dsz123.net

2010-02-15T22:45:00.000-08:00

I invented a new drink tonight, dubbed by friends The Ginger Hickey:

In a tumbler full of ice, mix one part bourbon (my fave of late is Buffalo Trace, thanks Drew and Whit) with one part ginger-anise syrup (don't be shy with the ginger), and add a splash of seltzer. Garnish with a twist of orange & enjoy. The ginger-anise syrup does go quite well with clementines, too (as the recipe suggests), and now you have something to do with the leftovers.

2010-02-08T07:16:00.000-08:00

Though I don't always appreciate the short-notice travel (yes, back in Taiwan again, this time with 5 days heads-up), I do a pretty good job taking advantage of wherever it is I end up. Take, for example, this weekend.

(It should be noted that in Taipei, it really helps that I have a good friend from college, Abe, who never fails to show me a great time or introduce me to awesome people. Everyone should be so lucky.)

After a long work week, I was happy to sleep in Saturday and then catch up with folks back home. Mornings here are afternoons in Seattle and evenings in Boston, prime time for Skyping and such.
I headed out around 11 AM on the MRT (super-convenient subway, about a 10 minute walk from the hotel) to the National Palace Museum.
It's a very impressive collection of artifacts, art and writing from Taiwanese history, some dating as far back as the bronze age. Like any good museum, you could dive deep into any particular section and spend hours and hours there, but it's not so big that you can't get through most of it in a couple hours.

I hopped the subway back towards the city, hoping to check out what I'd read was the fabric/fashion district (Yong-le Market). I was told after the fact, there's not that much of that kind of thing left in Taipei, and whatever remains was totally overshadowed by Dihua New Year's Market.
Chinese New Year is just a few days away, and I guess this street market appears every year before the holiday so people can shop for goodies and gifts. The place was wall-to-wall people like I'd never seen before, but all surprisingly good natured and not too pushy. All the vendors are hawking their wares, but again, not too obnoxiously. To give you a sense of the craziness:

I ended up buying some candy and a few odds and ends from very friendly folks, and had some very nice conversations in broken Chinese. Oh, and the scallion pancake with egg totally hit the spot.
I was happy to head back to the hotel for a spell after the madhouse of the market, and after a little rest I hopped in a cab to Abe's place, about 10 minutes from the hotel. We hung out for a bit, had a drink, and made some plans to meet up with a couple of his friends for Korean food.
I've gotten a lot of mileage from the food blog Hungry in Taipei, and Saturday was no exception. Min Dong was a great spot with excellent food, and they were able to accomodate 7 of us on a Saturday night no problem (reservations, even at little restaurants where you would never have to call ahead in the States, are a must in Taipei).
It's a trip hanging out with Abe, who's really thrived in a lot of ways in Taipei (he learned the language in college, and moved here just afterward). His social circle is huge, and I've never gone with him to a place where someone didn't recognize him.
But Abe wasn't the only one recognized on Saturday, as we had a bona fide celebrity in our party. Not only were people coming up to her all night (seriously - there were muliple babies that were forced into her arms for photographs), but the owner of the restaurant eventually noticed and joined us for a while after we'd eaten. Along with his visit came a whole lot of beer, and then more food started arriving (could we possibly have looked hungry?).

After second dinner and uncountable beers (uncountable largely because the bottles are big but the glasses are tiny), we finally rolled out with tons of leftovers and quite a good buzz going.
A few of us went back to Abe's and watched an Aziz Ansari Comedy Central special. Highly recommended; he is a very funny dude. I guess I got back to my hotel around 1:30 AM.
The next morning turned out to be pretty gray and rainy, which made short work of Abe & my plans for a nice bike ride in the mountains. After a brief telephone conference at 9 AM, we both went back to sleep for a while, and eventually met up for a coffee and a hike up Elephant Mountain.

