We meet cool people...

Yesterday, again, I was in the excursion group with all Thai students. We were scheduled to go visit an organic vegetable farm that is near the coast in Krabi Province, near the ferry that brings people to the resort island of Koh Lanta (Koh means island in Thai). It turns out this guy didn't grow any vegetables. He only grows rice, but apparently his product is regionally and nationally famous. The rice is grown in a community cooperative where people share costs and profits. He isn't even a farmer by trade. Rather, he's the principal of an elementary school that is located on the farm land. He started the rice growing project as a lunch program for his students. He hopes to expand his farm to be able to grow those vegetables we heard about.

I will try to post some photos of that excusion in the following few days if at all possible. I kind of need a fast connection to upload photos. Right now I'm on a dial up 56K, so it's slow.

Right now we're staying at a mid level resort hotel on Koh Lanta. We are seriously the only people here, other than the stray dogs and cats that appear to inhabit the place. During the rainy season there's just no demand for rooms. The rainy season deters potential tourists, despite the fact it's not raining most of the day.

Pig skin in Trang

Today I was in a survey group with 5 of my Thai student colleagues on a visit to the city of Trang, which competes for tourism with the city we are doing this sustainable tourism project for. Our city, Krabi, is about 1.5 hours north of Trang by car. We drove there to do what I thought would be surveying, site visitation, some eating, talking to locals and tourists. Most of those activities, however, did not occur.

We drove there for one reason which was to sample Trang's famous local product - their barbequed pork. Actually, it was more like bbq'd crispy pig skin. Very healthy. I had a few pieces. It tasted like bacon on steriods. Not for vegetarians. Thailand is not a good place for them, not at all. Our team ate three heaping platefuls of it.

On the way home, we stopped off at something called the Amari Trang Beach Resort, the leading and most upscale resort complex in Trang. Nice place, but it was empty. I saw exactly one guest the whole time and we were there for close to an hour. The resort sits on prime beach real estate right next to a national park in Trang. You can stay there now for about $131 a night, but it's the off (rainy) season right now. The high season (November - April) would command prices at least double that.

Signing off...

Krabi putzing...

This report comes to you from the happy land of Krabi Province in southern Thailand...

I extend apologies for not sending word earlier, but things are just incredibly busy. Despite the abundance of internet cafes, there's just very little time to find some QIT (quality internet time).

Today we visited Phi Phi island. You can find more by clicking on the Thailand blog link over there on your left, btw. I met an interesting assortment of characters, from tour office booking agents, to alleyway food vendors, to sun-weathered tour boat guides who hang our at the Krabi town promenade looking for people wanting tours through the mangroves. It's been interesting to say the least.

The food is top notch down in this neck of the woods, although I think my body isn't too happy with me. I've been enjoying the fruits such as rambutans, mangosteens, and apple-pear like fruit with no seeds in it. People keep eating durian in front of me. To be quite honest the stuff reeks. I can't imagine putting that smell in my mouth.

In the lobby of our hotel room last night, one of our Thai team members was eating locusts on a stick. He chased that with fried silkworms, again on a stick. The locusts appeared to be alive, but I can't be sure. Another interesting observation: people eat and drink things out of plastic bags down here in Thailand. And there is a curious straw addiction. Everything liquid seems to be supplemented with at least one straw.

What are you people eating out there? I think that's the third time I've asked that on this blog in the last several months.

Still not packed

I think I am in complete denial-mode. I am flying to Bangkok in less than 12 hours and I am STILL not packed. I have some piles forming. But nothing in bags so far, though. I HATE packing. I simply hate it.

Duck, duck, goose?

But here i guess it's called musical tag (;

TMV (total music volume): 5.64 GB on my Dell 700m, home & office unit - but I only set up itunes in late April.

Last CD purchased at Rasputin: Picaresque, The Decemberists

Five songs that get my favored attention:
1. It's in our hands, Bjork
2. Offline PK, Pinback
3. Here I dreamt I was an architect, The Decemberists
4. Narc, Interpol
5. The house always wins, The Clientele

Song that's on Soma FM:
Young and Dumb, Lucksmiths

My favorite virtual crookery: MyTunesRedux

Two beings I am tagging "it":
Splycer
Tim

NPR - trivia in all the wrong places

I was just wondering - has anyone noticed how NPR lately uses little no-news trivia transition elements between stories? These interstitial pieces almost have a "News of the Weird" quality to them. I've been noticing them during the AM broadcasts.

