wce.80d.org

a few lessons learned from the trip to hell's canyon. another indescribable trip for many reasons.

- being cynical is not a flattering way of avoiding things of which you're afraid, especially when you're at a wedding, drunk, and showing your breasts to every man who will look at them (she did have nice breasts, though).

- i'm afraid of death. and marriage. and having kids. and falling in love.

- fear is fueled by uncertainty and is most intense when you have something valuable to lose.

- there's really not too much to lose by falling in love and uncertainty isn't a very encouraging way to live an inspired life.

- there is a lot to lose by dying, getting married, and having kids but i guess you get to a point when you're ready to exchange those things with what you'll lose. danielle was clearly ready to trade it all in - but she didn't have much to lose but mountains of despair.

- when you're sitting in a tent with visions of being the next set of names in the news that was never recovered from an Oregon blizzard, the claim that "we've got plenty of food to wait this thing out for several days" isn't the most comforting thing to hear.

- geology is confusing.

- scrabble is a great conversational stunt.

in a related note, i just ran across a quote that i captured back in 1997 from catcher in the rye (i think) that sums up my most recent experiences with nature and spirituality and death and love (of which there have been so many!)

"but most of all, above everything else, who in the bible besides jesus knew that we're carrying the kingdom of heaven around with us, inside, where we're all too goddamn stupid and sentimental and unimaginative to look...jesus realized there is no separation from god."

jd salinger is brilliant.

so today is earth day, which i'm mostly opposed to celebrating in the same way that i resent going to church on sundays. filter out appreciation of nature and your relationship with god from the rest of your weekly routine and we all end up a bunch of hypocrits.

02.22.07

oh boy. it has been another indescribable day. we left at 8am to head to the rangitata river. it felt a little contrived when we were picked up in a bus that said “river from the sky” on the side. i later came to learn why; in maui, rangi means river and tata means sky. the rangitata river was not actually the color of the sky but something so much more brilliant - much more intense than the grey, dull clouds and sheets of rain that blew across our faces all day. despite the rain and the cold and the lack of sun, i couldn’t unhook the smile from my ears. we began in a flat, braided river as jimmie warned us of what we was ahead. my boat, largely composed of river engineers, arrogantly joked that we knew where eddies and secondary currents would take us. and maybe we did. the boat only lost one person and he was an englishman and a drama major. i felt my confidence swell as our river guide warned us of the 300m of class 5 rapids ahead- i knew we wouldn't flip. even as cully floated up over me after our raft submerged under ‘tsunami’, i somehow still knew that we’d conquer that reach. i feel a little ashamed now that i wanted so much to be in control of nature in that setting; knowing what i do about river mechanics, i should know better than to assume that we’d have any control, even in an enormous, inflatable bumper car. and really, it was more luck than cumulative knowledge of river mechanics in the raft.

in those moments as we paddled, floated, and screamed our way through each set of class five rapids, even leopold himself would have forgotten his years of hydraulics. there is something really invigorating about being so connected and aware of a moment. as i jumped off of the first set of cliffs (only 10m this time), i thought of a conversation with nicolas a few months ago; those moments as you fall, then sinking like a bullet into 10C water, then emerging with empty lungs...that makes you feel pretty alive and aware of time. i’ve spent a lot of days on rivers and it usually brings me on some level to that awareness, but never as intensely as the trip today did.

i meant to be better about keeping up with this blog, but i really haven’t had regular access to email or time to spend writing at the computer. it is actually more of a blessing than a curse, though the backlog on my email accounts is going to be tough to tackle when i do get back. i leave Christchurch early Saturday morning and am leaving my laptop here. there’ll be no email, no cell phone, no computer screen for an entire week and i couldn’t be more excited.

i’ll try to briefly recount the past few days, though it will be hard to do that briefly. my talk on tuesday was well attended and it went very well. it is nice to have gotten it over with early in the week and to have gotten such a good response from so many people. i’ve been exploring the city in my running shoes, getting lost and finding my way (literally and figuratively) through cemeteries, city parks, and the botanical garden. i took the bus out to the beach where I met bernard, a 80-90 year old woman with only three toes and not a bit of sense about how to use a digital camera. i’ve been spending a lot of time with rick, dave, and greg and i was surprised to be so comforted by their familiar faces.

