The Near Side of the Pacific

Fantasy

2011-08-30T02:28:00.002-06:00

Science fiction goes looking for the afterlife--or its twin sister, transcendence--from two imagined sources. The first is in the hands of aliens, typically ancient and wise beyond all imagination. After all, transcendence must exceed any understanding available to us now--alien indeed. These aliens bear the gnostic insight we lack and invite us (or at least point us) toward immortality. The second source is in the mind of machines, or more specifically the marriage of man and machine in a union that takes man to levels of analytical thought unacheivable by our meat brains. The fully virtualized world of computers offers immortality as well when our essence (the mind only, of course) is preserved, replicated, and transformed. Both are leaps of faith, with no revelation pointing the way.

The name of the machine-man fusion is the singularity, the point in physics beyond which the usual laws no longer hold. It is more commonly known as a "black hole" and is here repurposed by materialists for a mental singularity where the power of computers brings in new understanding that would be incomprehensible to us today. That is all men with no meaning can scavenge of hope.

Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
Oh that with an iron pen and lead
they were engraved in the rock forever!
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!
Job 19:23-27

HBO's latest production Game of Thrones is as pleasing a production a fan of fantasy could hope for: well written, well acted, lavish settings, and plenty of mystery. As the name would imply kings and those below them vie for power. They do it ruthlessly, they pass no opportunity for murder, intrigue, or lust. I was captivated, but it wasn't edifying. It was hard to turn away from something so pleasing to the eye.

There are diverse kingdoms, ancient histories, and magic portrayed, yet I was struck by the absense of an afterlife or any sign of characters pondering it. The Pharaohs built the Pyramids, Emperor Qin built the Terracotta Army, and today people can have themselves cryogenically frozen. History teaches us that men, especially kings, become preoccupied with death and the afterlife and will go to as many lengths to secure the latter as they will to avoid the former.

The kings in Thrones do not give it a thought despite the carnage around them. Do the writers?

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.... he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.... I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.... I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.
Ecclesiastes 3

Inspired

2011-08-10T07:22:00.002-06:00

"I've been reading P.G. Wodehouse," said Chippy as he plopped into the chair opposite Lord Liverwurst.

"You don't say," he replied without lifting his eyes from his hog futures. Every good man faces his share of unsolicited commentary and Lord Liverwurst would weather it with the fortitude of Noah among the landlubbers.

"It has inspired me as nothing before," Chippy continued. "Fortunately, my sharp wits are well suited for spinning a lively story. I've resolved to publish something myself."

"Fortunate indeed."

"Just this morning I delivered to consignment the old dresser, the sofa, and the dining room table. A man needs liquidity to finance this sort of venture."

"How does your mother feel about it?"

"Oh, she'll be thrilled. I'll explain it all when she returns next week. When the royalties start pouring she'll be eating with new silver!" Chippy clapped.

"That should compensate for having to dine on the floor," Lord Liverwurst agreed.

"Exactly!"

"And if it doesn't pan out?"

"Nothing to worry about, I've got the knack for it."

"It will be sad if it doesn't come through."

"Well, of course."

"For you I mean," said Lord Liverwurst.

"My mother would be broken up," nodded Clippy.

"If you think so."

"She'd be in tears for me."

"Yes, she'll be in tears."

"Ah, there's nothing to fear. I think I'll tuck in to a sandwhich before I go bang it out this afternoon," said Chippy thumbing through his wallet.

"Help yourself," Lord Liverwurst encouraged him.

Clarity and its Right Object

2011-08-06T19:40:00.008-06:00

How highly doubt is regarded today. Doubt is lauded as the center of the "scientific" mindset, but this center is sadly misplaced. Critical thinking does not first proceed from doubt but from confidence, confidence that there is order in the working of things, that there is a right function of things, and thus that analysis will prove fruitful. This confidence cannot proceed from purposelessness as from the primordial ooze for how can you hold a measuring stick against nothingness. Rather it must proceed from a prior belief in an understandable cosmos.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:1-3

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. Colossians 1:15-17

God has nothing to do with doubt. Since he has revealed the truth in Christ the clear speaking of that truth is of the highest value. Peter, writing before his imminent death, expressed his firm desire that Jesus' teaching be easily remembered.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.... Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.... And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. II Peter 1:3a, 12, 15

John likewise leaves no question that his objective for his reader is confidence, not doubt (emphasis mine).

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. I John 5:13-15

And what is this reference to "his will"?

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Luke 10:27

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. John 15:9-12

Throw off all doubt! Believe with confidence in Christ that you will be saved and gain confidence in his salvation by praying his love and living it out. How truly we can affirm the words of Solomon, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."

33!

2011-02-03T01:23:00.000-06:00

Genesis Redux

2010-05-05T07:47:00.002-06:00

I highly recommended this imagining of Genesis.

Genesis Redux

This is not your father's Spanglish

2009-02-08T05:43:00.004-06:00

We're all familiar with the term Spanglish (Espanglish in Spanish) for mixing English and Spanish (Espanol) in speech. I haven't asked if they have an equivalent here in Cebu for mixing English and Cebuano. It would be superfluous. Cebuanos learn English from a young age not merely by taking English classes but by actually having their classes taught in English. The consistency of this approach varies especially with distance from metropolitan areas, it is less rigid in the province (as they call the countryside). Nonetheless such a high premium is placed on English speaking that churches will perform services in it, not to mention their whole hearted adoption of American and Australian praise music. Their native tongue is replete with Spanish. I constantly hear the word pero, Spanish for "but", when they are speaking. This is not a direct Spanish loanword. The national dialect Tagalog uses pero and even though Cebuanos eschew Tagalog (an imposed dialect) they prefer to use this word, a word from Tagalog, from Spanish. Cebtagaspanglish doesn't begin to describe it.

31!

2009-02-02T22:09:00.000-06:00

Crayon Physics Deluxe

2008-03-20T08:55:00.001-06:00

Watch this demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsTqspnvAaI

Download:
http://www.pixelrage.org/downloads/Crayon-Physics-Deluxe-3246.html
Simple & Extraordinary

Turn a monitor into a 3D VR display using the Wii peripherals

2008-02-26T12:51:00.002-06:00

This is one of the coolest tech demonstrations I've seen. It's not an ordinary 3D environment. Check it out.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=976

30!

2008-02-03T09:04:00.000-06:00

Home

2008-01-16T18:22:00.000-06:00

The airplane touched down and I was home again. Home? Illinois, Arizona, or Costa Rica? Well that depends on where I begin my story. A week before Christmas I arrived in Illinois with a pristine snowfall. Snow was first on my wish list. I always miss fall and winter in the desert. The trees finally lost their leaves here in Arizona, but it feels like the seasons are running counterclockwise. I was surprised to experience that "coming home" feeling as I flew into Costa Rica on the first Sunday of '08. Over a year living there was enough to get the place into my blood. The morning sun and the warm, furious wind were familiar to my skin.

It gets harder to leave Illinois each time I visit. My entire family is there (and it's growing and they're beautiful). My niece watches you speak with such intensity. She repeats back what you say and acts with understanding (even defiance). It's thrilling. I got to see my new nephew Mason and his namesake my grandfather asleep on the same couch while the rest of us laughed and tore open gifts. They slept like babies.

My dad gave me, my brother-in-law, and my little sister's fiance remote control airplanes. It was inspired. Our first excitement was discovering that they were all on the same frequency as propellers leapt to life in our hands. After that we flew them, individually, into trees, the curb, and our neighbor's garage. The adventure was in discovering whether they still ran after each crash (mostly not).

Of course while I'm across the Plains from my desert life the prospect of ever having my own family seems more distant and strange. I was invited to Costa Rica to see two friends tie the knot. They tie it pretty much the same but with a lot more dancing before dinner. The bride looked beautiful even while I was dancing with her which was something because I completely forgot how to Merengue.

It's a wonderful thing to feel needed, and I never experience that more than in Costa Rica. I spared as much time as I could for giving training even though I was there on my own dime for the wedding and still had to attend to other work. I spoke slowly and avoided figures of speech, the better to be understood. Later, as I was saying my goodbyes I took the opportunity to introduce myself to one of the junior employees who I hadn't yet met, a beautiful girl just learning English who said in a timid voice, "My name is Ana-Marie. You are very serious." I was speechless, she was very forward. I also thought, she's been noticing me too.

I left Illinois in another snowfall and Costa Rica on another sunny morning. Leaving is hard even when you are returning home. Especially if returning home means you have to leave another.

Yes, I am still here

2007-06-13T21:00:00.000-06:00

You may remember that I was moving to Cebu. Don't worry, you remembered correctly.

As it turns out I'm stranded in the Arizona summer while working on an important project. Right now it looks like it will never end.

When I finally get the go ahead I'll probably only have two days notice. After all, I moved to Costa Rica on less than two weeks notice. That's how it tends to go.

I love it except when I hate it. Mostly I love it. Sometimes I get tired of it. Sometimes, like right now, I'm pumped. Basically, I had a good day at work. That's better than caffeine.

