hmmm

Did you know that Mexico is so mountainous that if you spread it all out flat it would cover Asia.

That sounds incredible, but i'm not sure if it means anything. There are a lot of mountains in the US. If you spread us out like butter would we cover the world?

On the end and a new city

The end is near. I finished painting the last couple rooms today. Our place looks great. We're down to the last few boxes to unpack...mainly decorations and things that really can't be unpacked until everything else is in place. The living room is green. The kitchen is blue (the same shade that we used for the stripe in out bedroom at the old place. Then a very light brown starts in the kitchen and winds its way along the wall that separates the living room and kitchen, and winds up in the office, where one wall is a darker shade of brown. The bathroom and bedroom are both a light beige color. It's really quite nice.

Now all that reamains is to put everything away. Tomorrow we're going down to the MVD to get new driver's licenses and lisence plates and such. It's funny to me that you can't be a legal resident as far as the school is concerned for tuition rates, but if you don't change the plates on your car its big trouble.

So in Ann Arbor, if they fix the sidewalk in front of your house they charge you for it. I've never heard of that before. Do they do that in Arizona? My grandparents actually had to go out and find someone to fix the sidewalk where the city marked it. And in another case the city decided to improve a road. They paved it and put in sidewalks and hooked everyone up to city water and sewer. They didn't ask any of the residents. They just did it. Then they sent the bill to the people that live there. To the tune of 80-100 thousand per house. Some of the people liked the dirt road and the taste of well-water. On top of that city property taxes are astronomical...where's all the money going. It's hard to believe it could be corruption in a place like this...I just don't get it. Maybe city hall has gold-plated toilets or something

Where have all the bloggers gone

So apparently everyone is out of town or just not writing at the moment. Steven is the best with a measely one in the last ten days. Mark hasn't posted since I was in Spain. As it is written "and the pot shall call the kettle black"...you're all bums

So let this be an encouragement to you. Write more.

On consumption

IKEA is the consumer's dream (or nightmare) come true. We are a consumeristic society, at least some people think so. So we usually don't think twice about buying things. But there are those of us who try to limit our consumption to conserve resources (like green paper).

In most stores spending more than you intend takes a fair amount of justification ($200 isn't that much, right, and we really do need a pink laundrybascket that sings christmas carols) . It is usually only when we walk into a store that sells something we are passionate about that we go off the deep end.

But in Ikea it is all so easy. Walk into the store and you will soon need things you didn't know existed. Everything in the store is so...practical...and cheap. It's almost impossible to say no. You suddenly need everything. And it all seems so cool. It's like a little club. Everyone there is in on the secret (we're going to spend a lot and consume a lot because it feels good, makes sense, and...) And so you find yourself wrestling a cart full of heavy boxes and lots of little packages filled with all your new cool stuff. Then you begin to realize...wait theres no way a dresser could fit into a box that small.


2 hours later you're on the carpet in you living room surrounded by piles of little pieces--screws, nails, brackets, gizmos, gadgets, slats, slits, slices, slabs, hunks, doodads, and a hundred other things.

The breakdown begins...yeah it was cheap, but not if I pay myself $20 an hour to put it together...I might as well have gone to a real furniture store. Whats this piece-oh that's nothing...where is that darn piece...oops...it doesn't look like the picture...is that drawer suposed to go there...

Then it ends up in the dumpster...true consumerism. You didn't even have to use it to buy and discard it. The ironic thing is they have this program where they try to get you to buy reusable bags to save the disposable ones...ha, one more thing for the trash.

On Michigan

We're here. We unloaded everything on Wednesday and took off for the cottage. We had a great time up there. I will probably post more on our time there including pictures later.

Now we're back at the house and I am using the laptop to piggyback off someone else's wireless internet. Adrienne is painting with Lori. Eric and I are hanging out unpacking boxes and stuff. they're actually almost done with what they're going to paint today.

Moving is a lot of work. Not only do you have to deal with all the obvious stuff--boxes et cetera. But yo9u also have to deal with all sorts of other stuff. Geting internet and phone service...setting up[ a new bank account...getting a new driver's lisccense...registering a car...learning your way around a new place...meeting new people...

