Oh the frigid north...

I'm sitting in BOS airport waiting for my flight back home, then I can do laundry, pack for Turkey, meet up with friends before I leave, pay my rent, and tie up loose ends at work. No, not stressful at all. I really wished I could of avoided Boston for the winter as I did last year. Granted, last year, I was stuck in North Carolina for 2 months and working 12 hour days. But no, this year Boston has been the cool destination for December. To be fair, there is always something in Boston to do and cool things you didn't know existed.

One of them is Yankee Lobster Market. Its located in Boston's Seaport district right across from the airport. When I still lived in Boston, I remember that area used to be a blue collared port area. Now, it has 2, yes TWO Legal Seafood. One regular and one called "Legal Test Kitchen". I didn't know chain restaurants had concept test kitchen that were open, I thought the shit they spew out was done through corporate with more chemists and less chefs. To be fair though, I do like Legal Seafood if someone else, a la my company, is paying for it. Yankee Lobster Market is a simple place and when you walk in, it smells like the seafood. The stuff there is super fresh and you can see the stuff before you eat it. You see the fish, you see the filet, you see the lobsters. I got the fish and chips and clam chowder. I figured, since I'm in New England, why not? The fish and chips were ok, the only reason I didn't like it all that much was because it was a breading as opposed to a beer batter. If you like an old school fish and chips, it's for you, I'm more wet beer batter type of guy. At $9.95 for 3 big pieces of fish and fries, you can't really beat that. They also have great homemade tartar sauce, which is a huge plus. The clam chowder was great! I kind of feel like that's what clam chowder should be. Not too thick and salty and there are more clams in it than anything else (you'd think that would be self-evident by the name, but I refer you to Legal Seafood's clam chowder). It is a little out of the way, but if you are coming in from the airport, it's worth a lunch stop.

Second place was a regular ass bar, J.J Foley's. The only reason I went there was because it's right outside of CM Toca's school. It's a dive bar, and I feel like where ever I go, I need a local dive to get a beer and some pub food. This place, though, is like an old-time-y dive. It reminds me of the 20's, in the sense that everyone is in white shirt, black pants, tucked in tie, black pants, and white apron, much like this:

Old time-y

They have a really good beer selection with a lot of local brews. Their food isn't bad either. I had an Irish BLT. Irish bacon, apparently, is much like Canadian bacon, but fattier (read: better). It's back meat as opposed to belly meat like the American bacon and its cooked well done, as opposed to crispy. I thought it was great. The only thing I have to say about this place is, don't get the wings, they are small and unfulfilling.

Lastly, happy birthday to CM Toca do CECA. It's not on the website yet, but on Wednesday's he has class from 630-830pm at City Lights Boston. He taught a great class and I got a through ass kicking in the form of an eye poke and two well placed chapas. He brought up a great point about awareness in the roda. For me, at least, I feel that sometimes you do a move for the sake of doing it and not really knowing why. I feel like people need to make the move make sense. He also brought up the point that just because you are faster does not mean your winning. I sometimes lose my cool and need to calm the fuck down. Anywho, if you're ever in Boston, and feel like Angola, go check them out!

Week 1 of Marathon training, my Kindle Fire, and a brief note about Kim Jung-Il

Week 1 of marathon training sucked. This will be much slower than I expected. I will probably have to do each week twice until I can get somewhere with it. I also need to learn how to run on a treadmill, I hate that shit. Who can actually run on a treadmill?

1. It give you a sense of going faster than you actually are. I can run a 8:30 minute mile on a treadmill for 2 miles, 9:30 pace in real life.
2. I'm so bored! The only thing that keeps the monotony bearable is TV, but then you're reminded of why you hate TV.
3.I'm always either running up against the bar upfront or afraid I'm going to fall off the back. There never is that perfect speed on a treadmill.
4. I run with Vibrams, which was LOUD AS SHIT on a treadmill. There's no way to be discrete about it. Everyone else in the room is going to have to live with incessant loud thud at a quick tempo or melodic bass-y thuds when I slow down.

Now that it's winter, and I haven't been able to avoid Boston, I need to learn how to deal with all this. Fun fun silly willy....

My four mile run was crappy... 4.01 miles in 45 minutes. Shitastic pace! Skip my 5 mile and need to make that up....

I also got a Kindle Fire. I was debating about it, but a couple of my friends got it and loved it and they had an advertisement that quoted Voltaire. The quote is something I also really agree with, so I was a sucker and bought one. This thing, for $199, is amazing! It's the greatest cheap tablet, hands down. No, it's not an iPad killer, because it can't do all the things an iPad can do, but for the price it is rock solid. Everyone was complaining about how it doesn't lock, but Amazon fixed that with 6.2 software patch. I love Amazon Prime, $75/year or free if you have a .edu email. You can stream movies and shows straight from Amazon, it's great. There is only 6GBs of internal storage and no extension slot for more, but seriously you have Amazon Cloud, why would you want an extension slot and have to go buy more SD or microSD cards? Amazon Cloud gives you 5GB of storage for free and if you want more it's only about $1/year for 1GB of storage space. You really can't beat that. Oh, and did I mention that all pre-1923 books are FREE?!?! That's all the Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Austen, Dickens, Hugo, Bronte you can read for FREE! Guess who's been catching up on his classic literature? I also realize I read faster on the Kindle than in paper form.

There is only cautionary tale about the Kindle Fire. Amazon produced each tablet at a lose of about $20, they are guessing you will buy more than $20 worth of crap on Amazon, which you will. They made it WAY TOO EASY to buy stuff. Everything is done with 1-click, Amazon's version of speedy check out. You're only asked once whether or not you are sure you want to do this and then BAM! shits downloaded, and your credit card just got billed. I can see this, a person that can't step into Barnes & Nobles without buying something, as a potential problem. But I have self-control, so I think I'll be ok. If self control is not a problem, or you have a deep pocket that you want to continuous shell out to Amazon, get the Kindle Fire.

Finally, a good-bye and a wholehearted FUCK YOU to Kim Jung-Il. He's finally dead, and I hope he finds hell more rornry than his existence on earth. There is a special places in hell for dictators like him that starve their own people. Coming from a nation that lost more than 18 to 32 million people in the Great Leap Forward Famine and a family that lost 9 members, I have a special kind of hatred for people like Kim Jung-Il. I hope that his son is smarter than he looks and realize the errors of his father and grandfather's way and stop starving his own people. Maybe some good will come out of this death, because it certainly can't get much worse. My prayers are with the North Korean people and hopefully one day you will be granted the basic needs to sustain life. 

Day 1, Week 1 Marathon Training and Trip Back to NC

So today was day 1 of week 1 of my marathon training. WHY AM I DOING THIS?! I hate running. I'm too ADD for 5 miles, how the hell am I going to do 26.2? I bet my friend that I will finish a marathon at a 9 minute pace before he gets out of grad school. He just entered, so I still have 3-4 years to reach this goal. I do have a plan though! I'm following the Marathon Rookies 16 week training schedule. I may be taking a little bit more than that, because 1. I suck at running at the moment and 2. I need a 9 minute pace for this bet. I got my friend Kevin doing this with me, so at least I have someone to yell at me about it. I will be recording a weekly summery of my runs here, so if see something I'm not doing right, please yell at me so I can do this. I'm going to need some major encouragement, because I tend to bitch out at times. In between training, I'm also going to fit in capoeira still. I'm not sure how I will fit this in, especially how I hate treadmills.

Speaking of the need to workout more...the one thing I need to never do again is go to Golden Corral. I only went because our company did an appreciation lunch for our workers in NC. Seriously, this place might be what's great and awful about this country. I feel that everything there has been put through a deep fryer or is on a grill. Your choice, grilled meat or fried meat. It's not horrible, simply because everything is deep fried, but buffets are evil. Oh god...are buffets evil. I feel like all the exercise in the world can't work down the damage I did in that 30 minutes of eating. You tend to not only eat a lot, but also eat fast...a deadly duo. Then there's a "chocolate wonderfall", its a fountain of flowing chocolate, which really wasn't that great, but I can see how that could be dangerous for some people. Thankfully, after this crap, I have capoeira to not be a total fat ass.