i’ve also met loads of new people who are as indescribable as the nature here is. there’s the old belgian guy who gifted me with numerous bugs (dead and alive) and who, despite his complete inability to hear a melody or a bass line, kept pulling me out to the dance floor at the conference dinner. there’s ross, the ‘technologist’ who might be the loneliest and yet most arrogant person I’ve ever met. there’s ‘kitty’, who looks just like a skinny version of arthur but who puts on a more elaborate stretching routine than bikram himself every time I pass en route to and from downtown from my hostel. there’s jess and jess, two ladies from virgina tech who are fun but who embarrassingly remind me of myself when i was a masters student. no lack of strange and mostly friendly encounters here, and i feel like i didn’t even have to try.

i arrived in christchurch yesterday after traveling for 29 hours. the trip was mostly uneventful, aside from some interesting conversations with my row companions on the 14 hours flight from san francisco to sydney. i rode downtown with some strangers from the airport and my first impression of this place is how friendly everyone is. my second impression is that if i don’t get hit by a car while i’m here, it will be damned miracle. i need to memorize a mantra to remind myself to look in the opposite direction before stepping out, but i’m so confused about which direction the cars are coming in that i can’t figure out what an appropriate mantra would be. the other problem is that this place is so beautiful; it is hard to focus on moving vehicles when there is so much else to see.

i am staying at folley towers, an amazingly well-kept backpackers hostel. it is a short walk from downtown, gratefully, and across the street from an organic grocery and the herb shop, both of which i intend to explore this afternoon. the people, again, are super friendly and super rigorous. i saw a young lady leaving this morning with a quads bigger than the meatheads at dixon. quite randomly during my first walking tour of the city last night, i ran into someone from EPA who i met last year at NABS in alaska and we went to dinner along the river. we caught up over dinner and he, because he’s been here several days already, had stories of hitchhiking, hiking, and camping along the tracks that made my mouth water. despite the lack of jet lag and no sleep for three days, i wasn’t tired but decided against heading over to the battle of the bands with him for an honest attempt to catch up on some sleep. i shouldn’t have bothered. my mind was racing as i layed in bed listening to the kiwis outside my window talking about american culture. i’m so pleased to spend the first week in town and the second in the woods and really wish i had more time to legitimately explore this place.

The "Sweep" footage is now mostly in the can. We shot some more dream sequence footage (giggage?) Friday night till about 2a at the dojo in Chapel Hill. Saturday was my first relaxing weekend day in some time. I played a game of disc golf @ the Kentwood Park course on Kaplan Dr., right near NCSU. It's a really nice relaxing game if you've never played before.

If you've ever been to Carrboro, NC, check out this video from It'sCarrboro.com. Pretty funny at times. "Vis to the Art to the VID-E-O" Weaver street market is also mentioned a number of times, Cat's Cradle, etc.

Carrboro is a cool town. I've spent many really nice days and nights there since I've moved to Raleigh. I'd move there next if I wanted to leave Raleigh and stay in the area. After that would be some place in Chatham Co.

Bye weekend.......

I’ve been waiting for this day to arrive for some time. 04.05.06. I thought it would be more exciting; such a sequence occurs only once per 100 years!

I dropped my i-pod in the toilet. I was reaching down to grab my bag from the floor and it slipped out of the chest pocket in my fleece. I quickly fetched it out, but it immediately shut off. After 30 minutes, it came on but would not lower the volume beyond max. then it quit working entirely. It was sad to realize how attached I’ve become to hearing energizing music as I move through my day; I feel like I’ve succumbed to materialism. Fortunately though, I’m weaned from this addiction in Vienna where the sites and sounds are interesting and exciting enough.

