change in u.s. politics

Congrats to the Dems, you've won back control of the House and the Senate after 12 years of Republican dominance. But this take-over, what does it mean? Somethings to consider...

First - the Democrats of recent have been known as the party without a spine, wishy-washy flim-flams who don't have the balls to stand up with an agenda of their own and get stuff done. Now that the Dems control the Congress, what will they do? I have the feeling that the American public isn't going to wait around and see if you can finally get your shit together. It was because of the lack of decisiveness that helped the GOP get elected in the first place. Time to grow a pair and put the country heading in the right direction.

Second - the right direction doesn't mean having American troops stage a race to see who can get out of Iraq the fastest. I agree that going into Iraq may not have been the best of ideas of President Bush (unless you look at this 'regime change' as a way to lock in an oil source) but pulling out troops just yet is going to lead to bad things. In the absence of a superpower, the vacuum left behind if American troops leave the country will probably produce a bigger threat to America's national security. Leave the troops there but there has to be a better exit plan than the one that is in place at the moment. Dems - its time to grow a pair and tell the CinC in the White House that he needs to get his act together with the troops he commands. There has to be a better strategy for progressive troop withdrawal that still leaves the Iraqi people with a country not mired in civil war.

Third - American politics are just that - American. I'm tired of reading of how the world reacts to our political arena and how everyone is a critic. Ya know what, if you don't like America, don't deal with America. If you don't like the way that Americans do business in the world, then do something about it. America is the superpower in the world right now for a reason, because we have the strongest economy with the greatest spending power, and a vast array of natural resources that drive the country. We also have the greatest military of the era and have spent billions upon billions to make sure that we have one. We are the mightiest because we worked our way to this position and if you don't like what happens in America, then do something about it. Seriously, if you don't like what Bush (or any American president) does, then create your own 'regime change'. Just be prepared to deal with the world's strongest and best funded military (which is at the direction of the Commander-in-Chief, the President). If enough countries are really that dissatisfied with how America does things, the US regime could be overthrown - just know that its going to take a war in which many countries are going to need to work together to overthrow the current administration (not just Bush's admin, but any admin) and that there are going to be a lot of casualties. The 3rd Reich was once a mighty power that did a great many things that people didn't like. Eventually the world had had enough of the antics of the Reich and overthrew it. The same thing can happen to the US and probably will one day. But until then, if you're a Frenchman and want to bitch about politics, complain about your own damn country. If you're a Cuban and want to voice your opinion about a dictator, speak up about your own dictator. If you're a North Korean - you've got enough problems to deal with considering the whack-job that is in control of your country so don't even think of talking shit about us. American politics are American and I don't want to hear how other countries want to see a change in our government. Worry about your own country and let the Americans deal with American politics.

I'm done with the rant for now, just needed to vent (especially that last part). Carpe Diem Dems, 'cause you may not get a second chance...

wrong side up

I was asked by a friend of mine to recall my first time "off" the bike - meaning how did I crash. So I wrote down the story and send it to her as she had sent me a story of how she put a Yamaha R1 over a cliff. I thought I would save this story for posterity by putting it up here on my blog. And since its been a while since I've updated, this also serves a secondary purpose (keeping my readers with material).


The year is 2000 and I've been riding for about 5 months. At the time I owned a Suzuki Intruder 800, my first cycle and a nice bike to learn on. It was the end beginning of July, the 3rd to be exact. How do I remember the day so well? Easy - it was the day after my sister got married. The family and friends were gathered in a small town called Idyllwild in the mountains just outside of Palm Springs.

I was taking the bike home to where I lived (near Joshua Tree, CA) and enjoying the curves of the road as I descended down the mountain. A few miles into the trip, a blue BMW Z3 came up behind me, rather fast. I was going at my own pace and I remembered from the MSF training course that the quickest way to crash was to ride outside of your ability range. So I took my time, rode the bike to the best of my ability. The driver of the Z3 wanted to go a bit quicker and decided to pass me on a 100 yard straight-away on the road. As he started to pass, we both noticed an oncoming car. Rather than hit the brakes hard and slow to return to his spot behind me, he moved over back into the right lane, forcing me off the road.

I was fortunate enough that there was gravel by the side of the road as if there wasn't, I doubt I would have slowed down enough to avoid going off the side of the mountain. The front wheel washed out in the gravel and both the cycle and I hit the ground going somewhere around 30-40 mph.

