So a few weeks back I posted the first in what is now a series on a look at our culture today and back in the 80's through the lens of the music video.
Why the music video? For one, because the music video was new back in the 80's, so it's interesting to take a look back and see how music videos have changed and how they haven't. And two, I like music videos. I've also been focusing on the New Wave and Indie genres—for now—because many New Wave artists were the first to make really effective music videos, and because Indie artists tend to make, well, let's say interesting music videos. Also they were/are both not quite mainstream but fairly popular.
This episodes choices both have a slight semblance of plot, which allows viewers to attempt to read between the lines and come up with a deeper meaning, even though there probably isn't one. Classic strategy!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
6 Month Anniversary of having lots of pool parties
It's winter. And no one wants to get SAD, so I think it's appropriate to reflect on how amazing of a summer I had.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Fish...and plants...and you acting like you care!
Apologies in advance for not being able to a) hold a camera still or b) own a tripod:
Don't you want to know what is in the tank? And don't you want to see the other tank too?
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Winter Squash Soup
So this is something new—a recipe!
I enjoy cooking and I've tried a descent number of new recipes since starting grad school. Some turn out better than others. I thought this one turned out very well, so I thought I'd share.
Squash soup is definitely one of my favorite soups. It fills me up with a warm, happy feeling as soon as I taste it, so it is perfect for long, cold winter nights. It's also perfect because this is the traditional season for squash, so its more sustainable than making, say, a gazpacho.
When I cook, I tend to read a few recipes and then roughly follow a combination of them, so I apologize for any inexactness hereinafter. But it still turned out really well despite the lack of recipe, so I think it's a very modifiable dish. It took me a little under two hours in total to make, but it doesn't require constant attention so I was doing other things while it was cooking as well. So overall I think it's pretty easy, and yummy.
I enjoy cooking and I've tried a descent number of new recipes since starting grad school. Some turn out better than others. I thought this one turned out very well, so I thought I'd share.
Squash soup is definitely one of my favorite soups. It fills me up with a warm, happy feeling as soon as I taste it, so it is perfect for long, cold winter nights. It's also perfect because this is the traditional season for squash, so its more sustainable than making, say, a gazpacho.
When I cook, I tend to read a few recipes and then roughly follow a combination of them, so I apologize for any inexactness hereinafter. But it still turned out really well despite the lack of recipe, so I think it's a very modifiable dish. It took me a little under two hours in total to make, but it doesn't require constant attention so I was doing other things while it was cooking as well. So overall I think it's pretty easy, and yummy.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Ted's year end early new year update, Pt. 1
Hey guys. Apologies for starting a post and then not finishing it until several weeks later rendering it obselete—and ancient by internet standards—on arrival. I've done this a few times, and I still have some stuff that I need to update from this summer.
First a digression: when I started this post, I'm was cruising above central Florida at around 39,000 feet and 445 knots, using free holiday wifi. I continue to be impressed by how our lives keep progressing towards total, constant connection. This would have been unheard of a few years ago.
Anyway the point of this post is to give an update on what I've been up to the past few days, weeks, and months. Why was I on an airplane over Florida? Well I was on my way to Minnesota from the Dominican Republic where my sister just had her wedding ceremony. I've told some of you about this but this is probably news to some of you that I haven't talked to very recently, which is a sign that we need to catch up.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
400 & 300!
400 & 300. What do these numbers MEAN?
Well. Let's start with the number 400. It's our 400th post! Pretty crazy stuff. We've come along way and I am really proud of us keeping it up for so long!
And then there is the number 300. I'm less excited about this one. Can anyone guess why the number 300 is significant today? Could it be the name of my favorite movie? Could it be the number of times I checked my email in the last week? Or is it the number of calories in the meal I just had?
Well. Let's start with the number 400. It's our 400th post! Pretty crazy stuff. We've come along way and I am really proud of us keeping it up for so long!
And then there is the number 300. I'm less excited about this one. Can anyone guess why the number 300 is significant today? Could it be the name of my favorite movie? Could it be the number of times I checked my email in the last week? Or is it the number of calories in the meal I just had?
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Caribbean Winter
For those of you whom I haven't updated, I live in St. Thomas, USVI now. Sort of.
For the next 4+ months, I will be spending the majority of my time in the U.S. Virgin Islands, shuttling between my house, my office, and the beach in a rental car driving on the left side of the road. I will likely return stateside for a week or so every three weeks, but this could vary significantly based on workload, etc. While I still pay rent and have a car in Minneapolis, I now have a permanent place while I am down here (i.e. not a hotel).
This entire experience is cool for a number of reasons:
1) It's currently winter. In Minneapolis, this means it is likely a negative temperature with windchill. In St. Thomas, it means that it's 75-80 degrees and the swells are a bit better for surfing.
