my chance for a medal

OK, I'll never be close to competing in the Olympics but I found a way to earn a bronze, silver or even a gold medal. My boss sent out an e-mail inviting all of us VA grunts to sign up for the Active Lifestyle program or the Presidential Champions program. It's very simple: you earn points every time you exercise and when you've earned enough points, you get an award. There is a website that lets you track your activity and points online, and you can compare your progress within your group or with other groups. My family is also eligible to join, so if you've always wanted a medal too, let me know.

I've been working out somewhat regularly anyway, so I figured I'd sign up. Maybe it will give me some added incentive to work out on those days I don't really feel like it. They let you count any activity, even housework or chasing your kids or walking to your car, as long as it takes at least 5 minutes. I might as well get credit for all those trips up and down the stairs with a kid on each arm, right?

I need 20,000 points for a bronze medal. We'll see how long it takes me.

Nha Trang ,Vietnam

Sigo en Vietnam.
Estoy mas agusto que un arbusto...
Me gusta...

Cada vez me agobio mas (tampoco tanto :P) con la ruta a seguir a partir de aqui. Quiero ver Laos, Singapur, Indonesia, Nepal, China, a lo mejor India, Taiwan, y Corea. Todo esto solo antes de llegar a Japon, despues de Japon quiero ir a Australia, Nueva Zelanda, Centroamerica y Sudamerica, menudo palizon a ver si pillo algo de curro en algun sitio.
Ahora me apetece volver a Malasia a bucear y ver algo de jungla y sitios tranquilos.

Que de incognitas...

Algo que he aprendido viajando es el no hacer caso al 100% lo que te diga la gente que te encuentras sobre sus puntos de vista de los paises que has visitado. He conocidos viajer@s que me han dicho que Vietnam es una mierda, que Laos es lo mas, que Laos es lo menos, que esto y lo otro. Lo que hay que hacer es, si te apetece ver un sitio ir a verlo y opinar por ti mism@.

Tengo tambien ganas de empezar a ver animales serios en estado salvaje. Por serios me refiero a tiburones, orangutanes o gorilas, tigres, ballenitas...
De momento lo mas aberradillo que he visto han sido una cobra negra con la que tuvimos un encuentro, un escorpion bastante grandecito y cosas asi. Na de na.

En breve me voy a separar de mis compis de viaje. No porque tenga ningun problema con ell@s ni porque nos llevemos mal, todo lo contrario, lo que pasa es que ya vea llegando el momento de viajar solo. Esa es la verdadera esencia de viajar. Si viajas en grupo no tienes necesidad de conocer gente y a su vez la gente no interfiere. Cuando estas solo te abres mas a tu entorno y eres mas sensible a todo lo que te rodea porque es lo unico que tiene captada tu atencion.
Tambien una persona sola invita mas a una conversacion.
Me sorprende que hay muchisimas mujeres o chicas viajando solas. Incluso en sitios que no se considerarian seguros.
Un mito de viajar es que todo es inseguro fuera de casa. Nada mas alejado de la realidad. La gente tiene sus propias preocupaciones alli donde vas como para estar metiendose con cada turista que ven. Con esto no quiero decir que hay que atreverse a todo, pero con un poco de cabeza y precaucion, no tener miedo a las cosas. Aunque el miedo es una herramienta de defensa, no tiene que impedirte hacer lo que te apetezca, conocer gente o experimentar.

Puede que en tu pais de origen no te meterias a andar sol@ por zonas oscuras y alejadas del centro con nadie a la vista y luciendo una flamante camara digital. Pues eso tampoco lo hagas en otros paises solo porque el centro y las zonas turisticas dan sensacion de proteccion y seguridad.
No quiere decir que en algunos paises incluso hacer esto no supondria ningun peligro, pero mas vale no tentar al diablo.
Mi consejo es, como dicen en Ingles: "keep a low profile" que significa, no dar la nota y pasar desapercibid@. Esto puede parecer imposible en especial en paises donde tu aspecto, y a veces tu raza, te delata como extranjer@, pero al menos no hay que ir ostentando ya que mucha gente con la que te vas a encontrar se parte el culo currando al mes por sueldos risorios.
Cuando viajes, respeto, paciencia, sentido comun y una sonrisa son las llaves para un viaje perfecto.

