John in Thailand

http://joguva.blogspot.com/index.html


It's pretty dang good.

I have a new Blog

Check it out at

http://newmania.allmypeople.com

This blog is screwy

I can't login to this blog anymore

Head over to my NEW BLOG

http://newmania.allmypeople.com

It's My Birthday!

I so happy to make it here.

I've always loved my Birthday - not for the attention and presents (Those things just embarassed me) - But for the cool stuff that happened. It was the date in 1856 that the first English Colony in North America gave up and went home - thus creating "The Lost Colony" and possibly the strange blue eyes and light color hair in the Lumbee Indian tribe in my Mother's hometown of Lumberton, NC.

It was also the date that American Slaves were freed and it's celebrated each year with a big festival called "Juneteenth".

The past two years I've gone down to the beach for my birthday - Last year, I went with the incredible, beautiful Sasa Bear. She and I spent the weekend touring the north east coast of Taiwan and had a long hike along a historic trail through the forest, along a stream and up a mountain - did I say it was long :)

Sasa also sent the best Birthday card I've ever recieved in all my 34 years - Thanks Sarah!

My Mom called to wake me up with birthday greetings, yesterday. I guess she is using last year's calendar. Sally chimed in with a nice Birthday email.

Tonight - it's a BBQ and a Game 7 Stanley Cup final. Should be a good and memorable day.

much love,
nsl

World Naked Bike Ride day - June 10th, 2006

MADRID (Reuters) - Hundreds of nude cyclists pedaled around Spanish cities on Saturday to protest against car-clogged streets and demand greater respect for pollution-free transport.


With slogans like "one car less" and "bio methanol" painted on their backs, the naked cyclists staged Spain's third annual Ciclonudista or "Nudecycle" in Madrid, Barcelona and Pamplona.

The protest was part of world-wide naked bike riding events on Saturday across Europe, North America and South America.

for more... no pictures

but wait... Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/worldnakedbikeride/

Waiting for Ray ...

Chilling out inside on a stormy day here in North Carolina.

radio david bryne is helping tremendously.

Avant Pop

Glitchy squiggly pop is more like it. Spanning 30+ years here are 3 hours of music that sounds like it all branched from the same tree trunk. A tree with roots that strangely matches that imagined by the creators of 60s Sci Fi movies and TV shows, but fully realized only now, in the 21st century, their future. This music's forerunner was heard in the movie scene where the weirdly beautiful woman sings and plays an instrument that looks like a 3D spider web. Or something similar. Odd how the future turned out to be almost exactly as it was imagined. As if those TV shows and movies were prescriptive not just imaginative. As if the fictional possibilities as writers imagined them and presented to us defined the scope of our imaginations — we will build the future but only as we can imagine it. You can't make it happen unless you visualize it first. How could we do otherwise?

So movie scenes and the soundtracks are like words — we think in concepts as defined and restricted by our language, and we imagine, create and hear only that which is within our grammar of sounds.

There are alternate futures, alternate music, but we will never experience them as our present as they were never imagined, or were imagined and then forgotten. There is music out there that we cannot hear, because it does not fit our definition of what music is. Someday that music will be imagined, and then inevitably, created.

The grooves here tend to be skittery, the percussion like the sounds of distant cutlery rattling, but the structures are often surprisingly (and comfortably) traditional — clear-cut verses and choruses. Voices lean towards the intimate, breathy, slightly mournful. Whispering strange and very personal messages in our ears. These are folk songs. Folk songs from a culture made of ones and zeros.

— DB

Check out the avant pop this month on Radio David Byrne.com perfect for a rainy beach day.

Gabba Gabba Hey,,, yo?

trailerHD_320.mov (video/quicktime Object)

The cookies were good. And they helped.

So, I'm sad and depressed.

But then I click on this link and I was changed. I inspired me to write this. Get ready to be totally freaked out, in a good way.

Yogabbagabba!

PS: oh, that popping sound you will hear is 21st century children's programing in high Def.

Shine on you crazy ... Frogger

Neave Games :: Frogger

You will be amazed. It's not that I am a gamer, but I believe in the power of games. This game, Frogger, brings back memories for sure. As I recall, it was hot-ly contested in the Lanier / Stephenson family and Garden Hills Neighborhood dens of the early 80's. It's a strangely addictive game. This new flash version by Neave games is really good - the graphics and the sounds match my memory.

Okay I'm back to playing...

So, if you have never played frogger, you owe it to yourself to try.

Pink Floyd - "Shine on you crazy diamond"
"Remember when you were young,
"Now there's a look in your eyes,
"you reached for the secret too soon,

Everything is going to be fine...

