adrian is rad

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A couple weeks ago Saturday my dad and I did the Alcatraz swim. It was the second time for me.

the swimmers at the orientation

My elbow’s been hurting for weeks so besides some kicking in the pool I hadn’t swam since the end of August. My elbow hurts a bit more now. Otherwise, the swim went decently. I sighted better and picked a better route (important because of the currents) than last time. I came in 2 minutes faster than last time.

Yeah, my pop beat me by 13.something minutes. 55:01 for me and 41:15 for him. He’s still speedy.

It was really cold, but you only notice for the first few minutes. Last time I swam Alcatraz I had quite a bit more–let’s say–insulation. But it was warmer (63 vs varied reports of 57 to 60). The currents were present but not too hard to handle. I swam a conservative route so I ended up west of the opening of aquatic park, despite a west-to-east current, but only maybe 200 yards upstream, which is far better than ending up 100yards down current, for instance (which I did last time).

my pop, wet-suit clad

swimmers walking toward the boat

mom and dad enroute the boat

mom and dad passing fisherman’s wharf

Here’s some stuff I found interesting in the last while or thoughts I’ve had, largely without comment.

NY Times spends 36 hours in my neighborhood (photos)–here’s the article. Not entirely unrepresentative.

I think there’s some reasons to be hopeful about what’s going on in Zimbabwe, but like pretty much everyone, I’m going to see what actually comes of it.

Here’s another NY Times piece about Palin as a stepping point to different ideas of the American West (NYtimes login required; bugmenot helps).

I’ve stopped buying Cavendish bananas, for now at least. There are other cultivars available around here.

NY Times Magazine had a piece on Bush’s last stretch and his sometimes contentious relationship with McCain.

There’s an project to find the first black African cyclists that will compete in the Tour de France.

I watched a video of two suited guys longboarding down Berkeley Hills. It’s about twice as long as it needs to be, but it’s pretty spectacular. Make sure you see the turn around 3:26-3:30.

Adam Kimmel presents: Claremont HD from adam kimmel on Vimeo.

72% of Americans apparently feel that it is important for the president to have strong religious beliefs.

Biden and other Catholic politicians have been refused communion (or its been strongly suggested they don’t present themselves for communion) regarding their abortion stance. Have their been similar suggestions or outcries for Biden (or other politicians) because of their disagreement with Catholic Church’s stance death penalty? I haven’t heard any. Maybe it’s just that evangelicals make up a louder voting block and there’s no unified position there on the death penalty.

I find adultery appalling–once I very nearly threw up when I saw a friend kiss a girl that wasn’t his girlfriend–but it’s legal and don’t think it should be illegal. I’d never thought of it (and moreso its implications) that way before.

Pittsburgh-style sandwiches, #1: It was approximately birthday lunch time at work, so for Friday I chose one of my favorites: Giordano Brothers in North Beach (previously; previously). Their Primanti’s-style sandwiches always warm my heart [1] and grow my belly. Very delicious stuff and hits the line of nostalgia and delicious food just right. Outcome: I was a winner, 1-0.

Pirates at Giants: the Pirates were in town so I saw them at AT&T park. Zack Duke who has been good in the past but was 5-13, ~5.1 ERA before the game. He seemed to regain some of his past skill for this game, pitching a complete game shut out and getting out of a couple really tricky jams (like basses loaded, no outs). Outcome Pirates 7-0.

Texans at Steelers: For the season opener, Dug and I went to Shanghai Kelly’s again. It’s my favorite Steelers bar. What a bunch of crazy people, cheering, yelling and drinking as early as 9:30am on a Sunday. And coming back, there were some of the same people as last year and the year before, so I recognized them. I’ll acknowledge that my Steelers fandom is among the most ridiculous things I regularly participate in and I’m fine with that. Outcome: Steelers 38-17.

Pittsburgh-style sandwiches, #2 Near the end of the game Dug was lobbying for a Giordano Bros sandwich–he hadn’t been on Friday–and I acquiesced. After all, who’s to stop a man from having a sandwich with slaw and fries on it? It was delicious again.

[1] Well, by “warm”, I mean clog.

One month from today, my dad and I will swim from Alcatraz to Aquatic Park, San Francisco. I’m not quite as ready as I want to be, but I’m feeling pretty okay about it.

Because I’m a dreamer and after writing this (most of it accomplished in one day, without pain) I’m a little inspired to try the San Francisco Triathlon at Treasure Island in the sprint distance. As Saturday proved, I could probably do the cycling and swimming now. The running I may never be able to do, however, due to lingering knee-bone injuries. Maybe I should just plan on walking it. Or maybe I should just not do it.

0.75 mile swimming, 13 miles biking, 4.5 miles walking.

Football: A friend got tickets to the 49ers v Packers preseason game last night. I’ve never been to an NFL game (and I rarely even watch NFL games on TV) that didn’t involve the Steelers, but this was still pretty fun.

