Lest you think that I hate California...

I absolutely do not. And, sometimes, even less so.

This last week, I got to be in a music video for one one my favorite bands of late, Beirut. Imagine nostalgic Balkan-esque music of your (my) youth, meets the Smiths. That is an oversimplification, but you get the gist... It was an extremely silly thing to do, but also fun (in some way or another). Anyhow, you can look for me in the music video for "Elephant Gun", dancing around with a rubber elephant nose on, with a fake wine bottle in my hand. That's me (partially obscured) on the far right.

ALSO, the fam's visit is this week, which has forced us (happily!) to leave our home-cave by the beach, and venture out to other parts. So far, we have done beach stuff with the crazed circus dog, and lots of wonderful food, in addition to mountain traversing. Next is whale watching, and then out to the desert.*







What a whirlwind visit!







*UPDATE: We saw an unusual number of Grey Whales on our outing on the catamaran, in addition to some Dahl's Porpoises (sorry, Jo!), and were hot on the trail of a Humpback when we had to head back to the marina. Bummer, that. Also, the desert was aMAZing. Joshua Tree Nat'l Park is (obviously, perhaps) really something, as was the B & B we stayed at. I, personally, enjoyed both equally. JTNP was everything I expected it to be, and even in such a dry year we managed to see some Joshua Trees in bloom.

The B&B exceeded any expectations I may've had, however. Homemade banana creme pie in the evening, decadent breakfasts of praline french toast with a berry compote, good coffee, beautiful cottages (skylights, even!), and every possible attention to detail, in addition to beautiful sunrises/sunsets, and wildlife on the grounds, including a mated pair of Great Horned owls, coyotes, foxes, and Sammy, the 2nd friendliest dog in the world. The owners of the B&B were amazing, as well, and also had great senses of humor. A wonderful, wonderful place. Many thanks to Lisa, who found the place to begin with, and to Sally and Chuck, for inviting us to go out there with them!

I give you some links:

Joshua Tree Nat'l Park

Roughley Manor B&B

Certain things about California, I won’t miss so much…

How surprising that the topic of this post would involve: 1) Our dog, and 2) Why some of the interactions I have with people in my neighborhood irritate me to no end. It's so rare that either of these things should come up, let alone both at once, I know.

Background: despite the absurd location (3 blocks from the ocean), our neighborhood is populated mostly by working class people, frat-boys, homeless people, and tennis-garb-toting vacationer types. It's an interesting mix, and, even though the last homeless guy that I "helped out" literally left his crap (as in, yes, his actual excrement) on our sidewalk, the homeless people are not the biggest problem around here. It's the self-righteous vacationer types, many of whom are actually on permanent vacations. Decked out in their "vacation gear", they peer into your yard, and then tell you any number of things while you're trying to pull weeds or play with your dog, or deal with the trash, or whatever. Back to that in a second.

Background, take II: Nina the dog is possibly the most spoiled animal on the planet; part of it is that she's turned "cuteness" into her own personal performance art piece. The other part of it is that she's really just a great dog, and so you don't mind, for example, squeezing into a chair with her, even though she's not really small enough for that. She regularly gets marathon frisbee sessions. Walks on the beach. She has free reign of the house (including all furniture) and the yard. You get the picture. We have a potentially unhealthy amount of love for this animal. And, she is happier than you, me and most of the people that we know, combined.

So, the vacationers... sometimes they'll stop and chat about how nice the flowers smell, how great the weather is, or any number of other pleasantries regarding the town we live in. This is a pleasant freaking place, after all. But, usually? Usually, they stop to question me, or to comment upon how mistreated my dog seems.

The thing is, (as many of you know) Nina whines when she gets excited. And, she gets excited a lot. Like, when people walk by, for example. She also knows that if said people are walking by, and she whines at them, they will invariably stop to pet her and coo at her incessantly. Only, they think that the whining is some expression of sadness, or a plea for help. "Oh, you poor baby, locked in this yard. Somebody needs to take you for a walk." Puhleeeze.

"Don't you ever walk her?", they'll then ask me. "She looks really thin. Do you feed her enough?", or "She looks kind of fat. Do you exercise her enough? She’s an active breed, you know." Really? I hadn’t noticed! There was this one couple that came by 3 times in as many days, just to "check up" on her. "You know, we walked by yesterday and the day before, and she seemed really upset. Have you been doing something to her?" Um, excuse me? Oh, but they're just concerned citizens, you see. No need to be so rude to them! Right.

Just the other day, in fact, an older woman waited at the front (now always locked) gate for me to come out, so that she could make sure I was paying enough attention to Nina. Through gritted teeth, I assured her that yes, she is a very healthy, very happy dog, and that if she had any more of my attention, it would probably necessitate my getting less sleep.

This kind of thing happens all of the time.

Also, I'm just not sure why these people insist on taking up our dog as their cause, when there are drunk morons tearing around the neighborhood in their 'stangs, who have nearly run over half of the other dogs in the neighborhood (who just roam around, because, you know, their owners think that leashes are "unkind"). Or, perhaps they could turn their ire (more appropriately) on the dudes who break car windows and yell things like "f^#*ing fa&&ot" incessantly. Another, perhaps more outrageous option, of course, would be that they just mind their own damn business!

No, no. Those things, I will not miss.

Poor little neglected Nina, however, I will.

First Post

Hi folks.

After a lot of waiting on research protocol approvals, visas, grants, etc., I am finally (finally!) getting ready to push off for Ecuador, where I'll be spending the better part of a year. For the moment, though, I'm still at home, just trying to take care of the myriad things that need to be done before I leave.

This is essentially a personal blog*. The plan is to use it to post photos and other info about what's going on (with me, and in Ecuador, and in California, for that matter), in addition to using it to stay in better touch with people outside of Ecuador. This will also spare friends and family the pain of my mass-mails, hopefully.

So, steel yourselves for the excitement of Ecuador, when I can tell you more about eating guinea pigs, and drinking corn beer, and eating 200 different varieties of potatoes and corn, and riding around in the backs of trucks, and burning garbage, and eating more potatoes and corn, and volcanic eruptions, and learning to play the charango, and working with traditional weavers, and, of course, my research, which consists of mainly talking to people (which will probably thrill you somewhat less than it thrills me). Whoa, the excitement of it all (seriously!). Hold onto your seats.



Feel free to leave comments, too, or just email me directly!


*This means that the views expressed here do not represent those of the universities or funding agencies I'm affiliated with, all of which will also remain nameless as far as the blog goes.