Toast for Brekkie

What's up, white boy?

Why are George and Junichiro so happy? Because Guero was released today!

For those of you who are not aware, I am a dyed-in-the-wool Beck fiend. You can check out the video for the single e-pro here. It's obvious from the use of Spanish on the album and the Day of the Dead theme in the highly imaginative and trippy video that Beck continues to be heavily influenced by Latin culture, perhaps a specific Californian brand of Mexican folk. Fans of Odelay will dig this track; get ready to hear it in heavy rotation on the radio. I'll let you know about the rest of the disc when it arrives in the mail. But I can already guarantee it will enhance your life.

Le Weekend

Ah, Franglais. Proof that, as much as France's language police try to stop it, the French continue to borrow as much from English as we did from them back in the old days of French rule over England.

I have so much to share with you from this past weekend it's hard to find a place to start. How about some pictures? Everybody loves those.

Josh and Seth were in town for a week on Spring Break from UT Knoxville (that's them on the golf course with me last weekend). They're pictured here at the WORLD FAMOUS Dixie Crossroads in the thriving metropolis of Titusville, FL.

The food was so good I think the conversation stopped for a full five minutes. All you could hear was the clanking of silverware.

Josh shows us how his baby sister used to react when her parents tricked her into eating a lemon.

I also play the role of Safety Man on TV.

We managed to play a little Gran Turismo 4 this week. I must say the experience has been taken to the next level by the racing chair that Seth made me. He bought a racing seat on Ebay and designed, welded, bolted and powder-coated an adjustable steel apparatus to which I can firmly attach my steering wheel, pedals and butt. It's one step away from the real thing and gives new meaning to the word "immersive."

A few more things and I'll let you go, off to surf the boundless waves of the intarweb.

1) I ran across this site via an ad in Car & Driver. I'm not an SUV owner and I do take issue with their weight and gas mileage. But for those who do own SUVs (and props to those who actually take them OFFROAD), this site offers advice on how to avoid rollovers and overloading. What I really want you to see here is the site design and badical animation.

2) This article gives a good overview of the Iraq war from a British point of view. I know this is something all of you would rather hear less about, but one phrase in particular struck me: "Even the cost to the US tax-payer - $4.7bn a month - is something the American economy can easily absorb." I'll leave alone the issue of whether that money should be spent at all, but I offer this for perspective: the annual budget of NASA this year is $12 billion, for everything from the Shuttle to hypersonic flight research to astronomy. That means that we, as a country, are spending more every three months in Iraq than we spend during an entire year on the space program. Am I going crazy here? Where are our priorities? If you gave NASA $1 billion dollars a week, something the American economy can supposedly easily absorb, we'd already have bases on the Moon and Mars, we'd have designs ready for aircraft that could fly you from New York to Tokyo in 45 minutes, a couple of Space Stations, maybe a space elevator, and we'd be planning a manned mission to Jupiter like Clarke's 2001. Just imagine.

3) Speaking of imagination, I have one last thing for you: astronomy. Westerlund 1 is an example of the advances that are being made every day in our understanding of the universe. For some background: the closest star to our Sun is Proxima Centauri, about 4 light years away. The Milky Way is on the order of 100,000 light years across. Scientists and astronomers have just discovered a super star cluster (yes, even bigger than Molly Shannon's character) in our galactic neighborhood that contains a combined mass of stars over 100,000 times the mass of our Sun in a region only six light years across. Imagine for a moment that it's possible for a planet to exist among Wolf-Rayet stars, OB supergiants, Yellow Hypergiants (nearly as bright as a million Suns) and Luminous Blue Variables. Forget for a second that some of these stars are larger in diameter than the orbit of Saturn. If you found yourself on a planet inside this super star cluster, your night sky would be full of hundreds of stars as bright as the full Moon. Chew on that.

Fire Drill

And now for a little bathroom humor. I was taking my morning constitutional about 15 minutes ago when the fire alarm sounded. A few minutes passed with lights flashing and bells ringing until a breathless fireman rushed in.