But we are doing well....so far

Moving

The last few days have been a flurry of activity. Packing, loading, cleaning, packing, loading, trying to spend every possible second with friends and family.

Thursday we went down to Nogales and saw Mom and Caroline and Dad and I got my physical done for Medical school and we had a great lunch and then talked for a few hours.

Friday we got the trucka and started loading it after using it to deliver a few articles of furniture to friends around town. Mark came over for dinner and we went to the Seneca house for dinner then went to Lori and Eric's place and played a game.

Yesterday Ryan and Ron came over and helped me load up the moving truck. It's a very large one, big enough to fit two of our houses in. Eric came just in time to see us done and brought lasagna for us to eat. Then Mark and Steven and Dad came over for a while. Then we went to the Seneca house for dinner with Eris and Sue, and Kevin and Ginger and Lori and Ryan and Ron and Michael (Eric had to work). It was a great time. We sat and talked until late then swung by to see Eric before Starbucks closed.

Today we found that loading the last 10 % of the house takes about three times as long as the first 90 %. I spent most of the day in the truck or shuttling between the house and truck. Adrienne's dad came down and helped us all afternoon. We got to see Steven at Starbucks this morning which I enjoyed. At church they prayed for us and Ron read a poem that he wrote about us which was great. Then we finished loading the truck with a lot of help from our friends.

And tomorrow we're leaving. It is a sad day, full of mourning. We will miss this place and these people. I think it is good to name them.

Steven just so you know since you didn't come over to get your duvel glasses, Ron has them so just call him if you think you can handle having them in your house again.

Dad, there's some dogfood on the back porch that you should take home with you. Also the bolts for the bedframe are in the dresser drawer, as is the box that you are mailing for us, and if I remember to put them there tomorrow morning the spare keys.

Happy 4th of July

May your burgers be juicy
and nights full of light
but don't forget the day
that gave you the right
to slurp that watermelon
without fear or fright
and forget not those men
who are ready to fight
to keep you from harm
and protect your birthright
So wave that flag high
and with all of your might
for we've a great country
that turned out all right
so remember the day
as you take that first bite

On Blood and Diamonds

I wrote about the movie Blood Diamond several months ago and was fairly critical of the concept behind the movie. Well I finally got around to seeing the movie today.

What I said before holds true. The buzz surrounding the movie, the lessons drawn from it, and the underlying intended purpose of it are misleading. The idea that war in Africa is a result of our indulgence is ridiculous. And the idea that if we didn't buy diamonds...or gold or oil for that matter...from Africa, the wars would go away is even more so.

That said, I enjoyed the movie. Suprisingly the blood diamond theme was relatively subdued save for a few highly charged dialogue scenes. It is a story of evil and redemption. It does portray war in Africa in a manner which, to my understanding, is accurate. War in much of Africa is a horrible, horrible thing (though I suppose the modifier "in Africa" isn't neccessary) that tears the social fabric apart and is tremendously destructive. Massacres of entire villages are not uncommon, children are abducted and transformed into monsters, taught to destroy and kill and even deny their own parents. Refugee camps overflow. Government forces are often no better than rebel forces.

And the fire of war is fed, not by ideas...freedom, nation, oppression, exploitation...but by the personal gain acheived by the leaders of the war. When war is conducted in this way there is no incentive for peace. The oppressed, the poor, the good, are displaced or killed, and the rich, powerful, and evil are left to suck the life out of society for their own personal gain.

The plot of the movie is also engrossing. It is led by Leonardo Dicaprio who, in my opinion, does an excellent job. The transformation and redemption of his character is painfully slow, and advances two steps forward, one back. But it is completed and in the end, as in any good story there is a degree of justice served.

All in all it was an enjoyable movie. A warning though...it is a tremendously violent movie with some incredibly disturbing scenes including but not limited to impromtu amputation, village massacres, the indoctrination of children and their subsequent vicious behavior, lots of death, the sack of a city, and several firefights.

On June

June was officially my most prolific month ever--16 posts.

It followed May, during which I posted exactly once.

