The Senator's Wedding

There are people in your life that somehow you pick up along the way, just by random chance and they stick. My friend Kathryn K. (her last name is the same as an influential US Senator in the 1950's) introduced me to her friends as someone that she inherited from a previous relationship (I was a friend of her ex). My friend Carlos came down from Seattle to attend the wedding as well, which was held at the Brazilian Room in Tilden Park located high in the Berkeley Hills.

The ceremony was a combination of a traditional Jewish ceremony (chupa and broken wine glass) and a Laoatian ceremony, since "the senator" had spent a couple years living in Laos. One thing struck me as wise and it was said by Rabbi Jane. She said that many people think the longest journey is the search for the right partner. But, she in fact dismissed that claim. Instead, the longest journey is the one in which each person makes themselves whole and ready to accept another person fully into their lives. That hit home because I am well into this long journey and doing the hard work that is needed to be a person that can contribute and not be a detriment to a partnership.

Weddings are moments of reunion, celebration and acquisition of wisdom. "The senator's" wedding certainly fit that bill.

Scenes from a Mt. Diablo Hike

LA Peeps and My Introduction to the Wii

The ride ended Saturday June 10th at the VA Center in the Brentwood area of West Los Angeles. I spent the night at my friend Mel's condo which is located in the new hot spot, Downtown. Located a mere two blocks from the Staples Center, Mel's condo is in one of the myriad new high rise complexes being built around Los Angeles' historic downtown area. Hello, gentrification.

The next morning, I drove out to the San Gabriel Valley to have dim sum with my Aunt Ming, Uncle Shao, cousin Evelyn (a fellow teacher) and her husband Mark. I was told to make sure to get to my Aunt and Uncle's at 9:30AM in order to get to the very popular dim sum restaurant in time to line up outside to make sure we got a seat. Trust me, I didn't dare be late, and wasn't.

Myself (Oh my god, I am so looking like my Dad) and Aunt Ming

Myself and Uncle Shao

After dim sum, I attended the LA Dodger-Toronto Blue Jays game at Dodger Stadium with Evelyn and Mark. The hometown Dodgers got routed 11-5, but it was my first time to Dodger Stadium and the day was beautiful.

After the game, I met up with a former HRS student, who has joined the teaching ranks. She and her boyfriend cooked me dinner. A shout out to Gretchen W. and Jakob. The momentous event of the day, however, was my initiation to the world of the Nintendo Wii. I first got to try it out at Mark and Evelyn's before the game. But Gretchen and Jakob also had one. I must have spent a good hour playing it.

I HAVE TO HAVE ONE. It's impossible to truly describe it's allure, but just as it is with many things, the simplicity of the idea and the quality of the execution is what makes it so universally appealing. But for me, there is an added bonus. Since my accident, I haven't been able to play tennis because I am unable to run. With the Wii, I am able again to play tennis, albeit with a Wii remote, but the essence is the same. I had the BIGGEST grin on my face while I was playing it. I was so into it, I broke a sweat and they had to turn on the air conditioning.

The weeklong trek came to a close with a late night flight from LAX to SFO, but it was a great trip all around.

Aids/Lifecycle 6

This past week, I volunteered as a "roadie" for the San Francisco to Los Angeles Aids/Lifecycle bike ride. The ride lasts seven days and the riders cover 545 miles of the central California coast on their journey. This year 2,300 riders and 500 or so "roadies" (aka support staff) were a moving city for a week. The ride raised 11 million dollars for Aids research and support for those living with the disease. Although, I just finished the experience today and have yet to really have it sink in and fully process the experience, it was, if anything, to me a wonder of logistical majesty and beauty.

The riders started from the Cow Palace in San Francisco

I served on one of the two advance teams, which arrived at each site a day early to set up the tent grid (where the bikers would set up their tent) set-up tables and chairs for the dining tent and most glamourously, hang glow sticks in the port-a-potties to provide light in the night for those needing to use the facilities.

The Aids/Lifecycle Advance B team

Advance B unloading the tables and chairs truck. At each of our three sites we set up tables and chairs for 2,000 people.

Because we were on a two-day cycle, unlike the bikers and other roadies who moved to the new camp each day, our group hopscotched the Advance A team. They got to work at the sites on Day 1 (Santa Cruz), Day 3 (Paso Robles) and Day 5 (Lompoc). Our group set up the sites for Day 2 (King City), Day 4 (Santa Maria) and Day 6 (Ventura). Below, I've provided a sequence of shots that show the evolution (and de-evolution if there is such a word) of a site.

The empty tent grid at Preisker Park in Santa Maria, CA

The grid has been set. Notice the white stakes which hold placement cards for riders to find their tent spot.

Then the......

...circus....

...comes to town.

And just as quickly as it comes, it leaves. Note everyone is wearing red because Day 5 (the morning of this picture) is "Red Dress" day. And trust me, all sexes wear red dresses.

The tent grid. Cleaner than we found it. And it was off to Ventura.

Part of me found the work to be drudgery, but that's what I signed up for. Someone has to pick up trash and make sure the details are mapped out. But the most overwhelming feeling I got from this experience is that I REALLY REALLY want to do the ride itself. I want the feeling of elation and success that I saw so many of the riders come in with at the end of the day. So, we'll see if I can get the motivation up to do the training. Another issue is that the ride always occurs during the first week of June which is Finals/Graduation week at school. This year, I didn't proctor my final and had to miss graduation. It's a tough call, but we'll see what happens.