Adios

2007-04-17T11:57:00.000-06:00

On Saturday I will be leaving Costa Rica. It's been almost one and half years. I've become aclimated and think of it as my home (even though my Spanish is still pretty uneven). I've found good friends, Ultimate Frisbee, a very comfortable home and car (company provided), plus beautiful weather and countryside. I'll miss it.

I'll be back in Scottsdale for a few weeks, then I ship out to Cebu. I'm getting excited about the role I'll play there. I'll be hiring and training an engineering team almost from scratch.

(On the good side of travel I have so many miles now that I've been bumped up my last 3 flights! Does Continental fly to Cebu?)

I don't think of I've ever posted pictures of my place here in Ribera de Belén, so here they are.

Spaceport Awesome

2007-03-28T13:15:00.000-06:00

Frankly I think Spaceport America is a bit cheesy for a name, but being humanity's first commercial spaceport is pure awesome. New Mexico is building it and Virgin Galactic has agreed to make it their headquarters. When my kids graduate from high school they're getting a vacation to the moon. I'm assuming that by then tickets will run for less than the inflation adjusted equivalent of $200k rather than that I'll be a millionaire.

The Love of Machines Is the Love of Creation

2007-03-14T14:50:00.000-06:00

The piston descends, pulls the gas, the shaft spins.
The piston ascends, the gas explodes, spins the shaft.
The cylinder is a cannon that fires,
and fires upon itself.
The imagination has yet to invent itself.

© B. Jason Reardon
3/14/2007

Tranquillo

2007-03-06T08:47:00.000-06:00

In the States I always kept a frisbee in my car. Tossing it around is one of my favorite activities. Be prepared, you know. I had never even seen one in Costa Rica. There's always a fierce wind blowing through the valley or heavy rain, and I just assumed it never caught on.

Last Sunday night at church I was walking past a guy when I heard that magical word "frisbee". I interrupted him and learned that he plays Ultimate Frisbee with a group every Monday and Thursday night from 8 to 10. They've been playing for years and have a mixed group of Gringos and Ticos. He had a frisbee in his car, and we broke it out right then and there. I had just been thinking how much I missed it.

I went last night and got rocked. I've been running intermittently and taking a dance class, but I was not prepared for the dead sprints of Ultimate. There were some very skilled people there who could throw a disk as well as anyone I've seen (and in high wind). Around 20 people showed up and rotated through teams of 7 each. Hearing people call out familiar commands in another language is a good way to learn. "¡Aqui!" (Here!) "¡Marcalo!" (Mark him!) "¡Pasala!" (Pass it!) "¡Uno cada Uno!" (Man-to-man!) It's also a good way to ruin the play out of confusion. "Tranquillo" (Gringo, take it easy instead of passing to thin air again.)

Yep, Wii

2007-03-02T08:12:00.000-06:00

Susan from the office invites me to have dinner with her family to practice my Spanish, play with the kids, and help solve their computer problems. I always enjoy my time with them (except when their computer is showing the blue screen of death). They threw in some extra incentive yesterday by announcing that they had purchased a Wii. Swinging that controller like a bat, a tennis racket, and a golf club is ridiculously entertaining. Their ten year old son was already a pro with it after owning it for a only few days. I'll get him next time.

Snorkeling Manuel Antonio

2007-02-10T09:06:00.000-06:00

My parents came down to Costa Rica last weekend (the day after my twenty-ninth birthday) for a vacation. We took off to Quepos on the west coast to spend time at the Manuel Antonio Park. After their last trip my dad became enthusiastic about the snorkeling we had done, and bought the three of us equipment. We decided to find out what we could see at the beaches within the park. Our first try was at beach 3 which looks like the most sheltered, but once we had gotten away from the shore we found the water pretty rough. The sand was too stirred up to see much plus it was difficult to get close to the outer shoreline where the fish gather. I got tired and woozy after an hour of swimming around. It was disappointing after the quantity and variety we saw at the point we visited last year.

Later in the week we tried the south edge of beach 2 on a recommendation. It's a wide beach, but that part of it turned out to be well sheltered. The water was clear and we started seeing fish almost immediately, too numerous to name or count (as if I knew any of their names in the first place). My dad pointed out a brilliant starfish and a small red eel. I saw a pair of large fish (a couple of feet long) that darted away almost as soon I spotted them. We saw many schools of smaller fish. You could float above the rocks and see them weaving in and out and popping out of hiding places. It's incredible down there. You stick your head above the water and you have no idea how vibrant it is right below the surface. As I was coming in at the end passing from the rocky outer area to the empty sand close to shore a tiny yellow fish passed directly in front of my goggles. It couldn't have been more than inch from my face. I turned to find it and was surprised to see that it was sticking close to my body, swimming all around me. I had picked up a satellite. It had taken shelter around me like I was big rock, and as we swam into the open area it tried to hide close. I had to get out but I hope it found its way back to shelter.

We also did one of the canopy tours where you ride zip lines through the jungle. In truth you pay much more attention to the stability of your platform than the scenery around you. It included about a dozen lines, two rappels and a "Tarzan" swing. One of the guides found and displayed a tiny, black and green poisonous frog. It's colors were extraordinary. He also pointed out a walking tree which stands propped up on its roots and shoots down new ones in the direction of greater sunlight (uphill). It actually moves about two inches a year.

At least he seems like a nice guy

2007-01-22T13:06:00.000-06:00

Today a Costa Rican who happens to follow the NFL stopped me and said, "Has anyone ever told you that you look like Payton Manning?" That's the third time I've been asked that question in six months. The first time when a coworker in the States said it to me I didn't think much of it, but the second time when an American on the flight to Buenos Aires stopped me I was surprised. Three times must mean they're on to something, huh? Personally, I'm convinced that I look like myself. And doesn't anyone notice that I'm undersized by a foot and a hundred pounds?

Sabatical

2006-12-01T13:17:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow I begin a month's hiatus from the office. This will be the longest I've been away from work at one time since I got out of school. I'll be spending the next three weeks in Buenos Aires, Argentina taking an intensive Spanish class. Even though I've lived in Costa Rica for a year now my Spanish has advanced very slowly due to the extensive use of English in the office. Hopefully this trip will get me over the threshold into regular Spanish speaking.

It's strange preparing to leave the office for that long, almost as if I was leaving for good. For once 100% of my responsibilities have been transitioned. It's a freeing and alarming feeling.

The last of week of December I'll be flying from summer in the Southern Hemisphere to winter in the Northern. It won't feel like Christmas for me until the airplane touches down in Chicago and slides off of the icy tarmac. Speaking of flying the trip is going to be a doosey. I leave San Jose at 1:30 tomorrow, then wait around in the Houston airport until 9:00 at which time I fly through the night to Buenos Aires and arrive at 10:20 the next morning.

This is my first time publishing an entry in the latest of version of Blogger. I'm not sure what the new features are yet, but it did cause me to discover a backlog of unapproved comments. I think I have to forfit my already shaky geek credentials. That's what happens when you're just a nerd who learns a little bit of programming. If you've commented on this blog in the last six months and haven't seen it appear that would be why. It's all fixed now.

I leave you with a few interesting links.

See the last earthquake to hit Costa Rica at http://www.ovsicori.una.ac.cr/. I felt my first one a couple Saturdays ago. I was spaced out on the couch watching TV when I felt a tremor. They don't really consider it an earthquake until its around 6.0, but it's slightly alarming nonetheless. It actually felt similar to when they dynamite big rocks at the construction site next to our office. The floor shakes and the windows rattle over a muffled boom. Of course in this case the epicenter wasn't next door but miles and miles away.

Last, best article I've read:
Bill Hybels on Outreach

The reimagined Battlestar Galactica is the best written show on television. You should definitely get into it even if science fiction is the last thing you want to turn on. This ain't no Star Trek. Rent the pilot and you'll see that it's not your traditional scifi, what with Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell. The first season ends strong. The second season will consistently impress you with believable characters in tough circumstances. The third, current season is beyond all belief and levels of quality.
http://www.slate.com/id/2154625/

http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/
This is an enjoyable and creative flash game that you should waste a half-hour playing.

http://factory.lego.com/getstarted/default.aspx
Now you can download a LEGO building program! Can't afford those little overpriced bricks? Make things in the virtual world.

http://labs.live.com/photosynth/
This one will bring your computer to its knees, but it's fascinating. It reads up a set of pictures and constructs a three-dimensional model of the photographed structure. It feels like Hollywood's idea of an intelligence tool. James Bond would be so lucky.

Informative Reading:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/
http://www.businesspundit.com/

Fun Reading:
http://www.boltcity.com/copper/
http://www.scarygoround.com/
http://jjrowland.com/

Third Time's the Charm

2006-10-22T18:37:00.000-06:00

It is the rainy season here in Costa Rica. One day probably sees as much rain as Arizona does in a decade. It was raining and the clouds were low on Saturday morning as Jim, Kathy and I caught our tour bus. They had flown in the night before for work, but wanted to get in a day trip over the weekend.