The Trip: Cordoba Part 3

The mosque is the main attraction of Cordoba. Beyond that there is not a whole lot worth seeing. There is a crumbled Roman Temple, and a relatively interesting Castle. The castle was built by the Reyes Catolicos Fernando and Isabela (Ferdinand and Isabel) when they were conducting their campaign against the Moors in Granada. It later became a center of the Inquisition in the south for a few hundred years, then a prison. It has some beautiful gardens and you can climb up in the towers.













There are also a few museums dedicated to the Jews and their history in the city. They made it a center of learning in the 10-11th centuries. Incidentally noone guessed Maimonides as the Jewish Doctor/Philosopher I mentioned in an earlier post. His epiteph reads "From Moshe (Moses) to Moshe (Maimonides) there is no one like Moshe." He had to flee Cordoba when an intolerant group of Muslims came to power and eventually landed in Egypt where he was renowned as the greatest physician of his time (at a time when Arab physicians were the best in the world). He was also perhaps the greatest Jewish philosopher.



















The highlight of Cordoba, outside the Mosque was the riverwalk. We say the statue of a man bathing in the river. I wonder what happens if there is a droght.












and got a great view of the city at sunset. The building in the center is the mosque with the cathedral rising out of it. To the right is the bell tower, within which is the old minaret. It is a beautiful city, go if you get the chance.

The Trip: Day 18 Part 2

Bullfighting is an old tradition in Spain. It was passed on to much of Latin America, and is even practiced in parts of France (or so I'm told). It began as a way to prolong the festivities surrounding the killing of a bull and the party that followed.

The first bull fighting ring was built in the mid-18th century in Seville.


From there it spread. Every step in a bullfight is ridgidly controlled and dictated by tradition. It is often likened to a dance, an alaborate ritual that will lead to the death of one or the other of the contestants. Each step is announced by the band and controlled by the president of the bullfight.

The first players are the Picadors. These are men on horseback with long pikes. When the bull charges the horse they stick it to make it bleed and thus weaken the bull. Before they added the protective covering many horses were killed by the bulls.


Next come the banderilleros. These in my opinion are the craziest of the bullfighters. They run right at the bull, jump up to reach over the horns and stick these colorful sticks into the bull's shoulder. This is to add to the show, and to make the bull mad.

Then it is the turn of the matador. He is the star of the show. There are three per bullfight and each fights two bulls. The most famous are household names throughout Spain. They guide the bull with their red cape. They display their bravery in two ways, by guiding the bull ever closer to them, and by moving their feet as little as possible. As they guide the bull the crowd gets more and more into it. There is a fine line however, because if the matador plays with the bull too much the bull may tire and not be a worthy adversary when it comes time to kill it.

The last step is the killing of the bull. The goal of the matador is to drive the sword into the heart. If done correctly it takes no more than a few seconds for the bull to die. Occasionally they miss the heart. This results in a failed bullfight and dishonor. Generally though the thrust is successful.

After the fight it is up to the President of the bullfight to decide if the matador deserves a trophy. To earn a trophy the matador must have fought well and put on a good show. The audience participates in theis process by indicating that they enjoyed the performance by waving wight flags. When we went one matador earned a trophy. The trophies that they earn come from the bull. A good bullfighter earns an ear...a great bullfightes earns two ears, and the best earn two ears and the tail.


All in all we had a great time at the bullfight. I have wanted to go for a long time. I enjoy tradition and ceremony.

The Move: Day 3

As anyone who is likely to read this blog knows, Adrienne and I are moving to Michigan next Monday, July 9. It is a difficult process packing up the house. There are so many memories tied up in it. I sometimes find my memory triggered by some random thing I am packing up and I am carried down memory lane. We have lived here for two years now--our entire married life.

It is hard too because we didn't expect it to be this way.

The house is a wreck right now. It's a good thing nobody is coming to look at the house. There are boxes everywhere and our things are strewn about the house.

Most of the packing is done. When you start packing for a move the boxes all have order. They contain a certain class of things and are all neatly labeled--"books-fiction-A-F", "Things from David's desk", "Pots and Pans". As you progress the labels become increasingly vague and tend to be labeled by room--"Leftover books", "Random office stuff". By the end they lose all coherence and labels become irrelevant--"Sort it out when you get there", "Stuff I couldn't fit in other boxes".

