Are You Ready?

On this week’s update of Post Secret, I saw a secret that expressed something that has been going through my mind lately and whenever there is a family function. I hate that my family will talk amongst themselves wondering if there is anyone I’m dating. With the engagement of one of my cousins and my own sister’s relationship, questions about me are coming up. Quite frankly, I think that they already know if not suspect. I feel the probing of their questions and sometimes I just want to stop and say, “Why don’t you ask the question you really want to ask?”
I figure that if they can ask the question, then they are ready to hear the answer.

I Won't Even Pretend

It's that time of the month and it's going to be particularly rough because I will be doing about a weeks worth of work within three days. I don't think I'll be able to make it to the blog any time soon so I might catch you on Black Friday. Happy Thanksgiving! To the internationals: Happy... Thursday?

Back to Our Hemisphere

The National Intelligence Council recently released a report titled, “Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World” that predicted the decline of the United States. This is not news to me. I’ve touched base with this topic many times during my time at university in the social science college and in the ROTC program. From all the published material that I’ve read, the conclusions have been that America is in a state of decline. Not in the sense that there is an actual decline in hard/soft power but in that other countries are catching up. One paper (and I wish I had access to Lexis-Nexus and JSTOR again) put the US as being eclipsed in power by China by 2050.

These reports are interesting in that they make a more convincing case when painting a picture of the future than most sci-fi novels. However, I put less and less stock in what these reports have to say the further in the future they go. I tend to get more suspicious after the 5-15 year mark (which is about the time period needed for one or two regime changes within many countries). The reason is history has shown us—now that we can look behind—that it does not follow past predictions. Yes, you can make broad statements like America will decline—that’s obvious because nations rise and fall. All this has happened before and it will all happen again. Yadda Yadda. What I’m talking about are the meat and potatoes: military capability, economic power, and political power as relative to other countries.

Is it safe to say that states like China and India are on their way to becoming superpowers? Yes, based on what we have observed it is a good bet. The problem is that we cannot always see all ends. There are other forces at work in this world besides the will of--- oh crap lost my train of thought. Anyways my point is that there are a multitude of events that can happen and if they did, you might as well throw that report out the window. Let's focus on one thing-the population question: What would happen if China’s economic growth came to a halt or even declined just a bit? With a growing population (that needs access to jobs) and large disparity between the incomes between the upper classes and the lower classes, can China keep its society stable? How about India?

Before dancing on the grave of the United States, is entirely possible that the country can create a new industry—alternative energy. Becoming a manufacture and exporter of these technologies may prolong its economic dominance. Becoming part of a larger economic and political bloc may also keep the America’s influence afloat. Don’t count us out just yet.

The report is a good chunk of reading and if you are interested, you can read it for yourself here.

A Similar View to Home's

To close out these series of posts, I want to show you a picture of the Pacific Ocean. I've never seen it from the American side until that moment. Although not technically true, it felt like I was standing at the edge of my country. Despite an expanse of water, I felt a little more confined. Freedom of movement--only within four time zones. It was a humbling experience.

I walked in just far enough to say that I've been in the ocean. I'm not a big fan of the ocean. I much prefer the Great Lakes--less sea weed and nasty critters. So now that I can say that I've lived in the Gulf, swam in the Atlantic, sailed the Great Lakes, and stood in the Pacific. I'm not done with this world just yet...

I Dared to Drink the Water

There were actually two trips to Mexico. The plan was to park on the border and then cross over by foot but we missed the last exit and went right in to Mexico. We were never stopped or acknowledged. Heck, we probably weren’t even monitored. And I thought Canada was easy to cross into! I doubt any of us really wanted to drive around in Mexico, much less park so we got ourselves turned around and got in line to get back into the states. And what fraking long line it was. I think our time was over an hour and a half in line. After some uneasy answering we were pretty much done with Mexico but vowed come back the next day.

The next day went a lot smoother. We actually were able to park and walk over just like we intended before. Still it was easy as hell getting into Mexico. Still no waiting or checks. I know where I’m going if I murder someone! We spent some time on Avenida Revolucion before heading to the Cultural Center where we toured the Museo de las Californias. We were having trouble trying to get into the museum. We didn’t know where it was exactly, where we could enter, or where we could get tickets. With Stacey acting as our interpreter, we got sorted out and toured a rather neat museum that chronicles the area’s history from prehistoric times to recent. We learned quite a few interesting, if not horrific, things about the original natives. Kraig and I were also looking for errors on the English translations of the exhibits.