We were going to visit Volcan Arenal one of the most famous in the world. It is only 2,900 years old, a babe in geological terms. It has been erupting continuously for the last fifty years and looks just like your childhood science fair project--or so I've been told. I've visited it twice before but have only seen clouds. I didn't expect to see it this time either considering the weather, but there was another attraction on the agenda. Tabacon is a legendary resort at the foot of Arenal. Staying there is expensive by any standard, but a more affordable option is to visit its biggest attraction--the hot springs. They've built up a river bed and use natural heat from the volcano to create a river with the comfort and warmth of a spa.

We had been driving for a couple of hours, the bus was tilting along the steep roads when we caught a wide view. Our enthusiastic tour guide interrupted his impromptu musical number and said that the volcano could be seen at 10 o'clock. It was only a shadow on the horizon but the cone shape was clearly there. There was no sun and occasional rain, but fortunately the cloud ceiling was high enough.

After another half hour we glimpsed it again and this time we were close enough to see a puff of smoke from an explosion. The near, eastern side is green like any ordinary hill in Costa Rica. There is a patch of white near the top which is the fuselage from a recent plane crash. They say intense magnetism plays havoc with instruments. No one recovers a wreck near the top of a smoldering volcano.

We stopped for lunch after La Fortuna, the closest city to its base. We could see part of the west face which is black from constant lava flow. Small patches of white smoke burst out all over it. It felt alien.

The afternoon brought us to Tabacon. You could feel the heat and the steam filled the rain forest. It was beautiful. A spa is great, but sitting under a waterfall at 105 degrees is a dream. The afternoon slipped away. It's funny but the whole tour group seemed to agree that the best attraction was not the river itself but the normal, unheated pool. It felt refreshing. From the pool you could just make out the top of the volcano. We saw more puffs of smoke, but with a little time the extraordinary can become ordinary.

The real show began after sunset when our tour guide caught my attention and called me to the edge of the pool. I could just make out the silhouette of Arenal. There was a single red light at the top as on a radio tower. The light moved slowly down like the tower was crumbling, but then it split and split again leaving a trail of red. With the help of nightfall we could see the leading edge of the lava. When everyone was quiet I could just make out a sound like distant fireworks, the sound of rocks larger than cars colliding and exploding.

We had a great dinner at the resort, then drove to a point that gave us a better look at the volcano. We stood there for a long time watching and listening. Some members of the group made futile attempts to take long-exposure photos. The last thing I noticed before we left was not on the mountain. It was right along the road. Apparently they have lightning bugs in Costa Rica too.

Travels

2006-10-07T16:37:00.000-06:00

Well I just got back from a great trip to the States. It was really awesome to catch up with friends again. Six months doesn't seem that long at first, but actually a lot can change. Two friends got married in that space and two more will be married by the time I come around again. I feel like I've been traveling though a time warp.

This last week back at work in CR was crazy. I've barely had time to unpack. This morning I met up with some of my friends here, and they introduced me to the local Parque de Diversiónes. With only two major roller coasters (and I'm being generous) it wasn't exactly the Six Flags I grew up with, but it was nice to walk around and practice my Spanish. Speaking of which....

I'm trying to workout taking off all of December up to Christmas for an intensive Spanish course. My plan is to fly down to Buenos Aires, Argentina and do a program there. I've been wanting to return to BA since I visited there with Highlands a couple years ago, and see the family I stayed with. A solid three weeks there would be incredible. I just have to make sure that absolutely everything I do at work is covered, which isn't exactly trivial, but I think I can make it happen. Wish me luck.

Mackinac

2006-07-27T17:50:00.000-06:00

A nine hour car ride is never exactly a breeze, but if you like to live with a little more on the edge try it with a three month old. I became aware of the true level of adaptability of the human mind when I learned that it can filter out the continuous screaming of a baby. Lily is my favorite niece and I don’t regret a minute with her (but maybe a few loud seconds here and there).

The family (minus my hard working brother-in-law Tobie) piled into a borrowed minivan for the classic family vacation. Long road trips are how the Reardons have always done it: Illinois to Colorado, Florida, wherever. I put in my share during college too and I’ve never lost the love of the open road.

We headed north through Wisconsin across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and down the Mackinac Bridge—the third largest suspension bridge in the world. The bridge and nearby Mackinac Island (pronounced “Mackinaw”) are at the border between Lakes Michigan and Ontario. The island has been a tourist destination since the late 1800’s.

The area was of strategic importance during colonial times. The French originally built fort Mackinac as a trading hub on the Michigan mainland. They surrendered it to the British after the French and Indian War who then moved it to the more defensible island only to hand it over to the newborn United States. The first land battle of the War of 1810 was a British and Indian attack on the fort. The fifty-some US troops surrendered to the 400 attackers. The fort did not return to US possession until after that war.

My favorite story from its history was an Indian attack on the original fort. The French had recently ceded control to the British who were not as sophisticated in their dealings with the Indians. Rather than sending gifts and traders directly to the tribes as the French had done they required everyone to come to the fort. The Indians took affront to the changes and concocted a plan to force the British out. They gathered outside of the front gate for a game similar to modern day Lacrosse, but had the women watching on the sidelines conceal weapons in their belongings. Their signal was hitting the ball over the wall. The players rushed through the gate seemingly to retrieve it, but grabbed their weapons as they passed the women. They quickly captured the fort. When the defeated British returned a few years later to reestablish a trading presence they wisely restored the French policies.

Although the history was fascinating it was really only scenery behind the time spent with the family. We enjoyed bike rides around the island, sunsets on the lake shore, good dinners, and late nights around the camp fire, but mostly we enjoyed each others company. You really don’t need any other entertainment when you’ve got a baby around. Lily always commanded our attention (in fact, she usually demanded it).

In Images

Breaking Out the Champagne

2006-06-16T18:02:00.000-06:00

It's been a long road, but the project (Rating) that I've been working on (on and off) for almost the last two years is finally in production and successful! In celebration we broke out a bottle of Champagne for the team here in Costa Rica. From left to right: Marine, me, David, and Luis.

Watch the Cork!

Mundial - Alemania

2006-06-09T12:28:00.000-06:00

Germany 4 - Costa Rica 2

The office shutdown for three hours at 9AM during the inagural match of the 2006 World Cup. Costa Rica drew a tough spot playing against the host country in the first game of the tournament. I would compare the excitment here to the Superbowl, but I'm not sure that covers it. In the States many get together for the game, but only two teams are playing. Here everyone is rooting for the same team, and more than half the people are wearing red shirts. The entire country paused to watch it play out. At our office building people were sticking antenas out windows and you could see a big screen in the conference room of the DHL office downstairs. We rigged our projector up and had TVs scattered around the floor. Germany won as widely expected, but people were proud of CR's good showing. The excitement after their two goals was incredible as the announcer yelled "Gooo...ooo...ooo...oooal", and everyone broke out into jumping, clapping, and chants of "Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ticos, Ticos".

The Uncanny X-Men Cop Out

2006-06-04T09:12:00.000-06:00

One of the things I appreciate about Costa Rica is the cost of going to the theater. I went to the nicest one around and only paid about $3 for my ticked and another $3 for the popcorn, and that's expensive by the standards here. Taking advantage of a lazy Saturday I caught the third X-Men installment The Last Stand. I enjoyed it while watching, but the end left me disappointed, and I wanted to unpack why. (Warning: Spoilers follow)

The film begins with a flashback of Professor Xavier and Magneto before they have become opponents visting a young Jean Grey. She is a powerful adolescent out of control and we see the mutal desire of Xavier and Magneto to free her. Back in the present Jean has lost control of herself again and kills Xavier as a distressed Magneto can only watch. Later the upstart Pyro brags to Magneto that he would've killed the Professor himself. Magneto stops him and rebukes him saying that the Xavier did more for mutants than he would ever know. Here we see the inner conflict in Magneto between his stated goal of mutant domination, and the real price of this goal. This is the making of good drama.

By the end of the film the Magneto has lost his power and we see him a mere old man sitting alone at a chess board in a park. The image recalls him playing chess with the Professor in an earlier movie, but now Magento is without his identity and even worse, it feels, without his friend Xavier. This is a strong statement of loss that ends the movie on a somber note appropriate to the many deaths (three major characters) . Unfortunately, the director cannot resist one last moment of action that undoes the drama he must not have known he had. Magento reaches out his hand and taps a chess piece at a distance, a sign that his powers are returning, and the renunciation of every emotion the scene had just created.

The preceding scene tied off the characters back at the school. We found Iceman visting Rogue's room to discover that she's returned. She had left to be "cured" from being a mutant. She reaches out her hand to his and instead of stealing his life and power, it is a simple human touch. Rogue alone of all the mutants saw a mutant cure as a good thing. Even though she can have a normal relationship with Iceman she has lost her uniqueness and it doesn't feel like victory. It feels like a cop out, and it is, one of many that this film makes.

It simply cannot live with dramatic conflict. It can handle mutants and humans raining firepower on each other, but not internal and interpersonal conflict that can't be solved with a violent special effect. The characters serve the action rather than the other way around. The success of the previous two movies and similar films like the first Matrix lies in the service of action to character development.