The Trip: Day 20...and 21....and 22....and 23

We left Spain a little after 11 o'clock in the morning on Tuesday. Our plan was to arrive in Phoenix about 20 hours later at 10 PM and then drive down to Tucson.

The flight to Miami went well, but then things began to go wrong. I reported a passport lost a few years ago, and so when we showed up at the port of entry they shuttled us off into the little special room to await special questioning. They asked us all sorts of questions and generally pestered us. Of course my passport does have stamps from Cuba, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan...and it turned out to be an invalid passport. Inadvertantly I must have found the passport I lost and lost the new one I got and never realized the switch had been made (if you are familiar with my filing methods you won't be suprised). So they were a little suspiscious and kept us there for hours making us stand on nails, and dripping water on our heads, and giving us deep-muscle massages the old-fasioned way...actually no that's a lie, they just punched a hole in y passport and sent us on our way. They didn't even ask for another form of identification...no wonder terrorists have no problem getting into this country, though I guess my wife was a little scantily clad for the wife of a fundamentalist muslim...but it could all be a big hoax to fool the Great Satan.

Sorry I'm Rambling

So we continued on to New Orleans, where we were promptly told that our flight to Dallas was cancelled and we would have to wait in line to schedule another one. Two hours later we had a flight scheduled for the next day, but no place to stay, no vouchers for food, or accomodations...in short nothing that a reasonable company would offer. As we sat inline we watched the other airlines' flights to Dallas take off despite the weather.

We found a halfway decent place to stay, walked to Sonic for dinner, and bedded down for the night. The interesting thing about New Orleans is that no one makes any sense. They never tell you this when you see news reports...they all manage to find the one person in the city who can speak English. Most speak, Spanish, or French, or Creole, or English that is so mangled that I am confident most linguists would classify it as a different language.

We got to the airport the next day and waited for 6 hours as our flight was delayed, and delayed, and delayed...then we got up in the air, circled over Dallas for two hours, diverted to Austin, then halfway there, turned around and came back to Dallas where, upon landing we were informed that our flight to Phoenix had been cancelled. Again, no offers of explanations, or assistance, only the long wait for a new flight. Two hours later we had a flight scheduled for Friday afternoon and were comfortably ensconed in the Radisson. Thursday, we hung out all day, went down to the mall, hung out in Barnes and Noble, ate in the food court and watched Ocean's Thirteen...like the other two it was a humorous, and entertaining movie careful not to stray from the light side of life...and then returned to the hotel. In an interesting contrast the hotel shuttle was 15 minutes late picking us up at the mall so they offered us free dinner. I recommend the Radisson. We went swimming, ate dinner and turned in for an early night.

Today we got to the airport and got on the airplane with out a hitch and the pilot came on the intercom to say that there was a problem with the tire and a maintenance guy was going to come check it out. 30 minutes later the guy arrived checked the tire and gave us the ok to take off...it seems like in the world of modern aviation you would be able to get someone to the plane in less than thirty minutes...I mean there's a maintenence guy attatched to that gate or small group of gates.

Now we're here.


Moral of the Story: 1. No Passport, no problem...this is the United States
2. Never fly American Airlines

The Trip: Cordoba Part 2

Cordoba was an ancient Roman city, but the height of its glory came under the Muslims. It became the seat of the Umayyid caliphate after they were kicked out of Damascus in the 800´s by the Abbasids. In the 900´s it was the biggest city in Europe other than Constantinople. It was a place of vibrant artistic, architectual and intellectual activity. One of the people who makes my top ten smartest people in history list was born there during this period. If you can guess who it was I´ll give you a dollar.

The crown jewel of this period is the mezquita (Spanish for mosque, not mosquito). It is a classic example of the simple elegance in architecture practiced by early Muslims. You walk into the patio del los naranjos, a courtyard dotted with the orange tree native to Southern Spain (yes its name is naranjo, not naranja) laid out in a grid like pattern, watered by an interconected series of small ditches in the pavement that are in turn fed by the fountain in the middle.

