icefog.org

As everyone must know by now, Sarah Palin was selected to be John McCain’s running mate.  From everything I have read and heard on the radio, her selection surprised more than a few people.  Politically, I do not agree with her on most everything.  However, I do hope that she comes away from this relatively well – I am ‘worried’ (much too strong a word) that she is going to be beaten up pretty good.  As an Alaskan, I hope that does not happen, but from the initial internet posts and tv segments I have watched, it looks like she is in for a very long 2 months.  I guess that McCain is really counting on those three electoral votes.

Last weekend, I met up Ryan and Hil in Darmstadt (close to Frankfurt) to play some ultimate with the Mother Tongue. Delays were the theme of my weekend. Delays as follows: 1) extra trip home before the weekend started because I forgot my passport; 2) I had to send some emails out after my arrival in Darmstadt; 3) Ryan and Hil left their passports and other goodies on the train in Darmstadt. Their stuff ended up in Frankfurt; 4) Getting lost on our way to the fields – after going directly to where we were supposed to be, but not seeing the stairs that led to the fields, we proceeded to wander around the woods a while. We made it to our first game by about 5 minutes; 6) Finally, after thinking I was quite clever in getting an airplane ticket home so I could get a decent night of sleep, my airplane was delayed by over 3 hours. I was planning to be home by 10 p.m. — I made it shortly after 1 a.m.!

The frisbee was fun. A little different than other MT teams I have played with. But I guess that is the point of playing with MT. April showed up for an afternoon with the newest and future MT player. It was nice to see her again. We placed 7th out of 12 teams. On Saturday, we won our first 2 games, then lost our last 3. Sunday we played only twice, losing our first and winning the second. It was nice to play well at the end of the tournament. Hil’s post of the tournament can be found here.

It was great hanging out with Ryan, Hil, and Sophie again. Even though we don’t see each other so often, it is great everytime we do. It is pretty obvious we have played a lot together. Every tournament, I know that Ryan is going to throw me some crap that and I will have to make a SPECTACULAR (sarcasm intended) catch – or 3 or 4. But after playing together for soooo long, I know ahead of time when he is going to throw me shit and about where it is going to land. Telepathy or something — maybe just being too familiar with each other. The other thing that ALWAYS happens is that I manage to overthrow Hil in the endzone by about 1.5 cm. It had been a while since I had played in a tournament – Barcelona I think – and it showed. I felt quite rusty, dropped a number of passes that I normally would have caught, poorly executing some throws that I normally would be able to make (or know better not to attempt). But I guess that is the way it goes sometimes. I have only 2 more tournaments in my near future. This weekend I am going to a 1-day beach tournament in Leipzig and sometime in September, Potsdam is hosting a hat tournament that looks like fun.

German TV was at the field. I was interviewed, but I did not make the cut. I can’t say that I am disappointed though. Pictures – mostly of family Woodard, but some playing as well – can be found here.

I ran into this talk awhile ago. One of those talks that makes you wonder a bit … It at least makes me wonder.

Last night I saw Sigur Ros at the Tempodrom in Berlin. A band from Iceland, I was not very familiar with their music. However, after watching this video, I decided it was probably worth going (just in case). The Tempodrom was an interesting place to see a show. I thought I was watching a show in a giant yurt. I was told later it was made to be or look like a permanent circus tent, a description which very much fits as well.

The support act was also from Iceland. They had a very new age sound with lots of synthesized sounds and strings. I am guessing that this was also their first tour – they were obviously quite young and they had to pick up their own stuff after the show. Musicians and crew in the same package.

Konni gave me a Sigur Ros cd a few weeks ago. I was expecting a new age relaxing sort of night. This is especially true given the giant Ikea lamp shades and the continuous running of the fog machine long before the show started. The show was very good, but very different than what I was expecting. The lead guitar/singer played with a violin bow (on the guitar), all the musicians kept doing the Chinese fire drill playing each others instruments, a lot of disparate sounds that seems to blend well together (xylophones, horns acting as a marching band, strings, keyboards, some sort of pump organ, etc). It was the last show on the tour with the horns and strings and the band really had a good time playing. At one point toward the end of the show, the string section had no idea what was going on and the crew on the side of the stage was going crazy (cheering) on the band as they kept jammin away. There was definitely a new age sound, but it very loud and very fast — but very good.

Here is a picture of Sigur Ros in concert from The Local – a German internet newspaper written in English for people like me – complete with giant Ikea lamp shades.

With only a few months left here in Potsam and Germany, my plans are finally starting to come together for my remaining time here and afterward. I am getting pretty excited about everything that will be happening in the upcoming months. I actually gave notice about leaving my apartment last week. I have a feeling things are going to begin to move quite rapidly between now and 15 November (my target date of leaving Germany).

