things are positively joygantic

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			January 2003
			War Links Helsinki Friday January 31, 2003 [1] A look at what happened last time [via jessamyn] [2] A simulation of what's in store [via mefi] [3] Time once more to get your war on Starting a List . . . Helsinki Thursday January 30, 2003 Things I like about California, in reference to my current residence: More sun More time with family Gretchen/DavidJohnDamon/ShanEddieMaya/Diane Closer to Burning Man San Francisco Beaches Mexican food Close to Mexico Easy year round gardening More al fresco dining Better avocados Globalized Helsinki Wednesday January 29, 2003 Musing today about how incredible it is that I can hop of a plane in some foreign land, access the global banking network with my ATM card to get foreign cash and then casually turn on my mobile, watch is find and attach itself to some strange radio network so that I can check my voicemail as I'm walking to catch a cab which will gladly accept my credit card for payment. I find this all truly bizzare, and what's even weirder to me is that I find it normal. Figure that one out. Tonight I was joined in Helsinki by Brian (not my my brother who was in Kansas last time I checked), and as this was our last business trip together we decided to make a night of it and carry the theme of globalism a bit further. We began at another MexiFinn restaurant, this one with Confederate leanings, and then continued on to the Soviet tractor-themed Zetor. The cultural cross pollination continued on to an Irish bar, where the Irish band played my timely musical request. We called it a wrap after enjoying an Estonian beer at a Finnish heavy metal bar (see below). Helsinki at Night Helsinki Tuesday January 28, 2003 After seventeen hours of work encompassing all of the Finnish workday and a good portion of the Seattle workday, I'm feeling punchy. And so after a day of trading business cards, productive but formal meetings with people wearing ties, email, and terribly expensive phone calls to Seattle, I repair to On the Rocks, the heavy metal club a half a block from my hotel. It is both a ridiculous and invigorating place. Ridiculousness that is first apparent from the loud heavy metal bleading out of every orifice of the establishment, accented by the manic eurodiscodancing occuring on a spotlit stage, sent to a new level by the incongrous blackjack table, and culminating in a stone, mirrored, color light-infused fountain grotto near the coatcheck. Invigorating because the club is populated by tatooed, pierced, racuous Finns doing something I don't see in the daytime: letting loose. Joygantic Update #4 Helsinki Monday January 27, 2003 A good day in Helsinki, and a couple of needed hours of writing. Despite the allure of my book, I knew I needed to pry myself away from email, my mobile phone, my notebook, and BBC World. I just needed to write. But now I'm tired, so Evidence through En Route, which required attention to such things as photos, remain unfinished. I hope either that you understand or won't look at the ~~site for another 24 hours or so~~ until sometime this weekend. Tickets Are in the Mail Helsinki Monday January 27, 2003 Participants at Burning Man must bring all necessities to the desert: food, shelter, water, fuel. As you read these guidelines for responsible behavior, please keep in mind that you are responsible for yourself at all times in every regard once you enter Black Rock City. Ethnical Food Helsinki Monday January 27, 2003 I ate my first Finnhita last night. With the restaurant in my hotel closing early, and it being freezing outside (with the promise of an increasingly sub-freezing weather all week), my eating options were decidedly limited. So against all good judgement, I took a short stroll, with ice blowing in my face, to the one restaurant the hotel assured me would be open: Santa Fe, serving Mexican food in the heart of the Finnish capital. My margarita was odd tasting and served in an up glass, but the fahitas were not bad. As the review Yahoo!Deutschland notes: "Nowadays one needs no more city plan or must far run, in order to find good ethnical meal in Helsinki." I find it impossible not to agree. En Route Helsinki Monday January 20, 2003 Taxi drive to my hotel. Reading Material London Sunday January 26, 2003 I have this habit of collecting reading material, primarily magazines. Moving through airports, airport lounges, and hotels only accelerates this activity. I am currently in possession of the most recent editions of The Economist, BrainHeart, Wallpaper, Scanorama, CNN Traveler,Time Canada, and Food & Wine. Collectively, this is