The Loisaida Times

My first missed flight of 2011

2011-12-08T00:12:00.000-05:00

Missed my 7:20pm Southwest flight out of BWI due to traffic and rain. My first miss of 2011, hopefully my last.

I have missed one flight per year in 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Southwest put me on a flight to HOU, Houston Hobby. Arrived to find mostly booked hotels, spent the night at the airport La Quinta, a first. No restaurant or way to order food, so the manager gave me some delicious cold pizza.

Today: HOU->DAL: Dallas Love, where I discovered but did not sample meat-topped Breakfast Pizza

DAL ->SAT: sat next to a Sports Agent who had served in Cambodia during the Vietnam War.

SAT->ATL: Amazing Pulled Pork Sandwich and entertaining Gingrich interview on CNN

ATL-> DCA....

We hit terrible turbulence from ATL->DCA, flying directly into a thunderstorm. The plane bounced around and the pilot repeatedly loudspeakered with soothing comments. His landing was brilliant but we sat on the tarmac for what seemed like 30 minutes.

Six airports in the last 24 hours. There's no place like home.

comings, goings, lizards, bridges.

2011-09-29T21:16:00.000-04:00

New York for September 11th. In and out of JFK on Delta. Hiked down an empty West side highway for the memorial at Stuyvesant High School. Downtown Manhattan was mobbed that afternoon, with police barricade, cameras, unscheduled public art displays. Frenetic, emotional, even political energies. Taxi to Park Slope for a musical memorial at Congregation Beth Elohim. As always, Brooklyn was an oasis of calm and tranquility.

Poughkeepsie by way of White Plains. Setting sun, Hudson River, mid-September.

Twenty-four hours in Pittsburgh. Rainy, quiet, right-wing taxi drivers. Had an awesome sandwich downtown, and saw old family friends recently relocated from New York. They don't miss the subway.

Bonita Springs, Florida. Somewhere between Naples and Fort Myers, on the Southwestern coast of Florida. Lizards, humidity, golf courses, everglades. Quick thunderstorms, a warm sun above.

Jacksonsville, Florida. Bridges. Ran two of them on an early morning jog with a colleague, getting lost in between. Delicious chocolate-covered popcorn. Passed a luxury building on the riverfront advertising a two bedroom for $1400 a month. Escargot for dinner at a French Restaurant in San Marco, which seems to be the cool neighborhood, or one of them.

Scattering

2011-09-11T08:45:00.000-04:00

The Stuyvesant Spectator (my high school newspaper), asked me for reflections for the 10-year anniversary of September 11th. Reprinted without permission.

***

The true New Yorker secretly believes that people living anywhere else have to be, in some sense, kidding.

-John Updike

WASHINGTON, D.C.

I’m not kidding. Like many of my classmates, I no longer live in New York. We’ve traded in our metrocards, discovered wider boulevards, and learned to stop casually ordering Pizza or Bagels. It’s a different world down here. The pace is slower, the buildings lower, and Stuyvesant is a half-street in Upper Chevy Chase.

I run into other alumni frequently, randomly, and purposefully. They stand on line in the old Marine Terminal at LaGuardia the Saturday after Thanksgiving, hurry outside a law library in Foggy Bottom, even meander on my rooftop. When I find myself in San Francisco or Raleigh-Durham I seek them out as if they were prelates of a secret order. We examine our expatriate existences, trade updates on our classmates with a combination of pride and competitive interest, and mutter about quality of life.

Sometimes we talk about that day and how it impacted, impacts, might still impact us. Often it hangs perceptibly in the air and we inhale silent, unseen particles of the past. While we have no scientific basis for comparison, there is a theory that our class is special, somehow chosen. We are sown, we scatter. We re-root, we return.

I keep a metrocard in my nightstand

After the Rain

2011-09-09T00:23:00.000-04:00

It rained. Torrents. Buckets. A white storm. I saw a flock of small brown birds floating in the wind like leaves on a fall day. A taste of the apocalypse, remarks a older and wiser colleague.

Attended a dinner in Georgetown with a Middle Eastern diplomat. When I emerged, the rain had stopped.

Walked up Wisconsin Avenue, which was ablaze for a DC fashion night. An artist asked me to engage one of the models in a shop window dressed as a boxer.

Got a ride home in one of the event pedicabs driven by a young Turk from Istanbul planning to study minerological engineering at Virginia Tech.

DC is not without a certain charm.

Happenings

2011-07-04T23:42:00.000-04:00

Friday night. Amtrak. Soho. West Village. Friends. Cocktails. Pizza. Water.

Saturday heat. Brunch. Brooklyn. Lincoln Center. Horse puppets.

Sunday rain. Beginners. Happy. Dinner out.

Monday sun. Barbecue. Hot Dogs. Hamburgers. Watermelon. US Airways. DCA. Fireworks from the Metro.

The North American Way

2011-06-26T14:34:00.002-04:00

I'm back. Easy flight to Washington, though there were no border agents on duty when we landed sometime after midnight. When I finally got placed in line to see an agent, I almost thanked him in Spanish. Got home sometime after 1am. Fascinating Indian taxi driver whose father has worked for Indian Airlines and had thus traveled a lot as a kid.

Trying to resist the urge to see my surroundings as normal.

Panamanian Purgatory

2011-06-25T17:17:00.002-04:00

Tocumen International Airport, Panama. Air Margaritaville Bar and Grille. Sara Bareilles playing in the background. Have emerged into the airport terminal to forage for food while spending the day in the COPA/Continental Presidents Club, a vacationing purgatory. The lounge apparently won some sort of award in 2010, which makes one wonder about the qualifications of lounge judges. Since 11am I have:

Watched the end of a Wimbledon match
Fallen asleep to professional golf
Tried to fall asleep to two middle-aged Americans playing cards.
Consumed the vast majority of the New York Times Film Section online.
Chatted with a former roommate who is traveling in India.
Explored the vast annals of Wikipedia.

How did I get here?

My 7am COPA flight from Lima landed sometime after ten, and I disembarked to discover a frenetic Panana airport beehive, with no mention of my upcoming flight on the departure screens. After hiking over to the terminal on my boarding pass, it became clear that
a. my flight to Cancun (enroute to Dulles) was delayed, likely due to El Nino.
b. most of the Panamanian airport staff speak no more than ten words of English
c. the above staff had a relaxed atitude to getting me back to DC.
d. I had lounge access.

After my first two hours in the lounge, I was called to the front desk by a suited man, who provided a $10.00 voucher to the food court and told me that they were working on rerouting my ticket. Twenty minutes later, I was put on a direct evening flight to Washington. After some quick googling, I decided not to chance a visit to the Canal.

My flight to DC boards in two hours.

Macchu Picchu and Back again

2011-06-22T17:56:00.001-04:00

Resting in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, next to the Urubamba River. Totally exhausted from yesterday's adventures. Some highlights:

Seeing Macchu Piccu. An amazingly intact ruined city discovered almost exactly 100 year ago by Hiram Bingham, a Yale professor and later Governor and Senator. Great tour guide, a 29 year-old named Carlos. Our tour group was called Chaquis, the Quecha (Incan) word for runner. The Incans were a pretty fascinating people. They had a labor tax on the peoples ruled, were good farmers, ate/used a lot of coca, and built a bunch of sturdy stone structures. There's still a great of mystery around Macchu Piccu: the name and purpose of the city are unknown.

The Chasqui

Climbing the actual mountain for which the site is named, which towers 2000 feet above the site. Hard hike up mountain steps, which at times were almost vertical and without safety rails. We ran into an archeologist who studies Easter Island and is convinced that the Macchu Piccu site is primarily religious. We summited after two grueling hours. The mountain top was cold and beautiful.
Crazy costumed dancer in on train back to Ollanta. Then the train crew a did fashion show of the merchandise, catwalk style. The performer participated. They served a very tasty pasta salad. There was no differance between the Vistadome and Autowagon train services.
The taxi driver who picked us from the Ollanta train station brought his two little kids along for the ride. Cute and hyper, neither spoke a word of english. Key lesson: regardless of culture, kids like the iPad.

Hot water

2011-06-20T23:19:00.000-04:00

We're in Aguas Calientes, a town at the base of Macchu Picchu. We left Cusco by minibus this morning, stopping in Pisac, a town of 900 that is famous only for its market and an exquisite set of ruins that hang in the mountains above.

We spent hours hiking around the archeological site, a collection of a few ruined settlements, sets of Incan farming steps, stone pathways, and a small tunnel in the side of mountain. The Incans clearly were expert masons: much of the stonework seemed like it had been built in the past hundred years.

We taxied through the Sacred Valley to Ollanta (full spelling involves the word Tambo and a y) and boarded a cute two-car train to Aguas Calientes. Comfy seats, half-windowed viewing ceiling, and a little snack and drink served in a colorful straw basket. The ride from Ollanta is less than two hours and is punctuated by recorded announcements that frequently mention that this is an unforgettable journey.

Aguas Calientes is a small riverside town in the middle of the jungle. There are no cars and tons of hotels, hostels, restaurants, massage parlours, and shops. We're staying a place called Rupawasi ecolodge, which is not unlike staying in a treehouse with art-laden walls. The hotel's restaurant is magnificent: a cozy, well-lit culinary temple.

Tomorrow we wake before dawn to see a wonder of the world. Tonight we'll fall asleep to the rushing of Urubamba river.

Tomorrow, we

orogenesis and its discontents

2011-06-19T01:17:00.002-04:00

The air is thin and the sun is strong. When it starts setting at 5pm, the air gets chilly. There's a small blanket pressing down on my brain and I'm strangely congested. I'm in Cusco, a town of 300,000 Peruvians, 11,000 feet above sea level in the Central Andes mountain range.

Easy flight from Toronto to Lima, with a free seat next to me. Met two Peruvian-Canadians on the plane, a professional skateboarder from Vancouver and a friendly woman from Montreal. I met the former while boarding, during which he offered a treatise on the women of Colombia and promptly to take me around Lima. The latter sat in my row and seemed not speak english, so we ended up in French. She warned me to be careful in Lima, which she said was very dangerous.

Watched Limitless (of limited cinematic value) and the new Gulliver's Travels with Jack Black (of no cinematic value at all). We landed at 12:35am, and the passengers applauded, which reminded me of landing in Tel Aviv on my first adult flight on El Al.

Lima is not pretty at night. From what I saw the next morning on the way back to the airport, it's not pretty in the morning, either. Lots of police, some of whom appear to be paramilitary. I checked into my hotel, slept for six hours, ran a mile in the gym, and eat a breakfast that includes miso soup and gyoza.

The LAN flight to Cusco is full, but I get an emergency exit row seat with another free one beside me. They serve a cute paper snack box with an enormous chocolate, a slice of cake, and some strange crackers. I try Inka Cola, which is the color of mountain dew and tastes like bubble gum.

My brother (Y) meets me at the airport. I'm lucky to have him as a traveling partner for the week, particularly since he speaks spanish and is spending the summer in Peru. He's arrived the day before, after spending a week in Lima. It's good to see him.

The South American Way

2011-06-17T17:01:00.000-04:00

Toronto Pearson Airport, maple leaf lounge. Hanging out in the lounge for a three hour layover on the way to Peru.

The lounge is packed but still pleasant. Canadian television is focused on grilling the Canucks coach and the death of someone who is referred to as Canada's greatest national hero. Never heard of the guy.

