PettyBureaucrat

The Richmond Run in Less Than 12 Parsecs

2011-11-15T21:02:00.004+02:00

Had a lovely visit to Richmond this weekend. J's sister and fam put us up and, although I'm now rethinking the idea of having children, it was a beautiful drive with all the fall colors and we had a great time hanging out with J's sister A.

Jo Jo

2011-09-28T21:09:00.003+02:00

here's my favorite picture of little niecphew #19, Jo-Jo.
yes, that's bok choy in a steamer. sis and hubby didn't learn the sex and, as sis is a labor and delivery nurse and was pretty sick to death of the standard "peanut" or "pumpkin", they nicknamed their little unkown, gilled-thing "bok choy". thus this little arrangement.

The Coolest Thing On The Planet

2010-09-29T10:57:00.012+02:00

Road Trip

2010-07-21T17:01:00.002+02:00

So my friend Kurt got married in France and my friend Will flew out to Dubrovnik where I picked him up and we drove all the way over to Gap, France for the wedding. It was a road trip of grandiose proportions. There was smuggled wine, angry salsa dancing women, snotty effeminate hoteliers, breaking and entering, and wild boar.
Generally a good time.
The pictures will, as always, be posted at a frustratingly gradual pace to the right. Here is the first installment.

Go ORANGE!!!!

2010-07-06T14:54:00.002+02:00

I have no real connection to the team or the country except that they play a workman-type game of soccer that I admire, they have maintained a habit of beating teams that I find annoying, and you can't rhyme them with anything. So....

GO ORANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A New Book from my Lovely Friend Lori

2010-06-03T11:42:00.006+02:00

Write-up to be found here

And some from my Istanbul trip too

2010-06-02T16:38:00.003+02:00

they're over there
->

Pics!

2010-05-20T21:13:00.003+02:00

So I've posted my pics from the trip last week to Budapest. I also tried but failed to post pics from my trip to Istanbul from months ago. I have found Picasa to be... frustrating. Will try again later.

The other exciting news is that my pool is now open so everybody, grab your suit and come on by! Well, maybe not in too much of a rush. It's been abnormally cool so far this year so the water is still frickin freezin. But I'm still gonna get in there this weekend. Sometimes you've just got to take a stand!

Eesh!

2010-03-17T11:45:00.002+02:00

Looks like I haven't been here in a while.
Well, it looks like spring has finally sprung here. It's stopped raining and the sun has come out of hiding to dry the place out. My office has windows on two sides so I get the morning and the afternoon sun and I must admit that it's nicer to be in a sun-drenched mediterranean country than in just a drenched mediterranean country.

I had a nice boring trip to Cairo a few weeks ago and made a stop-off in Istanbul for a couple days on the way back. I had been wanting to go their since I opened my third grade history book and I must say that it definitely did not disappoint! I promise to post some pics in the next couple days. Scouts honor.

What had been keeping my a busy for a few weeks

2010-01-29T12:26:00.006+02:00

There had been widespread flooding up north in and around the town of Shkoder so I'd been talking to folks, checking out the area, writing updates and getting funding to the Red Cross to provide relief. Here are a couple pics I took in the area.

Driving into Shkoder

View from the castle

Downtown Shkoder

Boat floating right next to the main street

This was all two or three weeks ago and the water has subsided since then.

Disaster of the Week

2010-01-19T20:57:00.003+02:00

The office cleaning lady broke the handle off the mug that I got free a couple years ago.

And, although my Albanian is still a bit spotty, I'm pretty sure that she's offered to take her own life to cleanse the shame. So my question to you, dear reader, is: should I accept?

My First Bunny Chow

2010-01-02T12:18:00.006+02:00

In South Africa they have a delicious and delightful invention called Bunny Chow. It's a loaf of bread scooped out and filled with curry. I've seen it done with veggie, chicken or lamb curries. Lamb is my favorite but, as this was my first attempt at making curry (and I didn't know yet where to get any decent lamb), I went with chicken.

So I picked up a couple rotisserie chickens from the street-corner stand, some 'taters from the market, pulled a chicken curry recipe off the net, adapted it to what I actually had in my spice cupboard, and cooked up a batch in my big ole cast iron dutch oven.

Now the standard South African version is done with a loaf-shaped loaf of soft white bread but all the loaf-shaped stuff comes pre-sliced here so I went with a nice hearty bole

And then you just cut it in half, scoop out the innards and fill it up with spicy and delicious curry.

Yummy!

And this is

2009-12-16T18:54:00.005+02:00

a nice shot of the Croatian coast on my drive back.

I thought it would take me about 14 hrs. I took 23.

And here

2009-12-16T18:34:00.005+02:00

is one of the lovely watering holes where we spent considerable time whilst in and around Vicenza.

Evidently it was once the icehouse of one of the local nobles. I made a bit of an idiot of myself with the extremely cool acoustics.

If You Ever Get A Chance

2009-12-16T18:11:00.004+02:00

Go to Vicenza, Italy. the place is lovely! It's like Tuscany w/o the prices, tourists, & travel writers. My friend Danny has a place there and, after Turkey Day in Belgrade, I scooted over there to hang out with him and a few of my other n'er-do-well friends from Kabul for a few days.

Cheap wine, fantastic food, and gorgeous scenery. What's not to like?

Change of Plans

2009-11-24T18:09:00.003+02:00

Well... plans have changed a bit.
I didn't get many bites on my offer to host Turkey Day at my place but I did get an invite to head up to Belgrade and partake of the Big Bird with a couple good friends up there so I've packed my gravy whisk, sage, corn bread mix and pomegranite juice in the trunk and am heading up as soon as I get out of work tomorrow.
I don't really know what the menu is thus far and that puts my cullinary plans a bit in the air. I should still be able to manage a couple different stuffings.
Then it's over to Italy for about a week of the grape/olive crush (*not sure which) with another assortment of drunks/friends. There will be joviality and raucousness.