Walking through the conference lounge today, I observed somewhere around 100 scientists glued to their computers which were wired to the internet at units set up through the common area. It struck me as ironic that such sophisticated scientists could look so much like babies suckling the bottle that is the internet. Then I sat down myself and checked my email.

I keep meeting the most fantastic people at restaurants, probably when I should be interacting with conference people, talking about my research and about collaborating. At lunch every day, I leave the conference center and walk out into the less commercial district where I am greeted by the same woman each day with a big smile and several german words that I do not understand. She always makes sure that I have the best seat and speaks to me in german while I try to interpret; aber, sie spreche sehr schnell und ich verstehe nicht. She is so cute; a bit overweight, around 35 years of age, entirely too much makeup and cheap jewelry, and perhaps the biggest smile and kindest hear that I’ve encountered since I arrived in Europe. She allows me to sit in the best seat in the back for long after I’ve finished my tea, reading my book and watching people eating and chatting. Yesterday she misunderstood my poor german and brought me a coffee. It was a cappuccino in a tiny mug and I was too embarrassed to send it back. So for the first time in my life, I drank a cup of coffee. The first taste was incredibly bitter and reminded me why I never drink it. But after I dumped the entire packet of sugar into the tiny mug, it tasted considerably better and I was able to finish it over the two hour period I was there. I’m struggling to put down the book that I’m reading, but after only one cup of cappuccino, I became incredibly restless and had to leave to go for a walk. The rest of the afternoon was spent unsuccessfully trying to focus on presentation after presentation. I left early and went for a long run at a park I discovered near my hotel. Maybe it was the weather, maybe the coffee, but I felt great running and spent quite a while watching people at the park as my legs moved forward in laps around the perimeter. The weather was warm, sunny, and breezy and there were masses of people out. The playground was my favorite part of each lap and the playground equipment was really fantastic – things I had never seen before but looked like so much fun.

I set out with a deliberate agenda tonight. I need to write and having skipped lunch, I wanted a good dinner. I found a restaurant around the corner that serves the three things I’m craving: leafy green vegetables, pasta, and beer. The waitress was super cute – she wore all black but with bright pink hair and a smile that would melt the most bitter heart. She is the type of person that you want to befriend. And I realize the logic (not irony, derek) of it – that I should find such women so far from my home.

There is a couple arguing in the corner. The man says very little but drinks his beer and smokes his cigarette without interruption. The other corner couple haven’t spoken to each other since they sat down. Two men sit alone at the bar. It has occurred to me more than once since I landed on this continent that I should spend a substantial period of my life here. Fortunately, I get sabbatical every 7 years. Only 6.5 years to go.

I really do fit in well here, in the other corner of the restaurant and in the city. Unnoticed and anonymous, I appreciate the general perspective of this part of the world. ‘Alive’ by Pearl Jam just came on the radio and I’m suddenly drawn back to middle and high school. I wish Mind was here with me. I realize how much, despite my intense desire to be alone, I miss having her in my life. She’s rare because she lives what she believes and never apologizes for any of it. Like an ArcGIS layer, if you lay that on top of her unwavering passion, you produce a map of uncertainty, trouble, and true love. She’s such an inspiration and I hope everyone has someone in their lives like her.

Somehow now I run across a song by jem (‘remember’?)and it reminds me of Kris. This flood of memories and of irreplaceable people!

I’m reading an incredible book that I picked up here in Vienna before I left. It is called ‘of human bondage’ and covers everything from art and literature to personal philosophies and travel and love. I cannot put it down and it effectively expresses my own struggle between the joy of independence and the desire to be loved and to love. It is a great book. If you have a long airplane ride or time for 650 pages, you should read this book. I’ll loan it to you; it is very good.

Very little could have improved my morning. It is Sunday and for the first time in a very long while, I completely felt like I was on vacation. I slept in and skipped my morning run. I went to breakfast without showering. Michael and I smoked and walked down to a café for tea in the sun before he left for the airport. I sat in the hotel window for nearly an hour, enjoying the time alone watching the neighborhood and reading my book. It occurred to me while I was getting into the shower that I am thoroughly satisfied with my life. What a funny thing to realize; it is not that I have been unhappy, but rather just the epiphytic realization that I am happy and that it should even occur to think of it as something to realize. Traveling is funny; it really exposes your strengths and weaknesses. I’m reminded of how much I love Oregon and have found completely renewed enthusiasm for my job. It is amazing what a single day off can do to your perspective. I’m leaving Sofia with a lightness of step and persistent smirk that recognizes and appreciates the lack of burden I suffer.

