Googling Your Name

Typing your name into Google to see what comes up. This pastime has been enjoyed by many for years. Gosh, it's probably as old as baseball! It's not as fun for someone with a common name... or someone who shares a name with someone who will likely be a saint someday. I fall into the latter of those two scenarios. Thankfully, with a made-up Web handle like mine, it's pretty easy to see if I've popped up somewhere interesting in Internetworld. I've only ever come across one other 'dwarbi.' That was a name on a census document on India, which is appropriate because the sock puppet I made the name for was supposed to be of Indian origin.

If you're still reading, I'm impressed. Everything in the above paragraph is true, but I want to give a shout out to a reader of my blog who complimented me on another site. I've never met this person, who linked to my entry on Düsseldorf. Here's her comment, posted on Trivago.

Si l'en est à croire dwarbi, Düsseldorf est la "party town", une ville de fête. Il lui consacre une page de son site dwarbi's room, narrant ainsi une étape de son voyage à travers l'Allemagne. On y apprendra entre autres un peu plus sur la boisson spéciale servie par ici, sur l'art...

Mais si le texte, en anglais, est simple à lire, ce qui vaut le coup de voir, ce sont les photos sur la page qui s'ouvre quand on clique sur le lien juste à la fin. Les photos, de très bonne qualité s'ajoutent, en tant que photo-roman au texte qui ne devient alors qu'une simple introduction. Aucune publicité ne vient importuner l'internaute pendant sa visite.

Which, using the wonderful Google Translate, I found to mean:

If was to think dwarbi, Düsseldorf is the "party town", a city of celebration. He devotes a page of its website dwarbi's room, narrant a step in its journey through Germany. There will learn among other things a little bit more about the special drink served here, on the art ...

But if the text, in English, is easy to read, which is worth seeing, it is the pictures on the page that appears when you click on the link just at the end. The photos, very good addition, as a photo-novel to the text that becomes a mere introduction. No advertisement comes bothering the user during his visit.

Thanks! (A friend of mine who speaks Google French said this is a compliment.) I love when travelers find the information and photos useful.

(Editor*'s note: Apologies for the infrequent updates. I haven't been traveling much, and my biggest passion of late, besides cooking, has been politics, which I try to keep off this blog. Though I have to point out that it seems no one fully understands the way the Democrats are running their campaign! For example, regarding whether or not Clinton lost a "super delegate" with the resignation of Governor Spitzer, podcast political experts from NRP, Slate and the New York Times have the answer split, with two saying she has lost a delegate and one saying he has not. And was Ferraro officially part of Clinton's campaign or not? I didn't think she was, but from other sources, she was indeed.

So you see, this is why I have not been blogging about politics. There are plenty of other sources to misguide you. Though I am working on a top-secret project that is about neither politics nor name-Googling.)

* That's me!

Snow Day!

I stuck my head out of our living room window to get a few shots of the first real snow day of the year. It's still in the "beautiful" phase, so we'll enjoy before the snow turns to blackish sludge. 

And me without boots. That's right: no boots. I'm going to have to wrap my feet in sandwich baggies, like I did when I was a kid heading to school, and go buy a pair at Atlantic Center. This is the first tim I've needed a pair of boots in over three years! I guess that means I can get myself a fancypants pair of steel-tipped kickers.

   

The 2 Train, 2000

The year was 2000. I was making my way from Brooklyn to my office in Manhattan. It was a Saturday. Yes, I had to work on a Saturday, and that sucked. The 2 train cheered me up. Here's how:

The ride from Bergen to Chambers was uneventful, but a very interesting passenger boarded my car at Chambers. I did not know and do not know if this human was a man or a woman.

S/he was about 6 feet tall and his/her body was just like a very large ball. Kind of like a bowling ball on chopsticks. S/he was wearing a skirt, but s/he also had fairly hairy legs and some facial stubble. On his/her feet were construction boots; s/he had long, braided hair; and s/he was carrying a child-sized pink, semi-clear backpack. The backpack was stuffed with papers, and a pair of hockey gloves were hanging from the side.

S/he was holding a toy stuffed monkey.