*Update - It's to celebrate the planting of the new vines. But never fear, there should be plenty of the new wine to drink to help move along the planting.

Potential Menu

2009-11-19T18:53:00.002+02:00

- Turkey (natch!) wrapped in pancetta.
- Lamb - just the leg, rubbed down in pesto sauce
- cornbread & whitebread stuffing
- darkbread, whitebread, & sausage stuffing
- spanish green beans
- corn & avecado salad
- creamed spinach
- maybe a blue cheese & mushroom galette
- polenta
- mashed potatoes (bien sur)
- 2 kinds of cranberry sauce - can-shaped and cranberry-shaped
- some kind of chocolatey dessert since I didn't get my hands on any Crisco for pies. I'm sure I'll come up with sumpn.

Hostin an Eatfest

2009-11-17T20:47:00.002+02:00

OK. So I've committed to hosting a few folks over at my new place for Turkey Day. Not only will this be a nice opportunity to hang out with some good peeps, it will also motivate me to get a few things finished off here:
a) get the place finally cleaned up and squared away now that I've got all my stuff
b) get rid of some clutter that I've been dragging around the world with me
c) get my AFN hooked up and working so my guests and I can watch some Good Ole Amer'can Foo'ball!

Yes, that really is the color

2009-11-05T15:00:00.003+02:00

I have since changed out the curtains with little pink flowers to something a little more tame and linen-esque. The bright peach stripe around the top of the living room will hopefully be my next decorating project. I also realize that this may not show the 5ft plastic Venus de Milo that came with the place to full effect as, in this shot, she is outfitted in a Karzai robe and some talib headgear.

I think my eyes are bleeding

2009-10-02T22:34:00.003+02:00

I just finished up a training course on contract law and I know that some of this is relevant to what I do in my day-to-day work but, Oh. My. Gawd. I have no idea how I made it through that without putting a hollow-point out the back of my head! Perhaps I have DC's slow implementation of the Heller Decision to thank.

I'm not a very high-octane sort of person. I've had doctor's who were taking my blood pressure check to make sure I was awake. In short, I'm a rather sloth-like and lazy person who doesn't bore easily. But this, ladies and gentlemen, was some glacial, continental drifting, boring-ass shite. And putting some of it in Latin doesn't make it more exciting.

Settling In

2009-09-02T13:31:00.003+02:00

So.

I've been down to the largest outdoor market and also now know of several that are closer by or more specialized. All are well with-in walking distance as walking is, currently, the only option.

I know the 4 grocery stores w/in a short walk of my place and what's available/better/cheaper at each.

I know the names of some of the waitstaff at the cafe by my apt but so far just the cute ones.

There is already one club that I'm sick of going to and I know the appropriate places to get superglue, roast pepper and eggplant salsa, knockoff DVDs, reasonably decent croissants, good scotch, and an extremely cheap (but you get what you pay for) haircut.

So I suppose that is to say that I am, slowly but surely, making my new home. Home.

Yes'm

2009-08-13T15:09:00.002+02:00

OK, so that was a bit of a break.

A good friend noted that it would be nice for me to update my blog at least in part so my sisters can update my folks (who aren't really using up a lot of bandwidth these days. Or ever.) on what's goin on in my life and assure them that I am not dead in a ditch with my organs harvested. *

Items:

1 - Am no longer in Afghanistan. I finished up there a little over a month ago, went home for a bit to see the fam, hung out in DC for a bit, and am now firmly ensconced in the lovely mediterranean climes of Tirana, Albania.

2 - I hope to do some touring about since I am now nicely nestled between Turkey, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Croatia, etc. so I bought myself a car. Not a new car but the newest car that I've ever owned. Corolla, black, sedan, very much a "I'm being followed by a suspicious-looking man in a late model dark sedan" sort of thing.

3 - I bought a house! DC. Mid-level of a townhouse. NW but just barely. I close in about 2 weeks and had to do a power of attorney to my friend C as I won't be there for the closing. Like most things in life, I just kinda bumbled into it. A friend was selling his place so we got to save the 6% that a realtor would have taken. ** Fortunately I hadn't spent ALL of my danger pay from the A-stan on booze and loose women.

* The boogeyman of trafficking in human organs that is rumored to be going on in Albania is, evidently, a red herring. Thus far there has been no facts put forth to support these rumors that originated, shall we say, outside of the borders of Albania.

** You know, lawyers get a bad rap but realtors are the real blood-sucking parasites in our society today. They're the pushers that try to get you to buy houses that you can't afford and then take SIX PERCENT for doing damn near nuttin. It's a gd racket.

Seemed like the day to repost this pic

2009-01-20T16:33:00.000+02:00

Go Vikes!

2008-12-28T23:19:00.002+02:00

So I've noticed that, as a bit of a side effect of being trapped on a postage stamp in a warzone and having nearly no external contact with rational human beings, I've become far too invested in the success or failure of my NFL team since childhood - the Cardiac Kids, the long-time heartbreakers, the MN Vikings. The only year that they were really any good since I reached the age of reason was the year that I was living far from all things western (and sadly that includes the NFL) in Africa. So now I'll blame the scabs on my knuckles from beating up a chair when the Vikes lost last week on being isolated and unbalanced by a lack of available social and cultural interaction, and not on any personal failings that might be integral to my own personality.

By the bye, my Vikes pulled it out, beat the Giants, and made it into the playoffs on their own merits. Let the madness and inappropriate behavior begin.