I regret that I haven’t written more, but haven’t had any time to myself in days. I really miss my time alone here; seeing the city without the constant chatter of companions. I want to sit outside and read my book. I haven’t been doing any real “work” on manuscripts or proposals or meeting preparation and I feel a little guilty about that, but am building new and fun models about dam removal that are definitely relevant to work. This might be my favorite part of my job; I am certain to never get bored because there are always new and exciting projects to take on. Still, I feel disconnected from everyday work things and it makes me just a bit uncomfortable. I need to leave here with a manuscript outline and a model developed to feel like this wasn’t a waste for work, but culturally and personally, it has already been an enormous gain.

We’ve been incredibly busy with work and play here in Sophia. I went last night with 3 of the meeting participants to see Dee Dee Bridgewater sing down at the Bulgarian Cultural Hall. It was an enormous auditorium in the city center. Very few Bulgarians speak English so it took us a few minutes climbing in and out of taxis before finding someone who could take us there. The Cultural Hall was a bizarre place; this grand and enormous auditorium, the hallways of which were lined with home improvement stands. It looked like a home improvement flea market, with everything from windows to garage doors to mini blinds to kitchen faucets. When we entered, we were certain the cab driver didn’t understand that we wanted to find the opera hall, but nestled behind the exterior door section was the entrance to the auditorium and behind this door was the largest and most elaborate performance hall that I’ve seen. It was beautiful! And just outside in the hall, the home improvement flea market was closing down for the day. Dee Dee Bridgewater was a fantastic singer. A confident, modest, and endearing singer from Flint, Michigan, she sang in French with her thick, black tongue that was both contradictory and stunning. Her last song was La Vie en Rose and while it was a shade different from Edith Piaf’s version, it was beautiful nonetheless. After 15 minutes of standing ovation, she sang Amazing Grace a cappella and it literally brought tears to my eyes. It made me think that this woman has known real love, be it from her man (or men, three husbands) or from her God. Only recently have I been able to relate to her passion and openness, finally convinced that real love does exist for people, even under completely irrational and undesirable circumstances. Consequently, I’ve decided that there is only so much rationality that people should allow to guide life and decisions. Jennie first introduced me to this idea, it was reinforced by derek, and now it appears everywhere, like coincidences that certainly existed before but of which you were never aware. Sometimes I regret being a woman, because we are so silly, easily and deeply affected by things as unsophisticated as ‘true’ love.

Somewhere between the beauty of Europe and poverty of China lies Sophia, Bulgaria. I’ve spent one night here and already have seen some of the most beautiful buildings in Europe and some dirtier slums than I observed in Beijing. I went with anders and another Amsterdam student, whose name I cannot pronounce and certainly not spell, to see all of the loveliest parts of this city. After my run through the slums this morning, it was quite a welcomed change. I won’t go into detail about my arrival, dinner, or drinks last night as it wasn’t particularly interesting, aside from the reunion with tim, bert, and paulo. I felt like such a kid with those guys, completely humbled by their intelligence and modesty.