So what is left to do in Germany?? Things that are set in stone include a few frisbee tournaments (with Ryan and Hil playing with Mother Tongue, a 1-day sand tournament in Leipzig with the local Potsdam team, and a hat tournament in Potsam), a trip to Zürich to visit family Woodard, Oktoberfest in Munich, and a Billy Bragg concert. Things I would like to do, but not set in stone, include one last frisbee tournament with Mother Tongue, trips to Dresden and Prague, maybe a quick trip to Spain, and hopefully (with a bit of luck) meeting up with Edward in Istambul.

After Germany??? Dates are not completely firm, but this is the general plan… First up is doing volunteer work in Central America. I was finally accepted to volunteer with Grupo Fenix, learning and working with solar power in Nicaragua. I am very very excited about this for a number of different reasons. I am planning to be there between 1 Dec and 15 March (-ish, like I said, no plane tickets have been bought), doing a month of Spanish class first then volunteering for 10 weeks starting just after the first of the year. Afterward, I am 99% sure I will fly directly back to Alaska, starting a new job on 1 April (just waiting for the offer letter to arrive). I am also very excited about returning to Alaska, again for many many reasons.

More details to follow as they become final….

UPDATE: I updated my travel schedule tonight. I realize I need this to help keep track of myself.

Today I am in full recovery mode from a very busy, and very good, weekend. The weekend started out on Thursday night after work with Konni and I going to the Abenteuer Park. It was a lot of fun and very challenging (both muscles and nerves). We made it around three different loops in the 2 hours…. working our way backwards (from intermediate levels to fairly easy levels). By the end of the 2 hours and a 160m slide, we were both pretty tired and sweaty. Today (Sunday) is the first day I am not feeling my shoulders.

Getting ready… A bit nervous maybe??

Konni coming down the stairs.

Check out that ‘gun’.. Does that look like Kermit de’ Frog’s arm (Dave) ????

Getting ready for the slide. The rest of the pictures can be found here.

Friday night I went with Konni and Thorsten to the east side of Berling to watch the 2nd Berlin Short Film Festival. It was pretty fun, although I think that the film that probably won (I had to leave a bit early) was probably the one I understood the least. It was just two people sitting in swings talking to each other. The films that had some sort of movement, I was able to follow fairly well. Konni was there to explain all the points I missed (sometimes a lot of explaining was needed). The thing I really liked about the festival was that it was shown outside! It was fun sitting outside in the fresh air, listening to the wind in the trees, etc. I liked that a lot.

Saturday night I was invited by Alex, my friend now living in Berlin who is from Munich who I met in Fairbanks when she was an intern workting with Matt Nolan, invited me over for a bbq at her place. I had not been to that part of Berlin either. It was pretty nice area, although getting there was funny, but that is a different story. Anyway, good food, toooooo many beers, and a person who likes to mix drinks made for a fairly fun night and a pretty drunken bob. Today needless to say has been a very slow day in the life of Bob. I am happy it is raining outside. Makes it easier to be this slow.  Alex is going to lead me into another drunken state this fall when we go to Munich for Oktoberfest!

I am beginning to fall behind in keeping up with this blog. I hope to be able to spend some time this weekend and catch up. We’ll see…

What is happening and what is on my mind?? Plans beyond Germany are beginning to fall into place. I am very excited about what is coming up and that everything seems to be FINALLY working out. Not all the pieces are in place, but they are close. Last night, I went to the crazy fly between trees on ropes and ladders theme park with Konni. It was a lot of fun and a bit scary at times… It made me sweat a lot and I am still a bit sore in my shoulders. After seeing a number of recent political ads run by his campaign, I am beginning to think that the Republican nominee for president is a pretty big dick with nothing to say except…. well, nothing at all – that is the problem. Ted Stevens, long time Senator from Alaska, was the latest in a long line of Republicans (you know, the financially conservative, moral and family values party) to get indicted. I am also getting a bit weary of the dumbing down of the population done by the media. Everyone is telling us how to think these days – TVs, blogs (right and left and mine), radio, etc. I have had a number of discussions about this over the past couple years and I really can not figure out why or how this is happening. Are we really that lazy to think for ourselves? I saw this cartoon on CrooksandLiars this morning and thought it was pretty good. I guess it was done by Steve Greenberg.

Okay, I guess that is enough for now. With a bit of luck, more this weekend.

‘Cause they got no rhythm….

Actually, I love Kenji’s outreach program. A very good thing he is doing. Here is Episode 1 of Tunnel Man.