Candlestick is an old relic of a stadium, but it’s got some charm to it, even if the winds are pretty chilly. The new Packers guy didn’t look great. The 49ers didn’t look amazing, but they were infinitely better than the Packers and won the game easily.

Also, there was a funny guy next to us. He and one other person tried to start the wave. It failed.

track: The men’s 100m dash was last night. Usain Bolt destroyed. He was so fast that with 20m left he was already showboating, his arms out and then pounding his chest. He was decelerating before the finish line and still easily broke the world record and won gold. It sort of reminds me of that Manny home run when he just admired his own brilliance instead of running. I’d like to see what he can do when he actually runs the race through.

swimming: You know what Phelps has done by this point. I’m pretty inspired and impressed. Incidentally, during the 3rd quarter of the above game, they announced that Phelps had won his 8th gold and everyone applauded.

I also realized that no Olympians look like normal people. Marathoners are stick thin and lack body fat entirely. Sprinters have quads that are bigger than my waist. Swimmers are triangles on top of smallish legs. Pistol or archery are probably the closest to normal people.

I’ve been watching a lot of the Olympics swimming. I like swimming and there are a number of compelling stories in there, including Phelps but also just the fact that world records are being smashed by everyone.

(Incidentally, if you haven’t watch the whole men’s 4×100 video it’s much better than just the highlights.)

One would think that the most efficient stroke would be the most symmetric, but particularly in the short distance freestyle these people (who obviously know what they’re doing) have very asymmetric strokes. They are much slower on their breathing side. I find that interesting.

I don’t know how to do this at all in one post. I spent the last 12 days in Boston, NYC and DC.

The best part was seeing people I don’t get to see very much. Everything else places after that.

Tourism and whatnot:

• New York Transportation Museum is awesome. It’s in a 1930s subway station. On the tracks are 20 or so vintage subway cars from across the history of the New York subway. It’s pretty great.
• Brooklyn Museum is pretty good. A decent collection but definitely a second tier museum
• Coney Island is a lot of fun. The Cyclone’s first drop is heart-stopping and the sliding cars on the Wonder Wheel are pretty amazing.
• Baltimore Orioles vs. Texas Rangers. We had good tickets (3rd row of the bleachers). It was a good game and Camden Yards is a pretty great ballpark.

Music and Film:

• My friend played backup as part of My Brother the Welder’s first show ever. It was a good time. Good tunes and impressively precise for a first show ever.
• Lars and the Real Girl is an amazing movie. Touching and hilarious and awkward all at once. I really liked it.
• American Teen is a documentary following 5 people (and a handful of their friends) over a year at a midwestern high school. I found this very compelling and I was totally engrossed in each person’s stories. It also serves as a lesson in parenting–many of the parents in the movie just say horrible things.
• Shaun of the Dead. I managed to see this as part of an afternoon of TV. It was good, but I think I liked Hot Fuzz better.
• At my friend’s mostly-traditional Indian wedding, there was a really good dhol drummer providing a beat for dancing and the procession. It makes me want to learn yet another Indian double barrel drum.
• Other Music is a good small record store. I liked their selection and the people working there seemed pretty knowledgeable.

Food:
I ate so much food. Where to start:

• Hallo Berlin is still really good for sausage and fine beer.
• Patsy’s Pizza might have drugs in the slices they’re so good.
• Horace and Dickie’s is a fish and chips/ chicken shack that serves ridiculous portions for next to nothing around the corner from the Red and the Black (see below). I liked my crab cake sandwich ($4.80!) and their sweet potato pie was delicious.
• Three brunches in two days: because vacation is for overeating.

Pure ridiculousness:

• At a sports bar in DC on Sunday night, two guys were watching the PGA Chamionship. They were more into the sport than anyone I’ve ever seen. Our dinner was oft-interrupted by cheers or jeers. One of my favorite moments was near the end of the event: “FUCK! FUCK YOU, SERGIO!”
• On the 6 line in NYC, a 30-something black woman got on at one stop and proceeded to preach Jesus (in a pretty compelling and rousing style) for one stop. Then she sat down and read a book.
• While my friend and his girlfriend were disagreeing about something, I asked them if they were fighting. They responded that if they were fighting they would be yelling into each other’s mouths. They then proceeded to demonstrate: they opened their mouths wide, locked them together and proceeded to scream. I fell off my chair laughing.

Okay. That was the trip. Or some of it, at least.

If you haven’t seen the result, it’s pretty spectacular.

You can watch the video highlights here.

I only got a few things (out of many) done on my todo list today, but it did end up being a pretty good day:

• Swam in Aquatic Park
• Bought some walking-around bike shoes
• Went to a studio and hung out while a local band recorded
• grill a tuna steak and fried a plantain for dinner

I also just put away my laundry, so I only have about ten things to do tomorrow.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Steelers may change or restructure their management. The Steelers website confirms some talk of restructuring, but nothing about an outside buyer.

Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney, the eldest of the brothers, wants to consolidate his control through a 10-year plan to buy out most of their shares, but a well-funded prospective buyer has emerged after some of Mr. Rooney’s brothers and their children raised questions about his offer.

Stanley Druckenmiller, billionaire chairman of Pittsburgh’s Duquesne Capital Management, has expressed interest in acquiring the Steelers, people briefed on the negotiations said.

This isn’t something I ever thought I’d see. Hopefully it’ll work out for the best.

I’m going to my first (regular season Steelers game in Pittsburgh) on December 28. Woooo.

I’ve been following the hockey playoffs and I’ve been pretty happy with how the Pens were doing, but I haven’t be particularly engaged by the proceedings. Well, until tonight. Tonight I got a lot of cardiovascular exercise just sitting around and it was an exciting one.

The Pens were ahead two goals only to fall behind one well into the third period. They pulled their goalie and tied it up with 34 seconds left!

Then it’s sudden death overtime. They played pretty poorly but the 23 year old goalie for the Pens was playing immaculately. It was amazing what this guy was stopping. He’s a Jedi.

Second overtime and the pens played better but it still ended tied. Everyone’s exhausted at this point. Players were being knocked over and then having a hard time just standing up again.

The game went into the third overtime and both teams are just playing all out with anything they have left. The game started almost five hours before. Finally there’s a power play for the Pens and the guy who’s injured and hasn’t played since the third period comes back out. A guy who called it–who pointed at himself and said he’d get a goal earlier in overtime–scores the goal to end the game.

Oh benny what an exciting game. Unbelievable.

It’s Bike to Work Day and it’s going to be a hot one. I’m drenched.

Also, I think they forgot a very important aspect of this day: biking from work.

Here’s an interesting article in the NY Times about the juxtaposition of ridiculous way the Red Sox take money from their fans and the pureness of Fenway. Pretty interesting.

Here is a list of the top 50 sketches ever. There are some funny ones on there.

Merlin Mann has a new weblog to add to the 50 other web presences he has. There’s some funny stuff on there.

The A’s are offering All You Can Eat Seating. $35 for a game and you get all the hot dogs, ice cream, nachos, popcorn, peanuts and soda you want (though only 2 items + soda per trip through the line).

Jesse, do you see this??

It’s a sad day. Every Pittsburgher knows exactly what Myron Cope meant to the city and to the Steelers.

Number of days: 112

Number of days or parts thereof spent traveling: 47 (3 to/ from, 7 intra-Taiwan (3 Kaohsiung, 2 Taroko, 2 Kinmen), 37 intra-Asia (7 Indonesia, 5 Thailand; 15 Hong Kong, Macau, China; 10 Japan)

Number of countries visited (since moving): 6 (Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Japan, U.S.) + 2 special administrative regions with separate border controls (Hong Kong, Macau)

Number of countries visited (year to date): 8 (above + South Africa, Swaziland) + 2 S.A.R.s

Number of flights (since moving): 14 (SFO-> TPE-> CKG-> DPS-> CKG-> TPE-> BKK-> TPE-> HKG-> TPE-> NRT-> TPE, TSA-> KNH-> TSA, TPE-> SFO)

Number of flights (2007): 31 (SFO-> CVG-> IAD-> JNB, DUR-> CPT-> JNB-> JFK, BOS-> JFK-> SFO-> BOS-> DFW-> SFO-> HNL-> LIH-> HNL-> SFO + above + SFO-> CLT-> DCA)

Miles flown (since moving): 27,406 miles (44,106 km)

Miles flown (2007): 63,569 miles (102,304 km)

Number of high speed train journeys: 4 (Taipei->Kaohsiung->Taipei, Tokyo->Kyoto->Tokyo)

Number of train journeys: 6 (above + Taipei->Hualien->Taipei)

Approximate number of km ridden on scooters: 225

Best hotel (overall): Kamandalu Resort, Ubud, Bali. A connection to the cousin of the owner opened the door for staying in this swanky place. Gorgeous surroundings and really nice rooms. Private verandas looking over rice paddies. The service was also excellent. We went out riding bikes around the rice paddies one day and came back sweating. Pretty soon after we entered the lobby we had cool moist towels to wipe our faces with. Perhaps the only nicer place I’ve stayed is the ridiculous Schlosshotel Veir Jahrezeiten (Four Seasons Palace Hotel) in Berlin. (They had a Ferrari convention while we were there and it didn’t seem out of place.)