The BMW never slowed, never came back, heck - never even touched the brakes. The oncoming car saw the incident and stopped to help me up. I had smashed the windscreen and lightbar on the bike, my jacket was a little messed up on the right side and my pants were slightly shredded. The bike and I both stopped about 4 feet from the guardrail, both a bit tattered but still in decent enough shape to make it home.

I ripped off the windscreen and got back on the bike after a short break. I got home and put the bike in the garage. My entire right side of my body was bruised but I didn't tell anyone except the girl I was dating at the time. If my parents or sister knew that I had crashed on the way home from her wedding, they would've freaked. So when my uncle punched me in the bicep the next day, I grimmaced and complimented him on how strong he was, not mentioning that I was in true pain from the crash.

But the safety gear did its job and I rode away. And any crash you walk/ride away from...

a fat ass costs more

Halloween is coming up in the not to distant future and its kind of a big thing here at school. The kids love it because they don't have to wear their uniforms and the staff enjoys it because it allows us to let our hair down for a day. Being one of the new teachers on the block, I wanted to make sure that I fit in with everyone else and so I recently had an appointment with a local seamstress to get a costume made.

The kids here have given me the nickname of Mr. Incredible because they think that I look like said superhero. I'm not going to argue much, there are much worse things that I could be likened to and Mr. Incredible is my kinda superhero. Since this character has become part of my personality here at school, I decided that I would have the seamstress make me a Mr. Incredible costume. I looked online and you can buy them for about US$90 (plus US$25 S&H) but there is only one problem - the costumes are designed for people who aren't really close to Mr. Incredible dimensions. The costume you can buy online only fits people under six feet tall. So I am getting a custom made costume (just like the real Mr. Incredible) and it will actually fit me (unlike what would have happened if I tried to order it in the US).

Luciana came to school (she does a lot of work for the school) and we started to work out what the costume was, how it was going to be made, etc. I asked for some additional muscles (I'm natural in every other way!) to be sewn in to the costume and as she started to take my measurements, she made some mental calculations about how much it was going to cost for my outfit.

After a preliminary set of measurements of my upper body, she quoted me a price of S/ 250 (soles are Peruvian currency) which equates to about US$80. I was happy about it and kinda smiled; what a great deal I was getting.

Then she took the tape and measured the dimensions of my ass.

"Oh Mister, I think I'm going to need much more material, you are a very big man. I think the price is going to be more like S/ 300."

Now if that don't just crush your self-esteem, I don't know what does. She measures my bum and makes the comment about how she is going to need a lot more material - no doubting what that statement conveys...

So yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have a lot of "junk in my trunk". Maybe that's why I think J-Lo's posterior looks pretty darn good - its a reflection of my own image. Joy.

i hope to hell there is a hell

Readers will know that from recent posts here, I am not a religious man. I believe that organized religion has been the major sparkplug for conflict in our world almost as long as religion has been spreading its own word. But after the events of the last few days, I do hope that there is a hell and certain people are in it.

I was fortunate enough to find a profession where I enjoy myself and I'm also really good at. I don't complain about my salary because as compared to other professions, I don't work the same number of months of the year that they do. This isn't to say that I don't work the same number of hours, rather I just do it during during a 10 month span instead of 12. I'm ok with doing the work that I do, I love working with teenagers (most people say I'm a glutton for punishment) but hey - there's nobody you'd want with your kid more than me.

Four years ago, I left the desert of southern California and headed out to the international teaching circuit and have been overseas since. I was having a hard time dealing with the status of American schools at the time (especially the one in California I was at) and I left the US to teach abroad. Luckily for me, I found a new sense of joy and pride in my work while working in Holland and at the end of my tenure there, seriously considered returning to the States to live and work.

After what has happened in education over the course of the last week, I'm not sure if I ever want to go back to a school in the US - even if you paid me hazardous duty pay. And like I said in the title to this post, I hope there is a hell and the assholes who committed those atrocities spend a long time down there suffering.