A bunch of us on the Advance B team were talking about doing the ride. One this is for sure, we have our jersey motto already picked out. It will read, "Last year we picked up after your asses. This year, we're watching them!". I might just have to ride next year to get to wear a jersey saying that.

I'll post more in the next couple days about my other thoughts about the ride, but I wanted to give you all a sense of what I did this past week.

The One Tank of Gas a Month Challenge

Going green is the buzzword of the moment. Everywhere I go, and you too probably, I hear about recycling but more importantly, reducing my carbon footprint. You're probably going, yeah, yeah, been there heard that. So, I took on a challenge to use only one tank of gas during one 30-day period. So, starting April 27th, when I filled up the gas tank in the Subaru, I've only used 3/4 of the tank through today, May 28th.

How have I done it? Well, on Monday mornings, I'll drive into work with my bike. Throughout the week, I leave the car at school and then drive it home for the weekend. But, I've found that unless I'm leaving town or making a shopping run, I tend to ride public transportation here in the city. The key tool has been the ability to get NextMuni, a program that tells you how long until your bus comes, on my phone that makes taking the bus/streetcar a bearable option. The 5-Fulton and 31-Balboa are some of the buses that I've now ridden for the first time.

I'm not yet willing or can fathom the idea of getting rid of the car altogether, but I'm certainly going to try and reduce my insurance bill.

I secretly love Lindsay Lohan

I was talking to my sister on the phone yesterday as I was headed to see the movie, Georgia Rule. By the way, I was actually a little embarassed to be one of the only men in the theater for this "chick flick" on Mother's Day. But hey, 7 of the 20 screens at my favorite movieplex were showing Spider-Man 3 so the pickings were slim. And we know that my sandbox kind of skews me towards musicals and "sensitive" movies. Anyway, I digress.

My sister pointed out to me, upon my movie selection, that I must love Lindsay Lohan. She pointed out that I loved "The Parent Trap" and then I also did love "Mean Girls". She didn't mention that I was impressed with Lohan's performance in "Bobby" as well. Plus, I think Lohan has gotten a bum rap being all wrapped up in the Paris Hilton/Britney Spears crowd. I mean, can't we all see that she's just had her typical early adulthood problems be blown out of proportion by the press? Can't we all see that she is just a sweet young girl in need of true love and compassion? So, yes, for Lindsay she can do little wrong in my eyes. And her current tabloid news is simply jealousy on the parts of the press for her success.

Man, am I pathetic or what?

I Know What A Married Man Must Feel Like

In the Upper School Math Department, there are five men and our only female colleague Ms. S. To say that she is a good female influence on us five often crass, rarely sensitive to her or other female issues is a true understatement. We value and love her greatly. But that doesn't mean that we can do things like remember her birthday. Today was her birthday and none of us remembered until one of my colleagues overheard a student wishing her "Happy Birthday" in the hallway.

Minutes later, there we were, the five of us men in a semi-panic all having dropped the birthday ball on our only, and most valued female colleague. (Did I mention that she's five months pregnant, too?) It was I was one of those heterosexual married male characters on television who has forgotten his wife's birthday/anniversary and knows that he's in hot water. Or going to be because his wife will know that any gesture or gift that he comes up with will be seen as last minute and totally inauthentic.

So, I called in the big gun. I called her husband who came up with a swell idea that was something we could pull off. I'm not sure that irises are her favorite flower, but there definately is a backstory that came with it and so one of my colleagues went out and bought some irises. We all signed a heartfelt card of appreciation and well wishes. But I also confessed that we had totally forgotten her birthday. Honesty is the best policy, they say and the humor of the situation was part of what made it a funny moment.

But I can't assure you that we won't run into this situation again one year from now, though. You can't assume old dogs can learn new tricks.

"I drank myself single again"

Last night, my colleague Andrei F. invited me out to go and listen to some Bluegrass. We went to listen to The Mighty Crows out at a bar called The Riptide, way out at the self-proclaimed "end of the Western World" at 46th and Taraval. Those of you who are familiar with San Francisco geography know that Ocean Beach is a mere two blocks from this bar.

A theme you all might have picked up on is my love of Bluegrass music. Some of you may wonder how a Chinese-American like me would love this classically American (Appalachian/Southern more like it) type of music. But last night, I was witness to something even more mind-blowing. During the last set, the five guys of the band (three of then rotund sweaty white guys) invited up this young Asian-American girl to play the fiddle with them. Stop and picture what I'm describing. Five middle-aged white guys playing along with this Asian girl who is blowing the crowd away with her ability to play Bluegrass fiddle. It was a sight to behold.

Another highlight for the evening was when the band sang and played a song that had the tag line, which was suggested by a bar patron, "I drank my self single again". I mean, if that title isn't made for Bluegrass or country, then what is? If the Mighty Crows ever record that song, and it's good enough that they might, I will claim to have been there the night it was premiered at the Riptide in San Francisco.

The West Wing

Back in Febraury, I decided to start watching the entire series of The West Wing, which ended its run just last May. Just this morning, I finally finished all seven seasons. It has been quite a journey with C.J. and the gang. What I found to be most interesting for me is the change in my attitude towards some of the main characters. At the start, I was a big fan of Josh but came to really find him abrasive and annoying. The reverse happened with Toby as I grew to really love the character and find him the most authentic. By far, the character I found most endearing was the Republican Associate White House Counsel from seasons 2 and 3, Ainsley. There was not nearly enough screentime for her.

