October 2001 Archives

The Pumpkin Carving Party was a success, as all the photos attest. Most everyone showed up and there were more than ten carved pumpkins (mine is the right-most in this picture - Jennifer's the one on the left - an yes, she got to carve the bigger one). We were grateful for the DST switch the night before, since it gave us an extra hour of time to get ready. The "public" areas of the house now look presentable, with all the junk and boxes hidden in the remaining rooms. Still, Sunday was exhausting - working on the house all day long and then having visitors from 5pm until almost midnight.

Our Pugsley and Wednesday costumes turned out quite well and we had a good time at last Saturday's Halloween party. I'm slowly getting used to having removed my having facial hair. Jennifer's reaction can be summed up by her two statements: "You look like a pedophile" and "it will grow back pretty fast, won't it?". I think I'll have to go through one more shave, since we'll probably reprise our roles on Wednesday when we plan to go to 6th Street with Doug and Luciana.

Getting ready to leave for the Halloween party. I'm going as Pugsley Addams (Jennifer is Wednesday) and I had a hard time with my costume. It sounds really simple: black shorts, black tube socks, black shoes and a black-and-white striped T-Shirt. I had all except for the last item. I've discovered that it's pretty much impossible to find anything with horizontal stripes for a guy. Sure, go to the women's section and you'll find gazillion things, but not for guys.

I eventually ended up buying a Ralph Lauren polo shirt at Ross. It had navy and white horizontal stripes, so it was as close as anything. So today we've spend over three hours trying to rip out the stupid tiny red logo that's embroidered on the chest. We got most of it out, but it still looks like my left boob has got a splash of blood on it or something. I also cut off the collar, so it kinda looks like a T-shirt.

Also, I've shaved off my facial hair (Homer didn't like that), but I think I'll be only recognized as Pugsley when I'm next to Jennifer, whose Wednesday is much more obvious.

We went for dinner at Zuzu's last night with the usual NI crowd and got home way after dark. We took Homer for a walk, looking forward to watching the taped Buffy and Smallville when we got back. Well, during his roamings, Homer managed to find a fresh pile of creamy dog (we assume) poop that he proceeded to roll in. He occasionally rolls in some dead thing, but you usually can't tell by looking at him. This time you definitely could tell! His right side (the one that's next to you when he's heeling) was covered with glistening smelly brown stuff. We had to take him to the back yard through the gate and hose him down before giving him a bath. He did not enjoy that at all, but I doubt he learned anything from it.

Next weekend is going to be socially busy again. We plan to do the annual pilgrimage to Czhilispiel in Flatonia where we'll hang out with Melissa and Brent at her family's Red Devil Chili tent. Then we hope to make it to Scott and Jennifer's Halloween party - although we have yet to decide what to wear. On Sunday is our (used to be mine :-) annual pumpkin carving party. At this stage it looks like there will be 20 people there, almost half of which will be small children. We should have messy fun at that one. Homer will probably stay outside because the combination of a lot of people, small kids and pumpkin guts would be really asking for trouble.

There is an invasion of black fuzzy 2" caterpillars in the park behind my house. Jennifer has seen them at Pease park, too. They are congregating in groups of five to fifteen but don't seem very active. Luckily, and surprisingly enough, Homer does not seem to consider them food.

We went to Amy and Omid's wedding on Saturday. It was at the Miller-Crockett House just south of the river. Amy wanted the wedding to be a traditional persian Aghd ceremony, since Omid is originaly from Iran. The ceremony was actually performed by Omid's borther who got ordained for the occasion on the internet. The persian wedding is filled with lots of traditions and symbolisms. There's is the usual: gold coins for prosperity, eggs for fertility, sugar for joy and hapiness, etc. But also the unusual but rather neat: a needle with seven threads to (figuratively) sew up the mother-in-law's lips!

The other cool thing about the wedding was that, although it officially started at 6pm, the ceremony wasn't scheduled until 6:30 (the invitation didn't mention it) so there were no late stragglers. Of course, we were actually early for once in our lifes. Also, they had an open bar which did open at 6 so people were a little mellow by the time the wedding started. They had a persian band and a DJ, so there was a lot of traditional (handkerchief are a crucial accessory) as well as pop dancing. The music was neat, I like the middle-eastern scales (I love classical spanish music for the same reason) and Jennifer and I got to do a pretty neat samba.