I requested a wake up call at 7:30am and really struggled to get out of bed this morning. I don’t understand why I’m having such a hard time recovering from jet lag this time. But I figured that resuming a morning run routine might help my body adapt, so I put on my running shoes and headed down the stairs. I asked the desk clerk if there was a park where I might run, and she directed me to a dilapidated mud track down the street, with garbage piled at each turn and potholes the sizes of buses filled with filthy water in the center of the track. This wasn’t my idea of exploring, so I decided to head down a street, without making any turns so I wouldn’t get lost. I ran across a few major roads and made somewhat a spectacle of myself. Apparently running is a frivolous and ridiculous activity here; so in addition to my blond hair and blue eyes, which stand out in this Mediterranean area, seeing someone jogging was evidently an unusual sight as several people laughed or mocked me as I ran towards the only park I could find on a map. It looked a little like the NC piedmont, with deciduous trees dominating the vegetation and no undergrowth except for English ivy, which covered the trees and forest floor in patches. There were countless paths through this park, with no trail markers, and after running there for only a few minutes, I was hopelessly lost in this forested island in a sea of concrete. Somehow, I ran across an isolated wetland pool that I recognized from the park entrance, and returned back to the hotel. After a long shower, I met the group for breakfast and headed downtown with the boys to see the churches. I took lots of pictures and hope that the disposable camera will not lose them. The churches were amazing, one of which was built in 200 AD. The paintings and fixtures were incredible and it was very difficult to understand how much history exists in those buildings (or how much they cost at the time of construction). The sun was out, the temperature was around 65 degrees, and I couldn’t have been happier.

It is around 7pm here and it has hard to believe that another day has passed so quickly. I went to bed early last night and awoke (apparently) around 7am. The sun was bright so I decided to get up and start exploring Vienna. I promised myself I would take it easy today, having 6 days to explore this city next week, so that I could catch up on rest and figure out my plans to travel to Sophia tomorrow. I showered and went down for breakfast in the hostel. There is something exciting about traveling in a city alone, sitting by myself at breakfast to watch people and wandering through town, with the ipod on or packed, depending on how much of the city I want to hear.

I left breakfast at 8:30 and headed through the main shopping district. Apparently this city sleeps in. NOTHING was open before 9:30, but it was lovely to walk through countless streets, admiring the architecture and the appreciation of history that Austrians have to preserve these old buildings. I really admire how European cities manage to combine the old with the new. Beautiful old buildings line every street, mostly with apartments upstairs and shops of all kinds downstairs. There is something both marvelous and ironic about a United Colors of Benneton or Esprit in a several hundred year old building.

I found the museum district around 9:30am but it was still closed, so I saw it from the outside before heading back toward the shopping district to search for gifts and whatever I might want to add to my already-bulging closet, as someone recently observed. I also picked up a couple of books, and started reading one of them over lunch at a fabulous little café. I’ve found it very easy to practice my german here, so lunch was fun as I tried to order some pasta with ‘fungi’. Even derek would have enjoyed the food.

Finding myself near the hostel, I returned to check my email and take a quick nap. Or so I thought. Apparently I slept for nearly 3 hours; I was exhausted. And upon waking up, it was dark and raining, so I forewent the running shoes and decided to find an internet café so that I could send out some files for work and download the information about where I’m going tomorrow. One of the loveliest things about this place is the lack of work-related infrastructure. Stores close promptly at 5pm. Train travel drops dramatically around 6pm. And you have to really search to find a wireless connection. So I endeavored to spend the evening at the only coffee shop with a wireless connection (café latte) in the heart of the tourist district. I should have known better. Leaving the hostel at 6pm with a map and my laptop, I headed east, thinking I’d run into this street or that. As history would have it, I became hopelessly lost. I’m sure I passed the same Indisch restaurant 4 times. The gratifying part of this was that I was seeing parts of the city that I wouldn’t otherwise get to, and I really didn’t mind pulling out my map to see if I could find myself since the number of tourists in this city likely outnumber the residents. I dropped my map, which didn’t much matter because I had wandered outside of its extent. I asked at least 6 people, “Bitte, wo ist der Westbahnhof?” They would point me in some direction and I hoped to slowly spiral my way closer to a section that I recognized. It didn’t happen though, and finally, someone advised that I take the train. One stop later, I was at the Westbahnhof and decided to try abandon the Café Latte plan and have dinner at the pub just down from my hostel, which is where I’m writing now. The bartender has been very kind, and we had a long conversation in English, which was a relief to hear something familiar. I think he invited me to stay at his flat when I come back to Wien next week, but I’m not sure as his English isn’t fantastic, so I just smiled and nodded. I ordered Wien goulosh (being vegetarian is a European country is not desirable) and a couple of Gosser beers, yum! The bartended put on a radio station that is playing all American music, all of which is terrible except “ground control to major tom.” The 3 other men in the pub, all older, overweight, and drunk, are talking about me, the only other patron in this neighborhood spot, and making typing gestures to me about typing away at my computer. I am generally clueless about what they are saying, so I just smile and laugh whenever they catch me eavesdropping.