The first cop out of the film occurs when Cyclops is called by his wife Jean to the lake where she was thought to have died. He leaves the school in a rush and has a brief confrontation with Wolverine. In the last two films Wolverine and Jean struggled with controlling their attraction in the face of her marriage to Scott. They do restrain themselves and a bittersweet relationship lingers.

How does the film address this complexity? Jean, transformed into the brutal Phoenix embraces then annihilates Cyclops. Later in a moment of lucidity she begs Wolverine to kill her before she does more harm. She goes on to murder Xavier, and in the final battle Wolverine confesses his love and mercifully kills her. She never has to come to grips with her unleashed identity, and finishes the film exactly as she began it, a monster overpowering a woman. Wolverine becomes convinced of the necessity of killing Phonenix, but he doesn't undergo any dramatic tranformation either.

The heart of a good film (including the last two X-Men films) is character development, but no one changes this entire film. Nothing has to be resolved, only destoyed (including Rogue's powers). There is some fun action, and at moments it seems to reach at something bigger, but in the end only the violence remains.

The Wrong Way Around the World

2006-05-29T18:58:00.001-06:00

Forty hours of travel, that's what the Cebuanos have to look forward to. Their plane should be taking off shortly for a brief stop in Havanna (yes, that Havanna), then Frankfurt, then Bangkok, then Manila, and finally Cebu. It has been exhausing living with them, but now that they're leaving I really miss them. I got to know them well, and they included me entirely in their lives. I don't envy them trying to start an office where there is virtually no overlap with the US and CR, but I know they'll be happy to see their families again.

It was amazing that such a small group of people could bring such drama. God rolled up his sleaves and began some hard work on people. I feel honored to have seen lives being challenged up close, but this work is just getting started and it's been painful so far. I was completely out of my depth in knowing how to advise people, but I had a few right insticts that at least I was able to play a small part, mostly in prayer. Keep them in your prayers. They've got trials that no one saw coming.

Here are some pictures from their trip. The first is with the CR developers, and the second is with our company driver Alfredo and his wife at their house in the hills (a beautiful drive if a bit nauseating with all the switchbacks and potholes).

Cebuya

2006-05-08T07:26:00.000-06:00

Our new Filipino employees from Cebu are training in Costa Rica. They moved into the condos where I live. We have two guys sharing the master bedroom in my place, and in the girl's condo there are four girls who volunteered to stay in the same room. They are very communal. They all went in for food and cook and eat every meal together. They invite me to join them every time. It's refreshing and I feel like an important guest rather than the host I expected to be.

There are fully bilingual between English and Cebuano their local dialect. They will switch between the two mid-sentence when talking to each other. Even though we share the same language they seem like a more alien culture than the Costa Ricans. The Filipino habits are more like what I expected from the Costa Ricans. I have to admit that I'm constantly surprised when they start speaking to me in English. It doesn't feel like we should speak the same language. It's not like they're ignorant or primitive either. They were all helping each other with their laptops, getting online, and uploading their digital photos. I've been adjusting so easily to Costa Rica that I began to feel that culture differences were not as severe as I had originally supposed. But the Filipinos are simply a very different culture.

Inflation

2006-05-07T22:01:00.000-06:00

Costa Rica has a significantly higher rate of inflation than the United States. Doesn't this mean that over the long term (say ten years) the cost of employees in Costa Rica will be much greater and will offset the initial savings of outsourcing? I found this question interesting to think through.

Inflation is a devaluation of your currency. The increase implied in the term actually refers to the rising cost of goods. Think of a failed state that is experiencing hyperinflation where yesterday what was someone's life savings now can't buy a loaf of bread. There are a lot of reasons for inflation (many hotly debated) but the important point here is that Costa Rica's higher inflation rate means that in general their currency (losing value at a higher rate) will trade progressively worse against the dollar, and that employees may be paid more in their own currency but for the same or less cost to the US company.

I'm not suggesting that inflation doesn't ever cause real wage pressure. For instance the rising cost of oil applies (almost) uniformly, increasing the cost of all commodities and thus prices, decreasing employees' buying power, and increasing their wage demand. It's a vicious cycle. It is precisely because it applies uniformly that it is not meaningful in comparing wages between countries.

Now the actual cost of Costa Rican employees is not decreasing, so it's interesting to go on. Many of Costa Rica's goods (besides bannanas and coffee) are imported, so if their economy doesn't grow fast enough relative to others they will lose purchasing power (a factor that can cause of inflation). This is offset by money coming in from tourism and outsourcing. These dollars shift the value of their currency closer to the dollar and maintains their buying power despite inflation. Outsourcing significantly increases wages in real terms because of rising demand. HP recently opened a big office in CR and drove the average programmer wage up, a phenomenon that is already happening in India and China in a big way.

If wages are rising, and sometimes in big jumps caused by the arrival of a major investor, what makes outsourcing worthwhile? A company doing outsourcing gets an efficiency gain (more value for the dollar, minus startup and transition costs) which hopefully allows them to grow more than they would have otherwise. If they make solid long-term investments they can establish a capital base and growth rate that allows them to absorb the wage growth, so that ten years down the road they have made a net gain. Think of a loan where you face a rising long term cost due to intrest, but you get initial capital that hopefully allows you grow and get ahead of this debt. One caveat here is that this benefit is negated if competitors are receiving exactly the same benefit, but in that case outsourcing is required in order to remain competitive.

Uncle Jason!

2006-03-31T23:14:00.000-06:00

My sister Anna gave birth to Lily JoHannah Depauw yesterday. I'm flying back to Illinois April 12th to meet her in person. I can't believe it.

Costa Rican Pothole

2006-03-01T18:02:00.000-06:00

Moving...

2006-02-25T14:49:00.000-06:00

I've moved again. This is my ninth move in the last six years since graduation. The last move was international but this one was within Costa Rica. Joe D and I have moved from our loud, road-side condo in Escazu into one of the three side-by-side patio homes in Belen that Trax leases. The girls house is one west of us and JP and Rachel are one east. I've hooked my ipod up to the speakers Jack left behind and am enjoying Fiona Apple and a Bavaria Dark (the best beer CR has to offer) on the couch with a cool breeze blowing in from the patio.

Last weekend some coworkers and I headed out to Manuel Antonio (the national park where I recently went with my family). We scored some rooms at the amazing Hotel Parador. We arrived Saturday morning and that afternoon I convinced a few of them to take the same catamaran snorkeling tour that my family did.

It a was beautiful boat ride as before, but this trip was leaving something to be desired. Instead of my six family members having the boat to ourselves it was packed with over forty. We stopped to snorkel and they made us take live preservers and only gave us twenty minutes compared to the hour or more that my family had. After returning reluctantly to the boat I found that many people had been stung by small jellyfish. The sun was getting low when the boat set sail again. We set out from the bay looking for dolphins and after a long stretch of doubt we spotted fins and one jumping just west of us. The boat turned toward them and everyone rushed to the front to see the dolphins playing in front of it. At first they were dark blurs just under the surface, but then my eyes adjusted and I watched them weave back and forth under the boat, chasing each other, then leaping suddenly out of the water.

Two weekends ago Tony V was visiting us from the Boston office. He was supposed to fly home, but the East Coast was being overrun by a huge blizzard, and so I volunteered to show him around. That Saturday (which was also Joe D's first back) the three of us set out for the hour and a half drive to Volcan Poas. A dormant but by no means dead volcano. (Sidebar: It's silly how often Spanish words are the same as English words but with "o" on the end. Absurdly, the English word volcano becomes volcan in Spanish.) I'd been up the mountain three times previously and it had always been cold and cloudy. The one time I went all the way up to the crater I only saw fog and a seismic sensor just below me. It was perfectly clear in the morning but I knew clouds would encroach by afternoon. I hauled up the road and walked quickly once at the park. Tony and Joe must have wondered what had gotten into me.

At the top we looked out over the top of a cloud-filled horizon. It was rising fast but low enough to leave the crater exposed. There was a green lake with white steam rising out from crevices all around it. The wind would dance the steam around the surface of the lake. Where the steam rose close to the side of the crater the gray rock was stained with that same sulfurous green. The last major explosion had blasted down the west side of the mountain. Nothing grew on the grey rock streaked with a clay red. You can only look for so long before feeling the need to move on, but we looked for a long time.

Move after move it's all been worth it.

28!

2006-02-03T08:29:00.000-06:00

Did I mention that I got sunburn?

2006-01-17T19:41:00.000-06:00

It’s good to spend time with family you love, but it’s really sweet when they join you far from home. My immediate family came to Costa Rica for a week to see the beaches and volcanoes. Anna my sister and her husband Tobie had already made plans to be here when I was offered the chance to move down. Tobie spent six months here a few years ago working in book bindery run by a local church. He was back to see his old friends. When my parents heard that I was going to be here they put two and two together and decided we should have a family vacation. It was a blessing. It’s good to remember God’s blessings, and to note them during stressful times.

Part of what made this trip good for me was being able to bless my family. I helped with the planning, rented the cars and did all of the driving. The driving was an exhausting challenge but rewarding. The narrow roads wind tightly through the mountains and you don’t want anyone getting car sick. You also don’t want everyone to die in a fiery collision with an oncoming passenger bus.