As you can see from the photo/map, it's really right in the city, but feels pretty far removed (much more so than say, Central Park). It felt good to get some exercise, see some wildlife and a bit of a different landscape for a while, and get some quality hangout time with Abe, too.
It took the hour long walk up the mountain for us not to feel full from dinner the night before, so naturally we splurged on lunch at the Marco Polo Restaurant (38th floor) at the Far Eastern Hotel

Two and a half hours and four or five courses later, we were again almost uncomfortably full, but it was totally worth it.
Abe had borrowed his roommate's scooter, and so I asked him to drop me off at the Flower and Jade Markets, where I wandered for the better part of an hour. At the Jade Market, I either have impeccable taste or the vendors are trying to shaft me - whenever I see something I like (something that is actually attractive and well-made), it's hundreds or sometimes a thousand dollars (US). Even factoring in bargaining, it's way more than I want to spend, and the stuff that's affordable doesn't look worth it, even for cheap.
Empty-handed but satisfied, I walked (again happy for the exercise) the 4 km back to the hotel, sent some emails, and watched Premier League football 'til I fell asleep.

(More photos here.)

2010-02-05T06:05:00.000-08:00

It's been quite the week of computer- and domain related changes.

For starters, I switched dsz123.net's email over to use Google Apps. Email sent to my dsz123.net address is now handled by Google's server, and actually forwarded to my Gmail account. This seems to be the most flexible setup; I can read my mail from anywhere and send replies from any account I want, but everything is still linked to my calendar and my Google reader feed. Though the solution feels rather Google-intensive, I do have fallback solutions should I want to extricate myself from the not-so-evil-empire, and it's much more convenient in the meantime than anything else.

As it happens, my email move also coincided with a transition in web-hosting. Former host Cedant was bought out by Aplus, and they finally switched me over to the new servers this past weekend. Unfortunately, a whole bunch of emails seem to have been misplaced during the transfer. They're looking for them, but I'm not super-optimistic, and it doesn't leave me with a particularly good feeling about my new hosting company.

Lastly, Blogger just announced that they're discontinuing FTP publishing for blogs. Apparently, I'm in the minority (0.5% of their active blogs) that actually use this feature, and I'll have to figure out a new solution to publishing here. Finally time to switch over to WordPress? Probably so...

2010-01-27T18:10:00.005-08:00

Amidst many things, including yet another short-notice trip to Asia, I am going to try making some changes in the next few days to how email & DNS are handled for dsz123.net.

I have a Gmail account that I like because of many of the features it provides (better web interface, large amount of storage online, etc.), but I like having a unique domain name in my email address, and I would prefer having just one email address and just one place to check it. I think there's a solution in there involving MX records, Google Apps (formerly Google Apps for Domains), and some judicious forwarding (thanks, Drew for the tips). I'll post my solution if it actually works.

So if you notice something isn't working quite right, feel free to drop me a line, or just hang on for a day or two and try again.

2010-01-13T08:10:00.001-08:00

I am in Taipei, and thinking hard about why, exactly, I'm here.

It's 2010. I can pick up a phone and talk to someone on the other side of the world with crystal clear sound. I can do it for zero or almost zero cost. I can share my computer screen with them, or use a webcam (hell, even one I designed) so we can see each other while we talk.

I'm trying to convince myself that in spite of technological options and conveniences, sometimes the best way to communicate really is face-to-face. Today went a long way towards proving that true. I don't actually think we could have accomplished in a week remotely what we did in just one day here, and we have four more days of just as intense work. Though it's somewhat overwhelming in nature, the prospect of trying to accomplish this work from 6,000 miles and 8 timezones away is even more daunting.

I am in Taipei, but for the first 12 hours of my visit, I heard almost no Chinese being spoken. We were met at the airport and taken by car service into the city. I woke up in a room in a hotel that could have been anywhere in the world. I went to breakfast with my coworkers at the cafe in the lobby where we were greeted in English, were served perfectly reasonable coffee, and could have had waffles, scrambled eggs, bacon, croissants, or smoked salmon. We got picked up by another driver and whisked off to our supplier's office, where we were again greeted in English and served coffee. We got on wifi, logged in to our email, and looked at presentations and spreadsheets all morning long.

I opted not to join my coworkers at the restaurant in the hotel for dinner. Instead I checked out dinner spots on the Internet and walked the 20 minutes to a surprisingly good pizza joint. Along the way, I found, among other things, this awesome coffee paraphenalia store (I don't think they even sold coffee, just equipment), got some exercise, and feel much better about the whole trip.