When I heard the first one a month or so back, I almost thought my radio dial got nudged over to the next frequency by mistake. But not so.

I am perplexed. Am I just imagining this or is there anyone out there as equally at odds with the new stylistic element?

The FINAL finals' week featured song - Tuesday

Very appropriate this song will be at 16:00 when I hand in this dreadful take home exam keeping me up so late tonight...

Camera Obscura, Footloose and Fancy Free

Word on the street is that planners will converge at Zeitgeist at 19:00 to celebrate the semester's end with gratutious and copious amounts of moderately priced alcoholic refreshments...and tamales if readily available.

Finals' week featured song - Monday

Rilo Kiley, Plane Crash in C

Finals' week featured songs - Sunday

Sundays are jazz days....

Nina Simone, Pirate Jenny
John Coltrane, Blue Train

Finals' week featured songs - Saturday

The Innocence Mission, Lakes of Canada
Tegan & Sara, Living Room

Finals' week featured song - Friday

Loquat, Swingset Chain

Finals' week featured songs - Thursday

Pinback, Victorius D
The Kings of Convenience, Misread

From The Washington Post's front page:
Team Reconstructs the Look of King Tut: A scan of the pharoah's mummified remains allows teams to approximate his features.

Wow, what breatkthough news going on in our world there is....

Finals' week featured songs - Wednesday

The Walkmen, What's In It For Me?
The Clientele, When You and I Were Young

What and who am I?

I found this blogging rating system rather interesting. My personal score is not up for debate, but I encourage others to rate their worthiness and report back.

The Blogger Code

Finals' week featured song - Tuesday

The Notwist, Trashing Days

Better luck next time

Password awry

Although I admit the senseless insecurity of it, I have one login and password for virtually all my online accounts and memberships. But tonight, the all-too familiar pattern of nine type strokes is failing me. On multiple web sites I have been left high and dry. Turned away by the virtual gatekeeper. By the third try, I have been able to get through, but only by typing in a very deliberate, tedious way.

It's troubling. Borderlining on unacceptable. Extended fatigue that set in about April 8 is the culprit to my Internet access woes.

But the bright thing to note is that in a little more than a week I may snooze undisturbed and unburdened by academic obligations. (: For a precious 3 days, anyway.

...

This day is filling up my room
It's coming through my door

Grandpa Joe's embezzlement conspiracy theory

Yes, readers, another Grandpa Joe entry. For those unamused by the antics of the age-ed, check back tomorrow. For Joe's fans, keep reading.

This morning I telephoned my mom (Sandra) to tell her happy Mother's Day and to catch up on current family events. After a minute or two, Sandra conveyed she really was in a knot because just recently something happened with her dad (G. Joe) to cause great angst.

First, some background: Grandpa Joe gifted away his life savings to his three children (2 sons, 1 daughter) many years ago in order to "outsmart the lawyers from stealing" his money. That said, the siblings each hold a separate account in their names, wherein the interest is automatically gifted back to Grandpa Joe to supplement his pension. The total gifts are less than $10K a year from each sibling, so there are no taxes to be paid on the gifts. So, a couple years back, Grandpa Joe wanted Sandra to change the beneficiary names on the account to add myself. So she flew to Ohio and they went to the bank and signed the requisite papers, etc.

Since that time, apparently a loose end developed on the bank's part. The interest that is supposed to be automatically deposited in his bankaccount from my mother's holding has never shown up. So, only last month he discovered the missing deposits while performing a close inspection of his finances. The reason why he never noticed until now is because Grandpa Joe's miserly and meager lifestyle never leaves him counting change at the end of the month. He actually saves part of his monthly income from the pension and gifts in other bank accounts! At 93 he is still saving - a vestige of the Depression mentality, one surmises.