Tuesday found us enjoying excellent toast and eggs in the town of Quepos not far from the Manuel Antonio national park. After breakfast a van picked us up to take us to the marina and a waiting catamaran for a tour and snorkeling. The boat could hold upwards of forty but on that morning our family was the only guest. The sails unfurled and for an hour we slipped away from the coast. Islands dotted our path, a distant stormed darkened the ocean horizon and the central mountains towered far inland.

My dad was anxious to snorkel, so he convinced the crew to cut the tour short. We anchored in a small harbor, and our guide pointed out the tip of a rock, no wider than the roof a car, barely staying in view above the tide. It took us a while to get the hang of the gear and it was probably ten minutes before we reached the rock. On the swim across to it we didn’t glimpse a thing. My sisters were there first and looked under at about the same time. They popped up quickly and began giggling uncontrollably. After another minute or two of flopping I reached them and looked under. I couldn’t wear my glasses with goggles and my vision is pretty poor. I was concerned that I wouldn’t see any more than an occasional dark blur. The moment my eyes dipped below the surface I found myself staring at a school of palm-sized, yellow and blue striped fish mere inches from my face, swarming around me. Over the next hour I would see a dozen different species each as colorful and different as the next. There were boxy puffer fish, light blue with dark blue pokadots. There were thin, purple fish that almost glowed with a vertical white stripe on their sides and a yellow stripe along their tops. I can’t describe them all. We were overwhelmed.

On Wednesday we hit the national park: serene beaches, dense forest, but most of all animals. First we saw big lizards that would stand like proud statues with their chins up. A tour guide for another group was pointing into the trees, and my sister Lindsey was the first to spot the sloth high up in the canopy. It looked like dirty shag carpet wedged between branches.
The third beach had the busiest tourist attraction. There were crowds gathered and pointing in all different directions. We’d found the monkeys. The monkeys are hilarious. They stand out from every other animal I’ve encountered by how much they engage with people. They’ll throw sticks, they’ll yell, and they’re always scheming to steal food. As soon as some visitors sit down at a picnic table its game on. They may try a dash from the side, or swipe from a low hanging branch. They can open zippers and tear open plastic bags. Like people they don’t care that that bag of chips isn’t any good for them.

Thursday morning we were back in San Jose. We’d dropped Anna and Tobie off the night before. Lindsey discovered that she’d left her passport back at the hotel in Quepos. There are no normal parcel carriers like we have in the States, so we needed help from my Costa Rican coworkers to arrange a shipment. The hotel had to send the passport by courier to the local airline Sansas, and then we had to pick it up at the airport. Not only do you get to invent driving rules in Costa Rica you have to make up shipping routes too.

That afternoon another slow drive slithering through the mountains put us at the volcano Arenal. It’s world famous for being an almost perfect cone. It looks like your grade school science project. It’s also been active for fifty years. You can see the lava at night. That is, if there’s clear skies. I’ve visited Arenal twice now. The last time was in ’99, and the situation was the same. It is the cloudiest place on earth. Your eyes keep tricking you into thinking the ceiling is raising, but then another wave sweeps down over the mountain. You can see the dead zone above the trees where lava has passed, but never glimpse the mouth of the cone. It’s a beautiful place, but also an exercise in disappointment.

It was hard to send the family home again on Saturday morning. Living in another country can be lonely, and family is the most comforting thing to have around. I liked knowing that they were right across town.

One the best things to come out of this vacation is that I visited a cool church. Tobie took us to the one he worked with, and I really liked it. The pastor seems solid, and the people were friendly. I didn’t understand much of the Spanish service, but I think I could grow into it. Anyway there are some other places for me to try too, so we’ll see where I can connect and serve.

Cars face 747 backwash

2006-01-06T07:40:00.000-06:00

Ahh, the simple pleasures in life...

58,000lbs of thrust

For All My Geeks Out There

2005-12-20T13:37:00.000-06:00

The great thing about using 24-hour time is that once a day your clock reminds you that you are 1337.

It Doesn't Have To Be This Hard

2005-12-18T17:00:00.000-06:00

Matthew 25: 37-40

Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go visit you?"
The King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

The striking things about this quote is that the righteous haven't realized what they've done, and the truth is so simple. I've wasted many years worrying about whether I was following God's will for my life. It is easier than that.

I like the way Kurt Vonnegut put it in The Sirens of Titan.

"Only an Earthling year ago," said Constant. "It took us that long to realize that a purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved."

The day-to-day spirtual life lies more in wisdom and responsibility than in "spirituality" as it is often presented. Barry Ritholtz made the following statement about financial investing, but I think the application is wider.

As the magnitude of the awesome responsibility of taking control--and responsibility--sets in, it tends to sharpen the mind. It is empowering.
I think Spider-man may have gotten in backwards: With responsibility comes great power.

This rings true. Consider Proverbs 14:23, "All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." If God intended to tell me exactly what to do with myself, then why did Solomon need to write Proverbs 15:22, "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."?

The opportunity to be spiritual is always right in front of me, and easily accessible. I only have to take responsibilty, and serve others. It's been humbling to integrate this into my life.

The primary venue for my service is at work, because that is where I spend most of my time, but also because that is where people are most dependent on me. This is challenging because work is the place where people master the art of avoiding responsibility and reassigning blame. There are many opportunities to practice the art of forgiving, and even more to practice the art of self-examination. Sometimes I spend more of the day worried about or furious with how things are going than acutally getting things done. I've had some late nights with God, in tears, telling him that this is not the person I want to be. Anxiety always comes down to trusting Him.

Holiday Party

2005-12-12T19:48:00.000-06:00

Christmas at the Office

2005-12-12T19:24:00.000-06:00

We had an intra-office Christmas decoration competition. The developers chose a Muppets theme.

The Story as Told by Matthew

2005-12-11T16:47:00.000-06:00

Before I left Scott encouraged me to read through the gospels as stories, and that's proven to be a very rich approach. You pick up context, mood, and flow that you wouldn't when breaking the text down paragraph by paragraph. Matthew is a strange book. It's certainly the gospel I've read the least. He doesn't dwell long on any story. Jesus is full of fire, healing , teaching, rebuking, and laying down the parables. His teaching is hard. For instance, chapter 13, The Parable of the Sower. Linger on verse 22:

The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns

is the man who hears the word,

but the worries of this life

and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it.

At the end of chapter 18 we find The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. The servant in question begs for and receives forgiveness for a fortune in debt that he owes him master, but when he finds a fellow servant who owes him a few bucks he has him thrown in prison. When the master finds out he is furious and locks up the unmerciful servant for good. Jesus finshes the story with these words in verse 35:

This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you

unless you forgive your brother from your heart.

Jesus is a leader you can follow. He is someone who inspires fear. He loves you.

Where I Live

2005-12-11T16:04:00.000-06:00

I started out in the condo in Escazu, but when my roomate Joe D's wife came down to visit for the Holiday Party I had to move to the Trax "compound". It's two townhomes side-by-side (soon to be three) where all the Scottsdale employees can live in community. Unfortunately, I was the only person in the newly acquired second townhome, and besides lots of sawdust it only contained my bed and one working shower (no sinks). There were no mirrors either, so I got to comb my hair at the office. It was a long day.

On Sunday we had the party. In Scottsdale it takes envelopes with cash to get people on the dance floor, but down here that's no problem. They dance the night away. I had a great time. Wednesday put me back in the Escazu condo for the next few months, until we acquire a fourth townhome in the compound.

This morning I went for my second, long, Sunday morning Escazu walk. It's beautiful here. I can go right up the hillside among big homes, lush greenery, and look out over the city. After a long shower I walked down to Tre Fratelli, an Italian restaurant, for a breakfast of steak, bacon, eggs, cheese, and (of course) rice and beans. With a long nap I think I've finally recovered from the week that began with late-night dancing, included lots of hours at the office, and my first outdoor soccer game.

I should say more about the soccer game since it ended 15-1. We were very proud of that one goal. It was Trax vs. some other team. I never got the name. I can't see a thing without my glasses, and certainly not the other side of full-size soccer field. Occasionally I got to touch the ball. When that lucky occurance happened I'd boot it toward the other side. I obviously couldn't make out my teamates. Our team is a bunch of casual guys who just enjoy a game after work. They were practiced athletes who worked as a team. In the end the experience was a lot like being blindfolded then shoved and kicked again and again over an hour. Maybe we should practice before next time. Maybe we should be in shape.

Below are pictures from the Escazu condo, and the Trax office.

The X Continents

2005-12-01T13:28:00.000-06:00

Hernan trapped me with a question at lunch today. He asked me how many continents there are. I assumed he was joking around and wanted to argue that "Central America" is a continent, so I gave him the strait answer of seven. This got a round of exclamations from the table as he explained to me that outside of the US they are taught only six. The continent we live on is America--it's not divided into North and South America. Additionally, I learned that Australia is not a continent but is a part of Oceania which includes New Zeland and South Pacific islands. It turns out that the number and division of continents is a contentious subject throughout the world (not too surprising) and among geographers and geologists, but nevertheless hearing that there is a different answer to something I took for granted from childhood through my late 20's is a very unnerving experience. I haven't experienced that feeling talking about politics or religion or other serious topics, because I expect profound differences. But the number of continents? Who would've thought?

