Monday, September 26, 2005

I love texans...

From the NY Times:
The Texas state government has announced a phased return for the estimated 2.5 million Texans who fled their homes in advance of Hurricane Rita. Residents of the northwestern quadrant of Houston were allowed to return starting yesterday, but many people headed home regardless of the plan, which was aimed at avoiding the massive traffic backups and gridlock that marked the initial evacuation.

"Our people are tired of the state's plan!" complained County Judge John Willy, the top elected official in Brazoria County near the Gulf Coast south of Houston. "They have a plan, too, and it's real simple," he said in a statement posted on the county's Web site. "They plan to come home when they want."

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Flooding in Bangladesh...

a couple of weeks ago, one of the ministers of bangladesh laughed at the americans, saying that their country was better equipped to handle floods, and didn't have as many problems as we were having with Katrina....sometimes, fate will come back to bite you in the butt....like this

Race in France...

a follow up to my earlier post about race in america. seems as though the french refuse to even recognize minorities in their country - saying that they are all french. the difficulty there, it seems to me, is that it encourages an unspoken racism that no one can overcome. rather than establishing an understanding that we do have subtle differences and historic challenges. anyway...here's the article that spurred me.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Danish Days...

This past weekend i traveled north of LA to the Santa Ynez Valley for wedding. It was outdoors at the Firestone Vineyard, in Los Olivos, CA. This had to be one of the most beautiful weddings i had ever been to. An outdoor ceremony, overlooking the vineyards and the golden hills during the sunset were truly spectacular. Not to mention the locally produced wine and beer available to all those concerned. Very nice. I also channeled the gajiwala spirit, in getting involved in a couple of Roxbury-style dance-offs. Let's just say I get teh spirit in me at parties like this.
Other positives were the opportunity to spend a weekend in Solvang, a Danish american town in the valley there. It was during their Danish Days festival, which featured folk dancers, food and a generally charming town. I also managed to stay in the motel featured in Sideways the movie. Which was fun, in a weird sort of way. Anyway, i'll post pictures as i get them.

Friday, September 16, 2005

Race in America...

The weird thing about all of this talk about how poor african americans are, and how they were "left behind" in the katrina recovery is the fact that new orleans is a predominantly african american city. According to census data, it's nearly 60% of the population. Of course video of the people there would be black. If a tornado hits nebraska, we'd see poor white people.
I hate when things become a race issue, when what they are is a poverty issue. Let's fix that, and stop pointing ethnically charged fingers everywhere.
-SG

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Try this...

visit google, and search for "miserable failure"

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Cars I saw today...

A maybach, an aston martin vanquish, and a lotus. ANd it's only 10 am. LA is crazy.

Monday, September 12, 2005

Weekend Update...

ANother solid weekend in the books. It's weird, with my working again, weekends seem to go by faster than before. My sister and I went to go see Jerry Seinfeld on friday - his new stuff is pretty good, esp considering he started from scratch in 2001. I was surprised however, that he threw in some political humor - i wasn't expecting that. I guess when you've been to the mountaintop, you can pretty much say whatever you want, and people will laugh.
Also spent some of the weekend watching football - which was a nice surprise. I haven't done the multiple games/day of football thing in a while - i was glad to know i still had it in me. although i nearly had a seizure. Either way, the bears are looking okay - hopefully they'll get their act together and wina few of these next ones, their schedule is pretty forgiving through september.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

George Bush

I used to be able to tolerate the joker. But after Katrina, Stem Cells, the Debacle in Iraq (i supported the notion of going to war, just not the execution), and now the prospect of two conservatives tipping the court - i'm done. 2008 is not soon enough.

Agassi for the Ages...

I've been watching the US Open this year fairly regularly, and have been generally disappointed by the matches. But last night, was a huge exception. Two matches, Davenport-Dementieva, and Agassi-Blake, simply awed me. The women's match for the purely atrocious serving ability of Ms. Dementieva, and the men's match for amazing tennis. Not that I should be surprised, considering Andre is involved. I've watched him play tennis for as long as i can remember, and i have to say, i'm more amazed now than i ever had been before. to come from 2 sets down against someone 10 years younger. Breathtaking. For sheer tennis drama and quality of play, the Sampras-Agassi semi a few years back takes the cake. but for heart, and motivation, and energy - this was one of the best i've seen in a long time. Just amazing.
On a side note, how stupid is Nike for dropping Agassi's sponsorship...

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

iPod nano

Have you seen this?!?! I'm madly in love. i want to make it my musical lover. Unfortunately as an owner of an iPod and and iPod shuffle, i have absolutely, positively, no use for it. and my love goes on unrequited.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

This is how we stand in the international community...

International Aid for Katrina Sufferers (from bbcnews.com):

Kuwait - $500m
Sri Lanka - $25,000
Cuba - 1,100 doctors
UK - 500,000 ration packs
Venezuela - Cheap fuel, humanitarian aid and relief workers
Iran - 20m barrels of oil

Who knew cuba had 1100 doctors in the first place? All we need is north korea to send us some rice and unrefined plutonium, and the axis of evil becomes our greatest ally.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Laissez le bon temps rouler?

Looking at all the news footage of hurricane katrina has had me thinking of my own trifles in new orleans in the past. I can't imagine that city ever losing the spirit and fun that i always felt when i went to visit there. Mardi Gras, New Year's Eve, or a random weekend in July, the big easy always felt like there was a party about to break out, and nothing was going to get into the way. I'm sure that katrina will take a long time to clean up, but i hope that new orleans returns to it's happy-go-lucky ways. In the meantime, i encourage donations to the american red cross. Lousiana and Mississippi are basically in the bottom 10% of the US in terms of poverty, quality of education, and services. Having spent some time in both states, it's obvious that this is an america that we don't get to see too often, and is easy to forget. Let's not.

Walkin...

So yesterday i went for a walk in the evening, and ended up strolling for the better part of two hours. here's my issue. when i'm walking on the beach, 1) i don't want to turn around and walk back along the same path i've been going in the opposite direction, and i can't determine what a good amount of time is to walk. 2 hours feels about right - but it is a significant perambulatory commitment. any suggestions on how i can improve my efficiency?