Traveling through Spain it was great to see so many huge wind farms. I hear arguments all the time that the wind turbines are ugly. I thought maybe I would tire of them and maybe agree. However, after seeing complex after complex of wind turbines I still think the are beautiful! They are sleek, put of no pollution, show a lessening requirement on oil and coal, etc. I hope that the US is taking as active a roll in increasing the use of wind power. I did notice after being gone for 2 years that there are many more gas/electric hybrid cars on the road and that is very refreshing. We did not travel around the country enough to see any large wind farms. But the more they are used, the cheaper the technology. Maybe by the time we buy our next house we will be able to afford a personal wind turbine generator and solar power for assisting electricity and heating. Wouldn't that be cool!

I am disappointed in the youth and/or law enforcement of Europe. Okay, I have no idea what percent of the youth it is, so that is probably too broad of a statement. However, everywhere we go in Europe - yes I mean everywhere - there is graffiti. It may be an equal problem in the US but I haven't seen it. It is definitely not as bad in Asia. This is not often even "nice and artistic" graffiti, but crappy tagging. It makes everywhere you go feel less nice then it really is. Why is graffiti so prevalent? Is there nothing that can be done? Seems like stiffer penalties (e.g. jail time and/or major community service cleaning graffiti) would be a good start. Also, for the artistic kids, give them structured places to do graffiti and have it actually be art. Today we were passing a brand new convention center and two days ago some kids "tagged" it and last night some more kids shot paint guns all over the nice new marble sides. That is just punk ass stupid behavior. Are they that board, lacking that much creativity, having no parental guidance or control, what?

I find it exciting how the more we travel the more ours and others experiences tie together. We were at the Guggenheim Museum in Spain and there was a gallery by Keifer Anslem that included the observatory "gadgets" Shelly and I saw in Jaipur India. I know, big deal, but it makes everything that much more interesting when you have also seen or experienced it and have the opportunity to see it through another eyes.

I wanted to share some valuable insight for everyone - where socks when you hike. The first couple of hikes in Costa Rica were VERY wet and I don't have great wet hiking boots. I was tired of getting all my socks super wet, so I thought I would go without socks. As you can see from the picture, this was a very bad idea. These are not so much blisters but more like burns. We skipped the hike today ad hopefully I will be good to hike - with socks - tomorrow. Understandably Shelly has very little sympathy for me.

Labels: personal

I just couldn't resist this. We were in LKF in Hong Kong the other night and there is a new pharmacy. For those of you that don't know, LKF is the "western" party district in Hong Kong. There are almost exclusively pubs and restaurants in multiple level buildings for about a square block area. So I guess if you are going to open a pharmacy in this area, you better have something to attract the customers (like beer, wine and cigarettes). Nothing like those to cure what's making you sick!

Labels: crazy

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Hong Kong has really been a great experience for myself. Shelly (my wife) has also told me it has been a great experience for her. However, I was thinking about it today, and I am not sure she (the person I spend all my time with and is in my bed at night) is really my wife!

Now she looks like Shelly, sounds like Shelly, cooks like Shelly, but so much has changed. For example, when we moved here her idea of a exotic dinner was a new Mexican restaurant and she never would have tried other foods like Indian, Thai, Lebanese, Middle Eastern, etc - I know, I tried. She also never ate spicy food - even here Mexican food tended to be on the mild side. Also, She was not very outgoing to meet new people (just a little shy). Don't get me wrong, Shelly has always been fun and very outgoing with friends but she didn't try and meet new people. Additionally, she never traveled to much and didn't care much about (or wasn't exposed to) world news and almost never read the paper.

Now, the person living with me is not this way at all. For example, she eats all sorts of weird stuff. She loves dumplings and dim sum, street noodle restaurants, Indian food, and the list goes on. She also eats not only spicy food, but even peppers on her pizza! In fact, I usually am more sensitive to spice then she. Oh, and she makes a new friend it seems like every week while she is out leading hikes in Hong Kong, doing charity work at schools with dogs, etc. AND, she is probably more comfortable traveling to new exotic locations then I am. Finally, she really cares about international news and reads the paper every day (goes through withdrawals if she doesn't have it).

So you tell me, can it be my same wife Shelly that has just grown and learned so much, or have aliens replaced her? Sometimes I have to wonder who was more impacted by this experience.