Jennifer wants to go with a traditional catholic wedding, so we probably won't be able to copy all that much :-)

BTW, I've been to another persian wedding about ten years ago, that of my college friend Shiva Eslami. It was similar except that we first had to go to a baptist ceremony (groom) and beside the aghd there was also a muslim ceremony in arabic. Three very different ceremonies in three very different languages! At the reception there was a wave of her relatives dancing when the persian music came on, and a wave of his relatives dancing when the country-western stuff came on. Quite the mutlicultural experience.

I've added search to my site, courtesy of Atomz.

Omid's second bachelor party was last night (I didn't go to the first one, which was in Amsterdam). We went to Threadgills for dinner and then moved on to The Yellow Rose which claims to be "Austin's Finest Gentelmens Cabaret" (yeah, there is an apostrophe missing there). So, I have now officially had my very first lap-dance, courtesy of Ray. The whole environment there is surreal, but it's kinda fun for a bachelor party with a big group of people. It makes you feel sorry for the people that go there on a regular basis by themselves, though...

When I got home, Jennifer noted that we've been engaged for less than a week and I've already started going to titty bars ;-)

We've been taking the IDEAlog test. The tutorial is pretty neat, too - if you ever wondered what the differences between liberal, conservative and libertarian are, it'll explain it to you.

So far, most people here at work are in the libertarian corner (I'm square in the top-left, although I would have expected to score more libertarian). Let me know your scores!

I'm back from the warm and sunny San Francisco to the cold and sunny Austin (I know, that sounds weird). So what was I doing in SF? Well, let me begin with last Thursday...

After we got home after the Tempest on Thursday and Jennifer headed straight for the bed, I told her that we still had chores to do and that she needed to pack for a trip. A trip? Well, I didn't elaborate on the destination and insisted she take a passport (a misdirection), but pack we did. The next morning we dropped off Homer at Meredith's and I drove us to the airport. We checked in for a flight to San Jose - Jennifer wasn't all that impresses, but a trip is a trip - and made it past the national guardsmen to the airplane for an uneventful flight to California.

On the tarmac in San Jose Jennifer asked just how far San Jose was from San Francisco. Not far, I replied and told her more about our plans. We picked up our rental, and Dollar upgraded us to a Jeep Wrangler for no additional fee. The weather was absolutely stunning, blue sky and hot, so we immediately took down the top and headed out to San Francisco taking route 9 for the scenic trip over the mountains. It probably took us three hours to get to SF, and we drove on HWY 1, saw the Seal Rock, drove through the Presidio and, after figuring out the bizarre numbering scheme on streets off of Market, we arrived and checked in at Hotel Triton, on Bush and Grant, just across from the entrance gate to Chinatown.

For that evening, I had arranged for us to meet with my friend Meg and some other people for dinner. They took us to Suriya for some excellent Thai food. After dinner with Meg, Jody, Martin, Brad, and Andy and wife, we drove back to our hotel to crash.

Next morning, still as glorious as the one before, we walked through Chinatown, took a cable car to Fisherman's Wharf and walked to Pier 39. There we admired the sea lions for a while and checked out some of the stores. On the way back to Fisherman's Wharf we rented some bicycles and headed for the Golden Gate Bridge. Along the way there, we had to struggle up two very steep hills while more expert cyclists were zooming past us effortlessly. We also saw this artist who was balancing rocks on the beach - quite stunning, really.

We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge on our bicycles, stopping at several places along the bridge. In the very middle of the bridge, I asked Jennifer if she would marry my and she said YES! (Here's a a look at us on the very spot). So I continued from the bridge, with my fiancee :-), to Sausalito from which we took a ferry back to San Francisco where we dropped off our bikes.

Back to the hotel and off to our dinner at La Villa Poppi. The tiny place (20 people max) was very nice and the food with matched wine was delicious, but we were too tired to really appreciate all two and a half hours of it. Still, a memorable dinner.

