Glorious Food Friends

Back in 2000-2001, while I finished up the royal bachelors degree in new jersey, I worked numerous odd jobs, including being a waiter for one of NYC’s premier catering companies. How do I know it was premier? Let’s just say each job involved a museum, a rock star, and the occasional brush with Hillary “Rottenham” (to quote madge) Clinton. But all the fancy stuff wasn’t the best part of the job. And no, it wasn’t even all the free food Id stuff into my backpack. Instead, it was the other workers – the United Nations of Catering, I used to call it.

I remember on any given night speaking all my languages with people old and young from every continent of the world. And among those people, there was one gentlemen who became a fast friend – Mr. David, Trinidad and Brooklyn’s beloved son. Like many of us, David had 1,000 ideas and plans in his head, and waitering was just to make quick cash and secretly, I think he was there to meet all the interesting people.

Among his adventures, I remember getting a phonecall where he told me he was on his way to Nicaragua: “The coffee prices have hit rock bottom” he spoke in a concerned tone, “I’m going to Managua and bringing food and toys for children.” I remember picturing a sort-of Caribbean Santa Claus. I also remember how much I admired his drive. While I sat around studying and yapping about the world and what is wrong. Mr. David would get one of those amazing courier flights and go to the areas in crises, whenever he had the money.

Eventually we both left the catering gig. But he never failed to invite me and my girlfriend at the time – Miss America (as he called her), to come to a very international dinner at his place in the people’s republic of brooklyn. Soon thereafter, I moved to portugal, and sure enough the man came to visit me and wandered across the country with a Nicaraguan friend.

Whenever I’m in the US, I still call him. We don’t always see each other, but we play the catch up game, and always know what one-another is up to. You can bet he still travels to interesting places, still doing what he feels driven to do, to improve the world. Talk about direct action — that’s my friend.

And so tonight I sent an email. And sure enough, soon after, I received a phonecall. Looks like its Port-of-Spain, New Delhi, and then Amsterdam, on his itenerary for this year. Amazing how paths can cross throughout life.

Shopping for Blogs

Its Sunday and within a few weeks I shall be packing up the bicyclemark ranch and moving across town to the Old West. Where at high noon I’ll probably have to draw my six shooter against some Dutch outlaw. No wait.. wrong year, wrong region, wrong neighborhood. Old West is a lovely place where children run and play while future yuppies sip fine wine in small cafés.
But thats not the point today!

We all have our routines, whether its in offline life or online life. And Im sure you all have your favorite sites, feeds, message boards, etc. Myself Ive got around 150 feeds that I read almost daily. THAT is insane. Despite that fact, today I went blog shopping, to meet new bloggers and maybe find somethings to add to my routine. So let’s see, here come the links… I don’t have a solid review on each one yet.. Im still soaking them in. I can say that my theme in searching for them was people living outside their country or simply in interesting places, as far as Im concerned.

This one’s for food… Gluten Free, in fact.

This one’s from Taiwan, an ex American.

And this one from Bombay, just catches my attention, for lots of reasons.

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Information is Power. Along my guest today – Dave Brightbill from Radiomacguys.com, we discuss how the US government is trying to control and surpress access to broadband and wireless internet.

AudioCommunique #58(mp3)
30min, 64kbps, 14Mb+

Music by:

Lisboa Para Tras, Featuring Toka Collective
Lali Puna – Cooking the Books, from the B-sides and Remix album
Bright Eyes – Arc of Time, from Digital Ash…

Articles Related to this discussion:

Will Congress Ban Municipal Wi-Fi
Wiretapping on Internet-Based Telephoney Ruling
Broadband Rules Eased

Hypocracy and Radiation

Back in Amsterdam. Back to floating around the canals with good friends. And back to soaking in the world affairs and getting highly annoyed with events as they unfold.

I haven’t said much about the Iran nuclear issue, because I find it all so annoying and repetative. It starts to seem like every other day the UN makes a statement, the EU makes a statement, the Iranian gov. makes a statement. Repeat this process everyday for months. Of course, this is much better than, say, blowing each other up and killing people. So I’m not advocating some insane warmonger invasion.

But to put it quite simply, and I know these issues are never simple, I just think its silly for nations who have nuclear programs and who actively research new nuclear weapons (the US is working on Manhattan project II since before Clinton)…. its ironic for such nations to dictate to other nations if they can and can not research and build nuclear programs. Its makes very little sense to me, the whole concept that nations who currently have them are responsible, while nations who are trying to get nuclear technology are somehow NOT capable of handling them responsibly.

Now lets take another step back – I’m an avid anti-nuclear person. I hate the weapons, one of the worst mistakes in world history was developing them, and I despise the energy, which produces waste that is undisposable and lethal. But all that aside, looking at the world as-is, I can’t really get gung-go about this whole theory that Iran is somehow unfit to persue their nuclear program because Europe or the US, who did just that years ago, say they know what is best for these nations.

Até logo Lisboa

Last night was my last night in Lisbon. For this vacation anyway. Like so many nights when I did live there, I took myself to dinner, chose a little table in the corner at my favorite Indian restaurant, and ate very slowly while listening to the cornocopia of conversations going on in the room.

Lisbon is such a strange town for me, on so many levels. I’ve never fit in because I’m a Luso-American, born into a Portuguese family in New Jersey. Though I tried for years to act the part, saying good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to every old person in my neighborhood. I guess I hoped they’d start to see me as one of them. But they never did and now more then ever, they still don’t.

But one thing has changed. My desire to gain their approval. I stopped giving a shit and realized who I am as a Portuguese person, does not depend on their judgement. Beyond that, I’ve come to realize, regardless of the little money and property I actually own, class and education seperate me from these people. They look at me, they hear my accent, they observe my strangely polite mannerisms, and they decide that I’m somehow wealthy. Or maybe, I look at them and I realize that somehow I exist in some completely seperate privledged class.

Maybe its none of these. Rather- it goes back to my own insecurities. Whatever the cause, I still love the old neighborhood in Lisbon. Lots of things have changed of course, since my days working there. I do so miss the group of friends from those days, I miss the little restaurants and pubs that have since changed name and ownership. But still, there are things that never change in wonderous Lisbon, and people who I love that are still there. Those are the people and things I will forever come back to visit.

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Winding down in Portugal; Issues to discuss before I leave tomorrow.

AudioCommunique #57(mp3)
25min+, 64kbps, 12Mb+

I get into:

A great email from Vancouver gets me talking development and Portugal. Long-term versus short-term thinking in the US and here.
2600.com and a radio show that greatly influences me – Off the Hook.
Taxes in three countries, how I try to stay under the radar and Ill ultimately fail.
It starts pouring as I record.

Artists/Albums:

Humanos – Tribute to Antonio Variações
Lali Puna – B sides and Remixes
Maria Alice – Sol na Tchada
Jobim-Morelenbaum/Sakamoto – Casa