Anyway, since Grandpa Joe discovered the problem, he visited the bank demanding to know where the money was going, but the bank has refused to tell him anything because he is not a beneficiary on the account. I can only imagine the scene at the bank he created. Then, in a tizzy of frustration, he placed phone calls to my uncles asking if they were aware of an embezzlement scheme my mom was trying to pull over on him with the bank. Imagine that! My mother is an angel, too. But apparently Grandpa Joe sees otherwise in his advanced, yet feisty age.

Current Status:
The bank claims to be investigating the matter.
Grandpa Joe is still suspicious. He fell in the garage over the weekend, but is ok, of course.
And he went to the Y the next day.

State of grace

We're kings among runaways
On the bus mall

It's a government gig

This day, Friday, May 6, which was a rather sunny afternoon, at 4:00 PM, I had a job interview. Wait, let me correct that...to be more precise, it was an interview for a "student trainee" position.

Yes, 4:00 PM! I found that particular timeslot as both a possible weakness and potential strength in terms of my likelihood of moving up to the next round of interviews (if there even is another round).

Weaknesses: The interviewer panel is tired, it's 4:00 PM on a Friday, they've been interviewing all day; they saw 2 people in person- myelf and my classmate Serena; had 2 phone interviews, one to Cambridge, MA (I assume a planning student from HarMit) and another to Madison, WI (UW has a good planning program); the fact that the competition is likely to be overqualified; the fact that I myself am really tired, too, and I even LOOK tired; the fact I don't know a TON about Oakland (although it reminds me of DC a lot, culturally, economically, etc.).

Strength:I am the last person they see; I have a relaxed, nothing-to-lose demeanor; I make some good personal connections with the two panelists; there are quite a few UCB alum already working in their office; AND, with great skill I nailed the first question they ask. That question was ubiquitously, "So, why do you want to work for Oakland's Redevelopment Agency?" To that, I reeled off a rather poetic narrative that really impressed "Ray", one of the Project Managers. I discussed his pet project, the Cesar Chavez Education Center. As I was detailing my admiration for this particular community asset, I could see Ray getting all excited, like he wanted to bust in and claim authorship of the story I was telling. But I didn't let him! He was practically wriggling in his seat once I finished. Heh, heh.

Later on, when they "turned it over to me" to ask them some questions, I made a query about the nature of the political and community alliances of the agency. Again, Ray was all excited to start talking and kept saying that was a very intelligent question to ask (why, you don't say?...). Then I met their boss, I can't recall his name, but he seemed like a very cool dude. He only stayed for a few minutes, but he was also eager to put his $0.02 in on that question.

I will hear the results of this interview next week. Now, if anything comes of it, I have to figure out how to again weave some equally inspiring words together to break it to them I will be in Thailand until late June. For what it's worth, it was a good practice round.

Back to work.

I'm not loyal to the Blogger

For the journey to Thailand, we may set up a web log for our team to use that will provide the university with updates about things we are doing, people we are meeting, and problems we are (hopefully) solving. It is possible this web log would be linked from UCB's home page. They did a similar "dispatches from abroad" feature on their website last summer. But with the web log, it won't be static and it would be updated remotely. I wonder if the university will allow us to post without getting each entry pre-approved? We should work that out I guess. I could see the potential for abuse and some terrible scandal coming out of an unregulated web log linked to the school's homepage. Drat.

I would actually like to take it upon myself to set up this multiple user interface web log, hopefully with some sort of nice customized template, where our 10 team members will have their own login, identifying picture, perhaps a brief biography, and a section for pictures. It would be cool if readers could navigate to entries of specific individuals they have been "following", rather than having to read through one long, cluttered web log.

I haven't done anything like this before, but I already am certain I will not use Blogger. I am thinking of using the Pro version of TypePad, from Six Apart. It will cost $15 a month to set this up, but maybe I can turn in a receipt to the Chancellor when I get back for some petty cash. Or maybe I will just eat it. Either way.

Anyone have suggestions or know of examples of this kind of multiple user web log? Leave a comment if you do or point me toward it so I can get an idea of the possibilities.

THANKS!

Not a fun exam when you're deathly ticklish.

Bedside manner

It amazes me that there are doctors out there, practicing "medicine" and interacting with "patients" in a so-called "hospital" or "health care facility" who have little ability to hold a good-natured, pleasant "conversation". Case in point, my endocrinologist at the Tang Center, who I saw today at 9:15 a.m.