I'm in Taipei, but I'm totally going to make the best of it.

2010-01-03T17:45:00.007-08:00

After a week-long trip to the East Coast, I'm happily (if only briefly) home in Seattle.

From Boston, where I spent some time with family & friends, I flew down to Maryland for a second shot at New Year's with Drew and friends. Last year, I spent my 3 days in Lexington Park shuffling between the bathroom and bed, sick as a dog; hardly a lively time. This year, it was a great celebration filled with food and words, along with fantastic people.

On the food front, we did a ton of cooking. For New Year's Eve, we made venison carpaccio, bacon-wrapped dates, artichoke dip, poached pears over blue cheese on toast, garlic shrimp, stuffed mushrooms, oysters, homemade deep-fried paneer with curry and chutneys, beer-braised venison ribs, and homegrown-lemon mousse napoleons for dessert. And there was more on other days: homemade pizza, cheesy eggs, and more bacon than you can shake a stick at. Phew!

The astute among you might notice that the lemon mousse is actually a repeat from New Years 2007/2008, including the homegrown fruit from Maine, courtesy of Sarah. A little investigating revealed that her mom's lemon trees are actually Persian limes. The ones we used were definitely yellow, but, as this page explains, limes get yellow when fully ripe. In spite of the duplicitous fruit, everyone enjoyed dessert.

In the word games category, we filled not one but two spots on my all-time top hardest/most-complicated/most-awesome word game list.

First, we played a giant game of anagrams (similar to Banagrams) with a huge container of remainder Scrabble tiles off eBay, and imposed the extra rule that the crossword-like entity you built up needed to have crossword symmetry. I think that's pretty much all a few of us did the day before New Year's.

The second feat we accomplished was completing a crossword puzzle via charades. Each clue was painstakingly acted out (those guessing had to get the whole clue right, word for word) and eventually the grid filled out. This one took about 6 or 8 hours, all told, but spread over a whole day and night. I think we finished around 3:30 AM, when a few of us turned in. The rest apparently stayed up playing secret games (?) 'til all hours.

All in all, a very enjoyable time.

2009-12-15T22:58:00.001-08:00

Drew is leaving Seattle in a week.

Really?

Really.

He has been my best friend here for the past few years. He's been a confidant, a social connector, and a partner in shennanigans, experiments of all sorts, appreciating good food and drink, ultimate frisbee, trips and expeditions, and conversation, among many other things. And though I know he'll continue to be a close, close friend for a long time to come, I'm still sad about his departure.

At the same time, I am also really excited for him and his upcoming adventure. I look forward to stories and pictures of new places and people, continuing conversations about life and how funny it really is, and I'm eager to visit, wherever he might be, sometime in 2010.

I will miss you, Drew. Best of luck, and lots of love, friend.

2009-11-30T21:59:00.002-08:00

Lately I've been taking a fair number of pictures with my iPhone camera, and have been looking for a better way to share them. The photo of the arboretum in full fall foliage stood on its own, but most seem to go better as part of a set. Here's giving the Flash/embedded Picasa Web slideshow player a shot with some pics from Thanksgiving last week:

[ If that doesn't work for you, you can see the gallery of images here. ]

2009-11-22T05:04:00.003-08:00

I find myself once again away from home, this time back in Taiwan after almost exactly a year of work travel exclusively to China. For a number of reasons, I've enjoyed the Taipei visits a great deal more than the Dongguan/Shenzhen trips, and this one is no exception.

It happened that our supplier was having their annual company dinner while I was here, and they were kind enough to invite me along to an evening on the 85th floor of Taipei 101. Sadly, it was mostly a cloudy view, but an enjoyable evening all the same. The highlight for me was a conversation (entirely in Chinese, mind you) with one of the cutest four year-olds I'd met in a while. Granted, his Chinese was quite a bit better than mine, but we most definitely understood each other.

And then today, on the advice of my college buddy (who I've really enjoyed catching up with) who lives here, I took a day trip out to Wu Lai, a small town about an hour outside of Taipei. Easily accessible by subway and a 30 minute bus ride, it's largely a destination because of the natural hot springs adjacent to the river that runs through the town.