A seven hour flight to Lima awaits me, followed by a midnight arrival in one of the least popular capitols in the developing world.

Five Years Later

2011-05-23T12:48:00.101-04:00

I was told that the five-year college reunion is the good one: few people are married with children and there's high turnout. Everyone's in the mood to party, whatever that means. By the ten-year, the children have arrived and fewer people show up.

With this in mind, I went to my five-year college reunion at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

Took a packed 9:15pm US Airways flight out of DCA to BDL. I'd hoped to split a cab to Middletown, but no dice at 10:30pm.

Arrived on campus sometime after 11pm. Dropping off my bags in the dorm (where reunion alums can stay), ran into an excited group of folks from my year. Spent the rest of the night enthusiastically running into old friends while an alumnus band played perfectly chosen covers. A wonderful, friendly energy prevailed. In the words of one of my classmates "everyone just needed a break from their lives."

Saturday's main event for the class of 2006 was a reception and dinner in a private tent. More reconnecting, albeit with less enthusiasm. Lots of people are teaching, with grad school as the runner-up. Five years seemed to have a positive effect, interactions were noticeably less awkward, people considerably more secure, and a social generosity seemed to prevails. A larger all-class tent party followed.

Wesleyan does a nice job of combining reunion and commencement into one weekend, with Sunday for the latter. As the designated speaker, Paul Farmer did a nice job of mixing humor with personal anecdotes from his work in Haiti. One got the sense that Farmer is cut from the same cloth as Wesleyan graduates: irreverent, critical, globally oriented, and focused on improving the world.

After the ceremony, got Indian food at Udupi Bhavan with L, S ('06 alums) and S' father + grandfather (also alums). By the time L and I got back to campus at 3ish, it was totally deserted.

A lifeless and empty college campus is a sad place to wander, particularly after you've spent a weekend wandering its walkways with hundreds of friends and acquaintances. I felt enormous relief when the taxi pulled up to take us to the airport.

Our driver was wearing a tee-shirt from Nicholson, the dorm where L and I spent our first year of college. The 2002-2003 version, our year at Nicholson.

Sugarloaf For Passover

2011-04-24T18:48:00.000-04:00

View Larger Map

Easter Sunday, middle of Passover. Time for a hike on Sugarloaf Mountain, in Maryland.

The hike began uneventfully, a quiet walk up a small mountain on a hot April afternoon. Nice rocks, trees, the usual.

After stopping for lunch a mile or so in, it began to rain gently. We continued.

Within minutes, we were sitting in the middle of full-blown thunderstorm, with flashes of nearby lightning.

We squatted under/near large rocks to avoid lightning strikes and tried to wait out the storm. The downpour accelerated.

We eventually decided to keep hiking in the rain, after being completely soaked. The rain stopped after a few minutes on the trail.

We hiked back to the car in the cool quiet, appreciating the clarity that follows a spring rainstorm in the forest.

New York and Back Again

2011-04-04T17:49:00.000-04:00

Thursday night Acela. Friday wandering Soho and the East Village in the cold rain. Tokyo 7 has moved, and I found a completed building in the former parking lot next to my old apartment on 9th and C. New espresso machine at the 9th Street Espresso. The sandwich from Barnyard didn't taste as crisp.

Found a cool sock shop in Soho where they gave me a glass of scotch for free. Saw Win-Win at the Angelika.

Drinks at the Pegu Club, modeled after a colonial watering hole of the same name in British Burma. Dinner at a French restaurant on Houston. Stopped a by a friend's newly-purchased apartment in a coop, a first for friends in New York.

Saturday was sunny, warmer, and devoted to Brooklyn. Dinner on Smith Street.

Notes On the Middle West/Upper South

2011-03-17T22:17:00.000-04:00

The 1:15pm Delta flight from DCA->CVG left at 2:50pm. My first Delta flight of 2011 and my first with Silver Medallion status. Delta offered an alternative flight through the web, with one segment in First Class. Turned out to be a mechanical problem, which is never reassuring.

CVG is entirely different as a final destination, rather than as a transfer-point. I wonder how many cities get more transfer-only visitors (who never actually visit a city) than actual visitors. I've passed through but never visited Dallas, Detroit, and Chicago.

We get into Cincinatti around 5pm. The city is grey, industrial, and very mid-western. My colleague remarks that it looks just like downtown Minneapolis. Do mid-western cities look the same?

There is a large Teacher's union demonstration in Fountain square when we arrive. The speeches boom into my hotel room on the thirteenth floor, the cheers and chanting of the crowd. They seem energized, something about pensions. Is there is something particularly nasty about the attack on public sector workers in the mid-west? One envisions 1950's and '60's Cincinnati: prosperous, orderly, friendly, a well-respected public sector. The height of American Power. Expectations and changing economics, oy.

We eat at a wonderful new French restaurant that I find on yelp. The food is excellent. I'm impressed.

***

It's raining in Kentucky. We pass fields, cows, horses, and strip-malls. We labor to and successfully find a Starbucks, the great American constant.

After the meeting we drive back to CVG, eat some chili (apparently Cincinatti is famous for Chili), and buy Kentucky-themed souvenirs. Our flight to BWI is delayed and I talk Delta into putting us on the flight to DCA. I narrowly miss getting upgraded.

Monkey Business

2011-03-10T23:55:00.000-05:00

5:40am. Awake.
7:15am US Airways Shuttle: DCA to LGA.
8:55am Starbucks, 29th and Park Avenue. Dancing crazy woman. Jazz. Delicious Energy.
-Work-
1:19pm hail taxi slightly south of Canal Street.
~1:47pm Sprinting from the security line, I hear the my name on final call for US Airways Shuttle back to DC. I am the last passenger to board.
8:30pm: Tales of life in Saudi Arabia from an ex-consultant over Sushi.
11:25pm: I finish reading The CEO and the Monk: One Company's Journey to Profit and Purpose
11:40pm: Roommate opens package to find stuffed monkey in a ziplock bag with attached thanksgiving card.

Playing and Watching At War

2011-03-08T20:11:00.000-05:00

Went ice skating on Tuesday night in the sculpture garden, paintballing on Saturday somewhere in Virginia. My first time paintballing, intense and wonderfully separate the rest of my existence. Pumping adrenaline, the fear of being shot by a small orange pellet, a simulation of warfare. Exhilarating moments of victory and teamwork.

Have been watching a Battlestar Galactica, another simulation of warfare. It's a a remarkably satisfying and complex show that plays with morality, humanity, Need to buy a DVD player, and have heard this site is good for LCD TV stands.

All is Quiet on most other fronts.

Nice comes a long way

2011-02-10T23:06:00.005-05:00

Caught the 8pm US Airways shuttle, last flight to LGA from BOS. A mostly empty plane, fell asleep before we left the ground. Got into LGA around 9:20. I miss Delta.

Stayed in Times Square at the new Element on 39th street. Studio-style apartments, recently opened. $119 a night, no major complaints. Had late night tea with A, a high school buddy working in finance. As a result of working A LOT, A has taken a liking to celebrating shabbat. Potential topic for doctoral dissertation: relationship between career, aging, and religious observance.

Slept like a baby, had an early midtown breakfast with N, an old and dear friend. Decided that I like turkey bacon.

Midtown New York morning traffic/hustle is totally insane. I don't miss it at all.

Work Work Work. Only in new york does a meeting end two hours early.

Took a frozen walk from Union Square to Soho, where I had coffee/dinner at Aroma on Houston. New York has changed a great deal since 2009, for the better. More smaller stores, boutiques, and experimental chains/shops. Energy of recovery/renaissance.

Inadvertently split a taxi with a snowboarding economic consultant whose father grew up in Brooklyn.

Punjabi cab driver was very amused/confused by the split cab incident, prompting a long conversation that included Indian and German political history, airline industry gossip, and values: he loves Jet Blue/Air India/Lufthansa, was relieved at the assassination of Indira Gandhi, had only recently heard about Adolf Hitler (while on a layover in Frankfurt?) and told me that he's become more religious and less materialistic as he gets older. See above bolded comment.

Talked the US Airways gate agent into bumping me onto the early flight back to DC without the $50 fee, after an unsuccessful attempt at check-in. In the words of the TSA agent: nice comes a long way.

New England Buddha

2011-02-09T23:55:00.003-05:00

Our 6:30pm flight from DCA to BOS got cancelled and we plugged ourselves onto the 5:30 flight. US Airways was surprisingly palatable, though I sat in the middle seat.

Spent the evening in the Sheraton Framingham, a pleasant hotel with a remarkable germanic brick facade. Slow elevators, nice staff, and well-booked. Dinner at Samba, a fantastic japanese seafood/steak joint with Argentinian influences. Some of the best-tasting sushi i'd had in a while. Remarkable Buddhas, one depicted below.

Young and Resting in New England

Returning to the hotel, got tea with b in the buzzing restaurant. Distant piano music, obscure Sinatra tune. Investigating, I find balding salesman playing "Angel Eyes." He welcomes the accompaniment and we exchange pitches before I head off to sleep.

What comes down will probably go up again...

2011-02-08T00:11:00.002-05:00

Slowly bouncing on the DC trampoline: dinner party (UP), 127 hours (DOWN), work day trip to philadelphia pre-snow on the Acela (UP UP UP), running on a treadmill (UP), phone calls (bounce onto back), walks through georgetown (up/down), warm snaps in February (slowing down), To Have and to Have Not.

Flying to Boston on Tuesday night.

Sudden Outbreak of Snow

2011-01-26T22:56:00.001-05:00

Flash snowstorm starting in the late afternoon.

The people at work freaked out and started leaving faster than the crowd at Yankee Stadium before the bottom of the ninth inning. Rumors about the metro failing and terrible traffic.

I got a ride home from a co-worker. It took a few more minutes than usual.

Snow in DC demands True Grit.

Winter of my Content

2011-01-26T02:05:00.002-05:00

Still floating from a wonderful weekend. Highlights:

-L2 on Friday night. Think meatpacking district in a georgetown cavern, smaller, hidden, and sans ibankers.

-ben's chili bowl at 3am. Think chili dog at 3am.

-"True Grit" on Saturday night with B. Terrific. The best movie I've seen since Roman Polanski's Ghost Writer. Better, even. Those Coen brothers know what they are doing...

-sunday phonecalls with israel, botswana, and brooklyn. Oh, skype.

-monday post-work showing of "the way back" by Peter Weir (directed Witness, year of living dangerously, etc). Intense and hard to watch, numbing. Apparently Stalinism was extremely bad. Who knew?

-watched State of the Union with N and R and ate dumplings and french bread. Enjoyed the dumplings.

Seven Days Later: Happenings, reflections, misc.

2011-01-18T16:02:00.000-05:00

It's my one week anniversary of being back in the United States. Here's what's happening:

-going out to Japanese food in Dupont Circle with V = incredibly comforting. Horde of Japanese tourists/ex-pats engaged in some sort of congratulatory ceremony with applause and flowers = endearing.

-party-hopping on Friday and Saturday night. Party #1 is international, bubbling, and diverse. I spend most of the time chatting up World Bank staff and a public sector consultant from L.A. V meets a lobbyist who represents fraternities: apparently the last three American Presidents were brothers. Trying to curry favor with the Washington insiders, I approach and note that some of my best friends have been in frats. He thinks I am saying lobbyist and asks which firm. Ensuing chaos.