I've been to NC a lot but I didn't find this place until recently. I've been here a couple of times, but never wrote about it on here. Inst. Maravlha do ASCAB Capoeira, has a great class in Raleigh and Carborro. I always liked the ASCAB style, Mestre Doutor is a great guy, and Monitora Gata Brava is one of the most amazing capoeiristas I've seen. If you haven't seen her, YouTube her. If you are ever in NC, check them out. I still got a lot of love for the Capoeira Brazil NC folks, but the styles are really different and its good to change up pace at times. Not gonna lie, Inst. Maravlha did make me comfortably, but surprisingly, sore for the week. 

If anyone who is reading this is in DC this weekend, please come out to FICA DC is having their end of the year roda (1130am-200pm). I've been training with them for the last couple of months. It's a all white roda, so come in your nicest whites and vamos vadiar. Also, Capoeira Males is also having an end of the year roda (200pm-400pm?). If regional is more your thing come out, or be like me and do both!

The crazy taxi drivers I've met

I've taken my fair share of taxis in DC, New York, and all over the rest of the world. And to be fair...I've met some of the strangest people.

This is a list, which I will inevitably have to add to, of up to now, the craziest encounters I've had with taxi drivers.

1.  Place: DCA

A Middle Eastern looking guy who would not stop ending every sentence with "sir", which is really annoying after about 5 minutes. After I tell him where I wanted to go, he starts with small talk, no big deal, but then, he says: "Would you like to hear some poetry?" Against my better judgment, I said yes. He start reading his "poems" with were all just filled with puns. The only line I can remember from it is "knights of nights" and it went on with bad word play for a good 15 lines. Yeah... when you don't have control of a language, please don't make pun-y poetry.

2. Place: SoHo

After a late night, my friends and I didn't feel like taking the 7 train home to Queens, and then a bus to my parents place. So we decided to take a taxi, somewhere near Williamsburg bridge. This guy is irate from the get go. Granted all NYC cab drivers are really aggressive and they have to be, but this guy was something else. Long story short, I have the window open on the backseat driver side, he tries to cut off a car,he gets hit by the car and I almost get my arm crushed. This leads into a giant curse fest, while driving, and of course the other car is a tricked out rice burner filled with Asian guys who think they're tough. Driver gets called a "fucker", leaves, and now has a dent in his taxi.

3. Place: My house

When a cab picked me up, the first thing I notice is this guy is white. There's not many of those, it's like finding a four leaf clover, it may be lucky or it's just a shitty piece of grass. He has this way of talking where he sounds like Garyson Keillor from a Prairie Home Companion, just much less interesting and a lot less folksy. Since we ran into some traffic on 395, he decides that that was a good time to read me some poetry, because "You looked like somebody that would enjoy it". I didn't think this could get that bad, considering this guy at least has a good control of the English language. He proceeded to read me some bullshit about snow days. The kicker is the poem, throughout, was an alliteration of the letter S for snow! If a 10 year old wrote it, it would have been great. He was not 10. Then I asked him who his favorite poet was, he replied "I don't read poetry". OF COURSE YOU DON'T JACKASS! Or you'd realize you suck, and your writing skills rival that of an 8th grader. 

4. Place: Midtown Manhattan

I generally trust cabs I get in midtown Manhattan. They've done this for years and are generally too busy to fuck with you. NOT THIS TIME! A couple of our friends hail a cab down and we wanted to go downtown, this guy pulls up and I tell him where we need to go. The first thing he says is: "I have no clue how to get there, you need to tell me". He then goes on to explain how we're, literally, his second customers ever. He started that day, had one passenger, and then us. I ended up having to GPS this guy to where we needed to go. What are the chance in New York to get the guy who started THAT DAY and has NO GPS.

5. Place: DCA

This nice Indian man is the driver, its late and I've had a really long week, all I really want to do is go home, shower, and sleep. This is when I still lived in Rockville, so the ride from DCA to Rockville is a good 30 minutes. I can't remember what it was, but there was a recent report about something dealing with US foreign policy. I tend to stay away from politics with cab drivers, but this guy made some off handed remark about how the US shouldn't be in Iraq. After a little chatter about Iraq, he decided to take the conversation to Afghanistan, which lead to Pakistan, which lead him to a giant tirade about how much Pakistan sucks and why we, the US, should go in there a show them what's up. Yeah... don't talk politics with cab drivers, you don't know what crazies will emerge. 

Home Sweet Home

I know I don't write enough about the DMV, though I live there. I only assumed that the people reading this (surprising I have hits in Russia (never been) and Singapore (never been, didn't know I had friends there)), are mostly around the DMV area or know me some how, some way. Still, DMV area is pretty awesome and important to me.

So check this out. Pasta Mia in Adams Morgan is fantastic. It's a small restaurant, < 20 tables, that's very crowded. Cais, Alina, and I went there on a Friday night at 9:30pm and there was a line out the door, and we had a good 40 minute wait. The wait is well worth it though! First off, everything there is under $20, which is great for me, since I'm trying to save money to go to Istanbul. Second, if you're a read wine fan, get the "best best choice" Chianti. At $28 a bottle, you can't really beat it, there is also a house red option for $18 which everyone else seemed to get. 

The menu is quite simple. All the pastas you can think of, in simple sauces. You got your tomato, spicy tomato, Bolognese, pesto, cream, garlic and olive oil which can be paired with any pasta you want. Thankfully, they have a list identifying the pastas, because I would have been shit out of luck. I got the gnocchi Bolognese, Alina got a flat pasta in a Bolognese sauce, and Cais got thin pasta in spicy tomato. I think I won out on the decision. The Bolognese sauce was meaty in a very good way and not overly salted. You could still taste the tomato base. The gnocchi was soft and slightly chewy, which is great, because most places you get this dense piece of dough or it's so soft it's almost gelatinous. Cais's thin pasta with spicy tomato sauce, not so great. It was simple and well done, but wasn't my thing. It was fairly spicy, but not something I can't make at home. Alina's pasta was good, the wide flat pasta and the sauce was about the same, just with slices of fresh mozzarella on top which made for a great addition, I just got shredded some sort of cheese. 

For dessert we got the tortufo, which is chocolate hazel nut ice cream with powdered chocolate on the outside and a nugget of vanilla ice cream in the middle. It wasn't the greatest thing I've ever had, but it was still pretty damn good.

All in all, Pasta Mia well worth the trip in Adams Morgan. Oh and don't try to change anything on the menu, not allowed. 

Travelers never know where they're going, tourist never know where they've been

I finally booked my next big trip to Turkey. This is exciting, my first trip into the Middle East and travel with someone, Cais. Since I am going with someone, whom hasn't been out of the country ex. Jamaica, I kinda have a plan. I tried to get a long layover in Europe, but I also wanted to fly Star Alliance to get an upgrade to first class (I travel a lot and have a lot of miles, so I wanted an upgrade), so I only get 2 hours in Zurich, which is fine. 

So now here's the plan, not very detailed but it works:

2 days Istanbul --> 1 day Bursa --> 1 day Bergama and Balikesir --> 3 days Izmir --> 2 days Istanbul. 

I know there's thing I need to see (Hagia Sophia, Cisterns, Roman ruins, etc) to do (hot springs, Turkish baths) but I want to do something off the beaten path. The wish list for now:

1. Learn about Sufi-ism

2. Make it to Van or somehow aid in earthquake relief (I guess I'll figure that one out when I'm there)

If anyone else has ideas or recommendations, please let me know!

 

The NBA and the 1%

I think everyone knows I'm a little bit of a socialist, or at least I have leftist leaning ideas. I don't think I need to go into the facts that I side with the OWS people. I want to draw attention to one case where, I feel, really illustrates why the 1% suck, need to be taxed more, and need to shut the fuck up.