Other factoids. This series finally allowed me to get over my dislike of the actress Teri Polo. For some reason, she always bugged me, but her portayal of First Lady Elect, Helen Santos made me a fan. After having watched some 140 or so episodes each clocked at 42 minutes, I began to have biorhythms set to where I was able to need to go to the bathroom right around the end of an episode. I appreciate the writers not ending the series with a big sentimental episode the would have generated tears. However, I do get a bit misty-eyed at the prospect of not having the Bartlet gang to hang with for an hour or two every day.

It's onward I guess, and I have started in on the series, Six Feet Under. Fisher family, here I come.

Thank God I've Been Preparing For This Moment

This morning, I got a call from my friends David C. and Thom B. in Florida asking me whether or not I had seen footage of the collapsed freeway that occurred in the the East Bay. I quickly jumped onto my computer and looked at the pictures and from the descriptions, it appeared that they weren't kidding. Then, I concluded that the collapsed freeway is the the overpass I drive over on my way to work. I have been driving on that stretch of freeway pictured above for the past decade, and well, it is no longer.

Somehow, I have was precient this year to start using my bike and BART to get to and from work. Over the past three months, I have started driving only once a week. I drive to work with my bike in the car on Monday and then bike and use BART until Thursday evening when I drive my car back across the bay to San Francisco.

Tomorrow morning will be the first weekday commute with the new traffic patterns. Usually I'm on the road and over the bridge by 7AM. I am going to leave an hour earlier tomorrow.

Tempting Friday the 13th

The last day of Spring Break was a blank page in my calender. I had nothing planned and got it in my head to go skydiving. Yes, you read that right. It's something that I've always said I wanted to try, so I found a company called Skydivesf up in central Sonoma County. I called my colleague Gene V. and he was game to go. So we were on our way.

I will say that the experience was a total rush and the only time that I really was apprehensive was on what seemed to be the interminable flight to 13,000 feet and that moment the door of the plane opened. I jumped in tandem strapped to my guide, Torsten, who was quite a character. I gained infinite confidence when I discovered this was jump number 10,291. If he hadn't had an accident, then statistically speaking, it wasn't going to happen on this day.

Upon landing, I was feeling a rush of adrenline unknown to me before. I had to sit on the ground for a few minutes. Gene also had a great time and got a video of his free fall, which he will give to the Physics teachers at school to use as a teaching aid. It was a glorious day.

The Visit of The Mom

SPRING BREAK!!!!! And Mom visits. It was a good visit and I only lost my temper with her once (ok, one and a half times). But the role of therapy in my life allowed me to identify why I things she said or did got me and then I was able (the fact that I recognized that it was my duty to was a big therapy learning moment aas well) tell her why I was frustrated.

"Mom, I don't care if you cut and freeze the strawberries" comes from the fact that when we got home from being out for the day I didn't really care what she did nor did I really want to make any decisions. I like having quiet time when I'm done with the day. Probably a good thing for me to tell the persons I date in the future.

One of the highlights of her visit was a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I also took her to see Jersey Boys, which she liked. And, well, you all know that I like it too.

That's My Alma Mater

From an article written by Patrick Mattimore in today's San Francisco Examiner on students' college rejection letters....

"Lots of schools are vying for the "most emphatic rejection" prize. Cornell University is leading the race, informing students in consecutive sentences that the electronic rejection they are reading will be confirmed in a following letter that will make the rejection official. We don't want you. Get it? We really don't want you. The "snuff out all hopes" double rejection strategy appears to be colleges' latest attempt to improve their U.S. News and World Report selectivity rating. Two rejections for the price of one. What tipped the scale in Cornell's favor is that they even include an invitation for you to visit their Web site to get information about applying to transfer to Cornell after your freshman year, so they can reject you again.

Mom and Dad were onto something...

From NPR:

April 2nd, 2007 -- "Letters from Ernest Hemingway to singer Marlene Dietrich have been unveiled at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston. Tom Putnam, the library's director, tells Steve Inskeep the correspondence suggest a flirtatious (but platonic) relationship between the two celebrities."

For those of you who still haven't clued into the signifigance of this posting, this would have been a filial love in the Chen household. You can listen to the story here.

Proof that children love me (and yes it's reciprocated!)

The transcript of a conversation between my friend and colleague Kelly B. was emailed to me the day after I ran into Kelly, her husband and their two-year old son Blake. We tooled along West Portal while I pushed Blake in his toy motorcycle. Apparently, I've made (and have made for awhile now) quite an impression on the young lad.

"i wanna see ernie"

"you wanna see ernie?"

"yeah, ernie push it"

"ernie pushed your motorcycle?"

"yeah. ernie shorts on!"

Panama Pictures (Slightly Delayed)

The skyline of Panama City which lies on the Pacific Ocean and faces south

The Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal

These "mules" are small locamotives run along the side of the ships and keep the boats centered with guide wires.

Nikolas, Kristin S., myself holding Peter at the Panama Canal

Fort Clayton (where Kristin's family lives and no longer an active military fort) as seen from the Miraflores Locks

The Guari Guari restaurant in Bocas del Toro, where I had the great $14 six course meal and where I slept in the......

.....the hammock

The view from Cerra Punta

Looking west into the Cerra Punta valley and Costa Rica beyond from the highest point along the Sendero Los Quetzales.

Who is this?

A view from along the Sendero Los Quetzales.

This picture I found on my camera.......the couple who returned my camera to me. A testament to the fact that good things in the world can happen.

