Kamchatka Project :: Explore to Conserve

Below is the email my friends and I spammed to all our contacts, launching our latest project:

Dear Friend,

As you know, kayaking has played a huge role in my life. This summer I
have the opportunity to realize a life long dream of using kayaking to make
a difference in the world. Our team of 6 kayakers will travel to Eastern
Siberia to explore and document 3 rivers on the Kamchatka Peninsula. We are
working with the Wild Salmon Center to survey these rivers for protection
by the Russian government. In 2009, the Russian government will make
sweeping designations and we have a unique opportunity to play a role in
this critical process.

The cost of this trip exceedes my personal budget and I am asking for your
support with this project. Your tax deductible donation of $25 or more will
make this trip possible.

To learn more please visit our website: www.kamchatkaproject.org
To donate please visit: www.active.com/donate/kamchatka

Thank you for your support,

President Obama!

President Obama

More ... including the video of this acceptance speech.

I can say without exaggeration, that I have never been more proud to be a citizen of the United States of America. Here is some video of more proud and jubilant Seattlites on the corner of Pike and Broadway.


My one personal observation from this historical event was that as I woke this morning, I heard two (black) kids on the street corner waiting for their school bus yelling, "Barack Obama! Barack Obama!"

It was just one of the many reports from around the world today that minorities sensed a new sense of pride and opportunity in this country and the world.

Progress ...

Tomorrow

It has been a long and terrible time since tomorrow mattered as much as it does today.

* * *

Tomorrow is a place of definitions, where change may come and be welcome even in the smallest degree. Tomorrow will see millions upon millions from every national nook and cranny pour forth in celebration of their own lone and lonesome voices.

* * *

What they call change is nothing more than choice. Tomorrow is another choosing, perhaps the greatest of our lives. Something will happen, and afterward, we will know.
Tomorrow has come at last.

Pine Ridge on NPR

A story about the tribe and reservation I have been working with lately. Although this story (about voting) is not the issues my work deals with (uranium mining).

Enjoy.

An Article and a Video

First, I have enjoyed the recent trend against bottled water (at least here in Seattle it has especially become the green target). I have never been a fan, and really tried to limit my own consumption except in instances when the convenience just outweighed all other factors. Anyway, this article highlights the real lack of common sense in buying this stuff.

Desalinated seawater from Hawaii, meanwhile, is being sold as "concentrated water" — at $33.50 for a two-ounce bottle. Like any concentrated beverage, it is supposed to be diluted before drinking, except that in this case, that means adding water to ... water.

Also, I have been on the producer of Iraq For Sale's spam list since buying the movie. Most of his subject matter I find a little too partisan and one-sided, but his latest project has been much more interesting and you can see the latest and best interview here. (30-ish minutes long). And in the producer's words:

You are not a progressive until you have seen this interview with Tom Hayden and Naomi Klein.

Not sure that I go that far, but its good.

It's the Environment Stupid

The obvious environmental impacts of plastic have long motivated me to reduce my plastic consumption. Jen's studies in Naturopathic Medicine, especially Environmental Medicine, have caused a great reduction in the plastics around our house. And this excellent article gives me even more motivation to NOT buy that next whatever that has more plastic in it. After all,

Aren’t disposable razors and foam packing peanuts a poor consolation prize for the destruction of the world’s oceans, not to mention our own bodies and the health of future generations? “If ‘more is better’ and that’s the only mantra we have, we’re doomed,” Moore says, summing it up.

So as,

awareness of just how hard we’ve bitch-slapped the planet is skyrocketing.

Remember to do something this Fall!

Going Bananas, Gone?

Bananas now represent a special significance in my life. I can actually attribute bananas in a large part to where I am today. Cliche as it may sound, I was literally sitting in a bus, riding across the landscape of Ecuador (in 2000), reading The Ecology of Commerce, and watching thousands of acres of banana plantations go by. All the while these bananas were being sprayed with pesticides by farmworkers wearing only a bandanna for protection. It was at this point I decided I wanted to work in a career that could affect change in today's world. It was also at this point that I became committed to eating locally and organic as often as possible. Eventually, I would meet Jen, we would move to Seattle, she would study Naturopathic Medicine and learn that Bananas are mucogenic. She would eventually convince me to give up bananas in my diet (at least in my purchases). I fought a little, given the convenience and affordability of bananas, but ultimately what they represent in corporate oppression and a huge eco-footprint made the choice easy enough. Now I do not even miss them.