I've seen this guy three times since last fall. I'll call him "Dr. G". Each and every time I have gone to see Dr. G., he's more and more terse, shifty, presumptive, and testy. It's almost as though the sundry health issues of Berkeley sorority sisters and demure hipsters have consumed this man's entire soul.

So, my appointment was at 9:15, and being the responsible patient that I always am, I was there at 9:08. I was brought into the examination room where I sat for the next 45 minutes. Those rooms are cold, too. And there's NO good magazines to speak of, just some pamphlets on how to correctly perform a breast self-exam, how to quit smoking, and a colorful poster to look at with all the interesting packages for different brands of birth control.

Quite abruptly, he comes in, asks me some basic, dead-end questions. Then, before I knew what was happening, I was forced to submit to abdominal examination, presumably to look for "enlarged internal organs". Is it me, or is that examination god-awful? And especially when it's performed by someone like Dr. G, it's torture. What a welcome!

Looking back on it, Dr. G's effort today wasn't unforgivable, far from it. He is just so "blah" and eerily robot-like. And not in the endearing C-3PO robot way, either. Where are the articulate, unweary, and otherwise human doctors of Berkeley, CA? I guess my last doc, Dr. Michael Bryan, native of Jamaica, who liked to sing island tunes while examining his patients, was an outlier in an otherwise bereft ocean of personable endocrinologists.

Letter from Grandpa Joe

Below is a transcribed version of the latest correspondence from my estranged grandfather, one Joseph Ivan Karah, of Wickliffe, Ohio, age 93. I wrote him recently to tell him I would be going to Thailand for the summer. Note his continued acknowledgement about our lack of a substantive relationship at the end of the letter. Also, you may notice his gratutitous utilization of quotations.

********************
Excuse the block lettering - I am 93 and having problems with my eyes

April 30 - 05

Dear Rachel,

I was very happy to learn that as part of your formal college training, you are scheduled to spend one month in a foreign country where you will be in direct contact with people who are responsible for "city planning". You may learn things that are not taught in college!

I have never had any experience with "city planning" but my guess is that the most important requirement is in dealing with people. Make the most of this opportunity to visit a foreign country and to be in contact with people who are actually doing the job that you are training for. During my meandering around the world I did spend about a week in Thailand, mostly Bangkok, this was about 1984 and there have been many world changes since. My recollection of Bangkok and vicinity Bangkok - congestion. Downtown auto fumes, almost unbearable.

You should visit the Royal Museum which is a wall-encircled city block. The main theme of the museum is about the personal lives of royalty. Cradle to grave. If you visit the museum hire a guide, it will make your visit much more interesting. I saw a statue - almost life-size made of pure gold standing alone in an otherwise empty room. I took side trips to visit a place that trained elephants to work. It seemed weird to see these huge animals bossed around by small people. The elephants have an agreement with the trainers that the elephants have a one hour break every noon to enjoy and frolick in a swim pool. It is obvious - by seeing elephants perform useful work - that elephants are very intelligent.

While you are in any foreign country, you should make a determined effort to try to understand the people. Their problems, their way of life. Also, the people in charge of running the country. Like "city planners" there are many differences between living in a democracy and living in a kingdom. You will learn what people in other "far away" countries think of America. I look forward to hearing of your experiences in Thailand.

To my grand daughter, who I have so seldom seen, but who is a continuation of our family.

Grand Dad Joe

Whoops

In my 27 years on this Earth, I should know better than to open a bottle of very good red wine on a Sunday afternoon at 1:30 pm when there's work to be done. I really should.

I'm nearing on drunk. I need to drink some ice water to curb this.

And I am supposed to be writing a term paper. Damn wine temptations! This particular bottle was also special - from the Russian River Valley on a trip Christina I took there over spring break.

For the wine snobs reading this, I highly recommend Russian Hill's 2002 Syrah. I bought it at the vineyard for about $26. So it might be $30-32 or so in the store, I have no idea. It's so potent that it is making my arms weak. And after just one liberal glass. It's got some nice legs on it, as well.

Happy May Day.