After the museum we headed back to the tourist trap that is Avenida Revolucion where we were “encouraged” by the locals to visit their shops and buy stuff. We did stop though to have lunch at one of the restaurants. The food was great and the chicken tacos were out of this world. The prices for lunch were decent by American standards but the drinks weren’t. And that’s where they got us. $2.00 for a can of coke. Ridiculous! We did have some street food. You know those churros that you can get at Disneyland for $3.00 a stick, well down there you can get a whole bag of them for $1.00 and they taste a helluva lot better too.

I’m sad to say it but I got tired of Mexico really fast. It probably would have been different if we were somewhere else and doing things like walking in a jungle or climbing a pyramid rather than slashing our way through cheap knick knacks and avoiding shop keeper calls but before we left, Stacey gave haggling a try. At first I thought she was doing pretty well but in the end I think that the shop keeper came out ahead. Oh well, she got some nice “machine washable” blankets.

I’d like to go to Mexico again, but Tijuana I can skip over. Well maybe I’d stop to get some churros. Oh… and I’d remember to bring a camera too.

What I Should Have Said...

Something that we learned while crossing back into the United States: when the border agent asks what you are bringing back, it's best not to say, "people."

The laugh was well worth it, Kraig.

A Taste of My Other Homeland in My Homeland That’s Far Away from Home

I honestly didn’t put much thought into what I wanted to do while I was out in California. I had a preference for the Zoo, Mexico, and beach (score—I did all three) but there was one place I definitely had to visit and that was Jollibee.
2003; Lee, Emanuel, and me.

I’ve mentioned it before but when I was in the Philippines, I visited this chain a lot. You see, I had some pretty bad experiences with trying to eat some of the local dishes at the cafeterias on campus there. I mean, you can only choke down squid rings that you thought were onion rings for only so long. So yes, I frequented the westernized eateries quite a bit. Jollibee is like the Filipino version of McDonald's only—they’ve got McDonald's there too but they’ve got their own little twists on the menu.

Anyways, Jollibee is here in the United States but since I live in the Midwest, it would be quite a drive to get to the nearest one which I believe in New York. Unlike Harold and Kumar, I’m not going to put that much effort into obtaining some burger. But since I was heading to California, I was going make and effort there so that I could get a little mouthful of a yum burger—something that I haven’t tasted for years now.

Stacey isn't feeling the special sauce

So we make it there and I was wondering if I made a mistake in asking Kraig and Stacey to take me there. I thought that it would be reasonably filled with a variety people. Nope—all Filipino. We were being stared at and it was a little weird. Feeling like a foreigner in your own country is a weird! The menu wasn’t as varied as I remembered it but I was only intending to get a yum burger anyways. Stacey asked me about the palabok and I encouraged her to try it as well as the halo-halo. We all ended up with the yum burger combo which, as I thought it would, tasted just like it did back in the Phils. I was happy.

Taking a Break from Tech to View Life

On Friday we went to the world famous San Diego Zoo. Stacey and Kraig, being the social animals that they are, managed to score free tickets to the place! So let that be a lesson: the next time you are lined up for something, try talking to your neighbor. Stacey thought that going on the Friday would mean beating the weekend crowds. The tradeoff would be the school kids:
Just kidding. Actually, they weren’t even noticeable once we got in the canyons of the park.

One of the first things that we saw was a sea lion show. I had hoped that when I went to the beach, I’d see some there but Stacey told me that there weren’t any there but I’ll settle for a show. Really, what sea lion in the wild is going to perform tricks for me?

This zoo is one of the few places outside China that you can see a live panda. The murals of them were almost as fun to look at.


The most interesting exhibits I would have to say were the simians. The apes were in a mood to interact (as much is possible behind glass) with the visitors. At the orangutan exhibit, Stacey spied an old one that needed some serious grooming. I spotted a middle aged creature that needed a new wardrobe.*
At the end of a full day at the zoo, Kraig and Stacey had a charachtures done. They were going with a giraffe theme which I though meant that they were going to be drawn as giraffes. But they turned out to be sort of Tarzan and Jane couple taken out of the jungle and plopped down in the savannah. I wonder what kind of animal I’d be pegged as… a tortoise maybe?

Safety!




*To understand, read this post.

Where's the rest of the drive section?

Ugh. A picture has been released of the "new" Enterprise (on the bottom). Personally, I prefer much of the fan-produced images such as the one on top.

From Planes to Cars to Boats

After dropping off my shtuff at the apartment, Stacey and I went to one of the malls. It probably wasn’t but to a country bumpkin like me, it was pretty glitzy. It was an open air mall with wondrous stalls like Bose, Tiffany, and even [gasp] an Apple Store. But I didn’t make a trip out there to shop. No, that’s just silly. I came, in part, to eat!

Back here where I live in Michigan, there’s a curious product in the freezer section of the supermarkets. Pizza. There are these novel pizzas with weird toppings that are made by the California Pizza Kitchen. Well I wanted the real deal and so Stacey and I went to the restaurant where we had a delicious pizza topped with steak, some green gunk, and diced tomatoes. Seriously, great stuff… try it out.

