Rand Wacker

Heading back to my hotel in Tokyo tonight, I arrived at a rather large subway station called Tameike-sanno. My co-worker had told me “go to exit 13″ (yes, this station had 13 different exits). Underground, with no sense of direction I, could have sworn that exit 13 was absolutely the wrong way, so I decided to pop up and find my way to the hotel.

Never “pop up” out of a subway in Tokyo. You’ll have no sense of direction in the dark and you’ll have no points of reference because there are too many tall buildings to see more than half a block. You’ll see some interesting architecture and odd street-side activities, but you’ll have no idea which way to go.

Knowing I was within one subway stop of my hotel I started an expanding circle search. Of course I picked the wrong direction first and ended up two subway stops away, but then I turned around and found a much more interesting neighborhood than I wandered through the night before.

Eventually I saw a landmark I recognized (a bike shop of course) and guessed a new course. Mostly correct, I only had to make a 45 degree adjustment to end up on the wrong side of an 8 lane surface street across from my hotel. After five minutes waiting for the sole cross light for 5 blocks to change I finally got home.

And just before I went in for the night I checked the number on the subway exit into the hotel…”exit 13″. Time for sleep then. Tonight I have to remember to close the blinds as the sun comes up at 4:30am…what…the…heck…

• Motion-activated virtual desktops
• Turn your laptop into a light saber (sound machine)

Lussumo Vanilla - The sweetest forum on the web

Rands put up some forums using a very straightforward new forums tool that looks worth keeping an eye on. I wonder if it can pipe everything to email for me as well.

I was studying at home the other day during one of our really hot spells and I was craving something cool, sweet, with caffeine. Since I’m limiting my intake of chemical-ridden soda sugar water I decided to make some iced tea.

One of the things I really grew to enjoy in all my traveling through Southeast Asia was the tasty and refreshing ice tea that you usually find. I’m not talking about the sickly-sweet and milky “Thai Iced Tea” (which I’ve never actually seen in Thailand), but a translucent reddish brew, usually sweetened with sugar syrup and garnished with a lime. I’ve never been able to duplicate this at home with either black or green tea because the flavor just isn’t right. I’ve done some searching online and people recommend some kind of pre-packaged Thai tea bags with special tea leaves, spices, and (yuck) food coloring. Not wanting to go shopping for another specialty tea that I’d use once then let go stale, I tried to figure out what I could use in the house and then I had an epiphany…oolong.

Oolong is a kind of tea different from black or green. Well actually its made from the same leaves but processed very differently. It maintains the refreshing character of green tea while trading the “bright/freshness” for a deeper/richer body. Plus, when brewed in a clear vessel it turns the perfect reddish hue for my favorite drink.

I generally keep a tin of Golden Dragon Oolong from Peets for late-night caffeine hits. Its a fantastic blend, if not a little expensive. This was an experiment though, so I brewed up a big pot on the strong side, dumped it over some ice to cool/dillute, and made some simple syrup on the stove (2 cups sugar, 1 cup water, slowly boil until thick). Pour over ice, sweeten to taste (not too much), add a slice of lime (cut against the grain for appearance)…perfect! (And with a serious caffeine kick)

It brings back memories of perhaps the best glass of iced tea I’ve ever had. After a three-week trek through the Annapurna range of the Nepal Himalayas, my friend Rob and I went to a well-regarding restaurant in Kathmandu called “Chez Caroline’s”. Having subsisted for the past month on dal bhat (rice and lentils) and filtered water, eating somewhere with actual napkins and plates seemed pretty luxurious. When our drinks arrived in a clear glass with tons of ice, both of us were hesitant because of the “don’t drink the water” mentality we’d cultivated (amazed that we were still alive after filtering water from what turned out to be essentially a village run-off stream at the start of our trip). I excused myself to wash my hands and when I return Rob had a look on his face that was a cross between sheer terror and utter delight.

“Try the tea…”

I did, and I saw what he meant…I’ve been trying to duplicate that in the states ever since, along with their creme brulle and chocolate mousse…

Phew, I survived! Last night we took our “final final” at Haas (Macroeconomics, great class). This means that life may soon return to some form of normalcy.

Although, I really don’t have much of an idea of what normalcy is anymore, since this will be the first time in a year and a half when either I’m not in school or Alexis isn’t off galavanting through some desert! And actually this is the last week of her doing excavation in blazing hot sun as she was offered a full-time position with one of the top archaeology firms in the Bay Area doing lab analysis and reports (a huge step for her which she’s really excited about).

So next week all we gotta do is go to work, come home, and enjoy life. Should be an interesting adjustment.

Posticky.com, web-based post-it notes, pretty cool!