New Year's Sucker

I'm one of those people who starts feeling all motivated just because the year part of the date changes. I want to eat healthy, get fit, draw a comic, volunteer, invest my money, clean my house, clean your house, meditate daily, make a game, drink more water, pet a dog, etc.

It's nice feeling that way but my motivation wanes after a few weeks.  If the year changed about once a month I'd be set.

I'm going to go buy some vegetables now because 2015 Mike does a lot of nutritious home cooking.

Happy New Year!

Cuzco

I am in Cuzco, a city in Peru.

Wherever I travel, I like getting to know about the local culture. For example, I can tell you that cuzqueños really enjoy paintings, massages, and photos involving traditionally dressed women with llamas. Or maybe they just enjoy offering those things to people like me, because they do it a lot.

One of my favourite things about Peru so far has been ordering food from a Spanish menu and having no idea what I will get. So far it has worked out really well. My guidebook has convinced me to stop doing this once I get to Iquitos, where they serve endangered animals as well as things like worms, fish intestines, and ants.

Photo courtesy of Ian Carvell

Lima

In the few weeks leading up to my trip to Lima (the city in Peru, not the municipality in Ohio, 116 km north of Dayton, pop. 38339), I learned a little bit of Spanish.

I used Rosetta Stone, which is great when you actually want to learn a language but isn't ideal if you just want some basics for a short trip.

The people of Lima, or limeños, are nice but their patience wears thin when you say things like "the car is red." This is doubly true when the car isn't actually red but is some colour you can't say in Spanish. I've found the best solution is to only hail taxis in colours that I am familiar with, so that the driver and I can have a nice discussion in which I tell him (it's always a him) the colour of the car, he responds with many quickly spoken words I can't understand, and I say gracias.

This brings us to another problem: because I can't speak Spanish and because it's a safe choice, I say thanks way too often. I am given a restaurant bill. Gracias. It gets taken away. Gracias. I am given change. Gracias. I am on my way out the door. Gracias. I can only hope that I am not having exchanges such as:

- You smell like a dirty animal.
- Gracias.

or

- Say gracias one more time and I will kill you.
- Gracias.

Exit row

On the way to Houston I was given the privilege of sitting in the exit row of the airplane. But with great legroom comes great responsibility. My aislemates and I were tasked with, in case of emergency, saving lives.

I didn't bother reading the safety sheet before I confidently asserted that yes, of course I could perform the duties expected of me. In fact, although I didn't share this with the flight attendant, I was pretty sure I would be the best exit row helper of all.

"How many lives have you saved so far, Tony?" I would smugly ask the person beside me (who was named Tony) as we helped survivors jump onto the rubber slide and out of the burning wreck that was our plane. I would direct his attention toward the blackboard used to tally our saves, which would have three times the number of tick marks beneath my name than beneath his.

But, of course, number of saves isn't all there is to being a successful exit row helper. There is also a matter of comfort. I don't just want my fellow passengers to survive, I want them to have a great time doing it. If that ride down the rubber slide isn't both thrilling and comfortable, I haven't done my job.

Sadly, nothing catastrophic happened during the flight and we landed at the George Bush Intercontinental airport without me having been given the chance to show what I am capable of. Maybe next time.

A new endeavour

Hello there.  I have started a web comic!  There's a banner and everything.

It is located here: http://babywantsabottle.com

Not geese. Cheese.

I'm not normally one to make New Year's resolutions.  They usually don't work out.  But I'd like to give one a shot this year: eat less cheese.

It is said that Americans eat an average of 2 pounds of cheese per person per day.  Per day.  That's an astonishing figure.  And in Utah that number is even higher.  This can't be good for you.

So here's what I propose: any time I have the opportunity to eat cheese I won't do it, with the following exceptions:

1. If I am splitting a pizza with friends.

2. If I am at somebody's house and they are serving cheesy food.

3. If I am in SF then I get to eat one Patxi's pizza even if I'm alone.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Not geese. Boston.

Hello there.  So here's the thing: I just took a vacation to the hit city 'Boston' and would like to share my experiences with you. Maybe it will help for when you go to 'Boston'.

Being in Boston reminded me of living in the U.S.A. because they use the same money and language and also it technically is part of the U.S.A.  I had forgotten many great things about the U.S.A., like how each 7-Eleven is assigned a homeless man to open the door for you.

If you travel to Boston in the fall, you will find it to be very 'nice'. Please see the picture to the left.

One thing I did in Boston is visit Harvard.  Here is a picture of part of it:

Being at Harvard was neat because smart people go there.  You're not supposed to enter most of the buildings if you're a tourist but I entered one.  Then I entered the bathroom, where I got to hear a Harvard student or staff member pooping!  They poop like we all do, or at least make the same sounds.

Then I went to a natural history museum where they were perpetuating the myth of the dinosaur:

And also the myth of the leopard:

One thing I learned at Harvard is why people take pictures of things in museums. It's for our blogs! Leave us alone!

After I was done learning things at Harvard, I went to M.I.T.  It was one of my favourite parts of the trip but I have nothing to say about it.  Please look at the photo of it to your left.

Now look at this photo on the right.  It's of Paul Revere* wearing a Red Sox jersey.  The Red Sox is a baseball team that I would have liked to watch but I didn't want to pay $900 to $2500 for a ticket.  But I did take a tour of Fenway Park, the oldest baseball stadium.  At the end we all got to lick the first ball pitched by Babe Ruth in the 1918 World Series championships.

I did get to watch a hockey game, though.  I sat beside two people from Prince Edward Island.  It turns out people from Canada actually do say words like 'about' funny!

On my trip I ate many things.  I probably ate something almost every day.  One thing I ate is a cannoli, shown on the left. They seem to be a 'thing' at the bakeries in the Italian neighbourhood and I like 'things'.

Oh oh oh! I almost forgot to mention that I also visited New York City, briefly. In New York City they have pizza and they have what's in the picture on the right. I hope you can see it. If you can't, it's a man in a wizard hat and round sunglasses sitting with a monkey on the back of a phoenix.**  What a city, what a city.












* This is actually just a statue of Paul.

** This is actually just a statue of a man in a wizard hat and round sunglasses sitting with a monkey on the back of a phoenix.