There are good people in the world

Read the following email I got from an employee of Continental Airlines:

Dear Mr. Chen;

A couple has written in that they met with a man named Ernie in Boquete recently, and he left a camera in their car. They originally met the man on flight 875 on February 17, sitting next to them on their flight. There were two men with the name Ernest on that flight, so I am writing to both Ernest’s’ to ask if it was you, and if so, may I give them your full name and mailing address so they may return the camera? They would like to send the camera to him, and asked me to assist in locating the correct person.

Guess who just got his lost camera back? Pictures to be posted soon. Thanks to the Robinsons of Olympia, WA for making the effort to get my camera back to me!!

"The Lives of Others"

As a reward to myself for finishing my 79 student reports by noon today, I went to go see the German film The Lives of Others. For me, a movie rarely lives up to its hype, but this one blew my mind. It easily moves into one of my top three movies ever. I can't tell you how well it was written and acted, but more importantly it so displayed in full view the pain and suffering of living in a totalitarian state. Thank whatever higher power that I was lucky enough to be born in 1970 in a democratic country and not behind the Iron Curtain. Talk about winning the life lottery on that front. This film won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

What was really excellent for me is that all those years of high school German is still rattling around in my head. I was able to recognize some of the basic German that I heard and is a testament to the fact that if we learned things as kids, even if we don't use them, they are there and able to be recalled at the drop of a hat.

PS: By the way, to finish up the last post.......we got our candidate!

Cliffhanger

One of my Math Department colleagues has decided to pursue graduate school studies and so we've had to start a search for a replacement. The name of a veteran teacher at a school in San Francisco who lives in the East Bay and has two children under 5 was looking to reduce her commute by working at a school closer to home. This candidate already has an offer in hand from our rival school in the area.

She came to visit us on Thursday and our Headmaster apparently hand delivered an offer and contract Saturday morning. Also on Saturday afternoon, the school held a celebration of Math and had NPR Math Guy Keith Devlin speak about the history of mathematics ability. The candidate showed up.

Will we win or will the other guys win. I could analyze the pros and cons but I don't think it serves any purpose. Keep your fingers crossed.

123

Ok, so Peter S. gets major cool points for sending me a link to try and name as many countries that belong to the United Nations as possible in 10 minutes. Out of 192, I got 123. Try and beat me. Here's the link to United Nations Country Quiz. Let me know how you do!

I Wanna Be In A Boy Band

When one reflects upon being gay I think of all the stereotypes I don't fit but then the ones that I do. The gaydar for me goes off when I reveal how much I LOVE musicals. Today, I saw the 2006 Tony Award winning musical Jersey Boys. Watching the "Four Seasons" on stage and seeing how cool it must be to perform with a group of guys on stage is something that all of a sudden something I wanted to get up and do myself. Not sure that I'm going to act on it but know that when I get the soundtrack, I'll be trying out the moves here in the privacy of my own home!!

I must, however, end by mentioning something that crossed my mind. In the year 2030, will be be watching musicals called something to the effect of "The Boys of the Backstreet"?

Panama Part 4:Houston, We Have A Problem

The high of finishing the Quetzales trail was extended the next morning when Jeff took his family and I out to one of the Smithsonian's research plots. We took a small hike (part of it on the same trail that the first isthmus crossers used some 500 years ago) to a ridge that looked like any other forested site in Panama. However, upon closer inspection, one would see the trees were of different species laid out in a specific grid and tagged with an identifcation marker. Jeff's work down here is to coordinate and keep running the many reforestation studies and projects that are being done here in the tropics. The goal is to find out what combination of species, planted in what order will produce the quickest biomass growth as well as provide attractive habitat for native fauna.

A great deal of reforestation is done with monocultures of trees such as mahogany (African) or teak (Asian) which grow quickly, are monetarily valuable and serve as a vehicle for carbon sequestration, but aren't necessarily a long term viable solution since monocultures are more susceptible to disease and these trees will eventually be harvested.

For example tree A is known to have roots that are quite efficient at turning decaying organic material into nitrogen which is needed in soil for other flora to use. However does tree A grow more quickly when it has a great deal of direct sunlight or if it provided shade cover from another tree? To find out two saplings of tree A were planted three years ago. One is still standing in the open and the other had a fast growing large canopy tree planted adjacent to provide shade. These are the kinds of experiments that Jeff is doing throughout Panama. He's got another cool study coming up on watersheds and how they retain water and disburse it depending on percentage of forestation. It's the scientific process in action.

After saying goodbye to Kristin and her family (big shout out to the hospitality from their family) I arrived at Tocumen International to check in for my routine flight back to Oakland via Houston. The agent at the desk couldn't find my reservation until he discovered that I had booked my return for 3/24/07 and not 2/24/07.

Oops.

With a $100 change fee, I was rebooked on standby for the two flights. I got on the flight from Panama City to Houston without a problem. I even got an aisle seat. But at that point, my luck had run out. Upon arriving in Houston, I get to the gate for the flight for Oakland and I am told that the flight is in an oversold situation. The agents are already looking for passengers to voluntarily take a flight the next day. They were already up to $500 dollar vouchers. I wasn't getting on this flight.

And for the gods to rub it in my face, this flight to Oakland had on it a fellow math colleague and his girlfriend, a fellow 6th grade teacher and his wife and lastly, a former student mine and his parents. All of them had confirmed seats. So as they boarded, I headed out to the taxi stand to take a cab to go get a hotel.