Best hotel (value): Hirano Guesthouse, Kyoto. 3500 yen a night in Kyoto is very cheap and besides a nice place to stay, the owner was very friendly, helpful and accommodating, making us tea when we came home for a break in the afternoons. She also made us breakfast every morning, let us use her bicycles and computer/ internet. Oh and there was a candy bowl and after we ate an unreasonable amount of it, she didn’t complain, she just refilled it.

Number of American chain stores patronized (not counting convenience stores, exact): 3 (2 Subways-Taipei, 1 Denny’s-Kyoto)

Number of American chain stores patronized (counting convenience stores[1], approximate): 22.2 (the above + Circle K’s in Taiwan, Bali, Thailand, ampm’s in Japan, plus 0.2 for a Mister Donut in Japan[2])

Oddest food obsession: Harbo’s Happy Cola gummy candies

Most common food eaten: rice (~ >1.5 servings a day)

Most common food product eaten: Kinder Chocolate (~ 0.6 a day)

Most “exotic” foods eaten: crickets, silk worms, frog

Number of Dr. Peppers consumed: 2 (one in Japan, one in Thailand)

Foods most missed: good bread, good cheese, Dr. Pepper, good beef, shelled shrimp, deboned fish.

Number of Hello Kitty products seen: in the thousands

Number of Hello Kitty products purchased: 1 (alarm clock, convenience store, Japan)

America: so quiet, so dark, so many English speakers, so many whites/ latinos/as, blacks. big supermarkets. low population density.

Least useful piece of clothing: dress shirt (the greenish one, never worn, given away at the end)

Most useful piece of clothing: shoes (the brown Adidas, nearly daily)

Most useful piece of clothing out of its original purpose (and new use): board shorts-style swimsuit (exercise shorts)

Piece of clothing I most immediately realized I’d forgotten: navy blue cotton boxers (that I use as warm weather pajama bottoms)

Number of books read: 5.75 (2nd 0.5 of Slow Man by Coeztee, Love is a Mixtape by Sheffield, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: a Story of the Hip Hop Generation by Chang, Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Klosterman, Born on a Blue Day By Tammet, You Don’t Love Me Yet by Lethem, first 0.25 of About a Boy by Hornsby)

Number of concerts attended: 3 (Emily the Band @ Underworld, Apples in Stereo @ the Wall, Sugar Plum Ferry @ the Wall)

Number of CDs purchased: 19 (5 in Hong Kong (Monitor), 5 @ WWR (1st trip), 5 @ WWR (2nd trip), 2 @ IMPO, 1 @ FINAC, 1 @ Roses(?))

Number of pieces of mail received: 6 (3 packages of promo CD(s); 1 each from Ian, Lauren, Gumbeaux)

[1] This is tricky because things are confusing. 7-11 is Japanese for instance.

[2] Mr. Donut is an American brand but the Asian stores are run by Duskin Co out of Japan under a licensing agreement.

the Polamalu throwback jersey

or

the Hines Ward throwback jersey?

Polamalu is probably the player I’m most impressed with in terms of playing ability–he plays like a wild man–but I like the longevity and single-teamedness (10 years on the Steelers, stopped a contract stand-still by telling his agent that he wanted to retire with the Steelers) and constant smile of Ward.

life is so hard!

I will talk about things that are Japan-related and things that are not Japan related. I had dreams of more well organized posts with photos and everything, but I’ll post now with possibly expanding on some of these topics later.

My ear is feeling (ie hearing) a bit better. I’ve started listening to ear buds again in limited (very quiet) contexts. First song back: “King of Pain”.

The rest of the Japan trip was pretty good.

I mean, it was great. It’s a crazy place. One coworker said something like it’s a very odd combination of a repressed/ conservative culture and a wild/ unashamed culture. Very strange.

Some of the stranger places included the hot bath that had a mildly electrified pool, the sushi place that required you to eat at least 7 dishes (of 2 pieces a piece) of mostly sushimi in less than 20 minutes, the Diago-ji temple that had a painting that I thought was a garden; either that, or it had a garden that was completely unreal in how beautiful and archetypal it was. They were also chanting in the part of the temple that’s at the top of the hill when we got there and I could hear it from maybe half a mile off. A strange beacon.

I’m not missing Thanksgiving. I mean, I’m not attending Thanksgiving and thus am missing it but Thanksgiving is such a non-event here that the only time I even think about it is when I talk to people in America. Also, I knew from May that I wouldn’t be doing Thanksgiving this year. I love Thanksgiving, but I’m prepared.

(Did you miss the Moon Festival this year? I didn’t; I participated.)

On the other hand, the prevalence of Christmas decorations, music and colder weather in Japan made it feel like mid-December, much close to when I would be leaving for the U.S. That caused many more pangs of homesickness.

During bouts of longing for America, it seems that any culture representing that will do, possibly with even the less sophisticated being better. No, I’m not talking about fast food; I’m talking about movies. Last night, I watched Must Love Dogs without shame; tonight may be 40 Days and 40 Nights. In Germany, I remember watching (possibly multiple) Freddie Prinze Jr movies. It’s crap.