JaJaJa

2005-11-30T11:13:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite things about Spanish speakers (and I've found this to be true beyond just Costa Rica) is that they spell "Hahaha" "Jajaja". Charming.

Equipos Del Fútbol

2005-11-25T14:47:00.000-06:00

Equipo Blanco

Equipo Negro

20-20

2005-11-25T07:48:00.000-06:00

The Costa Rican 20 colones piece is the largest coin I've seen. Comparable in size to the US Silver Dollar, it's worth about 4 cents. That's way too much mass for the value. It is, however, a good "flipping" coin. Heads or tails?

I played my first Costa Rican futbol game last night. It was among coworkers, six-on-six. They didn't let me wear my glasses "for my own saftey". I began the game as the goalie for our team. We played on a cool little indoor field. As short as it was I could not see the ball on the other side. I wasn't able to tell that we scored the first goal until after my teamates had been jumping and cheering for a moment. They assured me that at least half the people out there had the same problem I did. Nonetheless, I don't think I'll play again until I get some contact lenses. It would help to be able to make eye contact since I don't speak the language, and the fury of the game blocks their English comprehension.

The Roads and the Rain

2005-11-23T18:43:00.000-06:00

I've been in Costa Rica over a week now. The time goes fast. The people make it easy. Every developer here makes a point of shaking hands when they arrive in the morning and again when they leave. There's a level of personal contact that's encouraging. They've been quick to include me in activities including a Trax vs. Trax futbol game tomorrow night. We'll see if I can do USA proud (don't count on it). I look forward to getting to know all of them much better.

My drive to work is beautiful. The highway winds around steep hills and I can't soak in enough of the green. Speaking of soaking I didn't see the sun once during my first week, but on Saturday the clouds parted and it was bright most of the weekend. I spent Sunday driving a bunch of roads between my condo in Escazu and the office in Heredia, learning the routes and memorizing the landmarks. I love navigating by instinct and that's a requirement for getting around here. There isn't much in the way of signs, and just because you know the name of the highway doesn't mean you can count on where it will take you.

As much as I enjoyed my long Sunday drive the weekdays are more trying. It's not the roads that make driving in Costa Rica stressful. Well, the potholes do contribute and the steep gutters will leave you for a tow truck. Certainly, the uneven lane widths make things interesting, but it isn't the roads. It's also not the other drivers. At least this morning when I was driving down a one-way street the taxi driver who turned onto it the wrong way had the courtesy to turn on his hazards. Frankly, they don't cut me off, swerve, or honk nearly as much as I was led to believe and I might just choose them over the entitled drivers of Scottsdale.

If there's anything to fear on Costa Rican roads, it's the pedestrians. They walk on the highways. The average speed is roughly sixty and there are no shoulders to speak of. They sit on the concrete medians. The designers of the highways encourage this by placing bus stops on the highways themselves. The buses stop not just at the designated stops, but anywhere that two or more are gathered. You would think pedestrians would fare better off the highways, but on smaller roads the situation becomes much worse. There's more of them and they'll take over at any time. Must they pull their children out on the road in front of me? Don't they know I've been driving in Scottsdale for over five years? We drive fast, and pedestrians there live in mortal fear of a cell-phone-impaired Escalade plowing through at any time.

I've been working long hours. I get up early because the condo is next to a busy road and there's hardly anything in it to absorb sound. I leave late because the traffic precludes leaving at a reasonable time anyway. I look forward to what the next six months will hold. We're going to get a lot done, there's tons to see, and I'm just getting to know the people.

I appreciate all your prayers. There's a lot of stress in adapting to a new situation, and I want to be a good steward of this opportunity.

Outbound

2005-11-11T09:59:00.000-06:00

Location: Costa Rica
Date: Monday November 14, 2005
Duration: 6 months

See ya!

Antibiotic Warfare

2005-10-24T16:30:00.000-06:00

A coworker just stopped by my office and informed me that I have what he had. An early fever followed by six weeks of coughing. It turned into pneumonia for him. He had a three-day antibiotic then was later given a five-day one to kick it. He changed doctors over his frustration. Today a PA gave me a five-day, so hopefully I'll kill it outright.

Just one easy breath

2005-10-24T11:39:00.000-06:00

I am sick of being sick. This is now day seven of a sore throat and a runny nose. Last week I had a fever too, but that broke in time for the weekend. I expected to start breathing right too, but the cold hangs on.

I probably didn't help myself by spending the weekend at camp with Element. We had our retreat and I loved every coughing, sneezing minute of it. In that setting you get the time to talk and hang out that you just can't find in town or on a Thursday night. On Saturday we played games including Steal the Bacon which involved four teams wrestling black innertubes to their side of the field. Casualties included multiple bruises and one girl with a dislocated shoulder. The final game was a mud filled volleyball court with wet tarps running down to it from a hillside. The objective was to dive down the slide and fly as far out into the mud as possible. The last guys to go benefited from watching the techniques of everyone else and from the mud being smoothed out. Chad flew all the way across the court and off the edge of the far side which was composed of sharp rocks. He may have a big gash in his side, but he won the game. A fair trade.

Hiatus

2005-10-15T10:36:00.000-06:00

Well it's been quite a while since I posted. Life has been really crazy. I had to move on a couple of weeks notice. Our landlord gave us one month, but Lance and I were out of town on alternating weekends, so there really was only one week to move. I took a Tuesday off, found a house that day, and we moved that Saturday. That Sunday I spent sitting among unpacked boxes writing a short story for my fiction class. Unfortunately, I didn't finish. Work kept me busy until Wednesday when I flew back to Illinois for my five-year class reunion. Illinois is beautiful this time of year. The air was cool, the grass was a lush green, and the trees were just beginning to change colors. It was my first real vacation since before China, and I was finally able to let down. Nothing is more relaxing than having lunch with my family on the back porch and watching the wind sway the grass and leaves. It was great to spend time with my family. My dad and I hung out at my bother-in-law Tobie's bike shop in DeKalb, North Central Cyclery. I received some education about mountain bikes and purchased a Giant Rainier. My coworker Ali has already scheduled our first expedition for next Saturday, although, as I'm writing this I'm remembering that I have a retreat next weekend. Suck. That night Tobie was riding from the bike shop to my parent's house for dinner and collided with his good friend Luke coming from the opposite direction. That the two of them would run into each other in the countryside was such a bizarre scenario that my sister didn't believe Luke when he called her. The only injury was Tobie's dislocated clavicle, which was not as severe as we feared, but a huge inconvenience as he runs a bike shop and does book binding. The reason for my trip was Wheaton's Homecoming. I got to see some old friends, some newer friends, and make some more friends. I realized that my real family at Wheaton was the Cross Country team, and was thankful that I got to see a few of them, but wish I could've seen more. I went to the football game which I must admit was only third Wheaton game I've been to. We won in triple overtime which made for a good ride, but the best part is that I watched it with Ena who having grown up in Hong Kong and Canada had only seen a football game once before. I never realized how complicated and bizarre it is until seeing it through her eyes. The players constantly stop, they only get a certain number of turns, going out of bounds isn't always a bad thing, some kinds of contact are okay but others aren't, the variety and consequences of penalties are completely bewildering. Homecoming ended with a late night concert with classmate Jake Armerding. He and his father on violin, guitar, and mandolin were brilliant. It was a beautiful way to go out, although I was totally exhausted by the end. The only down side of the last month is that between unpacking and work I felt that I needed to drop my fiction class. I really enjoyed it, but simply didn't have the time. Maybe my life will calm down now. Last night we sent off our Costa Rican employees who have been training here for the last two months. We've been impressed with them (although I did have to fire one--an awful experience the Monday after I moved). My boss is suggesting that I may go down there soon. We'll see if that pans out. I'm sure I'm forgetting a million things, but so much has happened lately. I hope I've captured a sliver of it.

The Great Wall

2005-08-15T09:50:00.000-06:00

I won't waste too many words on how incredible the Great Wall is. It would be impressive enough if there were only a single ancient tower on the high ridge. The terrain is difficult and the view is astounding. But there are dozens of towers in view, they reach to each end of the horizon.

Two Babies

2005-08-02T17:22:00.000-06:00

My new laptop arrived yesterday. It's a Dell Inspiron 9300 and more laptop than I'll ever need. I was lured in by a 40% off deal at Techbargains. I've signed up for a fiction writing class through the Piper Center at ASU. My plan is that a structured class and a convenient laptop will be enough to get me writing more than blog entries. Hopefully, my registration will arive before the class fills up.

As cool as a new laptop is it's really nothing compared to my family's new gift. My sister Anna just called me to share that she and Tobie will be parents in April. I'll be following Josh and Chris into unclehood.

Wow.