Not Exactly a White X-mas

2008-12-24T06:58:00.002+02:00

It's chilly here - not Minnesota chilly but a little chilly.
We had a few flurries the day before yesterday. Nuthin that stuck but it was nice to have a little white fallin from the sky.
I've got my itsy-bitsy tree up and finally put on the X-mas music. If you haven't heard it yet, check out Hot Buttered Rum by Mary Chapin Carpenter. I heard it on NPR and had to buy the whole album.
Hope you all have somethin to keep you warm.

Back in the 'Bul

2008-12-22T02:39:00.003+02:00

Am slowly getting some of the R&R pics put up. Look this way ---->
Will have more up shortly.

Had a grand ole time getting my Brother J married off and catching up with the fam and seeing some of my peeps in DC. Now it's back to the grind. It's actually kind of nice to be back. Back into the old routine and settling into the 6 day work schedule.

Just watched the Vikings lose and I'm not too happy about that - especially when they outplayed the other team and just managed to give it away with turnovers! Baahhhh!!!

Cambodia n Bangkok

2008-11-08T20:06:00.003+02:00

So as you will see to the right I have finally gotten around to posting some pics from my trip. You will also notice that there are no pictures from the Bangkok portion of the trip. That would be because I don't really have any. I was sick and spent most of the time cuddled up on my buddy's couch watching chick flicks and drinking fluids.

Holy Crap!

2008-11-06T11:24:00.002+02:00

I seriously haven't posted anything since Sept 12th?!?!?!
I SUCK!

The world has looked pretty good for the last couple days as I bask in the glow of my new boss-elect.

Am feeling a titch lazy just now since I've
a) gotten more done today than I really expected
b) am planning my next trip outta here for my brother J.'s wedding in Indiana
c) tonight is the Marine Ball and there will be much dressing up and drinking of adult beverages -it's the social event of the season!

So, really, how could I be expected to do work?

2008-09-25T12:53:00.000+02:00

Bureaucrats: they are dead at 30 and buried at 60. They are like custard pies; you can't nail them to a wall. ~ Frank Lloyd Wright

The Kite Runner

2008-09-12T11:31:00.004+02:00

I ran down a kite! They do fly a lot of kites here. It's pretty cool to see a couple dozen of these guys up there zipping around and it's really amazing the kinds of acrobatics they can dow with do with these flimsy things - they're bobbin n weavin n attacking each other and cutting each others strings. Some of the local guys fly them on their lunch break and sometimes you have some from outside that get cut loose and land here in the compound so you do get a chance to run after them from time to time.
This guy looks like he might have lost more than one fight but I still felt pretty proud to get my hands on him.

Apologies for My Lateness

2008-09-03T19:34:00.004+02:00

I have been doing intermittent battle with Picassa for a couple weeks now trying to get some new pics posted and some of the albums a little updated and cleaned up. Sadly, I have learned late in the game that the problem is with my laptop, not with Picassa. Still not really sure what the problem is but at least I can move ahead on my work computer with some postings for my two faithful (hopefully still faithful) readers.

Updates:

I got promoted. Grade-wise, not position-wise, so I get more money for doing the same job. I am now the rank equivilant of a major in the military which, in my job means diddly-squat but hey! more money!
Mum got her second robo-hip replaced and everything went great. She had falsies put in 15 years ago when they were just getting fasionable and at the time they only lasted for, well, 15 years. Her shiny new ceramic ones are supposed to last forever. Didn't ask her if she got an actual warranty. Anywho, the left one was giving her problems in July so she went in and they told her she needed to do that one imediately... so she did. I got to help her out with that while I was back there on home leave before coming over here. That went so well that she rushed right back in to get the second one done last week. She is already back home resting comfortably and she got some cool drugs out of the deal too. She's walking (with a walker) and has big plans to be auto-mobile soon.
My brother's getting married! My oldest brother J, the only other single one left in the brood, met a nice lass a year or so ago and is now officially fianced. The nuptuals are set for the weekend of Thanksgiving. I have high hopes of being able to get back for the hitchin.

I'm sure I'm missing some important stuff that I'll throw in later but I'm pretty sure that those are the big chunks.

A Whiff in the Air

2008-07-28T20:37:00.003+02:00

I am inordinately pleased. After another long and pointless meeting had finally finished keeping me from getting anything substantive done, I walked back to my cube and what to my wondering eyes did appear? Some pop culture porn shipped halfway around the world to me by Bibliodiva and my absentee ballot! Yes, I know, it's only for the primary of a party that doesn't much matter in the state where I vote, but it still means that I'm plugged back in as part of the process - a whiff of the political air that I used to breath every day in my adopted hometown of DC. I promptly dove in and researched candidates with little more than failed runs and the school board on their resumes. It's all filled out and ready to drop in the mail tomorrow.
And now to bed, where I can read my dry labor memoir of the 60's for a few minutes before flipping over to the summer blockbuster reviews.
Ahhhh......

Running Mate Announced - Billions Disappointed

2008-07-20T19:18:00.003+02:00

How to Chill

2008-07-17T13:02:00.000+02:00

My friend Scott is a classicist, which I understand, because, in many areas of life or the arts, I am one as well. But when it comes to wine I live by the "what tastes best" rule. And on a hot day, what tastes best for a rosé is to be nicely chilled. The problem is how to keep it that way once it’s in your glass while you sip and lounge on a concrete pad on a breezeless 38 degree day. I like to drop a cube in the glass to keep it crisp. A lot of South Africans will fill half the glass with ice for all their whites and rosés and, although that’s where I picked up the idea, that’s just asking for a watery, flavorless mess.
So, my faithful 2 readers, as the balmy days of summer fix their withering glare fully upon us, where do you fall on the great to-cube-or-not-to-cube debate?