2) I'm meeting lots of people I would never have otherwise met. Everybody who lives down here has a cool story (bro), and a lot of people are down here living their dreams instead of slogging away in a job stateside that they'd rather not do. This means they are interesting.
3) I get the snorkel/surf/scuba dive. I just bought a surfboard!! Let's go surfing now!
4) The work I'm doing is really cool, I'm learning a ton, and making myself more valuable. You know when you're in a situation where you feel like you're just bettering yourself? Getting good experience that you know will make you more useful in a specific role in the future? That's how I feel about the work that I'm doing right now, and that feels good. I like self-improvement.
5) I can haz visitors. The place I'm living is a guesthouse of a larger house, with no kitchen, but there's plenty of floor space and a queen size bed, so I can fit in one or two bros who make the trek down. Plus, the double doors open to steps that lead directly down to a patio complete with infinity pool (see here - same bay/view, different pool).
So, even though we may continue to push off Brocation 1.0 (Cuzco, Peru, anyone?), a Long Caribbean Weekend is beckoning.
For the next 4+ months, I will be spending the majority of my time in the U.S. Virgin Islands, shuttling between my house, my office, and the beach in a rental car driving on the left side of the road. I will likely return stateside for a week or so every three weeks, but this could vary significantly based on workload, etc. While I still pay rent and have a car in Minneapolis, I now have a permanent place while I am down here (i.e. not a hotel).
This entire experience is cool for a number of reasons:
1) It's currently winter. In Minneapolis, this means it is likely a negative temperature with windchill. In St. Thomas, it means that it's 75-80 degrees and the swells are a bit better for surfing.
2) I'm meeting lots of people I would never have otherwise met. Everybody who lives down here has a cool story (bro), and a lot of people are down here living their dreams instead of slogging away in a job stateside that they'd rather not do. This means they are interesting.
3) I get the snorkel/surf/scuba dive. I just bought a surfboard!! Let's go surfing now!
4) The work I'm doing is really cool, I'm learning a ton, and making myself more valuable. You know when you're in a situation where you feel like you're just bettering yourself? Getting good experience that you know will make you more useful in a specific role in the future? That's how I feel about the work that I'm doing right now, and that feels good. I like self-improvement.
5) I can haz visitors. The place I'm living is a guesthouse of a larger house, with no kitchen, but there's plenty of floor space and a queen size bed, so I can fit in one or two bros who make the trek down. Plus, the double doors open to steps that lead directly down to a patio complete with infinity pool (see here - same bay/view, different pool).
So, even though we may continue to push off Brocation 1.0 (Cuzco, Peru, anyone?), a Long Caribbean Weekend is beckoning.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Home for the Holidays
There's no place like home. I'm allowed to say that because I'm from Kansas (or is it the other way around?). But it really is true. And it's not even just being back in your hometown, it's about being back in your own country. Where people grew up watching Sesame Street and The Rugrats. Where I can have a conversation with a customs official or store clerk and not have to worry about language or cultural faux pas. Where I can drive and know that 1st street is after 2nd street (except in DC). And especially where I know exactly where to go to find food.
That being said, I'd like to elaborate on the meaning of vacation. For me, vacation is still associated with summer and freedom from school. During the summer, I would relax at home, see friends, and swim way too much. When I got older, I began to work during vacation. On Wikipedia, vacation is pretty much defined as taking a trip somewhere. I was actually really surprised by how short the article is, considering how many various definitions of vacation I have floating around in my mind. So, disregarding everything Wikipedia has to say, which I know is heresy to this blog, I posit that vacation is merely an escape from the normal. For your average American family, that means taking a three hour drive and sitting in a hotel in a tourist trap. For school kids, it means time off of school. And for your average adventurer in Russia, it means going home.
I have to say that I by far prefer my vacation. Whenever you leave your comfort zone, a level of chaos enters the equation. Now, of course, this level of chaos stays very low in places like Branson or Breckenridge. But think of the number of Hollywood comedies about disaster vacations. Those comedies are so funny because we can always relate. Once you leave the comfort of home, Chaos gets stronger and stronger. Of course, there are comedies about coming home for the holidays as well, but don't those always end with the family getting closer?
When you live in Siberia, Chaos reigns supreme. The equivalent of a State Capital Building in Buryatia caught fire 2 days before I left. Think about that. Last winter, they wanted to put an ice skating rink on Soviet Square in the center of town. No one thought to hire an engineer to make sure the rink was flat. No one noticed that the water was gather along one edge of the rink until it was too late and the wooden gates broke, letting loose a flood of water that led to the entire center of the city being covered in several inches of ice. My friends who work in a kiosk on Soviet Square were entirely unable to open the door of their store. That's where I live.
