Slow times

I am convinced that I am possibly not meant to work in a traditional office, ever.

I go stir-crazy by 11am! Part of the problem right now is that the people I work with are too busy to delegate work to me. Today I spent my time putting together an introductory PowerPoint presentation on the county's trail and bikeway systems that can be used with groups like the Kiwanis Club or League of Women Voters. Pretty lame, but at least it kept me busy.

I am thinking that I will propose to go survey the 40 mile trail system in person - meaning I bring my bike to work and go out for an entire day to ride the trails. I actually think they would approve me to do that for TWO days in a row, if I sell it right. I like the idea of exercising on the government's dime...

Other than that, this weekend will be kind of fun. We start off with dinner to celebrate my friend Alexa's 30th. Saturday I will go for drinks and then enjoy the fine talents of the HBRSB. Sunday we journey to my mother's house, to have a Father's Day BBQ for my stepdad and brother (whose kids will be in town from Spokane).

Lots to do. How are you celebrating your father?

Gypsy Blowout

On August 31 an amazing event will occur at The Fillmore in lovely San Francisco.

Arguably the most dynamic and amazing band is playing, the gypsy punks Gogol Bordello. I last saw them in Spring 2006 at Slim's. My concert going experiences up to that point were totally eclipsed by Eugene Hutz's physical dominance, defying theatrics, and spiritual dynamite. The Slavic-derived band is led by accomplished fiddlers, accordianists, guitarists and the pair of devastatingly beautiful drum maidens.

Anyone up for a life changing experience, let me know by next week when the tickets go on sale...otherwise check your local venues for their appearance. Their shows sell out fast.

German cinema, offender crews

Tonight I went to go see a movie at the Fox Tower theaters at 10:10. I little late for a school night, some might say, but for me it was a necessity. A film I have been wanting to see for many months is only in theaters for a short time. I had to see it, otherwise I'd have to wait until late summer of fall to see it on DVD.

The movie was The Lives of Others. It was very good. I'd recently rented Goodbye, Lenin on video, so my head has recently been very engaged in the pre-Glastnost East Germany mindset. Very different movies but similar effect. All the performers in TLOO were outstanding.

Work today was also a new experience. My supervisor, Jane, told me that she wanted me to accompany her to some construction site checks. We visited two neighborhood parks in Vancouver currently in construction and talked to the PM (project manager) about the status of the work. While were were talking with him, I noticed what appeared to be a group of hired day laborers raking the soil for rocks by hand. It looked like pretty onerous work, I tell you what. I noticed they were all wearing various shades of red and pink t-shirts. I assumed nothing.

Soon enough, I heard the PM use the term "O-crew" and saw my colleagues nodding toward a gangly group of dudes hanging out, one leaning on his standard-issue rake. Assuming the worst, I figured they were convicted felons. Soon again, I heard the PM say that they've been doing good work so far, but once they get the playground equipment installed at the park the O-crew will not be coming back - just to be "safe".

From there, I surmised they were indeed felons, but also child sex offendors. Lovely.

There's nothing like an honest day out at the park to meet the trusted workforce, eh?

A Saturday in June with rain.

Having not spent one single significant part of the month of June in Portland since 1997, I kind of forgot about the prevailing weather patterns that exist here. In May it is nice and sunny, as most places are. In June, progress takes a pause and the rain returns. It was 57 degrees and cloudy yesterday, all day, until about 4 when it got sunny for one hour.

I woke up with hopes of a sunny weekend, but it is raining and cold. 56 degrees cold. I am sitting here in my running clothes waiting for a break in the down pour.

And I wait.

Your dedicated City of Vancouver employee

Yesterday I finally accepted the internship at the City of Vancouver's Parks and Recreation Department. Sure, it's not as sexy as some other companies or firms, but it will prove to be challenging and hopefully fruitful.

Here is a short list of the projects they proposed to me:

1. Develop concept designs for potential acquisition properties (land that old or dying people might donate to the district on the condition they like our proposals for)

2. Develop a composite map illustrating annexation and growth boundary changes as they relate to existing boudaries and park districts.

3. Finalize site selection and develop conceptual course designs for a community disc golf facility; work with local disc club to develop partnership guidlines, draft agreement.

4. Develop a conceptual design for a trail linkage system.

5. Develop revised policies and program for Vancouver off leash-facilities, including guidelines for site selection.

On an unrelated note, my "f" key is stuck on my laptop. I suspect a stubborn sesame seed or something lodged under there.