I finished Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: a Story of the Hip Hop Generation last week. I’m not sure, but I think it’s racist. The book draws some distinction in various situations between pro-black and anti-white, but I think this book was possibly anti-white. For instance, the nomenclature was: Black, Latino, Asian, Korean (etc etc) and white.

Now I’m on to Chuck Klosterman’s Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, which is a book of Klosterman’s ridiculous pronouncements about culture, on everything from internet pornography to NBA basketball to Billy Joel. It’s entertaining, but I think I prefer his travel narrative, Killing Yourself to Live.

Sufjan’s having a contest in which you can win rights to one if his songs if you write the best original christmas song (which he then gets the rights to). I am thinking of something along the lines of a response song to a classic 1963 Christmas song. We’ll see if I can churn something out–I need to figure out how to do the instrumentation on this–maybe FruityLoops or something. My guitar through a built-in mic isn’t going to cut it.

The Steelers loss today was almost funny. It’s almost expected, the way the Steelers manage to botch the “easy” games. None of their three losses is even marginally excusable and if some columnist says otherwise, question his ability to analyze their games. On the other hand, they’ve been great in pretty much the rest of their games.

There is a baby crying down the hall. I hope this doesn’t continue. I don’t like crying babies.

On strange candies and confectionaries. Good: the two different Chocolate Pocky’s and Men’s Pocky, those weird mushroom-shaped chocolates that are sort of like Pocky, some Mentos (Fuji Apple, particularly and the Berry Blast and Sour mixes), mint Kit Kats, all Kinder chocolates. Interesting, but not great: Green Tea Meltykiss, those white + green tea chocolates, that incompressible Mentos that might have been cherry and also the strawberry and green apple ones, the mini-hamburger chocolates. Bad: apple Kit Kats.

I was going to go to the “Chinese Taipei” vs Italy game in the Baseball World Cup today with a coworker but heavy rains all day forced the delay until November 12, which is when I’ll be in Japan. Doh!

I was looking forward to it because my coworkers had been telling be some stories about how baseball games in Taiwan are. Oh well.

Steelers beat the Ravens 38-7.

Roethlisberg had 5 touch downs…in the first half and ended up 13/16 for 209 yards, 5 TDs and no interceptions. That’s gotta do a lot for your quarterback rating…

Harrison seemed perhaps more impressive: 3.5 sacks, 2 force fumbles and 1 interception. Basically the defense was awesome overall–104 net yards was all they allowed. That’s pretty much amazing.

The running game had a hard time, it seems. Willie had a hard time (23 carries for 42 yards–this must be the first time in a long time that the team’s won without Willie getting a 100 yard game, right?), so they put in the bigger Najeh (11 caries for 34 yards) and also big Carey Davis (3 for 14 yards). Almost 100 yards in total.

Also not great was Ben getting injured. I don’t quite know what the deal is other than he came back and then left the game again, but hopefully he’s not injured longer-term.

Go Stillers. Hopefully they can figure out how to run against hard defenses and Ben’s okay.

They are showing two people playing go on TV. The lighting is dramatic, as is the intro music. It is…not exciting.

There are bars here in Kaohsiung that are all you can drink for a fixed price on weekends. I have not tried this.

The new least safest thing: a guy riding on a scooter. He’s using two hand and one foot. With the other foot he’s…pushing his girlfriend’s bicycle using the back peg. They’re both going about 30 mph. She’s not wearing a helmet.

Wulai. (”ooh-lai”) I spent yesterday in Wulai, which is known for their hot springs and one of the highest water falls in Taiwan. The hot springs were excruciatingly hot. If I hadn’t seen other people in there, I would have doubted that a human could sit in there. I got in and it was nice. But the advice of a fellow bather provied useful: “don’t move”. I think it worked similar to the recommended advice for falling into cold water: if you don’t move the water directly around the body get closer to the temperature of the body and acts as a protective barrier.

I walked to the waterfalls, about 1.5km. There’s a miniature railroad along this route. The cars are about 10 feet long and the tracks are maybe 2 feet apart. It’s really cute and I wanted to ride it but I decided that I’d do so on the way back, only to find I’m misread the hours and I’d missed it! Disaster. I really like riding odd rail and cable transportation[1], especially funiculars (being a son of Pittsburgh [2]) but others as well.

The falls were nice. Nothing like Victoria Falls or Niagara, but something nice to look at for a few minutes. From there I started walking toward Doll Valley, which the guidebook listed as about an hour away. As I walked away from Wulai, the scenery became lusher in the valley I was walking in and the cars and whatnot became sparser. Eventually I turned onto a foot path and saw a few people and a number of smaller waterfalls. I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to get back by sunset if I went to Doll Valley which I deemed a Bad Thing (TM) so I turned back but the hike was nice.