When life gives you lemons you make lemonade. A shout out to my friend Thom B. (of NASCAR fame last summer) who has officially become my gay tour guide to cities in the American South. I called Thom in Orlando and he pointed me to the right part of town to go to enjoy the rest of my evening. There was no point in staying near the airport because the first two flights on Sunday to Oakland (or San Francisco or San Jose) was booked and I was given a seat on the 6PM Sunday evening flight. A $55 (Houston is a big spread out place, people) cab ride to the Best Western downtown was followed by checking out the scene at Westheimer and Montrose. I have to say that I did enjoying the big country music playing pool hall/sports bar that I got to go for an hour before bed. As I've said before, places with lots of real estate (unlike NYC and SF) have these large open spaces to open welcoming gathering places. They also give better service. The coke that I ordered was massive. For the same price in SF I would get enough coke to finish off in one large gulp.

Sunday morning, I changed plans. I decided to take a cab to the other Houston Airport (Hobby) and rented a car and drove down to the Johnson Space Center to take a tour. It was the best $18 I spent in Texas. On the tram tour, we saw Mission Control (unfortunately there wasn't a shuttle in space at the moment so the place was empty) but we did see people in the Mission Control for the International Space Station since there are three astronauts living up there at the moment. On the tram tour, we also saw the building where astronauts train to do all those things they do in space, like work the robotic arm. And no, there was no mention of the woman who tried off her romantic counterpart. There was also no mention of diapers.

The highlight (or perhaps lowlight) of the visit to the Space Center was the fact that I took a shot at landing the space shuttle on the simulator and crashed it four times. And I was on the novice level where all I had to do was take care of the altitude and nose pitch. The simulator stabilized the side-to-side pitch for me. And let me tell you, the simulator was quite sassy in its analysis of my failures!!!

If I had had more time, the Houston Rodeo was just starting its week long run in the new Reliant Stadium. I drove by it because it is located right next to the Astrodome, which I wanted to see. I'm surprised it hasn't yet been demolished considering the newer Kingdome in Seattle already has been.

The car was dropped off at Houston-Bush Intercontinental (Enterprise daily rental $19.99 what a deal) and my flight home was non-eventful. The lesson? Make sure you double check how you book your flights!!

Panama Part 3:Sendero Los Quetzales

After returning to Panama City on Tuesday morning and spending the day with Kristin's family at Rio Mar Beach about an hour and a half west of Panama City, I flew back to the western portion of Panama to hike the Los Queztales trail.

On the map from the previous entry, you'll see just south of Bocas is the town of Boquete. As the crow flies, these are less than 20 miles apart, but between them is a set of extinct volcanos which serve as the Continental Divide and are the spine of the country of Panama. I flew in to the town of David (third largest in Panama) and took a cab up to a little town called Bambito. Picture a road coming from the bottom of the map above directly into Boquete. Picture a parallel road to the west of it and that is where Bambito lies. I stayed at this beautiful resort (the most I paid for a hotel the entire time) and the weather was perfect. Temperature in the 60's in this high altitude (about 6,000 feet above sea level) little town.

On a whim, I followed a dirt road that extended from the back of the resort up a hill and two miles or so later I was rewarded with finding this most amazing high mountain meadow with grazing cows and sheep. Occasionally a man and horse would ride by. I climbed a bit further and was further rewarded with this amazing view of Volcan Baru, which I would visit the next day. I don't feel regret about losing my camera in this situation because I didn't bring it with me. The image is my own for me to have for myself. It was such a special moment, perhaps the true highlight of my trip.

The next day, after being served breakfast by Latin America's Vince Vaughn look-a-like (HOT). I caught the local bus which runs up and down the road from David up to the town of Cerra Punta. Shhhhh, this town is totally undiscovered by developers. I didn't see any American tourists and there aren't any big houses with security gates around them. This town, at 6,500 is just a hop, skip and jump from the border with Costa Rica. Actually, I rode the bus a couple miles further up the hill to the little town of Guadalupe.

From here, I set out to climb up to the trailhead of the Quetzales Trail. What was so cool is the the Quetzales Trail links the town of Cerra Punta to Boquete. I had my backpack and was hiking from one place to the next. It reminded me of hikes that one can make in the Alps of Switzerland.


This photo take from a Google image search, but I stood right at this location and took a photo of this sign.


A picture of the Quetzales Trail taken from Wikipedia

I strategically chose to hike the trail from Cerra Punta (6,500 feet) to Boquete (3,500 feet). This was not your well worn, well maintained European hiking trail. This was a slip and slide on one's rear end in places kind of hike. The hike itself was spectacular as there were vista points but most of it was under the canopy of a cloud/tropical forest. The hike took me 6 hours and my quads were killing me for the next few days. All I can say is Dr. B, he did a freaking amazing job for my feet to have held up to this pounding.

Near the end of the hike, I ran into a couple of fellow American hikers who turns out sat next to me on the flight from Houston to Panama City. We started talking and it turns out they are from a little town outside of Olympia, WA. We bonded and it was nice to end the hike with nice people who weren't all about bragging about what they had done and saw. They were there for the enjoyment of the moment.

We arrived at the trailhead and the ranger station was still a 3km trek downhill. My quads were dying so they were nice enough to give me a ride. It is their rental car that I left my camera. There is a miniscule possibility that I might get it back. The couple had yet to visit Bocas and were planning on it later in their trip. I told them about Ozzie's restaurant and if they go there and mention me, I left Ozzie my email address. It's a lot of things to have to go right for it to happen, but stranger things have happened!