So, if you have noticed, there's no NBA season. There's a lockout where the players and owners can't come together on a collective bargaining agreement. The issue at hand is the question of profit sharing of $2 billion. The players association wants a 52:48 split of this profit, while the owners are asking for a 50:50. Granted 2% of $2 billion is A LOT of money, $80 million to be exact, and I understand why the players would want this. There has been a rift between the players, some of whom are willing to accept 50:50, but the superstars are not. Many see this as another case of billionaires arguing with millionaires and both of them suck. But look at it this way: The average NBA player has a paying is high, no doubt about it, but it's still around $300,000, compared to the highest paid player, Kevin Garnett, at $27 million. For most of the average bench or role players, their salaries probably mean a lot to them. They don't have endorsement deals, they don't have huge savings, they don't have the luxury to not play the game. So, cutting 52% profit to 50% is understandable to them. At least they can get paid again. Yet, the top 1%, the superstars that make more money from endorsement deals and selling out are blocking this because that 2% difference will probably go more to them than anyone else. That's greed. That's putting your greed well ahead of the general benefit of everyone else, whom the greedy call "teammates" and "brothers".

I'm not trying to say somehow that even the lowest paid NBA player is somehow the 99% and is the blue collared working man. What I am saying is that, the top earners, regardless of profession, have a tendency to screw everyone over, for a small gain in their own bank accounts.

I hope there is an NBA season, mainly because I want to see LeBron fail, over and over and over. More so, I hope the kids that aren't making millions in supplemental income from Sprite, or jersey sales, or Nike, get back to playing basketball and getting paid. LeBron is still making money selling Miami jerseys, but I'm pretty sure the Branden Haywood's, the Eddie House's, aren't making money whilr sitting at home during the lockout. They aren't the 99%, but they are equally getting screwed over from by the 1%.

Just a thought....

Vamos vadiar agora, agora vamos vadiar

I just got back from capoeira with Tebogo of Livre Como Vento under CM. Denis. It ended up being 3 people including myself  and we ended up just playing capoeira for a good hour, game after game after game. I got my ass kicked mostly, but I felt I had a couple good shots in there...

We all then went out for beers and of course the conversation always revolves around capoeira. The discussion was started by why CM Denis decided to go to a more Angola style. The former CdO group, now Livre Como Vento, doesn't like to peg itself as capoeira angola or regional or contemporary, which I fully understand. Many mestre's have shared this sentiment that capoeira is just capoeira, we all just come together and play together. I really agree with this sentiment. Capoeira should just be about coming together and getting your groove on, whatever style you prefer. It's like dancing, sometimes your rhythms match well, sometimes it doesn't, and only rarely, very rarely, does it come together and make something magical. 

I think I'm come to my wits end with cords and groups. I really like the movimento novo idea thought up by Nestor Capoeira's son Itapua Abeiramar. No groups, no logos, no cords, just vadiar. I don't see a need for staunch defense of groups and having to stay within your own group or only promote your own group. It's selfish to say the least. I am apart of Grupo Senzala and do like it, though I'm horribly detached from it. But if I had a choice, I'd love to just go without any group and do what I do already. I don't really want to be judged by the logo on my pants or the cord around my waist. Just let me be me and I'll let you do your thing, then maybe you can make something beautiful 

Any who, that's really just rambling. Sorry to Jesse of CECA, got in too late on Monday and couldn't visit you guys. Thank you to Tebogo of Livre Como Vento  for a great time in the roda. Now... I need to ice my ankle, that crackling sound can't be good....oh yeah and egészségedre.

Boston...are you kidding me... snow in October?!?!?!

Dear Boston,

You have a great small town feel for a big city. Your politics are really liberal that your conservative credentials include Mitt Romney, the originator of single payer guaranteed health care, and Scott Brown, who's really more center than center right. You have great food. You do. A lot of the great food are just hole in the wall spots or small restaurants with 6-12 tables. I love you. I really do. You are truly an intellectual city. There's not much I don't enjoy about you. Except one thing: Your fucking winters. Look... I understand you snow before thanksgiving and this bullshit continues for 6 months. I understand that you're so far up north that it's dark by 4PM. I accept all that about you. But guess what, fucker? Snowing on 27Oct is completely unacceptable!! WTF?!?! Right now, it's rainy and weatherman predicts rainy snow in Boston and accumulation in Worcester. TOO MUCH! Cut that shit out Boston.

With tried patience

Zao

Any who, beyond that, capoeira with CM Toca and Prof Calango was really good yesterday. I can't say that my game has progressed anywhere, but at least I'm not being a fat ass anymore. It's exercise, hooray exercise!

As most people know, I hate my capoeira game, I really do. It's completely confused, and I don't do anything to help that. My Angola looks like contemporary, and contemporary looks funky. I feel like some point I need to choose a style and stick with it. I got my ass kicked yesterday by Prof. Calango, more so than usual. I'm just in a serious funk with my training and can't seem to get out of it. The good news is I'm back to training. This week has been really good with both CECA and MdP...shhh... don't tell them I train with the other one. Next stop, St Louis with Jesse and CECA St. Louis and hopefully this time with CdO St. Louis as well.

MdP has treated me well, even with the not so pretty split 2 years ago. I ended up leading Mestre Chuvisco's class on Saturday, which is really AWKWARD, but turned out with a good conversation with Mestre Chuvisco about being the only person in your group and training. I am also glad I finally went to Compasso's class at Harvard, I forgot how good he was at teaching.

I've also come to the conclusion that I have a upper limit to how many nights I can stay in a hotel. That number is 5. Anything more than that, I have a problem sleeping. I don't know why, but I haven't gotten any good sleep for 2 days. THANK GOD I'LL BE HOME FOR THE WEEKEND!

Basta Pasta with a.....rasta?

Boston never fails to surprise me, even though I've lived here, twice, and come here at least once a month, if not more. This time, though, my friends Laura, Omar, Alina, and Cais found a great friggin place for great pasta in Cambridge for cheap. Basta Pasta was great. They have a sauteed calamari, served with something like pita bread, was surprisingly good. This might be one of 3 times I've had calamari not fried, 1 time in Philly sucked horribly and 1 I can't remember, which isn't a good thing. I got the chicken ziti with broccoli tossed in a garlic and oil. It was slightly salty, but for $12.00, it was fucking great. Everyone else's food was equally as amazing for a really great price.

The next day there was brunch. The initial idea was Cafe Luna, which got great reviews on Yelp and looked great, but it was a 1.5 hour wait, so that was a no go. We managed to find a place next to Harvard Square that was phenomenal. The Cellar, which we considered for dinner but scratched off due to price, had great home fries and chicken fried steak. Regularly, no one notices home fries unless they REALLY suck, a la Original Pancake House, but if they are good, people don't really mention them. This place, however, used yellow fingerling potatoes, were well seasoned with onions and a TON of butter. I ordered the chicken fried steak, because as anyone who reads this knows, I'm really southern inside when it comes to food. For something that was cooked well in New England, they did a good job. The only problem was, they should have used a chopped steak not a real steak, but they did a good job with sausage gravy and free range eggs are always a good decision. We also ordered some pancakes for the table, which were some of the best I've had in a long time, and some rye French toast, which was not that great. Rye bread does not make good French toast, it makes a great Reuben, that's about it.

This weekend was also filled with a lot of great capoeira. Thank you to Mestre Chuvisco and Contra-mestre Toca do Capoeira Camara Angola. They are all really good friends and always a great time. I love those guys, and if you get a chance, check them out. I'd say do both, but many people would disagree with me, so choose your flavor.

The weekend culminated with HUGE traffic on the Mass Pike, a car fire, getting stuck at Logan Airport, and paying UP THE ASS for a one-way ticket to DCA.  

An Ode to Steve Jobs

I think for anyone who knows me, I hate Apple. I hate Apple for all it stands for, I refuse to buy their product (now), I have never went into an Apple store out of my own fruition. But, with the passing of Steve Jobs, I have to say, he is an amazing human that has revolutionized our world as much as Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, and John Rockefeller.

Steve Jobs gave us a new form of thinking. He was Apple. There's no doubt about it. He epitomized what Apple is about and what they stand for. He first thought of the personal computer that was easy to use for non-computer people. Bill Gates and Co. gave us a great computer, but it was Jobs' first MacIntosh that allowed the every-man to use a computer. It wasn't a smashing success, but made people realize that usability is as important, if not more important, as functionality. To him, usability is king and if your product is not easy to use, then it's useless. Jobs first epitomized this in the tech world. Everyone else, followers.

