Off the grid.....

Hello World,
I am jumping out of the BLOGGER ship....The Blogger experiment was a decent ride, but Twitter is where I'll be after today...Evolution is good...Come and follow me.....M knows the deal.

My latest world news obsession....

Drum roll, please...........SOMALI PIRATES!
Man, these stories have me glued to my computer screen on a weekly basis. Just when you think these guys cannot get any more bold, they top the latest stunt. I am certainly not making light of the plight in Somalia because it is indeed very serious and there are lots of people hurting/dying at this moment and have been for a very long time. A 17year lack of government structure will certainly contribute to that, but the lack of action by so many nations for such a period of time is astounding to me. In fact, I find it crazy that anyone traveling through the Gulf of Aden does not roll with 3-4 mercenaries. I understand there are laws that prevent weapons going through port, but come on, 2008 has been a freaking jackpot for these lawless clowns in Somalia! Companies have recently started to take their ships ALL THE WAY AROUND the west coast of Africa just to avoid idiots with a few shoulder rocket launchers and a few machine guns rolling up on them in 4-5 skiffs and letting the ships get taken over because they don't believe anyone can be so bold like these guys have CONTINUED TO BECOME. Lots of money is being lost because no one is fighting back and ending these playground-antics on the sea. What other proof do you need that you cannot just roll over? They (European or Asian due to proximity) need to get a few naval ships over there and follow these clowns home and drop a few missiles on their shacks on shore and this mess will be over and then recover the "confiscated" tankers and other sea vessels these idiots STOLE and this ish will be old news...Are you kidding me....any of these nations could send a small team of special ops. over there to clean this mess up....what gives?!

No worries, the Chinese plan to flex....and I await the next move in this drama.

Latest Tech Adoption....

So.....I enjoy technology in my daily life and thirst for more and more knowledge regarding so many aspects of tech, but I am certainly NOT an early adopter in gadgets, software, hardware et. al. I thing my cheapskate frugal nature wins that battle most of the time. This is not to say I am not AWARE of new gadgets, software, hardware and many things tech, but I just hate to use my money for something that adds no significant value to what my current workflow or completion of tasks is currently.I also aim to not allow myself to get too caught up in the marketing-hype machine of many forms of technology.

For the last month, I have tested a new aspect of technology that has been around for almost 10 years, but really snowballed in '05-06' and that technolgy is RSS. I use NetNewsWire on my macbook and currently am running about 20feeds and am loving it! There are so many great things about RSS Feeds, but I have found the rapid nature of viewing stories as well as allowing me to be very selective....I can see the title and in a split second move on or click in for the entire story. If I happen to be traveling and away from a net connection, I can essentially click into these stories before I leave and they will sit in NetNewsWire and I can view them.

I resisted this for a long time because I thought it was pointless. Now, I cannot see interacting with the net any other way. I would say it has moved to about 60-70% of the way I use the net if I am not quickly looking up info/directions/checking email. It sames me tons of time although I can find myself trying to digest so much information that I need to walk away many times because so many stories can populate if I let hours and hours go by without checking and as we all know....life has a way of pulling you in different directions at times.

Get on the RSS train....It's movin' baby!

My new favorite fruit....

Feijoa, aka Pineapple Guava or Guavasteen are the names of this delicacy and allow me to warn you and your taste buds. The taste is such that a kiwi, guava, pineapple and some cosmic aromatics joined forces to take over the rest of the fruit world. These things are supper-addicting and I recommend you find one ASAP, cut it length-wise , scoop out the insides, consume and allow this goodness to change your life.

My next step is to find an Asian market that probably does a better job of carrying more of a higher quality and lower cost than one of the mainstream supermarkets I found the ones I purchased at......I'm hooked.

A vistit to my PCP today...

Well, we are in the season of sickness in the MI thanks to changing seasons, closed quarters and questionable immune systems.

I have had a 3.5 week bout with the coughs, sneezes, phlegms and overall discomfort from the neck up. I took some Comtrex (which is my usual method of healing myself from such ailments) and thought I was on the road to recovery 1.5 weeks ago. Well, I still could not get rid of the occasional cough + phlegm action. L told me I had bronchitis, but although it has been years since my bronchials were afflicted like that, I brushed off her diagnosis. Two days ago, I woke up and felt as though I swallowed a sea urchin. I told myself, "Must see doctor immediately." Well, after several gargles with salt water, lemon juice, honey and cayenne, I let one more day go by thinking my immunity would win. It didn't and I broke down and made that call this morning to see if my doctor could see me sans appointment. He did and a gift of 30 Amoxicillin taken for 10 days later, I am on the swift road to recovery.

Diagnosis: Bronchitis.

Los de Atrás Vienen Conmigo

...is the newest album from Calle 13. It came out two days ago. I have listened to it from beginning to end at least 3X and I must say the evolution is noticeable and something I was unsure of since I thought the first album was very different, but still very good. René Pérez (Residente) is one of THE best lyricists out there. Flat out, the guy is a friggin wordsmith and the cadence he uses is amazing! Seriously, the dude is line with Em in the sense of how he can change on a dime and actually have content that tells a story and transforms your perception when you hear and then visualize what he says. One of my favorites, indeed. Eduardo Cabra (Visitante) is an amazing producer of beats. The guy weaves so many styles on this album and marries so many genres of music that it is surprising how smooth it is and it just works. You would be an idiot to say Calle 13 is reggaeton and I know that is what the mainstream US would try to do since it is so much fun to label everything and everyone, but this music is on the fringe of reggaton. Everything from bossa nova, salsa, jazzy beats, tango and really basic sounds can be heard on this album.

These guys are rude/shrewd/lewd, but in a very clever way. I would probably not listen to these guys within ear shot of my abuela or mother, but production-wise and lyrically, this has to be THE best album out right now and I expect it to clean up grammys like the previous release did.

Get it!
In line with our busted political system, peep the vid from
MTV ...it really cracks me up!

Things...too many things...

We recently had our carpets steam cleaned. I'm glad it happened, but the process of getting prepared for this to happen and the aftermath yielded an unfortunate reality I am embarrassed to be a part of -- WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF!! The sad thing, is that 80-90% of this stuff was not even purchased by us. There is stuff we were given when we got married, stuff people gave to M and having a child for a little bit over two years has taught me that they are pretty simple and do not require THAT MUCH stuff for daily living. Adults complicate the lives of kids, but kids are pretty basic and excess clothes and toys sitting in a closet is not a resourceful use of space and could easily be utilized by less fortunate families, homeless shelters, churches or other locations. It was amazing to see all the items I transferred from three closets to the basement in preparation for the carpet guy to come in here and work his non-toxic magic. Well, this exercise opened my eyes and the process calls for a minimum of items to remain in closets, lots of purging and a deliberate act of living a more simple life.