• So strange to be back in tha Andes (and in a city) after a week in the Galapagos. #
• Yesterday, while snorkling, I got nibbled on by a penguin. How often can I say things like that? #
• I'm going to miss saying stuff like "look at those boobies over there." #
• Lots of photos when I get back. #
• Heading to the old town for a few days. #
• Adventure travel over. Checked into a luxury hotel for the next few days. Wifi too! #
• For those of you anxious to see boobie pictures, here is a good one that I took last week. http://twitpic.com/11cu0j #
• Time for caipirinhas! #
• Here's a shot of a Galapagos penguin, like the one that nibbled on my side while snorkeling. http://twitpic.com/11ei83 #
• I'm American, if I can't eat it, drink it, or see it from a cruise ship it can't be important (paraphrasing behavior of other hotel guests). #
• More ceviche followed by giant ecuadorian prawns for dinner. We are eating our way through this country. #
• Today == more old churches and haciendas. #
• Another teaser shot: baby sea lion nursing. http://twitpic.com/11ii5h #
• Time for lunch, followed by siesta during the heat of the day. #
• We feel that we have seen enough of Quito and are ready to go home. One more day though. Just taking it easy, reading, writing, drinking… #
• To all my DC friends, enjoy the snow, eat and drink good stuff, and have a fun weekend. #
• So many places to eat, so many places to get dysentery. #
• DC friends, I hope you are all home and safe. I've seen how people there drive with 2" of snow, never mind 20". #
• It is pouring rain in Quito so we are hanging out in the covered courtyard of our hotel reading and listening to local musicians. #
• Cool thing on this trip, I met the inventor of "Happy Hour." When you run a bar on a remote 3rd world island, you can claim such things. #
• Anyone know of a good cycling tour company that can get us the Alps in France, Switzerland, and Italy? I am not even home yet, but planning. #
• Getting packed. We start our journey home tomorrow morning. #

• Leaving the Rockies. Heading for the Andes. #
• Estamos en Miami. #
• So glad we booked business class. #
• Adiós Estados Unidos. ¡Nos vamos en dos semanas. #
• Nos vemos, that is. Spanish on the iPhone is difficult. #
• Off to a bad start. They lost the bag with most of my clothing and gear. Just the emergency carryon and Lisa's left. #
• The road to hell is paved with unbought goat hooves. #
• Getting by with the clothes I have. Hope I get my wetsuit and cycling gear before we leave for the Galapagos. #
• Compared to the rest of our tour group, I am a drunken radical. The more this happens, the more I think I just am a drunken radical. #
• Today we hike the rim of a caldera. #
• Crossed over the divide. We are at a hotsprings resort in the high Andes above the Amazon basin. #
• Finally reunited with the rest of my luggage. Off to the Galapagos tomorrow. #
• Dinner in Quito without the group tonight. That means no talk of the Galapagos belonging to Mexico. #
• In a way, I am glad I won't come home to a country where everyone already has iPads, but I don't want to wait 90 days either. #
• Never mind the cost of the u
  iPad, I just hate to think what I spent on data roaming to follow the launch from the Andes. #
• Definitely enjoying the coca tea. Too bad I can't bring any home. #
• Galapagos bound. #
• Saw my first boobie today. #