Finally

2008-07-10T03:10:00.002+02:00

Got into Kabul around noon yesterday. Did a bit of the ole Meet n Greet then settled into my hooch to unpack and take a nap as I was completely knackered but still wanted to meet up with a couple of good buddies of mine who are here. Well... my nap turned into an 8 hr log-sawing contest so I have now been wide awake since 2am. On the upside, that gave me the opportunity to download the pics that I've had on my camera for the last 2 months.
Am now off to the gym and the chow hall.
Enjoy the new pics.

Back

2008-05-25T17:19:00.002+02:00

I'm back in my home town - not where I grew up but where most of my friends are and where I feel at home. I love DC, especially in the summer. Sure it can get hot and muggy in the summer (it was built on a swamp) but not today! Today it's sunny and warm but with a nice cool breeze blowing. I'm sitting on a bench a couple blocks from my hotel, scamming on some free wireless internet and enjoying the fact that I can sit here with my laptop and not worry about getting robbed. Nice change of pace.

I'm off to continue my hard day of brunches and shopping.

Mmmm... I smell baked goods!!!

Hasta

2008-05-20T10:41:00.002+02:00

It's finally Pack-Out Day. I'm puttering about while the packers are wrapping and stacking. This is the week of the many goodbyes and much bustling about. I really don't mind leaving the Republic In Which I Stand but I have made some good friends here that I will miss a great deal. I'll be living out of suitcases for the next month and a half and then living on not much else for the next year while I'm out in the Stan, keeping the world safe for carpet buying. I haven't had much time to process the process as there is still much bustling to be done - i's to dot and t's to cross - and I've already sold my car. And there's the nice part too - the many farewell dinners, lunches, and parties to grin sheepishly at. I will miss this group, many of which I've just gotten to know. Some I'll see down the road and some... Well, I suppose that is life, eh? I guess we just try to enjoy each others company for as long as we have it.

The Food Babes

2008-05-04T16:47:00.002+02:00

So I only really got satellite TV so I could get the French channel back when I needed to pass my language test. But now I have been unable to cut the cordlessness and let it loose, primarily because of Tamasin and Laura. There's just something about Laura kneading an herbe de provence boule or Tamasin extolling the virtues of using local ingredients in your cottage pie that holds my attention and leaves me wanting more. Who knew that spraying a bit of water on your loaf before putting it in the oven will give you a crisper crust. Not I!
I enjoy cooking but, since it's just me, I don't tend to do it very often. So it's nice to pick up some cooking hints and dish ideas for use somewhere down the road. It may also just be that there are few things on the planet that are sexier than a delicious woman talking about food.

A Little Traveling Music

2008-04-04T08:42:00.003+02:00

The music scene is pretty good here. There are a lot of local English-language bands that can bring it. This is the local station that I listen to all the time. Except for the fact that every 10th song or so is in Afrikaans, they're a damn fine station.
http://www.tuksfm.co.za/

Hikin

2008-03-30T14:12:00.000+02:00

Monday was a local holiday and I took vacation for Tuesday n Wednesday to head down to the southern Drakensburgs for a little hiking with some friends. We went 20k the first day and then about 15k each for the next two days. We forded streams and saw rock paintings and some cool rock formations and generally had a lovely old time. I got a little blister the second day and we were all pretty sore and knackered by the time we got to the lodges each afternoon. Oh, and the food was excellent too. Simple, hearty stuff but scrumptiousness – beef stew, beans w/ chakalaka, fresh-baked bread…

Recommending

2008-03-18T13:17:00.007+02:00

that you go see No Country For Old Men as soon as humanly possible. I know, I had also heard the (valid) whisperings that there is a doozy of an ending that some folks might not like (understatement).
See it anyway.
You will probably come out of the theater, as I did, pissed off that the Coens had managed to evoke Rashomon and Citizen Kane for two hours and then decided to smear poo on the screen.
See it anyway.
Seriously, it's like turning a corner in the Sistine Chapel and finding yourself in the parking lot at Waffle House.
See it anyway.
Then you can be pissed at me for a couple days that I talked you into it. But I promise that a couple weeks after you'll be glad you did. The acting is just too good to pass up. No scenery-chewers here. No Daniel Day-Lewis or Sean Penn acting AT you like you're in row 44,444YY of the Superdome. The script is spare and open enough for the actors to get their hand and skins around each character. Minor spoiler: (can't help myself) one of my favorites is when Josh Brolin's wife (played by Kelly Macdonald with a gravel-road earnestness that doesn't dribble into simplicity and a heroic pioneer wife strength that is still deeply real) is talking to Javiar Bardem. I don't know if it makes me miss the West but it does make me miss western women.
Maybe the DVD will have an alternate ending.

Getting my priorities straight

2008-03-16T17:17:00.003+02:00

Between car issues, work issues, and being a whiny sickly bitch this last week, well... let's just move on, shall we? My primary concern for the next two months is to get out and about to see as much of the Republic in Which I Stand as possible. Next weekend is hiking in the Drakensburgs, then I'm working on scheduling a trip to wine country with my friend Wolf (the fact that I've been here a year and a half and haven't done this yet is obscene) and a day-trip to Swazi to hit the glass factory that can fit in anywhere. In a perfect world a trip up to Namibia will fit in there too but we'll see. I did get my tv fixed this week so the travel channel and BBC Food are considerably more visually enjoyable. Now back to Gilmore Girls (it's raining, don't judge me).

Feed Me

2008-02-28T18:10:00.002+02:00

I'm freakin starving so this is gonna be quick.

A bunch of us got together at a little pizza/pasta place for my gorgeous friend M's b-day last night. There were about 20 of us being boisterous in about 6 different languages and generally having a grand old time. And, I know, a 20 top but still... it took us over two hours to get our food. Com'n people! It's pizza and pasta. Lucky thing there was plenty of wine or we might have rioted.