Sometimes it’s good for the head as well as the body, you know?

Wedding. Today I went to a wedding. Correction, I didn’t go to the wedding, which was held in the family’s home and wasn’t attended by many; I went to the wedding “party” (as they called it) or “reception” (as the Americans might call it). It was pretty interesting. For instance, the couple entered along with lasers and fog machines. The bride changed dresses twice (three dresses total) and the couple would reenter to much fanfare each time. As I understand is the case with many Asian cultures, the wedding presents were actually envelopes of cash. The food was largely really good: about 20 dishes (in 7 or so courses). It was way too much food, but I gave it my best effort.

This is a wedding, not a night club?

No one was drinking the bottle of scotch set aside for my table so I was given it to take home. Now it’s just time to see if I still don’t like scotch and if so see if I can change that.

Lugo’s catch (available here). Perfect. Perfectly timed in both execution and in shutting down a rally by the Rockies.

The Red Sox are highly paid but I’d like to note that they’re getting a lot out of players that aren’t very highly paid at all: Papelbon, Pedroia, Ellsbury, and Youkilis are all low paid players.

It made me really happy that Dice-K that got a two run single.

Couch. After two months, I may have found the only marginally comfortable position on my couch. That is a remarkably uncomfortable couch for sitting, lounging or anything else. Despite being aware of the recommendations I am using my bed to sit and lounge with my laptop or book when I get tired of the chair.

Arnold. They seriously show my governor’s movies all the time here. All…the…time. By the way, TV programmers: they’re mostly not very good, those movies.

[1] The best yet is Wuppertal’s Schwebebahn. If you’re anywhere near Wuppertal, it’s worth a trip just to ride that.

[2] at one point I dated a daugther of the American Revolution. she was really into that.

Springboks win. World champions! Vrystaat!

Update: This is likely better news for Southern Africa, though Zim is still screwed as far as anyone can tell.

Their first lost of the post-season was the first game of the post-season I was able to watch in its entirety. They lost in 11 innings. It was a good game for most of it. Hopefully they’ll pick it up next game.

I left my Boston Red Sox “authentic” cap in Hong Kong somewhere. I looked but couldn’t find it. I bought that when the Sox were 4 outs from being out of the post-season in 2004. I’m a little sad because:
a) they don’t make those hats like that any more:
i) they’re not wool (I believe)
ii) they have a black, rather than grey, underbill.
b) BoSox hats in particular are really hard to break in. It’s very obvious who has a new hat and whose has been worn for a while by how bright the blue is.

If anyone has a line on the last year’s version of the fitted cap in 7 1/4 or 7 3/8 (probably the former, that’s what this hat was, though it was tight till I broke it in), I’m good for it. Remember: wool, grey underbill, “authentic”.

It’s ridiculous to be sad about losing a hat. I acknowledge that.

I’m back in Hong Kong. I was here for a day a week ago and a week 10 years ago. I’ve seen a lot of the “sights”, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t rush around and try to see them all again. The thing is, I’m pretty tired. Physically, because I haven’t quite been sleeping enough and because I’m a bit under the whether, but also socially and mentally. The work I was doing in China was a lot of hours and mentally and socially draining. So I may not do all the sights here. I think I’ll walk around a carless island off the west side of the main island. I may spend half a day at a beach. I may even go to a movie or Hong Kong Disneyland.

I spent half a day rushing around Macau today. Wikipedia will tell you more about it, I’m sure, but it’s somewhat accurate to describe it as a Portugese (rather than British) Hong Kong + the Las Vegas of South East Asia. I went to, I believe, the world’s largest casino (the Venetian Macau). I walked around and saw a bunch of cathedrals and churches and ruins and whatnot. Along the way, I saw a lot of beautiful mediteranean-style architecture.

It’s a pretty cool city. Very charming. I have a thing for Catholic cities, though (Boston, Pittsburgh). The signs were great. Things like Supermercado de Hong Koi and then a bunch of Chinese characters.

The place I’m staying in Hong Kong is very sparse. The room is small and the bathroom is just silly. Imagine a small toilet-only bathroom. Then somehow add in a sink and a shower. I’m not sure how that’s going to work. But it does have a private shower and A/C and sheets and towels. And by Hong Kong standards, it’s cheap–let’s just say that for five nights it’ll be about the price one could easily pay for one night many places in HK.

The Steelers are doing well. That makes me happy. I’m a little confused, though. Cowher was a good coach. We didn’t pick up many players in the off season and yet we seemed pretty horrible last year and good this year. Maybe it’s the energy from the new coach or maybe Roethlisberg’s just feeling more confident.

The Red Sox swept the Angels. That was cool. I was hoping for a sweep in all 4 division series, but the Yankees foiled that, but only put it off a game. The Red Sox-Indians series should be interesting.