• Haiti in Ink and Tears: http://bit.ly/4n6qIa #
• RT @georgekroner: 2010: The Year Ahead for IT in Higher Education http://bit.ly/4wR5Be (via @jkeltner) #
• Recovering from a 10K with some coconut juice. #
• Soon to be baguettes. http://yfrog.com/37cf3pj #
• Standing in the kitchen eating fresh baguettes and drinking pinot noir. I can't be bothered to sit down. #
• By this time next week, we should be leaving Quito and heading up into the cloud forests of the Andes. #
• Why faculty tend to be liberal (nothing surprising here) http://bit.ly/4CaBSE #
• Despite stimulus $, education suffers historic declines in funding. http://bit.ly/4CJwgp #
• Accreditation 2.0 http://bit.ly/6KsUMQ #
• 4 work-days left… #
• Ok, I have 74GB of compact flash for my SLR and 36GB of SDHC for my point-n-shoot. I am hoping not to have to empty any chips on this trip. #
• I agree. RT @mountainsunpub: Westword: "Resolve to drink at Vine Street Pub this year" http://bit.ly/91OWfu #
• This week is conspiring to make me look forward to my vacation. #
• Looks like I am walking away from some really quality television </sarcasm>, but I am going to read. #
• How will the democrats ever get anything done now that they hold a minority of 59 seats? #
• I knew I forgot to do something yesterday. Must be why I had my black suit and a bottle of Remy out and ready. http://bit.ly/823zjv #
• RT @johnfontaine: Hiring another evangelist for Bb. Build cool things, travel the world spreading Bb b2s. DM @johnfontaine for details. #
• "Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." O Wilde #
• Off to the gettin' place (aka REI). #
• Would a second Ralphie with cheese be excessive? I still have beer to finish. #
• If you are running Safari 4.0.4 on Snow Leopard (or Mobile Safari) check out this HTML/CSS Star Wars crawl. http://bit.ly/7VAdvS #
• Some days are coffee, some are tea. Today will be both. #
• Another way to avoid Flash. Sign up for the YouTube HTML 5 beta. http://bit.ly/8s45ED #
• Silk oolong formosa is priced like contraband, but it makes a great pot of tea. #
• Craving osso bucco. Need to get to the butcher shop at lunch time to pick up veal shanks. #
• Now that I have read Infinite Jest, I have the Kindle stocked up with other writings of DFW to read on vacation. Which should come first? #
• Oso bucco is in the oven. Now to make the gremolata and a creamy polenta. #
• Looks like my next bike ride will be on a mountain bike and will take place just slightly south of the equator. #
• Last day of work for 3 weeks, but lots to do… #
• Getting serious about this vacation. I've turned off Exchange integration on my iPhone. No work email or calendar for 3 weeks. #
• It's like going through a launch sequence. Out of office message up: check… #
• It couldn't hurt to kick off vacation at a pub, even if I am not all packed… #
• Get some balls http://bit.ly/5ApXPD #
• Just saw a bald eagle in our neighborhood in Denver. #
• Blake is off to camp for 16 days. It is sad to be in a parrotless house. #
• Forgot to send out a very important document on Friday. Had to put in a few minutes of work, but now it is really done. #
• All packed and ready for an early start and a long travel day tomorrow. #

• "badly wants to be Prometheus, bringing fire to the mortals. Instead it’s like some drunk dude flicking matches at us." http://bit.ly/5ISRXU #
• Facebook forgot my preference to hide farms, fish, messages from god and mafia, hearts and other junk. Quite a scary place with all that. #
• It is true that part of the pleasure of exercising updates is the knowledge that they annoy people. http://bit.ly/6GmU1F #
• Can't put it off any longer. I need to get dressed for that flight to NashVegas. #
• Air travel should make us marvel at the age we live in and celebrate human achievement. Instead, it just sucks. #
• Sometimes I really hate being dyslexic. #
• Yeah I am going to get a lot of work done on a regional jet. #
• I guess that's why they call it Nashvegas. #
• It takes work and patience to get a meal in this hotel. #
• Found a nice place with a blues and jazz trio in Nashville. Descent food, no honky tonk. #
• Another day in the southern simulacrum. #
• Meeting cancled. Time to go for a run. #
• So tired. 18-hour day and torrow will be longer. It was a good one though, and more good stuff to come. #
• All registered for the 2010 Triple Bypass on July 10th. #
• Feeling exhausted, but encouraged that I am 9 days away from a 3-week vacation. Haven't had that much time off in a row since grad school. #
• Just three more hours of presenting today. #
• My next meeting is with a grey goose. #
• Yes, there is dancing on the bar. #
• Drinking boubon at the source. #
• I am not a huge country fan, but when in Rome… It was better than a dance club and we drank bourbon and people danced on the bar. #
• Looks like cycling weather in Denver this weekend. I need to work off some of the damage from this week. #
• I feel like my glasses are made out of jello. #
• The Nashville airport smells horrible. #
• Bloody Marys are miracle workers. #
• Half the people on the Denver flight are from Blackboard. #
• It is so nice to see the sun setting over the Rockies after a week in the Gaylord biosphere. #
• Cooking dinner in my own kitchen! #
• Tomorrow looks like cycling weather! #
• I bet I know a few hundred people who are going to sleep well tonight. Good to see you all this week. #
• RT @readmeray: China's attack on Google explained here: http://bit.ly/4SECRE #
• Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five letter. http://bit.ly/3w35h3 #
• Not up to the planned activities today. Going to make dough for baguettes instead. #
• The cracker I am eating is always far more desirable than the cracker I've already given to Blake out of the same bag. #
• Making mole braised pork shoulder, but I should have started it 90 minutes earlier… #
• I admit that I find it difficult not to make James Incandenza jokes when something smells delicious. #

