On the way to get the Vespa serviced.

Oh hello, Milky Way.

Fantastic view from our campsite last weekend, as seen from Cottonwood Canyon in Death Valley NP.
Highly suggest viewing a larger version here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lovine/7120745483/in/photostream/lightbox/

This is one of the many reasons why I look forward to isolation. There exists several worlds apart from the one we are accustomed to, and the moment we choose to open our eyes, we begin to pick up the hazy edges of our own existence and realise that we are both insignificant and therefore extremely special at the same time.

It makes more sense at the edges. Listen to the silence. Look into the darkness. Give your thanks.

Breakfast of Champions
or
Breakfast of the Walking Dead

Am I entertaining you enough?

I cannot fathom ANY educational merit to keeping these large magnificent animals in small holding pens and making them work for food. Are the sparse infographics scattered around the park enough to really impart any depth of knowledge to anyone who reads them? Does 98% of the guests who filter through the park depart with a greater respect and understanding of cetaceans? When they jump out of the water, do kids realize that these are highly sophisticated social animals that communicate in their own dialects, and swim hundreds of miles in the open sea? That their lives are greatly shortened in captivity? That some of them were taken forcefully from their parents in the wild? When a parent buys a plush Shamu ™ for her kids, all it does is cheapen their soul and commoditize our disrespect for the world in general.

Kat and I joined the rest of our family on an outing to SeaWorld, and expected the worst. She does not want me to disclose this, but she wept openly as soon as the orcas entered the waters of the show. I am never taking my children to a place like that. The only time I will be back, is to protest outside their gates and get handcuffed while wearing a Shamu outfit.

Teach children the truth, because that is the least that they deserve. Go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium instead – that’s where real people go.

More information here:

This is categorically the most amazing view I’ve ever had outside a plane window – second only to that green wisp of Aurora Borealis I met for the first time, on a solo trip in 2003. This trip of course, came with a price to pay in the form of a 12-hour delayed connecting flight. I would do it again only if I had the rest of my team with me.

Tired, but I need to keep prepping myself that the mission has yet to begin. Bring it on.

We’ll be having a small reception for folks in the US, and are still planning a shebang for Manila sometime later this year. If you are very special, you might even get to see a few easter eggs at the site:

As usual, we built everything from the ground up – Kat did the wonderful illustrations and I coded the nerd end of the site. Since this is the first time we’ve done anything like this, any comments are appreciated ;)

I think this is a good springboard to get back in shape – I’ve been particularly negligent about the poking belly I’ve been starting to nurse over the years, and my poor lung capacity. I really enjoy snowboarding. Cruising fast and bombing through powder, feeling the rush of the wind and the snow scattering underneath your feet. It’s surprising to think that I had my first season 5 years ago already, yet there is still so much more to learn, so much more of myself to know and understand. I need to go more often. We always tend to say things that we want to do, but hardly do we take the steps to do them. I hope I’m wrong.

When we got back in to the lodge today, I tried my first “ice bath”. Basically dunking my lower body into a tub of freezing water, to prevent muscle soreness the next day and to make my balls temporarily disappear. Hell. Then we hopped into the outdoor hot tub. Heaven.

Tomorrow is another day: rinse, and repeat.

You are my hero. I miss you and I love you!

Off to Guam for work in a few hours. My liver and my sanity are glad to take a break away from this crazy city.

Chances of a beautiful sunset: severe.

Commence chaos. Because the jeweler who sold the ring was within earshot.

Beautiful, every day.

The world is a mysterious place sometimes.