Anyways, that was a long-winded way of saying that I found this recent article in the Seattle PI particularly interesting ... and of course, I recommend it!

Five Words

Patagonia's The Cleanest Line, one of my favorite blogs, has a recent post I think is worth archiving and keeping an eye on as I think the comments will be great.

Check it out.

A Couple Videos About Biking

Revelstoke, BC

Just wanted to record a few useful links from out recent trip up there. The occasion was to celebrate me finishing the bar, and Jen's Birthday which was the first day of the bar exam, and thus, was not properly celebrated.

We stayed in town at Revelstoke Lodge, which was nice as far as motels go and cheap - $80 for a queen size bed.

We spotted this place and wish we could have stayed there. Its a little pricier, but would be nice ... especially with another couple.

The Mountain is amazing ... can't wait to go back.

I want change!

Having fun in college

Biking onto campus this morning I was stopped by an elder lady who needed directions. After sorting out where she needed to go, she thanked me and offered this:

You know I went to college once. I took my time; it was eight years before I received my degree. But I only took one class per quarter ... it sure was fun!

She then wished me a fun experience through college.

Jen's Graduation Surprise

I have been a little quite on this blog of late. So, while this is old news, I wanted to get it up here for posterity and its pretty funny. Thanks again, Yoko and Tara for making Jen's graduation special, especially since I couldn't make it. Enjoy.

First Amendment Law meets Yoga

The Law, at least in our society, is almost omnipresent across all topical areas; however, it is a rare event in my studies when the Law makes references to YOGA - one of my newer favorite pastimes. Well, I guess this isn't yoga exactly, but rather Yoga's predominent language that is mentioned when judge is discussing whether computer code should be treated as Speech for purposes of the first amendment.

If someone chose to write a novel entirely in computer object code by using strings of 1's and 0's for each letter of each word, the resulting work would be no different for constitutional purposes than if it had been written in English. The "object code" version would be incomprehensible to readers outside the programming community (and tedious to read even for most within the community), but it would be no more incomprehensible than a work written in SANSKRIT for those unversed in that language.

Universal City Studios v. Eric Corley, 273 F.3d 429 (2nd Cir.2001).

Working on my profile photo ...

Time for a Vacation

For the next month, I will be in Peru on the VACATION TO HELL, attempting to kayak the Rio Huallaga. For details and updates on our trip, go HERE: www.huallaga.irvacationtohell.com

Spain Wrap-Up

Ok, I have been trying to sum up my recent study-abroad trip to Madrid, Spain for friends, family and memory's sake. I am getting tired of typing and explaining, so I'm gonna let the photos do most of the talking at this point. Feel free to comment with questions if you are curious. Also, there are several other posts about Spain below this post, so keep scrolling down until you get bored ... (or I think you can click "Spain" in the labels to get all the posts. Cheers.

El Escorial

This turned out to be my favorite day trip (and I guess my only single-day trip) from Madrid. But it sounded better than the other day trips my friends took. So its the best as far as I am concerned. And for any would-be Madrid tourists, I am not the biggest fan of sight-seeing for the sake of sight-seeing, but these sites turned out to be very cool and well worth the time and money to see them ... in my opinion!

The Monastery were most of the Spanish Royalty are buried ... and an amazing cathedral inside.


The Tomb Franco had built for the civil war fatalities and he is also buried here.




Its BIG and located in the mountains surrounding Madrid.


My traveling partners for the day ... Martin and Erin!

Bullfighting - Fan or Hater?