The town is perched magnificently in the mountains, and offers some great scenery (and good hiking, too, I'm told). Even though Wu Lai is fairly touristy, everyone I interacted with was genuinely friendly, and again my broken Chinese helped immensely. I guess there are some resorts there with more private tubs, but the public hot springs were clean, well-kept, outdoors (lovely even in the light rain today) and surprisingly, free. Definitely check it out if you have the chance.

Even with some good Taiwan experiences under my belt, I'm looking forward to the return trip home on Tuesday, with no travel plans until just after Christmas when it's back to the East Coast.

Originally, Tuesday was supposed to be a return not only to Seattle, but to turkeys (which reminds me, I still haven't finished my turkey thoughts from last year), but 2009 has been a rough year for the birds. After a rogue neighborhood cat snuck in to the basement and wreaked havoc on our young poults, we had five survivors going strong in Margot's backyard until the raccoons moved in. And then last week, all of a sudden, there was one bird left, and alternate (turkey) plans were made for Thanksgiving. But I'm planning our 'coon-proof coop for next year already.

2009-11-15T20:12:00.002-08:00

How's the saying go? International travel heals all wounds? No, that's not it, but I'm going to Taiwan tomorrow just the same.

Though I'm not exactly thrilled with the timing of the trip, I am looking forward to catching up with an old friend, seeing more of Taipei (last year's trip was all of three days long), and practicing my Mandarin. After seven months of on-and-off (though mostly on) Chinese lessons, I'm starting to feel like I actually have a handle on the language, and I'm excited to put it to good use.

2009-11-13T10:49:00.004-08:00

Almost every day, I travel about 12 miles each way to and from work. Neither do I particularly treasure time spent in transit, nor do I get excited about the environmental impact of my commute. But both are mitigated by making the trip with others (go vanpool!), and we're lucky enough that the trip takes us through the Washington Park Arboretum. This was the scene one morning this week as we crossed Lake Washington heading for Redmond:

Not too shabby!

2009-10-14T19:07:00.003-07:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about a lot of things (how's that for vague), and while they aren't really what I like to talk about in this forum, I will say that it feels like I'm on the cusp of seeing (positive) changes in my behavior based on that thinking. Being more intentional about (all sorts of) things. Being more connected to how I'm feeling in a moment, not just (usually long) afterward. Seeing more clearly patterns in my own behavior, as well as that of others.

For some reason, all this has made the William Carlos Williams poem pop into my head:

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

This isn't a complete thought, I recognize, but it's something, and when I look back in a year or two or five, I hope I'll remember how I'm feeling.

2009-09-16T09:47:00.003-07:00

I've got a longer piece of writing brewing in the editor and in my mind, but for the time being, you can check out some photos of my recent travels.

First up, a trip to the Bay Area for Laura & Alex's wedding. Photos here.

Second, a longer trip to the East Coast for Abby & Jason's wedding in Newburyport/Plum Island, a brief stopover in Connecticut, and a few days in New York. Photos here.

2009-09-13T13:26:00.002-07:00

After a week on the East Coast, I'm back home in Seattle. It was a very up-and-down trip, during which I celebrated a friend's wedding, and also my grandparents' lives, saw lots of friends and family, and spent a whole lot of time in transit from one place to another. In my planning, I somehow had the foresight to fly back on Saturday evening, leaving myself a day to reacclimate to West Coast time, attitude and environs, and I'm thankful I did.

I spent the morning drinking awesome coffee (which, except for my brief stay with relocated Seattle friends in New York and a chance good americano in Boston, was sorely lacking all week) and wandering the Broadway Farmers Market with Drew.

[ Farmers market haul: an heirloom tomato, an onion, an eggplant, squash, spicy salad greens, pears, carrots, a jalapeno, short ribs, and lemon cucumbers. Not pictured: a tasty apricot pastry that disappeared quite quickly. ]

I love that I can wander a few blocks from my house to a farmers market where 35 different local producers will sell me a week's worth of fruits and vegetables (along with meat, cheese, flowers, ice cream, bread, etc.), all happy/local/organic, of course, for a totally reasonable sum of money. I love that in the course of shopping, I'll run into 5 or 10 people I know from the neighborhood, and I'll probably meet a few more. I love that I usually get to make meals from these shopping trips with good friends who also live in the neighborhood, like I did tonight (the tomato and cucumbers were great with a little olive oil, salt and pepper). I love that the farmers market will go until December 20th this year.