• I managed not to spoil Kurt's surprise party via twitter or facebook. #
• If you really must see Avatar, I advise avoiding beer, watermelon, and coffee. Better yet, just avoid the movie. #
• Paul Krugman on China and currencies. http://bit.ly/4×55UW #
• Great, Apple will release the tablet while I am trekking in the Andes. Who's kidding, I can't complain. http://bit.ly/6svEMl #
• James Cameron's Pocahontas (I mean Avatar) http://imgur.com/JmRmb #
• I need to hit the world's pause button for a moment, so I can take a run. #
• Just watched Inglorious Bastards on Blu-Ray. No, it wasn't 3D, but it blew Avatar away as a film. #
• 2010! When did that happen? #
• Some great suggestions for becoming a better photographer in 2010 (or any time) http://bit.ly/4NVK4n #
• Interview with Michael Pollan on Food Rules. http://bit.ly/5Spr4w #
• Phone conversation on ATT: "what…can — ear me?…what…I said — —… ant — you…– — — -e now?…what?" #
• I wish they had these when I was a kid. Doesn't matter, I will buy it when it comes out and act like a kid. http://www.parrot.com/ #
• Too cold to run. Time to get on the medieval torture device (bike on trainer) in the basement. #
• The midwest no longer gets to call itself the nation's bread basket. It must be called the nation's corn basket. I gues there is corn bread. #
• The furnace has been cranking since 5:00 AM and it is still cold in here. Glad I work from home though. Not leaving the house today. #
• I've been doing well on fitness training this week. How do I keep it up next week at the sales meeting? #
• It's damn cold out, but I have the kind of problems that can only be solved in a brewpub. Wynkoop, here I come. #
• Going out to feed the meter is like an arctic expedition. #
• I can't decide whether to go to Beaver Creek tomorrow. I need to fly to Nashville on Sunday, but can ski Saturday. Such problems… #
• Looks like tomorrow will be snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park, instead of skiing. Need some backcountry time. #
• Take a peak inside the Blackboard Managed Hosting datacenter in the video here: http://bit.ly/4Cjo0M #
• All my female friends seem to be naming Weezer albums in their facebook status lately. #
• Is there a class action suit against AT&T that I can join? #
• The RAT (great writeup on the Rumored Apple Tablet) http://j.mp/5Uoo3R #
• It is strange to login to United and see that I have flown 0 miles this year. That's about to change though… #
• Printing some topo maps so we won't have to sleep in a snow cave tomorrow night. #
• Worry about real things, like getting sick and being abandoned by your insurance provider. Don't worry about terrorism. http://bit.ly/55wSOc #
• I need to buy bigger bottles of wine. I feel like such a lush when I finish one with dinner (and cooking included). #
• Will it never be day? I will trot tomorrow a mile, and my way shall be pav'd with snow and mountains. (bad Shakespear paraphrase) #
• You don't speak because of Friedrich Nietzsche? #
• Oatmeal is in the oven overnight so we will creamy poridge in the morning. #
• Great day snowshoeing in RMNP. Time for an elk burger. #
• Today was one of those days that reminds me that living in Colorado doesn't suck. #