That evening I treated myself to a wonderful dinner at a highly touted restaurant in Boquete. After hobbling a half mile to the restaurant, I was floored that the interior was straight out of New England B&B. White linen table cloths, flowers in the center of the table, polished silverware, you get the picture. I had an amazing ceviche followed by a huge piece of fresh grilled trout. It turns out the chef at the Hotel Penomene is a Swedish transplant and has brought his flair to Panama and now brings it to the local seafood to make amazing meals.

I have to admit that my hotel in Boquete had DirecTV and I watched American Television well into the night. I got caught on my episodes of the OC and Gilmore Girls. Ahh, now I know why Christopher went AWOL on Lorelai.

Friday morning was spent wandering around Boquete and then hopping on the bus back down to David and a flight back to Panama City. This portion of the trip was one of the highlights of my week!

Panama Part 2:Bocas Del Toro

As you can see from the map above, there is an group of islands in the northwestern corner of Panama of which the main town is called Bocas. I flew from Panama City to Bocas on Air Panama a 50-seat Fokker. The total flight time was about an hour. I landed in Bocas 8AM knowing little about the place other than it was highly touted by Kristin's husband Jeff who had recently returned from the area. Going solely on his word, there I was at the Bocas airport wondering what next? I walked out of the one-room airport onto a dirt road and there I was. I was not expecting to see houses that appeared to be ready to be blown to shreds with the next big windstorm. I surprised myself at being taken aback at the lack of touristy amenities, such as quaint shops and a tidy looking main strip. Everything looked rickety and unkempt and I never really got used to it.

I guess part of my lack of enthusiasm for the place stemmed from the overcast and drizzly weather the I flew into. I whipped out my handy-dandy guide book and had breakfast to plan my day. My first stop was to sign up with an outfit that ran an all day trip up the coast to see manatees. The guy at the shop stated that he needed people to fun the trip and had three signed up for Wednesday (this being Monday) and so it looked like it was more than likely to run. He pointed me down the street to a guide service that took people out on day long trips.

The trip had so much potential, but ultimately had few truly memorable moments. It was a group of 14 people in a boat of which there was another truly awful American couple from California. They were recent transplants from LA to Northern California and all the stereotypes of braggadocio American's was true for them. Did I really need to know how quickly they had sailed from the South Pacific to the Galapagos a couple years ago? Umm, no.

The first stop of our trip was to go see dolphins. I was a bit skeptical that we would see them, but ultimately we did. I wish there had been more of them and that they were jumping out of the water like Flipper, but I was excited to see a couple dolphins up close nonetheless.

Picture of a couple thatched roof huts built on stilts over the water

Next stop was some snorkeling followed by lunch at the restaurant one would have seen above. The snorkeling paled in comparison to the snorkeling I got to do last summer in Puerto Rico but I attribute that partially to the fact that we weren't taken to a really great spot but also that it was overcast and the light was poor.

After lunch, the skies opened up and poured. We were taken to the famous Red Frog Beach. There were other tour groups there and everyone was huddled underneath a big hut. It looked straight out of Survivor and I was ready for Jeff Probst to come out and give us some immunity challenge. It's a sad thing to know that Red Frog Beach is being encroached on by developers and the open access and lack of buildings will soon be a thing of the past.

The rain continued to come down (and it's no Seattle drizzle my friends, we're talking Central American downpout) and the other members of the boat opted to skip our last stop and go directly back to Bocas.

Upon arriving in Bocas, I went to check to see if the manatee trip was going to run and saw that the group of three had rescheduled for the following week. Ugh. I then set out on trying to find a place to stay. And the intrepid traveler story begins.

I came to Bocas during the middle of Carnival. There was NO rentable place to sleep anywhere in town or on the neighboring islands. NOTHING. So I came up with my next best plan. I rented a bike and planned on riding out to a beach and sleeping there on the sand. I literally had come to Bocas with a towel, swimsuit, basic toiletries and a change of shorts. It was going to be a long night.

I located a beach about two miles out of town. It looked like I could nestle down and get some cover from the trees, but I was screwed if another Central American downpour occurred during the night. So to treat myself before the long night, I biked to a cute looking restaurant that I had passed coming out of town which was advertising a six course meal for $14. Yeah, prices in Panama are still kind of reasonable. This wasn't some lame six course meal either. I had a salad, some fish, fried egg with bechemel sauce, bread with goat cheese and spinich, pork cutlet with a nice sauce and chocolate ice cream with orange sauce for dessert.

Over the course of dinner, I found out from the waiter that he (a German) and his wife (a Spainard) had moved to Bocas a couple years back and bought their building, renovated it so the front had a beautiful covered open air dining area and then turned the back of the building into their living quarters. The name of the place is Guari Guari.

Being the ballsy and desparate guy that I was, I asked Ozzie (the owner/waiter) my story of how I didn't have a place to stay that night and whether I could sleep in the hammock they had. He said yes and I solved my lack of lodging for the night. Minutes later, downpour. And we're talking buckets.

Picture of the hammock I stayed in.
Picture of the rain coming off the roof in sheets.

The next morning I woke up and it was still overcast and raining. Realizing that my trip to see the manatee was probably off, I cut my jaunt to Bocas by two days and flew back to Panama City. There were other adventures to be had in Panama!!!!