On Sunday we missed getting to church on time, so we drove down Lombard Street and up Telegraph Hill to see the Coit Tower and enjoyed the view from up there. Afterwards we went over to Jody's house to meet up with her, Meg and Nina and Sonia for our trip to Muir Woods.

We drove to Muir Woods in Meg's van. Once there, we took the 1.5 hr loop walk (which took us a bit longer ;-). Muir Woods is a forest of beautiful redwoods and it's not to be missed if you're in the area. One could spend the whole day on trails in and around the park. After Muir Woods, we went back into the city where Meg dropped us off at our car. We then raced up to Twin Peaks where we just managed to catch a great sunset.

After that, it was down to Haight and Ashbury where we finished off the day with a pizza at North Beach Pizza. Then it was back to the hotel.

On our last day we went by Union Square, which is currently a construction site, and by Nordstrom and its circular escalator. We then checked out of the hotel and drove through the Golden Gate Park to HW 1. There we watched surfers for a little while before saying a wistful goodbye to San Francisco and heading back home.

Overall, the weekend was a smashing success. The weather couldn't have been better, the entire time was relaxing and we are now engaged! Take a look at some of the 100+ pictures we took.

Jennifer is taking me out to see The Tempest tonight. I've seen it at Winedale a few years ago, so I'm curious how different it'll be.

Oh, and I'm really looking forward to the weekend...

During our dog walk on sunday, we ran into a lady - Maria - with three dogs at the park. One, Marco, was a sweet old fat black lab, another, Sweetie, was a smaller old black dog and the third one, Stormy, looked like a beagle with long hair. Homer was chasing around with them (except for Marco, who pretty much just laid there) and then suddenly Sweetie toppled over with a yelp. Somehow she hurt her leg and couldn't walk on it.

Being the gallant person that I am, I offered to carry the dog to Maria's house "not too far away from the park". The dog was pretty hefty and I lugged her through the park, hoping every time that I'd make it to the next bench for a rest stop without dropping her in the process. Jennifer was slowly walking behind us with Marco who, due to his arthritis, moved at a glacial pace. By the time we walked all the way to Maria's house (about 10 miles or so) the dog weighed some 300 pounds and my back was screaming in pain. However I never dropped Sweetie, and Marco eventually arrived as well.

So, last night, Jennifer brings back this lithograph, signed with a thank-you note by Maria, from her walk with Homer. I take a look at it and realize that Maria is the artist - Maria Lyle - whose work we've been admiring on the walls of Cafe Java the very same day we helped her with her dog! Several of the paintings from her current exhibit can be found there. Pretty weird, huh?

Well, the project finally build so I guess it's time to go home. I need a break - preferably somewhere far away.

I'm tired and unenthused and stuck at work. I haven't been terribly productive lately. It seems that every few minutes I check the cnn.com or some other news site - although nothing much changes. Besides not being able to focus that well, I'm also not particularly motivated. I don't feel like what I'm currently doing makes much of a difference in the success of my company. Not that the work isn't important and won't be appreciated, but if people in sales won't close any deals, then I might as well be just following the news and play the occasional game with my co-workers (the other reson for not being focussed, I guess).

I'm also bummed about all the crap happening in the world. So now the bombing has begun and hopefully it's cramping Osama's and the Taliban' style, but you know it's going to drag forever, there won't be any closure or sense of resolution. And in the meantime tens of thousands of Afghan refugees are going to starve or freeze to death.

I've been checking out naturalization info at the INS website. Things lately made me realize that this is my home, so I may as well formally participate in how it develops. I figure it's a bout time that I finally voted.

I got an email from my mom in Switzerland in which she writes that "they [the media?] tell us that all Americans are thrilled that you finally attacked Afghanistan". Is this really how "we" come across? I hope not - I know plenty of people who aren't trilled (I'm not), although I don't think I know anyone who really opposes the military response (I don't oppose it, either).

Jennifer took me to see Man of La Mancha at the Paramount. I had never seen the musical (nor have I rea the story, although everyone has heard of Don Q.) and I really enjoyed it. The stage was great and the singing was good, although a bit over-amplified at times. And, as Jennifer said I would, I did recognize the "Impossible Dream" song.