Cookies are in the oven and the CAVS are on the TV.

6 mins on the cookies...

Eddie meet advertising. advertising, Eddie Spaghetti.

3quarksdaily: "On Saturday, the town of Skarsterlan began fining Hotels.nl 1,000 euros a day for putting branded blankets on sheep. Advertising on livestock violates the town's ban on advertising along the highways."

My Friend, Eddie, is selling advertising in Orlando, FL. When I saw this article on selling ads on sheep that graze near the highway in Holland, well I thought about all the creative, innovative thinking that goes into advertising. I think marketing and Eddie are a good match, because he is a innovative and creative thinker.

Eddie meet advertising. Advertising, Eddie Spaghetti.

Flickr: Photos from newmania

Flickr: Photos from newmania

Just posted my Havasu Falls and Grand canyon trip photos over on Flickr. Some are really good.

Angie and I spent a full week in the area. After flying into Vegas and getting a rental car, we drove out to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and stayed in the Mather Campground. It was super freakin cold - good thing there is a Supermarket there with camping supplies. I bought a fleece liner for my sleeping bag and I was COZY the second night.

It was Angie's first time seeing the Canyon and she summed it up in one word "unbelieveable". You just have to see it. The weather was cold - maybe 40s and occasional snow showers. We were happy to drive into the lowlands for some heat.

The parking lot for the Havasu Falls / Havasupai village is 60 miles down a BIA (bureau of indian affairs) road. We parked there and hiked the 10 miles to the campground and the Falls.

The waterfalls were breathtaking and such a treat after the long, dusty hike. It's a shock to be dry and hot, and then turn a corner and feel the moisture from the falls. A very viseral experience. Your BODY rejoices!

We spent three days hanging out and swimming in the pools and eating - we brought a ton of food. And we met a bunch of very cool folks.

There were the English couple - Richard and ?, the park ranger and his girlfriend - Wayne and Teressa, the folks who horseback'ed in with massive provisions, the Colorado ski resort workers, and of course, the Sisters - Alexis and Rachel. We met the sisters at Mooney Falls - the one you have to clmb down a canyon wall to get to. Alexis convinced us to jump from the rope swing. We all hiked out together and had a blast.

So get on over to Flickr and check out the pix! and it's okay to post a comment or two :)

The Alaskan Forum hits 100 members!

I happy to report that the forum I started alittle over a year ago has 100 members. The forum has information about visiting Alaska and living in Alaska. And it provides a places for Alaskans to share tips and highlights.

Visiting and living in Alaska poses special problems. It's unlike any other place in the USA and probably the world. It's hard to come here and be successful. To have a good experience you need a community and guide to help you get along. Where do you buy xtratuffs? How do you find a good Mexican restaurant in Fairbanks? All sorts of questions arise when living on the last frontier. I created the Alaskan Forum to highlight the web sites that can help and provide a place for Alaskans to discuss these topics.

It's an open place and it's free to join the discussion. Please visit, join the board, and post a topic.

If you are a business or have an Alaskan website / blog, it's okay to post a link to your site (as long as it is relative to Alaska)

http://forum.alaskagold.com

Saddened to report the death of a Valdez Heli Ski Legend

Doug Coombs Dies in French ski accident

To me Doug Coombs was a legend. A story that may or not be true, but gives inspiration and hope. He pioneered the Heli Ski community and guiding business lifestyle. The life he created for himself was the stuff of legend. He rode in a helicopter to work. In a remote part of Alaska he helped define a sport, a business and a lifestyle. The sport was big mountain, heli access free-skiing. He was twice a World Extreme Skiing Champion. The business was guiding mere mortals to the hallowed heights he and a few others had pioneered. He was a success in founding two guiding outfitts and working on at least three continents. And the lifestyle was a global trekking heli ski bum business mogul with a big smile and a pure heart. He was a champion for everyone who looked up at a snow loaded coulair or down at a map where the mountains are shaded white.

In this way, he lives on as legends do. I'm glad to know him. He will be missed.

Raggae blasts out of the RV at the top of the hill next to the trailhead in the sunbleached parking lot in the middle of the Indian Reservation. A handwritten sign says Cold Drinks and underneath "have an Irie Day". It turns out the Havasupai Indian tribe are Rastafarian. Look at some of the pictures and you can imagine why -

Angie and I have only a few hours here in Tacoma and tomorrow we head to Sitka... more later

Goin' Dark... Vacation 'til May Day

Loyal readers!

In my attempt to travel myself into the poor house, I'm going on another vacation. This time to the Grand Canyon. I really AM excited, but I'm a bit weary.