Panama Part 1:The Canal

Picture of Ernie, Kristin and her kids Nikolas & Peter with a Panamax ship in the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal

The postings from Panama will all have the captions of the photos that I would have posted had I not left my camera in the car of a very nice couple who gave me a ride down from the Boquete Ranger Station into town on the third to last day of my trip to Panama. So the question in many of your minds may be, why Panama? My friend from high school, Kristin S., moved down to the country with the Canal last year as her husband took a job coordinating native tree reforestation. So, why not go visit?

I really can't do the Canal justice except to say that I could sit there all day and watch the ships go into and out of the locks. The Canal is actually oriented North-South with the Pacific Ocean on the southern end and the Caribbean/Atlantic at the northern terminus. Transiting from the Pacific to Atlantic one enters the canal and reaches the Miraflores Locks. Here's a link to see a two Panamax ships in the Miraflores Locks. In two separate steps, a ship is raised about 50 feet where it exits into Miraflores Lake and a couple miles later is raised up another 30 feet at the Pedro Miquel Lock.

Picture of a Panamax before being raised.

Picture of a Panamax after being raised.

At this point a ship enters the 8 mile long Gaillard Cut. It is the Gaillard Cut which was where the majority of the digging was done in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Because two ships cannot fit side-by-side in the Cut at one time, groups of ships traverse the Cut in one direction. When they clear, then another set can traverse the Cut in the opposite direction. This bottleneck limits the number of ships that can be in the Canal system at one time.

Proceeding out of the Cut, a ship enters Gatun Lake, formed by the damming of the Chagres River. Gatun Lake is 85 feet above Sea Level. Ships continue North until they enter the three step Gatun Locks which bring them back down to sea level. Ships then exit into the Atlantic Ocean ready to sail off to their final destination.

The Panama Canal is an amazing feat of engineering. I can't put into words the excitement I felt everytime I saw a huge ship being raised or lowered. The large ships have this regal look about them as they slowly glide into place in one of the locks and then in one continuous motion are lowered.

Hurdle Number 1

In the ongoing saga of the conversion of the building in which I live/own to condominium, a important milestone was reached this week. Our lawyers submitted our application to the Bureau of Streets and Mapping (BSM). Getting everything in order to get to the point of submission took just over one year. Here's what's to come:

•BSM completes initial review of application and draft of parcel map.
•BSM sends application to Bureau of City Planning (BCP) & Dept. of Building Inspection (DBI).
•BCP must approve of application and then BSM reviews map.
•BCP issues its decision with its additional requirements
•We must clear up any issues with BCP
•DBI issues its decision with any additional requirements
•Surveyor works with DBI to clear up issues
•BSM issues approval of map
•Still more to go

The Omnivore's Dilemma

It's cliche to say that reading a book can transform how you view some part of your world because it seems as people say it all the time, however, it recently happened to me when I read the book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. I read it in anticipation of Pollan coming to speak to our school for an assembly a few weeks ago.

Michael Pollan

I have begun to think much more closely about the choices I make when eating and to understand that organic isn't everything that it is meant to be. Most importantly, I've learned about the concept of sustainable agriculture. The chapter in the book about grass was riveting reading.

Moon Over San Francisco Bay

Independence

In my senior Economics class, I warn them that if they comprehend the concepts and are paying attention, they will perhaps become more conservative (politically) in their thinking as they encounter the market killing implications of taxes the issues surrounding price controls and subsidies. Remember that teaching in the Bay Area, most of my students are lifelong liberals and pretty adamantly vocal ones at that. So when I claimed to be a registered independent, I sensed a bit of incredulity at my political persuasion. Of course, I tend to vote the Democratic candidate or position most of the time, I told them, but I have voted for Republicans in the course of my 18 years of voting.

This got me thinking, in all my years of voting, I can only name three candidates for state or national office that I can remember going with the GOP candidate. The first is quite obscure that being Representative John Miller who was the incumbent congressman from my district in Seattle back when I first started voting. I think he's the only Republican I voted for twice. When I lived in New Jersey, I voted for Governor Christine Todd Whitman, who became head of the EPA. Alas, sadly, I never actually had the opportunity to vote for my favorite politician, Bill Bradley as I arrived after his last election to the Senate in 1994. As a resident of New Jersey, I did vote for Democrat Robert Toricelli. Oops. Lastly, I proudly admit to have voted for the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger in this past election. I have voted Republican in the past (and I know this makes Mom happy) and will do so in the future when the candidate is right.

I Finally Learned This Lesson

Long time readers are well versed in my "issues" with friends who produce (ok produce sounds a bit industrial, but I'll not edit since this is a blog and my true feelings should come out even if not exactly PC) children and then have those new ones become the focus of their lives and subsequently disappear from mine.

(SS ARE YOU READING THIS?!!?!?!?! You've won your battle!!!)

As I was biking home yesterday from BART, I passed by the house of a friend of mine from a 1986 summer program Debby G. who with her husband and 2-year old son, moved here from Washington, DC a few months ago. They live a five minute walk from me (that's pretty cool to have a friend from childhood move across the country and land in the next neighborhood over) and I hadn't seen her at her home since their move. So I stopped in and was invited over for dinner. I wasn't shunted off to the corner like I thought I would. In fact, Debby was grateful and overjoyed at having company.

So, the lesson? When couples have kids, us singles have to go to them. It's not as if they don't want to see us, in fact I sense that they are wanting to see us friends, but due to the constraints of raising a baby/toddler, the spontaneous dinner out is a relic of their lives. As long as I'm willing to put up with/enjoy having conversations broken into bits and pieces around cutting food for the child or a bit of babytalk, I can reclaim my friendships with my childrearing friends. Plus, how can I resist the opportunity to lay on the floor and having a 2-year old climb all over me and pinch my eye?