The United States is ruled by institution and order. You may disagree, but often times our frustrations are the result of too much double-checking and oversight. I think our rules of the road are an excellent example of this. Our roads are well-constructed and orderly. Very few people run red lights. But people hate seeing cops because of speeding tickets. In Russia, when a cop pulls you over, they want a bribe. We in America hate getting caught. In Russia, there's very little you can even do about it. If you follow the rules in America, there's little that can happen to you. And our roads are not the nightmare that Russian ones are.
So coming home to familiarity and order led to some of the most relaxing two weeks of my life. I drove around. I lay around. I played Skyward Sword like there was no tomorrow (cuz I can't play it again for 6 months, dammit). And I basked in the utter lack of concentration that speaking English requires.
But when I landed back in Moscow, my heart began to pound and I felt a rush of adrenaline. It was similar to the feeling that I would get before a really great 200 Free. I knew I was back in my element. I understood every word of Russian, I knew every bureaucratic procedure, I knew how to travel on the subway. While I was in the States, I spent most of my time playing a game. In Russia, getting from point A to point B is a lot like solving a puzzle in Zelda. You have to study the map, but when you get to a key intersection, you find that it's closed off. So you go through your bag of items and pull out the ones you need to get around this roadblock (Russian language, knowing when to wait or when to find another way, etc.). And when the puzzle is solved, it's way more satisfying that anything that could be found in a videogame (much like getting through Skyward Sword is way better than anything in any other videogame).
Being home was perhaps the best vacation I've ever taken. But living in Russia is the best step I've ever taken in real life. And realizing that yesterday may have been the best part of the vacation that I took.
That being said, I'd like to elaborate on the meaning of vacation. For me, vacation is still associated with summer and freedom from school. During the summer, I would relax at home, see friends, and swim way too much. When I got older, I began to work during vacation. On Wikipedia, vacation is pretty much defined as taking a trip somewhere. I was actually really surprised by how short the article is, considering how many various definitions of vacation I have floating around in my mind. So, disregarding everything Wikipedia has to say, which I know is heresy to this blog, I posit that vacation is merely an escape from the normal. For your average American family, that means taking a three hour drive and sitting in a hotel in a tourist trap. For school kids, it means time off of school. And for your average adventurer in Russia, it means going home.
I have to say that I by far prefer my vacation. Whenever you leave your comfort zone, a level of chaos enters the equation. Now, of course, this level of chaos stays very low in places like Branson or Breckenridge. But think of the number of Hollywood comedies about disaster vacations. Those comedies are so funny because we can always relate. Once you leave the comfort of home, Chaos gets stronger and stronger. Of course, there are comedies about coming home for the holidays as well, but don't those always end with the family getting closer?
When you live in Siberia, Chaos reigns supreme. The equivalent of a State Capital Building in Buryatia caught fire 2 days before I left. Think about that. Last winter, they wanted to put an ice skating rink on Soviet Square in the center of town. No one thought to hire an engineer to make sure the rink was flat. No one noticed that the water was gather along one edge of the rink until it was too late and the wooden gates broke, letting loose a flood of water that led to the entire center of the city being covered in several inches of ice. My friends who work in a kiosk on Soviet Square were entirely unable to open the door of their store. That's where I live.
The United States is ruled by institution and order. You may disagree, but often times our frustrations are the result of too much double-checking and oversight. I think our rules of the road are an excellent example of this. Our roads are well-constructed and orderly. Very few people run red lights. But people hate seeing cops because of speeding tickets. In Russia, when a cop pulls you over, they want a bribe. We in America hate getting caught. In Russia, there's very little you can even do about it. If you follow the rules in America, there's little that can happen to you. And our roads are not the nightmare that Russian ones are.
So coming home to familiarity and order led to some of the most relaxing two weeks of my life. I drove around. I lay around. I played Skyward Sword like there was no tomorrow (cuz I can't play it again for 6 months, dammit). And I basked in the utter lack of concentration that speaking English requires.
But when I landed back in Moscow, my heart began to pound and I felt a rush of adrenaline. It was similar to the feeling that I would get before a really great 200 Free. I knew I was back in my element. I understood every word of Russian, I knew every bureaucratic procedure, I knew how to travel on the subway. While I was in the States, I spent most of my time playing a game. In Russia, getting from point A to point B is a lot like solving a puzzle in Zelda. You have to study the map, but when you get to a key intersection, you find that it's closed off. So you go through your bag of items and pull out the ones you need to get around this roadblock (Russian language, knowing when to wait or when to find another way, etc.). And when the puzzle is solved, it's way more satisfying that anything that could be found in a videogame (much like getting through Skyward Sword is way better than anything in any other videogame).
Being home was perhaps the best vacation I've ever taken. But living in Russia is the best step I've ever taken in real life. And realizing that yesterday may have been the best part of the vacation that I took.
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