Since I stopped working last year, I've been all over Taiwan, NC, Georgia, Hilton Head, SC, Florida, Wisconsin, Costa Rica, and Cleveland and Tacoma and Seatle and Portland.

It's been a great run, but I'm out of money. This will be my last trip... I mean starting now, I'm not going to book anymore airline tickets. Of course, I'm still going to Sitka in May and a bike tour in Oregon in June - But after that, I'm going to get a JOB.

yep, I'm not sure just what yet. But I will work again.

Being Jobless has been an experience - this is certainly the longest I've been unemployed. But being a world traveler is a job, right? And I've helped people. And spent time with Family and friends. I like that part of it. It's the not showering and lounging around all day on the couch watching DVD's of arrested development that is killing me.

So, I'm hoping for a brief spell of work to make some cash and / or experience and then of to school. Could be an education Masters... Could be an MBA or something totally different.

My confidence shook a bit when I saw my bank account. But it's given me some motivation. So, keep me in your thoughts and I'll see you here again in a week or two.

Academic Studies Starbucks Cultural Impact - Yahoo! News

Academic Studies Starbucks Cultural Impact - Yahoo! News: "Simon, who teaches at Philadelphia's Temple University, thinks that by spending time at Starbucks — observing the teenage couples and solitary laptop-users, the hurried office workers and busy baristas — he can learn what it means to live and consume in the age of globalization."

What it means to live and consume in the age of globalization... I like that. live and consume ... in the age of globalization.

That's my age!

...

Happy Easter everybody!

search"sasha cohen" VideoSift

search"sasha cohen" VideoSift

Borat "Ali G" disgraces the national anthem in Savannah, Georgia. It's funny

My great aunt , Eloise

OKAY okay - one more story about death: The crux of my family, I've always said, is that two brothers married two sisters. Lenny and EvaMae and Raeford and Eloise. They celebrated their anniversary on the Fourth of July. Raeford and Eloise were favorites of mine and when the only thing you know about them is there names, you can understand why. They deserved those cool names because they were off the chart in cool. Raeford was gruff and hard and Eloise was smart, sassy and with the looks to back it up. They loved each other tremendously and raised 5 kids. After a fight with cancer, Raeford died first. Eloise lived on. She traveled to my graduation with my Grandmother, EvaMae. They were best friends. After years with Cancer, EvaMae died. Eloise lived by herself. And on the Fourth of July, her family gathered at a neighbors for the traditional party. She felt tired and wanted to rest. She would be along to join the party after awhile. She lay down on the couch and read a book. When her son came to bring her to the party, the book was peacefully resting on her chest and she was gone.

Perhaps she drifted off like our poet describes. I know she was a simple country lady. And I hope she wasn't afraid and felt the connection with her family and simply got up from the couch and joined them at the party.

I'll try to find a good picture of her and post it soon.

enough of the Death Stuff

... well just one more post. Tonight, while celebrating my return from Portland, I watched the PBS show "Nature". The subject was an African Fig tree. The female narrator's soothing voice explained the web of life surrounding this one tree on the bank of a crystal clear river. The point of the story was the relationship between the fig fruit and the lone pollenating fig wasp. But what surprized me was the life struggle and death of these creatures all in perfect harmony. Nothing is F$#K'ed here. Every lifecycle fit into a whole and served some sort of purpose. As if by pre-arranged contract, each species fulfills an obligation and contributes in some way.

Beautiful. It made me happy for the tree, and the bugs, and PBS.

pictures from Portland, soon.

Thanatopsis

Thanatopsis

Death - This poem was written by a 16 year old in the late 19th century. He seems to get it. "All that breathe share thy destiny." This was and is one of my favorite poems. I first read it in class and have always gone back to it.

My grandfather got word that he has a cancerous tumor and must have an operation to remove his kidney. It's a big deal, in my mind. He is 81 years old. And he has seen alot of death. His wife, brothers, friends have all joined the "innumerable caravan".

It's tough to speak to your grandparents about dying. But why in the world is it? Death is all around us. Yet it's a taboo. Maybe it's like sex - we don't talk about it to build up the mystery and heighten the thrill.

So, okay, I'll play along. I won't try to bust the taboo. But I won't be ruled by it either. A little mystery is good - too much is a dysfunction.

I'm going to die. The fear is that I will die doing something stupid and that I'll cower and creep toward it like a quarry-slave at night.

My grave is waiting, but my obituary is not written. I plan to walk toward my death day with unfaltering trust. So can you.

"The oxen are slow, but the earth is patient."