I had a 10-hr layover in Amsterdam. Having arrived in this wonderful city with 3 hrs of sleep for the past three days, I should have guessed that it was going to be quite a morning.

I should start by saying that I love this city. It is a place that I’d like to explore with leslie. It seems like she would fit in so well here. I stashed my laptop in a locker and took the train downtown at 7:30am. It was cold this morning (2 degrees Celcius) and my coat was in my packed luggage. But I felt good. God, I love this city. The train was clean and on time. I jumped off at the central station and started walking through town watching people en route to work. It was a great time of the day to people watch. Everyone frantically moving towards the train station. On bike. On foot. By light rail. No one in cars. I’m in heaven here.

There are tons of canals through this amazing city and I spent several hours walking up and down them, absorbing all of the beautiful features of this place. Like new york, every time you turn a corner, there is another and very different street. Different businesses, different architecture, different people. i found myself in the red light district, just before entering a lovely little smoke shop. He handed me a menu and I ordered 2g of ‘thai’ smoke. They sold mushrooms and hash as well, but having very little sleep or smoke in my history, I wasn’t in any shape to take on something any more intense than just good weed. So I rolled a pathetic joint and smoked it there at the coffee shop and drank my tea. It didn’t’ burn very well and I had to keep relighting it. I felt like such an amateur, but I kept the other gram that I didn’t roll. Michael and I will put that to good use in Sophia, in between manuscript writing and his complaining about how hard his job is. Damn Europeans have it so easy.

People filed into the hash shop to have their morning coffee or smoke. There was an older man next to me arguing in dutch with a younger man beside him. In my mind, the elder man was a professor, and he was discussing politics with the younger man. Superman (lois and lane) was on tv and it was a really serious one about superman incriminating lois lane for some murder (but it wasn’t really her; it was her hologram!). It was way too intense for me because I was stoned having smoked only half of the loose joint that I rolled, so after listening to the men’s conversation for a few minutes, I had to leave to go walk around. There is something disturbing about seeing superman on the witness stand and a dramatic terri hatcher; it made me very restless.

i'm headed east. through minneapolis where i expect to see snow on the ground. through amsterdam where i expect to venture out to find a smoke shop. through vienna where i expect to sleep as soon as i arrive. through bratislava where i expect to be unable to communicate with anyone. finally into sophia where i will meet michael and the rest of the Nature-Net group. sitting here in PDX, i'm finally starting to get excited about the trip. i don't need a vacation right now, but i'm certainly happy to take one anyway.

i've got two bags with me. one is full of work and new cds, courtesy of mr. derek powers. the other is full of food (pizza, salad and annie's dressing, blue corn chips, bread, cheese, stinky pasta, apples, banannas, odwallas). i cleaned out my refridgerator last night and i'm certainly not going to starve or need to purchase airport food over the next 24 hours.

with badly drawn boy playing from my lap, i've been watching the ground crew preparing the boeing 737 to leaving portland. i always wanted to work as part of a ground crew. maybe when i retire they'll hire to me to push the airplanes back with the tug cars and signal the airplanes into the gate with the orange rods. it is exciting to think about what kind of training those people receive. do they learn about the gear ratio of the tug cars that makes them capable of pushing a 200,000 lb aircraft? do they take classes in nose gear and strut assembly? i wonder if they lose the excitement of being around those enormous machines after spending countless days underneath them in the cold and rain.

i got your message last night, cyrus, and i apologize for not returning your call. it was a struggle to get my act together to leave this morning at 4am. i'll call you when i get back and will leave you lots of notes via wce.80d until then.