I think it will be a banality to speak of the success of the iPod and iTunes, it was great, I had one. But moving on. The innovation of Jobs is amazing. He had the ability to see opportunities and applications of new technologies that no one else even fathoms. The first time the multi-touch touch screen came out on TED, no one, not even the inventor, knew what to do with it. A year after the debut on TED, iPhone came out. It was revolutionary. Nothing touched it until iPhone3G. Everyone else, including the benevolent gods of Google, was late and a copycat. Jobs had the insight to see an opportunity that no one else even fathom what was happening. The only reason why Google and HTC can get large market share is due to pricing, and not innovation.

Steve Jobs is also not without failure. In fact it was his triumph from failure that ranks him with the greatest entrepreneurs in human history. Let's list the failures of Apple: iMac, G-series towers, the partnership to make a Intel Inside computer, every MacIntosh, PowerBooks, iBook, the list goes on and on. But he triumphed, through all of the failures. Most people would have stopped after any one of those failures, probably no one could have gotten new investments after any one of those failures. But Jobs did. Again and again. He defied the financial analysts, pundits, bloggers, everyone.

Finally, Jobs had pancreatic cancer. He's a person known for guarding his privacy. We don't know how long he has had it, but the last time he went on sabbatical and got a liver transplant, the smart money would bet that the cancer had metastasized in his liver. He carried on, for years. And this is a cancer with a 93% mortality rate in the first year.

Steve Jobs, I salute you and mourn a great lose. May you rest in peace and continue to inspire.

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

Boise and Salt Lake City ALL IN 4 DAYS!!!

So, as many of you know, I've been living on a plane for the last 2 weeks. I've spent a whopping 2 days at home, it's been great! (sarcasm). DISCLAIMER: I spent all of 24 hours in each of these places, and 14 of those hours were at work, I might be biased.

Boise. It's boring. It's horribly boring. Granted, the place is actually really pretty, and there's a lot of outdoors-y stuff to do, but Boise proper is boring. And underdeveloped. Apparently, Micron and Boise paper are the largest employers. It is, however, the third largest city in the northwest, behind Portland and Seattle (how many qualifiers does Boise need to be ranked in anything?) The only cool thing in Boise is this: 

Yeah, don't ever insult or even give an awkward eye to Boise State. The QB is a hero. The coach is a god. The blue field is the pantheon of greatness. 

If I had more time, I would have liked to go hiking and check out the parks, but I don't. Unless I win the account there, I plan on not going back.

I flew to Salt Lake City and stayed in a Hilton. This isn't important if it wasn't for the food there and the bartender. The Hilton Salt Lake City has, hands down, the best non-independent restaurant I've eaten at. They made a medium done double-cut pork chop that was AMAZING, and greatly contributed to my ballooning weight. I'm not a stereotypical Asian, so no picture of food, but this time it might have been justified, with the emphasis on MIGHT. 

The importance of the bartender was to take me through the APE-SHIT CRAZY LIQUOR LAWS. In his words, there is no separation of church and state in Utah, and it shows. In Utah, all liquor bottles have a pre-measured pouring device with a counter on top, you will be fined if your sales numbers don't match the bottle numbers. You have to go BEHIND A WALL to MAKE cocktails so that kids don't see it. You can't have an open container anywhere outside of a designated area in a bar/restaurant, or its a $500 fine for you and $10,000 for the establishment. 

Multiple people told me to go out to Park City, where Sundance Film Festival is held, and check that out. Good idea. It's what Utah could have been with out Mormons. It has a liberal, independent, small town, with a homely feel. The sales guy that was travelling with us lives there and he claims that they have most restaurants per square miles, and considering the space and there's 170 restaurants it maybe true. We had lunch at Sundance resort, Robert Redford's resort space, and it was REALLY NICE. In the summer, the ski resort is a mountain biking path. It is absolutely worth going back too, especially if I pick up skiing. 

Overall, Utah makes me want to win my contract beyond just the money value of it. Boise, pretty, but I can live without.

And now here's Zao trying to be artsy again, with his HTC EVO4G camera-phone....

OoOOoO Zao's artsy

Salt Lake City Airport, Salt Lake City in the distance

St Louis.... I like you

St. Louis still surprises me. I expect the best thing they can do is BBQ, and not much of anything else. I wrote about their Italian food last time, and like I said, it’s not great. But there are small little places that continuously surprise me. The Shaved Duck is one of those. The interior has a bohemian feel to it: low lighting, exposed brick walls, “artsy” looking things used as decorations. They serve only craft, local beers and wine. No Bud, no Bud light, surprising considering you’re in Anheiser-Busch country. They also serve wine, which is expected from a bohemian looking place. The menu is simple. You have BBQ, couple of good ideas with duck (duck confit sandwich, duck fat fried fries), and you have home cooking (meatloaf, mac n cheese).

I have learned, through the years, if a place serves duck, get the duck. My cousin got the duck gumbo, which was super, and the meatloaf. I decided to get the ribs, because I knew I wouldn’t have time to make it into the best BBQ place in the world, Pappy’s. The ribs were not great; they were kind of tough and still stuck to the bone. I much rather prefer the 8hr smoking, fall off the bone goodness, but it was still better than anything I can get on the east coast. I do like the dry rub though; I much rather prefer a dry rub and then let me add the sauce, which is a plus since the sauces were homemade. The bourbon based sauce tasted like a sweet bourbon, while the rest was also as advertised. The spicy sauce had a good amount of kick to it, which surprised me, since most white people don’t handle spicy very well, compared to the spicier cooking folks (Cajuns, Chinese, Korean, Indian).

Overall, the place was really good, and St Louis has yet to disappoint, expect for the Italian. St Louis is one of those places where it’s great to visit and a lot of fun, but the opportunities are just not as great there and because of that, it would be hard to live there. I’ve considered it, though very briefly, as a relocation spot, but that got shot down quite fast when you wonder into East St Louis.

Now for capoeira. I’ve been in this weird phase of hunting down Angola schools, since I’m not really feeling the contemporary game at the moment, though I will still go to CDO when possible. In St Louis, there are a couple of groups and my schedule worked out so that I could only make the Angola class and not CDO. Jesse teaches at Centre Esportiva de Capoeira Angola(CECA) under Mestre Pe de Chumbo, who originated from Mestre Joao Pequeno. It was a really small class, 4 people, in a not so great part of town. They started with music, and by music I mean we sang Maior E Deus, the ladainha, for 30 minutes. This was the first Angola class I’ve taken that didn’t do that much partner work. We did sequences for most of it, then the last 10 minutes was combining into partner work, which was weird to me. But all and all a great class, go check them out!

Remembering 9/11

It is hard to believe that one of the defining events of our generation has already been 10 years. I know it's cheesy, but I do believe I speak for a lot of people when I say that I still remember it like yesterday. I remember when I just got to the US, one of my teacher said they still remember the exact spot they were when JFK got shot. I thought it was weird, how a person could remember the exact spot. Now I get it. It's a crystallized moment in my consciousness. Not that I ever relive that day, but if I think about it, I still remember the councillor's office, the guy coming in and saying a "small plane" had hit the WTC. 

My cousin was 3 blocks away from the WTC, I was in DC. I couldn't get in touch with her, and I remember the panic that set in at school. But this post isn't about that day. This post is about how that day changed our collective psyche. From that day forward, we look at Muslims in "traditional garb" different, figured out where Afghanistan was, "jihad" became ingrained in our lexicon, airport security has the right to violate most any of your 4th amendment rights. 

We also sent 3000+ kids to their deaths and countless more Afghans and Iraqis. 

Are we safer? Sure, nothing has happened since and Osama bin Laden is dead. But we're still in Iraq and Afghanistan. The news station still claim that every other week there's an "imminent threat" and terrorists have some new schemes. 