Pork chop and rice for dinner tonight at this diner. I figured it’d probably be good because it was packed with locals and there wasn’t anyone out front shilling for customers (as is fairly common here). Initially it was so full they sat me at a small 2 person table with an old woman who continued to talk on her cell phone. That was pretty awkward for me. The pork and rice seemed very familiar to me, something I saw as a revelation. It was nice and hopefully it’ll sit well with my stomach/ body.

None of us have booked tickets but it looks like a group of 2-4 teps, including myself, are going to japan the second week of November. I’m very excited. Should be legendary.

Okay, that’s enough for now. I’ll blog more if I can find a wireless network–currently I’m in the reception area and they’re staring at me.

Brace yourself, lest its sweetness blind you.

Sure it’s rusted, the kickstand won’t stay up when I’m riding, the seat doesn’t go high enough and the seat actually leaves part of itself on my pants when I get off of it, but it’s a pretty smooth ride and cost me a total of about $22.

Why didn’t anyone tell me that a young Red Sox pitcher pitched a no-hitter in his second major league game. Pretty cool.

The Time 100 (influential people list) is pretty interesting. I spent a lot more time with the Alt Time 100, a list compiled by a panel of “Xzibit, rapper and host of MTV’s Pimp My Ride; Bridget Marquardt, 1/3 of Hugh Hefner’s girlfriend and star of E!’s Girls Next Door; Eddie Sanchez, UFC fighter; Tommy the Clown, krump dancer; Dr. Boogie, hairstylist and contestant on Bravo’s Shear Genius; Jimmy Jimmy Coco, spray tanner; Glenda Borden, party planner”. Here are some excerpts:

10. Hugh Hefner, editor
Everyone thought Hef should make the list. Then I explained that Bridget was one-third going out with him which made the panel very excited. If Bridget was two-thirds going out with Hef, I don’t think the panel could have taken it.

27. Mike Lazrdis, Blackberry founder
Tommy The Clown called him “a real life saver.” You can’t afford to be out of touch for a moment when you’re a krump dancer. That stuff breaks out anywhere, anytime.

45. Bono, singer
All that Africa stuff.

54. Monique, comedian
More good body image stuff. While not at all fat, the panel loves fat people. Though not enough to date them.

56. George Clooney, actor
The panel felt strongly about Darfur. The panel also felt strongly that the most important player in the Darfur crisis is George Clooney. The panel does not equate feeling strongly about something with reading about that something.

60. Magic Johnson, businessman
Xzibit thought that Magic has some secret cure for AIDS he wasn’t sharing and should be left off the list until he divulges his secret. Xzibit has strange thoughts about both medicine and the power of this list.

79. Howie Mandel, TV host
Without him, you’d just be looking at models holding suitcases. You need the Howie visuals to make you long for the suitcase models. It’s the yin-yang concept.

I’m a tree! Bischofia javanica. We’ll forgive the namer for forgetting an ‘f’. From now on you can call me Bishop Wood or Autumn Maple.

The Weekly World News is done and some respectable publications are doing favorable obits.

The toilet in my hotel apartment is crazy. Not as-seen-on-TV-japanese-super-crazy but much crazier than American toilets. It has buttons. Toilets shouldn’t have electronics…

I took the bus to work today. #902. That was an adventure, but it was dirty cheap (50 cents) and was probably as fast as a taxi given that traffic was the limiting factor. Next time I’ll be able to cut out the half an hour of trying to find the right stop/ bus route beforehand.

The buses have signs on them clearly instructing you that no birds are allowed.

ESPN is in Chinese here but there was still a good amount of coverage of the baseball. That’s comforting.

The glasses in the apartment are small. That’s probably good as I’m used to drinking coke out of super quick slurp-sized glasses rather than 8 oz tumblers. Might be good for my figure.

Days of lifting heavy things while moving has left my back in a sore/rry state. Ibuprofen to the rescue.

I’m in Taipei. I live here now. Yeah, that’s weird.

Handy converter for you east coast people: flip the time am/pm and you’ll get my time (later the same day or the next day). West coast is a trickier conversion.

Shoegaze/ slowcore musics are not the ones to listen to while trying to stay awake. gah.

I sort of wanted to go to a taiwanese baseball game but one of my coworkers is telling me no one watches it anymore because of some gambling issues. they watch the yankees now because there’s some taiwanese pitcher on the team. frickin yankees.

went out to lunch with some coworkers today, to the mall food court. such a crazy amount of food there and each place had a display of what each prepared dish would look like. I could have spent two hours at least just taking photos of these dishes.

going to the ATM to get foreign currency out is pretty funny when you don’t know what the exchange rate is. “Hmm, how much is a lot of money? 100? 10,000?” Luckily I guessed about right.

I’m still awake, but barely.

I’m feeling some excitement for the first time since May when the anxiety started.