A gozar

quote of the day - Sam Harris

"Imagine a world in which generations of human beings come to believe that certain films were made by God or that specific software was coded by him. Imagine a future in which millions of our descendants murder each other over rival interpretations of Star Wars or Windows 98. Could anything -- anything -- be more ridiculous? And yet, this would be no more ridiculous than the world we are living in."
-Sam Harris, author (1967- )

Never thought of it this way! He has a point.

Pritt-tee Alex

It was the end of the day, and Alex's hair was half pulled out of her ponytails and hung in strands over her face. Her shirt front was dotted with rice from dinner, and a chocolate-ice-cream beard covered her chin. But when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, what was her reaction?

"Hey...I'm PRITT-TEE!!!"

I hope she always believes it - no matter how she looks!

Day Care?

Well, I didn't think we would ever have to put our kids in day care, but with Cameo having a baby and Buzz taking boards and starting his third year of med school, we will need somewhere for them to go on Tuesdays for a few months. In addition, I still work full time for 4 weeks per year in the hospital, so it will be nice to have a plan for that.

Luckily, my friend Tammy knows a good place that actually does part time day care. If you've ever tried to find it, you know part-time day care providers are rare as hen's teeth. Tammy's kids have been going there for 2 years and seem perfectly happy and well cared for. VERY reassuring to me. But still...

Ever since Alex arrived in May 2005, we've always had the kids at home or with John and Cameo. It's hard to imagine turning them over to someone I don't know. It's hard knowing I might miss some of their cute antics or developmental milestones. It's hard anticipating the separation anxiety I fear they will have. Sam hasn't made it through even one hour alone in the church nursery...how will he handle an entire day?

I tried to think of all the questions I should ask the day care provider when I visited, but I probably missed some. They are state licensed (the current license was displayed on the wall), all their teachers are certified in emergency procedures and basic life support, they have all had background checks, etc. The place isn't fancy but looks safe, reasonably clean and has a large yard fully enclosed with a lockable gate. The ratio of teachers to kids sounds high to me - up to 8 kids per teacher, 2 of which can be infants (under 2) - but apparently this meets state requirements. At this time, I don't know of any other options. At least it's only for one day a week, or two at the most. And I'm hoping there will be benefits as well. They do artsy-crafty activities that I don't do at home, and the social interaction will be good for them. I hope.

Our first day is planned for Friday, March 2. It should be interesting!

Camboya, Angkor, AK-47, M-16, Jemeres Rojos y Saigon

Hola, hola.
He estado en Camboya.
El camino desde Bangkok hasta la frontera no esta mal, pero desde la frontera a Siem Reap es un camino de cabras. Se ve que el pais es mucho mas pobre que Tailandia.
El segundo dia visitamos los templos de Angkor, uno de los descubrimientos arqueologicos mas importantes del mundo. De hecho hay quien dice que lo mas importante despues de las piramides de Egipto. No se si sera verdad, habra que ver las de Azka y alguna cosilla mas...
Es algo impresionante.
Recordais Tomb Raider? Pues es donde rodaron algunas escenas...
Que no os acordais? Que pasa, estabais mirandole otra cosa a Angelina?? Que cerdos!!!

:P

Al dia siguiente nos fuimos a Phnom Penm que es bastante mas grande y tiene alguna cosilla mas para hacer.
Lo primero fuimos a un Shooting Range y disparamos con un AK-47 mas conocido como Kalashnikov y con un M-16. El rifle de asalto reglamentario de los soldados americanos.
Bastante acojonante.
Luago fuimos a los Killing Fields y al S-21 que es donde los Kemeres Rojos torturaron, jecutaron y enterraron a miles, incluso millones de camboyanos entre 1975 a 1979. Terrible.

