record, he got down there safe and sound and is on his way to the little town of Sanarate tonight.)

His early departure meant I got an early start on the day, which was nice. Spent part of my day on "Serenite Island" in Second Life learning about how to build things - pretty cool. Definitely gives me a much greater appreciation for all the stuff that I've seen built already.

Went to my first spinning class in the evening. I was underwhelmed. I'm a little under the weather and didn't feel like running, or didn't feel like motivating myself to run, so the external motivation was good. But I don't know if I'll go back any time soon. Definitely not as fun as climbing!

After that, I went to the Ash Wednesday service. It was great. Two Bach pieces for soprano, violin, cello and organ. Wonderful. And my pastor is so great. She gives smart sermons, and she has an incredible memory for people. She always remembers my name... and everyone's! During communion, she'll say "Body of Christ, given for you [insert name here]". She also remembers that I play frisbee. She doesn't really know what it is, but tonight on my way out she told me that she saw people playing and was really impressed at how they were jumping horizontally (e.g. laying out).

Not sure what I'm giving up for Lent. Last year or the year before I think I gave up 15 minutes each day for prayer/reflection/meditation. I might try to do that again... definitely takes discipline.

A random correspondance with someone from Craigslist alerted me to the fact that I'll need to ammend this blog to Libby's Hopefully Not-So-Tame Adventures in Guatemala. I won't be able to post much while I'm down there, but look for an exciting background change this week! I like this red/fuscia pattern, but Christmas and Valentine's are over. I'm trying to find something jungley. Anyone know of any good sites for backgrounds? So far I've only used Citrus Moon.

Alright, off to bed. Planning on going to a 6:45 yoga class tomorrow morning!