For a guy who flies at least twice a week, out of the airport where the plane that hit the Pentagon took off, and is at the airport where the other 3 planes took off from at least once a month, I'm constantly reminded of the fact. Of course, we need to forgive and we will never forget. But we must also not forget what has happened due to that day. It changed the American psyche, and I believe not for the good. Let's take today not just to remember those who were lost, but also what makes us Americans. The fact that we are the most embracing national in this world, that we will not be governed by fear, and that though it might hurt, but we can not and will not sacrifice freedom for security. 

United we stand. 

 

You are a very brave, brave man

I know its been awhile since I've been back, and I have yet to finish the South African narrative, so here is the dramatic conclusion (cue dramatic music).

So, my cousin and I fly home from Zambia. Our plane ticket, in Zambia, is written by hand and the boarding itinerary was on a spreadsheet. After receiving said boarding passes, my cousin and I look at each other and almost simultaneously think, if there is ever a next time in Zambia, we're going to get one way tickets and forge the return trip. Yeah... we're those people.

We're back in Jo'burg, and thankfully we're staying in this nice hippie neighborhood with Che Guevara posters everywhere. It was the safest part of town, Melville, or so people say. It's also a gay district and yes, I ended up in a gay bar playing house music.

My cousin has been in Jo'burg before, so her and I have very different itineraries. We all catch a mini-taxi and it drops us off somewhere where none of us know. We find a tourist office and my cousin and her friend go to the Museum Africa while I ask for directions to Constitution Hill. I'm a dork and think that other countries supreme courts and history of the constitution is awesome. ask her if I could walk there from the tourist office, since, on the map, which I later found out was not to scale, seemed pretty close. She looks at me, laughs, and says "No, no, you can't walk there. Take a taxi. I mean I can walk there, but not you". I translated that as your an Asian with a camera, walking there would be ill advised. After consulting, not with her, but my cousin, I decided to walk, with my camera out, because I'm too stupid to bring a backpack.

On said not scaled map, it looks, in relative terms, to be about 2 kilometers away. Little did I know it was more near 8 than 2, and Jo'burg's roads aren't exactly labelled well. The one reason I have my camera out throughout all of this is because I noticed some really nice street art and tags along the way, much like this: fs

So, while I'm walking, I had one guy come up to me and just say "Mister, you are a brave man, walking around Jo'burg with a camera like that". Confirming yet again, Zao is an idiot.

Aside from that, to keep it short, since someone accused me of writing epics. Go to the Apartheid Museum, not just because you have a political leaning, but because it remembers one of the greatest tragedies of this world. It is also extremely uplifting at the end so its not all sad. And if that's not enough, there is always the amusement park RIGHT NEXT TO IT SHARING A PARKING LOT. The irony of South Africa.

Anywho, I leave you with this quote from Madiba:

"To be free is not only to cast off one's chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."

Cape Town

So I flew from JFK->Dubai (12 hours +3 hour layover)->Jo'burg(8hours +2 hour layover)-> I finally land in Cape Town(2 hours) after literally 27 hours of flying and being in airports. I found a really nice hostel on Long Street, the main party/bar area, Cat and Moose, which for R100(~$15) a night it was awesome. HIGHLY recommended.

The first night, Saturday night, was a bust, I went to sleep at around 10 after eating at some weird Indian place. Long Street was hoping, but I just got out of a 27hr marathon trip. It looked fun!

So in the morning, I try to figure out what I want to do. This was the initial plan for Day 1:

1. Wake up and walk to Victoria Waterfront and get breakfast, and book trip to Cape Point/Cape of Good Hope
2. Go to Robben Island
3. Come back, walk to bus station pick up ticket for 19hr bus trip back to Jo'burg
4. Climb Table Mountain
5. Ride cable car back down
6. Party
7. Sleep

If everything worked out just as I planned, it wouldn't be, to quote my friend Nancy, "typical Zao-like shannigans". This is what ended up happening:

1. Woke up, booked trip, and got decent food at Victoria Waterfront
2. Robben Island tickets were sold out until Wednesday (I'd be in Zambia by then). FUCK!
3. Played drums with guy in his store for 15 minutes.
4. Walked to bus station to pick up ticket, but told by ticket people I needed to go to the Computicket (online retailer) office to pick it up.
5. Walk 2 miles to nearest Computicket kiosk, to be told that my reference number "did not exist" and I needed to go back to the bus station
6. Walk back to bus station, and get told that I didn't have a ticket.
7. Buy ANOTHER bus ticket
8. Climb to cable car station at Table Mountain, only to find it to be closed.
9. Climb halfway up and gave up due to the lack of light.
10. Walk back to hostel, chit chat with Austrians and Brits all night, because all the bars are closed on Sunday..yay Christianity.
11. Find out trip to Cape Point got cancelled, because I was the only one, in Cape Town, that was going.

Yeah, didn't really happen as planned. But it was a great time dealing with South African customer service. The one thing I learned about this experience is: YOUR REFERENCE NUMBER FOR ANY PURCHASE IS GOD!!! Fuck other forms of identification or the purchasing credit card. It is the reference number that counts. No number, no service.

So since day 2 got shot to shit, I decided to hike Table Mountain, successfully this time, with the 2 Brits I met. I also found CDO South Africa, and they had classes at night, so I thought about paying them a visit.

So the climb with the two girls was tough, but not impossible. Both of them beat me to the top, which was quite embarrassing. I ended up staying up there for sunset, but that didn't happen, since sunset was after the last cable car going down. It was still pretty though, check it out:

After climbing up, talking the cable car down, and an extremely expensive cab ride back to the hostel, I was thinking that I wouldn't go to capoeira. The mountain was a mile high and I walked a fuck load the last 2 days. But my love for capoeira (masochism) got the best of me and ventured to CDO South Africa with C. mestre Espirinnho. I've now played capoeira on 3 continents and 4 countries. Love the roda, and good people there. I wish them all the best of luck! Good folks. They did have an awesome studio, check it out:

I'm walking back from the capoeira place, at about 1030pm, and this guy come up to me. I've seen him the night before and he wanted to sell me some coke and liked my shoes. I first gave him no mind, until he says "I like your shoes, can I see what size they are?"

I tell him my size and he start measuring his foot against mine and trying to reach for me shoe. And walking me to where ever he wanted. I'm thinking "Is this guy trying to steal my shoes? With me having them on?" He keeps grabbing at my leg, almost doubled over, looking at my shoes. I finally had enough of him and told him to fuck off, which worked.

So the next morning I get up at 9, chit chat and say goodbye to the people I met, and head off to the bus station for a 19hr bus ride to Jo'burg. Yay.....

We are all inherently racist

Race was a big talking point through out my trip. This isn't surprising, since South Africa is the Rainbow Nation that only recently escaped Apartheid and gave rule to a black majority. But one thing is true: No matter how much minorities complain about inequalities, racism, and discrimination in the US, we, Americans, BY FAR have the best race relations than any other country I've been to.

Here's a contrast:

If you where to go to Atlanta, most people and tour guides will tell you to go to Dr. King's memorial, because he was a great man that gave his life for what's right and because of that, is and should be respected, not because he's black, but because he made great contributions to the human race as a whole.

While I was in Cape Town, I wanted to go to Robben Island, the prison where Nelson Mandela was locked up for 27 years. I asked the hostel tour guy, who was Afrikaner, how to get there and his response was "Why would you want to go there? There's nothing to see, unless you have some sort of political leaning or something".

Really Mr. Tour guy??? If i have a political leaning? What about seeing the place where one of the greatest people the human race has ever seen, develop his ideas of forgiveness and non-violence? I would think that this would be the first place you would tell people to see to understand South Africa, where it has been, and where it is going.

Judging my South African standards, the race relationship has been great since 1994. And from an objective standard, it has vastly improved. There's no more segregation, no more apartheid, and no one is discriminated because of race. There also hasn't been massive racial violence post 1994, considering the oppressed majority accounts for 80% of the population. The peace I would absolutely accredit Nelson Mandela and his leadership. With that said, racial divides still exist. Average white income is still 2x greater than average black income. Inter-racial relationships are still very rare.