Short List of Life Events

2008-02-16T15:37:00.002+02:00

Quick updates (to be expanded upon below)
- I’m back from France
- I passed my French test
- I am now officially assigned to Afghanistan for my next post
- My Uncle Peter passed on

So I got back last week from spending a month in Villefranche sur Mer which is about 10 km north of Nice on the French Riviera and, I must say, it was a very nice month! I was there to learn French as a tenure requirement for my job. They could have sent my back to one of the US Government language training facilities in the states but it would have taken longer and cost more. So instead I got paid to hang out on the Cote d’Azur instead. That’s me. Safeguarding those taxpayer dollars! I set myself up in a tiny but well appointed little apartment above a restaurant and 10 meters from the Mediterranean. My big picture window looked out over the bay. I definitely put on a couple kgs while I was there as well. Gastronomically, the place is more Provence than anything else, which means that the local fare is really pretty basic (sausages, beans, fish) but also REALLY DAMN GOOD!

I got home last Tuesday and took the all-important test last Thurs. I had stayed at home studying and prepping right up until an hour before test time. I was feeling good. Feeling confident. I’ll crow a bit about my sweet-ass gig of getting paid to go to France but I really did buckle down pretty hard over there. Except on Sunday nights when watching the NFL games (I found a pub in Nice that showed all the games. I had to walk the 10k home one night because I stayed and watched the games until the buses had stopped running but it was worth it.*) I pretty much spoke, read, and listened to French the whole time. So I was Frenching pretty well by the time I got back here. But as soon as I walked into the testing room all that French pretty much just drained out my ear and gathered in a puddle on my chair. I froze up, babbled like an idiot, and couldn't conjugate a thing. I told a friend in the hallway while on a break that I was positive that I had failed it once again but I guess the testers either took pity on me or my French has improved enough that I can screw up royally and still hit the mark. Either way, I’m done and I can now be an entrenched civil servant for life. If I want to. It is soooo good to get that behind me. That monkey has been on my back for over 2 years now. It's like having a building lifted off my back! I’m light. I’m airy.

Kabul. I’m headed to Kabul this summer. I got the official notice the day before my test. We’re still sorting out reporting dates and stuff but it will probably be in June.
I’ve had to explain my reasoning for bidding on the Afghanystany to a couple folks already so I’ll break it down for you:
a) I’ve got a couple good friends who will be there at the same time and I know who my boss will be. Basically it’s the best time to do this if I’m going to do it.
b) Taking a tour in one of the 4 critical post countries (A-stan, P-stan, Iraq, Sudan) is not yet mandatory for us but you do have to bid on a job at one of the four. So I could have gotten screwed into one of the other spots.
c) I get my pick of posts after doing this. I’m thinking someplace small, quiet and with lots of good travel and food opportunities, i.e. East Asia, Eastern Europe, or West Africa.
d) This was a really hard to fill spot for the powers that be. I’m really helping them out by taking it. Stacking away those chits for future use as well as looking at the fact that I’ll be eligible for promotion this coming year. I’m not much of a ladder climber and have no intentions of ruling the world but I’m not an idiot either.

I got an email from my eldest brother 3 weeks ago that our Uncle Peter had passed away. He was my mom’s youngest brother and is the first of the 7 brothers and sisters to pass on. He had been in steadily declining health for the last 5 years as a result of diabetes that he stubbornly refused to follow the doctors’ advice on, even after he lost his leg. And I suppose that that pretty much sums up Uncle Pete. He was a big fan of conspiracy theories and everybody was always out to get him. Whether it was his neighbors, the government, or his doctors; everybody’s main goal in life was to get over on Uncle Pete and he was damned sure not gonna let ‘em. One of my brothers commented that “he never found peace in this life-now he’s at peace”. I guess that’s one of the comforts of religion that I don’t have. For me, his death pissed me off. There’s no other way to put it. You don’t have to believe in some magical sky-god to know that this life is a shockingly extraordinary gift; that every day, every second of our existence is a thing of wonder. We have a magnificently beautiful world in which we live, the ability to appreciate that beauty, and an incredible amount of power to affect that world either for the better of for the worse. To piss away that gift in such a careless manner is a sin in any sense of the word that you care to view it.

* Mildly Interesting Tidbit: The highway between Nice and Villefranche is where Princess Grace drove off the cliff.

Cuz Life is Rough

2008-01-07T17:49:00.000+02:00

I'm chillin out on the Cote D'Azur. Actually, I've started up language classes today... in an old mansion... with a beautiful view of the French Riviera. Now that I've finished up for the day, I guess I'll head back down the hill to my little apartment above a restaurant and about 30 ft from the Mediterranean. It was rainy the last few days but today was gorgeous again. Have to run hit the shops before they close to get something to go with the cheese and wine I have sitting there waiting for me to enjoy with the sunset.
Hehehe.
Hahahaha!!
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahaha!!!!!!!!

Allo, Little Girl

2007-12-21T21:39:00.000+02:00

Oh, and bye the bye, my little sis has had her little one. Her little her arrived reluctantly on the 13th. She's a long tall Sally at 19 3/4 and I'm sure she's a blond bundle of trouble, just like her brothers. Welcome to the beautiful, brutal world Catie Rose. See you sometime soon.

The Gambler

2007-12-20T22:35:00.000+02:00

"...til boredom overtook us, and he began to speak."
I've got all my decorations, but I don't have my tree yet. Am planning on picking one of the little Baobab trees made out of palm fronds from one of the markets around here. They usually have a decent selection over by the Union Buildings. Something to get me out of the house this weekend.
I know I've been uncommunicative on many fronts for a while now, and I promise to be more... communicative in the mid-distance future. But just now I am in a bit of a preparatory panic for my course in France and have more reading and studying to do.
Hopefully, I'll overcome the studying boredom enough in the next week or so to post again, but in case I don't, Merry Christmas and best wishes to all my very scattered loved ones. Especially the ones I haven't talked to in a while.
Enjoy your season of peace, good-will, and eggnog.

