oh wow, really good news on the car front. not even a week after 'she was serviced last week that son-of-a-bitch little 'check engine' light was back on so i took her back into the repair shop. i was secretly hoping they messed up something when they did the timing belt, so maybe they'd fix more things for free but that didn't happen. what did happen was one of the service people gave me HONEST advice. my car is fine. oh my god, how refreshing is that? i kept waiting for the part where he said, "just kidding! your hunk of metal needs a new rocket booster!" or something. but no, i took a deep breath for the first time in any automotive repair setting. what a good feeling.

you know, people [by 'people' i mean mechanics] always look at women with their cars kind of how women look at men with houseplants. one entity is simply not capable of properly caring for the other. i have resolved to try harder to properly look after my car. i just read an encouraging online story about someone who replaced their own sparkplugs. that could be me someday! well, maybe not someday soon. but it could be.

that said, I'm loading up the wagon [Oregon Trail style] and am getting ready to head west. where dreams come true and stuff.

before closing this, I want to share an innovative... thing... from Tasmania for all you gardeners out there. check this out.



heart-shaped strawberries! does home gardening get any more fun? no, i think not.

on the topic of gardening, my cab franc vines are growing like they're on 'roids. which possibly they are because i saw someone spraying the neighbors lawn the other day. grow little ones, mama needs the bottle.

!(#*AH#@$*&@)(*!~!!!!! subaru makes me #)($&@!#)*&!*(!#@@!!!!

The past three days have been simply a delight! Stohlman Subaru, in Tysons Corner, Virginia has been tremendously helpful. At their going rate, the regular maintenance on my Legacy (now at 120,000 miles) will cost $3850, effectively totaling the car.

But do you know what has been really worth four figures? My conversations with their service people. They remain professional, upbeat, and enthusiastic even as they tell you you're about to shell out three months salary on your [used] car.

Forget medical emergencies or car accidents, simply owning a Subaru in working order is the quickest way to bankruptcy in this neck of the woods! Here's how it goes.



"hello, i'm calling because i got an email from you all about a 120k mile check-up."

"yep, you need to bring 'er in, those things are important"

"right-o, how much do i owe you?"

"that'll be $650"

[internal frown and self-restraint of desired profanity outburst. they want $650 to check on a car that works fine. ok, i choose to believe you on this one, subaru people.]

"oh, and it looks like you didn't have your timing belt replaced at 105k, but don't worry, we can do that for an extra $1750"

"UHUUUHHUHH!!!!?!? $1750? we're talking about a green station wagon, not a rocket ship, right?"

"haha well no, but if we do the timing belt we also do the water pump, the seals, and a few other items. it's also probably not a bad time to get your head gaskets replaced"

"and tell me, how much do those run?"

"we'll do it for $1750 [insert wink]. and i'll even give you 10% off [another wink]."

"ohh ok. well that sounds fabulous. let me call you back when i'm able to auction off my first-born offspring."

[naturally, i call another subaru mechanic and he says he can do it for $750. the last timing belt i had replaced, in 2002 on a '95 ford escort, costed a whopping $156. inflation is a killer.]

back in the service department. "hello! i'm here about my ever-so-important 120k check up and a possible timing belt replacement. let's forget the head gaskets for now, someone told me you don't really need them anyway [this elicits a hilarious expression from the service rep, "well i don't know about that, ma'am"]. i found another guy who will do the timing belt for $750; can you guys match that?"

"well sure! if you JUST want the timing belt done then we can do it for $750"

"oh, i'm sorry, i thought i originally asked for just the timing belt"

"it's just that we usually replace a number of things when we take out the front of the engine. we don't normally deviate from our package repairs"

"do those other things need replacing?"

"to be honest, probably not"

[you are shitting me]

"but we replace them anyway so folks don't have to come back in. saves us some time too having to take out the engine like that."



Anyway, I'm at Panera right now while they're working on my timing belt and the cracked boot of a front wheel drive joint. When we saw this it became apparent that the 120k check up was probably going to have to wait until 140k. I'm already excited for what kinds of new things my fine-working-car will need by then. Oh sweet joy.

Key Learnings: Past Three Weeks in Tasmania

Not a whole lot going on here.... this one is a rant, read at your own risk [of boredom].

On Nature
You can't really get angry with nature. I came here anticipating 12 hr shifts every day, but if the grapes aren't ripe (as they aren't) -- then there is no work. There is no one to blame. There is no use re-calculating forecasted net earnings for the harvest. There is just waiting.

I have gotten a few good days work in the vineyard, where I've been meeting the acquaintance of Tasmania's revoltingly large array of spider species. Here are some Google Images of the Huntsman Spider -- my new arachnid friends.





Pretty cute when they're on the back of your neck.

On Boredom
Boredom only becomes intolerable when you have nothing good to look forward to. I've been keeping busy with 1) writing [of postcards, articles, in my journal, anything], 2) fitness [i'm going to train for a marathon again and not do it], 3) crocheting, and 4) cooking up a hurricane. Somehow with all that there seems to be copious amounts of free time. I guess this is the consequence of living in the wop wops with no car. It's an 80 minute run to the nearest store.

Oh, and I forgot 5) Life Planning. I'm at that age where I should probably be getting my first promotion and a raise in the office but by-passing that lifestyle has me sitting here, ranting, and thinking about how long I want to be a gypsy moth for. I reckon we're down to the final months of this lifestyle. I miss using my brain.

On Undergraduate Degrees
Whoever said your selection of an undergraduate major is not that important was full of shit. I was one of the many who believed that an undergrad degree is more or less just a certificate of your intellectual capacity to succeed in any career field. I still believe this is true.

