Snow Hiking (remix)

I went hiking today in the Trexler Nature Preserve. I might never get used to this. Skies so clear and fields so white. It's amazing in such a quiet and simple way. In addition to the scenic pictures below, all along the little four mile, snow-covered trail I saw rabbit and deer prints. As cold as I was, I can only imagine how they felt...

This is why I moved North

Well, not for this exactly, but things like it. After all, they just don't make weekends like this in The South:

*) Obama makes Whistle-Stop Appearance in Baltimore. Yours truly is there, along with Kim, and we both drove for hours and then waited in the freezing cold just to see the man speak for five minutes.




Totally worth it.


*) "We Are One" Concert on National Mall with Bryan Andersen, my arch-conservative friend = infinite win. There is simply nothing more I can say than that. Even he was won over by the presence of both Obama and Bono.





[Pictures from "We Are One" Concert courtesy if The New York Times.]

What rhymes with Polka? [My birthday, that's what!]

Through some strange circumstances I have celebrated my last three birthdays in New York. This year was no different, but (blissfully) the commute was easier.* Likewise, wonderfully, as the two usually go hand in hand I have celebrated all three with my sister. The third part of this little trifecta, though, is a bit more unusual: polka. Yes, that's right, think lederhosen.




Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's genetics. Maybe it is Kim's friend and roommate Caley, who is an unbelievable Germanophile. Even if it is a simple combination of all three, though, it is still great fun. I mean, how can you go wrong with beer, sausages, and dancing?

Added bonus: The Devil Went Down to Bavaria!


(I really wish I'd taped the version I saw, but this'll have to do...)

Oh, and did I mention THE ALPINE HORN?



* I mean it would have to be: I came in from Tel Aviv last year. [Which, in retrospect, makes this year's celebration all that much stranger.]

Out of the Valley (and out of the blue)

So tomorrow is my birthday but because I have work, today is my present to myself - and it has the makings of a perfect day.

Here's the checklist:
✓ Gallo Pinto breakfast.
Delicious!

✓ Clear weather.
Added bonus, it snowed yesterday - which is thrilling for me but terrifying for my car.


✓ Hiking
To the Poconos and back for a mid-day, waterfall-laden jaunt to Hawk Falls which was six shades of awesome.




✓ Surprise Bonus: Folk and Indian Music!
Living in Allentown I have come to expect the former but not the latter - much less the two back to back on the local NPR station. Let me tell you, friends, nothing makes driving through empty, snow-covered country roads seem as magical as a tabla and sitar accompaniment. Way to go, WDIY.

PS For those of you surprised by my sudden, northern reemergence, worry not: I finally have the internet again and will fill in the blanks accordingly.

Starting up at The Start-up

I am, as the title of this entry suggests, just starting as the start-up. I have officially moved all of my things in - and up three flights of stairs no less - and positioned my furniture in just the right way. It is so fung shui it hurts.
Yesterday was also my first official day of work, and it mostly consisted of alternating bouts of introductions and paperwork. I am actually living with one of my coworkers, Spencer - a documentary filmmaker I will be representing and space in his house is part of my compensation - so I met him on day one, but the rest of the people I'll be working with have been trickling in for the last day or so for an official meet and greet. It's a bit overwhelming, in a way, but even the mounds of filings I had to fill out for the incorporation proceedings today were not enough to dampen my enthusiasm.

I think I am going to like it here.

EDIT: I take it back. Work is fine but I'm pretty sure I just saw my first snow fall on the horizon - everybody run!

A Picture Shows A Thousand Words; Maps Are Even Better

I like maps. I like maps for a lot of reasons – they have a bad habit of revealing more about their makers than their subjects, for one – but among the simplest is this: maps show distance and to me, the would-be traveler, distance is the same as progress. Take the map below: it shows you, in a way, how I just progressed.



From my parent's house in Florida to my new one in Pennsylvania (with numerous Virginia social visits in between), this map covers a lot of distance and maybe, just maybe, a little progress. Having officially competed school – the ceremony (which I did not attend) took place just before Christmas and my degree is supposedly in the mail – this map shows my next milestone: my first job. What it does not show is that, in addition to being absurdly cold in this frozen tundra, from here on out I am also employed as the Managing Director of a start-up creative arts nonprofit in Allentown, PA.