Hoy estoy en Ho Chi Minh tambien conocida como Saigon, en Vietnam. La ciudad es mas comoda que las de Camboya y bastante facil y agradable de pasear. Lo malo es el trafico infernal de motos que tiene. Se hace muy dificil cruzar las calles.
En cuanto me levante me voy a ver los Cu Chi Tunnels que son los tuneles en los que se encondian los soldados vietnamitas de los norteamericanos en la guerra de Vietnam. Son algo claustrofobicos y las entradas son de unos 20 por 30 cm, a ver si entro...
Construian ciudades subterraneas con hospitales y demas. Los americanos les cazaban lanzando granadas o gas. Incluso se entrenaron soldados de corta estatura para entrar en los tuneles y hacer prisioneros, les llamaban topos, creo. Se estima que unos 40.000 vietnamitas murieron en estos tuneles.
Por la tarde iremos a ver el museo de las atrocidades al que han cambiado el nombre a War Museum para no herir la sensibilidad de ciertos turistas, pero por lo que parece es bastante anti americano.

Y lo mismo me pego unos tiritos mas con un AK-47, depende de mi estado de animo :P

just coincidence?

Every so often, in the seemingly random sequence of events that make up life, there come along moments that make you go "Hmmm."

Bryan and I have always made a habit of giving regularly to various causes. It started out as "'tithing" but since then has grown to include trying to respond to various needs that come up around us, and balancing that with trying to help those who seem to need it most.

In the last couple of years we hit new personal records for spending big bucks. There was a new mortgage, a new roof, two international adoptions and a new car to replace my beloved pickup truck (which could not accommodate car seats.) At the same time, our income dropped because I went part time and took 2 unpaid maternity leaves of 3 months each. We incurred some debt, but it should be manageable.

The amount we gave away dropped accordingly. We let it slide for a while. A chunk of the adoption fees went to orphans in Korea (the ones who aren't being adopted), so we rationalized that we had contributed what we could and would re-evaluate in 2007.

Well, this Sunday rolled around and the sermon was on giving, and Bryan and I decided we want to go back to our prior giving percentage. At the same time, I was looking into the costs of child care for a few months while Cameo goes on maternity leave. Turns out our current child care trading system saves us almost $500 per month. Anyway, with the expectation of new child care costs plus loan repayments, etc., I was a little worried about returning to our previous "giving" levels. I figured we would get behind for a few months, but catch up later.

So today I found out I got a raise! It's enough to cover the child care. :-) Just a coincidence?

I don't know, but I recently discovered another worthy cause for my new extra cash. Ten dollars will buy an antimalarial bed net and quite possibly save a life. Malaria isn't in the news a lot, but it's a major killer. Check out www.malarianomore.org or www.nothingbutnets.net.

happy 9-monthday Sam

I am so in love with my little buddy. Here's what he's been up to lately:

- crawling and cruising and falling and bruising!

- climbing - up the pantry shelves, into cupboards, onto Alex's little table and chairs, onto the dishwasher, into the bathtub...
- working on the pincer grasp - doesn't have it yet, but is starting to get that fascination with small objects. We found a piece of tinsel in his diaper yesterday - ack!
- starting to babble

- messing with Alex and Ava and their toys

- LOVING the dishwasher. If we open it, from across the room he will squeal with delight and crawl as fast as he can to get to this amazing thing. Same thing when we open the refrigerator door. I almost feel bad closing the door after he works so hard to get there.

- breaking stuff (already. Yes. He's a boy.). So far he has broken a lightbulb in a lamp he tipped over, and has broken his nightlight shade off. He also likes to rip paper. He got to a magazine and ripped out a couple pages and was laughing delightedly at the way they crinkled and ripped.