46664

2007-12-04T16:27:00.000+02:00

So I saw a kickass concert this weekend in Josie. It was a 10 hr affair that had the Goo Goo Dools, Peter Gabriel, Ludacris, Angelique Kidjo, about 20 different SA artists/groups and a fantabulous wrap-up by Annie Lennox. It was the 46664 concert which, in case you didn't know, was Nelson Mandela's prison number. It is now the tagline for his World AIDS Day concert series. http://46664joburg.co.za

I didn't know that either until I was actually at the concert. Now I have the T-shirt. And you can get one too at: http://46664.com/index.php

You won't see me shill for stuff very often but the causes don't get much better than this one.

I've only been to one better concert in my life and that was the 9/11 concert in DC.

Schlubs

2007-11-19T22:47:00.000+02:00

My friend H was back in town tonight. Between the two of us, we've been gone for most of the last couple months on one trip or the other. So tonight we went out to the local watering hole and told lies and discussed deep philosophical (or at least developmental) issues. We had a tri-continental/varied view/diverse background/whole UN sort of thing going on discussing crime in SA, the function of the AU/the validity of aid to the Middle East/etc. over some cold Castles.
And then...
The guys at the other table wanted to join us. So we're a pretty egalitarian bunch. Fresh ideas/fresh blood is always good, right? Well this took the whole thing down to an American-football-isn't-really-football sort of level. Within 25 minutes everybody packed up and headed home. Now this is probably a good thing for my jet lagged sleep patterns but I swear we were about to solve poverty as reality in the free market world just before those schlubs sat down. Maybe if I have one more Castle before bed I'll remember how it works.

Feelin Froggy Again

2007-10-27T18:46:00.000+02:00

So I really have to focus again on getting my French up to snuff. This is a REQUIREMENT for work. So I've taken some drastic measures. I got cable. This is for the sole purpose of watching TV5 every night. Now all I have to do to study after a long day is to flop down in my comfy chair and turn on the tv. This is kind of a big step for me. For the first 9 months here I didn't even have a tv. Since I broke down and got one, I've only had the rabbit ears. But since I was having somebody put an ugly dish on the back of my house anyway, I got AFN installed too. But that's only because a friend who was leaving post gave me his AFN box and now I can watch the NFL while I'm a hemisphere away.
I also instituted French Movie Night at my place every Thursday night. I put out an email to the friends and co-workers at the beginning of each week listing what will be showing that week. Then on Thursday I pick up some cheese after work and then mange fromage, drink wine and watch the movie with whoever shows up. I've got about 15 French movies that I've picked up along the way so I won't run out any time soon.
Next week I even get to stop off for a day in Paris on my way back to DC for a conference. Life is hard.

Check It Out

2007-10-03T21:46:00.000+02:00

I've added some more pics finally now that somebody showed my how to link stuff better. Enjoy.

I am Man, Hear me Fix Stuff

2007-09-30T02:27:00.000+02:00

My neighbor’s garage door broke this afternoon so her car was trapped in the garage and, thus, she was trapped for the weekend becauses there is no safe public transport and this town is not exactly walkable.
She called me to get the number of someone to come fix it and I told her that I’d take a look at it as she was unlikely to get anybody to show up yet this weekend. So I pick up my toolbox and head across the compound to see what's up. Long story short, I was able to fix it.
Now, having grown up as the fifth of five boys, I was the one who held the light and ran for tools the entire time I was growing up. I was not considered mechanically inclined. To be fair, two of my four brothers were actual mechanics on heavy equipment in the military and all four of them and my Dad could each rebuild a tractor engine or tell you off the top of their heads what tolerance the cutting head of a combine needs to be set at for any given grain.

So this was nice. I have not felt so manly in a long time. Not only was there the satisfaction of the completion of a tactile and finite job, there was also the oooing and ahhing of an appreciative audience. I had shown up with my toolbox and saved the day for someone who had absolutely no idea of how I did it.

We won’t tell her about the incident a couple months ago where I took my car in for engine trouble only to find out that the problem was I hadn’t changed the air filter since I bought the car and it was completely plugged.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

2007-09-25T04:20:00.000+02:00

Why yes, that's right. It is 4:30 in the morning my time and I've been staring at the ceiling for hours now. That's just how jetlag works. So you, my faithful 3 readers, get a quick update that I did make it back safe and sound. Although the way my head and belly are grumbling in unfamiliar ways, I'd say that I may have just picked up a little sumpn. We'll see how excited I feel about going into work tomorrow morning.

Salad Days Are Here Again!

2007-09-18T17:31:00.000+02:00

I'm back in DC, the land of picnics on the Mall, weird Redskins fans, lovely ladies, & good mexican.
I even got to watch my Vikings lose - to the Lions for the first time since Christ was a corporal. And it sure is nice to see the old crew and be able to walk around town after the sun has gone down.
The training that I'm her for is about as exciting as watching continents drift but I finish up at 3:30 every day and then I'm loose on the streets of the hometown of my soul for the rest of the day. It's almost more bars, football and ethnic food than one poor country boy can handle. But not quite.

Non Sequitur

2007-08-20T22:11:00.000+02:00

Yeah, I know I've been away.
I've actually really been away - back in the states for a month having a fabulous time with fabulous people doing fabulous things. And I brought myself back a couple good gins. There will be an update of all my adventures... just not right now. It's the laziness people, the laziness!
But I do have to share the latest excitement in my life - something I've been thinking about for a while, planning and saving for and I've finally done it. That's right, I bought myself some stripy pajama bottoms. And I'm wearing them right now. Comfy. A little long but comfy.