The interior of the mosque itself is supported by hundreds of pillars (at one point there were more than 1200) that support a series of arches. Each arch is made of alternating red and white stone. It gives the impression of walking into a forest. The lighting is ingeniously done so that it comes through windows and lights up certain areas

The mihrab is perhaps the most elaborate I have seen, with a horsesho arch and a dome going up above it. And the ceilings are made of carved wooden beams.

When the Christians conquered the city in the 13th century they used it as a church, but did little to change the interior. In the 16th century though, with gold from the new world flowing through Spain, they ripped out the center of the mosque and installed a cathedral replete with soaring gothic arches, gold altarpiece and elaborately carved walnut choir stalls.

Most of the old mosque remains, but the giant Spanish cathedral in the middle destroys much of the simple elegance of the original design.

The Trip: Day 18 Part 1

El Escorial is a palace/monastary built by Phillip II because he promised it to God in return for victory. It is just outside Madrid on our side of town, so we went to see it on Sunday morning. The funny thing about churches in Europe is they hardly ever have services, even on Sundays some of them are open for visits.

The palace part of the monastary was added to house Phillip´s rather extensive art collection. He had more than 1100 paintings there at one point. Some of the paintings were good, others rather second-rate. If you´re not into art it´s not really worth the walk through. I enjoyed it though.

My favorite part however was the basillica. It was by far my favorite Spanish church so far. Most Spanish churches are awash in gold. The place above the alter is almost always a mountain of gold. As I may have mentioned I´m not that into gold as a decorating motiff. This church was different. The main decoration, as befitted Phillips obsession, was painings. The ceilings are painted with religious scenes, and behind the alter are a series of wooden pillars, carved out of a beautiful dark wood, and in between the pillars are paintings. It was a beautiful piece of religious art.

Coming in Part 2....the bulls

The Trip: Cordoba part 1

I haven´t really mastered the art of the blog. I recognize that a blog works best when it is updated regularly and the entries are kept short. So I am going to divide my writings about our journey south into relatively small segments.

My favorite part of this trip was our journey to Andalucia in the south of Spain.

We headed out early Monday morning for Córdoba on the train. I thought it moved fast when we went to Toledo, but this train was much faster. It was a longer trip so there was time to really pull out all the stops. It must have been going close to 200mph on the flat stretches.

Every old city in Spain has a Juderia, o Jewish quarter. Up until 1492 when they were expelled the Sephardic Jews formed an important part of Spain´s cultural and intelectual life. The Judería have small winding streets,
perhaps 10 feet across at the wider points, and buildings that are tall enough to provide shade. The streets are cobblestone, and every building has a central courtyard, which, if you can catch a glimpse of it, is often the most beautiful part of the building. Because the streets are laid out haphazerdly, they meet at odd angles of fail to meet. The curve so that you lose sight of which way is which. Due to this there ar a lot of plazas and squares. You can be walking along this narrow street and all of the sudden it opens up into a small laza with four or five streets coming off it. Invariably in these plazas there are several cafés that have their chairs and tables spread out into the street. They make wonderful places to sit for a moment and have a cup of coffee or a quick snack.

All of this is true, to a lesser extent of, not just the Juderia, but all of the old city that was within the city walls.

When we arrived we walked from the train station and found a nice hostel in the Juderia. We left our bags and began our exploration of Cordoba....

The Trip: Day 16--evening

Last night we went to dinner at a different neighbor´s house. It was a birthday party of some sort. Dinner is a relatively light affair in Spain and begins late--anywhere from 10-12 at night. Generally the main meal is lunch--around 3-4 in the afternoon.

Anyway, dinner last night was empanadas of various sorts cut into basically bite sized pieces and set out around the table so that the plate was pretty much optional. The most interesting and I think tastiest was the morcita. It contained pigs blood and onion, sauteed together then stuffed in the empanada. Also interesting was the dessert...leche frita. To the bast of my knowledge that translates as fried milk. And that´s exactly what it tasted like. It was pretty good, though not my favorite. I didn´t know you could fry milk.

The Spanish have mastered the art of the long meal. We got there around 9:30 and were there for at least 3 hours. And most of that time is spent sitting around talking.