Home sweet not Berkeley!

I am here in Portland. I just got here a few minutes ago. I have some job interview appts. tomorrow so I had to race in here to check the ol' Gmail account. Things look ok, but I didn't schedule enough wiggle room between the appointments. I just put a phone call in to Employer #1 asking if we can move the appt. up an hour. Waiting to hear back on that one....

The drive up was generally uneventful except for about 5 minutes this morning when my car wouldn't go faster than 30 mph (in 3rd gear) on Interstate 5. Sitting overnight in the cool parking lot, I think the Fox didn't expect such a long day on the road again so soon and its internal gears, pumps and gaskets went into hibernation mode. I am not too surprised, something has always been wrong with the fuel injection or pump system. It probably needs a repair or replacement. Luckily the car recovered after only about 5 minutes and I was soon accelerating like normal. That would have made a very long day - driving on the shoulder up I-5 at 30-35mph. Not my idea of swift transport.

Out to wash the car. A little pampering goes a long way with a character like this....

Grants Pass, Holiday Inn Express

Today I left the Bay Area to go to Portland. I intended to leave my apt. in Berkeley before 9am on Tuesday in order to get to Portland before 6pm. That goal, however, was quickly determined unreachable due to the fact I didn't leave Berkeley until nearly 1pm. I'd been out the previous Monday night drinking too much. By the time I got home on that night, all I was prepared to do was head to bed - packing was yet again delayed.

I rolled into Redding, CA a little bit before 4pm today. For some odd reason, I had a notion in my head that Redding was very near the Oregon border. Sadly, I learned it is NOT. In fact, it is at least 3 hours from the damn border! And you have to go up a treacherous mountain range to get to the border. Along the way, there is a town called Weed, CA that I never seemed to actually reach. Twenty odd miles past what I thought was downtown Weed, I ran into the Weed Municipal Airport. I just kept wondering where the hell did Oregon start. Who gives a flying hoot about Weed.

I thought I could make it to Portland in one long stretch, but then I thought about my sad aging vehicle. Since it arrived in Berkeley in Sept. 2005 the thing has essentially been in automobile retirement. Pulling nearly 400 miles today probably stunned it a bit. I decided to pull into a new hotel in Grants Pass, OR to let the little soldier rest a bit.

Arriving in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express, I crossed what I later learned was a family barbeque. A family traveling in several large vehicles and what appeared to be a horse trailer were actually firing up a Weber grill right outside the south entrance. They were also smoking and drinking tall boys of Bud. Nice people - they asked if they could help me with the door as I moved my bicycle off the car bike rack into my room.

I watched some cable television special tonight hosted by Walter Cronkite. The special was about war correspondents in Europe during WW2. Very interesting. BTW, on Saturday I saw a great documentary about the looting of artwork and other masterpieces during WW2, which I highly recommend. Entitled, The Rape of Europa, it is playing in the Bay Area now as part of a film festival.

More from the road tomorrow, hopefully terminating in my arrival to Portland before noon PST.

One mistruth begets another

I have this bad habit of trying to soften news I have to break people by not being completely up front with them. The intention is well-meaning; I simply do not want to make anyone unhappy or uncomfortable if I can help it. While unhappiness in this situation is probably inevitable, I have this idea in my head that delayed unhappiness is the lesser of two evils one should suffer from. However, this line of thinking tends to get me in a little hot water now and then, such as this week.

The lesson I've learned is simple. Be straight with people! You'd think I would know that one by now. Eh....

The shit is getting prepared to hit the proverbial fan. Let's hope it's no big deal and I am concerned over nothing.

Email to the phone piece

Now you don't need a Blackberry or Treo to receive email on your phone....This is a new FREE service I learned about from the NY Times today. I just signed up so I'll let you know how it works.

The service is called Teleflip.

I'm Done. Africa's colleges.

This article made my otherwise cheerful Sunday pretty depressing:

Africa's Storied Colleges, Jammed and Crumbling

The Gates Foundation should address the issue of higher ed in places like Africa...help these places get on their feet. Without some kind of intervention, the next several generations of young Africans will be underserved by their institutions of higher learning. These young people are the ones that stand to benefit the most from quality higher ed like no other group in the world. I've been wondering about this issue for quite a long time. Take a peek at the photo slideshow, too, it's a goodie.

By the way, I am done. DONE. School's out for the summer. My last task was going back to Wurster Hall on Friday night at 10:30 and putting the rest of my studio crap into my car. Where it remains at this very moment.