approximately 15 pounds of magazine. Add to that the 900 pages of Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, which I've just started. It's clear I have a reading problem. Dressage London Saturday January 25, 2003 Emile and Laura are dressage celebrities. They, along with a hoard of blacktied, evening dressed equestrians have gathered in the lobby bar after some sort of equine awards dinner. They are smoking, drinking champagne, and casting glances at each other that would be knowing glances if I knew what was going on. I find it hard to believe that I would see similar behavior out of figure skating Olympians (Emile) or members of the National Team (Laura). Yet they tell me the analogy is probably apt and there is half-joking dicussion of Tonya Harding-like kneecapping, though I must report that my acquaitances raise this topic from the Nancy Kerrigian point of view. Field Work London Saturday January 25, 2003 Ever the diligent social scientist, I can't help but notice the people at dinner and later at the bar taking picture with their phones and sharing them with their companions. This is my first sighting of the native use of phone/camera technology. People, trust me, this is going to be big. WAR WAR WAR London Friday January 24, 2003 It's good to be outside the United States right now, if for no other reason than the first hand exposure to the way that we are alienating most of the world. Tony Blair is our staunchest ally, but the rest of his country doesn't seem to be falling in line. I eavesdrop incessantly. George W. Bush is "insane," "crazy," "mad," and other synonyms for "out of step with the way most of the world seems to think," which goes something like this: Saddam Hussein is an evil man, terrorism is atrocious, but its existence is understandable, if unfortunate and there has been no demonstrated link between Saddam's evil and terrorism. There is a deliberate UN weapons inspection unfolding, nobody (apart from Kurds and dissidents) feels an imminent threat from Iraq, so why not take things slow rather than rush to WAR, kill lots of people, and provide an instant accelerant the whole Jihad v. McWorld thing? I happen to agree and am rather stunned that every* new encounter I've had with a European has involved a near-instant condemnation of US foriegn policy, as personalized by our president. In other news, I desperately miss playing footsie with Dia as we fall asleep together. Chump London Thursday January 23, 2003 It is good to spend time with people I normally just talk to on the phone at odd hours. And it's edifying to be on the other end of timezone displacement. I usually talk to Europe early in the morning, about halfway through my first cup of caffeine. That's rough, but no rougher than talking to a bunch of punchy Seattlites just starting their day when I am beat and want to wind mine down. Want to is the operative phrase, since I often end up working into Seattle's lunchtime when I'm in Europe. But tonight I cut the cord and enjoyed a meal with friendly colleagues. On the menu was "Lamb Chump." I generally know my hunks of meat. Various places slice up their mammals differently. The French have the onglet and the Brazilians have picanha. The British have chump, which had me stumped. I was convinced this was code for "lamb ass," similar to the way we say "calimari" rather than "squid." And I like the way it sounded when I told the waiter "I'll have the lamb ass." Alas, I was wrong. London Wednesday January 22, 2003 The trip from Seattle to London was uneventful, except for the event in which I left my book in the seat pocket in front of me. I need a new book or I will go crazy. Or collect magazines, which is likely inevitable even if I do acquire a new book. My hotel is of the Scandanavian business variety, which I prefer on these sort of trips because of the generally superb functionality they afford, and the fact that there is invariably a sauna. I went into the office, which would be easier to find were it actually on the same street as its address. I was given fair warning, but that warning was tucked in my inbox, not on the hastily scribbled note in my pocket. During a post-work drink with colleagues, in which I struggled to stay awake, the talk quickly turned to the looming WAR. It's such an ugly word, packed with so much meaning that gets lost in the repetion of cable headlines. I seems inevitable that WAR will be the leitmotif of this trip. Half-In, Half-Out Seattle Monday January 20, 2003 I'm cranky. Dia reports excellent weather in Los Angeles and wonderful times catching up with long lost friends. I'm at home, attempting to take the day off, but having this plan interrupted