The teenager in Wisconsin who murdered his principal for disciplining him. He needs a serious mental exam and possible banishment to hell. His parents need to take a long look at what they didn't do when he was growing up and question whether or not they should be allowed to raise any more children. I have a good friend of mine that is a principal and gives out discipline to students. I truly worry about him because while a good and decent man, he is seen as a disciplinarian by many and I fear that his life could be in danger if he expels a kid. Imagine this - your life could be in danger for doing your job - even when you're not a member of the military or law enforcement. I pray for you Steve, I really do.

Then the sex-crazed lunatic that busted into a Colorado school to rape and shoot teenage girls - he's another winner of the purgatory award. This sick fuck molested the girls before turning the gun on them and himself. I guess he knew that his life would be a living hell on Earth if he was ever caught and sent to prison - imagine what the inmates would have done to him? Ahhh, only a small sample of the terror that those girls endured when he sodomized them. Send that bastard to hell after the correctional system gets done with him and let his soul think of what it did for a good long time.

And finally, today's crowning achievement - the milk truck driver who executed the young Amish women in Pennsylvania. This asshole needs to spend a long time burning in the depths of hell for his actions. His deep seeded neurosis that he had been wronged 20 years ago comes to fruition and he goes off on the Amish? What on Earth could an Amish person ever could have done to him that made him so whacked out that he would seal himself and the girls in that one room school house and execute them? I don't mean to generalize but the Amish are known as being one of the most kind and docile people of the western world - what could anyone from that community do to him that would make him bind the hands and feet of young girls and put a bullet into their brain? Did someone cut off his milk truck in their buggy? It sounds insane but clearly this guy was so it must have been something totally deranged that put him over the edge. To hell and no coming back for that motherfucker.

Excuse my language but I am passionate about my chosen profession and I, like so many others, are in it for the kids. I want the world to be run by these guys because my generation hasn't done anything to make it a better place. These kids are full of bright and innocent ideas that are pure and idealistic. They haven't been corrupted in their thought by what the status quo is and what other people say they can and can't do. I want kids from the ages of 14 to 18 years old to run the country for four years and see what happens - it can't be any worse than it is right now. And THAT's why I'm in education - to make things better for the future generation that will lead us out of the shittiness we have gotten ourselves into.

But how are they gonna do that if they fear for their lives every day they come to visit me? How can I teach the laws of physics and critical thinking skills when kids (and educators) are more concerned with survival from predators? Schools are soft targets (ever see a military checkpoint outside a school?) and until this generation pulls its collective head out of its collective ass, kids will live in fear of what might happen at school. Imagine Johnny coming home from a day at school and answering the question about how his day went with, "Not too bad, I think. I didn't pay too much attention because Sally got raped by some lunatic who walked into class and Mr. Johnson was stabbed trying to stop him. But that's about it, how was your day?"

mountain excursion (part II)

Once again, forgive me for cutting and pasting from my other blog but this one is even longer than the last and I have no desire to rewrite the whole darn thing.

day 2 of the trip to huaraz was an eventful one indeed. it started out early with a 6am wakeup call for breakfast at 630 and leaving the hostel at 7 for the trip to lago (lake) 69. we had heard that it was a beautiful place to visit and take pictures of so we decided it was worth getting up with the sun in the morning.

the group of 9 of us piled into the van that was taking us to our starting point 3 hours down the road and 800 m higher than huaraz. it was an ok ride there, the lady from seattle was constantly asking to pull over so she could take pictures of the local scenery and it was getting fairly annoying, even for me. the tour guides were getting impatient to get to the start point so we could do the hike and so was i. after some flat and some bumpy roads, we made it into the park where the lake is located and got to our departure spot - located at 3900 m above sea level.

we ate a bit of lunch before and peed on the local trees before heading off on our hike. a conservative estimate said that it would be a 2.5 hour hike up and a 1.5 hour hike back. we were told that the lake was at 4450 m so it didn't look like it was going to be that hard of a hike, only needing to go up another 500 vertical meters. the guides said that it was an easy trail so we didn't expect it to be that hard.

slight problem - we weren't acclimated to the elevation.

we started off and on the relatively flat sections noticed that we had a hard time talking between ourselves for more than 4 or 5 words at a time. there just wasn't the oxygen there to breathe and speak. we tended to get tired quickly yet found that we recovered quickly when we took a break. after about an hour, our group was starting to fragment into the hikers who were doing ok with the altitude and those that were not. i am proud to say that i was in the group that was doing fine and i was setting the pace for the 3 behind me that were all 10 years younger.