We Become The Things We Mock

When I am zipping around town going from here to there, my path more than likely crosses the intersection of 18th and Guerrero. Those of you who are knowledgeable about San Francisco geography and gastronomy know that this corner is home of Tartine, a most wonderful bakery. If I ever pass by this corner in the mornings, I will always find a line out the door onto the sidewalk. In times past, I would say to myself, "Who are these people who stand in line for more than a couple minutes for what is essentially glorified donuts?"

These days, I eat my words. A couple weekends ago, because of the holidays I drove by and saw there was no line (?!?!?!) so I went in and the rest is history. Three straight weekend visits later, I sit here and am scooping up Muesli as I have to choose between a Morning Bun, Frangiapane Croissant or a "Pan au Jambon" (a gruyere and ham croissant which will become part of tomorrows lunch). This is AFTER I spent twenty minutes in line on the sidewalk BEFORE the place even opened.

Cool Sounds

I don't post promotional plugs except in rare occasions when I believe in the person who is on the beneficiary end of the plug. So the fact that I'm urging you all to check out the site of Stephen Jeromewho is a NYC musician who has put out an album produced by my dear friend Ian McGrady, is a testament to my near two decade friendship with Ian. The two of us met at a life-changing summer program for high-school students back in 1987 and look at us today, living on two coasts but still friends to this day. As for the song that you can preview at the link? Most of you know that I'm not really a music fanatic and are amazed that I live in my home in silence, but I did like the middle of the song a great deal. Not such a big fan of the beginning and end, but then again, I'm always partial to easy to follow melodies.

Losing the Double Down Hurts

The Seattle Seahawks have had a wild ride this past couple weeks. I have been the beneficiary of their good luck having won a dinner off my cousin (who is from Dallas) last weekend. However, before I could collect on the dinner, he had to take a business trip to Shanghai and so I doubled down with him, betting him that the Seahawks would pull off the upset of the Chicago Bears this weekend. This morning, I called up my friends Leah W. and Rich A., who are longtime residents of Chicago, and bet them dinner as well. When the game reached a climactic 24-24 tie with about 6 minutes left, my cocky self called up the two Chicagoites and Rich answered the phone. I offered the double down on dinner (I have to admit I am going to embarrass Rich here, but to hear him ok the double down with his wife was pricelessly domestic and whipped to boot).

The Seahawks lost in overtime 27-24 and thereby so did I. Leah and Rich will be getting a gift card from Carson's Ribs of Chicago. They will be treated to dim sum the next time they come out to San Francisco. And I get no dinner from my cousin.

Also, condolences to my cousin Jeff and his wife Ming (I'm not sure how much she cares) and Bryant for the San Diego Chargers loss to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. We can all commiserate together at the losses of our hometown teams.

Every Step is Progress

Remember my occasional reference to the condo conversion process that my building partners and I are going through? Today, one of the major hurdles has been completed. We had the meter for the common area installed.

The meter for the common area

As usual, the backstory. In each and every condominium complex, and we are trying to have our building declared as two condominiums, there is almost always areas of the building that can be accessed and used by any members of the condominium association. The common area for our building is the garage in which we store our stuff and where my washer and dryer is. Because the common area is on the same level as the lower level of my unit, all of the electricity that was used in the common area was attached to my PG&E bill. To turn the building into condominiums, we have to formally peel off those outlets in the common area into a third electrical system. This required an electrician (obviously I couldn't do anything like this) and by far the most expensive portion of this process. Back in September, we forked over a hefty chunk of change to an electrician to do the work.

The newest fuse box is on the right

Today, PG&E came and installed the meter as seen above. The journey continues.

Some Thoughts on "Yellow Fever"

I received a couple of emails from friends about the contents of the two clips I posted last week. In response to "Yellow Fever", I wrote this:

"I've been pointing out the Asian Girl/White Guy thing forever, BUT I do think that we are in the time of the rise of the Asian male. Seriously, with the advent of Yao Ming and Japanese baseball players, Asian men are competing on the ultimate of male battlegrounds, sports. And once we can demonstrate equality on that front, everything else will fall right into place."

I have had a number of other significant insights, planned and unplanned over the course of the past week. Some overwhelming, and some providing explanations for many questions I've had rattling around my brain. This isn't the right forum to disclose, but know that I'm churning through some personal stuff, and it's healthy!

My Act of Civil Disobedience

On the days I take public transportation to work, my day starts off with a short walk and then a 6 (long) block bus ride to the BART station. The 14-Mission and 49-VanNess are the two buses that run along this section of Mission Street. Theoretically, these buses should arrive every five minutes or so. However, that is rarely the case and when a bus does arrive, it is packed to the gills. It isn't a pleasant way to start one's day.

However, it is my feeling that SF Muni can run more buses or at least keep the spacing betweeen buses constant. It is not an unusual occruance to for three or four buses to be lined up and driving one right behind the other. On the way home at the end of the day, I often can walk most of the six blocks from the BART station home before I even see either a 14 or 49.

So, as of late, if a bus arrives standing room only, I board the bus from the rear door where exiting passengers are getting out. I refuse to pay $1.50 for a service that I don't deem worthy of my money. Granted, I know that by not paying my fare is increasing the burden of MUNI and asking them to improve service without the benefit of my money, but still it makes me feel better knowing that I'm sticking it to the man, even though ultimately the man is myself.