Staffan will get recognized next month as part of the Search for Young Scholars of the University of Washington. Cool. Here’s the link to the EHRC web page with the good news.
We’re really proud of you Staffan.
After more than eleven years of marriage, facebook apparently thinks things are now different for Tomo and me:
Umm, don’t anybody take that the wrong way…
Staffan and I spent the morning yesterday kayaking and snorkeling off the South Kohala coast, and it was fabulous. The water was extremely calm, and amazingly clear. The variety of fish was outstanding. And the coral itself was stunning, in any number of colors and shapes.
One unexpected bit was that the water actually got colder as you got closer to the shore in some places, because of the natural feed of freshwater streams along the shore. And you could see the saltwater and freshwater mixing, because it would occasionally blur the view of the bottom. And of course, it is only cold by Big Island standards. By Seattle standards, the freshwater was warm, and the ocean water was warmer.
I can heartily recommend Shawn at Kohala Kayak, who set us up with equipment and took us out to the best spots along the reef, and pointed out the whales in the distance and the celebrity homes on the shore.
Chai’s Island Bistro is fabulous. Tomo and I took Karl Bachman out for dinner and had the Fanily Dinner for Three. Each of the dishes was something special, and they had a Luna Vineyards Canto on the wine list! It was a slow night there, as the music wasn’t one of the bigger names that often play at Chai’s. But that meant that when Chai himself came back to the restaurant from a catering gig, we got to meet him and spent a little time chatting. Karl is great at schmoozing and Chai gave Tomo his lei. That makes two night out, and two leis. There’s a joke to made there somewhere.
We stopped for a drink at the Tapa lounge at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and Na Kama was playing. Both Tomo and I liked them a lot. We sat and chatted with them for a while while they took a break. It seems they are pretty popular in Japan doing hula gigs, and I can see why.
They have a very nice contemporary Hawaiian sound, and they are really the nicest three musicians you can imagine meeting. They are playing this weekend at the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo.
A shout out to JP and Keren, who have been doing Mac support. Their company is My Mac Hero
David Mamet has written a thought-provoking and widely circulated piece in the Village Voice about “Why I’m no longer a brain-dead liberal”. He’s a really good writer, but the content is pretty mundane, so it’s kind of like a fine restaurant chef fixing leftovers:
What about the role of government? Well, in the abstract, coming from my time and background, I thought it was a rather good thing, but tallying up the ledger in those things which affect me and in those things I observe, I am hard-pressed to see an instance where the intervention of the government led to much beyond sorrow.
Coming from a man who claims that his alma mater is the Chicago Public Library, the irony is staggering.
I can’t stop listening to Dengue Fever. It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve found some new music that really captivated my attention. That and Yumirose.
Today is the final day that Staffan sings with the Seattle Opera in the Children’s Chorus for Tosca. What an experience. We’re really proud of you, Staffan.
I was never a big opera fan, but I have to say Tosca was really fun to see. There are some pictures of the show online here
Hi! This blog previously lived at homepage.mac.com, but WordPress has better tools. Hope I can post more often.