there was a flat valley as we approached the 2 hour mark and at that point, we were at 4400 m. with the joy of knowing that we only had another 50 vertical meters to go, the group of 4 headed across the valley and towards the last trail that would take us to the summit of our journey. we came across some people coming down and they said that the view was amazing but the hardest part of the hike was still to come. no problem!!! we weren't that tired and the skies looked clear. for about 10 minutes and then it started to hail. little tiny balls of frozen water bounced off my cap and shirt (notice i didn't say jacket, cuz i didn't bring one) and the sky changed from being a lovely shade of blue with fluffy white clouds to a sunless day with dark rain clouds looming overhead. oh frackin' lovely, i thought. i'm gonna get soaked at altitude without a rain coat and in relative cold (it was around 8 C)...

the last slope was wicked steep with loose rocks and a lot of vertical ground to cover. the 50 m we thought we had to go was a slight (!!!!) understatement and the 4 of us began to splinter into single hikers as we ascended the last slope. i would take 10 steps and stop to catch my breath. i was amazed at how hard it was to breathe, and the pounding in the back of my head from the altitude was getting rather severe as i continued to climb. when i busted out the gps, i noticed that i was at 4500 m and still not anywhere near the top of the hill. i figured out then that it was going to be a long afternoon even though it was only slightly before 1pm.

i managed to push my way up to the top and towards the infamous lago 69. it was a beautiful sight and i would have appreciated it more only i was physically spent. the gps registered the lake as being 4616 m above sea level and it completely felt like it. at this point i was getting nausea from the altitude and couldn't eat the snickers bar that i had brought with me to eat at the summit of the journey. how sad must i be if i can't eat chocolate????

the headache and nausea were too much so i started back down after only being at the lake for about 20 minutes. the signs my body were giving me told me that i needed to get down from that elevation and back to somewhere that i could get oxygen to my muscles (and brain). i began the trek back to the van and found the walk back to be as difficult as the walk up. the rocks were sliding everywhere and i had to take tiny steps to ensure that i didn't bite it and roll my way down the mountain. after a while, my legs started to cramp up from the lack of oxygen in my muscles and things went from bad to worse. i was going slower DOWNHILL than i was when i was going uphill. the fatigue of the hike was setting in and i still had 1000 vertical meters to descend (which should have taken me about an hour). it took closer to 2.

after about 30 minutes of hiking, my brain disconnected. the altitude was getting to me and the constant walking meant that there was a relative lack of oxygen going to my brain. i got to feeling like i was drunk, with a hangover, and in jeopardy of falling off a mountain. not a good combination and the reality of what altitude can do to a person was really sinking in. the slower members of our group were passing me on the way down and noted that i couldn't walk a straight line no matter what the terrain. it was not a good experience and i have a new found appreciation for what high altitude hikers go through. not being acclimated was biting me in the backside and i went from having a pretty good day to a bad one.

the terrain leveled out a little as i got closer to the van and i struck up conversations with anything that would listen. the cows, the burros, my shoes, even my hat (i told you i was in bad shape). and somehow i made it back to the van and collapsed in the front seat with a massive headache and burning desire to vomit. ugh, i definitely was going to remember this experience...

the van departed for huaraz and as we descended back to the normal elevation of where i could breathe, my headache went away and the nausea with it. i never did throw up and somewhere around 3700 m is where i felt like a human again. the ride back to town went well and although i was tired, i wasn't sick. to finish off the day, a couple of us dropped by a local restaurant for some pizza before we hit the sack around 9pm that night. i haven't slept that well in a long time.

olympic home

I would just like to say hello to the reader from Lake Placid, NY. I don't know who you are (and would love to find out) but wanted to give a shout out to one of my favorite places in NY. I lived in Saratoga for a short time and made it up to Lake Placid once while I lived there, a great little town indeed...

Not only is Lake Placid the home to Whiteface Mountain and the awesome skiing that the mountain provides but its also home to my favorite sporting event in history - the Miracle on Ice. Disney went on to make it into a movie (which I've watched too many times) but I still remember being a kid and watching the game live on a tiny B&W TV in my parents bedroom. "Do you believe in miracles? YES!!!!"