I was at a wine tour/festival in Jo'burg my last day in South Africa. I noticed 1. Every winery had a white person behind the stall 2. A lot of attractive white women. As for the first point, it is not that big of a surprise, since wine making is a traditional western/European tradition which requires tons of capital, which blacks in SA rarely have. The second point, the attractive women, was surprising. My cousin, who has worked in South Africa for the past 3 months, said "Don't bother, your not Afrikaner, they won't take a second look at you". That struck me as weird, since in the US, I wouldn't think that a women would think "He's a great guy, but he's also Asian. I don't know about that..." But upon further observation, I noticed there weren't any inter-racial couples. This lead to a whole discussion of how accepted inter-racial, especially between a black and white person, are. In the US, we would not think twice about an inter-racial relationship, but in other places, it's still a big deal.

I, in my life as well as this trip to Africa, have passed judgment on a person or a group of people due to race. Sometimes it's a joke, but other times it may not be as innocuous. It is not enough to say I don't see race, or some hippie ass answer like "I'm a part of the human race". What race or ethnicity we are defines who and what we are. I try hard to fight Chinese stereotypes, I think everyone can get that, but I'm still very Chinese in many aspects. Unless we directly face racism and deal with it, we will never make any further process.

Is stereotyping right? Probably not. Is it convenient? Absolutely. But we must be conscious of the fact that we are passing judgment not because of understanding, but because of racial stereotyping. Instead of giving ridiculously naive statements like "I don't see race" or "We are all apart of the human race", we need to deal with the issue head on and realize that we are all inherently racist. All races are not the same, we bring our different racial experiences to the table and that diversity is what makes us, as a human race, great.

The take away message here is that we will pass judgment based upon race, but we must try to prevent those judgments turn into action or policy. It is dangerous and difficult to ignore race, nor should we. Understanding is always the first step.

I will try to be more cognizant on the decisions I make and be mindful of what is based on racial stereotypes. I will try to not allow the racial judgments that I pass turn into actions, either positive or negative. The first step toward improving ourselves in understanding. From there, I can work on the rest.

South Africa (Part I: Getting there)

I just returned from a 10 day rapid fire tour of South Africa, little bit of Zambia, and a very little bit of Zimbabwe. I also had a quick run through Dubai, which, first time around, had a 2 hour layover and second time a more substantial 8 hour layover. I've also never been to an airport at 12AM and have THAT many people in it...Jesus, it was like Manhattan rush hour crammed all into a small space.

The take away message of Dubai is I hate plutocracies. Granted, I spent all of 10 hours in the T3 DXB airport (which is also the largest building in the world, judging by usable square feet), I felt I learned a lot of about this small, yet SUPER WEALTHY state.

First, everyone who works there isn't remotely Emirati (a person from Dubai). Shit, 85% weren't even Arab. Most are Indian, Pakistani, Asian, or Bangladeshi. Emirati people don't really work, they're rich. They also only make up 10% of the total population. Funny enough, Arabs are the minority in this Arab nation. It is truly an immigrant country. Because of this immigration, a tour book that I read while at the airport claims "Emirati only make up 10% of the population...this leads to a surprising open-mindedness and guarded self-segregation". I read "guarded self-segregation" as Emiratis are rich, the rest not so much, and let's keep us separate, because, truthfully which Emirati wants to be seen with a poor person, unless they're cleaning their house or driving them or something. Dubai is also a country cited by many human rights groups as having deplorable tenement housing for its working class immigrants. Don't believe me? Check out this article on the riots that broke out while constructing the Burj Khalifa. Fuck those immigrants that want to be paid US$60 more, so that they get US$231 a month!

On the other side of the spectrum is the spectacular wealth of the nation. Consider this, in a country that has just over 1 million people, it possess:

• The world's tallest building
• The world's largest building
• One of the world's most luxurious hotels
• One of the world's largest malls
• Indoor skiing

Now, the US also has these things and I guess if a nation is rich enough, I can't really fault them for wanting the best of everything. But sometimes the socialist in me feels that maybe it would be better spent on universal health care, education, social programs, or paying immigrants more than $200 a month.

If your rich (which I am far from that), Dubai is your playground. Just at the airport you can get:

• A $50,000 cover for your Blackberry. Made of titanium, platinum, diamonds, and other fun stuff
• A Swiss 999.99g 24K gold bar. Yes, a solid gold bar like you see in cartoons and movies making fun of rich people.
• A $9000 bottle of Vintage 1985 Lafite-Rothchild
• A $1500 bottle of 30 yr Macallen
• Caviar and tons of it
• Any electronic invention you can think of (laptops, computers, anything Apple)
• Every single designer label that sounds Italian or French
• Jewelry
• You can also win a Bentley just for exchanging money.
• Pinkberry (I was surprised that they went international, but a quick look at their website, I see that the whole UAE is a huge fan of them)

The only thing you can't find there, and it's ironic, is Arab stuff. Anything that local, or Arab, or cultural, is hard to find. There's only 1 store selling Arab stuff (trinkets, tourist friendly things, keffiyeh aka hipster scarf, etc.) And everything there isn't made anywhere in the Middle East. It's all from either China or Malaysia. The Chinese produce the cheap shit, while the Malaysians produce anything that is Muslim or Qu'ranic in nature.

Surprisingly, it is not all about spending and living the rich life. Since tithing is a pillar of Islam, there are donation bins everywhere that support the Dubai foundation, which does great work in the Muslim world. It builds schools and hospitals, provides healthcare, and alleviates poverty around the world. I just wish they gave more and also helped people in there own countries more.

One of the most beautiful and calming things is also morning prayers, especially during Ramadan. The call to prayer is played over all loudspeakers. No planes board. No gate agents blaring over the PA system. No carts driving down the hallways. Just a call to prayer and then silence for 15 minutes. It is truly a sight to see and just taken in the peace for a little bit.

I would never visit Dubai out of my own fruition, but since I was laid over, I try to take in as much from the airport as possible. I wouldn't go back there. But there is capoeira there with Grupo Nacao.

Next stop: Cape Town

New York things in DC

So Cais, Alina, Monica, and I were up in New York City for the 4th of July, mainly for a batizado, but also went to eat/see a couple of things. Everything there was good. Dim sum in Flushing, breakfast at the Kitchenette, local pizza place and then some Chinese hot pot at night. Nothing really amazing or spectacular.

Upon coming back to DC, though, I realized something I'm not really a fan of. New York things moving to DC, and what I'm guessing to be the rest of the country/world. Maybe it's because I'm weird, but NYC landmark need to stop expanding and just do what you do in New York. For example, Shake Shack. Granted its not bad for a burger and a shake, but:

1. DC already has awesome burger joints.

2. Because of your hype, there are lines going down DuPont now.

I think its just the hype that name brings down and stupid people will wait 1 hour in line, a la Georgetown Cupcakes, for food that's not worth an hour wait at high times, a la Georgetown Cupcakes.

Now, apparently, there's a Serendipity3 here in DC as well, in Georgetown. Serendipity3 was one of those quintessential New York places, mainly because it got notoriety for the $10,000 ice cream sundae, but also because of celebrities, movies, and 2 hour waits on a Saturday night for dessert. Is it good? Yes. Is it good enough for you to sit outside for 2 hours? Not at all.

The last thing I want to see in DC, is yet another sub-par, high class, chain restaurant with a 2 hour wait and a 1 month wait list for reservations. What's next? Katz decides to open it's first off shoot in Anacostia? Joe's New York Pizza starts up in Adam's Morgan (which isn't a horrible idea)?

I don't know, maybe its me, but the allure and fun of being in a city, especially somewhere like New York City, is the uniqueness of its places. You want something you can't get anywhere else, and that place will remain special to you. But now, restaurants have all broken away from setting one 1 or 2 genuinely good locations that still perform the task how they should. Hopefully, I don't see a Katz Deli any time soon, that would be sad.

Leg 3 of crazy traveling... St Louis

I got stuck working in St Louis this weekend, because I don't get paid overtime, Pfizer needs to cut costs, so I get stuck working. It wasn't all too bad, got to do some exploring in St Louis, MO.