There aren’t many bar bars around here. Many tea bars. “Taiwan Beer” (the market leader) is okay. I look forward to many more.

Shabu Shabu is an experience. And in the version we got, a lot of food. “What kind of restaurant makes you cook your own food?”

There is this awesome Jackie Chan/ Yow Ming visa commerical on right now. Jackie tries all these sports but gets disqualified in each for his crazy stunts.

A few nights ago: Texas Rangers 30, Baltimore Orioles 3.

Rick Ankiel: phenom pitcher. Great rookie season, but no control and wild pitches in the post-season. Struggles with control and injuries over the next few years. One day up and decides to become an outfielder instead. A few more years and he makes his major league debut in the outfield, hitting a home run in his first game (and a few more in subsequent games).

On Sunday I saw the Pirates and Giants play at ATT Park with dug.

The pitching match up was $126 million Barry Zito (the highest paid pitcher, 2007’s stake is $10 million) vs. $380,000 Tom Gorzelanny. Zito walk the first three batters, gave up a two-run home run and a two-run triple (both to Josh Phelps). Meanwhile, Gorzelanny had his first complete game shut out, helping him earn the National League co-player of the week honors.

It was a fun game to watch and it was the first time I’d sat in the left field bleachers (5th row–nice grab, dug!). All in all a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Both teams then flew to Pittsburgh for a make-up double header on Monday. I’m only mentioning it because there was some craziness with the line-up on the Pirates behalf. Between the two games, here’s some of the odd positions:

• Doumit, normally a backup catcher, playing right field (until he sprained his wrist)
• Castillo, normally a 3rd baseman (or utility infielder), playing right field (once Doumit went out, first game)
• Bautista, normally a 2nd baseman (or utility infielder), playing left field (second game)
• Phelps, normally a 1st baseman, catching

Wow!

I’ve been a bit slow on the updates here. I’m catching up!

Libs and I managed to wait possibly four hours between the two of us on the day the tickets were released (back in February), but we managed to get six tickets for the Red Sox while I was in Boston last week. The final groups was Jesse, Colin, Heather, Lauren (no blog!), Libs and I. Good group.

The game was hilariously lopsided (another recap here). By the end of the 3rd inning the Devil Rays were down 13-2, they were on their 3rd pitcher and the Red Sox had hit a grand slam (Coco Crisp) and a 3 run HR (Lowell).

We could have left at that point, but that would have been no fun. Plus we would have missed Sweet Caroline (you should have heard me singing!).

Afterwards, in what’s becoming a bit of a tradition, we hit up Ankara (”For the Gen X-ers”) for froyo. Brownie and reese’s pieces could possibly be the best combination of add-ins ever.

ESPN does a story (/video) entitled “Death Race” and I sort of want to do it. It’s about the annual tough guy race in the UK. Parts of the race include running through icy water and mud, running through hanging strips of wire, some of which are electrified and bounding over hay bales on fire into icy water.

At long last, we come to the final obstacle, the newly added Viagra Falls. To get there, we wade 30 yards in neck-deep water before climbing up the muddy hill and sliding down a slick tarp into icy water as course marshals use fire hoses to spray us. The hoses and subsequent dunking aren’t the worst part, though. No. After all we’d been through, the added wading to reach the slide just seems cruel.

Cruel and, well, unnecessary.

It’s a pretty well-written story and the video’s good too.

I went for a short bike ride today. It was strange, riding around, hair-in-need-of-a-cut in a wind [1], with tension in my shoulders and a bit of discomfort in the seat. The discomfort was in a way comfortable, familiar. It was good being back on the bike. In the end, my knee only wanted to do a few miles, but I’m hoping it won’t show any ill effects of this exercise later today or tomorrow and that I can ride more in the near future.

[1] I’m a big fan of wearing a helmet, but on this gorgeous Sunday afternoon on a slow ride of a short route of all no-risk right turns on small suburban streets, I didn’t wear one.

I went to quite a game between the A’s and the Red Sox last night. Mark Ellis hit for the cycle. The Red Sox made a comeback in the 9th to tie it and send it to extra innings. David Ortiz almost homered in the 10th and then Chavez hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th. Haren pitched really well (whereas Tavarez did not).

Pretty exciting stuff.

Update: Photos here.

I have been swimming a mile at a time these days, approximately 1600m, or for ease, 1600 yards (yes, I know they’re not the same). I count in 50 m/ yard increments, 1 length if the pool is set up in the 50m direction, 1 lap if it’s set up in the 25 yard direction, so that ends up being 32 increments.

I often get distracted by the thoughts of the day—one of the best parts of swimming is the time to think—and some days, the hardest part of the swim is keeping track where I am. (Other days, it’s pacing, speed or endurance.)

The three points (or ranges) where I often lose track of where I am:

• 3-6
• 10-13
• 18-21