This is all equal parts terrifying and exhilarating; wish me luck!

The Books The Carried Me Through

For better or for worse (and trust me, there is a lot of "worse" - English lit. was scarce resource at some points), this was my reading list from the Rio Grande to Aruba.

The Power and the Glory
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
A History of Latin America
The Metamorphosis
Love in the Time of Cholera
Slaughterhouse-Five
Foundation and Empire
The House on Mango Street
Far From the Maddening Crowd
Lapham's Quarterly (War)
La Divina Comedia
The Luncheon of the Boating Party
Relato de un náufrago
The Teahouse Fire
Newsweek Special Edition (July 2008)
The Economist (June 2008)
Barrel Fever and Other Stories
Into Thin Air
Light a Penny Candle/ The Lilac Bus
The Liar's Club
The Innocent Man
The Good Earth
The Path Between The Seas
Cien años de soledad
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Longitude
Sailing Alone Around The World
The Agony and the Ecstacy
The Idiot
The Pillars of the Earth

I'm Back, or The Master Map

Two flights, two buses, and nine months later...





[Because, you know, I love maps.]

An Attempt At A Recap (For my memory as much as for posterity)

Day 1: Cartagena; Old Town
Day 2: Cartagena; La Popa and Castillo de San Felipe; Bus to Medellin
Day 3: Medellin; Palm Tree Hostel and Martina; Metro/ Teleferico/ Spanish Library/ Botanical Gardens/ Krishna Lunch
Day 4: Medellin; The Ignominious March to El Peñol (La Piedra)
Day 5: Manizales; Bus to Manizales; Rendezvous with Manisha, Tomas, and Doris; Coffee Farm Arrival (Jose, Cathy)
Day 6: Manizales; Highland hiking, stream swimming, highway hijinks, and dancing.
Day 7: Manizales; A day in Manizales
Day 8: Manizales; Abortive attempts at swimming; Agua panela con queso; onward to Salento; Teresa
Day 9: Salento; Valle de Cocora with Teresa, Marc, and Herlinda (60 meter wax palms and snow!)
Day 10: Salento; A day in Salento
Day 11: Salento to Pereira to Marsalla; Buses, cemeteries, and naked Bolivar - oh my!; Overnight to Bogota
Day 12: Bogota; History, politics, and culture: a day in Bogota; Israeli food!
Day 13: Bogota; Shopping Bogota and abortive attempts at theater
Day 14: Bogota; Climb Cerro Monserrate; Bus to Tunja
Day 15: Tunja morning; Villa de Leyva afternoon; a tale of two miradores; Laura, Jessie, and Oscar
Day 16: Villa de Leyva; in search of waterfalls near Santa Sofia; Paso de Los Angeles
Day 17: Villa de Leyva; biking through the countryside and through history: from dinosaur bones to prehispanic fertility cults and beyond; getting L-O-S-T; Overnight to Cucuta and the border
Day 18: Into Venezuela, slowly but surely; 28 hours by bus from Villa de Leyva, Colombia to Merida, Venezuela
Day 19: Merida; A Day in Merida; Planning
Day 20: Into the Andes; Hacienda El Carrizal
Day 21: Through the Andes; From El Carrizal to El Quino... without Boca e' Monte
Day 22: Descending Back to Earth
Day 23: Merida; Aguas Termales
Day 24: Merida; Pico de la Aguila, Paso del Condor; 4100 meters up, 8 degrees north of the equator and 8 degress above zero...
Day 25: Like a bat out of Venezuela and into Colombia (Santa Marta)
Day 26: Taganga; Life's a beach
Day 27: Taganga; ...more beach...
Day 28: Minca; the mountains, one last time
Day 29: Minca; waterfalls galore
Day 30: Taganga redux; Election Night - you, me, and CNN
Day 31: Cartagena; Welcome back to Astor

Some things just never go away

This is the second time in as many months I've been headed toward a sailboat and, likewise, the second time I've felt like this. I guess I never mentioned it before - things just got away from me, I suppose - but damn I miss my dad.