Down by the beach was I only yesterday. How nice it was....('twas NOT-½baked, BTW :)

Temps were in the 70s and 80s this past week in Florida while the rest of the country was basically freezing. I feel for you! I grew up an hour outside of Buffalo, NY and I know what that cold feels like. Thank goodness for warm apple cider!

I won't gloat about how nice it was to be in Florida, just mention how many times I wished my sister could have been there with us.

Cooking and cleaning and eating is so much fun. Turkey, potatos, gravy, and family... what could be better? People just don't cook up large birds enough. All that wonderful tryptophan! (I'm sure there's no relation, but I did dream especially well over my holiday - even sleeping on the floor...)

What am I most thankful for? Life. The amazing force that makes this planet so very, very exciting and interesting. That's what I'm most thankful for. Things would be pretty boring without it :)

Enjoy it and do all that you can to preserve it - that's my request for you today. Don't waste it - not one bit of it.

Hope you had a nice holiday as well.

I had a wonderful weekend this weekend. I drove to Kerr Lake, about and hour north of Raleigh, Friday evening, I took my friend Daniel to meet up with a number of friends to see off our friend Maria. She returned to Italy this Saturday, the beautiful November day I took a dip in the lake. I brought the canoe to paddle under the stars, after dinner around a campfire.

Saturday eve (Nov. 5th) I attended a "Guy Fawkes" party at Kellys. The Gunpowder Plot was well represented by the barrel of smokeless I hung from my neck.

Sunday I saw Good night and Good Luck. *Lots* of smoking in that movie..... I enjoyed it. Well done and a good historical context refresher for me.

(Beware of sarcasm. It's been sneezed onto this post and little bits of it are everywhere. Wear a mask.)

The avian flu may never end up in your back yard (or at work, or in the grocery, or in line at the postoffice, or at the gas station, or in the break room, or in a public restroom - right? You're safe. Right? You don't come into contact with *lots* of people, doorhandles, sink faucettes, coughing persons, or "others," right?"), but if it does, and you're not ready for what changes it will bring to your life, you *will* be sorry you didn't think about it a little more before it does.

H5N1 Observations


The fact that the major flu pandemics occur ~100 years apart and that the last big one, the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu, killed between 25 and 50 million (more US soldiers than WWI killed) does not mean it's something you need to worry about. That it spread through the US in a matter of weeks doesn't mean it's something you need to worry about. Check out the maps of infection. One month - September, and almost the entire country had it. You might just go about your life, waiting for the day someone coughs on you to worry about it. Then you can take care of all the things you need to as you lay in bed, while members of your family (or your flatmates) fear their lives as they try to fight off dehydration by issuing you homemade ORS formula [4 cups of clean water, 3 tablespoons of sugar or honey, and ¼ tsp table salt].

[*]When flu affects the GI tract it presents with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Patients with flu are really sick and often are so weak they have a hard time getting up out of bed without help. So, one way to tell the difference between the flu and other infections is that the flu is really severe and tends to affect the respiratory track most often, but can also cause severe gastroenteritis (nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea).

Some history on why we travel on the right side of the road (found at This site on World Standards):

...
In the past, almost everybody travelled on the left side of the road because that was the most sensible option for feudal, violent societies. Since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to an opponent and their scabbard further from him. Moreover, it reduced the chance of the scabbard (worn on the left) hitting other people.

Furthermore, a right-handed person finds it easier to mount a horse from the left side of the horse, and it would be very difficult to do otherwise if wearing a sword (which would be worn on the left). It is safer to mount and dismount towards the side of the road, rather than in the middle of traffic, so if one mounts on the left, then the horse should be ridden on the left side of the road.

In the late 1700s, however, teamsters in France and the United States began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. These wagons had no driver's seat; instead the driver sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm free to lash the team. Since he was sitting on the left, he naturally wanted everybody to pass on the left so he could look down and make sure he kept clear of the oncoming wagon’s wheels. Therefore he kept to the right side of the road.

Desiree has safely made it back to the states. Welcome back Des!