Brutal Jets draft video

via the Sportsguy's intern's Links of the Day: simply brutal...

Although the principal authors of this blog are Democrats...

do not let it be said that we don't also recognize idiocy when it is perpetrated by Democrats when they do dumb shit like this.

Movie theatre etiquette

Here's a great blog with excellent comments about the problems with watching movies in the theatres these days....

I still remember my first movie date with my wife-to-be, Elizabeth... we went to watch Blackhawk Down... early on in the movie there was a group of wannabe thugs sitting behind us: one of whom persisted in a conversation on his cell-phone wherein his end of the conversation consisted entirely of him repeating the phrase, 'fer real?'

After several requests to end this intrusion upon our movie going experience were met with ridicule, I asked the offender to 'bring it.' This shut him and his friends up...

The lesson? physical threats and intimidation work... and they also can mortify the woman who will eventually marry you nevertheless... allright, maybe that's not such a good lesson, but they did shut up...

Saigon Sights

Because it's been a while since I linked to a political cartoon...

and because this David Horsey one is pretty funny...

The Aspara dancers of Banteay Srei

The forward facing feet are an artistic advance from the dancers depicted at Angkor whose feet are displayed sideways. (Yes, we had a guide...)

The Strangler Fig Trees of Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm is a temple in the Angkor complex that has been left as it was 'discovered' with the roots of the strangler figs slowly tearing the temple apart. Using the 'stitch' feature on my camera, I've tried to capture the immense height of these trees in relation to the temple itself.

Movie trivia: Apparently, scenes from one of the Tomb Raider films (none of which I've seen) were filmed at this temple.

Mark Grace is the Man.

I was sorry to see him leave the Cubs, but happy that he finally got a World Series ring...

You've gotta love a guy with quotes like this: "I think you'll know I'm telling the truth here: I was not a user. I was not a steroid guy. If you see me, I'm body by booze."

Good to see that nothing much has changed back home while I've been gone...

via talkingpointsmemo.com

Angkor at Sunrise

I got up at 4:30 in order to take about a million shots of the sun rising over the temple at Angkor... this is the only one that even came close to looking OK...

I shoulda just bought some postcards...

Angkor Wat Pic

Well, tomorrow evening, I head back to DC... I've just returned to HCMC from the beaches of Nha Trang and the temples of Cambodia... Here's a teaser from my trip to Angkor and a pick from a temple nearby on a hill... the climb up the hill was incredibly arduous (think an average incline of 60 degrees) and as we were nearing the top, there were medics taking someone down on a stretcher (so, we're not smiling b/c we're happy to be there so much as we're happy to still be alive)...

More jets moves

Jets traded oft injured John Abraham for the Falcons pick in the first fround which they acquired from the Broncos. Very confusing. In the end the jets get rid of a great player (when he played) for a pretty good draft pick (29th overall). So the Jets will have 3 picks in the first 35. Draft dat is just over a month away!! I do love draft day!!

Pharoah comes to town

First of all I would like to say thanks to Tim for the gerat pics and stories. Sounds like you had a great time and I hope you get home safe.

The other big news of the weeks is that it appears the Patrick Ramsey is following Tim and I. He was the QB at Tulane for most of our time there and then he went to the Redskins (Tim's fav team) in the first round of the 2002 draft. Sadly he got screwed by the Gibbs regime and became trade bait. Well in steps the Jets (My fav team) who acquire him for a 6th round pick to compete with chad for the starting job. It will be nice to see the Pharoah in green again.

Colin

Golden Pavillion and Overweight American Oaf

One is the Earthly manifestation of divinely inspired harmonies of shape and color...

The other is just some building somewhere in Kyoto...

The closeup is an image of the statue at the top of the Golden Pavillion... once again showing off the acuity of the Canon Powershot S2 IS...

Images from Meijin Temple Shrine in Tokyo

Scenes from Cu Chi

N.B. the tunnel I went through was much larger than the one we see my friend John Gibson attempting to enter...

Did I mention that Americans my size seem to be roughly two and a half times the size of many Vietnamese?

Dinner in HCMC with fellow B-schoolers

We ate a wonderful seven course tasting meal at this restaurant in Ho Chi Minh... Of note, the restaurant employs orphans from the city to teach them job skills in the tourism industry. The service was excellent and the food was exquisite. The price? about $62 for six people including drinks... If you like to eat well but don't like to pay for it, come to Vietnam.