2007-07-09T13:26:00.000+02:00

My birthday was Saturday and I had a few people over to the cave. It was a rather small affair as I had kind of forgotten about it being my birthday and all until a couple days before and had to throw it together last minute. I still managed to pull in a nice little bunch of folks and a grand time was had by all. The wine flowed like... wine.
I'm not currently near any of the big numbers so it's not a birthday to really get worked up one way or the other about. It was just a nice excuse to throw a little get-together.

not yelling

2007-07-04T22:30:00.000+02:00

A quick glance down my previous posts reveals a shocking overuse of the exclamation point. Do not fear. This is not a trend. I'm really not yelling at you. And I'm not one of those people that needs to use an exclamation point or seven for every mundane little thing they tell you.
I'm not.
Really.

Really!

Happy 4th Ya'll!

2007-07-04T22:03:00.000+02:00

A series of 4th related events have, thankfully, given me the excuse to avoid the office for the last 2 days.
Yesterday I had to work the "official" celebration which was all diplomatic and choreographed and ceremoniously played out. And it was work - babysitting people who think they're a whole lot more important than they are. But at least the munchies were tasty. And although the crowd was mainly snooty blowhards, they knew when to get the hell out. The event was scheduled for 2 hours and at 2 hours and 15 minutes there was nobody left but the caterers.
Today was the celebration for the proletariat - burgers and dogs and pie-in-the-face raffles. Unfortunately, the weather was backwards. We had a beautiful sunny day yesterday and today was dreary and freakin frigid. It was a lot more enjoyable though, even if your burger was cold by the time you sat down to eat it.

STELLAAAAA!!!!

2007-07-02T13:19:00.000+02:00

So the car's in the shop. Again.
But the eternal optimist here is thinking that this time we've got it figured out. Changing out a clogged air filter and replacing a leaking coolant valve on the engine might just fix the ongoing problem of Stella refusing to start for a half hour after any trip over 45 minutes.
I guess we'll find out.
It's always something with her. But she's a good lookin car. And, with apologies to Andre 3000, I don't like her just because she's got a big ole trunk. But it does help.

Boring like sod

2007-06-21T22:31:00.000+02:00

I've just started to realize how boring I've become. Once upon a time, back when I had a life, I was not just interesting or mildly entertaining. I was the life of the fricken party! But lately I've been working 12 hrs a day, 5 days a week and showing up to work on weekends.
I went down to Joburg last weekend with a couple friends to go to a hip club. We were turned away because one of us was not dressed "appropriately". (Not me.) We then proceeded to drive around Joburg, getting lost and checking out random lame clubs with obnoxiously high covers for a couple hours. We then soberly drove home. Sad.
So it is time to take action. I will not go down quietly! I will not act my age! And I will not become a boring sot! Actually a sot implies drunkenness which (at least to me) implies a good time. So I shall rephrase: I will not be boring like sod! I shall dress snappier, as befitting the aging hipster that I am. I shall attend every event, drink too much and stay too late. I shall discuss non-work subjects... even while at work! I will loose the raging coolness that has been too long trapped inside at it's miniature desk entering miniature data into miniature spreadsheets.
I shall do... stuff.

mmm... Beef

2007-06-10T05:12:00.000+02:00

Since I just got back from Bots last night and I've already been asked by one of my three faithful readers how the trip was, I feel compelled to share.
It was good! It was quiet and provincial with nice, friendly people and had really good beef. Botswana is famous for it's beef. It's free-range, grass-fed, tender, juicy and flavorful. Reminds me of me - except for the grass-fed part.
There was a bump or two, however. I had driven up (the better to see the countryside and the better to get around once I got there) and, oddly enough, somebody busted out one of my back windows on my last day there. I say "oddly" because that sort of stuff is expected here in the big, bad, crime-ridden Republic of South Africa, but not in quiet, sleepy, provicial Gaborone. But it wasn't that big a deal either. They broke one of the little back windows and they didn't even take anything. Not that there was much to take. It happened right in front of the hotel and I had taken all my stuff up to the room. All that was in the car was a couple Economists and a copy of Harold Bloom's Shakespeare: The Invention of The Human. I guess they weren't Shakespeare fans.
But, no, this did not ruin the trip or sour me on Botswana. It's is a nice place and I'll go back as soon as they let me. It did kind of limit my running around though. Kind of hard to go and park anywhere with a wide open car. I really didn't want this whole post to be about a broken window but I do sometimes ramble.
On the way up I saw ostrich, kudu and baboons and on the way back I saw a nice big hornbill.

BOTSWANA!!!!!!!!

2007-06-05T13:15:00.000+02:00

Yes, I'm in Gaborone this week, checking stuff out, meeting with people, making sure that we're on track for our merger from this end, and covering for my counterpart who's out of town.

Some of you may not realize how big a deal it is for me to be in Botswana but let me reassure you, it is a big deal! Not so much professionally although this is my first TDY in my current position and with the merger associated with it, it's a nice bit of responsibility. And not financially although the TDY money is always nice. And, sure, since the Peace Corps I've wanted to travel around Africa and see as much of it as I can, but that's not it either.

I've wanted to come to Botswana since October of 1991 when I was in what I laughingly call "College". It was just after the infamous naked fire jumping incident and the story needed to be told. Of course the version that was to go down into legend was the version told by Tommy D. In Tommy D's version everybody was sitting around the campfire knitting, singing and reading the bible until James "Botswana" B. showed up with two kegs and a case of tequila and said, "Hey, you got a fire? How bout we take off our cloths and jump over it?"