-Chili Cook-off at the Raven at Mount Pleasant. No lobbyists here, but I do meet an incredibly friendly CNN producer who tells me I should consider a career in public speaking. Exchange pleasantries with a familiar hill staffer (Senate side) about the productiveness of the recent lame duck session and talk to a guy I know in Commerce about an upcoming trip to one of the Stans. Sample some chili. Encounter another New Yorker-in-exile.

-Birthday party at an uber-minimalist bar somewhere downtown. I spend thirty minutes talking to a skeptical bureaucrat about the philosophical/psychological underpinnings of boredom. Apparently Heidegger wrote 100 pages on the subject.

-Co-worker's black-light party in Adams Morgan. We are the oldest people in the room, possibly by three-five years. I talk to an affable but improperly attired med student of Southern origin and a hilarious financial consultant who lives with his parents in Westchester. There is a guy screaming unintelligibly at the top of his lungs. We stay for roughly thirty minutes. Extremely entertaining.

Am still jet-lagged and dehydrated, although the culture-shock is wearing off. Uh-oh.

Soundtrack for the Subcontinent

2011-01-13T07:07:00.002-05:00

For navigating the fast maze that is the Frankfurt airport, Amy does it best. "You know I'm no good," Amy Winehouse.

"Hey Bulldog" by the Beatles for running in Mumbai.

When in Bangalore, try "Hip to be Square" by Huey Lewis and the News.

Ray Charles and Johnny Cash work well in Kerala. Makes a lot of sense, if you think about it.

Kovalam is a good place to read a book quietly.

For Gurgaon, Bono. "Stuck in a moment you can't get out of," U2.

Varanasi has its own soundtrack. Just listen*

Counting Crows' "Goodnight L.A." or "One Fine Day" by David Byrne + Brian Eno as the fields of Uttar Pradesh roll by on a January afternoon.

Music is not allowed at the Taj Mahal.

Indian Bus rides call for Nina Simone: "Sinnerman" from the Thomas Crowne Affair soundtrack. Particularly appropriate as you get leveled by a speed bump while attempting to move out of the way when fellow passengers move an elephantine sack over your leg. Where ya gonna run to?

John Mayer is soothing when recovering from stomach ailment and dehydration in the Reston Emergency Room. "Waiting for the World to Change."

*whistling the ewok victory song by John Williams is strangely satisfying after visiting the burning ghats.

End of the Line

2011-01-09T23:57:00.000-05:00

Made it to Delhi after a harrowing five-hour bus ride from Agra. Bus cost 150 rupees, which is roughly three dollars. Sat next to an IT student who interrogated me about the US/India/my marital situation until I told him I'd like to rest. Also met a lab consultant at a fertility bank, the interrogator's brother-in-law: took me a while to figure out that the word he was saying wasn't cement. Some nice banking students sat behind us and were very helpful. They asked me to come back to India soon.

From the bus station, my tuk-tuk driver took an hour to find the hotel in near-freezing weather, stopping three times to ask for direction. He then asked for more money. While I try not to show anger while in Asia (in Cambodia and Laos, this is unacceptable culturally and causes both parties shame), I find it's very effective in India when someone asks for something that is unreasonable.

My hotel is in the diplomatic enclave, on the outskirts of the city. It reminds me of Paris.

Journey to the West

2011-01-07T07:01:00.000-05:00

Two intuitively impressive Austrians and I are driven to Mughal Serai at 10:30pm, a journey that takes us onto a proper indian highway, which is not dissimilar to some of the scenes in Tron: Legacy. I fear for my life at numerous points, although the Austrians seem relaxed.

I am fearful of missing my train, which has been delayed an hour. As we approach the station, I get ready to run to the platform. The driver, in defiance of a previous agreement, begins to mutter something about 50 extra rupees for parking. He actually chases me onto the platform to remind me about the bogus charge. Fearing I'll miss the train, I pay him and ask for help carrying my bag. He walks away and the train is delayed by another hour. I watch some homely Irish play cards and finish reading Hermann Hesse's "journey to the east, " which the guest house has presented me with as a parting gift/loan.

The Magadh Express comes two hours late, ostensibly due to fog. The first class car is roomy, grimy, and wonderful. My cabin-mate is a young Delhi-based lawyer who pleasantly lectures me for an hour.

We depart into the night.

Another Shabbat

2011-01-07T06:53:00.000-05:00

Cold. Fog. No power. Israelis. Kabbalat Shabbat. Candlelight. Hummus. Sitar. Varanasi. Sublime. Warmth.

What's the North/Varanasi like?

2011-01-06T23:20:00.000-05:00

-Cold and foggy. I was in four layers yesterday, am in three today. Slept with a space heater on, inside a sleeping bag with a blanket covering me.

-Dirtier/Poorer/less educated/developed: people speak less english here, the internet is slower, there are fewer modern technological accouterments, and the poverty has a more severe feeling to it. There are tons of people trying to extract money from me, who are not particularly charming or inventive. It is easier to bargain and I get lower prices.

-Religiously tense and possibly less diverse/pluralistic. I meet no one who isn't a hindu. There was a terrorist attack a month ago in one of the main public areas along the river, the trauma is evident. There are soldiers all around the main temple, although they seem bored. The closest analogy to walking the streets of Varanasi is wandering around the old city in Jerusalem.

-More culturally foreign. The backpackers and tourists I meet here feel like strangers in a strange landers. I have a nice dinner with a french pair of artists, am interviewed by a wandering Dutch journalist, and meet two friendly Austrians.

Still Waters Run Deep

2011-01-06T07:18:00.000-05:00

In of one of the final scenes of Return of the Jedi , Luke Skywalker burns the body of Anakin Skywalker, his father. This always seemed strange to me: most Jedis fade away when they die or fade away, but there is clearly something symbolic for in the burning, particularly since the helmet of Darth Vader is shown amidst the flames.

After two days in the Holy city of Varanasi, I have begun to understand the significance of the burning scene. The draw in Varanasi is the mighty Ganges river, which flows still and deep by a packed and dirty city in Uttar Pradesh state, in the northeastern central of India. Hindus come to Varanasi from all over India (from all over the world?) to observe a ritual of death. The body of a dead family member (father or mother, I think) is washed in the river and then placed on wood to burn, surrounded by the family.

Varanasi is a serious and tense place, not unlike the old city in Jerusalem. It's hard to tell if the Hindus and Muslims get along here and one senses that place and space are contested. Cows, goats, and dogs roam freely, even next to the burning bodies.

Gurgaon

2011-01-05T23:19:00.000-05:00

Flew up to Delhi from Cochin on a Spicejet flight. One of the worst flights i've been on in my life, terrible service and worth avoiding.

Landing in Delhi from Cochin is like traveling from Southern Spain to Warsaw. It's cold and foggy and no one is smiling or relaxed in the airport. My attempt at conversation with backpacking Norwegians sputters out. Geography seems to be destiny. I change my clothing and refrain from making further small talk.

My taxi driver reminds me of an unpleasant cartoon character, Ren/Stimpy mixed with Beavis or Butthead. He tries to swindle me out of 10 rupees for a toll i've already paid for and I resist. He laughs viciously and turns the music up all the way, so that my eardrums are pounded. I smile and feign dancing. Then he gets pulled over by the police and they write him a ticket for not wearing a seat belt. He has no idea where the hotel is and I end up directing him by sight/intuition.

Am staying in Gurgaon, which is bizarre and reminds me of a dirtier and less developed version of Kuala Lumpur.

I have dinner with two friendly Americans, one of whom works for a renewables start-up here in Delhi. The dinner is heavy, full of meat, and finished with a delicious dessert called Kheer (sp?).

Notes on Kerala

2011-01-03T04:28:00.000-05:00

After a few days in Cochin, Ernakulam, and Kovalam, a few points on the State of Kerala.

-While less developed than Mumbai, Bangalore, or Mysore, the population is clearly better educated. This translates to more and better conversations with locals, more intense negotiations over goods and services, and a persistent sense of being evaluated carefully by people. People immediately ask perceptive questions which build on each other.

-Common questions include: where are you from? what do you do for a living? What's your religion (in Cochin)? Are you married? What's the economy like in the United States? When will it get better? I've rarely had such consistent in-depth conversations with working-class people in other developing countries.

-the educational level is way beyond economic growth. I suspect that's an oppurtunity for foreign direct investment in outsourcing and other knowledge sectors, though the problem may be that wages are too high compared to other parts of India. There must be some compromise, using higher-skilled labor.

-The relgiousity of the place is staggering. Cochin appears to be full of highly observant muslims, christans (catholic, pentacostals, syrian orthodox), and hindus. What's remarkable/wonderful is that "ordinary people" of one religion seem interested and even knowledgable ofn the beliefs and practices of other religions.

-The region seems to be experiencing a boom in tourism. "More and more, each year."

The Beach Outpost at the end of the Subcontinent

2011-01-02T08:57:00.000-05:00

Seething ocean, crowded sand.
Sickly humidity. Storm clouds.
The British Avionics engineer has sent me to Kovalam.
Arrival in setting sun, after hours in an air-conditioned car.
Feels like Bangkok on the water, though I've never been to Bangkok.
Strange Overtones in the way people walk. Dead walk/dead eyes/the party had been over for some time.

Something's coming. Maybe the tide?

Shabbat

2011-01-01T11:25:00.002-05:00

Inspired by the religious experience of friday evening, I spent saturday resting at the hotel. Generally uneventful, with a few exceptions:

-encountered a pair of honeymooning seeded from stockholm. He's forty-two and an account manager for a small investment bank. They seemed happy. I predict a successful marriage.

-A Polish man from Warsaw wished me a happy new year and hugged me in the hotel bathroom. Very odd, but I think he meant no harm by it.

-Passed young girl wearing a google (staff) t-shirt. Upon commenting, she said her father works there. Light blue shirt, not sure if he works for Indian office.

-Reencountered the British woman, this time with her husband (the avionics engineer). He gave me some advice and recommended a driver. Very solid people.

-Read interviews with David Axelrod and Aung San Suu Kyi. She definitely has a tougher job than he does.

-Met a charismatic (Indian) catholic just back from a religious conference of 22,000 people. He told me he'd prayed for forty days before asking for vacation leave over new years. Wonderful emotional/spiritual energy.

-Dinner in Ernakulam at the Grand Hotel. Ordered chicken borscht and chicken curry, with rice. Soup was tasty, but not borscht. Chicken curry was eh. Smart concierge on duty named Vishnu, whose dream is to work for an airline. I suggested Lufthansa.

The End

2011-01-01T01:16:00.003-05:00

It's roughly 7pm on December 31st and I'm at Shabbat services at the Pardesi Synagogue, a four-hundred-year-old building tucked into the corner of Jew Town, in Cochin, Kerala. As the Canadian leading services begins aleinu, the international group of 30-40 Jews join in, somewhat discordantly. Neatly dressed Swiss (white polo, red sweater) sit behind me, a San Franciscan couple to my right, seemingly unobservant israelis to my left, a moscovite management consultant in the corner, a quiet resident of tenleytown, a lean and soft a spoken chabad rabbi conducting silently from behind, a newark-born woman from the east village (10th and 4th!), and a warm Indian man who says he is a friend of the synagogue and has a shammas-like status.

How did this happen? I'd planned to spend a quiet evening at my hotel.

I woke to a call from Brooklyn, and ran on the treadmill in a wood-floored gym with a view of the backwaters and jungle. The hotel has granted me access to the Royal Club room, and I eat a sumptuous continental breakfast of cheese (four types!), cut fruit, doughnuts, cappuccino, watermelon juice, and yogurt.