However, if you're one of the silly folks who wants to pursue graduate studies, you -- like me -- will find that the fields you might study are very much limited by what you studied in undergrad. I want to study economics, but a genuine interest is not enough! You need mathematics! You need an undergrad degree in Economics! Not Marketing! Woe is me.

But if you want to study something like Beer-Brewing or Oenology, they'll take anyone.

On Baking
With my copious amounts of free time I've been evolving into a regular little Betty Crocker. Just this week I've pounded out a zucchini loaf, blackberry cobbler (hand-picked, it kills more time), mushroom and leek quiche, and -- my proudest concoction -- BANANA BUTTER. Only in the past few months have I dabbled with preserves (see Chili Jam) -- and I love this side of cooking.

I'm going to go back into bread this week... bread keeps me on my toes. And I have access to a refrigerator full of wine yeast. You think the Pinot Noir or Savvy yeast for the Italian loaf?

On Exercise
Long ago I made the mistake of listening to music during my cardio workouts (fancy words for plodding along the tarmac). Now I can't exercise if I don't have music. But I am adapting myself to listening to audiobooks instead of music. I'm on Disc 4 of The Kite Runner right now. Marley and Me happened last week. I can 'read' and 'run' at the same time; I take a weird kind of glory in multi-tasking.

On Tasmania
It is beautiful here. The landscape is very similar to the Eastern United States. All the snakes are poisonous, all the spiders look menacing (but are benign I'm told), and the roo's make good steaks. This is wild country.

Tasmania's wine climate is slightly different. It reminds me of the movie Bottle Shock: "Not bad for kids from the sticks." They struggle to ripen the fruit, as does any cool climate area. And there isn't any old world feel to the way things are done here. The big wineries are holdings of conglomerate companies, whereas the little guys are simply one-family vineyards outsourcing their wine production. That's a lot of dis-organized ideas at once.

Anyway, here's a look at Cradle Mountain. We hiked this beaut a few days ago on one of the other slews of days off. It was niiiiice!



I promise you a better quality blog post for next time. Cross my heart. Big love from spider world, MG



--- WAIT, just in by text, regarding the jar of banana butter I sent to the Spanish employees: "Hi! Thanks clown for the banana butter. I haven'nt ate it. We hope that it doesn't kill us. See you." ---- those payasos better love it.

not a myth

I made muffins today from scratch (is that a raised eyebrow I see?) and I opted to hand-mix the [microwave melted] butter and sugar and eggs -- and I just want to share with you that the outcome NOT the same as using an electric mixer. The verdict is that you should use an electric mixer whenever you make muffins. Even though it makes more dishes to wash.

Do you know why Wendy's burgers are square? Because Dave Thomas's grandmother told him to never cut the corners in life. True story.

snow-shovelers' best friend

i had a moment of brilliance this morning during my morning of combat with the driveway. spraying the shovel with Pam, makes the snow non-stick and you can get rid of each shovel-load in one go.

same principle as eggs on a skillet or cake in a pan. i can't believe i haven't thought of this sooner.

flashback to Norge - Amnesty International free Hu Jia campaign

I'm putting together a small talk for my office on my recent travels and one video has just re-surfaced that I thought blog-worthy.

Ekstremsport Veko (Extreme Sports Week) in Voss is one of the best multi-sport events in the world. There are paragliders, base jumpers, kayakers (duh), extreme skiiers, climbers, and dozens of other athletes in the melee.

When I first got there we had a chance to be a part of an Amnesty International filming effort to highlight a partnership with Ekstremsportveko for the Free Hu Jia campaign.

Hu Jia is a political prisoner in China for supporting a nascent democratic movement, his environmentalist views, and his work in HIV/AIDS awareness in China. This video pushes an interesting message from one socialist country to another.

Anyway, you can see the video here! I couldn't post it directly, but if you click the picture it should take you there.





I'm pretty sure Hu Jia is still in prison, proving that extreme sports don't offer any jail-breaking attributes; but at least more people are aware.

how many chances to you get to be filmed from a helicopter? haha, not many if you're not of the Young Gun persuasion.

ENJOY!

more reading: one man's crusade to build schools in AfPak

I've started taking the bus [to the metro] -- a change that has afforded me much more time for reading instead of studying GRE vocabulary.

Stones into Schools and its prequel, Three Cups of Tea, are two books that I've very much enjoyed reading in the past few weeks. The former was a Christmas present, and I've already started passing it along to people who'd benefit from its message (namely my few friends in the armed services).







In a nutshell, after a failed ascent of K2 and becoming lost on the descent, author Greg Mortenson pledged to build one school for the village that took him in. The first school took almost three years to build, but after that his project started snowballing into more and more schools, and eventually into Afghanistan.

This effort is so significant because it represents one man's crusade in what many people call 'the most dangerous place on earth'. It also touches the Muslim community, which is typically ignored by a lot of NGO work.

The first book is required reading for all US Special Forces serving in Af-Pak and for officers enrolled in counter-insurgency programs at the Pentagon. Why? Because Mortenson's crusade of offering secular education in these areas is being widely regarded as a better long-run defense strategy than the hunt-and-punish approach. Existing schools for children are sometimes very heavily Islam-oriented (that means no girls); these madrassas are funded by Saudi Arabia. Mortenson emphasizes the importance of educating women as a means of bringing up communities. Women are a better educational investment because they're far more likely to use their education in the village instead of running with it to the nearest city to earn as much as possible.

That's the gist in a nutshell, but the books are definitely worth your time. If you only read one, choose Stones into Schools. It's less novel-like.

Oh my gosh - did I really just type that all in one go? Guys, I might be starting to THINK again!

why waste money on new tires?

observe a lesson from the car people in India. reduce, reuse, recycle.



re-treading told tires... maybe they are on to something.