Astounding

2005-07-26T09:26:00.000-06:00

It is monsoon season and the colors are deep at sunset. As I look east the sky is a dark blue behind the reddish brown mountains, freckled with green. The clouds are out of focus. They are dollops of color and I can't say where they begin or end.

I turn west and the clouds are sharp in the final glare of the sun. There is a dim gap where there are no clouds to catch the light. The scene doesn't add up. It's hard to resolve against the bright sunset, but there are clouds up in that dark patch. The darkness lies between two sharp lines radiating out from the sun. The lines converge just short of the western horizon where the shadow is as jagged as a mountain top.

It's a shadow cast upward onto the clouds. It seems so obvious now. I must have stared at such a shadow a thousand times before without comprehension. How could I have missed this arm of the night, grasping ahead into the fading daylight?

China Pictures: Xiamen

2005-07-21T08:51:00.000-06:00

Our Hotel

Call Housekeeping - If You Dare

The View

"Mao's" - Cultural Revolution Themed Chain

No Car Horns

A Surprising Menu Item

Hits the Spot

Xiamen Software Park

The Bay (as seen from the Xiamen Pizza Hut)

Colonial Sights

Seafood Anyone?

China Pictures: The Beginning

2005-07-19T13:56:00.000-06:00

The city of Hong Kong is an island

Colonial Hong Kong

British Style: Double-Decker

Entering Shenzhen from Hong Kong

"Hello, we are communists."

Even McDonald's is worth eating at these prices (8.2:1 USD)

Cultural Differences: Every gate has a fishtank at the Shenzhen airport

The Images Among the Rice Patties

2005-07-19T09:12:00.000-06:00

Rain on the Rice Patties

Reckless Driving

Documentation Before Safety (just before the second mudslide)

Back the Way We Came

Work is Play

Shanghai

2005-06-26T17:01:00.000-06:00

I wrote this in Shanghai on June 26th, but I'm only posting it now because blogspot is blocked from China.

The most legendary city in the Far East! For me that name conjures images of pirates, exotic buildings, and long-forgotten colonial wars. More recently Shanghai was known for containing one-fifth of the world’s cranes. This is the place in China for high-tech outsourcing and financial business. The drive from the airport to our hotel didn't leave me with a favorable impression.

I didn't see a single park, and the smog hung low over an endless sea of buildings. This was a raised highway, and in most cities from that vantage point you can sense where the high rises begin to diminish and give way to suburbs. Not here. It was oppressive. The heat was worse than the Southern cities which didn't help either.

The next day we began our travels and I saw a park every time I turned my head. We entered older European areas and saw tree-lined streets, and fashionable shopping areas that would look at home in Scottsdale. On Saturday night we hit a dance club for a taste of the Shanghai night life. People were dancing and drinking like anywhere in the States, but accented singers belting out YMCA is a special treat.

The Incident Among the Rice Patties

2005-06-25T03:50:00.000-06:00

I wrote this in Xiamen on June 25th, but I'm only posting it now because blogspot is blocked from China.

The agenda for the day was to take a six-hour trip into rural China to see a small factory. Our guide was Kurt, a long time aid worker who now works with businesses to provide sustainable help to the poor. This factory is a model example of how to use business to benefit a community. We were excited to see it first hand.

We were in a two-car caravan consisting of Kurt's van and his assistant Peter driving a small SUV. The Chinese countryside was gorgeous despite the overcast sky and a steady drizzle. A low fog drifted over lush green hillsides with small villages nestled between them. The highway was new and ambitious. A third of its length is either tunnel or bridge. The tunnel approaches would be richly landscaped with small trees, carefully trimmed bushes and flowers in many colors. At one point we emerged from a tunnel to find ourselves far above the ground. The highway was split and the other bridge seemed to be floating as it slipped in and out of the fog.

We stopped at a small restaurant half way through the trip. The rain poured down while we filled ourselves with yet more rice and tofu. Signs on the wall advertised the many attractions of the region including the dish "Delicious Dog Meat".

The latter part of the journey took us off the main highway and onto a more modest country road. It seemed new--no potholes and lined with young trees. Kurt told us stories about driving in China. As with most things the road is the People's road. He said the guiding rules are "lend and share". It's not your lane, it's the People's lane, and vehicles will slip freely in and out of it. Like a good tour guide Kurt pointed out each spot where he'd seen cars tumble down to the rain-swelled rivers below.

Our progress slowed down as we passed through villages. At one point a busy farmer's market pressed against the road. Twice we weaved through colorful crowds of umbrella-carrying children walking home for lunch. Houses lined the streets in town. Often these were without doors and simply had a wall open to the street. Many were two stories. Each one had three red banners with yellow characters framing the entryway. These contained proverbs blessing the house. The two on either side were long, but the top one would always be short with four characters. These are the most ancient and revered proverbs. When there weren't houses there were rice patties--short,green, and wet. The hills were also lined with these rising in tiered levels. Farmers walked among them wearing the traditional wide, pointed hats.

The road wandered into a steeper area where it was cut into the mountainside. The bare earth rose above on our left side, red with clay. On our right, many stories below, was a river. It was brown with run off and churning violently.

We went down through another village, as we were ascending out of it Kurt brought the van to a stop. Two trucks were stopped in front of us, and we could see other cars ahead. He said that there had been a landslide and the road might be blocked. We piled out into the rain to snap pictures and stretch our legs while he considered the situation.

The mud had slid two-thirds of the way out into the road, and a truck had tried to get through anyway. Its rear wheel was off the road and deep in the mud. Half it's cargo was strewn out behind it. The high edge and the mud made getting it out a huge operation. A front loader had driven up to help out, but people were standing around, arguing, and looking perplexed.

Ena and I walked up to the landslide to satisfy our curiosity and get some good photographs. We worked our way through the mud to get in-between the bulldozer and the truck and have a closer look. The second slide gave us no time to react. We leaped to opposite sides of the bulldozer as dirt piled into the space between the vehicles.

Fortunately, we only received a light dusting around our feet. I wanted to get pictures of the second slide, but my hands were shaking severely from the adrenaline. Kurt decided there was no hope of getting through to the factory anytime soon, and that the situation was getting too dangerous as it was. Walking back to the van Ena and I lamented that we didn't capture the moment on video. We would get our opportunity.

We climbed back into our vehicles and headed back through town. We left the way we came and drove back up the steep, riverside road. The hillside in front of us collapsed. The road was blocked with mud. Kurt put the van in reverse as a smaller slide added to the mess. He was only able to back up a short distance, because the SUV behind us was partially blocked by another small slide consisting mostly of rocks. Small clods of dirt tumbled down continuously. It was few long minutes while Peter worked the SUV into a position where it could safely back up, and then we were through.

Hours into rural China, far from any major city, we were trapped. The guys were in hurry to get out and get their hands dirty. Now we were having an adventure. Unfortunately, we didn't have any way to move the mud.

Within a short time cars, trucks, and motorcycles piled up on either side of the mud and villagers walked up to examine the situation. Kurt took the van back down into the village to buy shovels. While he was gone farm women came up with tools better suited for breaking ground than clearing a road, but that was what they had. They set to work. We offered help, but they insistently refused. More tools arrived (including the essential shovels) and members of our group were able to join in.

The women worked better and longer than anyone on our team. While we stopped to catch our breath they just kept on swinging. There was an amazing spirit of camaraderie. One Chinese woman, the first to arrive at the scene and the hardest working, began to gesture with the "thumbs up" sign as the situation improved. It was a surprisingly short time before enough of a lane was cleared for vehicles to get through.

A village man who stood by watching expressed his amazement to Ena that these foreigners would throw themselves into this work. She was able to explain to him why we would be so willing to serve. After we were done he invited us down to his house to wash off. There were chickens at the front of the lane and two families of ducks in his yard. We walked barefoot along a path covered in puddles and feathers. We rinsed off our shoes and clothes in a muddy little canal coming off a stream behind his house. It was all completely unsanitary. He brought us inside where he had an open-air water trap that at least looked cleaner. He insisted on rinsing off our arms and washing our feet. He was very honored to have us there (it's unlikely that he ever had contact with a foreigner before, much less in his house), but the work was something we were glad to do anyway. It made for a deeply humbling experience. His wife offered us lukewarm tea, which we each had to creatively dump to avoid offending them and avoid getting sick.

We got back into the van, drenched and muddy, and began our long, uncomfortable journey back Xiamen. As we passed the landslide Kurt yelled out that it was coming down again. After a startled moment we laughed at his unforgiving sense of humor.

Xiamen

2005-06-21T03:02:00.000-06:00

I wrote this in Xiamen on June 21st, but I'm only posting it now because blogspot is blocked from China.

Hello from Xiamen!

It's pronounced "Sha-men", so make sure you read it correctly. Xiamen is on an island just off of the coast and across from Taiwan. Our guide Scott believes it is one of the best candidates for an office. It's hot (though not as bad as Hong Kong), but the humidity is absurdly high. In all the time I've been in China I've only seen a few hours of sunlight. Apparently the East Pacific is in its rainy season.