That's only a snippet of things I like about my life in Seattle right now, but as always, being on the East Coast does make me remember how much I miss it. Most of my family is there, and I left behind a lot of friends in Boston when I moved four years ago, not to mention all the ice cream (which I partook of liberally during my two days in Boston last week). I miss being close to my grandparents' place in Connecticut, where time seems to slow down.

I'm still not sure exactly what I was looking for when I left in 2005, or if I've found it. I'm not feeling 100% settled right now, but I do know I'm in a good place surrounded by good people, and one way or another, I'll figure it out.

2009-08-18T19:11:00.002-07:00

A short list of things I'm happy about, in no particular order:

friends in Seattle
friends visiting from San Francisco and New York
friends getting married to people they should be getting married to
friends, in general
fresh, local food -- salmon, homegrown vegetables, happy lamb, blackberries from the side of the road
playing ultimate, and still being pretty good at it in spite of not playing all summer
surprisingly, a fair number of things at work
upcoming visits with friends and family on the East Coast
ice cream, in all its forms
learning Chinese

That's all for now. More later, I think.

2009-07-15T00:15:00.001-07:00

Although I used to go quite often (at times, several nights a week), I don't swing dance much these days. After 5 years in the Boston scene as a dancer and sometimes organizer, DJ, and competitor, I burned out. In retrospect, I should have stopped going as often when I wasn't having as good a time, but it was a deeply-ingrained habit and pretty much my whole social scene, and eventually, I stopped enjoying it very much at all. I still go out occasionally (like tonight), but it's pretty infrequent, and often not that satisfying (like tonight).

I think what's become most important to me in partner dancing (blues, lindy hop, salsa, tango, whatever) is authenticity. Without getting into a ridiculous philosophical discussion about what is "authentic" and "Quality" with a capital 'Q' a la Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I'll just say it matters to me whether someone is having fun dancing. Or whether they are listening to the music and expressing something about it. To be clear, when I say "authentic," I don't mean being true to the dance steps originally done to a particular kind of music; it's more about intent and motivation.

It's easy, but unappealing to me, to go through the motions when dancing without backing them up with feeling. Sure, you can wiggle your hips sexily or do an 8-count sequence of steps, but is that how the song makes you feel? And is that what you want to share with your dance partner? Odd that it's the same thing every song for so many people, regardless of the rhythm, melody, lyrics, theme, your current state of mind, etc.

Lately the best dances I've had have been with two extremes: the most skilled dancers and the least skilled dancers. The most skilled because they've learned how to express what they're feeling, during the song, mostly within the agreed upon structure of the dance. They can use not only visual means but physical ones as well to have a interactive dialogue about the music (and more) as you dance. A great dance with a great dancer is like a great conversation: you each contribute, and walk away with more than you had to start with. You gain a new perspective on things, be it the song, your partner, or dance in general.

The least skilled dancers (at least some of them), on the other hand, aren't inhibited by "not knowing how to dance," and they just do it. It's pure, and there are no hidden motives. It's usually not quite as satisfying as a great dance with a really good dancer, but in the past few years, I've had some really enjoyable dances with folks who are just starting out.

As much as I judge, I don't begrudge people these things. I mostly don't go out dancing, and when I do, I try to make the best of it. I tend not to dance to as many songs when I do go out these days, I'm pickier about who I dance with, and I certainly don't expect people to stop dancing themselves just because I don't think it's authentic. But what I'm looking for when I do go out dancing seems so elusive nowadays. Why go out at all if I know most of the dances I'll have won't be satisfying or good (to me)?

Interestingly, this actually relates some to my feelings about frisbee, if tangentially. I haven't been playing much ultimate at all this year, by choice, in an effort not to get burned out on it. Captaining the team last year was a lot of work, and by the end of the season started to feel like a chore. That's no way to feel about a hobby that's supposed to be fun! So I've ratcheted it down a bunch this year, and am only playing when I feel like it. So far, so good!