Kraig was still at work so we also made it down to the bay where we visited the maritime museum where had exactly two hours to get our sightseeing in.

The first ship that we visited was the Surprise which was the ship used in the movie, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Like Stacey had mentioned, I really would have climbed up that rigging if I could have.

Next up was the Russian Sub. It was the most interesting out of all the naval vessels that we went on. I’d say it was the most interactive of them all as you could play with various bits of it. Some damn tourists were hogging the best part which was the periscope. Seriously, no one is going to watch your homemade movie to see what it’s like to look through a periscope for ten minutes.

Also along the way, we stopped on a gorgeous old fashioned ferry. The stained glass in the passenger deck was amazing. Bonus: historical actors acting like Brits trying to teach naval operations to kids. Apparently, if you speak with a British accent, people will think you know all about the sea.

If I could have, I would have rowed a boat all the way to the USS Nimitz in order to see it. As you can see, it is in port. I took some time just to imagine what it would be like to walk through the decks. Just amazing.

Just before our two hours were up, we took a short walk to get a glance at the USS Midway.

Call it The Ninety Four and I’ll cut you.

I remember the first time I went to California. My dad was taking my sister and me from our home in Idaho to Disneyland in Anaheim. One of my most vivid memories of that trip was when we were going through some interchange. The highway which we were on was crowded, moving fast with lanes splitting off and merging in and multi-leveled. I thought it was fun. Once we got through it, my dad said, “You like that?” I nodded my head. Years later I found out that it scared the crap out of him.

When I arrived in San Diego, Stacey picked me up at the airport and we were off to her house to drop off my luggage. At first, I didn’t think too much of the driving aspect as we were on the surface streets but soon enough I was grasping for the Oh-Shit-Bar as we plunged into the California Highway system which didn’t seem to end until were practically at her apartment. And it wasn’t just one highway that we were on… at least… I don’t think it was one. Anyways it felt like we were mergining and exiting from Highway A to Highway B to Highway C--one right after the other and at breakneck speed with other cars only feet away.

It wasn’t just the highway that got my heart pumping, it was the way traffic behaves. Drivers around there perform U-turns like crazy. I know that you can do them at intersections but I’ve never seen people actually do them as much as those crazy Californians do. I’m tempted to try it some time.

I’m sure that if I lived there, I’d get the hang of it soon enough but man… I’m sure glad that I wasn’t driving.

As we move along, be sure to visit Stacey's blog as she has some thoughts on this trip as well. Plus--pictures!

Grand Canyon

If you’re goin’, you’ll have to fly.

Well I’m back from an awesome trip visiting my friends Kraig and Stacey who live in San Diego, California. There so much that I want to blog about and so many pictures to show but I’m not quite ready yet. Instead, I’ll throw out the trip in more manageable chunks over the next few days.

Unlike some countries like, say, England, you can’t exactly ride your bike across the country. Well you could, but your trip would be horrendously long. Kraig and Stacey live way on the other end of the country—at least the contiguous part of it. My choices are a month’s long bike trip, a three day car trip, or a four hour flight. And for $350 (including those nasty taxes and fees), a flight seemed to be just the ticket.

In order to travel west, my travel plans had me going east to Detroit where I had a layover for a little while. It turns out that the idea of free wi-fi in international airports doesn’t apply to Detroit Metro. Bummed I rode the tram that travels up and down the concourse. Traveling a mile up and down an airport gets old oh.., about the first time you do it so I made my way to my gate and plopped next to a couple of fine looking guys that appeared to be military members. Considering that San Diego is home for a good chunk of the fleet, I’d say that the odds were pretty good that they were. In fact, one of them is the guy wearing the blue and white striped shirt in the picture.

One of the bonuses of this trip was that I got to cross something off the things-I-need-to-see-before-I-die lists. Well sorta—I did get to see the Grand Canyon. Okay, okay, so I still want to see it up close but I think I can skip the aerial tour now.

Stacey picked me up at the airport. If there is anyone who is afraid of flying, they should take a drive in San Diego. Trust me, flying is a cakewalk but more on that later.

From the West Coast to the Left Coast

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Up ‘Till this Evening

In every election I’ve voted in, polls in Michigan open at 7am and stay open until 8pm. I thought that I would go and vote when the polls opened. I figured that most people would wait until work was over. Also, since I have more cows for neighbors than actual people, I thought that there wouldn’t be a large line. I was wrong. What I didn’t consider was that I also live amongst the old farm folk. The ones that go to bed at 9 but get up at 5. The ones that don’t have much to do in the morning but go vote. And vote they did. I arrived at my polling place with no place to park and a huge line that was about 30 yards long outside the building. I couldn’t tell how long it was inside. I had to be at work at 8:30 and I wasn’t sure I make it if I tried voting then so I left without doing so.