Do you have a visual? Good. The train was not too crowded, and when this interesting homo sapien got on the train, everyone noticed while pretending not to notice. S/he walked the length of the car and sat directly opposite me. Between her/him and the next passenger, there was enough room for two more people. The interesting passenger placed the backpack on the seat next to her/him, placed the toy monkey on top, and slammed the backpack into the side of the woman next to him/her.

The woman said, "Excuuuse me!"
The interesting passenger replied, "No! Excuse me! Excuse me! Make room for the monkey, B*TCH! MAKE ROOM FOR THE MONKEY!"

We pulled into Union Square, where I had to transfer to a 1 (or, in those days, a 9), and I exited the train. I did consider staying on the train. To this day, I regret getting not doing so.

*I've recently discovered Yelp and have managed to add a few reviews. I thought this one was worth adding to the blog. What's Yelp?

Planning Our Honeymoon

I've added a little poll to the blog. See it over there? Just to the right? If you're here before March 1, then you can help us decide by submitting your answer. Since this will likely be the last time for a long time that we will be able to go on a big trip, we want to make it something special. So, random passerby, friend or family member, I'd love your thoughts. If non of the options seem good, add a comment! My thoughts...

- Relaxing and exciting, depending on the day
Scuba diving would be a huge plus. And beaches are great... but for a day or so, then it gets boring. A new culture and exotic food also big pluses.

- Can plan it ourselves
So no cruise or all-inclusive.

- Good weather in November
No Caribbean, most of the Northern Hemisphere. Japan would have been great... but too cold in November. Booo on the Sun heating up the Southern Hemisphere when we're not there.

- Somewhere neither of us have been
This knocks out most of Europe. Besides the Big Trip, we've made some separate trips that cancel out Spain, Eastern Europe, Ireland & Greece, among others. All of which could have been good options. I've seen a good deal of the US and Dana's been to Costa Rica already. Obviously Australia & New Zealand are also out.

So we found ourselves thinking about South America, specifically Brazil and Argentina. In Brazil we could check the Amazon before or after doing some great diving and sun-bathing. In Argentina, there are loads of interesting parks and gorgeous places to hike. Buenos Aires would feed us well. Plus Dana's fluent in Spanish, and I can get by. And we also are giving Hawaii a thought. My parents loved it 40 years ago.

Your thoughts, human?

Syd's New Home

Syd, our Russian tortoise, was getting a bit cramped in her home, so I built her a new one. Using these plans as a base, I constructed a 4 by 2 pen for her and threw some wheels on the bottom. Syd seems much happier now, cruising around in circles. Here's a clip of Syd checking things out:


A little more on these interesting animals... they're also called the Horsfield's tortoise. Agrionemys horsfieldii.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Family: Testudinidae
Genus: Testudo (disputed)
Species: T. horsfieldii

Native to central Asia, around the border of Russia and Afghanistan, these war-weary animals are bred in captivity and make for low-maintenance pets. Unfortunately, many are smuggled into the country as part of the exotic pet trade. If you decide to find a Russian tortoise for your household, make sure he or she had been bred in captivity.


Russian tortoises like to climb and burrow. The bedding, made from recycled paper and cardboard, gives her something to dig in, and we're looking to add some more toys for her to climb on. For now, she has to make do with the tunnel and rock from her last residence:


When people meet Syd for the first time, they're always surprised by two things:
1. Her speed. Lightning.
2. Her compassion. She's the most affectionate tortoise you could imagine.

Here she is climbing over her retreat and then doing a faceplant:


Syd dancing - just a bit:

Syd Eats

Best Sensory Items of 2007

With all the "best of" lists floating around, I figured I would put together a little list of my own.

Best Taste:
Kangaroo. I miss that bouncy meat. Low in fat, high in protein and Iron, and environmentally friendly! We used it for everything from burritos to spaghetti Bolognese.

Best Smell:
Gorilla Coffee. Roasted right here in Brooklyn and making it easier for me to adjust from the excellent Aussie coffees, a bag of this powdered gold sends me to heaven without ever leaving the borough.

Best Sight:
Sydney Harbour - Opera House, Harbour Bridge and all - from Kirribilli as the sun set on the day Dana and I got engaged.

Best Feeling:
Being attacked by mosquitoes in Florence. Possibly the most fun miserable night.

Best Sound:
LCD Soundsystem or Talk of the Nation - from my nano.