"Anybody in here?" he asked.

"Yeah," I called out from the stall.

"You need to evacuate!"

One step ahead of ya, buddy.

Links

It's been seven years since I've played golf, and I'd effectively forgotten the nature of the sport. It could be I was worried I'd be as bad as I was on the high school team. Thankfully, years of not practicing has improved my game.

If you think it's an arrogant and haughty sport, believe me, I know how you feel. A bunch of old rich white dudes hitting a ball with a stick. Hopefully El Tigre has done some incredible work to convince you otherwise. And if I could describe to you the feeling of peace it brings, you might rethink your aversion.

I can honestly say the weekend felt two days longer after 18 holes. There were a couple great drives, some excellent over-water chips, and Josh had an 11-yard putt (witness his "Toyota" jump above).

The time with friends in a natural setting has a calming effect on frazzled, stressed nerves. Throw in some palm trees, wildlife and a beautiful sunset, and you have an incredible Sunday. I'll see you on the green.

Puffy Little Shoes

I'm entirely too fond of posting pictures of clouds. This one was a harbinger of the rains we've had over the past two days. What is a mood, and why is mine so easily affected by the lack of sunlight?

What do you see in this cloud? I see Puerto Rico. I guess the reason I like clouds is their ability to stir the imagination, like giant morphing canvases in the sky. What appeals, too, is their ephemeral nature. This cloud existed only once in the history of the universe. And I was there to see it.

Travel Bulletin

Alright party people. Southwest is running some mad specials to Florida, $39 to $79 one way, 14-day advance purchase. Check it out to see if there's a departure city near you. Orlando is your destination. Remember: May 15 is the Return to Flight Shuttle launch. Get on the stick!

Back Home in Tennessee

When I moved down to Florida last August I was ready to get away. I'd always said I was going to get out of Dodge and it's true that I'm growing quite fond of the flora and fauna in this tropical paradise. But it wasn't until my trip back to Nashville this weekend that I realized: Tennessee will always feel like home.

It could be the crisp, sunny March days. It could be the chance to drive my mom's '72 bimmer. Perhaps it's the log cabins, the shaded lanes, dare I say the tractors, Harleys, and pickup trucks. I marvel at how the stereotypical resonates.

This weekend was brimming with good times and better people. It was a blessing to see my family and spend some old-fashioned time together. Most of the pictures have a story, but I'm hoping they can tell them on their own. I will say I had to add the one from five points since Lacey's recent post had me reminiscing in January. The pic with the guy on one knee is not staged; my mother, with her knack for meeting people, was recruited to take photos of a Vanderbilt brain surgeon as he proposed to his girlfriend at the airport. You should be able to recognize my grandma's surprise that I was home for the weekend. Oh, and the one with the pink border is a relic of my 1.3 megapixel camera and cheesy photo editing software. I had to add it in honor of Chester Elegante's dreamail. If there's anything you're curious about, I'm sure you can find the comment button.

P.S. It's pi day!

Life on Earth

It may be difficult to discern, but I feel there's a common thread to the following articles. Lately the universe has been kind enough to provide me with a wider perspective, so I thought I might share the view.

On reality:

An island in one virtual world recently sold for $30,000!

On the earth itself:

“Ample” evidence indicates that global warming is causing glaciers to retreat worldwide...

On the possibilities in an infinite universe:

Some planets in our galaxy could harbor an unexpected treasure: a thick layer of diamonds hiding under the surface...

On human relationships:

The president has been right on some big questions. Now, if he can get the little stuff right, he'll change the world.

On the human heart:

Confirming the wisdom of the poets and philosophers, doctors say the sudden death of a loved one really can cause a broken heart.

On life itself:

I am, among all men, most richly blessed.

I left my soul in Chicago

Before I delve into the unbridled magnificence of what is already emerging as one of the most significant trips of my life, I'd like to share a joke. Not a funny ha ha joke; something more along the lines of Lacey's "My life is a joke" award. Except this time it's a "My society is a joke" award.