From this my nickname for a short time was "Botswana" and I enjoyed a little bad boy notoriety which I have striven over the years (as much as I strive at anything) to maintain a bit of. Although I may have jumped the shark that night out in the woods with nothing between me and the October sky but some spilled liquor and a fine layer of soot.

serious case of the blahs

2007-05-29T12:15:00.000+02:00

It's cold down here in the southern hemisphere, it's also the first day back at work after a long weekend and I don't have anything that I want to work on. I have lots of stuff that I SHOULD work on but none of it seems the least bit enjoyable.

A friend from DC is in town for a couple weeks and we went to see Pirates of the Carribean and did some running around this weekend, which was nice. But generally, I'm just kinda draggin. And not the good kind of draggin where I was out partying and whooping it up the whole long weekend. It's more the bodies-at-rest-stay-at-rest kind of draggin. I probably wouldn't even post this gloomy, mopy thing if I'd bothered to put anything up in ages.

Must go do something exciting now - like call the shop to check on my car.

Kumquats and rigged elections

2007-05-14T13:34:00.000+02:00

One of the great things about living here in the RSA, besides the abundance of good cheap wine, is the produce. There are fruit and veg places everywhere. Two right near my house and one just up the street from work. The quality is generally great and frequently outstanding and the selection actually mirrors the seasons, something I view as a plus and decidedly unlike the you-can-get-shoddy-quality-of-anything-at-any-time-of-year system in the States. Since I pigged out for dinner last night whilst vegging and watching a movie, I'm not too hungry for lunch today. So I just took a quick jaunt up the street and grabbed a half kilo each of kumquats and cherry tomatos and am now happily munching away at my desk as I catch myself up on the events of the world.

I'm still torn on the whole Nigerian elections thing. Yes, I know it's a good thing as far as peace, economic growth, and general regional stability are concerned that Obasanjo's hand-picked guy is firmly in place. And it does sound like he will be a step forward and a force for good. But rigged elections (and they are broadly considered to have been badly rigged) is not democracy and real democracy is what the region needs. Yes, picking their own leaders is a heavy responsibility that some populations have not always done a good job at (Indonesia, Russia, Mauritania, the US) but it is in the end their responsibility and the people are the ones who must bear the responsibility and the consequences for picking their own leaders.

Long Weekend

2007-05-02T16:50:00.000+02:00

South Africans are quite ingenious about the scheduling of their holidays. Having Freedom Day on Thursday and Workers' Day the next Tuesday, makes for a 5-day weekend if you take the Monday off. It exacerbates, however, the case of the Mondays that you get on Wednesday. So I'm draggin a bit today. It's also cooling down here which makes me want to eat soup and watch football and the closest I could get was obsessing over the NFL Draft which I followed over radio webcast this since I don't have a TV. The Vikings seem to have done a pretty good job addressing their complete lack of an offense last season and I have high hopes for the 07-08 season. But then I'm the eternal optimist when it comes to my Vikes and one never really knows until the season starts, does one?

Low Flyers

2007-04-25T22:46:00.000+02:00

Just got back from Grafters, the local watch-the-local-game-and-drink-the-local-beer place. As a news flash to the folks that might be reading this, the cricket world cup is going on right now and is quite a big event in some of Englands other former colonies. Anyway, South Africa, who were among the favorites going into the World Cup, just got beaten (actually spanked like red-headed stepchildren) by Australia. So there was much sadness at Grafters, at least at the other tables. Our mostly American table got over it much quicker. We swiftly moved our focus to a hearty farewell to Steve (headed to Guinea) and a birthday cheer for Marie (29 again). There were many pints to be raised and clinked and a couple of Wild Turkeys (known locally, or at least at Grafters, as Low Flyers) to be sipped or just slung back. So if there are any gramatical errors in this posting, I shall blame the bird that Benjamin Franklin wanted to be our national symbol - the turkey.

Phantom Busyness

2007-04-18T22:15:00.000+02:00

A good friend of mine came up from Durban this weekend and we had big plans to tear up the town. We hardly left the house. We did get out a little bit but the vast majority of the weekend was spent talking and drinking wine in my living room. We had plans to do things but usually by the time we got around to it, it was too late to make it whereever we were going.
My week at work has been like that too. I can't for the life of me figure out what I've spent a whole week on but I haven't had a free minute since I rolled into work. Too much meeting and not enough doing. At least my evaluation is done and over for another year. Now I can start really slacking off.

Not Rendering Unto Caesar (yet)

2007-04-07T18:36:00.000+02:00

So I had big plans to do my taxes today (and yesterday) but yesterday consisted of some mandatory R&R from a quite successful gin tasting soiree to which I played host. And today... well today I really had to lay around, read, and spend some time on the net familiarizing myself with the hot new prospects for the NFL draft. It's only a few weeks away and one must be prepared.

Well, back to the salt mines.

Pulling My Head Out

2007-04-03T20:25:00.000+02:00

Finally figured out how to post my pics (at least a good chunk of them) so there is at long last something to update everybody about.
You'd think Picasa would link a little better with Blogger since they're both Google products than Flickr does but you, like me, would be thinkin wrong.
The pics are already old but they are also perhaps the best ones I've ever taken so I must, I must, I must increase my photographic reputation by spreading these around to all my bestestest friends and fam.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy them as much as I enjoyed the trip.
It's been a long day of meetings and cars that won't start so I'm gonna go read my book and go to bed.

Egypt Trip, Jan 07

2007-02-08T15:37:00.000+02:00

Welcome!

2007-02-08T15:16:00.000+02:00

Some of you have been screaming to the heavens and, yes, I have heard you.

I had been planning to set this up for a while and this seems like the perfect opportunity. Now all can come and see my photographic meanderings, peruse my random listmaking, and maybe even read a rant or two.

Enjoy