Today I attended the landscape graduation at Blake Garden where I consumed many dixie cups of champagne. Tomorrow morning, I will attend another quick graduation to see my roommate and Jean Paul graduate...followed by dixie cups of champagne. Then I go to Jiffy Lube. Then I go into the city for diversions.

This week will be a whirlwind of social outings, errands, packing, interviewing, and cramming. In no particular order.

Mess

By Friday COB I have to clean out my spot in the studio. Somehow, between Jan and Feb, I managed to take over another neighboring desk that was empty. So now I have two full desks to clean out. You wouldn't believe the shit I've been finding under all these papers! I just found a $10 bill and some expensive jewelry I thought I lost on a field trip.



One thing to take home from the first year in design school: This work is wasteful (in terms of materials) and not easy to store. It's not like with books, where you can neatly throw them on a shelf. I have a stack of large format posters, 10 pounds of clay, a Mayline, two 36' metal rulers, two grocery bags scrap modeling wood (this shit is expensive, so you save the scraps), a 3'x3' piece of 1/4" plywood and a 42" Borco mat to take back to my apartment. Plus about 5 books. We use those, too, sometimes.

Worthy cause...

Recently, the roller derby ladies of the Bay Area got the boot from Dry Ice. All matches since late March have been cancelled. I hate to say this, but I kind of agree with the Fire Marshall. The facility is nice that it is small, but the way they pile the people in there (and allow then to sit IN the rink guzzling beer where there are only 2 teeny access exits) is just asking for a lawsuit. Not that I'd have it any other way....but I understand.



The Derby Girls are having a fundraiser in their quest to locate a new practice and performance space. Good luck.

Chocolate, textures, glue, Hotmail guy

Here are some things I recently decided I like:


Alter Eco dark chocolate with a dabble of milk chocolate.

Mayang's Texture Library
This site basically makes my life as a computer monkey much easier.

Weldbond Glue
This glue puts Elmer's to shame.

Us over at 3110 Grove Street in Berkeley hosted a rather successful end-of-the-year blow out celebration last Friday. Countless beers were consumed as was a 2.5 liter jug of Maker's Mark. As a Maker's honorary ambassador, I am obligated to serve copious amounts of this special bourbon at any social function I host or help host.

Aside from the good times had from the consumption of Kentucky moonshine, we had an notable guest at our party. The founder of Hotmail, Sabeer Bhatia, showed up at my crummy apartment.


This is Sabeer.

At one point in the evening, someone told me that a rich dude was at my party. Later, I saw some chap I didn't recognize in my kitchen doing yoga poses with some Brazilian ladies who my roommate Pedro invited. I assumed it was the Hotmail guy. Turns out I was right. I later found out my friend Stefan invited Sabeer to our party, so it wasn't like he just showed up unannounced. I wonder if he noticed our dirty carpet...

Haleh Esfandiari

You know the world is a messed up place when someone you used to work with gets sent to an Iranian prison...

Haleh, I hope to all that is holy that Lee Hamilton can get you out of there. If anyone can do it, it is Lee. You are a strong woman but you need help to get out of this one I fear.

My prayers are with you and Shaul.

******************
Tehran Jails Iranian American Scholar After Long House Arrest

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 9, 2007; Page A12

Iran yesterday detained prominent American academic Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Smithsonian Institution's Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, according to center president and director Lee H. Hamilton and Esfandiari's husband.

Esfandiari, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen who has lived in the United States for more than a quarter-century, has been under virtual house arrest since December, when the government refused to allow her to leave Iran after visiting her 93-year-old mother. Since then, she has been summoned repeatedly for interrogations by intelligence officials about U.S. programs on Iran. In particular, she was questioned about Iran programs at the Wilson Center, one of Washington's most prominent foreign policy think tanks.

Esfandiari was summoned by the intelligence ministry again yesterday but was then taken to Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, the sources said.
Esfandiari is one of three "soft hostages," all dual U.S.-Iranian nationals, whose passports have been confiscated by the Iranian government, rendering them unable to leave the country.

The United States has not faced such tension over Americans held in Iran since the 1979-1981 hostage crisis, when 52 Americans were held for 444 days. Until Esfandiari' s detention yesterday, the Wilson Center and her family had sought to avoid publicity in hopes that she would be granted a new passport.