So to the reader from Lake Placid, thanks for tuning in and giving my blog a read. Better yet, thanks for reminding me of a wonderful place in New York. :)



The reader from Lake Placid can reach me at cavaliers948@gmail.com

to the mountains!

I'm too lazy to type this again so here's a copy of what I wrote on my other blog about the recent trip to Huaraz I made with some other teachers. It will come in a few parts, so be patient while I get them all written. Cheers!

a group of us met at the bus station for our night-long journey to huaraz. the trip takes about 8 hours (350 km) and we booked our seats on a sleeper-bus. the chairs are big and comfy, reclining most of the way to horizontal to make it as nice as possible to sleep. i got stuck sitting next to the freaky woman from seattle who wanted the window seat yet constantly needed to pee. gee, thanks for that...

but i got some z's and was awakened at 7am on thursday morning when we arrived in huaraz. after getting off the bus, the first thing i noticed was how hard it was to get my breath. sure enough, 3100 m (10 000 ft) above sea level will do that to you. our group of 6 headed off to our hotel (hostel) to drop off our stuff and set off for the day. the crazy pee-woman from seattle had some idea of stuff to do for the day and so we followed this lady on her expedition to buy native goods.

what a mistake THAT turned out to be...

she said there was an artist's colony in some town called marcara, so we went there. it turns out that the place is there but doesn't allow visitors - they sell their goods in another town. so we piled back into a taxi cab and went to monterrey; another 25 minutes in a cab. we get there and have lunch before heading off to the artist's shop only to find out from the locals that the shop is actually a bunch of shops that are located up the road. grrrrr - we are not happy at this point. so she and some others head off to the hot springs that are in this small village (population 30, maybe...) while the rest of us decide to head back to huaraz to get a nap and relax for a bit.

so kelsey (a student teacher at the school) and i hop into a combi to head back into huaraz. what is a combi? its a mini-van that fits 17 people but are known to cram well over 20 people (like 27) into it. the cost to get to monterrey by cab - 25 soles. the cost to get back to huaraz from monterrey by combi - 1 sole. nothing like travelling like the natives - a true peruvian experience.

we all met at the hotel and relaxed for the afternoon, wandering about to take some pictures and shop at the local stores. alpaca (llama) sweaters and hats and all the other local wares were to be found. i think i found one in orange, i wonder if anyone would be interested in it... in any case, some shopping and some dinner eventually led us to planning the next day, a trip to lago 69 up in the mountains near huscaran (a glacier). friday was going to be a long day so we hit the sack earlier and prepared for our trek up to 4450 m.

details on the trip to lago 69 and the rest of the mountain expedition later.

the crusades - *new and improved*

So here we go again, it seems as though just when you thought that the role of religion couldn't be used any more for non-sense, the latest bout of Islam vs. Christianity features the Pope's recent comments being used as fuel for the fire. Coming soon to a mixed neighborhood near you - the Crusades *new and improved*...

Once again, people are inciting the belief in their god as the reason why they should go forth and kill everyone else who has different beliefs. I think that historians will look back at this time in history as the time when over-population was controlled through the culling of humans through the process of war. Look back at the last hundred years and think of the hundreds of millions of people who have been killed for a set of beliefs. Nowadays it seems as though if any person wants to go kill someone else for whatever reason, they just claim 1) their god told them to do it or 2) their god is offended by the existance of infidels.

I'm going to go out and say it - organized religion is a bunch of crap and people need to stop listening to their leaders who base their decisions on what they interpret as what god wants. George Bush said that god told him to invade Iraq, Islamist fundamentalists say that Zionists are to be wiped off the face of the Earth because they are... Jewish? Ya know, in the past when people said they heard voices telling them what to do, we medicated the shit out of them, put them in "hug-me" jackets, and watched them roll around rooms with padded wallpaper through a slot in the door.

Now it seems like we are following the crazies to their own personal insanity. Since when did people lose sight of the fact that any creator, regardless of religion, gave us the ability to reason and determine who the crazies were? As far as organized religion is concerned, aren't the level-headed, god-fearing people of the community supposed to take care of those who can't seem to grasp reality?

