Musings & Adventures

>Arriving in Washington DC, sick as a dog.

>Besides a quiet dinner with friends on Tuesday evening and a morning flight from Minneapolis to DC, I spent a straight 48 hours in bed. Fever, delirium, chills, the works … all because of a sore throat.

This morning I managed to get out of my hotel and wander around Dupont Circle. It’s interesting to see how people present themselves on the street here. The best way I can make sense of it is to remember that this city is all about power. Money is a form of power, as are influence, affiliations, titles and such. Creativity, on the other hand, is a power that this city seems to see as a secondary. People’s clothes aren’t very colorful here, and their hairstyles are relatively tame. This is not to say that people here don’t flaunt what they’ve got. It’s just that what they choose to flaunt is somewhat different.

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>Teaism in DC

>For some reason, I always expect Tea Shops to be either snobby like Kuan Yin in Seattle or quiet and formal like La Societe du The in Minneapolis. I certainly assume that they don’t serve food beyond the occasional scone. Gladly, when I walked past Teaism near Dupont Circle in DC, I was just looking for plain, cold, unsweetened iced tea to soothe my throat. I ordered the iced French Vervene Tisane (Lemon Verbena) but also noted that they had some yummy looking lunch foods on the menu.

I sat down to catch up on my emails. (I don’t know if they have wifi, I was using my phone.) About an hour passed and the lunch rush had started to arrive. The food they ordered smelled delicious, so I gave the menu another glance. My eye immediately honed in on Ochazuke “Japanese Rice & Tea soup”, available with either Salmon or Plum. I ordered the plum version. What arrived on the counter was even cooler than I had imagined. A bowl of rice, covered with shredded veggies, cilantro, and some dried flavorful stuff like seaweed and toasted rice. Perched atop this were two ume plums. Beside it on the tray were a teapot and a tea cup. I was perplexed for a moment until I put 2 and 2 together, pouring the tea over the bowl of rice and veggies. The soup was incredibly flavorful and surprisingly filling. I did discover, however, that I don’t like fresh ume plums. They’re the only thing I left in the bowl.

The greatest delight was filling that teacup with the spare green tea and sipping at it. The flavor was unnervingly familiar. I’m tempted to claim that it tasted like comfort in tea form. It reminded me of salt water, toasted grains, and soup broth.

After finishing my meal I grabbed a free refill of my iced tea, this time iced assam, and went back out into the DC heat.

Next stop: Mr Yogata frozen yogurt with a friend.

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Iranian Missiles & Photoshop Disasters

After reading about the snafu with a doctored photo of Iranian missiles, I popped over to Photoshop Disasters to see what they had to say about it. To be honest, a few months back I dropped Photoshop Disasters from my RSS reader because the content was always nitpicky and a bit lame. Turns out that they have stepped up their game since then. Their comments on the Iranian missile photo [Iranian Govt: Persian Pixels Pwned] are cute, and there are a few genuinely funny posts from the past few weeks as well [Mexx: This Mexx Me Sick][Amazon: Sex In The City Not So Much][Glamour: She’s A Witch].

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>"It’s just a jump to the left…"

>I feel myself shifting further to the left lately. Funny thing: my opinions haven’t changed at all. I’m just noticing different things around me.

‘been Reading

From Russia with Hate [ref: snarkmarket]
The Archipelago of Arrogance [ref: phaedras & friends]

‘been Listening

Giant Pool of Money – This American Life
Former JAG weighs in on the torture question – MPR Midmorning
A giant step toward manmade life – MPR Midmorning

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Street Art Saturation

The more thoroughly I watch the street art world, the more fascinated I become. I’ve always enjoyed graffiti, but I must say that the art form has definitely matured in the past few years. It’s inspiring to be reminded how far one can go in the quest to re-imagine and re-purpose the urban landscape.

My favorite street art feeds: Wooster Collective and Streetsy (Jake Dobkin’s flickr photostream). Wooster Collective has been particularly good lately. Today’s posting of a wall animation by blu is absolutely stellar. Here’s the video:

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>Online worlds collide: Wooster Collective and EveryBlock

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I want to figure out where these photos were taken so I can see if the works show up as graffiti incidents on everyblock.

[Re-Post from Wooster Collective]:

Nick Walker Hits New York

Ran into Nick Walker the other day here in Manhattan. Good to see that he’s bringing a bit of life back to the streets of New York (which as of late have been pretty dormant of new work.) He tells us that there’s lots more to come…

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Musings & Adventures

>On mom’s balcony, reflecting.

>There’s nothing quite like being cooped up in your mom’s place after 5 months of solo travel. I returned to Minneapolis on the 10th of April. It didn’t make sense to get an apartment of my own until June, so I’ve been staying with my mother in her downtown condo. Between old habits and the cable TV, I’ve been completely out of sorts. I don’t feel like myself here. The late spring hasn’t helped either.

During my first week back in the USA, I spent half my time freaking about business development logistics and spent the other half of my time figuring out how to leave Minneapolis.

My second week back, the biz dev logistics freakout got the best of me, I celebrated my birthday, reconnected with some friends and discovered (again) why I love this city.

On week three I was bowled over by the JA-SIG conference, which happened to be in St Paul this year. I gave presentations on three days out of four. The info was good and the conversations were great, but my presentations could have been better.

It’s now week four and I’ve finally started meditating again. I think this is my first moment of reflection since leaving London. As I sit here and look at the midnight skyline, I’m trying to call up a bit of perspective. These past month’s travels are like a dream. This moment is like a dream. Why do I always forget to pay attention?

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