by urgent calls to my mobile and email from Europe where apparently they don't celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Over the past several years I've identified a state of being that makes me miserabel: half-in, half-out. These are the moments in which I am not fully committed to an experience, typically it involves work intruding on pleasure or vice versa (that later a preferable, but still not optimal state). Joygantic moments only occur when you give yourself over to that moment, and therein lies my multi-tasking induced problem. I whined and bitched to Dia on the phone. This was a good thing because it let me quickly identify what was going on with me. I have not snapped out of the funk, but I know that it's temporary, and naming my mood is the first step in snapping out of it: Half-in, half-out. Life Imitates Art (or something) Seattle Sunday January 19, 2003 Kathleen and I were sipping bourbon at the relaxing but unfortunately named Adobo Taco Lounge. Having launched in to an animated second-hand retelling of Dennis' Collossal Oscar Night Story[tm] I got just to point, a key punchline, where he spills a glass of red wine all over David Hasselhoff's white tuxedo when my gesticulations sent a full glass of Knob Creek flying. Had this followed the punchline it would have added useful dramatic emphasis. As it was, I simply created a mess. Fortunately the evening was not irreparably harmed and a fine time was had by all. A Most Excellent Evening Seattle Saturday January 18, 2003 I head to Mark & Mikelle's without knowing the address, only the general coordinates. No problem. I'll call Mark on his mobile and he can talk me in. But there's no answer. I think momentarily about bagging my evening out but am struck with a Burning Man flashback: If I was on the Playa looking for someone, what would I do? Well, I'd just look for them and know that things would work out. Excellent self-advice. I park and begin to wander up the street and immediately encounter Kelly and Joe who guide me in. I love it when that sort of thing happens and increasingly believe that the only thing preventing it from happening more often is my willingness to believe it can happen. Trevor and Sara arrive. We watch Goldmember, which is achingly funny even on the second viewing. Phil arrives, Joe & Kelly depart, and the rest of us trek to the lounge of Japanese restaurant where the jukebox is ours to dominate, hot towels are provided between rounds of drinks, and old TV shows silently flicker in the corner. Fiddling While Rome Burns Seattle Friday January 17, 2003 Being British, Matt has a nuanced and some might say traditional view of the talk of an American Empire. We're not an empire yet, he argues, because we're not controlling our global territory by force. Yet. We agreed that the U.S. is on the trajectory to become a "proper empire," and we both wish it wasn't so. As the war drums beat in the background, Elaine, Matt and I sit at the bar fiddling with our gadgets. Elaine watching video of the kitties, Matt checking instant messaging buddies, and me showing someone how to take a picture with my phone. In the 21st century this is what it means to fiddle while Rome burns. Joygantic Update #3 Seattle Thursday January 16, 2003 I'm writing consistently, which was a prime motivation for Joygantic. Looking forward to some downtime on my upcoming trip to write more and generally start bulking up the site. I'm improving my tools and am starting to think about how I can implement Moveable Type to simplify update tasks, though I'm worried about being pulled into a technical quagmire. Any suggestions? See You Next Month Seattle Wednesday January 15, 2003 For the past couple of weeks I've been telling Dia "After you leave for LA I won't get to see you until February." She didn't seem overly concerned or even appropriately sad--I expected at least an "awwwwww." Turns out she just thought I was being hyperbolic. Last night it finally sank in that our trips overlapped--hers to sunny CA and mine to frigid parts of Europe. We're only going to be together about half the time from now through March, which makes the thought of our planned vacation all the more delicious. Patriotic Fish Seattle Tuesday January 14, 2003 I ate dinner at a seafood restaurant with European colleagues from another company. The food was quite good, but it was hard to get past the religio-patro sloganeering at the bottom of the menu, which became a topic of discussion. This meal came on the heels of an encounter one of these folks had over the weekend with a patriotic manicurist who asked if she wanted an American flag painted on one of her nails. Though Swedish, she