All throughout the day I was slightly irritated. People were talking about the election, what they were hearing on the radio or if they had computers-internet. I just wanted to get it over and done with so we can start the 2010 campaigns. At the end of the day, though, I did go back to the polling location where the line was no longer outside the building, the wait was tolerable, and the ballot taker cute.

I’m now, obviously, back home after a fulfilling dinner at the local casino’s buffet. Thanks to my sister for that. And although it a safe conclusion as to who the next president will be, I have found myself checking in with the news every now and then hoping for an upset. The great political pendulum has swung in the other direction and it will be an interesting study to see how the Republicans are going deal with the Democrats in firm control of the government.

Some have made the observation that this is actually good for Republicans because now they can sit back and let the Democrats take the heat for all the crap that is going to come up. It’s a sickening attitude to me because I don’t want to be a guinea pig for whatever plans Obama, Pelosi, and Reid have. They better start acting like an effective opposition party.

Election Day Command:

Go Vote!

I'm off in a few minutes to cast my ballot and remind myself that, here, the people are sovereign.

Rocking at a Party

I had a good time at the party last night. Getting there was a hellish adventure as I took the main roads to get there. The same roads that people from the Notre Dame game were using to get out after a heartbreaking loss to Pittsburgh in the fourth overtime. I forgot to take them into consideration when I drove my usual route to Mishawaka.

After hearing all the King George comments these past few years, I figure it’s going to be my turn to make fun of the [future] president. So I went as Barackus, the man who brings down the American Republic demanding your change to fund change. Trying to combine celebrity (the party’s theme), political commentary, and my fascination with history turned out to work pretty well. That was a relief since I thought that a lot of people wouldn’t get it.

Not that I was expecting to, but I didn’t win any prizes for my costume. Those went to a guy dressed up in a big foam milk shake, another guy with a snake coming out of his pants, and the king and queen couple. (You can see the king in the next picture – and he’s British English in real life.)

Unlike the previous times, I did not participate in the binge drinking. I didn’t know the majority of the people there. I mean, I recognize them from other parties but I didn’t know them. Most of the time, I was I was playing or watching others play Guitar Hero. I’ve never played before but I can see why it is so popular. I had a blast trying to figure that darn thing out. Finding a person who sucked as bad as I did was hard. Man—if I only had my own Wii and Guitar Hero….

Around 1am and after the fifth playing of the Bon Jovi song, Living on a Prayer, I was done and said my goodbyes. Justin’s birthday is coming up and I hear that there’s going to be another party. God, I love childless couples. j/k

For the past week…

You know how it goes, it was the end of the week so I couldn’t muster up the energy to write any posts. Yadda yadda, same ol’ excuse I know.

For the majority of October, I had been covering someone else’s duties. Basically, it left me with little to no time to do the other things that I normally do which is compile statistical reports and data entry/manipulation. My job alone, can take up my whole day and, depending on the period of the month, even more. Yeah, this past month has been murder but I’ve gotten through it. My relief has finally moved into her office and has taken back her job. Just in time for me to compile the BIG ASS Report which takes a straight up 2.5-3 days to do. I got that done last night and submitted it for review and approval. I’ll do a final look-over on Monday before it can be submitted for billing.

On Monday, I was made into a member of a committee. The membership is meant to have at least one person from each building—office and floor side. So I am representing my building’s floor. Although I do office work, I’m still vulnerable to being run over by a fork lift. So I get this month’s packet in which I will vote for who I think is deserving for employee of the month. My name is up for the nomination. My first time participating in a committee and I’m presented with a choice with my own name! Am I allowed to vote for myself? Umm, conflict of interest I think. I chose not to vote for myself. I don’t think that would have been classy.

I was named employee of the month.

Remember my trip to Ann Arbor? Karl still hasn’t sent back my camera plus he wasn’t responding to my emails or text messages. I was getting pretty pissed because my trip to California is coming up soon and I wanted my damn camera. While I know I would have done it, I would have hated spending $250+ for a decent camera. A new camera would have exceeded my travel budget. And while my camera phone is decent enough for impromptu snaps, it’s not for good quality memories. He texted me a few hours ago and said that he is mailing it today.

I wore my costume to work yesterday. They allow us to dress up but few people did. In fact, other than a few head pieces, I was the only one in full costume. (Don’t worry, I’m wearing the same thing to Carrie and Justin’s party tonight so you’ll get a chance to see it.) Everyone liked it but not everyone understood it. And that’s okay because you can look at it from multiple viewpoints. I did get warned about my mask. There was fear that I might get run over by a fork lift.