The Trip: Day 16

A few notes:
-I aapreciate your comments, even if I don´t always respond to them
-I´m still not clear if Jane called my mother over-spiritualized or not
-I´ve been on the village website a number of times, but nobody´s ever on it
-I´ve never seen that episode of Seinfeld, or maybe I have


The last couple of days we have gone down into Madrid in the morning and relaxing here in the afternoon. Last night we hung out with an old friend of Adrienne´s and his girlfriend. He is a stuntman at Warner theme park and she is a magician. He also does commercials and appears in one running in the US for AXE that has the running of the bulls. Anyway.

We went to the Palacio Real today. One thing I never realized is that Real means Royal. Anyway, I´ve decided I´m not a big fan of Palaces in general. I think gold is ugly. It really doesn´t impress me. So we walked around through the rooms of the palace and it was interesting, but the decoration just doesn´t impress me like it is supposed to. I get the same feeling in Spanish cathedrals. They are all stuffed to the brim with little chapels, each of which has a huge gold altar piece.

Yesterday we went down ot Madrid and walked across town. Madrid is really a pretty small city. It´s difficult to imagine being able to walk across a city of 3 million people in the United States. We walked through Retiro the main city park. It´s kind of like Central Park...A huge oasis of Green in the middle of the city. It has its own little lake and a variety of monuments.

We also ended up by the Temple of Debod. Madrid seems an unlikely place to come across an ancient Egyptian Temple, but there it was on the top of a hill in the middle of a different park. It looked alot like other Egyptian Temples I´ve seen. It was saved from the rising waters of Lake Nassar upon completion of the Aswan Dam in the 1970´s and transported block by block to Spain...kind of like the london bridge in Arizona.

Other than that I don´t have a lot of news...I´m ready to be headed for the States...

The trip: Day 14--Segovia

I skipped a few days I know...we mainly hung out around the house and relaxed. It was good.

Today we went to Segovia. Segovia was an important part of the Roman imperial network and pretty much every major power to occupy this part of Spain since then. There are three main things to see in Segovia...the aquaduct, the cathdral, and the alcazar (alcazar is derived from the Arabic word for castle...it will emerge again if I ever get to describing our trip south.)

The old city of Segovia is a fortified area on the top of a hill. So to get a regular supply of water the Romans had to build a sixteen kilometer aquaduct from the surrounding hills. The most impressive part which is all that remains soars over the valley to the east of the city. It is over 100 feet tall, and is made entirely of granite blocks put together without any mortar in the truly impressive Roman style. Its double arches rise above the ground in a way that is difficult to describe. farther away from the city where the aquaduct is relatively close to the ground you can actually climb up onto it and see the channel where the water ran. IT is suprisingly small.

The cathedral is a fairly typical Spanish Gothic cathedral with imposing pillars and lots of gold. Because it was the last gothic monument built in Spain in the 16th century it was influenced by Renaissance styles. It is suprisingly well lit for a gothic cathedral with plenty of high windows. My favorite part of the cathedral was the view from the outside down the street where we ate lunch. It´s exterior is rlatively simple and presents a beautiful view when constricted by the smallish streets.

The Alcazar is amazing. Walt Disney must have come to Spain at some point or seen a picture of the castle, because it is the spitting image of the classic Disney castle in Disneyworld that was I think part of the Sleeping Beauty story. You know when in a disney movie at the beginning, the fairy does the little swirly thing over the castle and the Walt Disney logo appears...this is that castle.

It is built over a bluff and must have been virtually impregnable when used as a fortress. We walked down the hill and through the gardens to get a view of it from the front...and I can tell you I wouldn´t even think of attacking it without modern artillery.

It was a fun trip. Adrienne and I took Juan the son with us since he didn´t have school today. He hasn´t really seen any of Spain except for Madrid and the Coast...except for Toledo, to which he went with Adrienne and her Dad a few years ago...so it was fun to see him enjoying it. It´s always fun to see a castle with a kid who is really into it. He really knows alot about architecture. I think he studied it in school this year. He was telling me all about the cathedral and he was right about it.

It was a good day, and a ridiculously cheap trip from Madrid.