You know you've reached the apex of the current litigious climate of over-protection and ridiculous and worrisome lack of personal responsibility when you read the following on a pack of airline peanuts:

Produced in a facility that processes peanuts.

Are you serious? Who's idea was this? This doesn't just win the Sherlock award, or the Single largest insult to my intelligence award. No, this line has earned the "My society is a joke" award. Congratulations America. Today, you're a winner.

Ok, so tackling this past weekend in words is quite daunting. I'm considering breaking it down into bite sized chunks and then running away scream-- um, I mean, taking them one at a time.

Lay-c thankfully already related the story of her birthday surprise. I see no reason to look that straight-from-the-gift-horse's-mouth, um, gift, in the ...mouth. Ho-kay, moving right along...

Pages could be filled with a journal-style play-by-play of my daily activities in Chi-town. The good times, great food, sights seen, backseat dance parties. If you were there, you know. Next time we meet, pull me aside and I'll tell you stories about the coolest city with the coolest people on the planet.

I was my privilege and pleasure to spend not nearly enough time with the incredibly amazing Delara. Wow. What a human being. There is no way to put into words the vibrant and profound spirit of this woman. Throughout the weekend we routinely stayed up until 4am engaged in philosophical discussion that would normally make my head spin. She helped me work through issues in one weekend that would have taken years of therapy. All this from a person I'd met only once, briefly, two months earlier. She, however, falls into that elite category of "people you've always known." Much like the next person I spent time with:

Naseem. To say that Nas has a spirit of fire is like saying the sun is a giant candle. She is fusion. Wherever she goes, the room glows. And since Naseem is simply Delara ten years ago, you can imagine what it was like traipsing around the Windy City with two nuclear furnaces in tow. Blindingly brilliant.

Continuing the celestial metaphor, I must add that there was somewhat of an alignment Saturday night, with me stretched between the tidal forces of D, Nas, and Greg. After hours of conversational inquiry it was less like a spiritual awakening and more like a rebirth. Maybe soon I'll have my own protoplanets.

The space here is really too small to encapsulate all the people who touched my life those few short days ago. Please forgive the list, I'm overwhelmed imagining what it would be like to try to describe each of your attributes in turn. At the very least, I must thank (in no particular order) Javad, Myk, Aaron, Marc, Nassim, Pierre, Charla, Liz, Suze, Mojan, Bob, and everyone else I met in Chicago for being examples of what it truly means to be human. All of you have filled my cup to overflowing. I love you.

Anglification

"The world has opened up for us, and English is its language."

This article blew me away. I used to think about globalization in terms of technology and economy. How could I have neglected language? Check out these facts:

"Eighty percent of the electronically stored information in the world is in English; 66 percent of the world's scientists read in it..."

"English-language teachers point to the rise of Microsoft English, where computer users are drafting letters advised by the Windows spell check and pop-up style guides."

"All languages are works in progress. But English's globalization, unprecedented in the history of languages, will revolutionize it in ways we can only begin to imagine. In the future...there could be a tri-English world, one in which you could speak a local English-based dialect at home, a national variety at work or school, and international Standard English to talk to foreigners."

This is an unstoppable force. It's interesting that the article points out that the worry went from the quashing of other languages and cultures to the loss of "perfect" American or British English. All in all fascinating, and sobering that I was born into the de facto global language as a native speaker. Especially given that non-native speakers now outnumber us three to one.

Perseverance

Steve Fossett has done it. He is the first person to fly round the world, nonstop and solo without refueling. It took over sixty hours. His plane is the Global Flyer, financed by our old pal Sir Richard Branson, and designed by the illimitable Burt Rutan, of Voyager and SpaceShipOne fame. With exploration and aviation feats such as this occuring with startling frequency at the outset of this new century, I must say I'm happy to be alive to see it. Let the golden age begin.