2009-06-22T10:39:00.001-07:00

My grandmother Lili died last Friday morning in New York; she was 94 years old (almost 95).

Lili, two days after her 90th birthday, in her apartment in New York. (2004)

One of the things I've been remembering over the past few days is how she connected with my friends that she met. She recalled people she'd only met once or twice for years, and would ask about them when we chatted on the phone. At a party after my college graduation, I remember four or five of my friends around her, listening with rapt attention to stories of her life for the better part of an hour.

She had a long, full life, survived much of WWII in hiding in Europe, emigrated to the United States, raised a daughter, ran a business and managed a building in New York City into her eighties, not only survived a major accident that doctors said would leave her unable to walk but scoffed at the idea of using a cane afterward, and connected with many people, even if she didn't have a lot of friends.

She also was ready to be done. For the past few years, she'd said that there wasn't anything she really wanted to do. It's hard to argue that point with a 90 year-old who's lived in Manhattan for twice as long as you've been alive. Over the past year or so, she said things were getting harder, even day-to-day things. Thankfully, her passing was quick and hopefully easy and painless. It's a sad thing for sure, but not tragic.

She'll be missed.

[ I've written about her a couple of times before, notably here and here. ]

2009-06-14T15:55:00.003-07:00

Needing something to take to a dinner party, and inspired by some beautiful, if just-peaked, heirloom tomatoes at the Capitol Hill Farmer's Market, I decided to make some saffron-tomato ice cream. My mom had given me some saffron a while back, and she likes to make a pasta sauce with fresh tomatoes, saffron, and cream (just microwave it for a couple minutes to soften everything up and steep the saffron in the cream & tomatoes). The saffron/tomato flavor combination is a real winner, and I'd been wondering why more people didn't make tomato ice cream.

My recipe follows:

Saffron-Tomato Ice Cream
Makes about one quart.

~2 lbs very ripe tomatoes (I used two very large heirloom tomatoes that were in the "seconds" pile at the Farmer's Market for $3/lb)

A little less than ½ cup sugar

1 generous pinch saffron threads (maybe about a half a teaspoon?)

1 generous pinch salt

1 pint half & half

½ pint heavy whipping cream

3 egg yolks

Chop the tomatoes into large chunks. In a heavy saucepan over reasonably high heat, combine the tomatoes and sugar. They'll release their liquid and start to break down. Simmer over medium heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until there's about half as much liquid as when you started (should be about a pint, give or take). Remove from heat.
Add the half & half, saffron, and salt, and stir to mix. Let the mixture steep for 10 minutes or so.
Reheat the mixture. Temper the egg yolks (add some of the liquid, a little at a time, to prevent them from cooking immediately), then add that back to the saucepan and cook over low-medium heat until it coats the back of a spoon (and leaves a distinct trail when you drag your finger across the back of the spoon).
Remove from heat, and strain the mixture into a bowl with the heavy cream (preferably over an ice bath). Allow it to cool, then mix in your ice cream maker according to the instructions.
The ice cream-making part of the process goes much quicker when the mixture is cool. Leave enough time for it to cool down after making it, or make it the day before and leave it in the fridge overnight.

I just snuck a little taste from the freezer, and couldn't be happier with the results. I'm thinking about making some parmesan crisps to go with it. Do you think I could add a little sugar to them to make it more of a desserty cookie?

2009-05-22T11:35:00.002-07:00

I'm back yet again from another business trip to China (sadly, not in business class). Even though I'm just two months in to my Chinese lessons, I found that little bit of knowledge of the language made a huge difference. I was able to understand quite a few words in conversations, and just being able to say "I have four people in my family: my dad, mom and a younger brother named Matt" showed I was making an effort. In many ways, communication with folks there went better than ever.

In other ways, communication went horribly, horribly awry. To say they weren't prepared for our visit (even though it'd been on the calendar for months) would be an understatement. Lots of things went wrong that really shouldn't have, and it was quite a frustrating trip. But, I'm led to believe by my colleagues, this is pretty much par for the course. So I learned a lot about getting things made in China.

