Geistbear Musing

Busy Day My telecommute project is coming to an end so I spent the day in job interviews. One is a computer person and jack of all trades for a jeep company the other is being government affairs manager for a local group. Of the two I'd rather take governments affairs job, it's more inline with my interests and it seemed to go very well. Details to follow as I learn more...

French Multilaterialism in action, R-I-G-H-T ! Look closely at the protesters signs . A shame we won't likely get involved, or perhaps it's for the best.

Google Google is a wonderful tool, most folks who I know who use the web could not live without it. I am no exception the funny thing about having a weblog is seeing what google brings to you, sometimes odd, sometimes disturbing, but very often entertaining. As Lex and Tom Cheng and many others can attest. This morning brought me something different an echo from the past, so if your are at a German University and would like to discuss a former student at the same school, send me an email, I'll tell you what I know.

You know if Bono approves maybe it was not such a good thought ( joking, maybe )

Make mine a Sarin with Cheese (Thanks Lex )

Added a few AZ blogs to the links page, cleaned out the dead, hate to see ya go Desert Pundit, but it's been a long while since fresh material. At the same time I pruned the DC blogs a bit, mostly the ones I don't really read or have shutdown, I hate to remove folks who were growing into friends, but without them posted no point to listing them at the moment. Spring cleaning at Bear Droppings.

Everyone ready for the State of the Union Drinking Game ? Only in America, god bless us everyone.

I just got back from meeting the volunteer coordinator at the Museum of Northern Arizona , it sounds like it will be quiet for the short term, but by summer, they will be very busy, not surprising, the DC tourism scene was about the same ( yes except for the month of schools send kids to DC for Spring break ). It was nice to get a look at the museum, because I had not been there in a very long time, I'll have to make a trip up to Flag for a more through look later this month. Otherwise a quiet time at the moment, getting used to be spoiled by broadband, it's my precious! We also had our first Poker night Saturday, it went well, I walked out down for the night, but I had fun which was the point. As for when the next one will be I am thinking February 8th or 15t, I'd like it to be the 22nd, but I'll most likely be dogsitting in Phoenix, anyone down there want to offer to host? Let me know...

High School Alumni seems in one key way alot like the real high school, once your in you can't escape the experience, I have been getting spam from them for the longest time, likewise I have done everything my power to unsusbscribe from getting announcements for the last six months with no degree of success. Online unsubscribes to email the staff with no response. Great marketing model no?

A few quick pictures of the town and the cabin for those who have have not been to Sedona before, enjoy! The Cabin and another picture of the front of the cabin . My view out from the back of the cabin and another . Out my front door I look across the valley and see this and another shot , okay except that grey car has left the picture, honestly. Now if you are up on that ridge across the valley looking down you would see the cabin below here and here (the blue dot in the center of the picture is the approximent location of the cabin). From that same vantage point if you look out to West Sedona you would see this and this people come up to this point mesa and to watch the sunset, not unlike in the movie Running Scared . A few bonus pictures of my neice Audrey with a rolling pin 1 , 2 , 3 .

I couldn't stand it any longer, it had been two months since I had feed my sushi addiction and I couldn't wait any longer, so I tried Takashi here in Sedona. I know I am nuts for trying a sushi restaurant here, but I didn't feel like driving to Flagstaff, besides it will be likely just as good there as here. They actually make a good attempt, the sushi was well made and the portion size decent considering the price. The fish could have been fresher, but let's face facts people I am a good 400+ miles from the ocean, so you can't fault them really. The freshness reminded me of supermarket sushi in DC, good if you are hungry, but not the same as a great sushi bar. The restaurant was well run, clean and stylish, so I will likely go back and try their other items sometime. I am sure the sushi restaurants will continue to be a reoccurring theme here at Bear Droppings while I wander across Northern Arizona in search of decent sushi.

Hilarious ! Thanks Dave .

I love Commspeed .

I am surprised my DC firends did not blog about the protest, maybe folks have just seen too many and didn't bother to check this one out. Anyways the Professor links to this estimate on crowd size by Declan and some interesting pics. I am more inclined to believe that estimate over what the protesters say. You ever notice that when officials report crowd sizes it's usually a good 50% lower than what protesters like to report, yes you could call conspiracy, or it could be that protesters are not as experienced counting crowd sizes as public officials so there numbers are off. In the Arizona Republic Sunday the Tucson rally that the protesters claimed had 5000 was reported by local officials to have 1500-2000. I'd give a web link, but for some reason the story didn't make the web edition. Evidently the forest service has not released crowd estimates since the million Man March at which they said there was only around half a million in attendance, which caused a fair amou...

Wow ! Granted I didn't live along that line before I moved back to Arizona, but still I used it fairly often. Thanks B , enjoyed the joke as well.

Been a while since I posted any cooking, I really should post New Year's Turkey dish, it was incredible, maybe next week, but until then I'll post last night's dinner which I was pleased with the results. Italian Chicken with Peppers 4 chicken breasts 1 green bell pepper 1 red bell pepper 1 red onion (lg) 1 small can black olives 1 large can uncooked tomato diced 3 cloves garlic (or more) dried oregano dried basil a few leaves of fresh basil crushed hot pepper salt and pepper Olive oil 1 glass red wine (Merlot) Dice onion. In a large skillet saute red onion and a bit of olive oil until half cooked, meanwhile dice bell peppers into small chunks. Toss in two cloves of garlic, diced, and hot pepper (to taste) in with onions allow to saute for a minute, then add peppers, saute for 3-5 minutes until peppers get a bit soft cooked slightly. Pull pepper and onion mixture and hold. Add more olive oil to skillet and increase the temperature to medium high. Cro...