Esfandiari and the other soft hostages appear caught up in an Iranian reaction to the Bush administration's $75 million program to promote democracy in Iran, which was unveiled last year. Tehran has since cracked down on human rights advocates, labor groups and women's rights campaigners, according to human rights activists.
"The government's justification for these actions is usually couched as a response to the State Department's announcement to provide financial support to Iranian civil society and nongovernment organizations," said Hadi Ghaemi of Human Rights Watch. "This has fueled a perception among the Iranian politicians that the U.S. is committed to instigating a 'velvet revolution' in Iran. Ironically, the Iranian Americans who travel to Iran mostly stay away from politics and are not by any means part of the 'regime change' advocates. But they have become pawns in the hands of Iranian government as it charts its strategy in engaging with the U.S."

During her interrogations, Esfandiari was pressured to make false confessions or to falsely implicate the Wilson Center in activities in which it had no role, Hamilton said. Esfandiari was contacted again a few days ago and asked to "cooperate" with intelligence ministry officials, which she refused. On Monday she was told to report to the Ministry of Intelligence again. When she arrived yesterday, she was taken to Evin Prison. It is unclear whether she has been formally charged with any offense.
Hamilton, a former congressman and Iraq Study Group co-chairman, wrote Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Feb. 20 appealing for Esfandiari to be allowed to leave. "I said the Wilson Center did not receive any money from the U.S. government for the purpose of trying to influence or to determine specific policies or direction of the Iranian government," Hamilton said in an interview yesterday. "We've been very transparent about our dealings. . . . We have offered a wide array of viewpoints. That's our role."

In a subsequent conference call with reporters, he added, "The interrogators could have gotten all the information with a few clicks on the Wilson Center Web site."
Hamilton's Iraq Study Group report in December urged the Bush administration to deal with Tehran on the issue of Iraq. "It is our view that in diplomacy, a nation can and should engage its adversaries and enemies to try to resolve conflicts and differences," the report said. "Diplomatic talks should be extensive and substantive." The Wilson Center did not receive a response from the Iranian president's office.

Esfandiari has brought in many scholars and analysts from Tehran to speak at the Wilson Center, one of the few places in Washington to offer a robust range of opinions on Iran. "The irony is, in Washington she faced criticism for bringing in people who were sympathetic to the Iranian government," said Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "By detaining her the Iranian government only eliminates an advocate for diplomacy and strengthens the voices of those in Washington who say the regime is cruel and should not be engaged."

The ordeal for Esfandiari, a Potomac resident married to George Mason University professor Shaul Bakhash, began Dec. 30 when she was on her way to the airport to return to Washington and her taxi was stopped by three men with knives who threatened to kill her. They took her belongings, including her Iranian and U.S. passports. When she tried to get a replacement passport, she was "invited" to an interview with a man from Iran's Ministry of Intelligence. Interrogations continued almost daily for six weeks, up to eight hours a day. She was allowed to return to her mother's home at night.

Iran confiscated the passport of Radio Farda correspondent Parnaz Azima when she arrived in Tehran in January, also to see an ailing mother. She, too, has undergone interrogations and was asked to collaborate with intelligence, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty President Jeffrey Gedmin. Azima's attorney was told last month that she would have to stay in Iran "two or three years." The third, who does not want to be identified, was refused her passport and right to leave the country for six months.

A fourth American, former FBI agent Robert A. Levinson, disappeared after he flew to Iran's Kish Island in March. Tehran has denied any knowledge of Levinson's location.

Imaginary places...

Today's earthquake

A mere 3.0, but Wurster Hall shook up a little bit over here in Berkeley. That's 10 stories of Cold-War era concrete moving around.



Side note: I find it a little troubling that this is the type of map the USGS web site still uses to notify people of where an earthquake took place. It looks like something from 1973. I don't even thing the bridge interchange is like that anymore and I don't know what the radio tower is.

I'm under 100

For the first time in five years, my LDL cholesterol is under 100. Usually, I run about 120, which causes my doctor a little disdain.

I have nothing to really attribute this point loss to other than the fact that I regularly take a lot of fish and flax oil. I began taking the oil every morning at the request of my eye doctor in January 2006. Taking a mixture of fish, flax and borage oils can help relieve dry eye symptoms, especially in the post-opt period after lasik eye surgery.

Apparently, it can also be correlated to improved circulatory health as well.

Reiteration

Albums to pick up...

Sondre Lerche, Two Way Monologue
Kings of Leon, Because of the Times (unfavorably reviewed by Pitchfork)
Bjork, Volta
Panda Bear, Person Pitch