I am in the poorest not-at-war country in the world, about as far away
from the rat race as you could get. Somehow, though I managed to bring
the rat race with me. I am under deadline for a big piece of software
that has been months in the making. To make the deadline I am going
flat out, [...]
Updated I already wrote about my visit to Manzanar,
but there was one thing that pissed me off more than anything else: The
Blue Star Memorial Highway Sign. I noticed these sorts of signs have
popped up all over the place since I was last in the US. Essentially
they are support the troops kind of signs. Sections of [...]
Updated (thanks Alisa)
“In 1942, the United States government ordered over 110,000 men, women
and children to leave their homes and detained them in remote,
military-style camps. Two-thirds of them were born in America. Not one
was convicted of espionage or sabotage.”10,000 of them came to Manzanar. To the east is a desert so harsh it is
called Death Valley, [...]
I enjoyed this article which begins:
“DEVELOPMENTS in Zimbabwe’s northern neighbour Malawi and the far-flung
Togo in west Africa this week alone served to show the two faces of African
politics; one that is ugly and another, well, quite beautiful to
behold….”
http://allafrica.com/stories/200502100715.html
Thanks to the AllAfrica blog…
Not much writing in this post - just pictures of our home and garden. Enjoy!
Here is sort of a side view of our house and our two cars - a Nissan doublecab and a Mitsubishi Pajero.
Our driveway, with George, our guard/soon-to-be gardener enjoying his new
watering can I just bought at Shop-Rite.
View onto the front [...]
20 minutes ago I was tweaking a NSIS installer that I wrote when I got
a phone call from a guy named Mandira. He said that he had a broken
flash memory card and was wondering if I could fix it for him. He said
he had received my phone number from my wife, so I told him [...]
Our garden is full of all sorts of delights. It is big - about 70
meters wide and 70 meters long, which apparenlty is about a hectare. We
have lots of fruit trees including a mango, a banana, and a monkey
brain (???) tree. There is a tall section of bamboo, and flowers pretty
much all over the place. [...]
Yesterday, we picked up a propane camping stove from Claudia’s boss so
that we can cook some food while we are waiting to buy a stove. Last
night, George, our Guard carried the tank into the garage. This morning
I went out in my sandals to carry it inside. I brought the very heavy
thing in and set it [...]
It must sound laughable from far away, but being in charge of the
domestic staff, aka servants, is a bit overwhelming. I feel like I have
just been thrust into a middle management role. Negotiating pay,
benefits, schedules, procuring required supplies and a lot of other
activities make it feel as if you are running a business. From my
worker’s [...]
As I was moving boxes and boxes of our material goods into our house, I
was confronted with a strange site. Walking through my backyard, and
then next to me were two women. Two unknown women, walking through your
gated and guarded compound would be a strange incident by itself. But
these women each had what must have been [...]