delivered the polite Finnglish response "Kiitos, No Kiitos." Falling asleep I tuned into a Canadian radio show where the discussion centered around a discussion of strategies to secure the "North American perimeter." I'm not sure if border control is related to the seafood restaurant menu, but maybe we need to secure the salmon runs--who knows what destructive sentiments those fish might harbor? The Canadian expert noted that a pro-active strategy was required if Canada was to avoid being dictated to by "Rome on the Potomac." This notion has been sinking in for the past few weeks, perhaps best articulated by the cover story of a recent New York Times Magazine: I'm a citizen of earth's first and only Global Empire. Going to War Seattle Monday January 13, 2003 If the constant front page stories and incessant cable news feeds about Iraq weren't enough to convince me we are headed for war, then email from Katrina announing she's about to deploy to Saudi Arabia certainly did the trick. We met and staffed the Smile Isle moving bar this summer at Burning Man, which I'm not convinced accounts for proper desert training, but maybe it should. Mia Zapata Seattle Sunday January 12, 2003 I remember. Reading that they've found her killer just makes me feel sad again. PornCon Las Vegas Saturday January 11, 2003 The Adult Entertainment Expo is attached, remora-like, to the massive Consumer Electronics Show and happened to be conveniently located across the street from my hotel. It seemed criminal not to take advantage of this opportunity. So today I spent an hour I wandering the aisles of PornCon, perusing dangerous-looking sex toys made of blown glass, watching men queue to have 8X10s signed by silicon-stuffed amazons, and generally taking in the sight of the sex industry in action. This is serious stuff, complete with corporate mission statements and flocks of sober journalists holding tape recorders and hanging on the every word of semi-naked porn stars. The posted code of conduct made it clear that nudity and lewd behavior would not be tolerated, unless of course it was product being shown on a plasma screen. I expected the DVD distributors, sex toys merchants, and strutting starlets (pornlets?). I did not expect the XXXChurch or the online application service that allows you to keep track of your girlfriends, noting sex acts performed, money spent taking them out to dinner, and their "maintenance level." As an added feature, it will even compute a colorful bar chart reporting girfriend ROI. It's amazing how unsexy you can make sex. Better with the Butterfly Las Vegas Friday January 10, 2003 Such an unfortunate combination of singage, and such a malleable little insect. Welcome to CES. Dating Seattle Thursday January 9, 2003 I've never really dated. I can recall two dates in my life, each a case study in awkwardness, and so I never took to dating as a social practice. That's not to say I don't have a deep appreciation for flirting, sexual tension, and the magic of those initial, lovely, life-revealing conversations. And hey, I've watched a few episodes of Sex and the City. But I just don't get dating. So I found myself perplexed today upon meeting a woman who is travelling the country interviewing people about dating, trying to get to the bottom of the conundrum of why men "don't commit." She and her roomate, you see, are writing a book about the topic. They quit their jobs in the Fall and have embarked on a research expedition. I applaude their level of commitment to investigate commitment, but still I don't get it. America Sings Seattle Tuesday January 7, 2003 Growing up in Southern California I routinely visited Disneyland in my youth (my much derided favorite attraction from that period was the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, a B ticket). The Disney death I remember being captivated by was the story about the "America Sings" hostess who was slowly crushed to death by a moving wall of this musical journey through American history. This memory seems timely. [repurposed from MeFi] Swims into a Bucket Seattle Tuesday January 7, 2003 Family keeps pet eel in bath, for 33 years CD Reparations Seattle Monday January 6, 2003 $143 million is to be distributed to consumers as a settlement for CD price fixing, though it seems nobody is bothering to line up for their cash. Or so say a slew of newspapers who have picked up this AP article. The setttlement website, though, seems to be down, suggesting that the abused music-listening masses have been activated. Apparently if more than 8 million or so consumers register for a settlement, the cash gets distributed to arts organizations, so why don't you take