Strange Sculpture in Tokyo

To give you a sense of scale, this sculpture appears to be mounted on top of a building that is perhaps thirteen stories tall... Only in Tokyo? perhaps... Hats off to whatever visionary decided that, to really finish this building off, only a gigantic golden colored blob would do.

Random composition taken from the observation platform of Tokyo Tower

This shot shows off the high power optical zoom on my Canon Powershot S2 IS.... Don't ask me what that thing the airplane is flying over...

Cable Stayed Suspension Bridge between Kyoto and Tokyo

This was one of the luckiest shots I've ever made. The bridge was extremely nearby as we rushed past on the bullet train. Easily my favorite pic that doesn't feature people or monuments....

Mount Fuji, as seen from the Shinkasen (Bullet Train)

Self Portrait: Tim on a sampan in a canal in the Mekong Delta

Au Revoir, Saigon

My apologies for the lack of posts/photos etc. These things will get sorted out some time within the next few years... possibly sooner.

My stay in Ho Chi Minh City is almost over. While here, I have met some of the most generous and engaging people. The vitality of the city and the entrepreneurial drive of the people are sui generis. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the city is the extent to which it has changed in the past decade and the prospect of how much it will change in the years to come.

I have had the opportunity to crawl through the (admittedly tourist version) tunnels of Cu Chi; I have eaten the brain of a roast baby pig (it was pretty tasty); I have found out that you can't access the Internet Movie DataBase website...

My apologies that this hasn't been much of a travelogue. My excuse is that I have simply been too busy doing things to have been able to sit quietly and write.

Tomorrow, some fellow b-schoolers and I will travel to Siem Reap. From there, we travel to Angkor Wat. While I have no doubt that the experience will be wonderful, and while I certainly enjoyed my time in Tokyo and Kyoto, I must say that it has been my good fortune to have dived deep into the city and to have befriended some of its best people.

Are these the saggy balls?

I wonder if Canon has being seeing some high powered saggy balls at the U-Club. This is from the Congressional Quarterly.

On many a workday lunchtime, the nominal boss of U.S. intelligence, John D. Negroponte, can be found at a private club in downtown Washington, getting a massage, taking a swim, and having lunch, followed by a good cigar and a perusal of the daily papers in the club's library.

"He spends three hours there [every] Monday through Friday," gripes a senior counterterrorism official, noting that the former ambassador has a security detail sitting outside all that time in chase cars. Others say they've seen the Director of National Intelligence at the University Club, a 100-year-old mansion-like redoubt of dark oak panels and high ceilings a few blocks from the White House, only "several" times a week.

So, I was entering this Irish pub in Shinjuku, Tokyo...

What? You've never gotten drunk in an Irish pub in Tokyo?

Anyway, I was going to order a Corona because it was on special that night for only 500 Yen, which compared to everything else in Tokyo seemed like a bargain. Right before I ordered the Corona I saw a flier for Jameson's, that said a shot was also only 500 Yen...

So, in honor of Colin, I ordered the Corona and a shot of Jameson's... I'm pretty sure I had no other choice, right? Well, they bring out the shot and the server gives me a scratch and win card and insists that I scratch it right away... doing so reveales the letter A, upon seeing which the server let out a gasp of surprise... Subsequently, one of my friends who is fluent in Japanese translated the rest of the flier and, wouldn't you know it, I had won a Jameson's T-shirt...

Lesson of the story? I dunno... but I do have a cool Jameson's T-shirt that is about two sizes too small.

P.S., As I'm writing this, I'm drinking a half pint can of Asahi beer that I purchased from a vending machine next to the elevator on my floor.... I could get to like this town...

Off to the Orient!

All three of the regular readers of this blog may be distressed to learn that for the next three weeks, I will be posting even less regularly than usual.

During this time, I will be traveling to Tokyo, Kyoto, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon for you traditionalists), Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh. If possible, I will try to get a few blog posts and links to movies/pix that I will be taking (using the completely awesome Canon PowerShot S2 IS that I gave to my wife for her birthday).

While in Vietnam, I will be working with a Vietnamese manufacturer and marketer of motor oil that is trying to compete with the huge international companies. Throughout the trip I will be meeting peoples and experiencing cultures that are completely novel to me. I can't convey in writing how exciting this prospect is.

Special thanks go to my wife, Elizabeth, who used her frequent flier miles to purchase first class round trip tickets for my trip. The tickets are her first anniversary gift to me (paper, I told her that I'll be giving her a card....
) and I am exceedingly grateful, especially in light of the fact that I will be missing our anniversary while overseas.

Study physics,

get some action...

I never should've switched majors...