weekend at whistler

had a great long weekend up at whistler. took the family up and the dog. still sore days later. lots of mountain biking fun. perfect weather. since we go up there a few times a year, it's a stress free trip. whistler's too gentrified for my taste, and the outdoor 'mall-like' atmosphere made me nervous in my youth. but w/ kids, and the best downhill riding around, i've evolved. i once bought microsoft stock just so the word would stop annoying me so much. something reassuring about just giving in to the world and accepting its evolution, good or bad. youth, with all its energy and time, has the luxury of idealism. age, with its responsibility, forces us to choose our battles. it's a reality i never thought my progressive youth self would accept - that in age conservatism reigns. perhaps it's not conservatism directly, but a focus on the inner world first.

sunny sunday

yet another perfect day. global warming is treating us well in the normally soggy northwest. in a few more years we'll have completed the swap w/ LA for its weather pattern. spent a few hours in the morning riding bikes w/ my son jas. he's 3 and a half, but getting pretty good on his bike. most importantly, he wants to ride. we were racing around the local school's playground. i think dad's of this generation are so lucky. previous generations across cultures and throughout millenia, fathers were stuck adhering to a serious image -- one who'd long since left the childhood freedoms of meandering and tinkering and fantasy. modern american fathers can jump and play and be goofy; we can experience childhood through our kids eyes anew. i showed jas how to jump off stairs and ride on concrete walls. he was thrilled that papa could pull of such daring feats and vowed when he is "big and tall" he'll be flying far. one of the greatest things of fatherhood is having such an uncoditionally wide eyed audience. i'm hardly the hero of anyone else's day.

another day. its evening. just watered the new grass and plopped the child in front of elmo. i find elmo rather annoying, but these days, its all about cutting a deal with my son to get him to go to bed, wake up, whatever. i spend all day at work herding techy cats, then i get home and its just 1 really wily one. today was a stunning day. nice and sunny. went for a lovely walk at lunch down along the harbor and across into town.

went out for a beer last night w/ a friend. had a heated discussion about religion. drank some lovely black and tans. at the people's pub, funny to see a guy walking by w/ a red shirt saying CCCP on the front, and a hammer / sickle on the back. i blinked to verify that this wasn't a dream, and it wasn't 1988. reds are so rare these days. a chinese friend of mine was telling me about his childhood. his family was black listed by the commy party because his grandfather was part owner in a business prior to the mao revolution. this meant both his parents were banned from getting 'food credits' which were apparently the only way to get food. growing up, each member of his family had a 1/4 lb allotment of meat per month. they had to ration even further to cover his grandparents. the black list followed his parents and down to him. apparently after 2 generations the descendents were freed. was interesting to hear how crazy things actually were. growing your own food was forbidden, and resulted in a prison sentence. despite the ridiculousness, i was surprised to learn that a black market did not arise.

staring out the window

yet another day in corporate-land. spent a good portion of the day staring out my window at a group of guys scuba diving. its a little marina in the middle of the city. they rent out yachts. been wondering what the heck they're scuba diving for. read a little more about the 1984 mass killings in delhi. certain things about india truly dumbfound me. how on earth could 3000+ people be murdered without somone being held accountable? as much as i love india, this really makes me nauseous. here's more than enough news on the subject.

also, why on earth is it 'a start' when some guy who supposedly orchestrated these mass killings simply steps down from office 20+ years after the fact. i mean really, how on earth can the media call this anything other than ridiculous. there were thousands of witnesses. people need to be in prison, not simply out of work. my feeling is the opening up of india's economy is possibly the only thing that has a shot at altering this age old acceptance of innocent deaths. when the risk of mass capital flight faces the leaders, perhaps they'll pay more attention. but then again, i've been saying that since before the gujarat riots.

also, perhaps someone should start a website outlining in detail who was involved and how. people could submit evidence online. perhaps this would atleast serve the purpose of publically shaming them.

diam

just starting this blog. not sure what to write.
standing here typing into an old junky lap top while
listening to diam by baby toure. a great african
singer i just stumbled across. some woman down the
street is a critic for some great labels including
realworld (peter gabriel's label for world musicians).
she has periodic garage sales charging a buck a CD.
quite a score. what else, the dog makes a lot of noise
licking herself. we just put in a new yard in the
back, so we're training her to make her deposits in
one little corner. this is starting to work, after a
prolonged period of protest. looks like we may finally
get some rain. its been many days w/o. not bad - i
love the heat we've enjoyed, but the rain feels more real.