Today we will also have our third and final post-placement visit with the social worker, as required by Korea and Utah adoption law. When Sam has been with us for 6 months (Feb. 24), we can finalize in court. I'm looking forward to that. Even though it is technically a formality, legally Sam is still in custody of the agency and if anything were to happen - I don't know. I don't like to go there. Just can't wait to have this business finished.

Happy 9 month birthday Sam!

Contrast

Driving up the coast to work these days means that I cover around 50 kilometers every morning. In-car entertainment is extremely valuable, and so I've ended up with over a dozen CDs filled with the most eclectic, incongrous collection of songs imaginable. Totally disjointed. I've been told that there is an art to making CDs, and that I've yet to discover it. Apparentely I just end up perusing through my itunes library and shifting whatever song tickles my fancy into my "to burn" list. Unfortunately, random tastes are based on fickle-ness. What had tickled me the day past might grind on my nerves the next morning, and so the CD is chucked into the armrest storage facility along with the rest of the experiments gone bad, and so on and so forth.

So my Renault doesn't have a speeding indicator. You know that noisy beeping (or single, gentle beep.. whichever the make of your car) that reminds you that your right shoe has suddenly become full of lead? Well, my car doesn't have it. Now, I'm not sure if its a manufacturing fault, an issue that needs servicing, or just some sort of reflection on the laissez-faire attitude that the frogs apparently have towards excessive land speeds. When it comes to not wearing my seatbelt, the damn thing won't shut up. It does its job well, however, since I never forget to wear my seatbelt just to make sure the associated warning ding doesn't cause me to drive into a wall out of utter exasperation.

The new hospital is a bit ghetto, but hey.. that's life. This job involves a lot of moving around, working in different places. I suppose over the next few years here I'm going to have to get used to certain things. On the upside, its much smaller than my last place of employment, and so people are friendlier and the staff are much more familiar with each other. Quaint.

Here's a picture of where I usually am for around 70 hours a week (its not THAT bad, I just took a picture of the abandoned basement corridor for effect.. this hospital is still very safe to report to if you're ill), and a picture of where I'd ideally like to be for 70 hours a week. It was a beautiful day, and my beautiful companion decided to take a beautiful shot of me dragging my club set as I set off after that beautiful drive I had just bombed down the beautiful fairway. That is, before she had to retreat back to the car because the wet course had completely soaked her cute little shoes that were made of some kind of cloth. Hmm. Her feet apparently froze, and I ended up with a pair of socklets in my car that were hung out to dry. I discovered them three weeks later. Very amusing.

global warming and Al Gore

A couple of weeks ago B. and I watched Al Gore's DVD, "An Inconvenient Truth." He makes global warming look pretty scary. As it probably should.

A couple of things bugged me about his presentation. The axes of his graphs were often unlabeled, or the labels were impossible to read on the screen, making it difficult to assess the true scale of the measurements. A line going up, up, up looks very dramatic...but how much are these graphs "dressed up" to enhance the drama? I took statistics courses in college...I know how possible it is to make mountains out of molehills, or vice versa, depending on your motives.

Nonetheless, I doubt this global warming stuff is all just liberal tree-hugger hype. There appears to be good reliable scientific consensus. It may be an emotional issue, but that doesn't mean it's not happening.

One quote I particularly liked: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it" (Upton Sinclair).

So what can we do about it? Gore suggests that we all go to www.climatecrisis.net and learn about ways to stop global warming. I looked at the site. There are lots of tips to reduce your personal carbon emissions - like eat less meat, insulate your hot water heater, and bike to work if you can. I know this is serious, and it's true we should probably do more things like this, but I inwardly had to laugh a little...it seems like spitting in the wind when we still have huge coal burning plants and enormous corporations emitting enormous amounts of these noxious greenhouse gases. Personally, I feel we would get more bang from our buck by bugging all our senators and representatives. So that is what I'm doing, for now. After that movie it seemed hard to do NOTHING.