• Having adjusted to the Kindle, it is quite a pain reading a paperback with a tight binding while in bed. #
• DSL restored. Getting sustained 6.5 Mbs down and 740 kbs up. #
• Dry-aged prime rib roast for NYE is ordered. Off to buy oak for the kitchen. #
• I need some suckling pig steamed buns. Off to Bones… #
• Bones is closed. I will have to settle for venison bourguignonne and fresh beer. #
• I didn't know I would be sitting at the Wynkoop having beers, but since I am, I really appreciate the Kidle app on the iPhone. #
• Cleaned the dust of several continents out of my camera equipment so it will be ready for the dust of another one next month. #
• Starting my one-day workweek today. Can't wait for the long weekend. #
• Just got my new Canon S90 with waterproof housing. Impending vacations are a good excuse for buying stuff. #
• "Once a society starts circumventing its own laws, the risks to its future stability are much greater than terrorism." http://bit.ly/5QUTrE #
• Working on redoing photos from 2006 in Lightroom. I ditched Aperture in 2007 and still have a lot to do. #
• It bothers my sense of order that my old photos will be ahead of my new ones on flickr because I am just getting around to processing them. #
• The dude abides: time to watch The Big Lebowski. #
• Sometimes you eat the bar, sometimes the bar, well you know, eats you… #
• Whole foods, butcher for roast, and wine shopping all done before the crowds. Time to make cheesecake. #
• Our housekeeper just looked at the stack of ingredients for my cheesecake and said "it looks like a girl's butt's best friend." #
• Cheesecake is mixing. http://yfrog.us/j56t2z #
• I am totally hooked on this band. http://www.themcrookedvultures.com/ #
• Niman Ranch dry-aged prime rib roast. Can't wait. http://yfrog.com/4imz8mj #
• Warning to my dinner guests tonight. The standard fare will contain about 3,000 calories, mostly from butter, cheese, and beef. #
• My cheesecake thinks it is pi. http://yfrog.com/4igebnj #
• Of all the people going to the gym today, how many of them will still be going next month? #
• If you find yourself writing the wrong year on your checks, question why you are still writing checks. #
• I am pretty sure I just had my best run of the year, but I forgot to turn on my Garmin, so I will never know. #
• Cheesecake may be the perfect food. After all, it is cheese AND cake. #
• In 2010, I resolve to spend more time on my photography. That means carrying a camera more often because you get get the shots without it. #
• Newly found Jane Austen novel, Acedia and Anomie, in which a young girl doesn't really care if she gets married or not. #
• Time for some beer, bar-b-que, and bowling with the boys. #
• F–k talking like a pirate. I dub today to be Talk Like Al Swearengen Day. #
• Blake yawns himself to sleep. http://bit.ly/8ZwJnu #
• Looking for a good marathon training program. Any recommendations? #

• My legs are killing me from yesterday's run, but it is so nice out. Going hiking… #
• East-coast friends, snow is nature's way of telling you to go out and play. Don't miss this chance to slow down and enjoy life. #
• My legs are shot. 5 hours skiing on Friday, 8 mile run on Saturday, and 7 mile hike through mud and ice today. #

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• Playing some acoustic guitar to relax after a stressful drive down the mountains. Too bad my finger tips aren't up to playing more… #
• Late for lunch, early for dinner. #
• Repasado y sangrita. #

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Wonderful quote about the way things are, and the way Americans see them:

Yet the rise of China means more than the emergence of a new great power. Its deeper import is that the ideologies of the past century — neoliberalism just as much as Communism — are obsolete. Belief systems in which the categories of Western religion are reproduced in the guise of pseudo-science, they are redundant in a world where the most rapidly advancing nation state has never been monotheist. Western societies are well worth defending, but they are not a model for all of humankind. In future they will be only one of several versions of tolerable modernity.

via Reading File – NYTimes.com.

• It is going to be a snowey and dangerous ride back to Denver today. #
• Keep snowing. We need it! #
• Snow Leopard netbook now fully operational. #
• 5 degrees and snowing and I just used the last of the coffee beans. Going to have to get to the gettin' place today. #
• Big snow coming into CO this week, but the question is will we be able to get up there to ski it. Holding off on reservations for now. #

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