five minutes and get cash or maybe help the arts? Boxes Seattle Monday January 6, 2003 Christmasing in Southern California means that in early January boxes start arriving with the gifts we shipped to ourselves (or in the case of three of these boxes, gifts my parents kindly ship after we zoomed away on Christmas morning). Each year, usually beginning in Spring, the "what do you want for Christmas" queries start streaming in. We protest that we have plenty of crap and don't need gifts, but still they show up on Christmas day and I'd be lying if I didn't admit to loving the act of opening gifts. This year the boxes contained, among other things, several vacuum pack clothing/bedding storage units, a kitchen scale, a meat grinding attachment for our mixer, and a fleece blanket. I have some vague notion of using these four items together--perhaps weighing the blanket and vacuum sealing homemade sausage--but I'm really just at the initial concept stages with this idea. Other boxes contained a treasure trove of items from Dia's late grandmother that nobody else seemed to want, but that we adore including an old iron (the kind you don't plug in), tea cups, and Japanese art. Great Big Thing Seattle Sunday January 5, 2003 I spent a Saturday in London a couple of months ago with a wonderful group of people I'd just met, introduced by someone I had met for the first just weeks before in the middle of the desert. We collected at the Tate Modern in two rendezvouses separated by coffee and tea on the roof of the museum taking in the view amid talk of the Antarctic and "how do you two know each other." In each case, the rendezvous point was "the great big thing," as in "meet under the great big thing" or "we'll meet you at the open end of the great big thing." No further detail was required because there was no missing the great big thing. I've just learned that it's called Marsyas. Braised Meat Seattle Saturday January 4, 2003 Cooking is alchemy and nothing demonstrates this better than a pot roast. Gentle wet heat, not unlike a sauna. Chop a carrot, an onion, and a stalk of celery. Get a 3-4 pound chuck roast, maybe some red wine, and some beef stock. Rub lots of pepper and salt on the outside of the roast. Put a dutch oven on the burner and heat to high. Sear roast, remove to plate. Saute vegetables until they start to turn color. Add a cup or so of the liquids, put roast in pot, cover, and stick in 275 degree oven for a few hours. Check once in a while and add liquid if needed. When done, make a gravy if you want. The next day, shred the leftover meat, add a can of chiles and tomatoes and some spices like cumin and chili powder, and you will be in possession of a most excellent filling for tacos. Hidden Talent Seattle Friday January 3, 2003 I have a high regard for my friend Elaine. She has many talents, but one which never made my list until today are her award-winning cookie decorating skills. Note the smiling faces of the adoring crowd. Her visionary decorating, most notably the fanciful recasting of a holiday wreath into a kitty cat, won her Sonics tickets. Stubs Seattle Thursday January 2, 2003 I have been an unabashed collector for years. Less generous souls might call me a packrat. I think my first collection was probably ticket stubs and to this day every stub is summarily deposited in a black lunch box I bought at a thrift store, maybe twenty years ago. Each of them has a story, and I can remember most of them. Wonderful detritus, loved by many. Executive Summary Seattle Wednesday January 1, 2003 I can't recall the last time we sent out Christmas cards. I love the concept, of course, but the logistics are hell. A significant portion of this hell is due to the fact that we lack a comprehensive address book. The digital revolution was supposed to solve this problem, but instead it has exacerbated it, producing multiple, partial lists of fine people on multiple PCs, with a box of business cards and scraps of paper thrown in for good measure. New Years Resolution #1: End this Contact Madness. Until then, we'll make do with our annual New Years Letter, which will be sent out in batches in the over the next few weeks. Sleep, Cook Seattle Wednesday January 1, 2003 The best part about new years day is the ability to spend it in bed sleeping off a completely excessive amount of champagne and reflecting on the seriously odd domnios match the previous night, which immediately followed a complete and thorough humiliation in trivial pursuit. Our sleepday was brought to a halt by the arrival of Brian, Natalie and Stephanie which created enough positive vibrations to send me into a fit of cooking. I do love being the host.