Befor the show started, the orchestra played the national anthem, which at this point struck me as odd. So the question is, when and what is the appropriate or natural venue for singing the anthem? It fell the right thing to do at a vigil for the September 11 victims. It probably would have felt right pretty much at any public occasion, including a theater performance, in the days following the attack as well. But now, a couple of weeks later with flags no longer at half mast, it just felt a little contrived. It's like all those businesses and comercial web sites slapping a little flag on their adds and pages - I feel like I'm being manipulated.

Salon has an interesting article The Taliban's bravest opponents about the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), an underground organization of women who try to undermine the Taliban and publicize its brutality. The pictures and stories are horrific, but what disturbes me the most is the fact that they've been around since the 1977 (originally focused on women's rights) and we, or at least I, have not really paid attention to their plight. There was much more reporting and a much bigger outcry about the Taliban's destroying antient statues than about their treatment of women.

The other thing that's interesting is RAWA's position on both the Taliban and their opposition, the Northern Alliance. They don't see all that much of a difference between them and their attitude towards women and progress. This is something to keep in mind when you hear about who the "good" guys and the "bad" guys are supposed to be. I think the US, or better yet the UN, will have to do some signifficant rebuilding of the country and its government in order to return Afghanistan out of the stone age.

I'm usually quite ambivalent when it comes to our intervention in foreign affairs, especially when I feel that our actions may be either self-serving or due to a provincial, US-centric view of the world. However, sometimes being equivocal is not the warranted response. Intervention, even if its contrary to the (current) government of a sovereign foreign nation, is sometimes the right thing to do. As a matter of fact, inactivity may be the imoral option.

Take a look at Through the Moral Maze by UT's professor Robert Kane. It presents a lucid way of looking at and evaluating ethical dilemas in today's pluralistic society.

Jennifer has been working too hard lately. She did a couple of drawings after class last night and then she got up at five this morning to finish the rest that she needed for work. I hope she'll be able to relax and watch her beloved Buffy tonight. Although, since Molly is coming to clean up tomorrow, we'll probably have to take care of the house, too. The work just never ends - I really could use a butler.

I went to the vet to pick up a three-month supply of Frontline Top Spot for Homer. Thirty nine bucks! A quick search reveleade that I could have gotten a six-month supply for the same amount at www.no-fleas.com. I hope I'll remember that when we need to buy some more in December.

The weekend's weather was great but I didn't get to enjoy all of it due to my alergies (yeah, I need to see a doctor and get a Rx for Claritin or something). On Saturday we went to Waco to watch Meredith and Dale finish their Waco Wild West Century Ride. They were training for the 50mile route but decided to continue on the 62 mile route since the terrain was flat and the day gorgeous. So we waited for them for quite some time, although the park where the finish was is really pretty, so we didn't mind.

Once we got back to Austin, I helped Jennifer almost the last stuff. Spending the day outdoors and then vacuuming the house pretty much did me in and my contacts felt like they were made out of sand paper (I'm wearing my glasses today). Speaking of vacuuming. Jennifer's room wasn't too bad, all things considered, but Shannan's room was a nightmare. I don't know how rarely - or whether at all - she vacuumed, but even if she did, all her furniture would have prevented her from reaching all the corners. So her carpet was full of some really nasty stuff. Against the walls, there was one inch layer of dust, feathers (?!?) and dog hair. I found some change (only penies and nickels) and a few mismatched earrings and several dessicated roaches and just random nasty stuff. The whole cleanup reminded me how much I should be appreciating my maid service.

On Sunday, Jennifer finished up with her house so she's out for good. That part of the move is finished, but my living room is now full of boxes that still need to be unpacked or put away. And the guest room looks pretty full already, so I don't know whare that stuff's all going to go. Maybe I'll lay a few more boards into my attic and then just move some of those boxes there.

Today at work was pretty normal. I guess after a couple of rounds, one gets used to layoffs. George and Casey came by to do some paperwork, so it was nice seeing them and getting to talk. They seemed pretty relaxed and optimistic, so that's good.