A Slippery Slope to Becoming a Nazi

You may have already seen this, but I couldn't resist posting it.

Ukrainian Sand Art

The horrors experienced by those living in the former USSR during World War II are still extremely difficult to talk about in the former Soviet nations. Having lived in this part of the world for a short time, I have met sons and daughters of parents who survived work camps in Kazakhstan and Siberia who have shared with me their personal histories surrounding this tragic time.

I recently found this YouTube video clip from "Ukraine's Got Talent" where a young woman - I guess we could call her a "sand artist" - documents the personal history of a fictional (?) couple from pre-war to post-war. I don't want to give away too much, but this form of art is absolutely astounding and I've never seen anything like it. Very, very impressive. See for yourself:

Travel Tales: Vancouver, Canada

Oh, Vancouver... I think I love you.

Despite the lousy weather and post-game aches and pains, the trip to Vancouver was a huge success. The Buzz (my softball team) placed 1st after the first day of play with 4 straight wins. Great bats, awesome team work and fielding as well as (tooting my own horn!) 1 home run from yours truly. After the "Round Robin" play (which basically determines your seed in the tournament - ours being 1st), we lost our first game. As for me, it turns out gravy fries and grilled cheese plus some excellent brownies don't mix well with running the bases. Bad news.

Sunday came, bringing along a bunch of rain, wind and pain in our bones. I have been battling a sore groin muscle for the past couple of weeks, so I applied some IcyHot right before we played and five minutes later felt the immense pain that accompanies IcyHot on your privates. I now know what chlamydia must feel like. Anyhow, we played our hearts out against a Vancouver team that we love, the Heat, I got another home run (toot toot toot!) but we lost, which unfortunately booted us out of the tournament.

So, instead of advancing, we drank beer and laughed obnoxiously with one another while watching other teams play their games.

Softball aside, the trip was great. Went to a bunch of local bars along Davie Street: Pump Jack's, Pulse, Oasis, Odyssey, and Numbers (the last 3 being the best of the bunch). We ate some great food at Moxie's, Characters, and Cafe Luxy (pesto gnocchi was unbelievable). I also ate a pretty decent vegetarian "Benny" (eggs benedict on an English muffin) this morning at the local Hamburger Mary's. We met some awesome people through softball and at the bars, and all in all, just enjoyed a nice relaxing weekend.

If you have yet to visit Vancouver you should definitely include it in your future plans. They're hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics too, which should bring a ton of tourism and fun activities. It's my #1 favorite Canadian city and am very happy that it's only a 2 1/2 hour drive away.

Do They Have Labor Day in Canada?

I'll be in Vancouver, Canada for the next few days participating in a softball tournament with my softball team. (Currently taking requests for prescription drugs!) Won't be updating again until Tuesday or Wednesday.

This will be my second time in Vancouver. I went with my friends Jacob and Kathleen when they visited me in Seattle in January 2008. We went on New Year's Day - bad idea. It was the most isolated big city I had ever seen. NOTHING was open and NO ONE was there. In fact, our trip highlight was an excursion to the Capilano Suspension Bridge right outside of Vancouver. (Highly recommend it.) I'm sure this time, fun will be had IN Vancouver.

Will be sure to update you on my trip when I return. Until then, enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

Song of the Mo: "Animal" by Miike Snow

They're Swedish! (I'll be in Sweden in 2 weeks so I'm ALL about Sweden right now.) Not to mention - ding dong! - that lead singer's a looker.

If you like this, also check out the tracks, "Burial", "Silvia", "Song for No One", and "Black and Blue".

The Blushing Ball Boy

Oh, to be a ball boy at the US Open. You worked so hard to get here. You are a competitive tennis player in your own right, with good instincts, incredible speed, and probably a parent on the executive board. There you are, waiting at the edge of the net or the back of the court, your eyes magnetized to that rotating yellow orb, on the balls of your feet ready to lunge at any error. You repeat your mantra: I see the ball, I hear the ball... I am the ball.

Then this happens...

The Poop Scoop

I love the news! This just in:

A man from Portland, Maine was caught hiding in the bottom of an outhouse at a campsite... again. Supposedly, the first time this guy was caught, he claimed he lost his wedding ring. This time, however, I think it's obvious he didn't have much time to think of a clever alibi. When asked what the hell he was doing in a shit latrine again, he claimed he lost, get this... his shirt.

When I was in the Peace Corps, I used an outhouse (in fact, the picture I've provided is the outhouse I used). There were volunteers who would accidentally drop money, cell phones, or other valuables in their own outhouses. It happens. It's best to just think of it as an abyss - if it falls down there, you are never getting it back. (You can read more about some of my adventures with outhouses from my old blog, Mike Likes Peace.)

As for Mr. Partial to Poop, I'm quick not to judge because, you know, some people just have strange fetishes. But the bottom line is it's creepy and illegal. All in all, it's just a crappy situation (I couldn't resist).