Poetry Wednesday Yup I have been absent the last few weeks from my tradition, but I return again and with my online connection back next week we can return to old habits. This week a poem from a dear friend, who just updated her site , reflecting the brilliance of her soul. Tears Become Tales When all is lost, it can be found again, Written down, like Words planted in a garden. Makes the tears into tales, Masterpieces from heartache, Make creativity from despair. - Sarah Chamberlain Copyright © 2000

Today's news It struck me as funny the day hosted a major Supreme Court decision about the future of intellectual property (basically it said companies can keep their copyrights as long as they like and there is no such thing as public good, okay maybe I overstate it a hair), at the same time the news outlets ignore it focusing on an affirmative action case of small importantance, okay maybe there is some value to the case but they will have the next 3-6 months to beat that horse dead, and I suspect they will. Why didn't they cover the decision? The affirmative action case involved the President, which is always a polarizing factor regardless of party affiliation. Secondly and more importantly, it's an easier story to cover, very headline ready and easy to get plenty of pundits to take a stand. Even for all of Donahue's talk during the last few years of paying attention to more important issues, his show led off with the easy score for ratings. But intellectual p...

Link of the day , thanks to my friend Franky. Some very stupid warning labels, check it out.

PromoGuy's Monday Mission 3.2 1. Have you ever bought something you were so excited about and found out later that it didn't work? Were you able to return it? How did it go? When I got a pda the screen broke within a day or two of me getting it I didn't even get my data loaded into it, I was rather disappointed, but there was no problem returning it so it wasn't a big deal. 2. I have a Palm (Pilot) for my date book and such, but have been thinking of jumping to the PocketPC world at some point. Do you have a PDA (personal digital assistant)? What kind, and how did you decide? What do you like about it? If you don't own one, do you want one or do you do better without such gadgets? I have a Handspring Visor Deluxe, it's not the fastest and only 8megs memory, but it fits my needs I use it for address book, email, city guide, and reading material on the metro. I have only filled the memory on it once, so it fits my needs on a day to day basis. 3. What ill...

In regards to all the kind comments the old version of Nescape was the one loaded when I got the computer. As for updating I keep trying, but it's a cranky learning process we will get there. Dogsitting down in Phoenix for the week and then next week broadband installed at the cabin, can't wait. Then regularly scheduled blogging insanity.

While I love the wireless card and enjoy my old Mac laptop I have realised it's limitations, trying to get away with using Netscrape 4.6 means I can't use Moveable Type websites, which alot of bloggers have moved over to and I am pondering as well. It's not that it won't display the page, it just won't allow the links to be active so if you want to email a friend on their contact page life kinda sucks. I loaded Opera into this machine and it has the same trouble (but on all webpages), Mozilla and trying to upgrade to the newer edition netscrape, but no luck for either of those. Oh well some web is better than no web, I am using up the rest of the 24hrs of net access I bought at the coffeeshop last night, listening to New Age conartists plot, aging hippies potificate, and high school kids do the minium necessary to earn their pay. All that said it's a cool little coffeeshop with jazz playing in the background and a neo-Southwest look to it. Especially until my br...

Quietly the evening passes by milk churns, chilled drinks blend conversation amoung friends while the crisp evening becomes night outside the people and places may change but a coffeeshops warmth welcomes all, regardless of location welcomes us out of the cold.

PromoGuy's Monday Mission 3.1 1. What is one of your favorite things to wear? My fedora, in cooler weather I never go without it. 2. Did you get any "dud" gifts for the holidays? Will you return them? Actually this holidays things went well only one dud, a copy of the Art of War, only a dud because I already had a pretty nice copy. 3. Let's do a few "Best of 2002" thoughts. What was the best movie of 2002? Why did you pick that one? Well Star Wars, new Bond flick, or Lord of the Rings, only films I saw in the theater, so it must be Lord of the Rings obviously. 4. What world event of 2002 made an impact on you? I was gunna say one of the Boy band members solo album release, but then I realised how many teenage girls that might bring to my site and then might not catch the sarcasim of the statement. So let's just say the trial of James Traficant. 5. What personal event of 2002 was the most memorable? Moving from DC to Sedona. 6. Is th...

Resolutions Tis the season and plenty of other folks are doing them so... 1. Write an average of two hours a day a week, not counting blogging 2. Hike or bike ride 3-4 times a week. 3. Hit the gym 2-3 times a week. 4. Attend 3 conferences on issues that interest me. 5. Read 5 books a month. It's not a complete list but it's something to work on as point of reference.

Until I get my broadband connection later this month I'll be posting sporadically, I will continue posting I just don't know how often. On the good news front my coffee machine was cleaned last night and now I enjoy coffee in my cabin. The weatherstripping helped alot last night it only dropped to 50 in the cabin instead of the 40 the previous night, I still need to do some work though so I am not freezing my fingers while I type, I know, I know I choose this :-) I have been reading Smart Mobs by Howard Rheingold and as an initial impression only 50 pages in I am very impressed, I'll have a review shortly. If you are interested in social change and technology it is a definate read. Have a good weekend.

Today's Checklist Unpack - this one will be a constant the next few days... Wash coffee maker - As good as the coffee is down the street at the internet cafe, $2.50 a pop will make me go broke Weatherstrip the door CHECK - It's bad when you can see daylight through the doorframe Hire personal slave to accomplish above and other assorted tasks - Now Accepting Applications!

Happy New Year This morning as I type I can see out my window bIue skies and the red rocks of Sedona. I won't have my broadband connection for a few weeks until they can get it installed, but thanks to a 75ft of phone cable I can dial-in from next door. Everything is up here at the cabin and I have made decent progress unpacking. Back to work...