First off, weather blows here. It's hot as hell, humid as hell. Outside of St Louis, you realize that your in Missouri (READ: It's your basic bunch of white trash). Inside the city it's actually really cultured, something I would expect in San Francisco or Seattle, maybe even Chicago, but not the mid-west.

The city has done a great job developing City Garden with great public art and green space. It reminds me of a sized down version of Millennium Park in Chicago. Check out this work:

It reminds me of a statue of Emperor Constantine with hollowed out eyes. The weeping wall gives it a really nice touch.

The Komen Race for the Cure was in town and everything was in pink, including the public fountains:

I don't know how I feel about pink fountains... but the hypocrisy of some of the bottle there was pretty blatant. Yes, breast cancer is bad, but you know what else is bad? Smoking. That also increase the risk of breast cancer and lung cancer. I'm not going to go into that, but just saying.

The food, minus the BBQ, is sub-par. Went to The Hill the first night on the recommendation that it has GREAT Italian food. Went to Guido's for Italian and Tapas. The owner is Spanish, but moved the place to The Hill, historically Italian, hired some Italian chef and claims to make excellent Italian food. At the recommendation of the bartender and the guy sitting next to me, I got the tortellini. Like I've said so many times before, salt covers up all your short comings, and so does garlic. When using prosciutto or any other charcuterie, please don't add any more salt. If you need to add more salt, get better charcuterie. The homemade pasta was good, really good and the stuffing was decent, but the sauce was overly salty and the prosciutto tasted more like canned ham than prosciutto. St Louis Italian, your not Boston, and your no where close to New York.

Breakfast today was a Mimi's Cafe. Let's just say cinnamon brioche french toast does not mean a fried Cinnabun. Two VERY different things! And they claim to be French, that's troubling.

Now, the good part. Pappy's. Everyone from the hotel front desk to taxi drivers to my cousin has told me to go there. It is THAT good. If you like BBQ (who doesn't?), you'd love this place. St Louis style dry rub ribs are the BEST, and I haven't had it this good for a long time. Pull pork is also excellent. Its not too lean, real juicy, and doesn't need sauce, which is hard to do. Get there early though! They tend to run out of food almost daily. It is a St Louis tradition and rightfully so!

I'm not exactly in a capoeira mood for the past little bit, so no capoeira travels for a couple of weeks. But I leave you with this cool picture of the Gateway Arch (I think its cool):

Southport, NC... would never be here if not for a wedding

So my good friend Palmito is getting married in Southport, NC. Where is Southport, NC you may ask? It's 40 miles south of Wilmington and is kind of the middle of nowhere. Everything closes at 9PM on Saturday, and NOTHING is open on Sunday. Check out the cities website, it SCREAMS excitement! Yup, super fun....oh and needless to say no capoeira

It is surprising that Southport actually has a lot of decent beaches. For the east coast, its not bad. It's not great. To be fair, in the last 2 years, I was on beaches in Spain and Jamaica, so I'm spoiled. The only issue with this beach was the jelly fish that washed up on the beach. Everything was better, though, with the amazing weather we are getting, and hopefully it holds up for Palmito and Ashely's wedding on Sunday.

The REALLY surprising thing is the food. 2 our of 3 places I've been have REALLY good. So the first place we went, Provisions, was pretty cool. It had a dock on the back, all seating is outdoors and had a really good feel. The only good thing about that place was that beer was on an honor system, you grabbed what you wanted out of the fridge. Not to say I would steal anything, but the convenience is just well worth. It also had Red Stripe, and after drinking that for a whole week in Jamaica, it has grown on me. The food was sub-par to say the least. I had the crab cake sandwich, and since I've lived in Maryland for such a long time, I have great expectations. Needless to say, it failed. Too much filler, no lump crab, made from this blended and chopped crab, and deep-fried (no, no). We also shared a 1/2 of steamed shrimp, and its really hard to fuck that up, which they didn't, but it wasn't exceptional either.

Now, the 2nd place was great for lunch. Bob's Dogs has some great ideas for hot dogs that works. Jamaican relish, mango salsa and mayo, are things I usually wouldn't associate with hot dogs, but they make it work really well. Its also REALLY cheap, which is always a plus.

This last place is almost worth coming here for. Loco Jo's has some of the most amazing grouper tacos. It's a fresh seafood/Viet place, but I really don't trust Asian food unless its made by Asians or places ran by Asians. The grouper tacos come grilled and blackened, I went with the grilled. I love fish tacos and the best EVER are this tiny shack on the boardwalk in Santa Barbara, but this place SERIOUSLY challenges that. The fish is fresh, the owner's friend speared, them 3 days ago, and the salsa they use is GREAT. They let the fish do the work, nothing fancy, no crazy spices, no "aioli" which SO MANY PLACES love doing now. Tackle Box, in Georgetown, is good, don't get me wrong, but the fish is a little bland and instead of cubing it, its one piece of dead, slightly overcooked fish. These are large chunks of PERFECTLY grilled grouper.

On a complete side note: Friends, Romans, Countrymen, please realize aioli is NOT spiced mayo. Its not made like mayo, it doesn't have the consistency of mayo. It is a very traditional, if not THE quintessential, Provence side dish/sauce. It is VERY difficult to make well, its one of those things that I will NOT attempt.

Anyways, Loco Jo's is owned by a women, Jo, of Vietnamese decent (she's a older women, and is beautiful, looks like a halfsy, so I'm immediately interested and has this cute southern accent, sadly married though) and her husband. 80% of the patrons are local, so that says something. They also have a GREAT beer and wine selection. Oh yeah, they also have a chocolate dipped key lime pie, flown in from Key West, for dessert. Yes it is as good, if not better, than it sounds.

If I were to ever drive/stay in the south, I might go out of the way to come here JUST for those fish tacos. Sadly, they are closed Sunday and I'm heading back to RDU on Monday, so no more Loco Jo's.

Finally, I want to give my congratulations to Palmito (aka Brian) and Ashley. You guys make a great couple and I, in person as well as cyberspace, wish you the great happiness for the rest of your lives.

MmMmmmm.... Moqueca, farofa, e coxinhas

So, I'm basically in Boston at least once a month, and I have a couple of friends up here that I go to dinner with. Most of the times we're in the north end for some Italian. If you ever find yourself in Boston, 2 place you MUST try for dinner and then dessert. Giacomos is probably the only place I would say that the food is worth the wait. There's only 10 or so tables and there is ALWAYS, regardless if it is -20 or 80 degrees outside, a line. People file in and out pretty fast and the service is no bullshit and fast. If your there, get the calamari and the house special, whatever it may be. The only place I've had better Italian is at Alto in NYC, and thats a 2 star Michalin restaurant. The kicker is it doesn't cost that much, while Alto cost $150 for 2 people.

After dinner, go to Mike's Pastry Shop. It is a little touristy and is featured on every show about Boston food, but trust me, it's absolutely the best for a freshly made cannoli, pastries, and a good Italian espersso. Pistachio cannoli is absolutely the best. They do a great job at balancing all the tastes. It's not too sweet and not too filling, and is always fresh. They are also opened late (Boston terms), which is good.

So today, since all my friends were busy or not here anymore, I took my woeful Portuguese to Muqueca in Cambridge. All I have to say is: There's nothing like pirao and farofa. Of course the Muqueca was great, but I love the other side stuff especially pirao and farofa. I ended up chatting with the waiters there, and realized, my Portuguese is awful. Any one got some Rosetta Stone?

As for capoeira, I generally train with Mestre Deraldo. He's leaving for Brazil sometime in July, so if you get a chance to see a piece of living history and talk to him about the history of capoeira, do it! After he leaves, CM Toca and Calango will continue teaching there. I've basically learned all of my jogo de angola from them, though I'm not sure that is a compliment to their school. Boston also has a bunch of capoeira regional schools and they are everywhere. CM Marquinho is in Chinatown, M. Chuvisco in Cambridge and BC, Inst. Caveira is in Everett, and so many many more. I just need a place to train Angola, so I stuck with Mestre Deraldo.

I love Boston. It was the first city I came to in the US, went to school for a year here, so it always has a special place in my heart. If it wasn't so DAMN cold, I'd consider moving here....