I'm writing on a laptop in a hotel room, so you know the accomodations aren't too bad. Unlike Hong Kong the signs around the city aren't in English. Menus are only in Chinese. At this point we're completely dependent on our Chinese speakers. We handle cabs by giving them a business card or piece of paper with the name of our destination. As long you have the card for the hotel you can't get in too much trouble.

In theory I'm on a high-speed connection, and getting to gmail and my work mail is relatively quick. I did however make the mistake of trying to access Google News and CNN. Good luck. The government practices some serious monitoring of certain sites. When that happens you might as well be sucking mud through a straw. I gave up long before the sites ever loaded. Apparently intra-national connectionsare not as bad, but that doesn't help.

Today we met with an American who has been operating a business over here for many years. His vision like ours is concerned with being a blessing to the employees and the community in which the company is present. It was extraordinary listening to him, because he is on the same path but three steps ahead. I can't realistically go into the details here, but I look forward to talking about them when I return. Whether we locate in China or not his example and advice will be very precious. I know my coworker Hui was deeply impacted by his servant attitude in her home country.

There is one story from his company that I'd like to share. If any of you have seen the Japanese movie Princess Mononoke you know there is a scene where the ruler of Iron Town invites the young man at the center of the story to come see her deepest secret. In a small building separated from the rest of the town she has craftsmen working on newrifle prototypes. These craftsmen are lepers, outcasts that she has rescued and given dignity and an important role. If you can appreciate an animated movie it is the best example of what I saw today without being here yourself. This business owner has accomplished the same thing. He isn't willing to give money to beggars, "false help", as he calls it, but he will try to give them time and if he can jobs. Obviously efficiency is a big part of his business. He realized that these physically disabled people, complete outcasts in Chinese society, couldn't work fast, but they may be able to produce quality. As an experiment he has decided to try to produce a version of his product for a very high end market where production time is not a significant factor but workmanship is. These former beggars are now creating amazing handiwork, and are giving back to their community, reproducing the generosity of this business owner or steward as he prefers to be called. Don't be mistaken, he's a geek about his business. He knows and loves his product and works for profit (essential for any of this to work), but his purpose goes far beyond that.

Good Morning Hong Kong

2005-06-17T18:54:00.000-06:00

Good morning from Hong Kong! I've made a real flip from Phoenix. Besides being on the other side of the world it's continuously rainy, 90% humidity, and most of the signs are in Cantonese. I feel wet all day long, which is appropriate since most of the day I'm actually wet.

The center of the city is on a small island. The skyscrapers crowd close around a central mountain. It's urban and rainforest merged together. Our hotel is on the mainland and just off of Nathan street, a major road that leads right through the busiest, flashiest shopping district and down to the waterfront where there's an amazing view of the skyline including one of the tallest buildings in the world. It's a great looking building but misses our own Sears Tower by 100ft. Too bad for them.

Many people speak English and there are plenty of English signs (since it was controlled by England until recently), so we're not in as tight a spot as we'll be in China proper. A few of us wandered around the city last night and were able to get around thanks to the good signage (and some inspired guessing). The dominant language here is Cantonese, which is apparently impossible for me to learn. Mandarin has four tones. Cantonese has nine with variations that can push it toward twelve. If you're not sure what that means, neither am I, but it sounds intimidating.

That's all the time I have for now, but I'll check in again later.

Outbound

2005-06-14T22:22:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow morning I'm off to China. I have no idea what it's actually going to be like. Tonight I'm in Grand Rapids with the rest of team that will be going. It's so green here that it almost drives me to break down sobbing with unspeakable joy. I never realize how much I miss it until I see it again. Nothing makes me want to leave Arizona but the lush green of the Midwest. I could die fullfilled just lying in the soft grass looking up at the tall, leaf trees.

How unique is that cool new name you're giving your kid?

2005-06-09T17:26:00.000-06:00

Type a name in this wizard, and it will tell you how frequently it was given to babies over the years. Throw a rock and you'll hit a Jason my age which isn't surprising when you see that Jason was the third most common name given in the seventies. My favorite activity is to enter names I've heard given to children recently that I thought were quite unique. Watch the recent spike in those names.

Ceteris paribus

2005-05-27T10:05:00.000-06:00

I learned a new latin phrase today. Ceteris paribus means "all else being equal." Latin phrases are essential for the sophisticated Scottsdale resident. Hoard them like gold and become the most fashionable person you know.

Vocabulary is the new bling.

wo hui shua putonqua

2005-05-23T18:33:00.000-06:00

I bought the Pimsleur Mandarin CDs so that I can impress the locals when I hit China in mid-June. My previous experience with Pimsleur (an excellent conversational language program that reminds you of words at scientifically perfected intervals so that you learn in an easy and effective way) was for Spanish which I already knew. I didn't appreciate how hard it would be to acquire a language from scratch, especially a tonal one. I've been spending time with our new Czech employees and have heard a lot of their language. Even though I don't know a word of Czech beyond "hello" ("ahoy"), I can distinguish where words and phrases begin and end as well as the underlying emotion. At the start of a Pimsleur lesson a conversation between fluent speakers is played. The Mandarin segment was completely incomprehensible. After listening to the first lesson last night and this morning, I felt ready to give speaking it a try. I knew I was shaky, but I tried to say "I can speak Chinese" to my Chinese coworker. She giggled through the sixty seconds it took for me to get it out, then proceeded to correct every single syllable.

Goodnight Cuddles

2005-05-10T09:35:00.000-06:00

I have my own cat story to add to Mark's. My parent's decided last night that it was time to put Cuddles our cat of eighteen years to sleep. She was in a lot of pain and diabetic, and the care required to keep her going was beyond their ability to provide. My mom told us three kids in an email, because she didn't think she could get through a call, particularly with my youngest sister who is only a little older than Cuddles was. She wrote, "...she followed us around and meowed all the time. She was telling us that she didn't feel good and asking us to make it better." My dad always talked a hard line about the cat, but in the end he was very sad to take her in. I felt detached as I read about it this morning. I'm glad I wasn't in his position, because that would have sucked, but in a way it would have brought closure. Now she's just gone. Pets are great to have around--I would always come home to Cuddles, and she did like to sleep on my bed (even if I was extremely allergic to her). These days I have to open the door slowly to give my roomate's 120lb Great Pyrenees Tess a chance to get out of the way. She's eleven years old and arthritis is noticeably slowing her down. Even a year ago she would jump and chase like a puppy (an enormous puppy that would crush your leg if she fell on it), but now she runs out of bounce pretty quickly. She's one of the most laid back and friendly dogs I've ever known, and it's hard to see her falter.

2 Haiku

2005-04-20T14:35:00.000-06:00

Sharp, bare tree branches
Ascend the gold sunset sky,
Splintered silhouettes.

Her chin rests on soft
Hands at the window sill. How
Pale her reflection.

© B. Jason Reardon
3/25/99

Toe Nail Bite

2005-04-14T14:53:00.000-06:00

It comes with the pressure. Along shiny
smooth surface run narrow files, tight
ranks. Fresh dead strut forward daily.
At the front they jut out in flight
above the tender, soft surface
below. Oldest show yellow wear;
they are somewhat bent from long service.
Errant edge columns diverge from their
course. They march to the side, and
down. There, pressed too tight,
they pressure their way to painful land.
Into the soft, where no nail should bite.
There it is too deeply ingrown
to halt, but can I still run?

© B. Jason Reardon
12/10/99

Illumination at 3AM in a Suburb: Revised

2005-04-14T12:10:00.000-06:00

I feel a presence. Behind my shoulder
autumn wind is undressing auburn trees
who with night’s dignity disrobe for winter.
I feel a presence behind my shoulder—
a lamp snaps on. Modest trees wither,
bright light on their bare canopies.
I feel a presence behind my shoulder.
Autumn wind is undressing auburn trees.

© B. Jason Reardon
Revised 4/14/05

The possibilites with this form are very interesting. The repetition of the lines allow for the meaning of the lines to either change or be reinforced. In this case I'm going for change. I don't feel like this poem quite comes together. "I feel a presence" and "behind my shoulder" are both weak. I'd like lines that provide better setting. A replacement like "along the sidewalk" for the second half is an improvement of setting, but it disrupts the whole rhyme scheme. A verb or adjective at the end of the second half which could change feel as it is repeated would also be pleasing. If I return to this poem again I'll probably gut it.

Furious Revisions

2005-04-14T10:16:00.000-06:00

What better use for a blog than revising and exhibiting old poetry? Maybe it will inspire me to begin new compositions.

Illumination at 3AM in a Suburb

2005-04-14T09:51:00.000-06:00

I feel a presence. Behind my shoulder
the autumn wind is undressing auburn trees
who with night’s dignity disrobe for winter slumber.
I feel a presence behind my shoulder
of a lamp snapping active. Modest trees shudder,
shamefully bare: unnatural light exposes naked canopies.
I feel a presence behind my shoulder.
The autumn wind is undressing auburn trees.

© B. Jason Reardon
Original composed 11/23/99

First Post!

2005-04-14T09:48:00.000-06:00

so this is what it looks like...