And I got some things made when I got back, too. Over this Memorial Day weekend, I built a new home for our turkeys. Check it out here. Still some work to be done to house them outside (they're living in the basement, now free of predatory cat, who sadly claimed a few turkey lives before revealing itself), but lots of progress made this weekend.

And yesterday, a few friends and I headed out I-90 to hike along the Yakima Skyline Trail. We did about 7 or 8 miles along a beautiful high-desert ridge, surrounded by wildflowers, horned lizards, and gorgeous views. I took some pictures, but my camera sensor (or lens?) was pretty dirty, so I'm not sure how well they'll come out.

Months ago, I was invited to what promised to be a lovely wedding this Memorial Day weekend, but I was feeling traveled out even then, with quite a few international trips to go, so I declined. Sad as I was to watch the tweets go by from the ceremony and ensuing party, I think I made the right decision to stay in town, recover from China (mentally and physically), and enjoy Seattle at its finest. All the same, congrats Whit & Claire!

2009-04-25T16:35:00.002-07:00

I opted to buy a replacement LCD and digitizer for my iPhone. Though the disassembly was a little tricky, it went just fine (this video was pretty helpful), and the phone is working again like a champ.

Also working like a champ is my new computer - it's not particularly revolutionary in design compared to my old one, but the screen is a fair bit bigger (15" vs. 12") and it's a ton faster.

New lappy made short work of posting Italy pics - check 'em out here. I will go back and edit out the dust spots (note to self: clean camera sensor before vacation), but otherwise, the photos are all up.

2009-04-18T17:13:00.004-07:00

I'm actually pretty happy getting back to "normal" life after Drew and my Italian vacation. As previously mentioned, I've been traveling up a storm, and the prospect of not having to go anywhere on a plane for months is quite exciting.

The trip was pretty great, though. We spent a few days in Venice before heading to Rimini for Paganello, then relaxed in Cinque Terre for another few days before making our way home. Our timing couldn't have been much better, as we missed the Easter rush in Venice and the weekend crowds in Cinque Terre, while still getting a great feel for both. And Paganello - 1600 frisbee players taking over an Italian beach resort town for a long weekend - was pretty amazing, too.

Select Italy cheers (among many):

the Duomo in Milan
gelato
cappucino
perfectly cooked pasta and fish
Rick Steves' Italy 2009
beautiful Cinque Terre vistas during a clearing rainstorm

And the jeers (thankfully, not too many):

water damage to my phone during said rainstorm
the "Inter-city" trains in Italy, which apparently require a special kind of ticket that costs €15 more than usual, but they don't tell you this at the station, and then charge you that plus an €8 penalty on the train
the Holiday Inn Express Malpensa, which, in spite of being at Malpensa, is a giant pain in the ass to get to and not worth the money. €20 for a 1km cab ride? Absurd!
the 7th floor food court at the Rinascente Department Store in Milan - way overrated and overpriced

No pictures yet, but check back soon. In the meantime, you can check out this sweet video I took of a dachshund, digging in the sand on the sidelines one day at Paganello.

I'm not quite sure yet how best to deal with my crippled phone (buy a new phone? or just a new screen?), but in the meantime, I've ordered a new computer. It's been a bit over 4 years, and though my little 12" Powerbook has treated me quite well, it's time to retire it (perhaps it'll become an interface to the robot arm). One of the big bonuses to upgrading is that I can now use Picasa for the Mac!

2009-04-04T22:32:00.002-07:00

I just finished sewing stripes on two togas - costumes for the "Ancient Rome"-themed party at Paganello. In about 14 hours, I'll be on a plane headed for Italy, where I'll spend the next two weeks. The itinerary is: Venice, Bologna, Rimini (for Paga), and finally a few days recuperating from the tournament in Cinque Terre. I've been pretty busy at work the past few weeks, so it was really only Friday afternoon that I realized how soon I was leaving, and started to get excited. Now, I can't wait!

And to recap a bit of what's been going on lately: this year's Pi(e) Party was a great time, and certainly the largest yet. Knowing it was growing, I rented a great loft space on Capitol Hill, which worked out perfectly. It held everyone just fine, and there were no neighbors to bother when we were dancing up a storm 'til 2 AM. Some (only mildly debaucherous) photos are up here (thanks Rif and Anna for the inspiration for the photo booth).