Over the longest cup of coffee I've had all year, I chat with an affable middle-aged British hospital secretary from the midlands who prefers Northern India. Her husband has been consulting for the Indian Military for a number of years and I get the sense she's lonely and ready for these trips to end. Speaking with her, I have this memory of Orwell's description of the memsahib (colonial wife) in Burmese days... she speaks of the Indians in warm but thoroughly colonial terms: "give an inch and they'll..." I wonder if the British aren't merely a bit distanced (observers) from all peoples, even themselves. No man is an island, but what about a people?

Does observation necessarily create separation and distance?

There has been a bombing in Athens and the subject turns to terror- what if the media didn't report terrorist incidents? She somewhat predictably laments the war in Afghanistan, Tony Blair's tragic alliance with George W. Bush, and the current National Health Service scandal. I offer unsolicited advice on how she can make her house more energy efficient and she tells me she's trying to convince her husband to install solar panels.

She is easily kinder, more affable, and less patronizing than any female character in Orwell's novel. I can tell the Indian staff likes her, whatever that means.

I go for a swim and then into town, where I wander, souvenir shop, and drop off shirts to be modified. The Tailor's name is Jude and his younger son is named Sampson. Keralans are turning out to be some of the nicest people I've met.

I make my way to Jew Town, where I learn the synagogue is closed for friday. Standing outside, I run into a group of Americans who feel familiar. I politely inquiry about a dinner invitation and before we know it the Chabad Rabbi has shown up, we've got a minyan (non-egalitarian seating. :(

I'm unexpectedly home.

Southern Hospitality Part II

2010-12-31T03:25:00.001-05:00

Mysore is sort of place where you sleep in. A city of 800,000 people, the region was semi-autonomous during British rule and there does seem to be a difference in the culture, architecture, and flow of the place.

S and I eat Idlis for breakfast, after which I spend a much-needed half-hour in an "internet cafe." The browser is chrome, the speed is lightning-fast, and facebook/google prompt me to use something called Orkut. The internet goes out four times, prompting the maitre de to reset the router. No one seems particularly bothered, and the bill comes to 10 rupees, roughly twenty-cents.

We hit an art museum that mostly depicts and glorifies the maharaja (ousted by the congress party post-independance). The most striking portraits depict him with his key courtiers and a coterie of redcoated british officers, who look stiff an mildly miserable. I suspect the British didn't have much fun as colonialists.

We eat lunch at the Royal Orchid Metropole, the most thoroughly colonial space in which I've set foot since arriving. The indian buffet is mild and I meet a disagreeable woman from Cleveland who interrogates me near the pasta and describes her trip with commercial disinterest. I mutter absently about how she sounds like a fan of india, but draws close and informs me that it is fine and all but she is in no desire to come back anytime soon- there are too many places in the world to see.

Are there many indias, even for tourists?

The supposed highlight of Mysore is the palace. It's impressive, well decorated, and full of schoolchildren. It's only/less than a century old and designed by a British architect. One of the halls reminds me of the Haggia Sophia. The kids are well behaved and I wonder if they bored by the experience.

We drive to a hilltop on a windy mulholland drive and view the city from on high. S gets me a young coconut and we look out at the demographic glitter.

Then we meet some folks for drinks at a place called "The Roost."

Southern Hospitality Part 3

2010-12-31T01:41:00.000-05:00

Left Bangalore on the 18:20 Air India flight to Cochin. Marvelous airport, incredibly well-designed. Possibly my favorite in the world. Stepping onto an Air India flight, one feels the 1980's. Seats are similar to Emirates, individual TVs. Seated next to two teenagers from Mangalore (Karnakata state, western coast). They are on holiday to Munnar, the elevated and cool hill station in Kerala state. Their father works in customs at an airport, in either mangalore or bangalore. The twenty-year-old studies civil engineering and says he will soon start a job. Apparently, there are too many computer science graduates these days.

The sixteen-year-old has a mature sense of humor, which he tells me his teachers don't appreciate. He plans to study medicine and business (both?) and is informs me that the Indian education system is excellent at teaching math and science.

Speaking to him, I wonder if Thomas Friedman hasn't been writing his books for an Indian audience, as many of the folks I speak with are steeped in flat world thinking and discourse. What becomes clear in conversation with my seatmate is that the humanities and non-quant/science education is weak and will be an impediment to this fellow if he wants to study in a top American university. Where does creativity come from? What sort of education produces entrepreneurs?

The Cochin airport is a small and steamy porcelain bowl. Waiting for my bag, I wander out to the hotels desk and spot a chess set at the Taj counter.

The only way to get a taxi is by waiting on line for a prepaid ticket, with the driver's name, license plate, destination, and some indecipherable information. Set prices, "Communist" state. I meet an elegantly suited young businessman while standing on line. The best suit I've seen in months, he's an mba from IIM, which he tells me is the top management (set of) school(s) in country. He manages universities, enjoys working in education, gives off a sense of affluent balance.

Driving through Cochin, I get the feeling I'm on the gulf coast, in Pensacola or Mississippi. Then I check into the hotel, and am passed by a white-robed-red-kerchiefed man, with a small entourage in tow.
Ben Magarik
917.371.8266
magarik@gmail.com

Southern Hospitality

2010-12-29T01:09:00.000-05:00

Kingfisher Airlines is kinda like the Indian version of Virgin. My check-in process is handled by roughly five friendly people in red uniforms. Security is thorough and intense, though without a liquid portion.

The flight leaves an hour late, which appears to be standard. We are served lemon drink boxes before takeoff, a complimentary meal (not bad, not great), and plenty of water. There is live TV. I am impressed.

I am seated next to two Americans, both of Indian origin. Both are friendly, chatty, and interested in talking business. Cards are exchanged and plans are made. I wonder if Kingfisher does this on purpose.

The airport and weather are gorgeous and I feel like I've landed in California. I re-ncounter one of my seatmates at the baggage pick-up and he offers to have his driver take me to my friend S's house. I immediately like Bangalore (five million people), which feels clean and manageable after 36 hours in Mumbai.

Two hours later, we find the house. My friend's family are incredibly warm and friendly, greeting me with hands-touching-Namaste. They serve tea, question me intently (in multiple rounds), and teach me about Hindu mythology while feeding me delicious vegetarian food.

Then we're off to Mysore (population 800,000), a three hour drive on a mostly inhabited road. We stop at a trendy/modern coffee spot and I inhale something delicious with whip-cream and chocolate.

I wakeup at my friend's grandfather's house, a well-designed stone building with a large wraparound garden.

S and I go out for a lovely dinner with his friends from Infosys, an enormous Indian tech company for which he worked after college. The restaurant is outside on neatly shaved grass. The food is spicy, cheap, and plentiful.

Southern India reminds me of Cambodia, only busier and more developed.

Mumbai, Mumbai

2010-12-27T11:30:00.003-05:00

Trauma: the 2008 terrorist attack is still on people's minds (26/11). The military is deployed to key landmarks and hotels and people are watching/waiting. I am told not to take pictures at Victoria Terminus (the train station). I end up visiting/passing many of the site of the attack.

Intensely Urban: the pace is intensely urban. People are constantly moving, and there aren't many places of calm/quiet.

Highly Noticeable class distinctions: that's my intuitive sense, anyway. I get the feeling that people dress their parts. I notice middle-class professionals, working class people, extremely poor people, and folks who are rich/western. Distinction in dress/speech are highly pronounced.

Everyone is eating all the time: I envy this since i'm not eating street food on this trip. The food looks great.

Highlights:

-Jahangir Art Gallery. Terrific contemporary work by young artists. Lots of machine/body, multitude, endless urban landscape themes. Some wonderful bright colored pieces playing with tourism, sexuality, and self.

-Mutton Omelet at Jahingir Art gallery. Ridiculously Tasty.

-Lesson on Hindu Gods and imagery from antique shop owner. Lord Ganesha rides around on a giant rat, apparently.

-Seeing the house where Ghandi formulated Satyagraha (truth-seeking non-violence). My big takeaway from Ghandi's life is that humility is powerful.

-Being told that the Jasmine flowers on my wrist (proffered "for free" by a young woman outside the Taj, resulting in a deal over the acceptable donation) smelled terrific. Hard to stop and smell the roses in a city of tens of millions.

Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles

2010-12-26T22:58:00.000-05:00

In the beginning there was the smell. Getting off the plane in the Mumbai airport, it is balmy and almost fetid.

Lufthansa has almost totally destroyed my checked bag, but we cut a deal and they pay in cash- a first!

I use the pre-paid taxi option and the driver takes me close to the hotel, before deciding that he has no idea where he's going. I'm staying in a neighborhood called Parel, of which I know nothing.

The security in front of the hotel at 4am is serious, they scan the car with some sort of device, and then nod at me. I notice that when I stay still and then nod/smile, people mimic me.

The lobby is adorned with christmas elves. What is it about non-christian developing countries and christmas? Weird post-colonial relic.

The room is terrific and the bed is amazingly comfortable.

I wake at 7:30 and run 5k on a treadmill, before meeting a woman from Philadelphia who is here with here with family to relocate to Mumbai. She has three kids, is very friendly, and seems hesitant about the move.

There is bottled water everywhere and the staff at the hotel treats me like i'm a visting emissary from abroad.

Frankfurt

2010-12-26T06:53:00.000-05:00

A man is bicycling through the airport. White snow, dark concrete, grey people. I'm in the Frankfurt airport after an easy leg on Lufthansa from IAD-FRA. Thanks to the generosity of a former boss, I used a paper systemwide upgrade (SWU in flyertalk parlance) and was upgraded to Business class. It's only the second time i've flown business on an international flight, and it is a superb experience. My review of the product:

-understated, effective experience. The Lufthansa lounge at Dulles is modest, small, and nothing special. However, being able to wander around Dulles without a bag before my flight is a plus, as is boarding the plane from a separate entrance (this explains why the same flight has two gates assigned to it).

-I sit in 4k, window-seat in the back of the nozzle section. It is like sitting on the front of a ship in a large cushioned lawn chair. I have this feeling of being in the cabin of a Hindenberg-like blimp in the 1920/30's.

-the woman sitting next to me is young and casually attired. She turns out to be a German Au Pair (town of 900 people) who lives in DC and takes care of two children, whose parents are a healthcare lawyer-lobbyist duo. She is polite and undazzled bz the experience. We get along nicely, but there isn't much to talk about. I tell her to visit San Francisco and Cape Cod, and she thinks i'll enjoy Japan.

-Getting a six page illustrated menu with a letter from the executive chef is amazing. International airlines should make this a standard practice, even for economy. My appetizer is pleasant, my main course is so-so, and my desert is basic. The linen is lovely, the glasses are modern and elegantly logoed with the lufthansa bird, and the attendant brings me the best cognac i've ever tasted. If only I weren't fighting a cold... The bread selection is marvelous, and includes some sort of German pretzel rolls.

-The seat is extremely complex and allows for multiple configurations. It reminds me of doing yoga minus the doing. the blanket is cotton-quilt style. After watching Salt (bizarre cold-war thriller, entirely without context), I get a few hours of sleep. There is a bar mid-cabin with water and snacks throughout the night, with glitter on the linen. There are holiday wreaths at the front of the plane.

-I wake to a pleasant breakfast with a delicious croissant, some sort of pastramized meat, and cheeses. Fresh squeezed orange juice, too.