I was very intrigued to learn more about Spanish bullfighting. This interest, which may seem peculiar to some of my friends, stems from my family's participation in Mexican bullfighting. My Aunt Carole was one of the first women to ever bullfight in Mexico, and my Dad and his brothers and sisters used to all go to Mexico for the weekend to watch the fights when they lived in SoCal. Add to that the paintings of both my Dad and my Aunt that hung in our house, watching a bullfight on my first trip to Mexico - Mazatlan - and a unique understanding of human's relationship with animals and killing them, whether it be for food, sport, or art (in this case), since I grew up in a ranching family. But this post will only be a tease, as I want to incorporate more family history for posterity into a more complete story. So stay tuned if you are interested ... otherwise, fear not ... no bloodshed to come for a month or so.

One picture and a short video for a teaser:


A poor performance by the videographer (taken on my still camera, so I forgot that I could not turn the camera to frame the shot ... doh!) But an impressive performance by the Matador and even more so by the horse makes this still worth turning your head to watch:

The Food Culture of Madrid

Anyone that knows me, knows I love food; and when you travel I find that food is one of the things that leaves the biggest impression ... at least on me. After all, eating is one of those things you do more than most activities, and in Spain it may even dominate sleep in number of hours per day.

Before I traveled to Spain, friend's opinions of the food of Spain ranged from amazing to horrible. One of my absolute favorite restaurants in Seattle is a Spanish Tapas place just down the street from my house, so I was pretty excited for anything that even was of resemblance.

More than the quality or style of food in Madrid, what left the biggest impression upon me was the schedule of how the Spanish people eat and how much meal times dictate the the flow of the day. In the states, we are very accustomed to being able to get a wide variety of food whenever you want it. Not the case in Spain. To illustrate, I'll walk through a typical day of eating in Madrid:

9am :: Madrilenos do not go to bed early, so the day begins late. And breakfast is a rather simple affair. The typical meal in the morning would be a cafe con leche (coffee with milk) - often a mix of hot and cold milk - a croissant, and a glass of orange juice. For more of a gut bomb, one might get churros (fried bread - see below). Eggs are not common for breakfast in Madrid.

Cafe and pastries


Noon :: Hope you aren't hungry, because if the place is a lunch cafe they won't even be open for another hour, and probably not serving for an hour and half. If the place was open for breakfast, you might get lucky with a limited menu and a strange look.


2pm :: Madrilenos like to eat a late lunch, and this is the most important meal of the day. The classic lunch is ordered from the menu del dia (meal of the day). First, a drink (wine, beer or soda - drinking at lunch even as a business person is very common ... no taboo here!) and of course some pan (bread). Then start with a first course - gazapacho being my favorite (cold tomato soup). For the second course, maybe some fish and patatas fritas (french fries), but likely it will be some form of pork. Finally, you get a postre (dessert) or cafe to finish. Or with a smile and a wink to the waitress, both :) My choice: Flan and a cafe cortado (espresso with a little milk on top).

One of my favorite lunch spots:


4pm :: Don't bother the service business ... while the siesta is proclaimed to be dead by many, especially the lawyers in Spain, this time of the day is a time to slow down and prepare for the night.

7pm :: Cana and Tapas time. Cana (Supposed be Canya but I don't know how to put the squiggly on top of the n) is a small beer and the tapa was invented as a small plate of food placed on top of the beer so that people wouldn't drink on an empty stomach. Brilliant! Many places carry this tradition on with a free tapas. The freebies might be olives, potato chips, or even Chorizo or Bocarones (fried spanish anchovies). But the list goes on with just about anything open for Tapas. There couldn't be a better institution than the tapas for seeing a city. Just walk around getting drink and a little food for hours as you take in the sights.

10pm :: Again, a late meal. You are probably not that hungry at this point after many tapas and drinks, so sharing some Paella with a group is common or getting what are called Racions (big tapas). The small peppers where one of my favorites and squid cooked in its own ink was also very good. btw, Spain eats more seafood than any other country per capita. And only 2nd to Japan in total amount.

Paella with my Valencia friends


A little video clip I took from my room around 10pm one night. We would often open the windows (cuz it was hot) to enjoy the street music. I even threw money out the window a few times :) Notice that there isn't an empty seat, even this late on this non-significant street.


1am :: The night isn't even close to being over so maybe a treat to keep you going. Churros con Chocolate:


Well, mix in some school, studying, and some sight-seeing and you get my typical day. I also took full advantage of the siesta to survive this schedule!