Realized

The 5-0 ain't got shit on nuttin' today boy. Nothing else matters, cause baby today it's all about the moment.

Tom Petty Navidad!

Well I heard you in the back room
Your friends had a laugh on me
Passed my name through the cantina
Yeah your face was hard to read
Something in your demeanor
Should of given you away
But I was desperate for a friend
I was getting used to making mistakes

Well I went down hard
Like Billy the Kid
Yeah, I went down hard
Yeah, but I got up again

Building the Street Cred

The students developed a comprehensive plan for recruiting and hiring that was tailored to the needs of a small engineering firm with a progressive work ethic and a passion for sustainability. They addressed such issues as recruiting, screening, interviewing, and compensation packages. (UW Business Alumni News)

Fare Thee Well

It was two weeks of "last nights." Barely made it out alive, every time.

Prior to a day of frisbee

...see that your night is international.
in alcohols.
Schochu, Slivavic, Svedka, ???


If your child aint all he should be now
This girl will put him right.
Ill show him what he could be now
Just give me one night.
Im the gypsy - the acid queen.
Pay before we start.
Im the gypsy - the acid queen.
Ill tear your soul apart.

judgement

This week my job has me evaluating whether his baby is walking the walk or just talking the talk around the future of energy.

Update: They mention AIESEC in their Sustainability Report, but don't expound on the relationship.

geeking

Recently finished rewatching the original Star Wars trilogy. Ahh, the story of justice, love, triumph, sacrifice. It gets me every time, even more so when swords are involved. I hadn't realized how geared towards kids it is. Some of the light-hearted (or perhaps rediculous) scenes make it difficult for an aging geek like me to fully immerse myself in their galaxy, especially with Lord of the Rings being very "my generation." I still have appreciation for what the trilogy did, though. Soon I will begin the journey through Middle Earth... extended version style.

unpolished

I came out the weekend with a 1.5 inch bruise on the arch of my left foot, a purple 3 inch bruise on my right tricep, and a really stiff neck. This was unexpected, though maybe it shouldn't have been.

Sure feels good

...to be back in business.

From the menu at the House of Mixology

Mixmaster Delight

Serves: 1 man
Ingredients:
-1 pepper of your favorite colour, or two halves of different colors
-1 tomato
-1/4 - 1/3 pound of pasta
-shredded cheese
-optional: any other vegetable Mix's tiny heart desires

-oregano
-olive oil
-salt
-garlic salt/powder
-an Asian sauce I don't know the name of, but someone else probably does
-optional: pasta sauce (when Mix feels saucy)
-double dare optional: Ron Diaz

1) Fill up a pot with water and put it on the back left burner. Pour some salt into the water. Make it a liberal sprinkle.
2) While the water is heating up, cut the pepper into pieces. I like to cut it into square pieces maybe 2X2cm. Also cut the tomatoes into decent sized pieces.
3) Pour olive oil into a frying pan. Use more than you are comfortable with. Add some garlic salt and a little oregano for fun. Heat it up a little.
4) Add the veggies to your frying pan. Don't let the splattering of scathing oil hit you in the face.
5) Start your favorite CD. Play it loud enough to make your roommate look up from her book.
6) By now, unless you have severe mental problems, your water should be boiling. Add the noodles. Stir after 15 seconds.
7) a) When the noodles are done, pour them in a bowl. Add the vegetables on top.
b) (College) When the noodles are done, take the frying pan off the burner and add the noodles to it.
8) Sprinkle on your favorite shredded cheese. Italian or Taco blend work well. Finely shredded is preferred. Stir.
9) Add that Asian sauce (and optionally a little bit of pasta sauce) and stir it around with a forceful but sensual touch.
10) (optional, especially if in Colorado) Put a small pot on the back right burner and heat up a little of the pasta sauce. Add illegal amounts of Ron Diaz to the sauce and stir. It should be a liquid and not a sauce now. Also add Ron Diaz to your mouth and drink. Add sauce to dish.

BAM!

Note: Picture from Egypt. A more illuminating illustration shall appear shortly. That grey stuff is coal-ash from shisha preparation.

Tru Summer Day

Indian Food at River Splash
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

Three hours of volleyball and then finish the night around a fire. This is how it's supposed to be done. This is what I was looking for. The competition helped me let out some steam as running is just too boring right now.