-the bathrooms are large, eternally unoccuppied, and have mouthwash and hand lotion. I am tempted to take the Lufthansa paper cups but resist the urge.

-I charge my blackberry using a plug supplied by the flight attendant. When I try to return it, she wishes me a merry christmas and says it is mine to keep.

the whole experience is very solid and pleasant. distinctly german.

Beginnings

2010-12-25T19:39:00.002-05:00

Visit from N on Christmas eve, an architect and urban planner from new york. We went to see Tron: Legacy in Georgetown: light, self-involved, distracting. Ethiopian food afterwards in Adams Morgan: light, filling, delicious.

Christmas eve sleep is consistently better, even for Jews. I wake, wander around the apartment, discover lightly falling snow.

N helps me pack saturday morning. I somehow fill two bags, eat my chinese leftovers, drop off the trash, give my door woman a bottle of wine, and am off to Dulles with O (a co-worker).

I'm off. First stop, Frankfurt.

Scenes from Real Life

2010-12-24T09:37:00.001-05:00

I wake to David Byrne / the taxi flies over the frozen river.

Espresso from a silver machine. Water and honey. Typing.

Conversation. Typing. Facebook/Gmail. Typing. Youtube in the background. Water. Typing.

Lunch.

Repeat x3

Phone Call. I get a ride home with someone.

Home is where Delta Airlines Takes you

2010-12-17T10:47:00.040-05:00

Minneapolis is colder today. After a day of meetings, it's time to get back to DC.

First Leg of flight is Delta MSP-MCO, middle seat, exit row. I sit next to a traveling salesman from Nestle who has once visited Switzerland. We talk about the good old days of air travel and he tells a story of having led an emergency exit. Then he gets going on golf courses. There is free internet on the flight and I learn that my connecting flight to DC has been delayed.

I leave the plane for the Orlando airport and learn that the flight to DC has been canceled.

Forty-five minutes later i'm flying to La Guardia Airport, sitting back in the exit row next to a cosmetics designer from Long Island.

It is nearly impossible to get a taxi at La Guardia. I spend the night on the UWS and take the delta shuttle back to DC in the morning, and go straight to work.

A few hours later I am on a flight to Atlanta, connecting to Las Vegas. Middle seat, because I agreed to trade with a couple. I sit next to a nuclear-submarine-physicist-turned-IT consultant and talk about software-as-a-service before napping.

I get an antipasti salad in the Atlanta Airport, which is busy and orderly.

The flight to vegas is long but I have an exit row seat. We watch Eat, Pray, Love- slightly more enjoyable than reading the Delta magazine.

We land early and spend twenty minutes waiting for a gate.

Mid-Western Wonderland

2010-12-16T01:29:00.000-05:00

Moving through security at Reagan-National, I hear my name on the loudspeaker for final call. Toiletries and laptop in hand, I jog to the gate. Desserted, no crew member at the boarding-pass-scanning-station. Yet, the door is open...

We are flying over over an endless field of snow clouds. Thick, fluffy, and packed, a blanket of snow hanging in the sky. The Delta flight attendants are attentive and feed us rounds of coffee and snacks.

The Minneapolis Airport is enormous. Everyone is wearing dark colors. Americana accents into cellular phones. I go underground to get to get to a taxi, a white minivan. Organized, efficient, polite.

The woman at the front desk chattily checks me in, agrees to my request to put my Amtrak Guest Rewards number on the reservation, and asks me if often take "the Amtrak." She tells me likes London and Venice (the latter in late Spring). She is exquisitely friendly.

The hotel reminds me of the airport, though it is entirely deserted.

We go the University of Minnesota Basketball game. The stadium/arena is warm, cozy, and full of tall college students in bright yellow and maroon. The home team wins. We're off to "Top Ten," a local bar and get Molson and subs. our hosts talk about MN politics and tells stories of Paul Wellstone. I get the feeling that I am in an enchanted kingdom.

My first five hours with Minnesotans are wonderful. They are chatty, charming, laid-back, honest, polite, warm, and bright.

There's foot of snow on the ground.

Familiar Monday

2010-12-14T00:43:00.001-05:00

Nyquil sleep, unplugged phone. Dead morning battery. Toasted bagel at work, philadelphia cream cheese. Warm energy in the office, december cold brewing. Lunchtime on the building, crab-artichoke dip and swedish meatballs. Apparently there was a terrorist attack in Sweden this weekend...

Listening to the cab driver speaking in a foreign tongue, I recognize phrases and the rhythm. He's Cambodian-born in Battambang. BADDAMBANG.

I come home to a roommate and his girlfriend drinking red wine. We eat goat cheese, kalamata olives, lobster ravioli from trader joe's, and talk about the banking system in the ukraine.
Then my brother calls from israel and we talk about Robert Altman films.

No nyquil tonight.

Reviews

2010-12-12T01:28:00.001-05:00

Recent experiences:

1. 2Amy's: magnificent DC Pizza. Located next to the National Cathedral. Insert joke about heavenly experience/many routes to heaven/Gluttony. Went with V, ran into a classmate from Brooklyn + Wesleyan- not a coincidence.

2. The new West End Cinema: lovely. An oasis of the avant garde, a hipster in East Midtown. Art house movie theater in downtown DC? Evidence that the city's tastes are improving? Can it survive the 2010-2012 congress?

3. Josephine and Lima: The former is acceptably typical, the latter is moderately elegant- Mies Van Der Rohe couches, lots of glass, club 2.0.

4. Unstoppable with Denzel Washington and that guy from Star Trek (Chris Pine): Unstoppable. Like being on the Acela: alternatively exciting, exhausting, entertaining, disengaging, and reasonably quick/palatable.

5. Bayou Bakery in Arlington, Virgina: fattening, pleasant, and extremely out of place. Good espresso. Will be more fun in the summer. Met the owner/chef: exudes entrepreneurial focus, professionalism, and understated confidence. I predict enormous success.

6. The Player with Tim Robbins and by Robert Altman. Arguably the best thing I've seen all year on the little screen.

7. Setting up a Delta Mileage run out of DC: Nearly impossible. If the service on the shuttle wasn't so good, I'd move fully to the Star Alliance.

Pass

2010-11-28T23:05:00.000-05:00

aardvark-g200:
Hi Ben! I haven't sent you a question in a few days...

Do you want to see a question about *demographic information for Dwarfism*?

(Type 'sure', 'pass', or 'busy'.)

-Aadvark Social Networking Q&A service Via Google Chat. The service claims that it will ask you questions on subject where you're an expert.

Giving Thanks for Brooklyn

2010-11-26T00:37:00.002-05:00

Grey weather in Brooklyn. Cool, quiet, calm. Spent thanksgiving eating, drinking, familying, napping, and watching Annie Hall. We really all do need the eggs. And Pumpkin pie.

November ain't slowing down

2010-11-20T14:34:00.001-05:00

After two final days of campaigning, Matt Lesser won re-election by a margin of a few hundred votes. Spent two nights in a converted firehouse, between door-knocking and phone-banking sessions.

After declaring tentative victory, we drove to Hartford for the CT celebration. The group was in a good mood: Democrats had enjoyed unusual success statewide despite the bad political climate.

Taxied to Bradley Airport to spend the night at the airport Sheraton before a 6am flight back to DC. Apparently you can get a good briefcase here.

Spent the next weekend in New York. Saw Due Date, which was silly schmaltz. Spent time with friends, reflected on the passing of a year away from New York. Had lunch at a deli on the Upper West Side, chopped liver and fresh nova salmon. Cramped tables, a waiter with personality, an outsized bill, ran into old friends from college at the start of the meal.

Flew to Seattle last weekend for my aunt's 60th birthday. Post coming soon.

Post-Halloween

2010-11-01T22:28:00.002-04:00

Spent Sunday in New Haven with Y, my younger brother. Lunched at Atticus, visited the Yale Coop/Farm, and watched Burma VJ.

Got a ride up to Middletown with G, a Democratic field staffer and recent Wesleyan alum. Arrived at the Democratic Headquarter to volunteer for Matt Lesser's re-election campaign. Matt is an old friend who happens to represent Connecticut's 100th district in the state legislature.

Surprisingly organized headquarters. Within minutes of arriving, I was calling potential volunteers.

Middletown is chilly in November.

Saturday Learnings from Glorious Travel Pilgrimage to New Haven

2010-10-29T23:13:00.042-04:00

1. Jon Stewart Rallies significantly reduce the availability of taxis to Union Station.
2. The MARC train from Union Station to BWI does not run on weekends.
3. Amtrak does, but seems to run every two hours around mid-day.
4. US Airways is very friendly about missed flights.
5. Terminal F at the Philadelphia airport is chilly in late October.
6. Being on the Standby list is most similar to the Woody Allen's Death: A Comedy in One Act.
7. Tweed New Haven airport is $17 (including tip) from downtown New Haven.
8. One gets highly attentive service at a restaurant in its second day of existence (Himalayan, a B+ tibetan/indian joint). My server had the peculiar tendancy to explain/introduce dishes ("this is a mango lassi, it's very thick"), as if i'd never before encountered Indian food.
9. The Millenium movies (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo...) are gloomy even when on the big screen.
10. Downtown post-midnight New Haven on Halloween is not unlike Death: A Comedy in One Act

Southland Weekend

2010-10-25T14:34:00.000-04:00

Friday night SFO-LAX flight on United. Packed at 9pm. Arrive to a misty Los Angeles. LAX is an internal mess, but pretty from the outside.

Stayed in Sherman Oaks/Bel Air, up on a mountain. Saturday was the 25th anniversary of Back to the Future, which looks terrific on the big screen and is remarkably relevant despite its age. Met a bunch of people who in "the industry." One cool aspect of LA is that people have extensive knowledge of films, and like to talk about the movies they've seen.

Out to dinner in West Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard, which is as depicted in Entourage. Fancy cars, paparazzi, model-esque blondes in glittery minis. The Glitterari in LA seem friendlier than their east coast counterparts in NY and DC: easy to strike up a conversation randomly.

Lazy Sunday. Went to the Arclight 2 to See Red. The Arclight is the nicest American movie theater to which i've been: supremely comfortable seats, pre-selected seating (as in europe), coffee spot, bar, gift shop, and hollywood costumes on display. Red was nothing to write home about, except for a strong performance of paranoia by John Malkovich.

Virgin America Red-eye back to DC. Experientially pleasant, though not especially so. highlights included:

-printing my boarding pass at a hotel-lounge-like check-in counter. Small square document.

-ordering food (excellent cheese + fruit plate, honest tea) via the seat console, having it delivered with the ice.

-mood lighting.

-amusing safety video.

The seat was reasonably comfortable, but not especially so. Leather is not impressive in and of itself. While the plane was new (airbus 320), I would have preferred to be on a 767.

Overall, B+. I might go so far as to say that I like JetBlue's model better (free snacks, more destinations, less pretense).

Sling-shotting between Playoff Cities

2010-10-22T19:48:00.001-04:00

Flew to JFK Sunday night for dinner in brooklyn at the Vinegar Hill House. Best meal i've eaten in months.

Monday in Midtown Manhattan. Attended the 2010 Slingshot Fund (Day) through the AVF, a social venture fund i'm involved with that was chosen as one of the most innovative Jewish projects in North America. Good day of training and meeting other included organizations.

Tuesday in Soho and Upper West Side, catching up with old friend. Gorgeous weather.