Durham, NC. You are pretty cool!

Not going to lie, I imagined Durham, NC as a banjo playing, tobacco chewing, mud bogging, slack jawed yockles. It turns out tobacco country USA has a lot going on downtown. Granted, I'm guessing having Duke bring its snobbery to the city helps, but there's nice restaurants, a theatre (with an RE!), and a hopping salsa scene.

So, I already knew of the salsa scene last time when I went out on Thursday night. Cuban Revolution is actually a lot of fun, never had the food there, but drinks are good and music is poppin. One of my friend's sister teaches there Thursday nights and is well worth the time to take the class, dance some salsa, and grab a drink.

This time around, my friend Adrianna, Preto, and I went to The Federal. This place kinda rocks. Large beer selection and it puts a twist on food that I would not expect. I got a grilled cheese just because I didn't want anything heavy, but seriously, people, you need to try this at home. So its a grilled mozzarella cheese with avocado, cucumber, and tomatoes. It's phenomenal, and at only $8 with fries, you can't really beat that. Oh yeah, and get the fries. I got a salad because fat is for losers, but both my friends got the fries and I was seriously eye that shit. They also have something else that I have never seen (I didn't order it, but it looked seriously good): Duck confit poutin. What is poutin you might ask? Well, in Maryland we call them hobo fries. It's fries with either cheese curd or crumbled cheese and gravy (it is French-Canadian, which I guess they do something right). Now, if thats not enough, add some duck confit on top of that. Heaven? Maybe? Pretty close? If you ever down in Raleigh-Durham area, seriously go to the Federal, its really good for really cheap.

Now, as for capoeira. There's a couple of groups in the area, but my homeboys Inst. Mata 4 and Linguica (Capoeira Brasil) do a really good job at the Terreiro de Arte e Cultura. Its always a good time with them, and they are right in Durham, so check them out!

ALSO!! They are having a batizado July 2nd-4th. They are a small group, so everyone will get a chance to play. I'm headed down (more than likely) so lets coordinate something and we can carpool it down!

Philly/Philly area... you redeemed yourself a little bit

So, I'm REALLY not a fan of Philly. They have crabby people, crappy sports teams, and not exactly great food. Gino's Cheesesteaks irritates the shit out of me with the blah blah blah cop "MURDERED BY MUMIA ABDUL-JABBER" sign out front. I'm not a fan of cop killing or anything, but don't go toting the very iffy conviction of Mumia please? And really? Cheese-wiz??

But this time around, I stayed near Valley Forge. And I've picked up a new hobby: jogging... or is it yogging with a soft J. So to add onto the crazy stuff on this blog...now I'm going to post running trails or at least suggestions.

Valley Forge National Park is well worth the visit. You really get a chance to see the place where Thomas Paine said "These are the times that try men's souls". You really do get a better appreciation for the founding of this country and why the US loves the underdog in so many situations. It also has an amazing running trail thats a good distance.

The other place I did take a run is Schuylkill River Trail. It's a 17.6 mile trail that start somewhere and ends in west Philly (don't go there). It shaded and you get to run by a river. Is there really anything better? It's also extremely quiet and safe, I did my run at midnight and was fine, there's no lights so please be careful!

So there you go! Thanks to Kevin Kempter, I've started running and stop being a fat ass. Remember, fat is for losers....

Couple of days around town (its a rarity)

So I rarely get a chance to spend time at home, and I don't get a chance to explore the areas I live. I took yesterday to do just that, not much, but found some cool stuff.

If you're in Alexandria and looking for a good burger, check out The Burger Joint. There's a lot of burger places in the area, like Ray's Hell Burger, but there's always a fucking line outside of that place. And truthfully, I've never had food that was worth a 30 minute wait, and Ray's Hell Burger is great, but also falls into this category. The Burger Joint is simple, good, no frills, with thick sliced bacon. They also have great onion rings and sweet potato fries, so thats a plus. The cool thing is, apparently, there's some new kind of soda machine with a touchscreen and 40 different choices. It has like ever soda you can think of and you can choose flavor shots. Coke Lime, turns out, is pretty damn good.

The one thing Cais and I did find that was really unique was this spice and tea shop. The Spice and Tea Exchange has a whole bunch of great exotic spices and the tea selection is fair. The couple of things I haven't been able to find anywhere else is Himalayan pink salt, sassafras, and pinot noir salt. I did get some tea though, and white rose tea is light and flowery, but needs some extra green tea to give it some kick. The peppermint tea is also good, its more minty than what I expected and is better as an iced tea than hot.

The DC area kinda rocks. I love home....

Chicago.... 3 times in 5 months

I feel like I keep coming back to this city. It's not a bad thing per se, but I really don't see what's so great about Chicago. Granted the Field's Museum is cool and the fountain thingy, Michigan Ave, and Millennium Park is all good, it's like a wanna be New York. Sorry it is. It can also be that my first trip to Chicago back in 2004, SUCKED!!! For those who know.... it involves an ex, and a haircut, enough said....not my proudest moment.

The first time was decent... went dancing at Nacional 27, which was a lot of fun. The next couple of times was with my bosses, so didn't do much expect eat at crappy chain restaurants. Nobody I work with reads this, so I will say this: I work with a bunch of people that all live in suburbs and are horribly afflicted by suburbia syndrome.

Couple of places in Chicago are really good though, surprisingly. Shaw's Crabhouse is not bad... a little pricey, but it is fresh seafood. I love scallops and they make a great simple grilled scallop. They also have a lot of local beers, which is always a plus in my book.

Gino's East, which claims to be the first Chicago deep-dish joint, is not so great. Maybe its just the style, but a thick ass pizza, load with red sauce, that takes 30 minutes to make isn't my cup of tea. But if you like Uno's, you'll like this place, its is better than Uno. Then again I haven't been to a Uno's for a good 10 years.

On another kind of cool note, went to my first baseball game and saw a no-hitter. Kinda cool in my book. I can actually understand now why people go to baseball games, though it is still the most boring sport in the world, but beer and good people make it worthwhile.

....My crap attempt of being artsy....

Anyways, I'm sitting in the 2nd worst airport I've been in, O'Hare, trying to get home. And yes, after a long ass time away from home, Panda Vermelho is finally home for the weekend :) I miss home and all the people there....

Seattle in April is SOOOO much better than November

First, Frana... stop lying to me that Seattle isn't that cold in April. IT WAS FUCKING COLD!

It was sunny though!! Which means its frigging gorgeous! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Nothing better than snow capped mountains in the distance

If you ever around Seattle, you have to check out Paseo (6226 Seaview Avenue Northwest, Seattle, WA 98117) This place ROCKS, thank you Pinguim for taking me there. Get the Cuban Roast Pork Sandwich (sorry my Muslim and Jewish friends). It's big, messy, has everything you can ever want in a sandwich. The only thing is.. its cash only.

Hi-Life in Ballard is also OFF THE HOOK. Been there twice, once for brunch and once for dinner, both times has been amazing, more brunch than dinner.

There's a fuck load of bars in Ballard, its like a drinking, granola, liberal place, but we went to The Noble Fir. It has great local beer, but whats REAL good is that for all you outdoor-y people out, it has a whole bunch of maps, surveys, trails, everything you need to hike through every single national park and then some. Definitely worth the stop in Ballard.

Capoeira capoeira ie.... Capoeira Males and Mestre Curisco is there, they're always good. But of course I'm gonna say train with meu grupo, Grupo Senzala, maybe a little biased, but it is my group. Also Prof. Fenix, Grupo Candeias, is also there, so check him out.

Thanks again to Frana and Alessandro for housing me there, love you guys!

So people keep asking

People keeping asking me 3 general questions:

1. Where am I?

2. What's good to eat there?

3. Who teaches capoeira there and who should I train with?

Like most of you know, I travel for work. Up and down the east coast, and more recent coast to coast and everywhere in between. So I decided to start this blog, which will cover the 3 things above and also some random-ass ranting.

DISCLAIMER (Mostly for capoeira): These are the people I trained with. I like them, so I will recommend them on here. Not hating on anyone....