New kid on the Blog

Hello everyone! 2007 seems like a good time to join the electronic age. First a page on Myspace (www.myspace.com/sarahs_opus) and now a new blog.

Why Hunca Munca and Mouse's House? My family nicknamed me Mouse when I was little. It seems I was very quiet and sat in corners with big eyes watching all the ruckus. That, plus the fact that every URL name with "Sarah" in it is already taken.

About Hunca Munca - I've been reading Beatrix Potter's A Tale of Two Bad Mice to my daughter. What a great story! It ranks right up there with my other favorite of Potter's, The Tale of the Fierce Bad Rabbit. Tales about bad little furry animals seem to stick with me.

Ranas, ranas, ranas...

Ha llovido y hay ranas por todos lados.
Que alguien me explique de donde salen. Crecen del suelo cuando llueve?
Viva mi ignorancia...

Ko Samui, Ko Phangan, Ko Tao, nochevieja, Fool Moon, barcos y bufalos de peleas

Esta es una fotito que he hecho al lado de Ko Tao




Patricia, Nabaraj y yo mismo el dia de luna llena (3 de Enero), decidimos pasar de la famosa Fool Moon Party despues de ver lo horrible que era la fiesta de nochevieja en Ko Phangan.



El barco para ir a Ko Samui



Pedazo de mariscada de Navidad en la playa con Ivan, Alberto y Patri en la foto.



Las vistas desde el porche de mi bungalow en Ko Samui



Conocimos a un criador de bufalos de peleas, deporte practicado solo en Ko Phangan. Este era su bufalo.
Viven como los toros de lidia mas o menos. Les dan masajes, les limpian, les dan la mejor comida.
Este de la foto se habia apareado 7 veces el dia de la foto :P no es broma.



Fotito de una playa de Ko Phangnan

Bangkok de nuevo

Esta es una calle comercial en Bangkok en donde hace negocios "trapicheos" mi amigo F.
Se le ve a la izquierda de la foto con camiseta negra y pantalones cortos.





Mi primera incursion en el mundo de los bolos, les di una paliza a todos...





Maya tambien quiere jugar.





Las miles de mierdas que me he comprado en Bangkok, no creo que necesite nada de ropa en un par de siglos. Se ve la PS3 arriba a la derecha. Soy un cerdo consumista...

Hong Kong Night

Zona VIP de PlayStation 3 en el Asia Game Show de Hong Kong

Si tenias la suerte de comprarte una PS3 en el AGS, te daban unos pases a la zona VIP de PlayStation 3 con sillones masaje, pantallas LCD de 42 pulgaditas de Sony y una PS3 para tu disfrute.





Yo estuve muuuucho tiempo masajeandome porque pille 2 PS3 :P




Creo que este es el juego de Resistance: Fall of Man, menudo viciete que tengo, es acojonante.

Asia Game Show, PSP System Software Version Update Counter

En el Asia Game Show se podia ver hasta un stand con unos personajillos que te actualizan el firmware de la PSP, lo que no se es a que version o si te hacen Downgrade.

Asia Game Show, Hong Kong

En Hong Kong tuve la suerte de coincidir con el Asia Game Show.
Hice unas cuantas fotitos.
Os las dejo...


El poster de la movidilla.



Un pedazo de Lamborghini de PlayStation 3



Y ahora unas fotos de unos frikazos cosplayers.

Bombas en Bangkok y bomba en Madrid

Parece que hay quien quiere lanzar petardos mas grandes de lo normal en navidades y putear a quien nada puede hacer para cambiar las causas de sus desagrados y a quien ya tiene bastantes problemas en su vida, como cualquier mortal.

El vivir en Madrid debe significar que todos los males de los que nos rodean son causados por nosotros y que residir en la capital es sinonimo de fascista o algo parecido.

Feliz 2007.

Yo estoy saboreando las decadentes fiestas celebradas en el sur de Tailandia. Una y no mas.

Sus quiero.