Wednesday in Queens for my late grandmother's tombstone unveiling. Small ceremony, brief and moving. Everyone should be so loved by their family.

Sylvia Safron: Bridging Two Worlds, Accepting of All, Beloved by All

Flew back to DC Wednesday night. Picked up supplies at the office in Arlington, back to District for five hours or sleep.

Headed West on Thursday. Caught the 8:20 IAD-SFO on United. Packed as usual, arrived in SF in late morning to a grey, cool day. Work, Work, Work. Crazy energy in SOMA for Giants Game, hordes in Orange on the streets, an intense energy of anticipation. Crashed at the hotel around 10pm PST.

Breakfast with H. Rainy Friday. Apparently this is typical fall SF weather.

Back to the Saddle

2010-10-04T12:16:00.000-04:00

Woke early, T to the wonderfully tiny Logan airport. Used the digital boarding pass on my blackberry. Short flight, tasty shortbread Delta biscuits, cold and rainy DC. Was summer a dream? It always leaves.

Here's a plug for a bar furniture site. They have good stuff, it is part of CSN stores...

Hopefully it won't get cold too quickly.

The Other Bay Area

2010-10-03T11:29:00.000-04:00

The rain follows me to Boston. I arrive to an empty pre-midnight Logan airport and make my way to Cambridge, where i'm staying with A, an old friend who's here for law school. We order chinese food and watch The Rock, arguably one of Sean Connery's finest post-bond roles...

...waken to the breezy sunlight of new england in fall, which is pleasant but unsettling. We take the metro/subway to Park Place and walk around Boston Commons. It's a sunny social saturday in Boston and families, couples, and tourists are out in force.

We pass Copley place and have coffee on Newbury street. Then we go see The Social Network, which is an effective portrait of technical, dark, and depressing.

The Terminal: Delayed in Dulles

2010-10-01T12:30:00.006-04:00

Friday night flight out of Dulles to Logan on United Express, scheduled for 6:57pm. The plane takes off somewhere around 9:30, giving me two hours to wander around Dulles.

Discoveries:
1) Delta has no sky club and instead uses Air France's lounge, a dazzlingly modern red-and-white-cafeteria of the future.

2) A slice of fresh mozzarella pizza costs $4.57 in Gate A. Two hours of internet costs roughly a dollar more than this.

3) There are a remarkable number of international flights out of Dulles that leave on a Friday night after 7pm.

4) United will only reimburse you for delays after four hours of waiting.

After boarding the plane, the flight attendant asks for a volunteer from the first four rows to sit further back and balance the weight load. After thirty seconds of silence, a man volunteers. We applaud.

The Party with the Dragon Tattoo

2010-09-30T11:35:00.001-04:00

Well Sometimes I Go Out, By Myself, And I Look Across The Water...

It rained, and I spent Simchat Torah (the joyful jewish festival) at the House of Sweden for the launch of an eco-infrastructure exhibit. Waiters in hard hats and plaid served scandi hors d'oevres to diplomatic blondes. A bizarre cast of characters, including:

-A Sudanese Sugar Company Marketer, on holiday.

-A Seemingly prominent movement environmentalist, who mentioned that he was recently "into german hotels."

-diplomat-turned-web-designer with childhood stories of Monopoly with the Prince of Monaco

-Maryland House of Delegates candidate Meyer Marks, taking time off from the race to interact with "real people."

Swedish Dessert on a Conveyor Belt, Sushi-Style

Terrific space, excellent drinks, decent food, odd group. There are worse ways to spend a wet evening in Washington

Weekend Scenes, Bay Area 2010

2010-09-26T22:58:00.000-04:00

Sonoma Koi

The Audacity of Hope, September 2010

Japan town?

Mind the drop

City on the Bay

Norcal Palms

Passing Ship

Blues Skies and Downtown SF

A Banksy original?

Life on the Left Coast

2010-09-24T01:35:00.001-04:00

1. IAD-SFO. On a 777, courtesy of United Airlines. ENORMOUS airplane. Letters to Juliet was unwatchable, The Girl who played with Fire sustained. Sat next to a Moscovite Travel Agent leading a group of Russians to see national parks... "in a country without [much] history, it's best to see nature."

2. Met up with K in the international terminal at SFO (impressive). A classmate from high school who i've not seen for years, K moved to the Bay area for tech. Runs his own company now. We take the BART into the city and have dinner.

Nice SF view.

3. I wake up in Emeryville, where i'm staying due to the Oracle convention. View of the bay bridge.

4. BART into the city. Day of work.

5. Coffee in South park.

6. Thoughts on SF: everything is hip or weird. Or both. The fashion reminds me a bit of Wesleyan: cool, eccentric, not entirely put together... un-vicious, like NY. Comfortable. Lots of cotton.

Heading West

2010-09-04T11:00:00.032-04:00

Saw "The American" last night, with George Clooney. Pleasant, attractive, and serious.

Flew to Denver by way of O'Hare on United. The latter flight was on a 767, making it much more pleasant.
Arrive before 11am to dry sunny heat and blue skies. J (old friend from high school who I ran into in SF) picked me up and we drove off to Boulder, where we hit the farmer's market. Crunchy college students + retired baby boomers. Great food. Sinatra impersonator, charming.

Walk on the creek, with an impromptu fly-fishing lesson from a twelve year old kid. Down the creek, a man asks me to retrieve his second crutch from the river, as his friend has placed it there. We later encouter a man who has engineered a standing rock, as below. We compliment his work and he is appreciative, telling us that the work is therapeutic.

In the evening, we attend a poker game that consist mainly of professors from one of the departments at the university. I play poorly.
We drive back to J's home in the mountains, under the sky filled with stars

One Short Day in the Bay

2010-08-25T12:59:00.005-04:00

West Coast Jetlag is amazing: woke up at 8am. Cup of hotel coffee fueled a sun-soaked run along embarcadero, with views of Alcatraz. Feelings of Freedom, Talking heads in the background. The Pacific ocean smells different.

Bagels in the mission.

Work work work...

Met up with J1 and J2, old friends from high school. J1 lives in denver and randomly called me 20 minutes before my coffee time with J2.

BART to Berkeley. Little train, cloth seats, pleasant..

People in SF dress relatively well. More casually than in NY, laid back.

Dinner at Chez Pannisse with H, an old friend from the past. Great tomatoes and local wine.

Tea next door with R, entrepreneur who has started a green consulting firm.

Walk with B through Berkeley. Quiet and leafy streets.

BART back to SF.

Three City Day

2010-08-24T11:45:00.001-04:00

5:05am EST. I wake up in DC.

7:30am CST. We land in Chicago. Meetings and stuff. I eat two lunches, both of which are pretty good.

6:50pm PST. I land in San Francisco and drive off into the sunset.

9:15pm PST. Dinner at IHOP near Fisherman's Wharf. I am initially ignored for what seems like 20 minutes, but then the server is highly attentive. I eat a spicy chicken sandwich with provolone, which is delicious. Also, an Avocado salad (1/4 of an Avocado on lettuce for 2.49) and a crepe with blueberry sauce and vanilla ice cream. I consume an enormous amount of ice water and feel cold. The server asks me how I liked my food, and seems to really care. I experience a flashback to a movie that involves ordering ice cream in a diner in California.

I notice that almost everyone around me is dressed informally, compared to DC. This strikes me as odd/good/slightly sloppy.

10:00pm PST. A man in the hotel elevator asks me where I am from. A short conversation occurs whereupon I claim exhaustion. I don't think he was wearing shoes.

Road Trip

2010-08-10T09:00:00.001-04:00

View Larger Map

With E.

1. Ferry to Hyannis Port. 4:30pm.
2. Taxi to Barnstable Airport. 5pm.
3. Rent Blue Prius from Budget.
4. Drive to Brookline. Pick-up clothing from Cambodia, courtesy of Toro 7:30pm.
5. Dinner on Tremont Street at Pop's. WTH is Lobster dust? 8pm.
6. Drop off pots and pans in Cambridge. 11:30pm.
7. Drive to the Berkshires, during a thunderstorm. Mass. Pike is desserted. We stop at a Mcdonalds for Coffee. I complain about the weather and am informed that it hasn't rained all summer.
8. Arrive in the Berkshires. 3:30am
9. Arrive at JFK: 5:30pm

National Airport,

2010-08-03T18:45:00.002-04:00

It is amazing how busy Reagan-National airport is at 5:45 am. I pass an entire boyscout troop, and then they pass me. Outside it is a cool rainy blue. Good morning, America.

August and everything before

2010-07-23T14:26:00.000-04:00

Since July 4th, I've

-Been to New York for a dinner party

-Met a substitute teacher from my elementary school while checking into a flight at Laguardia airport.

-Visited Montreal for twenty four hours, my first time outside of the country in 2010. The French influence is overwhelming and a welcome relief from DC.

-Experienced my first Casino

-Spoken a fair bit of french

-Acela-ed (Amtrak business = wonderful) and Jazzed (Air canada economy = less inspiring).

-Ridden the new intergate shuttle at Dulles (impressive).

-considered getting new dining room furniture

-while working, fasted for lion's share of the 9th of Av, the Jewish holiday that commemorates national loss. I broke my fast at 4pm with fare from Ray's Hellburger.

-Sweated in the DC heat.

Like Them that Dream: A Blog Worth Reading...

2010-07-03T16:55:00.000-04:00

My brother Raphael has just launched a fascinating community blog which aims to "post clear, well-written intellectual content on a regular basis." It's a very high bar for the digital space, but they seem to be doing a great job.

Stormy Monday

2010-06-28T21:29:00.001-04:00

I wake up to discover that Senator Byrd is dead. Less shocking the Ted Kennedy's death, but still significant. I never met Byrd but remember watching his poetic rants on C-Span, meeting his interns/staffers, and hearing him rail against the Iraq war. His death is not mentioned during the day, though there is an enormously powerful thunderstorm which darkens the sky and distracts my office for two-three minutes.

Empire State of Mind

2010-06-26T12:47:00.000-04:00

I get into New York at 8:40, am in Soho by 9, eat pizza in the West village by 10 at some place called Joes. Weather is cooler here and the pizza is much better. In the words of the guys at Joes, "it is made by italian hands, with American hands accepting the money."

Musicians sing the Beatles in Washington Square Park surrounded by an engaged crowd. Young couples pollinate benches. I meet a group of old friends and hit a bar in Soho, which is well attended by recent graduates. Seems like a tough time to leave the cocoon of college and enter the workforce.

The sky turns into a cool blue pool in the early hours of Saturday morning. Cabs slink by, and the city recovers. I do too.

Lazy Saturday in the Research Triangle

2010-06-20T01:34:00.001-04:00

Sunlight streaming in through the trees on a hot summer morning. Johny Cash playing, L makes banana pancakes. We sit on the porch and discuss long-term prospects for economic growth in the US and the value of secondary markets for corporate equity. Great pancakes.

I help change a tire, visit a whole foods for picnic supplies, and spend hours on the Duke campus, lounging in the sun and eating grapes with L + S, and then just S. I attend an informal rehearsal dinner at a Mexican restaurant and meet a sincere and ambitious PhD student studying mid-20th century US intellectual history (protestant thinkers), a warm and talkative wine barrel maker, and some Hill staff from my neck of the woods. I feel a special kinship with the Washingtonians.

L and I go see the 10pm showing of Get Him to the Greek. Generally hilarious. Driving back to his house after midnight, we pass many deer and a small white kitten.