For more information on this poo piece, head over to Boing Boing's commentary on the "two-time turd spelunker" as they call him.

Hawai'i Do You Smell So Bad?

Price of deodorant getting you down? (You never know.) Well, for those in Honolulu, it may be well worth the $3 or so to buy a stick; and not just for the aromatic side effects. Those running late for work who forget to apply some smelly goodness under their pitty-pits in the morning could be facing their own stinky dilemma: a fine to the tune of $500.

The Honolulu City Council is currently considering a bill that would essentially ban body odor on public transit. You heard me right. Not only could offenders get slapped with a $500 fine, some of the more serious offenders could potentially be facing jail time. That's right - neglect to use bars of soap and you'll be behind a different kind of bars altogether.

Now, as a part-time deodorant wearer (I'm convinced deodorant is bad for you, so I wear it like every other day depending on who I'm seeing or what I'm doing - don't judge), I'm not so sure how I feel about this. On one hand, I totally understand. When you're on a bus or subway car, you are in super close quarters with everyone and everything and every scent stands out. Someone who is seriously stinky really can ruin it for everyone. On the other hand, however, I see a serious problem with local government imposing laws governing how you must smell - this is crossing a serious line.

So what is a Stinky Stinkerson residing in Honolulu to do? I say if the law passes, everybody should stop wearing deodorant, stop showering and stop washing their clothes in protest. Arise, Honolulu odor anarchists, stand up for your rights - namely your right to smell like a gym sock if you want to. That's right Honoluluians (whatever), I'm encouraging you to incite a stink riot!

I seriously doubt that a law like this could pass today, but it wouldn't be the first time I "underestimated" the "system". After all, California did pass Proposition 8 and that, in my opinion, was just as ludicrous. If the law does pass, will it start a trend across the nation? What are the consequences of forbidding something natural like body odor? 20 years from now, will "public body odor" be the new "public peeing"? I guess we'll just have to wait and see... or smell.

I Most Certainly Approve: Hubby Hubby!

Today is the first day that same-sex couples across Vermont are legally able to marry. As a "hat's off to you" of sorts, Ben and Jerry's has temporarily renamed their popular ice cream flavor "Chubby Hubby" as "Hubby Hubby" for the month of September. Kudos to Ben and Jerry's for taking a stand on an important issue and not being afraid of the consequences.


It's all so adorable, I can't even take it. I can't eat it though because a) I'm allergic to peanut butter and b) it's only available in Vermont. Still, I most certainly approve!

2 + 2 = Math Sucks

Guess what? Math is hard.

I was going to keep this a secret in case it all ended horribly, but I am approximately 77% likely going to be applying for graduate school this year. I've always had the intent of getting my Masters - in fact, every year since graduating from college I've seriously thought about it. Right after college I was going to go to law school, so I bought an LSAT book and barely touched it. After my first year as a teacher, I was going to maybe get a Masters in Education so I researched a bunch of schools then did nothing about that. After my second year of teaching, I was definitely NOT getting my Masters in Education, but now I was going to study public policy in order to create more "systemic change" (brainwashed). After working in recruitment and speaking to college seniors on a daily basis, I was dead set on not going to graduate school given the crop of losers who insisted on going without knowing why (my future classmates?). Then after a year of Peace Corps service, I was back on the public policy track, but this time on an international level.

Well, I've sort of made a compromise now tying together all of those "almost applied" ideas. I'm seriously looking into programs in international education - it combines my experience and my passion and I think it's something that has a viable output that I would thoroughly enjoy while continuing to make a difference.

Now, any almost/would-be graduate school applicant knows that in order to get into grad school, you need to take the GRE... which brings me back to my initial thought: Guess what? Math is hard.

Either I'm an absolute idiot or somehow I missed the train on how to learn mathematic principles above the elementary level. Don't get me wrong, I am an AWESOME sixth grade mathematician (after all, I did once teach it); however, it turns out that a lot of the math on the GRE is kind of more advanced than what a normal 12-year-old knows. Bummer. (I just want to give a quick shout out to Mrs. Gillis, my 10th grade Geometry teacher, who instead of ever teaching me anything worthwhile, sat on her fat ass "grading papers" - it's because of your overly pancaked face and hairspray-freezed frontal mullet that I never learned anything useful involving angles or intersecting lines. Thanks!)

My brain has never really been able to get around mathematical concepts at a high level and now since I am pretty much forcing myself to do this, my brain sort of hurts a lot. Sometimes I catch myself staring at a sample problem in my GRE "success guide" and then five minutes later, catch myself again still staring at it. Usually I'm thinking about sailing or ice cream or how expensive those comfy chairs in Barnes and Noble are and where I can get one. Basically, anything but math.

It is a necessary evil though, I suppose, and that's really the only way I can justify studying all of this nonsense. It's a hurdle that, regardless of how I feel about its relevance, I need to get over. So, it's back to Pre-Calculus in Nutshell and Math the Easy Way, in addtion to many other titles.

I hope the verbal's easy.