I had forgotten about the tendency for ladies of the court to be rather attractive.

The oft missed moral side, and the battles therein

I relive an earlier walk through the intensive-care unit of the 47th Combat Support Hospital in Mosul, Iraq, where I work. A new patient has arrived, lying with his chest exposed and his vital signs electronically monitored.

He is ill, and we are taking care of him, but he is different from most of our patients. He lies in bed with a bandanna covering his eyes, not a bandage. At the foot of the bed are two young American soldiers with weapons in hand.

They look at me as I look at our patient, a “bad guy” for sure, as our Iraqi interpreter calls them. He is an insurgent.
(The News Tribune)
HT: Andrew Sullivan

This essay provides a point of view often missed by our onlookers. The view is from one of our military caretakers; those who treat not only our injured, but their's as well.

The strategic "no"

In reading certain publications, one will realize airlines are finally removing unprofitable routes. In effect, they're telling customers "no, we won't serve you in this fashion." Other businesses are finally catching on, too. Rolls Royce revamped one of their customer relations programs, cutting the number of members, focusing on a select few and raising prices... It became more profitable.

And so I was faced with a similar situation. Take a job offering decent experience (at least in the short term), but requiring a longer term commitment and less-than-optimal pay? Five minutes ago I apparently didn't think it was worth it and now there's no turning back. Knowing when to say "no" is just as, if not more, important as knowing when to say yes. You aren't obliged to take them, so choose your customers wisely. And your jobs.

for the love

birthday surprise
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

...of people


that's why I still believe

thanks Phish

Oh Tequila, I turn to you like a long lost friend
I want to kiss my Mexican Cousin once again
We'll cover every emotion from happiness to sorrow,
And the conversations I forget, you'll tell me about tomorrow
When the phone calls start, am I in bed or in a hearse?
The things you tell me about myself can't make me feel any worse

Well I'm awful sorry you got pissed
Just have to cross you off the list
Of my true friends...
And Tequila's where that starts and where it ends

Streaming Phish, Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic, & String Cheese Incident this afternoon. Awesome.

For the coming days

On oil and the need for renewable energy:

There are gargantuan energy-income sources available which do not stay the process of nature's own conservation of energy within the earth's crust 'against a rainy day.' These are in water, tidal, wind, and desert-inpinging sun radiation power. The exploiters of fossil fuels, coal and oil, say it costs less to produce and burn the savings account. This is analogous to saying it takes less effort to rob a bank than to do the work which the money deposited in the bank represents. The question is cost to whom? To our great-great-grandchildren, who will have no fossil fuels to turn the machines? I find the ignorant acceptance by world society's presently deputiezed leaders of the momentarily expedient and the lack of constructive, long-distance thinking -let alone comprehensive thinking- ... render dubious the case for humanity's earthian future.


Buckminster Fuller in Utopia or Oblivion, 1969

Badgers on top?

Kyle
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

With 12 bloggers, Madison is quite the blogging force to reckon with. I see no competition. Three more joined the ranks, Lindsey, Kyle and Anna (to be updated).

Via a great story of Kyle's:

...A punch to my eye.
A punch to my lip.
A punch under my eye.

I covered my face and begged for them to stop. This wasn't a fair fight, not even close, and I was now in no shape to even muster any kind of retaliation.

I had a plan...


We Badgers are tricky fellows.

Update: Make that thirteen. Ian is blogging from a sailing school in the Caribbean.

behind the camera eye

IMG_8791
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

My interviewer thanked me today, not for the good interview, but for the conversation about Egypt and the Middle East.
At first I laughed, then I cried.

Work Life begins

1:30pm Breakfast
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

Ah, the sweet yet sour tastes of employment have begun. But not before a weekend in Milwaukee with some rad dudes. I can't think of many other weekends where I put in that little of an effort and had that good of a time. It just shows it's who you're with, not what you're doing. Well, sleeping on the beach was pretty sweet though. I hadn't ever really spent much time in Brew Town; it is much more liveable than I thought.

I have reached my set-limit in Flickr, which chaps me a little, but a few are up there.

Milwaukee Navidad

the river
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

Heading out of town for the weekend. We'll be keepin' it safe while keepin' it real.


May photos here.