Carolina Dreamin'

2010-06-19T10:21:00.001-04:00

Saw Joe Trippi today at DC Digital Week, leaving a panel. I once viewed the Obama campaign as the conclusion of the Dean/Netroots rising in 2004. Not sure if the linkage still holds up.

Flew down to Raleigh/Durham (RDU) yesterday on US airways express, the worst flight experience I've had out of Reagan National. Intense security checks, crowded departure gate, and a mini-bus out to the tarmac. Almost got bumped for a voucher, but not everyone who had booked checked into the flight. I fell asleep shortly after takeoff and didn't wake up until our descent.

Met at the airport by L, a friend from college who lives down here. Leaving the airport, I feel a surge of escapist release as i'm surrounded by trees and grass. We drove to Chapel Hill, stopping to look at a picturesque Greek outdoor theater. Dinner was at Lantern, mild but well prepared Asian food using local ingredients. Marvelous dumplings thai coffee ice cream, and rice green tea.

Staying in a rural area, in a house surround by gardens and woods. I feel asleep in a hammock on the porch.

Persian Princes, Cambodian-Americans, and Belize

2010-06-14T02:04:00.000-04:00

Saw Prince of Persia: Sands of Time on Friday night in Georgetown. Very entertaining hollywood fare, a solid B-film. Ben Kingsley's character and performance are unimpressive, though Jake G. and Alfred Molina shine.

Attended the annual reception for The Cambodian-American Professionals Association, which was held at SEARAC, near Dupont Circle. The circle was packed with hundreds of fans watching the world cup... amazingly the United States managed to tie England.

Early dinner with R, an old friend from Belize who is moving to Hawaii, followed by banal party-hopping. I did meet a guy who had just come back from Belize.

Re-watched the Quantum of Solace on Sunday. Quantum is a terrific revival for the series, though Craig needs to take himself a little less seriously.

Shan Cuisine in Northwest Chinatown

2010-06-10T19:33:00.000-04:00

Had dinner at Burma Restaurant last night with G, who is leaving DC for law school. Completely deserted, not unlike some of the fancier restaurants in Myanmar. Burmese food is very distinct from both Chinese and Indian cuisine, in a good way. The owner/manager told me she was from Shan State, in the Northeast, and left twenty-five years ago. She has been back, though not since Cyclone Nargis. Very nice woman, and very burmese: low-key, friendly, concerned.

Memorial Day Bliss

2010-05-31T22:42:00.000-04:00

Spent Memorial Day Weekend on the Delaware Shore

View Larger Map

Left the District early on Saturday Morning. No traffic, a fast a pretty ride through farmland in Maryland and Delaware. We stopped on the side of the road to buy fresh corn, watermelon, and snap peas and chatted with the college-student-sellers about their post-graduation job prospects in DC.

Broadkill beach is remarkably wild and natural: reeking (dead) horshoe crabs strewn about on the shore, crabs pinching your feet as you wade out into the water, a giant sea slug, a live conch. Very few other people around for most of the weekend.

Went into Rehoboth on Saturday night to a local hangout called "Summerhouse." Pizza at Grottos.

Drove home Sunday night, encountering horrendous traffic. Blackberried and listened to "The Things They Carried," a short story about the Vietnam War.

Home at 11pm.

Food For Thought: The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment

2010-05-28T20:16:00.001-04:00

Attended a lunch with Peter Beinart, a journalist and CUNY professor who just wrote a fascinating piece in the New York review of books: "the failure of the American Jewish Establishment."

In the piece, Beinart persuasively argues that a number of large jewish organization are out of touch with the young non-orthodox jews in the United States on the question of Israel and the peace process.In person, he was just as articulate and compelling, discussing the article with the audience and deftly handling questions from the beltway policy audience.

I agree with most of Beinart's article: most of the mainstream Jewish organizations are failing to represent young non-orthodox Jews on the question of the peace process.

Before the long weekend

2010-05-28T15:21:00.002-04:00

Looooong Friday here at Work. Decided to review another product from bathroom vanities Very excited.

Iceland Express announced a sale to europe for 212 outbound... Almost ready to book.

Getting out of Dodge, Part 4: Conclusion by commencement

2010-05-24T22:18:00.000-04:00

Graduation day, finally. Walked over to the packed old campus interior, with thousands upon thousands of filled seats. At around 10:30, the processions started, visible mainly from the jumbotrons. Lots of young people in black robes. The Forestry school grads had plants and shrubbery on their heads, which was the highlight.

After some speeches, each dean exchanged formal words with the President, who conferred degrees to everyone except for the law school students (who still need to pass the bar). The honorary degrees were numerous (10) and high profile. They included: Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, novelist Orhan Pamuk, the President of Liberia, and Aretha Franklin, who got the loudest cheers. None of them spoke, and accepted their doctorates silently.

Everyone marched out and we went to the Morse courtyard for the presentation of undergraduate diplomas, by residential college. This was much more intimate and consisted of a speech by the Master, prizes, and each student (roughly 100) being presented with a diploma and their major and honors noted.

We ate a terrific lunch in the commons (amazing strawberry shortcake) and went over to the English department, where my brothers introduced me to their professors, one of whom is a prominent writer.

I took taxi back to Bradley international airport and talked to the driver about weekend, the recession, and the changing demographic breakdown of the U.S.

The President of Liberia was on my flight back to DC, and I congratulated her on the honorary doctorate. She was surprised, but quickly figured out that i'd been at the ceremony. Smart woman.

Getting out of Dodge, Part 2: Convention in Connecticut

2010-05-22T14:27:00.013-04:00

Spent the evening at the campaign parties for the CT Democratic convention with my good friend Representative Matt Lesser of Middletown. Met Gerry Garcia, a Yale-educated Puerto-Rican-Jewish-American running for Secretary of State. Learned about CT geography (there is a "quiet corner" of the state that is sparsely populated), met the Mayor of East Haven (who had just donated a kidney to one of her constituents), bought some freshly baked potato bread, and heard stories of lobbying, deal-making, and inter-legislator aggression.

Post-11pm Hartford was hopping with nightlife activity, at least downtown. Who knew?

Getting out of Dodge, Part 1

2010-05-21T11:30:00.000-04:00

Flew out of BWI for the first time... on Southwest Airlines, also a first.

The local MARC train from Union Station to BWI failed, so I jumped on the amtrak regional, which arrived in 20 minutes, followed by a 10 minute shuttle ride to the airport. Fast, but expensive ($25)

Apparently Southwest was the only domestic airline to show a profit in 2009. This shows in the service: cheapest ticket, the most efficient booking engine i've ever used and passenger loading procedures. Flying discount carriers (jetblue, Southwest, Ryanair in Europe) feels cheap and some unreal, for some reason. This was no exception, even with the Business Select ($20 extra) upgrade I purchased while checking in. For 20 bucks, I got to be the sixth passenger to board the plane, a special security screening lane which substantively improved the process of being screened, a drink coupon I didn't use, and an extra .25 frequent flyer credit.

I liked BWI and will not avoid it in the airport. My pre-flight airport dinner consisted of delicious pork tacos, acceptable chicken tea sandwiches, and a glass of shiraz, with wonderful service.

I arrived in the Bradley International Airport of Hartford at 10:30, 15 minutes early.

I'd give the whole experience a B+.

Sick Weekend

2010-05-17T00:39:00.000-04:00

Literally. Dinner in Dupont Circle on Friday night. Spent most of the meal discussing/arguing over Father Aristide's oust from Haiti with a future American diplomat.

Saturday was almost entirely inside, resting and watching Season one of arrested development.

Grocery shopping on Sunday at Trader Joes, travel planning, and Robin Hood in Chinatown. Very enjoyable, surprisingly funny and not terribly similar to Gladiator. There is a beautiful mind joke about Nash equilibria and dating.

In and out of the Apple

2010-05-02T23:54:00.000-04:00

Two trips to New York since my last post:

1) Weekend Trip: Friday night train up, crashed on UWS at H's law school apartment. Gorgeous cool Saturday: walk in Central Park with N, then got a beer with B and his girlfriend in Flatiron, followed by dinner at Hill Country, a seemingly authentic Texas BBQ joint. Dashed up to the UWS to pick-up belongings for a rooftop party hosted by LLS, my former roommate from the Loisaida days (for which this blog is named). Slept in Brooklyn and awoke to a rainy day... spent the day with my parents, with whom I took a walk to Avenue J. F train back to manhattan, Amtrak back to DC for 11:30pm arrival.

2) Work Trip on Thursday: stayed at the Marriot across from the WFC and site of the former WTC. Was the most beautiful day i've had in New York in a long time: clear blue skies, piercing sunlight, strong breeze, locals dressed to kill, picturesque. Dinner with one of my brothers near Grand Central followed by a long walk back to hotel, with the obligatory stop in SoHo to pick-up E.

Both trips make the weekend-bomb-scare all the more surreal. Muggy weekend in DC. Yuck.

European Volcano Problem

2010-04-19T22:04:00.000-04:00

"do you want to try this on your own? I am totally overloaded with the European volcano problem"

-My travel agent

Saturday In the City

2010-03-06T18:02:00.001-05:00

Came up to New York last night for a gathering on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Crashed in Chelsea, woke up late for coffee from Cafe Grumpy before being picked up by friend. We drove out to Joe's of Avenue U (deep in the heart of old brooklyn) for Eggplant Parmigiana and potato croquettes. Returned to the city via the brooklyn bridge, a sunny and relatively warm March day. Browsed a sample sale at a Chelsea market flooded with visitors. Walked along the Highline: B+/A- Nice execution, decent concept, very Seattle.

Later, dinner at elephant and castle, hanging out in Soho with a friend and two dutch visitors, and then settlers...

Free Pillow/Kids Bedding...

2010-02-17T21:52:00.002-05:00

Bedding and More is sending me a free pillow for reviewing their kids bedding site. I'm a big fan of Down pillows- synethic feel awkwardly flat and loose. More thoughts on the pillow once it arrives...

Again?

2010-02-15T15:32:00.002-05:00

It just started snowing again. The air is misty white with flakes.

Falling, Falling, Falling...

2010-02-04T22:48:00.001-05:00

Arlington, Virginia. The Blizzard of 2010 has started. The air outside is white with falling flakes, and forecasters are predicting 18-24 inches of snow this weekend.

1pm: The snow does not appear to be sticking. Apparently, it's thirty-three degrees (F) outside.

3pm. It just started sticking.

A Short Trip to New York

2010-02-01T20:32:00.002-05:00

I've just returned to Washington after a short, unplanned trip to New York. My grandmother (Sylvia, on my mother's side) died on Friday, and I left work early and went up to New York. The whole trip was spent in Brooklyn and Queens; I didn't once set foot in Manhattan. I spent Friday night with my immediate family in Brooklyn- the rest of the clan arrived on Saturday. The service and burial were in Queens, after which we went back to Brooklyn. The Shivah process is both comforting and exhausting as you're constantly with people. Took off Monday from work, slept in, and paid a shivah call to my grandmother's brothers and sisters.

Eulogy for Sylvia "Bubbie" Safron, 1921-2010.

Bubbie made the most delicious rhubarb. It was stringy and sweet, blood-red and soaked in sugar. She’d bring recycled glass jars of the stuff on visits to her grandchildren. Rhubarb was accompanied by compote, stuffed cabbage, fresh gefilte fish, carrot kugel, and mandelbread. The glass jars would remain in our freezers weeks after she left.