My most recent China trip was fun (highlight: visiting the Shenzhen Electronics Market), but felt more like work than the previous ones had. Not such a bad thing since it is, after all, work. I did tack on a quick weekend visit with Becky in Hawaii, which was good fun (and a nice way to break up the long flight home). There are a few photos (mostly from a long layover in Tokyo) here.

After all the China trips, and now Italy, you'd think I'd be getting tired of traveling... and you'd be right. I'm pretty excited that I have no plans to be on an airplane again for several months once I get back from Europe. And, since I'm (mostly) opting out of competitive ultimate this summer, I'm really looking forward to exploring more around the Northwest - hiking, camping, biking, etc - as well as taking advantage of a great time of year in Seattle and staying home for a change. Happy spring, looking towards summer!

2009-03-09T19:52:00.004-07:00

Ni hao! In less than a week, I'm off to China for work for the fourth time in a year. Though I suspect the economic downturn will curb my future travel some, I still expect another couple trips in the coming year. So that I might navigate a little better when I'm over there, I've been taking some classes in Mandarin Chinese. Only five lessons in, I'm really only set if someone happens to ask my name or the date, but hopefully the class has laid the groundwork so I can learn a bunch while I'm there.

I've been emailing some with my friend who raised our Thanksgiving turkey last year. I guess it's time to order poults for this year, which means it's high time I finish writing up last year's experience.

[ Hopefully, posting the link will motivate me to finish the story. In the meantime, expect some missing images and an incomplete story. ]

2009-02-27T22:02:00.003-08:00

Accidentally liveblogged dinner tonight on Twitter, might as well deadblog it, too:

dsz123: Looking like I'll spend the evening shuffling between the bar at the hotel and the bar at clarklewis (http://www.clarklewispdx.com/). Rough. Today, February 27, 2009, 4 hours ago
dsz123: Appetizer: sunnyside egg with creamy polenta and Oregon white truffles Today, February 27, 2009, 2 hours ago
dsz123: In between courses: Martin Miller's gin, with a twist Today, February 27, 2009, 2 hours ago
dsz123: Main course: tagliatelle with Cattail Creek lamb ragu and pecorino toscano Today, February 27, 2009, 57 minutes ago
dsz123: In between courses: Aviation gin, St. Germain, lime zest Today, February 27, 2009, 42 minutes ago
dsz123: Dessert: lime sherbet with candied mint and vanilla tuile Today, February 27, 2009, 20 minutes ago
dsz123: Done accidentally liveblogging/twittering dinner at clarklewis. It was fantastic. Today, February 27, 2009, 14 minutes ago.

2009-02-25T11:07:00.004-08:00

Demine went well, and we raised over $3,000 for the Landmine Relief Fund, a little short of our goal, but a respectable sum all the same. And, as promised, here's a little writeup about making landmine shaped chocolates for the event.

Lest you think my radio/blog silence implies a lack of activity, know that I've been hard at work on the aforementioned event, making some progress on the robot arm, planning my next trip to China (returning via Honolulu - it's a rough life) in March, also planning a trip to Italy for Paganello (no, really, it's a rough life) in April, playing ultimate, cooking up a storm, and eating well.

I'm always excited around this time of year, not so much because of my birthday itself (although that doesn't hurt), but because Matt comes to visit. I think this'll be the 8th or 9th year in a row that we've been in the same place (there were a couple years when we both lived in Boston and he didn't have to travel), and it's a tradition I really enjoy. Thanks for coming out, Matt!

Incidentally, this year's will be the 10th annual Pi(e) Party -- hard to believe, but true. I started having the parties as a way to have a birthday celebration that wasn't too "me" focused. If friends were going feel obligated to bring anything, I wanted it to be something that everyone could enjoy. Pie seemed appropriate enough, given that my birthday is of course pi day, and a tradition was born. Over the years, we've had quite the range of pies, from frozen to homemade, apple to strawberry rhubarb to guinness pot pie, and pretty much everything in between. I'm looking forward to what this year has to offer!