Its no shock that I am agnostic, religion in its current form has just totally turned me off of a certain belief system. I believe that there is a creator (the universe didn't come from nowhere) but I am tired of the dogma that religious people subscribe to without even critically thinking about where that idea originated. Christ wasn't born in December and Mohammed probably didn't mind his picture being drawn (as long as it wasn't a caricature). To all the leaders in organized religion - GET OVER YOURSELF AND YOUR SUPREMACY ISSUES! No religion is the only way to "heaven" and stop killing people in the name of your beliefs. You don't see me running around and cutting off all your penises (or is it peni?) because I don't think you should be allowed to reproduce and spread your ideas, do ya? Its called tolerance folks and EVERY RELIGION PREACHES IT. Pay attention to your own beliefs and don't worry so much about the other guy, he's got his own godly problems to deal with.

small and insignificant

Now here's a video that will let you know just how small we really are in the big scheme of things...

where does it hurt?

The answer to that question is simply, "between my ears". Today was my first foray into the medical system of Peru, a journey into the surreal for me.

Last Saturday I strained my elbow while playing softball. It hurt like a son-of-a-gun at the time that I did it and I knew I had to get it checked out by a professional. Its amazing - the three years I was in Holland, I only had to go to the doctor once and that was because I got hit by a car. I'm in Peru for a little over a month and I've already managed to ding myself up. Nice job there sport-o.

The precedent has already been set for how bad my spanish is as my current hairstyle reflects. So I had no problems with asking others for a little help with arranging an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. I was given the number by someone at school and after having no luck with getting an appointment with him, I was referred to another doctor who was able to see me today. At the conclusion of the day, I packed my bag and headed to the Clinica San Borja to meet with my doctor - Dr. Diaz.

I had no idea that the clinic was just part of the adjoining hospital and never even thought that there would be more than one Dr. Diaz. Ummm, yeah - one should never assume that of a last name like Diaz in a latin country. The clinic is seven stories tall and has doctors ranging from neurology to podiatry and every body part in between. When I walked in, I was greeted by a gentleman who I was hoping would steer me towards the elevators and tell me what floor to get off on. Nope, he put me in the line to get medical insurance sorted out (b/c that was his job) and after standing in the insurance line for a few minutes, I was directed to go see someone else since I evidently didn't have all the correct paperwork.

So I made my way through the blue door with the smiley face on it and sat down to talk with Karina. Not the Karina from my previous posting, but the Karina that works at the clinic. Her job was to figure out how I was going to get my insurance to cover the cost of the consultation and being the efficient worker that she was, she also spoke so fast that I could barely understand my own name being read to me.

I must have gone wide-eyed and had a total look of bewilderment on my face because she looked at me and said (in spanish), "Do you understand what I am saying?"

I replied in my best gringo-accented spanish, "No, could you say that again slower and in smaller words. My spanish is bad because I have live here only for one month." Upon hearing this, she repeated everything she had said earlier - only faster. I guess she enjoyed watching my eyes glaze over as she rambled away, it musta been fun to watch the white guy with his master's degree sit there in total befuddlement - I would have probably done the same if I were in her shoes.

We eventually figured out that I had to pay the doctor's fee up front and then be reimbursed by my insurance company. With that in hand, I finally got to make my way towards the elevators that I was hoping to ride 45 minutes earlier. I made my way up to the 7th floor where I was greeted by another gentleman - and yes, I was a bit nervous about talking with him b/c I thought he might send me back downstairs. He pointed me to the right desk and I walked over to check in with the receptionist.

"Hello, may I help you?" Oh thank God!!! Someone who speaks English!!! "Yes, I am here for my appointment, my name is Expat Nomad and I have a 4pm appointment." By the way, it was 5 pm when I said this to her. "Yes Mr. Nomad, Dr. Diaz will see you now."

I walked off the elevator and into his office for a brief consultation that resulted in some guy telling me (in English too!) the same thing that I figured out on the internet - I have tennis elbow. He gave me a prescription to reduce the swelling, told me to take it easy for a couple of weeks and that I should come back in a week to see him. I paid my S/ 170 (170 soles is about $60 USD) and hopped in a cab to head home. I was tired of using my brain for the day and flopped into the back seat and spoke only to the driver when I needed to tell him what street to turn on to get me home.

But I'm better off. I've been told by a licensed professional exactly what is wrong with me and what I can do to fix it. The hard part is going to be staying away from sports for the next couple of weeks until this heals. Grrrr!!!

Oh well, gotta run for now. I need to get some sleep, I've got a softball game in the morning...