Sylvia Safron, or Bubbie, as we called her, had seven grandchildren: Jacob and Benjamin, Raphael, Yasha, and myself, Lena and Eli. While most of us were young or unborn at the time of Pa’s death, we all knew and adored our bright-eyed little grandmother from Flushing. Lena once compared her to Elmo: sweet, cuddly, and always smiling.

Bubbie often remarked on how much the world had changed during her lifetime. She was in continual awe of the material prosperity of our lives: our ipods and travel to faraway countries were met with a Yiddish phrase: “Anandade Welt.” Bubbie was our link to the old country and distant American past of the Great Depression and Second World War. She spoke Yiddish, clipped coupons, authored long handwritten letters, took public buses, practiced her water exercises in Florida pools each winter, religiously watched jeopardy, and prayed each night before going to sleep.

Bubbie was a ham. While modest to a fault, she had a dramatic presence and enjoyed dressing up in bright colors, charming someone she’d just met, and singing to capture a room’s attention. She had a voice like warm lemon tea, and would often hum songs from the nineteen thirties and forties. My favorite was the Rich Maharaja of Magabar, who According to Bubbie: “had diamonds and pearls, and plenty of girls…but he didn't know how…. to do the rhumba.”

Bubbie wasn’t a maharaja and this suited her fine. She was deeply satisfied with her lot in life: living in Flushing, speaking daily with her sisters by phone, visiting her children, attending simchas, and listening to “programs” on the radio. Only in the last year of her life did I ever hear her complain, and it was of not being able to do these things and becoming fully dependant upon others.

Bubbie somehow managed to find something positive even in this dependency: a gratefulness to her children for taking care of her. As she often told me, the best thing she had ever done was to have children. Even while suffering, Bubbie was full of gratitude, love, and concern. “Thank you for calling, darling” she’d say at the end of every phone call- “please take care of yourself.”

Back to Maggie's Farm

2010-01-04T11:38:00.003-05:00

Back to work after the New Year's break. First day of a new job in Arlington, Virginia. Was amusingly taken to lunch at Brooklyn Bagel by co-workers.

The New York Times says that Bill de Blasio is going to turn the office of the Public Advocate into a community organizing center to rally new yorkers against city call.

Re-enabled blackberry service tonight on the way home from work. Turned off the buzzing after 10:30pm...

New Year's Day

2010-01-01T11:34:00.002-05:00

Day one of 2010 was devoted to consuming media about Africa. Saw Invictus in the afternoon and finished reading "Strength in What Remains," by Tracy Kidder (who previously wrote the Paul Farmer biography). Morgan Freeman was terrific as Nelson Mandela, and the book is a thoughtful and moving account of a survivor of the 1993 civil war in burundi. Most remarkably, it raises criticisms of Paul Kagame and the current Rwandan government. Until recently, the Kagame regime was the darling of the international community.

2009, Year In Review

2009-12-31T07:24:00.001-05:00

Cities Inhabited: New York and Washington, D.C.

Countries Visited: Canada, United Kingdom, Poland, Israel, The Palestinian Territories, Latvia, Turkey, Greece, Germany

Airlines Flown: AirCanada, British Airways, Continental, Delta, Swiss Air, LOT, Air Baltic, Aegean Airlines, United, Northwest, JetBlue

Significant Events attended: Obama Inauguration, Five Weddings (Toronto, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Delaware, Manhattan) , the first National J Street Conference, and the UJC General Assembly

Notable Movies: Up, District 9, An Education

Honorable Mentions:

Goodbye Solo, Inglorious Basterds, The Messenger, State of Play

Should have seen: A Serious Man, Invictus, The Road

Snowy Saturday

2009-12-19T09:50:00.004-05:00

BROOKLYN - On my first day back in New York, a magical snowstorm appeared and turned Brooklyn into a whirling wind of white. I took the bus up Coney Island Avenue to Park Slope, where a friend and I got hot chocolate and walked around a deserted Prospect Park. We escaped the cold for tea at Provini, where another friend showed up to see James Cameron's Avatar at the Park Slope Pavilion.

While Avatar was visually breathtaking and a significant piece of film making, I was more impressed with the escalating snowstorm and the peaceful silence it brings to New York.

Gym Sighting #2...

2009-12-17T09:55:00.000-05:00

Saw Senator Al Franken (D-MN) at the gym today, sitting by the squash courts in the back. He was instantly recognizable by his glasses, circular tortise-shell frames.

Apparently he plays squash.

A Warm Day in DC

2009-12-15T10:39:00.005-05:00

It was a warm day (for December) here in Washington, a pleasant surprise. It was almost 50 degrees (F) today, and I didn't need a winter coat for my walk to work. The simple and unexpected pleasures of life...

Coming back from my shower at the gym, I snagged this shot (apologies for poor photo quality) on my blackberry:

I suppose everyone needs exercise.

Linguistic Military Intelligence

2009-12-07T21:57:00.002-05:00

A particularly witty nugget buried in an article on Obama's Afghanistan strategy,

"The reaction at the Pentagon, said one official, was “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” — military slang for an expression of shock."

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, indeed.

First Snow of the Season

2009-12-05T12:47:00.002-05:00

It's snowing in the Capitol. I awoke to a thick flow of flakes, which don't seem to be sticking. I hope this doesn't affect my evening travel plans. Are trains up to New York affected by non-sticking snow?

Posner on Keynes: Consumption, Consumption, Consumption

2009-11-18T18:02:00.002-05:00

A great article in The New Republic on macroeconomic theory and John Maynard Keynes' "The General Theory" by Richard Posner, an appeals court judge for the seventh circuit and professor at University of Chicago. Keynes eloquently argued that economic growth is driven by consumption, that psychology and expectations play an important role in economic activity (consumer's tendency to hoard and the "animal spirits" that propel entrepreneurs to take risks), and that uncertainty is a fact of economic life that affects growth.

Clearly, Keynes work is still relevant- increasingly so during this deep recession.

Los Angeles: Initial Impressions

2009-11-12T10:18:00.000-05:00

Cars. My first impression after leaving the luggage check at LAX is amazement at the number and composition of vehicles. A preponderance of luxury vehicles: convertibles with roofs raised, multiple Mercedes, a lexus with a rear window sticker that reads (in hebrew) "ohavim otach, eretz yisrael."A white hummer limousine- at the airport! An LAPD officer glides by harley-esque motorcycle. After being picked up by my cousin, we drive out into the expanse of the city, borne upon massives highways that lift us up into the hills of Sherman oaks. This is car country.

Thoughts on the Conference

2009-10-28T14:39:00.004-04:00

All in all, the first J Street conference was a success: 1500 people showed up, The Obama Administration sent the National Security Advisor to bless the event, three dozen members of congress attended the gala dinner, and conference attendees were enormously positive about the gathering.

Monday's notable event was a town hall meeting between Jeremy Ben-Ami and Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the head of the Reform movement. Yoffie's stance is somewhere between J Street's and the center-right position often repeated by large institutional leaders of the Jewish community: he was sharply critical of settlement construction, the Goldstone report, and International Community's criticism of Israel. The Yoffie's and Jeffrey Goldberg's of the Jewish community seem to be key discursive links in the chain- they support a two-state solution and acknowledge J Street as legitimate, with some reservations.

Tuesday's best panel featured three Israelis: centrist politician Haim Ramon, former Shin Bet Admiral Ami Ayalon, and journalist Bernard Avishai.

Avishai talked about the need for peace for economic development, persuasively arguing that Israel's economy will be based around providing solutions for large companies.

Ayalon said that when he was head of the Shin Bet, the lowest year of Palestinian violence was directly related to Palestinian hopes for an belief in the peace process.

Ramon suggested that unilateral disengagement from the west bank may be needed in the future to ensure the demographic viability of Israel as a state with majority jewish population.

I haven't heard these viewpoints at an event with a National or super-public profile and audience. The conference is wonderfully unique is providing the American public access to these sort of ideas.

One JTA write-up of the conference quotes a certain 25-year-old from Washington...

An Evening On H at the J Street Conference

2009-10-26T10:41:00.003-04:00

I spent Sunday evening at the Grant Hyatt on H street at the first-ever J Street conference. The evening was the conference's kickoff event featuring 1200-1500 people sitting in a ballroom. After speeches from Jeremy Ben-Ami (J Street's executive director), Daniel Sokatch (the charismatic new CEO of the New Israel Fund) and some others, the attendees discussed their connection to Israel and pro-peace activism in small groups at our tables. The mood was positive but not ebullient, and the informal conversation-style gave the evening a more participatory feel than is usual for issue or policy conferences.

Wandering around in the lobby before the dessert reception, I bumped into a motley assortment of characters: an old friend in rabbinical school, the executive director of Uri L'tzedek (the ethical kashrut org), a college friend covering the conference for an online jewish magazine, fellow jstreeters from NY, a frum activist trying to talk folks on the Berkeley campus out of divestment, and the online director from the labor movement.

Looking at the parade of name tags, I recognized the last name "Tassini" on a middle-aged man walking by, but couldn't place it. A later Google search revealed him to be Jonathan Tassini, the New Yorker who challenged Hilary Clinton in the 2006 Senate primary (she was a first-term incumbent) over her vote for the Iraq war.

The number of people attending is very encouraging. The crowd is a mixture of middle aged and younger people, with a large number of kippot-wearing attendees and beards. There is a noticeable Israeli presence, and lots of journalists, who seem to be dressed more formally than the average conference-goer.

The Liberal Lion is Dead

2009-08-26T14:02:00.005-04:00

Senator Kennedy died yesterday, at the age of 77. I have wonderful memories of Kennedy from my summer on Capitol Hill at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). Kennedy spent a good deal of time at the DSCC, and would make an entrance with gruffness and warmth, complaining about the summer's heat, some reception he had to attend, or the doings of the Republican majority leader. I remember watching his fiery speeches on C-Span and and being energized by his anger at the status quo: Kennedy was not intimidated by the Bush Administration or the Republican control of all three branches of government. It was a dark time to be a democrat, and Kennedy's defiant energy provided historical perspective to the sense of being under attack by Karl Rove and the Neoconservatives. Kennedy's presence was reassuring and gave us a sense of being a part of a struggle that was far from over- he had a presence that was much larger than the people and events around him.

Coming to Phnom Penh: Hasidic Jews

2009-08-11T12:21:00.007-04:00

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports that Chabad (the International Chasidic Movement) is opening a Jewish center in Phnom Penh.

"The international Chasidic movement has announced it will send two rabbis to the Southeast Asian nation to open a Chabad House in Phnom Penh, the capital city.

"The Jewish community in Phnom Penh is much like any other in our part of the world,” Bangkok-based Rabbi Yosef Kantor was quoted as saying by Chabad.org. “It’s an eclectic mix of business travelers, Israeli expatriates and backpackers travelling across Asia after serving their terms in the Israel Defense Force."

This is exciting news for Cambodia. While Jewish expats in Phnom Penh are few and far between, many Jews visit Cambodia (there are roughly 2 million tourist per year, who focus on Angkor Wat), and there is signifigant need for Jewish community. While there has not been a Chabad in the past, there have been yearly high holiday services. In 2008, the high holiday services were led by Rabbi Jill Jacobs, the Rabbi-in Residence at Jewish Funds for Justice

It also makes sense for Cambodians, who despite experiencing their own tragic genocide, have little contact with or knowledge of Jews.

Yom Kippur in Cambodia, Anyone?